Category Archives: resurrection

May 10, 2014 · 3:45 pm

Feasts, New Moons, Sabbaths–Mere Shadows of Christ in Us

The Feast Days of Yahweh, His New Moons and Calendar, and His Sabbath Days–even the Ten Commnadment Law itself–are but a shadow of the spiritual light we are in Him and that He is in us.  A shadow is not the real thing.  We can learn from studying a shadow, but a shadow can never replace the thing that creates the shadow.

After we are crucified with Him, buried with Him, and risen with Christ–after receiving a new heart from the Master, the apostle Paul says this: “Let no man therefore judge you in respect of a feast day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come…” (Col. 2: 11-17).  In fact, these feast days and Sabbaths and laws “serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,” even as God told Moses to “make all things according to the pattern showed to you in the mount” (Heb. 8: 5). All things that Moses laid down to the children of Israel are a “shadow of heavenly things” and not the heavenly things themselves.

And what are these “heavenly things” that the apostle is talking about in Hebrews 8: 5? We children of the living God are those heavenly things! When we finally get it that it is “no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me,” we then are the pattern for all the things that Moses instituted in the first five books.

The old testament was the sprinkling of animal blood upon the tabernacle, for “without the shedding of blood is no remission. But the “heavenly things” needed “better sacrifices than these” for purification (Heb. 9: 23). We, brethren, are those “heavenly things” that needed the blood of the Lamb to purify us!

We now as the spiritual body of Christ were before the sabbaths, before the moon, before food and drink, before the holy days, the feast days, before time, before this earth, before this world.  We are now “risen with Christ” and we  “seek those things which are from above” [Col. 3: 1].  We now yearn to see our true home, our heavenly dwelling.

For God has established in this new walk, this “newness of life,” a spiritual reality (Rom. 6: 4).  It is built upon better promises wherein He says that He will put His Spirit in our minds and hearts and that He will not remember our sins anymore!  This is the new covenant (Jer. 31: 31-34; Heb. 8: 12).

The apostle Paul says that we are a new creation and “are complete in Him… buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” [Col. 2: 10-20].  We are new spiritual righteous creatures now and are not to be judged in respect of what we eat or drink, what holy days, new moons, or sabbaths that are observed.  Why? Because His Spirit now in us was before all the laws and observances were set down on this earth.  This does not give us a license to carelessly break them.  Rather His Spirit in us guides us to that right walk in Him.

In other words, we now do not observe religiously these mentioned things to somehow be accepted by the Father.  To the contrary, we use these to teach us to come to the Savior in a true, meaningful way.

We do not do them to insure that we are okay with God.  That would be working for salvation.  Remember: they are shadows and not the reality of true worship.  Rather they, like the Mosaic Law and the Ten Commandments, are part 0f the “schoolmaster” that Paul refers to, that “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” [Gal. 3: 22-25].

The Schoolmaster

The laws of God are instructive to a seeker of God.  They teach us and help bring us to the cross.  They show us about His plan of redemption.  His feasts show that very plan as a type and shadow of Christ Himself.  The new moons and sabbaths teach us of His plan and timing for His coming kingdom.  But they are but a shadow of the reality that now resides in our hearts.  They are only an image of the reality.  They are made for us to learn from–made for us by our Creator.  But they are only a shadow of the Reality.  That Reality is Christ’s Spirit in us.

Shadows Are Not Real

Shadows have never been the real deal.  Shadows are actually made from a lack of light.  Shadows are in the shape of things or people, but they are not the real thing; they are not a part of reality.  Shadows merely imitate reality; they simulate what is real; they intimate that which is true; they suggest obscurely as to what or who made their image possible. But they are not the real thing.

They do not have the depth.  They lack that third dimension.  Shadows are flat and a bit distorted at times.  They lie upon the earth in only two dimensions.  Something three dimensional is held up off the earth, and light is actually blocked and a flat shadow results–a lack of light laying flat on the earth.  Shadows are earthly phenomenon; they are distinctively of the earth.

Furthermore, shadows have no life in and of themselves.  They are only beneficial in that they resemble at times the thing that blocks the light.  Shadows are dark lifeless representations of other things.  They cannot give life because they have not life to give.  The law, along with the feast days, new moons and sabbaths are a shadow of the reality found in Christ.

We Can Learn from Shadows

But we can learn from shadows.  What do they tell us?  We can glean a rough idea of what something is, what is its shape, what is its function.  But we cannot by embracing a shadow ever obtain the reality.

Shadows are merely lifeless, lightless representations and can never perfect anyone.  They can lead you to the Perfecter, but worshipping and circling a shadow is not worshipping that Glorious Reality.

All shadows disappear when the true Light comes near.  Christ is the Light with “neither shadow nor variableness of turning” [James 1: 7].  The true Light dispels the shadows. When He is truly come inside of us His temple, the Light will cause the shadows–the new moons, feast days, sabbaths, and all other earthly situations of worship to disappear.

These two passages of scripture should become clearer now: “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2: 27).

“The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient…” (I Tim 1: 9).

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March 1, 2014 · 8:15 pm

Self-Sacrifice Versus Self-Improvement in Christian Growth

Life is all about love.  It is about living to love. Life is our time to love.

But it is about great love, selfless love, agape love. For that is what touches the human heart–love. But this the highest love is the giving-up-one’s-life-for-another kind of love. It is that rare selfless love. And that is the part of the Christian story that reaches into the inner recesses of the heart and gently breaks it. It touches us. That’s the kind of love that is great–laying down one’s life for a friend.

And that is where the Christian’s Savior reigns supreme in touching hearts. Hearing of His undeniable love in taking our sins upon Himself and providing Himself as an offering for our sins–for the selfish likes of us–that is what touches us.

The cool untouchable reflection of Buddha does not touch us like Christ does. It is, after all, an exercise in helping one’s self gain peace. The busy petty pantheons of India, Rome, and Greece do not move us like Christ does.

Nor do nebulous new age imaginations touch us, for they all are mere means of self-improvement, not self-denial to help others.

And we humans know too well deep down in the core of our beings that self-improvement of the self is, well, self-centered and self-important and has little to do with worshipping the Creator who needs no improvement. For His ways are perfect; His thoughts are law.

This then should give us Christians pause. For we are warned repeatedly in almost every book in the New Testament that there will be false teachers. And even though well-meaning, they “will bring in damnable heresies.”

And the heretical teaching most damning, that condemns that vulnerable babe in Christ to a stunted spiritual growth is the doctrine of “self-improvement.” In an old tract it was call “The Modern Smooth Cross,” as opposed to the austerity of the “old rugged cross.”

The smooth modern cross does not demand the death of the old self on the cross with Christ, our sin Sacrifice, the Passover Lamb of God. This doctrine merely re-directs ambitions, improves little idiosyncrasies. It never gets down to the real problem–the sin nature that is brought to the church house.

In this modern doctrine of self-improvement, the self is still there. It is never demanded to die with Christ. Therefore, the sinful self is hibernating there under the initial rush and excitement of fellowship, hiding like a cornered wild animal waiting to strike out and wound whoever would pressure it out of its comfortable lair. Some feel quite at home and feel no threats to their current status in Christendom and carry on walking through the wide gate.

The Self-Sacrifice of Spiritual Circumcision

However, we now must remember that we Christians have undergone an invisible spiritual circumcision, “made without hands, in putting off the body of sins of the flesh (Col. 2: 11-13).  For we were already “dead in our sins (v. 13). And now God has provided a way to let that sinful nature die now and avoid the rush. And we have been “buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead” (v. 12). That is how God sees it and judges it regardless of whether we see it or even feel it. The “we,” the self is dead. He said it; now we believe it.

He died on the cross; our sinful nature died with Him. He was buried; we were buried spiritually, our old sinful nature entombed forever. He was raised from the dead; we are raised with Him and “walk in newness of life (Rom. 6: 4). And we must know this one thing: “That our old man is crucified with  Him [it is already done and over with], that the body of sin might be destroyed [that means dead, caput, no more, totally annihilated], that henceforth we should not serve sin”  (Rom. 6: 6).

So how to do this in a reality? We must reckon it so. We must account that it is done like God has already done. “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (6: 11). Let the invisible chains of sin’s slavery fall off of you. Just walk off of the plantation. You are already dead, so just let the old sinful life go. Be alive unto God. Walk in a new life through Him and through belief in His resurrection. It is already done. God’s Emancipation Proclamation has gone forth. Just believe it, and walk off of the plantation. You are free. You don’t have to sin anymore. Whether you have been going to church three months, three years, or thirty or more years–you are free now. Just believe it; it is already accomplished. I am proclaiming liberty to the captives. Walk on in the light of His love. Give up your life for others. Sacrifice your self to help save mankind. In a word, be like Christ. That is what He is asking us to do. After he told His disciples of these things, He asked them, Are you sure you want to do this? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

The Effect?

“He that is dead is freed from sin” (6: 7). Very few preachers tell their congregations that they are freed from sin. To the contrary, they tell them how sinful they are, but never tell them how to be free from that bondage to sinning. They proudly proclaim that they are a “sinner saved by grace” and will always be a sinner. Where does the Bible say that? Just read  1 John 3: 9. They will proclaim that they “sin every day.”

But why won’t they tell them that they are freed from the clutches of sin? Because they have not taught them that they must let their sinful old nature die with Christ on the cross. No death of sinful heart=no freedom from its bondage. For “whoever commits sin is the servant [slave] of sin,” Christ said (John 8: 34). He also said that “no man can serve two masters.” You cannot serve God and serve sin. Sharp cutting words, but needful.

But tired old churchianity slogs on, “teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.” Their leaders “cause them to err,” and they will give an account to the Judge who will weigh all their justifications and give His verdict, as they are led from the room muttering, “But did we not prophesy in Your name?”

The message written here will bless the hearts of some, but some will scurry out of its light, back to the friendly confines of modern Christendom’s “Today’s Tips for Self-Improvement. ”   Kenneth Wayne Hancock    {If you haven’t visited my website Immortality Road, please do. There you will find over 300 articles and books exploring the “unsearchable riches of Christ,” all written for you, the elect sons and daughters of God, the future rulers with Christ in His soon coming kingdom
https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com }

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February 22, 2014 · 6:39 pm

“Today, If You Will Hear His Voice”–The Time Portal to His Presence

An opening in time–a portal to enter into God’s presence, to be near Him, enough to hear His voice.

So, we ask again, What if God, earnestly desiring to commune with us, has provided a way for us to get into a spiritual place where He would speak audibly to us? What if we could get all of our spiritual ducks in a row and thereby position ourselves to enter His time portal so that we could literally have a conversation with the Creator? He did say that all things are possible to him that believes.

What if, among His many promises to us, there is the possibility that we could get very close to Him, that we could hear His voice and even share a meal together, as we see in Rev. 3.  What if He has already created a window of time that opens on a regular basis, a timeframe where, if we can believe it, He will meet us there, after we have met certain criteria that He has set for our holiness?

God has provided this time portal, and it swings open every seven days. It is called the Sabbath.  And we are commanded to “keep it holy.” But the true Sabbath is like an island surrounded by the treacherous waters of man’s traditions. Every sect in the earth has their own take as to which day is the Sabbath and how to “keep it holy.”

Keeping It Holy

First, there is nothing we can do that makes the Sabbath holy. We cannot sanctify it through anything that we do or don’t do. We must realize that the Sabbath already is holy. God has already set it apart and hallowed it (Ex. 20: 11).

God created it and sanctified it for man, as Christ said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” The seventh day is not something to be served as if it were this holy thing that needs to be reverently observed–or else. The Sabbath is instead a 24 hour space in time that occurs every seven days in which the Great Spirit Creator makes His presence known with more power and clarity to those who walk with Him in truth.

God has set aside a 24 hour period each week for His people to seek Him. “Seek the LORD while He may be found” takes on more meaning in light of this. “May be found…” God gives permission to find Him during this weekly 24 hour period.

The Pharisees “kept” the Sabbath, but they did not keep it holy, for they injected ruinous teachings, traditions, and concepts about it. The actual Sabbath day of God, on which they assembled and concocted various restrictions as to what can and cannot be done, cannot be sanctified by us and our actions.

It is already made holy by its Creator. And He has set it apart from the other days of the week that we humans, “the apple of His eye,” could have a lifeline to help us get back into His presence. He made it as a space/time connector, a bridge joining us in our bodies to the spiritual dimension that He dwells in. It is His gift to us–a time to peer into spiritual truths, a time for His Spirit to come down and try out His house, which is us–a time for God and us to rest in each other, after we have ceased from working for our self and rest from the sensation of it being us that is still in the picture.

For it is belief in the death of self, our dying with Christ on the cross (Rom. 6: 1-6), and the belief that He now lives within us in a new heart, that enables us to finally “enter into His rest.” “For he that is entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” Our own works were the acts of sinning, breaking God’s law. When we die with Christ, be buried with Him, and then through faith in the operation of God that raised Him from the dead, we too cease from our old works done by our old selves. “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts,” (Gal. 5: 24, the “flesh” here being the old sinful carnal nature of man we are born into).

The final crucifixion, the once and for all putting to death of our old sinful nature–that is what we must believe. That is the first step in getting right, in getting our spiritual ducks in a row, that we may enter into His rest, having stopped the insanity of the sin we were bound with.”

For God limits a certain day for special things to happen between Him and His people. That space in time, that portal still is there for some to enter into (Heb. 4: 1-11).  “To day if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” That day is the Sabbath. And if we will soften our hearts with belief in the crucifixion of sin and faith that He has given us a new heart and spirit, then we will enter into His rest, ceasing from our old sins.

For it was the sin of His people that He was grieved with in the wilderness. And they could not enter into His rest because of it. But now, if we do not harden our hearts toward Him and just believe Him that the sin is gone, gone, gone–then we can enter into His rest. For “here remains a rest (a sabbatismos–a keeping of the Sabbath in the Greek) to the people of God” (Heb 4: 9).

So Which Day Is It?

Many traditions of men abound as to when is the Sabbath. Hundreds of millions of Moslems believe that the Sabbath takes place from sundown  Thursday to sundown Friday. The followers of Judaism and several Christian denominations believe that it starts at sundown Friday and ends on sundown Saturday. Then you have billions of Christians who believe that the Sabbath has been changed, replacing it with Sunday as the holy day of God.

Studying the scriptures will give you the answer as to which day is the true Sabbath. Finding this treasure of knowledge is left up to us all. Seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened; ask, and it shall be given, says our Master Christ. We all must prove it out, taking His word and the common sense that He has given us, being prepared to receive the answer, having no pre-conceived imaginations.

To benefit from this communion with God on His Sabbath, we must have erroneous concepts about Him and His plan straightened out and corrected. To be counted as a vessel for Him to pour Himself into, especially on His Sabbath, we must be holy. We must “purge out the old leaven that the lump may be holy.”

But that opens up another can of worms.  What is the old leaven, and how do we purge it out?    Kenneth Wayne Hancock      {If you haven’t visited my website Immortality Road, please do. There you will find over 300 articles and books exploring the “unsearchable riches of Christ,” all written for you, the elect sons and daughters of God, the future rulers with Christ in His soon coming kingdom
https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com }

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January 18, 2014 · 4:24 pm

The Five Offices of God–For Our Perfection

Unto man has God “put in subjection the world to come.” Man. That’s us, brethren. In the world to come, the next age, the time in the history of this earth after Christ’s return to rule it for a thousand years—God has ordained that some of us human beings will be rulers with Christ in the government that He will establish (Heb. 2: 5).

To rule and reign with Christ in His kingdom/government—that is the high calling. Brethren, are we ready? Have we grown spiritually that we would be strong and pure enough to take on that mantle of responsibility for the King, to be His administrators, His regents, His arms and hands, His heart and mind in the myriad matters of ruling the King’s earth?

To help us fulfill this “high calling” of God, Christ came “that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (2: 9). And Christ will be made complete and perfect by His act of “bringing many sons unto glory” (v. 10). And this glory is us being glorified, which in turn brings final glory to the King and Master. Christ will be fully glorified when He fulfills His final destiny, which is bringing His chosen ones to full spiritual maturity.

He did say, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12: 24). We are the “much fruit” that He refers to on the road to His glorification (v. 23).

And because we, Christ’s followers, have come out of the matrix of “flesh and blood, He also Himself took part of the same.” Why? So that He could pave the way for our immortality, made possible by the destruction of the devil. Christ destroys the devil when He destroys sin in our life and gives us a new life by faith (Heb. 2: 14). That’s the foundation to build the temple of God on. Since we are His temple,that is where we start.

And Christ brings us to that full mature spiritual growth by sharing His Spirit with His body of believers. He shares His Spirit with His teachers, and they then impart the necessary knowledge to Christ’s brethren, for “He is not ashamed to call [us] brethren (2: 11).

Why God Gave Us the Five Fold Ministry Offices

In fact, Christ set in His spiritual body of believers five offices: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And Christ established these offices “for the perfecting of the saints [the brethren, us], for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4: 11-12).

Let’s savor this a moment. God has chosen out from among all the Christians in the world a few to be in these offices. Why? What is their purpose? First, they are necessary “for the perfecting” of the members of Christ’s church, which is His body of believers. The Greek word (G2675) translated “perfecting” here means “to be fit, prepared, to be mended and repaired, and ethically, to be complete and perfect, and to make one what he ought to be” (http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G2675&t=KJV).

The true offices of God will help us by the Spirit within them to become prepared, ready and fit to assume the duties in Christ’s kingdom—royal duties to be assigned to us of our Father. For this is really the “work of the ministry” that Paul refers to here. The “ministry” of Christ is the administration of His government that will fill the whole earth, according to the prophet Daniel in 2: 44 and 7: 18: “But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.” That’s a long time to be in the presence of the King of kings (that’s us with the little “k”). And we “shall take the kingdom and possess it forever.” We. Us. Ruling with Christ the King.

That’s the gospel, my brothers and sisters. That’s the good news that man needs. Getting rid of the corruption caused by the sinful hearts of the leaders of this present world system and replacing it with righteous rulers who contain the Spirit of Christ in their bosoms. That’s the gospel; that’s the good news. It is the “gospel of kingdom” (Matt. 4: 23; Mark 1: 14-15). But how the gospel has been watered down at best by preaching only a tiny portion of His plan! How it has been poisoned by the preaching of false concepts like the prosperity doctrine! Well did the prophets cry, “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, Saith the LORD.” And, “My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray.” But then He promises finally, “I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jer 23: 1; 50: 6; Ezk 34: 2; Jer 3: 15).

How Long Will They Teach Us?

These Spirit-led apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in our day will continue to teach “till we all come in the unity of the faith” (Eph. 4: 13). They through the Spirit will teach His pure concepts until we Christians are on the same page, until we have His vision. They will teach by His Spirit until the body has the true “knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man” (4: 11).

They will continue to teach the truth until we are fully grown, walking in the Spirit like Peter, James, John, and Paul did after the Resurrection. “Perfect” here means a completed spiritual life cycle growth. They will teach until we all have the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (v. 11).

But don’t just take my word for it. We must prove all things through study and prayer to see if the things expounded here take root and grow in our hearts—to see if this vision of a royal heritage quickens like a seed in warm rich soil which loses its lonely first state and dies, only to be reborn as a green lively plant nourished by the living waters, alive now to reproduce itself, as the Creator has reproduced Himself in us.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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December 14, 2013 · 3:55 pm

The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect

King David is looking up at the dancing diamond lights in the heavens and writes, “What is man that Thou art mindful of him?” [1]

You, God, who created this vast expanse of stardust whose beauty causes us to gasp when we take time to look up—how incomprehensible is Your love for us! You, the Master of the Universe, who controls the destinies of a billion stars and their planets, why would You even think about us down here in the clay pits of the earth? And yet, You think about us all the time.

Your mind is full of us; we occupy your thoughts. And You have “crowned us with glory and honor.” Really?

Really? Glory for homo ignoramus? Honor for man who frets and struts his petty little ego around the yard of his mind? God has crowned man with glory and honor? Man, who grasps at vainglory all the days of his life, earnestly desiring to be the center of attention, does not realize that he is the center of God’s attention. But man wants the glory on his own terms and not his Creator’s terms. And therein lies the problem.

For man in his natural state will die, for God has “made him a little lower than the angels” for the suffering of death in hope that man would turn to Him for life, the crown of life.

Some Will Literally Wear a Crown

For those who can believe it, God has crowned us with glory and honor. God speaks here as though things already were fully actualized. A select few will wear a crown placed upon their heads by God Himself! A crown is made for and is only worn by royalty.

And this is no “hollow crown that rounds the mortal temples of a king” [2]. No, these crowns placed upon God’s elect sons will be their immortal reward for their humble service to their King.

For in the Kingdom of God soon to literally come to this earth, no one will “tell sad stories of the death of kings.” For these kings will be immortal, ruling in their “house which is from heaven,” their new spiritual bodies. Immune from death, they will “rule and reign with Christ” for a millennium, and they “will be strong and do exploits in the land.” They will be like the patriarch Joseph in Egypt, their type and shadow. They will be the administrators and judges and rulers filled with the Spirit of God.

These are God’s elect, His chosen ones in this last generation before He returns to earth. They are the 100 fold spiritual fruit bearers, spoken of by the Master in Matthew 13’s “Parable of the Sower.”

They are the “five wise virgins” who had oil in their lamps and knew the times and were prepared for the Master’s return, unlike the five foolish virgins [3]. The ten were Christians all, but only the former group were accepted for the high calling.

The Overcomers Are Coming

“Many are called, but few are chosen” [4]. What distinguishes the elect from Christians who don’t mature? They will have overcome all things and endured all things and will have added to their faith those attributes of the divine nature that the apostle spoke of (II Peter 1: 4-7).

They are coming. Thousands will break through the suffocating conventions of churchianity and armed with the knowledge of their destiny and how to arrive at it, they will overcome all of the roadblocks and purify themselves with the cleansing power of the Spirit.

These overcomers have a stupendous destiny to fulfill. It is a future forged in the fires of Yahweh’s creative energy, fired like fine pottery to make vessels of quality, vessels worthy to contain the fruit of God’s ultimate vintage, His Spirit.

And these elect chosen ones will walk humbly with their God and with mortal men. For God requires the utmost humility, and only a few thousand humans in this age will be counted worthy to “go on to perfection” [5].

These are the elect of God—His princes and the future monarchs of His kingdom. To these God will delegate authority during His 1,000 reign of peace, for they will have proven themselves worthy of this glory and honor. Just like King David said earlier, they have been crowned “with glory and honor.” For “they were redeemed from among men” [6].

The Plot of a Fantasy Novel

These few words about them serve as a preface to a book being written now, a book whose working title is The Destiny of the Chosen Ones. In its pages the plan of God reads like the plot of a 1,000 page fantasy novel. It is fantastic if you look at the Bible story with fresh eyes and take it at face literary value.

Picture it. The Supreme Being in another dimension/world desires to reproduce Himself. But He happens to be an Invisible Spirit/Force of Love. And the greatest love in the universe is laying down your life for another.

But the Supreme Being, this wonderful Force of Love, cannot show His great love because, well, He is invisible, and He is immortal. He can’t be seen, and He can’t die for another.

So He first creates a prototype vessel, composed of Spirit, that looks like what will become a human being. He creates a world, a planet called earth, and He forms Adam’s body out of the dust of this planet. And Adam and His offspring are mortal.

The plan is that these mortal men are to be redeemed by their Creator from a life of bondage to an evil spirit being. This fiendish adversary has seduced these mortals into committing selfish dishonorable acts all their lifetime. And they are mired in a pit of degradation until they are lifted up and saved by their Creator. He does this by incarnating Himself in a body, a son of Adam, that can die. He then suffers death for their ransom, thus demonstrating the greatest Love—to die for another. He raises from the dead, and He buys them back and delivers them out of the pit of despair, and they remember no more their guilt for past iniquities.

And He cleans them up and trains them in the wise ways of the prophets of old who were placed in the earth to preserve the path that leads from death to everlasting life.

And these redeemed ones apply themselves to the teachings of the apostles and prophets who were sent in earlier ages to light the way to immortality. And they now believe with grateful hearts what their Master has prepared for them, and they grow in this newfound belief.

And they set their sights on this new vision and quest of becoming one of the Master’s princes. They humble themselves and learn the true teachings, enrolling in the School of the Prophets, and it transforms them. Old petty thoughts and desires melt away like tired and dirty snowbanks in the afternoon sun.

And that same sunlight begins to shine through their lives, and love and care for those still in the chains of darkness begins to grow until one day they hear a knock on the door. And they ask, Who is it? And the voice says, I am come to speak with you. And they recognize the voice as their Master’s, and they open the door, and their Master comes in, and He breaks bread with them, granting them His ultimate stamp of approval. He grants that they sit with Him on His throne [7].

That’s the destiny of the overcomers. That’s the destiny of the kings of the Kingdom. That is The Destiny of the Chosen Ones.

How Will We Know?

But one will ask, Who of us will these future kings be? Who will He choose? For we know that “few there be to find this way of truth.” The way to mortal mediocrity is broad and wide and many will enter it [8]. And the path to His immortal throne is narrow and fraught with spiritual sufferings that the masses will choose to not go through. These are the very sufferings that are used by God to burn out the dross in the lives of His chosen ones.

So who will they be? And how does one know that they are chosen? One thing is certain; you can’t work for it and earn it. It is a gift from Him. Christ gives us the answer. “He that has ears to hear, let him hear” [9]. Some will have their ears predisposed to be able to understand this high calling that He is speaking about, and some will not. Those that do, He is telling them to take it in and hear it and do it. For “unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them” it is not given.

If all this makes sense to you, then you may be one of those called to His throne. It will take a massive overcoming for us. Part of that overcoming is outlined in the growth levels we are to overcome in the seven church ages. Each of these overcomings are prefaced by this call: “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches: To him that overcometh…” (Rev. 2 and 3).

I would like to think that some of us reading this right now may be these future monarchs.

  1. Psalm 8: 1, 4-6
  2. Shakespeare, Richard II
  3. Matt. 25: 1-13
  4. Matt. 22: 14
  5. Hebr. 6: 1; Rev. 14
  6. Rev. 14: 4
  7. Rev. 3: 20-22
  8. Matt. 7: 13-14
  9. Mark 4: 9, 11

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October 19, 2013 · 4:30 pm

The Hidden Wisdom and the Power of God

It is hiding in plain sight, this great mystery that the apostles and prophets wrote about. It is not in man’s old nature to see and understand what it is, for this hidden wisdom of God entails attributes that are completely opposite of the old nature man is born with.

In fact, when old man Adam glimpses the hidden wisdom in operation in a human’s life, it appears as foolishness. But God has chosen the foolish, weak, base, and despised things on this planet to confound the current powers that be–those humans who think that they in their own strength and position rule their own destinies (I Cor. 1: 25-29).

So just what is this wisdom of God that is hidden from men? What is this secret mystery of God that He withholds from carnal man’s eyes? The answer is in that first letter to the church at Corinth that the apostle Paul wrote.  In it he upbraids them for their lack of spirituality, citing many instances of their carnality and lack of the Spirit.

Paul explains early on in the letter that he was not coming to them “with enticing words of man’s wisdom,” but in the Spirit and its power” (2: 4).  They were hung up on following the teachings of a man. Some were saying, “I am of Paul and I am of Apollos, and I am of Cephas” (1: 12).  Sounds like, I am of Luther; I am of the Pope; I am of Wesley; I am of Russell; I am of…ad infinitum. Denominationalism was already in full bloom by AD 59. “Only by pride comes contention.” And such contention as seen in the modern day churches comes in believing that they are the only ones who have the truth.

It is this vain glory that causes the divisions and schisms in the church (1: 10-17). Most denominations, distrustful of each other, labor in carnality, thus showing a lack of the wisdom of God.  We all should be “perfectly joined together.” But how? “By having the same mind.” Which mind? “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ,” which was a mind of humility, which is exemplified in the cross.

The Preaching of the Cross

The cross experience is for us to go through, not just observe in another.  Man’s wisdom looks at this as the man Christ dying on the cross for our sins.  But Paul speaks of the hidden wisdom of God as “the preaching of the cross” and what it spiritually represents.

Had the rulers of this world in Christ’s day known of this hidden wisdom of God, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”  Make no mistake of who they were.  They were the offspring of Edom who had converted to Pharisaism and by Christ’s day held most of the top posts in the religious hierarchy of Jerusalem.  They were the chief priests and religious henchmen who conspired on trumped up charges to get rid of Christ.  They goaded the people and the Romans to crucify Him, which is just what God wanted them to do. They thought in their carnal man’s wisdom that they were getting rid of Him, when they were in reality ensuring that “the cross” and the humility of God that it signified in the hearts of all mankind would ring down like joyful bells through the ages.

Of course, if the rulers at Jerusalem knew of this hidden wisdom of humility, they would not have crucified Christ.  For His cross experience put to death our old sinful nature, which was placed upon Him just before He expired on that cross.  Not only our sins died with Him that day, but also our old sinful carnal nature died as well. When He died, our old sinful self died; when He was buried, our old lives were buried with Him.  When He was resurrected, we were also “raised to walk in a newness of life.”  We are free from the bondage of having to sin,” for “he that is dead is freed from sin.” Those who believe this become “new creatures” by faith, and we receive His Spirit within and receive a new heart.

This is the preaching of the cross.  This is the hidden wisdom; this is that special knowledge of God that is hidden from carnal man and definitely hidden from the rulers of this world system, as it was hidden from the rulers of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. This act of humility–giving up our old lives–is the cross experience and is the hidden wisdom put into action in our hearts.  It is the only sacrifice that God is pleased with, for it takes faith.  It takes believing that He has done all this for us.

Those who go through this cross experience receive the resurrection power of the Spirit into their new hearts and their lives begin to change, and through proper nurturing, they will grow up into Him and He in them. But they are the desperate ones to change, and they will love much, for they will know that they have been forgiven much.  In this crucible lies the hidden wisdom and the power of God.     KWH

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September 28, 2013 · 2:49 pm

Dust to Dust, Ashes to Ashes–A Eulogy

This solemn occasion, in which we gather to bury this loved one, brings the age old question to mind: How do we deal with death?  To be human is to have pondered this inevitable enigma.  The death of someone close to us hurls us into thoughts about our own mortality.  Death is that lonely part of the human journey, the ticket to that solitary ride into the mysterious cosmos and the life beyond.

Death, and how to deal with it, is one of the great themes of literature.  It is the constant concern that motivates thinkers, writers, and philosophers to dive into the depths of the human condition.

We want to know what follows this fragile earthly existence.  What really happens?  Not what this man says nor what that group claims, but what really transpires.  What is the truth concerning that first step beyond this dimension?

Being Christians, we will look to the bestseller of all time, the Holy Bible.  We will look to the ancient Hebrew patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and the Savior Himself for our answers.

What did they say about death?  Not what someone said they said, but what words did they actually write down to explain to us about this experience called death?  Moses reports to us that the LORD (Yahweh in the Hebrew) said to the fallen Adam, “In the sweat of thy face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground, for out of it were you taken.  For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3: 19).  Later in Genesis, Abraham said, Look at me.  Here I am about to speak to Yahweh my Creator, and I am only “dust and ashes” (18: 27).  King David says to God, “You have brought me into the dust of death.”

And some say that that is all there is.  We are born; we walk around the earth for a moment in time; we laugh; we cry, and then we cease to be.  But according to the Hebrew authors of the Bible, that is only half of the story.

Yes, our bodies are composed of dust and ashes.  But another very special ingredient must be added.  Take the dust, mix it with water, and add the special spark of the spirit through the miracle of the Master’s touch, and you have the human being–what the apostle Paul called, “the glory of God.”

“There is a spirit in man…”

The prophet Job confirms this when he writes, “There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives man understanding” (32: 18).  Inside this miraculously fashioned body of dust lies a spirit given to us by our Creator through which He enlightens us.  Job goes on and says that God speaks to us “in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then God opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, that God may withdraw man” from his own purpose, and hide pride from man.”

God reaches out to us as we walk “through this valley of the shadow of death.”  Job later explains how our “soul draws near to the grave.”  Then God says to his messengers, “Deliver them from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.”

God promises to restore us to our youth if we say to our Maker, “I have sinned, and perverted that which is right…then He will deliver us from going to the pit, and his life shall see the light” (Job 33: 15-28).

Hope in the Resurrection

Who will deliver us from the grave?  2,000 years before the Savior walked the streets of Jerusalem, Job wrote, “For I know that my Redeemer lives,  and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth,” and though my body be destroyed, “yet in my flesh shall I see God” (18: 25-26).

The prophet Daniel confirmed this hope of life after our earthly body passes away.  Michael the archangel told him that the resurrection will take place after the great “time of trouble” that will befall the earth in the latter days.  At that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (12: 1-2).

So, there it is.  In these few passages, we see a resurrection that will lift us up out of the dust of our graves.   The resurrection is our only hope, and that hope hinges on our Redeemer and Savior.  Christ said, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
It is now left up to us the living to seek out and find our own way with our Maker.  It is a personal thing.  We all must find the path that leads out of the dust and ashes of death and be reconciled with God.  We can help each other, of course, but we cannot “walk that lonesome valley” for someone else.

And so, now, we commend Scott Kenneth Hancock’s spirit back to the Heavenly Father from whence it came, and in fulfillment of scripture, we place his dust and ashes back into the earth from whence it came.

May God’s grace and mercy help us all on our journey back to the heart of God.  Amen.

[Remembering my Dad with these words spoken over his grave ten years ago.]        Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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September 21, 2013 · 4:19 pm

Immortality–Bringing “Life and Immortality to Light”

To live on.  To not have to die.  It is the common thread tying almost all cultures, religions and philosophies together.  Is it not what every nation has clamored for?

The furtive longings of a billion souls from a thousand civilizations have whispered their desire for it.  The baked clay tablets of Mesopotamia speak of it.  Fragments of Egypt’s fragile papyrus pages still share the dream.   The Gilgamesh Epic of Babylonia around 2,200 B.C. chronicles the hero’s quest for immortality.  The ancient Greeks thought that immortality was attained through courageous effort on the battlefield.  Shakespeare imagined immortality coming through the longevity of the lines he wrote.  The Philosopher’s Stone, with its lead-into-gold alchemic dream, symbolized transcending our leaden mortal existence into a golden immortal elixir of life and rejuvenation.  Time would fail us to include the Egyptians’ mummies, the Indians’ nirvana, and on down to our present day where actors and directors try to immortalize themselves in celluloid.

Each of these attempts have flickered and failed.  But the thirst for immortality will not be quenched.  Is it not the most important possession one could ever attain in this life?  To live on and silence the tears shed at your passing.  To trump and triumph over Death.  To laugh at Death’s rude intrusion into all you hold dear.  To negate Death’s mayhem.  To expose him to be a liar when he says that your expiration date is a welcomed conclusion to the human condition, and his boast that he is a friend to the infirm and decrepit.

And Then a Man Came on the Scene

Though a universal longing, all these attempts have collapsed in the dusty halls of darkness.  And then a man came on the scene some 2,000 years ago–a man said to have “brought life and immortality to light.”  He brought good news, announcing the way to conquer death.  He would know, for He defeated Death.  For He was raised from the dead Himself after “three days and three nights” in the grave, seen by hundreds of witnesses.

“After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1: 3, NIV).  He taught them during that time how to become citizens of His immortal kingdom.  In a word, He taught them how to become immortal.  He, of course is the Savior of mankind, known to the English speaking world as Jesus Christ and known to those very early disciples as Yahshua, which means in the Hebrew, Yah is the Savior.

He shared His Hebrew name with the Hebrew patriarch Joshua, the Anglicized rendition of Yahshua.  Many biblical scholars admit that their names are interchangeable [http://www.blbclassic.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2424&t=KJV].

In fact, the angel of Yahweh told Joseph to name Him  “Yah is Savior” because “He shall save His people from their sins.”

The Words He Spoke…

Now many have a problem with Him, but all that know of Him will at least say that He is a wise man, a great teacher, and a prophet.  If He was such a great prophet and spiritual teacher, then why don’t those same people believe His words?

And it is the words He spoke about life and immortality that tests us in our search.

What did He teach?  He taught us that the Father Creator is an invisible Spirit, that He is Love, that the Father has a kingdom and a government, that there is a way to enter that kingdom of God and become the children of the Father God, and that He and only He is the way to eternal life, which is immortality.

He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14: 6).  Anybody who comes up another way is a “thief and a robber.”

He also taught a duality–that there was an enemy Satan, who has a kingdom here on earth, and that he and his evil spirits are warring against God and His children’s kingdom.

Christ taught that sin is the breaking of the Ten Commandments (I John 3: 4-6).  And we humans break the law early on in our lives because of the old nature we are born with.  And He taught that it is this sin nature in us that causes our death.  We are mortal because of the sin within our hearts.  Sin brings on death.  Plain and simple.  “But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin” (v. 5).

“He shall save His people from their sins,” said the angel.  He “takes away our sins,” says the apostle John.  So if Christ takes our sins away, then we are free from sin, which opens up the way to immortality because it is sin that brings on our death.

Summing up, Christ “has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light” (II Tim. 1: 10).  He has “abolished death.”  He has abolished death by abolishing sin in our lives, and thus, He brings immortality to us.

He came to “save His people from their sins” by destroying sin in their lives.  But how does He do this?  It is through His death, burial and resurrection.  He took on our sins upon His sacrificial body, and He died.  He died, we died; our old sinful self died.  He was buried; we were buried.  He raised from the dead; we are raised from the dead–by faith in His resurrection [for much more on how He takes away our old sinful heart, see Romans 6: 1-12 and https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/life-out-of-death-the-ultimate-paradox/ ].

So the Savior destroyed the sin in our life, and thereby destroyed death, thus bringing “life and immortality to light.”  He destroyed sin and death, “for the wages of sin is death.”  Destroy sin and you destroy its after effects–death.

But He also said that most would not comprehend and do His teachings.  He said that broad is the way that leads to destruction and many will enter that wide gate.  But narrow is the way to eternal life, and few will find it.

And that last clause–“and few will find it”–should give us great pause.  He said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”  Oh, to be one of His chosen, chosen to sit with Him on His throne, helping Him rule the nations during the greatest reign of peace this earth has ever seen–ruling alongside of Him for 1, 000 years, ruling as one of the immortal princes and princesses in His kingdom.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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June 1, 2013 · 8:05 pm

A Lesson in Wisdom

Who is that one person that you love so much that you would give all your assets and possessions, even your own soul, so that they could live on for ever and never have to taste death, never have to lie there cold and ashen, prepared for burial?

We all have someone, surely, that we would give everything to redeem them from the inevitable decay that awaits them in the belly of the earth.

But we cannot make them live on for ever.  We do not possess the power to save them.  They will die; the graveyards are full of people that someone loved dearly yet could not prevent their demise.

I remember the scene at the graveyard.  Most of the mourners had left.  Hugging the casket of the 20 year old young man was his grandfather, sobbing and moaning, “But I loved him.  My darling boy.  But I loved him!”  And in that instant I knew that he would have given his very own life in exchange for his grandson’s.  But he could not.

We mortal human beings cannot redeem, for any price, someone that we love.  Our riches cannot be brought and given to God as a ransom paid in order to purchase the life of our loved one and thus prevent them from dying.

It is only God Almighty, the Giver of life to our loved one, who will take back that life at a certain time.  We are not in control of life or death.  God is, and He will take our lives back to Himself. And there is nothing we can do to alter this fact.  Rooms full of gold cannot purchase a ticket out of death.

And God has ordained this so, as a lesson for us to learn, a lesson to teach us wisdom and understanding, a lesson for all people in the world, rich and poor and high and low.  The lesson lies in us facing up to this truth: that God is sovereign and in complete control of our scheduled descent into the dusty tomb of the earth.

As we contemplate this, it is God’s hope that we distill drops of sorely needed wisdom, which is the “fear of the LORD (Yahweh).”  Wisdom is being in reverential awe of this God, who is in control, who has given us a short time in these earthly bodies to learn of Him and His love, who will someday soon take the spark of His spirit back, and our fragile shells will fall to the ground, taking nothing with them, no matter how richly arrayed they once were.

Wisdom is being in awe of Him.  And understanding is “to depart from evil.”  He hopes that these thoughts will awaken His people to His saving power, for He is the only power in the universe that can and has trumped death.

And when we realize all this, that He has already paid the price for our resurrection, then this meditation on our weakness and His power over death will have done its job on us.  For the above is the lesson found in Psalm 49.  Read it all again.  It is addressed to you, to all of us.  “Hear this, all peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world…my mouth shall speak wisdom.”      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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May 18, 2013 · 2:16 pm

Believing the Resurrection in Us–How the Holy Spirit Comes Down Into Us

The everyday pressures and the stress of just living on this planet causes us much grief.  The demanding bosses, the irate public, the disgruntled co-workers, the incessant bills, and the constant drain of having to deal with earthly things all day long is just too much to cope with.  With all this confusion going on, the children of the King begin to feel like spiritual paupers instead of heirs to the throne.

Yes, the Father allows this to happen to His children because He wants us to finally get our fill of it and call upon His name for deliverance.  He has made us “subject to vanity.”  He created us, in other words, in our original earthly state to feel the futility of living on earth no matter how much material wealth we may have.  “All is vanity and vexation of spirit.”  Simply put, we’ve got to get sick of it.

So enough of this world’s insanity already!  The answer?  God, we need more of Your Spirit working inside of us.  We need more of Your love abiding in us so that we can return love to those who slight us out here in this world system.  We need more of You in us, more of your Spirit welling up in love, joy, and peace.  We need You, God, to fill us like you filled your chosen people in the days of the early church.

Yes, that is our need, but how do we get more Spirit into us?  What did You say in your word about this?  It all boils down to believing in the Resurrection.

Paul lines this out in Ephesians.  He is saying to them that through God’s mercy, which is based in His infinite love towards us, He has made us alive where once we were dead in sin.  He has done this through the power of the resurrection of Christ.  When the Father infused that dead sacrificial body of the Lamb and raised him from the dead, all sinners who believe this were raised up together with Him.  “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ…and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Yahshua Messiah” (2:4-6).

This miraculous turnaround from the darkness of sin and sinning to light and righteousness in a person’s heart can only be realized through belief. [I know what some are thinking: “We’ve been hearing about the resurrection and righteousness and sin and belief all our lives in church.  You are not telling us anything that we don’t already know.”]  If what we’ve heard all our life were enough, then why are we so weak spiritually?  Why aren’t we walking in the joy and victory that God has promised those who follow Him? Why?  “Because of your unbelief,” the Master said.

The transformation to power in our lives is by believing what God said about the resurrection and us—that if we believe that our old life died with the Lamb 2000 years ago, that if we believe that we were buried with Him, and if we believe that God raised Him up out of the grave after three days and three nights—if we can just believe this, we can also ourselves be “raised to walk in a newness of life” (Romans 6:4-6).

We are delivered from depression and death by believing what He said He did through the resurrection and how it regenerates our hearts and consciences.  For His Spirit comes into us by believing the truth of His word to us about our being raised up with him to walk in a new life.

A new life is what He has promised us.  However, if we are still thinking the same way we did before our experience with God, if we are still doing the same things we did before our “conversion,” if we still are the same earthly-minded person, then how is that a new life?  How does it differ from the old?

Let’s cut to the chase.  If we are still lusting after women, how is that a new life?  If we are still desiring another person’s material things, how is that new?  If we put our own self before others, how is that new?  If we are breaking any of the commandments, then how is it a new life?  We were breaking them before we came to God.  So what has changed?

If we are still sinning, or breaking the Ten Commandments, then we have not died, been buried, and been raised from the dead-in-sin.  We have not actually believed it yet. Our need is for the Spirit of Christ to live in us.  But how do we abide in Him and He in us?  “That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith…” That the Spirit of God may live in our hearts—but how?  By just believing it!  It is God’s word!  It is the truth!  Believe it before you feel it.  You have to believe it first!  Then the evidence of the reality will come.  The trouble is that unbelief is such a part of the human condition, the human heart, that we have trouble believing what we see.  “I can’t believe my eyes,” is a common statement.  God is asking us to believe before we see.

We attain this righteous state not by us trying to be righteous and keep the law.  No.  It is a gift from God.  We cannot attain the righteous state by working for it.  Faith attains it and then the works we do with the help of His Spirit within witness to the fact that He in us is righteous.  “By grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

Actually, we in our newness of life, in our newly received righteous state with Him, are a product of His work—not our own work.  “For we are His workmanship…” (v. 10).  And God’s work through His own faith in us is good.  He said, “Let there be light, and there was light, and He said it was good.  We are His doing, His creation.

He definitely knows what He is doing.  He through this new life derived by Him raising His chosen ones up with the Messiah—He has through this new life created a new creation—the second Adam, the second man.  And He has created us in Christ unto good works (v. 10).  I repeat: We have been created in Christ with the expressed purpose of producing good works.

Not some good works through us and some bad works.  No.  He has spiritually created us anew “unto good works.”  We need to believe this.  He has not created us unto bad works or corrupt works.  No.  He has made us in our new life to bear good fruit.  The Master said, “ A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bear good fruit.  You will know them by their fruits.”

“We are his workmanship, created in Yahshua the Messiah unto good works” (v. 10).  And the kicker is that God has already foreordained for us to walk in the spirit and thereby do these good deeds.

And this great treasure-life is opened to all that our God has called.  For He took all the sin of the whole world upon Himself and became sin for all of us, and when He died, all of the sin of the whole world died with Him.  That’s your sinful heart and my old sinful heart.  And by His shed blood we all were brought close to Him.  So close, in fact, that all who believe this and respond are “one new man” (Eph. 2:15).  And all believers, whoever they are, through Him “have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (v. 18).

And we all are spiritually built upon the “foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yahshua the Messiah Himself being the chief cornerstone.”  We are a building made by God Himself, built on this foundation.  He is building us up; we are growing into “an holy temple in the Master, builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (v. 22).  God will inhabit us His temple.  He will live in us through His Spirit.

Later Paul reveals the mystery of how God is opening up His Spirit to come down on whomever can receive it—be they Gentile or Israelite.  Paul prayed (Eph. 3:15-19) that God would grant to the Ephesians power and strength by His Spirit in their “inner man.”  Power, strength, and might, Paul knew, were needed in the spiritual new creation within the heart of each new believer.

And this strength was to be given how?  How do believers receive this strengthening?  “By His Spirit in the inner man.”  But how does this spiritual power come from His Spirit into our inner being?  It comes by faith.  “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.”  This spiritual anointing comes to us by us believing it. Because He said it, spoke it, and His prophets wrote down His inspired words about the power coming, we need only to believe that He is good to His word about Him giving us more of His Spirit.

We have to believe that the invisible Spirit is giving us strength, and now is the acceptable time for this to happen.  We’ve got to believe it before we feel the strength.  Believe it because He said to believe it, and the strength and power will come.  “All things are possible to him that believeth,” the Master said.  “Have the faith of God,” He also said.  God believes it already about us; why shouldn’t we?

He said in Eph. 2:21 that we are the spiritual building of God, and we are in Him and He in us, and we are growing “unto an holy temple” of God.  This strengthening that He does on us in our inner man is the growth of the Spirit with us.  We grow in His love in us, and we grow spiritually out to others.  This spiritual growth ends up with us being “filled with all the fulness of God” (3:19).

We are to finally through humility “grow up into Him in all things” (4:2).  We are to be “renewed in the spirit” of our mind, “putting on the new man” wherein we walk in love and forgiveness one to another.

Paul is saying that by believing it so, we can walk in His Spirit.  We can leave the pride and arrogance of the old life and walk as obedient children.  His Spirit can live within us and can grow in us—if we believe.  For it all happens by faith—by believing what He said about it.  That is what makes it so.  It is not believing in something that is not there.

This new life that God has declared is already a reality in His eyes.  Our new life in Him is not an illusion, some figment of our imagination.  No.  Our new life in His Spirit is a reality already spoken into existence by our God.  We need only believe that it is real. Through us believing it, we actualize it and witness it.  It is like the priests with the Ark of the Covenant stepping out upon the Jordan River and the waters peeling back for them that they go over on dry ground.  God said it; they believed it, and they achieved it.  A miracle happened that day at the Jordan River.

And a miracle was done in our hearts when we believed that He had taken the old one out and had given us a new one.  This is how miracles are done.  Miracles will come through believing that they are already foreordained to come.  The disciples asked why this impotent man was lame.  Was it his sin or his parents sin that put him in this pitiful shape?  The Master said, No, because of neither, but that the glory of God could be seen when he was healed by one of God’s believers.

This is not believing this life of strength and power into existence.  No.  This new life He has for us is already in existence.  Our new life in Christ’s Spirit already exists.  It is His with Him.  When we believe His resurrection, that power is witnessed in us again and again.  We then have the witness within our own selves.  This is a miracle of transformation.  Let the miracles continue.  Let us all walk on, believing what He said He would do for His children and through His children.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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