ted4leaders

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     Greetings,

What does it mean to be saved? Is being saved merely a ticket to heaven when we die, or is it a matter of bringing heaven into our lives now and for eternity? Jesus was the Father’s gift of love to redeem humanity. We were looking for a way to get to God, but He wanted us to understand that He desired to make a way to get to us. Religion alone seeks to get to God, but the intimacy of Christ within us seeks to bring God and heaven into our world. God has always desired to live with mankind in all things. He wants an intimate relationship that can support His purpose in all things. We were the ones preventing Him from coming near to our hearts, but the Father’s gift of His only begotten Son made it possible for us to see Him for who He really is. Seeing God for who He is has inspired us to invite Him into our lives, inside and out! This is the testimony of heaven’s grace, an administration of God’s transforming love. The administration of love cannot live in the atmosphere of law or promiscuity, but God has made a way by His gift of mercy to free us from the administrations of death.

John 3:18-21 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

God does not condemn the world. The administration of the knowledge of good and evil condemns the world. True light is love. It includes mercy, forgiveness, reconciliation, and all the things of true life. We cannot hold on to a justice system that demands others pay their debts to us when the gift of God to us was one that paid the debts of us all! Outside of Christ there is still a need for all to acknowledge the condemnation that they are bound to because of the administration they embrace. Only in Christ is that condemnation lifted. The New Covenant does not exist for all simply because Jesus died for all. The New Covenant is available to all, but it can only be attained through an exchange of administrations.

Mercy is obtained by an acknowledgement of mercy given. God loves us, but we don’t deserve His love. To think we deserve His love is an injustice in the covenant of law and conscience. The justice system of grace is available for all, but one must first receive the end of the justice system of law and conscience. That requires God’s mercy, and it can only be obtained through a revelation of the cross. The revelation of the cross is the love of a Father and a Son. It is the sacrifice of the Son for the sake of the Father’s will. It is the sacrifice of the Father to give His only Son that all might come and know the life of a son or daughter of God. It is the love of God for humanity that all might come to know the love of God. When we know the love of the cross we boldly come to the throne of God’s grace to demonstrate the love of the cross for the sake of others in our world.

Love is a revelation, and it includes God’s mercy and His grace. His mercy justifies us to live and His grace empowers us to live in life. It is a transition in the administration of each of our lives and it invokes the scandalous justice of God’s love. As leaders, we must demonstrate the love of God in our own lives for the sake of those we lead. We must lead others into the path of life, a path of being life for others in our world. It is a testimony of God’s love among the communities of mankind. It is not about works of ministry. It is about being a family of God’s love.

Leadership is a matter of becoming for the sake of others becoming also. We are not leading others to merely do what we do. We are leading them to invoke and inspire each one to find a relationship of life with God in all things. It is not a matter of doing; it is a matter of being. The word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood so that anyone and everyone in the neighborhood could become expressions of the life and love of God to their world. This is the testimony of God’s grace working in and through our lives.

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,

God has hidden the path of life in creation. This has been true from the beginning of time. It is still true in the lives of all people. Although the path is hidden in creation, the key to living a life that creates a path of life for others is to live in an intimate relationship with God as the Creator of all things. When we have an intimate relationship with God as our Father, the One who creates all things, we become creative sons and daughters of God in all things. As leaders we must be creative in all that is given to us for the sake of those we lead. We cannot just find the path of life; we must create a path in our world that empowers others to find and be a path of life in the world given to them for the sake of others. In a covenant of information, the path of life is merely a shadow of an intimate relationship with God that creates a path of life for others. In a covenant of intimacy and transformation, the path of life is being the substance of life in every situation of our lives.

Today I feel impressed to post portions of a blog that I presented several years ago. I believe that the issue of government in the earth is a matter of knowledge (information) or a knowing (intimacy). There is a place for both, but only one leads to life. An administration of a knowledge of good and evil only serves to direct us to the administration of knowing, an administration of God’s grace that transforms our lives. The administration of information serves as a teacher to direct everyone to the administration of life. God doesn’t want anyone to live their lives with an administration of information. He wants everyone to be governed by His grace, His manifest presence working in our lives by the grace of His Spirit in and with us in all things. The world of information alone is only a tutor meant to communicate to us our need for an administration of grace made possible by the judgment of God’s love that comes as mercy to justify us to live by grace.

The kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of the world. The justice system of the kingdom of God can transform the kingdoms of the world, but until the kingdoms of the world choose to embrace the kingdom of God they are still stuck in the administration of the kingdoms of the world. The administration of the kingdoms of the world is one of a knowledge of good and a knowledge of evil. It is an Old Covenant administration, and its base of justice is established upon what is right and what is wrong. That administration most commonly becomes expressed as what one thinks is right and what one thinks is wrong. It is a system that constantly battles to define what is good and what is evil. It is self-preserving in its character and therefore the definitions of good and evil within its sphere of influence often becomes defined by its own self-preserving mentality. This is the way of the world. It is the way of the kingdoms of the world. It is the way of the kingdoms of self. Every war is fought over a knowledge of good and a knowledge of evil. Every relationship is disintegrated over a knowledge of good and a knowledge of evil. The only eternal judgment that can release someone bound to a worldly kingdom is one of triumphant mercy. A judgment of mercy will not prevent evil from happening again, it only clears the way for grace to transform the heart and mind of the one who receives mercy. This is the power of grace. Mercy justifies us to live, while grace empowers us to live. Jesus made a judgment of mercy for all of mankind by being a man of love and not a man of law. His exit strategy for the kingdoms of the world is a death of the administration of the kingdoms of the world and a new birth with a new administration of the kingdom of God. Only in Christ can we find the true substance of life. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Secularism, Atheism, Sikhism, Judaism, Shamanism, Satanism, Paganism, Spiritism, Mysticism, Agnosticism, or any other religion of the world is not a way to life. Not even Christianity as merely a religion. No religion is a way to God; only truth within the human heart can lead to true life. Only Christ inside the heart of humanity is the way of life. The kingdom of God can only be discovered within the human heart and the testimony of life is only discovered through Christ in each of us. This is not the same as mere Christianity. It is Christ in the heart of humanity. Religion alone still leaves mankind bound to the system of the knowledge of good and evil, it does not transition them into the administration of true life. Only an administration of love can transition us from the kingdoms of the world to the kingdom of life in Christ.

Colossians 1:13-14 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (NAS)

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Ephesians 1:7-10 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth…

True creativity is revealed in the ability to make things come alive for the sake of life for others in our world. As leaders we must find the grace of God to be creative in every situation of our lives to bring life at all times to our world. Our role as leaders is to lead others into this truth where each one has an intimate relationship with God, the Creator of life in all things.

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,

God has put the path of life and the path of death in creation. That path is not meant to merely bring blessings into our lives. It is meant to reveal who God is in our lives and to beckon a response from us to know God in and from our hearts. It is through a relationship with God that we become the true likeness and image of God with the revelation and authority to open the path of life in the earth for creation and the world in which we live. We become like Him when we seek and find Him. It is not Him knowing us that makes us like Him. It is us knowing Him that empowers us to become expressions of Him and His life. God wants us to find Him that we might know Him and become who we are meant to be for the glory of God in the earth. God has hidden the mystery of His godhead within the fabric of creation. Creation is an expression of the Creator and like the Law, it is a shadow of what is really true and good. It is a reflection of who God is. When Abel gave God his offering of the first and of the best it was at a discovery of something hidden in the laws of creation that were a shadow of an intimate relationship with God. An intimate relationship with God will reveal that He is first in life and that the best of life belongs to Him. When we put God first, God becomes first in all that we are and all that we have. When God is first all of the rest is blessed. An intimate relationship with God will also reveal that when we give God the best, even the least in our lives becomes the best by God’s presence in even the least. These things are hidden in creation, but they are made fully real in our lives as new creations in Christ. Abel discovered these truths by revelation.

Genesis 4:1-5 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

Abel’s offering of the first and of the best were a testimony of honor to God. As leaders we must set an example in honoring God and in inspiring others to honor Him. In this, the path of life is found. Mankind is the highest level of creation in the earth. Men and women were created in the likeness and the image of God. When the highest form of creation honors the Creator, the rest of creation honors mankind. Able discovered this truth hidden in the fabric of creation. Cain, the firstborn, did not understand these truths because his focus and desire was for himself. As a self-seeking man he failed to discover the secret of honor to God. His end result was that of murdering his brother Abel, leaving the presence of God, and becoming a vagabond and wanderer in the earth. God didn’t put those things upon him, he embraced a path that was less than the life that God had place before him in the earth. God has placed a path before us all that is a path of life, but we must honor God to find the path of life set before us by God in the earth. Although Cain killed Abel, Jesus was the redemption of the path of Abel that gave all of mankind an access to God as Father in a path of honor in the earth. The blood of Jesus is the life-force for redemption of all of mankind whereby we can each hear God in our hearts and live a life of honor to God in all things. The blood of Jesus is the gift of God’s mercy that leads to the power of God’s grace that we might know God intimately and find the path of life set for us all in the earth.

Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Abel recognized that God was the first and God was the best. There was no commandment. There was only a revelation of honor hidden in creation that was discovered by Abel. Because He saw who God really was, it was easy for Him to give offerings that were expressions of who God was. God honored Abel because Abel’s offerings were ones of honor to God. Jesus offered the greater honor to God as a man. He gave His life as a firstborn for all who find themselves in Christ. He was the best who enabled even the least of men to become the best in all that they are in Christ. Jesus did these things because He saw who God really was. He saw Him as the Father of life, the One who empowers us all to be the likeness and image of God in the earth. Jesus was the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person in human flesh. This is the ultimate destiny for us all. As leaders we must lead others in becoming lights of the Father’s glory and expressions of His image to the world in which we live. This is the path of life that brings life to our world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of

Blog In Audio:

    Greetings;

Last week I began with a theme of leading others in a path of life and salvation in our journey as children of God and overcoming sons and daughters growing in maturity. Our salvation is not merely a matter of going to heaven when we die. It is a matter of bringing the influence of heaven into our lives in this earth. The internal kingdom of God within each of us causes our external kingdoms to be expressions of the kingdom of God in character, nature, way, power, and authority. As we saw last week, Paul’s words in Romans chapter 10 were not merely words of receiving Jesus into our lives. They were words concerning living our lives as sons and daughters of God with Jesus as Lord of all that we are and do. They were words of God’s salvation in every situation of our lives. Paul was quoting the Old Testament word of Moses as a shadow of our walk in life in Christ.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 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. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 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. 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; 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.”

God’s words were to His people in regard to their possession of, and their testimony in, the Promised Land. As I have written, I believe that the true Promised Land is to know righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit in our hearts (Rom. 14:17). The mystery of the word of God being in our hearts and mouths is only made known through the power of Christ within us. It is not some mystery. It is a revelation of Christ within us. It is not a matter of good and evil, it is a matter of life and death. God has always desired to give mankind the option of choosing life in all things. That life inspires a love for God with all of our hearts, souls, and lives. It is a testimony of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles in the lives of those who believe. The New Covenant is the means by which Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles finally become a reality among men.

Jesus said that when the seed of His word falls on good soil it can bring a harvest that is one hundred, sixty, or thirty fold (Mt. 13:8). I believe that these measures are symbolic of Tabernacles, Pentecost, and Passover. Passover is the testimony of loving God with all of our hearts. To have a Passover confession of Christ in our hearts is a ‘God did it’ thing! It is the testimony of Christ within us that inspires us to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. The shedding of the blood of Christ has granted us the grace of God’s Spirit within us. God’s mercy justifies us to live and His grace empowers us to come alive in Him (Rom. 5:9-10). Like a blade of wheat that breaks through the soil, we have a testimony of being alive in Christ. Jesus has passed over our sins and empowered us to confess our love for God from within. We have been granted a revelation of God’s love for us in Christ and by this we have become empowered from within to confess that God is our God. If 3 is a prophetic symbol of God (Trinity) and 10 is a prophetic symbol of God’s judgment of love (as 10 commandments is a completion of the law with a testimony of loving God and loving others) a thirty fold harvest (3 x 10) is at least a confession of the human heart that declares we are alive in Him. He is our God! ¹

As leaders, we must embrace a path of being an overcomer and we must lead others into that same destiny. Death is not something that God puts upon anyone; it is the result of not choosing the path of life that God has set before us. The internal kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit is the life-force of destiny in our journey as sons and daughters of God in this world. God has established the truth of life and death in the very fabric of creation. In Christ we become the body of Christ that exhibits the characteristics of being sons and daughters of God. Creation honors the likeness and image of God in the earth when the likeness and image of God honors God. When those who are meant to be the likeness and image of God honor a lesser likeness and image than God they bind the earth from being a life-giving resource to men. The land will eject men and women who are not true to who God made them to be. Only in our true identity as sons and daughters of God can we release the life and liberty of God in creation.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

¹  Ted J. Hanson, The Now Covenant – Christ In You The Hope of Glory, (Bellingham, WA: House of Bread Publishing, 2015), pp. 108-109.

The Now Covenant

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 our ultimate goal is to lead others to become growing, maturing sons and daughters of God. The role of leaders is that of fathers and mothers, parental attributes of knowing the value of being a child at heart but also an overcomer as a maturing son or daughter of God. Today I am going to present some text from my book, The Now Covenant, to inspire us to lead others into a path of life, overcoming, and salvation in any situation in life. The kingdom of God is an internal kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. This is an internal relationship of knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior, Holy Spirit as God in His power and presence, and our Father God in partnership of purpose and destiny. That internal kingdom of God causes our external kingdoms to be expressions of the kingdom of God in character, nature, way, power, and authority.

Being a manifested son or daughter of God is not just an instant manifestation upon accepting Jesus into one’s life. It is an ongoing process that daily happens because Christ lives within the believer. In the New Covenant we are internally empowered to go through whatever is necessary to be filled with the knowledge of God’s glory. It works on good days and on bad days. It is a place of finding God’s life in every moment of our journey in life. It is a place where the believer is changed from glory to glory from within. It is a testimony of the Holy Spirit at work in the human heart. We aren’t merely granted a ‘get out of hell free card’ or an ‘entrance ticket to heaven’ when we die. We were given the power of God’s grace that changes us on a daily basis. We are disciples of Christ walking under the influence of Christ’s life. We are under the discipline of God’s grace. This is not a discipline of instructions concerning what to do or how to act. It is not a discipline of law, as was the case in the Old Covenant. It is a discipline of God’s presence at work within us. It is the very presence of Christ within us that changes our character, nature, way, power, and authority. The word of God is near to us. It is in our hearts and in our mouths that we may walk in the ways of God in this life. This was promised in the Old Covenant, but the shadow of the Old only pointed to the reality of what can only be found in the New Covenant life of Christ.

Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

These verses are often used to inspire someone to confess Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Although there is a certain measure of truth in that application of this Scripture, these verses are talking about something much more. In order to understand these verses written by Paul, we must also read the verses written by Moses. Paul was quoting the words of Moses that pertained to the ability of God’s people to walk and live in the Promised Land given to them by God. These verses are not about a confession that grants us entrance to heaven when we die. They are verses that pertain to a heavenly testimony within our lives in this world. I believe that the Promised Land of the New Covenant is to live in this life with a testimony of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit within our hearts (Rom. 14:17). It works in any life, any circumstance, any situation, any generation, any nation, and any time in humanity’s journey. The testimony of Christ within us grants us a transition to heavenly glory when we die, but it also grants us a daily change in our lives in this world. Let’s look at the words written by Moses that Paul is quoting in this text of Romans.

Deuteronomy 30:11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

God’s promise was that He would be with His people on a daily basis and that He would make it possible to walk in the life He had promised. This pertains to confessing from our hearts that God is our God. It pertains to conclusive evidence that reveals an outward testimony that we are God’s people. It also pertains to a daily reality of living together with God in all things. It is not some testimony that is yet to come from heaven. It is not the result of a further sacrifice of the flesh. It is the testimony of Christ within the believer.¹

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

¹  Ted J. Hanson, The Now Covenant – Christ In You The Hope of Glory, (Bellingham, WA: House of Bread Publishing, 2015), pp. 106-107.

  The Now Covenant

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

     Greetings;

Today I want to remind us as leaders to keep the main thing, the main thing. The main thing is Jesus is Lord and Christ. Together we are the body of Christ at all times for all things in every situation. We as leaders must keep our focus right in order to lead others to have a right focus at all times. The desires of our hearts and the thoughts of our minds must be motivated by a love impassioned by Jesus. We have just come through another political season in America and are still in that battle. Some are rejoicing with what they believe to be a great victory, while others are standing strong believing for a different outcome. No matter what the end result will be, we must keep the main thing, the main thing. We must embrace a prophetic spirit with a prophetic attitude, prophetic thoughts, prophetic words, and prophetic actions at all times. I define prophecy as God speaks and life happens. God’s words of life are not words bound by good and evil or right and wrong. They are words that express our Father’s heart of mercy and forgiveness with a willingness to partner with us in all things for an outcome of life. God is calling us all to be a part of the bride of Christ that brings the life of God to the earth in every situation at all times. As leaders we set an example in being part of the body of Christ with the anointing and life-giving testimony of Christ. This involves a right attitude of our hearts at all times. The apostle Paul encouraged the church of Thessalonica to keep a right focus in difficult times. God is not wanting us to escape this world, but to be life in every season and in every situation we find ourselves in in this world.

1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. 23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

Rejoicing is a decision of our hearts and it is an attitude of our souls. Praying is a face-to-face relationship with God ever hour of every day. Being thankful is not merely reserved for good days, but it is a thankfulness for God’s presence in our lives even on days that to appear to have a different outcome than we desire. Letting the Spirit of God flow in our lives is a matter of having an attitude of being life-giving at all times. Wrong decisions may not grieve the Holy Spirit; but having a wrong attitude will surely grieve the Spirit of God. We can be adjusted in our path if the attitude of our hearts allows the Spirit to flow in our life. Not despising prophecies is to choose to have a strong value for, use of, and a declaration of God’s voice in and through our lives at all times. God speaks and life happens! His voice is not a voice of vindication from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is a voice inspired by the justice system of life from the tree of life. We must walk a path of peace where perfect peace will guide our hearts at all times. By this we can test all things. There will be plenty of bad things that come our way in life. There will be a lot of unfair situations that will occur, but we must hold fast to all that is good even in difficult times. Abstaining from evil is to choose not to act as those in the world even when those in the world treat us as people in the world do. God’s promise is one of sanctification of our whole being. We can be assured of God’s salvation for our spirits, souls, and bodies in every situation we find ourselves in life. As leaders we must set an example in these things and we must lead others to embrace this way of life. It is a way of those who are part of the family of life. Our family tree is the tree of life and nothing can alter this truth or our purpose of life in this path. God is faithful and He will help us at all times.

Our passion must be for Jesus! We must take the same stand as Jesus when He stood upon the judgement nail of the knowledge of good and evil and pronounced a judgment of mercy and love. We must be merciful, gracious and forgiving of others at all times. If we keep the main thing, the main thing we can be assured of a future and a hope in every season of our journey in life. As leaders, let us lead others in the path of life.

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 I shared last week, I received a prophetic picture through a member of G42 where a young lady saw me in a backyard setting and I was working on the back fence of the backyard. It was a wooden fence and I was making sure it was in good repair, but I was not making it new. I wasn’t painting the fence. I was buffering the wood to make it look as it had been. As I presented this word to God in my own personal meditation I felt that God spoke to me clearly.

As I previously wrote, my back fence is what defines the beginning of my backyard. Where the church is today is defined by the end of what God did yesterday. Without a visible fence in the back of my backyard, there is no defining point of where my space is now. Restoring the fence in a condition of wood that looks as it was is significant of being sure that the principles, patterns, and values of the past are not lost, but also that they are not walked out in the same activity and cosmetics as the past in the present. The fence was not painted. It was restored to the past condition for the sake of the present, it didn’t seek to be a fence that tried to put the things of the past into my backyard. The methods and means of the past are not the methods and means of the present, but the principals, patterns, and values of the past must define the boarder that allows us to live as we should today. We cannot lose the gold, silver, and precious stones of the past. We can only move beyond the straw, hay, and wood of the past. The substance of the past is generational in purpose, but we must find the treasures of heaven in the ground of today or we will only have the human efforts of men in what we do today. We must let go of methods, but we cannot let go of values. When we lose the past, we don’t know where we are today.

Wisdom is found in the path that is furtherance of where we have come from, but it doesn’t hold us in what was yesterday. Like the ant, the street of our journey defines the season of today and we can recognize the change of seasons. The season has changed, but the path is a continuance of where we have come from.

Wisdom also raises her voice in the open squares; it is like a rock badger in its quest to live. Though the rock badger is small and not considerably strong, it uses its natural environment to get its foods. It builds it home in the crags of the rocks and uses its house as a place of protection and a way of surprising its prey to sustain itself in life. What in the open squares of our lives leads to the destiny of God’s glory? What is obvious around us and can serve us in our roles in the destiny of life? Some of the obvious things are the things that have been established in our surroundings by the work of others. We must be attentive to what is working today and we cannot mourn for the loss of what worked yesterday. We may seem feeble and small, like the rock badger, but something in our present will empower us to be all we are called to be in Christ. I am not merely talking about natural things, but things of the Spirit of God that are working today. We must be led by the Spirit of God to be people of faith. This is the testimony of being sons and daughters of God.

Wisdom cries out in the chief concourses; it is like the locust. The locust realizes that if it lives in close relationship with other locusts it can do impossible things. What relationships are in our lives? How do those relationships serve the purpose of who we are? Who are we joined to? Our direction forward is connected to the relationships given to us in life. Our relationships in life are part of our inheritance in life. Those relationships are meant to lead us to others even as Paul told Timothy to find faithful men who would be able to teach others also. What God is doing today is connected to the relationships of our past, but not restrained by them. Relationships of life always lead to increased life! It is time for a furtherance of community and testimony of the family identity, testimony, and purpose in all things. This is not merely a day of great ministry; it is a furtherance of great family purpose!

Wisdom speaks at the gates in the city; it is like a spider or a lizard. Spiders or lizards are small, but they are faithful with what they can grasp hold of, and they end up in influential places. Their influence in the city comes from their personal abilities. Those abilities are part of who they are, and they are merely faithful with what is in front of them. What are our present abilities and how are we being faithful today with what is directly in front of us? This will lead to a journey of influence in life. Our abilities were given to us for advancing God’s glory in the earth! How our abilities worked for us yesterday may not be how they work for us today. We must know who we are and what we are able to do in every season of our lives.

What are the things that we inherit? What is it that we must advance in the generations of men? The instructions of our fathers with the principals, patterns, and values given to us are the substance of inheritance to the future. Cultures and societies of the world reject the instructions of their fathers and the substance given them by their mothers. They think themselves to be wiser than the past. Wisdom is not found in the past; it is found in the things that are being given to us by God in heaven. It is found the instructions, principles, patterns, and values of the past set as a foundation for our hearing of wisdom today. The back fence of our back yard must be a present reality, but it is a present reality to define the back yard of our place of kingdom influence 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

     Greetings;

As leaders we must know where we have come from, where we are, who is in our connection of relationships that leads to the future, and how does who we are today bring a life giving influence so that that life giving influence can be an increased life flow for tomorrow. This is the testimony of wisdom. I have written on finding wisdom in past blogs, but I feel inspired by God to refresh us as leaders and as members of Christ’s body in order to move forward in an expectation of life and life-giving authority.

Last week I spent the week training, activating, and facilitating prophetic words in the lives of some great young people at the G42 Leadership Academy in Georgia. When I do this I often get some great words myself. I sometimes step in front of a student in training and inspire them to declare what they see. In such a moment, a wonderful young daughter of God said that she saw me in a backyard setting and I was working on the back fence of the backyard. It was a wooden fence and I was making sure it was in good repair, but I was not making it new. I wasn’t painting the fence. I was buffering the wood to make it look as it had been. As I presented this word to God in my own personal meditation I felt that God spoke to me clearly.

I believe that 2020 is a season of living in our backyards. All through the summer I have been functioning in the backyard of my home. It is in the backyard that my garden grows, the fruit of my garden in harvested, and I reap the benefits of what grows in my plot of ground. My backyard has grape vines, apple trees, pear trees, raspberry bushes, strawberry plants, blueberry bushes, all kinds of vegetables, flowers, shrubs, and decorative plants of a diverse nature. My backyard has lawn chairs, a table, a hammock, a barbeque grill, and lots of things that pertain to enjoying life personally as well as with family and friends. My backyard represents a place of God’s presence for me in my possession of property. In 2020 I have had conversations over the fence with my neighbors, because it seems the families in my neighborhood have become backyard inhabitants in this season. I believe the church is in a backyard season. It is a season of intimate connection, but not one of performance and visible outreach. This is not a front yard season, but a time to live in the space of more personal connection with God and a few others who are close. It is a time of family, and not a time for strangers. I know that each yard that connects to my yard is also defined by the same things that are going on in my space. I can hear the sounds of children jumping on trampolines, playing with balls (that sometimes stray over into my yard) and I can smell the acroama of barbeque grills making family favorites. Everyone’s backyard is defined by the expressions of family and close relationships.

What is the significance of by backyard fence? My back fence is what defines the beginning of my backyard. Where the church is today is defined by the end of what God did yesterday. Without a visible fence in the back of my backyard, there is no defining point of where my space is now. I believe that God showed me that restoring the fence in a condition of wood that looks as it was is significant of being sure that the principles, patterns, and values of the past are not lost, but also that they are not walked out in the same activity and cosmetics as the past in the present. The methods and means of the past are not the methods and means of the present, but the principals, patterns, and values of the past must define the boarder that allows us to live as we should today. We cannot lose the gold, silver, and precious stones of the past. We can only move beyond the straw, hay, and wood of the past. I believe that the wood of the back fence represents the substance of the past that is intended to be generational in purpose, but we must find the treasures of heaven in the ground of today or we will only have the human efforts of men in what we do today. We must let go of methods, but we cannot let go of values. When we lose the past, we don’t know where we are today.

How do we attach to the things of the past with the revelation of the present? We cannot be bound to the past; we must be thrust forward because of it. It is wisdom that will keep us in the path of destiny, but where do we find wisdom?

Proverbs 1:20 Wisdom calls aloud outside; she raises her voice in the open squares. 21 She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words…

The New American Standard Bible uses the word street for outside. In these verses we see that wisdom is found in the street, in the open squares, in the chief concourses, and in the gates of the city. To understand these four things, we must compare them to four small creatures described by Solomon in Proverbs chapter 30.

Proverbs 30:24 There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise: 25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer…

Wisdom is in the street; it is like an ant. The ant knows what season it is; it knows where it is in life by where it is in the journey of life. Is it winter? Is it summer? It doesn’t need to be told by a commander; it knows where it is in the journey of life. What time is it? What is necessary today? There will be more to do tomorrow, but what is the present season of life? We cannot understand the season of today without first understanding the seasons of the past. The seasons of the past are what brought us to the season of today. The things that are necessary today are connected to the things that have led to this moment from the past. The things that are necessary today are also connected to the things that will be for the sake of others tomorrow. To know what can be true today we have to know what has been true from our past. That is not just our past, but our multigenerational past in the journey of Christ’s destiny.

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

    Greetings,

1 Thessalonians 5:20 Do not despise prophecies.

Sometimes it is good to revisit some things that God has said in order to see what God is doing. Today I am compelled to post a prophecy and declaration that I wrote in 2011. I believe we are in the midst of this challenge. We are the people of God for such a time as this. Here is some of the prophecy that I spoke July 8, 2011:

The Lord says He’s seeking for a Jacob generation that He might turn the Jacob generation into the “inheriting ones”. “And even now, there’s a transition”, says God, “in My Body and those who have sought to seek and find Me are going to discover that I’m the One Who seeks to find them. And in the place of wrestling, there’s a breakthrough.” For God says, “I’m bringing forth My ‘inheriting one’. I’m bringing forth My Israel. I’m bringing forth My Prince with God. There was a time and there was a season when I sought for those who would be a Jacob generation, but hear the Word of the Lord! Hear the Word of the Lord! Hear the Word of the Lord! This is the day for Me to lay hold of you! This is not the day for you to lay hold of Me! This is the day for Me to lay hold of you – and in Me laying hold of you, it’s time for you to endure! It’s time for you to hold on, and it’s in that place of wrestling that there’s going to come forth as an inheritance – there’s going to come an inheritance!”

There’s a shift in the Spirit. Don’t seek the thing that was before. Seek that which is beyond that which was before. Seek that which is the increase. Seek that which is the ‘more’. For this is not a time to break away. This is a time to stand fast and say, ‘Our God has come! He has laid hold of us and we will not let go of that which He has laid hold of!’”

The substance of this prophecy is found in Isaiah, Chapter 32. The Prophet Isaiah was prophesying of the day of the born again sons of God.

Isaiah 32:1-8 “Behold a King will reign righteously, and princes will rule justly. Each will be like a refuge from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry country, like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land. Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, and the ears of those who hear will listen. The mind of the hasty will discern truth, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly. No longer will the fool be called noble, or the rogue be spoken of as generous. For a fool speaks nonsense, and his heart inclines toward wickedness: to practice ungodliness and to speak error against the Lord. To keep the hungry person unsatisfied and to withhold drink from the thirsty. As for a rogue, his weapons are evil; he devises wicked schemes to destroy the afflicted with slander, even though the needy one speaks what is right. But the noble man devises noble plans; and by noble plans he stands.” (NAS)

God wants us to embrace a multigenerational vision. That vision will be filled with noble plans, noble schemes, and noble strategies. We are to live as princes who rule as a refuge from the wind because our vision is not just for the moment, but for the destiny of God’s name in the earth. We are a shelter from the storm, for we are those who have stood fast through every storm. We will be water in a dry country, because these are those who have found water in a dry place! We will be shade from a parched land, for these are those who have not wilted in the day and in the heat.

God wants to lay hold of us as the ‘Israel’ generation of His name. These are the inheriting ones. It is key to know that a mantle of strategy and noble plans is coming on His inheriting Church. We must be the ones who will rule in His character, nature, way, power, and authority. We must be a family that rules in His name. We cannot live constantly seeking to find the blessing of God; we must know that in Christ we are the blessing of God. We need a revelation of being princes who will be a refuge from the wind, for we know how to withstand the wind. We are a shelter from the storm, for we have stood fast through every storm. This is not just in our lifetime, but in the history of our multigenerational family. We are water in a dry country, because our family knows how to find water, even in the driest of times. We are shade to a parched land, for our family has not wilted in the day and in the heat.

The plans and strategies of this ‘Israel’ generation will teach the children of the nations to stand in the midst of the winds of adversity and to become a strength by which generations can stand. They will disciple nations to endure the storms and to become shelters for their own children from every storm. They will show peoples how to find the water of life in the dry places and how to release water for the planting of the trees of generations. They will mentor families to find God as the One who empowers them in the heat of every day and those families will empower others also in God in the midst of the heat of every day. The rivers of the past have been the rivers of a Jacob generation. They have been rivers of blessings. But God is releasing now the rivers of planting. These are the rivers that make us become a blessing. These are the deep waters of inheritance that raise up every man and woman in the inheritance of Christ’s name. This is who we are!

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 leading others to be the testimony of the glory of God in this world and into eternity. We lead people into the increasing testimony and glory of the kingdom of heaven. Our destiny is not Nirvana, dust, or the grave. We reign on a throne in Christ now and into eternity and we manifest the glory that He sups and dines with us and we with Him. It is through a partnership with God in all things in the awe of God in all ways that we are able to reign in life. It is through a partnership with God by the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord.

Romans 5:17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

There is one God in us and our children and our children’s children will reign with God in life beyond the ceiling or our own lives. We wear the grace of the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord, praying always in the Spirit with an awe of His presence and glory in all things. We are the essence of the prayer of God to bring forth the full harvest of His destiny in the earth. We have obtained mercy and now we reign in Christ!

God’s grace is not His favor without change. God’s grace is His change made known in our lives that testifies of His favor. We are clothed in the power of God’s grace and we are dispossessing the enemy of Christ’s inheritance in the earth. Where the soles of our feet walk it is becoming the inheritance of God in the earth. His enemies are being made His footstool because His presence rests in and upon our lives as the children of God. The seventh and final piece of spiritual armor is the ability to pray in the Spirit.

Ephesians 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

The apostle Paul said that if we pray in a tongue our spirit prays and our understanding is unfruitful. Therefore he said he would pray in tongues and he would pray in the understanding. Praying in the Spirit is an utterance of God.

1 Corinthians 14:13 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.

Tongues are an utterance of God. The seventh piece of the armor of God’s grace is to pray always with all prayer in the Spirit. That means all kinds and all times! It means every time we pray! If we pray in tongues we pray in the Spirit. If we pray in a tongue then we pray the perfect will of God by giving utterance to the call of the Holy Spirit joined to our spirits (Rom. 8:25, 26). If we pray in a tongue then we can also ask to receive the understanding of that tongue so that we might also pray in the understanding. When we pray in the Spirit we don’t pray according to our words, we pray according to God’s. It starts in a mystery and is made full in a clear declaration of understanding. When we pray in the Spirit we pray the mystery of God (1 Cor. 14:2; 2:6-14). When we pray in the Spirit, we don’t pray according to our souls’ doubts and unbelief. When we pray in the Spirit it builds up our most holy faith (Jude 20). Faith doesn’t come by praying in the Spirit, it comes by hearing God in our spirits. Praying in the Spirit stirs our own spirit to hear from God and overpowers being influenced the things that seek to derail our faith through an influence upon our souls. Praying in the Spirit is an important weapon against the enemy!

Sometimes praying in the Spirit will be groans or travail (Jn. 11:33, 38; Rom. 8:26). Sometime there will be visual expression, even as there is in the ministry of prophecy (Ezek. 2; Acts 21:11). Whatever the expression of the Spirit might be, WE MUST PRAY IN THE SPIRIT!

I believe that praying in the Spirit includes the mystery of tongues but also the Sprit led words of God’s understanding. This is not our understanding. It is an understanding that comes by an awe of God. It is inspired prayer motivated by the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord.

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