Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
God has determined that we are in a season of new fruit. It is not a season where thorns and thistles will prevail, but the true fruit of God’s life will be seen in a new measure. As leaders, we must see the fruit of life as the focus, the purpose, and the destiny of our service. We are leading others into the reality of becoming life to the nations and to the generations of men for the glory of our Father in heaven. What the enemy has intended for evil, God will surely turn for good. We must embrace God’s plan for the day and not be distracted by the darkness that the world calls light. We are living in a day of the Spirit of Knowing, an intimacy knowledge – not an informing knowledge. Things that are not true life are being exposed, those things exposed are meant to be vanquished by the healing power of God to our hearts and minds. This is not a time to be distracted by things that poke the flesh. God wants us to know the revelation of true knowledge – a knowledge of love. The oppose of true knowledge is the knowledge of good and the knowledge of evil. It is a knowledge by which we make judgments and categorize others based upon our own understandings and perceptions of right and wrong. This kind of knowledge makes the breaking of bread, the sharing of our lives with and for the sake of others, a chore. It is part of the sixth curse of futility that came at the fall of man.
Genesis 3:19a In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground…
The sweat of our face is the challenge imposed upon our minds when we make judgments according to our understanding and perceptions of right and wrong. The only thing that can break this curse of futility is to be a son of God who is led by the Spirit of Knowing. Jesus manifested as a true Son when He stood upon an iron nail of the knowledge of good and evil. Jesus shed blood from His feet when He judged us with an eternal judgment of mercy while standing upon that iron nail of right and wrong. Love proved to be more powerful than a justice system of right and wrong. He understood that people of mere conscience or law cannot truly comprehend the love of God, therefore He released us from the judgment of law by the power of His mercy. His act of love invites us all to be freed from everything that separates us from God and one another. Holy Spirit reveals our true part in the community of Christ by the Spirit of Knowing – a knowledge of intimacy and love in the communion of Christ.
The thorns and thistles are the bitter things that spring up from the bitter places of our hearts. They are the testimony of wicked works that grow in the soil of death. Only the resurrection life of Christ can lead us to the eternal judgment of mercy and life for all who believe. Thorns and thistles only empower division, disunity, dysfunction, disconnection, and death. Only the knowledge of God can bring healing and it bears the fruit of true unity, function, connection, and life. The weapons of the enemy are weapons of death and they seek to attack life, but God’s life is resurrection life. It is eternal life. Death can never prevail against the life of God! God’s life is a testimony of love and it is stronger than the grave!
Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Fruit gives life, it doesn’t destroy. Fruit doesn’t provoke the flesh; it brings health to the body. We must know and remember that we are part of the family tree of life in order to bring life to our world. It is the fruit that will reveal who we really are. People of God bring life to their world.
We cannot be distracted by people, circumstances, or things that try to provoke our flesh. Deceptions, lies, and weapons of death cannot destroy the eternal life of Christ that resides within us individually and corporately as the body of Christ. We must not be confused; we will face opposition for walking in a right relationship with God, but the true testimony of our lives will be seen in what we bring to our world because of our lives. True wisdom is always proved through what that wisdom produces in our world because of us.
Matthew 11:18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”
To be the people of God we must stand in love. Don’t be deceived or distracted by flattering words that don’t offer the substance of life. This is not merely a time to be loved, but to love for the sake of being the family of God.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
