Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

GOD"S WORD SENT FORTH

God places a high priority on words.

He has never done anything without saying it first, as we have seen from chapter one of Genesis. God’s faith-filled Word was the original force in the universe. At creation, God set into motion what I call the law of Genesis, dictating that every living thing would produce after its own kind. God’s plan was for man to live eternally, producing a race that would be in close fellowship and communion with Him; but once Adam disobeyed God, that plan was altered. The authority that had been delegated to man was suddenly in the hands of Satan. At that point, God was forced back to the original source—His Word. He couldn’t make another man from the dust of the earth because the ground was cursed. He had to revert back to speaking His Word, filled with faith.

Immediately, God began to search for a man who would teach his children and live uprightly before Him. Finally, he found that man, Abram. He made a covenant with Abram—a covenant that was to last forever. As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee… And I will make thee exceeding fruitful… And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee (Gen. 17:4,6,7).

Once that covenant was established, God began to release His Word into the earth. He began to paint a picture of a Redeemer, a man who would be the manifestation of His Word in the earth. The only avenue God had to get His words into the earth was through men. As He would speak life-filled words in relation to His covenant with Abraham, His prophets would repeat those words in the earth. It was a very tedious and difficult process since the Old Testament prophets were not born-again men. Because they lived under the Abrahamic Covenant, they were able to receive instruction from God and righteousness was imputed, or counted, unto them (Rom. 4:22).

So before Jesus came to the earth, God spoke His Word and then spoke His Word again. How many times did He say the Messiah was coming? It was prophesied over hundreds, even thousands, of years. He kept saying, “He is coming. He is coming.” The circumstances in the earth made it look as if there was no way He could accomplish it; but He just kept saying it. He would not be moved by what He saw. Once that Word was received into the earth by a man, it was here to stay. In Isaiah 55:11, God said, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. God would not relent. Through the mouths of His prophets, He kept sending His Word and sending His Word.

Finally, the great moment came when that Word was brought forth in human form: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14). The Word, which existed before the foundations of the earth, lived for 33 years as a man. His name was Jesus. He ministered for three years as a prophet under the Abrahamic Covenant; then He gave Himself to be the last sacrifice of the Old Covenant. He became the sacrificial lamb, offered upon the altar of the cross for one reason: to defeat Satan.

Jesus was the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), and He passed the test that the first Adam failed. He paid the price for Adam’s transgression. He took Adam’s punishment, his sinfulness, his sickness and disease, his infirmities, and his shame. Jesus bore all of this just as if He Himself had committed treason against God.

Jesus defeated Satan by going to the cross, dying a horrible death, and spending three days and nights in the heart of the earth, hell itself (Matt. 12:40). The second chapter of Acts says Jesus was raised up, loosed from the pains of death. Jesus was called the firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18). He was the first man to be born again from death unto life. When he appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos, He said, Fear not: I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death (Rev. 1:17, 18). Jesus defeated Satan in awful combat in full view of all Satan’s cohorts. He took from Satan the keys of hell. He took back the authority that Satan had stolen from Adam in the Garden of Eden. He made an open show of principalities and powers, lording it over them in their own domain (Col. 2:15).

– The Power of the Tongue (Kenneth Copeland)

GOD"S WORD SENT FORTH

How To Become A Christian Pt 2

When you become a Christian—when you become born again—you take on the nature of God, your heavenly Father. The nature of sin and Satan is death; the nature of God is life.

Jesus spoke to the people of His day and said, “Ye are of your father the devil” (John 8:44). To accept Jesus as your Lord causes you to turn your back on your father the devil, or on “the god of this world” as Satan is called (2 Corinthians 4:4). You take on a new Father, a heavenly Father; and you are born again—not physically, but spiritually.

 

Your spirit is reborn in the likeness of God.

You see, you are a threefold being:

You are a spirit,

you have a soul (mind, will, emotions), and

you live in a body.

Jesus referred to this in a conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:3-7).
Jesus said to him, “You must be born again.”
Nicodemus replied, “What do you mean? Do I have to go back again into my mother’s womb?”
Jesus answered, “No. What is born of the flesh is flesh. What is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Being born again is a spiritual rebirth. You are born of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit was sent into the earth to carry out the new birth. When you make Jesus the Lord of your life, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you and causes your spirit to be re-created. According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, when you accept Jesus as your Lord, you become a new creature, or new creation; old things pass away and all things become new. As far as God is concerned, at that moment, you stand before Him as a brand-new person. You are reborn from sin and death to righteousness and new life. That is a fact.

First John 5:1-4 says, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

I want you to realize what happens the moment a person makes Jesus Christ the Lord of his life. In the eyes of God, he becomes a world overcomer. Sin no longer reigns over his life. Sin is no longer his lord. Jesus is His Lord and he can live above the satanic forces in the world.

After Jesus was raised from the dead, He stood before His disciples and said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). Then He delegated that power to His people. He said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). What is the gospel? The good news that God is no longer holding your sins and trespasses against you.

The Bible gives some specific instructions that you are to follow in order to become a Christian, or in order to be born again. Look at Romans 10:8-11:
…The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Jesus said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

No matter what kind of sinner you are, no matter what you have done, you can go to Jesus and He will accept you. Once you go to Him, then He will cause you to be born again. He will re-create you, and that sin which has been plaguing you will be a thing of the past. It will be gone. You will be accepted before God as if you have never sinned!

To be born again, you use your mouth and you use your heart.

First, you believe in your heart that God’s Word is true; then you confess it with your mouth because you believe it.

I want you to realize one very important fact: You don’t confess you are saved because you feel saved. Feelings have absolutely nothing to do with salvation.

Let me give you an example:

Suppose someone says to you, “I went to the bank this morning and deposited $1,000 in your account.” How do you know they actually did what they said? You don’t believe they did it because you feel $1,000 richer, and you don’t doubt them just because you don’t feel any different. Your feelings really have nothing to do with it. If that person’s word is good, you will believe him. If his word is bad, you won’t.

When your salvation is involved, you are relying on God’s Word—and God doesn’t lie. He means what He says. If He said it, then you can believe it. He has said that if you believe in your heart and confess with your month that Jesus is

Lord, you will be saved. You don’t base your salvation on the way you feel. You base it on the pure, unadulterated Word of Almighty God.

 

 

 

-Welcome to the Family by Kenneth copeland

How To Become A Christian Pt 2

POWER PERVERTED - Kenneth Copeland

It was not until Satan entered the picture that the power of words was perverted to bring death and destruction.

Satan is not a god. He is a fallen angel. He is not in the God class. Consequently, there is no creative power in him. As an angel of God, Satan (or Lucifer) was forbidden to act by his own will; but he chose to exalt himself over God. He tried to use the power of words against God when he said, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Is. 14:13, 14).

By choosing his own words, Satan broke a cardinal law in the spirit world. He violated the limits of His authority and chose to stand against God. He said, “I will be like the Most High. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God!” But God would not stand for it. He answered, Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit (Is. 14:15).

At that point, their words clashed and God’s Word—the Word of a free Spirit, a Spirit with authority—reigned victoriously over the word of an angelic power. Immediately, Satan was expelled from heaven. By using cunning and deception, Satan approached Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis, chapter 3, we see how he very subtly used the words God had spoken to them as a challenge to their faith and obedience. God had said, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Gen. 2:16,17). But Satan came in the form of a serpent and said to them, Yea, hath God said…? The Amplified Bible translates it: Can it really be that God has said…?

First Timothy 2:14 says the woman was deceived, but the man was not. Adam had his eyes wide open. He knew what he was doing when he disobeyed God’s command and took the forbidden fruit. Through that disobedience, Satan was able to obtain authority in the earth. He became man’s god, or as 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls him, the god of this world.

Though he has no creative power of his own, Satan uses the creative power in man’s words to manipulate the circumstances of the world. Everything he produces is only a counterfeit of the real. He takes what God has already created and perverts it to his own use.

James 3:6 tells us that the tongue is set on fire of hell. Satan desires the use of men’s tongues. Tongues of creatures in the God class are much more powerful. Man was created in God’s image.

-The Power of the Tongue

POWER PERVERTED - Kenneth Copeland

One Word From God Can Change Your Family By Kenneth Copeland

Planting Hope in Our Kids 

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

—Malachi 4:5-6

Have you thought about the amount and kinds of imagery our children are having implanted into them by the world today? They are getting it on television and everywhere else—slick, high-tech, high-cost images of death and despair. They can’t even walk up and down the streets today without having some kind of picture fed to them. But that’s changing. The time of “Rachel weeping for her children” (Jeremiah 31:15) is giving way to the time of hope: “…for thy work shall be rewarded…and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border” (verses 16-17).

Head to Head With Hollywood

I’ve been in faith, praying and standing in expectancy for more than 20 years concerning revival among our children, and thank God, it’s here. In early 1992, an outpouring of the Holy Ghost began on children and young people in this nation, and around the world.

This ministry is throwing its entire weight, effort, faith and strength into ministry to children just the same as we do our calling to teach adults. To accomplish this calling will take a lot. God told me it would. He said His people have been trying to use 29-cent quarterlies to compete with the technology of Disney, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, ABC, CBS and NBC.

Maybe you’ve heard people talking about Christian material and products for children say something like, “Well that’s good enough for kids.” If so, think about this: The devil will spend $50 million on some horror movie every chance he gets—just to get our kids. He has spent the last 40 years, in particular, doing everything he can to totally destroy our children.

Hope Implants

But the kids need something the movie and entertainment industries are not giving them. They need what I call “hope implants.” God implanted hope in Abraham by showing him the stars of the heavens to help him see how many children God was going to give him. Like Abraham, children need a vision of hope. Hope is the image inside our hearts for which faith becomes the substance. Right now this is so far removed from the thinking of the children of this generation, that they could never grasp it if God didn’t start it with a video or something powerfully graphic.

Children and young people of this day and time are totally immersed in imagery technology—high-tech sin, unbelief and ungodly material of every kind. Reading doesn’t impress them much. In the younger ones, almost not at all. They are all image-dependent. Even their games are TV images. With God’s power and wisdom, we can fill their hungry hearts and minds with images of God’s grace, love and glory.

Malachi 4:5-6 says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

It is significant that these are the last two verses of the Old Covenant.

One Word From God Can Change Your Family By Kenneth Copeland

Prepare To Prosper: Seek First Things First By Gloria Copeland

The wages of sin is death. That is an inescapable fact. So, when people get money and use it to sin, it does them more harm than good. As Proverbs 1:32 says, “…the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.”

In light of that truth, it’s easy to see why God wants us to increase financially at the same rate we increase spiritually. He wants us to outgrow our fleshly foolishness so our prosperity will bring us blessing and not harm.

“But Gloria,” you say, “I need financial help fast!”

Then get busy growing. Get busy building your foundation for prosperity.

How? By finding out what God says in His Word and doing it.

You see, the foundation of prosperity is a continual lifestyle built on the Word of God. It is doing whatever God tells you to do, thinking whatever He tells you to think, and saying whatever He tells you to say.

Godly prosperity is the result of putting God’s Word—all of it, not just the parts about financial prosperity—first place in your life. It comes when you apply His principles on a continual basis—not just because you want money, but because Jesus is your Lord and you want to follow Him. It comes when you start obeying the instructions Jesus gave us in Matthew 6:

I tell you, stop being perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater [in quality] than food, and the body [far above and more excellent] than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more then they? And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure [cubit] to his stature or to the span of his life? And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his magnificence (excellence, dignity and grace) was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, What are we going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to drink? or What are we going to have to wear? For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all. But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right], and then all these things taken together will be given you besides (verses 25-33, The Amplified Bible).

 

I remember back before Ken and I knew we could trust God to take care of us financially, I thought it was my job to worry about how we were going to pay our bills. I spent a great deal of my time thinking things like, What am I going to do about this light bill? How am I going to keep the electricity from being shut off? To me it would have been irresponsible not to worry about such things!

Then I found out it wasn’t God’s will for me to worry. It was His will for us to believe Him to care for us. I also learned that as believers, we’re not to seek after material riches. We’re not to pursue money like people do who are without God. They have to pursue it. They don’t have a covenant with God, so if they don’t seek material goods, they won’t get them!

But we’re not like those people. We’re not in the world without God and without a covenant (Ephesians 2:12-13). We have God’s promise of provision. He has assured us in His Word that He will not only meet our needs, but give us an abundance.

 

Prepare To Prosper: Seek First Things First By Gloria Copeland

God"s Covenant Of Healing Pt 2 - Kenneth Copeland

God called Abraham and made a covenant with him.

The covenant made between God and Abraham was sealed through the act of circumcision. “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; And it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you” (Genesis 17:10-11).

The shedding of blood was the most vital act of the Old Testament. Through circumcision, it stood as a sign of agreement, a token of the covenant between God and man. El Shaddai agreed to bless Abraham and his descendants exceedingly. In return, He required them to live uprightly before Him.

But man continually sinned against God, failing to hold to the terms of the agreement. Again, the shedding of blood held the answer. The Levitical priesthood was instituted to offer blood sacrifices that would atone (or cover) for sin. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin (Hebrews 9:22). By offering a lamb on the altar, the priests could purchase forgiveness for one year. God accepted these sacrifices in order to keep the Abrahamic covenant in force. This was the only way to bridge the gap between sin and righteousness.

Then centuries later, the supreme blood sacrifice was made. Jesus of Nazareth came into the world, born of a virgin. When John the Baptist first saw Jesus he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Jesus was the sacrificial lamb offered upon the altar of the cross. He was the last sacrifice of the Levitical priesthood. The blood He shed on the cross washed away forever the spot of sin. The Old Testament sacrifices only covered sin; the New Testament sacrifice—Jesus, the spotless Son of God—completely did away with sin. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12).

By accepting His sacrifice, you stand before God clean and pure—just as if you had never sinned.

Jesus died for sin and, at the same time, did away with all the effects of sin. When sin entered the world, it brought with it the forces of destruction: death, sickness, poverty, fear. The price Jesus paid at Calvary was the full price, covering every area of human life: spiritual, mental, physical, financial and social. Our redemption is complete.
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13-14).

“The curse of the Law” was the penalty for any person who disobeyed the statutes of the Levitical Law. Though Jesus lived a life without sin, He gave Himself to bear that curse as if He had sinned and disobeyed the Law. He took the punishment for the sin of mankind. He bore the curse so that we could receive the blessing. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).

Deuteronomy 28 sets out the stipulations of this blessing and curse:
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God (verses 1-2).

Then verses 3-14 list all the blessings of the Law, describing prosperity in every area of life.

“The curse of the Law” begins in verse 15. Here is found every kind of curse that could possibly come on mankind: sickness, disease, poverty, lack, pain, suffering, etc. Then verse 61 says, “Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law…”

Jesus bore the curse of the Law. He bore every sickness and every plague known to man. He bore pain and suffering. Why? So that the blessing could come on us when we accept His sacrifice as our own. Because we are in Christ, we are Abraham’s seed and heirs to the blessing.

-You Are Healed

God"s Covenant Of Healing Pt 2 - Kenneth Copeland

God"s Covenant of Healing Pt 1- Kenneth Copeland

Healing is not a new provision brought into being with the ministry of Jesus. Healing was provided for under the Abrahamic covenant. This is how that covenant came into existence:

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee…And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee (Genesis 17:1-5, 7).

When God appeared to Abram He said, “I am the Almighty God.” The original Hebrew says, “I am El Shaddai.” El means “supreme.” Shaddai means “the Breasty One.” He said, “I will be a God to you.” In other words, “I will be all you need—your father, your mother, your nurse, your provider.”

I want you to realize the full significance of what took place between God and Abraham. They entered into a contract together. They made covenant together—an everlasting covenant, an absolute agreement. God said, “As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee.” Then He sealed His side of the agreement by swearing an oath. In Genesis 22:16 God said, “By myself have I sworn.” There was no higher power to swear by, so He swore by Himself. He gave His own Word that He would bless Abraham and his seed. “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed….And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…” (Genesis 22:17-18).

The Hebrew word covenant means “to cut,” implying “where blood flows.” A blood covenant is the strongest form of agreement on earth. Two parties agree to certain terms and then seal their agreement by the shedding of blood. The covenant made between God and Abraham was sealed through the act of circumcision. “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; And it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you” (Genesis 17:10-11).

The shedding of blood was the most vital act of the Old Testament. Through circumcision, it stood as a sign of agreement, a token of the covenant between God and man. El Shaddai agreed to bless Abraham and his descendants exceedingly. In return, He required them to live uprightly before Him.

God"s Covenant of Healing Pt 1- Kenneth Copeland

Growing in the Grocery Store : Gloria Copeland

You see, you don’t have to wait for a major trial to hit before you let patience have her perfect work. You can practice patience in those small but irritating situations you encounter every day.

I ran into one such situation just the other day in the grocery store. I was in a hurry when I went to check out so I chose the express line. There were only a couple of people in it and they just had a few items to buy so I didn’t think it would take long.

But that clerk was so slow! As my frustration mounted I thought, They ought to put a sign here that says Slow Motion Line!

What was that? An opportunity to exercise patience.

Such opportunities are important because when you exercise patience, it grows. If you’ll use it in small things, it will be strong enough to handle the bigger things when they come along. Every fruit of the Spirit increases in you as you exercise it.

Remember that the next time some little aggravation is about to make you lose your temper. Instead of saying, “I’ve had it,” say, “No, in Jesus’ Name, I choose to yield to the force of patience God has put within me. I believe I’ll just count this slow grocery store line to be a joy and use it as an opportunity to grow!”

-Well Worth the Wait

Growing in the Grocery Store : Gloria Copeland

Can You Imagine? By Kenneth Copeland

When Abraham finally received by faith that he was, indeed, the father of many nations, it still wasn’t something he could see with his physical eyes. So how did he see it?

In Psalm 2:1 (The Amplified Bible), we find that the word meditate can also mean “to imagine.” The idea is, as we go about like Abraham, Joshua and Peter, constantly speaking God’s WORD—calling those things that be not as though they were—The WORD will spark an inner image within us. That inner image in turn becomes hope, and hope is where Abraham saw himself as “father of many nations.”

I remember in the early days of this ministry when Gloria and I reached the point where we needed a station wagon to get us and our children from one place to the next so I could preach. Like anything else we needed, we went to God’s promises concerning our need, then we prayed, sowed seed, believed God and started speaking The WORD. That’s what we did for that car.

After we had taken The WORD and agreed as a family in faith, we went around saying, “Glory to God for our new car!” “That new car is ours!” “Thank God for our new car!” We continued to meditate The WORD. At the time, our children were young, but still old enough to grab hold of our station wagon with their faith, too.

One day our son, John, asked, “Daddy, is that new car ours?”

“You bet it is,” I replied.

“Well, let’s go get it,” he said.

This new car idea had become so real and so big inside him that he didn’t see why we shouldn’t just go get it. I didn’t tell him that the reason we didn’t go get the car was because we were $3,000 short of what we needed to buy it. In fact, I started to say, “Now, you know, John, we do have to….” But then I stopped, because I realized I was about to head down the road of doubt and unbelief. Instead, I said, “Yeah, praise God! Let’s do, John. Let’s just go get it!” Immediately we all started saying it to each other: “Let’s go get it!”

In less than a week, a man called me, crying. “Oh, Brother Copeland, I’m so ashamed of myself. God told me to send you $3,000 a few days ago and I didn’t do it. I’ve hung on to it until I cannot stand it anymore.” The first time that man heard God tell him to send us the money was the same time John came to me and said, “Let’s go get it!”

So we went and got it.

-Dream Big, Talk Big, and Turn Your Faith Loose!

Can You Imagine? By Kenneth Copeland

New Identity—New Destiny - Kenneth Copeland

From the moment God first told Abram that He would make him a great nation, Abram could have said, “OK, from now on I’m going to call myself Abraham, because God has said I will be the father of many nations. And if God said it—and I agree with it—then it is!”

Abram could have done that and saved himself a lot of trouble. But he didn’t. Remember, Abram was not born again or spiritually alive like us, and there was no written WORD for him to keep before his eyes. Consequently, all he was seeing was, “I am childless and have no seed.” God fixed that, too, by changing his name.

When Abram became Abraham, he literally took on the new identity of “father of many nations”—which was what his new name meant. Every time he said his name, he was saying, “Hello, I’m the father of many nations.” What’s more, every time someone called his name, they were saying, “Hey, father of many nations!”

What was happening? Abraham and everyone around him was calling “those things which be not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). In effect, Abraham was speaking the same WORD God had spoken, and he was hearing it spoken as well. Jesus did the same thing with Peter. When Jesus first met Peter, his name was Simon Barjona. Later, however, Jesus changed it to Peter, the Rock. And if there were anyone among the disciples who was not a “rock,” it was Peter.

Jesus knew what He was doing. He called Peter Rock until he became one. Meanwhile, by receiving his new name and speaking it and responding to it, Peter was actually agreeing with The WORD of God. He was agreeing with The WORD that Jesus had spoken to him.

So, we see that the process behind these name changes, and men fulfilling their destinies by agreeing with what God said they would be and do, was actually meditating The WORD—speaking it and hearing it, over and over and over.

Meditating The WORD was also the plan for success that God laid out for Joshua when he stepped into the role of leading all of Israel after Moses died. “This book of [My WORD] shall not depart out of thy mouth,” God told him, “but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou [may be able to see] to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (Joshua 1:8).

The Hebrew word we translate as meditate actually means “to mutter or to go around talking to yourself.” In short, Joshua was promised good success if he went through life constantly talking God’s WORD—speaking it to himself, speaking it to others, and speaking it in every situation.

-Dream Big, Talk Big, and Turn Your Faith Loose!

New Identity—New Destiny - Kenneth Copeland

A Supernatural Choice - Kenneth Copeland

One of the best examples I’ve ever seen of the Word determining someone’s choice was in my dad’s life. When I was just a teenager, he was called to testify in a lawsuit his company had brought against a man who had broken contract with them to begin his own company.

There was a great deal of money on the line and the man had already offered my dad millions of dollars’ worth of stock in his company if he would testify in his favor. All my dad had to give was a yes or no answer. If he said no, he walked out of the courtroom a multimillionaire. If he said yes, he walked out with his job intact and a pat on the back.

He didn’t even have to think about it. He just walked in the courtroom, answered yes and ended the lawsuit. Afterward, I said, “Dad, how could you say that and just walk away from all that money?” He answered simply, “Because to say anything else would have been a lie.” My dad didn’t experience any pressure in that situation. As far as he was concerned there was only one thing to do. His choice had been made by the Word of God long before he ever stepped into the courtroom. He’d already made a decision that lying was not in his lifestyle and his choice flowed out of that decision.

Somebody might say, “Boy, that would be a tough choice to make.” No, it would be harder than tough, it would be supernatural. You have to be living above this natural realm to turn down an “easy” multimillion dollars. But you can do it if the Word of God is abiding in you. Notice I said “abiding.” That’s the term Jesus used when referring to His Word.

He said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). The word abide means to live. God’s Words are living forces. Powerful forces that, if you allow them to take up residence in you, will produce holiness in your life.

To be holy is to be separated to God’s use. Therefore, if you’ll allow your choices to be bathed in the anointing of God’s Word, those choices will separate you from the destructive bent of this natural world and take you into the blessings of the SUPERnatural realm.

Just think how far-reaching the consequences of such a change would be. Your choices can affect an entire generation. You can make certain choices that can either damage or enrich lives all around you.

What may not seem like a very important decision to you, may ultimately make vital differences in your own future and that of your family. But God sees the whole picture. He knows what’s around the corner that you can’t see. So when you are walking in His choices, your life starts to fit.

Things start working. All the pieces of the puzzle start coming together. You can save yourself so much heartache and headache it isn’t even funny, just by spending some quality time in God’s presence and in His Word.

If you’ll let Him, He will help you with every choice you make.

 

 

-A Matter of Choice

A Supernatural Choice - Kenneth Copeland

God Never Changes His Plans (Compassion Has A Plan) - Kenneth Copeland

One thing I’ve discovered about God: When He makes a plan, He never changes it. Therefore, though Adam and Eve bowed their knee to the devil, threw away God’s blessing, and opened the door to the curse, God refused to give up His original intent. He kept on declaring His will would eventually be done. He kept on telling His people they were destined to be a blessing and fill the earth with His love.

He told Abraham, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing…and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).

He spoke through the psalmist and said, “Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous” (Psalms 112:1, 4).

He spoke through the prophet Isaiah of One to come who would be anointed with God’s own Spirit “to preach good tidings unto the meek; to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:1, 3).

Of course, every one of those declarations pointed to the coming of Jesus. He was Compassion’s plan—ordained before the foundation of the world to come into this painfully messed-up planet and set things straight again. He was the One destined to take upon Himself the sin, sickness, weakness and pain that had robbed mankind—and all the earth—of the blessing of God.

Jesus came to restore God’s original plan.

Do you realize what that means? It means those of us who have believed on Him have been restored to the spiritual position Adam and Eve occupied in the Garden of Eden. Through Jesus, we have received the same blessing and divine commission they did. We’ve been called to perpetuate God’s love in the earth, to fill it up with His compassion, to be a blessing everywhere we go, to everyone we meet!

That’s God’s plan for every New Testament believer.

God said it to Adam and Eve. He said it to Abraham. He said it to Jesus. And now He has said it to us. You are called to be a blessing! So wives, bless your husbands. Husbands, bless your wives. Love one another as I have loved you. Do good to all men. Bless, bless, bless!

Can you see now why walking in love is so important to God? It’s the reason He created us!

You may never have thought about it in just that way before but, the truth is, you already knew that. Every born-again believer does. I could stop a Christian on the street anywhere in the world and ask him if we, as believers, are supposed to love one another, and I’d get the right answer every time. Everyone knows Christians are called to live by the law of love.

Are we all doing it? No, we’re not. So, clearly there must be a problem. II Peter 3:1-2 tells us what it is. There the Apostle Peter wrote to people just like us—people who knew full well they were called by Jesus Himself to live by the law of love—and said: “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour.”

If Christians in Peter’s day needed to be reminded to keep the commandment of love, we do too. Just like those first-century believers, sometimes we just plain forget to walk in love toward one another. We forget to make compassion our priority because we don’t keep it in the forefront of our thinking. We get our lives out of line with love because mentally we neglect to put first things first.

But, according to the Bible, we can correct that problem. We can stir up our pure minds by way of remembrance. We can build love into our memory so that we think of it before we get dressed in the morning. We can so renew our minds to it that we think of it when we leave the house every day, or sit down at the table to eat, and even before we go to bed at night.

When we keep love on our minds like that, it changes how we interact with people. No matter what they say or do to us, our first thought is to respond in love. If we disregard that thought by yielding to the flesh and acting in a way that’s unloving, we’ll immediately be aware that we’ve been disobedient, and we’ll repent. Then we’ll get right back on track.

God Never Changes His Plans (Compassion Has A Plan) - Kenneth Copeland

How To Raise Godly Children Pt 2 - Kenneth Copeland

Like most parents, Gloria and I had to deal with the problems of rebellion in our children.

This is what we did. We used the Word and exercised our authority over rebellion at work, but we didn’t stop there. We took every opportunity to minister love to the children. Whenever they came around us, we would express our love in some way. It didn’t take long for them to begin responding to that love. Don’t hesitate to show love to your children. They will respond to it.

It wasn’t always easy. There were times when we wanted to break down and cry or lose our temper or do something in the natural, but we would remember Jeremiah 31:16-17, “Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they [your children] shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.”

My own mother cried over me for 15 years. Then one morning she threw her Bible on the kitchen table and said, “Lord, I’ve cried over him for the last time. I’m turning him over to You. If You can do anything with him, do it. I’m through!” In less than a month from that day, I was saved!

Mothers, take God’s Word for it. Receive Jeremiah 31:16-17 for yourself. Stop weeping for your children and start believing the Word. That’s the only thing that will bring them around.

Fathers, I am speaking to you too! It’s time for the fathers to get involved in the spiritual activities of their families. For too long, the women have carried more than their share of family responsibility. Husbands and fathers, get on your knees before God and accept your place as head of your household.

You are the prophet from God to your family. This is not a lightweight thing; it takes a commitment on your part to fulfill your responsibilities. Get yourself straight before God, then see to your children. If necessary, go to your kids and ask their forgiveness for neglecting them. I have had to learn these things the hard way, and I know what I am talking about.

Second Peter 2:9 says that God knows how to deliver. He knows how to do it, so give Him the opportunity. It doesn’t matter where your children are—in the room or a thousand miles away. You don’t have to be in their presence to take authority over Satan.

How To Raise Godly Children Pt 2 - Kenneth Copeland

How to Raise Godly Children Pt 1- Kenneth Copeland

I have received many letters from parents who ask about raising children according to the Word of God. Gloria and I have searched the Word for scriptural foundation in this area, and I want to share some of these things with you.

First of all, Galatians 3:13-14 says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

This is a very familiar scripture to most believers. It is a foundational truth in our lives. We have been redeemed from everything under the curse of the law. We don’t have to put up with it! There has been much teaching about our redemption from sin, from sickness and disease, from poverty, but not much teaching about the part of the curse that has to do with our children. That is what I want to focus attention on here.

The curse of the law, stated in Deuteronomy 28, mentions children in two verses: Verse 32 says, “Thy sons and they daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.” Verse 41 says, “Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.”

This is the testimony of many parents today. They watch helplessly as their children are taken captive by the world—drugs, alcohol, perversion and so forth.

As believers, we can use our authority and stand against these forces. According to Galatians 3:13, Jesus has broken the power of the curse, so we have the right to order Satan out of our children’s lives.

