“Believe Me that the Father is in Me”—Important New Commandment Leading to the Abiding

We have seen that the Father’s purpose is to multiply Himself (Love) in human beings. He is “bringing many sons unto glory.” He has a plan to accomplish this. His plan centers on His Son known as Jesus Christ to most English speakers (Hebrew name Yahshua).

Christ is the Seed/Son that through His sacrifice of the greatest love, many will receive immortality. In fact, the way to the Father is through the Son. If one rejects the Son of God, he rejects the Father because the Father is in the Son. It is how Christ did the great and mighty works; it was the Father inside of Him doing it (John 14: 9-10).

We have also seen that Christ has given His disciples, including us, New Commandments for us to keep. And it is here in John 14 that He instructs us, “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (v. 11). This is a commandment! A new commandment! A New Commandment with precious and powerful promises.

He says to believe Him that the Father is in Him. You won’t find this commandment in the Ten Commandments expressed like this. This commandment is new and is given to help us know the Father, the mysterious Yahweh.

The Promises after Obeying This New Commandment  

When we obey and keep this commandment to believe that the Father dwells in the Son, three great powers are promised. First, He has promised that we will do the same works and miracles that He did, and even greater works. Second, if we ask any thing in His name, He will do it.  And third, He has promised to give us the Spirit of truth who will “abide with you forever.” Christ even gives a prophecy concerning those who keep His New Commandments: The Spirit of truth “shall be in you” (John 14: 11-17).

After reading John 14, we realize that the Father Yahweh is none other than the Holy Spirit that dwelt in the Son. And Christ is simply teaching His disciples the next steps in receiving the Father’s Spirit into us. When Christ promises that He and the Father will “make our abode in” the believer, He is showing us how we are able to grow spiritually. When He abides and remains in us, much spiritual fruit will be produced in us. And that means that the Spirit of truth, the Father, will come into us literally and will remain and stay and grow in us.

All we have to do is believe and obey Christ’s New Commandments. He is the great Teacher; everybody says that He is. So now He is teaching us in John 14, 15, and 16, how to grow up to be like the Son of God. This is a key understanding of how God reproduces Himself. The key is us doing what Christ tells us to do: Believe that the Father was in the Son (among many other New Commandments).

Many of us have read these chapters in John so many times that we are coaxed into a complacency, built upon immature concepts. I am asking each of us to look into these passages with urgent and fresh eyes.

If we do this right, Christ has promised us a marvelous thing, a position with Him that every serious Christian has pondered: “He that believes on Me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14: 12). Some may think, Oh, that sounds easy enough. Just believe that the Father is in Christ, and boom, the power comes. The key point is this: Your belief in Christ is measured by your belief of His words about Himself.  And He said that the Father was in the Son.

But most have been taught that the Father and Son are two distinct personages. This is old leaven teaching. How does one get rid of it? Understanding the “Vine and Branches” metaphor shows us the way.

Christ likens our spiritual growth to the growth of a grape vine—what it goes through in order to bear much fruit. Christ likens Himself to the “true vine,” and the Father is the husbandman. We are the branches of the Vine. If we are not bearing any spiritual fruit, He will cut us off of the vine to wither without the life-giving sap, which is the Spirit. If we are bearing a little fruit, He will prune and purge us that we may bear more fruit (John 15: 1-2). This pruning and purging is when He delivers suffering into our lives. These are in the form of betrayals, heartbreaks, and hard times that prompt us to seek God in a more fervent way.

This pruning is a cleaning process. In John 15: 3, He says, “Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” Cleaned from the stain of sin first, yes. But then we must be cleansed from all old concepts about the invisible Father and the Son, who is the express image of the Father. It is Christ’s words that cleanses us “with the washing of the water by the word” (Eph. 5: 26).

His promises, when believed, are overwhelming. He commands us: “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty [hidden] things which you know not” (Jer. 33: 3).

Believe. He commands us several times to believe. First, believe in His resurrection. Then believe that our old self is dead and that we are walking in a new life now with Him and Him in us. Next, we believe that the Father is in the Son and not sitting beside the Son. When we get this and do this, then we can be trusted to do the greater works that He promised we would do (Jn. 14: 12).

We show our love of the Savior by keeping His New Commandments. For He said, “He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me…If a man love Me, he will keep my words [His New Commandments], and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him” (Jn. 14: 23). This is the Abiding; this is when He grants that His Spirit remains in us!

This is so profound that it strains our credulity. This is a conditional promise made by Him who created us and loved us and saved us. He will abide in us if we believe Him—belief shown by us keeping His New Commandments. This is the abiding; this is the key to spectacular spiritual growth. Christ calls this “much fruit.” And this spiritual growth is the development of His divine nature of Agape Love within us. This fulfills His purpose of reproducing Himself in us.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Ordering My Free Books in Paperback

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Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality explores the deeper meaning of our Savior’s Hebrew name Yahshua, which means Yahweh is the Savior.

The Unveiling of the Sons of God explains how the whole creation is waiting and longing for the manifestation (the unveiling) of the sons of God for these latter days. Christ will be totally formed in His elect as they will have grown and matured spiritually into His likeness and power.

The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It explores God’s vision for us, to be kings with Christ and how He will use us to reproduce His nature of Love.

My latest book is The Apostles’ Doctrine. Their doctrine was Christ’s teachings. And the early church walked in those teachings. This book reveals just what they are and how to walk in them.

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Obeying Christ’s New Commandments

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

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

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

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

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

Knowledge of the New Commandments

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

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

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

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

Keeping the New Commandments Grows Love in Us

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

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

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

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

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Christ’s New Commandments and the New Promised Land

The following is for those who, like Joshua and Caleb, are saying, “The giants are not too big. We can take the land, the land of promise.” In their Old Testament story, God promised to give them their own literal land, land occupied by the Canaanites. In that land, in Jerusalem, they built a temple for Him to dwell in. In our day He has promised to dwell–not in temples made with man’s hands–but in us, the temple that He created for Himself to dwell in. One of Christ’s greatest teachings is how we become His temple in a reality, just like the apostles and prophets.

In this last generation before Christ’s return to earth, after winning a spiritual war, those called and chosen will receive God’s promise for these latter days. What exactly has our Father promised us? He has promised that if we walk in His teachings, we shall spiritually grow up to become—just like Christ when He walked this earth. The Promised Land for our day is the vision God has for us, His sons and daughters.

If we will get rid of the false teachings and walk in His true ways, He will grow in us—Christ the Vine and us the branches. If we stay in Him and He and His teachings remain in us, then we will abide in Him and He in us. And if we abide in Him and He in us, then He has promised that we will bear “much fruit.”

“Much fruit” is 100 fold fruit; it is the fruit that the manifested sons of God will bear at the end of this age. These offspring of the Almighty shine forth in the pages of the New Testament. “Much fruit” is seen in the actions of Christ and His apostles. They are coming. That is His promise to His elect. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1: 12). Receiving Him and His power is the first step in bearing “much fruit.” That is a promise.

The Promised Land

In a word—we are the modern day “Promised Land.” Yes, of course, there is an extremely important geographical fulfillment of this. But the spiritual fulfillment is just as important.

Our bodies are made of earth and are divinely supported with breath and water and nutrients. When these earthly bodies expire, they go back to dust. They become part of the land where they are buried. When His Spirit fills us, God fulfills His promise to “dwell in us,” His temple. He has promised us (I Cor. 3: 16; II Cor. 6: 16).

God has chosen by His grace and mercy a few to manifest Himself in. They will be the first fruits, the first humans to bear ultimate spiritual fruit. They will walk in a high growth of the Spirit within them. Christ calls this “much fruit.”

Little children of God who never grow up spiritually will bear “fruit.” He will prune these Christians to purge out impurities so that they can bear “more fruit.” This is 60 fold fruit. In this growth we learn to “abide in Him and He in us” to the point that we bear “much fruit” (John 15: 1-8).

When we abide in Him, and He in us, then we may ask what we will, and He will do it. Why? Because we will have had all the old leaven false doctrines purged out of us. Then He can trust us and will fulfill His promise to fill us with His agape love. It will be “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Through this process of spiritual growth, we become the New Promised Land.

So What Do We Do Now?

Since bearing “much fruit” is God’s promise to us, how do we grow to that point? How is it done? One of Christ’s new commandments to us is this: “Abide in Me, and I in you…He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit” (v. 5). We see here again “much fruit,” the ultimate growth level.

It is here that Christ makes this promise: If we abide, stay, remain, and continue in His teachings, unfettered by false doctrines and claims—if we continue in His teachings, He has promised us that we will bear “much fruit” (vs. 4-7).

Bearing “much fruit” is the only way to glorify our Father. “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit” (John 15: 8). In the next verse Christ gives us the key. He gives us this command: “As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love” (v. 9). We are to continue loving the way Christ loves.

The word “continue” is translated from the Greek word meno. It is also translated “abide, remain, and dwell” [1]. So, abiding, remaining, dwelling, and continuing in His love will lead us to bearing “much fruit.” But how do we abide and continue in His love? Christ answers us in verse 10: “If ye keep my commandments, you shall abide in My love…” Keeping Christ’s commandments. Someone is thinking, “I thought it was just the Ten Commandments we are to be concerned with.” Keeping them is just our duty. He wants us to bear much fruit, which is going beyond the call of duty.

Christ’s New Commandments

Christ magnified the law and gave many new commandments for those answering the “high calling.” We have seen already a couple of Christ’s new commandments: “Abide in Me” and “Continue in My love” (John 15: 4, 9).

In fact, His promise to us is wrapped in the understanding and keeping of His New Commandments. Christ promises: “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me, and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” One of the disciples asked him how He will make Himself known unto us and not unto the world. He answered, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words [commandments], and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14: 21-23). This is the abiding. This is where Yahweh, our Father and Creator, will truly live in us, and He will abide and remain in us. This is the promise; this is the spiritual “promised land.” So, what are Christ’s “New Commandments”?     [To be continued…]

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[1] https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G3306&t=KJV

Thirty Fold Understanding of the Seven Teachings of the Early Apostles

The early church “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine,” which was Christ’s doctrine or teachings (Acts 2: 42). This truth is greatly neglected in the churches because they fail to recognize that the teachings of the early apostles were Christ’s doctrine, found in Hebrews 6: 1-2.

Seven doctrines are mentioned. Each of them are seen in three levels of spiritual growth. This mystery of three levels was inserted in the parables, insuring that only those who were predestined to understand the truths hidden therein, would. The disciples asked Christ why He spoke unto the masses in parables. He replied, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matt. 13: 11, 1-10). And now He has given them to you and me.

In the Parable of the Sower, He mentions the three levels of spiritual growth—30 fold, 60 fold, and 100 fold (v. 8).

Tying the two concepts together, we have seven doctrines with three levels of understanding in each. The seven doctrines found there in Hebrews 6 are “repentance from dead works…faith toward God…baptisms…laying on of hands…resurrection of the dead…eternal judgment…perfection.”

In each of these there is a knowing (30 fold), a doing (60 fold) and a being (100 fold). Right now I want to touch on the 30 fold “knowing” in each of these doctrines. I say “touch on” because we are dealing with the unsearchable riches of Christ here.

1. The first teaching of Christ is repentance from dead works. The 30 fold fruit of that doctrine in one’s life is the crucifixion of the old self on the cross with Christ. It is the getting rid of the sin nature we are born with. Our old self is dead already in God’s eyes. We must reckon it so. This is true repentance from sin and sinning; it frees us. “For He that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom 6: 6-11). This speaks of a spiritual death of our old sinful nature. When we really believe this way down deep in our hearts, then we will experience the chains of sin falling off of us. Before we are slaves to Sin; now we are free. Why? Because our old sins died with Christ the sin sacrifice. This is the cross experience. The early church continued in this teaching. We should be doing the same.
2. “Faith toward God” is the second apostles’ doctrine. In the 30 fold child-of-God context, we then believe that Christ was raised from the dead, and that we are raised with Him. He had faith that He would be raised. Now we have faith that we are raised up along with Christ—raised from the death that sin had held us in. [For much more on these first two doctrines, read online Chapters 26-32 of Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality found here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/book-yah-is-savior-the-road-to-immortality/  Or better yet, order your free hard copy with free shipping by sending your mailing address to wayneman5@hotmail.com Mention the book]
3. “Doctrine of Baptisms” is the third teaching that the apostles stayed in. There are several baptisms, but for a 30 fold child of God it is their immersion into Christ’s death. When He died, our sin nature died with Him. “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death” (Rom. 6: 3-4)?
4. The Laying on of Hands is the fourth doctrine of the early church. There are many instances where hands of the righteous are laid upon people. What would constitute the 30 fold level of growth in this teaching?

To answer this, we must cross connect other things we know about the theme of “being children” in the faith. “Becoming a child of God” is an extremely important milestone in a Christian’s life. It is when Life enters into our hearts. Before, we are one of the “dead” burying our dead.

So 30 fold fruit in this context would tie in with “laying on of hands.” Hands are laid upon a person at the baptism into water, symbolizing being immersed into “Christ’s death.”

There is also the concept of “putting one’s hand to the plow.” In the passage, our Master says, “Follow me.”

The first one said, “Let me go bury my father.”

Christ replied, “Let the dead bury the dead.”

The next man said, I will follow you, but I need to go home and say goodbye to the family.

To which Christ said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God”  (Luke 9: 57-62).

These two men could have become children of the kingdom. They could have begun their new Christian lives as 30 fold children. But they looked back to their earthly family. To be worthy of our new life in God, we must lay our hands to the plow and not look back to the old earthly life. Christ also said for us to take His yoke upon us. The world is the field in the parables. And this field needs to be plowed up and then planted with the see, the word of God. We are His yokefellows. We are to be equally yoked together with His Spirit intent to do his plan to accomplish His purpose. We need to be working with Him to accomplish Christ’s goal. When we pull together with Christ we will bring in the Kingdom of God (Matt. 11: 29-30).

5. The Resurrection of the Dead is the fifth teaching. 30 fold understanding is a child of God believing that Christ was raised from the dead and that we also are raised up with Him into a new life with His Spirit now living within our hearts (Rom. 6).
6. Eternal Judgment is the sixth doctrine that the early church continued in. We need to reckon our new life in Christ as a done deal, secured eternally with Him as our Savior and King. We must judge it so and not look back. “Remember Lot’s Wife.”
7. And the seventh doctrine is “Perfection.” This word in the Greek is “maturity.” Thirty fold is the knowledge about this maturity concept.

Of course, there is so much more to all of these as the Spirit leads us into the 60 and 100 fold understanding. I know that some of these things are new. I offer these thoughts to you as a jumping off place in your own studies. We all have the responsibility to study Christ’s teachings. A teacher sent from God plants the seed in the  hearts and minds, but to grow, it must be watered through study and prayer.

After doing all that, most importantly, His children will have earned God’s approval and a promotion. He will look upon us no more as spiritual children, but as young men and women. We will have grown to be trustworthy heirs of the King, ready for more responsibility, ready to not just know about his purpose and plan, but to “be strong and do exploits.”

This is our calling and election, brothers and sisters. He has chosen a few to reveal the whole shooting match to. Christ is passing out his goods, His truth, to us. Will we hide it? Or will we use it to become “fishers of men”? Will we hear Him say to us, Well done thou good and faithful servant. You were faithful in a few things; I will make you ruler over many. Or will we hear a doleful and heartbreaking rebuke like the one He gave to him   who was afraid and hid the pound that was given to him? (Matthew 25: 15-30).

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

THE ROYAL DESTINY OF GOD’S ELECT—The New Book in a Nutshell

Many have asked me, “What is your new book about?”

1. It tells of God’s eternal purpose of reproducing Himself.
2. It speaks of God’s plan to accomplish this. He is Love, and Love shares itself and gives of itself.
3. So God planned it out and created mankind to reproduce Himself in. He will use human beings as the medium for the multiplying of Himself. God’s kingdom is wherever He rules.
4. His plan uses the Law of Harvest. Whatever is sown, that is what shall be reaped. Since God is Love, He will sow the seed of Love into the human being, His spiritual garden. Each seed bears its own kind.
5. And the seed of Love is God’s SEED/SON, the Word made flesh dwelling among us. No greater love exists on this earth than to give up your life for another. This the Son of God did. And this great display of love for you and me bought our ticket of deliverance from the sin we were in. For Christ, the Anointed One for this honor, said this: “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit.” He was that grain, and the much fruit is you and I.  After we receive the seed of Love into our hearts, He helps us grow spiritually to harvest.
6. In the present dispensation of time, some humans will bear 30 fold, some 60 fold and some 100 fold fruit (Matt. 13: 1-23). Some will remain children of God; some will grow to young adulthood spiritually, and then there are some who will grow to full maturity, becoming just like the original Seed/Son and His apostles.
7. Right now God is calling many. :Many are called, but few are chosen” by Him to come to full maturity during this age. These are called “the elect,” the remnant, and the first fruits. They will be the first ones to become like the early apostles.
8. Moreover, they will be the first to be granted immortality. These over comers of all things are the manifested sons of God and will do the “greater works” that Christ spoke about.  They will sit with Christ on His throne (Rev. 3: 20-21). In a word, God will have reproduced Himself in them.
9. This is the royal destiny of God’s elect. Hence, the title: The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. Who knows? You may be one of them. Perhaps we can walk together and help each other and love each other on this road to immortality. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

***This is the preview. If this book intrigues you, there is only one place on the earth to get it. Here’s how: For your free copy with free shipping, merely send your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com   And I will get it right out to  you. God bless you and yours***

True Prayer–What to Ask For

[This is Chapter 13 of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God, “Prayer—the Portal into Yah’s Spiritual World.” To order your free copy with free shipping, send your mailing address to my email:  wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

How do we make contact with the Great Invisible One?

     We have seen that words are spirit; they are invisible, and they are powerful.  We have seen that God is Spirit; He is an invisible Spirit-Entity that manifests Himself in human beings as He sees fit.

     We are admonished by Yahshua the Master to worship this Invisible One.  In fact, the Father is seeking people to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).  He said that we should worship the Father, not just in spirit, but in spirit and in truth.  So how do we worship the Father in spirit and in truth?  How do we enter into His invisible spirit world?  How do we make contact with the Great Invisible One?  We communicate with Him through words.  It is called prayer.

     “Prayer” is a word itself that carries a lot of baggage.  Every religion and every denomination in Churchianity has a different concept of prayer as to what, when, and how to do it.  But stripped of all of its negative connotations, simply put, “prayer” is communication to the Invisible Spirit God.  Prayer is made up of invisible words spoken from the heart, either audibly or silently.  These words are offered up to the Eternal Spirit and are likened to a kind of incense that smells sweet to Yahweh in His spirit domain.

     Prayer demands first that we humans believe.  Prayer exercises belief.  We find it difficult to communicate to an invisible  Spirit  if we don’t believe that He is there or that He is listening.  One-sided conversations are always limited.  Messages left on answering machines rarely shine like live feedback conversations.

     Nevertheless, we are shut up to worshiping God through word communications.  This helps our faith to grow, for when we speak to Him, we must believe that He exists and that He listens, and that He will reward us with answers to our prayers. Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Mt. 7:7.  What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Mark 11:24.

 And what are we to ask for?  “One thing is needful,” and there is no better thing that we could ask for than His Spirit.  How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Luke 11:13.  We should ask Him for His Spirit.  He expects us to.  He understands that we know how to give good gifts unto our own children when they ask of us.  And He loves us more than we love our own children.  So He wants to give us His Spirit, which is the greatest gift that could ever be given to us.

     In other words, when we communicate with our invisible Spirit Father, we thank Him for His blessings to us; we praise Him and praise His name; we ask Him to grant desires that we have; we then believe that we are receiving those things we ask in prayer; then we receive them.

     It is through prayer, then, that we enter into the Spirit World of Yah. We make contact with our invisible Father.  We start the spiritual processes in motion; we touch eternity.

     This all sounds so simple and good, but why is it so difficult to put prayer into practice?  He has promised us His very nature and Spirit.  But we find it hard to receive. We  either  lack  enough belief, or we do not want to make the sacrifices needed in order to effect it.  You mean that we can partake of His very nature, His divine nature?  That is what the scriptures say.  Passages about prayer are a key part of the knowledge we need in order to receive the Spirit.

     The Messiah was praying.  The disciples saw Him and asked Him to teach them to pray.  It was at this time that He gave them a pattern prayer, whose components outline how we all should approach the Creator.

     First, we are to address Him as “Father.”  This was clearly before the life-changing experience they would have several months later after the Messiah’s death, burial, and resurrection.  Our Father which art in heaven. Luke 11:2.

     Second, we learn in this special prayer that the Father’s name is “holy,” which means “set apart.”  The Father’s name is very special.  Something in that name holds great significance.  His name is not of this sinful world system; it is separate from the fleshly clamoring of this present world.  Carnal man in his death throes comes short of the glory of what the Creator wanted him to be.  Man seethes in his own lusts for himself—desires that can never be fulfilled.  And we are reminded by the Messiah in this special prayer that our Creator, who is our Father, has a name that is above this strife here on earth.  It is hallowed, holy, and set apart from the insanity of mortal man…hallowed be thy name.

    Third, our Father has a kingdom.  A kingdom is a form of government with a king as the ruling executive.  It is a political or territorial unit ruled by a sovereign.  The Father is that King.  He has His own kingdom that shall come to this earth.  The Messiah models this in the prayer, expressing the longing for it…Thy kingdom come.

    Fourth, the King has deliberately chosen and decided upon an exact course of action that will take place here on this earth. Things are going His way in heaven, and they will go His way here on earth.   Nothing takes place by accident.  He is totally in control.  The Messiah is praying here, showing us how to get into one mind, one accord with the Father’s “pre-determinate counsel of his own will.”  What the Father has determined, that is what shall come to pass…Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

    We are to ask Him for our daily spiritual food.  He said for us to not think about the physical necessities that we must have to sustain our lives here on earth.  But we are to ask Him for the spiritual sustenance.  Give us day by day our daily bread…Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.  And we are to forgive, and we will be forgiven by Him  [For much more in depth study on prayer as the portal, read this series of articles https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/?s=lord%27s+prayer ].

      Right after this prayer, in Luke 11:5-13, the Master shows in a parable just what we should ask the Father for.  One thing is needful, and that is what we should be asking for.  The physical, earthly things—He already knows that we need those things to survive.  He knows our temporal fleshly needs, for He put us here in the flesh and has no need that any of us tell Him how it is being human.  For He partook of flesh and blood.

     The story: Your friend next door comes over around midnight, after you have gone to bed.  He pounds on your door.  “What do you want?” you ask, rather perturbed.

     “Could you give me some food.  A friend of mine has come over and I do not have any food in the house to give to him.”

     “Come back in the morning,” you say.  “I’m already in bed, me and all my family.  I’ll get something for you in the morning.”

     But he keeps on pounding on the door.  And keeps on.  And because of the constant knocking, because of the bold  and  shameless, repeated  and  urgent  requests, you will get up finally and give him what he asks for.

     And so it is with us.  We must keep asking.  We must ask like this friend.  We must keep banging boldly, not fearing what the owner of the house, God, thinks.  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened…Your heavenly Father shall give the Holy Spirit to them that asks Him. Luke 11:9-10.  The Master is saying that the Father will give us the Spirit because of our importunity, our urgent and repeated requests, desiring His Spirit in our lives in order to help others.

     We must not be discouraged by delayed answers.  Daniel prayed 21 straight days, expecting an answer.  And finally, Gabriel came and said that he had been hindered and delayed by Satan.  God allows delays to test us, to try us.  So we must persevere and never give up, and He will give us His Spirit.

Why Settle for a Part of the Creation When You Can Have All of the Creator?

     Prayer is the portal through which we enter Yahweh’s spiritual world.  Through prayer we not only make contact with God, but we put forth petitions in order to receive more of His Spirit.  For He is all that we really need.  Why ask for only a part of the creation, when we can have all of the Creator?  We must pray according to His will.  But first we must know the truth about what His will is.  If we ask Him to reveal the secret truths of His will, will He give us a false reading?  We have to believe that He is faithful that promised and will never lead us astray.  All of our concerns can be allayed through true prayer.          Kenneth Wayne Hancock

The Cross Experience, Repentance, and the Kingdom of God

You are a Christian. You want to win souls to Christ. But what is the exact message that you need to deliver? Christ is our example. What did He say to them?

Christ did not mince words. The first words out of His mouth were these: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Abrupt, perhaps. Straight to the point. Yet that short message is packed with meaning. He is saying, You must repent of your sins because God’s kingdom is right here, right now, waiting for you to enter. But you must make a spiritual entrance. If you do not change your old ways, you will miss this opportunity to be with Me in My kingdom, for I am its King.

The Spirit of Christ in the apostle John continues explaining what He is talking about. Unless you are born from above—born again—you cannot see nor enter the spiritual kingdom of God. This is being born of the Spirit. Except a man be born again [born from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God…Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3: 3-5.

Everybody has heard that, but few know what it means. In order to be born of the Spirit, thereby guaranteeing your entrance into His kingdom, there must be a dying of the old seed within us. And that old seed is the old heart, the old Adamic sinful nature. “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12: 24).

Our old sin nature is like a bad seed that keeps producing sinful actions. And there is only one way to rid ourselves of it, and that is to surrender it to the death of the cross with Christ. That will bring the change of heart when we believe that He plants a new righteous seed in our hearts. This new seed germinates by faith in His resurrection. It sprouts forth love, joy, and peace. This is the born again experience. It comes out of repentance from sin. When a man gets this right, then he will have seen and entered the kingdom of God.

The Cross Experience

Many preachers speak about Christ suffering and dying on the cross for us. They say that He was our substitute; they say to just believe in His death and resurrection and you are saved. Many speak of this, but few explain what God requires of us concerning the cross. Just acknowledging Christ’s death is not enough to get rid of the old sinful nature. The old nature that we are born with has to die, or it will keep sprouting up. That’s why so many people back slide into sin. They back slide because their old sin nature is still there.

What the preachers fail to realize is that when Christ died on the cross, mankind’s old sinful nature died with Him. We are to examine ourselves. God is now asking, Has your old sin nature died on the cross with Christ? As professing Christians, have you laid down willingly your old sinful life, letting it die with Christ? Or have you just felt sorry for your sinful ways and “walked the aisle” like they encouraged you to do? Most mistake this experience as being “born again.” It is good to feel sorrow for the sinful way we have lived. “Godly sorrow leads us to repentance.” However, it is not repentance from sin (II Cor. 7: 10).

To the Cross

Godly sorrow leads you to the cross, the spiritual place of your repentance, which is the first of the apostles’ doctrine. Next, you must realize that Christ took upon Himself the sins of all mankind, and He died as a lost man. For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. II Cor. 5: 21.

When Christ died on the cross, the sin of all mankind died with Him. In God’s eyes, everyone’s  old sinful self died when He died. He could take all the sins of the whole world on Himself because He is the only man in history who was perfect–a perfectly sinless human being. He was the only One pure enough to be the sacrificial “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29). He was the only One pure enough to wash away your sin and mine.

This is how the shedding of His blood cleanses us of all sin. The life is in the blood. When Christ bled out on the cross, the life of sin, the strength of sin, the force of sin died. That is the power of the blood of Christ—because sin’s life force, sin’s blood, drained out, leaving sin lifeless within us. God just requires us to believe it, to believe His word about it. It is through belief that we become new creatures whose life force is restored by the power of His resurrection.

Our old nature died with Him on the cross. It is a spiritual death, not a physical one. Our old selves are already dead in God’s eyes. Why would any one knowing this continue to go on sinning? “Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” And they won’t come to the light lest their “deeds should be discovered” (John 3: 19-20).

But I Am Baptized

Yet, some believe that after they are baptized in water, somehow mystically they are okay. But baptism is an outward symbol of a spiritual event called the cross experience. Do you not know that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? We are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Romans 6: 3-6.

Our sin nature died on the cross. We are free! Free from the guilt, the shame, the mental torture, the indignity, the pain, and the fear. Free!

Sin is the breaking of the Ten Commandments, and it is the written record of what the old sinful nature can and will do (I John 3: 4). Sinning is the old nature still manifesting itself through actions that break the law. “And we know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin” (I John 3: 5). By dying with Him, we are freed from the bondage of sinning!

Free! Free from sin and sinning! Free now to grow spiritually to the point where we will bear much fruit like Peter, James, John and Paul. Free! Are you kidding me? Believe this truth in Christ, and you’ll be walking in a new life, freed from sin, for He has given us a new heart (Ezek. 18: 31).

This is true repentance. This is being born again of His incorruptible seed, the word of God (I Peter 1: 23). By faith we have to reckon our old self dead and gone with Christ on the cross, and also reckon ourselves alive unto God by faith in Christ’s resurrection. He said it; we believe it, and now we walk in its light. He gave His word on this. He is way ahead of us. He already sees us as righteous before Him. He is just waiting on His elect to believe His word, to believe like He believes. He with great patience waits for His chosen ones to awake unto righteousness, thus fulfilling His purpose of reproducing Himself.

This freedom from sin and sinning is the fruit of repentance wrought at the cross. It is the key to being born again and entering into His kingdom. This is why, to win souls, Christ spoke these words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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