Category Archives: mind of Christ

The Heart of the Father, the Mind of Christ

[From Chapters 6 and 7 of my book, The Additions to the Faith]

To contemplate Yahweh’s purpose is to seek the mind of Christ and the very heart of the Father. Such a pursuit stretches our small hearts and minds and enlarges them until we begin to see through God’s eyes. As He declares, “My thoughts are not your thoughts.” God has His own agenda and purpose. We, too, have plans and desires for our lives, but few possess the same purpose that fills the heart of our Heavenly Father. Herein lies humanity’s great dilemma. (Isa. 55:8-9)

From the beginning, God has worked according to a master design. Though mankind often wanders from that design, He patiently waits for His crowning creation to come into harmony with His purpose. His dealings with Israel reveal this patience. He took the twelve tribes as His wife, intending to bring forth sons and daughters through a spiritual union with them. Yet they pursued the gods of the nations around them. Through Jeremiah He lamented that faithless Israel had committed adultery and had been given a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, His mercy remained, and He promised forgiveness and restoration if they would return to Him. (Jer. 3:6-14)

Behind all of God’s dealings stands a purpose that is both simple and profound: God is reproducing Himself through a chosen company of human beings. Certainly, He loves us and desires to save us from sin and self-destruction. The mind of Christ does not remember our sins and faults. Satan does and throws it up to us in a constant barrage of celluloid-like scenes from our sordid past. Satan remembers and hurls memories at our mind until we awaken to what is really going on. No, our father does not remember the sins of our past so, why should we remember them? But salvation is only one part of a much larger eternal plan. To understand that plan, we must consider what is contained within the very word “Father.” (Eph. 1:4-12; Rom. 8:29)

What Is in the Father’s Heart?

A father is one who begets life. The title itself implies offspring, reproduction, and inheritance. One cannot truly be a father apart from children. Thus, the desires of the Father’s heart are revealed in His name. His purpose is to bring forth sons and daughters who bear His likeness and share His nature. (Luke 3:38; Heb. 2:10; 2 Pet. 1:4)

Many claim God as their Father, yet often deny the spiritual law that He established from the beginning: every seed bears after its own kind. If God is truly our Father, then His purpose should become our purpose. His desires should become our desires. We should seek to know His mind and participate in the work that fills His heart. The Father’s great purpose is to reproduce His life, His character, and His love until He fills creation with the expression of Himself. Humanity was created to be the vessel through which this purpose would be accomplished. (Gen. 1:11-12, 26-28; Eph. 3:14-19)

Walking in Agreement with the Spirit

This understanding is essential if we are to walk in the Spirit. Scripture commands us to “walk in the Spirit” and to “abide” in Christ. Yet how can we walk with Someone if we do not know where He is going? As Amos asks, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” To walk in the Spirit requires agreement with the Spirit. We must understand not only where God is leading, but also why He is moving in that direction. (Gal. 5:16, 25; John 15:4-5; Amos 3:3)

Christ perfectly understood this. Throughout His life He was occupied with His Father’s business. He possessed the mind of the Father and devoted Himself to completing the Father’s work. And what was that work? The reproduction of God’s life through the Seed Son. (Luke 2:49; Phil. 2:5; John 4:34; John 17:4)

Creation itself testifies to this purpose. Everywhere we look, life seeks to reproduce itself. Plants bear seed. Animals multiply. Humanity is driven to seek companionship and family. These patterns are not accidental. They are witnesses embedded in creation that point to the Creator’s own purpose. God is reproducing His life and His love, and mankind is the spiritual soil in which this divine work is taking place. (Gen. 1:21-28; Rom. 1:20)

Only when we understand and embrace this purpose can we truly walk in the Spirit and abide in Christ. If our worship, ambitions, and prayers are centered upon a different objective, then we are no longer abiding in Him. To abide in Christ is to remain in fellowship with His purpose and to align ourselves with His plan. (John 15:4-8; 1 John 2:24-28)

From Servants to Friends

This is also the pathway from servanthood into friendship with God. Jesus told His disciples, “I call you not servants … but friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” A servant obeys commands without understanding the larger purpose. A friend is entrusted with the secrets of the heart. What greater privilege could there be than to know what the Father is doing and to be invited into His counsels? (John 15:15; Ps. 25:14)

Nor was this privilege reserved only for the first disciples. In His prayer recorded in John 17, Christ expanded this promise to all who would believe through their testimony. He prayed that we might share in the same unity and glory that existed between Himself and the Father. This invitation extends to us today, if we have faith to receive it. (John 17:20-23)

The promise that whatever we ask in His name will be done is connected to this abiding relationship. When we are united with God’s purpose, our prayers become expressions of His purpose. We begin to ask for the things that advance His work, and those prayers find their answer in Him. (John 15:7, 16; 1 John 5:14-15)

Joining the Father’s Work

The tragedy is that many believers pursue purposes that differ from God’s own. When our ambitions, ministries, and religious activities are rooted primarily in human desires, we mistake our plans for God’s will. True worship is not merely offering God our ideas of what should be done. It is joining ourselves to what He is already doing. (Matt. 15:8-9; Prov. 14:12; Isa. 29:13)

When we understand His purpose and commit ourselves to its fulfillment, something changes within us. The power of the Spirit increases in our lives because we have become fellow workers with Christ in the Father’s business. Christ is finishing the work given to Him, and the members of His body are called to share in that same labor. (1 Cor. 3:9; Mark 16:20; John 14:12)

Our calling is to bear witness to the truth that God is reproducing Himself through the Seed Son. As Christ’s life grows within us, the reality of His resurrection becomes evident through transformed lives, spiritual power, and the works of God manifested through His people. The world is to see the life of Christ expressed through those in whom the Seed has come to maturity. (Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27; Rom. 8:11; John 12:24)

Wisdom Before Power

Yet this journey begins with wisdom and knowledge. It begins with seeing what God is doing and understanding why He is doing it. Significantly, the first gifts of the Spirit listed by Paul are the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. Before power comes understanding. Before effective service comes revelation. (1 Cor. 12:8; Prov. 4:7)

As we come into agreement with the Father’s purpose, the Spirit supplies the wisdom, knowledge, and gifts necessary for us to participate in His work. And that work, from beginning to end, is the desire that has always filled the Father’s heart: the reproduction of His own life and character in His sons and daughters until His purpose is fully accomplished. (Eph. 4:11-13; Rom. 8:29; Hab. 2:14; 1 Cor. 15:28)

In short, some humans will love God. They are “the called according to His purpose.” He knew them from before. He gave them a predestiny “to be conformed to the image of His Son. He predestinated them; He called and chose them; He justified them and glorified them. Having done all this for us, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. (Romans 8:28-37)

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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The Seed‑Son: The Mystery of God’s Reproduction

Every generation asks, Who is the Son of God? But few ever ask the deeper question: What is the Son of God? Scripture speaks of Him not only as a Person but as a Seed, a Word, a Logos—containing within Himself the entire destiny of God’s purpose. To understand Christ is to understand the mystery of God’s reproduction, the mystery of election, and the mystery of the sons and daughters who will bear His image in the final harvest.

The Son of God is the Seed‑Word in whom the fullness of God and the destiny of His elect are written; and those whom the Father reveals this Seed to are the very ones through whom He will reproduce Himself, manifest His life, and finish His work on earth.

The Son as the Seed‑Word

“In the beginning was the Word.” Yahweh declares Himself the First, the Beginning, the One who calls all generations from the start. Christ likewise says He is the Alpha, the Beginning, the First. The Father is the Word, and the Word is the Logos, and the Logos is the Seed. Christ Himself interprets the parable: “The seed is the word of God.” Therefore the Seed/Word/Logos “was made flesh and dwelt among us,” and this Seed was called both the Son of God and the Son of Man. Christ is the Seed‑Son, the grain of wheat that must fall into the ground and die to bring forth much fruit. (Isaiah 41:4; John 1:1,14; Revelation 1:8; Luke 8:11; John 12:24)

The Seed Contains the Fullness of God and the Names of His Elect

Just as a tiny garden seed contains the entire destiny of the plant—from germination to harvest—so the Seed‑Son contains “all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Inside this divine Seed is written the destiny of all whom He will reproduce Himself through. The Father’s business is the reproduction of Himself, and the Son declared, “I must be about My Father’s business.” The Seed is not merely Christ’s identity; it is the blueprint of God’s entire family, the encoded life of every son and daughter who will be conformed to His image. (Colossians 2:9; Luke 2:49; Romans 8:29)

The Son Reveals Himself Only to the Elect

Who is destined to see the Living Word? Scripture answers plainly: only those to whom He chooses to reveal Himself. “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” It is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Jacob was loved; Esau was not chosen. This is not cruelty—it is the austere wisdom of God, who chooses vessels for His glory. Christ Himself prayed, “They were Yours, and You gave them to Me.” Those who receive His words, believe His sending, and keep His truth are the ones chosen to behold the Seed‑Son. (Romans 9:13–16; John 17:6–10)

The Elect Are Given to the Son for Reproduction and Warfare

Because we are given to Christ, we are not our own. We were bought with a price—the ransom of His own life. The Father gave Him souls who would follow Him into the hundredfold harvest, souls who would not follow a stranger’s voice. These chosen ones are enlisted into Yahweh’s spiritual army. The Old Testament battles, tribes, and patriarchs serve as types and shadows of the warfare required to defeat Satan today. The New Testament saints are like knights conquering strongholds, answering the call of the Father’s army. If God is for us, who can be against us? (1 Corinthians 6:20; Matthew 13:23; John 10:4–5; Romans 8:31; Hebrews 11)

The Seed‑Son Reproduces Himself Through His Body

In Christ we are part of the Seed‑Son. He is sowing His people across the earth. Some say the Genesis Seed has already been harvested in Christ, but Scripture shows the harvest is not yet complete. Christ is the Seed planted at His death and raised at His resurrection; His body is the field in which He multiplies Himself. Therefore, we must do what Christ is doing: believe on Him whom the Father has sent, finish His work, and bear witness to the truth of God’s reproduction. When the Seed germinates in us, resurrection power will manifest through signs and wonders. And it all begins with wisdom and knowledge—the first gifts of the Spirit—given to equip us for His purpose. (John 6:29; John 4:34; Matthew 13:38; John 14:12; 1 Corinthians 12:8)

Conclusion The Son of God is the Seed‑Word—the divine Logos containing the fullness of God and the destiny of His elect. Those whom the Father chooses to reveal this Seed to are the ones given to Christ for reproduction, transformation, and spiritual warfare. As the Seed germinates within His people, they become the instruments through whom God finishes His work on earth. The harvest is coming. The sons and daughters are rising. And the Seed‑Son will multiply Himself until the Father’s purpose is complete.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Sent to Speak His Words: The Mission of Christ in Us

Every movement of God begins with a sending.

The Father sends the Son. The Son sends His apostles. And now, in these last days, He sends His body—the church—to finish the testimony of His Kingdom. To understand our calling, we must first understand His sending, for no one can walk in apostolic power who has not first seen the pattern of the Father.

Thesis

Because the Father sent the Son into the world, and because the Son now lives in His body—the church—every true believer is likewise sent to speak the Father’s words, bear witness to the Son, and participate in His ongoing work of reconciliation.

The Father Sends the Son

The foundation of all mission begins with this: the Father sent (apostellō in the Greek) the Son. Christ did not come of Himself; He came as the Father’s emissary, carrying the Father’s words, the Father’s works, and the fullness of the Father’s Spirit. Scripture declares, “Yahweh was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,” meaning that the sending of the Son was the sending of God’s own presence into human flesh. When we believe that the Father truly sent the Son, we are positioned to understand our own sending, for the pattern of divine mission begins in Him and extends through His body. (2 Corinthians 5:19; John 3:17; John 20:21)

The Son Sends His Body

Because we believe the testimony of His resurrection, we are placed in the Son—made partakers of His life, His Spirit, and His mission. The church is not merely an assembly; it is the body of Christ, animated by His indwelling Spirit. Thus, the sending of the Son becomes the sending of His people. The prophet John the Baptist said, “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” If Christ lives in us, then His sending becomes our sending, and His words become our words. We are not sent in our own strength but in His resurrection life, bearing witness to the truth as members of His body. (Galatians 2:20; John 3:34; Romans 10:9; John 20:21)

