Faith or Desperation by Kenneth Copeland

Most believers don’t pay much attention
to hope. They don’t think of it as being very
important. They certainly don’t consider it as
important as faith. But the fact is, faith won’t
function without hope.

That’s because “Faith is the substance of
things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1). Sometimes
I say it this way, “Hope is the blueprint of
discovering the power in supernatural expectancy
faith.” When hope is lost, faith loses its aim.
It no longer has a mission to accomplish. It
just scatters uselessly in every direction.

I remember one time, some years ago,
when that happened to me. At God’s instruction,
I had given my airplane to another
preacher and then ordered another to replace
it. During the weeks while the new plane
was being manufactured, I began to believe
God for the full amount I needed to pay
for it.

I hooked up my faith to the promises of
God and I was going along fine for a while.
But just a few days before the plane was
scheduled to be delivered, I realized I was
$20,000 short.

As the delivery date grew closer, I became
more and more alarmed. I started making
faith confessions as fast as I could. I’d say,
“Thank God, I have that $20,000. In Jesus’
Name, I-have-it-I-have-it-I-have-it-I-have-it.”
But the problem was, I was no longer
confessing in faith, I was confessing out of
desperation.

I knew something had to change, so I
gathered up my Bible and my tapes, got in
my boat, and went out to the middle of the
lake to spend some time with the Lord. But
when I got out there, I was still saying,
“Thank God, I have that $20,000. In Jesus’
Name, I-have-it-I-have-it-I-have-it-I-have-it.”
Suddenly, the Lord spoke up on the inside
of me: KENNETH, BE QUIET! He said, I’m
tired of hearing that. Just hush and let Me show
you what I can do.

When He said that, something happened
inside me. My hope came alive again.
Suddenly I was expectant instead of desperate.
I started eagerly anticipating what God
was about to do, instead of fearing what
would happen if He didn’t come through in
this situation.

Sure enough, the $20,000 I needed for
that airplane came in and the pilot who
delivered it to me ended up getting saved
and filled with the Holy Spirit in the
process. But none of that would have
happened if I hadn’t pulled aside, locked
myself away with the Word for several
hours, and let the Spirit of God rebuild
and rekindle the hope inside me.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries