ted4leaders

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Greetings,

In the twelfth chapter of the book of Romans, Paul gives some instructions to the believers in Rome. His words to them are words to us today. As leaders, we must seek to live a lifestyle that is true to the character of our heavenly father. We must lead others to embrace the same. We are people of God, not mere people of the world. We are the family of God who have been regenerated to live as salt and light to our world. We are the book that the world reads, written in our hearts and minds and seen in the actions of our lives. We are the gate of heaven and the place of invitation for others to find heaven’s grace. We must present our bodies in every way to think as new creations in Christ and to live as testimonies of Christ. We do this in our own unique way, but we all seek to live in the same manner. Some of us are perceivers and we see for the sake of others. Some of us are graced to serve and we inspire others to serve. Some are gifted with mercy, and they invoke us all to be merciful. There are those who lead, those who exhort, those who give, and those who teach. These are the different motivations of our lives for the sake us all together.

Romans 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

These describe our giftings, but no matter what our giftings are we have common attributes to our way of life in this world. Paul writes in the remaining verses of this chapter in regard to how we should act. I call these the actions of Christian beings. This is my observation of these things:

We are to love without hypocrisy. We can’t pretend to love. We must love. We are to abhor evil – to detest it, avoid it, and to have nothing in us that desires it. The evidence is seen in our attachment to all that is good. We are to cling to what is good in every situation, at all times. We must never forget who we are. We are family! We are the family of God! We must be kindly affectionate to one another with love that is the love of family. We should practice playing second fiddle. It is with honor that we give preference to another over our own selves. This means to seek the wellbeing of others and to give them opportunity for life even at our own sacrifice. Perhaps this even means being a good listener rather than seeking to be a good teacher to someone else in life. We must never be lagging in diligence. This means we are responsible with all that has been given to us in life. What has been given to us is for the sake of giving life to our world. We should be the first to show up when showing up is needed! We set an example that encourages others to step up to the plate when needed. This includes being fervent in spirit, serving the Lord (not your own agendas). We must have a right attitude and a right focus in life. We rejoice in hope! That hope includes an expectancy of God doing good, even when our expectations fail us. We must be patient in tribulation. Trouble only last for the night. We can expect Jesus to be our salvation in every situation. We will reap a harvest of life in due time. We must be unshakeable in our determination, being steadfast in prayer. Our lifestyles are ones of a face-to-face relationship with God every hour of our day. Our conversations with Him include listening to Him and allowing our confessions to be led by His Spirit in every way. We take care of one another, even in practical ways. We give to the needs of one another. We are hospitable in our attitudes and actions. We make room for others in the space of our living in this world. When we are treated wrongly, we don’t respond by treating those who treat us wrongly in the same way. We bless and we do not curse. We think the best. We practice being innocent to evil and wise to what is good. We choose to look for the good in others. When someone else is blessed, we rejoice in their blessing. When someone is in sorrow, we empathize with their pain. We rejoice with those who rejoice, and we weep with those who weep. We exhibit the attributes of real friends. We must never think that we are better than others in some way. We are no better nor are we less than someone else. We must never be wise in our own opinion. We can never think that we know it all. We are responsible for our own attitudes and our own actions in life and must never repay evil with evil. We must mind our own business and deal with our own hearts. We are to have regard for good things in the sight of all men. We look for the good and show ourselves honorable in life. We do everything we can to live in peace with everyone. This doesn’t simply mean say peace, peace when there is no peace. It simply means we don’t look to provoke a riot in the hearts of others. When treated unfairly, we don’t avenge ourselves. We let God repay. That is God’s business, and we leave God’s stuff alone. If our enemy hungers we feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. We are not just kind because we think someone deserves it. We are kind people! In our kindness we hope to heap coals of fire on our enemy’s head. This isn’t to destroy them, it is to give them light, heat, and a way to cook their food. If we had their life, we might be an enemy too. Just maybe, our love action might inspire them to “get a life”. We must never be overcome by evil, but we must overcome evil with good. Don’t react to what is bad, make plans for good. Don’t respond to evil, be an influencer of good and evil will flee. These are attributes of sons and daughters of God in the family of God as an influence of light to our world. As leaders, these are the values for which we lead. These are twenty-five doings of Christian beings

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Romans 12:9-21:

1. Love without hypocrisy.
2. Abhor what is evil.
3. Cling to what is good.
4. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love.
5. In honor, give preference to one another. Practice playing second fiddle.
6. Don’t be lagging in diligence. Be responsible!
7. Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord (not your own agendas). Have a right attitude and a right focus!
8. Rejoice in hope.
9. Be patient in tribulation. Trouble only lasts for the night.
10. Be steadfast in prayer.
11. Distribute to the needs of the saints. Follow through the process.
12. Be given to hospitality. Let it become a habit!
13. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Think the best. Be innocent to evil and wise to good.
14. Rejoice with those who rejoice.
15. Weep with those who weep.
16. Be a friend to one another.
17. Don’t think that you are better than others in some way. Don’t be stuck up.
18. Don’t be wise in your own opinion. Don’t think you know it all.
19. Repay no one evil for evil. Mind your business. Deal with your own heart.
20. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. Look for the good and show yourself honorable.
21. Do everything you can to live in peace with everyone.
22. Do not avenge yourselves. Let God repay. Leave God’s stuff alone.
23. If your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink. Don’t just be kind because you think someone deserves it.
24. In your kindness, believe that you might heap coals of fire on your enemy’s head. Just maybe, your love action might inspire them to “get a life”.
25. Don’t be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. Don’t react! Make plans for good, don’t respond to evil.

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

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Greetings;

What is the NOW testimony of God for this season of our lives? To receive what is new we must expect something new. In the story of the water to wine at the wedding of Cana, the miracle happened when the servants filled the pots to the brim. To receive what God is doing now we must fully expect God to give us what is new. We must be willing to exchange what we have known for what God is doing now.

John 2:9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

True life in the Spirit is only relevant to NOW. Indulging in the Spirit of God is not a method – it is a NOW relationship. The Old Covenant led to the day of Jesus implementing the New Covenant for all who seek to find it. The New Covenant is a constant now relationship with God and a continual testimony of new realities. As leaders, we must seek to know every now reality of God and lead others to find it as well. Jesus was demonstrating that a system that could only appease the guilt of the sinner had to receive a culture that could transform the human heart to become the heart of a true believer. The past can influence our conscience, but only a present connection to God determines the change of our hearts. Only a NOW reality of God in our lives can transform our lives today. The new wine of the New Covenant offers continual internal changes and outward testimonies. The law system of the Old Covenant only offered a means of appeasing the human conscience through an act of faith that only looked to the future.

What was useful in our past may not be useful today. Something that was useful for one thing in the past must be made available for a new purpose in the present time of God’s kingdom. The purpose of the past cannot be more valuable than God’s purpose in the present. The new use of things in our lives may appear to be unclean in regard to our past knowledge. In the miracle, the servants had to be willing to trust that what was used to remove dirt in the past had a potable use for internal consumption in the present. Something that could only wash the surface in the past could now become a substance that would make the heart glad. I have known God for more than forty-eight years and I have seen God do many amazing things. Although I have seen God do many things before, I must continually expect God to do more. He has saved the best wine for NOW!

We must trust what God is saying today more than what we think He has said in the past. The servants in the wine miracle had to trust the instructions of Jesus more than their understanding of the traditions of the past. Those drawing the water had to trust the now voice of God more than the fears of their own hearts. What if the water wasn’t wine? When we embrace what God is saying today, we will affect others in our world in a life-giving way.

