Living In The Reality Of God's Blessing
Written by Kenneth Copeland |
| Kenneth Copeland |
You Are Whatever God Calls You
Galatians 3:13-14 says: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
The last phrase of that passage leaves no doubt about it: We receive THE BLESSING, which is the promise of the Spirit, the same way Abraham did—through faith.
"But Brother Copeland," you might say, "I don't know what Abraham knew about faith. God hasn't taught me the things He taught him."
Sure He has. He put them down for you in black and white. Right there in your Bible, He recorded every faith lesson Abraham ever learned. Read Romans 4 and you'll see those lessons for yourself. You'll find out exactly how to "walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham" (verse 12).
You'll see, for example, that God called Abraham "a father of many nations," and He didn't start calling him that after Isaac was born. God called Abraham the father of many nations when there were no sons in sight.
When God calls you something, that's what you are. You may not look like it, you may not feel like it, but God's Word is the truth no matter what you can see or how you feel.
That's how it was in Abraham's life and that's how it is in ours. If God calls us overcomers (and He does in 1 John 5:4) that's what we are. We aren't going to become overcomers one of these days. We already are because God said so. If we've made Jesus the Lord of our lives we are born of God, and He said, "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world."
Abraham understood that principle. That's why Romans 4:17 says when God called him a father of many nations, Abraham stood "before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were."
Abraham not only stood before God and believed Him, he acted like God by calling those things which are not as though they were.
Since Abraham is the father of our faith, we should do the same thing. After all, the Bible says we have been born again in God's image (Colossians 3:10). It tells us to "be imitators of God as dear children" (Ephesians 5:1, New King James Version).
God always operates that way. He speaks things into being. So He taught Abraham to do it, too. He showed him how to connect with THE BLESSING by calling himself blessed.
If we want to follow in his footsteps and enjoy THE BLESSING like he did, that's the first thing we must do.
Are You Into Mind Control?
The second thing we're to do is study and meditate on God's Word until it takes over our mind and nothing can shake our confidence in it. We'll learn to think like Abraham: "Being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform" (Romans 4:19-21).
Abraham didn't focus on his negative circumstances. He didn't meditate on his 100-year-old body or his very old and barren wife. He fixed his mind on God's promises. He meditated on THE BLESSING until THE BLESSING controlled his mind.
Abraham's thinking was so dominated by and saturated with THE BLESSING that when God told him to sacrifice Isaac, he didn't even flinch. He was able to march up Mount Moriah with confidence because he figured after he obeyed God's command and sacrificed that boy, God would raise him right back up.
We know that's what Abraham was thinking because Hebrews 11:17-19 says: "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."
When you think about it, Abraham's attitude was amazing because he didn't know what we know about God. He'd never seen or heard of God raising anyone from the dead. Yet he was so fully persuaded that God would keep His promise to make him a father of many nations through Issac that he expected the impossible to happen.
If Abraham could be that fully persuaded, how much more should we be? We have inherited the same blessing, and ours has been guaranteed not just by the blood of animals like Abraham's was, but by the precious blood of Jesus, God's own Son!
What's more, we don't have to believe God with our own, natural mind like Abraham did. As born-again believers, we can think supernaturally because "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). We have the mind of the Anointed One.
Talk about having an advantage! That same kind of divine mind is available to us, but we have to take it by faith. If we want to follow the faith of Abraham, we must begin to call things that be not as though they were. We must speak God's Word over our minds and say, "I thank God my mind is as anointed as the mind of Jesus. THE BLESSING is working in me now and an anointed mind is part of my blessing. Praise God, I have a brilliant mind!" Then act on 2 Corinthians 10:3-6.
This Is the Victory
Some folks think that's too good to be true. They claim we can never enjoy that kind of blessing on this earth. But I know we can, not only because the Bible says so but because I've proven it in my own life again and again.
When I was diagnosed with degenerative joint disease a few years ago, for example, I knew I had to connect with THE BLESSING to turn that condition around. So I did exactly what Abraham did. I considered not my body that was screaming in pain. I focused on THE BLESSING of God instead. I fixed my mind and my mouth on the fact that I was healed by the stripes of Jesus (1 Peter 2:24).
I called things that be not as though they were. I said, "I'm healed," and I said it not just once or twice but countless times month after month.
I won't kid you, it wasn't easy. Sometimes I hurt so bad I thought I'd have to stuff a rag in my mouth to keep myself from talking about it. I'd sit on my back porch with heating pads wrapped around my legs and turn the heat up as high as it would go, hoping the heat would hurt bad enough to distract me from the pain in my joints.
It took effort to speak words of faith during that time. I was tempted to say things like, "Dear God, how long must I be in pain like this? How long before my healing comes?"
But I didn't do that. I stuck with the truth. I locked on to THE BLESSING and refused to let go. I connected with that blessing by speaking, believing and acting on the Word of God and, sure enough, the impossible happened. I have MRIs to prove it. One shows my body with degenerative joint disease and ruptured disks in my back. The other, done some time later, shows all the disease is gone and all the disks healed, regenerated and standing tall!
That's the kind of thing that happens when we make the faith connection. We open the door to THE BLESSING of God and His goodness pours into our lives. Sickness becomes health. Poverty becomes wealth. We start living like the overcomers God made us to be.
Galatians 3:13-14 says: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
The last phrase of that passage leaves no doubt about it: We receive THE BLESSING, which is the promise of the Spirit, the same way Abraham did—through faith.
"But Brother Copeland," you might say, "I don't know what Abraham knew about faith. God hasn't taught me the things He taught him."
Sure He has. He put them down for you in black and white. Right there in your Bible, He recorded every faith lesson Abraham ever learned. Read Romans 4 and you'll see those lessons for yourself. You'll find out exactly how to "walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham" (verse 12).
You'll see, for example, that God called Abraham "a father of many nations," and He didn't start calling him that after Isaac was born. God called Abraham the father of many nations when there were no sons in sight.
When God calls you something, that's what you are. You may not look like it, you may not feel like it, but God's Word is the truth no matter what you can see or how you feel.
That's how it was in Abraham's life and that's how it is in ours. If God calls us overcomers (and He does in 1 John 5:4) that's what we are. We aren't going to become overcomers one of these days. We already are because God said so. If we've made Jesus the Lord of our lives we are born of God, and He said, "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world."
Abraham understood that principle. That's why Romans 4:17 says when God called him a father of many nations, Abraham stood "before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were."
Abraham not only stood before God and believed Him, he acted like God by calling those things which are not as though they were.
Since Abraham is the father of our faith, we should do the same thing. After all, the Bible says we have been born again in God's image (Colossians 3:10). It tells us to "be imitators of God as dear children" (Ephesians 5:1, New King James Version).
God always operates that way. He speaks things into being. So He taught Abraham to do it, too. He showed him how to connect with THE BLESSING by calling himself blessed.
If we want to follow in his footsteps and enjoy THE BLESSING like he did, that's the first thing we must do.
Are You Into Mind Control?
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| The Blessing of the Lord: Makes Rich and He Adds No Sorrow With It By Kenneth Copeland Price: $19.99 |
Abraham didn't focus on his negative circumstances. He didn't meditate on his 100-year-old body or his very old and barren wife. He fixed his mind on God's promises. He meditated on THE BLESSING until THE BLESSING controlled his mind.
Abraham's thinking was so dominated by and saturated with THE BLESSING that when God told him to sacrifice Isaac, he didn't even flinch. He was able to march up Mount Moriah with confidence because he figured after he obeyed God's command and sacrificed that boy, God would raise him right back up.
We know that's what Abraham was thinking because Hebrews 11:17-19 says: "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."
When you think about it, Abraham's attitude was amazing because he didn't know what we know about God. He'd never seen or heard of God raising anyone from the dead. Yet he was so fully persuaded that God would keep His promise to make him a father of many nations through Issac that he expected the impossible to happen.
If Abraham could be that fully persuaded, how much more should we be? We have inherited the same blessing, and ours has been guaranteed not just by the blood of animals like Abraham's was, but by the precious blood of Jesus, God's own Son!
What's more, we don't have to believe God with our own, natural mind like Abraham did. As born-again believers, we can think supernaturally because "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). We have the mind of the Anointed One.
Talk about having an advantage! That same kind of divine mind is available to us, but we have to take it by faith. If we want to follow the faith of Abraham, we must begin to call things that be not as though they were. We must speak God's Word over our minds and say, "I thank God my mind is as anointed as the mind of Jesus. THE BLESSING is working in me now and an anointed mind is part of my blessing. Praise God, I have a brilliant mind!" Then act on 2 Corinthians 10:3-6.
This Is the Victory
Some folks think that's too good to be true. They claim we can never enjoy that kind of blessing on this earth. But I know we can, not only because the Bible says so but because I've proven it in my own life again and again.
When I was diagnosed with degenerative joint disease a few years ago, for example, I knew I had to connect with THE BLESSING to turn that condition around. So I did exactly what Abraham did. I considered not my body that was screaming in pain. I focused on THE BLESSING of God instead. I fixed my mind and my mouth on the fact that I was healed by the stripes of Jesus (1 Peter 2:24).
I called things that be not as though they were. I said, "I'm healed," and I said it not just once or twice but countless times month after month.
I won't kid you, it wasn't easy. Sometimes I hurt so bad I thought I'd have to stuff a rag in my mouth to keep myself from talking about it. I'd sit on my back porch with heating pads wrapped around my legs and turn the heat up as high as it would go, hoping the heat would hurt bad enough to distract me from the pain in my joints.
It took effort to speak words of faith during that time. I was tempted to say things like, "Dear God, how long must I be in pain like this? How long before my healing comes?"
But I didn't do that. I stuck with the truth. I locked on to THE BLESSING and refused to let go. I connected with that blessing by speaking, believing and acting on the Word of God and, sure enough, the impossible happened. I have MRIs to prove it. One shows my body with degenerative joint disease and ruptured disks in my back. The other, done some time later, shows all the disease is gone and all the disks healed, regenerated and standing tall!
That's the kind of thing that happens when we make the faith connection. We open the door to THE BLESSING of God and His goodness pours into our lives. Sickness becomes health. Poverty becomes wealth. We start living like the overcomers God made us to be.
Kenneth Copeland | |
| Web site: Kenneth Copeland Ministries |
 Kenneth Copeland is known worldwide as a speaker, author, television minister and recording artist. The driving force of his ministry is the message that God’s Word works to turn every area of life from failure to success. Today, after 43 years in public ministry, he and his wife, Gloria, distribute the biblical message of hope worldwide from Kenneth Copeland Ministries headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, and from international offices in Canada, Europe, Australia, Africa and Ukraine. Countless lives are impacted through his ministry in both domestic and international Believers' Conventions and Victory Campaigns and through the Believer's Voice of Victory magazine mailed to more than a half million readers worldwide every month. Millions more learn to put God's plan for effective living to work for them through the Believer's Voice of Victory television broadcast which is aired on 571 stations daily and 536 on Sunday in the U.S., and 130 stations internationally. BVOV also available through live and prerecorded Internet webcasts at www.kcm.org. Today, Christian growth materials authored by Kenneth Copeland are trusted resources in homes throughout the world, with more than 150 titles in books, CDs and DVDs—including books translated into two dozen languages. By the end of 2008, more than 15,029,664 books; 14,021,220 cassettes; 7,097,686 teaching CDs; 430,379 videos; and 749,657 DVDs had been distributed. Since his earliest days of ministry, Kenneth Copeland has preached the uncompromised Word of God, continuing to fulfill his mission to declare from the top of the world to the bottom and all the way around that Jesus is Lord! |
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