ted4leaders

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   Greetings;

As leaders we must lead people with expectations of life even in the midst of difficult times. We have a great example in God’s word in the testimony of Jeremiah’s prophetic word concerning the captivity of Israel in Babylon. God did not expect the captivity of Babylon to stop His people from being His people. His hope was that His people would become seekers of His presence in the midst of their world. We must know that our present expectations must be that God is good in all things, even when things don’t appear to be good. God’s thoughts for us are thoughts of a future and a hope and not of despair. His promise is that nothing can separate us from His love. Because of His love, we can expect to find our future and hope in Him at all times. Our future and hope can include the appointment of destined deliverances, but His future and hope can also be found in the midst of what we might consider to be lesser times of freedom. I am not saying that our day is meant to be a day of lesser freedom, I am simply saying that all situations and all times are spaces of time to reveal God’s glory in increasing ways.

Jeremiah 29:4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6 Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. 7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. 9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord. 10 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

God told the children of Israel to seek the peace of the city of their captivity. They were to pray to the Lord for it. It would be that in its peace, they would have peace. We do not find our hope in the world around us, but God intends for the circumstances of our habitations to be places that serve us well. Like the children of Israel, He wants us to raise families, build houses and dwell in them, and to live our lives for the glory of God in all things. God has a future for us that is brighter than today, but even today God is still our God.  We must put our trust in God and pray that God’s favor in our lives will bring peace to the world around us. For this reason, we must pray for our communities, our regions, and our countries of dwelling in this world. We are the salt of the world and the light of the world. God doesn’t want to destroy the world around us, He wants our presence in our world to bring life to the world. Do we know the life of the kingdom of God that is within us? It is the life of the kingdom of God within us that offers hope to the world around us. We can expect God’s good word in our day. We can expect that God will bring His blessings. It is a time to seek God with all our hearts and it is time to pray for His peace in our places of dwelling. The nations are called to serve God, God is not called to serve them. The earth desires to provide for the sons and daughters of God, but we must live, move, and have our being as sons and daughters of God with an expectation that our heavenly Father is good.

It is God’s will for there to be peace in our world because of us. It is God’s will for us to pray for the prosperity of our communities that we might prosper in their prosperity. Peace is not merely the absence of conflict; it is the blessings of life in every measure. Our true peace is in God, but because we have peace with God we can expect that there will be a natural influence in our world because God is in our lives. God desires to make a way for us to be provided for in all situations. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah didn’t seek to escape their captivity. They sought to serve God with their whole hearts in the midst of their captivity. They also served the king of Babylon in integrity and honor. They did not compromise in their faith, but they did seek to live in honor while they were in Babylon. Our focus should always be upon building and dwelling, sowing and reaping, marriages, families, and the furtherance of relationships in all things. Our plan should always be a multigenerational plan. Our thoughts should be thoughts of good and not evil. They should be thoughts of expectation that encourage our hearts and minds to know that God is working all things for our good. We have a future and a hope because of God’s great love.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Help us fulfill our mission!

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

www.houseofbreadministry.org

www.ted4you.com

www.ted4leaders.com

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 tree of life produces the fruit of life. The family of life produces the fruit of life for the sake of all who need life in the world. That fruit is life-giving to all who eat it. As leaders, we are leading others into the testimony of life. We are the people of God and it is the fruit of our lives that testifies to this truth. Natural knowledge feeds our perceptions to make judgments according to the understanding of our own hearts and the thoughts of our own minds. It is only the knowledge of God that empowers our lives to bear the fruit of true life. The knowledge of God is not a knowledge of right and wrong, it is an intimacy of right love. It is a testimony of an internal transformation of our hearts and minds that empowers our lives to bear the fruit of life. This is true community. It is a coming to unity around the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and the testimony of God’s word – His character, nature, way, power, and authority from the Spirit of Christ within. It is our internal connection with God that empowers the fountain of life within our hearts. If we look to the external influences of the world as a source of thought to our minds we will not produce the fruit of life for the sake of others. This is not a time to think ourselves smart, it is a time to keep our hearts connected to God in order to give life to one another.

James 3:10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

It is the connection to God’s Spirit that causes the life-giving waters to flow from within us to those in the world around us. It is evidenced in works that testify of life. These are not works that seek to oppose the enemy, but works that testify of Christ. This is the true power over every enemy. Life is more powerful than death in all things! The source of true wisdom is found in the life of the Holy Spirit within us. It is the mind of Christ that releases the life of Christ through us. Jesus didn’t come to justify our own minds, but to give us new hearts and minds in Christ. When we judge things according to our own thoughts and opinions we are often motivated by the bitter experiences of our own lives. This is the testimony of the saltwater of the world. The spirit of the world is a spirit of self-preservation and the wisdom of the world is like the wisdom that led to the flood resulting in the saltwater that covers the sea. More than 70% of the earth is covered with saltwater and that is the testimony of the fall of Adam. It is the result of man seeking a knowledge of good and evil from their own hearts. The result was a hardening of hearts unto God and to one another. It produced the fruit of self-seeking ways. This is the testimony of the wisdom of the flesh. It is earthly, sensual, and becomes demonically inspired.

