Gloria Copeland — His Divine Favor Part 5
Let’s not be like the Galatian Christians. Christ became of no effect to them. They fell from grace—they deprived themselves of the ministry of the Holy Spirit from Whom they received daily grace for daily living. You and I need not spend one day in darkness and defeat if we will be obedient to God and listen to His Spirit.
We read in Romans 8:13-14: “...if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
The word sons in the Greek means “mature sons” of God. “For they [our earthly fathers] verily for a few days chastened [or disciplined] us after their own pleasure; but he [God] for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10).
The Holy Spirit is here for our profit. He is here to instruct us. The word chastened does not mean He makes us sick or knocks us in the head. It means He teaches, instructs, admonishes, corrects and disciplines us. “Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea” (Isaiah 48:17-18).
God teaches us to profit. He is in us to teach us to profit in all things, first of all spiritual things. When we profit in spiritual things, profit in the natural realm is the byproduct.
He will teach us how to be holy as He is holy. We are to be separated from the world so we live like the Father instead of like the world.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled (Hebrews 12:11-15).
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Gloria Copeland — His Divine Favor Part 4
Galatians 5:4 in Wuest reads: “You are without effect from Christ, such of you as in the sphere of the law are seeking your justification. You have lost your hold upon [sanctifying] grace.”
They were no longer seeking after the Spirit; they were seeking after keeping the law for their justification. They had lost their hold upon sanctifying grace.
What does the word sanctify mean? “To set apart.” Paul was saying to them, “You have lost your hold upon the grace of God by the Spirit of God that sets you apart from the world.”
Most Christians have never entered into the fullness of grace in daily life because their understanding and expectation of grace stops at the new birth. They only have known enough to get born again. Most Christians do not even know enough to walk in divine health. But when they die, they will go to be with the Lord.
Galatians 5:5 in Wuest reads: “For, as for us, through the agency of the Spirit, on the ground of faith, a hoped-for righteousness we are eagerly awaiting....”
We allow the Spirit of God to minister grace to us on the ground of faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Faith gives us access into the grace of God. “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2). “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
What is faith? Hearing and obeying God’s Word—the written Word and His Word in our hearts. Faith demands action. We must hear the guidance of the Spirit and obey it, and that obedience opens the door and gives us access to grace—the wonderful favor of God. To walk in the grace and favor of God is to walk in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
As we cooperate with His Spirit and be obedient, grace overtakes us and we walk in the goodness of God. The moment we begin to seek Him, the Holy Spirit begins to minister grace in our lives. We would never be able to become mature sons and daughters of God without the grace of God. He could have given up on us, but His grace continued after us. He lovingly waits for us to receive that grace. He wants to bring to pass in our lives everything Jesus bought and paid for on the cross. Jesus destroyed the works of the devil. He destroyed Satan’s kingdom. We have already absolutely been made free in every area of life.
Our obedience to God—obeying His voice and keeping His commandments—causes us to live in the earth like we were already in heaven. How can that be? Because heaven is in us. The Holy Spirit is in us. He is the earnest of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:14). Wherever the Holy Spirit is given dominion in the life of a believer, the kingdom of God—the dominion of God—is manifested.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Gloria Copeland — His Divine Favor Part 3
You must reach the place of trusting the Holy Spirit to fulfill His ministry. As you trust Him, He will be able to lead you. The promptings of the Holy Spirit in us will prevent us from going in the wrong direction and will enable us to go in the right direction.
The Holy Spirit ministering grace reveals God’s plan for our lives. If we never walk in the Spirit, we will never walk in God’s perfect will for our lives. We will just be walking in the dark, bumping against the walls of life.
The Apostle Paul in Galatians talks about our falling from grace. He is writing to the Church, to born-again people. When he writes about their falling from grace, he does not mean they are going to hell. He is referring to their falling from the position of being ministered to by the Holy Ghost on a day-to-day basis. “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel” (Galatians 1:6).
We are called to live and dwell in the blessing and grace of Christ Jesus Himself. We are joint heirs with Him. He has given us the keys to His kingdom.
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Galatians 3:1-5).
Let’s look at Galatians 5:
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.... Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith (Galatians 5:1, 4-5).
Here Paul said that Christ had become of no effect. What did he mean? All the wonderful things Jesus bought and paid for in redemption were having no effect in their lives, because they were no longer going after the Spirit. They were going after law, following after another gospel. They fell from the state of dependence on the Holy Spirit—they fell from grace. The Spirit of God was unable to minister to
them all the blessings of redemption, all the things God had prepared for them because they were not depending on the work of the Holy Spirit. He was unable to minister grace—divine favor and blessing—to them.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Gloria Copeland — His Divine Favor Part 1
The Spirit of God in our lives wants to minister grace—God’s divine favor and blessing—to us on a daily basis. Because of this, we can live in the continual blessing and comfort of the Holy Spirit. Grace did not stop when we were born again. When we leave this earth and go to be with Him, grace will have only begun. In the ages to come, He will lavish His grace upon us.
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:5-8).
Salvation is a free gift of God. It comes to us by the grace of God. Salvation is more than the new birth. It is salvation in every area of our lives. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words says salvation means “deliverance, preservation; material and temporal deliverance from danger and apprehension; pardon, protection, liberty, health, restoration, soundness, wholeness.” Our salvation does not stop when we are born again. Philippians 2:12 says, “...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” In other words, have respect and honor unto Him and continue to work out your own salvation.
What does it mean to work out your own salvation? It simply means to follow after the Holy Spirit. Only God knows the end and the depths of salvation and the wonderful things He has prepared for us in this life. He has more in store for us than just going to heaven when we die. We are to live in the blessing and dominion of God while here on earth.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
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