Monthly Archives: November 2024

November 30, 2024 · 2:54 pm

Two Ways to Prove that You Really Love Christ

Then Comes the Abiding

How does the abiding come into us? God promised that He would abide in us after certain conditions were met. It is a conditional promise. We are not talking about doing something to attain salvation. As a child of the King, we already have salvation. But to grow past spiritual childhood, to have the Spirit grow in us and dwell in us—that is conditional. Christ is saying, “If you really love Me, then you can manifest the agape love that I am. But you must prove to Me that you love Me.”

Two Ways to Prove that We Love Christ

At this growth level, Christ is trying our hearts, to see if He can trust us with His deepest secrets. He desires a clean vessel to pour His Spirit into.

Christ is looking for two criteria. Christ explains the first one: “If a man love Me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come into him and make our abode with him (John 14:23). “If a man love Me…” Here is the first condition. The person that loves Christ will “keep His words.   

If we love Christ by keeping His words, then the Father will love us. And the godhead will come and stay and dwell within us. This is the abiding.

The Father Himself has promised to live in us—if we keep Christ’s words! As we have seen before, the word “keep” is translated from the Greek word meaning “to guard, to preserve.” And the word “words” comes from the Greek word logos, which is the plan and purpose of God spelled out from the beginning. We know that Christ is the Logos, the Word “made flesh” that dwelt among us and still does in the Spirit. Christ is the Purpose enacted for us all to see.

We are told to guard, protect, cherish, and preserve His words, the Logos. We are to watch and guard His eternal purpose, which was with God in the beginning. And His purpose is this: God is reproducing Himself. When we guard the Logos, the Father will love us, and God will abide, stay, and remain in us. That is the abiding.

Why isn’t this happening much more often in the world? Because before you can guard and preserve His eternal plan and purpose, you must know what His plan and purpose is. We are talking about “knowledge of the holy.” Those that love Christ will learn of the Logos.

And that brings us to the second way we show Christ that we love Him. You remember the story. The risen Christ has appeared to the disciples on the shores of Galilee. He asks Peter three times, “Do you love Me?” And Peter says “yes” three times. After each “yes,” Christ says, “Feed my lambs…feed my sheep…feed my sheep.” Christ was saying, “If you love Me, you will be feeding my lambs and sheep” (John 21:15-17).

But feed them what? We are to feed them the truth contained in the Logos. And the Logos is the very “mind of Christ.” From His mind comes His thoughts that reveal His plan and purpose. He wants to use us. Consequently, the Father will prune us like a vine, that we may bear more fruit.

Finally, we love Christ by guarding and protecting the truth, which is the Logos. We must cherish His mind, for it contains the boundless expanse of Love for us His people. He is the hidden treasure that is more precious than gold, diamonds and rubies. We love Him when we feed His lambs and sheep the vision found in His magnanimous heart. It is the vision of hope that He may abide and dwell in us forever.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

3 Comments

Filed under abide, agape, body of Christ, children of God, Christ, kingdom of God

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

November 23, 2024 · 10:17 am

Guarding the Logos

As Christians, we have feelings for Christ. We see His love for us, and it touches our hearts. But do we love Him the way He desires us to? Let us learn from the Master Teacher how to love Him more deeply.

Christ said, “If a man love Me, he will keep my words” (John 14:23). Let’s dive a bit deeper. Let’s focus on the words “keep” and “words.”

“Keep” is translated from the Greek word that means “to guard from attacks.” The word “words” is translated from the word logos. This is the same “logos” used in the famous verse of John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Logos…and the Logos was God.” The logos is the mind of Christ. It is His thoughts and words of His purpose and plan.

Therefore, Christ is saying, If a man loves Me, he will guard the logos; he will guard the Word, the mind of Christ, from any assaults from the enemy. He will stand guard against any attack on His thoughts and His mind. Guarding the logos means not allowing the enemy to sully His purpose and plan.

Starting with Our Own Minds

And it starts with us. First, we must start by guarding our own minds from the attacks of the devil. This entails putting on the “whole armor of God.” We, with the Spirit’s help, must start “casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (II Cor. 10:5). This is guarding the Logos.

Since we are to have the same mind of Christ, we are to guard His thoughts that are developing within our own mind. We do this through purging and pruning away old false concepts about Him. We then begin to share the truth by the Holy Spirit. This truth is found in His thoughts concerning His kingdom.

The mind of Christ is the Logos. It is the whole plan and purpose of God. We are to guard this truth, this Logos, in our own minds and then protect it as we grow spiritually for His sake. He said, “If a man loves Me, he will keep [guard] my words [logos]…” He is saying, The person who loves Me will watch, guard and protect the Logos. He will stand watch and guard the mind of Christ. By this, we show Him our belief and dedication to His cause. This is us abiding in Him.

When we guard the Logos, then something wonderful happens. Christ says, “And My Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him” (Jn 14:23). This is God abiding in us.

First, it is us abiding in Him. This opens the door to Him abiding in us. Again, this glorious presence happens when Christ sees us guarding His logos, when He sees us “keep His words.”     

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[If you have read this article to the end, you must like the content. Please hit the like button; I’d like to know how many have read these words of truth. Yes, the Spirit is taking us into deeper living water. He did say that the Spirit of truth “will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). This essay will soon become a chapter in the new book that we are working on, called The Abiding. I hope you enjoyed the preview. Meanwhile, get all crazy and make a comment or send me an email. Tell me what you think about it. Ask a question. Start a dialogue. I would love to know better the “few there be to find” life (Mat. 7:14).]

4 Comments

Filed under abide, armour of God, belief, Christ, eternal life, eternal purpose, glorification, God's desire, immortality, kingdom of God, Spirit of God, spiritual growth, truth, Word

Tagged as , , , , , ,

November 20, 2024 · 1:56 pm

How He Rids Sin from Our Lives

[An excerpt from the “Introduction” of the book The Unveiling of the Sons of God]

Our old sinful nature must die with Christ, our sin sacrifice, on the cross with Him. How do we get rid of the old heart that breaks the Ten Commandments? How does God eradicate sin in our lives? 

For the answer to the sin problem is the knowledge that we have everything we need to completely overcome it in Him. He is the head of all powers in heaven and in earth. He has power over evil spirits and wicked intents. He is totally in control of Satan, who is the prince and power of the air. Satan could only do what God allowed him to do in the first chapter of the book of Job. When His Spirit lives within us, then we have everything needed to completely overcome sin in our life. And you are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.  Colossians 2:10.

He conquers sin in us when we just believe by faith that He has taken out our old hearts and given us new hearts.  When we believe the word of His apostle that He has performed a spiritual operation on us, we are delivered from sin. For through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, God has performed an invisible spiritual operation on our old carnal heart and has gotten rid of our old sinful nature thereby.  The operation is a spiritual circumcision. “Circumcision” means “cutting all the way around.” First, He cuts our old sinful heart out, all the way around. Then we are buried with Him in the baptism into His death. In God’s eyes, He buries you with Christ, interring our old carnal nature with the sacrificial Lamb. Then, we believe that we are raised up with Him to walk in a brand-new life with His Spirit as our life within.

This is all by faith. We cannot see Christ literally dying and being buried, and we cannot see our old carnal, sinful self die, either.  We must simply believe having not seen these things, receiving this truth by faith.  When we do this, God looks on us with approval, for faith pleases God. “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you…hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:11-13).

Belief in the Resurrection is the Key

Our victory hinges on our faith in the resurrection of the Savior—not just that the resurrection historically happened, but that along with Him, we were raised up from the dead as well. Then we can believe that we, too, can “walk in a newness of life.”  We can then believe in His resurrection in us! His resurrection is our resurrection, for it is now Him living in us. All we have to do is believe it.

Our belief in this truth puts us right with God. He looks down on us and says, “Well done,” and then He imputes our belief as righteousness onto our account with Him. He “reckons” us as righteous. He counts us righteous in His sight, apart from our clamoring around trying to keep the law. Only Christ can keep the law. Therefore, when we believe that it is Him living in us, we then in God’s eyes are right with Him.  We believe having not seen with our eyes, and this pleases God.

We can never please Him by trying to clean up our old carnal nature and thereby trying to keep the ten commandments on our own strength. This does not please Him, for it cuts Him out of the action and does not acknowledge Him for our deliverance. It is an attempt to clean up our lives without Him and His way of doing it. After realizing that we cannot keep the law successfully, we must confess our sins and surrender to our own deaths.  We must put our old lives on the cross with Christ.

We then believe in God’s word when He says He will give us a “newness of life” where old things are passed away and where all things are become new.  How can we fulfill that if we are still a slave to sin and sinning? This newness of life comes as we believe that it is in us. All we have to do is believe what has already been done by Him for us.  We cannot “do” anything for this new life. It is a gift from Him. We can do nothing for this new life, except believe in what Christ has done for us, and now in us.

For the culminating spiritual feat of Christ is Him coming down into our inner being, giving us a new heart, a new spirit. This is what God wants for us—a new life. But it won’t come by us working for it. It will not come as a reward but as an undeserved gift. All of our striving here on earth to “do this” and “don’t do that” in order to please Him will never work. For the deeds of the old-natured man cannot please Him. It is our walk of faith as Christ in us doing this or that—that is what pleases God. We must die to bring the life of Christ to life within us. This is what God looks down on and is pleased. In His eyes, this is what really counts.

And yet, this is only the beginning. This right state with Him is just the first step on the road to completeness in Him—on the road to full spiritual maturity, which is the perfection that Christ spoke about.

Since we are now risen with Him, we are in a position to seek those things that are above.  If we listen carefully, we just may be able to hear Him say, Come, let me show you a more perfect way… [Send for my book, The Unveiling of the Sons of God. It is free with free shipping. Just send your name, mailing address and the name of the book to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com] Kenneth Wayne Hancock

4 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

November 10, 2024 · 7:37 am

Tired of Playing Church? Hungry to Go Deeper into His Word?

Introduction to the Book The Unveiling of the Sons of God

The thoughts expressed in this book explore the deep things of God—things that can only be spiritually discerned. These things pertain to our perfection and how we get to that perfected state.  These deep things of God explore what He desires to do with us, His sons and daughters, after He takes us to where he wants us to be.  And all of this will be done right here on earth.

This book has been written as a tool for the future manifested sons and daughters of God. Its subject matter is of a mature spiritual nature. It is not for children who are “tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.” This book is for those who have been called to partake of the strong meat of the word.  It is for those who are tired of “playing church” and want the real plan of God operating in their lives.

The inspired author of the book of Hebrews had much to say concerning perfection, but it was difficult to teach his readers, for they were “dull of hearing” and “slow to learn.” What he had to say was not what they thought in their own wisdom to be true. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food…Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God…Hebrews 5:12; 6:1. NKJV.

And so it is today. If the first principles of Christ’s teachings are not solid as a rock in a person’s life, the deeper things will not be understood by them. The foundation of any house must be solid, built upon the Rock.

This book is for those who have a solid foundation in the first principles of Christ’s teachings: repentance from dead works and faith toward God. It is for those who are “going on unto perfection.”

I can already hear the cries coming forth. Perfection? Did you say perfection? Wait a minute. You are talking about perfection, and I am still grappling with sin in my life? No way. No one can be perfect.

A typical response, and yet, the Savior Himself told us to “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” The apostle Paul says that God’s gifts to us were the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And they are for the “perfecting of the saints…till we all come…unto a perfect man…and no more children, tossed to and fro” (Ephesians 4:11-14).

Many sincere Christians earnestly desire to walk with their Master like this, yet they cannot even think about their own perfection while still grappling with the sin question in their lives. They will justify their circling Mt. Sinai by saying, “Nobody can be perfect. You can’t be like Jesus!” To which I will reply, “Okay, but will you let me be like Paul or Peter or John?” They are the ones that taught us that we are to go on to perfection and not be children anymore in the word.

Yet, many questions abound in many hearts concerning sin. What is sin? What do we do about it in our lives? Can we overcome it in our lives? Is it possible to have the victory over sin while still here on earth? How do these questions relate to “repentance from dead works and faith toward God”? [Introduction to be continued]    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{Order your copy of The Unveiling of the Sons of God. It is free with free shipping. Just send your name, mailing address, and the name of the book to my email: wayneman5@hotmail. Some put $20 in the offering tray; I write and send my books to my brothers and sisters. This is my offering. We must remember: Christ took money off the table…Take a moment and order your copy today.}

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , ,