Author: Hank

As believers IN Christ Jesus we are HEIRS — OF — GOD. Do you believe it — and act accordingly? My friend, read that parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, with attention to the elder brother. He was miserable because he did not know how much his father loved him. And he was miserable because he was working for what he already possessed.

Similarly, many of us Christians are miserable because we are striving to EARN what God has ALREADY GIVEN us. We are slaving away because we are unaware of our inheritance in Christ.

For example, believers in Christ are:

heirs of God himself (Romans 8:17)

heirs of the kingdom (Colossians 1:12)

heirs of the earth (Matthew 5:5)

heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14)

heirs of eternal life (Matthew 19:29, and elsewhere)

heirs of God’s promises (Hebrews 6:12, 17)

heirs of blessed and gracious life (1 Peter 3:7, 9)

heirs of ALL things (John 17:10, also in Hebrews and Revelation)

In Luke 15:29, the elder brother complained that his father had not given him so much as a young goat for all his years of service. Maybe you have said to God, “Why haven’t you rewarded me for my faithful service?” But the father in the story could not reward the son with a goat because all the goats and cows and livestock ALREADY BELONGED to the son. The father had divided up the property when the younger brother asked for his inheritance. The whole farm belonged to the older brother. But the older brother couldn’t see it. He saw himself as a servant working for a wage — and not a son with the privileges of an inheritance, and so he was unable to enjoy what was ALREADY HIS.

Many Christians see themselves as servants rather than sons. And notice this, in the parable the father says to the older brother, “Everything I have IS yours.” Not ‘will be yours’ but IS YOURS NOW. Our heavenly Father says the same thing to us in Genesis 15:1: “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” God gives us Himself and when you have Him you have everything else besides. As Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

As Dr Paul Ellis says, if we Christians knew how rich we are in God, we would stop slaving for wages and we’d stop asking for skinny goats. Instead, we would thank him for every blessing and privilege that is ours in Christ. Ephesians 1:3. We would stop running after rusty trinkets, and we would praise Him for His lavish generosity. And then we would tell others the Good News so that they too could —  COME ALIVE!

Over 300 years ago in France Brother Lawrence wrote the timeless spiritual classic, “The Practice of the Presence of God.” From a Carmelite monastery in Paris, he practiced turning his attention to the Divine Presence available at all times during any activity. Merely open our hearts to receive Him and His loving presence, he wrote. He reports that he was as fully present with God while washing dishes in the kitchen as he was when partaking of the sacrament in worship.

In 1998 Tommy Tenney wrote “The God Chasers.” Cindy Jacobs wrote in its forward, “What is a God chaser? A God chaser is an individual whose hunger (for God) exceeds his reach. A God chaser is a person whose passion for God’s presence presses him to chase the impossible in hopes that the uncatchable might catch him. That’s a Philippians 3:12 paraphrase.

Tommy with word and example encourages us to pursue God, even as Job, David, Paul, Moses, and countless others, with an insatiable hunger to know their Lord, have done and still do. They may have appeared foolish to others, but having tasted His goodness and glimpsed the invisible, they could be satisfied with nothing less.

In the early 2,000’s I believe, Henry Blackaby wrote “Experiencing God.” The forward says, “When you open this book you’ll find that you aren’t just reading; you are being remade, reoriented, and restored from the frustration of what you may have known as stale religion—captured not by a concept but by your Creator. Carefully listening to His voice will anchor you in His plan and set you free to live it with boldness and freedom.”

It adds that by understanding how God is working through us even as we try to fathom His ways, we can begin to clearly know Him.

Well, as good as these books are, may I suggest something that comes with a guarantee to work for you, a guarantee by none other than God Himself. PRAYER. Prayer relies upon the GRACE of God to succeed. Pray in faith, and God in His faithfulness WILL respond.

I suggest you pray the 3 prayers written by Paul as found in Ephesians chapters 1 and 3, and Colossians chapter 1. He wrote them to those churches; you should insert yourself (and maybe others) into them. The God who answers prayer, who loves YOU passionately, WILL answer them.

For example, here is how you might pray the prayer found in Ephesians 1. “Father — God of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of glory, grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in knowing You. May the eyes of my heart be enlightened, that I may know what is the hope of Your calling, the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints, and know the boundless greatness of Your power toward us who believe.”

Over a period of time you’ll become more aware of God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Of Their Presence in and around you. You’ll come to know God by EXPERIENCE.

And people will say, “What’s with you? You’ve changed. You have COME ALIVE!

I have been sharing with you the importance of knowing, and believing upon Jesus, and then acting on your believing, ie, speaking it out so that you don’t have to wait until you get to heaven to benefit from the fact that Jesus is your King, Lord, Savior.

Find bible verses about who are IN CHRIST, or IN HIM. As you believe them, declare them; their truth comes to pass in your life, devils or no devils, and irregardless of circumstances.

One example of believing and speaking is when Jesus cursed the fig tree as found in Mark 11. It withered and died. The disciples noted this, and Jesus replied, in verses 22-23, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says (speaking) to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted to him.”

Some people succumbed to envying and the lusts of their flesh and began boldly declaring stuff they wanted, cars, jewelry, airplanes, — and discredited the truth in the eyes of others. Please study those IN HIM bible verses, declare that’s who you are, with a believing heart. Then let me know what happens, OK?

A good IN HIM example is 2 Corinthians 5:17. “… if any man be IN CHRIST, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Believe it, and confess something like, “I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. I am a new creation being … with the Life of God … the nature of God … and the ability of God within me for I have been placed IN CHRIST.”

The old man who used to be here (in heart) is gone. The inward man is the real you. And the inward man, the real man, is a new creation. He takes on the very Life and Nature of God. Hold fast to your confession that you are a new creation, and the desires and habits of the past will fall away, often instantly.

Another passage is Ephesians 2:10. “For we are his workmanship, created IN CHRIST Jesus…” Think about it. Believe it. Confess it, perhaps like, “I am His workmanship. God made me a new creation. I am His workmanship.” God does not make junk. God makes good things. Realizing this truth, you’ll stop saying things like, “Oh, I’m so poor and weak and unworthy. I’ll never amount to anything.” He didn’t make us weak and unworthy. We are worthy by His shed blood. New creations, able to stand in His presence as though we had never committed a sin. Righteous before God.

Today dear friend, start confessing who you actually are—instead of who the world and its devils and even family and friends told you you are.

Everything will change — as you COME ALIVE!

The other day I was sorting through our numerous boxes of books and materials from Come Alive Ministries now that we’ve relocated to Florida, and I came across a little booklet from 1975 written by Kenneth Hagen senior.

The title was, “IN HIM.” The booklet covers some awesome bible truths which bear repeating.

Here’s one from Romans 10, beginning in verse 6, “righteousness (that’s right standing with God) based on faith speaks as follows… “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.”” Paul then explains that it is the word of faith that he is preaching, and says, “…if you confess with your MOUTH Jesus as Lord, and believe in your HEART that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

When a person believes in their heart that God’s Son Jesus died for their sins, and was raised from the dead as proof that that sacrifice was sufficient and successful, they are justified, made right in God’s eyes. Heaven is their destination, where there is no sickness, pain, suffering, anything bad.

But that person is still living on this earth. Will there be any change to their life NOW? Yes, IF they confess with their mouth Jesus as their Lord. You could say at that point their salvation, real as it is eternally, becomes ‘reality’ in this life, in the here and now. My friend, if you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and is your Savior, say it! Declare it! God-life will pour into you NOW; you don’t have to wait till you get to heaven! The translation into Jesus’ kingdom takes place while you are still on this earth. You come out of the domain of darkness; you are placed into Jesus’ kingdom.

I believed in my heart Jesus was real, was Lord of all and I even asked Him to be my Savior in December of 1975. But it was not until I stood up in a church service and stepped out of the pew on January 18, 1976 to declare Him my Savior that Everything Changed here on earth. Instantly I was a new creation in the here and now. You could say what was already true in the spirit realm became true in my earthly existence.

My mother witnessed the grace of God when she and dad came to visit me in Pittsburgh that Summer. She saw. And wanted what I and the church members had. She believed in her heart and did not know what to do about it.

Thankfully God was merciful. Back at home she awakened one morning hearing a voice say, “I want Jesus as my Savior.” And another voice said, “Well, say it.” She thought she was dreaming and went back to sleep. Shortly thereafter she heard again, “I want Jesus as my Savior,” and the second voice, “Well, say it.” She did, and heaven burst in upon her and she was changed in this life.

Friend, if you believe Jesus is your Savior but you have never spoken it aloud, don’t WAIT — do it today. Speak. Tell someone.

Your life will never be the same, for will COME ALIVE!

Jude wrote a letter — to us! It’s found just before Revelation. After the opening greeting, Jude writes concerning our common salvation, asking us to contend earnestly for the faith that was handed down to us. And why? He explains certain persons, ungodly persons, have crept in unnoticed, and you know what they are doing? They are turning the grace of our God into licentiousness. Licentiousness is unprincipled, unrestrained promiscuity in sexual matters. YIKES! Oh and they were denying our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

 Jude didn’t mean for us to get into dogmatic fights with every Christian who doesn’t believe just like we do, but to stand against the false teachers and to resist their ungodly message. These smooth-talking deceivers were drawing people away from Jesus. They were sowing discord while trying to make a name for themselves.

Jude refers to them as the ungodly. An ungodly person is — opposed to the things of God. They deny the Lord and reject the grace that might otherwise save them. They may ‘know’ the truth but they choose to reject it. It is incomprehensible, but they CHOOSE to remain under the condemnation of sin; they insist on THEIR way. They despise Jesus’ blood at Calvary.

Eph 2:8-9 states we are saved by grace. Grace captures the goodwill, lovingkindness, and favor of God that is freely given to us. It enables us to partake in His divine life. Grace is God’s divine aid that supernaturally empowers us to live a whole and healthy life, free from sin.

But these evil preachers were trying to turn the grace of our God into licentiousness. Preaching grace as the license to sin. If you preach the gospel of grace some will ask,”If God’s grace is greater than my sin, why can’t I go on sinning?” That’s Ro 3:18. That was the issue here. The truth is that the grace of God teaches us to say NO to ungodliness. But licentiousness teaches us to say YES.

Now listen to this. Jesus died to set us free, but we can lose our freedom in two ways; through legalism or licentiousness. The former, legalism, PUTS price tags on the free grace of God. Stresses obedience to laws, regulations, and such in order to receive good from God.  Licentiousness REMOVES the price tags from sin. “Do whatever you want, for we are under grace not law,” is its call. Yes, we are under grace and not the law, but this partial truth deception leads only to captivity and death. 

Our sinning will never affect God’s love for us, but it will surely affect us. Sin is destructive. It will hurt us and those we love. It is not God’s will for us to destroy ourselves through sinful living, so He gives us His grace – so that we may be empowered to say NO to temptation and live whole and godly lives. Tit. 2:11-12.

Today, don’t listen to the voice of licentiousness but continue in the GRACE of God — and COME ALIVE!

A great way to begin this year is to remind ourselves of the awesome truth found at the beginning of Romans 8 —“There is therefore now NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

This declaration is great — yet simple. Great because of its staggering implications; simple because it is so easy to understand.

If we are born again we are IN Christ Jesus. Since God the Father does not condemn Jesus, neither can the Father condemn you and I who are IN Christ Jesus. We are not condemned, and we will not ever be condemned, no matter what the devil may say.

Notice Paul uses the word ‘therefore.’ It means Paul has a logical argument, and can prove what he says, which is, if we are one with Jesus and He is our head, WE can’t be condemned. You can’t acquit the head and condemn some other part of the body, like you or me.

Dear friends, this is Grace upon Grace toward us – John 1:16. Notice Paul doesn’t say “less condemnation;” he says NO CONDEMNATION. That’s where many believe they are – thinking our standing has been IMPROVED in Jesus. No, not ‘improved,’ not ‘less’ condemnation —  it’s been completely changed into a status of NO condemnation. Ever.

Romans 8 puts us in a place of confidence and peace after all the conflict found in Romans 7. It begins with no condemnation; ends with no separation, and in between declares there is no defeat ever in Christ Jesus.

There is no condemnation because God has placed us IN Christ Jesus when we believed upon His Son. We deserved condemnation. But Jesus bore that condemnation, and our identity is now IN Him. He is condemned no more, so neither are we. So reject those condemning thoughts my friend!

It has nothing to do with how we walk — you may have in the footnotes of your bible a note about words not found in the earliest manuscripts, words believed added by an early scribe eager to help Paul out, that add, “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” Certainly we should endeavor to walk after the Spirit and not the flesh, but our performance has no bearing on our deliverance from condemnation my friends.

We deserved condemnation. But by God’s grace, Jesus bore the condemnation we deserved, and our identity is now IN Him. Jesus is condemned no more, and neither are we. Ever.

So — may you begin 2023, and every day, declaring: “I am IN Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation in Him — or me. Hallelujah Jesus!” Declare — and COME ALIVE!

It’s the new year and here’s a New Year’s admonition. Admonition, not resolution. Some people call New Years resolutions nothing but a ‘to-do’ list for the 1st week of the new year, then broken and or forgotten.

The admonition is from Acts 13:43. Paul and Barnabas, after speaking in the synagogue at Pisidia Antioch, urged the people who believed their message to CONTINUE IN THE GRACE OF GOD. What a great word. The Grace of God – He gives us favor unconditionally – we can’t earn it – we can only receive it. Many try to earn it and go empty handed. Don’t try to earn God’s favor, my friend but receive simply receive it!

Are you working so hard that you are on the verge of burnout? Stop. Instead, CONTINUE IN THE GRACE OF GOD.


Are you worried that you are not doing enough for Jesus? Stop. And CONTINUE IN THE GRACE OF GOD.


Are you distracted by generational curses, end times anxiety, idle talk? Stop. Then CONTINUE IN THE GRACE OF GOD.


Are you wrestling with financial difficulties, sickness or demonic oppression? Use the name of Jesus and CONTINUE IN THE GRACE OF GOD.


Want to make something of your life in 2023? CONTINUE IN THE GRACE OF GOD and let Him direct your steps.

When it comes to God and our relationship with Him, it is GRACE from start to finish. There is nothing else we need. And nothing else that can help.

GRACE comes to us by faith alone. Eph 2:8. So to continue in GRACE really only requires one thing: continue in the faith. GRACE – is really another word for JESUS – John 1:16 says “For from his fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”

This year let’s help each other to keep our eyes upon JESUS. He is the faithful One. He will see us through. He will help us; He will do the impossible for us. He will not fail us.


Yes, this year, let’s receive from Him grace upon grace.

And you know what? As we continue in the GRACE of God – we are transformed. We COME ALIVE!

Let me add something my long time friend Gary Hale from Johnstown PA shared with me the other day. He was praying and heard the Lord say, “2023 is going to be the year of CHANGE. No longer just some change like loose change in your pocket but the GREAT PROVISION that is ours.”

Receive it dear friend and get ready for God’s abundance this coming year of CHANGE for your life and ministry.