Category Archives: spiritual growth

December 28, 2024 · 2:30 pm

The Abiding and the Additions Bear Much Fruit

“He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit.”

Lots to unpack in Christ’s words. First, we must understand that spiritual growth, like natural growth, is a process from seed to harvest. Spiritual maturity does not happen overnight. The spiritual seed grows first into “the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear (Mark 4:28).  

You then have levels of spiritual fruit [30-fold] and then more fruit [60-fold],and then much fruit [100-fold]. Christ said, “Every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:2). Many spiritually young Christians fall away at this point because to bear more and more fruit, we the branches must be pruned or purged. This purging by the Father can be painful. This is where He corrects and chastens us, trimming off unproductive concepts and beliefs. Nobody likes the purging of the Father. But those who endure with patience will eventually grow to bear “much fruit” (John 15:5).

“Much fruit” is the 100-fold growth. This is full spiritual maturity. It is the same growth that Peter, Paul, and John demonstrated in the Acts of the Apostles and in their Spirit-led writings. These apostles and Christ Himself said that this growth is possible for us, too. Christ learned “obedience by the things that He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). We will do the same. We will reign with Christ if we suffer with Him (2 Tim. 2:12; Matt. 13:3-9, 18-23).

Spiritual Growth Comes through the Abiding

The word “abide” is translated as “continue, stay, remain” in many verses. The ability to continue walking through the stormy trials of a Christian’s sojourn, adds endurance/patience. We can endure the process of becoming God’s son or daughter here on earth by His presence abiding in us. It is the Spirit of truth that abides in us. The Spirit of truth remains in us by faith, by believing Christ’s words and promises. He said that he would “never leave you nor forsake you.” He fulfills this through adding facets of his divine nature–especially patience/endurance.

We add patience/endurance by faith, by believing his word when he says, in essence, I will remain in you by my Spirit’s presence in you; I will grow in you. This adding is activated by your belief in his words. Endurance/ patience is a part of the abiding. And the abiding of His Spirit in our hearts is a part of patience. There are seven additions to the faith. The seventh is agape love. When agape is added, our spiritual maturity has arrived. [Order my book The Additions to the Faith. It is free with free shipping. Order here: Ordering My Free Books in Paperback | Immortality Road

We are given the strength to abide in him when we by faith add endurance/patience. We can endure hardships and sufferings by having his Spirit abide in our hearts. They will come, but so will his Spirit be guiding us into all truth. “For you have need of endurance [patience], so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise (Heb. 10:36).  

And that promise is God sending down the Holy Spirit and filling us with power to complete His mission. He will in His own sweet time baptize us in fire which cleanses all false doctrines and concepts. He desires for us to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice,” putting to death our old desires and surrendering to his greater and far more glorious destiny for us.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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November 23, 2024 · 10:17 am

Guarding the Logos

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

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

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

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

Starting with Our Own Minds

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

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

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

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

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

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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

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June 16, 2024 · 3:27 pm

Catching Bigger Fish for Christ

Christ has invited us to become fishermen. He does not want us necessarily to catch fish in the sea; He wants us to catch men. Christ likens men to fish. In this analogy, He has some followers as fishermen and some as fish. He said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).

In Christ’s kingdom, there are three levels of spiritual growth attainable with God’s grace and mercy—children, young men, and fathers (I John 1:12-14). The spiritual fathers have “known Him that is from the beginning.” Those who will become fathers like Paul, Peter, James, and John—they are the big fish. We need these future sons of God who will arise in power and do the “greater works” than even what Christ did.

So, How Do You Catch the Bigger Fish for Christ?

You use bigger bait.

Continuing the analogy, more questions surface. What bait should we choose to catch a “big fish”? And how much of that bait should we use?

In fact, what is the bait? The bait is Christ’s words of truth. The amount of truth [the bait] depends upon the person’s spiritual growth. He wants us to feed them with spiritual food that meets their need. You feed a kitten milk; you feed its mother meat. Spiritual discernment is needed. Remember how He admonished them: “Don’t cast your pearls before swine…” It is difficult for novices in the word to handle the heavier truths, much less Satan’s thugs who are always around to mug you.

To “fish for men,” we need to know where someone is spiritually. Throwing big bait into a pool of tiny perch will not do. As we know from previous studies, Christians will grow and bear fruit in three levels: Thirty-fold, Sixty-fold, and 100-fold fruit bearing (Matt. 13:3-23). 30-fold fruit is borne by babes in Christ and little children of God. They believe God for personal salvation. This is a good start, but most little children of God stay on this level where they are mostly alive for what they can receive from God. You can hear it in their prayers; they want to be blessed by Him. This is categorized as “Knowing.” These are the children.

I have said it many times. We are to keep growing “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  That we henceforth be no more children…” And who are the children who are not yet mature in the spiritual growth cycle? It is those who are “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine…” Deceivers have sowed seeds of false teachings; children cannot discern the good from the bad. But many shall grow into the maturity that the apostle Paul is referring to (Ephesians 4:13-14).

Doing

60-fold Christians are those who have been taught more truth about the Son of God and His Kingdom. The truth is that God wants them to be the channel of His blessings and not the object. They begin to awaken to His desire for them to be “doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving themselves…” (James 1:22). The truth about Christ’s purpose and plan is the bigger bait that is offered to them by the fishers of men, who are the teachers sent by Yahweh.

Those foreordained by God to grow into 60-fold fruit bearing will accept and desire and latch on to the bigger bait. They will begin to see the deeper teachings of truth, and they will be drawn to it. They will see that by doing the deeper truths they will grow spiritually. This is part of fishing for men. And these doers of the word will grow into the 60-fold level of growth known as “Doing.”

The bigger bait is the deeper truth which solves the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” The big fish are those foreordained by God to respond to Him. They may grab the line and get hooked and try to run away from God like Jonah did for a season, but after God reels them in, they will do grand and glorious works as a testimony that the Father is real.

Some May Think This Is “Out There”

Some may not like this fish analogy. But they are Christ’s words, not mine. He wants us to fish for men, not minnows. This notwithstanding, He wants us to win souls for His sake. So how do you win someone who is destined to bear 100-fold fruit. Some will reach maturity and be like Paul, Peter and John? The answer: You cast out the biggest baits, the deepest truths. You cast before them the big truth that Christ has a plan to fulfill His purpose. And His purpose is to reproduce Himself in and through us. The “us” being those chosen by Him to become His manifested sons and daughters who will rule with Him on His throne during the 1,000-year reign of Christ. These will bear 100-fold fruit. This is “Being.”

Fishers of Men

Once landed, the big fish analogy is transposed into another extended metaphor: To become fishers of men. These future 100-folders “are the called according to His purpose.” These that He knew before, “He also did predestinate.” He gave them a destiny “to be conformed to the image of His Son” They will be just like Christ: that He might be the “first born among many brethren.” Those bearing 100-fold fruit believe that they have been predestinated, then called by Him and then justified, and then He glorified them. This has already happened in the mind of God (Romans 8: 28-30; Ephesians 1:4-5).

This vision of manifested sonship, 100-fold growth, is the “big bait.” Fully grown sons and daughters of God are His body with power. This vision contains the deep truths that the “big fish” are hungry for. When you arrive in these deeper waters, humility is needed, for this is heady stuff.

Christ sees us as already mature, for He “calls those things that be not as though they were” (Rom. 4:17). Therefore, Christ’s big fish are the Christians who have passed the stage and growth where they are not in this race to receive something for themselves. Rather they want to not just attain knowledge and things, but they desire to do and obey Christ’s new commandments. One of them is this: “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” {Send for my book The Eleventh Commandment. Free with free shipping. Send your name, mailing address and name of the book to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com}

Obeying this commandment—“Follow me”—brings us closer to Him, for Christ said, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love” (John 15:10). [There’s The Abiding—the new book that the Spirit is writing through this vessel.]

Abiding/continuing/staying in His love! What a promise our Head has given us! To stay in the kind of incomparable love that Christ is! We can abide in Him and He in us! And then His love will flow through us to His people, and He will show Himself that He is alive by the movement of His Spirit—through us! Those whom He has chosen will think on these things, for they are His thoughts, not our thoughts.

When we think on His purpose, when our thoughts about His kingdom are first and foremost in our meditations, when we give His testimony—from the cross to the Throne with us seated with Him—This Is the Spirit of prophecy! These are the things in the future that His true prophets speak of. “The testimony of Jesus/Yahshua is the spirit of prophecy.” God’s prophets today speak of Christ’s testimony as to the fulfilling of His purpose and plan. In the meantime, we will follow Him, and He will help us become “fishers of men.”   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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April 12, 2024 · 10:19 am

Oneness, the Abiding, and God’s Gift of Healing

(From a journal entry, 1-12-18)

Healings are a gift from God. God is that Spirit in the phrase “gifts of the Spirit.” Or we could say, “The Spirit’s gifts to us.” One of them is the gift of healing. It is God giving health to a person. It is a miracle-gift from the Father to a human being.

We usually envision God, the Spirit in heaven, shining down this gift upon mankind. But we must ask, Where is the Spirit when He gives the gift of healing to someone? The Spirit is in us, His body. He is in us, flowing through us on out to the sick by the laying on of His hands–our hands now being His hands. That is the way it goes down.

For the gift of healing to flow, we must realize that we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God. We must see that He lives in us in the form of His Holy Spirit, which is the Father. The Father resides in us!

A Call to Oneness–One, One, One

We must get past the “us and Him” duality and begin walking in the Oneness that Christ prayed for. “Neither pray I for these alone [the twelve disciples], but for them also which shall believe on me through their word [that is us!]; that they all may be one [That includes us!]; as you, Father, are in me and I in you that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that you have sent me, and the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one even as we are one” (John 17:20-22). Christ has already given to us the glory that the Father bestowed upon Christ. In His thinking, it has already happened.

We must have the sensation that it is the Father, the Spirit, looking out through our eyes with compassion and love upon the sick. This is the reason why we must Get a clear picture of the godhead. It is not us running around, being still in the picture, laying our hands on the sick. It must be His love, His mercy, His Spirit, His compassion, moving through His hands that are laid upon the sick. This is the gift. The gift is Him! Soundness and wellness are anywhere He is.

Just ask the poor demoniac who was naked and tearing himself, torturing himself, crying out for someone to help him. After Christ gave him the gift of healing, he sat there in utter tranquility at the feet of his Savior in his right mind.

Someone will ask, Why aren’t more real healings being done by Christians today? The answer has to do with not seeing ourselves as God sees us. Most Christians see themselves as recipients of God’s blessings, instead of channels. They think that God is up there; we’re down here, and we need that blessing.

But that’s not the way God’s apostles saw us. They saw us as “more than conquerors through Christ.” They saw us the way that God sees us–spiritual powerhouses that by faith in Christ can move the mountains of doubt. And through His Spirit, our eyes will witness the crushing of the kingdoms of this world. And by His Spirit, He will establish His righteousness throughout the earth.

God sees us having overcome all things; He sees us having secured a seat upon His very throne (Rev. 3:21). That’s His faith that He has given us. With that gift we will be used to bring healing to the nations (Rev. 22:2).

However, there is a growth involved in being used by the Father to heal others. Many sincerely long for this power, with less than apostolic results. That’s okay. But before miracles can come through us, we must grow spiritually. It takes time and much patience as we “purge out the old leaven” of false concepts of Christ and His work in the earth. The “healing” is done by the Father’s presence in us. We then must realize that He is the Spirit of truth. We cannot fully have the truth in the form of the Spirit of truth, until the Father makes His abode in us. We must surrender ourselves as a “living sacrifice.” We must decrease; He must increase in us (John 3:30).  

Christ makes it plain about how the Father makes us His dwelling. “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). This is a major tenet in my soon-coming book, The Abiding. 

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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March 30, 2024 · 11:17 am

The Abiding Comes with the Mind of Christ

From Journal entry, 6-3-19

The seventh addition of agape love is a direct result of abiding in Christ, which is having the mind of Christ.

Christ commands us, “Abide in me” (John 15:4).  This “abiding” comes from staying and remaining in Him and His mind. “Staying” and “remaining” are translated from the same Greek word as “abide or abiding.”

This is accomplished when we continually have Christ’s thoughts, plan, and purpose [More on His plan and purpose found here: Walking in the Spirit Comes from Knowledge of God’s Purpose of Reproducing Himself–Being About Our Father’s Business | Immortality Road (wordpress.com). This “abiding” yields much fruit. This spiritual fruit is agape love, which is the seventh addition to the faith.

We are to stay in His mind, walking in His thoughts. This is knowing Him. This knowledge of Him and His thoughts is the second addition to the faith.

To fully know Him we must know that He is sovereign. He created everything–both the good and the evil (Isa. 45:7). And He has subjected us to evil to accomplish His purpose of reproducing Himself—in us. We must remember how Christ suffered, how He endured the betrayals and the lies told against Him and even His crucifixion on false charges. He suffered, and He is our example, “that we should follow his steps” (I Peter 2:21). His armor will protect us from the onslaught of evil thought-arrows. And then once the trials are over, His love grows in us more and more until Christ is “all in all” (Eph. 1:23).

To abide in Him, we must think His thoughts. Part of Christ’s thinking is understanding death (the evil). To fully appreciate the resurrection unto eternal life (good), we must understand death. For you cannot partake in His resurrection without first partaking in His death. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Get your free copy of The Eleventh Commandment found here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/free-copy-of-the-eleventh-commandment/  Also, order your free copy of The Additions to the Faith. Just send your name, mailing address, and the name of the book to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com]

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March 20, 2024 · 8:29 am

The Father Abiding in Us

God wants to inhabit us and abide and dwell in us. This is how He fulfills His purpose: To reproduce and multiply Himself, which is agape love. We know that we are His temple. He made us for Him to dwell in. Many times, we see Yahweh meeting Moses and Joshua [Yahshua the Savior, same name]. They met in the tabernacle in the wilderness. They carried on conversations there. This is His will, His desire that all God’s people be prophets (Numbers 11:29).

It is first the Father who dwells/abides in Christ; the Father speaks the words and does the works through the Son (John 14:10). [Newsflash! We are “members in particular” of the Son’s body; we are the “body of Christ.” Since we are a part of Christ’s body, then the Father, the Spirit of truth, is in us, too!

Can we believe this? Christ believes it. He has faith in the word of the Father. And, of course, we can believe it! It is His faith in operation here. We are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God, (Col. 3:3). Our life is Him now. And that Him is the Spirit of truth that has come into you and me.

If anyone knew God this way, it was the apostle John, “the man whom Jesus [Yahshua] loved.” For John leaned on His chest and was literally comforted by Christ. Let us now lean on Him as John did. He is right there by you and me in spirit. Lean into Him and be encouraged that we all have this opportunity to draw close to Him. For the Holy Spirit through the apostle James said, “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8).

Nevertheless, some of us have thought, “If only we had the Father dwelling in us, then He would speak and work through us.” If. There are no if’s nor but’s. It is all “Yes!” The power is there at hand. “The works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb. 4:3). We are not talking about the Father being way out there somewhere, but rather, closer than close.  He is inside of us.

[All these things written down by Christ’s apostles are maddeningly difficult to grasp while held hostage by a trinitarian three-God conception of the godhead. Yahweh dwelt in His Son; Yahweh is the Father and is an invisible Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Once that is straightened out in one’s heart and mind, then eyes see more clearly as to what God desires and how He wants to make it happen. ]

The Comforter, the Spirit of Truth

He has given to us another Comforter, which is the Spirit of truth “that He may abide/dwell” with us forever” (John 14:16). His presence is already promised and prepared.

The Comforter is the Spirit of truth. And the Spirit of truth is the Father who has promised to dwell/abide with us. Now, since we have that promise—that the Father will be in us—then by the Father’s presence within us, He will do the same works as He did through the Son of God. It is all in His timing, of course.

Final thought: Faith is the key. For His spiritual offspring, the Father abides in us when we believe that the Father dwells in us. We have to reckon it so by faith in His word. It is already done in His mind. He is waiting on us with great patience/endurance. He now wants us to be a witness here on earth of His magnificent glory. That is not just to witness His glory, but to be the witness. Remember this enigmatic concept? Man is the glory of God (I Cor. 11:7). And the good man will be humbled by this love that His Creator has bestowed upon him. And he will realize that he is only a speck of dust floating in a brilliant ray of light that is God’s mercy.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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February 26, 2024 · 9:26 am

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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December 26, 2023 · 3:54 pm

God’s Will Is His Desire

“I just want to do His will…Only if the Lord wills…Seek His will…The will of God…” The use of “God’s will” is ubiquitous. Christians speak of His will all the time; they know that it is important. But it is used so much that the original meaning of “will” gets lost in the shuffle. The meaning of the word “will” has been shrunk down to a feeble, man-derived concept.  

God’s “will,” however, cannot be understood by squeezing it out of man’s wisdom. God’s will is vast; it is like going from a grain of sand to the cosmic energy of a billion suns. God’s will is galactic. Nevertheless, He has predestinated some of us “to be filled with the knowledge of His will.” How does He fill us? “Through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives” (Col. 1:9). That should be our prayer for each other: That you “be filled with the knowledge of His will.”

The Greek Word Translated “Will”

This “knowledge of His will” starts with this question: What does the word translated “will” mean in the Greek? The Greek word is thelema. It means “what one wishes” or desires. Simply put, His will is His desire. It is what God desires to do in heaven and earth (Blue Letter Bible – Lexicon (blbclassic.org).

What’s special about exactly doing His desires? Only those who do the will/desire of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven. “Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will [desire] of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). Doing the Father’s will, then, is extremely important. Our standing with Christ—our growth, our service—is determined by how much of His desires we do. I am not referring to working for salvation; that is a gift from Him. But to grow spiritually, we must work because He has saved us.

But first, we must know His will/desire before we can do it.

On our search, of this we can be sure; whatever the Father desires, He will bring it to pass. So, we should ask ourselves, “What does God desire?” Most will say that it is something about salvation. Yes, salvation is the first step, and He desires to save us (Gal. 1:4). The Father’s desire/will is that Christ will lose none of His disciples, but will resurrect them in a new spiritual body (John 6:39-40).   

But the scriptures expound more deeply things concerning His “will.” First, His desire/will is a mystery. But God has revealed it to us. God has “made known to us the mystery of His will…  which he purposed in Christ.” God’s will/desire is to “gather together in one all things in Christ” in heaven and in earth (Eph. 1:9-10). That bears repeating. God desires to “gather together in one all things in Christ.” 2,200 different denominations is not bringing all things into one in Christ.

God’s desire/will is to have our hearts filled with His presence—that we grow to full maturity and bring our exiled King back to earth. We do this by preparing for His arrival. How? By feeding His lambs and sheep. By obeying His commands. By doing and teaching His doctrine. “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it is of God or not” (John 7:17). Do you know of His doctrine? His doctrine teaches us of His will, His desire. [Send for my book, The Apostles’ Doctrine. It is free with free shipping because Christ took “money” off the table. To order, go here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/donate/ ] More on His will coming soon.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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November 28, 2023 · 1:13 pm

Enduring the Dark Night of the Soul

(from Journal entry, 10-3-22)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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July 15, 2023 · 9:47 am

Faith and the Power to Heal

[From Journal entry, 3-17-19]

Christ desires us to walk in the same power to heal that He and His apostles walked in. That is our high calling. He wants us to spiritually grow to the point that the power of the Spirit is not only present, but also active as a miraculous life force.

This power went out of Christ into the woman stricken with a blood disease. He was walking in 100-fold power and did not need to raise His voice and shout, “Be healed!” The woman believed, and her faith in the Savior’s nature and authority pulled the power to heal her out of Him.

So, what were the major elements in this demonstration of his power toward the woman? At that moment in time, her belief matched the Savior’s. For we know that He fully believed in His own power and ability. For His power was like igniting dynamite. In fact, the Greek word for power here is dynamis (Greek 1411).

The match that ignited the power was the woman’s faith (belief) that Christ could and would heal her. There were many who touched the Savior in the press of the crowd. But she was the only one who was healed. “For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.”

“He said to her, Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Several times Christ would ask the person if they believed that He could heal them. In fact, He cleared the area of all unbelief before He could heal anyone. “And He could not do many mighty works because of their unbelief” in Nazareth. “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country” (Mark 5:24-43; 6:4-5). The people who knew you when will only see you after the flesh, judging you through their memories of you before your conversion to Christ. They will not believe that God is in you doing the healing.

Consequently, belief is the main ingredient. Secondly, the disciple must have authority and compassion. “He was moved with compassion. And healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14; Matt. 9: 36; Mark 6: 34).

The unbelief must be expelled before God heals. Christ always cast the evil spirits out before he started healing. Perhaps when He got rid of the unbelieving doubters, he was casting away the evil spirits–like when He only took three disciples to the raising up of Jairus’ daughter.

All this notwithstanding, where is the source of this power to heal? It comes from  Yahweh. All things are of Him. How do we grow to the point where He would use us in this manner?

He has placed in our hearts this desire to help others, to heal their wounds and their suffering. We have the desire. You and me. And I write this “not that I have already obtained [the power to heal at will] or have already become perfect, but I press on…” (Phil. 3:12).

Healing is one of the gifts of the Spirit (I Cor. 12:7-11). It is an action of the Spirit of Yah streaming out through us. He has promised His sons and daughters that He would use them to heal. We are but channels of His power.

But first, we must acquire knowledge about His power and how and why He uses it at certain times of His choosing. We must know this: “There is a time for every purpose under heaven.” There is “a time to heal” (Ecc. 3:1-3). We will know the time; He will show us. That is why I am not running all over the country right now trying to sincerely heal people. Healings will come in God’s good time.

We must remember the prophets and patriarchs. Moses tended flocks for forty years waiting for his destiny to deliver His people. He was eighty at the burning bush. His time had come after much patience/endurance. Same for Joseph. He suffered for many years in Pharoah’s prison until the time was ripe. Then Yah enabled him to interpret the king’s dreams. He endured, knowing that “he who waits on Yahweh shall renew their strength.”

So, let us dig deep and prepare ourselves for that glorious day of healings and miracles. Let us wait upon Him, and let us learn together from our Teacher, the Spirit of Truth.

Please share a comment as the Spirit of Truth reveals things to you. I would love to hear from you.

Finally, it is not to say that our Father the Healer has not already touched our lives many times. We have been talking about where few ever go in their growth, the few who like eagles soar to the heights of the 100-fold growth that Peter, John, and Paul experienced.

We must prepare ourselves against that day when He flows through us like He did with His apostles. On the day that the power arrives, there will be a throng around us, with crowds of people pressing upon us, clamoring to be healed. There will be viral videos as these miracles are performed by our hands. Perhaps even a sick woman in the crowd will say, “If I could just touch their garments, I would be healed.”

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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