ted4leaders

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   Greetings,

I believe we are in the midst of a grassroots revolution in the nations of the world. God is up to something big! God is inviting all to find a fresh dependency upon Him and a fresh empowerment from within to stand up and be who we are meant to be in Christ. Last week I addressed a prophetic word that I released in 2004 in regard to this grassroots revolution that is removing the headship of legalism and lawlessness. Legalism is a dependency upon being right according to the law or even one’s perception of law and lawlessness is an embracing of promiscuity that defines right and wrong according one’s own desires. Both legalism and promiscuity are the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They are both the bitter fruits of a tree of information that is empowered by external influences in the world around us. God wants to empower our hearts with life from within. He wants to transform our lives to be givers of life to the world around us.

At the releasing of my prophetic word in 2004, the clock on the wall stopped at 7:45p.m. as well as my watch and two other watches in the congregation. The clock battery was replaced and the following morning the anointing came during the morning worship session that was the same presence of God’s Spirit as the night before and the clock stopped again at 9:45a.m. as well as my watch and the same two watches in the congregation that stopped the night before. I believe the stopping of the time was an act of God and very significant to this word. I asked God as to the significance of the stopped time pieces and He directed me to the story of Joshua in Joshua chapter 10, when he asked God for another day to defeat God’s enemies in the battle and God turned the time back to give Joshua another day to attain the victory.

In the battle, Joshua and the armies of Israel faced five Amorite kings. The name Amorite means, bitter; a rebel; a babbler and it implies an obvious external testimony of bitterness – a testimony of bitterness that affects the world around you. I believe that the battle of Joshua represents our own deliverance from the strongholds of bitterness in our lives that affect the world around us. God wants to roll away the reproach of the bitter wounds in our lives. Those bitter wounds have left us bound to limitations in becoming who God intends for us to be. If we are honest, many of our desires and many of the attributes in our lives have been shaped and bound by bitter experiences in our past or inheritances rooted in some bitter curse of despair. We must not be afraid of the bitter strongholds of our hearts and minds, but we must face them and know that God’s grace is sufficient to empower us to overcome in all things.

Joshua 10:7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you.”

When Joshua pursued his enemy, the Lord fought with him in a supernatural way. When we stand to overcome the things of bitterness that resist us from being who we are meant to be in Christ, we can expect that God will fight with us in a supernatural way. This is the testimony of grace!

Joshua 10:9 Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. 10 So the Lord routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Beth Horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11 And it happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.

Who were these 5 kings of bitterness? Prophetically, the number 5 is a testimony of grace and grace works in authenticity but is bound by the bitter testimony of legalism and/or lawlessness in our lives. One  Amorite king was Anoni-Zedek the king of Jerusalem. His name and location imply a life that exemplifies a justice and righteousness that sees a peace empowered by a bitter root – perhaps a personal vindication of some kind. This is not a justice and righteousness of the Father’s love, but one of personal opinions and beliefs. The second king was Hoham king of Hebron. His name and location imply a life that is impelled by alliances with bitterness. I believe that judgments and vows can become a strong force that resists our path forward in life. They hinder us from being led by the voice of God and bind our hearts from the life-giving motivations of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The third king was Piram the king of Jarmuth. His name and location imply an anointing for independence and personal opinions based upon some bitter root. The fourth king was Japhia the king of Lachish. His name and location imply a shining 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. The fifth king was Debir the king of Eglon. His name and location imply being a sanctuary of personal liberty based upon a bitter root. This is an independent freedom that sees their way as the true way to liberty.

Bitter roots are connected to experiences in the realm of time. Grace is the healer of bitter roots and grace abides in the realm of eternity. I will continue with this next week but consider these forces in your life and in the lives of humanity. In the battle, Joshua put these kings in a cave and when the battle was complete, he called the next generation to put their feet on the necks of these kings. God wants to empower an emerging generation to stand in the victory over the bitter roots of the past. This is essential to becoming the body of Christ that stands to bring life to the world.

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

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     Greetings,

In September of 2004 I released a prophecy of a grassroots revolution that would come to the nations. It would be a revolution of the body of Christ rising up and being freed from the headships of legalism and lawlessness to become the people of God. I believe we are in the time of this revolution coming to pass. It is a revolution that restores the speech of God’s passion and compassion to the body of Christ for the sake of the nations. It is not merely a priestly anointing but an anointing of kings. It is an anointing to influence the world by heaven’s gate. The church is a body, not an organization. The church is a living being and God is mobilizing her to be the church in every neighborhood. The church is a corporate being made of individual members that are life-giving stones with heavenly identities, testimonies, and unique roles in the purpose of Christ in the earth. The church has been influenced by the world, but God is bringing about a revolution whereby the church will be a rising light unto men. I believe this is a grassroots revolution that will even cause the world to speak what God is saying without them even knowing they are saying it. It is a revolution that is going to cause the body of Christ to become the authentic body of Christ.

This is not a time for merely plans of a church community. It is time for the plans of Christ’s kingdom to be revealed. It is not merely a change of plans, strategies, or methods. It is a revolution empowered by a partnership of men, women, and the Spirit of God their Father. This present move of God’s Spirit involves a personal ownership and a personal arising in being the life of God in the earth. Things are shifting in the nations because things are shifting in the hearts of God’s people. At hand is a grassroots revival that is meant to consume things that are dead. It is a power of a rising grace that will eradicate things that have created human trouble. These things are things spawned by bitter roots that have promoted a headship of legalism or lawlessness. It is a revealing of what is true that will crumble everything that is a lie. It is not about exposing the false, but a matter of the true body of Christ arising as a force of life in the nations. She will be given the keys of authority, an ability to bring life into the neighborhoods of humanity. She will take responsibility for being the rising light of Christ. God’s people will rise up with a shout. They will rise up with the confidence of each member being who they are for the sake of being who we are together as the salt and light of Christ in the neighborhoods of men. God wants to open the hearts of the nations and the hearts of their peoples to come before Him in a personal way. This is not a move of human task, but a force of desire rising in the hearts of God’s people. The speech of the Lord will be proclaimed in passion for God and compassion towards men. What could not be unlocked in the nations before will be unlocked by the power of a grassroots revival in the people of God.

Part of the word given in 2004 was:

And the Lord says, I’m exercising My righteous decree to declare to you the opposition of bondage and promiscuity. I am bringing forth My true Spirit of Liberty. My true Spirit of Liberty will be a spirit of passion, it will be a spirit of compassion, it will be a spirit without compromise. It will be a releasing of those who have been held captive to the bondage of legalism, and a releasing of those who have been held to the bondage of liberality that goes beyond the boundaries of life.

The Lord says, I’m exercising My righteous decree even now to declare, “Will you be My people? For My anointing oil is here for you. Will you be My people? Will My anointing oil flood your soul? Will you rise up and touch the nations and make them whole? For I am God and I decree My righteous decree in the land this day.”

In the full delivery of the prophetic word, God declared that He was moving into the earth in a spirit of adoption to declare the treasures of great worth. At the giving of this word I heard millions of voices in the spirit being called into their destiny. One of my lead intercessors in the church saw me in a vision as a father’s womb. God showed me people as gems and jewels coming from the core of the earth to be found in the common realities of mankind. I saw the core of the earth as a means of heaven entering the earth for the glory of God’s name. As the Spirit moved me to prophesy, I declared a release of gems, a releasing all the jewels, and a breaking all the boundaries and all the human rules. Bringing forth the glory of His destiny. Causing all the hearts to be opened to see. He’s forming with the dust a people who can trust. He’s blowing by His Spirit into their very souls. Raising up a people that are strong and whole. The Father sent His love (x 8). End the debates. It’s not time to be late. End the discussion, the time is now.

Don’t ask questions. Don’t ask reasonings. Don’t ask for wonderings of how. Just receive the glory that He sent unto you. Rise to a higher ground – release condemnation. Let go of the fear. Come to the throne of grace. Come stand here. Release the glory that is due unto My name because you’re the reason that My Son came.

It’s the day of inheritance, of distribution. It’s the day of handing out the treasures of My heart. It’s the day of new beginnings. It’s time to start. I send My love to you.

I didn’t just come to break off the shackles. I didn’t just come to rebuke the enemy’s tackles. I came to endorse you. To seal you with My name. I came that I might send you, that is why I came. I send My love to you (x 8).

You’re not the earth’s refuse. You’re not the earth’s outcast. You are the eternal. The everlasting grace. Because you are a people that I have called My own. You are the house. You are My home. I send My love to you (x 8).  

I believe that we are in the midst of something that is small and big, yet big and small. We are to each take on the character, nature, way, power and authority of who we are meant to be for such a day as this. Though things look like we are being separated, there is going to be a great uniting for the great cause and purpose of Jesus name! It is out of pressure that the gems and jewels are formed. It is by faith, hope, and love that we will see the grassroots revolution of a Father’s womb that empowers the church to arise and shine like never before.

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

Blog In Audio:

       Greetings;

I believe that we are in a time of defining and refining the purposes of God in our lives. His purposes don’t change, but our means of walking in them and fulfilling them depend upon our willingness to embrace ways and means that involves things we have not seen, heard, or thought before. Things are not as they have been, and it is a great opportunity to discover God’s presence, plan, and purpose for the unfolding future of our lives and that which has been entrusted to us. We are having to refocus in the midst of the present world challenges. In light of this, I want to address our roles as leaders. We must trade our expectations for expectancy. We are all discovering things that we expected to be a certain way have been ambushed by the surprise of unknown elements. We can be moved to fear for lack of seeing God’s love as we have known it to be expressed in our everyday world. God’s love for us never changes, even when the circumstances of our lives change. Sometimes we get comfortable and we confuse the familiar circumstances of our world as the evidence of God’s love. The power of God’s love is the testimony of life in all things! It is in times like these that faith works best. Faith is the supernatural experience that comes from within. It is the result of hearing God’s voice in our hearts. It feels as life in the moment we hear, but then we have to embrace that moment to become the power of God’s grace working faith that inspires our souls.

1 Corinthians 2: 1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

God is revealing things by His Spirit to our lives if we are willing to listen. His wisdom will give us His testimony, while our own wisdom can only bind us to what we already know, or think we know. Our reality for today and our path forward to tomorrow are dependent upon a demonstration of God’s Spirit and power. Our faith is in the power of God. Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Wisdom enables us to see what we have not seen, hear what we have not heard, and to think what we have not thought before. We can trust that Holy Spirit is already working in us in heavenly expressions for the heavenly will of God in our time. We must stir up our spirits to embrace the wisdom of the Holy Spirit from within. It will appear to be foolish to our natural man, but if we willingly embrace what we have not known, we will become what we have not been able to become before. We will do what we have not been able to do before.

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

The word for worlds in this Scripture is aions or ages. These are not the worlds that God has made, but the ages of men that were transformed by God’s word to men. I believe the worlds spoken of here are the worlds of Abel, Noah, Abraham, and all the men and women who saw their worlds (ages) changed by hearing God, the One who loved them. God’s word to them was His rhema or personally spoken word to them. Their ages, their worlds, were framed by what God spoke to their hearts. What could have been a pile of rubble became the very building material set before them to see God’s love work in their lives. In order to frame our world, we must put our hope in God not in a changed world. We must trade our expectations for a spirit of expectancy in our hearts and respond to the voice of God from within.

Let’s not be hindered by our expectations, but let’s embrace an expectancy for what God is going to do and empower us to see and become is such a day as this. Leaders, stir up your spirit to activate the mind of Christ from within you. It is time for the testimony of God with a demonstration of His power to be revealed in this day. It is time for light, not darkness. Arise, and shine!

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

Blog In Audio:

    Greetings,

In the beginning of the year of 2009 the Lord spoke to me in a vision I had while worshipping in a church service in England. The presence of God was in the room and I saw a vision of a woman on a horse. The focus of the vision was at first on the horse’s neck and head. The woman was riding this horse, but the wind was blowing strong into the face of the horse and the woman. The wind seemed to be demanding change that was contrary to the known desires of the woman and seemed to inspire emotions, feelings, opinions, and personal judgments. I could see the neck of the horse was tight with strong muscles. The sinuous muscles of the horse were very noticeable. It gave me the impression of the strength of flesh, the strength of emotions, and the strength of human feelings. I could see the face of the horse and the appearance was of much emotion and strength of feelings. As the wind blew, the horse violently turned its head to the side, and when the horse turned, the head and upper body of the woman turned in the same direction. The movement was full of emotion and passion. As I recall, this happened about four times. I believe it was four times, significant of the four directions of the earth as being something that was affecting the whole world. At the last turn of the horse, the woman stood up on the horse and became brilliant with light. As she stood the horse dissipated and was no longer a point in the vision. She now stood upright with clear focus and determination in a straight forward direction. She was no longer distracted by the wind, but appeared to be determined and full of life. The whole vision at first was on the upper part of the woman and the neck and head of the horse. I was straining to get a grasp as to what color the horse was, thinking it must be significant, but I was not allowed to see the color of the horse. My main focus was drawn to the emotion and strength of the horse’s flesh. As I have stated, when the woman stood up the horse dissolved in the vision. She and the field she was standing in became the focus of the vision. The woman had long golden hair and she was now standing upright in a field of wheat. The wind was blowing, and the woman’s hair became like long golden waves of the sea behind her head. I could see that the wheat field was also waving in the same pattern as the woman’s hair. I now believe the woman’s hair represented an authority of life. An authority to bring life to the world. The feeling was glory and life! Then I heard God say, if the Bride would call the winds of change winds of increase, she would rise up in her brightest hour and she would become the life-giving womb of God in the earth. I was reminded of this vision this morning.

At the close of 2009 I released the following prophecy:

I keep hearing ‘God’s purposes’ – the hatching of this egg is not a revealing of who you are or who we are corporately. It is the revealing of the bigger plan of God. It’s going to bring great excitement. I’m reminded of the vision I had at the beginning of the year – if the Bride would call the winds of change winds of increase, she would rise up in her brightest hour and she would become the life-giving womb of God in the earth. Another name for an egg that is hatching is ‘womb’. “There is a womb that is an ancient womb – it’s a womb that at times has seemed almost barren, at times it has seemed abandoned, not connected to the will or intent of My people. But,” God says, “it’s right on time and this is the season where My life-giving place is going to be revealed. But it’s not going to be life-giving to you, it’s going to be life-giving because of you. It’s not going to be something that comes merely to do something that meets your needs – it will go way beyond that. It’s going to come forth and be an influence that is world changing – not just world shaking, world-changing. There are many world-shaking things that are going on, but God says He’s bringing forth world-changing things.

I believe we are in the midst of a move of God’s Spirit that is going to enable the church to be small, but big and big, yet small. I have an apple tree in my yard with six grafts, a diversity of fruit yet one root. It is not tall, but it is reaching out. It is filled with blossoms this year. I am expecting to have to put supports under what is destined to bear great fruit in this season. I think we need to take a posture as leaders to support what is both small and big. We need to support a grassroots revolution that is putting the identity, testimony, and purpose of God in every block of every city. We need to be a standing church, not merely sitting on the strength of the flesh. Our focus needs to be on the lower portion of the Body of Christ. This is the place of her standing up and becoming the womb of God in the earth. This is not a time to be strong in opinions, personal passions, or personal visions. This is a time to empower a church to stand up and be the light of Christ in the midst of change.

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

Blog in Audio:

      Greetings,

God is resting in our lives. It is from the place of His presence in our lives that we find our true identity, testimony, and purpose in life. So, here we are in the midst of shaking times in the world. I believe that things can only shake when something or someone more stable than the things that can shake is manifesting. God is doing something in this season and the outcome is going to be a testimony of the glory of His name. Something of grace and life is shaking the doorposts to our tomorrow.

Leaders, be confident in the One who is resting in your lives! God is not in all the things that we do, but God is in our lives. We have welcomed Him and He is making a way to be welcomed even more! He is making a way for His presence to be welcomed in the nations. We must take responsible actions to live for the wellbeing of others and the wellbeing of our world, but in all things our actions alone are not enough. Only God’s manifest presence in, through, and with us in life can change our world to become a testimony of His life. The outcome of this present time is going to be a testimony of the wisdom of God.

To embrace the wisdom of God we must be willing to let go of the wisdom of self. The experiences of our present and our past can influence our steps to the future, but only God’s manifest presence in our present can empower us to walk in a direction we have never seen before. God wants to give us a future that is based upon all that God decrees in and from heaven. We must be willing to embrace things that come from heaven to receive a heavenly reality upon the earth. Perhaps earthly things are shaking that we might receive heavenly things in our earthly world beyond anything we have seen, heard, or known before. As the body of Christ, we are the gate of heaven in the earth. We are the gate of life! We are the gate of grace to a world in need of life! If we do what we have done before, we will receive what we have done before, but the path to the future is also connected to what God has been doing in the street of our journey to today. The future is not disconnected from the foundations of the past, but it is not bound to the past either. It is a furtherance of God’s river of life that leads to a deeper measure of His presence and purpose in our world. The past time is not about the last days of men, but the increasing Day of the Lord. It is about the increasing measure of God’s life. It is about an increasing measure of God’s grace.

In this time of separation, will we receive thoughts and strategies that empower of future? Or will we be bound to the things of the past and fail to see or receive what God is giving and doing in our present day? Will we simply live another measure in the history of men, or will we embrace God grace for another measure of His-story among the nations of men? The path to the future is not a path of fear, but a path that is empowered by God’s love. It is a path of faith! The evidence of our faith will be demonstrated in works that speak of our faith. Those works are the testimonies of actions taken because of beliefs of life and not death, a future and a hope, and not despair. What things are being created now, for the testimony of tomorrow?

God is resting in our lives and He is empowering our expectation, creativity, and purpose. The world is changing, not for the purpose of despair, but for the glory of God’s name. Don’t be distracted by weeds, when the real plants of destiny are about to sprout in the garden. Don’t be distracted by the counterfeits to life, when true life is already sprouting and is destined to grow to maturity for the harvest of tomorrow.

What things do we need to allow to become memorials and steppingstones in our path to the future? What new things do we need to embrace to become who God says we need to be for such a day is this? What treasures of heaven can we receive in this hour that will serve as keys to the advancing influence of God’s kingdom of life to the nations of the world?

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

Blog In Audio:

    Greetings,

Today I want to challenge leaders to be an example in expectancy, creativity, and purpose. Our expectancy is a matter of faith. What do we expect to see today? Do we expect victory, or do we expect defeat? Do we have a revelation of Jesus in our lives today that inspires faith to lay hold of the grace that God has for us today? God’s grace is the power of His manifest presence in our lives to overcome all things each and every day. It is the foundation of the kingdom of God working in and through our lives to reign in life. As leaders we must lead those entrusted to our influence into a path of faith. To do this we must also embrace hope. It is hope that inspires the creativity of our hearts and minds. The creativity of our hearts and minds will position our inner beings to be inspired by the internal voice of God. The result is faith, the substance of whatever we hope for. As leaders we must also be steadfast in our purpose. When the circumstances of our lives change, the purpose of our lives does not. If our purpose can be shaken or altered by our circumstances, we haven’t discovered our true purpose in life. Our purpose is connected to God’s love flowing through our lives to the lives of others. As leaders we must demonstrate a purpose of life-giving love to others and we must give our hearts to assist those we lead in finding their life-giving purpose in all things as well.

God loves each of us and each of us are inspired in our hearts to be seekers of God. We are seekers of God to become the blessing of God in the earth. We are the blessing of God to bring about the multiplication of His purpose and blessing in the generational families of mankind. Our descendants are destined to possess the gates of their enemies and the earth is to be changed by the destiny of our family name. We are more than ourselves, we are the corporate expression of God’s purpose and glory. We are the place of God’s kingdom administration in the earth. We are the place of Zion. Zion is a house of grace. Grace gives, grace never takes. God’s grace is God’s power to change our lives and to change the world we live in.

God wants us to understand grace. Grace is given to us, but it is not something that we take. It is something we must each find. It is found when we discover He is a giver. We know we have found grace when we become givers. When we are not givers, we haven’t discovered God’s grace. God’s presence in and through our lives is the place of God’s government at work in and through our lives. This is the true Zion of God. It is a place of faith, hope, and love working in and through our lives to the world around us. Zion is a culture of grace. It is not a lesser covenant than the covenant of law, it is a greater covenant. It is not a covenant of a soft God, it is a covenant of a great God! Zion is a testimony to finally being able to be transformed. It is a testimony of a place where we do not just hear that God is speaking, but we hear what He is saying. We hear Him, we respond to Him, and we become a testimony of what He says.

When we stand fast for our own opinions, when we stand fast to get what we need from others, we may have heard that God is speaking, but we have not yet heard His voice. The testimony of hearing Him is the receiving of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Where do we receive this kingdom? We receive this kingdom in Zion.

Hebrews 12:22-29 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 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, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

It is among the innumerable company of believers in heaven and upon the earth that we receive the increasing testimony of God’s grace. The increasing eternal grace of God causes us to experience the fire of God that purifies us.

We are living in a time of another level of what cannot be shaken being revealed in our lives. These are the unshakeable things of faith, hope, and love. The world only shakes when something of the unshakeable kingdom of God is being manifested in the nations of men. We must not look at what is shaking, but to the things that cannot be shaken. As leaders we lead other in a culture of faith, hope, and love. These things will inspire our expectancy, creativity, and purpose even in shaking times.

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

Blog In Audio:

     Greetings,

In such a day as this, we must stir up our hearts to know the salvation of our God for the sake of influencing our world in life-giving ways. Our salvation is seen by the manifest presence of Jesus in our lives. As leaders, we must rest our hope fully on the grace that comes by seeing Jesus in our lives each and every day and we must lead others in doing the same.

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ…

In this verse, Peter is talking to believers; human beings who have discovered that God loves them. They are not better than other human beings, they have just discovered God’s love. This verse implies that the loins are in the mind. It implies that our future is in our thinking. The world does not gird up the loins of their mind. The world doesn’t have their loins in their mind, they have their mind in their loins. In other words, their future is in the desires of their flesh. Their future is bound to their own ways. They can even have a good intention and a good heart, but they do not put their hope in what God can do in them. They see their future as dependent upon their own human abilities. Their future is determined by what they think, they can do, or what they want to do. God knows that there is a better way. He wants us to be dependent upon Him in all things. I believe that we are about to see a supernatural testimony of God’s grace beyond what we have seen in the past. Our future is only found through Christ in us and Christ in us will empower the thinking of our hearts and minds to be that of children of a Father who loves us. This is the environment of grace and it creates an atmosphere of life for who we are meant to be. It is not about what we can do for Him. It is about who we are in Him.

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God is for us, not against us. He is for us, but not necessarily for our ways. He is for us and thus He is transforming our lives to His ways in all things. He wants to freely give us all things. He wants to give us His heart. He wants to give us a testimony of His character, nature, way, power, and authority in our lives. God has justified us to live and thus He is giving us a testimony of life. He is giving us truth in who we are. The tribulations, distresses, persecutions or any hard thing in life is not meant to destroy us, but merely to prove the power of God’s grace at work in our lives. God is not the author of the things that come against us in this world, but He is the author and finisher of our faith in all things. Nothing can separate us from God’s love in the midst of all things. When we face the trials of life, our connection to God must be more important than merely our deliverance in our circumstances. The purpose of our present circumstances is so we will know God in His love for us like never before. It is God in His love that will lead us forward in the path of life, not merely our deliverance for our past or freedom from our present circumstances. As leaders, we must lead others in knowing God in His love. This is the true lesson of life. God loves us and nothing can ever separate us from that fact. It is time to draw near to Him so the power of His love can be revealed in and through our lives.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders we must lead God’s people in difficult times. We do this by setting an example in faith, hope, and love in all things. This is the witness to our true identity, testimony, and purpose in Christ in all things and at all times. Not all things are good, but God is good in all things. Many people believe that God is in control, but I believe that God is in charge. He can intervene because He owns all things, but in many things, we are in control. He gave us dominion over the works of His hands.

Psalms 8:4 What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet…

Because of this, we often experience the consequence of our own actions or even the actions of others in life. My garden produces plants that benefit my life as well as weeds that require my cultivation. In the same way, the world is filled with things that are both good and bad. I don’t believe that this is because God’s will is both good and bad. I believe that God’s will is always good, but bad things happen that prove how good God really is. Bad things not only prove how good God is, they also prove how good His people can become in the midst of bad things and bad situations.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

In these words, Paul reveals to us that all things work together for good. He was not saying that all things are good. He was saying that God is always good in the midst of all things and He is intimately and practically involved in our lives. He wants to partner with us in all things and He invites us to partner with Him to see our true purpose fulfilled in all things. God is with us and He calls us to be with Him in all things. The true testimony of life is for us to become a testimony of the image of Jesus in the midst of our world in all things. This is true on good days and bad days. It is true in the midst of beneficial things and weeds that seek to require our attention and distract us from the real things growing in the garden of life. We must know that there are both good things and bad thing happening in our world, but the bad things are not the purpose of our day. God who is good in all things is the purpose of every day! Our predestination is found in Christ and not in ourselves. That predestination is to bring the love and life of God into our world in all situations. We were born in our world for such a time as this for the predestined glory of God in our day.

God takes what the enemy intended for evil in our lives and He turns it for good. I don’t believe that He is in control of every detail; I believe that He is in charge of every detail. He is not a distant God who does not want a relationship with human beings. He has not just simply sovereignly determined the future. He has determined the future with an intimate relationship with a wonderful family. This is a process of grace whereby the internal realities of God’s kingdom manifest in external ways in our lives. So, we face pressure, but we persevere. God is our God, we are His people, and we live together in all things. This is the testimony of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit from within our hearts.

God wants us to know in our hearts that church is not a place we go, it is something we are. We don’t just go there for training or for a Sunday service. We are the church! This is a challenging time, but a time for us to manifest as the true church of Christ. Now that our corporate gatherings are being hindered, we must rise to the challenge and intentionally connect through creative measures of our hearts. We are each part of the Provers 31 woman, the co-reigning partner of Jesus as the body of Christ. We know who our Husband is. We are dealing in the real-estate of the earth on behalf of our family name. We carry the family name; the family character, nature, way, power, and authority. We are the church. We are each sons and daughters. We are overcomers. We are facing pressure and we are finding grace to cheerfully endure. We are cheerfully enduring and the testimony of Christ within us is transforming our hearts and our minds. The power of God in us is stronger than the pressure that is against us and what is manifesting is the character of Christ from within for such a time as this.

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

Blog In Audio:

      Greetings,

No doubt you have had to make some adjustments in your meetings, scheduling, priorities, and activities of your day in the midst of all that is going on in regard to the recent world events. This is not a time to falter in our faith, but to embrace the eternal realities of faith, hope, and love in the midst of every shaking. I believe that God is about to do some amazingly good things in the earth. Surely it is time to humble ourselves, pray, and see the healing that can only come from God. As leaders, we must keep a right focus to lead others to keep their focus on heavenly things in the midst of earthly shakings.

As the people of God, it is important that we keep our focus in the midst of every storm. Jesus is resting in our boat and there is great destiny on the other shore. We must be confident that God is resting in our lives. Our focus must be fixed upon the presence of God in our lives. We must see responding to what He says as essential in all things. Our hearts must be set upon being givers of life in our world. We must embrace God’s desires as our own and we must let our own desires be transformed by the heart of our Heavenly Father. God’s presence, God’s words, God’s life, and God’s desires are keys to be the people of God. As we increasingly become the people of God, we will shine like a light of hope to those bound to the cultures and societies of the world.

People in the world are afraid, they don’t know what is next, they can’t find a place to settle, they are tossed to and from by every conflicting way of life, they don’t know what to do, they are often out of control because they don’t know where to look.  We must shine as those who are not distracted by things that seek to distract us from what is most import. God is in our lives and He wants to be in the lives of all people. We must be people of faith, hope, and love to bring faith, stability, direction, peace, and freedom of heart and soul to those we influence.

People in the world don’t seek God’s counsel. They don’t want to do His will; they want to do their own will. The result is dread, calamity, distress and anguish. People of God seek God’s will, not their own. They seek His kingdom first and all the things they need are added to them. The kingdom of God is within us and it is the place of God’s Spirit assuring us of our relationship with God for life, testimony of life, and purpose of life in all things. It is an internal knowing of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. No circumstance of life can change this, it can only inspire us to manifest the internal realities of the kingdom of God in external ways!

People in the world are never satisfied, they are thirsty, they need life. They seek life in all the wrong places and things. They are left dry and dead and a place of demonic influences. They are a dry place and they can’t find true satisfaction. People of God live from satisfaction; thus, they seek to give life to others. They are a watered garden, a place of God’s presence and habitation. What better time than today to be people who present life and an expectation of life to the world we live in.

People in the world seek personal pleasure, personal preference, personal identity and they are left in their own misery, and the bondages of their own iniquities. People of God seek to please God because they know how pleased He is with them. They seek to be children of God and live under His authority. They embrace the changes that come from His covering in their lives.

Matthew 6:22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

What are we looking at? Sometimes we think that fixing our eyes upon what God has promised us is the goal, but I am increasingly becoming aware that fixing our eyes on what the King sees is essential in this time. Our King is ruling righteously, and He is calling for princes and princesses who will rein justly. Our justice system is based upon a revelation of God’s love. It is an administration of life. We must fix our eyes upon God’s presence. We must enter into the dance of life by responding to every word that God speaks to us. This cannot be shaken by natural sight! We must fix our eyes upon life and allowing His river of life to flow through us. This is experienced in the world around us by our own attitudes, thoughts, actions, words, and life-giving expressions. We must fix our eyes upon pleasing the One who is already pleased to call us His own. When we fix our eyes upon true light we will be seen as children of LIGHT!

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