ted4leaders

Greetings,

Last week I began to present the foundation for establishing the family name of God in the earth. We are all called to be priests before Him. We are called to be ambassadors of heaven who bring the heavenly things of God into this world. Some things that I laid before us last week were:

• As priests before God our primary responsibility is to hear what God says and to give glory to His name. We live for His desires and to lead others to do the same.
• We must all understand that how we respond to God’s voice affects our descendants. The future of the church is affected by our responses to God today.
• An awe of who God is and an honor for His name will cause the expressions of our lives to have a life-giving effect upon others. The iniquities of others are healed when we accept the responsibility of being people who are in a close and personal relationship with God.
• Loving God as our Father and loving His children should be the testimony of our lives.

God loves us as we are, but He wants to move into our world and transform us to become like Him. He does this for the sake of His name in the earth. His name is His inheritance in the world. It is how He is revealed through His family in the earth. We must embrace God’s family above our own personal ministry agendas. Our aim in life must be to point all to the Father. It is not about what we want. It is about what the Father wants.

Let’s continue to look at the secrets found to show honor to God in the words of the prophet Malachi.

Malachi 2:11 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the Lord’s holy institution which He loves: he has married the daughter of a foreign god.

What does it mean to marry the daughter of a foreign god? When we make the things that God does more important than who God is, is it not a making of covenant with something less than what should be? We must be true to God our Father, not true to the gifts He gives. What about when we make our dreams, visions, goals, work, or ministry more important than God? We cannot make personal agendas, personal work, or personal ministry our mistress. This is defilement to being a priest before God. It will affect His inheritance in the earth.

Malachi 2:12 May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, being awake and aware, and who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts.

We must see being responsible for others as a joy. Doing what God wants is not a sacrifice of pain. It is a sacrifice of love. Do we desire God’s way more than our own? We must be zealous for His house, not ours.

Malachi 2:13 And this is the second thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and crying; so He does not regard the offering anymore, nor receive it with good will from your hands.

The secret to leading with joy is to lead for the future of the family. It is not about our will and our kingdom in the earth. It is about the kingdom and the will of God. It is about the family name, because this is the Father’s inheritance.

Malachi 2:14 Yet you say, “For what reason?” because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
We have a responsibility to the family name. That which is part of our lives is for His glory not ours. The relationships given to us are for the purpose of His life. We must know that our lives are meant to be lived in a way that strengthens the body of Christ. We have been given a life for the sake of children and children’s children. We must love God and have a covenantal and relational commitment to His bride.

Malachi 2:15  But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

When we live for our own needs, our own desires, or our own agendas, we create an open door to the spirit of divorce. To live for ourselves is to live for divorce! We will live for the family of God, not the testimony of ourselves.

Malachi 2:16  “For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence,” says the LORD of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”

To live for the Father and His family is righteous, true, and the destiny of our life as the church. We cannot make personal vindications and a justice system of the knowledge of good an evil the directing factors of our hearts. We must embrace the justice system of God. His justice is one of mercy, forgiveness, goodness, and love.

Malachi 2:17 You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you say, “In what way have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”

To live for the Father and His family is righteous, true, and our life as the church! To live for our own vindication or justification is to live for divorce. We must live for the future of God’s house and the future of His kingdom upon the earth.
To embrace the testimony of the Father’s name requires a covenant with God, not merely a contract. What is the difference between a contract and a covenant?

In a contract two or more parties commit their individual selves for the fulfillment of the contract agreement. A contract is a formal or legally binding agreement holding all parties to the terms of that agreement. It is a putting together of entities to create a binding agreement for a greater containment. The name contract implies a shrinking or the making of something to a smaller size. It is tightening or a drawing together for a contained purpose.

A covenant is a compact made by passing between two pieces of flesh. In a covenant two living things become sacrificed for something greater to be born new. A covenant is a process of selecting another in order to feed them and to render all to them to become what did not exist before. Jesus made a covenant with us by allowing His body to be broken that we might receive the life that He gives, the love that He gives, and the testimony that He gives that makes all things new in our lives. To enter into this testimony we must fall upon the rock of this covenant to give our lives to Him, render all to Him, and become what did not exist before. As members of the body of Christ we must be broken and pass through the broken pieces of the body of Christ to select the Father, feed on Him, and render all to Him.

To be in covenant is to be one in the same body, house, or habitation. If we are a covenant family, we make our lives broken for one another that we might pass between the pieces to enter into one place of habitation. We select one another, feed one another, and give our all to one another. The testimony of covenant is a new entity that produces life beyond what could be before, whereas a contract is a binding of entities for a benefit of individual parts. A covenant is a commitment to fully identify with one another. It is a sharing of all possessions in the covenant with a loyalty to the covenant, no matter the cost. This is the testimony of the covenant family of God in heaven and earth!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

God’s desire has always been that His people would be a royal priesthood before Him. His family is a family of kings and priests. It could be interpreted that His family is a family of priestly kings and kingly priests. They are to stand before God as a holy people and they are to rule in this earth as a testimony of the power of Christ. This is God’s heart for all people.

The Old Covenant was a shadow of the good thing to come. It was a testimony of imperfect men trying to obey a system that reflected the true covenant of Christ in heaven. The earthly expression was often less than what was to come, even as a shadow. Even the tabernacle with its partitions and furniture arrangements was seen in an Old Covenant reality, therefore a veil separated man from the presence of God. In the Old Covenant the tribe of Levi held the priesthood, because they were the tribe that stood with Moses at the destruction of the golden calf (Ex. 32:25, 26). The nation of Israel was then revealed as a nation of tribes, with one tribe being the tribe of the priesthood. That one tribe was a shadow of what God wanted to do with all people. He wants all of humanity to know that they are to be a royal priesthood before Him (1Pet. 2:9).

The priesthood of the Old Covenant transgressed in God’s ways and failed to live in faithfulness before God as the priests that God had chosen them to be. Malachi, chapter 2 describes a spirit of divorce that had broken covenant and caused God’s people to abandon the passion and the true responsibility of being a part of the inheritance of God’s house. This chapter is an example to us all as to what is to be the passion and focus of each of us as a royal priest before God.

Malachi 2:1 And now, O priests, this commandment is for you.

The commandment was to the priests – His testimony of heaven on earth. We are a priesthood of believers and we can see an example of who we should be before God through His desire and Israel’s failure to fulfill His desire in the covenant.

Malachi 2:2 If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name,” says the LORD of hosts, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart.

As priests before God our primary responsibility is to hear what God says and to give glory to His name. This is a matter of desire in our hearts, not merely the surface actions of our lives. As leaders among the priests we must set an example of those who hear God and give glory to Him. We do not lead for our own personal desires, nor do we lead for the desires of the people. We, and those we lead, are here for the glory of God to His name as our heavenly Father. We must set an example in following God’s desire and leading others into the same.

Malachi 2:3, 4  Behold, I will rebuke your descendants and spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your solemn feasts; and one will take you away with it. Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant with Levi may continue,” says the LORD of hosts.

God was revealing through the prophet Malachi that it was not the feasts that God desired. It was a relationship that fulfilled the purpose of the feasts. The priests had failed to see that the attitude and the actions of their own lives would affect the generations to come. As priests before God we must all understand that how we respond to God’s voice affects our descendants. This can be good or bad, depending upon our own obedience of disobedience to God. The future of the church is affected by our responses to God today.

Malachi 2:5, 6 My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear Me; so he feared Me and was reverent before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity.

When we embrace a face-to-face relationship with God, there is life and peace. Our personal relationship with God will be seen in the testimonies of our lives. An awe of who God is and an honor for His name will cause the expressions of our lives to have a life-giving effect upon others. The truth of God in our mouths is the testimony of becoming like Him in our ways. The principles, patterns, and values of God in our hearts will empower us to walk in the justice of His ways. The iniquities of others are healed when we accept the responsibility of being people who are in a close and personal relationship with God. When we stand with God, we change in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. When we change, we inspire others to change also.

Malachi 2:7 For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

As leaders, we must embrace a relationship with God in order to inspire others to do the same. We live on the words of God’s mouth. We must speak the truth and see ourselves as messengers of the Lord. We must speak life-giving words of love for God and love for people, not critical ones. Loving God as our Father and loving His children should be the testimony of our mouths.

Malachi 2:8,9  “But you have departed from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of hosts. Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, because you have not kept My ways but have shown partiality in the law.”

The Old Covenant priests of Malachi’s day had departed from God’s way. The had used the form of God’s covenant to benefit themselves. They had exalted themselves above others and they saw the community of God as a system they could use for their own purposes. As priests before God we must understand that we live for the will of God and for the blessing of others. We must keep God’s way before others that none will stumble in loving God and loving others. We cannot show partiality in loving God and loving people. There is no rank of value in the community of humanity before God. As leaders we cannot show partiality in love to those we lead. We cannot show partiality in how we love others, for we set an example of love to all.

Malachi 2:10  Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of the fathers?

We live to reveal the Father to others. We are God’s family and we must all understand that no child of God is greater or less than another. As leaders we must embrace God’s family above our own personal ministry agendas. We are not here to become famous; we are here to reveal God the Father to others. When each one knows who their Father is, they will become a testimony of Him and His will in all things. We live to reveal the Father to others. Our aim in life must be to point all to the Father. It is not about what we want. It is about what the Father wants.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

The book of Malachi is an amazing book. It is the last thing prophetically spoken in the Old Testimony, before God became the Word manifest in the flesh of Jesus Christ. The subject of Malachi is God as a Father, we as His children, and God’s plan to repair that relationship and testimony in the earth. The name Malachi means the messenger of Jehovah or my messenger. I believe that Malachi is a witness to the Holy Spirit being sent to humanity to cause us to be made known as the children of God. It is about God’s plan to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers in the hope of healing the curse of human failure in the earth.

The secret to honoring and father and mother in the earth is only revealed and given through the testimony of the Holy Spirit. As I have written, God wants His family name to be an increasing inheritance in the earth. God loves us as a Father loves his children, but our failure to see Him for who He really is left us short of being a true testimony of His family in the earth. Malachi chapter one begins with God testifying of His love for those who see Him as the source of making them His blessing in the earth. He testifies that it was Jacob that He loved, while Esau He hated.

Malachi 1:2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved”…

Jacob represents a generation of humanity that seeks the blessing of God. They don’t just seek the blessing of God to be blessed. They seek the blessings of God because they know they represent God in this earth. A Jacob generation seeks God so they can be God’s blessing in the earth for the sake of God’s covenant and the generational testimony of His name. It is only through knowing who God is, that we can become who we are meant to be in the earth. God’s issue with humanity is that they would know Him as their Father, not merely a God to serve for their our own advantage. When we don’t know who He is, we can never know who we are.

The prophet Malachi deals with a fatherless generation of people. He addresses a self-seeking generation who do not know who God is.

Malachi 1:6 “A son honors his father, if then I am the Father, where is My honor?”

The self-seeking generation of Malachi’s day thought that life was about them, not God. A self-seeking generation sees themselves as the center of everything, not God.  They want God to meet their needs, but they have little concern with serving Him. They fail to understand that He is their Father and thus they fail to see serving Him as a testimony of love.

Malachi 1:7 “You offer defiled food on My altar, but say, “In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the LORD is contemptible.’ ”

When we exalt our needs above the will of God we fail to see the need to see God for who He really is. We expect God to receive us as we are, but we don’t expect to become like Him. I believe that this is very prevalent in the present generation. Many people want the grace of God, but they define God’s grace, as an excuse to hold on to their old ways while proclaiming God loves them as they are. This was the case with the people of God in the day of Malachi. They wanted to offer God the blind, the lame, and the sick while making excuses for their flaws.

Malachi 1:8 And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the LORD of hosts.

When we expect God to love us as we are without expecting that we must be transformed to His ways, isn’t it offering God the blind, the lame, and the sick as a sacrifice? We want God to come and be the God of the people, but we don’t want to be changed to become the people of God. We expect God to receive us with our flaws, but we don’t want to embrace any changes God may desire in our lives. We want to justify our weaknesses, while demanding that God lowers the standards of His expectations in our lives. Iniquity is not sin, it is an internal weakness of the heart that leads to transgression in our hearts and manifests as sin before God. It is the internal weakness that makes us vulnerable to look for life in things other than God. When we do this, we expect God’s favor calling mercy a testimony of grace. We believe that grace is an excuse for us to remain as we have been and we fail to see that only mercy can receive us as we are, but grace transforms us to become what we have never been before. Grace transforms us to become as God desires us to be.

Malachi 1:9 “But now entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, will He accept you favorably?” Says the LORD of hosts.

The real problem is a lack of understanding who God really is. Self-seeking people fail to recognize that He is their heavenly Father and He is worthy of their testimony becoming a reflection of Him.

Malachi 1:10 “Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you,” Says the LORD of hosts, “Nor will I accept an offering from your hands.”

When we seek our needs above the will of God in our lives we fail to see that His kingdom will is to make His name great among the nations. We were born for His calling, His inheritance, and His power in this world. God’s children are a testimony of His name.

Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the LORD of hosts.

A self-seeking generation considers the testimony of their own lives as more important than God and what He wants in their lives. They see serving God as an unfair demand. Any change that God would require in their life is an insult to their hearts.

Malachi 1:12 “But you profane it, in that you say, ‘The table of the LORD is defiled; and its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’ ”

A self-seeking generation wants to justify their iniquity, transgression and sin and they demand that God accepts them as they are.  They see God as one who serves their needs and they have little regard for God’s ways in their lives.

Malachi 1:13 You also say, “Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,” Says the LORD of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” Says the LORD.

A self-seeking generation gives their best to their own agenda, and less to God. They invite the consequence of curse into their lives for their failure of seeing God as their Father.

Malachi 1:14 “But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished— For I am a great King,” Says the LORD of hosts, “And My name is to be feared among the nations.”

A self-seeking generation doesn’t want to recognize who God really is. They want their own name to be great, not His. The way of the world is more important to them than His way. Their culture is more valuable to them than the culture of the kingdom of heaven. God’s doesn’t curse them; they simply embrace the way of the curse in their failure to see God for who He really is. This is the foundational flaw of a self-seeking generation. They are fatherless in their mentality and they fail to honor God as the Father He truly is.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

When we know who we are we live lives that are beyond our own personal needs. When we know who we are, we live lives of destiny. We are part of the family of God and our family destiny is a bridge to the future. Our destiny answers the questions of the human heart. I believe that it is in the heart of every person to ask four basic questions. Those questions are: Who is God? Who am I? Who are God and I together? And – What is the point of everything?  These questions are in the hearts of all people. The apostle Paul recognized this when he addressed the people of Athens.

Acts 17:24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.  25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.  26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, “For we are also His offspring.” 

The first three of the internal questions of humanity are revealed in these verses. Who is God? God is the one who gives life to all people. Who are we? We are an expression of God. We are a testimony of His breath. Who are God and us together? God gives us all things and when we have God in our lives we then can have all the things that have been determined for us in our preappointed times and within the boundaries of who we are. God doesn’t need anything from us. He gives life, breath, and all things to all people. We live, move, and have our being in Him. It is part of our multigenerational inheritance in the earth.

If we look at the 15th chapter of the book of Luke we find several parables spoken by Jesus. The religious society of the self-righteous Pharisees was upset with the fact that Jesus was eating and drinking with sinners and tax collectors. People of the world were being attracted to Jesus, while those in the religious system of the law were despising His ways of grace. I believe that those in the world were attracted to Jesus because He demonstrated the answer to the questions of the human heart. I believe that those questions were demonstrated in the parables that Jesus told those before Him. Jesus told a parable of ninety-nine righteous sheep and a shepherd going out to find one that was lost. Israel was the testimony of the ninety-nine righteous sheep, while the nations of the world were depicted in the redemption of the lost lamb. The lost lamb represented God’s care for all people. He gives life to each and every one.

Jesus then told the parable of the ten silver coins, the lost coin represented the one and only value of everyone redeemed human being by the blood of Christ, while the nine remaining coins represented those who already had the testimony of the Holy Spirit with them. The lost coin had the exact same value as each of the remaining nine coins and the woman was willing to sweep the floor thoroughly in search of the one coin of equal value. The coin was an expression of Him and its value was the same as the other nine. God’s gives breath to all people and He knows the value of each and every one.

The next parable told by Jesus was one of the father, the prodigal son, and the older brother. Israel was the older brother while the prodigal son represented the Father’s love for all the peoples of the world. The father wanted both the younger and the older son to be part of his purpose in life. He wanted both of the sons to know the testimony, the authority, and the inheritance of the father’s kingdom. The father’s testimony, authority, and inheritance were enough to celebrate every day with him if they desired. Our business in the world is the family business of God in connection with God as our Father. We are not making our own way, we are part of His family in the earth.

At the beginning of Luke, chapter 16 Jesus told the parable of the unrighteous manager. In this story the manager turned shrewd depicted the nations of the world that proved to be shrewder than the sons of the kingdom of Israel, by making friends with their handling of money and the things of the world. The details of the parable appear to reveal a man who made decisions with another man’s money for the sake of personal favor. The real issue was the fact that the bad manager knew that once he lost his job the only thing that would really count was having fiends. The parable isn’t about handling accounts righteously. It is about valuing the right things in life. It is about valuing friendships. This is what God was looking for through the life of His Son Jesus. Jesus was looking for those would be friends with God and see God as their friend. The Pharisees were lovers of money, though they prided themselves as not being tied to the things of the world. The story of the unrighteous manager was a stumbling block to their right and wrong mentalities. Their self-righteous attempts of fulfilling the law had blinded their eyes to seeing the need of friendship in life. They saw the principle of being right as more valuable than relationships.

These parables reveal that God cares for us. He is the Shepherd of our souls. He gives life to all people. They reveal that God knows who we are. He has declared the value of each of us as a one and only precious human being redeemed by the blood of the one and only begotten Son of God. He gives us breath and we are a testimony of Him. These stories reveal that God has a plan for our lives for He is our Father and we are His sons. He wants to include us in His purposes in the earth. It is all about Him and us in the story of life. The final question of the human heart is one that asks what is the point of it all. In the story of the manager, God revealed that His heart is for us and our righteousness is found in Him and Him alone. We were not born to be right, we were born to be loved by Him. He is our true Friend and he wants us to know and reveal His friendship in the world.

God wants to connect the generations and it is only through understanding our destiny in Christ that the generations can carry the continuity of purpose for the glory of God’s name. The children of the generations must be connected to the fathers and mothers of the past and the fathers of the faith must see the children of the unfolding generations as the testimony of the Father’s name.

Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” 4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

Children must seek to obey their parents. The values of the past must be embraced by the generations as a substance of strength to all that will be added. Fathers must not provoke their children to wrath. It is important for fathers to understand that the next generation will see things that are beyond where we have been. Father’s are activators, facilitators, and releasers and they must not seek to control or restrain their children from going beyond where they have been and what they have known.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As believers in Christ we are part of something great. We are not just individuals going to heaven when we die. Our story is not just one of Jesus and us. We are part of a multigenerational legacy in Christ. It is a testimony of the hope of His calling, that testimony of His inheritance, and a demonstration of the power of Christ in the earth to change the world we live in for the generations that follow.

Ephesians 1:18-20 …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, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places…

As leaders, we must set an example of this value of inheritance. We must seek to empower God’s people in the greatness of the family name. God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel. He is the God of Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and others also. He is not a grandfather, He is simply a great Father to each and every one of us, but our connection to Him includes the legacy of those who were connected to Him in the past and those who will be connected to Him in the future.

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.”

The new things are things that have never existed or been seen before, while the old things are those things that are antique and lost before our time. Our yes to Christ is a yes to the future and a yes to the past. When we allow Holy Spirit to write His will in our hearts and minds we become part of something that is redemptive to the past and creative towards the future. We become part of the family legacy and we give value, purpose, and definition to His family name in our own family DNA.

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

We are a dwelling place for God in the Spirit. We are part of something ancient. We are part of something eternal. The foundation of the New Covenant is built upon the firstfruit testimony of the apostles and the first century church and it is built upon the prophets and the full harvest of what was set in the Old Covenant. The New Covenant is the Old Covenant made living. It is the continuation all that was and it is destined to become a culmination of all that ever will be. This principle continues in the New Covenant testimony of Christ.

We must embrace a revelation of family destiny in our hearts. We were not born to simply have our own personal needs fulfilled. The dreams and visions of our lives are not about our personal desires. They are valuable tools for Christ’s kingdom purpose. We were not born for the comfort of houses; we were born for the destiny of barns and vats!

Proverbs 3:9, 10 Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

What are the barns and vats of your family name? Your firstfruits and your possessions are about the family business; they are not merely expressions of you annual income. You were born for greatness. You had to be born again to come to the knowledge of what greatness you were really born for. You were born for the glory of God – to bring glory to His name. What is the focus of your life?

Matthew 6:19-21  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

What are the treasures of your life? Are they storehouses filled with life for the wellbeing of others? Or are they security banks for your own comfort and will? Is your treasure going to heaven? Or is your treasure bringing heaven to the earth for the sake of others. What are you looking at?

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

What is it that consumes the attention of your day? Our focus in life must be for family purpose, not personal blessing.

Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?’ or “What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Every day has enough trouble to deal with, but our personal trouble is not really about us. Will we allow the trouble of our day to distract us from the destiny of our lives? Gentiles pray for their needs to be met. People who don’t know God are concerned with their daily needs. They may not know they are praying, but their focus is their personal needs in life. The cry of their hearts is one of ‘help’! This should not be the testimony of those who believe. We were born to build barns, not merely see our needs met. The barns of our lives are the supply houses for the wellbeing of others. God is the word, but we are His voice! Our barns are the supply houses of His heavenly bread to the nations and the generations. Our vats are the reservoirs of life filled with life-giving power for the testimony of heaven’s grace in many. As the family of God we should make it our aim to live for the kingdom of our Lord and Christ. The kingdom of God is what should consume our attention. His justice system of life to the world should be the focus of our hearts. We have a great heritage and a great destiny.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

As leaders in the Body of Christ we must be examples as children of God and testimonies that represent God our Father is a spiritual parent to those we lead. We are not their parents, but we do represent physical expressions of the One who is both Father and Mother to the generations of humanity. God is a life-giver and a life-protector to all men, male and female. He is both masculine and feminine in His nature and we were created to reveal His likeness and image in the earth.

Malachi 4:6 … “And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

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

God’s way of filling the earth with His glory is family. It is not ministry. It is not His sovereignty or a demonstration of the greatness of His power. It is simply a family that acts like God’s family. It is a multigenerational expansion of the character, nature, way, power, and authority of God in the diversity of human tongues, tribes, peoples, and nations. I believe that a key to this is found in the attributes of the commandments of God as they were given in the Ten Commandments written upon stone seen only as a shadow of the good thing that existed in heaven. God wants His family to know His love as a Father, thus no other god will do. He wants to give life to every one of His children, thus no other life source will do. He wants His family to know the testimony that can only come through His amazing grace, thus no other name can be sufficient for such a cause. He wants each of us to know the power of His name at work in our lives. God wants His family members to live from rest, knowing that they are a place where He rests and thus His holiness prevails in and through all things in their lives. God wants us to know the longevity of inheritance and destiny as the family name continues to grow and expand in the generations of men. He wants His family to act like Him. They value life and protect life even at the expense of their own. They value relationships and remain true to covenant commitments and covenant testimonies. They value honor and respect the boundaries and appreciate the lives of others while being fully content with all that they are and possess in life. God’s family knows that each one is a one of a kind. They know that each human is a one and only gift of God, thus they seek to protect the integrity of others. Children in God’s house know who God is, thus they know who they are. They never seek to be someone they are not, nor do they seek to cause another to become different than who they are. The children of God love God and they love one another, not because they are commanded to, but because they have a revelation of God’s love. They are children of God.

The 10 Commandments List, Short Form:

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

The fifth Commandment is the bridge of a two-fold testimony to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. In this commandment we see an expression of love for God and a love for people. It is an expression to physical forms of humanity, but a testimony of honor to the One who is the source of life to all people. This is the secret to valuing life and protecting the life of others. It is the key to understanding relationships and living in covenant connections. This commandment is foundational to honoring and respecting the boundaries of others. It offers a foundation to valuing all that has been given to us in life. Honoring our father and mother is the secret to recognizing and protecting the integrity of others. It is in this inheritance that we can rejoice in who we are and offers the substance for accepting others for who they are. This fifth Commandment is the bridge to understanding God’s love so we are empowered to love God and others even as we love ourselves. An honor of our father and mother sets the foundation for being children of God in the earth. In light of this, it is a sure thing that the enemy has targeted this to cause our destiny to be derailed and inheritance to be cut short in the earth.

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.”

I don’t believe that our days being long in the earth are merely the number of days we are alive in the earth. I believe it is the continued testimony of the destiny of our family. It involves the expansion of the family name. That family is really the family of God with God as our heavenly Father. Jesus said that we should pray to our Father and commission Him for our daily bread and expect Him to cause our character to be even as He is in this world. The family name is the character, nature, way, power, and authority made manifest in our lives. Honoring our father and mother is about expanding the family inheritance in the earth. It is about establishing the substance of life for others in the earth that will further expand beyond our natural days. Honoring our father and mother is about seeing the testimony of the family business transitioned to the generations that follow our lives.

A few years ago I was in an Awake and Arise conference and the Holy Spirit spoke to me about several places in my life that could have been testimonies of bitterness. It was a time where the atmosphere had been created for the Holy Spirit to speak in regard to any judgments those in the room may have made in regard to the lives of others. As I sat there, the Holy Spirit showed me the face of a woman. As I looked at the face of the woman I saw her face changed to that of another woman, and then another, and another. I realized that she was Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Reformed, Baptist, Pentecostal, Non-Denomination – she was the church. The Holy Spirit said, “This is your mom, you need to thank her. She gave you material to work with. She did the best she could do with what she had.” In a moment I felt tremendous love for her. I could thank her for who she was. I don’t have much love for religion, but in that moment I could see past her religious ways into her heart. It was a revelation of her as a person free from the religiosity of her actions. The scene changed and I began to see the face of a man. It was the face of a church leader who in the past had hurt me bad. Then the image changed to another man and it was also the face of another church leader who had hurt me. The picture continued to change to several faces of church leaders who had hurt me in the past. The Holy Spirit said, “This is your dad, you need to thank him. He put a baton in your hand to run with. He did the best he could with what he knew to do.” I felt overwhelming love for him. I was able to thank this corporate expression of church fathers that had hurt me, because I was able to look past the actions of their wounding me to the substance of who they were. I realized that what was now in my hand had a direct connection to what had been in their hand.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

God is transforming human lives to become testimonies of His love and testimonies of who He is to the world around them. He is not just God; He is our heavenly Father. As children of God we must reveal who He is to those around us in this world. This means we will not be conformed to this world, but we will be transformed through a metamorphosis in our thinking.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We cannot think like we used to or like those in the cultures of the world. The renewing of our mind is the metamorphosis that happens in our thinking when we are submerged in the power of His Holy Spirit. Jesus reconciled us to God our Father while we were still sinners. He paid the price to reconnect all people to God. He wasn’t merely the expression of God connected to humanity. He came to connect humanity to God’s divinity. This is the gift of God’s grace. God’s grace is the power that changes human lives. The beliefs of our heart are changed and the thinking of our mind is transformed by God’s presence in our lives. The purpose of Christ’s reconciliation was not merely the forgiveness of sins, but the connection to the source of true life and change in our lives. Jesus made a way for all of humanity to become a testimony of being a son or daughter of God. This means that we progressively grow in the character, nature, way, power, and authority of God.

People in the cultures of this modern day world pride themselves in their independent thinking and independent values in life. God loves diverse expressions of creativity, but diversity of creativity cannot become diversity of character. The only true character of the family of God is the character of Christ. We must be holy as our Father is holy. This is not an action, but a character of substance. There is an unlimited expression of creativity in the expression of Christ, but the character of God is the sole rule of the culture of the kingdom of God in the hearts of those who believe. It is a culture motivated by righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit within the human heart.

Romans 14:17 …for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

A dependency upon God, oneness with His presence in heaven, and an open access to His presence in our lives are values to be embraced by children of God. Self-dependence and personal independence are not values in the kingdom of God. Although these things appear to promise the liberty of life, true liberty only comes when the Spirit of the Lord motivates our hearts and God’s values become the motivations of our will, mind, intellect, reasoning, and emotions.

2 Corinthians 3:17: Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 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.

When we look in the mirror we see a reflection of ourselves. The glory of God that we see is the testimony of life and change that comes from the Spirit of the Lord at work in our hearts. The reflection we see is a testimony of Christ and a testimony of who we are. It is uniquely us, but us as we are being changed from within. Light is shining out of darkness, that darkness being our old way of thinking, our old values, and our own will and way in life. The light of Christ within us is transforming us to become children of God by the Spirit of Christ within our hearts.

2 Corinthians 4:5-7 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus ’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

It is the power of God at work within our hearts that transforms us to become testimonies of God’s love. We are increasingly, progressively, and forever changed to become testimonies as children of God in this world. The real issue of the reconciliation of mankind to God through Christ is not one of the forgiveness of sins, but of being children of God. If we are children of God we must become a testimony of our Father. We must expect to be changed. The forgiveness of sins doesn’t justify us to remain in our sin. It justifies us to live and true life is only found in an eternal relationship with God as our Father and Jesus as His son. This is made real through the work of Holy Spirit in our lives. This is where the iniquities of our hearts are transformed by the power of His grace. His Spirit forever changes the values and personal desires of our hearts. The self-preserving and self-motivating desires of our past are changed to a testimony of loving God and others in the character of Christ.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

I believe that we are in the midst of a grassroots revolution in the earth. God is doing a work of His grace to reveal His people as the people of God. We were the people of a nation, the people of a culture, or some expression of the people of self; but God wants to empower us to be His people. He wants us to forsake the governments of the kingdoms of self and embrace the government of the kingdom of God. A government is the testimony of what rules the hearts and minds of people. Whatever beliefs reside in the human heart determine the strongholds of the human heart. Whatever we believe, determines how we act. How we act is simply the fruit of what we believe. The things we do in life do not change us, what we believe in our hearts changes us.

We are living in a time where God wants to reveal His government in a greater way. This means that He desires to change the beliefs of our hearts. There is a lot said today about the goodness of God, the love of God, and the grace of God. These things are sure and the testimony of being born to be loved by God is very true. We were not merely created to worship Him; we were born of His Spirit to know the truth of being children of God. God loves all people, therefore, He desires for all of men and women to be born again in Him. He wants us all to be born of the His Spirit so we can know what it really means to be loved by Him. He doesn’t want us to do things for Him. He wants us to know who we really are. In order to know who we really are we must first know who He really is. I saw a statement on the Internet the other day that said, “Knowing who you are is the beginning of wisdom.” I don’t believe that is true. The beginning of wisdom is not knowing who I am, it is knowing who He is. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is not only the beginning of wisdom; it is the beginning of knowledge and the key to understanding in life.

Psalms 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His instructions have good insight. His praise endures forever. (HCSB)

Job 28:28  He said to mankind, “The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding.” (HCSB)

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

The awe of His wonder inspires us to know Him and hear Him to become as He is in all things. This is what will change our actions in life. It is in believing Him, not just believing in our selves.

If our focus is upon who we are, we sometimes fall into a deception of expecting God to become like us. When we encounter something in His word that doesn’t match our perception of Him we want to change the word instead of changing our perception of the word. We come up with crazy ideas that the word is not relevant for today because God was only speaking to a culture of yesterday. Let me propose to you that He was speaking from the culture of the kingdom of heaven to the cultures of the world and that the culture of the kingdom of heaven is relevant to any and every culture of the world. We are not the advanced culture that has now come to be smarter than the culture of the kingdom of heaven. God loved us so much He moved into the neighborhood of humanity, but He did not become like the cultures of humanity. He expects the cultures of humanity to become like Him. He is not the God of the people. He expects us to be the people of God. The cultures of the world, in any and every season of humanity, are cultures motivated by selfish desires, selfish visions, and selfish agendas in the propagation of the governments of self. People living in the kingdoms of self put their personal desires and needs above any expectations of change that requires a supernatural action of God. They expect God to accept them as they are, but also leave them as they are. Anything that would require a discipline or a sacrifice to their accepted character is a stumbling block in their minds to believing who God is.

The kingdom of God is a culture of life. It is a culture that promotes the wellbeing of others. It is not a kingdom that becomes like the kingdoms of this world, but the kingdom that consumes the kingdoms of the world and causes them to become a testimony of the kingdom of God. Metaphorically speaking, He is like yogurt yeast in milk transforming what is to what should be. He is like living enzymes in yogurt transforming a culture of yogurt to a testimony of cheese. His culture is a higher reality than what we have known and what we were born into. He is not the one who needs to change to match who we are. We are the ones being empowered to change to a testimony of who His. His presence in our lives empowers us to embrace the principles, patterns, and values of His heart. The government of His kingdom is one of grace and truth. He will not conform to our lies, but will rather transform our deceptions to become testimonies of His truth.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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