ted4leaders

Greetings,

As leaders in the body of Christ we must be expressions of God in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. We are not God, but we are leaders for the sake of the body of Christ. The body of Christ is an expression of Christ in human lives. It is made of individual members joined together for the corporate testimony of Christ in the earth. This is not merely a belief system. It is testimony of people who believe God, listen to Him, and are transformed by His expression in their lives. Today I want to address some key elements in making this happen.

God is the word, but we are expressions of Him. He is the word and we are the voice. People will see God to be who we present Him to be. If we believe He is a controlling master, we too will become controlling masters of those we lead. If we see Him to be the savior of every crisis situation, we will lead to save everyone from every crisis situation. We will make healing, deliverance, breakthrough, direction, and the like, more important than knowing Him. If we believe God is mean and angry we will become mean and angry in our own lifestyles and leadership roles. These things are true for any believer, but it becomes even more critical for those who have been given the responsibility of leading others. We can only convey the God we see to others. We must see Him for who He really is to reveal who He really is to others. Distorted presentations of God are given to the world through the distorted filters of human hearts and minds in their perception of Him. We hear God within our hearts, but discerning His voice is only found in the frequency of His heart.

Many people believe that God is God because of His sovereignty. I believe that He is sovereign, but I also believe that He has chosen not to exercise His sovereignty in reveling who He is. His sovereignty serves who He is, He does not serve His sovereignty. I believe that He is love, not merely someone who loves. I believe that He is good and He loves people (Jn. 3:16). I believe that He can be all-powerful, but I believe that He gave us a free will and that free will demonstrates His love for us. He is not looking for slaves or puppets. He doesn’t merely want people to serve Him. He wants people to know that He loves them. Our own traditions can make His word of no effect in our lives (Mt. 15:6). It is only when people know that God loves them they in turn live to love Him and to love others.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 8:38, 39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 4:9, 10 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

As leaders we must first and foremost know that God loves people. We must know that He loves us! If we don’t see Him through the eyes of love we will present Him as something less than love to those we lead. When we see God through the eyes of love we become leaders who lead people with a lifestyle of love. Love motivates God to choose not to know all things. He has chosen to not remember our sins and our lawless deeds (Jer. 31:34).

God remembers people according to His mercy, not according to their transgressions. He remembers those who come to Him with humble hearts. He is willing to take action for those He loves, but it is for the sake of love that He takes action. He does not exercise His abilities for the sake of legalism. He exercises His abilities for the sake of relationship. He will change His mind, because He can never change His character. When we give Him reason to show mercy, He is quick to respond in His mercy, even to the changing of His mind. People with a religious mindset are not willing to change their minds; therefore, they are willing to change their character to enforce what they have legally pledged.

Psalms 9:12  When He avenges blood, He remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the humble.

Psalms 25:7  Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your mercy remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O LORD.

Psalms 79:8 Oh, do not remember former iniquities against us! Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us, for we have been brought very low.

Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

Jeremiah 31:34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

God who could remember chooses not to remember for the sake of His love for men. As leaders we must see God as the one who loves and shows mercy. He is slow to anger and quick to forgive. He is patient and long-suffering in who He is. Let us see Him for who He is. Let us be leaders that demonstrate who God is to those we lead.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

As leaders in the New Covenant we must serve to create an environment where people can discover who they are. The destiny of people is to be children of God who reveal the likeness and the image of their heavenly Father. We cannot focus on telling people what to do or how to act. This is an Old Covenant reality and it only serves to take people by the hand and lead them. It falls short of seeing people truly change within their hearts. Our focus as leaders must be to help people become who they were meant to be through the power of Christ within them. People need the manifest presence of God in their lives more than instructions as to how they should act or what they should do. God wants us to act as children of God who do the things sons and daughters of God should do, but the secret in doing those things is not found through Biblical instruction. It is Christ in them that will transform their hearts and minds to empower them act as sons and daughters of God.

The things we do should be the fruit of proper relationship with God and men, not obligatory rules to live by. Our works should speak of our faith, not the doing of things so we can prove we have faith. Works of faith are the evidence of faith, not the means of having faith. Faith comes through hearing God through intimacy with Him in the human heart. When we implement methods we very often create forms of Christian life, but we fail to active true life that comes by being empowered through Christ within. The New Covenant is all about people discovering what it means to be a part of the body of Christ. It is about knowing what it means to be the place that God inhabits. It is about an empowerment to live, not instructions in what to do. It is about relationships of commitment, faith, responses, submission, contribution, intimacy, and an awe of God in all things. These are not works, but they will manifest the fruit of works. If we make it our goal as leaders to get those we lead to do the works of commitment, the works of faith, the works of responding to God, the works of submission, the works of contributing, the works of community, or the works of the fear of the Lord we may just create a complicated form of bondage that retrains people from knowing the true life of God in their hearts. We must lead for a better testimony. We must lead to create a culture where each one knows God and is empowered from within to walk out the fullness of true relationship with God and other people in life. Biblical instructions cannot be a substitute for Holy Spirit empowerment. We cannot focus on teaching what is right or wrong and expect to see New Covenant life manifested in the lives of those we lead. We must demonstrate, activate, facilitate, and release the life of Christ in the culture of those we lead. The objective is to see people discover the true change that comes from heaven within them, not disciplined actions of the flesh that seek to attain to some promotion of glory when they die and go to heaven. The wonder working power of God’s grace must be allowed to cause people to become manifestations of God’s truth in the world. God wants to heal the roots of iniquity, not merely shackle them in some religious prison filled with actions of religious performance.

Colossians 2:20-23  Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

When the Scripture gives instructions in regard to what to do and how to act it is in reference to the true life that is found in Christ. It is not doing the things that are Christ like that make us like Christ. It is embracing the power of Christ within us that empowers us to do the things we should and act the way we should. We cannot settle for the instructions of what to do or how to act and think it is enough. We must embrace the life of Christ within us and know that it is true through an internal empowerment to put on the character and the actions of Christ. The actions can look the same, but the motivation for the actions is totally different. One is death and the other is life in Christ. As leaders we must lead to see people empowered in Christ, not controlled by what we interpret as Christ-like behavior. True change of action comes from internal beliefs in the human heart. Actions don’t change the place of true belief, but the empowerment of true belief will always spawn actions that testify of that belief. The high place of the human heart is the internal place of believing God and believing who we are in Him.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As New Covenant leaders we must no doubt hear God in order to lead properly, but today I want to present an even greater challenge. If we are to be leaders in a New Covenant culture we cannot just hear God to know how to lead. We must create a culture of hearing God. We must lead people in a way that they too hear God in the things God is leading them into. Old Covenant leadership is all about knowing what is good verses what is evil. It is a covenant that takes people by the hand and leads them. It involves a paradigm of knowing what to do and how to act. New Covenant leadership is all about knowing who we are. It is about empowering people to be nobility in Christ, thus they know what to do. We must empower people to be sons and daughters of the King. This means we cannot just hear God in leading people; we must lead people in a way that inspires them to hear God.

Isaiah 32:1-4 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 the truth,
and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.(NAS)

As New Covenant leaders we must activate, facilitate, and release those we lead to know how to be a refuge in the wind, a shelter from the storm, a stream of water in a drought, and a shade from the heat in a weary day. When they know how to be who they were meant to be, others will be able to see, listen, discern truth, and speak clearly.

I believe that these issues address the wrestle of mankind in the earth. Man was created in the likeness and image of their heavenly Father (Gen. 1:26, 27). The fall of mankind left man short of attaining to this true testimony of God through man in the earth. The best that man could do without God was to create a likeness and image of ‘self’ – the ultimate testimony of missing the mark (sin) in God. God’s plan was to restore the human race through the gift of His only begotten Son, a perfect likeness and image of God in the flesh. Jesus was such a man. He was the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person (Heb. 1:3). I believe that there are four things that reveal the testimony of man in the earth. They can be seen when men and women stand fast in their beliefs, actions, imaginations, and influences in the world. Whatever one believes determines how they act. How they act will then propagate the imaginations of their hearts that determines how they think. How they think will determine how they influence the world in which they live. Jesus believed what His heavenly Father believed, acted how His heavenly Father acted, set his imagination in the thinking of His heavenly Father, and influenced this world with the weight of His heavenly Father’s character, nature, way, power, and authority. These four things are known as the heavenly place of the human heart, actions revealing the rule of man’s way, and the power revealing a force of human imagination, that leads to principle influences in this world (Eph. 6:12).

A righteous King has redeemed the beliefs, actions, imaginations, and influence of mankind. We must lead to empower people to believe God in their hearts. This will cause them to be steadfast and immovable in their faith. They will be a refuge from the wind for others. The wind is a symbol of the things that cause men to not be secure. They don’t know what to believe, because they don’t know whom to believe. When we know the King, we know whom to believe. When we know whom to believe, we know what to believe. We believe all that He says. As New Covenant leaders we must seek to empower people to know God intimately and to believe all that He says. In doing this we must teach what He has said so those we lead will recognize His voice. We are not leading to teach them what to do or how to act. We are leading to teach them the character, nature, way, power, and authority of God so they will recognize what sound in their own life is the sound of God’s voice. When they know the sound of God’s voice they can become secure in who they are, because they are secure in knowing who God is. They then become influencers of others. They become shelters from the wind to others in the world. Knowing who to believe will empower them in knowing how to act. When they act according to the true voice of God in their own lives they then become shelters from the storm for others. The actions of their lives will bring blessings to the lives of others. They will live for the wellbeing of others and not for the personal agendas of their own self-gratifying desires. The life of God within them will become a life-giving river that flows from the imaginations of their hearts to bring life to others. They will become rivers to the dry land of the world around them. This will then empower them to become a shade from the heat. They will be people who influence the world around them and are no longer influenced by the world they live in. Heaven in them will become a greater power than the spirit of the world that is around them.

