Let me tell you about an incident that happened in our family. It will show you clearly what I mean. One of Gloria’s younger brothers went home to be with the Lord quite suddenly because of a car wreck.
Stanley’s departure took us all by surprise. No one was prepared for it.

When we got the news, the spirit of grief attacked like a flash, trying to get a foothold. I walked up and down my den floor fighting it in the Name of Jesus. Every time my emotions would try to rise up, I’d
say, “No, no, no! I will not partake of sorrow. I partake of joy and gladness.” Up and down I walked, praising God until it was whipped.

Once I got grief and sorrow out of the way, I began praying for Gloria’s mother, Mary. As I prayed, the force of compassion came up on the inside of me so powerfully that it just gushed up through me. When it did, I had a vision. I saw Stanley in heaven. I saw him just as plainly as I’ve ever seen anyone.

To fully appreciate the vision, you have to understand that Stanley was a brick and rock mason, a very powerful man, physically. He worked hard with his arms so he used to cut the sleeves out of his shirts. You just couldn’t get him to wear a shirt with sleeves in it.

When I saw him that day, he was running across a pasture. (Yes, a pasture! Heaven’s not made of clouds, you know. The earth is a copy of heaven, so the two look a lot alike.) Anyway, he was wearing
a robe, a good-looking robe, and life was all over him. The wild thing was, that robe didn’t have any sleeves in it!

Now isn’t that just like Jesus to give Stanley a robe without any sleeves in it? When I saw him, the Lord spoke to me and said, Tell Mary I snatched him out of that truck before the collision. He never knew anything about it.

Here’s what I want you to see. If I’d let grief and sorrow come in and take over the way they tried to, I wouldn’t have been able to receive that wave of compassion. I wouldn’t have been moved by God’s power, and I certainly wouldn’t have seen Stanley. I wouldn’t have seen anything but grief and sorrow.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

As a believer, you’ve been redeemed from the curse of grief and sorrow by the blood of Jesus Christ. You don’t have to put up with them any more than you have to put up with sin, sickness or disease. So,
if you’ll follow the instructions in James 4:7 and resist them, they’ll have to flee from you!

Psalm 107:2 tells you how to do that. It says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!...” That means when sorrow and grief start bearing down on you, say, “Oh no you don’t! I’m the redeemed of the Lord. I’ve been delivered from the likes of you. So you just get right on out of here!”

God started teaching me about this personally several months before my mother went home to be with Him in August 1988. Every time He’d show me something about it, I’d put it into practice. (You ought to do that with anything God is teaching you. Start practicing it immediately so you can walk in it when the time comes!)

So, eight-and-a-half months before my mother went home to be with the Lord, I began standing against grief and sorrow. I made a decision to “sorrow not.” Immediately the devil began to attack my emotions.

But I’d say, “No. I won’t receive that. I take authority over these feelings in Jesus’ Name. I’ve given my body as a sacrifice well-pleasing to the Lord, and I won’t partake of anything but His joy.” Then I’d start speaking the Word and praising out loud. “I sorrow not. I’m the redeemed of the Lord, and I’m not going to tolerate grief, you understand? I rejoice; I rejoice in my momma’s homegoing! I release her to You, Lord Jesus!”

When I did that, the spirit of grief would go away for a while. Then it would come back and try again. I went through three rugged days of that, and each time I resisted it. The last time that spirit came at me, he was whimpering. “Please?” he begged. I just said, “Nope. Get!” After that he was gone.

What I’m telling you is this: You’re going to have to stand against grief and sorrow. They don't belong to you. They are not from your heavenly Father. But the devil’s a scoundrel. He’ll put them over on you if you’ll let him get away with it.

We’ve let him saddle us with grief and sorrow for too long. It’s time we put a stop to it. Once we do, some glorious things will happen.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Deuteronomy 5:16
KJV—Honour thy father and thy mother, as
the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that
thy days may be prolonged, and that it may
go well with thee….

AMP—Honor your father and your mother,
as the Lord your God commanded you, that
your days may be prolonged and that it may
go well with you….

Moffatt—Honour your father and your
mother, as the Eternal your God has ordered
you, that you may have a long life and that all
may go well with you….

NIV—Honor your father and your mother, as
the Lord your God has commanded you, so
that you may live long and that it may go well
with you….

Psalm 33:18-19
KJV—The eye of the Lord is upon them that
fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
to deliver their soul from death, and to keep
them alive in famine.

AMP—The Lord’s eye is upon those who fear
Him [who revere and worship Him with awe],
who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and
loving-kindness, to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

Moffatt—The Eternal’s eye rests on his
worshippers, who rest their hopes upon his
kindness, that he may rescue them from death,
and during famine-days keep them alive.

NIV—The eyes of the Lord are on those
who fear him, on those whose hope is in his
unfailing love, to deliver them from death and
keep them alive in famine.

Psalm 56:12-13
KJV—O God...thou hast delivered my soul
from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from
falling, that I may walk before God in the light
of the living?

AMP—O God...You have delivered my life
from death, yes, and my feet from falling, that
I may walk before God in the light of life and
of the living.

Moffatt—O God...thou hast saved my life from
death, my feet from stumbling, that I might live,
ever mindful of God, in the sunshine of life.

NIV—O God...you have delivered me from
death and my feet from stumbling, that I may
walk before God in the light of life.

Psalm 66:8-9
KJV—O bless our God, ye people, and make
the voice of his praise to be heard: Which
holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our
feet to be moved.

AMP—Bless our God, O peoples, give Him
grateful thanks and make the voice of His
praise to be heard, Who put and kept us
among the living, and has not allowed our feet
to slip.

Moffatt—Bless our God, O ye nations, sound
his praise aloud, who keeps us safe in life, and
never lets us come to grief.

NIV—Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound
of his praise be heard; he has preserved our
lives and kept our feet from slipping.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

2 Chronicles 14:11

KJV—Lord, it is nothing with thee to help,
whether with many, or with them that have
no power.

AMP—O Lord, there is none besides You to
help, and it makes no difference to You whether
the one You help is mighty or powerless.

Moffatt—O Eternal, thou art the only one to
help the weak against the mighty.

NIV—Lord, there is no one like you to help the
powerless against the mighty.

Psalm 8:2

KJV—Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
hast thou ordained strength because of thine
enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy
and the avenger.

AMP—Out of the mouth of babes and
unweaned infants You have established
strength because of Your foes, that You might
silence the enemy and the avenger.

NIV—From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise because of your
enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

TLB—You have taught the little children to
praise you perfectly. May their example shame
and silence your enemies!

Psalm 12:5

KJV—For the oppression of the poor, for the
sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the
Lord; I will set him in safety from him that
puffeth at him.

AMP—Now will I arise, says the Lord, because
the poor are oppressed, because of groans of
the needy; I will set him in safety and in the
salvation for which he pants.

Moffatt—“The weak are being crushed, the
needy sigh; So I take action,” says the Eternal
One, “and set them safe where they long to be.”

NIV—“Because of the oppression of the weak
and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,”
says the Lord. “I will protect them from those
who malign them.”

Psalm 34:6

KJV—This poor man cried, and the Lord heard
him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
Moffatt—Here is a poor man whose cry
the Eternal heard, and helped him out of all
his troubles.

NIV—This poor man called, and the Lord heard
him; he saved him out of all his troubles.

Psalm 35:10

KJV—All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like
unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him
that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and
the needy from him that spoileth him?

AMP—All my bones shall say, Lord, who is
like You, You Who deliver the poor and the
afflicted from him who is too strong for him,
yes, the poor and the needy from him who
snatches away his goods?

Moffatt—All my being shall exclaim, “O thou
Eternal, who is like thee, O rescuer of the
weak from stronger powers, O rescuer of the
wretched from destroyers!”

NIV—My whole being will exclaim, “Who is like
you, O Lord? You rescue the poor from those
too strong for them, the poor and needy from
those who rob them.”

Psalm 40:17

KJV—I am poor and needy; yet the Lord
thinketh upon me: thou art my help and
my deliverer.

AMP—I am poor and needy, yet the Lord
takes thought and plans for me. You are my
Help and my Deliverer.

Moffatt—I am weak and wretched; yet the
Eternal will take thought for me. Thou art my
help and my deliverer.

NIV—I am poor and needy; may the Lord think
of me. You are my help and my deliverer.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Psalm 18:3

KJV—I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy
to be praised: so shall I be saved from
mine enemies.

AMP—I will call upon the Lord, Who is to be
praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.

Moffatt—The Eternal is to be praised!—I call
to him, and I am rescued from my foes.

NIV—I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.

Psalm 18:4-19

KJV—The sorrows of death compassed me,
and the floods of ungodly men made me
afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me
about: the snares of death prevented me. In
my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried
unto my God: he heard my voice out of his
temple, and my cry came before him, even into
his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled;
the foundations also of the hills moved and
were shaken, because he was wroth. There
went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire
out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled
by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came
down: and darkness was under his feet. And
he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he
did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made
darkness his secret place; his pavilion round
about him were dark waters and thick clouds
of the skies. At the brightness that was before
him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and
coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the
heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail
stones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his
arrows, and scattered them; and he shot
out lightnings, and discomfited them. Then
the channels of waters were seen, and the
foundations of the world were discovered at
thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath
of thy nostrils. He sent from above, he took
me, he drew me out of many waters. He
delivered me from my strong enemy, and
from them which hated me: for they were too
strong for me. They prevented me in the day
of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay. He
brought me forth also into a large place; he
delivered me, because he delighted in me.

Psalm 31:1-2

KJV—O Lord...Bow down thine ear to me;
deliver me speedily.

AMP—O Lord...Bow down Your ear to me,
deliver me speedily!

Moffatt—O thou Eternal...Turn thine ear to
me, delay not to deliver me.

NIV—O Lord...Turn your ear to me, come
quickly to my rescue.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries