ted4leaders

Greetings,

A good definition of glory is to be fully alive. The glory of authority is to be fully alive as who you are and for the purpose for which you were born. The result will be life to others because of who you are. The authority of who we are is meant to bring life to the world through the identity of who we were born to be. In a general purpose, we were all born to be children of God. We are sons and daughters of God because of the substance of our new birth in Christ. In the same way, we have a specific reality in the seed of who we are in our individual identity for the purpose of God in the earth. We have a general birthright as a child of God, but we have a specific birthright for the various roles we play in fulfilling our individual purpose in Christ. Authority comes from the seed.

1 Corinthians 15:35-38  But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?”  Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.  And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.

Every seed has its own glory. There is a glory of corn, fish, animals, trees, angels, stars, planets, and any created thing. The glory begins in the seed. The glory of who you and I are is found in the seed of who we were born to be. We already are the seed, but it is yet to be revealed what that seed will fully become. We don’t just have the potential to become what we are called to be. Who and what we are called to be is in the very DNA of who we are. These things are not determined by our will, but by discovering the will of God in our lives. It is a matter of discovering who God made us to be.

1 Corinthians 15:39-41 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.  There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

I emphasize birthright and the glory in the seed because authority is not based upon who we want to be, who we think we are, or who we think we should be. It is founded upon who we are destined to be according to the seed of who we are. Authority comes from the seed! The enemy wants to distract us and deceive us to desire to be someone we are not. Someone else’s authority is not ours, nor is our own authority out of timing of the season of our life an authority of our reality today. Tomorrow’s authority is not today’s authority. There is a glory in each stage of our development in authority. There is a glory in the seed, in that it has all of the potential and destiny to become what it is called to be. When a plant begins to grow it has an authority of life as it is revealed as the green shoot. There is an increasing authority, as it becomes the stalk. That authority is a testimony of life, but it still lacks the full fruit of authority that brings life to others. It isn’t until the fruit develops in the stalk that the full fruit of authority is seen for the life of others. There is even an authority of seed to the future generations that follows the authority of food for others. Each stage of development includes a greater authority and a diverse testimony of purpose and destiny.

1 Corinthians 15:42-50  So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.  It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.  And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.  The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 

How does the earthly and the heavenly relate to us today? There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. We are inheritors of the kingdom of God NOW, but it is also connected to who we will be in the fullness of our resurrection in Christ. There is a progression to the authority of our lives. Each stage of our development and manifestation is connected. There is both a natural and spiritual reality to who we are and it is found in the progression of the seed of our lives. Destiny is not just a destination; it includes the journey of who we are.

Not all flesh is the same. Flesh is not bad in this sense.  Becoming our own source is walking according to the flesh, but being that we are naturally is necessary in the identity of our authority. There is a glory of each kind of flesh and that glory is in its seed. The flesh of everything is that which is physically manifested. Each flesh is from a different seed and has a glory of its own. We each have the ability to fulfill 100% of the glory that we are intended to be. Not one is better than another. Just as there is a diversity of stars, angels, and earthly creations, mankind is meant to be diverse in authority both in the natural and in the spirit.

Authority is manifested in glory, but it begins in the seed and each seed has an authoritative right of its own. One day we will experience an ultimate transformation in glory, but we must be fully alive in each stage of our authority in life. The authority is only seen when the seed becomes manifested in the flesh. When corn becomes the blade it has the glory of the blade. It has the authority of the blade. It has the destiny of corn, but the authority of the blade.  What you are presently manifesting is what counts. God is changing us from glory to glory.

The destiny of corn is the full corn for food and seed, but there is a glory of life in each stage of its progression.  When the blade becomes a stalk, it has the glory of the stalk. It has the authority of the stalk. It no longer has the glory of the blade. If a stalk could think, it may dream, it may have thoughts, it may have a hope and a vision of having a head with kernels of seed in it, but, its glory is that of a stalk. It is what it is.  Godliness with contentment says I am what I am. Dreams and expectations are necessary, but today is also good! When corn becomes the head, it has the glory of the head. It has the authority of the head. It is what it is and authority is based upon glory.

A pumpkin has the destiny to be a pumpkin. A squash has the destiny to be a squash, but when the two mix, it can become something it wasn’t intended to be. You must be who you are. If you are a pumpkin you need to stay in the pumpkin patch. When you mix field corn and popcorn you end up with a perversion of popcorn. Not all spirits are the same, nor are all natural bodies the same. Everyone is unique. It is important that we each remain true to who we are meant to be.

There is a progression in the seed. Authority has its foundation in the kind of seed that it is and all authority is relevant to today’s responsibility. What you were yesterday is not who you are today, nor is it what you will be tomorrow. God will stretch you and you can’t go back by wishing things were what they were yesterday. This kind of thinking is simply stupid thinking! There must be a continued progression or you are acting out of authority, or acting out of the boundaries of authority. You are going to have to be real! You can’t act out yesterday or tomorrow.

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

To be transformed is to go through a metamorphouses. It is like the transition of a butterfly. It starts out as an egg, progresses to be a caterpillar, transitions to a pupa (cocoon), and then finally transforms into a butterfly. In the seed of the egg is the destiny of a butterfly, but there are several stages in between that have a glory of their own. An egg is an egg, a caterpillar is a caterpillar, a cocoon is a cocoon, and a butterfly is a butterfly.

Authority and destiny are not the same. Life comes out of authority, not destiny! Dreams come out of destiny, but dreams alone are fantasy. The authority of today is not the authority of tomorrow, nor is the authority of yesterday the authority of today. The perfect will of God is for you to be who you are today.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

True authority is the power of “exousia”. Authority is the real thing! It is what it is! To have authority we must carry the spirit of authority. All authority comes from God and we must become the substance of God’s authority to manifest God’s life-giving authority in the earth. Authority must be received and its source is found in the Spirit of God.

Genesis 25:19-28  This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan  Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.  And the LORD said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.  So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 

Jacob was called to be above his brother Esau from birth. In the natural Esau had the birthright, but according to the Spirit of God Jacob had the destiny. Jacob had to become naturally what he was destined to be in the Spirit. He had to get the natural birthright that matched the birthright of the Spirit given to him by God before he was formed in his mother’s womb. All authority comes from birthright. In the womb God said Jacob had it, but in the natural Esau had it. Jacob had the call of God, but no natural ability to fulfill it. To become what he was destined to be required a heavenly change in his earthly circumstance. To become what we are called to be requires a heavenly change in our earthly circumstances. We have a birthright in God, but many are called and only a few are chosen.

Genesis 25:29-34 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what profit shall this birthright be to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.      

Jacob obtained the birthright by purchasing it from Esau. Why did he want the birthright? Remember, authority always initiates in God.  Because he was called to have the birthright it was a good thing in him that wanted it. He was created to be the firstborn, but he didn’t come out first.  He was created to have the older serve him, but he was the younger. He was created to carry on his father’s inheritance, but his brother had the right to the inheritance. In him was a frustration, because he was created to be the firstborn, but he wasn’t first. He knew that he was called. He just didn’t know how to get the birthright. Was it God’s will for Jacob to cheat for the birthright?  Did Jacob really cheat to get the birthright? Did Jacob seek the birthright for his own glory or did he seek it for the destiny of Israel? Did Jacob take the birthright or did Esau despise it? I believe that Esau despised it. One good thing that Jacob had was that he had within him an understanding of the value of the birthright. God was able to redeem the situation because Jacob’s heart was for life. God was able to change his name to become the inheritor of the promise of God from heaven.

Jacob had to become a son of the seed of promise. The blessing didn’t come from Isaac, but from the God of Isaac. Jacob didn’t have the inheritance; he had to look for it. He recognized an opportunity where the birthright could be received. I don’t believe that Jacob sought the birthright for his own greed. I believe that destiny within him called to his heart to seek it for the sake of the future generations of Israel. Jacob’s actions could be considered questionable, but what Esau did was worse than what Jacob did. He despised the birthright. Esau sold his source of authority for a bowl of stew. His interests were only for himself.  Authority is not given for our own personal gain. Authority is a source of life given for others. Esau didn’t value the authority of the birthright because he lived for himself and not for the sake of others. He willingly sold what belonged to others for the sake of feeding his own flesh. We can sell our authority for anything that is not ours in God if we think that what has been given to us is for us and not for those beyond our lives.  What do we have that is ours that we don’t want? We can lose what we have by despising who we are.

What is yours in the flesh is not yours at all. Esau had the birthright in the flesh, but he had no understanding of the birthright in the spirit. He had no understanding of the purpose of inheritance and authority. Authority is found in God. It is possible to sell your birthright for our own ways. Are we in the place of our birthright? Without birthright we cannot have the blessing of inheritance. Inheritance is a testimony of authority given for the life of others.

Hebrews 12:15-17 …looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

Once Esau sold the birthright to Jacob, the right for the blessing of the inheritance belonged to Jacob. Jacob had the birthright for the blessing so when he put the on the goatskins to emulate the feel of his brother, he put on the clothing of the touch and the smell of the substance of the firstborn. He had the right to wear the clothing that would make him feel like he was the firstborn in the natural. Esau had sold it to him. Once Esau realized what had happened he wanted his father Isaac to give him the blessing, but it was too late. The issue was relationship, not gifting. Esau wanted to repent, but God couldn’t grant it. What he wanted didn’t exist anymore. The blessing of the inheritance had been given to Jacob, because Jacob owned the natural right to the inheritance.

The inheritance didn’t belong to Jacob in the flesh; it belonged to Israel. There had to be a spiritual change for Jacob to be the full substance of the inheritance. Jacob had to eventually return home to face his fear of the natural firstborn son, Esau. On his journey home he had an encounter with God that changed his life forever. The sound of God came into his name as God made him weak in the flesh for the strength of God’s Spirit. God had called Jacob from the very beginning, but in the natural he was not it. Jacob stole the deed from Esau just like Satan stole the deed from Adam. The good news is that God came to kill deceitfulness when He wrestled with Jacob. God killed the flesh and what happened that day was a resurrection. Jacob longed to fulfill his destiny, but authority initiates in God. Jacob couldn’t just have the natural birthright for the inheritance. He had to also have the birthright of the Spirit. He had to be transformed from being a “heal grabber” to being a “prince with God”, a full possessor of the authority of inheritance from God.

Even when it comes to our general inheritance in Christ, our birthright in the natural had to be transformed to a birthright of the spirit. When Christ died for sinners he made a way for sinners to put on the skin of the firstborn in the eyes of the Father, but to carry the full testimony of authority we must also experience a transformation in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. Adam lost the birthright by trading it to Satan. Jesus took it back. That authority is not just an authority to get us into heaven when we die, but a right for the transformation of the Spirit to bring heaven into the earthly circumstances of our lives. Authority is the substance of life and it comes by the Spirit.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

God is the source of all authority. He is the source of the authority in our lives. In the journey of Abraham’s life, God was the source of his authority. Before Abraham could be revealed for who he was as Abraham, he had to be faithful for who he was as Abram. God in Abram’s life would cause him to manifestly become Abraham. God in your life today is what will make you become who you are meant to be tomorrow.

Genesis 15:1-8 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”  Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.” And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

God had told Abram to move forward in his journey and to see the land of his journey as the land of his inheritance. Following the promise, God showed up Himself and cut the covenant. There was a sacrifice of life. There was a death of something of flesh. In the same way there has to be a death of our own fleshly wills as we demonstrate our trust in the will of the Sprit of God in our lives. God walked among the pieces of the flesh in His covenant with Abram. God has to also be seen walking in the midst of our sacrifices of self. Only God walking in the midst of the promise can fulfill the word of God’s authority in our lives. In every place that we are strong in the flesh we must become weak and find the strength of God in our lives. God in the midst of our destiny is what empowers the inheritance of our destiny. God is the one who fulfills every promise of authority, not our human strength or will.

Producing something in the flesh will result with a work of the flesh. The works of the flesh are the testimony of grasping for power. They always produce some measure of death and dysfunction. In Genesis, Chapter 16, we find that Abram grew impatient with the promise of God. His wife Sarai convinced him to have a child by here handmaiden Hagar. A relationship with a servant mentality will always produce works of bondage. A works mentality will never produce the fruit of true inheritance. Authority is an inheritance and servants cannot be inheritors. Only spiritual sons can inherit the spiritual promises of God. Ishmael was the result of Abram’s work of the flesh; he was not the fruit of inheritance. Authority is not a work; it is the fruit of God-given responsibility. Abram got impatient and produced Ishmael. He tried to make authority happen. Producing something in the flesh will always produce an Ishmael. That which is strength of the flesh must die in our lives in order for us to become inheritors of the authority that God has for us to walk in. To receive the inheritance of authority that God has for us in our lives we must be transformed to being sons and daughters of God in our mentality and practice.

Before Abram’s error of producing Ishmael, God had shown him the stars of heaven (Gen. 15:5). He had already shown him the sand beneath his feet and thus Abram had to be faithful in the natural path of his journey, but God had also shown him the stars of heaven, revealing that the true fulfillment of his authority would come from God who is in heaven. The basis of Authority is not only who you are, but it is also by His Spirit. God is the one who makes it manifest. God is always the one who makes you who you are.  Authority is who you are, not who you want to be or who you will be some day. God won’t give you a word to deliver to others that He doesn’t make you become in an increasing measure first. In order to be a word of life to others you must first be a testimony of the life of the word you are commissioned to carry. The basis of authority is who you are, but not who you are in the flesh. Flesh could be defined as being your own strength or source of power.

Who you are in the natural is not who you are in the flesh. You are spirit manifested in the natural. That is what makes you spiritual. The source is the Spirit, but it manifests in the natural. The flesh is not the natural; it is you being your own source of strength. This is power without authority. We can only speak from who we are; therefore our increasing authority in life requires the sound of God in our name. It requires His increasing testimony in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. God has to be the testimony of the transformation of destiny in our lives.

The spirit of authority came to Abram when God made him an Abraham. Abram without children is better than Abram with a child. Having a child while still being Abram was a grasp for power. Abram was yet to become what he needed to be. He couldn’t be someone who merely saw desert and sky. He had to see nothing as everything. He had to become a Hebrew. When that happened, God transformed him into an “Abraham”. We must see the God of the promise as greater than the promise. God in our lives is what will give us the authority of life. There has to be a cutting away of the things of the flesh and an embodiment of the mark of God’s Spirit in our lives. The circumcision of Abraham’s flesh was merely a testimony of the circumcision of his heart. He had come to the place of seeing God as the fulfillment of the promise, not his own strength for the destiny of his life. The substance of inheritance had entered his life and he had become a man with the sound of his heavenly Father in his name.

The authority of our lives is our word of life to the world.  We have to become what God sees us to be in order to release the authority that God wants us to give. When I was a kid I used to be very intrigued by the Corn Flake box at the grocery store. On the box there was a picture of golden flakes with fresh plump strawberries on them. Sadly, when you opened the box, there weren’t any fresh plump strawberries. There were only dismal flakes. The picture on the box didn’t present a true statement as to what was in the box. It was simply a marketing ploy! If you buy a box of Raisin Bran, the picture on the outside of the box needs to match the content of the cereal in the box. If it gives the details of the vitamins, calories, and other information of nutritional value it needs to be the same in the content of the box. Authority is not just a marketing ploy to get others to receive us. It is the power of the substance in the box. The authority of our lives is only true to the content of our lives. We must have a spirit of authority that matches the responsibility of our authority.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

To have authority we must embrace the path of authority in our lives. That path is not for us. It is for the life of others. We must be content to be who we are in every step of the journey, but we must also be diligent to become all that God has called us to be. Authority starts from the place that we are and progresses forward in the journey of life.

Genesis 13:14,15 And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are–northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.”

The MUNDANE is ours! Our EVERYDAY WORLD is the path of our destiny. Abraham had to see God in his everyday world and he had to see that his everyday world was the land of God’s promise. If we can’t bring heaven into the place we live we won’t bring it anywhere else. Authority is not based upon who we aren’t; it is based upon who we are today!

A number of years ago I was living in the reality of many ministry responsibilities. I was the senior pastor of a church, the administrator of a preschool, the leader of a ministry training process beyond the local church, and a minister to the body of Christ both nationally and internationally. My responsibilities in all of these areas were increasing and it was becoming difficult to manage everything. In the midst of it there were challenges arising in my church leadership team and there seemed to be a constant struggle in my local responsibilities. The finances of the church were also being challenged with a decrease in contributions in the church and funding cutbacks to the preschool. God’s calling upon my life to serve the body of Christ internationally was increasing and His favor was becoming very obvious in that call. The finances of my outreach ministry were being blessed, but then being drained by the local ministry. I was holding the responsibility of being the senior leader of the church God had entrusted to me as a spiritual inheritance, a spiritual mandate, and spiritual letter. There was an obvious transition needed in my present situation. I had several ministry friends and even apostolic connections that were encouraging me to release the church pastorate to someone else and to pursue the calling that was becoming very obvious upon my life. I had a big dilemma. The ministry that I was leading was given to me by God as a spiritual inheritance and I knew that I could not give it to a servant. If I released it to merely a gifted pastor, then the spiritual inheritance, spiritual mandate, and the spiritual letter entrusted to me by God would die. Not just anyone could be the pastor. It had to be a spiritual son and inheritor. I had already learned this lesson in a few situations in my ministry journey. I was not only in a time of practical stretching, but I was also in a time of spiritual warfare as well. Everything in me wanted to leave the church and pursue my destiny, but in my spirit I knew that my present situation didn’t allow me to transition into my yet to come destiny. I had to come to faith in finding the inheritor of the spiritual letter being written by God. As I prayed God made it known to me that the inheritor would be my natural son, Jonathan. There was a problem, however. Jonathan was not yet in the place of being a spiritual son. He had not heard the call to destiny and he had not discovered the birthright of leading the local church. His wife appeared to be even farther away from coming to faith in the call. My apostolic connections didn’t see the call upon my son either. I knew what I had heard from God, so I had to just remain patient and diligent in my present responsibilities. Although I was receiving godly wisdom by good friends and even friends in authority, I knew that their advice was not yet the word of the Lord. I had to stand in my situation and battle the elements of my present circumstances. This continued for several months. The pressure was great. The demand to go to the body of Christ was increasing, but the present duties of leading the local church were still obviously in my hands. I did the best that I could in the situation and did not tell the congregation, my leaders, or my son about the full details of my dilemma. Several months went by and then a prophet friend of mine visited our church and was staying in my home. He was scheduled to preach at our church on the Sunday morning, but on the Saturday night before the Sunday service he had a dream. God revealed to him what situation I was in and that I was on the edge of dusting my feet and leaving the city. That Sunday morning he challenged the church to rally behind me in calling for all that was necessary to break the assignments of the enemy that were against the destiny of the church and of my unfolding apostolic ministry. The members of the church responded with a thirty-day season of prayer and fasting. During that time God revealed to me that I was in a place of decision that was not like a “T” in the road, but rather a “Y”. I was not facing an “either/or” decision, but rather a path that could create two parallel journeys. Those parallel journeys were contingent upon me accepting the now reality of both options. I came to faith in my spirit and I made a new commitment to God to stay in my city and believe for both paths of inheritance to move forward. I sold my house and built a new house in the city. It was a smaller house, but a bigger piece of property. I thought perhaps it was an economic necessity, but it proved to be a prophetic statement as to my decreasing responsibility in the church (house), but my greater responsibility for the nations and the generations. The spiritual reality of a smaller role in the local house, but bigger role in the earth was beginning to prophetically unfold before me. These things were not separate, but were to be birthed from the same city. Faith was rising in me; the frustration and difficulty of handling all of my responsibilities became easier. I had to even make a commitment to God that I was willing to drive a couple of hour drive to the airport for the rest of my life if necessary. This all happened in May of the year and by June and July things were looking hopeful. One morning in August the Holy Spirit told me to do a Google search on my name. When I did, a web page came up entitled, “Persons of Alert”. In the page was a list of bank robbers, sex offenders, kidnappers, pedophiles, and many other categories of criminal offences. Names were listed with associated identifiers of tattoos and scars on their bodies revealing their identity. In the midst of the list was, “Pastor Ted Hanson, Abundant Life Church”, and my home phone number. The site had been posted in April of the year, when the spiritual assault upon me was the strongest. On the site there was a government phone number. I immediately called the number and was told that the site was an experiment of how they might track these kinds of people if they needed to. I asked why my name was on the list and I was told that it was a random experiment and my name was on the list in error. My name had ended up on the list because I was registered as an authorized visitor to the jail. Needless to say, there was a bit of scrambling by government officials, a personal call from my State representative, and a sweep of the Internet to remove all of the evidence of this huge error. They knew that I had grounds for a fairly sure lawsuit should I pursue it. Even in that I had friends who advised I should sue them, but God told me to make a decision for them based upon who I am, not based upon what they deserved. The error was dealt with and I now do a Google search every now and then to prevent such situations. There are more details, but my point in the story is to say that circumstances, including spiritual realities, were trying to move me out of the place of authority in pursuit of that which was not yet mine to walk in. In the next months my son heard the calling of his birthright. In the following year he began an intern process in the church. He came on staff in the next year and his wife came to faith in the journey. It was about five more years before the church transitioned to my son and I stepped into that which many thought was to happen five years earlier. The testimony is now one of two paths of inheritance that are both being blessed by God and bringing great life to many people. Even our local airport has tripled in size and my often-long drive to catch an airplane has increasingly become a fifteen-minute drive to the local airport.

The enemy was trying to get me to move out from the place that I was and into the place that was not. Like Abram, I had to lift up my eyes in the “now place” of my life and move forward while embracing the mundane, everyday path of destiny. I had to bring heaven into my present world of responsibilities and then move forward in my heavenly destiny. By doing so, my son Jonathan was able to embrace his journey as well. It has become obvious to those who could not see the journey that this was the ‘for sure” will of God in life.

Authority is progressive and we must be quick to move our tent, but there are many stages of pitching that tent in the journey. God has called us to progress in our callings to have dominion. We start from where we are, but we must be quick to respond to the progressive changes of God in our lives. We must desire more responsibility to please the one we are responsible to, but we must prove to be responsible at every stage of the process. We don’t desire more responsibility because we think God is not pleased with us now. We know that He is pleased with us, so we seek to please Him more. Authority is a path of responsibility and we must be responsible in every phase of our journey! It is for the life of others, not for the success of us. Our path of destiny is one of significance, not merely one of personal success!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

I have been addressing the need for both that which is natural and that which is of the Spirit in our birthrights and callings in life. We were created to have dominion over the works of God’s hands in this earth so we must be who we are in the substance of the natural and of the Spirit.

Let me present what I believe to be truth in regard to our callings in life. To a large degree we stand in calling. Our calling is part of the journey of what we will be, but authority is always based upon who we are today, not who we are yet to be. In the life of Abraham, he had to first be true to who he was as Abram. His authority began with leaving his old country. Because of God’s call, Abram had the right to leave Ur of Chaldea. His birthright began with hearing God and responding to God’s voice in beginning his journey of destiny. He had to begin his journey by being true to whom he was naturally, and then is faithful to embrace the process of becoming who he was destined to be by the power of God’s Spirit.

How did Abraham have an earthly birthright? Abraham’s birthright was established in the heavenlies. In the natural he was Abram, but God saw him in heaven as Abraham. Abram didn’t know the details of his name change and the process that would take. He simply knew that his name was Abram, meaning “the father of a nation”. He lived in a place called Ur, of Chaldea. In English that would translate to, “burning demons” (The name Ur means, “fire, light, a valley” or “burning”. The name Chaldea means,  “as demons”, or “as robbers”). Abram was married to Sarai, a barren woman. Abram’s circumstances of life did not match his calling of destiny. His calling was to be “the father of many nations”, but the nation he lived in offered him no future and the circumstance of his marriage offered him no children. There was another important part of Abram’s calling. He was not just to be “the father of many nations”; he was also destined to be “the father of faith”. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). Faith has to do with things that are not seen, heard, or thought before. The opposite of faith is natural sight (2Cor. 5:7), and everything about Abram’s world looked like it didn’t match his calling, but according to the view in heaven it matched perfectly. Abram was qualified to begin a journey of faith. His birthright began with getting out of his country.

Our birthrights are much the same. What God sees about us in heaven is different that what we can see in the earth. Our calling is also a journey of faith. Our natural circumstances and situations will appear to be the opposite of our destinies, but they are really the beginnings of our birthrights in life. Our birthrights begin in God, not in our natural circumstances. We must all be willing to get out of our “old country” in order to find our birthrights in God. God has established who we are to be. Birthright is established in the heavenlies. Calling has to do with what we are yet to be, but birthright has to do with who we discover we are. It has to do with hearing God and beginning a journey of faith. It begins with an appointment by God that leads to the further appointments of our destinies.

There is a difference between blessing and birthright.  We can’t have blessing without first having birthright. What God is blessings today is what we have a birthright for today. He is not blessing what is yet to be a birthright in our lives. What do we have the birthright to be? We have the birthright to be who we are called to be when we discover the appointments of who we are today. We can’t have authority without first having birthright.

We all have a general birthright in Christ. As members of the body of Christ we share equally in the corporate testimony of Christ’s will. We share a common general birthright as members of Christ’s body. Each of us also has a specific birthright in that which we are as a specific part of that body. We have do be who we are to become who we are destined to be. Remember, authority does not equal our value. It equals of responsibility for the sake of others. It is the measure given to us that brings life to others for the sake of all that is in Christ. We must each discover who we are and we must each be who we are for the sake of others. It is not wise to compare ourselves with others, because we all share in the corporate glory of Christ as each of us does our share.

I like to call our part the place of God’s favor in our lives. It is the place that God blesses with His favor. It is the place that gives life to others. It is not necessarily your favorite place, but it is your place of bringing life to others. You will have a passion and a love for it. It is what works in your life. It is not merely a place of success that serves you; it is a place of significance that brings life to others. It will make you come alive, but that life is found in giving life to others. It is not a taking attribute, but one of giving to others. Your favored place will make others come alive for who they are. It causes you to work effectively in giving life to others. It won’t cause you to get your needs met because of what you do. It will meet the needs of others. It is a testimony of grace and dominion. Grace is God’s power of Christ in you. Grace destroys death with life. Dominion is the place of truth, were that truth crumbles every lie. Grace and dominion is both progressive in your life and they are a part of your destiny, but these are only accomplished by standing in authority. You must be upright and on the move. You must embrace who you are today for the sake of others and then be willing to journey forward in who you are called to be for the sake of others. It is a testimony of godliness with contentment. You are content to be who you are in every step of the journey, but you are not willing to be slack in becoming all that God has called you to be. Authority starts from the place that you are and progresses forward in the journey of life.

Genesis 13:14,15 And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are–northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.”

The MUNDANE is ours! Our EVERYDAY WORLD is the path of our destiny. God told Abram to lift up his eyes from the place where he was. He didn’t tell him to look forward to the place he was going. He was revealing to him that the future was limitless when his vision of being who he was in that day. This is true for us as well. The land that Abram could see was a land of everyday sand, everyday transitions of tents, everyday camels, and everyday family duties and tasks. He had to see God in his everyday world and he had to see that his everyday world was the land of God’s promise. If we can’t bring heaven into the place we live we won’t bring it anywhere else. It’s not the place we want to be, not the place we think we should be, not the place we think we could have been, not the place we read about and we would like to know more about, not the place we were yesterday, not the place that’s in our hearts to become, but the place where we live today. It’s from that place that God will give us the full destiny that is ours.

When we live in discontentment we are living out of authority. We must lift up our eyes from right were we are. We have to first find out who we are before we can become what we will be. God told Abram to lift up his eyes and look after Lot had separated from him. All that Abram could see was that which belonged to him.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Authority begins with a birthright, comes about by a process of training, and is made manifest when the sound of God’s name comes into the substance of our names. We all have a common birthright as the corporate body of Christ, but we each have individual roles to play in the membership of that body. Authority is not based upon what we do; it is based upon who we are. Who we are determines the things we will do. Who we are begins with a birthright. We need the birthright of a son of God and a son of man to activate our general role of authority as a member of the body of Christ. We need a confirmation of that which is spirit and that which is natural to qualify for our specific role of authority in life. There must be both a heavenly and an earthly witness to who we are in life.

When God created mankind He spoke to Himself, therefore, the substance of man is the likeness and the image of God. We are God’s heavenly substance in the substance of earth. This is why Jesus had to be born as a Son of God and a Son of Man. God became flesh in the man Jesus of Nazareth to open the door for the regained birthright of mankind. He came as a door to all mankind, that they like sheep might return to the fold of God through Jesus Christ.

John 10:1 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”

Jesus is the door to authority and dominion. He was born of water and of the Spirit. He was born of a womb of flesh and a womb of the Spirit. This is the real essence of humanity. Human beings are both natural and spirit, that is what makes them a spiritual (spirit-natural) creation of God. When God created man He spoke to Himself. From the substance of Him came the essence of mankind, make and female (Gen. 1:26-28). From the vantage point of earth, He formed man from the dust and then breathed the essence of His Spirit life into man (Gen. 2:7). Human beings must be both created naturally and born of the Spirit to find their birthright as humanity. Human beings must be both sons of God and sons of men. This is why Jesus came in the flesh of a man. Jesus is the door to being a son of man and a son of God. He came into existence in the earth through the legitimate door of redeemed humanity. He came through Mary’s womb and the spiritual lineage of David. He was both born of man and born of God. He didn’t just come to die for our sins. He came to restore the authority of mankind. He came to give us back our birthright as men. He came to restore the mandate of being fruitful, multiplying, filling, subduing, and having dominion in the earth. Jesus came to reconcile us to our heavenly Father as men and women of a substance that is both natural and of the Spirit. He had to die for our sins to make that possible, but the goal was not His death. It was our resurrection in Christ.

Birthright is not based upon our natural ability, but our natural ability will be connected to our spiritual destiny. This is not necessarily limited or bound to our natural experiences. Authority doesn’t come from what is natural; it comes from the source of authority. That source is God and it is a heavenly reality of His Spirit. Many times we think that our natural experience is what qualifies us for ministry in the body of Christ. If we came out of a lifestyle of using drugs we believe we are qualified to minister to those bound to drugs. If we were religious, we believe we are sent to the religious. If we were educated, we believe we will be sent to the educated. Heavenly birthrights don’t work like that. With that reasoning Saul of Tarsus when converted to Paul would have been an apostle to the Jews. Peter, the uneducated and seemingly coarse fishermen, would have been a more likely candidate for being sent to the Gentiles, rather than the religious Jews. God in heaven determines birthrights, not the natural circumstances of the earth.

The destiny of Jesus was not determined by His natural circumstances. His natural circumstances were subject the heavenly decrees of His birth. Jesus became a “son of man” so that we could have dominion as a “son of man”.  Jesus was the word made flesh so that we could be the flesh made word (an expression of God). We were created in the image and likeness of God. The image is the Word and the likeness is the Spirit.  Jesus came to redeem our purpose and destiny in Christ. The real issue was lost authority. The real issue was the human mandate!

