by Kenneth Copeland
“Ye shall receive power….” That’s what Jesus said to the early disciples. And all you have to do is scan the book of Acts to see how dramatically His words were fulfilled. Miracles occurred.
The first-century Church electrified the world around them. They healed the sick, raised the dead and cast out demons. The power of God so surrounded the Apostle Peter that members of his community actually dragged their sick into the street in hopes his shadow would fall on them as he passed.
“Ye shall receive power….”
Jesus has made that promise to us too. To you and to me—to everyone who believes on Him. He has sent us out to carry on the miraculous work He and the early Church began.
But somewhere along the way, there’s been a power failure.
For years we’ve tried to sweep it under our religious rug. We’ve given excuses. We’ve explained it away by saying the age of miracles is past. We’ve tried to cover up our lack of power with plans and programs and activities.
But today more and more believers are facing the problem head-on. More and more are daring to ask the question that’s been secretly on our minds for years.
Where’s the power?
It’s a crucial question. And, praise God, the more we ask it, the more we’re beginning to see there is an answer—one that can set the Church on her feet again. An answer that, once we grasp it and apply it, will give us the ability not only to be victorious in our own lives, but to electrify the world around us with the glorious power of God.
This is important because the world needs Christians to exhibit the love and the power of God in the earth, just as Jesus did and just as the apostles did. To look at this, we’re going to study John 14. This is an important and powerful passage. We see Jesus at one of the most critical points of His ministry.
He is about to go to the Cross, and He’s taking His last real opportunity to talk with the members of His staff before His death. He has little time left to get across to them all they need to know.
There’s an urgency in His voice, a seriousness about the moment that must have arrested the attention of His disciples as never before. He is about to put His miraculous ministry into their hands. He is about to give them the keys to His power.
Here are just a few of the things Jesus said. Read them carefully. They are tremendously important.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him (John 14:12-15, 21).
In those last precious hours before the cross, Jesus spoke to His disciples about supernatural power. He told them they would soon be able to have whatever they asked for in prayer. He told them He was about to make so much power available to them they’d not only be able to do the miraculous signs and wonders He’d done, they’d be able to do even greater things.
And what’s more, He told them exactly how to keep that power operating in their lives. He gave them a three-part power package that will work for us as surely as it worked for those first disciples. And it is a package that can provide a sure solution to the supernatural power failure so many believers are facing today, one I want you to discover so that you can receive miracles in your life and in the lives of those around you.
The Three-Part Power Package
Jesus said, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” But I don’t want to begin there. The reason is simple. When believing for a miracle, most believers try to use that part without the other two and they fall flat on their spiritual faces. So, let’s look first at this verse: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Most of us know that scripture well. But few realize it is one of the precious keys without which we can never unlock the power of God and receive miracles.
When Jesus said, “Keep my commandments,” He wasn’t just encouraging His disciples to be good. He was letting them know that if they wanted the power to receive whatever they asked for in prayer, if they wanted the power to work wonders as He did, they were going to have to meet some conditions. They were going to have to do the things He’d commanded them to do.
In short, He was saying, “Boys, there’s power in My Name. And if you’ll keep My commandments, that Name will get you anything you ask for. But if you don’t keep My commandments, My Name won’t work for you.”
And the same thing is true for us today. If we will keep the commandments of Jesus, His Name will release tremendous, miracle-working power when we say it. If we don’t, it won’t. It’s that simple. Jesus drove that point home again and again. In John 15:7, 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.”
And again, in verse 10: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”
And in verse 14: “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
To get a better grasp of what Jesus is talking about in all these verses, go back and take another look at verse 7: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you….”
That word abide is so important. You see, when Jesus told us to obey His commandments and keep His Word, He wasn’t just telling us to follow a bunch of religious rules and regulations.
He was telling us to allow His Word—which is a living thing—to make its home within us. He was telling us to spend time with it, to meditate on it, to fill our minds and our mouths with it, and to let it guide our every action.
The Apostle Paul put it this way, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” (Colossians 3:16).
Most believers don’t have any idea what that means. And that’s one of the reasons they’re so short on power and receiving miracles. One man who did know what it means, however, was Brother Oral Roberts. And he once said something to me about it that I’ll never forget. He said that when the Word is really abiding in you, when it’s alive and producing like it should, you can hear it.
And he’s right! When you begin spending quality time in the Word of God, you’ll begin to hear it down inside you.
#1 – Getting the Word Ingrained In You
You know when you get a song on your mind and you just keep hearing it over and over inside you? You may be busy doing something else and still that song will just play on. That’s what happens when you start letting the Word abide in you.
Many times I’ve been in desperate situations wondering what I was going to do, when suddenly I’d hear a scripture down on the inside of me. I’d hear verses from some Bible tape I’d been listening to. And suddenly, I’d know exactly what the answer to my situation was. I’d be delivered by the Word of God that was dwelling in me.
“Oh, but Brother Copeland,” you might say, “how on earth am I ever going to be able to remember all those verses? How am I going to be able to think of them when I need them?”
Jesus Himself answered that question. He said: “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).
So, invite the Holy Spirit to go to work on your behalf. Just keep telling Him, “Whatever You bring to my remembrance from the Word is exactly what I’m going to act on. I’m going to be obedient to every command of Jesus that You bring to mind.”
Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
It is! But, it’s not necessarily easy. Let me show you what I mean.
In John 14, the same passage that we’ve been looking at, Jesus gave us this command: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
Now, if you’re going to operate in power that means you’re going to have to keep that command, right? In other words, when all kinds of chaos seem to break loose around you, you’ll have to refuse to panic. You’ll have to be willing to say to your heart, “Heart, you’re not going to be troubled and you’re not going to be afraid in any situation and particularly not in this one I’m facing right now. Jesus said not to do it, and I’m going to keep His command!”
“Oh, Brother Copeland, I don’t think I could do that!”
Yes, you can. And when you do, you’ll be on your way to having the first of the three-part power package working in your life so you can receive miracles.
#2 – Speaking the Name of Jesus
I’m telling you, the name of Jesus works. There is far greater power in it than any of us have yet realized. As Philippians 2:9-10 says, God has given Jesus “a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth!”
Every prayer I utter is in His name. My faith is so set on the authority of the Name of Jesus that there are times I just say, “In the name” and the power of God comes on the scene.
In fact, I’ve discovered that the name of Jesus—just the name alone—is effective when spoken by a Word-abiding believer. It doesn’t need a lot of other fancy words to go with it.
Revelation 19:13 says the name of Jesus is the Word of God! So, when an evil spirit is trying to bring sickness, poverty, depression or any other garbage into my household, I don’t have to quote every scripture I know to stop him. I can just point my finger at him and say, “Jesus!” That’s like throwing the whole Word of God in his face at one time!
#3 – Living a Life of Love
The final part of the three-part power package is living a life of love. It’s an equally important part to receive your miracle and experience the power of God in your life and for those around you. Jesus tells us in John 15:12-13: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Love. That’s the power charge of this whole package. The rest is simply no good without it.
And though I realize that keeping the law of love could be included in the first step we talked about (after all, it is the first and foremost command Jesus gave us), I think we need to talk about it separately because so many believers neglect to do it.
I’m talking about believers who can quote tremendous amounts of Scripture and who may speak the name of Jesus 35 or 40 times a day, yet they’re rough and insensitive to the needs of their friends and family. They’re so busy “serving God,” they don’t have time to serve people. They’re often critical of others in the Body of Christ. And they’ll fuss and fight with each other on a moment’s notice. Strife is their hallmark.
Such folks are not only devoid of real spiritual power, the Bible says they are spiritually foolish.
Look in 1 Corinthians and you’ll see what I mean. There, the Apostle Paul addresses the Corinthian believers about their lack of love, saying: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” (1 Corinthians 2:14, 3:1, 3).
In short, what Paul is saying here is that strife will bring you down to the level of the unbeliever. It will dull your spirit until you can’t see or understand spiritual things! Living that way will never invite the power of God or allow you to receive miracles.
You may have been saved 45 years; you may talk in tongues all day long, but if you’ve got strife in your heart and you’re not living by the love commandment of Jesus, spiritual things are foolishness to you. And as long as spiritual things are foolishness to you, Satan is going to do with you just about as he wants to. And not only that but the miracles you desire to perform and the power of God you want to experience will be unavailable to you.
Without living a life of love according to 1 Corinthians 2 and 3, the name of Jesus won’t work. Faith won’t work. Prophecy won’t work. The word of wisdom won’t work.
In fact, none of the gifts of the Spirit will work if you don’t have love! First Corinthians 13 says so!
Do you want to see the awesome power of God released through your life? Then you’re going to have to love one another. You’re going to have to stop arguing and criticizing and start laying down your life—for your wife…and your kids…and your pastor…and even that bunch down at the church who’ve got their doctrine all wrong.
Love is the power charge, friend. You can lay hands on people till you rub all the hair off their heads; you can shout the name of Jesus till you’re hoarse; but if you aren’t obeying the commandment of love, you’re not going to see anything happen at all. God’s power package just won’t work without it.
We’ve put up with this power failure long enough. We’ve whined and cried and begged God to fix it. We’ve done almost everything except what Jesus told us to do. But, starting today, you and I can change all that. We can put this into practice.
We can make up our minds to let the Word dwell richly within us. We can set our hearts on keeping the commands of Jesus. And we can begin to speak His name with confidence and authority. And, most important of all, we can begin to love one another.
Then, instead of asking, “How can we receive miracles,” we can answer boldly—The power of God is flowing right here! Praise God, a miracle is at hand!”
