Author Archives: Shirley Martinez

When you receive a natural promise from a natural source—be it your spouse, a friend or the company where you work—what do you do? You get excited. The natural part of you gets excited in your mind and your emotions. You anticipate that promise and you can’t wait for it to come to pass!

When you have a promise that comes from God Himself, backed by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, what do you do? You get excited, too. But this time, it’s more than the natural part of you that gets excited. It’s more than the natural part of you that begins to expect, to anticipate, to hope, to look for it coming. Your inner man—your spirit—receives by faith and rejoices at what God is going to do!

Jeremiah 1:11-12 is promise for us all about God’s promises: “Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a branch or shoot of an almond tree [the emblem of alertness and activity, blossoming in late winter]. Then said the Lord to me, You have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it” (AMPC).

God watches over His Word to perform it—to bring it to pass. The New Living Translation says verse 12 this way: “And the LORD said, ‘That’s right, and it means that I am watching, and I will certainly carry out all my plans.’”

If you have been watching the BVOV television broadcasts or the 2024 Southwest Believers’ Convention in Fort Worth, then you most likely released your faith for something—finances, breakthrough, answers, healing, hope, mental health, peace, joy, happiness, your marriage, your children, your friendships, restoration, redemption, deliverance…whatever was pressing on you that needed to change and be made new. It’s that thing you prayed for, prepared for, believed for and thanked God for. Perhaps you had a list of things you were believing for—and the corresponding verses you were standing on. And you’re still standing in faith. Praise God! It’s coming!

For whatever it is that you’ve believed and released your faith to receive, Jeremiah 1:11-12 is the perfect scripture for you to stand on now. God is watching over His Word—the Word you’ve been speaking, confessing and declaring by faith—to perform it. That means He’s ready to accomplish it. Because God Accomplishes All His Plans for You.

Be Aware of the Thief

Now, there’s no doubt that when you immerse yourself in the Word of God, like people do when they attend or watch the broadcasts, the enemy will always try to steal the seed of the Word you heard. He’s a thief, and he’ll always try to steal the ground you’ve taken. But whatever you received, it’s God’s will that you keep it and that you walk in it.

Mark 4:14-15 teaches us, “The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others. The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away.”

Satan is the thief, and he comes at once! John 10:10 tells us the nature of the thief and the nature of God: “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” God wants your seed to grow and flourish. God Accomplishes All His Plans for You.

The Truth Still Supersedes the Facts

What is it for which you’ve believed? Where do you need breakthrough? It’s the will of God that you walk in all that God’s Word provides.

If you were believing for your healing, and you were standing on Psalm 103:1-5, keep standing. “Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name! Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits—Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy; Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle’s [strong, overcoming, soaring]!” (AMPC).

The enemy would love nothing more than for you to grow discouraged and quit confessing the truth—the truth that supersedes the facts of your condition.

If you were believing for financial breakthrough, then keep standing. God has called you to prosper—spirit, soul and body. “Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit” (3 John 2). God keeps His Word. What’s more, God Accomplishes All His Plans for You.

Stop the Thief

Many times, when the devil comes to steal the Word—the Word that God is watching over to accomplish in our lives—we forget to resist him. We fail to stop him. But Ephesians 4:28 (AMPC) tells us to “let the thief steal no more”! And James 4:7 tell us, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

It’s up to us to stay in resistance mode, and resisting requires faith. It requires doing what the Word says, to fight the one who comes to steal the Word that we’ve received. Ephesians 6:10-13 tells us, “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”

Stand in God’s armor all the time. This is how we keep the door closed to the enemy, both when he attacks, and when we’ve experienced a breakthrough. This is how we keep the door open to God as God Accomplishes All His Plans for You.

Hold Fast to the Word         

When we receive a breakthrough in our finances or healing in our body, when we’ve stood in faith for something and the Word is working on our behalf, there is still work to do. First Thessalonians 5:21 (AMPC) tells us to “hold fast.” To hold fast means to continue to believe in or adhere to something.

What is it that you have received? Hold fast to it! Continue to feed daily on the Word of God. Continue to speak your confessions you’ve written out, based on the Word. Continue to believe. Continue to declare that you receive.

What Jesus said still stands: “Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4, AMPC). Our spirits need bread every day. Our faith needs bread every day. So, we’re to hold fast to words of life, words of prosperity, words of hope, peace and joy. Feeding daily on the Word of God keeps us spiritually strong.

We hold fast to sound words of teaching: “Hold fast and follow the pattern of wholesome and sound teaching which you have heard from me, in [all] the faith and love which are [for us] in Christ Jesus. Guard and keep [with the greatest care] the precious and excellently adapted [Truth] which has been entrusted [to you], by the [help of the] Holy Spirit Who makes His home in us” (2 Timothy 1:13-14, AMPC).

We are to hold fast to our confession of faith: “So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word” (Hebrews 10:23, AMPC).

When we fight the good fight of faith, we hold fast with our words in line with His Word (1 Timothy 6:12-14). We trust and believe Jeremiah 1:11-12—that God watches over his Word to perform it. To accomplish it. To bring it to pass. Because God Accomplishes All His Plans for You.

When you’re expecting something to happen or someone to visit, what do you do? You make plans. You prepare. You get ready. In other words, you take action!

Having faith in God—or the faith of God—is similar. When you pray, release your faith for something to happen. Believe you receive the answer. And then, add to your prayer of faith what the Word calls “corresponding action.”

In the Weymouth New Testament, which is available from KCM, the Word says, “What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and yet his actions do not correspond? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother and a sister are poorly clad or lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Fare you well; keep yourselves warm and well fed,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs; what is the use of that? So also faith, if it is unaccompanied by obedience, is dead in itself. Nay, some one will say, ‘You have faith, I have actions: prove to me your faith apart from corresponding actions and I will prove mine to you by my actions” (James 2:14-18).

Here’s the point: When you pray in faith, believing you receive the promise of God in His Word and being expectant for Him to answer your prayer, move forward with corresponding action: Prepare to receive God’s promise that you prayed! Faith prepares ahead of time for what it believes will happen.

Faith Prepares Ahead of Time

When Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee with His disciples, it was evening. He had been preaching and teaching all day long to people who were eager to listen to Him. When they arrived at the other side, as soon as He stepped out of the boat, Mark 5:2 says, “A man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him…. Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones” (Mark 5:2, 5). After Jesus cast the demon out of the man, he got back into the boat and crossed the Sea of Galilee once again.

This time, when he stepped out of the boat, a man named Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come and heal his daughter, who was dying. On the way to heal the little girl, a woman who had suffered with an issue of blood many years, interrupted his journey. The woman said, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed” (Mark 5:28). In the account, the woman did touch the hem of his robe, and she was healed! By the time Jesus finished speaking with her, Jairus was told by a messenger from his home that it’s too late, his daughter was dead. But Jesus said, “The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep” (Mark 5:39).

If you’ve ever read this series of miracles, then you know how the story of Jairus’ daughter ends. Jesus went to Jairus’ house, and when He saw the girl, He took her by the hand and said, “Little girl, get up!” She “immediately stood up and walked around!” (Mark 5:41-42).

How did Jesus do all this in a matter of a day? How did He have it in Him to preach all day, and then perform not one, not two, but three miracles—and one that involved raising the dead?

The answer is because He depended on His Father, and He prepared ahead of time! That’s what faith does. Jesus said two things that show us He depended on His Father and prepared in advance to do the work God sent Him to do:

First: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished” (John 5:19-20).

Second: “I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say” (John 12:49-50).

Jesus prepared ahead of time by spending time with His heavenly Father. He prepared ahead of time for what He knew would happen.

This is what we’re to do. We’re to spend time with God, in His Word, and in prayer, to build our faith to prepare to receive what it is we’re believing for, because Faith Prepares To Receive the Promise.

Faith Prepares for What It Believes

Everything in the Bible was done and received by faith. Every person Jesus healed, delivered and set free was healed, delivered and set free by faith. By faith, the demon-possessed man was freed. By faith, the woman with the issue of blood was healed. By faith, Jairus’ daughter was healed.

Faith depends on the Word of God alone to work—and it prepares ahead of time for what it believes will happen. What is it that God has for you? What has He put in your heart to receive?

This week’s BVOV broadcast is an outstanding opportunity to encourage your faith. Pastors George and Terri Pearsons will be showing segments of messages from the 2024 Southwest Believers’ Convention that was held in Fort Worth, July 29-Aug. 3. You can tune in at kcm.org/watchevent to view these sessions. But before you do, take some time to prepare your faith to receive from God. Spend time in the Word—reading, studying, meditating on it and listening to it preached. Romans 10:17 tells us, “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” Stir up the faith inside you, because Faith Prepares To Receive the Promise.

Faith Prepares for What It Expects

The Oxford Dictionary tells us that hope is the “feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” Hope is the blueprint of faith. It paints a picture inside us of what we need or want, and what we’re to be expecting. With that hope before us, we feed our faith and use it like a tool to receive what we’re believing for. Then, we release our faith by speaking God’s Word that promises us what we’re believing for. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”

What are you believing God for? Make a list before you start watching the BVOV broadcasts. Make a list of your financial, physical, emotional, health, relational or spiritual needs, and whatever else you’ve been praying and believing for God to answer.

As you make your list and prepare your spirit and soul to receive, remember this: James tells us that faith without works—or corresponding action—is dead (James 2:20). So, find one or more covenant words and promises from God’s Word that apply to your situation and write them next to your need. For example, if you’re believing for healing and, specifically, if you are believing God to have a child, you could write Exodus 23:25-26: “You must serve only the LORD your God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness.There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land, and I will give you long, full lives.”

The more specific you are in your faith—your believing—the more specifically God can answer your prayers.

If you’re believing for financial breakthrough, release your faith to live debt free. You can use the following verse to write a confession: “Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law” (Romans 13:8). Your confession could easily be: “Lord, thank You that I owe nothing to anyone but love. Thank You that because you so greatly love me, I can love everyone I meet today with Your love.”

If you’re believing for a relationship to be restored—with your spouse, child, a relative, friend or colleague—find a verse or verses to write, pray and confess the promise of God so you can release your faith…because Faith Prepares To Receive the Promise.

Faith Prepares for the Victory

Part of receiving by faith is thanking God for the answer before you see it in this natural realm. It’s praising God that what you’ve prayed, hoped and believed Him for is coming to pass. It’s worshipping Him for the answer—for your healing, your provision that’s coming, the breakthrough that will happen, for the child who will be set free or the lost who will be saved—before you see it. Faith counts it already done.

Mark 11:22-25 is a foundational passage of Scripture and a fundamental of faith: “Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, “May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,” and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.’”

When you have your prayer list and God’s promises to stand on for each prayer request, then pray using the promises of God. Release your faith by speaking what He promised—because faith depends on the Word to work. Then start praising God that the victory is yours, that what you’ve declared by faith is already done. God is faithful, and He will do what He has promised. He will respond to your faith. He will always respond to His Word. He will honor your keeping “the switch of faith” turned on, because faith pleases Him (Hebrews 11:6). He will honor you when your Faith Prepares To Receive the Promise.

To watch all of the 2024 Southwest Believers’ Convention sessions, go to kcm.org/watch/event

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Activate the Principle of Total Immersion – KCM Blog

On the cross, Jesus paid for our freedom. Freedom from what? Freedom from everything that’s under the curse—fear, oppression, sickness, disease, lack, poverty, anxiousness, addiction, death…on and one we could go! In other words, everything that is the opposite of the THE BLESSING is what’s under the curse. Everything that is from the enemy. Everything that entered this world when sin entered the Garden of Eden.

This means we do not have be afraid. We do not have to live sick. We do not have to live paycheck to paycheck. We do not have live oppressed or depressed. We do not have to live having panic attacks.

And yet, none of THE BLESSING will happen in our lives by default. Though freedom is a gift, we have to receive our freedom by faith. Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32, NKJV). What is the truth? The Word of God. The Word of God that says we don’t have to walk in fear (2 Timothy 1:7). The Word of God that says by the stripes of Jesus we were healed (1 Peter 2:24). The Word of God that says our God meets all our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19).

But, again, if we don’t receive all that freedom gives us by faith and then continue to walk in faith concerning our freedom, we won’t get to experience the fullness of that freedom. Galatians 5:1 warns us saying, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (NKJV). God wants you to receive your freedom and never let go. He wants you to walk in faith and by faith continually. He wants you to understand that God is Love, and Love is God—and to believe His love (1 John 4:16). Because God’s love defeats our faith’s greatest enemy—fear.

“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love” (1 John 4:18).
To help you put all your trust in God’s love, to receive and believe His love and to allow fear to have NO place in your life, consider these 7 Steps to Understanding That Freedom Is a Gift.

1. Faith in God is trust in love, because God is Love.

“For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?” (Galatians 5:6).

Jesus defeated death, hell and the grave, so we don’t have to fear anything ever again. We actually have no scriptural basis to be afraid. Yes, fear comes against us, but we can remind it that it has no right to stay. Make the decision to reject fear. Determine as an act of your will that you will not fear! “So we can say with confidence, ‘The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:6)

2. Faith works at its best when you are loving.

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.… Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13).

There is no such thing as faith that does not work, but there is faith that has not been put to work. Faith works by love when you have faith in love (Galatians 5:6). And we have faith in love when we trust the truth that God loves us—individually and perfectly—and then we, in turn, love others even when they are unlovely. When the Word says, “the greatest of these is love,” the word love is agape. It means “to love as an act of your will.” Who in your world is easy to love? Love them. Who in your world is difficult to love? Love them. Whoever you come into contact with—at work, when you stop by the store or at a receptionist’s desk—love them! Because faith works at its best when you are loving.

3. Faith is decontaminated through God’s love.

“Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God” (Ephesians 3:17-19).

You are not waiting to be delivered from fear; you already have been delivered from fear. The devil comes to steal the Word from those who have not rooted themselves in the Word (Mark 4:14-20). But when you build your roots in the Word by keeping yourself in the love of God—when you are filled with the fullness of God—there is no room for fear. Fear contaminates faith, and faith is decontaminated through God’s love—through believing in His love for you.

4. Receive the love of God.

“I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me” (John 17:23).

Make a quality decision to receive the love of God. A quality decision is a decision from which there is no retreat and no more argument. Make that kind of decision, to believe God loves you as much as He loves Jesus—because Jesus said He does. There is literally nothing you can ever do to make God not love you; there’s nothing that can ever separate you from God and His love (Romans 8:38). So, the next time you find yourself wanting to run from God, don’t. Run to God. Always. He’ll be there with open arms of love.

5. Believe the love.

“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (Philippians 2:5).

We receive the love of God just like we receive salvation—as an act of our will. Then, we alter our lifestyle to live like what we have received. We confess and declare that we are made a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). “Let this mind be in you,” the Scripture says (Philippians 2:5, NKJV). By faith, we receive what God has already said about us. We receive and believe His love for us.

6. Practice the love.

“No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us” (1 John 4:12).

Make the quality decision to respond to every situation and every person with the love of God—to live a life of love and faith. First John 2:5 tells us, “Those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.” Spend time thinking of all the ways you can love someone. As you do, you’ll be thinking of ways to love and serve God. You’ll be practicing the love of God.

7. Confess the love.

“All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them” (1 John 4:15-16).

We start our prayers with the answer—and the answer is in God’s Word. Therefore, when we speak His Word, we have the answer. So, continually confess and declare that God loves you. Before He left this earth, Jesus said, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” Our freedom is the gift!

Take these 7 Steps to Understanding That Freedom Is a Gift, and let them help you walk by faith, so fear has no place in your life.

More than 100 times God tells us in His Word to, “Fear not!” Why? Because fear is an enemy of God, therefore, it is our enemy as well. From the beginning, it was God’s original plan that we leave fear-free, but when sin entered this world, fear did too. And yet, living free from fear is still available to us, but it’s up to us to live out God’s original plan. It’s up to us to learn how to fight fear and win.

Living in this world will always give us pause…to be gripped with fear, to be paralyzed with fear, to lose sleep because of fear, to be riddled with anxiety because of fear, to be controlled by fear. Fear will always seek its primary objective in our lives—to create unbelief, which is believing something other than what God has said about any situation.

But we were never meant to be controlled or affected by fear at all. We were meant to walk in faith, to walk by faith, to deal with what live throws our way with faith. But if we don’t learn how to fight fear and win, it will contaminate our faith.

There is only one way to defeat fear and that is to walk in the opposite of fear—to walk in love. Because Love Overcomes Fear. Because faith works by love (Galatians 5:6-7). Because God loves us as much as He loves Jesus. If that was hard for you to read and believe, then begin confessing the truth Jesus said until it becomes real to you: “I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me” (John 17:23).

Love is the driving force that flushes out all fear, so the more we are filled with love, the more we receive love, the more we walk in love, speak in love, and extend love—and the less fear controls our reactions, responses, and emotions, and wrecks our thinking.

But love doesn’t overcome fear automatically in our lives. We have to develop it. We have to develop faith in love.

Discover Love

The first step in developing love is to understand who love is. First John 4:7-8 tells us. that God is love—which means He doesn’t have love, he is love. If we read these verses with that in mind, we could read it this way—and it gives us a fresh and clear understanding: “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God (Love). Anyone who loves is a child of God (Love) and knows God (Love). But anyone who does not love does not know God (Love), for God (Love) is love.”

If we approach the Word of God with this in mind, it changes the way we think of God, and the way we relate to him. Consider John 1:1 through this lens: “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God (Love), and the Word was God (Love).”

Read John 1:14 in the same way, “The Word (Love) became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

Imagine reading every verse of Scripture that tells us something about God in this way. It would transform the way we see God and increase our understanding of Him and who He is. God is love and love is God. They are one in the same. You cannot separate them. Love Overcomes Fear.

Develop Faith in Love

The second step to developing love is to understand that perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18). It does not manage it; it does not cope with it; it does not cover it up; it does not tolerate it—because fear has torment. What is that torment? Being frightened. Whatever it is that we are frightened of, we don’t have to be. We can develop faith in Love, which overcomes fear in all it’s forms.

When we are first born again, God, who is love, comes to live on the inside of us; we become indwelt with love. “For we know how dearly God (Love) loves us, because he (Love) has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (Romans 5:5).

From that initial step of making Jesus the Lord of our lives, we’re to grow. We’re to mature. It’s a process we never stop pursuing because as long as we’re on this earth, we never stop growing. We’re to continually exchange all our ways of thinking and living and loving with God’s ways. We’re to be transformed from the inside out. Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God (Love) transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s (Love’s) will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

We often refer to this as renewing our minds, and as we practice it, faith moves in and drives fear out. First John 4:18 tells us, “There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection]” (AMPC).

Developing a relationship with Love begins with making Him our Lord and Savior; it continues as we renew our minds. And renewing our minds happens as we read and study the Word of God, as we exchange our thoughts, perspectives, and attitudes for Love’s. As we exchange fear for faith.

Mark 11:22 says to have faith in God. If God is love, and He is, then we could read this verse to say, “Have faith in Love.” Fear is having faith in death. In fact, fear of death is the greatest of all fears; it’s having faith in the law of sin and death. But by having faith in Love, by developing love in our lives, Love Overcomes Fear.

Believe the Word of Love

The third step is to developing love is realizing that faith is the opposite of fear; that we can believe Love and the Word of Love, or we can believe fear and all the words of fear we hear and/or speak. How many times do we speak fear and death when we say things like, “That just kills me,” or “I was laughing to death”? Remember, the Word tells us that life and death are in the power of the tongue, meaning in the words we speak (Proverbs 18:21).

It’s time to get fear out of our vocabulary. For example, it’s time to eliminate using words that don’t produce faith—words such as incredible or fantastic. Incredible means something has no credibility. People don’t usually mean it that way when they say it, however, the devil doesn’t judge us according to what we mean; he judges us according to what the word means—and it’s something we don’t want in our lives. We want what’s credible in our lives—like God’s Word and His many attributes—love and goodness and kindness and patience and faith and on we could go.

Fantastic is another example. People don’t mean any harm when they say, “Wow, that was a fantastic message,” but it’s the wrong use of the word. Fantastic means fantasy and can’t be believed. As message preached based on the Word of God can be believed. It’s credible. It’s true. It’s worthy of honor and application in your life.

The point is to think about what we say and the true meaning of the words we speak, because we want to be speaking life, not death (Proverbs 18:21). We want to be speaking faith, and not fear.

Fear comes by hearing and hearing the words of death. But faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Or, with the understanding that God is love and love is God, we could say, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Love.” And then it speaks; faith speaks (2 Corinthians 4:13). What does faith speak? Faith. And Love.

We all want the power of God in our lives, but the Bible doesn’t major on God’s power—it majors on His love. And if it weren’t for His love, we’d never know anything about His power. It was because Love loved that He exercised His mighty power in the earth. It was compassion that moved Jesus when He healed the sick and fed the multitudes with a young boy’s lunch (Matthew 14:32). “Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14).

Love functioned in and through Jesus.
Love wants to function in and through us.
Because Love Overcomes Fear.

Practice Love

It is wise to rebuke fear, to cast it out in the name of Jesus, to resist it, to stand against it, but it is the practice of love that defeats fear in our lives—because Love Overcomes Fear. We practice love when we love others with Love’s love.

First, we love God, and out of Love’s love, we love others.

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God (Love). Anyone who loves is a child of God (Love) and knows God (Love). But anyone who does not love does not know God (Love), for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8).

It was Jesus who said, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).

This is the commandment of Love. It’s so easy to practice anger, to practice unforgiveness, to practice impatience, to practice stress and busyness and anxiety. But how much better it is to replace all that with practicing love. Today, start practicing loving others with Love’s love that’s He has filled you with.

Being filled with God’s love, loving Him and loving others comes with a promise we all want to see come to pass in our lives: “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them” (John 14:21).

Love God. Love people. Practice love. And watch what God does in our lives as Love Overcomes Fear.

Did you know that you can live a life FREE from fear? Satan’s greatest weapon against us is fear. He bullies us with it because his strategy has always been to use fear to neutralize our faith by eroding our confidence in God and His love for us. He knows that if he can infiltrate our faith, he can regain control of every aspect of our lives. His tactics are nothing new, of course, but every believer must learn how to fight the good fight of faith and defeat fear—including you. And if you aren’t entirely sure how to do that, now is the time to learn How to Live Your Best Life WITHOUT Fear.

Fear Terrorizes and Paralyzes Us

Almost 100 years ago, at a time when America was economically at its worst, President Franklin Roosevelt recognized the power of fear to terrorize and paralyze everyday Americans. He led the United States into what he likened to an all-out war against the Great Depression—and he made his declaration of war with these familiar words: “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

President Roosevelt was encouraging millions of financially broke, unemployed, hungry people, that if they could just get past the fear, if they could just get past the idea of whatever it was that was terrorizing and paralyzing them, then they could have hope, they could “advance,” and they as a nation could prevail in victory!

How Do We Get Past the Fear?

Almost 23 years ago, Kenneth Copeland was in Washington, D.C., preaching at a Victory Campaign when God told him: You are to launch a war on fear…and I want you to strip the fear out of the Body of Christ. My people have no business with fear!

God gave that directive to Kenneth just one month after Islamist terrorists launched simultaneous attacks against the United States in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. To this day we refer to them as the 9/11 attacks, another all-time low in America’s history. But God’s point to Brother Copeland was clear then and it’s clear today…

• Fear is not something that is at all healthy—it’s destructive!
• Fear is not something we learn to live with—we’re not to cope with it!
• Fear is not something we are to tolerate—it’s something we eliminate!

Fear Is a Spirit

Jesus delivered us from fear once and for all when He went to the cross, but it’s up to us to eliminate it from our own lives.

“Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

Each one of us must come to the absolute knowledge that Jesus delivered us from fear at the cross the same as He delivered us from sin, sickness, poverty and every other symptom of the curse. He bore our fears, the same as He bore our shame and torment. We’ve been redeemed from fear. Fear no longer belongs to us!

The truth is, Satan’s greatest fear is that you and I will discover that we’ve been rid of the spirit of fear by the precious blood and mighty works of Jesus. The enemy’s day is over when you find out How to Live Your Best Life WITHOUT Fear, because he will no longer have a hold on you. Fear is the connector to death and all its works. But that connection has been destroyed where we’re concerned. What’s more, God has given us a new spirit: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV).

Now that we’re redeemed from the spirit of fear, our job is to resist it, refuse it and renounce it—as we do all sin—in the Name of Jesus.

Resist Fear In Jesus’ Name

Eliminating fear is one of the great revelations the Apostle John gained from having been one of the men closest to Jesus while He was on this earth. John summed it up like this: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18, NKJV).

The AMPC sheds even more light on John’s insight: “There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror!”

“Terrorism is the planned, organized use of fear as a weapon”—that was the definition God gave Brother Copeland for terrorism back in 2001. And it’s what Satan has been using against all humanity and creation since the Garden of Eden when the devil fatally tempted Adam and Eve. But John is telling us that the antidote to Satan’s weaponized fear is love—God’s love.

Imagine: It’s love, of all things, that can totally annihilate, totally eliminate every ounce, every symptom of fear. Only God could have designed a counter-operation like that!

Refuse Fear In Jesus’ Name

Given the chance, Satan—like any enemy—tries to use fear to contaminate our faith and confidence. If he succeeds, over time our faith will weaken.

The Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy—his son in the faith—to keep his faith pure by reminding him that the faith he had received was genuine and strong.

“I am calling up memories of your sincere and unqualified faith (the leaning of your entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), [a faith] that first lived permanently in [the heart of] your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am [fully] persuaded, [dwells] in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5, AMPC).

Timothy’s faith was not phony or contaminated, but pure and rich. And it doesn’t take much of that kind of faith to get the job done.

But why fear? How is it a weapon? What’s the intended target? What exactly is fear out to destroy when it comes at us full-speed?

Again, the enemy’s strategy behind fear has always been to neutralize our faith by eroding our confidence in God and His love for us—and if he can infiltrate our faith, then he can regain control of every aspect of our lives.

A perfect example of this is found in Mark 5, where Jairus, a local synagogue official, ran up to Jesus one day, fell at His feet, and pleaded with Him to follow him home where his daughter was sick and at the point of death. Despite the grave circumstances, we know Jairus had faith because he told Jesus, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, so that she may be healed and live” (verse 23, AMPC). So Jesus agreed, and Jairus led the way.

The two had no sooner set out for Jairus’ house when there was an unexpected delay, a delay that could potentially cost Jairus’ daughter her life. A woman, who had also been tracking Jesus down, managed to work her way through the crowd that day, come up from behind, reach out and touch the end of the prayer shawl Jesus was wearing. When she did—that stopped everything!

Miraculously, the bleeding this woman had been suffering with for the past 12 years suddenly stopped. She was healed! And with that, Jesus stopped. He knew instantly supernatural power had gone out from Him, so He turned around to find out what had happened.

Knowing she was caught, the woman spoke up and recounted her story to Jesus. She told Him how she had said, “If I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health” (verse 28, AMPC). Like Jairus, she too had faith, the kind of faith that caught Jesus’ attention and stopped Him in His tracks.

But in all the commotion, something else stopped: progress—progress in getting Jesus to Jairus’ house. And in those precious few moments the unthinkable happened: “While he was still speaking to her, a messenger arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. He told him, ‘Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.’ But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, ‘Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed’” (Luke 8:49-50).

Renounce Fear In Jesus’ Name

The KJV says it far more simply: “Fear not: believe only.” Jesus was telling Jairus to stop the fear—the spirit of fear—ifhe wanted to continue to move forward in faith and see his daughter alive.

Again, fear is dangerous. It’s a matter of life and death (Revelation 21:7-8). As Kenneth Copeland said, we don’t live with, cope with or tolerate fear—we eliminate it. Especially in the face of death. And here, the enemy was trying to use fear to steal Jairus’ faith.

But Jesus was relentless. He was driven by love, and even used Jairus’ own confession of faith—“She will live!”—to encourage Jairus to keep taking steps forward and not be frozen by fear, like we’re all tempted to do in those moments.

Let the words of Jairus and of the woman who was bleeding be a reminder to you: If your faith isn’t speaking, then it’s not faith yet. It’s just thoughts, and thoughts have no power. Our words only have power when we speak them. They only have power when we act on them.

Declare War

Today is the day to declare war on fear in your own life by committing to search out all 110 “Fear not!” scriptures. When you find them, read them, meditate on them and make them your declaration of faith. And commit to not compromise where fear is concerned, anymore.

Today is the day to learn How to Live Your Best Life WITHOUT Fear. Here are some scriptures to get you started:

• Joshua 1:9 (NKJV)—“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
• Isaiah 35:4 (NKJV)—“Say to those who are fearful-hearted, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.”
• Isaiah 41:10, 13—“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand…. For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’”