Author Archives: KCM

by Gloria Copeland

“We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.” (2 Corinthians 4:13)

In almost 50 years of ministry, I cannot tell you how many opportunities Ken and I have had to fail…and fail big!

There have been times when our circumstances looked dark and impossible. Times we didn’t have enough money to pay the bills in the ministry. Times we let ourselves become discouraged by not acting on what we knew and what we were supposed to do. During those times, we would fail to say the right things…the things God’s Word says about our situation.

But then we would hear a message preached at a meeting or listen to a faith-filled tape that would throw us right back into faith. As a result, we would rise up, take authority over our words, repent for unbelief and any other mistakes we had made in the process, and get our thinking and our words straight.

Each time, God brought us to a place of victory. Each time, we came out of trouble after we returned to saying not just familiar words, not just accurate words, but words of faith from the heart.

If you’re going through a difficult time right now, I want you to know that speaking words of faith makes all the difference between staying under and going over.

It’s often the missing step for believers who are doing a lot of things right. They could be walking in truth and living lives of faithfulness and diligence. They may be tithing and sowing and still not prospering as much as they should or could. The truth is, they won’t receive all God desires for them until they check what is going on right under their noses—literally!

Our Words Are a Sickle

We will never be able to skip the step of saying words of faith from the heart if we are going to see the fullness of God manifest in our lives.

It’s believing and saying that causes things to come to pass. It’s believing and saying that causes us to increase. The believing part is the faith part. Our words must have faith behind them for them to be faith words.

Mark 11:22-23 says, “Have faith in God. For whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”

That is faith in a nutshell.

Years ago, Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin said that in this scripture Jesus mentioned “believing” one time and “saying” three times. The first time I heard his tape, You Can Have What You Say, I was listening and busily taking notes when I heard these words in my spirit:

In consistency lies the power.

I received light on Mark 11:23 that changed my life: All my words are important! Not just what I say when I pray, but all the time. Our words are our faith speaking—either good or bad. I realized all my words are vital to my future. Not just when I pray, but those things I say all the time are opening or closing doors for God to work in my life. Everything I say should be in line with God’s Word and my desires. In consistently speaking faith words lies the power of an overcoming life.

If you’re saying “nothing’s happening,” then nothing’s happening.

If you’re feeling sorry for yourself and saying, “This always happens to me,” and “I don’t know why God’s not doing something about it,”…then it will and He will not.

What you really believe is what you say when the pressure is on. If you want to find out if you are in faith or not, listen to what you are saying in the privacy of your own home. And know this: Even behind closed doors in the dark of the night, what you say matters.

Malachi 3:13-15 tells us God was listening when His people said, “What good does it do to serve God? You know, those rich folks down the road, they don’t have any trouble.” And God confronted them about their grumbling. He said, “Your words have been stout against me.”

Don’t let your words be stout against God. He isn’t your problem—He’s your answer! Release faith with your words and give Him something to work with.

Don’t do what the children of Israel did in Deuteronomy 1:27 either. At the report of giants in the land, they allowed fear to enter into their hearts and they began murmuring in their tents. They grumbled: “Oh, the Lord must really hate us to bring us out of Egypt only to be killed by giants in the land He promised us.”

God heard the words they were saying in the privacy of their dwelling places, and they were evil in His sight. They didn’t have faith in what God had promised them and because of that, a whole generation missed out on the blessing of entering the Promised Land.

If you’re not getting results, don’t murmur and complain. Instead, come to grips with the fact you may need to change what you’re believing and saying. You are not going to say one thing and reap another. So don’t say, “Nothing’s happening.” Instead, say “I have it and I’ll not be moved until it manifests, in Jesus’ Name.”

You cannot talk decrease and expect increase. Your words are your sickle. They bring to you what you say.

What’s in Your Heart?

Matthew 12:34-35 says: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”

Here Jesus is telling us that our words reveal what we have been consistently filling our hearts with. As we fill our hearts with the Word of God and believe it, faith will overflow into our words. Those words filled with faith have power and will affect our circumstances.

Out of the good treasure of our hearts, good things will come forth.

If you don’t have good treasure stored in your heart—if you’re not believing the right things—you can change what you believe. Simply go to the Word, see what God says about your situation and declare, “That’s the way it is. I’m honoring that word and doing it.” That’s how you take the Word into your heart.

Filling your heart with God’s Word establishes God’s kingdom in your heart. It gives you His words of dominion.

In Matthew 6:22-23, Jesus said: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your entire body will be full of light. But if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be full of darkness” (The Amplified Bible).

In other words, what you give your attention to is critical.

The entrance to your heart is through your eyes and ears. The “eye” of faith looks at the Word of God instead of the circumstances. You can have a sound “eye” by following God’s instruction: “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:20-23).

Verse 23 in The Amplified Bible says, “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” What we allow into our hearts affects every part of our lives.

If we spend time in the Word allowing it to flood our hearts, Psalm 119:105 says it will be a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths. But if we are filling our hearts and minds with worldly information—watching worldly television and movies, reading worldly books and magazines—our hearts will not be filled with light. Only by renewing our minds with the Word of God (Romans 12:2) will our hearts be flooded with light.

As you renew your mind with the Word, you learn to think like God thinks and you’ll make right decisions—you’ll be blessed. That is what Matthew 6:33 is talking about when it says, “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” (The Amplified Bible).

If God truly rules in your heart, if He is Lord of your life and you do what He says, then the kingdom of God (His dominion, presence, power, glory and anointing) will continually flow out of you and take authority over the things coming against you. That’s God’s plan of dominion. Words of authority are words of faith from the heart.

Faith—the Believer’s Lifestyle

A lifestyle of faith is the lifestyle of a true believer. Romans 1:17 declares, “The just shall live by faith.” That passage in The Amplified Bible says, “The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith.”

Faith pleases God because it makes a way for Him to work in our lives. It connects us to His supernatural anointing. Look at Abraham. God promised to bless him saying, “A father of many nations have I made thee” (Genesis 17:5). Though it seemed impossible, Abraham believed God who “calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (verse 20).

When he agreed with what God said, he saw the promise come to pass. He received the promise because he believed God.

Believers today can walk in the same favor Abraham enjoyed. Galatians 3:29 declares that “if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Verses 7 and 9 say, “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”

It takes faith for the blessings of God to manifest in our lives.

Hebrews 6:12 instructs us: “Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” God’s Word will come to pass in your life if you will put it in your heart and in your mouth. Be patient. Don’t dig up your seed with words of unbelief.

Satan comes to steal the Word that has been planted in you. He’ll try to make you quit. But when pressure comes, recognize the source and the reason. Persecutions and afflictions arise for the Word’s sake (Mark 4:15-17). The enemy tries to get you to believe something other than what God has said in His Word.

But don’t quit believing! Don’t quit confessing the Word. Don’t let pressure cause you to speak negative, unbelieving words that give the enemy license to operate in your life. And don’t focus on the circumstances or talk about them. Instead, talk to them.

Be a faith person—someone who not only says the right things in church on Sunday, but who consistently says the right things all the time. Even in challenging circumstances, a person of faith believes God’s Word is true. Even when it looks hopeless, talk the Word.

The things you continually say are the things that come to pass in your life.

God’s Book of Remembrance

God hears all of our words. And He loves to hear words of faith—words that release the provision He so earnestly desires to shower on us. Malachi 3:16-17 says:

Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name. And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure)” (The Amplified Bible).

Not only is God listening. He is making note of those who believe Him and speak about His goodness. God calls them His jewels, His treasure.

That’s the group you and I can belong to if we speak words of faith from our hearts and obey those words with our actions!

In each of the challenges Ken and I have faced, something would happen as we listened to a tape or attended a meeting. The Word of God would correct us, drive out the disobedience or unbelief and destroy what was holding us down. Hearing the Word would bring us out of discouragement. It would cause us to stir up our faith again. We would stop seeing ourselves in the hole or in trouble. We would start believing and saying that we had the victory.

Although nothing in the natural changed immediately, something happened in the supernatural. Something happened in our hearts. God saw it too—He looked at our hearts. He heard our words. He knew faith was there. The turnaround came! The mountain was moved! Whether it was a $6 million television bill or some other kind of trouble—each time we came out.

God helped us. Even when we got under it and acted defeated and murmured in our tent, He restored us to that place where we had enough faith to quit saying and doing the wrong things and to begin saying the right words. We discovered it pays to speak words that please God.

So, if wrong words come out of your mouth, repent and get back on the truth of the Word. When you speak words that are crosswise to what you’re believing for, repent and say, “I break the power of that in the Name of Jesus. I’m believing the Word of God, and I’ll not accept that opposing word coming out my mouth. Father, forgive me.”

Make all your words agree with the Word of God. Speak faith words that give your heavenly Father the freedom to do what pleases Him most—to bless you with the abundance of His life and provision. Give God the pleasure of entering your words of faith in His book of remembrance. Let Him note you are one of those who believe Him and speak about His goodness.

Fulfill His joy of calling you His jewel…His special possession…His peculiar treasure.

Give Him words of faith from your heart.

Did you know that God has called every single one of us to two very important ministries, no matter how new—or mature—we are in Christ? In fact, these two ministries have always been at the heart of advancing God’s kingdom. They are directly responsible for providing answers to a lost and hurting world, bringing hope to the hopeless, and continuously encouraging our development in the gifts of the Spirit.

As vital as these ministries are, many believers are leaving this work and its wonderful harvest to others because they don’t feel “qualified” to minister in this capacity. But according to Acts 1:8, Jesus believes we can operate in these two ministries, no matter our level of faith, and He promises to empower us every step of the way.

Read these two key ministries for every believer, and you’ll be encouraged to start ministering to others immediately. When the Lord leads and guides you, it’s easier than you think!

Key Ministry No. 1: Witnessing

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8, NLT
Sometimes, believers can become intimidated before witnessing. We can think, “What will I say? How will I act?” And yet we shouldn’t miss the most crucial component in being a witness for Jesus: His Love for us, and our love for Him (1 John 4:10).
You see, it doesn’t take a special education or license to share Jesus with others; it only takes our willingness to share our belief and our testimonies as the Lord leads and guides us. As we share Jesus with others, and let His light shine through us, our conversations with others become easy and anointed (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Jesus never told us that we needed to say certain things or all act in the same way. In fact, God created us with our own personalities and interests, giving us the ability to minister to others in a way no one else can. So, the next time God tells you to talk to someone about Him, don’t underestimate what He’ll be able to do through you in that conversation.

Consider this example: Billy Fraser was a man who didn’t underestimate what God could do through him. In fact, he was very patient while witnessing to and inviting his co-worker, a man named Ed, to church for a year and a half—all while being colorfully declined week after week. Still, this didn’t bother Billy. He wasn’t seeking Ed’s approval; he was only concerned for Ed’s soul and where he would spend eternity.

Finally, one day, Ed agreed to go to church saying: “If I go to church with you one time, then will you leave me alone?” Billy said yes, and Ed went to church with him. That Sunday morning, Ed Dufresne was born-again and he became a bold, compassionate, and well-known healing minister for 49 years. Brother Ed passed away a few years ago, but his wife, Nancy, and their children continue to preach the Word and see miraculous healings. Because of Billy’s patience and obedience to the Word, there was a beautiful and large harvest that impacted countless lives for years to come.

Like Billy, as we go about our everyday lives, we too can share our faith and hope in Jesus with others. As we continue building ourselves up in our faith, we can keep being inspired to share Jesus with our neighbors, friends, and co-workers (1 Timothy 4:15; Romans 10:17; Matthew 5:16). Jesus told us to tell people everywhere about Him, so let’s make it a priority everyday everywhere we go.

Key Ministry No. 2: Discipleship

“And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.” – Matthew 24:14, NLT

Imagine if your children attended a Christian school that was brand new, extremely clean, and led by the kindest of teachers. From the outside looking in, such an environment might seem perfect. But if no one taught the children; if they were allowed to do whatever they wanted as long as they stayed in their classroom; then we would agree that something was seriously wrong, wouldn’t we?.

That’s exactly what we’re doing when we don’t disciple new believers and teach them the Word. If we expect new believers to learn enough and eventually grow in their Christian faith only by attending church every Sunday, then we’re neglecting what Jesus commissioned us to do. Jesus told us to go and make disciples, which means to lead them to Christ and then teach them faith and the Word (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus didn’t assign this responsibility to only those who are anointed to preach or to pastor; He appointed each and every one of us to disciple others. It was through salvation and discipleship that the members of the early Church changed the course of history.

As we disciple and teach as the Lord leads and guides us, we’re helping people grow and we’re helping to change the course of history, too. We’re helping to bring more of God’s peace to this world (Isaiah 54:13). Even if we’re only spending five minutes a week with someone, we’re planting a seed and seeds grow into harvests. Never underestimate how much you can affect others just by being obedient to the Word and discipling them. Even if you are a new Christian, you can teach someone something. If you would like to observe and learn more about discipling others, you can join a discipleship group through your local church, or even online through EMIC: http://emic.org/ministry/dg.

As you act on these two key ministries for every believer, step out in faith and be encouraged to start ministering to others as the Lord leads and guides you. Witnessing provides answers to a lost and hurting world, while discipling generates a strong Christian army ready to impact this world with love and peace. These two ministries were at the center of Jesus’ earthly ministry and are the heart of God’s kingdom. Jesus has called us to these ministries and we’re up!

Oh, God, I need more power! Please…please…please give me more power, LORD!

Have you ever prayed a prayer like that?

I have. In fact, some years ago I was praying along those lines, earnestly beseeching God to give me greater power to minister. It was a fine, very spiritual-sounding prayer. But The LORD interrupted me right in the middle of it.

‘Kenneth,’ He said, ‘where would I go to get you more power?’

The question stopped me cold.

‘No one has more power than I do,’ He continued. ‘And I’ve already filled you with My Spirit. I’ve put within you the same miraculous force that created heaven and earth, the same supernatural strength that raised Jesus from the dead. Where am I going to go to find something greater than that?’

The point was clear. As born-again, Holy Spirit-filled believers, you and I don’t need more power. We simply need to more fully release what we’ve already been given. We need to allow the Spirit of God within us to flow through us in greater measure.

If we’re not seeing miracles in our lives and ministries, it isn’t God’s fault. He isn’t the One who is limiting us. We are!

That may not sound to you like good news—but it is.

Here’s why. If you’re the one who is keeping a lid on the power of God in your life, then you’re the one who can take that lid off! You don’t have to sit around waiting for some super-anointed prophet to come to town and lay hands on you. You don’t have to wait for God to send an angel to hit you with his glory stick. You don’t have to wait for anything.

You can make a quality decision to increase the flow of God’s power in your life—starting today!

God Is Always On

“Now, Brother, I don’t believe we can just turn God’s power on at will.”

I don’t either. But thank God, we don’t have to! His power is always on! He turned it on and made it available to every one of us almost 2,000 years ago on the Day of Pentecost, and He hasn’t turned it off since. It’s me I turn on and off. God is always on!

He’s just waiting for us to get fully turned on to that power. He is waiting for us to get with the program and start doing the works that Jesus did, and even greater works (John 14:12).

The problem is, we’ve kept Him waiting for a long time. That’s because, despite what the Bible says, most Christians don’t actually think they could ever do what Jesus did. After all, He is the divine, firstborn Son of God, and He clearly had a greater measure of God’s power flowing through Him during His earthly ministry than any of us do.

It’s true. Jesus did operate in greater power than we do. But not for the reason most people think. His great anointing was not due to the fact that He is the Son of God. It couldn’t have been! For Philippians 2:7 says when Jesus came to earth, He stripped Himself of His divine privileges. He laid aside the rights of deity and ministered as a man.

What then was the secret of His astounding power?

You can find it in John 3:34: “For since He Whom God has sent speaks the words of God…God does not give Him His Spirit sparingly or by measure, but boundless is the gift God makes of His Spirit!” (AMP).

According to that verse, the reason Jesus was able to operate in unlimited power was because He spoke The WORDs of God.

He didn’t just speak God’s WORD when He was ministering. He didn’t just speak it when He was feeling spiritual. He didn’t stand in church and say, “Well, praise God. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but The LORD delivers him out of them all!”…and then walk outside and say to His disciples, “Boys, things are really looking bad. Judas is stealing our money. The religious leaders are trying to kill Me. I just don’t know if we’re going to make it.”

No, Jesus didn’t speak words of faith one moment and words of doubt the next. He always spoke God’s WORD: “As my Father hath taught me,” He said, “I speak these things” (John 8:28).

More Than a Black Leather Book

“I know The WORD is important,” you may say, “but I just can’t see how it can turn up the power of God in my life.”

That’s because you don’t understand what The WORD actually is. You think it’s just a black, leather book you wag to church on Sunday and then leave on the coffee table the rest of the week. But the truth is, God’s WORD isn’t a book. It has been recorded in a book, but The WORD itself is what God has said to us.

Set your traditional framework aside for a moment and look at it this way. If someone said to you, “Kenneth Copeland has given you his word,” how would you respond? Would you get all religious about it?

No, you’d want to know what I had said I would do. You’d also want to know if my word is any good. You’d want to know if I’m the kind of person who keeps my word or not.

Those are sensible questions. Why is it then, that so many Christians who claim to esteem God’s WORD have never asked them?

“Yes, amen, Brother,” they say, “we believe The WORD of God.” Yet they cannot tell you precisely what God has said He’ll do for them. And once they find out, they consider it presumptuous to expect Him to follow through. They seem to think that because God is God, He has the option of breaking His WORD if He wants to, without any reflection in any way upon His nature.

That is absurd. A person’s word is his bond. It is the measure of his character. If a man honors his word by keeping it, then he is an honorable man. If he dishonors his word by breaking it, he is a dishonorable man. Like it or not, everyone’s integrity—including God’s—is judged on the basis of whether or not he keeps his word.

No doubt, that statement would ruffle the feathers of a few religious folks. “Who do you think you are,” they’d say, “to set up a criteria by which to judge God?”

I didn’t set up that criteria! God did. He is the One who taught us to judge integrity on that basis. He invented the integrity of words. He set the standard.

God and His WORD are One, not because we say so, but because He said so. He has made it clear that we cannot separate Him from His WORD. Just as He never changes, His WORD never changes. They are both the same—yesterday, today and forever.

What’s more, God’s WORD is as powerful as He is.

That may sound shocking to you, but if you’ll stop and consider it a moment, you’ll realize it makes perfect sense. A word is always and only as powerful as the person who gave it.

For example, if Joe Smith, the grocer from down the block, promised you a job at General Motors Co., there wouldn’t be much power in that word because as well-meaning as Joe might be, he has no authority to back it up. If, however, the president of GM called and said you could have a job there, you could take his word to the bank because he has the power to cause that word to come to pass. His word in a letter would have the same power to get you the job as his word when he spoke it to you.

The WORD Came First

Since God is all-powerful, His WORD is all-powerful. He can and does back up everything He says.

Since He is the Creator, His WORD contains the power to create. You can see that truth borne out in the very first verses of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:1-3).

Notice that the Spirit of God was moving before God spoke, but nothing happened until God said. Creation did not take place until God released words of faith.

Everything in this material creation, everything you can see, touch, taste or smell came into existence as a result of The WORD of God. That means God’s WORD is the parent substance of all matter. Think of it! The paper this magazine is made of came from a tree that can be traced from tree to seed, to tree to seed, all the way back to God’s WORD, “Let it be.”

In light of that fact, do you think His WORD still has the power to change this natural, physical world? Do you think The WORD that created the dirt your physical body was made from has enough power to heal that body? Do you think The WORD that brought into being all the silver and gold, all the wealth of this entire earth, has enough power to supply you with the resources to pay your electric bill?

Of course!

God’s WORD is eternal. It is sovereign. It cannot be changed. (We tried to change it by saying it didn’t really mean what it said. But, thank God, it does mean what it says and there’s nothing we can do to alter that fact.) Psalm 119:89 says, “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.”

This material universe, on the other hand, is temporal. It can and does change. As Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away” (Mark 13:31).

If you take something that is unchangeable and use it to apply pressure to something that is changeable, it’s obvious which one of them will yield—the changeable one! Therefore, whenever you take The WORD of God and apply it in faith to this temporal realm, that realm must give in and conform to The WORD.

Jesus understood that truth. He lived His life by it. He had such faith in God’s WORD that when He spoke it, this material creation bowed its knee and obeyed Him. Demons fled. Diseases disappeared. Death gave up its grip. Bread multiplied. Winds stopped blowing. Waves ceased.

In fact, by the power of God’s WORD, Jesus was able to live and minister on this death-bound planet, and yet be completely free from all its bondages. Then, before He left, He told us how we could do the same thing.

He said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).

Most of us have given such a religious meaning to the word disciple that we’ve lost the impact of what Jesus said there. A disciple is simply someone who follows after or becomes like someone else. So Jesus was actually saying, “Continue in My WORD and you’ll be like Me. You’ll know The WORD (see John 17:17) and it will make you just as free as I am.”

Containers of Power

To understand how God’s WORD can have such a profound effect on your life, you must realize that words do more than convey information. They serve as containers of spiritual power. They have the ability to carry faith or fear, blessing or cursing, life or death (see Proverbs 18:21).

Men sometimes speak idle or empty words, but God never does. Every word He has ever spoken has been filled with faith, power and life. Hebrews 4:12 says His WORD is “quick,” (or alive) “and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit….”

In fact, God’s WORD actually contains within it the power to bring itself to pass. For example in Isaiah 55:11, He says, “My word…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.”

Every word God has ever spoken is backed by His faith, and is as full of power today as it was the moment He said it. So when you believe that WORD, and then your faith comes together with His faith, the power of that WORD is released, the Holy Spirit goes into action, and The WORD explodes into this natural realm and becomes a reality in your life!

That’s how you got born again. You heard or read God’s WORD, “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” (Romans 10:9). You believed that WORD, spoke it in faith and the power of the Holy Spirit was released, transforming your dead, fallen spirit into a reborn spirit, re-created in the image of Jesus Himself.

My, what a miracle! You were snatched from the dominion of darkness and there was nothing the devil could do to stop it. The words of God did the same thing for you they did for Jesus when He was in the pit of hell. They demolished the devil’s power over you and raised you up together with The LORD Jesus to sit together in heavenly places with Him! (Ephesians 2:6.)

Turn the World Upside Down

Even though you were the one speaking The WORDs, they had the same power they would have had if Jesus Himself had spoken them. That’s because they are God’s words, and when spoken and acted upon in faith they always release His power!

Peter and John proved that the day they walked up to the lame man at the Beautiful gate in Acts 3. At the time, they only had a few words of the New Covenant. They just had the words Jesus spoke to them before He ascended:

“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:15-18).

But those were all the words they needed. When they believed and acted on those words, the Holy Spirit went into action for them just as He had for Jesus—and a miracle happened. When they opened their mouths and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk,” that lame man “leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God” (Acts 3:6-8).

They didn’t stop with that one miracle either. Peter and John and the rest of the early disciples took those first few WORDs of the New Covenant and turned the whole known world upside down! (Acts 17:6)

“Well, Brother Copeland, you know those men were apostles. That’s the reason they were anointed to do such miracles.”

No, it’s not! If that were the reason then Acts 19:20 would say, mightily grew the apostles and they prevailed. But it doesn’t say that. It says, “mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.” Those early apostles were anointed to do such miracles because they spoke and acted on The WORD of God. It was The WORD and the anointing released by that WORD that did the work.

Since The WORD never changes, we can be confident that it will prevail for us just as surely as it prevailed for Peter and John. It will prevail for us as surely as it prevailed for Jesus. It will prevail for us as powerfully as when God Himself said, “Let there be light!”

What are we waiting for?

We have the very power and Anointing of God Himself moving in our reborn spirits. We have The WORD of God at our fingertips. And the more we fill our heart with that WORD, the more we act on it and speak it out in faith, the more freely that anointing can function through us.

We have everything we need to turn up the power of God in our lives. We have everything we need to heal the sick, cast out devils, open blind eyes and raise the dead. We’re not waiting on God. He is waiting on us.

Glory to God, let’s not keep Him waiting any longer! Grab your Bible, take your stand on it and let’s go!

Timeless teaching by Kenneth Copeland originally published October 1995

How to pass every test with God’s open Book.

by Gloria Copeland

There’s a problem—a health concern, financial troubles, a relationship struggle, a work issue. You can’t help but ask, “Lord, is this a test?” The fact is, every person alive will face challenges of some sort in his or her lifetime. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation.” But He didn’t stop there. He added, “be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NKJV).

Jesus said He has overcome the world, and guess what? You can say that, too. Jesus has given you the same world-overcoming faith He has! Every born-again Christian is born of God, and our victory over every trial and tribulation is in our faith in God and His Word (1 John 5:4).

So, what do you do when you face one of the many challenges life holds for all of us? How do you make it through times of trial? How do you tap into that world-overcoming victory, and pass the tests?

God has every answer for every test we face, in His Word. All we have to do is go to the Holy Bible, open it up, find the answer and take a few simple steps to solve every problem.

Step No. 1 to Passing a Test: Choose Life

Since the beginning, God has intended our lives to be lived simply. Every decision we have to make boils down to a basic yes or no answer. The main question is whether we choose life or death, blessing or cursing. Deuteronomy 30:19 says: “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”

Think about it. From every morsel of food we put into our mouths, to how we obtain the things we need, to how we treat the people in our lives—basically it’s up to us whether our choices result in life and blessing, or death and cursing.

When we made the most important decision in our lives to say yes to Jesus, we truly opened up the door to everything good God has in store for us. We said, “Yes, I believe Jesus is the Son of God. Yes, I call on His Name. Yes, I receive Him as my Lord and Savior.”

At that moment, the Spirit of God moved into your life, and you were empowered to begin to make the right choices. You were miraculously given the ability to hear directly from God in your heart and to understand the Bible clearly and what it has to say about you and the issues in your life. The Spirit of God moved inside your spirit to teach you God’s wisdom concerning everything you need to know for a victorious life.

The choice is still up to you whether you take advantage of the answers and solutions the Holy Spirit desires to reveal in the Bible and in your spirit, or you can just sit there complaining and letting life get you down.

Step No. 2 to Passing a Test: Examine Yourself

To examine yourself, let’s start with a couple of simple questions.

What do you do when you wake up one morning with a runny nose? Do you think: Well, here it is…my annual head cold! I had better get ready to be laid up in my pajamas for a few days. I hate these colds!

How about a little harder question? What do you do when you get a diagnosis of a serious disease from your doctor? Is your first thought: Oh, I hoped this day would never come. My mother had this. My grandma had it. Now I’ve got it. Oh, me, I know what I’ve got to look forward to now.

Think about these examples in terms of financial or relationship tests. Do you immediately give in? Is your first response one of worry? If so, you have already declared, whether the situation is simple or hard, “The test wins…I lose!” But you don’t have to respond this way. Whether you pass any test depends totally on what you declare about it. What comes out of your mouth, both when the test first arises and throughout the duration of it, will determine the outcome!

The words we speak reflect what we have in our hearts and in our minds—what we really think about things. And we develop our thoughts from what we continually hear and see. If we get our information from past experiences, family history or the evening news, and let those sources determine how we think about our lives, we will find ourselves in trouble. We will judge our trials and tests based on that information and it will determine the outcome.

But if we get our information from God’s Word, and from people who have experienced success through His Word, we will find ourselves overcoming the challenges we face.

Our most important decision is to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. After that, we must decide where we get the truth about living our life—life as He intends us to live it. The world and our enemy, Satan, have a plan and constantly feed us information to take us down. Our heavenly Father, Jesus our Lord and the Holy Spirit have a plan to take us over the top. What we have to do is decide to turn to God’s Word to discover the truth and live from that source of information.

Click here for five scriptures to help you stand against trouble. 

Step No. 3 to Passing a Test: Turn to the Word

Life in abundance—that’s a life that lives by the scriptures in the Bible! Your life may have a test every single day, but if you know God’s Word on the subject, the answers are all right there in front of you!

God’s Word speaks to every major issue in life. We deal with the same issues Adam and Eve dealt with…health and long life, provision and relationships. All mankind’s tests started right there with them. So, whether on a personal or worldwide level, these are the major issues of life on which we are tested.

And, the choice to pass or fail is still the same. Who are you going to listen to? Who are you going to obey?

God has never taken away our ability to choose how we handle tests. Even with all the power of the Holy Spirit we have received to tap into His wisdom, knowledge and understanding, the questions come down to this one: “Will I spend the time today to hear from God, to get my information from the Word, and to receive His truth that will give me abundant life?”

When you say yes to that question, you’ll have your answers right before your eyes and ears, which means they will be in your heart and mind. They will be the first thing out of your mouth when the test comes. No matter how simple or hard the test, you will have your answers!

This is not rocket science. But I will tell you this, approaching your life from this simple perspective with the open Book as your source will determine how far and how fast you go in life. It’s God’s plan for you to succeed and be living proof that anyone can live the abundant life Jesus came to give us!

Step No. 4 to Passing a Test: Listen to the Lord

Yes, God has a great plan for each of us. He’s laid it out in His Word. Our most important role in the plan is to pay attention to what He says.

He intends for each day of our lives to be fruitful and blessed, with each day leading us right along the path of His plan. Remember what He said through the prophet Jeremiah to the children of Israel: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’” (Jeremiah 29:11). That is His dream for all His children.

“Plans for good and not for disaster,” He said. God’s big picture is that nothing in your life is a disaster and that nothing cuts off His plan for your good, hope-filled future! Tests will come, yes. But He has given you exactly what you need to pass every one and stay on the road to your bright future.

So, pay attention to Him so the Holy Spirit who lives in you and guides you will have something to work with.

This is how God has directed me for more than 50 years of facing and passing the tests in my life. I give God the first part of my day. I read His Word, I pray in the spirit, I listen to Him…I pay attention.

Sometimes He directs me to just go about my daily business and be ready for whatever He brings my way. Sometimes He directs me to step out and go someplace special or call someone about something. My point is, every day I give Him my attention and every day He gives me direction.

We may have something in our lives that needs adjusting or some outright change that needs to take place. Maybe an attitude needs to be changed. Maybe some activity needs to be reconsidered. Maybe some perspective needs to be tweaked. When you approach the open Book every day, do it with an attitude that says, “God, I’m open to adjustment. Show me where I need to be tuned up and brought into alignment with the Word.”

I’ve had some major tests in my life. But, praise God, because of my daily pattern of paying attention and spending time with Him in the Word, I’ve been prepared and I’ve passed the tests. Some of the tests have come and gone in a day. Some have just called for a small adjustment, and some have required a major overhaul. Some have taken weeks, months or years to be resolved. But the solutions always come.

Today you can start using a new method of passing tests. You can face your trials and challenges with new confidence and assurance of successful results. James 1:25 (NKJV) says, “He who looks into the perfect law of liberty (the Word) and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” So, open the Book, stay in the Word, hear it, do it and be blessed!