As leaders we must know the King and we must lead to empower those we lead to know the King who rules righteously.  He is bringing a generation of princes through a wrestle with God in the earth that proves they can stand in the name of the King. These princes reveal an increasing likeness and image of God in the earth by standing strong in every wind without faltering in their belief in God. The storms of life cannot sway them from actions that are the result of listing to their heavenly Father. Their hearts and minds are clearly expressed through an endless imagination of increasing life as they are those who know how to find God’s life-giving water even in the driest of droughts. These are those who have endured the heat and have not withered but are the influence of God’s speech with great clarity and confidence to a world that is stammering in its tongue. As New Covenant leaders we must lead to empower those we lead to hear God and become all that He says they are in this world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

As leaders we must embrace the New Covenant in its fullness. Many times we fall into the trap of embracing a New Covenant message while still holding on to Old Covenant methods of implementing that message. Many times we embrace an Old Covenant message in a New Covenant time and then think we are ok because we attempt to implement that message in a New Covenant way. We must embrace the full package of the New Covenant to lead in a New Covenant way.

The Old covenant took people by the hand and led them. We cannot simply preach New Covenant truth and take people by the hand in implementing New Covenant truth. This means a different type of discipleship. We must be willing to allow those we lead to fail. We must demonstrate mercy that ends the past for those we lead. We must also demonstrate grace in allowing them to be empowered for New Covenant life. We cannot hear God for those we lead, but we must expect them to be empowered to embrace the responsibility of hearing God for themselves. This doesn’t mean that we sit back while they seek a self-gratifying, self-fulfilling, or self-gratifying life. We lead to see them sincerely embrace being led by God’s Spirit in their lives. Helping those we lead define boundaries in their lives is legitimate. Giving commands from sincere love within the context of our leadership responsibility is legitimate. Not empowering others to be responsible is not legitimate.

The disciple Peter was zealous to rebuke Jesus for talking about dying, when he had a revelation that Jesus was the Messiah. His revelation was hindered by his interpretation of that revelation. Although Peter was strong in his verbal support of Jesus, something in Peter was willing to bend to the pressure of natural sight and fear. His own heart was destined to deny Jesus, but the heart of Jesus was destined to support Peter even in his failure. Jesus didn’t judge Peter by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He believed in Peter by embracing the tree of life on his behalf. Jesus told Peter that a conversion would happen in his life whereby he could strengthen his brothers.

Luke 22:31   And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

It was Peter’s return to the Lord in his heart that qualified him for the responsibility of New Covenant life in God’s church. After Jesus had risen from the dead He found Peter fishing. Peter had returned to his former trade and it seemed he was hiding in his past for being disqualified through his denial of Jesus. Jesus called out to Peter and gave him the familiar words of casting his net on the other side of the boat. Peter recognized the voice of His Lord and soon found the fruit of an abundant catch of fish and His friend waiting for him on the shore with a fresh breakfast for a new day. It was then that Jesus demonstrated the power of New Covenant grace. Peter’s heart was humble and he was tender in his heart toward Jesus.

John 21:15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

Jesus addressed Peter as Simon Peter – the ‘little rock’ who ‘bends like a reed’ or the ‘little rock’ who ‘hears’. His salutation to Peter no doubt touched the tenderness of Peter’s heart.  Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him and He used the Greek word agapao, a giving love or a sacrificial love.  Peter responded by using the Greek word phileo, a love that is a friend or affectionate toward another. The honesty of Peter was matched with the grace in Jesus’ words. He told him to ‘feed His lambs’. The key was the truth and honesty in Peter’s words and the New Covenant life in the words of Jesus. Jesus was empowering Peter with grace. Peter wasn’t expecting anything. He was being honest and the love of God was melting his heart.

Jesus asked Peter a second time, but this time His salutation was even deeper.

John 21:16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”  He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”  He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

His salutation to Peter was the same as when Peter had received the revelation that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt. 16:17). These words implied that Peter was the one who hears God by the Holy Spirit, as Simon means ‘one who hears’ and Jonah means ‘dove’, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him this second time and He again used the Greek word agapao, a giving love or a sacrificial love.  Peter responded again by using the Greek word phileo, a love that is a friend or affectionate toward another. The honesty of Peter was once again matched with the grace in Jesus’ words. He told him to ‘tend His sheep’. I believe that the key was once again in the truth and honesty in Peter’s words and the New Covenant life in the words of Jesus. Mercy was kissing the heart of Peter and grace was empowering him for the responsibility of life.

John 21:17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”  And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

This third time Jesus changed the word that He used for love when asking Peter if he loved Him. This third time Jesus used the Greek word phileo, a love of friendship and affection. This is what caused Peter to weep. He knew that he wasn’t qualified. He wasn’t expecting anything and Jesus was giving Him everything. Peter responded in honesty by acknowledging to Jesus that he knew He knew all things and that he did love Him with a phileo love. Jesus acknowledged Peter’s acceptance of mercy by again empowering him with grace. He told Peter to ‘feed His sheep’.

Jesus then went on to tell Peter what His grace would do in Peter’s life. He prophesied of the day that Peter would die.

