Category Archives: forgiveness

November 10, 2025 · 7:27 am

How Trials Become Opportunities for Profound Spiritual Growth

A growth toward becoming like Christ

God’s greatest blessings often come wrapped in the paradox of divine distress—those unique circumstances that, though deeply challenging, become the very ground where agape-love is cultivated within us. These trials and tribulations are in fact opportunities of profound spiritual growth. They provide us with the inescapable chance to love our enemies, to rise above instinct and pride, and to embody a love that is not of this world but of God Himself.

The process by which agape-love is birthed within us is what the Scriptures term “SonPlacing”—the divine intention and plan that God has for every believer. This love, however, is not kindled amid laughter, comfort, or abundance. Like all births, it comes forth from travail, pain, and endurance. The apostle Paul, in his famous discourse on love in 1 Corinthians 13, describes this love as enduring and patient. He writes that love “does not seek after the things which are its own, is not irritated, provoked, exasperated, aroused to anger, does not take into account the evil which it suffers” (1 Corinthians 13:5, Wuest). This passage paints a picture of love that is not reactive, but proactive—a love that transcends circumstances and personal offense.

At the heart of agape-love is forgiveness. The maturation of this divine love is triggered by the experience of being sinned against. If you desire to possess this love, the only appropriate response to hurt or injustice is forgiveness, no matter the situation or depth of the wound.

In Scripture, the words translated as “forgive” and “forgiveness” come from four distinct Greek terms, each rich with meaning. Collectively, they convey the ideas of “sending forth,” “sending away,” “bestowing favor unconditionally,” and “releasing.” Forgiveness, in this sense, is not merely letting go of a grudge or forgetting an offense. It is an absolute annulment of transgression and its consequences, akin to a debt that is not just paid but completely canceled and erased from all records.

Letting Go

This radical form of forgiveness requires that both the failure and any thoughts of retaliation are forever released, as if thrown into a supernal incinerator—never to be retrieved or remembered. Forgiveness, then, is not just about letting go of what was done to us, but also about creating a new reality, one in which the offense is as though it never occurred.

As the psalmist writes, “Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” This is the heart of forgiveness: an act so complete and transformative that it rewrites the narrative of our souls.

A Liberating Experience

Forgiveness, fundamentally, is not a human invention but a divine act. It originates in the heart of God and is extended to us through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When we accept this sacrifice, we experience an unconditional release from the penalties our fallen, carnal nature has accrued. The apostle Paul reminds us, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Yet God’s forgiveness is not merely a legal pardon—it is a personal, liberating experience that the church has long called “Salvation.” As we turn our lives toward God, our infractions are erased, and we become spiritually washed, free, and invigorated with new life and energy.

This forgiveness is, at its core, the ultimate gift of love. When we receive forgiveness from God, the seed of divine love—agape—is sown into our hearts. Jesus illustrated this truth in his parable when he asked, “Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?” Simon answered, “I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most.” To receive great forgiveness is to be moved to great love. This initial blossoming of love is what Scripture calls phileo-love—a joyful, grateful affection that springs from having received something wonderful and undeserved. It is, however, only the embryonic stage of agape-love, which is deeper, more self-giving, and unconditional.

Jesus further clarifies this process: “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” This passage reveals that the depth of our capacity for love is directly linked to our experience of forgiveness. Forgiveness received from God for the “good” in our lives produces phileo-love, an affectionate and responsive love. But the journey does not end there. To mature into agape-love, we must extend forgiveness from ourselves, especially in response to the “evil” or wrongdoing we endure from others.

To Love as God Loves

This is the critical transition point in the development of divine love within us. To love as God loves, we must move from being recipients of forgiveness to being dispensers of it. It is not enough to bask in the joy of being forgiven; we must also become agents of forgiveness. This is perhaps the greatest challenge and highest calling of the Christian life. It demands that we forgive those who have hurt us deeply, those who have betrayed or wronged us, just as God has forgiven us. In doing so, we participate in the life of God Himself, becoming channels through which His agape-love flows into the world.

Practically speaking, this transformative process often unfolds in the midst of our greatest struggles and heartaches. The “battlefields” of life—those moments of conflict, disappointment, and loss—are not merely obstacles to be overcome but are opportunities for the birth of something holy within us. When we choose to forgive, to let go of resentment and to release both the offense and the offender into God’s hands, we are shaped into the likeness of Christ.

Our capacity for agape-love expands, and we come to embody the very love that once saved us. In summary, the journey toward agape-love is a path marked by both receiving and giving forgiveness. It is a process initiated by God’s mercy and sustained by our willingness to forgive others as we have been forgiven.

Each circumstance of divine distress becomes a sacred invitation to practice this love, to transcend our natural inclinations, and to participate in the very heart of God. Ultimately, it is through forgiveness—the letting go, the creation of a new reality, and the refusal to keep score—that agape-love is born, matures, and overflows from our lives, blessing not only ourselves but all those around us. [A summary of a portion of Garrison Russell’s book SonPlacing found here: https://sonplace.com/xulon/sonplacing/sp_chp15.htm ]

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December 5, 2023 · 9:30 am

Eating Christ’s Flesh—Pre-requisite to the Abiding

Eating Christ’s flesh? Uh, that is some heavy stuff, Wayneman. Especially when you use the verb “eat.” That word triggers my mouth into getting involved with ingesting food. But eating Christ’s flesh? And drinking His blood? Really? How are we supposed to do that?

Well, Christ does say, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53). It is this everlasting life that defines Christ’s abiding in us. He promised that He would abide and dwell in us if we ate His flesh and drank His blood.

Some people today will react to this statement the way many did 2,000 years ago. It was this very teaching that separated the sheep from the goats. “From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with Him” (6:66). How serious was this situation? After witnessing many miracles and just being with Him, they could not handle the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood. They thought that He had gone too far with His mysterious sayings.

What was their problem? Christ said that it was their unbelief (6:64). But unbelief of what exactly? It was unbelief in anything that their eyes could not see. All they saw was the flesh of His body. They were looking after the flesh and not after the spirit. To understand this enigmatic passage, we must look on his “flesh” and “blood” after the spirit. Christ said as much: it is the spirit that quickens” (6:63). We must catch the “spirit of the thing” to understand it.

What spiritual action is taking place with His earthly body and blood? Ironically, we must look at Christ’s flesh body and blood after the spirit. The spirit makes His teachings come alive. Eating His flesh and drinking his blood are metaphors, not literal, material things to do. We must look to the spiritual applications of what His flesh and blood did on the cross.

The Flesh and the Blood—What Did They Do at the Cross?

Christ made an extremely important statement. “Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.” Obviously, we cannot consume the flesh of His physical body cannibalistically. What then does his “flesh” signify? It is a metaphor for the final act that His physical body performed. That act was Christ laying down his physical body unto death. The eating of his flesh is us believing what the sacrifice of His body did for us all. It is believing that His death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection of that physical body, served to take our sins totally away. His flesh dying as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world is the bread of life. It is what we are to take in/eat/and digest—spiritually.

Christ is called the Lamb of God for this very reason. All our sins were laid upon His body. Our sins were placed upon the Lamb. He was our scapegoat offering. When His flesh body died, our sins died with Him. When His blood was shed, the life of sin died that day on the cross.

“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb. 9:22). “He was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Cor. 5:21). He was our pure Passover Lamb, crucified, and with his crucifixion, sin died that day. All we must do is just believe it. When His flesh body died, our old sinful selves died with Him. And “he that is dead is freed from sin.” The lifeblood of our sin is drained away with Christ’s blood.

When we were baptized in water, “we were baptized into His death.” When Christ’s sacrificial flesh and blood died, our old sinful self died with Him, “that the body of sin might be destroyed.” We are free! We are new creatures in Christ (Romans 6:1-12).

When we believe what the death of His flesh body and the shedding of His blood did for us, then we will have eaten and drunk His blood. These figures of speech mean that we have taken into our hearts the love that He expressed to us. We must not corrupt the “simplicity that is in Christ” (II Cor. 11:3). Beware of those who would beguile you to follow the path of transubstantiation. God is Spirit, not material and physical. He does not live in a lifeless wafer and a sip of wine.

[What are your thoughts on this subject? Please leave them in the comment section. Subscribe and give us a “like” if we have helped you. May Yah continue to enlighten your steps.] Kenneth Wayne Hancock  

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November 28, 2023 · 1:13 pm

Enduring the Dark Night of the Soul

(from Journal entry, 10-3-22)

At our weakest moment, God will allow Satan to present a panorama of memories and recollections of our sordid past sins, weaknesses, and spiritual failures. This is our passage through the valley of the dark night of the soul.

It issues from many sources. Betrayals and the pain that may linger from them may come. Or our thoughts may take a journey once again into the night’s memories of yesteryear’s shortcomings.

In this weakened state, spiritual trouble comes with our thoughts about how destitute of love we were. We begin to see our selfish naked egos, stained with pride, justifying our use of others, of those who our Savior died for. It is as if we are peering into the screen of a time machine, a mirror that reflects just how we really were. We peer into the fruitless past, and that same panic of being lost in the maze of life, grips us as we look back and long and lament our adolescent idiocy and our selfish egoism.

We must fearlessly look at the images and believe that they are mere relics of our past life. Remember how Christ was tempted? Satan offered up full control of his kingdom to Christ if He would play ball with him. Christ resisted all the temptations. Now Christ in us resists them as well.

Christ with great mercy has promised that He would “never leave us nor forsake us.” Especially when Satan thrusts in our face our sins and faults of yesteryear. He is the “accuser of the brethren.” But it is the great mercy of our King that reigns supreme. He has our backs. He allows us to think these fleeting thoughts to show us more clearly the magnificent deliverance from sin that He has wrought in our lives. For that is what it was—not is! We remember that we are His, bought with His blood. And He leads us through this moonless trek, this suffocating remembrance of what we once were.

Through this experience, however, we learn that we have been forgiven much. Therefore, we will love much, which fulfills His purpose of reproducing Himself (Agape love) in us. Christ said, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (Luke 7:47 NKJV). These trials whereof we speak shows us that we have been forgiven much. A painful trudge down the “valley of the shadow of death” during our “dark night of the soul” shows us that. Those of us who see the reality of our shameful pasts and receive His forgiveness will love much. Those who do not see that they have been forgiven all that much—they will love only a little. “Her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

Finally, Satan tries to use these memories to condemn us, but God uses them to show us a clearer picture of just how evil our old nature was. Through this trial, we see more clearly just how much we have been forgiven—how much selfish ungodliness we have been delivered from.

For in the end, only those who see and realize how much sin they have been forgiven will love much. Only those will bear much fruit, thus becoming more like Christ and His apostles. That is His goal and purpose: our maturity, which fulfills His purpose of multiplying Agape Love, which is Him.

The “dark night of the soul” experience is part of His plan to fulfill His purpose: to reproduce Agape love in us, thus reproducing Himself till Love be “all in all” (I Cor. 15:28). His plan is to keep on perfecting until all that is left is Love.     [Would you share your “dark night of the soul” in the comments section? The testimonies of the Father’s sons and daughters are so important. “Likes” are nice and appreciated, but a comment fashioned by the Spirit with words from the heart—that is what moves us. That is what edifies and helps us mature. That we may grow “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13). For it is the “power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20). Your comments will be read all over the globe. Reach out and share your story?]      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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June 16, 2021 · 12:29 pm

New Book, The Eleventh Commandment, Is Back from the Printer

Free promotional copies—with free shipping—are now available to all who ask. Just send your request to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com. Include your name, mailing address, and the title of the book. Overseas requests will receive a pdf of the book.

Here is what to expect in the book: The premise is that Christ gave us another huge commandment—the eleventh. He said, “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you” (John 13:34). This commandment has been hiding from us in plain sight. But in it He commands us to do something that is impossible for most people—to love like Christ and in so doing to be like Christ. Nobody believes that anyone can actually do that.

Because of its difficulty, the Spirit has given us many easier to obey imperatives. Like, “Forgive.” That is something we can accomplish. Forgiving is a facet of loving each other the way that Christ loved us. God’s love flows through us when we forgive another. This helps us to obey Christ’s eleventh commandment. Christ forgave us; now we, to be like Him, forgive each other.

The book shares a dozen of these easier-to-obey commandments, like “put on the armor of God” and pray like Christ prayed, to name a few.   This is how we fulfill God’s purpose in us, which is this: God is reproducing Himself—in us.

Order your copy now of this Spirit inspired knowledge. May He bless you on your journey back to His heart.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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June 5, 2021 · 10:31 am

On Spiritually Struggling with Family and Friends

You may be spiritually hurting right now. You are seeing deeper into God’s plan and purpose and you love it, and you try to share it with your family and friends, and try as you might, you just can’t seem to win your family members over. It’s a struggle as they seem to thwart you at every turn. It’s bad enough that the world, in general, is resistant to the truth. But your own family, too? 

Many of you are sparring with spirits in your own house.  They withstand you and plague you with worldly thoughts, tempting you away from thoughts of Christ and His righteousness and ways.

“Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you” (I Pet. 4:12-14) Rather, rejoice. You are “partakers of Christ’s sufferings.”

Our sufferings are His because we are His. He knows that we are going through anguish with the unbelievers in our family. That wayward son or daughter, that wife or husband who resents us when we speak of Him, that uncle or aunt, or cousin or friend—all these He has in our world for us to overcome. Don’t we know—we’ve all read it I am sure—that a “man’s foes shall be they of his own household”?

He is come to send a sword onto the earth, not peace. This war is raging in our own families. Christ is “come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother (Matt. 10: 34-36).

He Is Sending A Sword

Christ says that He sends a sword, which symbolizes war, conflict, confusion, desperation, fear, dread, frustration, tears (v. 34). And then the very next breath He sets a spiritual war in the hearts and minds of us and our family and loved ones. The fight and struggle that we must endure is on the battlefield of our homes. Period. In this battle, the sword He brings will slice away our selfishness.

The apostles warn us of the sword that Christ will send to us. First, we are not fighting or wrestling with the flesh and blood of our family members. We are battling spirits. We are pitted against powers that God has ordained for us to overcome—for our spiritual growth. God has created that family member or friend to come against you. Remember, His purpose is to reproduce Himself in us. He is Love. He loves your family member who is your enemy. And we should, too. 

So He commands us to “love your enemies. Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). Our enemies are not in Washington, D.C. or Moscow.  Our enemies are those close to us dwelling in our house or close by.  When their actions and words break your heart, this is the golden opportunity to forgive them. The struggle is not with them. It is in ourselves. Will we love and forgive them, thereby expressing agape love?  Or will we remain the victim of a selfish hardness? 

Someone is saying “How can I do this? How do I love my family member who has tried to shipwreck my faith so many times? How do I do it?

You ask Yahweh, the God that King David served. Study the story of how his son, Absalom, betrayed him in an attempt to steal the crown from David’s head. Study David’s response, and you will understand why he was so loved by Yahweh and why David was considered “a man after God’s own heart.” Read of David’s heartbreak and then his love for Yahweh expressed through his heart and lips (II Samuel 19).

The poet and prophet wrote of this trial in Psalm 41:9. Though heartbreaking for David, the betrayal of his son Absalom helped develop God’s Spirit in David’s heart.  Your trials brought to you to overcome by your Father, will do the same, as we call on God with a humbled heart.

Knowledge is the first thing–knowing who the real enemy is. Then it is loving and forgiving them with Christ’s Spirit emanating out of your heart. This is part of fulfilling God’s purpose of reproducing Himself in us. Agape love is growing, and this gives us the victory.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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April 22, 2021 · 12:41 pm

Forgiving Small Sleights

Forgive. This second New Commandment predicts that there will be things in your new life to forgive. Someone in your life is irritating you. How do I know? It’s built into the human experience.

God in His goodness toward us, in that He wants us to grow spiritually, has provided in each life an irritant to help develop His nature in us. These irritants are people and situations in our lives that frustrate us.

We need someone to forgive. So it starts with the family. God puts initial love for them so much so that we “cannot live without them.” And then their weaknesses come to the forefront, forcing us to come to grips with the irritation their selfishness provides.

There is no way to get rid of it. The answer to this problem comes from a spiritual change in our own heart. This is how God foments a correction and growth in our makeup. Overcoming the irritants is how we grow from “one degree of glory to another.”

Ironically, we think that those who “bum us out” and “bring us down” are the culprits, but God uses them to fulfill His purpose of multiplying Himself in and through us. When we forgive those who irritate us, His nature of agape love grows in us, thus fulfilling His purpose.

Not As Easy As All That

As you know, that is more difficult than it looks. It is difficult to forgive completely and openheartedly. Most human failure is caused by not forgiving simple sleights. Human nature does not want to forgive.

God says that the key is to realize that it is not us that does the forgiving. It is the Spirit of God in us that forgives. Remember? As Christians we are dead on the cross with Christ and buried with Him and now “raised to walk in a newness of life.” It is now Christ’s Spirit within us that forgives, by faith in His resurrection. He has already forgiven everyone of everything.

Our great King has already done it all. When we believe this, we walk in His faith, His belief system. He has already forgiven that person. That is the record in heaven. When we let Him forgive another through us, then we are His witness here on earth of His love to mankind. The Father is localized in our vessel, and it is Him that is doing the wonderful works.

By obeying this New Commandment, “Forgive,” His love grows in and through us.

{Please hit that “like” button to boost readership of this blog. Thank you. This article is chapter 19 of the brand new book that is now off to the printers. It is called The Eleventh Commandment. To receive a free copy with free shipping just send your name and mailing address, and name of book to my email address: wayneman5@hotmail.com It should be available in May sometime. God bless you and yours.}

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April 23, 2020 · 8:48 pm

Adding the Knowledge of Good and Evil

Once we understand that the angels are spirits and that 1/3 of them have been sent here to earth to do a job under an arch-angel named Lucifer, later named Satan—once we comprehend that this evil cabal of hurtful spirits are sent to wreak havoc upon mankind for (and this is a hard one) our perfection—and once we realize that the evil angels are really only spirits sent to actually help us become manifested sons and daughters of God [Concerning the angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Heb. 1: 14.]—once we see that all this is an integral part of His plan, then the vista begins to clear as we see that our Father does all things well.

Our Father/Creator/Savior is sovereign. He has a purpose and a plan to carry out His purpose, which is this: He is reproducing Himself, and He is Love. And that plan includes both good and evil. Good and evil do not just exist; rather they are tools to use on us “lively stones.” They are used to chip away at our imperfections, preparing us to be laid near Christ the “Cornerstone” of the temple of God. He uses both good and evil to accomplish His plan to fulfill His purpose.

Some of you right now are having to endure unspeakable heartbreak as you see loved ones around you spiritually disintegrate before your eyes. To your understanding, this is a tragedy. Think of that thing that happened unjustly to you, that incident that is really too painful still to think about. It was a trial that, like a tidal wave, sweeps your little ship of peace to the sandy bottom, leaving you thrashing and gasping for air.

And all you were doing was enjoying the sun and surf, enjoying the peace and joy of God, enjoying a new found desire to serve Him. And then the betrayal came. It came through the only ones who could hurt you. It came and locked you into a lonely room of despair with no way to escape, leaving you in shock, wondering why you been forsaken and slandered, perhaps your reputation destroyed, your life uprooted.

Think of that painful situation, and then know that the same God who had blessed you with love and joy is the same One who dispenses evil into our lives, delivering hurtful sufferings that usher us into a deeper walk with Him, a walk we cannot comprehend the why. As Job told his wife, “What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”

Understanding Why Evil Comes into Our New Lives

God arranges for evil to come into our new lives to give us opportunities to forgive others, and to even forgive Him. For it is forgiving others that generates agape love in our hearts. The suffering that we endure is an opportunity for us to forgive those who trespass against us. This shows His power and love through us.

So, we should not think that it is a strange thing that God is the instigator of unbearable trials in our lives, “as though some strange thing has happened” unto us, but realize that it is needed for our growth (I Pet. 4: 12-13). Agape love grows out of forgiveness, which reproduces God, thus fulfilling His purpose.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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February 9, 2020 · 6:30 pm

Betrayal and Forgiveness Develops Agape Love

There will be tears and anguish in our Christian walk. As “babes in Christ,” we sought to escape painful situations. We ran from problems, which most of the time created even more problems. Little children want to laugh and play; that includes little children of God.

When we first came into Christ, we did not know that there would be excruciating “fiery trials” on life’s menu. As little children of God we scratch our heads and go, “Huh?” We do not see why there has to be trials and heartbreaks. We do not see that God uses trials in our Christian walk as fire that burns out impurities.

We always are taken aback when the trials come. Attacks and reproaches from strangers will come, but their sting usually serves to bolster our faith. Peter tells us that these trials are not a strange nor rare occurrence. They are rather part of the “sufferings of Christ” (I Pet. 4: 12-14). Because we are members of His spiritual body called “Christ,” when we go through trials, it becomes part of Christ’s sufferings. We are one in this thing with Him.

Reproaches from without our circle of earthly and spiritual families are not the source, however, of our bitterest tears. When we are betrayed by those we trusted and loved the most, then the onslaught of acrid tears will flow. And the heart will churn and pound in utter disbelief. How could they do this? Why would they be so cruel to us, as to aim their words like poisoned arrows that pierce hearts that loves them? But Christ did say that a man’s enemies are they of his own household (Matt. 10: 36).

From Suffering to Forgiving

Swimming in this pool of dismay, we will cry out asking God, “Why? Why did they betray me?” And we will seek Him for solace and comfort. And He will finally lead us to the realization that the way out of the anguish and despair is to forgive them for their trespass against us.

For the truth is this: God has allowed the entire incident outlined above to happen to us. “All things are of God” (II Cor. 5: 18). There are no accidents in the Grand Scheme of His Wisdom. He allows, and some say instigates, these trials to happen to us in hopes that we will enter into the sanctum of forgiveness.

For forgiveness is the capstone of His divine character. It is the seminal portion of His divine nature that we are to express. God’s purpose is to reproduce Himself. He does this by bringing us to spiritual maturity through loving and forgiving others. For it is only His Spirit that can flawlessly do this. He has promised us His Holy Spirit to abide/remain/stay in us. He is the Forgiver now working through us. So He in His infinite wisdom has provided betrayals, deceits, lies, and back-stabbings to give us opportunities to exercise the power He has given us to forgive.

My Ordeal by Fire

It has been 35 years now since I survived the “fiery trial.” The pastor that I followed for 14 years as a full time missionary inexplicably spread untruths about me amongst the brethren. The person who led me to Christ and helped me into a wonderful deliverance from drugs and riotous living—my teacher and mentor—wounded me deeply. My wife and I left with nothing except five little children, four suitcases, a slandered reputation, and shattered hearts.

I could not understand for many years what happened to us, and especially why. I wandered in a daze for years. Yet when the time came, God put it into my heart to seek Him again concerning it all. And He has shown me what happens through the trials of betrayal.

In a word, it is part of God’s plan to bring us to spiritual maturity. He uses the forge of sufferings to purify our faith in Him. Through this He nurtures our growth until we express His divine nature through our walk in the Spirit. He ignites this growth by giving us something and someone to forgive. Once we get that, then He will work with us and through us to grow into more spiritual maturity.

He has commanded us to forgive each other. When we keep His command, agape love is produced in and through our hearts. Furthermore, He has promised to come and live and abide in us if we will forgive and obey the rest of His commandments. This in turn enables us to grow to be like Peter, James, John, and Paul. That’s what He has laid on our hearts, isn’t it? to be like them?

Consequently, “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you as though some strange happened unto you…”

“It is only Love, and that is all…” Agape Love, that is.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Be sure to order my free books. Details found here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/donate/ ]

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November 9, 2019 · 4:16 pm

Healings—Physical and Spiritual: How God Uses Them to Reproduce Himself

God’s story is a story of healings, both physical and spiritual. The healing of man’s body, soul, and spirit is one of the signs that “shall follow them that believe” (Mark 16:17-18).

And just as “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” all human beings have been physically sick.  Both the sinner and the righteous have endured physical sickness. It seems that it is the red badge of being human. And especially when we are down physically, it is difficult to see the spiritual side of our malady. Yet, physical health is spiritual, insomuch as when illness strikes, it seems to force the mind to think mortal thoughts—sometimes literally.

I wrote in my journal on February 27, 2005, about a serious bout with the flu that I was experiencing:

“I have been sick for the last two weeks. Very sick. Unable to read or write sick. Unable to smile sick. I have forgotten what laughter is, what a baby’s smile can do for you. I have forgotten what joy is. I have begun to contemplate my own mortality. Days ago, accomplishments and interests that I have pursued in my life fell into a worthless pile of discarded actions—things like playing the guitar, singing, speaking Spanish, teaching literature, travel…

They all fell away into a pit of hopelessness. The pursuits of this world’s dimension suddenly seemed vain, a thing of no real profit, especially for all the energy we put into them. In the final scheme of things, my daily endeavors seemed trivial, of little consequence…The will is there, but the weak body prevents any movement toward activities.Momma just called and told me, ‘Always remember that I love you.'”

As you see here, it is difficult to think on the invisible Spirit/Creator when you are sick. Therefore, physical sickness is in the end a spiritual attack because it pulls our mind down from heavenly thoughts to the frailties of the earthly body. Physical sickness drains our mind of its will and capacity to elevate its thinking to rarified realms of unselfish love. When the body lies in weakness and in pain, it is difficult for our spirits to climb the ladder of perfection.

Sin and Sickness Linked

Physical sickness and the spiritual state of sin are inextricably linked in the mind of God. Christ taught that the healing of the body poured forth from the same fountain as the forgiveness of sin. He asked, “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house” (Matt. 9: 5-6).

The key word here is “to say.” To say, “I forgive you” is a powerful declaration by the divine nature in a regenerated individual. He gave us a New Commandment to forgive others. We have that power as God’s offspring. He wants us to exercise it. And He has given us power and authority to also say, “Rise and walk.” Christ said that both forgiveness and healing come from the same source—speaking the words of physical healing as well as the spiritual.

Healings originate out of God’s merciful heart of love. With great compassion He healed all those oppressed during His walk on earth. But He made it plain that at the root of this gift of healing lies a spiritual concern.

Christ’s major thrust was for the healing of man’s spiritual heart. His command for man to repent of his sins took center stage. When He came into a village and gathered the people together, He did not first say, “I am going to heal all your diseases. So bring those that are sick to Me.” No, He said, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He dealt with the spiritual sickness first. What good is a healthy body that has just been healed, if the heart inside is still sinful? “But that you may know that the Son of man has power to forgive sins, I say unto the sick of palsy, Rise, take up thy bed and walk.” The physical healings took place as proof that the spiritual healing was indeed real. Did not Christ also say, “First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matt. 23:26). First get rid of the sinful nature inside of your body, and then the physical body will be healed as well. Death of the earthly body comes because of the sin within. “The wages of sin is death.”

We see this in Isaiah’s vision, where he showed Yahweh lamenting for His people. He called them a “sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,” with their head “sick, and their whole heart faint” (Isa. 1:4-5). We see here in chapter one how Yahweh likens Israel’s sinful state to a physical sickness. Their sin to God seems as “wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores” that have not been treated (v. 6).

The evil state of the world is described in Isaiah 59:1-21. The answer to the desperate cry of the earth’s inhabitants who are trapped in the misery of sin is found in Isaiah 61. It is Yahweh’s promise of the healing that will take place upon His return to earth: “To give unto them beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning…” The kicker for us is that He will use the over comers during the “manifestation of the sons of God” to pour out all of His love to them.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Filed under eternal purpose, forgiveness, healing, hope, repentance

September 21, 2019 · 6:36 pm

Obeying Christ’s New Commandments

The teaching on the spiritual growth of “much fruit” is so profoundly ephemeral that we all must “put ourselves in remembrance of these things.” The following is not mindless repetition, but rather a stirring up of our minds for the vision ahead. The Spirit of truth knows our foibles of memory. Thus, He teaches us a new concept, laying it upon a sure foundation of rock.

To comprehend why we are here on this planet, we must know of our Creator’s purpose. His purpose is to reproduce Himself in human beings. He is Agape Love, and His will is to fulfill His purpose. He has a plan to accomplish this multiplication of Himself.

It is through this knowledge that light is shed on His plan. He has chosen His apostles, teachers, and prophets to expound on His plan to accomplish His purpose. And He is now revealing His plan to any who have an ear to hear and eyes to see.

The apostle John records Christ’s last major discourse in chapters fourteen through seventeen of the gospel of John. These teachings are for those chosen by Him to be used to fulfill God’s purpose. Christ calls this bearing “much fruit.” He likens the elect to being branches of Himself, the Vine.

To bear “much fruit,” we must abide in Christ and Christ in us. To abide we must obey Christ’s New Commandments. Bearing much spiritual fruit is called many things in scripture: the “manifestation of the sons of God,” “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” 100 fold fruit bearing found in Matthew 13; the remnant; the elect; the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.” They all lead to the fulfillment of His purpose—the reproduction of Agape Love in us.

Knowledge of the New Commandments

Christ gave several new commands to His elect. The New Commandments are not to be confused with the Ten Commandments. They go far beyond the Ten Commandments in spiritual depth. The Ten Commandments are a schoolmaster to bring us to the awareness of sin and our need for a Savior and His Spirit within our new heart. But Christ came to magnify the law. With His Spirit in us, we now are equipped to reproduce His love. And we do this by keeping His New Commandments. They are for His elect, His first fruits who will be exactly like the Seed/Son. They will be the first in this last generation to fully bear much fruit. I.e., the remnant in our day will bear the same spiritual fruit as the early apostles and Christ Himself. He said as much: “Greater works shall you do…”

These New Commandments serve as landmarks on the road to immortality. As we by faith in Him begin to first understand them and then obey them, we grow up spiritually, and His Spirit manifests Himself in us. For example, Christ commands His elect, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” This is a commandment. He explained it by saying, “I and My Father are one.” The elect will see the oneness of God and will believe Him (John 14: 11).

He commanded, “Abide in Me.” This means stay and remain in Him, like the branches stay in the Vine and do not detach themselves. Abiding in Him means staying in His teachings, purging out all of the false doctrines and concepts that challenges the truth of God. If we stay in the false doctrines about God, we cannot abide in Him and He in us. But if we keep this commandment, we will bear much fruit, which is 100 fold spiritual fruit bearing.

Here are some of Christ’s New Commandments: 1. Abide in Me; 2. Believe that the Father is in Me; 3. Don’t judge others; 4. Forgive; 5. Give; 6. Love your enemies and each other; 7. Pray for others; 8. Do good to your persecutors; 9. Turn other cheek; 10. Seek first Kingdom of God; 11. Don’t think about tomorrow or earthly things; 12. Lay up treasures in heaven—Mt. 6: 20; 13. Resist not evil; 14. Be merciful like He is merciful.

Keeping the New Commandments Grows Love in Us

Keeping His commands exercises the Spirit of Love within us. God’s nature of divine agape love grows within our hearts. All of His commands are facets of agape love. These new commands set the parameters. When they are obeyed from the heart, our actions show that God is in us of a truth. For only God can obey them.

Christ commands us many times. Each command reveals another aspect of His nature of agape love. He commands us to “forgive.” When we forgive those who have hurt and betrayed us, agape love grows within our hearts. Only God can forgive like this, and He is manifested in us when we obey His command to forgive. We are His offspring; He forgave, now we forgive. Each seed bears its own kind.

We can only forgive like this when we fully appreciate Christ’s forgiveness toward us. We love Him first because He first loved us, and gave Himself for us. We first forgive God for allowing the hurt and sufferings to take place in our lives. Then we forgive the one who hurt us. And through this crucible, the fire of God’s love melts our cold hearts, and what is left is a diamond crystal of agape love.

The addition of manifested agape love radiating out of our hearts happens when we obey Christ’s New Commandments. This is how we grow spiritually. This is how God’s purpose is fulfilled. This is how the love-from-above flows down into us and through us to the world. And this understanding leads to the abiding, when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us and remains in us, or abides in us.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Filed under additions to our faith, agape, elect, eternal purpose, false doctrines, forgiveness, knowledge, love, Love from Above, old leaven, sons of God, Spirit of God, spiritual growth