Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
God’s will in our lives will not only bring life to us, it will bring life to others through our lives. We are to be salt and light to the community in which we dwell. Just as the kingdom of God is within us, we are within the community of our world. What is within us will transform our lives. What comes out of us will transform our city. The kingdom of God is within our hearts by the presence of the Holy Spirit abiding within. It is through a joining of our spirits to the Holy Spirit that we find righteousness, peace, and joy. It is a righteousness in the Holy Spirit, a peace in the Holy Spirit, and a joy in the Holy Spirit. That righteousness is a right relationship with God in our hearts that causes our spirit to find the love and life of God from within. Our peace is to be one with God even to the springing up of our own spirits to flood our own souls with the breath of Christ. We are increasingly transformed from within with the fruit and power of the Holy Spirit. The life-giving power of the Holy Spirit’s joining to our spirits floods our thoughts, reasoning, emotions, desires, and imaginations from within. Our souls become inspired by heaven’s thoughts from within. This then motivates the external actions of our lives. The joy that we embrace is an internal partnership with God in all things that can be expressed in external ways. Our lives become expressions of a partnership with God in all things. It is stronger than mere personal happiness. It is the power of a God-ordained purpose in life. When we embrace the internal kingdom of God in our hearts, the expressions of our external kingdoms become Christ inspired, Christ empowered, and Christ envisioned in all things. It is by this that we can be a life-giving influence to the world in which we live. We can be a life-giving influence in the measure and boundary given to us by God for His glory.
Colossians 4:2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; 3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. 5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
True prayer is an intimate connection with God in our hearts that is revealed through the thoughts, reasonings, desires, emotions, and imaginations of our souls. This is then expressed in physical form through our lives to the atmosphere around us. Prayer is not just a set time in our day, it is a way of life for us to walk in. It is a face-to-face relationship with God at all times. We come before Him, but He also abides in us and we abide in Him. It is only through this kind of relationship with God that our speech can be empowered by grace. God’s grace is the manifest presence of His Holy Spirit working in and through our lives. This is the preserving power to the world around us. This is the salt of God’s covenant. It is the salt of His New Covenant life. It is the testimony of being part of the family tree of life and no longer bound to the curse of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If we embrace the family tree of the knowledge of good and evil in a time of life, we cannot be the salt and light that is needed to influence the community in which we life.
Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
When Jesus spoke these words, He was speaking to the people of the Old Covenant in a time of transition. The kingdom of God was at hand and those holding on to an administration of law in a day of grace would not be able to be the salt and light that all men are called to be a part of. As leaders, we must embrace and lead others into the path of embracing God’s grace to be the salt and light of God to our world. It is only by Christ in us that we can be the influence of the kingdom of God to the communities of the world in which we live. It is only by God’s life within us that we can bring life to our world. Everything that comes out of us must be life-giving to give life to our world. We must be life-giving to our world, even as Jesus was life-giving to the world around Him when He set our example as a man inspired by the Holy Spirit within Him.
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
Thanks to all who support House of Bread Ministry in our commission of reaching the nations and the generations with New Covenant Life and Grace. Your prayers and your financial donations are very much appreciated.
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House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225
