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Posts Tagged ‘prayer’

Gloria Copeland — A Word From God

01 Jun

Kenneth And Gloria Copeland

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

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Kenneth Copeland — Become a Candidate for Increase Part 2

28 Oct

Kenneth And Gloria Copeland

When you pray for your enemies instead of hating them, you become a candidate for increase. When you turn away from immorality, you’re turning toward blessing. When you see things in your life that you know aren’t right and you correct them according to the Word of God, you’re preparing yourself to handle greater financial abundance.

The book of Proverbs is full of God’s wisdom about everyday things and decisions. It will help you learn how to handle your affairs in a way that is pleasing to God. And since it has 31 chapters, by reading a chapter a day along with your other Bible reading, you can finish it in just a month. It will increase you to read Proverbs over and over.

In Proverbs you’ll find out, for example, that the quality of faithfulness and the blessing of prosperity are tied together very closely. Wherever you find one, you’ll find the other. For as Proverbs 28:20 says, “A faithful man shall abound with blessings….” According to Webster’s dictionary, a faithful man is one who “adheres to duty, of true fidelity, loyal, true to allegiance, and constant in the performance of duties or services.”

Luke 16:10 says, “He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest and unjust in a very little [thing] is dishonest and unjust also in much” (The Amplified Bible). So if you want to be trusted with more and be promoted to a better job, be faithful and honest in the job you have right now.

You may think Christian people don’t need to hear about honesty and faithfulness, but they do. I know personally of cases where Christians have stolen money from their employers.

They may not have intended to “steal” anything. They may have just thought, Well, I’ll borrow this money for a couple of weeks and then I’ll put it back and no harm will be done. The problem is, you can’t borrow something from someone without their permission. That’s stealing and you can’t be blessed and steal.

Taking that money may have seemed all right to those people when they did it. They may have made excuses and justified it in their own minds. But if they’d been studying and obeying the Word of God, they wouldn’t have fallen for those excuses. That’s because the Word discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). It teaches you what is right and what isn’t.

It reveals not man’s way, but God’s way of doing and being right. It enables you to lay a firm foundation for godly prosperity.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

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Gloria Copeland — The Power of Standing on the Word Part 3

14 Jul

Kenneth And Gloria Copeland

Romans 13:2 says, “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power,
resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to
themselves damnation.” After I read this in the Word, I broke my
bad confession and began to pray for these men. For the first
time in my life, I went to the polls and voted intelligently. No
longer moved by emotion, I began to pray and seek God in voting
as I did in other areas. When my attitude changed, God
began to give me insight into the political affairs of this country.
After approximately two weeks of praying this way, God
showed me some things about the president. You see, I had
opened myself to receive from God by stopping the strife in my
heart. I had been very critical of the government and politicians;
I griped and complained continually, but God changed
my attitude. When I quit begrudging the government, God
could reveal some things to me and I could receive them. This
opened an area of prosperity I didn’t even know existed. The
Bible says these men, our civil leaders, are God’s ministers for
our good, that they are ordained of God. Our lack of prayer
support for them has caused the problems we have seen.

As a guide for you to use in receiving from your giving in
any area, let me share this little formula. It has worked consistently
for us and will work for you if you commit yourself to it.

1. Decide on the amount you need. Be careful not to cheat
yourself. God is not a skinflint. He is a giver. He is a lover. God
is love. For God so loved the world that He gave. Determine the
amount you need and then be single-minded. A double-minded
man can’t receive anything from the Lord (see James 1:7-8).

2. Get in agreement according to Matthew 18:19. This is very
important. The best and most powerful situation on earth is a
husband and wife who can agree together in these areas.
If this isn’t possible in your particular case, then get together
with another believer and have him join with you.

3. Lay hold on it by faith. Use the principles set out in
Mark 11:23-24. Believe it in your heart and confess it with your mouth.

4. Bind the devil and his forces in the Name of Jesus. You have
the authority in Jesus’ Name to order Satan out of your financial
affairs. This is your responsibility. Don’t ask God to do it.
You do it in Jesus’ Name. Mark 16:17, James 4:7, Ephesians 6
and the entire New Testament tell you to resist the devil. It is
important for the husband and father to do this. It is their
responsibility as spiritual head of the home.

5. Loose the forces of heaven. Hebrews 1:14 refers to the
angels as ministering spirits “sent forth to minister for those
who shall be heirs of salvation.” The Bible also says that angels
hearken to the Word of God (see Psalm 103:20), so when you
use the Word in the Name of Jesus, they are obligated to follow
your command.

6. Praise God for the answer. Praise keeps the door of abundance
wide open. The channel between you and God is clear so
that you can receive from Him.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

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Kenneth Copeland — The Power of Standing on the Word Part 2

07 Jul

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Discipline your vocabulary. Discipline everything you do,
everything you say, and everything you think to agree with
what God does, what God says, and what God thinks! God will
be obligated to meet your needs because of His Word—not
because of your righteousness or your lack of it—but because
of His covenant that was brought into existence the day Jesus
was raised from the dead. If you stand firmly on this, your
needs will be met!

The Bible says that we are to owe no man anything but love
(see Romans 13:8). I will go to any lengths to love a man with
the fullness of what God has given me. Suppose I had owed
several thousand dollars on that airplane when God said to give
it away. If that had been the case, God would not have been
running my ministry; the bank would have been and I could
not have given it!

How do you operate in financial situations without subordinating
yourself to the world’s system? What is the key that
opens the channel in these things? It is available to us, but
instead, all we have known is borrow, borrow, borrow! The
Bible says if you will meditate in the Word of God day and
night, you will have good success and deal wisely in your
affairs. The Word of God is the key.

Begin to meditate on the Word in these areas we have discussed
and give God an opportunity to tell you what to do and
how to function. Remember, the rich young ruler turned and
walked away. That was his biggest mistake! All he needed to do
was say, “Lord, I don’t understand this, but I have confidence in
You. Would You please explain God’s Word in this matter?” He
just assumed Jesus wanted to take away everything he had,
while actually Jesus was offering him the kingdom of God!

Now I want to take a moment and share something else with
you. First Timothy 2:1 says that we are to pray for all men, for
kings, and for all in authority. Paul wrote that we were to pray for
these men first of all. You are to pray according to the Word of
God for the men who operate around you politically. Government
leaders have a great deal to do with your financial life.

The Word of God says, “[Pay] taxes to whom taxes are due”
(Romans 13:7, The Amplified Bible). One of the major things
fouling up your life where prosperity is concerned is your
bad-mouthing the government and its leaders, particularly in
the area of taxation. Most people are operating in strife where
their taxes are concerned, and it has a direct relationship to
the government that provides our financial system. One day
the Lord said, “Quit grumbling and complaining about your
tax money. Pay it cheerfully the way you do your tithe and I’ll
bless it.” From then on, my wife and I started praying over
our tax money—just as we do our tithe—and we have never
had a tax bill that we couldn’t pay. We bless our tax money to
the United States government. That is a change, isn’t it? Get
strife and hard feelings toward your government out of your
heart! The Word says we are to pray and give thanks for our
leaders, not badmouth them!

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

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Gloria Copeland — The Power of Agreement

02 Jun

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

For years I knew deep down inside that there was a place in
God where a man could live in victorious circumstances at all
times. I knew there was total victory in Jesus, so I searched for
it; but many of the people I asked about it told me that I would
not be able to live this way until I got to heaven. Thank God,
the Word says differently.

Matthew 18:19-20 says this: “Again I say unto you, That if
two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they
shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am
I in the midst of them.” Notice that Jesus said, “Again I say unto
you.” This was important enough for Him to say more than
once to these men until they realized that if they would get in
agreement with one another and establish a thing, Jesus would
be in the midst of them to cause it to come to pass.

You need someone to be an agreement partner with you.
The most ideal situation is for a man and his wife to be in
agreement. You need someone who will not relent and, once
the agreement is made, will stand firm that it will come to pass.
Jesus will bring even the impossible to pass if two Christians
will agree firmly on His Word and its truth. This is the reason
that in financial matters it is so important to know that you
have made your heavenly deposits. It is easy to agree on the
fact that something is yours when you have already made the
deposits for it.

The prayer of agreement is a powerful prayer, and it will work
when it is put to work. However, so much of the time one person
will agree and another person will hope. I have prayed with people
and when I finished said, “It is done and it will come to pass.”
Then the other person who was supposed to be agreeing with me
would say, “I certainly do hope so, Sister Copeland.” At that
point I am forced to say, “Well, it won’t. I agreed…you hoped.”

When an agreement is made, both parties are firm in the
fact that there is an agreed situation. When you agree with a
person to pay a bill at a certain time and that person says, “I
consider this bill as paid,” and you say, “I certainly hope so,”
then that is probably as far as the situation will go until you are
firm in your committal to that agreement. The other partner
will not enter into it with you. It should be this firm between
two Christians when they come together and believe that what
they have agreed upon in the world of prosperity will come to
pass. Remember, we have Jesus Christ’s Word for it. It will
come to pass if we refuse to relent in our agreement together.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

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