ted4leaders

Greetings,

I believe that we are in a grassroots revolution. In September of 2004 I released a prophetic word in regard to a grass roots revolution that was going to sweep the nations. I am sure that God has spoken those words or the essence of those words through many people in the world. I am just one witness to what God is doing in the earth at this time. Since 2004 the term ‘grassroots’ and the evidence of ‘grassroots revolutions’ has been evident in the world and in the church. God is shaking things up and transforming things in the earth at a ‘grass roots’ level. I believe that the present grassroots actions of humanity are both testimonies of what God is doing and counterfeits to what He is doing in the earth.

At the releasing of the prophecy in 2004, the clock on the wall stopped at 7:45 p.m. as well as my watch and two other watches in the congregation. The clock battery was replaced and the following morning the anointing came during the morning worship session and the clock stopped again at 9:45 a.m. as well as my watch and the same two watches in the congregation that stopped the night before quit again, all on the exact same minute. I believe the stopping of the time was an act of God and very significant to this word. It was also a sign as to eternal expectations and the eternal abilities of God that are not bound to the realm of time.

I am not posting the full word in this blog, but only a segment to address God’s present move in the nations to heal the iniquities of the human heart. Here is the segment I want to address today:

And the Lord says, I’m exercising My righteous decree to declare to you that the opposition of bondage and promiscuity – that those oppositions shall bow the knee before Me. For I am bringing forth My true Spirit of Liberty, but My true Spirit of Liberty will be a spirit of passion, it will be a spirit of compassion, it will be a spirit without compromise. And there will be a releasing of those who have been held captive to the bondage of legalism, and to the bondage of liberality that goes beyond the boundaries of life. And the Lord says I’m exercising My righteous decree even now to declare “Will you be My people? For My anointing oil is here for you. Will you be My people? Will My anointing oil flood your soul? Will you rise up and touch the nations and make them whole? For I am God and I decree My righteous decree in the land this day.”

I heard God’s Spirit say that promiscuity and legalism come from the same root. Both of these come from the knowledge of good and evil and are mindsets based upon bitterness that is rooted in the realm of time. I believe that the stopping of the time pieces was a prophetic witness to the fact that God intends to deal with the iniquities of our hearts that come from experiences in our past that have now become issues in our lives today and hinder us in moving into all that God has for us tomorrow. He is going to do this in all the earth, north, south, east, and west. Neither legalism nor promiscuity is a testimony of being the people of God. It is the anointing within us, Christ in us, that is the true testimony of life that brings about a witness of being the people of God. This involves in the redemption of our character, nature, way, power, and authority in life.

As I have stated in previous blogs, “the iniquity in the human heart is the weakness that leads to transgression and sin. It is the vulnerable place within us that needs a visitation of God. It is the place of weakness within us that must discover God’s manifest presence and healing.” God is releasing a grace for a grassroots revolution in the midst of humanity that heals the weaknesses of our hearts and causes us to become a testimony of being the people of God. The inherited characteristics of weakness are going to be transformed by the characteristics of Christ within us. Our potential character as sinners is going to be overcome by our ability to embrace Christ within and be transformed to the character of God in our lives.

When we allow a characteristic of a crook or a bent of weakness to become the character of our lives we move beyond merely a potential characteristic and we become someone we were not destined to be. We become a testimony of twisted truth to who we are intended to be as a man or a woman of God.  When we do this we think we are being real to who we are, but it is a distortion of who we were meant to be. Each of us are responsible to turn to the Lord in our hearts and see God transform our iniquities to testimonies of His healing grace.

Each of us are accountable for what we become in life. We are not limited by our past nor bound to the past. If we choose to find love in things other than God we will be responsible for what we become (Ezek. 18:10-13).

Ezekiel 18:14   “If, however, he begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done, and considers but does not do likewise”…

Ezekiel 18:17 …”But has executed My judgments and walked in My statutes — he shall not die for the iniquity of his father; he shall surely live! 18 “As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother by violence, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity.”

Ezekiel 18:19, 20  “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

Ezek. 18:21-23 “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?”

God’s desire is that each man and each woman find’s the goodness of His love and the testimony of His character, nature, way, power, and authority in their lives. He wants to meet us in our weaknesses and transform our lives by the power of His grace. He wants our characteristics of iniquity to become subdued by the power of His life-changing grace. His justice system is based upon our embracing Him in our lives so we become a testimony of who He is, not who we used to be or could have become had we not encountered Him in our lives.

Ezekiel 18:30 -32  “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and live!”

We are in a season of time where God is releasing a grace for us to become the people of God in the earth. He wants to give us a testimony of a new heart and a new spirit so we become a testimony of His family in the earth. God wants us to live and true life is only found in Him. When we see Him in our lives we increasingly become like Him in this world. He visits our iniquities and we are changed.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

I believe that we are living in a time where the grace of the Spirit of knowing is at work in the hearts of men and women in the earth. This is not informational knowledge, but a knowing of intimacy with God and with one another. Advanced information only propagates lies and is a counterfeit to the truth of God’s grace in this present  hour. There is a fresh vulnerability coming into the hearts of people and it is meant to reveal the true testimony of the people of God in the earth. God is going to affect the communities of he earth with the community of God though His passion and compassion, but there will be a testimony of God’s heavenly power to change the character, nature, way, power, and authority of humanity. I believe a revelation of the grace of the Spirit of Knowing is causing a thunder to be heard among the nations. A testimony of God’s grace is being revealed because a further revelation of God’s grace is knocking on the doors of human hearts in the world. Another aspect of the sevenfold Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts of men and it is causing a grassroots revolution to move among the nations. This move of grace is bringing about a new level of intimacy with God and with one another. As leaders we have a responsibility of not only embracing the now move of God’s Spirit at work in the earth but also of facilitating that move in our areas of responsibility before God.

Psalms, chapter 29 reveals seven thunders heard in the earth as the God of glory moves over the waters of humanity. I believe that we are presently in the middle of a thirty-year birthing of the grace of the Spirit of Knowing and another thunder of grace is being experienced in the earth. This sixth thunder is revealed in verse 9:

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

Psalms 29:9 The voice of Jehovah painted the oaks, And maketh bare the forests, And in His temple every one saith, ‘Glory.’ YNG

In this verse, the word for “deer” can also be translated as “oak”. Hebrew symbolisms are not like Western logic thought. Whereas Greek or Western thought looks at objects for what they are, Hebrew or Eastern thought looks at objects for what they are in essence or what they emotionally reveal. The “deer” or the “oak” are the strength of the forest. They represent the strength of what is hidden in the woods. The forest is the generational habitation of the deer and the oak, but this verse reveals the strength of the forest making room for a new generation. Something strong from the past becomes vulnerable and weak, and a new testimony of life is revealed. Hiding places are stripped and something new is being birthed in the community of trees.

Last week I presented that God doesn’t just offer forgiveness for iniquity, transgression, and sin; He offers the cure to the root of our sin. He promises to “visit” the area of weakness in our hearts that has been inherited from our fathers in the flesh (Ex. 34:7). He promises to be God to the future generations of our family and to ultimately heal the manifestations of sin in our family DNA.

The iniquity in the human heart is the weakness that leads to transgression and sin. It is the vulnerable place within us that needs a visitation of God. It is the place of weakness within us that must discover God’s manifest presence and healing.  God is releasing a grace whereby the hiding places of the strength of the flesh are being transformed to the strength of the Lord that only comes from the habitation of God in our hearts.

The iniquity of our hearts is like a characteristic within us that has the potential of causing us to embrace a character that is not like God in its expression. We have a choice of embracing our flaws as our character or embracing being vulnerable to God and allowing Him to transform the area of our weakness to a testimony that can only come through true dependency upon Him. In the same way, Christ in us is the hope of glory, but we must embrace the characteristics of Christ in our hearts and find the grace for them to become the character of our lives.

When iniquity is a characteristic the Hebrew language uses the word “avon”  (HSRN 5771). It is an internal characteristic of weakness. It is a bent, a crook, or a flaw that makes us vulnerable to transgression that will ultimately end in sin. It is the flaw within us that causes us to come to sin. It is the weakness, or the propensity to transgress that leads to sin. If we allow the characteristics of our weakness to become the character of our lives there is another Hebrew word for iniquity used. It is the word:

H5766 – ‘ewel; or  ‘avel; and (feminine) ‘avlah; or  ‘owlah; or ‘olah; (moral) evil – from H5765 – ‘âwal; a primitive root; to distort

I believe a good way of understanding this word is it is the distorted truth in our lives when we allow a characteristic of a crook or a bent of weakness to become the character of our lives. When we do this we think we are being real to who we are, but it is a distortion of who we were meant to be. Each of us are responsible to turn to the Lord in our hearts and see God transform our iniquities to testimonies of His healing grace.

Ezekiel 18:1 The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,  2 “What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 3   “As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.  4 “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die. 5 But if a man is just and does what is lawful and right;…                …9 If he has walked in My statutes and kept My judgments faithfully— He is just; He shall surely live!” Says the Lord GOD.

The key to the healing of the iniquities of the human heart is for each individual to turn to the Lord in their hearts and let God give them back what was supposed to be theirs, even though it may have been stolen in the generations of their family line.

2 Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

This Scripture doesn’t just say that where the Spirit is there is liberty. It says that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. The manifest presence of the Lord in our hearts gives us the correct desires of life. He gives us boundaries that define the flowing force of life within us and He gives us the flowing force of life within that forcefully manifests through the boundaries of life. Flowing water without boundaries is a flood. A flood is a force of water, but the end result is destruction of some kind. Water within boundaries without an outlet is a lake, a pond, a reservoir, or something of the sort. It can produce recreation or even be a resource of some kind, but it doesn’t carry a flow of destiny. A boundary without flowing water is a rut, a ravine, a canyon, or even a grave. Flowing water within boundaries is a river and it can be a means of transportation, power, or some form of flowing destiny. This is the way of the Spirit of the Lord in our heats. This is the life of the New Covenant. Our character is not defined by what our internal weakness demand we become. Our character is determined by who God intended us to be. Christ in us is the hope of glory and it is the manifest presence of Christ within us gives us the boundaries of life and the force of life for becoming truth as God sees it.

We cannot look at our internal weaknesses and seek to fashion and form a God in our likeness and image. We must look to the strength of Christ and allow Him to cause us to become a testimony of His likeness and image in the earth. This is the true testimony of life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

We live in a world where people are living outside of the glory of God, but no one needs to. God did not send Jesus to give humanity an excuse for their sins. He sent Jesus to heal the root of sin and see the earth filled with His glory. As I stated last week, “many people who are under the power of the air are not living in the inheritance that comes from God the Father by His Spirit to His Son.” It is not a matter of being rejected by God. God’s love is fully in tact for all people. It is the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ that is hindered when people choose to live lives that are outside of the character of Christ. It is not a question of human needs or desires. It is a matter of the character of God and the ability to eradicate the power of iniquity among the nations and the generations of men.”

God put the motion the antidote to the root of sin in the world. Sin is not a matter of being evil, it is a matter of being disinherited. In Exodus, Chapter 34 we find an account where God passed before Moses and declared His name. Let’s look at this passage to understand the goodness and the power of our Father’s love in removing our sins.

Exodus 34: 5-7 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

Here we find the introduction to the name of God is “the Lord, the Lord God”. In the Stone’s edition of the Hebrew Torah, the rabbinical commentators address this double “Lord” as implying to the love and goodness of God. They state that when the Lord is put in this double context it implies two things. It means that God is the one who forgives us of our sins knowing the full extent of everything we are ever going to do and He forgives us after we sin knowing the full extent of everything we have ever done. The very first experience, atmosphere, ambiance, and reality received by God’s coming is that of forgiveness. What a wonderful thing! The verses go on to read that God is merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness, and abounding in truth. These are all wonderful experiences that flood our lives when God comes to us. Jesus made a way for us to come near to God and experience all of these things! We have been reconciled to God in Him. The final verse of this passage reads that God keeps His mercy for thousands. The term “thousands” is an interesting symbolic and prophetic number in Scripture. It implies an aspect of eternity. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10), meaning He owns all the cattle. God is God to a thousand generations (1 Chr. 16:15; Ps. 105:8), meaning He is God forever. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, meaning His day has no end. Here we see that God wants to show mercy for thousands. He wants to show mercy forever!

God forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. These three things are often confused, but they are different. They are progressively linked, but it is the testimony of sin that leads to death. Iniquity is the weakness that leads to transgression. Transgression is a rebellion in the human heart that leads to sin. The wages of sin is death. God does not kill sinners; sin kills them. Being disconnected from life results in the consequence of death. Where there is iniquity there will be transgression, where there is transgression there will be sin. God in His amazing character, nature, way, power, and authority comes to forgive us fully. This is even to the root of our sin, the weakness of our hearts.

The next phrase in this verse is not out of context with the preceding descriptions. It says that God does not clear, but rather visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation. The words “the guilty” are not in the original, but are meant to clarify what He does not clear. It is somewhat accurate, but it must be taken into consideration in the context of the previous descriptions. It can only be understood in the context of forgiveness, mercy, grace, longsuffering, abundant goodness, abundant truth, and eternal pardon.

If your Bible translation uses the word “sin” for “iniquity” here it is in error to the original. It is the Hebrew word “avon” (iniquity) and not the word “chattaah” (sin). It is the flaw within us that causes us to come to sin. It is the weakness, or the propensity to transgress that leads to sin. Think of it as a characteristic that has the potential of becoming your character. You may have inherited a negative characteristic, but it doesn’t have to become your character. God wants to visit the place of weakness and transform it to become a place of His strength and testimony. The weakness is your place of dependency upon God that can lead to greater life when you depend upon Him. It doesn’t have to become your character. You can be a scribe in the kingdom of God that unlocks the door to new things in your family line that have never been seen, heard, or thought before. You can restore things antique and lost before your time in your family destiny.

Mt. 13:52   Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

God doesn’t just offer forgiveness for iniquity, transgression, and sin. He offers the cure to the root of our sin. He promises to “visit” the area of weakness in our hearts that has been inherited from our fathers in the flesh. He promises to be God to the future generations of our family and to ultimately heal the manifestations of sin in our family DNA. This is good news! This is the complete taking away of the sins of the world. This is not excuse for us to continue to sin, but rather a hope for the complete cure. In Christ we find that cure. Jesus is the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

This ought to give you some food for thought. God doesn’t come to judge us. He comes to heal us. The judgment we find ourselves in is because we hold on to things that God has already judged. Jesus made a way for us to have life and that life more abundantly! These things are not just automatic; they must be appropriated in Christ. Jesus offers it all, but we must choose to receive all that He gives. He truly is good and we must simply receive the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Religious faiths are not the same as obedience to the faith. Christianity is not a substitute for Christ in the heart of humanity. Christ in each of us is the hope of God’s glory being made known through our lives. God desires a personal relationship with each one of us where He is the fulfillment of the desires of our hearts. Our needs are met in Him, thus we can face life from a place of fulfillment and not a place of loneliness.

God has called us to be obedient to the faith. Faith comes by hearing God speak to our hearts. When God speaks to our hearts, faith happens. It is faith that changes our lives and it is faith that changes the world. We are not here to fashion and form God in our likeness and image. We do not meet God in the place of our weakness where we expect Him to condone the flaws of our hearts. We meet Him in the place of our weakness where we expect Him to give us the overcoming grace to become what we could not be without Him. We are here to see the likeness and image of God formed in us. We are born with weaknesses, but the strength of God brings life and hope to all that we are. When our weaknesses become transformed by the power of His strength we become testimonies for many breakthroughs of God’s love for others. We have impossible situations in our lives, but in Christ all things are possible. The flaws of our nature and character become the very ground of His supernatural grace. That demonstrated grace is not merely for our sakes; it is for the sake of others in the world.

All people and people groups are loved by God and reconciled to Him, but many people and many people groups are blind, in darkness, and under the power of Satan. I was once blind, in darkness, and under the power of Satan. It was the grace of God that made me free from my condition of death. Impossible things became possible by the power of God’s grace. God’s grace is the power of His presence to bring His change in everyway.

Many people are not living in the inheritance that comes from God the Father by His Spirit to His Son. Substitutes for the life of God that comes through Jesus Christ are not life; they are death. All people and people groups need to turn to Jesus to be able to receive His forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus. This is not a matter of God’s love, but the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ. God loves us before we become what He declares us to be, but His love is powerful enough to deliver us from all evil. His love is powerful enough to cause our lives to become a testimony of His amazing grace. This was the very commission that was upon the life of Paul.

Acts 26:17, 18 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.

As I previously stated, many people and many people groups are blind, in darkness, and under the power of Satan. This does not make them less loved by God; it simply makes them unable to walk in the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ. They are not bringing heaven into the earth. They are not fulfilling their destiny in life. Life is not merely a matter of going to heaven, but of the kingdom destiny of Christ being expressed through our lives. When we are under the sway of the prince and power of the air we are not able to walk in obedience to the voice of God. We cannot be obedient to the faith found in our hearts by the voice of God.

Ephesians 2:1-3 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,  among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

People who are under the power of the prince of the air are not living in the inheritance that comes from God the Father by His Spirit to His Son. It is not a matter of being rejected by God. God’s love is fully in tact for all people. It is the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ that is hindered when people choose to live lives that are outside of the character of Christ. It is not a question of human needs or desires. It is a matter of the character of God and the ability to eradicate the power of iniquity among the nations and the generations of men.

Ephesians 5:3-7  But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.

Those who seek the things that are outside of the character and nature of God seek those things to fulfill the needs of their hearts. They don’t seek to be intentionally evil. They simply seek to fulfill the needs of their hearts in illegitimate ways. God loves them, but they are pursuing things that prove to cause them to suppress the truth of God with a lie. We must seek the truth of God, not merely His love. He loves us, thus we live to love Him and set an example of His truth for the sake of others.

Ephesians 3:8-11 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light  (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

This is not a matter of God’s love, but of the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ. When we expose the works of darkness, we are not seeking shame for those who are in darkness. We are confessing our freedom from the things of darkness that others may also be set free from the power of darkness. We can make a judgment concerning an action without making a judgment of the actor.

As leaders in the body of Christ we must set an example of those who seek the kingdom of God. We must set an example of living for the sake of others. It is not merely a matter of love. It is a matter of the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ for the sake of others.

Food For thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

As leaders in the Body of Christ we must lead with the full armor of God. I believe that armor is the fullness of the testimony of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is the testimony of being led by one Spirit, one faith, one submersion, one God and Father of all, one God above all, one God through all, and one God in all. It is the testimony of the seven-fold Holy Spirit of God at work in our lives.

I have written on this subject before in my Monday writings, but feel that I must again post this truth for the sake our understanding as leaders in the Body of Christ. As leaders we must lead in standing in the clothing of grace. Standing is a biblical stature for receiving the inheritance of the earth. We are not standing in the earth defending ourselves from the enemy. The enemy is defending himself against us because we are dispossessing every power of death by the power of God’s grace. The apostle Paul addressed the subject of standing in the sixth chapter of the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The full armor of God is the full clothing of His grace. The purpose of that armor is to empower us to invade the earth with life! We are transforming darkness to light, sickness to healing, bondage to freedom, and death to life in every form it is found. That armor of God’s grace is revealed throughout Scripture in many ways. The apostle Paul revealed it in the fourth chapter of Ephesians as ¹⁾ one Lord, ²⁾ one Faith, ³⁾ one Submersion, ⁴⁾ one God and Father, ⁵⁾ one God above all, ⁶⁾ one God through all, and ⁷⁾ one God in all (Eph. 4:4-6).  The apostle Peter revealed these same things through the attributes of a spiritual house with a testimony of being:  ¹⁾ a chosen generation; ²⁾ a royal priesthood; ³⁾ a holy nation; ⁴⁾ God’s own special people; ⁵⁾ God’s people of praise – once darkness, but now light; ⁶⁾ the people of God; and ⁷⁾ the people who have obtained mercy and now reign in life (1 Pet. 2:9,10).

Being clothed in the grace of God empowers us to dispossess the enemy in the land of our inheritance. It is the power of the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Might, the Spirit of Knowing, and the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord (Isa. 11:1,2). This is the power of the grace of God at work in our lives. It is the clothing of the manifest presence of God that dispossesses the enemy. The armor of God is the testimony that reveals God rests in our lives. Our standing is not a standing of defense, it is a standing of occupation and inheritance. As is written in the synthesis of Scripture, standing is a position of inheritance. The whole armor of God is a testimony of the fullness of God in bodily form (Eph. 1:22, 23). It is the empowerment of the sevenfold Holy Spirit of God in our lives.

Ephesians 6:14-18 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 

The armor of grace is the testimony of God’s love in our lives. We know one Lord, one desire of heart that empowers us to be the generations of His testimony. He picked us! He loves us! Our future testimony and posterity is made known by the truth of His love. A revelation of His love is giving us a new ‘want to’ for the empowerment of our commitment to God in Christ. We can boldly come and say, ‘here I am’. We are the little ‘i ams’ in the big ‘I AM’ of Christ. We have been granted repentance unto life that frees us from every dead work of the flesh. We are alive in Christ!

We live from our hearts with works that speak of our faith toward God. Our wisdom is not found in the strength of our own works, but in the empowerment of works that testify of our love for God and witness to our faith toward God in all things. It is through a right relationship with and a dependency upon God that we live from our hearts with faith toward God. It is the grace of the Spirit of Wisdom that reveals our royal and priestly roles in life.

Something is dripping off of our feet and it reveals our heavenly position in Christ. We were once submerged in the bitterness of life, but now there is a response to God from our hearts that overflows with a testimony of His Holy Spirit. We are submerged in the grace of His Understanding. We were once of the ungodly nations of the world, but now we are a holy nation before our God. We stand under His submersions with a grace of the Spirit of Understanding to bring His life to the world. The testimony of His house in heaven is the reality of peace that we bring to the world in which we live.

We are not alone, but each stand as lights and the fire of life to create a shield of faith empowered by the Counsel of His light. The Father of lights is revealing us to be His children of light. We are light to the darkness, healing to all sickness, and life to death in this world. The Spirit of Counsel reveals that we are ministers of fire (Ps. 104:4) and the little fiery darts of the enemy pale week in the flame of His presence upon us. We are His special people, each carrying the grace of His life-giving hands of blessing as we walk in submission to Him and one another as the body of Christ.

We wear the helmet of His salvation. There is no god above us for He is the God above all in our lives. He is our salvation in every situation for we are fully awake in Him. The apathy of flesh has been overwhelmed by the passion of His Might. The grace of the Spirit of Might is making us alive to Him in all things and we contribute to the cause of Christ as His people of praise in the earth. We wear the grace of the Spirit of Might to reveal that He is the God above all gods and that we have fellowship with Him and one another in the power of His resurrection life!

Something is flowing through us that is a weapon of life. The life-giving words of God flow as a piercing weapon of love to the hearts of men. We release the sharp quickening edges of sacrificial love as our lives confess a love for God and for men. The judgments we make are not judgments of the flesh. They are judgments for the poor from the equity of our lives. We make decisions for others based upon who we are in Christ, not what they deserve in the flesh. We are the people of God who walk as the community of God to bring the communion of God to all men. The word in our mouths is a word of His love, a judgment of eternal life for all who believe in Him. We are the people of God and we wear the grace of the Spirit of Knowing, intimacy with God and men through Christ’s eternal judgment of love for all people.

Our decrees are those of the life of the Spirit and not those of defeat. Our destiny is not Nirvana, dust, or the grave. We reign on a throne in Christ and we manifest the glory that He sups and dines with us and we with Him. There is one God in us, in our children, and in our children’s children and He will empower us to reign with Him in life. We wear the grace of the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord, praying always in the Spirit with an awe of His presence and glory in all things. We are the essence of the prayer of God to bring forth the full harvest of His destiny in the earth. We have obtained mercy and now we reign in Christ!

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

Let us be leaders in the Body of Christ who stand as ambassadors of His name and His kingdom in this world. No matter what circumstance we find ourselves in, let us set examples of members of His body empowered by His grace. We are the family of God brought near by the peace of God in Christ. We are a family of faith, because we are a family of love. Let us be faithful in the hope of His calling, being the riches of His inheritance, and releasing the demonstration of His power from our place of authority in Christ. We are above and not below; we are joined to the Head and are not of the tail. The earth is the Lords and it will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. The evidence of Last Adam will outweigh the evidence of first Adam among the human race.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

The New Covenant is not about what to do or how to act. It is about who we are in Christ. However, who we are can be revealed in what we do and how we act. I believe that the apostle Paul was a man with great understanding of grace. He was formerly a man of Law who was transformed to be a man of grace. Surely he understood the Law, but he was not afraid to confront those who were bound to the Law to embrace a salvation and a testimony that can only come by God’s manifest presence in the human heart through the power of God’s grace. Paul presented principles of grace more than concepts of Law. Unless we make that leap in our thinking our understanding of Paul’s writings can be twisted to say something that he never said. Just as Paul used husbands and wives to present a truth of Christ and the Church, he used family and everyday practical realities to reveal a truth of God’s grace and the power of faith.

Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

As a child of God I look for those who are my parents and mentors in the way of life. As a child of God I look to extend and expand the inheritance of my parents. I look to make the days of the family name long in the earth. As members of Christ’s Church we must show honor to parents. And as parents and leaders in the Body of Christ we must never provoke church members to wrath. We must not see our knowledge as greater than the successive generation, but only as a tool to serve them in becoming a testimony of what we could only begin in our own lifetimes. We must not frustrate those we lead by trying to control their lives. We must inspire them to hear God’s voice within their hearts so they too can walk in the path of destiny set out for them by God in life.

Ephesians 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

The objective of fathers is to raise up sons who too become fathers. The dream of the old must become the vision of the young and the vision of the young must further inspire the old to dream. I am finding this to be true in my own life as a father to my own children and a spiritual father in the Body of Christ. These things are not the rules of the kingdom, but merely the testimonies of true kingdom life in Christ. It is not a matter of law, but a testimony of true grace.

As those who are involved in the task of ministering to others, we often get caught in the duty of service. Being in charge of something doesn’t free us from the responsibility of representing others in life. To have authority we must first be under authority. We must also understand that what has been entrusted to us is meant to produce life in those who are under our authority. Whether it is in a secular job in the workplace or in serving practical duties in the church, we all serve others in our task of life.

Ephesians 6:5-8 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.

We don’t serve others to get ahead in life. We serve others because it is our nature to love God and people. We serve because we love. This is not a thing of being noticed, but it is the character of the family of God. Someone is always going to have a greater mastery in some area of life and we must serve who he or she is to be who we are meant to be. This includes the concept of employers and employees and leadership and membership in the Church. Being a master is not a matter of being better that those who serve their area of mastery, it is a matter of accepting the responsibility of tasks given in life. Being a servant doesn’t make us less than masters; it is simply a fuller expression of all that needs to be done in a corporate sphere of influence.

Ephesians 6:9 And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

My challenge to us all is that we embrace the culture of family in the Church. Let us all embrace the testimony of being God’s family of love in all that we are and do. What we do and how we act will reflect who we are. If we are the family of God, we should be like God in His character, nature, way, power, and authority in all that we do. This is not a matter of principles, rules, or any expression of law. It is a testimony of the grace of God at work in our hearts. We are the family of God!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Last week I addressed leadership from the view of the basic family elements of a husband and a wife. Even for the family, the masculine and feminine expressions of the likeness and the image of God are expressed through the two basic elements of a husband and a wife. A husband and a wife each present the attribute of being children of God, sons in the aspect of inheritance.

Galatians 3:26-29 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

Sons of God are revealed through that which is both masculine and feminine. Just as all are sons, all are also members of the bride of Christ. These are the elements of family. Family is made of children, who become adults that embrace a relationship of family beyond their beginning to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and exercise dominion in the earth for the Father’s glory. A husband becomes a father and a wife becomes a mother to reveal the divine nature of God in all things. This is why the enemy attacks the family and seeks to twist it, distort it, pervert it, corrupt it, and destroy it. Family is God’s means of manifesting His true character of love in the earth. Leadership and membership in the church should be a testimony of the attributes God’s family that reveals a revelation of the love of God’s family in the earth.

Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

It is important to understand that the submission is of a wife to a husband, not women to men. In every case, a wife’s submission is to her own source of life. Her submission is to the one who loves and gives love to her. It is to the one who sanctifies her with washing through life-giving words. Her subjection is to the one who presents her alongside of him as a glorious church. God joins a man and a woman for a corporate purpose and destiny. Within the church there is both a masculine and a feminine dynamic of life. Leadership is a masculine expression of Christ’s rule and membership is a feminine expression of Christ’s rule. These are not bound to men and women, but are expressed in both men and women to reveal a mystery that is best depicted in the covenant of marriage of a man and a woman. Like the man and the woman in marriage, God makes them one flesh for His purposes. God also joins church members to church leaders. He does not join all leaders from everywhere to church members, nor does he join all members to all church leaders. God joins members to leaders and leaders to members so that His glorious church can be made manifest. So, what does New Covenant submission look like?

The members are to submit to their ‘own leaders’– ‘as to the Lord’. These are the leaders who love them and give their lives to them. This allows their submission to become an activation of faith. Church members love their leaders, because their leaders first love them.

The members are to submit to their own leaders as unto the Lord. Our submission to the Lord is a direct connection to God as our Father. He has even given us His Holy Spirit who causes our hearts to cry out ‘Abba, Father’. Church members are to submit to their own leaders by being activated to know God their Father as the source of their own identity.

The members are to be subject to their own leaders as those who cause them to come alongside them and serve with them in the corporate testimony of Christ and His glorious church. They are not controlled, but rather released to their full testimony of destiny in Christ.

The testimony of New Covenant will be for the leaders to have a threefold attitude toward every member joined to them. The leaders must confess from their hearts their desire to help others become who they are in Christ. They must live for them, and understand that the members of the body live for them as well. Leaders and church members must seek the communion of one another in Christ. Leaders must decide to bring church members alongside them to live with them for the future generations of the church. New Covenant church members must have an attitude that professes to their God-given leadership that they will live from their hearts for them. They see themselves as one body with them and trust the God and Father of them all. New Covenant church members understand that their purpose is divinely joined to the leadership that God has given to them in Christ.

In doing these things, the life-protecting and life-giving image and likeness of God will be revealed in the earth. This is the testimony of the blessed body of Christ and the true manifestation of the children of God. May we all grow in this grace and may the church become the glorious testimony of Christ!

Ephesians 5:30-33 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Christ in humanity is a true expression of family. This is the testimony of the true church. The church, the body of Christ, is a testimony of God’s family. I believe that leadership in the church is really a role of family. It is an expression of dads, moms, brothers, sisters, husbands, and wives revealing the fruit of love through manifold expressions of family. It is not an organized structure, a socialistic or capitalistic society, an expression of business, or some purposed ministry. It is a family that can be seen in various forms of structure, expressed in socialistic and capitalistic ways, purpose driven through kingdom business ventures, and revealed in various expressions of ministry. The apostle Paul wrote that Jesus and the Church is really a testimony of a husband and a wife. That husband is the masculine expression of Christ’s family and that wife is the feminine expression. These two attributes together reveal the nucleus of family. Paul began by revealing three things that a wife is must do concerning submission to her husband.

Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

In these verses the wife is to submit to her husband as the church does to Christ. She is to submit to him in everything. Under the paradigm of the curse of the fall this is a recipe for disaster. The curse of the fall left the wife bound to a condition of worry and pain, a desire for her husband, and a situation where the husband rules over the wife. Under the paradigm of the fall these words are words of a curse and not words of blessing.

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

Your desire shall be for your husband,

And he shall rule over you.”

Whereas the curse left the wife with a temptation to fear death, a suppressed identity, and bondage under dominant control, the blessings of Christ have brought an activation of life, a facilitation of life, and a release of life to the church in her fullness. This is the life given to the bride of Christ through the headship of Christ. This is the life of the body revealed as the feminine expression of mankind in Christ. The masculine expression is seen as that which activates life, facilitates life, and releases life in the full expression of the family of God.

Ephesians 5:25-29 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 

Godly leadership in the church must not dominate or control. It must seek to activate, facilitate, and release the members of the church to the true testimony of Christ’s life within them. The masculine expression of God is that of protecting life, while the feminine expression of God is that of being a life-giver. The verses in Ephesians reveal that there are three aspects to protecting life. The husband is to:

Love as Christ and give himself for her

Sanctify and cleanse her with washing by the word

Present her to himself a glorious church

These are the very things that Jesus did for us. Husbands must do this for their wives, and the leadership aspect of Christ’s government must do the same for the church. To love and to give as Christ, is to provide and supply the needed resources for life. We love Jesus, because He first loved us. Church members will love leaders, because leaders first love them. New Covenant leadership seeks to provide each member with whatever is needed to bring them to faith in Christ. They do not rule them through natural tactics that promote fear that leads to bondage. They seek to activate each member to the faith of life and function in Him.

Leaders must sanctify and cleanse church members with washing by the word. This is the ‘rhema’ (GSRN 4487) word. These are God’s words from their mouths. This is not the letter of the Law, but Spirit-words of life! This sanctification is one of protection and shelter in the Spirit. Leaders must seek to facilitate the identity of each church member. They seek to help each member find their identity in the Father of lights. Only by this can they be the true light of Christ in the church. New Covenant leadership doesn’t seek to force church members to find their identity in them, they facilitate members to find their identity in Christ.

Leaders must seek to present church members ‘along side’ them as a glorious church. This is a leadership role of propagating and expanding the destiny of the church. This is the ‘release’ of every member to his or her role in ministry. New Covenant leaders don’t seek to control church members. They seek to release them for the purpose of Christ’s kingdom in the earth. The Greek word for ‘present’ in Eph. 5:27 is the GSRN 3936: “paristemi, par-is´-tay-mee, or prolonged paristano, par-is-tan´-o; from GSRN 3844 and GSRN 2476; to stand beside, i.e. (transitively) to exhibit, proffer, (specially), recommend, (figuratively) substantiate; or (intransitively) to be at hand (or ready), aid”. As you can see, this is everything but dominant control!

In order to lead in this way, every member of every leadership team must be empowered by God’s Spirit of Might. They must seek to love God and people more than ministry. Prickly things cannot distract them. Obstacles, obstructions, circumstances, challenges, or other desires cannot deter them from leading with a love for God and for His people. New Covenant leaders must be empowered by the Spirit of Knowing. They must increasingly know the communion of the Spirit and of the saints. New Covenant leaders must also seek to be led by God’s Spirit. They cannot be circumstantially ruled. The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord must empower them to have an awe of God and His plan for every member entrusted to their leadership.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As leaders in the body of Christ we set an example of people who walk in the light. This is not an example of people with a religious heart or attitude. It is simply allowing things in our life that need to be changed, to be changed. God doesn’t look to expose people’s sins for the sake of revealing sin. He wants the weak areas our lives to be made strong by the power of His grace at work in our lives.

Ephesians 5:8-10 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 

These verses in the New King James Version reveals that the fruit of the Spirit is in whatever is good, righteous, or true. Other versions state this as the fruit of light. In either case, the evidence is seen in the fruit, not pretend doing. Sometimes the lines between good and evil, righteous and unrighteous, true and false get blurred. A good indicator that we are walking in the path of life is the evidence of the fruit of life. We cannot do fruit, fruit is something that happens when we live in the place where fruit grows. Fruit is something that gives life-energy to someone else and releases seeds for a future generation of life. Fruit is not a self-gratifying thing; it is a life-giving thing to others beyond your own life.

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

As leaders we must set an example of walking in the light. We will manifest love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are not things that we teach others to do. These are things that manifest when we are simply walking in the light. When these things don’t manifest there is something that is not good, not righteous, or not true in our lives. It might even sound scripturally true, but if the fruit of the Spirit is not there it is not the right Spirit.

The cure to being free from any darkness in our lives is to simply embrace fellowship with light. The light simply transforms the darkness in us to light when we walk in the light. This is an issue of transparency, vulnerability, and a willingness to change. There is no condemnation for our darkness. There is simply a cure. That cure is to embrace the light.

Ephesians 5:11-13 and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 

Leaders set an example to others as to how we can embrace the light. We must live our lives awake to God and awake to the things that bring life to others.

Ephesians 5:14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

Living is about being awake to God and awake for the sake of others. We are the light of God in Christ and Christ within our hearts is the light of our souls. It is time that we shine for the sake of the world.

Ephesians 5:15-21 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

We must live our lives aware of what is going on in and around us. We seek to live, not live to die. True life is found in our fellowship with God and with one another. It is not in religious efforts, but the sound of life that come out of hearts and affects others around us. Being filled with the Spirit is likened unto being drunk with wine. It must be intended to cause our souls to come alive in a bold and outwardly expressed way? Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs is not some religious form of music. It is simply living with happy, celebratory, life-giving sounds, testimonies and expressions that touch the live of others. We are to live in relationship with one another in a life-giving way.

To all of you leaders I want to encourage you to be filled with the life of God in a way that the expressions of your life bring life to others. You are those who inspire others to know how much God loves them. You don’t just inspire them to love God, you create an atmosphere where they get a revelation of God’s love in their lives. When they know how much He loves them they cannot help but love Him. Let’s be leaders of life, not religious rules of law!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As leaders, we are not just leading people to the destination of heaven. We are leading people in a heavenly destiny. Is there a difference between a salvation that one-day grants us access to heaven and a salvation that brings the influence of heaven into our daily lives for the sake of the world? Is the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ and God the same as the mercy of God that grants us access to heaven when we die? I am proposing that perhaps there is a difference between these two things. Most everyone who is destined for heaven has entered into the foolish actions of fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking or something of that sort (Eph. 5:3-7). These actions don’t disqualify us from going to heaven, because right actions never qualified us to get into heaven in the first place. It was the mercy of God through the once for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ that qualified all of mankind to be able to go to heaven when they die. I am not saying that all will, but I am saying that all are qualified through the one action of Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:14 -16For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 

Romans 5: 8-10 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 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.

In these Scripture texts we see that reconciliation to God is not an action of men, but an action that God did through His Son, Jesus Christ. He reconciled us before we believed. It is the death of Jesus that reconciled us, but the life of Christ that ultimately saves us. What is that salvation? These verses also indicate that salvation is meant to empower us to live for Jesus Christ. It is to live for the inheritance of Christ in the earth. It is given to us so that we can reign in life and bring life to others.

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

We were born for a purpose and a destiny. That purpose and destiny is to bring life to the world. Jesus said that if we come to Him and drink, rivers of life-giving water would flow through us to the world (Jn. 7:37-39). I believe that that water is an expression of heaven’s grace to the world in which we live. Perhaps the gift to go to heaven is an act of God’s mercy, but the gift to bring heaven to the earth is an empowerment of God’s grace?

Ephesians 5:5, 6 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 

We cannot live like the world and bring the influence of heaven to the world. Life is not about what we want, it is about being a part of the hope of the calling of Christ, being an expression of His inheritance, and living as a demonstration of His power to the world in which we live (Eph. 1:18-20). It is not about what we get when we die, it is about realizing that we have already died and now it is a matter of what do we bring to fulfill our part of His calling, our role in expanding the inheritance of God in the earth, and how do we demonstrate His power to the world we live in that has a lasting effect upon the generations that follow. We cannot live like those who do not know God and do this. It is part of our new character, nature, way, power, and authority in Christ.

We must live a ministers of reconciliation and as leaders we must demonstrate this to those we lead. We are new creations to empower those yet in the world to know the testimony of being reconciled to God. They are already reconciled, but they are not living in the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ and God. Their disobedience is an ignorance of the reconciliation that has been given to them in Christ. Their disobedience is in their refusal to see and embrace the love of God that has been given through the once for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Any wrath of God upon them is simply because they have not embraced the love of God that is intended to be a demonstration in and upon their lives in this world.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

I believe that our purpose and destiny is to live as ambassadors of Christ in this world. We are bringing the influence of heaven to the barren places of this world. It is not just a matter of God’s pardoning mercy in our lives; it is a matter of His empowering grace!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson