ted4leaders

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

What is the key to happiness? True happiness comes when we discover God’s wisdom and God’s understanding in our lives. This is not our own wisdom or our own understanding. It is what God knows and how God directs. The wisdom of mankind is self-motivated, self-focused and self-preserving, but the wisdom of God is life-motivated, life-focused, and life-giving in all things. His life-giving wisdom always pursues life-giving knowledge to establish life-giving understanding. This should renew our strength!

Proverbs 3:13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; 14 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. 16 Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her.

Wouldn’t it stand to reason, that leaders should be happy people? Leaders should be people who know how to discover the wisdom and understanding of God; thus, they discover the happiness of the will of God in their lives for the sake of leading others to finding the same. Wisdom is not a depending upon what we know. True wisdom is depending on the One who knows. God writes the beginning from the end and His end is always redemptive in its purpose. If we seek to know God’s wisdom, we also seek to know His redemptive end. We can have an expectation of this. God ends with life, so He seeks constant and continual beginnings of life. Knowing this should make us happy!

The world is facing shaking and difficult times, but we have an internal kingdom of life that empowers our way in the natural world of our surrounding. Believers need not be afraid. Leaders in the body of Christ should lead others to not be afraid. God’s wisdom gives foundations and creates new things. From what is formless, void, and dark He brings forth order, fullness, and light. We must be seekers of Him in order to be seekers of His wisdom.

Proverbs 3:19 The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens; 20 By His knowledge the depths were broken up, and clouds drop down the dew. 21 My son, let them not depart from your eyes—keep sound wisdom and discretion; 22 So they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. 23 Then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble. 24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. 25 Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; 26 For the LORD will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.

These truths should inspire us to be stable in our walk in life. These words address the fact that the wicked will inspire trouble, but we need not be afraid. We can be like Jesus Christ as the body of Christ. We can be unshakable as the rock of Christ. Let’s not be easily moved by the events of the world. Let’s be determined by our access to heaven and heaven’s access to our lives. Our God is the Lord and we can be happy people, even in difficult times.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Leaning of God in Order to Lead

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we are called to set an example that others can see of what it means to be a little child before God in our hearts, an overcomer in the testimony of God’s word and the presence of His Spirit, and someone who gives their life to give life to those in their world for the sake of the generations to come. All believers are to live in this way, but leaders simply lead to inspire others to do the same. It is more about who we are than it is about the works that we do. It is about the core of our being that inspires all our doings in life. This is dependent upon our personal connection to God in all things.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil. 8 It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.

Leaders are not leaders because of what they know. That is often the way of the world. Leaders in Christ are leaders because of Who they know. Knowing God intimately will inspire those we lead to know Him in the same way. We are not the voice of God for people, we are a testimony of what it looks like when someone knows the voice of God in their life. The strength of leadership is not in their understanding of things, it is in their connection to the One who understands all things. There are plenty of things that we cannot understand in our world. There are spiritual powers that we cannot see that influence the circumstances that we can see. Only God sees all things and only God knows the end from the beginning. Leaders set an example in trusting God above their own understanding. They know He is the One who directs the paths of men. Leaders are not wise in the own wisdom; they are dependent upon God’s wisdom in finding their way forward in life. It is in trusting God, knowing God, and always depending upon Him, that we find health in our lives, inside and out.

Leaders are not the smart ones who bring correction to God’s people. They are sons and daughters of God who set an example in responding to the corrections of the Lord in their path in life. God doesn’t chasten us according to a family tree of a knowledge of good and evil. He chastens us for a family tree of life! Chastisement is about keeping us in the path of life that empowers us to give life to others. This is the chastisement received by Jesus, the perfect Son of God.

Proverbs 3:11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor detest His correction; 12 For whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.

Hebrews 5:8 …though He was a Son (Jesus), yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

Hebrews 12:3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

We are not to despise the chastening of the Lord. We are not to be discouraged when we are rebuked by God. He scourges every son He receives by allowing them to go through hard things. Leaders set an example to those they lead in desiring, embracing, and responding to the chastisements of God in their lives. The don’t just seek God in the crisis moments of their lives. They willingly seek Him, and they willingly adjust the steps of their path in life to be who God says they are and to do as they see Him doing in all things.

Jesus never sinned, but He was scourged. He never looked for love in the wrong place, but He was tempted with everything we are tempted with. God, His Father, allowed Him to be chastened. He allowed Him to be disciplined. What did that look like? It very often looked like being treated wrongly. God allowed His son Jesus to be despised, rejected, hated, lied about, misunderstood and many other things. All of this was for the sake of manifesting as God’s Son.

Jesus learned obedience by the things that He suffered. Do you suppose He ever hit His hand with a hammer in the carpenter shop? Do you think He may have been misunderstood and wrongly disciplined by His natural father Joseph? He knew how to be led by the voice of His heavenly Father even in everyday life. He knew that it was the instruction of the Spirit that strengthens hands and the word of God that strengthens knees (Job. 4:3,4). He knew how to walk in a practical world in a spiritual reality. This is how He could defeat the devil in life.

As leaders, we must embrace the voice of God on good days and on bad. We depend upon every expression of His voice in our lives, and we are not to be easily shaken by the current events of our world, our circumstances, or our immediate environment.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders we are called to walk in the authority of Christ and to lead to see others empowered in that same life-giving testimony. Authority is not a matter of control. It is never a matter of taking from someone else. It is about empowering others to be who they are for the sake of bringing life to their world. Everyone was born into this world to cause their world to become a testimony of the life-giving authority of Christ. This can be spectacular, but it is also spectacularly practical, visible, and real in the everyday lives of everyday people. Authority activates, facilitates, and releases life to and in others.

Authority is very real, and it is what gives us the ability to rule today. It is about being life-givers to our families as dads, moms, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters. Authority is not measured by our anointing or our gifting. Authority is measured by our responsibility and being responsible enough to embrace the anointing of God to be a life-givers in our everyday testimonies of life. It is about embracing who we are with our abilities, talents, and personal gifts and then serving others in the act of giving life to them by who we are in Christ.

Authority is always now. It includes our calling in Christ, our appointments to the various phases of that calling, and embracing the anointing and the power of Christ to fulfill our purpose as sons or daughters of God who give life to our world in every season of our lives. It is not about what we get so we become successful in life. It is not merely about the things that we can do in life. It is about who we are for the sake of others to be significant in our world. I believe that true significance is measured by fruit and fruit gives life to others. Fruit never serves to merely gratify ourselves. Fruit is the testimony of the life on a tree that gives life to others. Whatever has been given to us in life is so we can give life to others. God is the source of the life that is given to us, and God is glorified when we live to be real people who give the life that God has given us, to our world.

Proverbs 3:9 Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

We must embrace a revelation of our destiny in Christ. We were not born to simply have our own personal needs fulfilled. The dreams and visions of our lives are not about our personal desires. They are valuable tools for Christ’s kingdom purpose. We were not born for the comfort of houses; we were born for the destiny of barns and vats! What are the barns and vats of our lives? Barns are supply houses for seed and bread. They provide for others in the world of today and supply seed for the harvests of tomorrow. Vats are huge containers to fill the bottles of celebration for relationships that inspire the communities of today and the life of friends and family to come.

Our firstfruits and our possessions are about our Father’s business and a testimony of Jesus’ name. We were born for greatness. We had to be born again to come to the knowledge of what greatness we were really born for. We were born for the glory of God – to bring glory to His name. This is the testimony of restored authority in Christ.

Authority is a process. It is a process of being who we are in every season of our lives. Who we are today includes the testimonies of who we were in the past, but we are not bound to the past. We are empowered to be givers of life to our world today. The authority of yesterday is not the authority of today.

What is the firstfruit in our lives of what we have not been before? What is the firstfruit of the harvest that is before us? If we give God the first of every season in our lives, He will have access to the full measure of every season of our lives. Acknowledging God in every season of our lives invites Him into every season of our lives. He is in our lives so that the fruit of our lives can bring life to our world.

We are to honor God with all that we possess. What we possess is not what we don’t possess. Who we will be is not greater than who we are today and who we are today is who we really are. When we honor God with who we are and what we have today, we grow in being able to give life to our world today. When we honor God with what we possess, we grant Him the ability to increase what we possess by all that He possesses in His heavenly storehouse of life.

Authority is always connected to today! As believers in Christ, the date on our calendars is TODAY and time on our watches and clocks is NOW! As leaders, we hear God TODAY so we can give life to our world NOW! We lead others to embrace this same authority. It is an authority of life where our vats overflow with the celebration of life and our barns are filled with the bread and seed of life for the world we live in, for the sake of the world that is yet to come.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:

House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings;

Knowing who God is, knowing who you are, and knowing who others are in your world will lead to life. God is a giver of life and each and everyone of His children were born to bring life to their world. This is the testimony of true authority. Authority never takes from others. True authority gives life to others. God is a giver, not a taker. If our perception of Him is that He seeks to take from us, we don’t know Him. When we know Him, we become like Him.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

The more we get to know our heavenly Father and Jesus His Son, the more we discover the testimony of life. When we know Him, we become testimonies of His mercy. We become givers of His mercy to others in our world. The more we get to know Him, the more we discover how good He really is. If we don’t see Him as a great God, a good God, and a merciful God, we don’t know who He is. As His children we should grow in being great for the sake of others. We should increase in doing good for others. We should grow in showing mercy to others in our world.

Exodus 34: 5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth…”

Here we find the introduction to the name of God is “the Lord, the Lord God”. In the Stone’s edition of the Hebrew Torah, the rabbinical commentators address this double “Lord” as implying to the love and goodness of God. They state that when the Lord is put in this double context it implies two things. It means that God is the one who forgives us of our sins knowing the full extent of everything we are ever going to do, and He forgives us after we sin knowing the full extent of everything we have ever done. The very first experience, atmosphere, ambiance, and reality received by God’s presence coming into our lives is that of forgiveness. What a wonderful thing! The verses go on to read that God is merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness, and abounding in truth. These are all wonderful experiences that flood our lives when God comes to us.

As leaders, we lead others into a personal relationship with God by setting an example in our own relationship with God. That example should exhibit the attributes of who God is. God is forgiving, even when He knows what should not be forgiven. He is loving in spite of our short comings. If He is forgiving, we should grow in being forgiving. If He is loving, we should grow in loving others. If He His merciful, we should grow in showing mercy to others. If He is gracious, we should grow in being gracious to others in our world. If He is longsuffering, isn’t it reasonable that we should have to forbear some things with others? We are His offspring empowered and transformed by His Holy Spirit! If He abounds in goodness, shouldn’t we have goodness increasing in our lives? Shouldn’t we have enough goodness to overcome the bad things that come our direction? If He abounds in truth, shouldn’t we grow in truth so that we will not be shaken by lies? When we know truth, we can live free. No false accusation can shake us when we know truth in our hearts and minds.  When we know God, the testimony of our life is seen in the giving of life to others.

True authority gives life. To have authority means to be a source of life to others. It means that you have too much of something and you have to give it away. It is not about what you can get from others, but what you have to give to them. Authority is always connected to an us, a we, and a corporate testimony of some kind. It is never focused on me, myself, or what can I get or do. It is a servant role of receiving life and giving life to others. It is an aspect of giving life to others and this is the testimony of leadership that leads others to lead others into the path of knowing God. If we do something to ‘get’, we are crossing the line of authority to mere power. You can seek power and live to get something, and you will never discover the true authority of who you really are. The way of the world is to seek to get something so you can be something and do something great in this life. The way of our heavenly Father, and Jesus His Son, is to seek to give something because you are something and therefore you live to reveal how great God is in other’s lives.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:

House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we lead others into their true identity in Christ. We cannot tell them who they are, but we can inspire them to find an intimate connection to God where they hear the voice of God within their hearts to be who they are called to be. We do this by being an example that inspires them to do as we dare to do. We pursue life to become life for the sake of our destiny in Christ.

Authority is connected to our identity; identity is not rooted in our authority. Our identity is who we are, not what we can do. Authority is relational and not merely a matter of function. Relationships bring life to joining relationships.

Authority gives life, it never takes life from others. Power alone will take from others, but true authority will give life to others. Authority is not defined by our anointing, but our anointing will serve our authority. True authority is not defined by our gifting, but our gifting is meant to serve our authority. True authority is connected to our responsibilities in life.

As a dad I have a responsibility of being a dad to my children. This means, I have the authority to give them life and to empower them to come alive as my children. My anointing as a dad and my gifting as a dad only serve in enabling me to exercise the authority of life for my family.

When we discover who we are, we bring life to our world. Jesus didn’t come merely to meet our needs. He didn’t just come so that we would go to heaven when we die. He came to empower each of us to bring life to our world. This is to bring life to our families, to our friends, to our communities, and even to our enemies. I believe that this is the true testimony of being able to subdue and have dominion in life.

The original mandate to mankind was to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue and have dominion (Gen. 1:28). When Adam and Eve chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they forfeited their ability to live by an administration of the tree of life. Their decision to choose knowledge over intimacy with God caused them to sacrifice the key to true authority. Living by an external influence of information caused man to fall for the deception of power and control that led to an exaltation of anointings and giftings over covenantal connections that lead to greater life.

The result of Adam’s fall was an administration of information that left mankind with only an ability to be fruitful, multiply, and fill. There was no possibility to subdue and have dominion. The rule of mankind was bound to the informative administrations of human conscience and law. Neither of these have the power to bring life, or to transform us to a testimony of life. They only have the ability to control and serve as teachers revealing our need for God. They can only reveal our need to find true life in God.

Genesis 9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

Jesus came to restore the human mandate. Our reconciliation to God in Christ is a reconnection to the One who gives life, gives breath, and gives all things. Our connection to life empowers us to be givers of life to our world. To subdue is to bring life to the places of death in our spheres of influence and to exercise dominion is to crumble every lie with truth in every area of our responsibility.

Our responsibilities in life are places that we are called to bring the influence of God’s grace. To be responsible is to be true. Being true to who we are is being able to be responsible. God defines truth as the substance by which all are made alive in Christ and the substance of who we are to bring the life of Christ to our world. Jesus is the truth and knowing Him makes one free and able to freely give life to their world.

John 7:37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The rivers of life that flow from our lives are rivers of the authority of God. Authority flows out of who we are, not what we do. All authority in heaven and earth comes from God, but everyone is meant to manifest a testimony of truth and the authority of life. Authority is the ability to give life to others. This means that authority only comes from truth. When we are true to whom we are and true to the boundaries of what is given to us, it can give life to others. When we cross the God-given lines of authority, we become takers. We become people who grasp for power. Truth crumbles the lie, but a lie cannot overpower the other lies of the world. We are called in Christ to be real. We are sons and daughters of God, and our Father is a giver of life in all things.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:

House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we lead people into personal connections with God so they can find corporate connections to one another that are life-giving and life-promoting. We cannot be the connection to God for anyone. We can only inspire them to seek God and find Him in their own hearts. God doesn’t have grandchildren. He only has children. To Abraham, He was the God of Abraham. To Isaac, He was the God of Isaac. To Jacob, He was the God of Jacob; who was then intended to also be the God of Israel. Old Covenant leadership is to take people by the hand and lead them into the works of God, but the New Covenant way is to allow the hearts of each one to reach God where God empowers a change of their ways from within. New Covenant leaders inspire those they lead to find God in their hearts and be changed in their ways. I believe God is leading us deeper into this reality as His people in this world. God’s grace is at work in the generations and He who began a good work in the earth is also faithful to complete it.

We can always expect God to bring more life into our world. The news of the day is not what the enemy is doing in the nations. It is what God is doing in the nations from His kingdom within the hearts of men and women in Christ. The true temple of God is the body of Christ. We are His dwelling place, the fulness of Him in all things. The real question of our day is: What measure of water is flowing from the temple of God in this hour? This is the truth that God prophetically revealed to the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel saw what Jesus said would flow from the hearts of all who come to Him and drink. We can expect the life-giving water of God’s Spirit to get deeper and deeper for the glory of God in our world.

Ezekiel 47:1 Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side. 3 And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. 4 Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist. 5 Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. 6 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river. 7 When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other. 8 Then he said to me: “This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. 9 And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. 10 It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many.

God’s life-giving water flows from His presence to the East. He always gives us a new day of life! His waters bring healing to the places that need healing. Even the deadest places in the earth and in our lives are transformed unto life when His life-giving presence and purpose reaches us in the place called today.

In a time when the world is isolated and separated, it’s time for God’s people to be connected to God so that their personal testimonies can bring healing to the nations. God is calling us all to know Him intimately in our hearts. God is doing something in the body of Christ. There is another measure of His life-giving grace at work in our lives.

The Spirit of God says, I’ve stripped away all performance! Performance does not impress Me. What impresses Me is the sincerity of heart, and I want each one to know Me as the One and I want each one to become authentic in their identity. I want the sound of diversity! I want the notes in the song! I want each paint stroke to fill the canvas! Because I’m revealing an authentic community.

Things in the world are going to shake because the unshakeable One is manifesting in the nations. As leaders we must inspire those we lead to live in a daily connection with God, their Father, who gives us life in all the seasons of the ages of men.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Leaders set an example to those they lead in hearing God and proclaiming what He says. This is the testimony of prophetic ministry. Prophetic ministry is both prophetic and ministry. It is something ‘received’ from God and then ‘given’ to people. One part is the passive function of receiving the prophetic message from God. The second part is the active function of transmitting the prophetic message to the people. The more we grow in knowing who God is, we grow in being His voice in our world. He does not put shame upon the world but comes in the power of life to free all people from every place of shame. For this reason, our voice as leaders must free people from shame and not place shame upon them. We must set an example in our ability to receive what God says and to transmit what He says in the way that He says it. All people should prophetically see what God is revealing and proclaim His message of life to their world. Leaders only set an example in doing so and inspire those they lead to do the same.

Leadership in the body of Christ should set an example in being expressions of God’s voice to their world. When God speaks, life happens! This is the true testimony of the Spirit of prophecy. It is a testimony of Jesus. To understand the function of prophetic ministry we must look at the receptive function as well as the proclaiming function of prophetic ministry:

1 Sam. 9:9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: “Come, let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer).

To speak what God says, we must first hear what He is saying. Hearing God is actually seeing by revelation what God is saying. This is why John turned to see the voice that spoke to Him in the first chapter of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1:12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.

God’s voice is not a voice of information, but a voice of transformation. Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus and when we receive something of Jesus by revelation, that revelation changes us from within.

God speaks to our spirits by allowing us to see into the realm of eternity for life-giving expressions into our natural realm. When God speaks to our spirit, our spirit then speaks to our soul. It comes from within us. When people hear, they hear in basically three different ways. God is not limited in His ways of communicating, but we are limited in our means of hearing. We hear God by seeing pictures, hearing thoughts, or sensing and feeling something from within. The reception of revelation from within inspires us to declare what we see, hear, or sense from within. Prophecy is a result of the Divine activity of God upon the human personality of man, resulting in a prophetic message which “bubbles up” and “gushes forth” as living water from the throne room of God.

John 7:37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Jesus demonstrated this life in His encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. He didn’t condemn her in her sin but offered her life by life-giving words of the Spirit.

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

In Jesus’ conversation with her, he demonstrated God’s love for her through words that broke the shame of condemnation off her life. He didn’t shame her. He gave her life! Our words as leaders must be words of life! Our words as believers in Christ, must be words of life. We live to hear, see, and sense all that God empowers us to see in order to give life-giving words to those in our world. The result is life!

Ezekiel 47:9 And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.

Words from our hearts should bring life to our world! They should bring healing to those we speak to. Life should be the testimony of our encounters with others in this world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is: House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

A key to hearing God’s voice is to know that there is no shame on any of us. Love is the foundation for hearing God’s voice. He speaks to us because He loves us. His voice doesn’t condemn us. His voice frees us from all condemnation. If we believe in Jesus, we will not be put to shame (Rom. 10:11; Isa. 28:16).

Romans 10:11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.

Jesus came to take our shame off us and to graft us into the family tree of God’s love. He came so that we would not choose a path of shame. He came so that we would choose the path of being loved by God. When we choose the path of being loved God, we don’t act hastily. His love makes us unshakeable, and we don’t choose anything that is less than His love in our lives. It is His love that empowers us to choose His path of life. It is not the fear of sin that empowers us to choose the path of life, but a revelation of God’s love.

Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Jesus came that we might trust our Heavenly Father. He came that we would know the love of God. He came that we would know the truth, and the truth would make us free. The truth is not how bad sin is, but how good the Lord is. Jesus came that we would be planted in a firm relationship with God in all things. It is for this reason that leaders lead.

Religion often emphasizes the sins of humanity and therefore seeks to put shame upon those who are bound to the error of sin. Jesus came to break the chains and shackles that bound us to the shame that is attached to sin. Shame belongs on sin, but God desires to free all sinners from the shame of sin. Sin is a disconnection from God, who is life. It is not our job to point to sin. Our role is to love those who are being freed from every shame of sin.

Prophecy is not meant to reveal man’s sin. It is given to reveal God’s love. Our objective must never be to condemn or judge others with words of guilt or shame. God wants to speak, but His words are words of life! It is the love of God that breaks the power of sin. It is not the condemnation of sin that frees men. Sin is already condemning, and sin is already condemned. To attach to it is to attach to condemnation. Jesus frees us from our attachment to sin. He frees us from our attachment to death. This is the testimony of God’s love. As leaders, we must keep a right focus for the sake of those we lead. Our focus must be upon the love of God, not the hate of sin.

If we hate sin more than we love people, there is something wrong in our focus. Our hate for sin must be rooted in our love for people, not our desire to see things made right. Sin kills sinners, this is why we want to see people set free from all sin. Sin is a disconnect from God. It is a disconnect from the true inheritance of life that only God can give. It is for this reason we invite people to a relationship with God in all things. It is in Christ that they will find all freedom from every shame. It is for the love of God and for the love of God’s children that leaders lead.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is: House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we are expressions of God’s communication to others. We are activators and facilitators of the voice of God in the hearts of those we lead. We are not the voice of God to them, but we are servants sent to help them hear God in their own hearts for the sake of their identity, testimony, and purpose in Christ. We hear God and we share what we hear, but we are not a substitute for the voice of God within anyone’s heart. We are, however, examples of sons and daughters of God who hear His voice and experience His friendship and love in our lives for the sake of inspiring those we lead.

Any expression of communication by God is for the sake of life. God’s communication with us is not about information. It is about relationship. He has always wanted us to know Him as our Father. He wants us to know that He sees us as His sons and daughters. We are His family. The strength of family is love. The attribute of being family members is to be friends. We are friends with God and with one another. We aren’t friends in order to get something from God or from one another. We are friends to love one another. We are friends to support one another in life. This is what God wanted in the very beginning as we find it in the record of His covenant with man. God walked in the cool of the day with Adam (Gen. 3:8). God’s conversations with Enoch were based upon the fact that God liked him. Enoch pleased God.

Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

God liked Enoch. He found pleasure in His relationship with Enoch and Enoch found pleasure in his relationship with God. To Enoch was revealed a glimpse of the triumphant Church of God in the earth (Jude 14). God showed Him this because he was His friend.

God told things to Abraham based upon His friendship with him (Gen. 18:17). Before He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, He told His friend Abraham what He would do. God would not bring a change in the earth without telling his friend in the earth what that change was.

When king Jehoshaphat faced the enemies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, he appealed to God on the basis of God’s friendship with Abraham. He knew that the foundation for being the people of God was a friendship with Him. Being the people of God, was being the family of God. The family of God is filled with family members who know God as their friend. They trust God in His abilities, because they know God in His friendship.

2 Chronicles 20:5 Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, 6 and said: “O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? 7 Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? 8 And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, 9 If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’

It is on the basis of personal relationship that God tells His prophets His coming actions in the earth (Amos 3:7). It’s not because of God’s power. It’s because of His love. God’s communication with man is based upon friendship and love. The love of God is at the core of prophetic communication. It is love for people and a desire to see them relationally connected to God as their Father that must motivate our willingness to prophesy. This must be at the core of our willingness to accept any responsibility of leading others in the body of Christ.

God wants to speak to us on the basis of friendship and love, not on the basis of information. For this reason, prophetic ministry must function to further our relationship with God, not to get information from Him. Our role as leaders must be to assist others in knowing a friendship with God based upon His love.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is: House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders we are called to lead people to become expressions of God’s life to others that activates others to become expressions of God’s life to others in their world. When God speaks, life happens! When God expresses something of Himself to our world, life happens in our world. As God’s children, we must be expressions of life to our world. When we speak, it should activate life in those we speak to.

We can only speak in accordance with what we can see. We speak what we hear. What we see can affect what we hear and what we seek to listen to will affect what we see. For this reason, we must be a prophetic people. We must speak those things that come from the realm of eternal life in Christ.

Prophetic ministry is not about information. It is a matter of intimacy with God that releases the power of His transformation in our lives. God wants to give us life and He wants us to give life to others in our world. Sometimes there are influences in life that hinder us from hearing God. God will often use the ministry of the prophetic to help us hear Him in those times. He will use an external voice to activate His internal voice in our hearts. His objective is always love and an intimate connection to Him as His children of light. God wants us to be one with Him – to be connected to Him relationally.

Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ “

When Jesus was being confronted by the devil in the wilderness, His strength to overcome was not rooted in His supernatural abilities. It was rooted in His personal connection to God as His Father. He set this example for us all and He opened the door for all of humanity to have this same grace to overcome all things in life. It is the place of hearing God from within. The word is not merely written in the Scriptures. It is the word of the character, nature, way, power, and authority of God written in our hearts and minds through a personal relationship with God as our Father. When Jesus said, “It is written”; I believe He was talking about it being written in His heart and mind. I don’t believe He was merely quoting the Torah; the Torah (Law) was a witness of Him. His personal connection with God made Him an overcoming testimony of God’s word to others.

God is constantly communicating with us through the intricate expressions of His creation. That expression is not about information, it is about life!

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

The expression of creation is not about information. It is about life. The winter season communicates a time of rest, and even hibernation for creatures in the forest so that they can be prepared to birth new life in the spring. The spring season isn’t about information to the forest. It is a wakeup call to the forest for the sake of being alive. New life springs forth to activate new life, and more life, in the forest. Communication is part of God’s nature because His heart’s intent is to bring life to the world. He is not interested in informing us concerning truth. He is truth for the sake of us coming alive in Him, and because of Him!

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is: House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728