John 21:18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” 19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

Church tradition says that Peter was crucified in Rome over twenty years later. On the day they crucified him, Peter requested that they crucify him upside down since he was not worthy to die in the same manner as His Lord. God’s grace had empowered the one who had denied Jesus to love (agapao) Him in his death. This is the power of New Covenant grace! Peter didn’t expect anything, but God empowered through everything. He was empowered to give his life for the Church and for the love of His Savior. Peter never demanded mercy or grace, he simply responded to the voice of his Friend with tenderness, willingness, and a heart to receive all that God expected of him. This is New Covenant life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Today I want to remind us again of the importance of allowing God to work in our midst. If we copy things that God has done in the past we will end up with a copy in the present. A copy is not an original and a copy will likely carry flaws in being true to the original. When we create a copy of a copy and follow that progressive pattern, we eventually end up with something that is not true. The things that God did yesterday were not a copy of something that God did. They were the living reality of the thing that God was doing at the time. We must allow God to be involved in our lives today so that we will a true testimony of what God is doing today.

I believe that the Church, and every expression of the Church, is a spiritual letter being written by God in the hearts and minds of people who are called by Him for His glory and purpose in the earth. I believe that every believer is supposed to be a testimony of something that God is forming within his or her life. The apostle Paul wrote in regard to such truth.

2 Corinthians 3:1-6 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

As leaders in the body of Christ we must keep this principle of truth in mind when leading those entrusted to us. We have been joined with others in life to reveal God’s glory in the earth. It is not the will of men, but the will of God among men that brings life to the world. Leaders must submit to the spiritual letter being written by the Holy Spirit in the Church. This includes submission to what the Holy Spirit is doing in the lives of those in their congregations or ministry. This is not just for the purpose of each individual in their care, but God’s corporate purpose for those He joins together in a congregation or ministry. I believe that this is a value to be embraced by leaders for every expression of the Church entrusted to them in the form of a congregation or some other expression of the ministry of Christ. The sufficiency of our ability to lead is in God and not in us. It is the ministry of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is based upon a personal relationship with God in the life of each one for purpose of the body of Christ.

To do this, we cannot merely teach Christian principles based upon a knowledge of right and wrong. We must lead to activate people in hearing and responding to God in their lives. That hearing is about intimacy with God. It is about being obedient to a person’s voice, not a religious system of beliefs. The voice is that of the person God in the life of each believer.

Mere principles of Christianity are only a shadow of what is meant to be relationship with God in Christ. When people walk in intimacy with God they walk in a way that agrees with the principles of truth found in Christ. It is not because they are following the rules. It is because they are intimate with God and their lives end up looking like the written testimony of His character, nature, way, power, and authority.

As leaders we must serve those we lead in a way that allows the Holy Spirit to build His Church. This is not to seek revival, but to be revived in a daily relationship with God. If we seek to build a church on the revival of the past we sometimes create a ‘remember when’ covenant. If we value the things of the past more than the writing of the Holy Spirit in the present, we can bind what God wants to do today. If we constantly long for God to do something in the future we can become dull and hardened to what God is doing today. We must always live in the moment and we must always embrace the unfolding and growing spiritual letter being written in our lives.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

As New Covenant leaders we are not called to merely teach principles of the Christian faith. We are called to serve is seeing New Covenant believers become the testimony of Christ in the world. That means we must serve to activate Christ in the heart of those who believe. We are leading for the sake of the redeemed human race. This is the testimony of Christ’s glory filling the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Today I feel it is necessary to post some revelation that I posted in a blog in 2012. These are the issues of human purpose and the objective of leadership in affecting the lives of human beings. Our destination is not just to go to heaven, but to bring a heavenly testimony to the world in which we live. I believe this is the good news that was preached to Abraham. A man named Abram was transformed by God to become an Abraham, the father of many nations through the power of faith in God. It was through a revelation of God that Abraham believed. God’s promise to Abraham was:

1. In blessing I will bless you
2. In multiplying I will multiply
3. Your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
4. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed

These four realities are the testimony of multigenerational blessing of God to humanity and it has the power to change the world. Here are some thoughts in regard to the challenge to this heavenly destiny. I will begin by looking at a Scripture that is commonly taught concerning spiritual warfare.

Ephesians 6:12  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Notice that Paul sites here that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. There are spiritual realities that affect the testimony of mankind. The contact of our struggle appears to be flesh and blood, but there are spiritual realities behind that wrestle. Many people focus on the top level that is stated as principalities. There are many books, teachings, activations, practices, and focuses upon warring against principalities to change the world. I happen to believe that the secret of our warfare is not to assault principalities, but to eradicate the foundation that those principalities rest upon. I believe that the true issue of victory is found in the eradication of the spiritual hosts in heavenly places. Those heavenly places are the high places or the secret places of the human heart. What creates those places is the power of word and spirit conceived together to create a place of strong belief. Outside of Christ those words are lies and the spirit is one of deceptions. In Christ the words are truth and the Spirit is the power of God’s grace working with His words. In either case, it is word and spirit that create the beliefs of men. Those beliefs then propagate rule or actions. Those actions establish a force of inheritance to the future destiny of a belief. The ultimate testimony is seen as an influence and then a principle thing or a principality.

I believe that some common English words for these four levels of expression are beliefs, actions, imaginations, and influence. Influence is the result of beliefs that inspire actions and propagate imaginations that expand that belief to become an inherited influence in the world. This principle is true for individuals, families, regions, nations, people groups, or wherever there is a manifestation of flesh and blood. These four levels constitute the elements of the likeness and the image of humanity in the earth. The good news preached to Abraham was a means by which these things can be changed to become the elements of the likeness and the image of the Father in human form upon the earth.

There is a great story in the Scripture where King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream (Dan. 2:31-45). The dream troubled him and he gave an order for his counselors and wise men to tell him his dream and its interpretation. God blessed Daniel and his friends with the dream and its interpretation. In the dream King Nebuchadnezzar saw a great statue of extraordinary splendor. It had a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, waist and thighs of brass, and legs of iron with feet of iron and clay. Then a stone not cut with human hands struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. The crushing of the feet of the statue caused the entire substance of the statue to be crushed and become like chaff from the summer threshing floor and the wind carried them away so there was no trace left of the statue. The stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. The interpretation of the dream revealed that Nebuchadnezzar and the kingdom of Babylon was the head of gold, King Cyrus and the Mede Persian kingdom was the chest and arms of silver, Alexander the great and the kingdom of Greece was the waist and thighs of brass, and the legs of iron with feet of iron and clay was indicative of the kingdom of Rome and its carnal ruler Nero. In the time of Rome the rock of Christ would destroy the kingdoms of self by crushing the selfish beliefs of men through the selfless sacrifice of Jesus and His God willed resurrection as Christ the head and body to change the world.

I believe this image was not limited to the four nations represented in it, but that the four nations represented in it were a testimony of the image of man throughout all time. What should have been the image of the heavenly Father had become the glory of self. It revealed humanity in a self-righteous condition without dependence upon God. It took a human being, the Seed of Abraham, to crush the image of self by the testimony of the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person in flesh (Heb. 1:3). That human being was the man Jesus Christ.

The key to the destruction of the statue in the dream was a crushing of its feet. I believe that the iron of the feet was a testimony of the control of man. This was made manifest in the dictatorial rule of the Caesars of Rome. The feet of the statue were also a testimony of manipulation. The clay in the feet was a testimony of the will of man, as Rome was also a democracy. The statue stood upon a testimony of the will of a man and the will of the people, both reveal a belief system propagated by control and manipulation. This is only true when humanity bases its beliefs upon the knowledge of good and evil. Jesus was a man of grace and truth. He stood upon believing His heavenly Father and thus all of His standing was rooted in the Tree of Life.

The waist and thighs of brass in the statue were significant of the actions of the flesh that facilitate a judgmental rule of self. A belief based upon the knowledge of good and evil will inspire actions based upon good and evil, but those actions will be fear based and self-preserving in nature. They are actions of natural sight and are absent the substance of faith that expands a belief of love and life.

The chest and arms of silver in the statue were symbolic of the imaginations of the heart. Whereas the heart of Jesus caused Him to see the joy beyond the cross, the imaginations of the statue of self are self-gratifying imaginations and motives of the heart that sacrifice the future for the present realities of men. Those imaginations are centered upon self and not those that cause the children and the children’s children to possess the gates of their enemies.

The head of gold was a testimony of the influence of self. Those influences are rooted in a belief system that desires to be blessed more than living to be a blessings. It is seen through the reality of actions that are not willing to yield, but done to take whatever is needed to preserve the image of self. Those actions are actions of addition and not those of multiplication. Self-preserving actions propagate self-gratifying imaginations that spend tomorrow’s inheritance today and leave the generations bankrupt in their ability to possess the gates of the enemy.

Jesus destroyed the foundation of beliefs propagated by control and manipulation. Like the promise given to Abraham He knew He was born to be a blessing and therefore He lived to bring His Father’s blessings to the world. His beliefs were fully based upon a REVELATION of BELIEVING GOD. He was not changed by the controls or the manipulations of men.

Jesus eradicated the actions of the flesh that facilitate the judgmental rule of self. Instead of seeking to add to His own life He lived to multiply. He lived to give to others. His actions were fully based upon a REVELATION of BELIEVING GOD and were not influenced by the judgments of men.

Jesus transformed the self-gratifying motives of the heart to become life-giving imaginations of hope for our children and our children’s children. He lived for the generations and thus the imaginations of His heart were fully based upon a REVELATION of BELIEVING GOD. His thoughts were for the future generations of men.

Jesus established the influence of the Father in our lives so we can influence the world with the inheritance of His name and not the influence of self. The families of the earth will be blessed because of the likeness and the image of the Father made known in the flesh of men. Jesus’ influence was fully based upon a REVELATION of BELIEVING GOD. He didn’t attack influence with influence but eradicated it by the power to transform beliefs.

Jesus stood in a true heavenly belief that revealed a heavenly rule, a heavenly imagination, and heavenly influence for all mankind in the earth. He was the man who could see, listen, discern truth, and speak clearly on behalf of His heavenly Father in this world. He did this as a human being in this world and thus He has the power to transform the beliefs of humanity to change the world!

We are called, appointed, anointed to tear down the high places in the earth through the ministry of reconciliation to God in Christ. Those high places are the seat of heaven in the human heart. Where there is no gap between God and men in the human heart there is no end to the increase of His government and peace. When the Word and the Spirit conceive in the heart the place of heavenly belief is established and there is an empowerment of changed actions. Those actions stimulate the imaginations of the heart to believe for the peoples, nations, and generations of the world. It is through the power of the heart’s eye that we can believe for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done upon the earth as it is in heaven. Those changed beliefs, actions, and imaginations establish the principle things of heaven as an influence in and to the world in which we live. The stone of Christ and a REVELATION of BELIEVING GOD will fill our lives with the glory of God!

As leaders we must lead to help others live for human purpose and destiny. We must lead to activate, facilitate, and release a culture that receives a revelation of believing God in their hearts that empowers them to become the stature of Christ in the world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As leaders, God wants us to lead in a New Covenant manner. I believe that another name for New Covenant could be the Living Covenant. The New Covenant is the Old Covenant revealed as fully alive in the hearts and minds of those who believe. It is not a shadow conveyed through Biblical principles and rules to live by. It is the testimony of the influence of the Principality Christ Jesus in the hearts and minds of those who believe.

It is a covenant with God that brings life to those who receive it from within their hearts. It is the power of light shining from within and the testimony of Christ within that brings to pass the testimony of God’s glory. I believe that glory could be defined as men and women becoming fully alive in Christ and thus revealing the likeness and image of their heavenly Father to the world around them. Only in the New Covenant can the original mandate of mankind be restored. God’s commission to mankind in Genesis chapter one was for man to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and have dominion on the earth. Man was given dominion over the works of God’s hands. To be fruitful, multiply, and to fill is taking what was and repeating it over and over again. Subduing and having dominion is going beyond repeating what has been and opening the door for things that have never been.

The Old Covenant offered glimpses of the New Covenant, but no real change for mankind. Because of its inability to subdue and to offer true dominion, the Old Covenant created cultures and societies that were governed by means of control and manipulation. This is still true today for those who choose to embrace a government of information of good and evil over a government of intimacy with God from within the human heart. The governments of the world are based upon knowledge, and perceived knowledge, of good and evil. The governments of the world create take and take environments. The New Covenant offers the life of the kingdom of God within our hearts and the kingdom of God is a give and give environment. It is a government of grace and truth and it is the only means by which we can finally subdue and have dominion in the earth. Without grace and truth we cannot subdue and have dominion. Grace and truth are the true source of God’s life that serves to turn on the light! The warfare of the New Covenant is one of life. It is a warfare of manifested light! When the light is turned on the darkness flees. When the life is made manifest all manner of death is destroyed. It is a warfare that empowers a transformation in the lives of those who believe and it is not a battle of information. We are not here to inform our enemies of their defeat. We are here to enforce their defeat by the power of Christ made manifest. This is a New Covenant testimony.

I am presenting some basic foundational truth to inspire New Covenant paradigms in our leadership style and focus in the Church. We are here to see humanity manifest as sons and daughters of God in the earth. We are not here to merely do good works of God. We are not here to lead works of ministry, but to empower people to minister life in every aspect of life. We are here to empower God people to do good works from the testimony of their identity in Christ.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a different kind of human being entered the earth. He was filled with grace and truth (Jn. 1:14), and He was the first born to secure a new race of a born again humanity that also manifests the grace and truth of God in the earth. The life of Jesus was not meant to give those who believe in Him a way out of the world. It was to give them the power of heaven within their lives to be able to change any circumstance they might face in life. It is the life of Jesus that destroys the works of the devil. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus crushed the foundation of the world kingdoms.

Daniel 2:36-45 “This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”

It was the stature of Christ that crumbled and crushed all that represented the statue of human self. A Prince with God crushed the throne, rule, power, and influence of every principality of darkness. It is the manifestation of Christ in bodily form that crumbles the lies and deceptions of the enemy. Those lies and deceptions are dispossessed by the life and the truth of God in Christ. The high places of the human heart and mind are transformed by the likeness and the image of God the Father being formed within. The stature of Christ is meant to become a great mountain in the earth. It is the mountain of the Lord. This is a kingdom made of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation on planet earth. It is a kingdom revealing the power of Christ from within. It is nothing less than the human race manifested as the likeness and the image of their heavenly Father in the world. This is the testimony of the true Israel of God, princes and princesses of nobility reveling God’s kingdom to the world. These are those whose beliefs, actions, imaginations, and influence in the world are all based upon the testimony of Christ within them.

Jesus came to redeem human kind. He came to transform the lives of people who had been fashioned and formed in the likeness and the image of flesh to become a testimony of flesh made to become expressions of God in the earth. Jesus came to redeem the human spirit, soul, and body to be a testimony of the influence of life to the world.

Hebrews 1:1-5 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son”?

A true human being is someone who was created in the likeness and the image of God. Leaders in the body of Christ must keep this objective in mind that all humans are meant to reveal the glory of God through lives that have been transformed from within. Whether this is in the lives of individual believers or in corporate expressions of believers, we are leading for the kingdom of God and the testimony of His praise. We are not leading for the kingdoms of men. We are leading for the testimony of a New and Living Covenant with God and men. We are leading to see the sons and daughters of God made manifest in every aspect of human society in the world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

I am addressing the subject of New Covenant ministry and the need to be New Covenant leaders in the body of Christ. It is possible for some to experience New Covenant and some to experience Old Covenant from the same ministry. It is a matter of the focus of our hearts and the focus of our minds. The Old Covenant was one of information, while the New Covenant is one of transformation by the power of Christ within. When we minister to others we cannot hope for Christ to them, but Christ in them.

2 Corinthians 4:3-6 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 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.

The Old Covenant was a covenant that took people by the hand and led them. It didn’t have the power to take God’s people into the Promised Land in a way that people could become all that God had declared they would be. The Old Covenant was a testimony of light to darkness, while the New Covenant is a testimony of light shining out of darkness. I believe that the true Promised Land is the place of knowing righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit from within the human heart (Rom. 14:17). The kingdom of God is a kingdom that works from within the heart (Lk. 17:20, 21). The Promised Land of the kingdom is a place of knowing from our hearts that God is our God. This is true righteousness and it is empowered by the Holy Spirit. True peace is exhibiting the testimony of God in our lives because there is no gap between God and us in our hearts. This is also an empowerment of the Holy Spirit. True joy is to know the fullness of God’s presence in all things. It is to live with Him in everything. This is also a testimony of the Holy Spirit at work within our hearts. It is only by the power of Christ within that these things can be made real. They were shadowed in Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles in the Old Covenant, but made real by the power of Christ within the heart of the believer. These things cause the influence of God’s kingdom to be seen in every aspect of our lives. They work in any life, any geographical location, and in every circumstance of life. Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit activates the human spirit, floods the human soul, and empowers the human life to reveal God to the world around them. As leaders in the New Covenant we must lead to see these things empowered in the hearts of those we lead. It is through this intimate relationship with Christ within that New Covenant believers are transformed to the ways of God (Jer. 31:31, 34). It is not a discipline of the flesh, but an impassioning of the Spirit. It reveals a letter being written by the Holy Spirit and it is true for individuals and for corporate expressions of Christ’s body. As New Covenant leaders we must lead to see this letter of life written corporately in whatever way Holy Spirit is revealing it.

2 Corinthians 3: 2-6 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

These words of the apostle Paul are clear reminders of our responsibility as leaders in the body of Christ. It is not our will that brings about the New Covenant. It is the power of the Holy Spirit at work among us. Teaching the principles of Christ alone are not enough. We must lead to see people empowered by the Principality Christ Jesus from within their hearts. We must all be motivated by the Principality Christ Jesus and not seek to live by mere discipline to Christian principles. Old Covenant ministry is dependent upon knowing the principles, but New Covenant is becoming a testimony of those principles. Ministry engraved on stones is a ministry of death and only a shadow of what is real.

2 Corinthians 3: 7, 8 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away,  8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

There is a measure of glory in Old Covenant ministry, but it is a fading one. It is a ‘remember when’ covenant and it doesn’t produce the growing change of life that can only come from within. Old Covenant methods can give us instructions as to how to act and what to do, but only New Covenant empowerment brings an increasing glory of life from within. We must be New Covenant leaders in the body of Christ!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As leaders we must not only set an example to those we lead, we must activate, facilitate, and release others to become all that they are to be in Christ. We are not just those who know the word of God, we must become examples of the word of God to those we lead. We must become expressions of God’s word that will activate God’s personal voice in the hearts of those we lead.

1 Timothy 4:12  Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

Paul was not merely telling Timothy to be someone who was instructed in the word of God, but to become an example of the word of God. Every revelation from God is an invitation to have an encounter with God so that we will be transformed by Him to become a testimony of a revelation of God to those around us. When God has expressed something it is considered to be the logos (word) of God. The Scriptures are logos (word) of God, but so is leadership to be a testimony of an expression of God. Jesus was the very expression (Word) of God in flesh. The word of God is meant to pierce through the soul to the place where God speaks. The Holy Spirit within agrees with anything that has been expressed by God and when we are pierced through by an expression of God, the voice of the Holy Spirit brings life to the human spirit in the human heart.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 

Leaders are to be expressions of God to those they lead in order to activate the voice of God within the heart of each believer. Scripture is logos (word). Leadership, as well as maturing believers, are to be expressions of God (logos) as well. Their lives should pierce through the souls of those they influence to the very Spirit of God within their spirits, causing the voice of God to be activated within them. Leaders are not the voice of God to the people. This is Old Covenant. Leaders only serve to activate the voice of God within the hearts of those they lead. This is New Covenant.

The Old Covenant brought control and bondage, but the New Covenant brings life and liberty. It’s the manifest presence of God that brings liberty. As leaders we must lead in a way that the voice of God brings the liberty of God’s presence in the lives of those we lead. We cannot hear God for people and expect them to simply remember what we have said. We cannot teach law, present Biblical rules, propose Biblical principles, or enforce any form of covenant that holds people to the words or experiences of the past. This is a covenant that is read. It is a covenant that is remembered. A veil remains on this type of covenant for it is an Old Covenant of bondage and control. Only the New Covenant of the life of Christ within can bring the life and liberty of God. Only the New Covenant brings increasing and lasting change from within the human heart.

2 Corinthians 3:12-15 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech—  unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 

It is only when one turns to the Lord in their hearts that the veil can be removed. We cannot teach people to know God, knowing God is a personal revelation discovered within the heart. It is there that true change is brought about in and through the believer. Leaders in the New Covenant must excel in the example of this personal experience and they must serve those they lead in a way that advances the New Covenant grace of life within the hearts of those they lead.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 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.

Christ in each believer is the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). It is the anointing oil that breaks the yoke. It is not merely the anointing, but the anointing oil. The anointing oil is the testimony of the fatness of Christ within us. It is the grease that comes out from within. It is not the illumination of Christ that makes men free. It is the manifestation of His presence within our lives.

Isaiah 10:26, 27 And the LORD of hosts will stir up a scourge for him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; as His rod was on the sea, so will He lift it up in the manner of Egypt. It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.

One can experience the anointing oil or the light that comes from the anointing oil. As New Covenant leaders we must lead to activate the anointing oil in those we lead. It is like the testimony of the torch within the clay vessels of Gideon (Jdg. 7) and the sound of the Spirit within that blows through the prophetic shofar. When Moses told the people to stand still and see the salvation of their God, God told Moses to trust what was within him. He told Moses to lift up his rod and move forward (Ex. 14:13-16). These were shadows of the testimony of Christ within.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Today I want to remind us all as leaders that our role is to provide New Covenant leadership to those we lead. We cannot slip into the pattern of Old Covenant methods in our leadership. The New Covenant is not a transition in time two thousand years ago. The New Covenant is a transition of relationship. It is NOW reality in relating to God. The New Covenant is a personal relationship with God that is empowered by Christ within the believer. The New Covenant is a NOW covenant and it requires NOW leadership.

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

The New Covenant is dependent upon what God says today. Old Covenant ministry was dependent upon what God said yesterday. It was a ‘remember when’ covenant. God would show up in the power of His presence with His instructions and commands. The people were then instructed to remember the day and to remember the words that were given to them in some past event with God. The Old Covenant was a covenant that took people by the hand to lead them, but the New Covenant is one where each one knows God. In the New Covenant we do not teach our neighbor or their brother to know God, for even the least has a personal relationship with God in their hearts. That relationship is not merely based upon an experience with God in the past. It is a personal relationship with God each day, every day, and it is NOW!

In the New Covenant we become the place that hears God in relationship with Him.

It is a place of being able to hear, read, and keep the words that are given to the believer in Christ (Rev. 1:30). There is a daily personal relationship with God in our hearts, therefore, there is a remembering of the things that God has said and done for us. Because we hear God in the NOW place of relationship with Him, we are also empowered from within to do what He desires. His voice within us becomes an empowerment of faith and passion to walk in His ways. Jesus is standing in the midst of His Church.

Revelation 1:10-12 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.

Leaders in the New Covenant must be the first to recognize God in their lives. They must demonstrate an example of faith towards God. The New Covenant is about knowing God and walking with Him in all things. New Covenant leaders don’t merely tell people what God is saying, they demonstrate a testimony of what God is saying in their lives. They stand among the congregation to be the first to give a testimony of the corporate letter God is writing in the expression of Christ life community they are part of.

The Old Covenant and New Covenant offer two different means of governing the human soul. The Old Covenant was one of information while the New Covenant is one of transformation from within. In a governmental system of the knowledge of good and evil people are informed of the knowledge of God so they can administrate their lives according to that remembered information. In the New Covenant people are transformed from within and they are dependent upon the life of Christ within their hearts to empower God’s desires from within.

Human beings are made of three parts in the dynamic of their human expression. Every person has the substance of power within them, a throne of administration, and a physical expression of whom they are to reveal the authority of their lives. These are the power, throne, and authority of being human (Rom. 13:2; 1Thes. 5:23). Human beings were designed to be led by God’s Spirit in the power, throne, and authority of their lives.

We don’t hear God with our souls, we hear with our spirit. When we allow God’s Spirit to food our human spirits we come alive from within. We do this by stirring up the Spirit of Christ within us. Christ within us is the hope of glory. It is the hope of coming fully alive as a human being. When our human spirits become empowered by Christ’s Spirit within us it floods our soul. It floods the throne of our will, thought, reasoning, imagination, and emotions. It is there that we begin to give human expression to that which we have heard in our spirits. When our spirits flood our souls with life, our souls flood our physical expressions of life with life. God’s Spirit is to flood the human spirit, the human spirit is to flood the human soul, and the human soul floods the human life. As leaders in the New Covenant we must lead to activate this process or hearing an manifesting God’s will in the lives of those we are called to lead. It begins with us as leaders. We must be activated, facilitated, and released with the life of Christ within us and then we serve to activate, facilitate, and release those we lead into the life that God has for each one.

When we live by law we submit our souls to the law as God’s voice, but when we live by the Spirit we submit our spirits to God’s Spirit as the voice of God in our lives. This floods our lives with the sanctifying salvation of God in all things.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson