Through listening to Him and communicating with Him, in living communion with Him, grace and peace are multiplied to us.

What is the wisest thing for you to do? Go after more of God. Pray in the Spirit. Pray with your understanding. Spend time with your Father. Read the Word and meditate on it. Think about it. Ask Him to teach you the truth. Ask Him to lead you. If you need to know something, ask Him about it. He is the teacher.

If you were a student in school and did not know what to do, you would ask your teacher. In the same way, the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds directly from God, is living in you, and He is your own private tutor—your teacher. I know it is a difficult thing to fathom. You have to receive grace to believe it. You have to allow the Spirit of God to reveal it to you. Why would you walk in the dark or live in confusion when the Spirit of God is in you? There is only one reason—failure to listen to Him and do what He says.

The Spirit of God ministers grace to us on a day-to-day basis. That makes us want to be obedient so He can manifest His blessings in our lives. The obedient are blessed of God. It always has been that way. The Apostle James wrote:

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:4-7).

Very often, people quote this scripture only partially. They say, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” First it says, “Submit yourselves to God.” Then it says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Satan flees from the obedient.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

We do not want to fail the grace of God. We do not want to frustrate the grace of God by not obeying the Holy Spirit.

What good is it to have a Counselor if we fail to do what He says?

What good is it to have a Strengthener if we will not receive His strength?

What good is it to have a Helper if we give Him nothing to help?

The only way He can do anything for us on a continual basis is through our obedience in following Him because we each have a will. He never imposes His will over ours. He gives us direction. He prompts us. He provides that inward witness. But we are never forced to obey. We can always go our own way and then pay the price for disobedience.

It is wonderful to know that the Spirit of God is within us. May we always be willing to hear His voice and obey Him in full measure.

Second Corinthians 9:8 in the The Amplified Bible says, “And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance....” This would encompass every area of life. Since we first received Him, God has been ready to minister grace to us, to set us apart, to bring us to a place where He can give His blessings to us without restraint. When this happens, others know we are His special people. They see the blessings of God. They see the manifestation of His presence in our lives. It is a witness to them of His goodness.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Isaiah 9:6-7
KJV—Unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given: and the government shall be upon
his shoulder: and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The
everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of
the increase of his government and peace
there shall be no end, upon the throne of
David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and
to establish it with judgment and with justice
from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this.

NIV—To us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end. He will reign on David’s
throne and over his kingdom, establishing and
upholding it with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever. The zeal of the
Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

AMP—To us a Child is born, to us a Son is
given; and the government shall be upon
His shoulder, and His name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father [of Eternity], Prince of Peace. Of the
increase of His government and of peace there
shall be no end, upon the throne of David and
over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold
it with justice and with righteousness from the
[latter] time forth, even forevermore. The zeal
of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah 19:20
KJV—They shall cry unto the Lord because
of the oppressors, and he shall send them a
saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver
them.

AMP—They will cry to the Lord because of
oppressors, and He will send them a savior,
even a mighty one, and he will deliver them.

Moffatt—When any who are oppressed cry
to the Eternal to send a champion, he will
intervene and rescue them.

NIV—When they cry out to the Lord because
of their oppressors, he will send them a savior
and defender, and he will rescue them.

Luke 1:67-75
NKJV—Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit,
and prophesied, saying: Blessed is the Lord
God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed
His people, and has raised up a horn of
salvation for us...as He spoke by the mouth of
His holy prophets, who have been since the
world began, that we should be saved from
our enemies and from the hand of all who
hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our
fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the
oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
To grant us that we, being delivered from the
hand of our enemies, might serve Him without
fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him
all the days of our life.

Weymouth—Zechariah...was filled with the
Holy Spirit, and he prophesied, saying, “Blessed
be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He
has not forgotten His people but has effected
redemption for them, and has raised up a
mighty Deliverer for us...as He has spoken from
of old by the lips of His holy prophets—to deliver
us from our foes and from the power of all who
hate us, dealing pitifully with our forefathers,
and to remember His holy covenant, the oath
which He swore to Abraham our forefather, to
grant us to be rescued from the power of our
foes and so render worship to Him free from
fear, in holiness and uprightness before Him
all our days.”

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Religion might have tried to explain the
absence of those blessings in my life by telling
me God made those promises to the Israelite
nation, not to me. But I had already found
out from Galatians 3:29 that everything God
promised Abraham belongs to the gentiles
now through Christ Jesus. For “if ye be
Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs
according to the promise.”

No, there was no doubt in my mind that
these blessings were legally mine. The only
question I had was, “How can I get my hands
on them?”

As I dug into the Word, I found the
answer. To enjoy the blessings of Abraham,
I was going to have to walk in the same kind
of faith he did.

Now, as in Abraham’s day, faith opens
the door to God’s promises. To me, that was
good news.

Not everyone sees it that way, however.
Some people want the blessings without
having to walk by faith. But like it or not,
that’s just not the way things work.
“Well,” you say, “I wish they did!”

No, you really don’t. God didn’t set up
the system of faith and prayer in order to
make things difficult for you. He did it because
Satan and his crew are always trying to steal
our blessings. God’s system is designed to keep
them from pilfering our inheritance.

That’s not hard to understand. After all, we
protect things of value, even in the natural world.
Think about how your bank works, for example.
You have money deposited there. You know it
belongs to you. But if you want to receive it,
there are some things you have to do.

Why is that? It’s certainly not to keep
you from getting your own money—it’s to
keep other people from getting it. The pro-
cedures are for your benefit.

Of course, if you want to, you can ignore
the procedures. You can go into the bank and
squall and cry, beg, plead and jump up and
down, but if you don’t follow the established
procedures, you won’t get your money.

In that same way, God’s promises belong
to you. They’re locked up in the spiritual
treasure house of Almighty God. To access
them, you’ll have to take the time to learn
the procedures. You’ll have to study God’s
Word and discover His ways.

My willingness and even eagerness to do
that was about all I had going for me back
there in those early days, but it was enough.
I was so desperate to learn faith that I locked
myself in my garage with some tapes of
Kenneth E. Hagin’s messages about our
inheritance in Christ Jesus.

For a week, I didn’t talk to anyone else;
I didn’t listen to anyone else. I just went out
there with the garbage, my Bible and my tape
recorder. I told Gloria, “Don’t call me more
than once for a meal. If I don’t show up in
five minutes, go ahead and eat without me.

I’ll come in and sleep when I’m ready and
then I’m coming right back out here. If
anybody calls me, I’m not available.”
I stayed out there with those tapes hour
after hour. I couldn’t get enough of the Word
of God.

I’m the same way today. I can’t get enough
of it. I don’t care what else is going on in the
world, I’m going to stick with the Word. It
brought me out of debt. It healed me. It healed
my children. It has taken me through everything
that has ever come my way, and I’m not
about to turn loose of it now.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries