Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
I am finding that God is speaking a lot to my spirit in the last few weeks. Though I do believe there are some naturally difficult things to walk through in the coming year, I am finding my heart is stirred in hope as to what God is doing to perhaps even cause things to shake for a positive outcome of life. At the close of 2019 I heard God say that 2020 for me would be a year of faith. I didn’t like that word, because I immediately believed that it would be about not knowing what to do. God quickly spoke to me that the kind of faith needed for 2020 would be a more intimate faith. It would not be a faith to know what to do, but a faith to know God more intimately in my life. It would be about Him resting in my life, more than about me knowing what to do. It would be a year of having to live in the moment and not for the purpose of momentum in what I was doing. This word proved to be hugely true for me and perhaps for us all in a year of unknown direction. If you didn’t find God resting in your life in this past year you no doubt had a difficult time in the moments of 2020. The year of 2020 was not about being stuck in the moments of the year, but about finding God in every moment of the journey. God’s word to me at the beginning of the year proved to be far more true than I could have imagined. It was a challenging year, but I have found God in a fresh new peace.
As we close 2020 I hear God speaking to me about being ‘renewed’. He has told me that this word is connected to trust, but it is not a trust in me. It is a time of God demonstrating how He can be trusted. It is not just because of what He will do in the coming year, but because of what He has been doing for many years. There is a further progression of His plan at work in our lives and living in the moment has not stopped His momentum in our lives. I believe that these words are true for me and for the body of Christ in the nations. On Monday night I was directed to research the word ‘renew’ a little. I found the following in the front of my electronic version of the book of Haggai:
Haggai preaches a fiery series of sermonettes designed to stir up the nation to finish the temple. He calls the builders to renewed courage in the Lord, renewed holiness of life, and renewed faith in God who controls the future.
When I read these words, my spirit was stirred in faith as I heard the builders were ‘renewed’ in courage, holiness of life, and faith in God. I heard in these words that God can be ‘trusted’. As leaders we are called to lead people in becoming the house of God’s manifest presence for His purposes and glory in the earth. We are not called to merely lead people through hard times. We are called to lead them in becoming the body of Christ, the spiritual house of God’s presence in the earth. This is the place of knowing the trust of God.
1 Peter 2:4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
In the shadow of the Law, the rebuilding of the temple had ceased in its construction and the prophets Haggai and Zachariah were called upon to speak the word of the Lord to cause courage, holiness of life, and faith in God to be aroused in the hearts of the builders. The name Zachariah means “memory of the Lord” and the name Haggai means “feast” or “feast of the Lord”. To be renewed in our courage, our holiness of life, and our faith in God we must have Him in our minds and His manifest presence in our lives. I believe that 2021 is going to be a year of putting God in our minds and His presence in our lives to become the place of His dwelling in a greater way. As leaders we must seek the keys of the kingdom of God that will put God in the minds of His people and His presence in their lives as a testimony of the celebration of life. When the words of these two testimonies become the words in the mouths of God’s people, God’s house will be built for such a time as this. The year of 2020 has been a year to know God resting in our lives, but for some it has been a year of isolation, separation, and a place of finding comfort in their own paneled houses. God is calling us to be His house of God’s glory and 2021 is an opportunity to be renewed to be the house of God’s glory.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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