February 2, 2013 · 7:47 pm

Adding Patience–Enduring All Things

We are admonished by the apostle Peter to “add to our faith” certain divine attributes, calling this procedure, “partaking of the divine nature.”  Yes, right now, we are to do this.  When would he expect us to add these things–after we die?  No, “now is the acceptable time.”  Now is the only time.  Whatever we humans are going to do in our fragile fleeting existence on this planet, we better do it now.

And some of us have been called to “partake of the divine nature.”  “Something (or Someone)” is pulling us, leading us, and yes, even commanding us to seek a higher path.  And so we seek that better way.  And some of us begin to see that that better way is Christ, for He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14: 6).

And some of us now are seeing that we are to become like Him.  That is right.  For we are told by the apostles to “let this mind be in you that was in Christ” (Phil. 2: 5).  And, “Let us go on unto perfection” (Heb. 6: 1).  In fact, the Savior Himself commands us to “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5: 48).  “Perfect” here is from the Greek word meaning “full spiritual maturity.”

Our perfection, our maturity in the Spirit, is the main reason that the scriptures of truth have been preserved for us.  “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…that the man of God may be complete (perfect), thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Tim. 3: 16-17 NKJV).

So how do we arrive at perfection (completeness)?

Our completed growth in Christ is brought about by adding to our faith the attributes of the divine nature that Peter admonishes us to do.

Compared to instant messaging and world wide telecommunications and instant mashed potatoes, the steps toward full spiritual growth and ultimately maturity in Christ take a long time.  “Instantly” is not in God’s vocabulary.  That is one of the main paradoxes in this modern age.  Everything happens in the blink of an eye, except the growth of God’s Spirit in a human being.

We are given but a short space of time here on earth.  Our time on the planet is short lived.  The older we get the faster our allotted time runs out.  And most fritter their precious moments away on ludicrous pursuits.  But those that Christ has chosen will redeem the time, “that they may be made perfect in one (John 15: 16; 17: 23).

Spurred on by the Spirit, they will study, dig, and search out the truth as to what this life is all about.  And when they find out that life is Him, His plan and purpose, and His ballgame, then they will commit themselves to Him–though it take a lifetime.  They will endure any hardships along the way.  That’s the way the elect are built; it’s in their spiritual DNA.  They will endure all things.

And their studies will lead them to that attribute of the divine nature called in the English language “patience.”  But in the Greek (G5281), the word means “endurance, steadfastness, constancy…a patient enduring; sustaining; perseverance” [1].

This word is from the verb (G5278) “to endure.”  I Corinthians 13 lists the attributes of  agape love, God’s nature that is to be matured in us.  It “endures all things” (v. 7).

What things?  We are admonished to “endure to the end” and be saved (Matt. 10: 22; 24: 13).  Trials and tribulation will be endured by the elect.  Christ describes the treachery of the world at the time of the end of this age.  “Brother shall betray brother to death and the father the son.”  Children will betray their parents unto death.  And ones He has chosen to become fully matured in His image–they  will be “hated of all men for My name’s sake–but he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved” (Mark 13: 13).  This is the patience/endurance that Peter is telling us we need to add to our faith.

Because this patience, this endurance, this perseverance that we must maintain speaks of a time of trials and tribulations, and persecutions and betrayals.  As God begins to squeeze the evildoers, they will lash out at the righteous.  We have to know that this is coming.

“Tribulation Worketh Patience”

“Tribulation worketh patience.”  Or, tribulation brings about patience.  Or, more clearly put, trials and tribulations are the very thing that fashions endurance, which is definitely a big part of God’s nature.  Without trials, patience/endurance will not be formed in us.  And without this endurance factor in our spiritual lives, we will not fulfill our calling as His sons and daughters.  For the law of harvest reads, Each seed bears its own kind.

After we are “illuminated” by the light of God’s truth, He has the adversary, the devil, present trials and persecutions to us, to which we will endure “a great fight of afflictions” (Heb. 10: 32).

In fact, Peter warns us about these afflictions.  “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you” (I Pet. 4: 12).  It is not a strange thing at all, but part of the plan of God for our perfection.  It is in the script.  Already conceived by Him and written down.  After all, Christ is “the Author and Finisher of our faith.”  And all the additions to that faith (Heb. 12: 2).  Yes, and in that same verse, it tells how Christ “for the joy set before Him, endured the cross.”  As our example, He has endured all the sufferings before us.

These “fiery trials” that will try us will come, and we must endure it, for we are “partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (I Pet. 4: 13).  These sufferings are those trials we endure for His sake.  These are “also the afflictions Christians must undergo in behalf of the same cause for which Christ patiently endured” (Thayer’s Lexicon).

So we see that “patience” is much bigger and much more profound as we discover its meaning in the inspired scriptures of truth.  We now see that it is an attribute of God’s presence, and we should seek to understand it according to God’s thought of what it truly is.

Patience is enduring the sufferings needed to bring God’s plan to full fruition.  Enduring at all costs in the face of hardships–God did that first.  It is His “divine nature” we are to add, after all.  He did it first.  He endured the insolence of one of His created angelic beings to provide the sufferings for us all.  He endured the old nature, especially of His chosen people Israel (12 tribes), witnessed in the Old Testament.  He endured the shame of their sins and whoredoms.

And now He asks us, the little flock, who He knows will answer the call, for He has chosen us–He asks us to add this part of His wonderful divine nature–patience, endurance.

Us enduring, enduring, enduring the sufferings entailed in these finite earthly decaying mortal bodies.  As one of their own poets said, enduring “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

We now have been called into the “fellowship of His sufferings,” taking part of the same things He endured (Phil. 3: 10).

Agape love endures all things.  Like putting up with the evil men in control of this world system–that’s part of enduring the sufferings.  Wanting to do something immediately to banish the evil and injustice from this earth, and knowing that we now must wait on Yahweh–who will do this–but in His own time, according to His timetable.  That’s part of the sufferings.

Enduring.  Continuing undaunted in our pilgrimage to the City of Immortality.  Unwavering.  Stedfast.  Unswayed by the temptations to tarry here or take respite there.

Enduring by faith, entrusting our whole earthly existence on the seemingly impossible assumption and belief that somewhere an invisible Creator has life all mapped and charted for all of us.

And that He has sent us out on this dangerous dark sea, as we trust this invisible Spirit as our Captain to guide our hands on the rudder and sails, believing that He will somehow lead us through the angry storms and deposit us in a warm protected harbor where a wave is a mere warm froth lapping at our toes.

And so we wait.  And endure all things, trusting the Captain by trusting His word, which is the blueprint, the Plan and Purpose.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1.  Thayer’s Lexicon (http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G5281&t=KJV).

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January 26, 2013 · 8:09 pm

Patience–Enduring the “Sufferings of This Present Time”

As the sons and daughters of God, we are to add certain spiritual attributes of God’s “divine nature.”  This is how we become “partakers of His divine nature” (II Peter 1: 4-7).  This assures our inheritance as His sons and daughters. These attributes are added in sequence–in layers, if you will.  To our faith we add virtue, and then knowledge onto it.  Then we add temperance to that knowledge.  Then we add patience onto the temperance.

Patience.  Patience.  Oh, how we all need patience in this hurry-scurry world!  This world that careens through our conscious hours robs us of this important godly essence–patience.  The swirling, rushing pace of our 21st Century lives conspire against us in our search for truth.  Patience is needed to even read this simple article on patience.

For all that we see and hear is temporary.  We will be able to temper the appetites of our earthly bodies more easily when we realize how transitory–how utterly perishable our bodies are.  When we believe this and wholeheartedly acknowledge the need for God’s promise of our immortal house from heaven, we will more easily shift our focus from the temporary to the eternal.

The Next Step in Adding the Divine Nature

And that next step is adding patience to the temperance.  But in order to add patience, which is the ability to endure the sufferings of Christ, we must understand just what those sufferings are.  Paul speaks of them when he writes, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8: 18).  This “glory” is, of course, that destiny of God’s elect after they have grown spiritually to full maturity, which is the evidence of them partaking of the divine nature.

But those “sufferings” spoken of by the apostle is the sojourn we are experiencing in these mortal earthly bodies.  For “we have this treasure [of the Spirit] in earthen vessels” (II Cor. 4:7).  And that is the root of our current spiritual problem.  Our bodies are, alas, mere temporary bottles holding the water of the Spirit.

“This present time” in which these sufferings are being endured is our time now  in our earthly bodies.  Our perishable fragile mortal bodies will too soon return to dust.  Now is our time of waiting with long patience, trusting God will deliver us from the long sleep that awaits us, tucked in dust in the tomb of the earth.

Temporarily housed in our earthly tabernacles at “this present time,” we have a universal thirst that yearns to be quenched.  And that desire is to live on.  And whether cognizant of it or not, we are waiting in “earnest expectation…for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom. 8: 19).

And so we who have a portion of His Spirit, for a dry season at present, find ourselves trapped in a shell that will die soon.  And so we wait for our forerunners, the sons of God to be unveiled first, for they are the firstfruits.  And so we are waiting for these offspring of the Almighty to come onto the scene.

For they will give His other children great hope when they are seen striding this earth–a hope that they, too, can be “delivered from the bondage of corruption,” which is the cruel slavery that our present mortal bodies inflict on us in our new spiritual journey.

Slaves to Our Own Mortality

Our earthly bodies are decaying as they grow older each day, and we are not free to ascend and descend at will.  We are on a timetable, slated to expire, most likely before the age of 80–whether we want to or not.  That’s slavery; that’s being in bondage to our own mortality.  That is the “bondage of corruption.”  In the earthly sense, we are slaves to our own decay and impending death.

In our youth we were not aware of this impending decay of our earthly body.  Hence, we thought ourselves invincible and immortal.  But as we get older and see our bodies deteriorate, we see that we become the slaves to our own bodily limitations.  We begin to admit that we cannot do what we once did.  Our age, brought on by the ravages of time, becomes our master and limits us and dictates to us what we can and cannot do.  This is the “bondage of corruption.”

Aging is the accumulation of many miles and years on the human body.  Aging is that onerous sign announcing our impending physical passing.  But this daily physical decay of our bodies does not work on our spirits.  We can take heart in this, that “though our outward man perish, our inward man is renewed day by day” (II Cor. 4: 16).  And this renewing is the “partaking of the divine nature,” the adding to our faith of which we speak.

So why death?

And so we ask God, Why do we have to die?  Why give us a mortal body, God?  Why subject us to all this suffering?  The short answer: God created us “subject to vanity.”  He deliberately subjected us to mortality in hope that we would be delivered into immortality.  He made us to suffer this mortal existence in hope that we would seek Him, who is Life Himself, and in so doing find eternal life, which is the fulfillment of His promise to them who seek Him and love Him.

God has dangled death ever before us so that we would seek Him.  He reasoned that our looming demise would spur us to seek Him for answers to our dilemma.  Surely we would call on Him, the Giver of Life, to help us solve this problem of mortality if we were confronted with the sadness of first, the loss of loved ones and then, finally, ourselves.

God provided a law ingrained into the universe, as sure as gravity, that if we seek Him for the truth, we would find it.  “Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you,” Christ promised (Matt. 7: 7).

And so, confronted by the sufferings of our mortal worries, we turn to God.  And His words resound through the ages to our hearts and tell us the answer to the riddle of our faint existence.  He tells us that He is the Fount from which the blessing of immortality flows.  And it starts with believing in the resurrection of His Son.  And latching onto that faith in Him begins our own new life, ending in the complete inheritance of a new spiritual body that will swallow up this old earthly one (I Cor. 15).

He seems to be saying, Surely when they see my Son arise from the dead, they will turn to Me in great hope that My resurrection power will one day raise them up as well.

His resurrection is our hope to escape the dusty tombs of death.  And yet, the sufferings continue.  And as He teaches us and helps us to endure all things, we add patience.  For patience is that part of God’s nature that endures.  It lasts.  And as we continue our sojourn in these earthly vessels, He grants to us patience by infusing us with experiences that helps us endure, that gives us rather things to endure.

Yes, “tribulation worketh patience” or “suffering produces endurance” (Rom. 5: 3).  Earthly wisdom shuns all sufferings.  The wisdom from above prescribes it.  That is why He allows us to suffer–so that we can become like Him.  For He planned those very steps of suffering for Himself, and if we want to be His sons and daughters, we must suffer with Him.  That’s a tough one.  That is why “few are chosen” (Matt. 22: 14).  Those chosen are the elect, and they will submit to the plan along with its sufferings, much like those chosen for our Special Forces endure the sufferings that the training entails.  It all comes with the territory.  To reign with Him we must suffer with Him (II Tim. 2: 12).   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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January 19, 2013 · 7:33 pm

More on Adding Temperance to Knowledge

In previous posts we have seen that in order to secure “an entrance…into the everlasting kingdom of our…Savior,” we must add certain spiritual attributes to the faith that God has endowed us with [1].  In so doing, we “give diligence” in making “our calling and election sure” [2].

We are told by the apostle Peter to add “temperance” to the knowledge of God and His plan for our perfection.

Since our very spiritual growth in Christ is in the balance here, a bit deeper examination of this word “temperance” is fruitful.  It is translated from the Greek word egkrateia (#G1466).  Thayer’s Lexicon states that it is “the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites.”

It is derived from a Greek adjective egkrates (#G1468), meaning “strong, robust; having power over; mastering, controling, curbing, restraining.”  So “temperance” is from Greek words meaning “to have control over.”

So How Does the Holy Spirit Help Us Get Control Over Bodily Appetites?

Knowing the truth will make us free, Christ said–of whatever ails us [3].  “Ye shall know the truth…”  Know.  There’s that “knowledge” spoken by Peter again, as in “add to you faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge…”  What knowledge?  The knowledge of truth, which is the mind of Christ, simply put.  Yes, the mind of Christ–His thoughts, plans, and purposes.  He did say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” [4].  So, first knowing Christ’s thoughts, plans, purposes and His word, and then doing them–this will make us free of and give us control over sensual appetites.

There is another “knowing,” and this one is huge.  “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [Him], that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Romans 6: 6).  Our old sinful self, in God’s eyes, was crucified with Christ on the cross.  And our old sin-soaked heart, which was enslaved to sin, is now free from all fleshly pulls.  This knowledge, straight out of the plan and purpose and mind of our Savior, is the truth that makes us free from unrighteous haunts.  Period.

Now.  The ball is in our court.  We are forced by Him to either believe this truth, which is His word and plan written down in plain English, and thereby be freed from the slavery of sin and sinning, or we continue on in unbelief.  That is the choice.  Chosing to believe this truth opens up the way to add these spiritual qualities like temperance, that He has admonished us to add to our faith, thus enabling us to “go on unto perfection.”

Temperance, then, is an integral part of the character of one who is an elder of the body of Christ, one who is mature [5].  This is a description of a temperate man, one who has his earthly body under control, leading him to be able to “hold fast the faithful word as he has been taught.”  After adding temperance, the man of God will have the power to not soon be shaken through any temptations of the devil.  He will be able to walk in the power of the word of God.

The elect of God will begin to realize that gaining control over the earthly body is a necessary pre-requisite in fully becoming the manifested sons and daughters of God.  And because temperance is one of the fruits of the Spirit, the stronger the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the more temperance we will exhibit (Gal. 5: 22-23).  More Spirit in us, more self-control.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts.”  This last sentence is the very next verse, v. 24.  Isn’t it astounding that the word goes right back to being crucified with Christ?  In another translation we read, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” (NIV).

Here it is in plain black and white:  There is a direct correlation of having the “fruit of the Spirit” operating in our lives and being crucified with Christ.  In fact, the crucifixion with Christ of our old nature is the very key in receiving His Spirit, which in turn yields the fruit of the Spirit in our lives–one of which is temperance or self-control.  It is much easier to control one’s self after knowing and then believing that it is dead.

Earlier in his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (2: 20).  And there it is.  Our bodies live on now, but it is not our old selves anymore living in them.  But rather it is Christ’s Spirit that lives now in us.  And this life that we live is because of His faith in His own plan, now believed on by us, that by believing that He is raised from the dead, we too are now risen “to walk in a newness of life.”

It is this Rock that we are building up each other as the temple of God in the earth.  This is the solid Rock foundation that we must build upon.  Because the weather coming soon to this earth is going to shake and crumble all houses not built on the right understanding of His word, plan, purpose, and thoughts.  If it is built on a faulty foundation, then the house will come crashing down.  Tribulation is coming upon the earth, and it will touch us all.  Only He is our safety net–not some imagination of a rapture that someone dreamed up in the 19th century.

The Great Tribulation is coming.  We must prepare by first “knowing the truth.”  For Satan is going to deceive many in these latter days.  “Let no man deceive you,” Christ warned.  For the “falling away” or apostacy is already in full odious bloom.  The churches have been duped and lied to by false teachers and false prophets.  Many pastors are ignorant of this deception and yet, they continue to pollute the flock and inoculate them with poisonous doctrines and concepts.  But “the wise will understand” (Dan 12; 10).

[1]  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/the-additions-to-your-faith-prerequisites-of-receiving-immortality/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/add-to-your-faith-virtue-gods-strength-and-power-2-peter-1-5/

[2]  II Peter 1: 10

[3]  John 8: 32

[4]  John 14: 6

[5]  Titus 1: 7-9

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January 12, 2013 · 6:47 pm

So Much Unbelief–Is It God’s Doing?

Ever wonder why there is so much unbelief out there?  You know, that stone cold stare of incredulity when you tell someone about Christ’s ability to “deliver us from the power of darkness” and to miraculously change our lives.  Why is that?  We can’t help but wonder how anyone could not believe in Him.

We have seen recently that it is God’s faith, His belief in Himself and His plan and His ability to perform it–it is His faith that He gives to certain individuals in the earth.  It’s the “faith once delivered” to His people.  After receiving it, we are admonished to “add to your faith” seven spiritual attributes that helps us “grow up into Him.”  They help us to always be bearing the “fruit of the Spirit” [1].

And with these things come the true blessings God has promised.  But why, then is there so much unbelief?

In fact, most Christians start out “setting the woods on fire”–telling everyone and expecting everyone to respond and believe them about our Savior.  But most of us settle down a bit and scratch our heads and wonder, Why don’t more people believe?

Why So Much Unbelief?

Some may say, Well, their hearts are hard, and they have rejected Him.  This is partially true.

Others might say, The devil has deceived the unbelievers.  True again, but that is not the whole truth.  This blessed news of living a forgiven, free, and happy life in Christ is hidden from the many “lost, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light…of Christ…should shine unto them” (II Cor. 4:4).  So, yes, the devil has blinded them spiritually so that they cannot believe.  But that is not the whole story or the cause.

Still others, looking more deeply with eyes that only the Father could give, will see that it is God behind the current glut of unbelief in the world.  What?  I say this not as an accusation against God, but more in awe of His ways, which are past finding out.  I’m going by what He said in His word.