Like most parents, Gloria and I had to deal with the problems of rebellion in our children. We realized that it had to be stopped quickly before it developed into a serious situation. Don’t be guilty of ignoring symptoms of rebellion when your children are small. Don’t simply excuse it as a stage they are going through and think that they will grow out of it. If you ignore it when they are small, you won’t be able to handle it when they get older and the rebellion has had time to develop into a strong force.

When we saw this occurring, we immediately went to the Word. Gloria spent much time searching for scriptures we could use to combat these forces. Then we came together and confessed these scriptures before God. We took authority in the spirit world and refused to give Satan any room to operate. This is our responsibility as Christian parents.

A child does not understand the spiritual forces coming against him, so it is up to the parents to fight the spiritual battles and keep Satan out of the child’s life.

 

How to Raise Godly Children Pt 1- Kenneth Copeland

Compassion Has A Plan: Created by Love for Love By Kenneth Copeland

Why is God so divinely determined for us to live a life of love?

Recently, I started asking the Lord that question. When I did, the Holy Spirit was quick to answer me. He started out by reminding me that love is the one word that fully encompasses God’s nature. The Bible says, “God is love” (I John 4:8). It affirms again and again that He is completely filled with compassion.

In Psalms 78:38, for instance, the Bible says that even when the Israelites sinned and rebelled against God, “He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.” And in Psalms 86:15 it says that He is “a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.”

Psalms 111:4 says, “He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.” And in Lamentations 3:21-23 we read: “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

Those are especially powerful statements when we realize compassion means “to have so much mercy and tenderness for someone else that it actually causes pain.” It is the deepest desire to show love and goodness. Compassion is what moves God to do everything He does.

Compassion is what compelled God to create the earth. It’s what inspired Him to prepare the Garden of Eden as a home for the family He was about to create. It is also what moved God to reproduce Himself and make man in His own image. He didn’t just want someone to love, He wanted a family through whom His love could be multiplied—that would bless and fill the earth with His own compassion. That’s why, immediately after He created Adam and Eve, “God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

God’s plan was not just for man to be blessed, but for mankind to be a blessing to everyone and everything he came in contact with. He planned for them to subdue and rule this planet with His compassion until the whole place became a Garden of Eden.

That was Compassion’s plan.

Compassion Has A Plan: Created by Love for Love By Kenneth Copeland

Compassion Has a Plan by Kenneth Copeland

Set priorities. Put first things first. Major on the majors…and don’t sweat the small stuff.

We’ve all heard the slogans. Experts tell us they’re the key to success. But with so many things clamoring for our attention, how do we determine what things to put first? How do we decide what majors to major on…and what small stuff not to sweat?

Those may sound like tough questions—and for many they are. But as born-again children of God, we don’t have to rush out to buy a self-help book or sign up for a seminar to figure out the answer. All we have to do is open the Bible. It plainly lays out our priorities.

No. 1: Believe on the Name of Jesus.

No. 2: Walk in love.

That’s it. God’s Word says if we’ll put those two things first in our lives, God will do whatever we ask and the rest of our lives will fall into place. Personally, I’ve never had a question about the first of those two priorities. It’s always been obvious to me that since faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior is what gives us eternal life and sets us firmly in the family of God, then believing on His Name is the most vital thing we can ever do.

But honestly, I’ve wondered at times about that second priority. I’ve puzzled over why it’s such a major issue with our heavenly Father. Why is it such a big deal to Him that we live in His love?

It is a big deal, you know. In fact, according to the Bible love is such a paramount issue in the mind of God, when one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to name the greatest commandment of all time, He said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).

Think about that! According to Jesus, the command of love is so vital that the entire Word of God—from the Creation account in Genesis to the Amen at the end of Revelation—hangs on it.

Love is literally the ultimate spiritual law. All the operations of God’s kingdom function in accordance with it, and no one on earth is exempt from it.

Compassion Has a Plan by Kenneth Copeland

Having a Harmonious Marriage: The Number One Problem in Marriages—Strife Pt 1

Harmony at home is one of the greatest blessings in life. It’s also one of the easiest blessings to lose if we don’t make a decision to do all we can to nurture our marriage relationship.

From the Scriptures you can learn the proper attitude about marriage: “Let marriage be held in honor (esteemed worthy, precious, of great price and especially dear) in all things. And thus let the marriage bed be undefiled (kept undishonored); for God will judge and punish the unchaste [all guilty of sexual vice] and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4, The Amplified Bible).

When a couple ceases to view their marriage as precious and dear, they can become selfish and contentious with one another. Left uncorrected this attitude will lead to full-blown strife and can eventually lead to things such as sexual sin, divorce, physical injury or death.

We must learn from the Word of God how to live in harmony with each other. If we aren’t doing what it takes to live in harmony, then we are choosing to live in the destructive arena of strife.

Strife is deadly. It opens the door for the devil to steal, kill and destroy our home life. Any time we’re in strife, we give the devil permission to take us captive—at his will. Second Timothy 2:24-26 says, “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

Strife gives the devil the upper hand! Throughout the Scriptures, God warns us about the danger of strife. Yet, it’s still one of the most common problems among believers. Of course, we don’t purposely let it in. We don’t wake up in the morning and say, “I think I’m going to stir up some major strife at home today.” We just inadvertently let it slip up on us—one minor irritation at a time.

If you have a tendency to let things irritate you, then decide to overcome that tendency. Take a big stand against those little opportunities for strife. If you’ve spent a lifetime getting your feathers ruffled over every little thing, it may take a while for you to break that habit, but you can do it. You may have to work at it a moment at a time, but when you do, you’ll be in a place where God can guide your steps and save you from some grave mistakes

 

-kcmcanada

Having a Harmonious Marriage: The Number One Problem in Marriages—Strife Pt 1

Immersed in the Word By Kenneth Copeland

I’ll never forget when that transformation began in me. I had just begun to learn what the Word of God and faith can do. I was so hungry for it and so desperate to change my life that I completely immersed myself in it.

I kept teaching and preaching tapes going all the time. I’d get up in the morning and put on a tape while I was shaving. I’d carry the recorder to the table and listen while I ate breakfast. Then I’d haul it out to the car (that was back in the days of the big reel-to-reel recorders so “haul” is a fairly accurate term) and listen to it while I drove to school. When I got back home at night, I listened to the Word again until I fell asleep. I was 30 years old at that time and I’d pretty much thought the same way all my life. A way that had maneuvered me into more messes than I could find any natural way out.

But after just a few days of constantly feeding on the Word, I began to notice a change. My mind started working differently. I found myself comparing everything I heard, whether it came out of my mouth or someone else’s, with the Word of God. When I’d hear something that was out of line with the Word, it would be glaringly apparent to me. Somebody would ask me how I was feeling. Instead of saying those old things I used to say…”Well, you know this old football injury has really been acting up lately. It’s giving me this shooting pain right up my leg”…I would just explode with the Word of God. I’d say, “What difference does it make how I feel? I am not moved by what I feel. I am not moved by what I see. I am moved by what I believe and I believe the Word of God!” I just jumped on people like a chicken on a bug. (I didn’t know any better back then. Thank God, He’s mellowed me some over the years.)

What was happening? The anointing, the influence of God and His Word, was on my mind. It was teaching me things.

The Bible says if you’ll meditate on the Word day and night, it will talk to you when you wake up in the morning and visit with you all day long. That’s exactly what it began to do with me all those years ago. I’d make choices with ease that other people struggled over. The Word made it clear for me which route I should take. I didn’t have to agonize or debate over what I should do, the Word working in me caused me to make the right choice.

 

– A Matter of Choice

Immersed in the Word By Kenneth Copeland

I Want You To Prosper: Who Receives the Tithe? By Kenneth Copeland

Jesus is the High Priest over the house of God in the New Testament. In the spirit, He receives our tithes and presents them to the Father in heaven. But who receives them here on earth?

Second Chronicles 31:4,5 says that the priests and Levites, or the ministry, received the tithe that they might be encouraged. This is not an issue that we can handle lightly. As the Head of the church, Jesus is the One who should be directing where the tithe should go. The proper way to handle it is to pray and ask Him where to put it.

Under the Old Covenant, the tithe was brought mainly into the temple in Jerusalem and the local synagogue. In the New Testament, the local church is the backbone of the body of Christ. Malachi 3:10 tells us, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Meat is spiritual revelation. Wherever you are receiving revelation, that is where your tithe should go. You receive mostly from your own church, that is, if it is preaching the uncompromised Word.

But let us also notice that Paul said that the church at Philippi supported him. As an apostle, he traveled extensively ministering the Word. If there is a ministry which has fed you spiritual meat and you want part of your tithe to go there, you ought to be able to make note of that when you bring your tithe check into the local church.

I received a check from a church in Houston, Texas, one day and I thought, “I wonder why they’re sending me a check?” Later, I found out that the pastor had told the congregation, “If you are bringing your tithe today and there is a specific ministry which has fed you spiritually outside this church, just make a note of it and we will see that they receive a check.” That pastor is receiving the tithe in love and faith and righteousness. The people are giving it that way as well.

God is looking for a people who will handle their tithing as holy. He is seeking those who will ask Jesus where He wants His money to go. Are you one whom the Father can trust? Will you allow Jesus to direct your giving? If you are, God will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing so rich, so abundant that you will not be able to contain it!

Let me provide you with a sample confession for your tithe based on Deuteronomy 26. First read that entire chapter. Then relate it to the New Testament and hold your tithe before the Lord as you say out loud:

“We profess this day unto the Lord God that we have come into the inheritance which the Lord swore to give us. We are in the land which You have provided for us in Jesus Christ, the kingdom of Almighty God (Col. 1:13). We were sinners serving Satan; he was our god, but we called upon the name of Jesus and You heard our cry and delivered us from the power and authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of Your dear Son.”

“Jesus, as our Lord and High Priest, we bring the firstfruits of our income to You and worship the Lord our God with it. We rejoice in all the good which You have given to us and our household. We have hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God and have done according to all that He has commanded us. Now look down from Your holy habitation from heaven and bless us as You said in Deuteronomy 26:14,15 and Malachi 3:10,11.”

I Want You To Prosper: Who Receives the Tithe? By Kenneth Copeland