Let’s look now at 1 Corinthians 2:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-12).

God’s Spirit is in us to reveal the wonderful things that God has already prepared for us. The treasure house of heaven is open to us. God’s communion and grace, His divine favor and blessing, is to be continually enjoyed in our lives. That is walking in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). He wants His Church—the glorious Church, His special people—to repossess this place spiritually. It does not belong to the devil. It belongs to God. Satan stole it from God through Adam’s sin and disobedience. God wants us to take it back by His Spirit in obedience to Him.

Remember, by one man’s trespass, death reigned. By one man’s disobedience, sin reigned. But I want to announce this:

For if, because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God’s] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness (putting them into right standing with Himself) reign as kings in life through the One, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One (Romans 5:17, The Amplified Bible).

God by His Spirit is teaching us to walk with Him here so the kingdom of God can be manifested and the earth filled with His glory. We take the people of this earth from the hands of the devil as we are controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Those kinds of supernatural experiences don’t come to you when you’re squalling and bawling, yielding to the devil’s henchmen. They don’t come to you when you can be bought off with a two-bit rush of emotion called grief. They come to you when you’re willing to fight the devil and live by faith, yielding to the Holy Spirit. They come when you refuse to give in to sorrow—even when the devil puts the pressure on. Can you see how we’ve been robbing ourselves by playing the devil’s deadly game?

Several months after Stanley left, while Gloria and I were in a meeting, a woman who had a prophetic ministry came and spoke to Gloria. “I don’t know what this means,” she said, “but a fellow told me to give you this message.”

Then she explained that she’d been praying and interceding recently when, in a vision, God had caught her away to heaven. She found herself standing in a huge dining room, having a discussion with someone. Their discussion had nothing to do with Gloria and me. Yet while she was there, a young man who had been setting places at the big table nearby came over to her. He said, “Tell Gloria, Stanley wasn’t in the truck.”

Do you see? This stuff is real! Real, you understand? It’s a lot more real than this death game we’ve been playing!

My friend, we can’t afford this devilish game of grief and sorrow anymore. It is killing us—it is stealing the real and powerful experiences God wants to give us, and destroying us in a far deeper way than we ever imagined.

So don’t give in to it anymore. When the devil tries to burden you with grief and sorrow, resist him. You may have to walk the floor all night long. But instead of worrying and crying, walk the floor and quote the Word until that sorry spirit leaves and the real rush and overflow comes—the joy of the Lord, which is your strength.

Remember who you are! You’re the one who shall obtain gladness and joy. You’re the one sorrow and grief shall flee away from. You’ve got no business singing the blues. You’re the redeemed of the Lord.
Don’t you think it’s about time you started saying so?

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

We have seen that the word chastisement
means “punishment by inflicting pain” and
that Jesus bore our chastisement, or our punishment,
with pain on the cross.

The Greek word translated chastise in the
New Testament actually means “to instruct or
to train.” The question often arises, “How does
God chastise His own?”

How does God instruct and train us? Does
He unleash His bad dog to bite us on the leg,
so we will learn to wear our boots? No, He
does not!

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons; for
what son is he whom the father chasteneth
not? But if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are
ye bastards, and not sons.

Furthermore we have had fathers of
our flesh which corrected us, and we
gave them reverence: shall we not much
rather be in subjection unto the Father
of spirits, and live? (Hebrews 12:6-9)

Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”
(John 3:6). Our fleshly fathers correct us in the
flesh, but God is a spirit and He uses spiritual
tools, not carnal tools. He uses spiritual
weapons, not carnal weapons. Jesus said, “My
words are spirit.” He chastises with His words.

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.”
A loving God doesn’t send tornadoes or cancer
to His children. God never told me not to pray
for someone’s healing because He had put sickness
on them. Jesus said, “If you’ve seen Me,
you’ve seen the Father” (John 14:9). He never
told a leper that he would have to keep leprosy
so God could teach him something. The Word
says in Acts 10:38, “God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power:
who went about doing good, and healing all that
were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”
God did these things through Jesus. God is not
double-minded—He is single-minded.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Luke 10:19
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on
serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy: and nothing
shall by any means hurt you.

Jesus gave Himself as the last sacrifice of
the old covenant. He became the sacrificial
lamb, offered upon the altar of the Cross for
one reason: to defeat Satan.

The blood Jesus shed is protection for
those who will receive it by faith. In Egypt,
the Israelites who applied the blood of the
sacrificial lamb to their doorposts were
delivered from the death angel. How much
greater is the protecting power of “the precious
blood of Christ...a lamb without blemish and
without spot” (1 Peter 1:19).

By His blood we are separated from every
curse of the law of sin and death and given
access to every promise of the Spirit of life
(Romans 8:2). By His Spirit we have the same
anointing power in which He “went about doing
good, and healing all that were oppressed of
the devil” (Acts 10:38).

Principalities and powers were spoiled in
Jesus’ victory over death. He destroyed the
authority of the devil and every demon of hell,
bringing them down to nothing and stripping
from them the armor they had trusted in!
Moments later, He stepped out of that tomb.
He walked out of there and said, “All power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth”
(Matthew 28:18).

That’s not where it ended either. He said,
“Therefore you go into all the world. You take
My Name. You lay hands on the sick and they’ll
recover. You cast out the devil. I whipped him;
you go enforce it.” (See Mark 16:15-18.)

How do we do it? Jesus said, “If ye abide in
me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”
(John 15:7). We abide in Him by filling ourselves
with the Word so that we bring its promises
and authority into every situation that comes
before us.

The Word you meditate and act on
concerning your protection is the Word that’s
alive in you, and it will perform all God sent
it to do on your behalf. Just as we receive
wholeness for our bodies through faith, we
will walk in all the protection that is ours in
Jesus’ victory over our enemy, Satan, if we will
believe God for it.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries