ted4leaders

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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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am gleaning from a subject that I blogged on in 2017, because the subject matter is very relevant for today. I felt impressed to revisit this regarding us being able to take in our hand what God has called us to take hold of in this present hour. God wants to bring a change in us, not merely a change of what we do. It is the change in us that will bring the change to our world. God is an I AM not an I DO. We must become a testimony of “i am” in Christ. As leaders, knowing who we are is more important than knowing what to do. We are not called to merely lead people in doing things for God. We are called to lead people in becoming who they are meant to be in Christ. The confession of our hearts cannot be one of the acts of our life, but that of the character of our lives. The character of who we are will not only define what we do, but also the reason for which we do all things. Knowing what to do is not enough. We must first know who we are. When we know who we are, we can easily discover the why of all the things we do in life. Knowing why we do what we do is more powerful than merely knowing what to do. Knowing why we do what we do will empower us to do anything and everything necessary in our path of destiny. Knowing why we do what we do will also inspire us to be creative in the changing seasons of our lives. To take hold of the new thing of God does not mean we forsake who we are or who we have been. It means we embrace a more mature reality of who we are for the sake of relevance today. Merely knowing what to do can leave us easily swayed from destiny when the style, method, and way of doing things changes in the seasons of God’s unfolding grace. Our focus and our passion can be easily extinguished when what we do is more powerful than why we do it.

I have been addressing the life of Moses in his path to carry the rod of deliverance for the Israelites. Moses was destined to be a deliver to his people, Israel. As a prince in Egypt, Moses knew what to do when he saw the oppression of the Israelites. He sought to deliver his people when he murdered the Egyptian. In his heart he knew what to do, but he had to become who he was meant to be before he could be entrusted with the task. He had to know that God’s purpose cannot be fulfilled without God’s presence in his life. His forty years in the wilderness was about becoming who he needed to be to deliver God’s people. It was not about knowing what to do. He needed an encounter with God, more than he needed instructions from God. He had to lose his old life and find it new! Every season of our lives is dependent upon us finding God’s presence in our lives. Every new thing requires a new discovery of God In the center of our being. It is God’s presence, testimony, and purpose in our lives that defines the reality of every season.

Who we are precedes the ‘what to do’s’ in our lives. Leaders are God’s gift to lead others into becoming who they are meant to be in Christ, not merely what to do in life. Who we are today is part of a continual process of change. The secret to being who we are today is finding the Lord in a fresh way in our lives today.

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.

The liberty of life is not found in what we do. It is found in what and who we become because of Christ in us. It is in our being that we are empowered in the doings. To lay hold of the new things of God we must first become a new expression of God in who we are. How many times do congregation members measure their leaders based on whether they think they know what they are doing or not? How many times do we all measure others based upon whether we think another knows what they are doing or not? Leadership is more about becoming than it is doing. Membership is more about embracing becoming what we are being led to become than what we are being led to do.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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