Keep the Weeds Out

By Kenneth Copeland

So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground. - Mark 4:26

Jesus compared the kingdom of God with the planting of seed and reaping the harvest. It's a simple concept. One all of us understand. Why, then, aren't all of us producing bumper crops every season? Because we're sitting around waiting for God to do all the work.

He doesn't operate that way. He'll work with you, but He won't do it all. There are some essential things you must do by faith if you want to have a crop to reap at harvest time.

First, you must sow the seed of the Word in faith, expecting it to grow. You must find precious promises from God in His Word, plant them in your heart and in your life.

Next, you must water the seed. Water it every day with praise. Water it with the spiritual water of the Word. That Word contains life and those seed promises can't grow without it.

And finally, you have to keep the weeds out! When the weeds of unforgiveness, doubt, fear, discouragement (and all the other junk the devil tries to sow into your crop) try to enter in, get rid of them. They'll choke the Word.

That's going to take some diligence on your part. No one else will do it for you. You're going to have to weed your own crop. So get tough about it. When a little weed pops up, kill it! Don't hang on to it for even a moment. Pull it up by its roots. Spray it with the Word. Don't be tempted to keep a wildflower when you can have the best—God's best.

Don't sit around waiting for God to produce your harvest. Start planting. Start watching over your land (your heart and your mind) to keep it moist, watered with the Word and free from weeds.

Commit to do your part and trust God to do His. You will have a bumper crop this season!

Develop the Love

By Kenneth Copeland

And what this love consists in is this: that we live and walk in accordance with and guided by His commandments (His orders, ordinances, precepts, teaching). This is the commandment, as you have heard from the beginning, that you continue to walk in love [guided by it and following it]. - 2 John 1:6, The Amplified Bible

Quite simply, God says love is keeping His commandments. That brings love out of the indefinite into something explicit. But God has done more than define love for you. He’s given you instructions so that you can know how to love as He loves. By giving you His Word, God has given you His love manual in black and white. All you have to do is follow it and you’ll be walking in love.

If you’ve made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, you’ve already taken the first step of obedience. The love of God has been born within you. But, unless you take steps to develop it, that love will remain hidden within you. Love works in much the same way as the force of faith. Like faith, love becomes active through knowledge of the Word.

Become love conscious by confessing and acting on God’s Word today. As you meditate these scriptures, see yourself living the love life. See yourself walking in accordance with and guided by the commandments of Jesus. Develop the love He has hidden in you.

Keep the Weeds Out

By Kenneth Copeland

So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground. - Mark 4:26

Jesus compared the kingdom of God with the planting of seed and reaping the harvest. It's a simple concept. One all of us understand. Why, then, aren't all of us producing bumper crops every season? Because we're sitting around waiting for God to do all the work.

He doesn't operate that way. He'll work with you, but He won't do it all. There are some essential things you must do by faith if you want to have a crop to reap at harvest time.

First, you must sow the seed of the Word in faith, expecting it to grow. You must find precious promises from God in His Word, plant them in your heart and in your life.

Next, you must water the seed. Water it every day with praise. Water it with the spiritual water of the Word. That Word contains life and those seed promises can't grow without it.

And finally, you have to keep the weeds out! When the weeds of unforgiveness, doubt, fear, discouragement (and all the other junk the devil tries to sow into your crop) try to enter in, get rid of them. They'll choke the Word.

That's going to take some diligence on your part. No one else will do it for you. You're going to have to weed your own crop. So get tough about it. When a little weed pops up, kill it! Don't hang on to it for even a moment. Pull it up by its roots. Spray it with the Word. Don't be tempted to keep a wildflower when you can have the best—God's best.

Don't sit around waiting for God to produce your harvest. Start planting. Start watching over your land (your heart and your mind) to keep it moist, watered with the Word and free from weeds.

Commit to do your part and trust God to do His. You will have a bumper crop this season!

Turn Up Your Hope

By Kenneth Copeland

May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope. - Romans 15:13, The Amplified Bible

You know, that's what I want to be...running over with hope! I want to dare to throw my whole life and everything I have into building a dream that comes from the heart of God. I want to get out there so far that without God's help, I can't get back.

Many people don't think that way though because they're afraid to fail. Fear of failure is dangerous. If you let it dominate you, it will cause you to do the one thing that inevitably guarantees failure and that's not attempting at all.

How do you counteract the fear of failure?

You turn up your hope. You get alone with God and listen to Him. You meditate on His promises until the picture is so clear on the inside of you that nothing can jar it out of you.

If you're lying on a sickbed and the doctor has told you you'll never walk again, instead of wallowing around in that bad report, you start dreaming. You start building a dream of climbing mountains and witnessing to people in the backwoods. Go to the Word that promises that those who wait upon the Lord shall run and walk and not faint or be weary. Look at it until you see nothing else. Picture yourself walking for miles and running from one place to the next, telling everyone that Jesus has raised you up and made you whole.

That's what hope is all about. It's a divine dream. It's an inner image that's bigger than you are because it's built on the promises of God.

If you're a Christian, you ought to be a dreamer. Take the Word of God and build some dreams today.

Protected by Love

By Kenneth Copeland

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. - Matthew 5:44-45

Love your enemies...turn the other cheek...to most people that sounds like a pretty weak way to handle someone who's causing them trouble. But, the truth is, it's the most powerful way there is. It's the way Jesus did it—and His way never fails.

Do you remember when Jesus went back to Nazareth and the religious folks were angry with Him and wanted to push Him off a cliff? What happened? He just walked right past them, and no one could lay a finger on Him. Another time they decided to stone Him, and He didn't retaliate that time either. He just walked off. No one could touch Him.

When Jesus walked through that crowd, He wasn't afraid. He knew they couldn't hurt Him because He was walking in the love of God.

When Jesus said to turn the other cheek, He didn't mean for you to stand there and have your brains beaten out. He meant for you to stand there in love and in faith believing that the protecting power of God that accompanies that love would keep you safe. He meant for a man to swing at you and not be able to hit you!

The story of Nicky Cruz as recorded in David Wilkerson's book, The Cross and the Switchblade, is a perfect example of that. Nicky was reputed to be the most ruthless gang leader of his time. Yet, when David Wilkerson stood in front of him, telling him about Jesus, Nicky was totally unable to hurt him. He thrust his knife at David several times. But every time he did, David just said, "Nicky, you can cut me into a thousand pieces and every piece will still say, 'I love you and God loves you.'" Because of love, Nicky couldn't get his knife close enough to David to hurt him. A supernatural force always stopped it short.

"But I don't have that kind of love!"

Yes, you do. Romans 5:5 tells us that the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit. All you have to do is make the decision to be motivated by that love rather than your own human feelings.

My friend, love never fails! You don't have to be afraid of failure anymore. In fact, you don't have to be afraid of anything. If you're walking in the love of God, you're living the most powerful kind of life there is.

Free From Debt!

By Kenneth Copeland

The borrower is servant to the lender. - Proverbs 22:7

If you're up to your neck in debt today, I have good news for you. God wants to set you free from those debts and He has the power to do it.

I know. He did it for me.

I'll never forget it. I had $22,000 worth of bad debts at the time. I'd committed to God to pay them off and never borrow another dime—but it looked to me like I'd never be able to do it.

We didn't see how, but we believed that "God is able." Day by day we looked to God for our deliverance from debt. Not asking Him every day, but thanking Him because we believed we received when we prayed. Eleven months later, we were out of debt. As we looked back, nothing spectacular had happened, but God worked in our finances continuously. As we were faithful, He was faithful.

God can do the same thing for you if you'll dare to believe His Word. If you'll make a commitment before Him to get out from under those debts and then obey Him every step of the way.

As you look at your situation right now, you may not be able to see how you could ever get out of debt, much less stay that way. I felt that way too, at first. I just didn't see how I'd ever be able to do much of anything without borrowing money.

But He showed me how—and He'll do the same thing for you.

There's no debt too big and no business too complicated for Him to handle. If you'll trust Him to manage yours, He will bring you out on top...and you'll never have to be a slave to debt again.

Grace is Enough

By Gloria Copeland

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. - 2 Corinthians 12:7

The devil has used the traditional teaching of Paul’s thorn in the flesh to talk believers out of the blessings of God for years, to try to convince us to settle for everything from sickness to sin—and to do it of our own free will.

It is perhaps the most destructive and the most widely accepted misinterpretation of Scripture that exists in the Body of Christ today. I’ve gone into countries to preach to people who hardly had any knowledge of the Word at all and still I have found that somehow they’d been taught about Paul’s thorn.

And most of them have been taught wrongly.

Tradition says that God gave Paul the thorn in the flesh. What’s more, tradition makes the “thorn” into some great mystery. But the Scripture doesn’t say that at all!

It says that the thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan. Not God—Satan! The thorn was quite literally just what Paul says it was—a “messenger sent from Satan.”

You see, everywhere Paul went, he preached the gospel and every time he preached, he destroyed a little more of Satan’s kingdom. So, Satan sent a messenger, an evil spirit, to stop him.

When Paul sought the Lord concerning this thorn (look at 2 Corinthians 12:8-10), God didn’t answer Paul in the negative. God said, “My grace (or, My favor) is enough. It is sufficient for you. For My strength is made perfect in your weakness (inability to produce results)” (W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words).

In other words, when Paul didn’t have enough human strength to overcome, God’s miracle-working power was sufficient for him. It enabled him to be an overcomer in spite of his weakness.

Don’t allow the devil to talk you out of your victory. Throw tradition aside and dare to believe the Word of God. Fight the fight of faith, and just like the Apostle Paul, you will see the salvation of the Lord!

Free From Fear

By Kenneth Copeland

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. - 2 Timothy 1:7

What would you think if I told you that you could live without fear? Would you believe me if I said that despite what you saw on the news tonight, you could be perfectly at peace? Impossible? Unrealistic? No!

You see, fear isn’t just a reaction to external circumstances. It’s a spiritual force. It begins inside of you. And it is totally destructive. In fact, fear is Satan’s primary weapon. He moves in response to fear, the way God moves in response to faith. He challenges the promises of God with it.

An excellent example of this is found in Matthew 14 when Jesus invited Peter to come to Him on the water. “But when he [Peter] saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me” (verse 30).

What enabled Peter to walk on the water? His faith in the Word of Jesus. What caused Peter to sink? He saw the wind boisterous and he was afraid. It wasn’t the wind that defeated him, it was his fear of it! He looked at his circumstances, gave in to the fear, and the result was defeat. If Peter had kept his focus on Jesus, his faith would never have wavered. All the blustering and blowing in the world couldn’t have drawn him off course.

Faith is developed by meditating on God’s Word. Fear is developed by meditating on Satan’s lies. Such fearful meditation is called “worrying.” Don’t do it!

The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Use it to fight Satan every time he comes against you. Hold up your shield of faith and quench all of his fiery darts. Speak words of faith and fear will depart.

Source kcm.org.

Begin to Praise

By Gloria Copeland

Rejoice in the Lord, O you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you upright, in right standing with God]; for praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright [in heart]. - Psalm 33:1

Praise. According to the Word of God, that’s the most appropriate, becoming thing that you as a believer can do.

Let me warn you though, God’s idea of “appropriate” praise and your idea of appropriate praise may well be two very different things. The praise He calls for is joyous and uninhibited. And, at times, it’s just plain loud!

If you don’t believe it, look in the Bible and see the kind of praise that goes on in heaven. Read Isaiah 6 and find out how they act in the throne room. The seraphim shout in there until the doorposts shake! And when they do, the glory of the Lord fills the house.

When you get to heaven, you’re going to be praising like that too. You’re going to be leaping and praising God with every part of your being. But don’t wait until then to start. Begin now.

Decide today that instead of praising God the way you like, you are going to start doing it the way He likes. Begin to release those praises joyously, uninhibitedly. Don’t wait until you get to heaven to praise God with all your being. Do it now. He deserves it!

God Wants You Well

By Kenneth Copeland

If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. - Exodus 15:26

Has the devil ever tried to put you under condemnation by telling you that it's contrary to the principles of faith to use doctors and medicine when you need healing? If so, here are some encouraging words that I believe will help you put your heart at rest.

It is God's will to heal you. That's the first and most important thing for you to understand. If your faith is strong and you can believe the Word without wavering (regardless of what circumstances or symptoms come against you), then you'll be able to receive that healing by faith alone.

But that kind of faith takes more than just hearing a few sermons about healing. It takes a deep personal revelation of God's healing power. So, if you haven't yet developed that kind of faith, the doctor is your best friend.

If you're not certain whether your faith is strong enough or whether you need a doctor's help, follow the instructions of the Apostle Paul (Col. 3:15) and let peace be your umpire.

If fear rises up within you when you think about doing without medical help, then go to a doctor. And go in faith! On the other hand, if you have a sure confidence within you that healing is yours strictly by faith, let your faith do its work and receive your healing directly. Whether or not you go to the doctor is not the issue. It is what you do with your faith.

Either way, you can rejoice knowing God is working with you, meeting you at the level of your faith. Thank God for your healing--however it comes!--and do not let Satan put you under condemnation. It is none of his business!

Source kcm.org

The Choice Is Yours

By Kenneth Copeland

Choose you this day whom ye will serve. - Joshua 24:15

Choosing to side with God's Word is a continual challenge. It's not some- thing you do just once. It's a process of choosing to believe and act upon the Word of God over and over in every circumstance.

That's what everyone has to do. Years ago I decided I was going to choose Jesus. Since then I've had to choose Him again and again in situations every day. I've chosen Him as my Lord and Savior. I've chosen Him as my Healer. I've chosen Him as my Financier. I've chosen Him as head of my household. I've chosen Him as head of my ministry. And I still have to choose Him moment by moment.

Sometimes that choice gets tough, but God has promised it will never get too tough. In 1 Corinthians 10:13, He says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." What the Lord is saying is that He will not allow you to be subjected to a temptation you're unable to overcome. With every temptation, He'll make a way of escape. He'll ALWAYS make sure you have a choice.

The devil doesn't come tempt you while God is off somewhere else, unaware of what is happening to you. The Spirit of God is constantly there with you, providing you with the way to overcome. In other words, God matches even the toughest temptations with the weapons and power you need to conquer them. He always makes it possible for you to choose life.

So choose to walk in love. Choose to walk by faith. Choose to live by the Word. Jesus is the Way! Choose Him!

Live Like Jesus

By Kenneth Copeland

But [Christ Jesus] made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. - Philippians 2:7

The truth of this verse hasn't really dawned on most people. They mistakenly think that Jesus was able to work wonders, to perform miracles, and to live above sin because He had divine powers that we don't have. Thus, they have never really aspired to live like He lived.

"Oh my," they say with great humility, "I could never live like Jesus did. After all, He had an advantage. He was God!"

They don't realize that when Jesus came to earth, He voluntarily gave up that advantage, living His life here not as God but as a man. He had no innate supernatural powers. He had no ability to perform miracles until after He was anointed by the Holy Spirit as recorded in Luke 3:22. He worked wonders, not by His own power but by the power of the Father, saying, "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10).

And when He prayed, He prayed not as a divine One who had authority as God, but as a man who walked obediently with God. And, as Hebrews 5:7 says, "His prayers were heard not because of His deity, but because of His reverence toward God" (AMP).

Jesus, the divine Son of God, set aside the privileges and powers of deity for a time and lived as a man on earth. Once you grasp that, it will absolutely thrill your soul! Why? Because it means that you, as a reborn child of God, filled with the same Holy Spirit as Jesus was, have the same opportunity to live as He lived on earth. In fact, that is exactly what He intends. In John 17:18 He said to the Father, "Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world."

Jesus has sent you into the world to live as He lived. Through the new birth, He's enabled you to exchange the sinful nature of Adam for the sinless nature of God.

He's given you the ability and the command to live above sin, to live in fellowship with the Father, to preach the gospel, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to cast out demons, and to make disciples.

Once you realize that, you'll throw off the shackles of doubt that have held you back. You'll begin to live as Jesus meant for you to live--not as a sin-ridden son of fallen man, but as a reborn child of the Most High God. Then those around you will actually begin to see Jesus--in you.