We cannot be a son of God without also being a son of man. We cannot be a son of man without becoming a son of God. Our authority is not Spirit. It is spiritual or that which is both of Spirit, but manifested in the natural. We are to manifest the life of God’s Spirit in the natural. We do not have the authority to be a spirit expression of the Spirit. Angels are spirit and some grasped for what they were not and became perverse in there existence. Spirit beings are spirit, natural creatures are natural, and mankind is both spirit and natural. Many people believe that to focus on the spirit is valuable and to focus on natural things is a shame. They often love spirit and hate the natural world. I believe this is a perversion of authority. We have the authority to be spirit-natural. We are spiritual beings. Sons of men are also sons of God. Without being sons of God we cannot have dominion over the works of God’s hands. It is a spiritual reality of our creation and our destiny. Jesus was the substance of God and the substance of earth. It is the substance of God in the earth that inherits the earth. Sin disconnected us from our place of inheritance, but Jesus came restore our qualification as inheritors of the earth. Being who we are today allows us to become who we are destined to be!

Psalms 8:4-8 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen–Even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.

The only way that we can have dominion as a son of man is to be positioned in the Son of God. God is our Father! We must be born of Authority to have Authority.

John 1:12,13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Being born again allows us the see the kingdom of God. When we see the kingdom of God we can enter the kingdom of God. Take some time today to consider the wonder of your life; spirit, soul, and body! Jesus made you to be you and only as you can you have authority. Only as you can you bring life to this world!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Today I am going to begin addressing the subject of regaining the dominion of authority. I have addressed the fact that man lost the ability to subdue and have dominion in the earth when they grasped for the power of the knowledge of good and evil. The end result was a world bound to control and manipulation as a mode of operation in the absence of the ability to subdue and have dominion as God intended men to. Our most common understanding of authority is a non-covenant authority as used in the world. People seek power, but the don’t seek true authority. They see to control, but they avoid the responsibility of giving life to others. Just as Lucifer lost his authority in a grasp for power, people are pulled out from their true destiny of authority into a quest for power. We can settle for power and not have authority. Power alone is a taking attribute, but only authority has the power to give life to others. Power satisfies self, but authority empowers others to truly live. True authority is the ability to bring life to others. Mankind was created to be agents of God’s life to the world. This is true dominion. Dominion comes when truth crumbles every lie. When we become real in the substance of who we really are we crumble every pretense and life flows from us to the world. How do we regain dominion? Dominion is the manifestation of true authority in our lives.

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

The sin of doing something that we were not created to do or trying to be someone we were not born to be is that of going our own way. It could be doing something we were created to do, before we become who we were created to be. We can only be who we are at any given moment. There is a process to authority. The authority of who we are today will lead to the authority of who we are meant to be tomorrow, but there is a process in authority. Who we are going to be tomorrow is not better than who we are today! Who we are today is not less valuable than who we are called to be tomorrow. The secret is to be under life and a giver of life to others in whatever stage of life we find ourselves. We must be under authority at every step of our journey in life in order to have authority in every step of our destiny. Authority is received and manifested. When we go our own way, we have no authority to receive and therefore we cannot manifest what we were created to be. To have authority we must be under authority.

The sin of our own way is doing something we weren’t created to do or something out of timing. It is the sin of not being true to who we really are at any given time in life. When we go your own way we are not in the place to receive the authority to be who we are meant to be now. As I presented in the testimony of Lucifer, he left his place of being able to receive the authority for who he was. The result was that he became profane. He became something he was not created to be. Adam did the same thing. He moved out from the spout of life. He became the administrator of good and evil, rather than receive the good that came from the One who is good. It is like a pitcher of water and an empty glass. As long as the glass is positioned under the pitcher, water from the pitcher can be poured into the glass. But if the class places itself at an equal level as the pitcher it is impossible for the glass to receive the water that is in the pitcher. The glass is still a glass, but it cannot be a glass of water. If it was meant to be a glass of water, being a glass of nothing is not what it was meant to be. It has become profane and is not a source of water to the thirsty. To have water the glass must be under water. To have life we must be under life. To have authority we must be under authority. If we remove ourselves from the proper positioning of receiving authority we lose our ability to have authority.

How can we have authority in our lives?  People are living in destruction because of a failure to fulfill the mandate given by God. Man lost the authority to fulfill it. He removed himself from the position of authority in a quest for power. He then became something different that what he was created to be. He became irresponsible with his birthright by seeking to be someone he was not born to be. Remember, we only have authority as who we are. We need the birthright. Who were we created to be?

Let’s look at God’s call to Abram. Abram was called to be “Abraham”, but he was born an “Abram”. Abram’s name meant “father of a nation”, but he was married to Sarai and she was barren (Gen. 11:27-32). He was destined to be the “father of many nations” (Abraham), but he was not even naturally able to be the father of a nation (Abram). His calling didn’t look like it matched his identity. Abram needed a “birthright” to be a father. He needed a “birthright” to be the father of many nations.

Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In this call, did Abram have the destiny to birth Isaac?  Yes, it was in the promise. Did he have the authority to birth Isaac? No, he was still an Abram. Isaac was the seed of Abraham, not Abram. Abram had to become Abraham before he could have the authority to birth Isaac. Abram had to embrace the process of authority in his life.  What was Abram’s authority when he was in Ur of the Chaldees? His authority was to respond to God to make a change in his life. He had to position himself to be able to believe and receive God’s promise. He had to begin a journey of going where he had not gone before. As we look at these verses in Genesis Chapter 12, we see that Abram had begun a journey of following God. God had spoken to him in some way while he was in Hebron (Neh. 9:7). His responsibility at this stage of his journey was to respond to God. He had to leave his old country and follow God. He didn’t have the authority to birth Isaac at this stage of his life; he simply had the authority to be in the process of the journey.

It didn’t matter what Abram was called to be, authority is not what we are called to be. Authority is who we are. Gift or ability doesn’t equal authority. Responsibility is not just the gift to respond, it is also the proper relationship of responding. Abram had to be in a right relationship with God, the one who would empower him to birth Isaac. Authority is received and manifested; it is not merely something we do.

We don’t get our authority from the jobs we do. We do the jobs that we do, because we have the authority to do them. Gift or ability doesn’t equate to authority. Responsibility is not just the gifting to respond. It is also the proper relationship to respond. Authority is received and manifested. If we find ourselves out of order we must simply position ourselves to receive what is supernaturally needed. We must first get out of our country spiritually. Our country is OUR WAY. We have to get out of our way and get into His way to receive the birthright that God intends for us.

The things that we do, do not give us authority. Producing children doesn’t give the authority to produce children. There are many people who grasp for the power of living with the benefits and responsibilities of marriage without paying the price of entering into the covenant of marriage. In their grasp for power children are born. The result is some form of death or dysfunction in their lives and in the innocent lives of their children. God can intervene and give His supernatural grace to make up for any deficiency, but the true authority for being a parent is in the birthright to be a parent. That birthright is found in the covenant of marriage. This is not the civil right of union, but the covenant of marriage that comes by the authority of God who has authored the testimony of a man and a woman made one flesh (Gen. 2:23,24). Without the covenant of marriage there is no birthright to parent children. The power of a sperm and egg in conception can birth a child, but it takes the authority of life to be the father or mother a child needs. Birthing a baby does not give you the birthright to be a parent. It simply demands you get the birthright. The birthright for birthing babies is the covenant of marriage. That covenant of marriage gives access to the masculine and feminine nature of God to be a father or a mother of a child. When someone grasps for the power of having children without the birthright to have them, they must find a redeemed birthright in God to be a parent to that child. I believe that God can give a single mom the ability to have the authority of a father and a mother when she finds a supernatural access to God as the source of being a father and a mother. God can take what the enemy intended for evil and He can turn it for good, but it takes an intervention and redemption of authority is some way.

Stealing money doesn’t give you the authority to have money. An unlocked car with the keys in it doesn’t give you the authority to take the car. Paying the price for the deed of the car gives one the authority to possess the car. The ability to drive and money to put gas in the tank doesn’t give you the authority to possess the car. You might have a driver’s license, but without the deed you are a thief. You don’t want me to perform brain surgery on you! I can hold a scalpel and I have cut things before. I am educated and gifted in ministry, but my unsteady hand, ignorance of medicine, and all around lack of surgical ability disqualifies me from physically touching your brain! I do not possess a legal document that authorizes any ability or confirms any process of training to undertake the task of operating on your head!

We must do the things that we do, because of our authority. We must continually move on. We must get out of our country, our old way. Like Abram, we have a journey to make before we can birth our Isaac. We have to embrace the stages of responsibility in our lives to be found able to fulfill our full destinies. Each stage our life has a different measure of authority.

John 1:12, 13 But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

A manifested son is different than a child or the right to become a child with the potential of becoming a manifested son of God. Believing in Jesus doesn’t give us the authority of a manifested son of God. We have the authority of having the right to become a son of God. We have been born of God to become, we are becoming, and we will fully become who we are in Christ. This was true in the life of Jesus. At the age of 12 His authority was that of being 12. He was found in the Temple as a young man who desired to learn about His Father’s house. At the age of 20 His authority was that of a 20-year-old man working in His stepfather’s carpenter shop. At the age of 30 He had the authority of being a 30-year-old Jewish man asking His true Father for His portion of the family business. He was found at the river Jordon receiving the mantle of His heavenly Father for the ministry of Christ to the world. It is the same in our lives. There is an authority of every age and every stage of our lives. The authority of 12 is 12, 20 is 20, 30 is 30, 60 is 60 and so forth. We can’t go back to a previous time nor can we leap forward to a time that has not yet arrived. We would never give a chain saw to a 5-year-old and think he or she would be safe, the forest would be safe, or other people would be safe. A 5-year-old doesn’t have the authority to handle a chain saw!

We can’t have the blessing of God without first having the birthright. Calling doesn’t give us the blessing, birthright does. We are called to have dominion in life, but in order to regain dominion in our lives we must have the birthright. The first step is to get out of our old condition.

At the time you come to Jesus you are not appointed to good works, but you are called to them. At the time you come to Jesus, you are appointed to come to Jesus. Your calling might be to transform the nations, but you must first be faithful to every appointment in your journey. You are appointed to some good works, but the appointments increase and therefore good works will be the result. When Abram left Hebron his appointment was to walk through the right land. It reads like an exciting story of destiny in Scripture, but the truth is it was filled with a lot of everyday moments. In Genesis, Chapter 12 we see that it begins with Abram leaving Hebron and beginning his journey. As we see the account begin he is 75 years old. In Verse 7 of that same chapter God appears to Abram and tells him that he will give the land that he is walking in to his descendants. What land was he walking in? He had been walking for 365 days in a lot of desert sand behind a lot of camel’s buts! He had been experiencing a lot of the mundane, everyday realities of life. God was confirming to Abram that he was in the right land. It is the same in our lives. Most days look like desert sand and camel buts! Sometimes our place of authority is simply discovered by God simply confirming that we are in the right place. It is part of the testimony of our birthright in life!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Last week I began to address the difference between a grasp for power and standing in our God-given authority in life. When we remain true to what God created us to be we can know the full testimony of authority. We were created to bring life to the world and that life comes through the authority of who we are. When we grasp to be someone we were not created to be we may end up with power, but that power will produce some measure of dysfunction and death. Satan’s plan in the beginning was to take the authority of man by convincing him to make a trade. Just as Lucifer made trades in heaven in his grasp for power, Satan’s strategy with mankind was to convince them to trade their true authority for a power that was not given to them to handle. Let’s look at the fall of man.

Genesis 3:1-6 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;  “but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” And the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Man was made in God’s image and likeness to have dominion over all the earth. That dominion was not to be an act of control or manipulation. It would be the order of things and the expansion of life in all things through the truth of which mankind was created to be. It was a testimony of authority and authority is the ability to release life and to increase life in the earth. Mankind was under the authority of God and therefore they would exhibit the authority of God in all of creation. It was being under the position of God that would give man the ability to be in His image and likeness. Like the pitcher of water and the empty glass, as long as the glass remains under the pitcher it can be filled with the water of the pitcher, but if the glass chooses to be in the position of the pitcher there is no water to receive. What gives man the image and likeness of God is a relationship with Him under His being.

Satan deceived man to desire to be like God, or in God’s position. God will always give us the wisdom and knowledge that we need in order to function in our God given responsibilities.  When we move outside of that boundary, we will not have the wisdom, or the knowledge to deal with the situation. We cannot receive knowledge that is beyond our own business. If we do, it will be just enough that it seems like our business, but we won’t have the authority to produce life.  We will know enough about it that it will seem like it could be our business. It’s impossible for us to be able to handle what has not been given to us by God to handle. Why didn’t God want man to have the knowledge of good and evil? He knew man couldn’t handle it. Man was created to be loved by God! He wasn’t created to be a god unto himself. Lucifer wasn’t created to handle the responsibility of a son of God. He was a covering cherub. The plot for failure of authority is always a scheme to take what we know and take it beyond what we have the ability to know.

Many years ago I was invited to speak at a church that I had never been to before. They had heard of me and asked that I would come in and speak prophetically to the church. I diligently prepared for the time of ministry. God had given me some clear prophetic direction for the church and I felt I was ready for the morning ministry. The church service began with a time of worship. As the worship progressed my thought was that the worship was not what it could be or even should be in my opinion. I began to think in regard to my messages and as to whether I should change my message to one that taught on worship. I began to think of how I could help them and bring some life to their form of worship. As I was contemplating my “spiritual strategy” the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He said, “Look at the set man”. I understood that to be the leader of the ministry. I turned to see the man standing with his hands fully extended to heaven. Tears were streaming his face and he was loving God with all of his heart. God then said to me, “This is not your house”. I learned a huge lesson that morning. I realized if the lead man was in heaven, then the whole congregation could be in heaven. My concern was over style and form, but God already had the greater measure. I was being tempted to cross the line of my God-given responsibly and I needed to mind my own business. The nurse will be tempted to be a doctor. A parent will be tempted to be the parent of someone else’s children. The prophet to one group of people will be tempted to be a prophet to every group of people. Wherever there is ability there is a temptation to go beyond that ability.

The devil wants us to grasp for that which is not ours to have. He wants to tempt us to take rather than receive. He will tempt us to be irresponsible. We can never go beyond the boundaries of our responsibility. A child does not have the responsibility to be the parent. It is a parent’s responsibility to keep them quiet. A three year old is not responsible enough to keep quiet or always follow the boundaries of order. It’s the parent’s responsibility to keep them quiet and within the boundaries of order. We must all be responsible to our God-given areas of responsibility.

Our responsibilities will change, but those changes are given as God gives the increase. When God moves us into new levels of authority we must never forsake the responsibilities of the previous level. We must always prove to be responsible. We must transition our present responsibilities to those called to receive what is being given and we must receive our changing responsibilities from legitimate sources of life. We can’t go to a new level of authority without fulfilling the previous level of authority. God rewards faithfulness, not gift. We may get by with some thing’s because of God’s mercy, but sooner or later it will catch up to us and God will make us a partaker of His grace. God always rewards character, not mere gifting. He won’t give us responsibility where we are not gifted or able to grow in gifting, but he will consider our character and that being a matter of our hearts before Him.

Satan will tempt us to give up our birthright and even be discontent with our birthright. He will attempt to make us not love ourselves as we were created.  The devil will tempt us to not like who we are. This is how he gets us to leave the boundaries of authority in a quest for power. As I have said, he will tempt the nurse to be a doctor; he will tempt the intercessor to be the pastor, or the parents to be the parents of someone else’s kids.

When man chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil it was a grasp for power. He had the authority to eat of every tree of the garden, but one. When he ate that one he crossed the boundary of his God-given responsibility and he lost his true dominion. Man lost his God-given authority in exchange for a place of irresponsibility. His mandate of dominion was lost to the trap of the enemy. Man lost his ability to fulfill the mandate. What was that mandate?

Psalms 8:3-8 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?  For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen–even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.

Genesis1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

The mandate was for man to rule over all of the earthly creation. That rule was to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and to have dominion. When man chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil it was a grasp for power and that grasp for power caused the rule of man to be distorted. The aspects of subduing and dominion became perverted.  Man lost what he had been given by God. Man is still fruitful, multiplies, and even fills, but he lost the ability to subdue and have dominion. His attempts to rule are now filled with the reaction of controlling and manipulating what exists in the earth since there was no longer an ability to bring heaven’s change to the world in which they live. By loosing access to the life source there was no more life source by which he could expand the existing boundaries and bring heaven’s order to earthly realities.

Authority is not based upon our tasks; our tasks are based upon our authority. We were created in Christ Jesus and it from that creation that all of our tasks can come (Eph. 2:10). Our identity doesn’t come from the things we do, the things we do come out of who we were created to be. It is a perverted identity that comes out of a TASK FOCUS. What we do depends upon who we are. Who we are does not depend upon what we do.  Being a pastor doesn’t make me who I am. Who I am allows me to be a pastor. Good works come out of whom we are.

What we do is not who we are. Who we are determines what we do. Works will happen because of who we are. That is what authority is all about. Satan will try to get us to do works, instead of manifest works. That is how he pulls us out of authority and draws us into the quest for power.   The enemy will try to pull us into an area that is close to what we do and who we are. That makes us an expert. As a nurse he will tempt you to be a doctor. As an intercessor he will tempt you to be the pastor. As a wife he will tempt you to be a husband. As a parent he will tempt you to be the parent of someone else’s children. As a child he will tempt you to be the parent. No responsibility is less than another because each responsibility makes up the whole.  We must be faithful to be whom God created us to be. It is the place of our authority in life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

I have presented that power and authority are two different things. Power will be connected to authority, but authority is not always connected to power. When we grasp to be someone we are not we may end up with power, but we will not have true authority. True authority is seen with a testimony of the fruit of inheritance. Authority produces life in others. Authority elevates others to their fullest existence, while mere power will rob from others to elevate a person beyond their measure of life-giving influence. This was the flaw of Lucifer and it is his plan in his fallen state as Satan or the Devil to influence others in a way that deceives them to venture on a quest for power and relinquish their true authority in life. He seeks to tempt people to enter a quest for power and relinquish the truth of who they are meant to be. This is what Satan did with Adam in the beginning. Adam fell for this temptation and his quest for the power of the knowledge of good and evil caused him to forfeit his birthright to the Tree of Life. Jesus was born as a human being to buy that birthright back for all of mankind.

When we grasp for a position that is not ours we may obtain power, but because we have no basis for authority in that position our end will be destruction. Lucifer became something he was not created to be because he grasped for power beyond his measure of life-giving influence. He retained power, but lost his true authority. He is still gifted, but his gifting is now manifested through a self-seeking power of death. Rather than elevate others to their true identity in life he seeks to steel, kill, and destroy them so their life-giving authority cannot reign in life.

We don’t want to just do good things in life. We want to do God things. I heard a story years ago by a great teacher and man of God. He has become a great influence of life in Russia and a great teacher to the body of Christ. He told a story of his early days in ministry. He was the pastor of a church at the time. There was a season where he would see crowns on the heads of people. One day a lady in his church came to him and in the spirit he could see a crown on top of her head. She began to express to him how much she had been praying for him as her pastor. As she professed her diligence to pray for him, the pastor thanked her and he immediately saw the crown vanish from the top of her head. He inquired of God as to why the crown disappeared and God told him that the lady had exchanged her crown in heaven for the earthly affirmation of her pastor. She had exchanged one reward for another. Several situations like this happened in the pastor’s life as God was revealing to him the crowns in people’s lives. The pastor became curious about his own crown and he prayed that he might look in a mirror and see it. When he looked in the mirror he saw nothing and he inquired why God wasn’t showing him his own crown. God responded by saying he hadn’t gotten one yet. The pastor began to think of how he had been laboring in the church and how his efforts as the pastor had caused him much work and effort. He asked God about his crown for pasturing the church and God responded by telling him, “I didn’t ask you to pastor this church”. It was a humbling experience for the pastor but a lessoned learned that it is best to be who God has called you to be rather than simply following the form of others and seek to do good things for God. Doing good things in the name of God can seem harmless, but it is at least missing the greater testimony of living in the full authority of who we are in Christ that lifts others to their fullest testimony of life.

Let’s look at the fall of Lucifer. Ezekiel’s lamentation for the king of Tyre is not just a call to the natural king of a nation, but also a prophetic declaration to the root of a kingdom’s fall. It is a prophetic declaration in the realm of the spirit to the fall of the star of the morning that the Latin refers to as Lucifer. Although the word “Lucifer” is not actually in the Hebrew texts of the Scripture, I believe that the Latin Vulgate’s use of the name “Lucifer” is an accurate description of his original creation. The name “Lucifer” means, “to refract or reflect light”. This is a true testimony of the original creation of this star of the morning.

Ezekiel 28:12-19  “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. “You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever.”

The portal of being is the heart. Discovering and being true to who you really are is found through intimacy with God through your heart. Who you are represents who God is. Abandoning the portal of your heart will make you a doer. This is what happened to Lucifer in his fall. He lifted up his heart and looked through the eyes of self to believe that he was his own source of existance. He became a self-seeker in his motivation and ventured on a quest for power by trading his true identity for something he was not created to be.

This created being was comprised of precious stones, pipes, and timbrels. He didn’t just use these things as his possessions; they were part of the make up of his being. He reflected light in many facets, amplified sound in many notes, and reverberated with rhythm in many vibrations. Visible light, audible sound, and vibration of rhythm are all expressions of light at various frequencies. God is Light and I believe that this created being was a covering cherub to the word (expression) of God in heaven. He was a refractor and a reflector of the word of God in heaven. He was a wonderful creation with an awesome authority. He was perfect in his ways and a close look at the stones in his covering reveals qualities that testify of the attributes shadowed in the tribes and testimony of Israel. Things like praise, knowing, judgment, etc were magnified through the refractions of his covering. The stones of the tribe of Manasseh (forgetfulness), Ephraim (double fruitful) and Benjamin (son of the right hand) were not among the nine stones that Lucifer walked among, however. Those stones reveal aspects of relationship found through intimacy with God. Things like forgiveness, restoration, and inheritance. Things that cannot merely be refracted or reflected but can only be known by sons of God. Things that can only be known through stars (sons) that burn with the light of Christ. Relationship with God made known through mercy and grace was not something that he understood.  It wasn’t in his creation to reflect the qualities of the end of oneself, fruitfulness, and being a son of the right hand. He had authority to be who he was, but he desired to be more than what he was created to be.

Lucifer wasn’t content with who he was. He traded his authority for a quest of power. His iniquity was that he didn’t honor who he was. He lost his authority. He didn’t lose power. He is still full of wisdom because of gifting. Because of his creation, he is full of music. He is full of all that he was created to be, but he has lost the authority to be it. He is left with destructive power. His gifting is now used to justify the existence of himself and his selfish agendas. He is now a devil. A devil strikes the souls of others to destroy their personalities and identities. He seeks to crack the souls of men to tempt them to trade the truth of who they are for the personality of his perversion. A devil of fear strikes the human soul with his personality of fear to tempt them to trade their understanding of love for a lie of fear in their own identity. They trade their trust of love for a personality of fear and they become fearful. Satan lacks the heart of his source of authority and he has lost the life flow of his created destiny of authority and he seeks to cause others to do the same. He dishonored who he was created to be. He still has all the attributes of his magnificence, but it is all perverted. He still has power and gifting. He is still full of wisdom because of gifting, but his wisdom is perverted because he is disconnected from the life source of wisdom. His wisdom is not self-preserving and self-exalting in its focus (Jam. 3:23-28).

Let’s look at another example of his failure. This is found in the words of Isaiah to the king of Babylon. The words are to a natural king but they deal prophetically with the root of that king’s flaw. They deal with the fall of the star of the morning (Lucifer). Again, the word “Lucifer” is not in the original Hebrew text, but I believe that the Latin Vulgate’s inclusion of this word is accurate to the understanding of this created being.

Isaiah 14:12-19 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; (grasped for what was not his) I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ (grasped for what was not his) Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. “Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?’ “All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house; but you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, Like the garment of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse trodden under foot. 

Authority is never about you. It is always about someone else. Authority magnifies whom you represent and elevates those who are under you to their highest potential of identity and purpose. True authority brings dominion and that dominion is a testimony of truth. Lucifer had authority but he lost the authority that he had. Lucifer became a devil. In his perception of wisdom he became Satan. Wisdom is a sense of things for the future, but Lucifer had nothing in his created makeup that gave him knowledge or understanding of what that future meant. He was not full of knowledge or understanding, thus he twisted his understanding of wisdom through a grasp for knowledge and understanding. He became a lie and thus he became the father of lies. His plan was to take what belonged to man and to God. He was left with weapons of the soul and lost the weapons of the Spirit. His quest was one of power and thus he forfeited his true authority.

Authority comes from authority it doesn’t initiate in oneself. Authority is always about someone else. Lucifer lifted up his heart and moved into a realm that was beyond his source of authority. The entrance of authority in your life is your heart and not your head. When you have authority you are not the source of authority, but rather the vessel that contains and manifests authority. You are responsible for something and to someone. Lucifer was able to be responsible as a morning star, but not as a satan or a devil. When he grasped for power beyond his measure of rule he became a lie, a perversion of his original creation. He tried to be someone he was not meant to be. The trap of Satan is to get men to seek to become what they are not. Lucifer ended up with what he grasped for and he was not created to handle it. The result was perversion of truth. Turmoil, fear, intimidation and the like are characteristics not found in what he was created to be. They are the consequences of his failure. These things are now his because he didn’t have the basis to be what he grasped to become.  Authority brings life to others, but a quest for power will end up producing and influence of death in your world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

I have been addressing the topic of authority and how authority is made manifest as the fruit of who we really are. When God created the world He bore fruit from His basis of speaking because He is who He is. The testimony of His reality was seen in the reality of who He really is. The testimony of our authority is also seen in the realities of our lives. The apostle Paul was confirmed to be whom he was through the churches that existed because of his influence. The church of Corinth was a part of the fruit of Paul’s life and a testimony of his God-given authority.

2 Corinthians 3:2,3 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; you are manifestly 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.

The church of Corinth was the evidence of Paul’s authority. They were not only a testimony of the work of the Holy Spirit, but they were a spiritual letter of Paul’s own heart. The church of Corinth was proof of Paul’s apostleship. What was the basis of Paul’s authority? Paul’s authority was that he was light to darkness, and especially to the Gentile world God had sent him to. The writing of a spiritual letter was the evidence of His spiritual authority. Paul had an authority of life for the church of Corinth and what was in Paul’s heart was being made manifest through changed and commissioned lives in Christ.

The Devil can’t argue with who we are, but he can argue with who we are not. He can destroy who we are not, but it is truth that crumbles every lie. He will try to get us to be who we are not in order to defeat us! We must remember that authority and dominion come because you are whom we are. God has the authority to act as God because He is God! We have the authority to be whom God has created and commissioned us to be.

Authority gives out authority. A wife’s authority is connected to her husband, but she will never be her husband. She has the authority to be herself because she is under the authority of her husband. The husband’s authority is to inspire his wife and family members to become all that they are meant to be in Christ.

We must allow who we are to inspire others to be who they are.

Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Mankind was given dominion on planet earth. This was not the male gender of man, but the male and female expressions of mankind together. Their authority came from a partnership with God and with one another. Their authority was that of exousia (GSRN # 1849), they were to each be who they were meant to be. It was not an authority of control or manipulation. It was an authority of life. The masculine and the feminine nature of God would be made manifest through the likeness and image of God in mankind in the earth.

The measure of a man’s authority is the release of his wife! Authority is given to make things more alive. True authority activates, facilitates, and releases others to their fullest measure of life. It is about release and not control. Mankind had authority because they were birthed out of authority. Mankind had a birthright because of who they were and where they came from. Their authority was not because of the task they were given to do. Mankind was given authority to bring life to the world because they were the likeness and the image of the life of God in the earth. This made an anointing for all that was necessary to be available to them for whatever task they faced in life. As long as they remained under the authority of God they could bring the authority of life to the world in all that they did.

If someone doesn’t have authority, they cannot give you authority. I have been termed by many to be a prophet, but I am not a prophet to everyone. I am only a prophet to those that God sends me to for a prophetic purpose. It is not just about my function as a prophet. It is also about my relationship in the body of Christ. If I visit a small group in some other congregation in the city or some other city, my authority is not that of a prophet. It is the authority of invitation to a small group. The only way I can have the authority as a prophet would be to be given that authority by the God-ordained authority of that small group. I see this principle of life violated many times in the administration of the church. All of us can prophesy words of comfort, exhortation, and encouragement. Only some can give prophecies of direction, particularly when it involves governmental impartation and direction.  Direction is reserved for those who are responsible to give direction. I may be anointed to give direction in one place, but only authorized to give comfort, exhortation, and encouragement in another. Anointing to minister is not the prerequisite for ministering. Being responsible is the prerequisite and this is a relationally covenantal thing.

We speak out of our authority. Authority is intimate and relational, not about task and duty. As a prophet I may be able to identify a gift of bookkeeping, but I can’t impart to you a bookkeeping skill. If you have the authority of a bookkeeper you must be under the authority of a source of bookkeeping. It involves a birthright as a bookkeeper, a training process, and the sound of a bookkeeper in the substance of who you are. This all comes from being under authority.

Authority always includes various levels of headship. These are not various levels of control. They are various levels of responsibility. There are heads in every household. Not everyone has the ability to give direction to others. Everyone has the ability to give life to others and must seek to give life wherever they are. We can only give what we have been given to give.

Romans 1:11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established…

The apostle Paul longed to go to the Church of Rome and impart to them a spiritual gift. He longed to go to them and he had a substance that he could give to them because God had sent Him to them. He couldn’t just go anywhere and impart gifts. He could only go where he was relationally responsible. Apostolic gifting is meant to function out of relationship. Responsibility is not merely task oriented, but it is relationally intimate. We are living in a season where many how to do books are being replaced with intimacy books. I think this is relevant to the present maturation of Christ in His body.

It is on the basis of who he was that man had authority in his creation by God. Man was created in the image and likeness of God. Man had the birthright to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and have dominion in the earth based upon who he was. His disconnection with God as his authority life source forfeited him the ability to subdue and have dominion (Gen. 9:1).

Man still has the gifting to take things over, but due to the fall mankind lacks the ability to subdue and have dominion. Adam failed to be intimate with God, thus the birthright was stolen. Authority was to remain intimate with God, but Adam disconnected from God in his grasp for the knowledge of good and evil. He wasn’t functioning in His responsibility and thus he lost his full authority. Man sold his birthright and was left with power, but he lost the authority. Adam failed to be intimate with God!

The mandate and the birthright are still true today. God hasn’t changed His plan.

Jesus came as a last and eternal Adam to restore the authority to subdue and have dominion upon the earth. Our ability to have authority is directly connected to our ability to be intimate with your source of authority. Authority is connected to intimacy. If we fail to be intimate with God and one another we will fail in our ability to live in true authority.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson