ted4leaders

Greetings,

I have been addressing the subject of keeping our hearts as leaders. We deal in the lives of people and relationship is the purpose of our role as leaders in the body of Christ. Life comes out of living relationships; it doesn’t come out of works of ministries. We are the body of Christ, not a structure of church functions. Our number one role as leaders is to set an example in relationships and to promote, facilitate, and support the development of relationships in the church. In order to do this a leader must guard their hearts. How do leaders guard their hearts?

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.  6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.  9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

A leader must know how to rejoice in all things. This doesn’t mean that a leader is grateful for everything that happens in their life, but it does mean that they decide to maintain a good positive attitude in all things. When dealing with people a leader must be gentle. A leader prefers others and is willing to yield when necessary. These things apply to all believers, but a leader must know of to set an example that others can follow. They must not be anxious, but embrace the power of the Holy Spirit within them that empowers them to suffer long and be patient when necessary. Maintaining a face-to-face relationship with God is essential. Open conversations with God filled with supplication and thanksgiving are part of a leader’s way of life. This is not a form of ritual before God, but a testimony of relationship with God for the sake of God’s kingdom influence and will in the earth. These things are not just words confessed with our lips, but attitudes of our hearts. The thought life of a leader must set an example for all to follow. They must think on noble things. Noble thoughts are filled with reasoning, strategy, imagination, and even emotions that seek to live for the wellbeing of others. They must think on things that are just. Just things are not necessarily fair things. It is just in the kingdom of God to forgive the unforgivable. It is just in the kingdom to love the unlovable. The justice system of the kingdom of God is based upon the tree of life, not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is a justice system of making decisions for others based upon who we are, not what they deserve. A leader must think on things that are pure. Pure thoughts are thoughts that are within the sphere of one’s own business. They are thoughts of believing the best for others and not the worst. Pure thoughts are innocent to evil and wise to good. A leader must maintain thoughts that are lovely. Lovely thoughts are thoughts that are motivated by love. Those thoughts are motivated by a love for God and a love for people, especially those we lead. A leader must think on things that are of a good report. When a bad report comes a leader must know that love covers a multitude of sins and that looking for the good report is the aim of every leader. If there is any virtue a leader must think on that. Virtuous thoughts are thoughts of helping others. A leader must think on things that are praiseworthy. Praiseworthy things are things of honor and even a willingness to be misunderstood or unpopular in some way for the sake of someone else. A leader must meditate upon these things in order to lead others to do the same. These things are part of guarding our hearts before God. All believers must embrace these things, but leaders must excel in these attributes. It is part of keeping our hearts with all diligence.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Leaders are people who are involved in the lives of other people. Before leadership can be functional, it must be relational. It is out of relationship that we lead, not merely gifting or function. We are not part of organizational Christian business. We are in the business of being intimately involved with others in the testimony of the living body of Christ on earth. When involved in the lives of other people, there are always going to be misconnections, misunderstandings, and various turns in the dynamic of relationships. This is part of the process of being involved in the lives of people. The enemy seeks to destroy the human heart and thus dissolve the connection of human relationships. In this a leader must guard their heart, because it is from the heart that a leader must lead.

What does it mean to guard the heart and how is this done? The way of the world is to draw back from people and relationships when people hurt them. Their first interest is the safety and protection of themselves. This is not the way of the kingdom of God. We are to live for the wellbeing of others. When we are wounded in our hearts we must know how to keep our hearts alive. We must know how to keep our hearts as fountains of life for the sake of others.

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

King Solomon said the keeping the heart was to make sure that it is constantly free flowing. God loves the fragrance of the honest heart of someone who loves Him. It is with the heart that we hear Him and it is with the heart that we love Him. It is also from our hearts that we love others. In the Old Covenant it was required for the Priest to offer incense before God. The incense was offered in the morning and at night, signifying the beginning and the end of every day. The Priest of the Old Covenant would also take the prepared incense from the holy place and bring it into the holy of holies at the appropriate time of the manifest presence of God. I believe that the incense was a testimony of what must come from our hearts in order to experience the full life of God. That life is not merely for us, but it is a testimony of life to others. Just as the ingredients of the incense burned to release a fragrance before God, out hearts must release the fragrance of life in our love for God and others.

Exodus 30:34, 35  And the LORD said to Moses: “Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each. “You shall make of these an incense, a compound according to the art of the perfumer, salted, pure, and holy.”

God considered all of the ingredients of the incense to be sweet spices. The aroma was pleasing to those who smelled it. Some of the ingredients were not so sweet by themselves, but when compounded with the other ingredients they became a sweet aroma in the offering. Our hearts must create an atmosphere in, around, and from our lives that others like to be around. This is essential for us as leaders as we set an example to those we lead in how to live in our love for God and as an offering of love for the sake of others. The sweet spices in the incense where those of stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense; I believe that these ingredients represent issues of our hearts.

The ingredient of stacte is believed by many to have come from the storax tree. The storax tree was a tree that grew in the dry and arid region of Gilead. The root of the tree was as deep as its top. This tree was able to find water deep in the ground and thus if flourished in the dry region of Gilead. The root meaning of the name of the tree was “to distil”. If you cut the tree it would release a substance spontaneously that would heal the cut in the tree. This gum substance was also used for bringing healing to wounds in human flesh and was even believed to provide relief to asthma and other respiratory disorders. The aroma was pleasing and it was believed to carry healing properties. I believe that the stacte represents the spontaneity of the heart. We must keep our hearts spontaneous in the life of God. When we are wounded the life within us releases a spontaneous flow that brings healing to the wound. As leaders we must keep our hearts spontaneous and lead others in the spontaneous life of God’s forgiveness and love.

The second ingredient in the incense was that of onycha. Onycha was a shellfish that lived in the depths of the Red Sea. When these shellfish were ground and burned they released a very strong odor. I believe that it is significant that these shell mollusks came from the depths of the Red Sea. The Red Sea is a symbol of the death of the past and the path that leads to the inheritance of the future. It speaks of a baptism into the body of Christ that leads us to the promises of God and all of His inheritances. I believe that this ingredient speaks of having a deep heart for God and a heart that is for the things of God and one that forsakes all of the things of the past. When our hearts are deep for God and ground fine, not surface and unchanged, we release and inspire a fruitfulness that leads to all the inheritances of God. When our hearts are deep it becomes obvious to those around us, like the strong fragrance of the ground onycha.

The next ingredient was galbanum. Galbanum is a plant that is bitter tasting and releases an earthly smelling resin. It is a plant that is difficult to break, but when broken it releases a gum resin that when burned it was believed to repel snakes, lizards, and other desert creatures. The resin is released through the branches as well, thus the bitter substance is throughout the plant. I believe that the resin drawn from the galbanum plant speaks of a broken heart. It is the willingness to yield our own wills to the will of God that bears the fruit of righteousness and the testimony of peace. When we don’t allow our hearts to be broken we end up with bitter roots that defile others. When we allow our hearts to be broken, our hearts release a substance that repels earthly wisdom and demonic influences that are bound to the dry places of the earth (James 3:13-18). As believers in Christ we must allow our hearts to be broken before God and we must never harbor a bitter root of any kind.

The final ingredient in the incense was pure frankincense. Frankincense is harvested from the frankincense tree by cutting its bark. When the bark is cut the tree releases a resin that bleeds out from the tree and then hardens. It produced a very flammable material. I believe that the frankincense represents a pure, holy, passionate, and fervent heart. Our hearts must remain pure and passionate before God.

We must keep our hearts with all diligence. Our hearts must be spontaneous before God and spontaneous with the life of God to others. They must be deep with a focus towards the things of God and a forsaking and forgetting of the things of the past. They must be broken with a willingness to yield to the will of God and let go of the things that would create bitter roots and strongholds that produce dry places that harbor earthly, sensual, and even demonic influence. Our hearts must be fervent. We must be pure and passionate in our love for God and others. These are the ingredients of a heart that releases the flow of God’s life to the world. This is the testimony of the heart of a leader.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

I believe that the core of being a leader is revealed through a leader’s heart. We often think of our heart as being the inner part of us, but if we give our heart to something it involves our soul and our physical actions as well. When something has our heart our soul will embrace it as well as our body. The heart determines a good leader and the heart determines a bad leader, but the heart is exhibited in all that we are and do. A strong leader knows how to flood their soul with the inner strength of passion. A strong leader knows how to impassion their actions through the influence of their desires, thoughts, reasoning, imaginations, and emotions. A leader’s ‘heart’ includes their emotions, and all of their spiritual, mental, and physical life. When these things are united it releases a powerful force of life or death, depending on the motive of the heart. When we are God-seeking in our hearts and envisioned to live for the wellbeing of others these things become a powerful influence of life.

2 Samuel 6:14 Then David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 And as the ark of the LORD came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.

David knew that he needed the manifest presence of God in Jerusalem in order to rule as the king of Israel. He knew that God was the source of his leadership so he gave his heart to moving forward with a God-influenced direction. He was not bound to the past, but embraced a walk of faith in following God. When he brought the ark of God’s presence to the tent he had place in Jerusalem, he demonstrated a full connection of his spirit, soul, and body. He was demonstrating the spirit, attitude, and actions of a leader. He gave his whole being to following God in the direction of life. He wasn’t going to the tent of the past, but to the tent he had seen in the imagination of his own mind. The tabernacle of David was a God-inspired idea, but it was David’s idea. In his process of carrying the presence of God to the place of the future, David wore the clothing of trust and worship of God. He didn’t hold back but was confident and bold in his ability to release a prophetic sound. That sound was one that inspired victory. It was a confession of the wind of God’s Spirit in his life. His wife Michal didn’t give her heart to the future. She was bound to the past. Her heart was still devoted to her father’s house. She didn’t see herself as David’s wife, she saw herself as Saul’s daughter. Because her heart was not focused on the future her mind and her actions were bound to the past. She became barren and never bore any fruit of generational inheritance.

When we embrace a connection of our spirit, soul, and body in leadership we release a strong influence of leadership. God gives life, breath, and all things (Acts 17:25). As leaders, we must know how to activate life-giving substance and direction God’s Spirit in our hearts. We must know how to be full in our spirits and then actively allow that life to impassion our attitudes, desires, passions, thoughts, focus, strategies, deliberations, purposes, and endeavors in our role of leadership. This process causes the testimony of our character, nature, way, power, and authority to influence our God-given sphere of leadership.

The process of uniting our spirit, soul, and body involves stirring our spirit with the life of the Holy Spirit within us. The presence of Christ in us is most important to the source of direction in our role as a leader. We must then give our thoughts, reasoning, imagination, and emotions toward what is stirring in our spirits. It includes taking actions to discover the path of life. God directed me through several building locations in the twenty years as a senior pastor of a church. Whenever God gave me a word about buildings, it didn’t just involve praying about a building, it involved looking at every possible building in the city to see if it was it or not. It included writing out plans, designing possibilities on paper, and imagining the potential outcome.

Jobs don’t come by prayer alone, they come through filling out job applications or taking actions toward business ventures. You have to be looking before employers know they are looking for you. You have to make steps towards new business before the market knows there is a demand for what you have to bring. I believe that vision comes before provision. How can there be substance to provide for vision unless there is a vision first? We must know how to write the vision so that it can be read, laid hold of, and run with in life. If we don’t, haphazard laziness will consume the vision.

Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.

There must be expectancy in our attitude towards God that inspires actions in our lives that make our hearts available for all that God wants to do. This is a key element in being able to lead something that God makes us responsible to lead.

Habakkuk 2:2 Then the LORD answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

We must endeavor to put our desires, thoughts, reasoning, imaginations, and our emotions towards all that God reveals to us in the direction of leadership. We must then take steps to run with what we see for the sake of those who will run with us. We cannot just run; we must run with what we see. If we don’t see anything, there is nothing to run with. A runner with substance is a messenger. A runner with out a message is just a runner. God declares the end from the beginning in all that we do. Let’s be leaders who are inspired by God in our spirits, souls, and bodies and let’s lead others to be inspired by God in the same way. It is only then that we can say, “Follow me as I follow Christ!”

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Inheritance is a substance to be received and expanded in the generations of men. Inheritance is not something that parents leave to their children so the children can spend it upon their wants and needs. Inheritance is meant to be expand in the generations and change the world that we live in. Inheritance is the substance of a family destiny and it is the buy power for the legacy of the family name. True inheritance in the kingdom of God is the substance of heaven and it comes in the forms of principles, patterns, and values that can change the world. What are the things that create the principles, patterns, and values of inheritance?

God has hidden the secret things of life and He invites those who are series about destiny to find them. It is the glory of God to hide things, but it is the glory of kings to search out the hidden things of God. It could be said that God hides things and self-seeking, poverty-minded people never discover a thing. God wants us to know that we were not destined for ourselves, but we were destined to exhibit the testimony of children of God. We are destined to be royalty in the kingdom of God.

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

Deuteronomy 29:29   “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

God wants us to increase as a multigenerational culture of His kingdom that brings the blessings of heaven to this world. We were not born to merely live a life of personal comfort with a view of retirement in the end. We were born to bring something of the substance of heaven to be deposited into the lives of our children and our children’s children. The visions of our lives should transform to generational dreams that serve as fuel in the fires of the visions of our successive generations. Each successive generation must know that the values of the past serve as the fuel for the vision of the present. The generations are connected for the calling, the inheritance, and the power of God’s kingdom in the earth.

Ephesians 1:18 …the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,  19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places…

The mandate of our lives is not to fulfill a personal calling, obtain a personal inheritance, or exercise power for a personal testimony. We are part of something great. We are part of something noble. In 2011, I prophesied that God was transforming a ‘Jacob’ generation to an ‘Israel’ generation. A ‘Jacob’ generation is one that seeks the blessings of God in order to be the blessing of God in the earth. An ‘Israel’ generation is one that lives, moves, and has their being as the source of heavenly blessings to the world.

Here is some of the prophecy that I spoke July 8, 2011:

The Lord says He’s seeking for a Jacob generation that He might turn the Jacob generation into the “inheriting ones”. “And even now, there’s a transition”, says God, “in My Body and those who have sought to seek and find Me are going to discover that I’m the One Who seeks to find them. And in the place of wrestling, there’s a breakthrough.” For God says, “I’m bringing forth My ‘inheriting one’. I’m bringing forth My Israel. I’m bringing forth My Prince with God. There was a time and there was a season when I sought for those who would be a Jacob generation, but hear the Word of the Lord! Hear the Word of the Lord! Hear the Word of the Lord! This is the day for Me to lay hold of you! This is not the day for you to lay hold of Me! This is the day for Me to lay hold of you – and in Me laying hold of you, it’s time for you to endure! It’s time for you to hold on, and it’s in that place of wrestling that there’s going to come an inheritance – there’s going to come an inheritance!”

There’s a shift in the Spirit. Don’t seek the thing that was before. Seek that which is beyond that which was before. Seek that which is the increase. Seek that which is the ‘more’. For this is not a time to break away. This is a time to stand fast and say, ‘Our God has come! He has laid hold of us and we will not let go of that which He has laid hold of!’”

The substance of this prophecy is found in Isaiah, Chapter 32. The Prophet Isaiah was prophesying of the day of the born again sons of God.

Isaiah 32:1-8 “Behold a King will reign righteously, and princes will rule justly. Each will be like a refuge from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry country, like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land. Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, and the ears of those who hear will listen. The mind of the hasty will discern truth, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly. No longer will the fool be called noble, or the rogue be spoken of as generous. For a fool speaks nonsense, and his heart inclines toward wickedness: to practice ungodliness and to speak error against the Lord. To keep the hungry person unsatisfied and to withhold drink from the thirsty. As for a rogue, his weapons are evil; he devises wicked schemes to destroy the afflicted with slander, even though the needy one speaks what is right. But the noble man devises noble plans; and by noble plans he stands.” (NAS)

God wants us to embrace a multigenerational vision. That vision will be filled with noble plans, noble schemes, and noble strategies. We are to live as princes who rule as a refuge from the wind because our vision is not just for the moment, but for the destiny of God’s name in the earth. We are a shelter from the storm, for we are those who have stood fast through every storm. We will be water in a dry country, because these are those who have found water in a dry place! We will be shade from a parched land, for these are those who have not wilted in the day and in the heat.

God wants to lay hold of us as the ‘Israel’ generation of His name. These are the inheriting ones. It is key to know that a mantle of strategy and noble plans is coming on His inheriting Church. We must be the ones who will rule in His character, nature, way, power, and authority. We must be a family that rules in His name.  We cannot live constantly seeking to find the blessing of God; we must know that in Christ they are the blessing of God. We need a revelation of being princes who will be a refuge from the wind, for know how to withstood the wind. We are a shelter from the storm, for we have stood fast through every storm. This is not just in our lifetime, but in the history of our multigenerational family. We are water in a dry country, because our family knows how to find water, even in the driest of times. We are shade to a parched land, for our family has not wilted in the day and in the heat.

The plans and strategies of this ‘Israel’ generation will teach the children of the nations to stand in the midst of the winds of adversity and to become a strength by which generations can stand. They will disciple nations to endure the storms and to become shelters for their own children from every storm. They will show peoples how to find the water of life in the dry places and how to release water for the planting of the trees of generations. They will mentor families to find God as the One who empowers them in the heat of every day and those families will empower others also in God in the midst of the heat of every day. The rivers of the past have been the rivers of a Jacob generation. They have been rivers of blessings. But God is releasing now the rivers of planting. These are the rivers that make us become a blessing. These are the deep waters of inheritance that raise up every man and woman in the inheritance of Christ’s name. This is who we are!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

I have been writing in regard to a father led culture. We live in a world were the identity of fathers has been marred and eroded to become something less than what God has in mind. God is our Father, and as Father He is the one who gives identity and inheritance to sons. When we receive a proper view God as our Father we view the world though a concept of what is, what was, and what will be. We no longer live for our generation alone, but for the joining of generations in our lives. Our vision becomes one that looks to what is, what was, and what is to come. This is not only a New Covenant reality; it is a testimony of generationally minded people. In Christ we are all joined to a family destiny that is both ancient and new. It is true for all peoples, nations, tribes, and tongues of men.

Ephesians 2:19   Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,  20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,  22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

In order to live to the fullest potential of the kingdom of God we must stay connected to the authority of God’s kingdom. Our destiny has been established upon the foundation of all that was in the Old Covenant (the Old Testament prophets), and all the foundation of what was established in the firstfruits of the New Covenant (the New Testament apostles).

A father-led culture is one that knows that the authority, inheritance, and destiny of the fathers of the past are to be expanded upon through the fathers of our own generation. It is God’s intention that we stay connected to increasing authority, connected to increasing inheritance, and connected to unfolding destiny. We must know who sent us for such a time as this. What letter endorses who we are? What commission has been given to us? We are part of a culture that is both new and ancient in its purpose and plane.

Matthew 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.”

As I have previously written, a scribe in the kingdom is someone who accepts responsibility for life in a generational way and allows God to write upon his or her own heart and mind in a multigenerational way. Embracing this understanding and focus in life will further the purposes of God in the earth. The purposes of God were given for God as a Father to an earthly father – Abraham, meaning father of many nations.

Genesis 22:17 …blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.  18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

The good news preached to Abraham was that in blessing God would bless him, in multiplying God would multiply him, his descendants would possess the gates of their enemies, and through his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. It was a Father’s blessing to a father’s destiny. It was multigenerational in its intent. God was to be the Father of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel.

This commission was also seen in the foundation set by the apostles in the first century church. The apostles were fathers in the faith, not mere mentors of Christian principles and activity.

Timothy 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. The objective was to advance the testimony of the kingdom of God to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. God’s culture is an advancing culture of life to the nations. His heart in the now is always a furtherance of what was and a testimony of what will be. God’s house is built with wisdom and wisdom always implies a way to the future.

How do we attach to the things of the past with the revelation of the present? We cannot be bound to the past; we must be thrust forward because of it. It is wisdom that will keep us in the path of destiny, but where do we find wisdom?

I wrote in regard to these things in a past blog.

Proverbs 1:20, 21 Wisdom calls aloud outside; she raises her voice in the open squares. 21 She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words…

The New American Standard Bible uses the word street for outside. In these verses we see that wisdom is found in the street, in the open squares, in the chief concourses, and in the gates of the city. To understand these four things we must compare them to four small creatures described by Solomon in Proverbs chapter 30.

Proverbs 30:24-28 There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise: The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer; The rock badgers are a feeble folk, yet they make their homes in the crags; The locusts have no king, yet they all advance in ranks; The spider (or lizard) skillfully grasps with its hands, and it is in kings’ palaces.

Wisdom is in the street; it is like an ant. The ant knows what season it is; it knows where it is in life by where it is in the journey of life. Is it winter? Is it summer? It doesn’t need to be told by a commander, it knows where it is in the journey of life. What time is it? What is necessary today? There will be more to do tomorrow, but what is the present season of life? The things that are necessary today are connected to the things that have led to this moment from the past. The things that are necessary today are also connected to the things that will be for the sake of others tomorrow.

Wisdom raises here voice in the open squares; it is like a rock badger in its quest to live. Though the rock badger is small and not considerably strong, it uses its natural environment to get its foods. It builds its home in the crags of the rocks and uses its house as a place of protection and a way of surprising its prey to sustain itself in life. What in the open squares of my life leads to the destiny of God’s glory? What is obviously around me and can serve me in my role in the destiny of life? Some of the obvious things are the things that have been established in our surroundings by the work of others.

Wisdom cries out in the chief concourses; it is like the locust. The locust realizes that if it lives in close relationship with other locusts it can do impossible things. What relationships are in my life? How do those relationships serve the purpose of who I am. Who am I joined to? My direction forward is connected to the relationships given to me in life. My relationships in life are part of my inheritance in life. Those relationships are meant to lead to others even as Paul told Timothy to find faithful men who would be able to teach others also.” – (from July 22, 2015 blog)

What are the things that we inherit? What is it that we must advance in the generations of men? The instructions of our fathers and the principals, patterns, and values are the substance of inheritance to the future. Cultures and societies of the world reject the instructions of their fathers and the substance given them by their mothers. They think themselves to be wiser than the past. Wisdom is not found in the past, it is found in the things that are being given to us by God in heaven. Wisdom is not found in the past, but the instructions, principles, patterns, and values of the past set a foundation for our hearing wisdom today.

Proverbs 1: 8 My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother; 9 For they will be a graceful ornament on your head, and chains about your neck.

Proverbs 6: 20 My son, keep your father’s command, and do not forsake the law of your mother. 21 Bind them continually upon your heart; Tie them around your neck.

A key to moving forward as a multigenerational society is to value the teachings of our fathers in our hearts. What is in our hearts will be seen though the influence and vision of our lives. God said that the Holy Spirit would cause young men to have vision and old men to dream dreams (Acts 2:7). This is the opposite of the cultures of the world. In the world young people dream and old people have vision. God wants the young to have vision and the the old to dream dreams. It is only when the values of the past become the fuel for vision of the present that the dreams of the past can become the vision of today. There must be a joining of the generations. When this happens old must embrace the vision of the young and the young must embrace the dream of the old. It is the testimony of a father led culture that leads to increasing life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Last week I wrote in regard to being a generationally minded people. Today I want to expound on eight things that I concluded with last week.

The first is that we must: 1) Be Life, Thus Live Life in a Contagious Way –

We cannot be life to others if we only live life to satisfy ourselves. We should be happy in what we are doing in life, but we should not do what we do in order to be happy. Happiness is a choice that we make in our hearts. It is a decision we make in whatever place we find ourselves. We must choose to be happy in the world we live in. This includes our circumstances, even if we are presently in circumstances that are less than what we really desire. In whatever place we find ourselves in life, we are there for the sake of others in our world. We are there to bring life to our environment and to others within our sphere of influence. The true testimony of being life for others cannot have within it a taking attitude or a self-gratifying agenda. Being life is all about being life to others around us. To do this we must be full of the life that can only come by the life-giving Holy Spirit of God within us. We must realize that we were born for the world. More specifically, we were born for our world. We are light in our world and salt in our world for the sake of our world. The life that we live should inspire others to live life to the fullest. We must choose to be happy for the sake of those around us. When we do this we will find that happiness as a great blessing to ourselves as well.

A second thing that we must do to be a generationally minded person is:

2) Take Responsibility for Life –

To take responsibility for life we must accept our world as our world. We cannot make excuses for our shortcomings. Our world is our world and we cannot point the finger at others in a way that claims our challenges are the fault of others. Life isn’t fair – it is simply life. Our life is our life! Each of us is given a cup to drink and we must each drink the cup that is given to us. We cannot just take responsibility for our own world, we must take responsibility in a way that recognizes what we do will affect others. We must exercise our thoughts, plans, strategies, and imaginations in order to create a better world for others in our sphere of influence.

We must also realize that our world is not ours alone.  Each of us is in our world with others. In order to be generationally minds we must: 3) Join With Others –

Joining with others means that we recognize that relationship is more important than accomplishments. Friendship with others should be a priority in our lives. Covenant connections must be desired and sought. Who has God joined us to in life? We were not born to be alone. We were born to be a part of God’s family. God is the one who directs relationships and it is through relationship that all life sustains the authority of life.

To be generationally minded we must also: 4) Work With Others –

Working with others means accepting the strengths of others as contributions to our weaknesses. We must seek to give our own strengths to others as a contribution to their weaknesses. We must recognize that our world is made of other members in addition to ourselves and we must seek to work with them in a multi-generational way. Our world is a world made of the dream and vision of God revealed through the individual dreams and visions of others. We are called to fulfill the will of the Father in this world, not merely some personal agenda for success. In order to fulfill our complete significance we must make it our aim in life to work with others.

To be generationally minded we must live to: 5) Influence Others –

We don’t influence others to get anything from them. We give all that we are for the sake of others and this is the purpose of our influence. It is a matter of discovering our authority in life. All life comes from authority. Authority is the measure of life we have been given for the sake of others. When we have authority we have too much of something and we are mandated to seek out others who will receive what we have to give. We don’t give our authority to get our identity. We don’t give our authority to be valuable. We give our authority so that others can rise to the fullest destiny in their lives.

To be generationally minded we must: 6) Identify With Others –

We must recognize that we are part of something great. Like members of a body, our focus is to be a body. Our focus is not upon our membership, but upon the health of the body. We do our part so that no one is hindered in his or her part. We do our share so that the full purpose of life is accomplished by the whole. Our destiny in life is not an individual task. It involves being part of a corporate expression of the body of Christ.

To be generationally minded we must: 7) Serve Others –

Serving others can only truly be done when we see ourselves as expressions of our heavenly Father. God gives life, breath, and all things to all men. We must serve the next generation with life, breath, and all that we can bring in order to set a ceiling that can be the floor of an advancing destiny.

In doing these things we will:

8) Live For Others – Even For the Generations Beyond Our Day –

This has to be the focus of our lives. We must live with an eternal view, not just in heaven but also even upon the earth. We have our time, but our time is simply another piece in the fullness of eternity. What will we bring

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Last week I wrote in regard to being a generationally minded people. Today I want to expound on eight things that I concluded with last week.

The first is that we must:

1) Be Life, Thus Live Life in a Contagious Way –

We cannot be life to others if we only live life to satisfy ourselves. We should be happy in what we are doing in life, but we should not do what we do in order to be happy. Happiness is a choice that we make in our hearts. It is a decision we make in whatever place we find ourselves. We must choose to be happy in the world we live in. This includes our circumstances, even if we are presently in circumstances that are less than what we really desire. In whatever place we find ourselves in life, we are there for the sake of others in our world. We are there to bring life to our environment and to others within our sphere of influence. The true testimony of being life for others cannot have within it a taking attitude or a self-gratifying agenda. Being life is all about being life to others around us. To do this we must be full of the life that can only come by the life-giving Holy Spirit of God within us. We must realize that we were born for the world. More specifically, we were born for our world. We are light in our world and salt in our world for the sake of our world. The life that we live should inspire others to live life to the fullest. We must choose to be happy for the sake of those around us. When we do this we will find that happiness as a great blessing to ourselves as well.

A second thing that we must do to be a generationally minded person is:

2) Take Responsibility for Life –

To take responsibility for life we must accept our world as our world. We cannot make excuses for our shortcomings. Our world is our world and we cannot point the finger at others in a way that claims our challenges are the fault of others. Life isn’t fair – it is simply life. Our life is our life! Each of us is given a cup to drink and we must each drink the cup that is given to us. We cannot just take responsibility for our own world, we must take responsibility in a way that recognizes what we do will affect others. We must exercise our thoughts, plans, strategies, and imaginations in order to create a better world for others in our sphere of influence.

We must also realize that our world is not ours alone.  Each of us is in our world with others. In order to be generationally minds we must:

3) Join With Others –

Joining with others means that we recognize that relationship is more important than accomplishments. Friendship with others should be a priority in our lives. Covenant connections must be desired and sought. Who has God joined us to in life? We were not born to be alone. We were born to be a part of God’s family. God is the one who directs relationships and it is through relationship that all life sustains the authority of life.

To be generationally minded we must also:

4) Work With Others –

Working with others means accepting the strengths of others as contributions to our weaknesses. We must seek to give our own strengths to others as a contribution to their weaknesses. We must recognize that our world is made of other members in addition to ourselves and we must seek to work with them in a multi-generational way. Our world is a world made of the dream and vision of God revealed through the individual dreams and visions of others. We are called to fulfill the will of the Father in this world, not merely some personal agenda for success. In order to fulfill our complete significance we must make it our aim in life to work with others.

To be generationally minded we must live to:

5) Influence Others –

We don’t influence others to get anything from them. We give all that we are for the sake of others and this is the purpose of our influence. It is a matter of discovering our authority in life. All life comes from authority. Authority is the measure of life we have been given for the sake of others. When we have authority we have too much of something and we are mandated to seek out others who will receive what we have to give. We don’t give our authority to get our identity. We don’t give our authority to be valuable. We give our authority so that others can rise to the fullest destiny in their lives.

To be generationally minded we must:

6) Identify With Others –

We must recognize that we are part of something great. Like the functioning members of a a physical body, our focus is to be a body. Our focus is not upon our membership, but upon the health of the body. We do our part so that no one is hindered in his or her part. We do our share so that the full purpose of life is accomplished by the whole. Our destiny in life is not an individual task. It involves being part of a corporate expression of the body of Christ.

To be generationally minded we must:

7) Serve Others –

Serving others can only truly be done when we see ourselves as expressions of our heavenly Father. God gives life, breath, and all things to all men. We must serve the next generation with life, breath, and all that we can bring in order to set a ceiling that can be the floor of an advancing destiny.

In doing these things we will:

8) Live For Others – Even For the Generations Beyond Our Day –

This has to be the focus of our lives. We must live with an eternal view, not just in heaven but also even upon the earth. We have our time, but our time is simply another piece in the fullness of eternity. What will we bring life to the world beyond our days upon the earth. It could be as simple as passing on heavenly values to our children and our children’t children.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

We must have the Father’s presence in His house. The attributes of futility are healed when the hearts of the fathers are turned towards the children and the hearts of the children are turned towards the fathers. We cannot live for our own needs or our own lives and expect to bring about life-giving change in the world. God’s plan is a plan of purpose. It is a matter of joining the generations in a multigenerational destiny. We must live with a third and a fourth generation in mind. We must live mindful of the generations before us. We must hold on to the principles of the past without allowing the past to bind us in an old method of administering those principles. We must hold on to the patterns of the past, but still reach forward to create new things that we have not seen, heard, or thought before. We must hold on to the values of the past without being bound by the vision of the past. There are eternal principles, patterns, and values in the kingdom that serve to set solid foundations for new expressions of God’s kingdom in the earth. The church is both new and ancient. It is built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles.

Ephesians 2:19  Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,  20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,  22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

The principles, patterns, and values of God’s kingdom don’t change, but the house becomes a testimony of greater value. We must see ourselves as part of a multigenerational family that looks forward, thinks big, plans long, and connects people to God as their Father even in the generations to come. We must live to be a blessing in the earth, multiply that blessing by living for the greater value of others, posses the places of influence in the generations beyond us, and see the families of the earth blessed in the character, nature, way, power, and authority of God. The cultures of the world are not a substitute for the culture of the kingdom of heaven. The culture of the kingdom of God is meant to transform any and every culture of the world.

Matthew 13:33   Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”

The culture of the kingdom of heaven is powerful enough to transform any culture of society from the inside out. It is not just a matter of accidental happening, however. It involves an embracing of the responsibility of that transformation in a generational way. It is the same for any cultural process. A culture can only be formed by embracing a revolutionary substance of change within a present society with an expected transformation.  Milk can be transformed into yogurt when the living cultures of yogurt yeast are introduced into its substance. Only by introducing living bacteria in a greater way can we discover a greater product, such as cheese. It is the living substance within the culture that transforms the culture to become what it was not before.

What we do in our daily lives, and how we reach out to others in our daily lives, is going to be what will set the course for our future and the future of the church. It only happens when we stand up and accept responsibility for receiving the changes that only come from God our Father.

Matthew 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.”

A scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is not someone who journals in a book what God wants them to do. It is someone who accepts responsibility for life in a generational way and allows God to write upon his or her own hearts and minds in a multigenerational way. It is then that new things will be unlocked, and old things will be restored. The anointing of God’s presence doesn’t come just to make people free. It comes to establish life-giving people in the earth in a generational way.

Isaiah 61:3b … That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” 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.

In order to be a Father led culture in the earth we must live with a generational dream and vision. Each of us must make it our aim to:

1)  Be Life, Thus Live Life In a Contagious Way

2)  Take Responsibility for Life

3)  Join With Others

4)  Work With Others

5)  Influence Others

6)  Identify With Others

7)  Serve Others

and

8)  Live For Others – Even For the Generations Beyond Our Day

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

There is a need to restore the Father’s likeness and image in the earth. The masculine identity of mankind is under attack in the cultures of the world. Their hearts are not bad; they just lack the knowledge of life-giving fathers among them. The masculine identity has been stripped by the lack of true fathers in the cultures of the world. The church must lead in embracing the attributes of the Father in their culture in order to influence the communities of the world with the community of heaven.

Matthew 28:18   And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

We cannot fashion and form the culture of the church by the cultures of the world. We must embrace being a powerful church that disciples the nations in the ways of God. This means that the true attributes of men and women must be embraced in the body of Christ. We need the nurturing attributes of the mother to excel in the church, but we must also see the leadership attributes of the father restored to its rightful place among us. Men are designed to seek God’s glory! A man must seek to make his wife his glory! It starts there.

1 Corinthians 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.

The word glory implies the fullness of life. For a husband to seek the glory of his wife is for him to seek to make her fully alive in whom she is as a daughter of God. To do this a husband must be an activator of life, a facilitator of life, and a releaser for the life that is within his home. He can only do this if he himself excels in being activated in life, facilitated in life, and released in life in all that he is. Leadership is not a position of teaching, controlling, or assuming all of the responsibility of decision making in the home. It is a position of assuring a healthy atmosphere of life is maintained in the environment of his home so every member can be fully alive in Christ. This means every member becomes fully connected to God as his or her Father and they excel in being who God made them to be.

Who will fight for the glory of his wife? This is a masculine attribute of the nature of God. It is a heavenly masculine attribute in the culture of God’s family and it is should be seen in and through the dynamic of leadership in the church. Leadership must fight for the glory of the church. This is part of the masculine nature of God. Men must see the blessing of God as more important than their fears in order to find their true identity as men. We must see the expression of fathers as true bishops in the church. Bishops, or overseers, are not hierarchal leaders who control the lives of others. This perception is part of the curse of the fall of man where a husband rules over his wife (Gen. 3:17).

True fathers expand inheritances in the earth. They don’t live for their own agendas or person success; they live to be a blessing to others. They don’t live to be successful; they live to be significant. Their goal is to live to expand something of life into the generations that follow them. They seek to accept people as they are, but they work to empower them for greater glory. Father’s seek to raise up sons of inheritance, not servants or slaves who seek entitlements. The culture of the church must embrace this attribute of the Father.  They must see themselves with successors. Where is the greatness in the church? The message of God’s kingdom is a message for fathers.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

We live in societies and cultures that have been for a large degree become fatherless. There is a curse in the earth for lack of fathers. The prophet Malachi declared that God would come to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers to remove the curse in the earth. The apostle Paul wrote that the earth is groaning for the manifestation of the sons of God who know that God is their Father. This is what will liberate the earth from its futility.

Romans 8: 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.  20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;  21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

As leaders in the church we are faced with leading to transform people from a fatherless society to a kingdom culture that knows God as the Father of each and everyone. Because the church is made of people who come from the societies and cultures of the world, we often take on the attributes of the world. We must become the church that transforms the world. We are sent by God to submerge nations into the identity of Christ and to disciple nations.

The fatherless societies of the world have for a great measure affected the church and the church has functioned as a single parent home. When we hear the word “father” we think of someone who meets our needs, but this is the mindset of mothers. Mothers are nurtures, but fathers are overcomers. What do we see? The vision of true fathers is a vision that extends to the generations. Just as God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel, the vision of a father extends to the third and the fourth generation. This is why Paul told his spiritual son Timothy to commit what had been given to him to faithful men who would be able to teach others also. Father’s look to the future; because their hearts are set on inheritance, destiny, and legacy. They know that there is a purpose before them and it is attached to accomplishing something in the earth.

2 Timothy 2:1, 2 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Adam was formed from the dust of the earth and therefore His purpose is attached to accomplishing something in the earth. Eve came from the rib of Adam and therefore women are concerned with making sure everything is healthy in the body. We need a healthy body that strives to accomplish great things in the earth! It is not an either/or reality. The church must be a healthy family unit, fulfilling destiny in the earth. We are not here for our will to be done. We are here for the will of the Father to be done. We were born as nobility in Christ!

Our vision must be more than one of healed wounds. It must be a vision of a future and a hope. Mothers are concerned with the wounds, the needs, and the environment of the family. This is good, but it is a vision of mothers. There must be a marriage of the spirit of the mother and the spirit of the father in the church in order to see a healthy family that lives for purposes of God in the earth for the future generations. We must have a kingdom vision. If our main focus is the healing of wounds, it is only dealing with the pain of the past. If we only fix the past, we will live in the past. It is time to fix the foundation and build a new house!

Mothers seek to heal wounds, while fathers seek to cross finish lines. A father knows that sometimes it is necessary to strive for the finish even if we are hurt. In sports, the team that is filled with players who are willing to play hurt wins the game. The role of the church is not meant to be easy, it is meant to cross finish lines. We are to press on toward the goal set for us in Christ.

Philippians 3:11-15 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

Fathers seek release, while mothers seek comfort.  A comforting church only, will not fulfill destiny. We must press on toward the mark given to us in Christ! We must compete for the prize set before us in Christ! We must finish the race! Christianity is often soft and is not much different than the fatherless cultures of the world. It is time to rise up and become a people who know the comfort of mothers while running the race set before them by fathers in the faith.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson