by Kenneth Copeland

Not long ago, the Lord told me that we need a much higher degree of revelation that God is love, and that His love is in us to be used.
As you develop and exercise that love, He said, it will not only fill you up, it will flush the fear out of your soul. Once fear is flushed out and you begin to step out in faith and love, an area of protection will develop around you, an area of joy which is your strength—an area that the world has no explanation for. They’ll begin to wonder, “Who is this that even stops and stills the storms?”
We can read 1 John 4, and clearly see how this process works. There, the man known as the Apostle of Love says:

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us (1 John 4:15-19).

Notice the very first thing that we need to do once we’ve confessed Jesus as our Lord is to know and believe the love God has for us.
We have to develop faith in that love and have it secure in our hearts. When we do, there won’t be an ounce of fear in us. Any time the devil threatens us with some kind of harm, we can rebuke him and say, “You’d better not touch me. I am a dearly beloved child of Almighty God. If you do anything to hurt me, you’ll have my Daddy to deal with and we both know you don’t stand a chance against Him. So just back off right now!”

In Old Testament times, many of the enemies of God’s people were the “ites”—Amorites, Amalekites, Moabites, and so on. In recent days, it has been the “isms” that have tried to oppress and dominate the lives of God’s people.

We’ve seen Nazism and communism. Now, another “ism” has raised itself up—terrorism. It’s the most recent force of the enemy and, if given the opportunity, Satan would use terrorism to dominate mankind through oppression.

A dictionary definition of terrorism is very revealing: “The planned, organized use of fear as a weapon in order to terrify or paralyze the victim to the place they cannot resist oppression.”

Notice what the real weapon of terrorism is. It’s not hijacked public transportation, bombs, or guns. It’s not chemicals or germs…it’s fear.

So if you remove the fear, you remove the only real weapon the terrorist possesses.

To put this in perspective, think about someone brandishing a weapon as a threat, but that weapon has no ammunition in it. We read about a character doing just that in the book of Revelation—the Antichrist. And Jesus had already disarmed him completely.

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer (Revelation 6:1-2).
We know that without any arrows, this bowman is totally ineffective. But imagine for a moment that a spotlight is shining on this horse and rider at night and a shadow of him is cast on the side of a large building. What would be your first impression? You would see a much larger than life-sized form of that rider and his bow. And you would probably assume that he had arrows for his bow and consequently take steps to protect yourself.

In direct light, however, you would draw a much different conclusion. The archer wouldn’t be nearly as big as the shadow image he projected. And, you would be able to see that he had no arrows. In fact, you would laugh at that character sitting there trying to be a threat, when he had no ammunition for his weapon. In reality, he is no threat at all.

The Terrorist’s One Weapon

What we have just described is a perfect picture of how fear works, and why a born-again child of God is not to control fear but rather eradicate it—all of it—from his or her life.

That’s an important point, because controlling fear is a common topic of the day. And sometimes if we work at it hard enough, we can control specific fears in our natural strength. But that falls far short of the victory Jesus won over death and all fear at the cross.

Let’s clarify the difference between coping with fears and totally eradicating the spirit of fear. For the purpose of illustration, let’s use the example of a professional rodeo cowboy…a champion bull rider.

What this man does for a living is something the average spectator would consider very frightening. He gets on a beast that weighs thousands of pounds and that bull is mad at every thing that moves. Seconds later, he’s trying to ride the thing with all kinds of opposition from the bull. And when the cowboy’s ride is over or he gets thrown off, the bull does his best to gore him or stomp him.

Though it’s very dangerous, the cowboy has trained himself and ridden enough that he is not afraid to get on that bull. Yet the same man, while driving to the next performance, can be worried sick about his finances, his family, his own life and everything around him.

Why? Because fear is still present. Through logic, training and using various mental techniques, he’s learned to put down fear when riding a bull, but it still runs rampant in other areas of his life.

Now if that same cowboy locks into the Word of God and discovers how to receive total deliverance from fear and begins to walk in it, it’ll be an entirely different situation. He will respect the danger, but he won’t be afraid of the bull because he will know God and know how to walk free from fear in this and every other area of his life.

The Law of the Spirit of Life

Maybe you are thinking: Is it realistic to talk about walking totally fear free?

It is if you understand that fear is a spirit. Once you learn the spiritual law that governs fear and learn to operate it to your advantage, you can eliminate fear—all fear—from your life.

We see this in Romans 8:2-4:

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (in the Anointed One and in the Anointing of Jesus) hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
We see here that two laws govern all spiritual life: the law of sin and death and the law of the spirit of life in the Anointed Jesus and in His Anointing.

The nature of a law is that it works 100 percent of the time when the elements of that law are put in proper order and put to work. For instance, when the elements of the laws of physics are properly applied, they achieve a desired outcome in the natural, physical world.

But a greater law than natural law exists—the laws of the spirit govern the laws of the natural. What we just read in Romans 8 tells us what happens when the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (the Anointed One and in His Anointing) is put into effect. It makes us free from the laws that govern fear and the laws that govern death—the laws of sin!

How Fear of Death Operates

Now pay close attention to how fear tries to keep a foothold in our lives. Let’s take just a minute to look at fear in its rawest form. And keep in mind that the fear of death is the root of all fear. Let’s look at some of the fears people have concerning death, and the different ways a person can die. There are basically four ways a person can die—at the hand of another human being, by starvation, as the result of an accident, or from sickness and disease.

If we examine the fear of death at the hand of another human being, we will discover other fears associated with that basic fear. “What do other people think about me?” and the fear of “Will I be able to protect myself?” are two such associated fears. If we don’t deal with these fears, it won’t be long until we are worrying constantly about being the victim of a drive-by shooting or some other violent crime.

The Terrorist Plays on Fear

To understand how the devil would try to use one of these four basic fears to his advantage, imagine a man who beats another person within an inch of death. Then he picks up his victim, brushes him off and leaves.

A few days later, when the victim is just barely recovering, the attacker returns and asks, “How are you doing?” The dumbfounded victim doesn’t know what to say. He’s so afraid he can hardly move.

“I’ll tell you what,” the assailant continues, “for $100 a week I’ll see to it nobody ever does you that way again.” Still speechless, the battered victim is thinking: Well, who else would do me that way?

“You know the same thing could happen to you at almost any time,” the attacker threatens.

Notice the attacker constantly promotes fear of himself. Then the victim begins reading between the lines: He’s the one that’s going to come back and do it! Or maybe his thugs are going to come back and kill me.

So what has the attacker done? He has used terror and fear to try to extort money. He took a basic fear—in this case, fear of death at the hands of another person—amplified that fear and used it as a weapon of oppression and terror to take what does not belong to him.

In the same way, a variety of worries can spring out of the basic fear of death by starvation. For example, the concern about not having enough money to buy food may lead to the thinking: I don’t want to offend my boss because he’s the one who gave me this job and I have to work for him. Taking my Bible to work might offend him. If I offend him, he’ll fire me, and I’ll wind up without any income. Then I won’t have any money. And if I don’t have money, I won’t have enough to eat!

Do you see how your mind will run away with you if you don’t attack fear at its root? You’ll see the same pattern develop with any of the fears we’ve mentioned.

One right after another, the devil introduces every possible method of dying in order to paralyze people and keep fear on their minds all the time. This strategy is designed to make their witness as Christians ineffective. And pretty soon, if unchecked, he will have undermined their faith. And once that happens, his ultimate goal is possible—to get the Word that has been sown into the believer’s heart:

…when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended. And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful (Mark 4:17-19).
Affliction, persecution, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things are all tools Satan uses for one purpose—to steal the Word out of the heart of the person who has received it with gladness.

All five of these tools depend on fear to work. And Satan himself is behind every one of them. But when we shine the full force of the light of God’s Word on his devices, and renew our minds and words to what God has said—we expose a defeated and weaponless enemy. Satan has already been defeated and stripped of the only real weapon he ever had—the power of death and the fear that power created.

Now, in the light of God’s Word, this weaponless foe is being exposed for who he truly is. Without his deceptions, he cannot stop the Word. And if he cannot stop the Word, he cannot stop you!

Now think of all the different people it takes to make up the Body of Christ in the world today. What if we all prayed an hour each day in the Spirit? How many hours of praying the perfect will of God would that represent?

Once the Body of Christ rises up and becomes obedient to God, with each individual doing what he is told, we will reap the harvest of souls that God desires—and we will do it quickly!

God might tell one person to pray five hours. Someone else may be told to pray 15 minutes. The important thing is that we do what we are told. I was told to pray an hour each day, and it has changed my life. (Now I pray in English as much as in the Spirit—just whatever direction I receive.)

If you prayed in the Spirit one hour a day, by the end of the year you would have prayed 365 hours of the perfect will of God. Just 15 minutes a day would be 91 hours. Don’t you think that would affect everything in your life for good? It certainly did mine. I wouldn’t consider not spending time in prayer every morning.

I want you to realize that God will deal with you right where you are today. He might tell you to pray five minutes each day. He may ask you to start there and then increase. Five minutes is important when you are praying the perfect will of God. It is God praying through you. He gives the utterance, you give Him your authority and your voice. When you pray in the spirit, your intellect will not get in the way because you are not praying out of your head, but out of your spirit.

We must come to a place where we keep God’s Word, obey His guidance and simply do what we are told—a body of people that God can depend on to do His will in the earth.

What God said exactly was “Don’t take up all your time with natural things…but see to it that you give heed unto your spirit and give your spirit opportunity to feed upon the Word of God…
and give your spirit opportunity to commune with the Father above and build yourself up on your most holy faith…just an houror two out of 24, just pay a tithe of your time unto Me, saith the Lord and ALL WILL BE WELL.”

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

You may ask, “But can’t I pray in my own language?”

Yes, but not to the degree you need to be praying. You can only pray with your own understanding according to the knowledge you have. Many times you will not know enough in the natural to accurately pray for the answer, but the Holy Spirit inside you will provide God’s solution when you pray in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit prays God’s higher way into the situation—His perfect will.

We should pray both ways the Apostle Paul said:

For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also (1 Corinthians 14:14-15).

The Holy Spirit is in us to bring to pass the will of God in our lives. Bringing to pass God’s will is the pre-eminent responsibility of the Church in the earth. Because the Church is made up of individual people, this responsibility starts with you and me. Each person in the Church standing before the Lord, being obedient to the Spirit of God, will cause God’s will to be done in the earth.

We are favored to be able to pray with the understanding and with the spirit. We do not know enough in our natural minds to be that glorious Church without spot or wrinkle, but in the spirit realm we do. We must reach down into our spirits that are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and find out what to do. As we take our place in the spirit, God’s special people will rise up in the earth.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Often we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit of God knows. The Spirit of God is in you to pray through you—to give you utterance in the perfect will of God. That is what praying
in other tongues is all about. He prays God’s answer through you. Praying in the Spirit overcomes the weakness you have because of lack of knowledge as well as the weakness you have because of
living in a natural body. It helps your spirit to receive enlightenment and strength to dominate your actions.

“He that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries” (1 Corinthians 14:2).

Jude 20-21 says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life.”

Romans 8:27 reads, “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit….”

He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. God looks on the heart, and you look so much better in your heart than in your flesh. But He wants you to look as good on the outside as you look on the inside. Following after the Holy Spirit will bring that to pass. Following after the Word of God and the leading of God in your spirit will cause you to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).

In our hearts we must desire to please God. We must despise things in our lives that we know are not right before Him. As born-again believers, we do not want to sin. We want to be free. We want to please God.

The problem we’ve experienced has been getting our souls and bodies in agreement with our hearts. The Word of God and praying in the Spirit is the answer. We must give ourselves over to the Spirit of God, begin to pray in the Spirit, and allow the washing of the water of the Word to present us a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing and without blemish (see Ephesians 5:25-27).

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries (1 Corinthians 14:2).

When I began to pray an hour each day, I prayed mostly in the spirit—in other tongues. In the spirit I prayed the perfect will of God. I was able to pray His will even though I did not know the specifics of His will about many things with my intellect. I spoke mysteries unto God (Romans 8:26). Weymouth says “divine secrets.”

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27).

The Holy Spirit helps us to pray the perfect will of God. He makes intercession for the saints with groanings which cannot be uttered, but He does it through us. He does not do this on His own apart from us. We must listen to Him, obey Him and allow Him to help our weaknesses.

“…The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.” The word infirmities in the Greek is weaknesses. The Amplified Bible translates it this way: “So too the (Holy) Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness….”

If something in your life is giving you trouble, the Spirit of God will bear you up and give you wisdom and strength to overcome it. He gives you answers. Ephesians 3:16 says, “…be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” The Spirit of God works within us to strengthen our spirits—to endue us with His power so we can overcome. He not only tells you what to do, He imparts to you the strength and ability to do it.

You may have been Spirit-filled for years but have not been listening to Him or paying attention to what He has been saying to you. He will give you the answer, every answer. Whether a large problem or small problem, the Spirit will work against it. He is our Helper, Strengthener, Standby, Intercessor, Advocate, Counselor, Teacher. He is on our side! Romans 8:31 says, “…If God be for us, who can be against us?” You could say, “If God be for us, what difference does it make who is against us!”

When He prays the will of God through you, He goes to the exact root of the problem. You and I might only realize the symptom. He deals with the cause. Thank God, there is nothing too hard for Him. And if you care about it, He cares about it.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Near the end of 1982 I heard a prophecy that changed my life. The Lord gave me direction and instruction. This word from the Lord impressed on me that if I would just give a tithe of my time, an hour or two a day to the Lord, all would be well, my life would be changed and empowered. At the time I especially thought about my family. I needed things well in my family.

One result of this exhortation by God’s Spirit is that God led me to pray in the Spirit an hour each day. At that time, even five minutes seemed long to me. I just did not spend much time in prayer. I concentrated on God’s written Word. I would go to Him, show Him His Word, believe it, act on it and it would come to pass in my life. But I had never spent much time in prayer. This word from God changed my life.

It has been more than 20 years since I decided to spend an hour or two with God every day. It has been of major importance to my spiritual growth and the well-being of my present life. I sincerely believe that all my needs are met abundantly today because I obeyed this direction. My children are serving the Lord. My grandchildren are well and happy. My children have blessed and happy marriages, and they are prospering. We are all well.

Ken and I are still happy and in love with each other after 46 years. I believe we have run the race God set before us and obeyed His will for our lives up to the present day. Yes, I am still spending at least an hour in prayer every morning. I like for all to be well!

But this prophecy wasn’t just to me. It was to the Church. Spending time with God every day for an hour or two—in His presence: in prayer, in His Word, praising Him, in services—will change your life as well.

The important thing is to do what God tells you to do and to be consistent in the things of God. Spending time in eternal things is not like spending time in the affairs of this world. Your prayers are eternal, and eternal things never end. They have everlasting reward.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit… (Hebrews 4:12).

The Word of God divides the soul and the spirit. The Word of God will distinguish, clarify or separate the soul and the spirit. When I look back in my own life, I can see how I was held back spiritually. It was not my willingness to disobey God. I have been willing to obey Him since I first began to study His Word. It was my inability to hear from God and recognize His leading that held me back spiritually. It was not through any willful determination. I just did not recognize most of the time what God wanted me to do. When I had to make a decision, I would try to figure out the best way for me to go. I didn’t know
how to recognize my spirit.

Thank God, that is not the way you and I have to walk. We should not walk according to our own intellect or reasoning. We should walk according to the Spirit who knows all things. But we must make the decision to allow Him to direct our actions. “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6).

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Teaching His disciples, Jesus said:

I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:25-30).

We should labor to enter into that rest. What is the rest of God? Walking in the Spirit. Walking in a life that is controlled by the Holy Spirit. This is the high life Jesus was talking about—walking in liberty from the bondages of this world. Nothing in this world can defeat us if we enter into the rest of God. To walk in His Spirit will make us obedient to Him, and the power of God will be manifested in us. People’s souls are so pressured in this hour. There are so many problems in the world today, so many problems in individuals’ lives. Jesus was talking to us in this passage. He was saying: “Whatever you learn of Me, cause that to be the path of your life, and you will find rest for your souls.” Take His yoke upon you. It is easy. You’ll love the results of obedience!

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

For so many years I walked on the written Word of God and depended on it. It changed my life. The Word renewed my thinking. I began to think like God thinks in many ways. But one area in which I was insecure was making decisions when the Word did not give me specific directions.

The Word does not tell us whether to move to another city or what person to marry. We have to make these individual decisions by the direction of God’s Spirit in our spirits. We have to learn to listen to our spirit who is being communicated with by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:16 says the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits.

You cannot wait until you see a burning bush or hear an audible voice to follow God. If you did, you would not know where you are going most of the time. I wish it were so plain when God talks to us that we could hear His audible voice, but that audible voice happens too rarely to rely on for everyday guidance.

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness…. Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts (Hebrews 3:7-8, 4:7).

You must be willing to hear His voice and harden not your heart. How do you harden your heart? You resist the Word of God and the promptings of the Spirit. You decide, “No, that is not my will; I have decided to go another way.” You might not make that actual declaration, but if the Spirit of God leads you to do something and you fail to do it, essentially you are saying, “I shall do my own will in this matter.” If you harden your heart, it is unbelief to the written Word and to the voice of the Spirit of God that comes up within you. Harden your heart and you will not live in rest.

One definition of harden is “to make firm, solid or rigid.” In Ezekiel 36:26, God says He will take away the stony heart and give a heart of flesh, or a soft heart, a pliable heart. You could say it is a heart that the Holy Spirit can maneuver.

So, if you harden not your heart, what happens to you?

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (Hebrews 4:9, 11).

Kenneth Copeland Ministries