ted4leaders

Greetings,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

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

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

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

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

2) Take Responsibility for Life –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In doing these things we will:

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

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

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

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

The first is that we must:

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

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

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

2) Take Responsibility for Life –

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

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

3) Join With Others –

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

To be generationally minded we must also:

4) Work With Others –

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

To be generationally minded we must live to:

5) Influence Others –

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

To be generationally minded we must:

6) Identify With Others –

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

To be generationally minded we must:

7) Serve Others –

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

In doing these things we will:

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

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

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Isaiah 61:3b … That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” 4   And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.

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

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

2)  Take Responsibility for Life

3)  Join With Others

4)  Work With Others

5)  Influence Others

6)  Identify With Others

7)  Serve Others

and

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

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

All of us find ourselves in various levels of responsibility in life. What has been given to us in this world is a result of what has been and it is directly connected to all that will be. We are the culmination of what has been before us and the foundation for all follows our lives. It takes God’s grace to truly fulfill our role for God’s glory in this world. A New Covenant reality of God’s grace is that we can hear God today, we can remember what He has said, and we can be empowered to walk in what He is revealing in the earth. It is a continual process of foundations and increase for His glory.

Revelation 1:1 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

This verse in Revelation chapter one was relevant from the moment the revelation of the New Covenant given to us in Christ. John saw this revelation of Jesus Christ and revealed a mystery of the progressing generations in Christ. The revelation given to John was not one of doom, gloom, and judgment. It was a revelation of Jesus Christ and an unveiling of increasing glories in the earth.

We are part of something new, yet ancient. All that we walk in is a testimony to the foundations of our past. The foundation of the New Testament church was built upon the ceiling of the Old Testament prophets. The foundation of the New Testament apostles established a firstfruit ceiling for all that would follow in the New Covenant. The ceiling of each generation is meant to be the floor for the generation that follows. Everything is connected!

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 corner stone, 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.

Accepting responsibility today means that we accept responsibility for tomorrow. We must acknowledge that we are the head of something and we must become a place that opens the door to things new and things old. We have a responsibility of allowing the Holy Spirit to draw into our house a treasure of things that have never been seen, heard, or thought before as well as a full testimony of destiny to things that are even antique before our time. We must allow the Holy Spirit to give meaning to the testimony of our family name. God wants for us to have a name that gives glory to Him and it is meant to be a name the reveals our days to be long in the earth.

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.”

Our path in life is connected to who we are in life and who we are is connected to who others have been before us. The will of God doesn’t come from what we want to do or what we think God wants us to do. It is found in the continuity of our lives. Wisdom, the direction to the future, is connected to who we are. We are the will of God and the things we do in life are connected to who we have become because of the foundations and the ceilings of the past. Our lives are like a highway and they are meant to go somewhere in God.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God is a multigenerational God. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel. He is the God of Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and others also. Everything in life is connected to others.

Wisdom speaks at the gates in the city; it is like a spider or a lizard. The spider or lizard are small, but they are faithful with what they can grasp hold of and they end up in influential places. Their influence in the city comes from their personal abilities. Those abilities are part of who they are and they are merely faithful with what is in front of them. What are my abilities and how am I being faithful today with what is directly in front of me. This will lead to my journey of influence in life. My abilities were given to me for advancing God’s glory in the earth!

God is not scattered in His strategies. Wisdom is found in the street. It is found in the continuity of the path that God has been leading what has been given to me in life. Wisdom is found in the environment I am suited for. That is the environment that has been entrusted to me by God. It is found in the place that I have been given to live. It is in the open square. Wisdom is found in relationships, my journey in life is connected to others. Those others are not just the friendships of my life, but they are the relationships of inheritance from the past and those connecting to the future. I am not to be alone. Wisdom is found through my abilities. It is not in something I am not created or equipped to do. It is found in the place of the responsibility given to me today.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Today I want to remind us all as leaders and as members that we are the family of God. We are His children. This is the most important revelation that we can know and it is the most important truth that we can lead others into. When we see ourselves as children of God we can be led by His Spirit as sons and daughters. When we see ourselves as children of God we receive an increase of His inheritance in this world that leads to the fullness of all that is to come. The earth itself cries out to be liberated by the manifestation of the children of God.

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

The highest calling in life is to be a son or daughter of God. This is what we live to be and this is what we lead others to know. We are not like we used to be. We have been born again as new creations into a new life. That life contains the blessing and the responsibility of bringing life to this world. God has moved into our lives! He has moved into the neighborhood! Christ is us gives us the glory of becoming a testimony of heaven in and to this world.

1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

I believe that Christ is continually increasing in our midst. When we see Jesus we are changed to become like Him. This is ultimately true when we meet Him in our final resurrection, but it is also true when we see Him in His resurrection life today. When we see Him in a measure of revelation we become like Him in the revelation we receive. This has been true though the past revelations of Jesus Christ that have brought God’s grace into this world.

Humanity can easily embrace that we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ and not by works of law or penance. It requires a loss of human strength and pride, but the grace of the Spirit of Lord is readily available for everyone who reaches out to take hold of it. It is easier today that at any time in history. The reformers of the past centuries paid a price for this grace to come into the earth by losing their strength and trusting a God of mercy and love. It wasn’t by works of the flesh that this grace came, but by a willingness of God’s children to embrace being His children more than being bound to human understanding presented to them from the past or from the world around them.

There was a Great Awakening in the 18^th and 19^th centuries when the Holy Spirit brought about a grace of the Spirit of wisdom and faith towards God. In this season a fresh revelation of Jesus brought about a testimony of works that speak of our faith toward God and a standing as children of God who are set apart to Him in this world. It affected those in the church first and then it extended to reap a harvest of those in the world. When we saw Christ come as the one who inspires our hearts to do things that speak of our faith toward Him we became like Him in our endeavor to be children of God sanctified to Him in life. There was a great demonstration of works that speak of our faith. I believe this was a further step in the reforming and the reshaping of the church in the earth. We can all reap the benefits of a church that paid the price of letting go of less to receive more by a revelation of Jesus Christ in His continual coming into His body.

The Pentecostal outpouring of the 19^th to 20^th century revealed a testimony of supernatural power and unexplainable heavenly realities. The testimony of a heavenly language and outward manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit in our midst became a thing of celebration. The body of Christ experienced a liberation of the Spirit. Even the world experienced a liberation of women as women were recognized in their right to vote. Perhaps that freedom in the world was a witness to the external evidence of God’s Spirit and approval upon His bride. The blessings of God’s freedom in His church was also heard by seekers in the world as the embraced new things to be heart.

A revelation of Jesus Christ in the church during the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s  revealed Christ in His body with the ability to minister to His blessing through body fellowship, the gathering in homes, and a care of healing, ministry, and life in a more intimate reality. Even this affected the cultures of the world. An aspect of fellowship with one another and an authority of individuals was revealed in the earth as God’s children embraced a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ in the midst of His family.

The 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s revealed a God who speaks to our hearts, empowers us to speak His words to others, and a testimony of His resurrection life in our midst. There was a revisiting and a reviving of God’s presence in the church and in the world. An individual sense of responsibly, power, and the presence of God was revealed as another measure of God reforming, reshaping, reviving, and renewing His family in the earth.

Now we see people groups crying out for community. That cry is perverted by the world, but it is a call of the Holy Spirit to see a generation of the church become more vulnerable, honest, embracing of others, and receptive to God as a Father who loves His children. Now He is coming in a greater presence to reveal us as children to our Father. He is moving into the neighborhoods of the world so the neighborhoods of the world can become expressions to the true community of heaven. He loves us, but His love also changes us! There is a continual progression of the manifest presence of Jesus Christ in His church. He is constantly increasing in the generational destiny of His body. We are grateful for how God has revealed Himself in the past generations, but very often we hold on to the things of the past and resist what God is doing in the present. We must not allow the thing that God did yesterday to become more important than what God is doing today. We must never reject the substance of what God has already done, but we must also embrace the furtherance of what God is doing now.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

What is the truth concerning the ‘End Times’ and the apocalypse of Jesus Christ? Is the present uprising of Islamic terrorism a sign of the end? Are the economic times a sign concerning Christ and His purposes in the earth? What does ‘apocalypse’ really mean and what should we believe concerning the future of the world?

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Today I want to remind us all of some things that I posted three years ago. I want to address the distraction of natural sight and experiences in the midst of our age. Jesus said that the kingdom of God doesn’t come with signs that can be observed. The NKJ translation states that the kingdom of God does not come by observation, in other words, what we can see or hear in the natural world around us has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. The prophet Isaiah foretold that Jesus Christ as the Head and Christ the Body would not make judgments by what can be naturally seen or heard (Isa. 11:3).

Luke 17:20, 21 Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

In the parable of the tares and the wheat Jesus revealed that the end of the age is not based upon the events of the world, but the fruit of harvest. Harvest is the standard by which the kingdom of God is measured. It is not measured by good or evil in the world. The harvest of every age is filled with that which is bound to the fruitless testimonies of the world and that which reveals the substance of food and seed for the future generations as the testimony of God.

Matthew 13:39 …harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

If we look at things in the natural world we can become distracted from the true issues of the kingdom of God. The things that we naturally see and hear in the world are not the means to measure the current season of the kingdom of God. We can’t possibly know what time of the day it is if we are looking at the night. Things in the world are of the night and the things of the God’s kingdom of only found in the light.

Let me preset a general overview of some key world events in the past few centuries. If I did an overview of the centuries preceding this past three the story would read the same and even more extreme at times. I have by no means included everything that happened. My intent is to merely paint a picture of how things are in the world outside of Christ and that catastrophic events and human unrest are not indicators of what is happening in the kingdom of God.

In the 1700’s there were numerous wars and conflicts. In the first decade much of Europe was involved in the War of Spanish Succession. In the second decade there were numerous Indian uprisings in America with the slaughter of many Indians and many American settlers. In the third decade the Persian Safari dynasty fell. In the fourth century The War of the Polish Succession ended. Russia and Austria were at war with Turkey by the close of the decade. The War of Polish Succession between France and Austria ended. In the fifth decade Prussia attacked Austria that resulted in war in Europe with the succession of Austria. The sixth decade saw the Seven Years War with Prussia and Britain in conflict with France, Austria, and Russia. In the sixth decade an Industrial Revolution began that would continue for seventy years. The seventh decade brought about the British expedition against Cuba where they seized Havana from Spain. Many years of tensions and conflicts with America and Britain brought about the American Revolution in the eighth decade of the century. In Europe there was the war of Bavarian Succession from Prussia and Austria. In the ninth decade the French Revolution happened. The final decade there were conflicts with Spain in the Caribbean and France stormed the Netherlands to create a dependent Dutch republic. During this century some 60 million Europeans died of Smallpox disease. It is believed that 90 to 95 percent of the Native American population died of this disease between 16th and the 19th Centuries.

The 1800’s began with the Battles of Trafalgar and Austerlitz in Europe. The first decade transitioned to the second decade with the Peninsular War in Spain. The second decade began in with the British-American War and the defeat of Napoleon in the “Battle of the Nations”. The third decade began with the Spanish Revolution and the Greek War of Independence against Turkish rule. Russia was also at war with Turkey. In the fourth decade there was a Revolution in France and Britain was involved in the China Opium War. The fifth decade brought about war between the US and Mexico. California and New Mexico ceded to the United States. In Europe the Communist Manifesto was published. At the end of the decade Mexico City was captured by U.S. troops. In the middle of the century twelve million people died of the Bubonic Plague in China. In the sixth decade Russia fought against Turkey, Britain, France and Sardinia in the Crimean War. Britain and China were also at war. In the seventh decade America entered in to a Civil War after many years of conflict and pressures involving slavery and political division. The Paraguayan War took as many as 1.2 million lives.  In the eighth decade there was the Franco-Persian War. In South America there was the War of the Pacific involving Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. The ninth decade was a decade of peace with a Triple Alliance formed between Germany, Austria, and Italy. In the final decade of the 1800’s there was Civil War in Chile and in America the Spanish-American War.

The 1900’s opened with some revolutionary breakthroughs with the first airplane flight by the Wright brothers, Henry Ford’s first Model-T, and the discovery of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. It also had hardships like the Boxer Rebellion in China and the San Francisco Earthquake. In the second decade the First Word War occurred and a Russian Revolution took place. The Mexican Revolution took as many as 2 million lives. The Prohibition movement began in America. In this decade the Titanic struck an iceberg and sunk. The Spanish flu killed millions around the world. The next decade brought about an era of seeming prosperity and freedom with speakeasies, expressive clothing, the Charleston dance, and jazz music. There were many gangster conflicts in America and the Prohibition movement spawned criminal activities and created lots of tension. The 1930’s brought about the Great Depression. Economic collapse and a massive drought took its toll in America and in the world. The Nazis came into power in Germany and a persecution of Jews commenced with concentration camps for the purpose of genocide. In America there was the notorious crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde and the imprisonment of Al Capone. In the next decade there was the Second World War. Nazi death camps murdered millions of Jews. The Cold War with Russia began. The 1950’s gained a reputation as the Golden Age with inventions of Color TV, polio vaccine, Disneyland, and Elvis Pressley. The Korean conflict brought America and other nations into the activities of war again. In America segregation was ruled illegal and racial tensions began to escalate. In the 1960’s there were racial riots and a sexual revolution. Numerous political tensions escalated with the Vietnam War, a peace movement, a drug abuse revolution, and a civil rights movement marked with numerous racial riots. In Europe the Berlin Wall was built. President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King were all assassinated in this decade. Russia and the U.S. entered into a race for space and America put the first man on the moon. At the beginning of the 1970’s the Vietnam War still continued to be a major issue. There were numerous earthquakes with record setting deaths. Several massacres occurred including the Jonestown Massacre and the Munich Olympics Massacre. A nuclear accident occurred at Three Mile Island. In the 1980’s President Ronald Reagan negotiated with Russia’s Mikhail Gorbachev to end the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was also torn down in Eastern Germany. There was a famine in Ethiopia, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in America, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The 80’s also saw the Iran/Iraq war that took as many as 2 million lives. Although the final decade of the twentieth century seemed to be a time of increased technology with measures of hope and relief there was the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine High School Massacre, and the Rwandan genocide. During this 20th century Smallpox was responsible for an estimated 300–500 million deaths.

As we have entered the 21st Century we see that things in the world are still as they have been. There are wars and catastrophic events of many kinds. Are these things the signs of what is happening in the kingdom of God or are they merely the constant testimony of things outside of Christ? We cannot determine what God is up to by looking at world events. We must look into our hearts and at the testimony of God in His Church to understand the real issues in planet earth. What is the season of God? The seasons of men are always the same, but the kingdom of God is advancing and the time of the good news of Christ is within our reach!

As we look at the ages of the past we can see the fruit and the seed of harvest of God’s kingdom. In the early 1500’s there was a Reformation in the Church and a grace of the Spirit of the Lord with justification by faith was released into the earth. This Reformation was continuing to sweep the nations as we came into the 1700’s. “The just live by faith” is still a resounding testimony in the nations. We can all experience the increasing fruit and testimony of the desire of the nations. We have been granted the power of repentance unto life and a testimony of repentance from dead works in Christ. In the last half of the 1700’s to the first half of the 1800’s there was a great Holiness Movement. Over 150 denominations were birthed based upon the testimony of sanctification. A grace of the Sprit of Wisdom and faith toward God was released as fruit and seed to the progressing generations. At the close of the 1800’s and the beginning of the 1900’s there was a Pentecostal Movement. A grace of the Spirit of Understanding with the testimony of Holy Spirit submersion was released as fruit and seed to the generations. The testimony that comes by submersion in God has become an increasing unstoppable reality in the earth. At the middle of the 1900’s there was a Later Reign Movement and a Charismatic Renewal that brought a grace of the Spirit of Understanding and the testimony of the authority of body membership and ministry. The authority of the laying on of hands with the testimony of Christ’s healing life was released as fruit and seed to the coming generations. At the close of the 1900’s there was a Faith, Prophetic, and Renewal testimony given to the Church. A grace of the Spirit of Might with the testimony of the resurrection life of Christ was given the progressing ages of men. The fruit and seed of hearing God, speaking God’s words, and knowing God’s manifest presence was given to the generations. As we have entered this 21st Century we are seeing an increasing testimony of Communion and a reaching of the communities of the world with the community of Christ. A grace of the Spirit of Knowing with Christ’s eternal judgment of love is being given to the generation. A dependency upon God and His heavenly communion is becoming the available testimony for those hungry for life. God wants to empower a generation of people who seek to live to be a blessing, not merely to be blessed. An Esau generation is being transformed to a Jacob generation and the earth will see the people of God revealed in a greater way. The kingdom of God is continuing to increase with the testimony of food and seed to the ages to come.

The coming of the Lord is not a fearful thing for those in Christ. The end of every age is harvest and there is a coming of the Lord in all of the generations of men. The first century Church was familiar with the day of the Lord in their generation. We should also embrace the day of the Lord in the midst of the circumstances of the world in the age we live. What will be the food and the fruit of harvest in our generation for the generations to come?

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.  You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. 

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Whenever God does something in the earth those in the last move of God upon the earth most often resist it. Those who sought to embrace the grace of the Spirit of the Lord and the foundation of the just living by faith were resisted by those who adhered to being the universal church, the long-standing belief of the Catholic church as an influence to the world with the overcoming power of the kingdom of God. Those embracing the Spirit of Wisdom and the Holiness movement that revealed that true faith is exhibited in works that declare that faith. Although we are justified by faith, works that speak of that faith demonstrates that faith. Works do not justify us, but they do reveal faith that is living. It was those in the Protestant movements of the previous move that resisted the birthing of the denominations who professed the need for sanctification demonstrating works. Those embracing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a demonstration of Pentecostal power were resisted by those who adhered to the denominations of sanctification and justification. Those stuck in the moves of the past resisted the Spirit of Understanding and the Pentecostal expressions of heavenly testimony. Those professing a Pentecostal faith resisted the Later Rain, Healing, and Charismatic Renewal of the 1940’s through the 1960’s, even though the Charismatic Renewal brought a fellowship testimony and a revealing of the Spirit of Counsel and the laying of hands in virtually every denomination of the Christian faith to date. From 1970 to 2000 there was a renewed testimony of hearing the voice of God, the teaching that comes by His voice in our hearts, the prophetic voice restored, and a renewal testimony of His manifest presence in our midst. These things revealed the Spirit of Might and a church that is awake to God’s presence in their lives. Those in the Charismatic church and the preceding movements of God’s Spirit in the past resisted this. We have now been 15 years into a new move of God’s Spirit. I believe that this move is about the Spirit of Knowing and the community of heaven invading the communities of the earth. As I have written in past weeks, God is moving into the communities of men revealing that He is good and He loves us. A grace of the Spirit of Knowing with Christ’s eternal judgment of love is being given to this present generation. A dependency upon God and His heavenly communion is becoming the available testimony for those hungry for life. God receives as we are and wants to move into all of the neighborhoods of humanity.  He wants us to look to Him for who He is and to receive Him for who He is. He is not ashamed to see us as we are, but now He wants us to look into His eyes and see Him as He is. When we see we become like Him, because we see Him as He is. He is enough to change us inside and out to become a testimony of Him in the earth.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

We are living in a time where God is moving by His Spirit to cause His family to be revealed as the people of God in the earth. He is moving in the lives of many people groups to bring about a testimony of unity through diversity. His love for us grants us the power to become those who exhibit a love for Him. When He moves into our lives we are empowered to be supernaturally changed in our lives to bring about glory to His name. Those who resist this present move of God’s Spirit will prove to be those who hold on to the things of renewal, prophecy, and the word of faith. Previous moves of God will prove to resist the present move of God’s Spirit because we tend to measure what God is doing with what we know He has done in the past. There is a great heritage in adhering to the things God has given to us so far, but holding too tightly to the things God has done will cause us to be less than open handed towards the things that God is doing today. We must have open hands to receive what God is doing. This means we must be willing to risk loosing what we have to receive even more of what God wants to give us. The present move of the Spirit of Knowing requires us to change our beliefs in order to become the people of God in a greater way.

God is good and He loves people! Unity is through diversity, not conformity. When we come to Him in the uniqueness of who we each are, together we reveal the greatness of who He is. We were born to be loved; not merely to be right. Love is a revelation, not a command. When we have a revelation of God’s love we cannot help but love Him and others. God is wrestling with us, not us with Him. He knows who we really are and He wants us to manifest truth. These are all attributes of this present grace of God’s Spirit at work in the earth. What is next? Will we stop and label Him as the God of the people or a Father who is kind to His children? Or will we move forward by the power of God’s grace to become the people of God? Will we embrace the things that require change in our beliefs, or will we allow the limitations of our present belief to hinder the expansion of our minds for the now testimony of Christ in the world?

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson