ted4leaders

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

God’s church is the place of God’s habitation. We are a temple of Holy Spirit. As leaders, we lead others in becoming and living as the place of God’s habitation. This is not just for us to know the presence of God in our lives. It is that we might walk in His purpose in our lives. This is not just automatic because God wants this to happen. It involves a partnership with God. Leaders live to empower others to partner with God to become all that God wants them to be and to do all that God wants them to do in the earth.

In my Monday blog I am presently writing concerning embracing the present season of God. The seasons of God are what God determines those seasons to be. Every season has a purpose of bearing fruit to bring life to the world. Every season is an age of blessing. Harvest is a blessing of God to the world. When one season ends, another is in process. The sign of the end of every season is harvest, and every season ends to provide food for eating and seed for sowing for a new harvest.

Every season of harvest requires laborers of that harvest. There is not just a need for laborers, but laborers who are willing to seek to understand each season of harvest. Sometimes we put the emphasis upon our labors, and we miss the need for God’s presence. Sometimes we seek God’s presence and forget the need to partner with Him with our willingness to labor. Every season of harvest requires us to do works that serve that harvest.

Luke 10:1 After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. 2 Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Jesus sent the seventy out into the places that He was about to go. Where is the Holy Spirit about to go today to proclaim the life and victory found in Jesus’ name? There is a new harvest in every new season of God in the earth, but every season requires laborers for that work for the life, care, and purpose of that new harvest.

Psalms 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

God is the One who builds, and God is the One who guards, but we must partner with Him to labor in building and to labor in watching. Are we building with God or are we seeking to build something of the past or something of our own desires? Are we guarding what we have obtained from the past or are we awake to what God is doing and is about to do in our world.

1 Corinthians 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Laboring in the season of God requires us to do things that serve that season. The things we do are not meant to be permanent methods for every season of God. They are simply methods we receive to labor in the harvest of each season. This requires us to do new things, but also to do. We cannot be bound to the methods of a past season, nor can we reject being involved in new methods that serve the present season of God in our lives. We don’t get our identity out from what we do in life. What we do in life gets its identity from who we are. We get our identity from our Father in heaven. To get our identity out of what we do is idolatry. Life can only come from a source of life. It cannot come from works.

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,

Hearing God is about knowing God and it is in knowing God that we overcome all manner of death in our world. Hearing God empowers us to overcome in relationship, faith, testimony, authority, and our purpose in Christ. Leaders set an example in this that inspires others to follow.

The sixth letter of Revelation was written to the church of Philadelphia. The name Philadelphia means, brotherly love. We are increasingly experiencing the testimony of communion with God and one another that inspires the testimony of His community in the earth. We are increasingly knowing God in our midst as the family of God. We are the people of God in the earth.

A sixth reason to hear God is to be a pillar of God’s presence in the earth that loves and lives for God and His family. Our thinking is for God our Father and for one another as the family of God. We know that we are each a temple of Holy Spirit and together we make a greater temple of God’s Spirit.

Revelation 3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

The seventh letter in the book of Revelation is to the church of Laodicea. The name Laodicea means, just people. True justice is not a testimony of what is right verses what is wrong. True justice is to become the substance of who God is as those who have clearly obtained His mercy. We can know the power of prayer that is really a face-to-face relationship with God in all things. Those prayers are not about meeting the needs of a justice of right and wrong. They are a testimony of God’s mercy and grace that extends to the generations.

A seventh reason to hear God is to be consumed with His zeal for His glory. It invites a partnership with God to reign with Him in life. This only comes by knowing Him in us and us in Him in all things. We can partner with Him in all things and reign in life.

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.

Summary:

• The first reason to hear God is to know the life that comes by being loved by God. It is to have a relationship with Him and know Him – this is eternal life.   Revelation2:7

• A second reason to hear God is to overcome the fear of death in all things. Love does whatever is necessary to show that love and it will physically manifest that love in the actions of our lives. Revelation 2:10, 11

• A third reason to hear God is to know the inward transformation of God’s word in our hearts and His outward testimony in our lives. These are the fruit of responding to God’s gifts of His Word and Spirit in and through us. Revelation 2:17

• A fourth reason for hearing God is to give life to our world. We can bring light to any darkness and transform it to light. Revelation 2:26-29

• A fifth reason for hearing God is to walk in the works prepared for us in Christ. We are sent ones; thus, angels work with us to reveal the goodness of our Father through our lives as part of the testimony of His Son. Revelation 3:5, 6

• A sixth reason to hear God is to be a pillar of God’s presence in the earth that loves and lives for God and His family. Hearing God empowers us to be part of God’s community of life. Revelation 3:12, 13

• A seventh reason to hear God is to be consumed with His zeal for His glory. This only comes by knowing Him in us and us in Him in all things. We can partner with Him in all things and reign in life. Revelation 3:20-22

Leaders seek to live in these overcoming truths and to lead others into this same living testimony that comes through an intimate relationship with God, revealed by hearing Him.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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,

Our personal relationship with God will lead us to personal victories in our lives. We hear God to know God, not merely knowing what to do. It is through knowing God that our hearing Him will give us triumph to know an intimate relationship with Him, a life of faith towards Him that overcomes all fear of death, and a testimony of an inward and outward change of life that others in our world can see and experience. Leaders lead others in a lifestyle of hearing God for these things. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we find these things and more as a fruit of hearing God. Anyone who hears will bear the fruit of life to their world.

The fourth letter to the churches of Revelation was written to the church of Thyatira. The name Thyatira means, sacrifice or labor of love. Authority is not about getting something from someone else. It is about giving life to them. True authority is the ability to give life to others. Having been judged in Christ, we can now give life to others. We are under authority and thus we have been given authority. The ability to give life in and to any circumstance has been given to Jesus as the Son of Man, therefore, we can give life to those who are in our sphere of life. It is a matter of submission to receive authority and submission to give that substance of life to others.

A fourth reason for hearing God is to give life to our world. We can live in the uncompromising standard of giving life that destroys all manner of death. We can be true to who we really are and who God truly made us to be brings life to our world. We are sons and daughters of God, who is Light. We are lights to our world. By this we can be like the sun to the night. We turn darkness to light. We turn death to life.

Revelation 2:26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— 27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’— as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star.

The fifth letter of Revelation was to the church of Sardis. The name Sardis means, prince of joy. It is in the presence of God that there is the fullness of joy. We are awake to God, and we are children of the day and not the night. We know the power of His Might and the testimony of who we are in Christ reveals His resurrection power to our world. We are each a part in the testimony of His calling, His inheritance, and His power to the world around us.

A fifth reason for hearing God is to walk in the works prepared for us in Christ. We hear God to live in the purpose of Christ. We are clothed in the good works that have prepared for us in Christ. We live in the testimony of resurrection life and in the purpose of giving that life to our world. Like angels (sent ones) in heaven, we become sent ones in Christ to our world as sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. We are sent ones; thus, angels work with us to reveal the goodness of our Father through our lives as part of the testimony of His Son.

Revelation 3:5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

We overcome all manner of death by being the life-giving force of God’s grace to our world. In addition to hearing for relationship, faith, and a personal heavenly testimony we hear God to receive the overcoming promises of life-giving authority to our world and a testimony of our purpose in Christ according to His resurrection life. Leaders lead others into hearing God and overcoming to see these things true in their daily lives.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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 a lifestyle of hearing God. Hearing God is about knowing Him. It’s about knowing a living reality of an intimate relationship with Him. Living from a revelation of God’s love should be a growing reality in our lives. That revelation of love should inspire a growing measure of faith towards God in our lives. That faith is a testimony of hearing God in our hearts. Faith towards God should inspire sacrifices of love on our part. A testimony of God’s word and Spirit in our lives should empower a heavenly testimony in our lives that others can see.

In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we find these things as a fruit of hearing God. Anyone who has an ear to hear is to hear that they might bear the fruit of God’s life to others in their world. The first letter of Revelation chapter 2 is to the church of Ephesus. As the meaning of its name implies, Ephesus is the desirable place, the place of paradise. Paradise is a place of intimacy with God in Christ. It is the ability to know how much God loves us. It is a place of knowing that God walks with us in life. It is not about what is good and what is evil, it is about knowing the love of God. Our hate for evil or our desire to do good things cannot exceed our ability to know the love of God. Our first love is to know how much God loves us and to say to Him, “here I am.” 

The first reason to hear God is to know the life that comes by being loved by Him. It is to have a relationship with Him and know Him – this is eternal life. Leaders must set an example to others in this overcoming testimony.

Revelation 2:7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”‘

The second letter of Revelation chapter 2 is to the church of Smyrna. Smyrna means, myrrh. Myrrh is a burial oil. Christ died once for all; thus all have died in Christ, but because of the overcoming power of His love we can also live in Him. It is only in Christ that we can truly live, and that life is eternal life. It is life beyond death and life that overcomes death in all things. It is not just life that comes from being loved by God, it is a life that testifies of our love for God. It is a place of hearing the voice of life in our hearts that empowers us to do works that speak of that life in all things. Our actions in life are empowered by faith that works through love. Perfect love has cast out all fear and thus the life we live is empowered by the overcoming love of God. No death can destroy us.

A second reason to hear God is to overcome the fear of death in all things. Love does whatever is necessary to show that love and thus it will physically manifest that love in the actions of our lives. Leaders must set an example to others in this overcoming testimony of sacrificial love that is free from all fear of death.

Revelation 2:10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 “He who has an ear, let  him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”‘

The third letter of Revelation chapter 2 is to the church of Pergamos. Pergamos means the place of height or elevation. It is a place of becoming the testimony of God’s heavenly power and fruit in life. It is the place of heavenly realities in the lives of men. It is the place of the circumcision of the heart where heaven becomes a part of our testimony in life. It is the reality of the gifts of God’s word and Spirit at work in us.

A third reason to hear God Is to know the inward transformation of God’s word in our hearts and His outward testimony in our lives. These are the fruit of responding to God’s gifts of His Word and Spirit in and through us. It is the evidence of a personal experience with Holy Spirit in and upon our lives to overcome the powers bitterness and carnal desires. It is an enlightenment of Holy Spirit inside of our hearts and an overflowing testimony of Holy Spirit in our lives. Leaders must set an example to others in this overcoming testimony.

Revelation 2:17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”‘

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 lead others in hearing God. We hear God and we live to serve others in being empowered to hear God and respond to Him in their lives. Hearing God is not about God loving us, it is about knowing God’s love and knowing a loving God. Hearing God is not about being clean, it is about being fruitful. We are already clean by the word that Jesus was and is. God our Father loved us, so He sent His word as His Son to reveal to us His will and way for us in life. Jesus was the word made flesh to make each of us clean. He is and was the expression of our Father’s love that washed us clean through the gift of His righteousness. He became a man to make us clean and we are joined to Him as men and women that we might now be fruitful in this world.

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”

In these verses, Jesus was speaking to His disciples. He had not yet died for them, but He had come as the word of the Father’s love to their lives. This is God’s way and will for us all. He wants us to know the free gift of righteousness that comes by the empowerment of our Father’s love. In this story told by Jesus, the purpose of pruning the vine was not to make the vine clean. It was to empower the vine to be more fruitful.

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

Like the branches in the vine, our Father desires for us to abide in the vine. Jesus is the vine. Being a part of the body of Christ is being a part of the vine. Being joined to God in Christ is being part of the vine. Being part of the vine is a matter of relationship and relationship with God who is life will bear the fruit of life to others in our world. The fruit of the vine is not for the vine. It is to bring the life of the vine to the world of the vine. We hear God to bring the fruit of God’s life to our world.

We don’t hear God so that God will love us. We are already loved. Jesus demonstrated this in real life with His disciples before He died for them. He was the word sent to them to reveal to them the Father’s love.

John 15:9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”

We don’t hear God so that we can abide in God. God is our Father and He already loves us. When we abide in His love the fruit of His love will empower us to manifest the fruit of His love to our world. Hearing God is so we will become life for our world.

Hearing God is about relationship, faith, testimony, authority, purpose, community, and destiny. All of these things are elements of relationship. Relationship is all about love. As leaders we lead others to hear God that they might be fruitful – that they might bring the fruit of God’s loving life to their 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,

As leaders, we lead others in hearing God. Hearing God empowers us to live our lives in faith because we are empowered by faith. Faith is the opposite of natural sight. It is a testimony of trusting what God sees more than what we can presently see in our world.

Faith happens when we hear God in our hearts. Faith is not merely about knowing God’s love for us. Faith is the environment of finding our true identity, testimony, and purpose in life. The sound of faith is a sound of a great God, a good God, and a God whose mercy endures forever. It is a sound of overcoming life that empowers us to live, to be expressions of life, and to fulfill our purpose of giving life to our world.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 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 world in this verse is the GSRN165, αἰών aiōn; an age. The worlds that were framed in Hebrews chapter 11 were not the worlds that God created. They were the worlds of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and many other men and women of God. Their futures were resisted by the natural realities of their lives, but they were empowered to overcome all things by hearing and responding to God’s voice. Their present and their futures were framed by hearing God in their hearts.

When we respond to God’s voice in our lives today, our present reality and our future destiny can be changed to become a testimony of God’s will. Only God’s will in our lives can empower us to fulfill our true purpose in life. We were born to be loved by God. We were born to know God personally and intimately. We were born to overcome all the things that resist God’s will in our lives by the power of faith. The will of God in our lives is that we can be fruitful in bringing life to our world, even a world that is often damaged by a thief, some power of death, or some form of destruction.

Isaiah 61:4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.

The framing of each of our worlds includes things that we have inherited from our past, things that happen in our present reality, and things that are destined to be because of who we are in our world. Things that have been taken, taken apart, or taken down, need to be rebuilt. Things that have lost life and have become desolated need to be raised up and made new. Things that have been ruined need to be repaired for the sake of our generational purpose in life. Hearing God in our hearts will empower us to receive realities of a new world that gives us a redeemed identity, testimony, and purpose for the sake of bringing life to our world.

The first three verses of Isaiah chapter 61 reveal the supernatural means by which God comes into our lives to empower us to overcome all things. Jesus is Lord and the true source of life transforming desire to the beliefs of our hearts. It’s with compassion that God comes to give good news to those in poverty. It is with His love that He heals broken hearts and gives freedom to those who were bound in some form of captivity. It is by the power of His love that He opens prison doors, restores inheritances, and defeats all our enemies. His heart is moved with compassion to comfort those who mourn, to restore human beauty, give them back their joy, and clothe them in His work of praise. It is with His compassionate love that He does all these things but is for His purpose of our knowing His love and becoming His love for our world that He does them. God wants to plant us as evergreen trees of righteousness in our world. He wants us to live for Him and for one another in the compassion and love of our hearts. Leaders live to know this, be this, and to lead others into this path of life-giving inheritance. As trees of righteousness our leaves will bring healing to the nations of our world and the fruit of our lives will be ripe to give life to those in our world in every season of our path for God’s glory. It is through a personal and intimate relationship with God that we can be empowered to overcome every thief, every manner of death, and every testimony of destruction so that our true identity, testimony, and purpose can be empowered to bring life 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,

As leaders, we set an example to others in love. Leaders are not some elite clergy that love on behalf of believers. Leaders lead others into the testimony of loving others. That love is not a matter of self-gratification. It is a matter of putting the needs of others before our own. Love is not just an emotion. Love is an action. Jesus demonstrated perfect love when He gave His life as a ransom for us all (1 Tim. 2:5). The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in regard to living lives empowered by God’s Spirit in a supernatural way, but that Spirit empowered way of living was to be motivated by love for others.

1 Corinthians 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails…

Love is a giving attribute, not a means of fulfilling our own desires. When we live to love others, we discover a greater fulfillment of being loved. God’s love is poured out upon us and rises up from within us when we follow the example of loving others as Jesus did.

Romans 5:6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

This testimony of love is fully dependent upon a supernatural testimony of God’s Spirit working in and through our lives. The actions of love are only authentic when they are motivated by the fruit of the Spirit. Love is a fruit of the Spirit, and the associated fruits of the Spirit are all connected to love.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

I believe that love is the foundation for joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Without love the other testimonies of God’s Spirit in our hearts lack the substance of authenticity. Love, like the other eight fruits of the Spirit, is supernaturally inspired, grown, and matured though our intimate connection with Holy Spirit in our hearts. The joining of our spirits to Holy Spirit is the secret to the manifestation of life-giving fruit. These nine fruits are not a discipline of the flesh. They are spontaneously revealed in our lives when we embrace and cultivate a living relationship with God in our hearts. The fruit of the Spirit will destroy the works of the flesh in our lives.

Father, we embrace a relationship of love with You in our lives. We were born to be loved by You. It is not because we are deserving of Your love, but because Your nature is one of giving love. As your sons and daughters, we willingly embrace Your Holy Spirit to empower us to love those You have given to us in this world. Help us to be patient and kind towards them. Deliver us from any self-seeking and prideful agenda in our way of life towards those we love. Empower us to be givers of life and not seekers of our own desires, agendas, or opinions. Help us to be peaceable and patient and able to see the good in others and not the evil. Even when we see a weakness in them or in ourselves, help us to be seekers of truth in a life-giving way. Open our eyes to see what You see. Empower us to bear whatever is ours to bear for the sake of those we love. Help us to believe all things according to Your will and way. Enable us to carry whatever we need to carry. Inspire us to believe all things that You say. Empower us to hope even when we cannot see. Give us cheerful endurance that proves Your love and grant us the overcoming testimony that only Your love can reveal. We know that Your love will never fail. It is not a strength of our flesh but an empowerment by Your Spirit in 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,

Leadership is about leading others into the testimony of life. That life is from Christ and in Christ in all things. We were born to serve others by a supernatural power of life. For this reason, God has equipped some for the sake of serving others in being equipped to bring life to their world. Every believer should know what it means to be sent by God to bring life to their world. They should know that the expression of their life is meant to bring life to their world. They should know the power of birthing life in others. Believers are called to mentor others in life-giving ways. They are appointed by their heavenly Father to care for others by loving them, even as they love themselves. God as appointed gifts for these attributes to be developed in the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…

As leaders we are called, appointed, and anointed to equip believers for the work of ministry – bringing life to the body of Christ. What is the work of ministry? The body of Christ is a metaphor for the church. The church is the co-reigning partner of Jesus Christ as the body of Christ. This is only possible by Holy Spirit abiding within her. The church receives her life from Jesus and finds her connection to her heavenly Father by the life-giving expressions of Jesus that give her a life-giving testimony in this world. Jesus always seeks to present His church alongside of Him in the rule and reign of grace that teaches spiritual powers the wisdom of God in every measure of God’s redemption story.

Ephesians 3:8  To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

As the church, we are the bride of Christ. We are to daily know fellowship with Jesus by His Spirit that abides within us. It is a deep mystery of relationship. We abide in Him and He abides in us. The process that leads to our future in all things is found in our fellowship with Him by His Holy Spirit. It is through this that powers of darkness are placed in their proper position under the feet of Christ the head (Jesus), and Christ the body (the church).

Ephesians 1:22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

The things that have been placed under Christ’s feet include every principality, power, might, dominion, and name. These are placed in their proper position when the body of Christ lives to bring life to their world. Like Jesus, we are commissioned and anointed by our heavenly Father to do good, and in doing good we destroy every work of the devil.

Acts 10:38 …how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

1 John 3:8  He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

The work of ministry is to bring life to our world. It is enabled by our fellowship with God through His Spirit within us, and it subdues every power of death by the life-giving power of Christ in us. Christ in us is the hope of glory in this world and in all that is to come. Leaders lead others by example and in the process of equipping others to be life-giving members of the body of Christ in their daily lives as men, women, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends, and every aspect of community in life. The work of ministry is to live as people who know God in all things and to touch others in their world with life that they too might know the mystery of the fellowship of Christ.

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,

Some of my blog today was posted a few years ago, but I felt it was important to post it today in the context of leading others to give life to their world. Last week I addressed the motivational giftings given to each of us for the sake of who we are together. The motivations of our being affect how we think and how we express life to our world. Although our actions are inspired by our personal motivations, the purpose of our actions is the same for each and every one of us.

Paul writes in the remaining verses of Romans chapter 12 in regard to how we should act. I call these the actions of Christian beings. These are found in Romans 12:9-21.

We are to love without hypocrisy. We can’t pretend to love. We must love. We are to abhor evil – to detest it, avoid it, and to have nothing in us that desires it. The evidence is seen in our attachment to all that is good. We are to cling to what is good in every situation, at all times. We must never forget who we are. We are family! We are the family of God! We must be kindly affectionate to one another with love that is the love of family. We should practice playing second fiddle. It is with honor that we give preference to another over our own selves. This means to seek the wellbeing of others and to give them opportunity for life even at our own sacrifice. Perhaps this even means being a good listener rather than seeking to be a good teacher to someone else in life. We must never be lagging in diligence. This means we are responsible with all that has been given to us in life. What has been given to us is for the sake of giving life to our world. We should be the first to show up when showing up is needed! We set an example that encourages others to step up to the plate when needed. This includes being fervent in spirit, serving the Lord (not your own agendas). We must have a right attitude and a right focus in life. We rejoice in hope! That hope includes an expectancy of God doing good, even when our expectations fail us. We must be patient in tribulation. Trouble only last for the night. We can expect Jesus to be our salvation in every situation. We will reap a harvest of life in due time. We must be unshakeable in our determination, being steadfast in prayer. Our lifestyles are ones of a face-to-face relationship with God every hour of our day. Our conversations with Him include listening to Him and allowing our confessions to be led by His Spirit in every way. We take care of one another, even in practical ways. We give to the needs of one another. We are hospitable in our attitudes and actions. We make room for others in the space of our living in this world. When we are treated wrongly, we don’t respond by treating those who treat us wrongly in the same way. We bless and we do not curse. We think the best. We practice being innocent to evil and wise to what is good. We choose to look for the good in others. When someone else is blessed, we rejoice in their blessing. When someone is in sorrow, we empathize with their pain. We rejoice with those who rejoice, and we weep with those who weep. We exhibit the attributes of real friends. We must never think that we are better than others in some way. We are no better, nor are we less than, someone else. We must never be wise in our own opinion. We can never think that we know it all. We are responsible for our own attitudes and our own actions in life and must never repay evil with evil. We must mind our own business and deal with our own hearts. We are to have regard for good things in the sight of all men. We look for the good and show ourselves honorable in life. We do everything we can to live in peace with everyone. This doesn’t simply mean we say peace, peace when there is no peace. It simply means we don’t look to provoke a riot in the hearts of others. When treated unfairly, we don’t avenge ourselves. We let God repay. That is God’s business, and we leave God’s stuff alone. If our enemy hungers we feed him; if he is thirsty, we give him a drink. We are not just kind because we think someone deserves it. We are kind people! In our kindness we hope to heap coals of fire on our enemy’s head. This isn’t to destroy them, it is to give them light, heat, and a way to cook their food. If we had their life, we might be an enemy too. Just maybe, our love action might inspire them to “get a life”. We must never be overcome by evil, but we must overcome evil with good. Don’t react to what is bad, make plans for good. Don’t respond to evil, be an influencer of good and evil will flee.

These are attributes of sons and daughters of God in the family of God as an influence of light to our world. As leaders these are values for which we lead.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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 our role in leading people in being who they each are for the sake of giving God’s life to their world. Our destiny in life is not merely for ourselves. Our destiny in life is for the sake of our world and for those in our world. As leaders we lead others to know who God is and to know who they are for the sake of bringing God’s life to their world.

Each of us makes a great us and a terrible someone else. When we discover who we are, we can find the grace to be who we are for the sake of bringing life to our world.

We have each been given a combination of motivational gifts from our heavenly Father that serve the uniqueness of our ability to bring life to others. Those internal motivations determine our ability to function in various realms of responsibility. Those realms of responsibility are the place of our destined authority. They are not motivations that are bound to church structures or meetings, they are motivations that enable us to be who we are for the sake of others as the church. A change of meetings, forms of meetings, types of gatherings, or other circumstances of life don’t stop us from being the church. We must all love and live for the wellbeing of others at all times, but we each do so in different manners and by different ways of thinking.

Romans 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

These describe our giftings, but no matter what our giftings, our giftings only serve our ability to bring life to others in our world. We must appreciate the way of one another to be life to one another in the way that God has made us. Those who are motivated to perceive are not greater than those who are motivated to serve. Those who teach are not greater than those who are motivated to exhort others. Those that exhort are not better or less than those who are motivated towards mercy. Those who lead are not greater than those who join to their leadership for the purpose of God’s life in this world. We are each motivated to fulfill a measure of authority. That authority will bring life to others. We are not called to measure others by the motivations of our own hearts. We are called to present our bodies for a purpose that is greater than who we are by ourselves. We must each live according to the measure of grace given to us by God for the sake of being the body of Christ in the world for the calling of Christ, the testimony of Christ, and the purpose of Christ in all things. When we measure others by our own motivations, we reject the gift that they are for the sake of our corporate testimony in Christ. When we live for ourselves, we rob the community of the grace given to us for the sake of being who we are meant to be together in Christ. All are called to demonstrate love, but each and everyone loves in the way that they love. Some see the precious in what seems to not be precious, while others have a grace to break open what appears to be a flawed vessel to reveal what is precious so the precious can become useful for the sake of God’s glory. Everyone is called to give, but some have a grace motivation of giving. Those with the grace motivation of giving are not to measure others by their standards. They are to demonstrate giving for the sake all being an expression of Christ together. They are even called to give to the extent that other expressions can receive the necessary supply to accomplish the greater purpose of the being the body of Christ. Those who serve are not called to measure those who teach by their standard of serving, but to serve to fulfill their part in being the body of Christ. No member is to measure the other members but to present their bodies for the corporate purpose of God in Christ. This same principle is true for our marriages, our families, and our role in our spheres of influence in our world. We must not allow any enemy to distract us from who we are meant to be, nor to be taken out from the corporate purpose of life in Christ. We must be true to whom God has made us to be. When we embrace who we are in life, we can bring life to others. We were created to bring life to this world!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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