When the words of the past surpass the value of the future, they blind us from the NOW word of God in our lives. This can include our experiences. When the experiences of our past create a louder voice in our hearts than the whisper of God’s love, we become bound to the experiences of the past. We must always know that He has saved the best wine until NOW!

Expect to find God today! He has saved the best wine for NOW! The world only shakes when something of the unshakeable God is manifesting. God is doing something in the world and we must lead to lead others to finding God. In Summary:

• Your NOW moment belongs to God. 
• God wants to be intimately involved with you today.
• Things that were useful for one thing in the past have to now be made available for a new purpose in the present time of God’s kingdom.
• God’s purpose in your past cannot be more valuable than His purpose in your present.
• The expectancy of God doing something NOW has to outweigh the traditional structures and practices of your past.
• True life in the Spirit is only relevant to NOW.
• Only the NOW reality of God in your life can transform your life today.
• What was useful in your past may not be useful today.
• The new use of things in your life may appear to be unclean in regard to your past knowledge.
• Trust what God is saying today more than what you think He has said in the past.
• When the words of the past surpass the value of the future, they blind us from the NOW word of God in our lives.
• Always know that He has saved the best wine until NOW!

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders we are called to lead others into the realities of God today. We are not called to merely teach people about what God did yesterday. We are called to help them hear God and to respond to Him today. This is the place of faith. This is called the obedience of faith. Faith is a supernatural response to God’s voice in our hearts and it is demonstrated in the actions of our lives. It is seen in the outworking of our path in life. Leaders set an example in this, and they lead others in embracing an intimate relationship with God in their hearts that is seen in the actions of their lives. This path is a testimony of love for God and the fruit of a revelation of God’s love for us. This truth was depicted in the journey of Israel to the Promised Land. The Promised Land was to be a place of relationship with God and walking in the path set by Him in their lives.

Deuteronomy 30:15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

The blessings and life of God are found TODAY – they are found NOW! God wants us to walk in all that is life and good in our world. Life will destroy death and good will destroy evil. We don’t kill death with death. Death is destroyed by embracing life! We don’t destroy evil by acting evil. We destroy all that is evil by becoming all that is good! Knowing God’s ways, commandments, statutes, and judgments will guide our vision and all that we embrace as our path in life. These are what reveal who God is in His character, nature, way, power, and authority. When we know who God is, we don’t turn away from Him in a pursuit of other things. We don’t pursue our way but run to Him to learn His ways in all things. We don’t demand Him to serve our desires, but we seek to know His desires as though they are commands to our hearts and minds. We don’t pursue our mandates, but we embrace His statutes as the mandates of our lives. We don’t try to convince God that what we judge a thing to be is better than what He had judged it to be. We trust Him! Therefore, we trust His judgments in all matters of life. God wants us to walk in life and blessing, not death and curses. The path is our choice but knowing Him will empower us to choose the path of life and blessing. Walking in His path is the path of loving Him. It is a path of clinging to Him. It is a path of family inheritance and a generational family name. It is a path of dwelling in the land – a decision to fully embrace our own life and live it as the world that God has given to us to  bring heaven’s grace and truth to. It is a walk of faith!

Romans 16:25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began 26 but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith— 27 to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.

We are called to be obedient to faith. This is involves embracing God in our world for the sake of His glory in our world. It is a personal acceptance of the voice of God to our own hearts to walk in the path of life and good. It is the place of knowing the blessing of eternal life. Eternal life is to know God as our Father and to know Jesus the Son. This is only possible by our personal acceptance of being a place where Holy Spirit abides. Leaders live for this, and they lead for this, in the measure of authority given to them in this world.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders we must know God in ever new moment of our lives, and we must demonstrate knowing God in the now reality of what He is doing to those we lead. This requires an ability to embrace new things. More specifically, those new things are what God is doing now. What God has done in the past is wonderful, but what God is doing in this moment is the testimony of His existence today. To be a leader we must embrace what is in the present and lead others from the past into the realities of today. There is a wonderful testimony of this in the first miracle recorded in the life of Jesus. It was in the turning of water to wine at the wedding celebration in Cana. It begins on a “third day”. Wherever we find a “third day” statement in the Scriptures we are reading something of the miracle working of God. The number three is prophetically symbolic of God in His godhead.  

John 2:1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” 4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

In this story the mother of Jesus, Mary, knew that the words of Jesus were the words of God. She knew that what He said would bring the life of heaven into the circumstance of the moment. God’s word to us today will bring the celebration of the life of God into our world today. As leaders we must embrace God’s words to us today above His words to us in the past. We must never let go of the foundation set in our lives because of what God did yesterday, but we must live to hear Him in every moment of our journey in life.

John 2:6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. 9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.

Embracing what God is doing today will often require us to embrace things that appear to be contrary to what He has said in the past. In this story, what were ceremonial washing pots to cleanse the outside had to become containers of living wine that activated life in the hearts of those who would drink it. What God did in our lives yesterday can often give us a feeling of security and sense of being holy, but only what God is doing in our lives today can give us the fullness of God’s life in our hearts and minds in this moment. Jesus came so that we would have abundant life, the eternal life that comes from intimately knowing God. He didn’t merely come to make us clean. He came to make us alive. Leaders must lead to the place of life, not merely a place of being clean. The servants at the wedding feast had to trust the words of Jesus. They had to believe that giving the water from the vessels to the master of the feast would not have grave consequences. The purpose of the vessels had changed. God’s word to us today will not change the truths of the past, but there will be a greater fullness of truth in embracing what God is doing today. In that process, the purpose of the vessels had to change. They were no longer vessels to wash in, but vessels to drink from. Leaders trust God in His words today and they know that God’s words today cannot be carried out in the same way they were in the past. The purpose of everything that serves God must be to serve God in the present reality of His present truth. God does not serve His purposes, His purposes serve Him!

John 2:10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

The master was astonished that the wine presented was better than any wine that had been served thus far in the celebration. The party had been going for some time and the guests had already feasted well. The wine created at the word of Jesus was the best wine to that moment in time. God always saves the best wine for NOW. NOW is not a memory of yesterday nor is it a hope for tomorrow. NOW involves the reality of the moment. Today is the day of God’s salvation. The moment before us is the opportunity for the fullness God’s life. As leaders we must seek to excel in embracing the moment before us. We cannot live in the past, and we cannot live to recreate the past. We must embrace what has not been seen, heard, or thought before and allow it to become the reality of our reality today.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we labor for eternal testimonies in those we lead. Those testimonies are transformations of hearts and minds that manifest in character, nature, way, power, and authority that are life-giving in substance and produce an inheritance that passes on to the generations of children and children’s children. They are the substance of true scribes in the kingdom of God.

Matthew 13:52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

A householder is the head of a house that passes on an inheritance to their children and their children’s children that transforms their world by heavenly things. Those heavenly things are things that have never been seen before and heavenly things that were antique and lost before their time. When someone realizes that the purpose of life is God’s kingdom, they accept the responsibility of who they are. They are then able to say, ‘here I am’ and they then unlock things that have never been and give continued destiny to things that were before. This is a testimony of gold, silver, and precious stone. It endures through the testing fires of time and becomes more enduring and valuable by the resisting forces of hell.

1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

The fire of God is not meant to destroy eternal realities. It purifies them. It burns the temporary things but refines the things that carry the substance of eternal life. These are the things of gold, silver, and precious stones. In biblical symbolism, gold is a testimony of divine influence. Silver is a testimony of redemptive power. Precious stones are symbolic of heavenly testimonies. Gold, silver, and precious stones are eternal by nature. Wood, hay, and straw are symbolic of human nature. They symbolize comfort, prosperity, and natural inheritances. These can be symbolic of the works of ministry that we do as leaders. They can represent our church functions, our mission organizations, our training schools, and any form we use to facilitate ministry in some way. As leaders we must know that what God does in the lives of those we lead is eternal, while the ministries that we use to facilitate those testimonies are only temporary. Our structures, methods, and means of ministry will change and even expire, but the testimony of God in the hearts and minds of those we lead is eternal. We cannot measure our success by the things of wood, hay, or straw. The true measurement of our leadership is seen in the personal connections with God found by those we lead. Our leadership is not meant to be bound to those in our immediate care, but it is even seen in the testimonies of God found in the lives in those who have moved beyond our immediate ministries. We will not know the full record until things are summed up in Christ for the glory of our heavenly Father. We live to see a personal connection with God in the hearts and minds of those we lead. This is the connection to the foundation of Jesus Christ. God’s field, God’s building, is not limited to our ministries. It is bigger than any form of ministry or structure we create. It is meant to fill the earth with a harvest for the glory of God in all things. As leaders we live to lead others in being part of something bigger than any form of wood, hay, or straw that we can create. We lead to assist God’s sons and daughters in making personal connections to God that exhibit eternal inheritances for the glory of God.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we are called to lead others into a life of embracing being sons and daughters of God. God wants to change the substance of humanity to become the testimony of their heavenly Father. He gives life so we can become expressions of life that partner with Him to bring life in all that we are and do. We are not merely men and women in this world. We are sons and daughters of God our Father. Christ in us is empowering us to live our lives as new creations. Being born again, is being born again! We were all born of a natural mother, but God invites us all to be born of a heavenly Father. It is as miraculous and a virgin giving birth to a child that is both a son of man and a son of God! This is the testimony of Christ in us!

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

As leaders, we set an example of being new creations in Christ. For this reason, we must be content with whatever boundary and sphere of influence God gives us in this world. We are called to be life and to bring life to our world. We must seek to be at peace with those in our territory and we must live to see unity in our connections with others. Our role as leaders is to plant, to water, to tend, to build and to labor in some way for the purpose of a harvest of life in those we lead. We are not called to make things grow in people’s lives. We are called to serve others in making connections to the One who makes all things grow in life. The attachment of every human life is an attachment to God as their Father. This is their connection to life. It is their true connection to their identity, testimony, and purpose in in this world.

1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Leaders are responsible to labor for the sake of those they lead, as we are all responsible to labor for a harvest of God’s kingdom to come and will to be done in our lives. That labor is a partnership with the Holy Spirit to see the reward of heavenly things in earthly realities. Heavenly realities are like gold; they exhibit the character, nature, way, power, and authority of God as the giver of life. They are like silver; they express the redemptive power of God’s love as an expression of true life. They are like precious stones; they reveal many diverse and precious testimonies of God in His eternal purposes in our lives. These are eternal building materials that influence the earth with heavenly things in a generational way.

1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Wood is a work that lasts more than one lifetime. It can be a testimony of human success. Apart from God this is the aim of natural inheritance. Hay symbolizes a work that lasts a lifetime. It is indicative of living to be of some natural importance in this world. Straw is symbolic of those who live for the comfort of each day. These are natural building materials for natural minded people. We are called to be sons and daughters of God for greater things. What greater purpose is there than to be people of God’s presence in this world?

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings:

The kingdom of God is in our hearts. It is Christ in us that is the hope of glory. The unshakable kingdom is who we are, not what we do. Who we are determines how we do every ‘what to do’ in life. Moses had to encounter the God of fire in the bush. He had to become consumed with the passion, zeal, and purpose of God in His heart. God showed up in a throne bush in the familiar world of Moses. Moses may have even experienced thorns in the past from this very bush or one like it. It was when he turned aside to look, that he experienced the presence of God in the bush. He had to be willing to turn aside and look into something that was familiar to him and had likely even wounded him in the past. We must be willing to look at the mundane, and sometimes even difficult experiences in our lives to find God for all the situations of our lives. When we see that God is an overcoming strength to us in the places of our pain, we can become empowered to know Him in His power in all the circumstances of our lives. Moses had to know who God was and who he was so he could lead a generation of slaves into becoming a people who could overcome all things for the sake of God and the generations of God’s children. As leaders, we are also called to lead people out of societies of darkness into the reality of living as sons and daughters of God in the light. We set an example in overcoming the influences of the power of darkness by the power of the kingdom of God working in our hearts. We overcome the things that try to shake us in life by the power of the unshakeable kingdom of God in our hearts. That unshakeable kingdom is the fruit of God’s manifest presence in our lives, even in our places of wounding and pain. We set an example and we also inspire those we lead to do the same in their lives.

Exodus 3:4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

In the same way that Moses needed an encounter with God as his God, we need a constant encounter with God in our lives. We can then lead others into an encounter of their own. We all must know that there is no separation between us and God. We also need to know that God and we lived together in all things. Moses needed a transformation by the life-giving God of heaven to lead God’s people into that same encounter in life. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt was more about becoming the testimony of the children of God upon the earth than about being freed from Egypt. This was but a shadow of what we live in as New Covenant people of God. Being freed from a life of sin is only the invitation to become an expression of God’s life-giving people upon the earth. God wants us to become heaven powered from within. When we are empowered from within, we can do all things without.

When Moses had his encounter with God in the burning bush, it was a commission for him to lead God’s people into the land of promise. The land was a good and a spacious land flowing with milk and honey. It was a land of blessing, but it was also a land of resistance. In the land was the Canaanite (self-seeking), Hittite (fearful), Amorite (bitter), Perizzite (superficially individualistic), Hivite (wicked – disconnected), Jebusite (trodden underfoot – trampled/defiled) and the Girgashite (discontent & wandering).  

Deuteronomy 7:1 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.

These inhabitants of the promised land are a testimony to the ways of the kingdoms of the world. The administration of the kingdoms of the world and the justice system of the knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong, has humanity bound to worldly testimonies. The administration of the knowledge of good and evil is not the same as an administration of life. When we embrace a justice system of knowledge we tend to approach life from a fair or unfair paradigm in our thinking. We measure justice by whether something is right to us or wrong. I believe that there is a right and there is a wrong, but the real issue is not right and wrong. The real issue is life and blessing or death and curse. Only a relationship with God can give us the true fire of life. When we have a relationship with God in our hearts we are given the ability to increasingly embrace an administration of life. We can receive a revelation of God’s love for us and thus we can be empowered to love others. The internal motives of our hearts can change from motives of self-desire to living for the wellbeing of others. By this we overcome the temptations to be self-seeking, fearful, bitter, superficially individualistic, wicked and disconnected, trodden underfoot and defiled, and the discontent and wandering in our hearts. It is for this that we lead!

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we are called to lead people in knowing God and knowing who they are as sons and daughters of God. We are planters, waterers, builders, and other terms that apply to the edification, exhortation, encouragement, comfort and strengthening of the family of God. We are called to labor for the purposes of the kingdom of God in the lives of those we are called to lead. The kingdom of God is the kingdom of our Lord and Christ – Jesus. It is a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit within the hearts of those who receive it. It is an internal kingdom that transforms the external expressions of the kingdoms of our lives and thus our kingdoms become kingdoms of our Lord and Christ. The external expressions of our lives are the outward evidence of the focus of our hearts and minds. The kingdom of God working in us is seen in the expressions of our kingdoms to this world. The unshakable kingdom God increasingly affects the shaking kingdoms of our world. What is the unshakable kingdom? Is it only the kingdom to come or is there a measure of the unshakeable kingdom in our lives today?

Hebrews 12:25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. 26 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” 27 This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

God is speaking to us in our spirits. This is the source of our faith and the empowerment of our obedience to God in all things. It is more powerful that the external voices in our world. It is the internal voice of the unshakeable kingdom of God. It is the internal voice that empowers internal changes in our lives. It is like leaven in the loaf of bread that fills it from the inside out. It is the germination of the seed of faith that becomes a growing tree. It is the brightness of the internal light that grows brighter and brighter every day. It is the testimony of the good work begun by God in our hearts that will be completed. As leaders, we embrace this truth; and we lead others into becoming increasingly stable in all their ways by the power of the kingdom of God working in their hearts. God is a consuming fire, and He is purifying our lives by consuming what can be consumed and refining all that reveals His glory in our lives. The kingdom of God is a greater kingdom than the kingdoms of this world and it is by the working of the internal kingdom of God in our hearts that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God.

The unshakable kingdom is who we are, not what we do. Who we are determines how we do every ‘what to do’ in life. Moses had to encounter the God of fire in the bush. He had to become consumed with the passion, zeal, and purpose of God in His heart. He needed an encounter with God as his God. He needed to know that there was no separation between him and God. He needed to know that God and he lived together in all things. Moses needed a transformation by the life-giving God of heaven to lead God’s people into that same encounter in life. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt was more about becoming the testimony of the children of God upon the earth than about being freed from Egypt. Being freed from a life of sin is only the invitation to become an expression of God’s life-giving people upon the earth. God wants us to become heaven powered from within. When we are empowered from within, we can do all things without. As leaders, we must be empowered from within, and we must lead others in being empowered by the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit in all things. By this, we can be unshakeable people of God in a shaking world, and we will shine as a light of truth and hope. We can be the light of Day into the darkness of the night!

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

What we do doesn’t determine who we are, but who we are is what empowers us to do the things we do. Who we are is most important in each of our lives. For this reason, we see the glory of God in our lives by the image that we see in the mirror. When we look at the reflection of our lives we see, though dimly, the testimony of what is happening inside of us by the power of Christ within. Our turning to the Lord is not in some distant place. It is within our hearts. It is in the place where our spirit joins the Spirit of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

What we are becoming is determined by the kingdom of God within us. Christ in us is the testimony of the kingdom of God within us. He is the source of our righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. God’s expression in our hearts transforms who we are for a greater purpose than ourselves. God’s voice in our hearts transforms us for the purpose of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God isn’t about the things we see or the things we do. It is about who we are by the power of Christ at work within our hearts and minds.

Luke 17:20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

The kingdom of God is not a natural kingdom, but when we discover the kingdom of God within us it affects even the practical things of our lives. The kingdom of God is within our hearts. It is a kingdom of knowing righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 14:17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

These three internal realities are all about knowing who God is and knowing who we are. It is not enough to know that God is, we must know who God is. God is the Son, Jesus; God is the Spirit, Holy Spirit; and God is the Father. He is the one who gives us life, breath, and all things. He wants us to know Him in the truth of His triune reality. Jesus is the one who saves us. He is our righteousness. He makes us come alive so that we can be life. We can only give life to our world if we are life. This is the substance of true righteousness. Christ in us reveals the testimony of being children of God because of Jesus our Savior in all things. He is our way to a relationship with God. He is our source of life. He is our righteousness. From our hearts we now know that God is our God! Holy Spirit in our lives is the testimony that there is no gap between us and God. We are growing as overcoming sons and daughters of God. We have peace in the Holy Spirit. We are sons and daughters of God! The evidence is both internal and external in our lives. We are expressions of God because there is no gap between us and God in the Spirit. This is our peace! God is our Father, and He is with us in all things. In His presence is the fullness of joy. That joy is in the internal place of the heart. It is joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy is not just happiness. Joy is the fullness of God’s focus, purpose, and destiny in our lives. God is the one who gives us all things. We live with Him in all things. God wants us to know who He is! It is a growing reality that makes us live as children, sons or daughters, and fathers or mothers in an intimate relationship with Him!

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