Purging the Old Leaven to Speak God’s Words

Yet a sobering question arises: If the one whom God sends speaks God’s words, what happens when believers speak error? Many claim to speak for God while teaching doctrines born of human tradition. This is why Paul commands us to “purge out the old leaven,” the leaven of insincerity, falsehood, and fleshly reasoning. The Father prunes every branch in the vine so that Christ—not the old man—may speak through us. Only a purified vessel can carry the words of God with accuracy. To be sent is not merely to go; it is to be cleansed, pruned, and filled with the Spirit so that Christ Himself may speak through His people. (1 Corinthians 5:7–8; John 15:1–5; John 3:34)

Sent to the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel

Christ declared that He was “sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” If we are His body, then His mission becomes our mission. Yet few in the modern church understand what this means. The lost sheep are the ten lost tribes of ancient Israel. Who are they today? The mind of Christ is still thinking about them. And the Great Shepherd will find them and restore them in our day.  As Christ walked, so must we walk: sent to proclaim the Kingdom, sent to heal the brokenhearted, sent to preach deliverance to the captives, sent to open blind eyes. John the Baptist was sent to bear witness of the Light; Christ was sent to preach the Kingdom; and now His Spirit sends us to continue His work. (Matthew 15:24; Luke 4:18–19; Luke 4:43; John 1:6–7; John 10:16)

Apostolic Power Through Indwelling Presence

Apostolic sending is not a title—it is a manifestation of Christ walking in His people. When He walks in us, then we are apostles, not by office but by participation in His mission. The same Spirit that sent Christ now sends His body. When the Holy Spirit moves through us, His power is sent forth to reconcile, to heal, to proclaim, and to reveal the government of God. We are not sent to speak our own ideas but to speak the words of the One who lives within us. As the Father sent the Son, and as the Son sends His church, so the Spirit sends His power through yielded vessels who walk in resurrection life. (John 20:21–22; Acts 1:8; Luke 4:18; John 14:12)

Conclusion

The sending of God is a divine chain: the Father sends the Son, the Son sends His body, and the Spirit sends His power through those who believe. To walk in this sending, we must believe the testimony of His resurrection, purge the old leaven, and yield ourselves as vessels through whom Christ continues His work. We are sent to bear witness of the Light, sent to proclaim the Kingdom, sent to the lost sheep, and sent to speak the Father’s words with purity. The mission of Christ did not end at His ascension—it continues in His body. And as long as He lives in us, we are sent.

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Awakening the Blind Church to Christ’s Last‑Day Vision

Recovering the eye salve that reveals God’s plan to multiply Himself

The greatest tragedy of the last days is not the darkness of the world, but the blindness of God’s own people to His astonishing purpose: the multiplication of Himself in His sons and daughters. “Each seed bears its own kind” comes to mind (Gen. 1:11-25). This is the divine intention woven through Scripture yet hidden from the natural eye. And in a mystery of sovereignty, God Himself has ordained this blindness until His children return to Him in repentance and spiritual sight.

Paul writes, “God has given them the spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear” (Romans 11:8). This condition is not merely ancient Israel’s; it is the condition of the church at the “time of the end.” We are living in the final church age—the Laodicean era, and the church has a spiritual sickness that Christ exposes with piercing clarity.

Christ says of His people, “You do not know that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). Yet His rebuke is not condemnation but invitation. He counsels us to receive from Him “gold tried in the fire,” the purified faith that reflects His nature; “white raiment,” the righteousness that clothes the saints; and “eye salve,” the anointing of truth that restores spiritual sight (Revelation 3:18).

Christ’s Rebuke, His Counsel, and the Throne‑room Promise to Overcomers

See what? See what He sees. See His vision for the earth. See how each of us dovetails into His plan, faithfully fulfilling our appointed part. The eye salve is truth—truth that removes the fog of false doctrine and reveals His prophetic ambition for His elect. Those who endure His rebuke and chastening are those who anoint their eyes with this truth (Revelation 3:19).

Therefore, Christ commands, “Be zealous therefore, and repent.” Those who obey receive a promise so staggering that it strains the imagination. In this age, it is not we knocking on His door—it is Christ knocking on ours: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…” (Revelation 3:20). To those who open, He grants intimate fellowship and unimaginable authority.

To the overcomers He declares, “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne” (Revelation 3:21). If you believe that this promise includes you, then you must prove it out–one way or another–by studying Revelation 3:14–22 with opened eyes and a yielded heart.

Christ concludes with the solemn refrain, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:22). His vision—His plan—is written plainly in Scripture, yet it remains a closed book to many (Isaiah 29:10–12). We sense that He is speaking of wonders, but finite minds struggle to grasp infinite purpose.

Paul reminds us that “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong” (Ecclesiastes 9:11), and “it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy” (Romans 9:16). The winners are those to whom God grants favor—those He chooses to give ears that hear.

This is why Christ repeatedly said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15). The Spirit is speaking to His body, but only the elect—those chosen and called—possess ears capable of receiving the message.

These elect are the ones through whom God will reproduce Himself. They are His first fruits (James 1:18; Revelation 14:4), the first in these end time days in whom God will fully manifest His nature. Their destiny is royal: to become kings in God’s Kingdom, which Christ will establish upon the earth (Revelation 5:10).

This is the high calling of God’s elect. This is the multiplication of God. This is the vision Christ is unveiling to those with opened eyes. Kenneth Wayne Hancock [Be sure to subscribe, share, like and comment. For more content like this order one of my books. They are free with free shipping. Here’s the link: Ordering My Free Books in Paperback | Immortality Road]

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The Father’s Will: None Lost, All Raised

 What, exactly, is the Father’s will for His people?

Christ Himself answered it—not with riddles, but with a promise so staggering that it redefines the entire purpose of our existence. According to Christ’s own words, the Father’s will is this: All whom He has given to the Son shall believe; they shall not be lost, and shall be raised up at the last day. Our resurrection is not a possibility—it is the guaranteed outcome of the Father’s eternal desire, which is His will.

Christ declared that His flesh—His real, physical body—would be offered as the one sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world. To believe this is to “eat the true bread from heaven” (John 6:32). He said plainly, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).

But Christ did not stop at explaining the sacrifice. He revealed the very heartbeat of the Father: “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me” (John 6:38). And then He defined that will with precision: “This is the Father’s will… that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (v. 39).

Two truths stand out. First, the Father gives certain people to the Son. These are not random souls drifting toward belief. They are the elect—those foreknown, chosen, and destined to behold the mystery—that Yahweh Himself dwelt in the Son and offered that body on Calvary. Second, the Father’s will cannot fail. Christ will “lose nothing.” Every son and daughter given to Him will be raised incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:52).

For two thousand years, these chosen ones have carried the testimony of Christ. And in the final generation, Scripture hints at a company who will walk in unprecedented power—those who will “do greater works” (John 14:12). Revelation speaks of 144,000 sealed servants who follow the Lamb and proclaim His Kingdom with authority. Their works will not surpass Christ in essence, but in scope—because He will be working through a multiplied body.

Christ repeated the Father’s will again for emphasis: “Everyone which sees the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40). To “see” the Son is to perceive Him as Scripture reveals Him—Yahweh manifested in flesh, the fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily (Colossians 2:9).

Our part is simple, yet profound: believe. Believe that Yahweh came in human form. Believe that His name—Yahshua, “Yahweh is salvation”—contains the promise of eternal life. Believe that His sacrifice is sufficient. When we believe, He performs the Father’s will through us.

Christ said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). That work is the gathering, preserving, and resurrecting of every soul the Father has given Him. He will finish it. He will lose none. He will raise them up.

And we—His body—are called to eat that same heavenly purpose. To align with His mission. To walk as vessels through whom He completes the Father’s will in the earth. The Father’s will is not vague, hidden, or uncertain. It is resurrection. It is transformation. It is the raising up of a people conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). And Christ Himself guarantees the outcome: “I should lose nothing.”     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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THE ABIDING OF GOD: TRUTH, PURITY, AND THE SPIRIT WHO REVEALS THE SON

Trying to grasp Christ’s mystical thoughts is like reaching for a golden butterfly shimmering in the sun—beautiful, near, yet always slipping beyond the grasp of our earthbound minds. And then we blink, and the revelatory thought evaporates before our outstretched arms.

Yet Christ did not speak to bewilder us; He spoke to draw us into the mystery of God’s own indwelling. He declared, “I am…the truth” (John 14:6), and truth is the condition of His abiding presence. God will not take up residence where falsehood remains. Christ teaches that the Spirit of truth comes only when we cease knowing Him “after the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5:16) and begin to see Him as the ascended Son who sends the Comforter.

Therefore, the central claim of this essay is that God’s abiding presence enters the believer only when false concepts are purged, for the Spirit of truth—whom Christ sends after we stop clinging to Him as a mortal—guides us into all truth and reveals the Father dwelling in the Son.

1. God’s Abiding Presence Requires Truth

God offers us His abiding presence—His very life dwelling within us. But because He is truth, He will not inhabit a heart governed by falsehood. Christ’s own words establish this: “I am…the truth” (John 14:6). Truth is not merely a doctrine; it is the very nature of God. Therefore, abiding cannot occur where untruth remains.

Before God takes up residence in us, the old belief system must be purged of its errors. False concepts about God create a dwelling place unfit for His presence. The heart must be cleansed of misconceptions, distortions, and inherited traditions that obscure the true knowledge of Christ. Only then can the abiding begin. [Several false teachings are found here: false doctrines | Immortality Road]

2. The Spirit of Truth Is the Means of Abiding

Christ reveals that the abiding presence comes through the Comforter, “the Spirit of truth.” He says, “When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth…he shall testify of me” (John 15:26).

The Spirit of truth does not speak of Himself. He speaks of Christ. He unveils Christ as He truly is—not as we imagine Him, not as we have been taught by human systems, but as the Son of God in His present glory.

Abiding begins when the Spirit comes. And the Spirit comes only in truth. He cannot testify of Christ to a heart still clinging to falsehood. He cannot reveal the Son where the mind refuses to be renewed.

3. Christ Must Depart Before the Spirit Can Come

Christ makes a startling statement: “If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you” (John 16:7).

This departure is not merely physical. It is spiritual. Something in our perception of Christ must depart. We must release our limited, flesh-bound view of Him.

As long as we cling to Christ as a mortal man—full of passion, pain, and the limitations of flesh—we cannot receive Him in His ascended form. The Spirit cannot reveal the glorified Christ to a heart still fixated on the earthly Christ.

The departure Christ speaks of is the departure of our old way of seeing Him.

4. We Must No Longer Know Christ “After the Flesh”

Paul echoes this truth: “Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more” (2 Corinthians 5:16).

This is not a denial of Christ’s incarnation. It is an invitation to move beyond it.

We must not cling to Christ merely as the suffering man of Galilee. We must see Him as He is now—the ascended, spiritual-bodied King who reigns at the right hand of God. Only when we release the fleshly view can He return to us in a spiritual way, in the capacity known as the Holy Spirit.

5. The Spirit Reveals the Father in the Son

The Spirit of truth guides us “into all truth” and “shows us things to come” (John 16:13). This is not abstract knowledge. It is revelation. It is the unveiling of the Father in the Son.

Christ pleaded with His disciples, “Believe me that the Father is in me…doing the works” (John 14:10–11). This is the truth the Spirit reveals. The Father dwelling in the Son, and the Son dwelling in us through the Spirit—this is the abiding.

The Spirit’s work is to manifest Christ within us, and in manifesting Christ, to manifest the Father. This is the mystery of the abiding presence. Knowing Christ “after the flesh” must go before He can come to us “after the Spirit.”

Conclusion

Christ’s teachings on the abiding presence are not easily grasped. They shimmer with spiritual light, always just beyond the reach of natural understanding. Yet He has given us the key: truth. God abides only in truth. The Spirit of truth comes only when we release our fleshly view of Christ and allow Him to reveal the Son as He truly is. When the Spirit comes, He guides us into all truth, testifies of Christ, and unveils the Father dwelling in Him. And in that revelation, God takes up His residence within us. This is the abiding. This is the promise. This is the life of God in the soul of man.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock   [If this and other articles have helped you, please hit the “like” button and subscribe.]

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Thinking God’s Thoughts–The Additions and the Abiding

Thinking God’s Thoughts–The Additions and the Abiding

(from a Journal entry dated 7-30-14)

If you want to hear from God today, soften your heart by believing. Believing what exactly? Believe that God exists and is there, very near to you. And that He reveals Himself to those who search for Him with all their heart. We need to believe Him, like a little child believes—with all our heart (Heb. 11:6).

That is why it is so important to tell children the truth. For they will believe you. They’ll believe you, for instance, about Santa Claus and the flying reindeer, until the day they discover their first betrayal, until the day when they trade their faith in for a plastic phony world.

Nevertheless, God promises true things to His children. He promises everlasting life and power that overcomes obstacles in our lives—starting today—if we do not doubt Him. He has promised us that if we believe Him, then He, the Spirit of truth, will come and dwell/abide in us!

But, first, we must abide in Him. We must dwell in Him by getting rid of untruths and, frankly, the doctrinal errors that we all have been subjected to. He calls this “purging out the old leaven” (I Cor. 5:7; see Purge Out the Old Leaven = Getting Rid of False Concepts | Immortality Road).

This is “abiding in Him.” When this is done, then He will abide in us. This is how spiritual growth works. For it is when His Spirit dwells fully in us that we will show forth Him! This is the fulfilling of His purpose: God’s will is for Him to reproduce Himself, and “God is agape Love.”

We abide in Him when we think His thoughts. It is when we “get our minds right” and “get with His program” that we can abide in Christ. This leads to Christ fully dwelling/abiding in us.

Again, to abide in Him and He in us is to think His thoughts. This is having the same mind that Christ has. “Let this mind be in you” (Phil. 2:5).

How to Think His Thoughts

Two spiritual tools exist to help us train our minds to think His thoughts. For Yahweh’s thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa. 55:8). So then, our minds must be re-educated. We are born from a matrix of doubt and disbelief. We have been misled about what the truth is. So, the Master Teacher has prescribed prayer and fasting to cast out the unbelief.

Put another way, the two increase belief. They add to our faith. In fact, the seven additions to the faith are added by faith/belief, and God has ordained that prayer and fasting come into our spiritual life. He not only desires this for us, but He also makes it happen (II Peter 1:5-12).

Adding the seven additions is the only way in scripture to “make our calling and election sure (v. 10).” These seven “things make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Him. Adding them ensures that we will bear much spiritual fruit (v. 8). By adding them to our faith, we are ensured “an entrance…into the everlasting kingdom…” (v. 11). [See Additions to the Faith to Make Our Calling and Election Sure–To Be Like Peter, James, John, and Paul | Immortality Road

For His elect have their destiny pre-determined by God. And He will restore what we had with Him in the beginning—which are the seven additions to the faith.

Peter is imploring us to take heed. Take the additions to heart. If you want to be in His elect cadre, we must add the attributes of His divine nature. The Spirit is telling us to add them. We must do this. We do not work for salvation; it is a gift. But we must work to spiritually grow through study and prayer. We work because He has saved us for a purpose: To be laborers in His last day vineyard.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock [For more on this, send for my new book, The Additions to the Faith. It is free with free shipping. Send your name, mailing address, and the name of the book to my e-mail: wayneman5@hotmail.com].

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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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From Death to Everlasting Life—From Earthly Bodies to Heavenly Bodies

(from Kenneth Wayne Hancock, Journal entry, 9-20-21)

Mankind’s trouble is traced from his realization that the earthly body that he walks around in will one day die. It is dissolving even now in a slow march to the grave. Ashes are its destiny. Unless he is a child or a fool, man knows that his body will melt back into the earth.

Our “days are consumed, like smoke” (Psalm 102:3). When the dawn of death’s reality shrouds are minds, we groan under its weight. For we know that in a few short years our earthly body will succumb to our Creator’s will. For He has subjected all humans to the “bondage of corruption (decay unto death)” in hope that we will see the futility of living only for ourselves in this earthly life (Rom. 8:20-23).

The aging visage we see in our mirror is a witness to these things. But then we see Him! High and lifted up, waiting for the few, the remnant, the first fruits to realize the Answer to all their trepidations.

In Adam, all will wither and fade to dust and ash, but “You, Yahweh, shall endure forever” (Psalm 102:12). And because of your great mercy, You see our plight of impending doom, and you reach down and help us live.

“Yahweh looked down from His sanctuary on high; from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.” And why does He save us? “So the name of Yahweh will be declared in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem, when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship Yahweh” (102:19-22).  

But now the whole of creation groans with us, waiting for “the manifestation of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:19). We all wait for the unveiling of the sons and daughters of God. This body of humans will have received their new, spiritual bodies, like the body that the Son of God resides in now. That kind of spiritual body is an everlasting body.

These 100-fold fruit bearing followers of the Lamb will come on the scene at the appointed time of the end. God’s Spirit through them will govern the earth. God will “restore all things” that He prophesied through His prophets. He will establish his kingdom and all peoples and nations will praise his name. But now, He humbles us as we learn that only He will endure. The heavens and the earth “shall perish, but You shall endure” (Psm. 102: 26-27). As we await the appointed time when our earthly body will be “swallowed up” with our new celestial body, we have joy knowing that He will deliver. This vision is the “law [the instruction] and the testimony,” which is “the spirit of prophecy” (Isa. 8:20; Rev. 19:10).   Kenneth Wayne Hancock 

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Renewing Our Minds Changes Us

To renew our mind—how do we do it? We do it by adding Christ’s divine thoughts to our faith.

Peter tells us to “gird up the loins of your mind” (I Peter 1:13). The first item of the armor of God is to stand, “having your loins girt about with truth” (Eph. 6:14). Every Christian knows that the truth is in Christ. But the young Christian [and the old as well] has thoughts and concepts about Christ that are not Christ’s thoughts.

The apostles were writing to Christians who evidently needed to have their concepts of Christ’s gospel straightened out. Or they would not have been receiving those letters to the churches. It is the same today. The spiritual battleground is in the mind. We are led by our thoughts.

And God has given us the power to chase negative thoughts away and banish false concepts out of our minds. When our thinking has been purged and cleansed, then we will have been transformed, or changed. How is one transformed? “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove [discern, reckon as genuine] what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2). We will be able to know what God’s perfect will is and how to walk in it. But our minds must be free from false doctrines. That is how the renewal begins.

Definition of Renew

To renew means “to make new again.” You mean, our minds were new once upon a time, and then they got sullied, and now they await a cleansing and a restoration to the purity they once held?

Could this “renewing of our minds” entail us thinking what Christ thought? We are admonished to let Christ’s mind be in us (Phil. 2:5). Think like Christ thinks. Let Christ’s mind be in you. You mean we must allow it to reside in us? We do this by moving out our old thoughts to make room for the new thoughts, which are Christ’s thoughts, thoughts that require faith/belief.

So what did he think about?  He thought of the invisible heavenly things, not the things consumed by the five senses. “Take no thought for your life,” your visible earthly life (Matt. 6:25-31). He was submissive to the father in all things and taught us to do the same. In so doing, he was humble, giving glory and praise to the Father.

We must “let” His mind take over our mind. To do this we must know the plan and purpose of God. Christ always said, “I must be about my Father’s business” (Luke 2:49). He always did those things that pleased the Father.

Knowing the true plan and purpose of God is a big chore, but what is bigger is eliminating the old desires we had for our lives– our plans and schemes, our dreams for our own little futures. And they are little “compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.”  Our old lives are but “dung” compared to eternally being at His side.

The Cross

Christ always taught His followers to repent from sin. This is the first step in getting rid of the false concepts about Christ. It is the cross that puts to death our old sinful selves, along with its desires, and enables us to “be raised to walk in a newness of life.” This shows us where our old thoughts were leading us and where the thoughts of God now bid us come.

First, we must get to that place of submission. We must leave the old life at the cross and take on Christ’s mission, which is establishing His Kingdom of love and righteousness throughout the earth and sharing his throne with his elect. That takes much study and prayer.

All this is for those human beings who renew their minds with Christ’s thoughts and are changed from selfish sinners into compassionate monarchs, soon ruling with Christ in His Kingdom right here upon earth. “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne…” (Rev. 3:21).

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