ted4leaders

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am going to give you some foundational truths for the role of leaders. I have written on these in previous blogs, but I felt it important to remind us as leaders in regard to what our role is in leading others in the body of Christ.

God appoints leaders in the body of Christ for the sake of those that God leads and loves. Leaders don’t lead others for their own sake. They lead them for the sake of every believer’s relationship with God as their Father, Jesus as their Lord, and Holy Spirit as their empowerment of life in all things. Leaders inspire others to embrace a personal and powerful relationship with God in life.

What is the role of leaders? The first role of a leader is to be an example to those they lead so that those they lead can see an expression of the way, the truth, and the life in Christ. The apostle Paul wrote to his spiritual son Timothy in regard to being an example to those that God had entrusted him to lead.

1 Timothy 2:12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

To be an example in the word is not about being an example in Scripture memory. The Pharisees were excellent in Scripture memory but their use of the words of the Scriptures became weapons of death in their mouths and not words of life to those they spoke to. To be an example in the word is to be an example in the substance of the word. This is the Spirit of the word in the testimony of their flesh. Just as the word became flesh in the life of Jesus the Son of Man, leaders are to become a testimony of flesh transformed to the word of God as a life-giving testimony and expression to inspire those they lead to become the same. It is about setting an example that others can see that is true to the word of God. It is true to being an expression of God. All believers in Christ are to be an example to their world as expressions of God. They are to be true to God’s word. Leaders simply lead others in becoming true to God’s word.

Leaders are to be an example that can inspire others by their conduct in life. Leaders are not examples in conduct while believers are not. All believers in Christ are to be an example to the world as to the conduct of sons and daughters of God. How do we handle the challenges of life? How do we live our lives? How do we respond to others? Do we react to the situations in our lives, or do we make actions of faith in every circumstance of our lives? Reactions will lead us into a path of carnality and self-preservation, but actions of faith are responses to the voice of God in our hearts that always leads to new life. How do we react to others? How do we live our lives as dads, moms, brothers, sisters, grandparents, friends, and neighbors? Leaders lead for this testimony in the family of God.

What about love? How do we exhibit the character of love in our attitudes and actions in life? All believers in Christ are to exhibit the love of God to their world and leaders lead in this testimony. They demonstrate the character, nature, and way of God in their love for God and for others. True love lives to give and never to get. Leaders lead others in this testimony.

What about living lives that exhibit a supernatural connection to the Spirit? Do we manifest being spiritual people that inspire others to be the same? This is not about being religious with religious actions and the keeping of religious ceremonies. It is about being people of the spirit. This includes a discerning of spirits and a spiritual example to others in being connected to the Spirit of God at all times. For this reason, I stir up my spirit all day long in praying in the spirit. I don’t make it a religious task; I simply pray without ceasing throughout my day. I choose to have a face-to-face relationship with God all day long.

A leader is to be an example in faith. Faith is a supernatural testimony of responding to the voice of God in our hearts. The opposite of faith is natural sight, but faith is walking in a path that is inspired by God’s voice of love. It enables us to see what we could not see before, hear what we could not hear before, and to think what we could not think before. The trouble in our lives simply becomes framing material to frame our world according to God’s purpose and will.

Leaders are to be an example in purity. This is to live an innocent and sinless live. To do this requires a connection to God that inspires a change in our hearts and minds to live to be givers of life and not takers of life from others. We live for the wellbeing of others through an intimate connection with God in or hearts. We live lives empowered by God’s grace. The manifest presence of God in our hearts enables us to live lives that exhibit the holy life-giving nature of our heavenly Father in all things. Leaders give themselves to being pure to inspire those they lead to do the same.

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

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am going to continue on the need to keep our hearts in a way that life is always flowing from us to others in our world. Leaders must set an example that can inspire others to do the same.

Keeping our hearts filled with life that overflows to others is connected to our decision to rejoice in God in all things and at all times. We must be sensitive to others around us and not consumed by our own needs or desires. We cultivate a relationship with God that simply seeks to know Him and to grow in the testimony of His love to others in our world. There is no separation between us and God. He sees us as His sons and daughters, and we must always live to see Him as our heavenly Father. The apostle Paul encouraged believers to live a lifestyle of rejoicing, being gentle to others, knowing God, never being anxious, and cultivating a face-to-face relationship with God that would protect their hearts and minds in Christ (Phil. 4:4-7).

Paul went on to write some key things for us to embrace in order to keep our hearts open to the flow of God’s life. We must keep our hearts so the issues of life will freely flow to those around us. This is true for all believers, but especially true for us as leaders as we set an example for others to follow.

Philippians 4:8, 9 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Rather than focusing on the things we cannot think about, we should fill our hearts with the things we can think about. We must give our hearts to things that are true. Here is something true. He loves us! He will never leave us! He cares for us! Nothing can separate us from Him! We must receive the things that He says about us and embrace them with our whole hearts. We must give our spirits, souls, and physical lives to all that is true. What about things that are just? I am not talking about complaining about injustice! I am talking about thinking on the things that are just. Can we be merciful and gracious to others based upon who we are and not what they deserve? Love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace – these are all things of God’s justice. We must give our hearts to things that are pure! Resisting the things of impurity is not as powerful as embracing the things of purity with our whole hearts. We must give our hearts to things that are of a good report. Indulging in the good reports of life is more powerful than choosing a path of negativity and of bad report. Let’s give our hearts to things that are of good report. How about virtue? This is giving our hearts to every opportunity to give life to others. To live for the wellbeing of others and for the purposes of God and His kingdom is a virtuous thing. Life will come off of us that will empower others to live too! We must give our hearts to anything that is praiseworthy. If we think this is hard, all we have to do is think of ANYTHING! Anything praiseworthy is a good thing to give our hearts to. Giving our hearts to receive, hear, and emulate others in their example of faith in their journey of Christ’s life will surely help us keep our hearts with all diligence. These things are essential for all believers, but especially for those who lead for the sake of others.

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

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders we must know how to keep our hearts for the sake of others. Our ‘heart’ includes our emotions, and all about us that is spiritual, mental, and physical in life. If we confess that our heart is into something, it means that all that is spirit, soul, and body embrace it. A great example of this is when King David danced before the Lord with all of his might.

2 Samuel 6:14-16 Then David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. And as the ark of the LORD came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.

David’s wife, Michal, didn’t understand what David was doing. Her heart was not into what he was doing. She saw his actions as actions of foolishness, but David knew that his actions were those of a full and passionate love for God. David was giving his full heart to worshipping God and that included the emotional and physical expressions of his life.

Our heart is the seat of our collective energies and the focus of our personal lives. It is the throne from which life flows. It is the seat of our thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, and endeavors. Our heart is our personality, our inner life, and our character. A leader must guard their heart. We are not to guard our hearts in the way the world guards their hearts. Those in the world seek to protect their hearts and often find themselves in situations where their hearts become hard and small, due to the wounds of life. King Solomon said that keeping our heart had to do with keeping the springs of life open and flowing.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

How do we as leaders guard our hearts and set an example that others can follow? How do we keep the springs of life flowing from within us? The apostle Paul gave some great instructions to the Philippian church.

Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

A decision to live a lifestyle of rejoicing is key to being a healthy leader. This doesn’t mean that we laugh when we should cry; it means we choose to embrace God’s life and God’s presence every day of our lives. We must seek to be gentle among people and not forceful in our own ways, our own desires, or our own agendas. God is always at hand. He is always within our reach. If we realize that God is with us every step of the journey, we can embrace a face-to-face relationship with Him that will keep us from being anxious. We should keep an open line of communication between Him and us, as we would with a friend. We don’t go to God with our needs of crisis expecting Him to give us a bailout or to deliver us from our circumstances. Once in a while God wants to get us out of our circumstances, but 100% of the time He wants to get into our circumstances with us. When we realize that there is no gap between God and us we can have a peace that surpasses our own understanding. Peace is not the absence of conflict; it is being in a place where there is no gap between God and us. It works on good days and on bad days. Peace is a knowing that our house is in the right place and that no change of circumstances can separate us from the love of God in our lives. It isn’t necessarily the absence of conflict. It is the assurance that we are joined to God and His house in all things and at all times. There is no separation between us, and we can live near to Him in all things. Knowing these things will help us keep our hearts so that life-giving water flows from within us to our world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am going to finish with my theme of grants from God with two final grants. There are no doubt many grants found in Christ, but I have been presenting some things that are specifically said to be grants in the Scriptures. These final two grants are the grant of God’s mercy and the grant of reigning in partnership with Jesus by His Spirit.

Mercy is a judgment that frees us from the power of the law. We cannot break laws. We can only violate them and then they break us – unless we surpass them with a higher law. The higher law of justice is our Father’s love. Jesus made it possible for us to receive God’s mercy that triumphs over all other judgment. It is because of this that we can boldly come before the throne of God’s grace and receive mercy, that we might find grace (Heb. 4:16).

Mercy is not only God’s judgment that frees us from the judgment of death, but it is also a part of the nature of our compassionate Father. When the Lord grants us mercy, we receive a testimony of God’s love that frees us from the consequence of other judgments in life.

2 Timothy 1:16 The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; 17 but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. 18 The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day—and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus.

Mercy is part of the character of God. His love for us reveals His compassionate gift of mercy. Mercy is the judgment of God that conveys us from the administration of law and conscience to one of grace and truth. The grace empowered sacrifice of Jesus enables us to know that we are children of God. Our sins are forgiven, and we have a Father who loves us. Jesus has forgiven our sins and revealed to us our loving Father in heaven.

God’s mercy is a judgment of God’s compassion towards us and it justifies us to live, but His grace empowers us to reign in life. It is through His gift of mercy that we have the forgiveness of sins. We are justified to live. We have redemption through the blood of Jesus. There is also an administration that can sum up everything in Christ. That administration is one of God’s grace (Eph. 1:9,10). The manifest presence of Holy Spirit working in and through our lives is the power of God’s grace. God’s manifest presence in our lives grants us an ability to reign in life.

We are justified to live because of the shed blood of Jesus, but we are saved by His grace. His gift of mercy justified us to live, even though we were bound to death in our sin. His grace working in our lives grants us the ability to reign in life.

Romans 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

The grant of reigning in partnership with Jesus by His Spirit is a testimony of God’s intimate and overcoming power. God stands at the door of our hearts and calls us to open the door to His presence. He wants to partner with us and us with Him in every aspect of our lives.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

Let us abide in the love of God and receive His gifts of life that we might live in this life as children of God who know the power His wonderful love. Leaders set an example in receiving these gifts from our Father in heaven. These are gifts given to us in Christ:

1. The grant of salvation in every situation of our lives.
2. The grant of a changed and enlarged heart.
3. The grant of deliverance from our enemies
4. The grant to be bold in speaking God’s word with miracle power, signs, and wonders in Jesus’ name.
5. The grant of repentance unto life.
6. The grant to be patient with others and to comfort one another.
7. The grant to be strengthened with might through God’s Spirit in our inner man, to know Christ in us with a revelation of God’s love, increasingly filled with the fullness of God.
8. The grant of God’s mercy.
9. The grant of reigning in partnership with Jesus by His Spirit.

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

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I am continuing today to write concerning grants given to us by God in Christ. So far I have addressed the grant of salvation, the grant of a changed and enlarged heart, the grant of an ability to be bold in speaking God’s word accompanied by God’s healing power, signs, and wonders, and the grant of repentance unto life.

Now let me address some more grants given to us by God in our lives as believers in Him. The first of these is a grant to be patient with others and to comfort one another.

Romans 15:1 We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. 3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” 4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. 5 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Being patient with one another cannot be a discipline of our flesh. Patience motivated by control is really imprisonment of our thoughts and attitudes. This type of discipline can only force our emotions into an internal chamber of our lives that fosters bitterness and a cry to be freed. True patience with another must be a new birthed compassion in our hearts. We must desire to be patient. We must desire to comfort those who are struggling. This desire is motivated by true compassion – a life-giving love. There is a decision on our part to choose to posture our hearts and minds to be patient, but true patience is a gift from God to our hearts. The written account of the testimonies of men and women in the Scriptures inspire our connection to Holy Spirit in being empowered for patience in our walk of faith. For this reason we must all read the Scriptures as a treasure for our learning and position our hearts to receive the gift of patience. As leaders we must excel in this reality, it is a gift to us by God’s grace at work in our lives. God wants to give this gift, but we must willingly and willfully desire it and seek to find it.

There is also a grant to be strengthened with might through God’s Spirit in our inner man, to know Christ in us with a revelation of God’s love, increasingly filled with the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

This grant is the gift of Holy Spirit’s empowerment to our spirit from within. It is where divine revelation occurs. Holy Spirit intercedes within us, drawing what is in heaven into our spirits so that our spirits flood our souls with life-giving thoughts, reasoning, emotions, imaginations, and desires. The mind of Christ within us becomes the source of our fruitful thinking. We grow in intimately knowing God. It is from within that we can know the love of Christ and that love goes beyond the reasoning of our minds. It floods our hearts and transforms our minds from within. It is about knowing God through an intimate connection with Holy Spirit in our hearts. Leaders set an example in knowing God to receive this intimate connection.

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

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am going to continue in my theme of grants from God in our lives. These are gifts that come to us by the power of God’s grace. They are realities that we receive as a result of the manifest presence of God in our lives. Leaders must set an example in receiving these gifts.

God grants us the gifts of salvation, a changed and enlarged heart, deliverance from the hand of our enemies, and an ability to be bold in speaking God’s word accompanied by God’s healing power, signs, and wonders.

Now let me address another grant given to us by God. A foundation of our faith in Christ is a changed mind. This is a changed way of thinking. This is not merely a discipline of our thoughts by an administration of law. It is not a control of our thoughts. It is a revolution in our thinking. It is a change in the source of our thoughts by the power of a new internal desire. It is a grant of repentance to life. It is not a grant of repentance from evil. This was the testimony in the beginning of the church when those who had no understanding of God began to supernaturally experience Him in their lives.

Acts 11:18 When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”

When the apostles heard the evidence of Holy Spirit in the lives these Gentiles, they understood that God had made them alive in their hearts to God. It was a grant from God – a gift of God’s grace that transforms the hearts of those who receive the Spirit of the Lord. The expressions of Holy Spirit in the lives of these new believers were that of a supernatural love for God and a confession empowered by a new desire by the power of Jesus as Lord from within.

Every leader must embrace and lead others to live in an empowerment of repentance from dead works. This is not a repentance from evil. It is a repentance from being dead. It is a gift from God, not a discipline of the flesh. It is an empowerment of the Spirit of the Lord in our lives. The Spirit of the Lord gives us a desire empowered by being loved by God! Repentance is a gift, or granted to us by God when we embrace His love in our hearts. 

This gift of repentance unto life is not just a one-time experience in our lives. It is a way of life. It is an increasing transformation of our hearts and minds by the Spirit of the Lord in our hearts. It is an experience of God’s love that changes us. That internal experience gives us a new testimony that is evident by changed actions in our way of thinking and being in life.

When we seek external things to find love, to find our identity, it is because we lack an internal revelation of being loved by God. Receiving the love of God in our hearts makes us come alive to God in our hearts. The dry places of our hearts become empowered to be a watered garden of God’s presence. Paradise is restored in our lives – a place of knowing God, living with Him, and walking with Him in life. It is the desirable place of knowing God and it frees us from being dead in our hearts. Leaders must lead others by example in being loved by God in their hearts and no longer living in the shadows of illegitimate life sources that only leave us dead to repeatedly do dead works that never produce the fruit of life. It is not a repentance of condemnation and shame. It is a repentance unto life! It is knowing the truth of God’s love in our hearts. We were born to be loved by God! He loves us and He gives us the desires of our hearts! Those desires given to us by Him change our lives forever and it is a continually growing reality in our lives. This is not a one-time experience of turning to God in our hearts, but a daily turning to Him so the light of His life gives desires that come from being loved by God.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I have been addressing grants that God gives us and as leaders we must be an example to those we lead in receiving the grants that come to us from God in heaven. Salvation is a grant from God to us. It is a gift of God’s miracle power working in our lives. Our salvation is not just a salvation of going to heaven when we die, it is an ability to bring heaven into our earthly realities. Jesus is our salvation in every situation of our lives. The favor of God in our lives is His presence that saves us in every aspect. He frees us from captivity and liberates us from every form of death. His salvation gives us both His mercy and grace and these things reveal His life in our lives.

God grants us the gift of a changed and enlarged heart. This enables God presence within us to change our character, nature, and way in our world. It is an increasing testimony of His presence within us, but it is a gift granted to us by God when we willingly invite Him into our lives and we willfully respond to His desires within us.

Another grant from God to us is a grant of deliverance from our enemies. Our victory is not found in our knowledge about God, our gifting in Christ, our understanding of God’s word, or any power of our own strength. It is a freedom given to us by God that we might serve Him in holiness and righteousness.

Luke 1:74 To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

Being holy doesn’t come by abstaining from the world. Holiness comes by being attached in our spirits to the Spirit of God who is holy. It is God who empowers our holiness, not some religious form of holy effort. It is God who makes us righteous, not some discipline in the flesh in an attempt to do right things. Deliverance from the hand of our enemies can be deliverance from some external force of the devil that seeks to destroy us. It can also be a deliverance from some self-seeking power within us. Being able to serve God in holiness and righteousness is a liberty we experience when we are granted God’s gift of deliverance from our enemies.

So, God grants us the gifts of salvation, a changed and enlarged heart, and deliverance from the hand of our enemies. He also grants us the ability to be bold in speaking God’s word with healing power, signs, and wonders.

Acts 4:29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.

God’s grant of boldness to us is not a matter of healing, signs, or wonders. This grant of boldness is that we might be His voice to our world. It is so we can speak His word that transforms the lives of others. It is a voice of love that calls His children to the place of life. To be expressions of God’s word to our world is a grant given to us by God. Leaders lead others in receiving the grants of deliverance from every enemy and being able to speak God’s word to their world. God’s word is powerful, and it will bring healing with signs and wonders that testify of God’s love.

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

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Kind David lived in an Old Covenant time of Law, but his desire was for the day of New Covenant grace. He knew that the secret to obeying the commandments of God was only found in the heart. He prophetically declared the human need for a changed and enlarged heart to be able to live in the character of God. His view of keeping the testimony of the law was a grant from God.

Psalms 119:29 Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me Your law graciously. 30 I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me. 31 I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame! 32 I will run the course of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart.

David knew that the ability to run the course of God’s values required an enlarged heart. To receive God’s way in our lives, we must experience a change in our own character and nature. We must experience an internal change to have a change in our external actions. This is a grant from God and not a work of our own flesh. It requires us to respond with obedient actions to the internal change of our hearts. It is a miracle from God. Leaders set an example in exhibiting external actions that are the fruit of internal changes. This was the prophetic declaration of the prophet Jeremiah for us all and it is a gift given to us by God when we willingly and willfully give our lives to receive this granted change from God in our lives.

Jeremiah 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

The new covenant is not a different way of informing us concerning what God desires in our lives. The new covenant is a granted gift from God that puts His desires in our hearts and minds by an internal supernatural power of grace. Our knowing God is not the result of new instructions from God, it is an internal transformation of our hearts and minds by Christ within us. Knowing God is not a matter of understanding His instructions, knowing God is a matter of internal revelation and intimacy with God in our hearts. Leaders set an example in receiving this gift and they inspire others to receive the life-transforming gift of God’s grace that brings about this internal change in everyone who comes to believe. It is a grant from God. Knowing God is a matter of knowing His love that forever changes us. That process is not just a one-time event. It is a way of life that changes us from glory to glory as we each turn to God in Christ.

Christ in us is the source of life for a changed and enlarged heart. Leaders lead others in knowing the power of Christ in them. Each person must know the testimony of God’s grace that gives them a changed and enlarged heart that increasingly becomes a testimony of God’s law of love.

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

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Leaders lead others in knowing the salvation of God in every situation of their lives. God’s salvation is not something we earn. It is granted to us by God when we come to Him. It is His gift to us and our receiving of that gift in our lives as a continual testimony of God’s love to us in life. Perhaps the greatest responsibility of a leader is to envision, encourage, and be an example in receiving the salvation of God in the lives of those they lead.

God loves us and God has revealed His favor to us through Jesus His Son. He frees us from all of our captivity. The changes that come into our lives are a gift from God. The changes in our lives don’t come for the external circumstances in our world. They come about by the working of God’s Spirit within us in the midst of the circumstances of our lives. Those changes are a gift to us from God. We hear Him and respond to Him, but the work of change is a gift from Him. He is favorable to us. He forgives us of our flaws and our disconnections from Him. He removes things from our lives that are destructive forces to us. His fierceness destroys the things that seek to destroy us, but His love protects us in the process of change. God never seeks to destroy us. He seeks to destroy what destroy us so that we can be revived in Him. He enables us to rejoice in Him for who He is and for what He does in our lives. He is our salvation, and it is in His salvation in our lives that we are restored in every way. His mercy is new every day, and His mercy is a testimony of His great love to us. Our hope is in hearing Him because in hearing Him we become empowered to live lives of faith towards Him. He is our salvation in every and any situation. His salvation to us is a gift. He grants it to us because of who He is. His words to us are words of peace and there is no need for any of us to return to the foolishness of our own ways. Our awe of Him invites His salvation in our lives. He transforms our lives to reveal His glory in all things. His glory is not a passing reality but a resident testimony of His goodness to us. His mercy helps us in our weakness and His mercy grants us access to eternal changes of truth in our lives. His heart of love and His righteous acts on our behalf reveal our peace with Him. We are changed! Truth springs out from our lives! Things given to us in Christ by the righteousness of Jesus in heaven become the realities of our lives. He gives us what is good, and life happens in us. What He has done and what He still does reveal the footsteps of our path forward in life.

Psalms 85:1 LORD, You have been favorable to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob. 2 You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin. Selah 3 You have taken away all Your wrath; You have turned from the fierceness of Your anger. 4 Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease. 5 Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? 6 Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? 7 Show us Your mercy, LORD, and grant us Your salvation. 8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly. 9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. 10 Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed. 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12 Yes, the LORD will give what is good; and our land will yield its increase. 13 Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway.

As leaders we receive the gift of God’s salvation and set an example to others that salvation is not a work of our flesh. It is a gift from God to us.

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

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Leaders set an example to others in knowing how to find guidance in life. Our guidance is not found by navigating our own desire and will. Our guidance is found in our relationship with God and our willingness to trust Him and to expect that His will brings life to us – spirit, soul, and body. The following list are things that I consider to be essential for guidance in life.

Essential Things for Guidance in Life:

• Seek first God’s Kingdom – Seek His will and Kingdom to come into every area of your life.
• God’s kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit within your heart and these things empower every aspect of your kingdom to increasingly become an expression of the kingdom of God.
• Live to be loved and to love.  Let God love you, receive that love, and then live to love Him and others.
• Love is a revelation – seek that revelation.
• Love is inspired by desire and not by command. It bears the fruit true commitment.
• All steps forward in life can lead to redemption and restoration because reconciliation is a free gift of God’s love.
• Mercy triumphs over every judgment when that mercy is found in Christ.
• Pray that your sins will be forgiven even as you forgive others. True freedom only comes by a willingness to give freedom to others.
• Always give your life for the wellbeing of others.
• Your identity, testimony, and purpose are always found in Christ, and it is always connected to others for the glory of God.
• All things should inspire you to worship God and worshipping God empowers you to embrace all things for God’s purpose and will.
• If the choices you make and the things you choose don’t inspire you to worship God, there is something wrong.
• The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth – if the fruit isn’t manifesting something is not good, righteous, or true in you. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
• Mercy is received and grace is found – both are gifts from God.
• Finding grace includes tribulation, cheerful endurance, a changed character, and a birthed hope, for another measure of glory (Rom. 5:1-5).
• Always stand to overcome every wicked thing – things that make you dead and not life-giving – things that disconnect you from God and His plan.
• Overcome by being strong in the word of God (what does He say?) and strong in the Spirit (His presence).
• Live to give life to your world.

If your thoughts, reasoning, imagination, emotions, and desires seek to embrace these things, God will guide your path into life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728