“All Things Are of God”

The apostle John saw this deep truth and expressed it.  “But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him…Therefore, they could not believe.”  They could not believe?  Why couldn’t they believe?  They had all the miracles proving that it was God in Christ doing it all.  But they could not believe.  Why?  “Because Isaiah said, He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (John 12: 37, 39-40).

God has blinded them?  Yes.  He is behind it; that’s a tough one.  John was quoting and elucidating what the Spirit was saying through Isaiah (6: 9-11).  And how long will the deafness and blindness of the masses last?  How long will the unbelief reign in the hearts of mortal Adamic man?

“And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.  And the LORD (Yahweh) have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land” (v. 11).

The masses will continue on in unbelief until the great catastrophes of the time of the end come upon the whole earth.  When destruction comes upon the people, then they will cry unto God, and then their hearts will turn and believe.

Catastrophes That Happened to Ancient Israel Warn Us of Things To Come

We need only look into the scriptures of truth to see the type and shadow of our modern day reality.  The children of Israel in the “Old Testament” serve as a painful example of this, for “that which has been is now, and that which is to be has already been” (Eccl. 3: 15).  “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (I Cor. 10: 11, NIV).  If we want to know how it is all going down in our day, we need only to look in the scriptures.

Many will begin to seek God and to believe Him when the disasters come to this earth, just like in the days of old.  The nation of Ancient Israel would enjoy the blessings of God, then they would get fat and complacent and forget God, and then He would allow other nations to conquer them and desolate their lives, and then they would cry unto Yahweh, and He would hear and come down and deliver them.  There would be revival for a time, and then the cycle would begin again.

We are in that same cycle right now.  We are growing fat and sassy.  Look at America, allowing our representatives in government to allow and fund the killing of our innocent children, and they have taken prayer and thanksgiving to the God of the Bible out of our schools.  And the people have allowed this!  And they have taken our complete money system out of the hands of the people’s representatives and given it over to a private banking corporation, a central bank.  I won’t even get into all the military adventures that have cost millions of innocent lives, with all their false flags.

We have sinned as a nation in so many ways, and most of us are complicit in these atrocities through our lack of courage.  Most have drunk the kool aid they have given us and have taken the government as our sole benefactor.  We have grown fat and lazy and do not “look to the Rock from whence we are hewn.”

And so, at the end of this age, which is coming very soon, God will bring us down.  He will break the pride of our power and humble us through unimaginable catastrophes where cities will be wasted and destroyed during the horrendous “Great Tribulation Period” that will come upon the whole earth.  And it will touch all those who are alive on the earth; that includes Christians, His elect, those He has chosen out to first believe in Him [2].

There is an elect, a remnant, those chosen by Him to be “a kind of firstfruits,” those destined to be the first to trust in Him and believe Him.  And it is left to us to edify each other as best we can, sharing truth with those who can believe at this time.  Maybe all of the above is why Isaiah cried out, “Who has believed our report? (53: 1; John 12: 38).

And it is left to us that have His faith to add to it the seven spiritual qualities  that will help us grow into full maturity.  Somebody is going to do it; it might as well be us.

Of course, the churches do not teach this.  You won’t hear this on Sunday morning anywhere, but I’ll stick with Isaiah and John.   They saw deeply into the heart of God, revealing secrets to those who can believe at this present time.  For most can’t–at this time.        Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1.  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/the-faith-of-god-in-himself-now-in-us/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/the-additions-to-your-faith-prerequisites-of-receiving-immortality/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/add-to-your-faith-virtue-gods-strength-and-power-2-peter-1-5/

2.  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/no-pre-tribulation-rapture-gods-elect-on-earth-during-tribulation/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/dont-depend-on-the-rapture-all-christians-going-through-great-tribulation/

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January 5, 2013 · 7:47 pm

The Faith of God in Himself Now in Us

Faith is extremely important but often misunderstood.  It is not us believing in something.  That is not the true faith of God.   No.  The true faith of God comes from Him to us, not from us about Him.  It is His belief in Himself that He gives to us.

Faith Is Not Something We Have to Muster Up

It is the “faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).  Faith is a spiritual commodity from God that has been delivered to the people of God.  Who delivered it?  The Creator Yahweh did.  Faith is not something that has to be mustered up by His people.  We rather must receive it from Him.  It is something that originates from out of His nature and is given to us.  “For every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.” That includes faith.

It is His faith that is transplanted into our hearts.  It is not something we muster up and finally believe about Him.  His faith in us is the first part of His divine nature to enter into the human heart.  But what is it exactly?  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.

God Has Assurance in the Things that He Hopes For

“Things hoped for…”  Because we are naturally egocentric, we think that it is the things we hope for.  No.  What does God hope for?  What are the desires of His heart?  What has He purposed?   Long  before  we were ever born, He saw us in our down-trodden state of sin and misery.  He also saw us rise with Him by His Spirit to vanquish sin and death in our lives.  He believed that this was a reality—that this was substance—having not yet seen it come to pass.  He believed and so therefore spoke and said that it was so.  He believed the best about us and His plan—not having seen the evidence yet of its fruition.  We as changed individuals are evidence that the invisible Supreme Being is real.  We are His witnesses that He is God.  And if He believes in His work in us before it comes to full fruition, then we should, too.  He is our example.

His divine nature is positive, full of faith and power.  All of His promises are “yes.”  Nothing negative flows from His heart.  He is positive; His attitude is positive.  In fact, He calls those things that are not, that do not exist as yet, as though they did exist.  He said that He will be all in all eventually.  We should then, right now, begin to walk around as if He already is all in you and me.  This will take belief that “it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.”

He is positive, giving “life to the dead and calls that which does not exist as existing.”  This is He.  This is how He thinks.  He is positive about His capabilities.  He has absolutely no doubt about His reserves and His resolve to get done what He wants done.  And what He wants done is the multiplication, the reproduction of Himself, within His creation.  He is an invisible Spirit; He wants to see Himself in action in human form.  This is the witness that He talks about in Isaiah.  We are to be His witnesses that He is the invisible Spirit/God.  His faith believes that not only we can change, but that we will change—that we are changed!  He seeks people to worship Him in this spirit and attitude and in this truth.  He needs people to worship Him in this way—to believe the way He believes.

And it is to this faith, His faith, that we are to add several more  spiritual qualities as outlined by the apostle Peter (II Peter 1: 5-8).  These are the more advanced facets that the Holy Spirit gives to those going “unto perfection,” which is full maturity in Christ.                Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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{This is an excerpt from my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God, which you can read at the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook: The Unveiling…”}

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December 25, 2012 · 10:51 am

Origins of Christmas Season Found in “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT”

“MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT” is referred to as the woman, which is a symbol of a false religious system.  This mother church system has an identifier in the scriptures.  This is a tag that tells us about her.  She has a “name written in her forehead.”  Names in scripture tell what the person or thing is—what its roots are, what its core values are.  A name in scripture tells us its origin, its reason to be, and its destiny.  This name written in her forehead means that her mind is full of what her name implies.  Her heart and mind is full of what her name means. And her name was “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev. 17:5).  Her name is given all in capital letters to signify its great importance to us.

First, this church’s name is a “MYSTERY.”  The masses who wonder after the world system are in the dark.  The origin of the political and religious systems of the earth is a mystery to them.  A mystery is a “who done it?”  The passive masses are in the dark about the characters and their roles in the drama happening on the world stage.

The second part of her name is “BABYLON THE GREAT.”  This term is a mystery also.  The first thing that comes to mind is the ancient city of Babylon, the capital of the Babylonian Empire in what is today Iraq.  This great city, described by the Greek historian Herodotus, was so grand in its day that its Hanging Gardens was known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

But what’s the old city of Babylon’s connection to the name of the woman riding the beast in Revelation 17:5? Why is this old city’s name a part of the name of the false religious system that persecutes the true followers in the last days?

The answer lies in the fact that the religious system of the ancient city of Babylon has passed itself on down through the centuries to our day.  History teaches us that the Near East’s fertile crescent spawned a mystery religion with its birthplace in Babylon.  It was there that Nimrod became prominent.  He was the son of Cush, the grandson of Ham, and the great grandson of Noah.  “He began to be a mighty one in the earth.  “He was a mighty hunter before YHWH: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before YHWH.  And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel {Gr. Babylon}” (Genesis 10: 8-10).  This religion was passed on down to pagan Rome.  {Even the Catholic Bible admits in a footnote on Rev. 17: 5 that “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT” is pagan Rome!  Read it here http://www.newadvent.org/bible/rev017.htm }

And one of these ancient pagan traditions that not only has survived, but has thrived today is Christmas.  People all over the world celebrate this holiday, not knowing of its tainted origin and of its pagan roots.

This brings us to the whorish woman’s name: “MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”  This false church is a mother church.  Who did she give birth to?  The law of harvest states, Each seed bears its own kind.  Those organizations who practice and adhere to the mother’s doctrines and traditions are by nature her offspring—daughters of the mother church. And one of pagan Babylon’s strongest traditions is the winter solstice season’s Saturnalia/Christmas.  And yet, the whole world wonders after it, believing that it is the greatest time of year, not know at what they marvel.

Yet I do not condemn anyone who celebrates it.  I once did, too.  But I wanted the truth at all costs, and when this part of the truth came, I had to make a stand to forego the holiday.  It makes waves in the family, for they will not understand at first.  All my kids are grown now, and they do understand the stand I made.  And all those who are pressing “on for the high calling” of sonship and daughtership of God–they will make a stand for truth.  The princes and princesses of God will realize that the truth is Him.  He, the Son of God is the Truth. That realization will put every thing else into perspective.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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December 15, 2012 · 3:39 pm

Add to Knowledge Temperance–On Being Puffed Up

Someone on this earth will sit down on the throne of God alongside our Savior and will be a ruler in the government that the King will establish in all the earth.  In fact, a whole company of over comers have been “predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8: 29).  Fully matured, they will stride this crippled earth after the Great Tribulation.  In God’s stead as His ambassadors of the literal Kingdom of Heaven will they rule with Him, for they will have His Spirit fully developed within them.  These are the “partakers of the divine nature” who will do the King’s business after the disasters that will smite the earth.

“No man takes this honour unto himself” (Heb. 5: 4).  It is God’s doing.  He has a plan and He is quite capable of helping them carry out His own plan.  And that plan and purpose is to share Himself with His creation.  He is Love, and all Love can do is love and share and give.

Those of us who have been called to this “high calling of God in Christ” have been left a textbook explaining how to receive immortality.  We now are in the process of studying it and taking it to heart.  We need this instruction in order to receive the proper training and education to be an effective ruler with Christ in the soon coming Kingdom of Heaven right here on earth.  That textbook is found in the “scriptures of truth,” the Holy Bible, which is God’s letter to us, a guidebook He showed to His prophets and apostles.  And He is now showing it to us who believe, who have faith.

Adding to our faith

The apostle Peter instructs those of us who have been called to “partake of the divine nature” (II Peter 1: 3-4).  He relates that God  promised us immortality, and it is by these promises, that we can get rid of our old sinful nature and receive His divine nature.   And God’s nature grows and matures in us to the point that in the end, it will be all Him.  The divine nature grows in us through receiving more true knowledge of Him and His plan.  And part of that is the additions to our faith.

“Add to knowledge temperance”

The apostle Paul wrote that “knowledge puffs up, but charity (agape love) edifies” (I Cor. 8: 1).  This puffing up is the sound of an inflated ego that has no place to go with the knowledge; there is no desire to flow the knowledge on out to others.  Agape love, conversely, flows out of its heart of love and shares and builds up fellow Christians, helping them in their walk with God.

The novice in Christ will get the bighead after gaining some of the true knowledge of God.  There is an innate tendency in the old nature of man and spiritual babes in Christ to have one’s pride inflated upon receiving this knowledge, which has “been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 13: 35).

This knowledge flows out of the mind and heart of God and sheds light on the very mysteries of the acquisition of immortality.  This information is precious–so rare and fine a treasure, in fact, that “few there be that find it” (Matt. 7: 14).  A beautiful four lane highway is leading many to destruction.  “But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (v. 14 NLT).

Knowledge of these things will puff a person up.  Why?  Because they are still thinking that they are the object of God’s blessing and not the channel of it.

Therefore, knowledge of the holy things must have temperance added to it.  Self control must be added.  And the major lesson we must learn is that our little powerless self did not come up with this knowledge on its own.  It was not delivered to us for any great thing that we are or have done.  No.  It is pure grace flowing out of God’s heart to us.  It is all Him, favoring and having “mercy on whom He will have mercy” (Rom. 9: 15).  It is all Him.  It is our privilege to be a channel of this knowledge on out to His people.

Beware of False Teachers

Paul warns in another place about getting “puffed up” by knowledge.  He warns new Christians not to get entangled by men who teach a  “philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (Col. 2: 8).

He is saying that men will deceive young Christians through all kinds of worldly earthly thoughts.  But Christ is all you need, which is knowledge about who He is and what He has done for His people.

“You are complete in Him” (v. 10).  You don’t need mumbo jumbo bells and whistles and gimmicks of worship, as it were.  “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily.”  And through His sacrifice of Himself, you have been circumcised spiritually.  His Spirit invisibly cuts out your old sinful Adamic nature, and He gives you a new heart.  “Buried with Him by baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the  faith of the operation of of God, who has raised Him from the dead (v. 11-12).

False teachers are “puffed up”

One who teaches false doctrines tries to “beguile you,” and is “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” (Col. 2: 18).  Remember that they “come to you in sheep’s clothing.”  They appear as “messengers of light.”  They have a little smidgeon of truth, and it has puffed them up as they imagine vain things about God and ways to worship Him.

How does a false teacher or preacher first go astray?  He gets all “puffed up by his fleshly mind.”  “Fleshly” here is from the Greek word sarx.  It is a mind controlled by the “flesh” (sarx).  This denotes the old nature, natural thinking man, unregenerate man.  He has an earthly mind.  “He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth; he that comes from heaven is above all…for He whom God hath sent speaks the words of God” (John 3: 31, 34).

The phrase “of the earth” points to the same origins as Adam in the garden, made of the dust of the earth, clueless as to the heavenly destiny for mankind.  These false teachers are puffed up with a bit of God’s knowledge, yet remain Spirit-less when it comes to the truth of God.

So, yes, temperance must be added to knowledge.  This entails, of course, self-control in all areas of a Christian’s life.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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December 8, 2012 · 5:35 pm

Add to Virtue Knowledge–The Additions to Your Faith

We have seen that some Christians are called to “go on unto perfection.”  These are the elect, the ones chosen by God to be “a kind of first fruits” of His glory.  They are the trailblazers into that spiritual country of immortality and will serve as princes and princesses in God’s soon coming kingdom that will subdue all of man’s governments and will fill the whole earth.

We have seen that these sons and daughters of God will not be content with “playing church,” but will forge ahead in study and prayer, searching for that hidden wisdom of God.  They are the ones who are searching for “a better [country], that is, an heavenly” one.  They are on a quest to enter into the heavenly New Jerusalem that will come down here to earth and will be the habitation of immortals, who are those who have spiritually matured.

They will understand that to fully partake of the “divine nature,” they will have to go beyond that initial flush of faith we Christians have all experienced.  These will see that the full spiritual maturity  calls for additions to their faith.  Just possessing in one’s heart a strong conviction that God is real and working in one’s life is not the nutrient that will foster the spiritual growth, which leads to the harvest called “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

And make no mistake, brethren, glorification is where the elect are heading.  It is in the mind of God; it is already done in His books.  We need to embrace this truth and make the necessary sacrifices that will bring about this maturity.

We have seen that in order to go on with Him on this path, we must add certain spiritual attributes to our faith.  Peter tells us to “add to your faith virtue,” which is that quality that helps us be proactive and not passive in this walk.  Virtue is that warlike energy that takes the fight to the enemy.  It gets us off the couch and into the fray.  It is the very strength and power of God’s Spirit [For more see these two articles   https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/add-to-your-faith-virtue-gods-strength-and-power-2-peter-1-5/   https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/the-additions-to-your-faith-prerequisites-of-receiving-immortality/ ].

Adding knowledge to virtue

The second addition to the faith is adding knowledge to virtue.  God does not want us running out there cutting and slashing with the “sword of the Spirit” at just any old thing that pops up.  Nor does He want us to be gullible and believe everything we hear about God.  We must have knowledge added to the zeal.

Many “little children” of God, energized with their new found faith, want to get out there and change the world.  So they rush out and tell everyone they meet about their experiences in God.  This universal reaction comes out of a heart that means well.  But like Paul says, “They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom. 10: 2).

There is a “knowledge” then that young Christians need to be in agreement with.  If we strike out on our new found Christian walk without this knowledge that the apostle refers to, then we will wander off onto a path that detours us away from the road to the celestial city.

Some detours

What are some of these detours?  They are imaginations; they are false teachings about the plan and purpose of God.  The apostles and prophets continuously warn us about not believing false teachers and preachers.

One detour takes an unsuspecting young Christian to “Neverland.”  It is the mythical concept that just accepting Christ grants us a ticket to heaven and not to the bad place.  They are promised by their teachers that they will go to heaven and stay in heaven forever with God.  That’s about it.  They are never told that Christ is coming back here to earth–what a stupendous event!  And He is bringing all the dead in Christ with Him.  They have never considered it.  And what about those who are alive when He touches down on the Mount of Olives?  What happens to His followers who are alive?  And what happens to the people who survive the Great Tribulation Period?  What happens to them here on earth?  All this never enters their minds.

Another detour that hinders Christian growth is the false promise of a rapture.  Total escapism.  Not going to happen.  But people rush out in their zeal and believe this because it sounds good and logical.  Yet, they never study it out and prove it one way or another to themselves.  It is tricky.  They have a zeal for God, “but not according to knowledge” [for more on this go here https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/?s=rapture ].

So what is this knowledge Peter’s talking about?

To answer that question, we must be prepared to dig deep into the scriptures of truth.  Knowledge is a noun translated from the Greek word gnosis (#1108) meaning “knowledge.”  We see it in the English words “diagnosis” and “prognosis.”  The verb form of this word (#1107; #1097) means “to make known.”  So the noun means “that which is made known.”

But there is a lot of “knowledges” out there.  Which knowledge is he talking about?

So what has been made known?  What exactly is this knowledge that the apostles were so keen on?  First, God has “made known” to us through Christ’s resurrection the “ways of life,” as in the path we will take to arrive at a state of immortality or everlasting life.  Literally.  Not “crystal blue persuasion,” “floating around heaven all day.”  No.  God has given us the knowledge on how to obtain immortality.  That is how big this concept is.  There is a true way into His kingdom/government as His elect sons and daughters.  We can see this in the book of Acts where Peter is quoting David, “Thou hast made known to me the ways of life” (2: 28).

Christ’s resurrection, where His earthly body did not remain in the grave–this is our hope, that as He promised, we, too, can receive immortality.  But there is so much of this knowledge to learn.  True knowledge of how we will attain immortality does not come willy-nilly.  If our earthly jobs require a modicum of seriousness and sobriety to master and perform, how much more does our training to be His fellow rulers in His kingdom?

After all, Christ promises this to some: “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also over came, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Rev. 3: 21).  You mean some of us will literally sit on the throne with Christ?  Somebody will, and He said, Whosoever will may come.  Kings and queens sit on thrones.  But to be sitting on the one and only throne designed by and for immortals.  That’s getting out there.  Need more faith?  Maybe we need  these additions to the faith, to grow it, to feed it, to enlarge and strengthen it.

What else is God “making known” to us?  “That He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory.”  Some human beings that He calls “the vessels of mercy” He has already prepared to receive “glory.”

Nothing more glorious than everlasting life.  The “glory that He has for us is immortality.  He is making known this knowledge of these true spiritual riches that some will be glorified with Him at the end of this age!  That is what He is making known right now (Rom. 9: 23).

He is making known the mystery of His will.  “That God would make known what is the riches of the gloryof this mystery…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory…even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest to his saints (Col. 1: 27, 26).

This “glory” spoken of here is spelled out in Romans 8: 18-31.  It speaks of the adoption, where we mortals shall be redeemed by God through resurrection and receive a new spiritual body that cannot die like this earthly body that is physically corruptible.  God gave us a destiny unto this glorious state beforehand, that we would “be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (v. 29).  And if we are, indeed, one whom He has predestinated, then He has called us, justified us, and He has also glorified us (v. 30).  This “glorification” is all about receiving an immortal spiritual body.  [Read more in I Cor. 15  and here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/the-high-calling-of-god/ ].

There is so much more that He has “made known” to His children.  We are told to add this knowledge of His plan and purpose to the virtue/zeal and on to the faith.  Adding knowledge then is all about first learning His true plan and promises and incorporating them into our thinking.  This takes true teachings, much study, and much communication with our Savior.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[To read my books go to the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook…”]

 

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December 2, 2012 · 12:16 am

Add to Your Faith Virtue–God’s Strength and Power (2 Peter 1: 5)

We must add certain spiritual qualities to our faith in God if we are to grow up into the manifested sons and daughters of God.  We found that out in II Peter 1.  Our faith in God needs to be shored up; it needs to become stronger in order to conquer and “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”  We will only “partake of the divine nature” if we add these things.  And the first to be added to our faith is virtue.

But what exactly does this word “virtue” really mean?  It is an English word, after all.  We could look it up in Webster’s Dictionary, but we would only find what it means to the English speaking mind, distilled down through the centuries.  We would see that it is from the Old French virtu, which came from the Latin virtus, meaning “strength, courage, virtue.”  It has come down to us meaning “moral excellence…active quality or power…manly strength or courage; valor.”

And so we dig still deeper, believing that this study is important and expedient, for we simply must know what “virtue” means.  We are trying to “study to show ourselves approved unto God,” as we are admonished to do.  Without study, we will not be approved.

The English word “virtue” was translated, of course, not from Latin, but from the Greek.  So what was that Greek word that the King James scholars translated “virtue”?  The Strong’s Concordance shows us that it was arete, #703 [http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G703&t=KJV].  Consulting Thayer’s Lexicon on that page, we see that arete denotes power stemming from moral excellence and goodness.  It relates to God’s power, perfection, and excellence.

We get a further picture of “virtue” by looking up “virtuous” and “valor” in the Hebrew [http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2428&t=KJV].  We see “strength, power, might.”  The Hebrew word #2428 is used many times in the phrase “mighty man of valour.”  Also, it is translated as “host” as in a large army of mighty warriors.  It is rendered “strength” in David’s prayer to God, “For Thou hast girded me with strength to battle” (II Samuel 22: 40).

We need to stop and reflect here and not pass over this lightly.  These words in  II Samuel are inspired.  They are the Scriptures of truth that Paul studied, and he said by the Spirit: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…”  Why?  To what purpose do we need those old books back there in the “Old Testament”?  “That the man of God may be perfect…”

Perfect.  Complete spiritual maturity.  These passages, like this one in Samuel, teach us lessons that will help us add the “divine nature” to our faith in God.  It is for the same purpose of perfection and glorification, which is the fulfillment of His promise to us  of immortality.

Looking at the Picture that “Virtue” is Painting for Us

We see “virtue” as not just power.  No.  It is the strength and power of God, emanating right out of His very heart through His Spirit into ours.  It is He; it is a part of His divine nature; it is all about His strength and power stemming from His excellent goodness.  This then is His power, which gives us now the strength and ability to go on the offensive against the devil and his tricks that block our road to immortality.

Let’s go back to David speaking to Yahweh.  In this song of praise, David thanks God for His strength and power in overcoming mightily all of his enemies.  He thanks God for His goodness, and then details in much “war” imagery his exploits over the enemy.  This picture of a warlike attitude  is a real key for us in understanding just what virtue is.  David’s inspired prayer shows us the spiritual application through his physical earthly accomplishments.

The First Step

First, David declares his complete trust in Yahweh, recalling how he called on Him in his despair and how God answered (verses 1-17).  David says that God did deliver him, but it was “according to my righteousness…and cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me” (v. 21).  David first had to be right with God, on the same spiritual page, “a man after God’s own heart.”  “I kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God” (v. 22).  That is the first step that we need.  Walk on in His faith.  Trust in Him.  And then get ready to go on the offense like King David does in the following verses.

And now the war imagery looms as David spiritually attacks his enemies.  “God is my strength and power…I have run through a troop…He teaches my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.  Thou hast given me a shield of thy salvation…I have pursued mine enemies [read: doubt, fear, unbelief, impatience, et al], and destroyed them (v. 31-38).

Wait.  Let’s savor this.  “Pursued mine enemies.”  He went on the offensive!  He did not just sit on the couch waiting for fear and doubt and unbelief to maybe take a holiday.  Would you please leave me alone, guys?  I don’t appreciate these ugly thoughts I have been having lately.”  No!

David “pursued” those negative thoughts and “destroyed them”!  Furthermore, David “consumed them, and wounded them, that  they could not arise…”  Wouldn’t that be wonderful–to have all negativity consumed and wounded so that it just was not able to rear its ugly head up in our minds ever again?

That’s adding virtue to your faith.

But David’s not through.  He knows where the strength and power is coming from.  “They are fallen under my feet.  For thou hast girded me with strength to battle.”  It was Yahweh that subdued his enemies under him (v. 39-40).

And finally, David says, “Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Yahweh…and I will sing praises to thy name” (v. 50).

Our Spiritual Application

This song of David is so rich, reaching even unto prophetic strains that depict a vision of the Kingdom Age in all its glory.  And yes, we are in that vision.  But we see here now for our present edification a picture of just what virtue does when added to our faith.  “Faith without works is dead.”  Without virtue added, faith/belief/assurance just sits passively on the couch “waiting for the world to change.”  To the contrary, we His sons and daughters must “put on the whole armor of God” (Eph. 6: 11-18).  This same war imagery is used by Paul in Ephesians, that we “may be able to withstand all the wiles of the devil.”  We must put the armor of the Spirit of God on and take the fight to our adversary.

“Add to your faith virtue…”  This first addition to the faith, then, is an offensive weapon given to us by God to go with our trust-faith-assurance in Him.  “Virtue” then is that quality of valor, that makes us like the mighty men of war as David was.  They were men of strength.  Mighty men.  Strong men and women in the Spirit, pro-active in their attacks on the enemy.  This all comes in realizing that it is God Almighty who does all this conquering–not only for us, but also in and through us.

Yet, the question will arise in hearts: But how do you add it to your faith?  Answer: You add virtue to your faith–by faith.  The Master said it simply.  “Ask and it shall be given…When you pray, believe that you receive, and you shall have whatsoever you ask.”  Now that we know what “virtue” is, we “reckon it done,” for in God’s mind, He already sees us having it.                          Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If you liked this article, hit the “like” button. Please make a comment. I will answer them all. And be sure to send for my latest book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect; it is totally free. Just send me your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com If you appreciated this article, you will be thrilled with the new book. I wrote it for you. You need this book if you want to grow spiritually and be like Peter, James, John, and Paul.
“Greater works” we will do with His help and guidance.}

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November 27, 2012 · 8:43 pm

The Additions to Your Faith–Prerequisites of Receiving Immortality

Just having faith in Christ is not enough.  Now, wait a minute.  Hear me out before you jump.

Some have said, “Faith in Christ is all you need.”  To get into the first level of a walk with God, that is true.  But things must be added to the true faith in order for us to fully manifest God’s divine nature in us, according to the apostle Peter.

He says that we must make certain spiritual additions to the faith, so that we can be “partakers of the divine nature…Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity (agape love)” (II Peter 1: 5-7).

Peter goes on to say that if these additions “be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren (idle) nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus (Yahshua) Christ” (v. 8).

In other words, without these additions, we will not grow up “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4: 13).  Nor will we without these additions “be filled with all the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 3: 19).  Why?  Because the person without these additions listed above “is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (II Pet. 1: 9).  These additions, then, serve as a kind of eye salve that anoints our eyes that we may see the spiritual road ahead of us.

In fact, the way we “make our calling and election sure” is to add these very things to our faith! That is why this is so important to the overcomers of all things.  For if we add these things to our faith, we “shall never fall” (v. 10).  The addition to our faith of these things is the key that unlocks the door to the “entrance…into the everlasting kingdom” of our God (v. 11).

Who was Peter writing to?

Peter is writing not to everyone, but to those “that have obtained like precious faith with us” (1: 1).  He is writing to “those who have already received by divine allotment” this equally honored and precious “conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things, the Provider and Bestower of eternal salvation through Christ” {Thayer’s Lexicon}.

It is God who has placed this faith, this “conviction” that He is real, in our hearts.  It is not something we “muster up.”  It is all Him.  It is His grace to us, which is to say, God favors us with knowledge of Him and His plan and word.  This brings light to our eyes and strength to our hearts.  God gives grace to some during this end time era with spiritual knowledge of Him.  This is His grace to us.

Now He gives this grace in accordance to “His divine power” which gives to the recipients “all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him” (1: 3).  For He “has called us to glory and virtue.”

Glorification = Immortality

God has tapped us on the shoulder in some way  to bring us to the stage of spiritual growth called “glorification”!  Yes, this spiritual road we have begun to walk down is leading us into being glorified with Him!  This is sonship; this is rulership with Him in His kingdom.

We have to add these things listed by the apostle Peter, if we are to fulfill our calling to be His manifested sons and daughters, His ruling family that He has called us unto.  That’s how important they are to Him, first, and should, therefore, be important to us.  Important enough to seriously study them out.

But the big take away of this opening chapter of II Peter is this: This conviction that God is and is in control through Christ–this faith, this conviction must have other attributes added to it, in order for us to fulfill our calling as His sons and daughters, the princes and princesses, sitting with Him in His throne.

Peter knows full well what it takes to “make our calling and election sure.”  He knows that our initial experiences based on God’s favor and grace in showing a bit of Himself to us and thereby “calling us out of darkness into His marvelous light”–he knows that those early experiences and revelations will not take us across the finish line in this race “for the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3: 14).

And it is through this knowledge of the holy things of God that we are given “exceeding great and precious promises” (II Pet. 1: 4).  God has promised to give unto us His followers immortality, or eternal life.  Immortality is it.  It is the biggest gift, the greatest promise the Immortal One can give to a mortal.  There is nothing greater for one who will die than to be granted eternal life.

And this immortality that God has promised us is what the aforementioned “glorification” is all about.  And Peter says by the Spirit of God that we are called “to glory and virtue.”  And God promised this to us from time immemorial.  “In hope of eternal life, which God, which cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1: 2).

All of this notwithstanding, in order to receive this precious promise of immortality, we must add certain spiritual components to our faith, to our conviction that God is real and true.  These additions are the elements of the very nature of God Himself.

How do we do this?  First we must study them out and receive the knowledge of just what they are, and then, reckon them added by faith.

Two points are worthy encouragers for us on this road to immortality.  First, He said of us in His prayer in John 17: 22: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.”  In His mind, it is a done deal.  He is saying, I have already given them glorification, which is immortality.  With this, they are one with the Father and Son.  It is also good to know that “He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.”  He has full confidence in His plan, which includes us.  But the first step is to add to our faith virtue.   What virtue is comes next time.          Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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