Category Archives: calling of God

God’s Will Is His Harvest: The Call of the Reapers

Introduction: Aligning with the Father’s Desire
Christ’s spiritual sustenance—His source of strength—is found in doing the will of the Father (John 4:34). This divine will, His ultimate desire, is centered on one crucial purpose: the harvest of souls. He calls us to partake in this sacred labor, drawing from the spiritual seeds sown throughout history.

We, His chosen laborers, are not the first to work the fields—we stand upon the work of the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. They faithfully scattered Yahweh’s seed, looking toward a promise they would not live to see fulfilled. Now, at the time of the harvest, Christ sends reapers to complete the task. What does it mean to answer that call?

The Father’s Desire: The Time of the Harvest

Christ unveils the essence of the Father’s will—to ensure the final harvest takes place. “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest” (John 4:35). The process of sowing and reaping, spoken of throughout scripture, reveals a spiritual truth: each generation lays the foundation for the next.

  • The patriarchs and prophets sowed truth, awaiting the promised redemption.
  • The apostles laid the groundwork, ushering in the New Covenant.

  We stand today as reapers, called to gather the final harvest of souls.

Christ clarifies that reaping is not separate from sowing, but rather a continuation of divine labor. “One sows and another reaps” (John 4:37). Each era has its appointed role. The saints of old, though faithful, did not see the full fruit of their labor. They await a final group—God’s elect, chosen to bring in the harvest of the last days.

End-Time Reapers: A Special Calling

A remarkable aspect of Christ’s teaching is that the Father has already chosen His reapers—those He will guide, protect, and empower. “And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those He has given me, but raise them up at the last day” (John 6:39-40).

This calling is not random nor based on personal merit—it is an appointment of divine purpose.

  • Reapers are sent by Christ Himself (“I sent you to reap what you have not worked for” – John 4:38).
  • They labor in a darkened world, shining forth as sons and daughters of God.
  • They walk under divine protection, just as the faithful before them were spared from destruction.

Recognizing this calling brings clarity to our prayers. Many ask, What is God’s will for my life?—yet Christ has already answered: Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send more laborers into the fields (Matthew 9:38). This is the heartbeat of Christ’s mission—the urgency behind His ministry.

Answering the Call: The Responsibility of the Chosen

If God has chosen us, then our duty is clear. He has equipped His reapers to walk alongside Him, sharing in His compassionate mission to bring souls into His Kingdom. This is not merely knowledge—it is action.

  • Are we willing to step into the labor set before us?
  • Will we align our prayers with Christ’s own request—that more workers be raised up?
  • Will we allow God to shape us into faithful reapers, prepared for the final harvest?

We now understand His will. The question remains—how will we respond?

Conclusion: A Prayer for Laborers
Now that we know exactly what His will is, we can confidently communicate with Him about His harvest. If we desire answered prayers, we must align with His purpose.

“If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” (1 John 5:14) Lord, raise up Your laborers. Let none be lost. Strengthen the reapers for the fields ahead. May we walk in Your desire, fulfilling Your work, as faithful servants in the greatest harvest of all time.

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Sitting on Christ’s Throne–The Second Conditional Promise

The first conditional promise brings on the abiding of God within us, with the power that Christ and his apostles had. This enables us to receive the second promise: to rule with Him in His soon-coming Kingdom.

When conditions are met, the second promise takes us to the throne of God. Not to just view it, which would be enough for me, to just see Christ in His glory. But to be invited to sit on Christ’s throne! Next to Him! He has promised us to be seated as a monarch with living authority, working with the King Himself! He has promised us a seat on His throne upon His return to earth. He sees us as benevolent viceroys, a “royal priesthood,” (I Peter 2:9).

This is what Christ is offering to His elect—if the conditions are met. He has promised this royal seat with Him if we meet the conditions. But do we, the ones He has chosen, believe this? Very few, if any, speak about it. With this conditional promise, He has forced us to make a choice—to dwell in the 3-D world as little vulnerable babies in Christ or walk down the royal road to immortality, just like the apostles and prophets did.  

So, what are the conditions for receiving the second promise?

The body of Christ in this last church age of Laodicea has got some repenting to do. Sitting with Christ on His throne is promised to those who overcome. They must overcome being lukewarm (Rev. 3:15-16). They act like they don’t need God’s plan and purpose.      

Here are Christ’s words: “You are neither cold nor hot…because you are lukewarm…I will spue you out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:15-16). These are self-proclaimed Christians He is talking to.

Christ does not like His followers lukewarm. And what makes them lukewarm? Christ explains: “Because you say, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” We as a nation have become fat. Both spiritual pride and materialism permeate everything in this last age of the church. “The deceitfulness of riches” deceives the church into thinking that they do not need God’s deeper walk.  

Christ will tell us what to overcome, and how to do it. “So, I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also, buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see” (Rev. 3:18 NLT). He is the only One who sells these spiritual commodities. The world does not have them. They are selling a different gospel.

God’s Rebuke

To do these things, one must endure His rebuke and chastening. We must be “zealous and repent.” Repent from what exactly in this context? We must repent from laissez-faire lukewarmness of desiring the earthly things and turn to the spiritual by buying from Christ the gold, the white raiment, and the eye salve. “Gold” is faith purified by trials; “white raiment” is the righteousness of the cleansed ones; the eye salve is the unction of truth so that we may see into His heavenly spiritual dimension, where everything is possible. The elect will study these out. [See Gold Tried in the Fire–Overcomers and the Time of the End | Immortality Road.]

The Promise: To sit on the throne with Christ! Many are called to this honor of becoming a son or daughter, manifested in power and glory as Christ is. Sadly, few will answer the call.

The Conditions: Repent of lukewarmness. Buy from Christ the spiritual gold, white raiment, and eye salve. It is called “buying the truth with sacrifice.” And it starts with study and prayer. The hungry will get on fire to learn of Him and make the spiritual changes He desires for us. Lukewarmness will evaporate in His fire. To sit on Christ’s throne with Him is a stupendous future that He has promised us. We can meet the conditions. We must meet them—for His sake and the Kingdom’s sake.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Two Promises from God—Conditional, but Powerful (Part 1)

Christ made two great promises. But they are conditional. If the condition is met, then we are catapulted into the 60-fold and 100-fold spiritual growth (Matt. 13:3-23). This is the growth that Christ and His apostles walked in. Yes, this is the ticket for entry into His inner circle, the Round Table, if you will. {Please take a moment and hit the “Subscribe” button.}

Some of you may not believe me about being like Christ and attaining Christlike growth. Yet it was the King Himself who said, “He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do because I go to the Father” (John 14:12). What “greater works”? The miracles! This is the spiritual growth that the early apostles had: The power to raise the dead and heal the impossibly and terribly sick.

[This is what you have prayed and asked God for. You’ve asked Him for a great move, that He would fill you with His Holy Spirit, that His church would awaken. He is showing us how He is doing it. He is coming back for “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). To be ready for His coming, we must stand faultless, cleansed of all spiritual spots and moral blemishes. We must be holy and worthy to be immersed into the Holy Ghost and fire (Acts 2:1-4).

The First “If…”

Christ said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto 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!

This is a powerful promise. The Father Himself has promised to live in us—if we keep Christ’s words! We want this relationship, to have the Father living in us and doing His works (Acts 2:33).

So, how do we “keep Christ’s words”? As we have seen before, the word “keep” is translated from the Greek word meaning “to guard, to preserve, to protect.” 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. [For more on this, see links at the end of this article.]

A Higher Love

Someone will say, “The Father already loves us.” Yes, He does. But now He is talking about a higher love. The depth of this love for us comes after we love Christ by keeping His words.

For, you see, the Father loves us in our spiritual infancy. But the Father’s love for us in this context is a deeper kind of love. It is like in the natural world. Our love for an infant is on a certain beginning level. Our love for a baby is not based on the same criteria as for a mature human being walking in the Spirit, making their “calling and election sure.”

The Father’s love for us as seen in John 14:23 is deeper, based on our hunger for His knowledge and our performance of His desires. God’s love at this stage of growth is a profound appreciation of our walk of faith, trusting Him, even though the trials are daunting. We are spiritually talking about young men and women in spiritual growth.

John wrote to “young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one” (I John 2:14). John is not writing to a “babe in Christ.” He is writing to the spiritually strong, to those with the word of God dwelling in them, having overcome Satan’s tricky ploys. This is 60-fold fruit bearing. They know God’s plan and purpose of reproducing Himself in a body of sons and daughters. They are strong with the Spirit abiding in them. They have overcome the devil.

