Kenneth Copeland — Exposing the Deadly Nature of Grief Pt 2
Grief and sorrow are dangerous. Years ago, God started jerking the wraps off them and unveiling their true nature to me in a startling way. He showed me that they’re not the innocent emotions we’ve thought they were. They are actually spirit beings sent by the devil himself to steal, kill and destroy.
In fact, grief and sorrow were part of the devastating, satanic barrage Jesus took on Himself when He died on the cross. Isaiah 53:4 says: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” That phrase, “griefs and sorrows,” can also be translated sickness, weakness and pain. But any way you translate it, they’re all pieces of the same destructive puzzle.
Grief and sorrow are part of the devil’s game. They are the ever-present, shadowing companions of death. Jesus bore them on the cross, so we wouldn’t have to. Yet countless Christians are still shouldering them today. In doing so, they’re ignoring the direct command in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, where we are clearly told to “sorrow not!”
Let’s read that scripture: “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and
rose again....”
Stop there and notice that according to those verses, sorrow is only for those who have no hope, who don’t believe that Jesus died and rose again.
So, obviously, it’s not for you! As a believer, you do have hope—not just where physical death is concerned but in every other circumstance as well. In order to partake of sorrow about a particular situation, you’re going to have to reject the hope you’ve been given through Calvary concerning that situation. You can’t have hope and sorrow at the same time!
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Kenneth Copeland — Exposing the Deadly Nature of Grief Pt 1
It comes disguised as a simple, “healthy” emotion. Then, little by little, it drains you dry. It is devious and destructive, and it’s the constant companion of death itself.
Singing the blues. It’s one of humanity’s favorite pastimes. Everyone does it in one form or another. Drunks balance on bar stools and blubber about how hard life is. Christians clutch their hymnals and sing mournfully about the same thing.
They all think they’re doing it because they’re sad. But they’re not. They’re doing it because, in a peculiar kind of way, they like it.
I first realized this years ago, before I met Jesus, when I was singing in nightclubs and bars. It seemed that no matter where I went, some guy would come stumbling up to me and ask me to sing Melancholy Baby—not so he could forget about his sorrows, but so he could burrow more deeply into them. So he could really, really get into the blues.
On the surface that may seem strange. But, the truth is, you’ve probably done the same kind of thing yourself. We all have.
Why would we actually choose to feel sorrow? Because sorrow has an emotional kick to it. It offers a surge of feeling that, in the beginning stages, is almost intoxicating.
The great blues singers have made their living off people who wanted to feel that rush of emotion. But it’s interesting to note that the really great blues singers don’t usually live very long. Take Billie Holiday, for example. People begged to hear her sing because the spirits of grief and sorrow within her were so intense they just seemed to reach out and grab you when you heard her. Yet those same spirits that made her blues so gripping, drove her to destruction.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Gloria Copeland — Faith Sustained By Patience
Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” You must believe you are healed before you see the results in your body. You can’t wait until your body looks and feels healed before you believe it. If you do, you’ll never receive by faith. You can’t get faith’s results without exerting the force of faith. Faith is believing you receive whatever you ask before it can be seen or felt. Your evidence is the Word of God, not the sought-after result. The Word is your evidence that you have it now.
You have exercised your faith in God’s Word. Now let patience have its perfect work. The force of faith is at work, undergirded by the power of patience. Your faith connected with the Father the very moment you took His Word as the evidence of your healing. Now, confess with your mouth that it’s yours, and by your actions show that it’s yours. You must talk healing and act healing. Patience began to work from the time you believed you received, and it must be allowed to work until the last symptom leaves your body. The voice of patience says, “I know God’s Word is true. I will not be moved by what I see or feel. I will only be moved by the Word of God. I patiently rest on the truth of God’s mighty Word!”
The experience of the answer is inevitable.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Kenneth Copeland — Having Done All…Stand! Part 2
Then, “having done all to stand, stand” until your healing is fully manifest (see Ephesians 6 6:12-14). Steadfastly hold your ground. Don’t waver. For as James 1:6-8 8 says, “he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
If your condition is serious, you may also have to resist the temptation to worry. The devil will try to use anxiety over your situation to choke the Word in your heart and make it unfruitful (Mark 4:19), but don’t let him succeed. Just trust God, “casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7) and constantly keep in mind these wonderful words from Hebrews:
He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.... Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised (Hebrews 10:23, 35-36, The Amplified Bible).
Above all, keep your attention trained on the Word—not on lingering symptoms. Be like Abraham who “considered not his own body” (Romans 4:19). Instead of focusing on your circumstances, focus on what God has said to you. Develop an inner image of yourself with your healing fully manifest. See yourself well. See yourself whole. See yourself healed in every way.
Since what you keep before your eyes and in your ears determines what you will believe in your heart and what you will act on, make the Word your No. 1 priority. Attend to it—and it will attend to you!
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Kenneth Copeland — Having Done All…Stand! Part 1
As you put God’s prescription for health to work in your life, don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. Although many times healing comes instantly, there are also times when it takes place more gradually.
So don’t let lingering symptoms cause you to doubt. After all, when you go to the doctor, you don’t always feel better right away. The medication he gives you often takes some time before it begins to work. But you don’t allow the delay to discourage you. You follow the doctor’s orders and expect to feel better soon. Release that same kind of confidence in God’s medicine. Realize that the moment you begin to take it, the healing process begins. Keep your expectancy high and make up your mind to continue standing on the Word until you can see and feel the total physical effects of God’s healing power. Really, you are “treating” your spirit which is the source of supernatural life and health for your physical body.
When the devil whispers words of doubt and unbelief to you, when he suggests that the Word is not working, deal with those thoughts immediately. Cast them down (see 2 Corinthians 10:5). Stop right where you are and say out loud, “No. I cast you down, you evil imagination. Devil, I rebuke you. I bind you from my mind. I will not believe your lies. God has sent His Word to heal me, and His Word never fails. That Word went to work in my body the instant I believed it, so as far as I am concerned, my days of sickness are over. I declare that Jesus bore my sickness, weakness and pain and I am forever free.”
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
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