James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

We are not to condemn the world for their worldly ways, we are to shine as light in the darkness with a wisdom that comes from God. We are called to manifest God’s ways in the sight of men. The secret to shining is to keep the focus of our hearts upon God, His ways, and His purpose in the earth. It is a wisdom that is fully dependent upon God and willing to be shaped, molded, and formed to become His testimony in our world.

James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

We must keep our focus on the fact that God is great, God is good, and His mercy endures forever! We must embrace the truth that He takes even what the enemy intends for evil and turns if for good in our lives. All things are working for us because God will be with us in and through all things. God’s wisdom will not make us aggressive towards one another or the world. God’s wisdom manifests a gentle spirit within us. God’s wisdom empowers us to be teachable, changeable, and shapeable in all situations. The testimony of being the light of Christ is seen is our ability to demonstrate mercy and to manifest good fruits. This is not with some and not with others. It is with everyone! The wisdom of God doesn’t inhabit a heart filled with hypocrisy. The accounts of everyone have been reconciled by the blood of Jesus on the cross and anyone can come to the saving grace of God in Christ. Our relationship with God is empowered by God’s love and a revelation of that love in our hearts and minds. This is the revelation that will empower us to make peace in our world. This is the true light of Christ.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Help us fulfill our mission!

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

www.houseofbreadministry.org

www.ted4you.com

www.ted4leaders.com

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 determined that we are in a season of new fruit. It is not a season where thorns and thistles will prevail, but the true fruit of God’s life will be seen in a new measure. As leaders, we must see the fruit of life as the focus, the purpose, and the destiny of our service. We are leading others into the reality of becoming life to the nations and to the generations of men for the glory of our Father in heaven. What the enemy has intended for evil, God will surely turn for good. We must embrace God’s plan for the day and not be distracted by the darkness that the world calls light. We are living in a day of the Spirit of Knowing, an intimacy knowledge – not an informing knowledge. Things that are not true life are being exposed, those things exposed are meant to be vanquished by the healing power of God to our hearts and minds. This is not a time to be distracted by things that poke the flesh. God wants us to know the revelation of true knowledge – a knowledge of love. The oppose of true knowledge is the knowledge of good and the knowledge of evil. It is a knowledge by which we make judgments and categorize others based upon our own understandings and perceptions of right and wrong. This kind of knowledge makes the breaking of bread, the sharing of our lives with and for the sake of others, a chore. It is part of the sixth curse of futility that came at the fall of man.

Genesis 3:19a In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground…

The sweat of our face is the challenge imposed upon our minds when we make judgments according to our understanding and perceptions of right and wrong. The only thing that can break this curse of futility is to be a son of God who is led by the Spirit of Knowing. Jesus manifested as a true Son when He stood upon an iron nail of the knowledge of good and evil. Jesus shed blood from His feet when He judged us with an eternal judgment of mercy while standing upon that iron nail of right and wrong. Love proved to be more powerful than a justice system of right and wrong. He understood that people of mere conscience or law cannot truly comprehend the love of God, therefore He released us from the judgment of law by the power of His mercy. His act of love invites us all to be freed from everything that separates us from God and one another. Holy Spirit reveals our true part in the community of Christ by the Spirit of Knowing – a knowledge of intimacy and love in the communion of Christ.

The thorns and thistles are the bitter things that spring up from the bitter places of our hearts. They are the testimony of wicked works that grow in the soil of death. Only the resurrection life of Christ can lead us to the eternal judgment of mercy and life for all who believe. Thorns and thistles only empower division, disunity, dysfunction, disconnection, and death. Only the knowledge of God can bring healing and it bears the fruit of true unity, function, connection, and life. The weapons of the enemy are weapons of death and they seek to attack life, but God’s life is resurrection life. It is eternal life. Death can never prevail against the life of God!  God’s life is a testimony of love and it is stronger than the grave!

Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Fruit gives life, it doesn’t destroy. Fruit doesn’t provoke the flesh; it brings health to the body. We must know and remember that we are part of the family tree of life in order to bring life to our world. It is the fruit that will reveal who we really are. People of God bring life to their world.

We cannot be distracted by people, circumstances, or things that try to provoke our flesh. Deceptions, lies, and weapons of death cannot destroy the eternal life of Christ that resides within us individually and corporately as the body of Christ. We must not be confused; we will face opposition for walking in a right relationship with God, but the true testimony of our lives will be seen in what we bring to our world because of our lives. True wisdom is always proved through what that wisdom produces in our world because of us.

Matthew 11:18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

To be the people of God we must stand   in love. Don’t be deceived or distracted by flattering words that don’t offer the substance of life. This is not merely a time to be loved, but to love for the sake of being the family of God.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.comwww.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;

Something new of God is being birthed in the earth. As leaders, we must lead others to see what God sees and not the natural news of a shaking world. We must seek the kingdom of God to become expressions of the kingdom of God in all that we are and do. We must activate, facilitate, and release others to do the same. When something of God is revealed, what is not of God is shaken. When the presence of God arises, His enemies scatter. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in high places. We do not wrestle against these spiritual realities because they are trying to destroy us. We wrestle against them as they defend themselves against being disposed in our world. The enemy is defending himself from the presence of God in our lives and in the measure of our rule of life. It is for this reason we must be clothed in the Holy Spirit. We must be led by the Spirit and not by our own desires and minds. God wants us to have desires, because what we desire is the true source of our being and of doing in life. God does not want us to simply follow our own way, however. He wants to give us the desires of our hearts. He wants to put His desires in our hearts, so they become our own. This happens when we trust Him and commit our way unto Him in all things.

Psalms 37:1 Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. 7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm. 9 For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. 10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more. 11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

We can expect to face resistance in times of grace. The true testimony of grace is the power to overcome. This is the testimony of being sons and daughters of God. Sons and daughters of God are those who are led by God’s Spirit within their hears and they overcome every wicked thing. We do not overcome like the carnal armies of the world, we overcome by the power of the kingdom of God within us. We have an internal righteousness whereby we know that our salvation in every situation is God and God alone. This is the testimony of Jesus as our Lord. He gave the life of the flesh so we could have the life of the Spirit. God is our God and even what appears to be bad is turning for good in our lives. We have a Savior! We have received the overcoming power of the blood of the Lamb. We also have internal peace with God whereby the testimony of our lives is one of heavenly things. We are being made strong in God’s Word and strong in His Spirit from within. There is no separation of us and God and Christ in us is the hope of glory in all things. We are people of God! Holy Spirit is empowering us from the inside out to receive our daily bread and to become an increasing testimony of the life of God, even in difficult situations. Wickedness is being destroyed by the holiness of God in our lives. We have an internal joy, a joy of purpose that is greater than that of our mere selves. We are part of a multi-generational family of increasing life! We are empowered from within to live our lives in a partnership with God as our Father and to give our lives for our Father’s purpose and the lives of His children. We have the joy of knowing the faithfulness of God in our lives and in the lives of our children and our children’s children.

God told me that 2020 would be a year of knowing Him resting in my life and me resting in Him. This has been essential and Him resting in our lives is the force of life that shakes all things, transforms all things, and causes hope to be seen as glory in another measure of His story in our journey of life. We can trust Him and occupy our hearts and minds with thoughts and strategies to do good. We can expect to see His faithfulness break out before, behind and around our lives. We can choose to experience Him in the midst of our enemies. We can expect dreams, visions, and other inspirations of God’s desires to enter our hearts. We can know that God believes in us and that He intends for the paths of our lives to lead to greater glory of knowing Him in all things.

Psalms 37:3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.comwww.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;

Leaders are called to lead. What are we called to lead? We are called to lead others into a relationship with God, the testimony of God, and the purpose of God in their lives. We are living in a time of new things being birthed in the earth. This is not a day for the Devil to win, these are days of a greater glory of God being revealed in the earth. This is not a day of darkness; this is a day of greater light! This doesn’t mean there won’t be difficult things and challenges, it simply means that the end game of all things is a greater glory of God in the earth. If we look at the past centuries we can see that in every century there are only a few years that are without great physical challenges, while most years are filled with shaking things, including pestilences, diseases, wars, unrest, and conflict of various measures. We are blessed with instant knowledge in a day of increased knowledge, but we are also cursed with that same knowledge. There is a greater knowledge at work in the earth than the natural sight knowledge of a shaking world. There is an increasing knowledge of heaven’s influence among men. In ever century there has also been major expressions of God’s Spirit working in the earth with an outcome of greater freedom and a testimony of life in the church. God is bringing about a change in the nations. What is a sign of change and new things being birthed?

I have been in the process of producing some more training resources and one is the making of a training course based upon my book, The Redeemed Earth – Healing the Curse of the Fall. There were seven aspects to the futility that God placed upon the earth as a consequence of man’s decision to choose an administration of the knowledge of good and evil over an intimate relationship with God and the tree of life. God subjected the earth to futility in the hope of the manifestation of the sons of God, those who are led by God’s Spirit in increasing measures. When we manifest as sons of God, we bring a greater freedom and liberty to the futility of the earth. Sons of God are those who are led by the Spirit of God. This is the power of God’s grace working in and through the gate of heaven to bring the increasing measures of God’s life to the earth as described in river of Ezekiel chapter 47. There is an increasing glory of the life of God’s kingdom working in the earth through God’s inheritance among men.

Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

As I have been recording this training course, the second curse of futility stood out to me in regard to some immediate things that are happening in the shaking world. The second curse of futility was given as a sign on the woman, but it affects women, men, cultures, and all aspects of society.

Genesis. 3:16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children…

This was the first of three signs placed upon the woman. It came upon the woman and is in the realm of birthing. It involves conception and delivery. Around the birth of new life is a sorrow and a pain. This word for sorrow in this Scripture actually means, “worrisomeness, i.e. labor or pain”. It’s connected to the word “worry”. It is rooted in a word meaning, “to carve, i.e. fabricate or fashion”, in a bad sense, “to worry, pain, or anger”.  The ‘sign’ is upon the woman, but it affects every realm, atmosphere, and people of the world. There is the temptation to fabricate, or to fashion worry, pain, and anger around the most precious gift that will ever exist, called life. Within the joy of things that are new and never seen before there is pain in the process of conception, the process of pregnancy, and in the process of birthing. In the process of pregnancy and child birthing there is a temptation to fear death. The expectancy of pregnancy must outweigh the expectations of the unknown and changing world that a child brings. For many in the world, the expectations of pregnancy and childbirth are too costly and therefore, there are millions of abortions in the nations each year. This is also true spiritually for the church when our own expectations outweigh the expectancy of our own hearts and minds. We allow our own expectations to thwart what God wants for us to birth and we choose our own comfort and a path to abort what God desires to bring forth in our time. I believe that the expectations of pregnancy and childbirth inspire a challenge of fear to peoples and nations as new things are being birthed. It is important to know that no generation can be a legitimate generation without a solid connection to the fathers and the mothers of the past and that no generation can sustain without the birth of generations beyond their own way of things in the world. Surely pregnancy and child birthing will change everything in our world, but the fruit of new life should outweigh the cost of the sacrifice.

We are living in a time when something new of God is being birthed in the earth. God spoke to me at the beginning of this millennium that the first thirty years of this century would be a time of birthing a grace of God concerning the Spirit of Knowing. This is a knowing of intimacy, but the challenge to its conception and the sacrifice to its birthing is the natural knowledge of mankind’s perceptions and mankind’s understanding of what they deem to be good and what they deem to be evil. This is a time when what is hidden in the forest is being birthed, but in order to see what is being birthed, the forest must be stripped bare. It is in the temple of God that everyone will shout, “Glory!”

Psalms 29:9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, and strips the forests bare; and in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:www.ted4leaders.comwww.ted4you.com orwww.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 navigate those within our spheres of influence to see what God is doing and to embrace what God is doing in the midst of distracting times. God is doing something good at a grassroots level, so is it any wonder that there would be counterfeit moves by distracting spirits at a grassroots level? God is calling us to an awakening of our hearts that empowers us to be seekers of God who live for the wellbeing of others in all things. God wants to empower our thinking to be for the corporate testimony of the family of God. We must remember that our Father is a giver of life and we must be givers of life to our world. This is not a time to seek a justice that demands vindication for things that have been done wrong. It is a time to be activated, facilitated, and released to be the people of God with a justice system of life!

The justice system of God is a justice of love, not a justice of right and wrong. Jesus was the firstborn of the life-giving race of humanity. That race is not merely a naturally born race of humanity. It is a supernaturally born-again race made of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation of humanity. Jesus is the vine or the trunk of the tree by which the grafted branches of life can bear the fruit of life in the earth. The Tree of Life stretched out His arms and willingly submitted His feet to be nailed upon the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He was lifted up upon that tree and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil could not overpower the Tree of Life. He stood upon the nail of the judgment of right and wrong and released all of humanity to an ignorance of simply not understanding the love of God. If we knew the love of God we too would love as Jesus loves. Is the justice system of God a justice of right and wrong or is it something more? There are things that are right and there are things that are wrong; there are things that are good and there are things that are bad, but God’s justice system is far stronger than restraining us to doing things that are right and refraining us from doing things that are wrong. His justice system empowers us to be life, to release life to others, and to do things that empower life in the world around us. It is a justice system that empowers us to become like Him in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. God wants us to be able to make decisions for others based upon who we are, not what others deserve or what we think they deserve. He wants to empower us to change others by the power of mercy and grace. The justice system of God is not one of the mind, but an administration of the heart. This is the justice system of the kingdom of God and it is internally empowered by the life of Holy Spirit within each of us. This is the true power of a grassroots revolution of life.

In the kingdoms of the world there are conflicts of law and men’s own perceptions of the human conscience. The justice system of the kingdom of God is different than the justice system of the world. We are the community of God and it is the love of God that creates the culture that transforms us to become the people of God. That culture has a foundation of mercy triumphing over every verdict of death and grace that can transform the beliefs of every heart and empower actions, imaginations, and influences of life in all things. The culture of love doesn’t just reveal God’s love to us; it also empowers us to become a testimony of love to others. It is the power of God’s love that transforms the iniquities of our hearts to become an exhibiting force of life to be seen by others in the world. Where we were weak, we become strong by the power of God’s grace at work within us.

The government of the Old Covenant was based upon the knowledge of good and the knowledge of evil. That Old Covenant government still exists in the kingdoms outside of Christ. The only way out of the Old Covenant government of the knowledge of good and the knowledge of evil is to embrace the love of God only found in Christ. This is where one find’s the justice system of the New Covenant. The government of the New Covenant is based upon life. True life is the testimony of true love. When we know the love of God we know the life of God! God’s love creates a different justice system than that of the Old Covenant. I believe that love is the testimony of the Tree of Life. Jesus lived as a human being empowered by love. The administration of His life was the Tree of Life, not the tree of the knowledge of good and the knowledge of evil. One is a tree of grace, while the other is a tree that constantly requires mercy. Humankind is stuck in the system of conscience and law until they find a way out. In order to be free from the justice system of conscience and law, mercy must triumph! Mercy is the end of the condemnation of conscience and  law and the invitation to grace. Mercy is an illegitimate judgment if it were not for the resurrection life of grace that awaits those who know their owed sentence and passionately embrace God’s gift of love. God’s grace waits to be found by those who receive God’s mercy. Wherever grace abides, love reigns. The justice system of grace is scandalous. It is not a system of fairness, but one of love. It is for this cause and for this culture that we must 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

 

New Courses are Available at www.houseofbread.store

Blog In Audio:

  Greetings,

I believe that the present revolution is a revolution of life. There are counterfeit expressions in the midst of this revolution, but the true revolution at hand is one of becoming the people of God. This is not a time to return to the instructors of conscience or law, it is a time to embrace the greater testimony of God’s grace that transforms us all to be a diverse family, the family of God. The instructors of conscience alone can leave us vulnerable to creating a world according to our own opinions and desires. Those opinions and desires are often confused because of our own wounds and pains imposed upon us in an imperfect world. The instructors of law alone can leave us vulnerable to creating a world according to own interpretation of justice in a knowledge of what we believe we know to be right or wrong according to our own understanding. Our interpretation and application of the law are also tainted by the paradigms of our thinking influenced by imperfect situations in an imperfect world. These instructors cannot truly change our hearts and minds; they can only inspire us to falsely demand that others conform to the world that we create based largely upon the hurts and wounds of our own hearts. Grace is a more powerful teacher. Grace is the manifest presence of God working in our hearts and minds to create our world as God sees it should be. Only God’s grace can fully heal the bitter wounds of our hearts and minds through a now experience with Him in our lives. The source is God Himself, and He is a giver of life! It is a revolution of true authority where each and every one of us becomes who we uniquely meant to be for the sake of being a life-giving community. It is revolution of internal transformation that empowers us to find our true identity, testimony, and purpose in being the people of God in the earth. It is a revolution of becoming the life-giving authority of God for the sake of God’s glory!

Authority is the ability to give life to others and it is not about control or manipulation. Power and authority are not the same thing. One can have power without authority, but pure authority is a pure form of power to give life to others. Power alone will only take life and it can only create a world of dysfunction and death in various measures. We don’t understand authority, because we have traded authority for power in our quest for knowledge. Our quest for knowledge has most often been a quest to find our true identity, testimony, and purpose in life. We have looked in external sources to find what can only be found within. We look to the kingdoms of the world to discover who we are meant to be, but only the kingdom of God in our hearts can reveal to us the truth of who we really are. We tend to think that if we change the world around us it will change the turmoil in our hearts and turbulent perceptions of our minds. But God knows that it is the change of our hearts that will change the world around us. Our true quest is to find the knowledge of the heart, a knowing of God and one another in a deep understanding with intimate sharing. God desires to reveal His true value to us and the true value of who we are to one another. In this process, the bitter roots of knowledge according to natural sight are coming to the surface. They are coming to the surface so that we can find a healing in the power of Jesus name. The very thing that appears to be under attack in the nations is the very thing that God desires to heal. The exposure of the headships of legalism and lawlessness are not a new thing, they are an ancient thing being manifest in such a day as this. God doesn’t desire to eradicate authority; He desires to heal it. Each of us are uniquely created by God to bring life to our world. We were not only born to be loved by God; we were born to love others. We were born to live for the well-being of others by the power of God’s grace at work in and through our hearts.

The people of God are people transformed by the grace of God in a supernatural way. We are changed in a supernatural way by God’s Spirit within us. We are the redeemed and we sing the song of the redeemed in diversity, yet in the strength of born again unity. We are made of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. We are the people of God!  It is not a diversity that is independent of authority. Law will produce conformity, a measure of death. Lawlessness will produce disconnection and independence that does not bear the fruit of the family tree. It only seeks the independence of the individual branch. God doesn’t want many trees; He wants one tree. He wants the tree of life to be the family tree that brings the life of God to the peoples of the world.

Revelation 5:9, 10  And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”

As I have stated in an earlier blog, I have an apple tree in my yard that is a prophetic symbol of the church that God desires in the earth. It is a grafted tree and it has six grafts of six different expressions of apples. They are red, yellow, green, and variations in their color of fruit. There are so many apples on my tree this year I am going to have to prop it up so that the branches don’t break from the weight of the fruit. This tree is growing out, but not up. God is calling us to a higher place that goes forward in momentum, not a tree that seeks to attain to some higher height of heaven. God wants us to be a tree that stretches out to produce fruit in unique and diverse ways. God wants to invade the earth with the influence of heaven’s grace. God is good and we must be people of hope. When we are people of hope we can be creative in ways to support what is growing on the tree. God will give us the keys to support what is growing. We are going to have to be different in our means of supporting what God is doing. Even as the branches grow out, a proper support system will need to be set in place that undergirds what is new and full of life. God is ready to bless the children, the maturing sons and daughters, and the fathers and mothers in the faith that will faithfully support what is happening. This is not a time to seek the things of the past. It is time to find what God is blessing today and to be the people of God in such a time as this.

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,

No doubt there is a cry in the heart of humanity for revolution and true freedom. This was the case in the day that Jesus opened the door to the tree of life for all men. This was the time when Jesus justified all to live by giving His life as the tree of life for all mankind upon the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil tree was summed up in the cross, the wood of scourging for all of humanity. Love proved to be more powerful than all the scourging of mankind and Love destroyed the power of disconnection and shame that bound mankind from seeing God for who He truly is. The sacrifice of Jesus offered a different family tree for all of mankind. It is not a family tree of personal opinions, personal objectives, personal identities, or personal prejudices. It is a family tree of the calling of Christ, the testimony of Christ, and the purpose of Christ for all of mankind. It is a tree of unity where many grafted branches reveal a diversity of the goodness of the life of God within the hearts and minds of all men. The life-sap of this tree is the blood of grace and it is found in the throne room of God’s grace.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus made a way for all to come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace. The mercy is the justification for all to live because the life of the flesh has been given once for all in the body of Jesus Christ the man full of grace and truth. Jesus died once for all so that no one is bound to seek their life in the power of the flesh. God has a better plan for a better revolution in the hearts and minds of men. The grace of God is the power of the manifest presence of God’s Spirit working a power of life transformation in the hearts and minds of all who believe. This is the blood of grace, the blood of the Spirit of God in the people of God as the body of Christ. The revolution that Jesus offered then, and eternally offers to us all, is a revolution of the human heart. It is more powerful than external actions but seems less promising to those who look to weapons of the flesh to obtain their freedom.

When Jesus stood as the door to a personal relationship with God as our Father, the crowds shouted for a deliverer who promised weapons of the flesh. They shouted for the release of Barabbas. Barabbas was a murder and thief in his day, but he was also a zealot. He was a man who challenged the oppressive government of Rome and the crowd saw him as a more promising hope than Jesus. A week earlier they payed homage and honor to Jesus as the king of revolution in their shouts of praise as He rode into Jerusalem upon the back of a donkey. The crowds saw Him as the hope and the promise of freedom, but upon His arrest a week later He stood as a Lamb to the slaughter and the crowd could no longer see how He could possibly free them from their oppression. Although Barabbas was a criminal and a man of carnal character, they considered him a better option than the silent man of peace. The name Barabbas has its roots in the Aramaic and Hebrew. His name means “son of a father or master”, perhaps an indication that most often men see freedom can only come from power. A father who seeks to be a master can seem more promising that a Father who calls for sons to manifest as overcomers by an internal power of grace that brings about true change. The name Barabbas finds it roots in the Hebrew word which means arrogancy, excellency (-lent), majesty, pomp, pride, proud and swelling. It implies a rising up in pride and arrogance. It invokes a power to rise up in triumph over another. It inspires one to be exalted with an implication of haughtiness, highness, and pride. The shout for Barabbas is the shout for a thief and not a shout for the true gift of life and life-giving.

In this present time there is a grassroots revolution in the earth for the Spirit of Knowing to empower us to become the people of God. The headship of legalism and the headship of lawlessness are being removed by a greater power, the power of a life-giving Father and a life-sacrificing Son. We must consider the cry of our own hearts. Legalism will be willing to shout for a deliverer that rises up to oppress all that cry for freedom. Lawlessness will also be willing to shout for a deliver that rises up to oppress all that oppose  what their heart cries out to see. Oppression cannot be destroyed by oppression. Oppression is a spirit and only God’s Spirit breaks the chains by the power of life within. Understand that I am writing to you as the people of God, I am not writing to the peoples still embracing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

I am not presenting a word for the governmental change of the nations; I am calling out to us as the people of God. I am challenging us all to see the internal change of our own hearts as the only revolution that can lead to true life. We must be the light in the midst of darkness. Law and conscience are only teachers that can inform men of their need for true life. That true life can only come through a personal relationship with God as our Father and Jesus Christ the Son by the fellowship of Holy Spirit in our hearts. We need the teachers of law and conscience in the world of sin, but we can only bring about a true revolution of life by being a testimony of the people of God. Our teacher is the One who submerges us from the inside out to overflowing, like the pickle brine of true transformation. The people of God are the people whose hearts and minds are transformed by the Spirit of Life within. The fruit will be seen in being givers of life in all things.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Blog In Audio:

     Greetings,

I believe we are in the midst of a grassroots revolution where God is empowering us to become His people free from the headships of legalism and lawlessness. As I have previously written, Grace is the manifest presence of God in our lives that transforms our hearts and minds to become what we could not be before. God’s manifest presence, God’s transforming grace, must be what captures our attention in the midst of this present move of God’s grace in the earth. When things shake it is only because something of the unshakeable God is manifesting in the earth. When heaven touches the earth, the earth shakes. Love has come to heal the wounds of our hearts and when the wounds of our hearts are exposed we can either choose God’s healing grace or we can choose a path of disconnection from the life that God desires to give us in all things. This is not a time to be distracted because of bitter roots that are being exposed in our hearts. Bitter roots only produce the briers and thorns of law or lawlessness. They cannot produce the fruit of life but can only defile many. They will disqualify us from being participants in bringing the inheritance of heaven into the earth for such a time as this.

Law can only control us, constrain us, or restrain us in some way; grace liberates us, transforms us, and frees us into truth. Lawlessness merely authorizes promiscuity which is the power of being a law unto oneself. Law without an understanding of love is merely embracing a shadow of darkness and demanding that others accept it as light. Law by itself without an understanding of love leaves us vulnerable to interpreting the law though our own judgments of justice that can only demand something from others but can never reach the heart where love can live. Law alone and lawlessness alone can only produce death and dysfunction in the lives of humanity. Only love can transform us. It is miraculous! No one can pay the debts that they owe and proper stewardship of all that we are or have is to be a friend of God and friend to one another. This means that all we are and have must be dedicated to the wellbeing of others. The life that has been given to each of us is a measure of space to bring life to the space of our world.

Neither legalism nor promiscuity are administrations of life. The headships of these two administrations are the fruit of bitter roots and they bind us to the realm of time. They bind us to the testimonies of the pain of our past and prevent us from experiencing the yet to be seen fruit of God’s life. God wants the fruit of the tree of life to be the testimony among men, but bitter roots in our hearts will thwart that destiny. It is time to be healed of our bitter roots, but even more – it is time to bear the fruit of the tree of life among men in a broader way than ever before.

I have an apple tree in my yard that is a prophetic sign of the church and this year it has decided to grow sideways, rather than up. It is a short tree, but it is filled with countless apples. God has made it clear to me that this tree is short because He wants His church to be the kind of tree that even little children can reach the fruit. Perhaps it is only the childlike of heart that have an expectancy of good things in times of restraint. It is also clear to me that this tree is proclaiming that God wants to expand the fruit of life in a broader way.

I planted this tree in the year 2000 at the direction of the Holy Spirit and it has six grafted branches. God told me to plant the tree with six grafts and it would represent the kind of church that He wants. It is the family that He desires in the earth. Six is the number of man and God’s church is both Spirit and human. It is a place of connection of God with man where God reveals who He is through diverse expressions of humanity. It is also the source of connection for all of the branches of the tree. The common connection is the branching out connections with the trunk of the tree. Each branch on my tree is grafted into natural branching out expressions of the trunk of the tree, but each branch produces a different kind of fruit. There are red apples, green apples, yellow apples, and many combinations of diversity in the fruit of apples. There is no competition between the branches of my tree, only a greater expression of fruit and its diverse flavors of life in the full expression of the tree. There is one tree, one root, and one life-flowing sap in the tree, but there are six branches with unique fruit on each branch.

I believe that this is truly the kind of church that God is revealing in the earth at this time. God does not want unity through conformity, He wants unity through diversity. The diversity that God desires is not merely the creativity of human will. It is diverse in its fruit, but each branch is fully dependent upon its connection to the tree. God wants us to be a tree of life that produces life in many wonderful and diverse ways. That tree is a generational tree and not merely a testimony of the strength of branches. It is tree of roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit. The life-giving expressions of the tree are new today, but they find their life source in the roots and body of the past. Things look different, but they are true to the destiny of the ages past.

I am aware that I must pay attention to the fruit of my tree this year. I am going to have to be creative in supporting the branches of my tree in order for the branches to be able to carry the weight of the fruit that is destined to come to maturity on each branch. Something really good is happening on my tree that is growing sideways and not up. I could say that everything is going sideways, but I choose to see that the fruit of my tree can go out to reach all those who would reach up and partake of its fruit. I believe that God desires to move the church in a sideways momentum that causes the fruit of life to be accessible by those who are looking for life in such a day as this. Perhaps this is a time for the church to grow broader rather than bigger, but broader in its ability to bring the fruit of the tree of life to the nations.

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,

I believe we are in the midst of a grassroots revolution where God is empowering us to become His people free from the headships of legalism and lawlessness. Grace is the manifest presence of God in our lives that transforms our hearts and minds to become what we could not be before. Whereas, law controls us, constrains us, or restrains us in some way; grace liberates us, transforms us, and frees us into truth. Lawlessness merely authorizes promiscuity which is the power of being a law unto oneself. Neither legalism nor promiscuity are administrations of life. I believe that these two headships are the fruit of bitter roots and they bind us to the realm of time. They bind us to things that I presented to be seen in the story of Joshua in the battle against the kings of the Amorites as found in Joshua chapter 10. I presented last week that those five kings represent forces of bitterness in our own hearts that resist the grace of God working in our lives. They represent:

• A justice and righteousness that sees a peace empowered by a bitter root, such as a personal vindication of some kind.
• A motivation in our lives impelled by alliances with bitterness, because of judgments and vows that become a strong force that resists our path forward in life.
• An anointing for independence and personal opinions based upon some bitter root.
• An overt expression of invincibility based upon a bitter root. This is a demanding force that insists that one’s own light is the light to measure everyone else by.
• A sanctuary of personal liberty based upon a bitter root. This is an independent freedom that sees one’s own way as the true way to liberty.

God wants to free us from the strongholds of bitterness in our lives. The Spirit of Knowing is not a knowledge of information, but a transformation of intimacy. This is the grace for becoming the people of God in the earth. Information heaps up in the halls of time, but eternal life is a matter of relationship with God as our Father and a knowing of Jesus as the Son that empowers us to manifest as sons and daughters of God empowered by grace. When I gave the prophecy in 2004 in regard to this present grassroots revolution, four time pieces stopped at the same moment on two separate occasions. I believe this to be a witness as to God’s covenant of grace being released in the earth as the power to free us from the bitterroots created in the realm of the generations and times of our lives.

When Joshua was in the battle, God turned the sun back and gave him another day to win the victory (Josh. 10:12-14). Imagine; Joshua is fighting in a battle with the enemy. He is running out of time to defeat the enemy, so he asks God for more time. He may have had a finger missing. He may have had a few gashes in his flesh and wounds in his body from the combat of battle. He had been in the battle with a sword. A heavy sword! He had been likely fighting for 12 to 16 hours and he cried out to God for more time! We can do this! We can overcome! Give me another day to risk my life. Give me another opportunity to lose another finger. Give me the opportunity to suffer longer. We can do this! Give me another day. That day God heeded the voice of a man. He turned the sun back and gave Joshua another day.

This present grace is not just about what God will do for us, but what we are willing to ask God to do. Joshua did not fight the battle for the fulfillment of his own desires. He fought for the sake of his people. He fought for the namesake of God. He fought for the wellbeing of others. While the battle was going on Joshua captured five Amorite kings. The name Amorite means, bitterness. These were kings of bitterness. He locked them in a cave and when the battle was done, he called the next generation to reap the reward of his victory. He told those men to put their foot on the necks of those kings. Joshua defeated a bitterness of the past and made it so the next generation had the victory over that bitterness. I believe this is God’s intention for us all. God’s grace doesn’t just empower us to overcome, it empowers us to overcome all things for the sake of others.

God is removing the headship of promiscuity and legalism. They are rooted in the realm of time. Even as God stopped the sun in the day of Joshua, God wants to free us from things that are bound to the realm of time. Religious legalism is a result of a bitter root. It is mean and angry and it trying to control those who embrace it as truth and inspire them to control the lives of others. It attempts to assure those that embrace this stronghold of thinking that what caused the wound of bitterness will never happen again and it is more bitter than anything that happened. Promiscuity is the same. I can do anything. All things are lawful for me. I can do anything I desire! These are the songs of a bitter wound seeking freedom from its root of pain. God’s grace can give us the victory of the bitter roots bound to time. Grace can turn back the sun and stop the moon for the sake of life for the future generations of our lives.

2 Corinthians 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. 24 Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.

The statement that all things are lawful requires the added testimony of grace. God doesn’t want us to measure things by what is lawful or what is not lawful. He wants us to come to another level of understanding as the children of God. He wants us not to be that ignorant. We should not have to be told what to do. He doesn’t want to tell us how to act. He wants us to know what to do and how to act. He wants a revolution A revolution of grace, a human race that is empowered by grace. People of God do not only know who God is, but they live with a revelation of who they are and they seek to know Him in every way that He is.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Help us fulfill our Mission!

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