The trouble is this: Most children of God want to remain spiritual baby Christians. They are content to bask in the Father’s love. They are mostly alive for what they can receive from the Father. But He wants them to grow in wisdom and understanding that they might learn how to love Him like He loves them. But most really don’t want to grow; they want to be happy and not face any trials and problems. God sees this as being “lukewarm.”

To show that we love Him more deeply, He tells us 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 in us. When we guard the Logos, the Father will love us, and God will feel welcome to abide, stay, and remain in us. This process brings 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 (November | 2024 | Immortality Road; Guarding the Logos | Immortality Road).

God loves those who guard, cherish, and protect the logos, the mind of Christ. He promised that He would dwell and abide in us! A wonderful promise!     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[For more: “Love Makes Known the Plan of God” | Immortality Road; abide | Immortality Road ]

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…With Me from the Beginning

(from journal entry, 12-8-21)

It was early morning, and I was still in bed. I opened my eyes, and the first thought that crystalized out of the foggy dream mind was – “The Beginning.” The “beginning?” Why was I thinking that? Then another thought came that answered the question: “… with Me from the beginning.” With ME. I was with Christ. I knew that it was the Spirit speaking to me through thoughts. I began then to ponder these cryptic words. What did the Spirit mean?

So, I looked the word “beginning” up in the Greek. The “beginning” comes from the word arche, #G746 in Strong’s. It means “the origin, the active cause, used absolutely of the beginning of all things.”

Christ said, “I am the beginning and the end.” Christ is the “active cause.” He is our origin (Revelation 1:8-11,17-18). “In the beginning was the Word.” Christ is the beginning. Therefore, in Christ was the Word. Word = Logos [the purpose and plan of God]. Christ is the “active cause” in the creation of heaven and earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3).

Our Savior, the “Word made flesh,” came to earth to bear witness to the truth, that He is the truth. And we, too, are to bear witness to the truth because we were with Him in the beginning. Christ said, “And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:27). This is not speaking of the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry. The Greek word arche is used for the beginning of all things. It is used as such in this verse: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1).

 We are a part of the record in heaven of the things that will occur on earth. We were with him in the beginning. He knew us before because He created us as a member of His body in heaven before the earth was formed. Then He dipped us into the earth as we slid out of the matrix of our mothers’ wombs, and then we were cast out into the sea of lost mankind.

We, who had once basked in the glorious light of our Father in heaven, were now left to grow up, barely afloat in the treacherous rip tides of sin. Sin was our task master, and we obeyed his desires. The bondage to sin weighed heavily to the point of us drowning, and then we cried out in anguish and disillusionment, and then a hand reached down, a strong hand of love, and He pulled us up out of the quagmire.

He cleaned us up at the cross. He allowed us to identify our sinful selves with the Lamb, the sin sacrifice, and we died with Him. With the death of our old man, we believe that we are now buried with Him and raised with Him, now to walk in a “newness of life.” We now know and believe that “he that is dead is freed from sin.” We now spiritually step out on the water and walk in the Spirit (Rom. 6:1-11).

And then our earthly past died, and we began to grow as a seedling, tasting its first rays of light. Through study and communication with the Spirit, we grew and grew until He showed us that we had a special calling to fulfill, a special job to do. We are to share the love that saved us, by telling others the story of deliverance through His great love.

As we grow, we become a part of the witness in the earth of the record in heaven. God already knew that we would respond to His voice. He knew us and knew what we were made of. He made us, before the things we can see with our earthly eyes were made. For we were with Him in the beginning. And He has chosen us and given us a destiny way back there at the “Beginning.”

“…God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30). Yahweh predestined us, not to just be saved, but to be “conformed to the image of his Son.” At Christ’s return to earth, He will change our weak, earthly body, “that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21).

We are talking about being like Christ and His apostles! Nothing less. But before this greatest of honors is bestowed upon us, we must “arm ourselves with the same mind.” We must know and do the apostles’ doctrine and add to our faith seven spiritual attributes of Christ.

We have so much knowledge to receive. Knowing His mind will finally drive out every thought that is contrary to His purpose and plan. The mind is the battlefield where we conquer the enemy’s errant desires for us. Amid the battle, it is easy to forget that we have already won, for “we are more than conquerors through Christ.” In Him lies our power, strength, and will.

O, let us shower Him with thanks for granting us the exit visa at the cross. Repentance from sin comes when we realize that we “are dead and our life is hid with Christ…” We are a part of His body now, unencumbered by that spiritually corrupt old life. We now believe that we are a part of Christ, and the Father’s heart of love dwells within us. All this happens because He mercifully allowed us to be with Him in the beginning.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Enter Through the Narrow Gate

How do you and I enter the spiritual dimension that Moses, Elijah, Peter, John, and Paul walked in? Being freed from sin and being born from above is peeking into this dimension, but walking in it is a much more powerful glory. They performed the impossible with God’s help. And yet, they were human beings like you and me. They walked and talked on this earth as you and I do. Yet, they entered the Dimension of Miracles, where “all things are possible.”

I do not speak of every day small miracles of life on this planet—the complex, intricate beauty of a butterfly, the perfect mix of atmospheric gases that we breathe, a Big Sur sunset, a baby’s smile. Those are beautiful things, but I speak of God’s spiritual dimension, with its stupendous, dumbfoundingly impossible miracles like raising the dead and healing cerebral palsy and leprosy—the kinds of miracles that tax incredulous eyes.

Again, how do we enter this realm? We enter it through the “narrow gate.” To get through it, we must repent of false teachings about Christ.  And then as we incorporate the seven additions to the faith, “an entrance shall be ministered unto [us] abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior…” (2 Peter 1:11). Christ has promised us that by adding the seven attributes of His divine nature, we walk through the entrance into the spiritual dimension, the dimension of miracles that is called the Kingdom of God.

The Narrow Gate

How do we enter the spiritual realm that Moses, Elijah, and Peter and John walked in?   Christ said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it” (Matt. 7:13). “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13-4). “Few,” not many.

The Narrow Gate does not allow for baggage. There is just enough room for a Christian to barely squeeze in. “Baggage” is a symbol of the false doctrines that are stored throughout the old life and the false teachings about Christ attained after we first come to Him.

Take Moses for example. He lost everything. He was raised in the courts of Pharaoh as an Egyptian prince. He was educated in the pagan religion of Egypt. But God was calling him to “a better country,” a heavenly country (Heb. 11:16). But to get into the Dimension of Miracles he would have to totally lose his old life and position. Banished from Egypt, he went from a prince to a peasant in the desert, herding sheep and goats for forty years. He was learning to wait on Yahweh. He waited forty years and purged out the old false doctrines while learning of God’s ways. Then in his 80th year, Yahweh appeared to him in the burning bush. There he received his marching orders to fulfill his heavenly calling.

During those forty years in the desert, Moses had to get rid of old concepts about God. He had to repent and turn from the wisdom of the world and the religions of the world. He had to repent of anything that was in error concerning God’s plan [The book of Jasher].

Moses was entering God’s miraculous dimension through a process of repentance and faith toward God. Moses was entering by the narrow gate. It was difficult. Moses was one of the few to find it. He grew spiritually into a vessel that God could use to free and to lead His people.

Strive to Enter

But it took toughness. Christ commands us: “Strive to enter in at the narrow gate.” To strive is to struggle and fight to enter the Kingdom [the Dimension of the Spirit]. It’s not easy. Just ask Moses or any of the prophets and apostles. They were rejected by the world as their concepts of God were purified.

We also must struggle, “For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able.” At the last moment, many will be trying to get through the narrow gate, but they won’t be able to. Time has run out because the master of the house has closed the door. They will knock, but He will not open the door, the narrow gate. He will say, I don’t know who you are, and then they will say, “We’ve eaten and drunk in your presence and you’ve taught in our streets.” And we have taught in your name. But the master will say, I don’t know you. “Depart from Me all you workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out” (Luke 13:24-28). That will be a sad day.

To approach the narrow gate, we must repent of false teachings and false doctrines. Then by adding the seven additions to the faith—by faith—we will enter through the narrow gate.  Then He will bid us to come and learn of Him.

When we add these seven attributes to our faith, “an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom” (II Pet. 1:11). God will teach us His way into the full orbed shekinah glory of His very presence within us. Hallelujah! Praise Yah!

Kenneth Wayne Hancock  [Order your free copy of one of my books with free shipping: Ordering My Free Books in Paperback | Immortality Road (wordpress.com)

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When God First Touched You

Perhaps it was a dream, slumber’s nectar of knowledge, when you first realized that God was real. You knew that experience had to be from Him and not from your then paltry spiritual pantry. For at that time, you were empty and vacant with little sustenance to call upon.

And then He touched your aching heart in His own way, a touch created just for you in your then present state. And you’ve longed for that special moment in time that it might return, when He floods your corners of doubt with the brilliant light of that original epiphany.

Yes, you want that back. You have been waiting. But it has been years now since that first contact. And you get to wondering: “I’ve been waiting for Him to contact me again.”

Perhaps the ball is in our court, and it is time for us to return His serve. We are to “come before His presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise to Him with psalms.”

Maybe it is time for us to make contact and show Him our gratitude for Him reaching out to us in dreams, visions, revelations, and epiphanies.

What was your experience when God first touched you, when you knew He was real? Please share it in the comments. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Filed under calling of God, children of God, God's desire, prayer, thankfulness

Who Are the Future Manifested Sons and Daughters?

The Holy Scriptures speak of a group of Christians who will grow to become like the early apostles. Paul, John, and Peter wrote eloquently about them.

But who are these future immortal ones? The time in history is right for them to appear on the scene; it is the time of the end. Most Christians have read that “He is bringing many sons unto glory” (Hebrews 2:10). And they have read that He has given us power “to become the sons of God” (John 1:12). But most say that we cannot be like Paul, Peter and John. Who are the few who do believe, who are grown from the same seed as the apostles?

One major trait that they all have is an unsatiable appetite for the truth. They want the absolute, unadulterated truth as to why we are here on earth. Who is this Creator? What is His plan for us? What’s the timetable for coming events? What about the evil in the earth? Who inhabits Satan’s kingdom? Who is calling the shots, running the show, pulling the strings of the puppet politicians? How will the world end?

They want to know the truth about the things that touch all our lives. And when they hear it,    they are quick to lay the idols of their own prior understanding on the burn pile.

You can tell who they are by their ability to discern what is truth and what is a lie. God has given them this ability, and that is what sets them apart. That is what makes them different from other human beings. God has chosen them and ordain them for His mission. And he will not allow them to be deceived any longer.

It is this humility, this dependence on God’s Spirit, that allows them to seek and find the truth. Yes, God intervenes and creates a hunger in their hearts for truth. That is the beginning of God calling them to Himself. It’s the start of the Quest, when the hero awakens out of his selfish slumber. And he is made aware that there is something greater than his anemic little desires for vainglory. Something much greater than himself is afoot here. He begins to realize that something earth-shattering and then, earth-reshaping, lies in the prophetic pages soon to come to life for those who seek.

But it all starts when God instills the thirst for truth. It is all Him. He is behind everything. He is the “Author and Finisher of our faith.” He arranges our lives from desperation to the first steps on this pilgrimage to find the Source of love and peace. He injects our lives with desire to know Him who is the Truth. And then we learn that it is His ballpark—His bat, ball and gloves. He invites all to play. Those who show up for the meaningful and sometimes strenuous practices, will be learning to play by His rules. Those who learn them will be the starters at game time.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock  

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Nothing in It for You and Me–All for Him

There was an old saying at the mission that rings true now some 40 years later.  “There’s nothing in it for you.”

I didn’t really understand then just how profound that simple statement was.  But Time is a faithful teacher.  And as I look now in the mirror and see a much more wrinkled image with a head laden with a heavy hoary frost, I take more time to contemplate the increasing fragility of my physical state.  It seems that the reality of my own mortality crowds daily into my thoughts.

In that mirror I also see in my own eyes how the years have neutralized the “piss and vinegar” that I was so full of back then in my 20’s and 30’s.

As my earthly frame grows weaker, that old saying–how that there’s nothing in this walk with God for you–rings truer.  It is making so much more sense now as I am staring down the time when I just may have to depart this old earthly body before Christ returns to this earth to set up His kingdom.

For, you see, in those younger years I thought that surely I would be alive when the LORD would come back.  Christ did say that “whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11: 26).  And, that “there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Mt. 16: 28).  Those destined not to taste death would have to be the generation of believers alive when He returned to earth.  Anyway, I always thought that I would be one of them.

But now, as the years tick on, and my body creaks with age more every day, I must take this into real consideration–this “falling asleep,” this “shuffling off of this mortal coil.”

And, yet, I now realize that God has this death of the physical body hanging over us for a reason.  We know that He gives life and He takes life.  Our very breath is in His hand.  And it is this impending destiny with dust that helps us understand the futility of living for one’s self.  The self just cannot see us through, for our earthly bodies must betray us, for that is the very nature  of the physical body formed of the dust of this planet.  The house of dirt was made for us by God on purpose not to last.  It is temporary housing.

God fashioned our bodies to be as ephemeral as butterfly wings.  He deliberately formed them to be fragile in hope that we might sense someday our own vanity before death came knocking.  As we see our bodies decay and crumble with age, He hopes that we will see the futility of living for the self.

Our fragility betrays our pretentious egos that always seem to shout, “Hey, everybody, seriously, I really am something!”  But that self-centered imagination breeds the ultimate deception, for “when a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Gal. 6: 3).

And we have all been guilty of that thought; it is in the spiritual genes of old man Adam and his offspring.  Yes, we are initially made that way by the Creator in hopes that we would see the purposelessness of selfish thinking and be humbled so that we could all realize one truth: Every man is created for only one thing, and it is not for self-glorification; it is for God-glorification.

And if we are blessed to be chosen by Him to reveal this truth to, then we are coming much closer to where we need to be in our walk on earth before our Creator.

There’s nothing in it for you.  For everything in the vastness of the universe and here on earth is for God and His pleasure.  This is the great sticking point with natural-minded man, who earnestly believes that he is the center of the cosmos.  Secular humanism is the new many-headed false god.  “Thou shalt not have any other gods before Me.”  Especially our self.

“For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things” (Rom. 11: 36).  Breaking it down, all things are of Him; they came from Him, and through His creative power all things (including us) exist.  And in the end, all things are created by Him for His pleasure and glory.

For instance, Him delivering us from utter degradation and destruction, and us returning and thanking Him and telling others about His saving love and power–He loves that and gets glory out of it.

“All things were created by Him, and for Him” (Col. 1: 16).  But God does not become a pompous little jerk like natural man when he gets power.  No.  God is LOVE.  He created us so that He could bring us to a place spiritually, where His essence and nature (which is Love) could be multiplied–eventually to fill the whole universe with LOVE!  Our gratitude toward Him for our deliverance from sin is the fertile soil where the seed of Love can grow.

And God-in-human-form is our example and showed us the way.  Jesus (Yahshua) tasted death for us all so that we would not be banished to the dusty tombs of oblivion.  “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory” (Hebr. 2: 9-10).

That’s the plan.  It is all for Him, so that He may glorify those who realize that it is all for Him.  He will share Himself and all His glory with the overcomers, even to the point of sharing His throne with them (Rev. 3: 21).

It is all for the Creator.  When we turn that page in the book of our minds, then joy and serenity will overtake us, for we will have embraced the heart of God with arms of humility, born of His true nature, Love.

{For more on this subject, check out this article:  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/gods-endgame-where-this-life-on-earth-is-leading-us/ }

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Filed under agape, calling of God, death of self, elect, eternal purpose, glorification, Love from Above

Additions to Faith Insures Spiritual Growth

The Spirit of Christ through the apostle Peter has given us one of the “New Commandments” that Christ spoke about. When obeyed, it will insure our mature spiritual growth in God. Christ’s desire for us is that we bear much fruit. “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, Christ said. The commandment that Peter is talking about is this: “Add to your faith” seven attributes of God’s very own “divine nature” (II Peter 1:4-7).

We will grow spiritually if we add them. But in Chapter Two he tells us why very few Christians obey this commandment. He warns us of the false teachings spewed by false prophets and false teachers whose doctrines wilt the young plantings of God. Instead of the latter rain from heaven watering young Christians, false concepts about God stunt their growth. You can see the effects on well-meaning church goers every Sunday morning, sitting there in the same pew that they have sat in for decades, still singing “Just As I Am,” stunted now, unable to grow to full spiritual maturity because of the drought of His word. The maturity that Christ and the apostles talk about is becoming just like Peter, James, John, and Paul. Church goers have been told that it is impossible. But “with God all things are possible.”

But Christ’s elect are scattered out there. Some will hear that faint sound of the ancient trumpet, and their heads will turn up to the sky from whence the call was made.

For God calls whomsoever He will. No man through his own willpower will become His elect, His chosen ones. He does the choosing. He places the hunger for truth in them. They don’t know at first how it all works. They just know that they need to find the truth. They need to get to the bottom of this thing called life-on-planet-earth. And somehow they finally realize that it was God all along who arranged all the serendipitous coincidences, all the failures and victories, and all of the, well, miraculous turning points in our lives.

In my case, the miracle was when Mortality was rearing its desperate head–my head, actually, which was going down for the seventh time. And there with me God had Larry Golden pull me out of that South China Sea undertow at Da Nang Beach in Vietnam. The LORD gives life, and the LORD takes away life. Blessed be His Name.

Such is the calling and election that God makes upon us. He has a plan and a timetable for everything. And He will put a hook in the jaw of those He is angling for, if that is what it takes. He has a purpose to reproduce Himself in us. He is omnipotent and will bring it to pass. He has created all things, and all things are in His repertoire. And He uses both “good things” and “bad things” to bring His plan and purpose to full fruition. Full fruit production is bearing “much fruit.”

Which takes us back full circle to the “additions to the faith.” They are virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and agape love. These attributes of the “divine nature” are powerful. They are like the finest fertilizer for God’s young plants.

They hold many promises for those who want to grow. “For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ [Yahshua]” (II Peter 1:5-8). With these seven added, you will be full of fruit. With them you will “make your calling and election sure.” With these seven added, “You shall never fall.” With them added, “an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom” of Christ, our “Everlasting Father” (II Peter 1:10-11; Isaiah 9:6). Such promises are breathtaking!

Those that have an ear to hear, let them hear what the Spirit is saying (Matt. 11: 15; 13:9; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22). In other words, God gives understanding to whomever He desires to give it. He opens the ears of the spiritually deaf. If He is doing that for us, then we need to hear and listen closely to what the Spirit of God is saying through Peter about the additions to the faith. Those with an ear to hear will understand.        Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Adding the “Additions to the Faith”—By Faith

To bear “much fruit” and thereby attain to full spiritual maturity, we must add certain qualities of His “divine nature” to our faith (II Pet. 1: 3-10). God has called and chosen us to grow and bear 100 fold fruit (Matthew 13, “The Parable of the Sower”). To walk in His divine nature, knowledge must be added to virtue. And we see that virtue is the initial moral goodness and righteousness that comes with a new heart.

To grow we must understand God’s use of not just what we perceive to be “good” toward us, but also what we perceive to be evil. We will never grow to be like Christ and His apostles if we do not understand how God uses evil to develop the attributes of agape love in our hearts. That is His whole purpose, a mystery hidden from the eyes of man. And that purpose is to reproduce agape love, which is Himself.

The apostle Peter says, “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things…” So, it goes like this. By faith we have received a new heart and a new spirit from our Father by believing that Christ is raised from the dead—in our hearts. “Old things are passed away, and all things have become new.” We are “new creatures in Christ.” This is the way that God sees His work in us (Rom. 6: 1-11).

To His way of thinking, it is a done deal. God “quickens the dead and calls those things that be not as though they were.” You and I are the “dead” here. He has raised us from the dead through Christ’s Spirit now in us. We, walking in 100 fold spiritual growth, are the “things that be not.” We are not there yet, but Christ has great faith, and He sees us there! We are to walk in His belief system (Rom. 4: 17; I Cor. 1: 27-28).

Our struggle is to believe the same thing that He believes about us. He has chosen us, the weak, to confound the mighty. That is His faith that we have received in our hearts. And to that faith we add virtue. We add it—by faith. And to virtue we add the knowledge of good and evil. And to knowledge we add temperance, and to temperance patience/endurance. And to endurance, we add godliness, which is loving God [forgiving Him for using both “good” and “bad” in our life]. And then adding “brotherly kindness”/loving other people [Forgiving them for being human, and understanding that they have been dealing with some harsh “bad things” in their lives].

And we are to add agape love to all of the above. For His love is the bond of perfectness, of maturity. With this spiritual maturity in us, God will be loving mankind—through us! And that will fulfill His eternal purpose to reproduce Himself.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Filed under additions to our faith, calling of God, eternal purpose, knowledge, spiritual growth