Kenneth Copeland - The Lord's Prayer Reveals His Divine Nature
— Hello, everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. Father, we thank You today for manifesting Yourself on this broadcast through Your Spirit. We are so grateful to You. The blessing of the Lord, the blessing of Abraham, the blessing of God, through the blessing of Adam and the blessing of Abraham, the blessing of Jesus, the blessing of the anointing, all the way through the Bible. And then we see the blessing being manifest throughout Your Word, because this is a blessing book. It's covenants of blessing. You started out by blessing Adam and his wife. And then You set out to get the blessing back. And throughout Your Word, Your blessing was manifest. Even down to the point where the great apostle Paul talked about receiving our food through thanksgiving and prayer. And we bless our food because of Your Word. And we praise You and thank You today that we're learning even more and more and more that You are a covenant-keeping God, and You are a blessing God. And these covenants where to get the blessing back, which is the new birth through the blessed ministry of Jesus and the blood that he shed on the cross, the lamb of God that took away the sin of the world. And we're here again on this broadcast today to praise You and thank You for that.
— We praise You.
— And we praise You in that name of Jesus. Amen. Praise God. Greg, take us back over now into, well, let's read this once again.
— Yeah.
— Second Peter one. According, there's that word again, according as his divine power. What would that be? Dunamis. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and dunamis, power. We get our English word dynamite from that, explosive power, miracle power.
— Yes.
— It's the same power with which God created the universe. His divine power has given unto us, how many things?
— All things.
— All things. I don't care what it is, we have it. But it takes a faith and a promise to receive it and to get it. All things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that's called us to glory and excellence whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious covenant promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through human desires. Now we're talking about the divine nature here. And professor is taking us back over in the beginning. For he revealed his divine nature. But it's through those.
— Yeah. The generations and generations had forgotten. Abraham knew it. Abraham was his friend. He was a friend of God, but Lot is related to Abraham. Lot's considered righteous, but he doesn't have the same revelation that Abraham does, because he's not doing it by faith.
— No. And he just followed Abraham.
— And we've got a lot of people in the body of Christ today that just followed.
— And two, Greg, there was another thing about him. He just looked out there and took the best looking. He had no revelation. And he picked the most sinful place on earth because it looked good. It had green pastures and all of that. So Abraham took what was left and God blessed what he had. And he blessed him into green pastures. He blessed him into more cattle. He had more of everything. He had more than enough because that's what God said to him when he spoke to him, he said, "I am El Shaddai. I am the God of more than enough".
— That's right. And he revealed that, that was also to Isaac and to Jacob as well.
— Yes.
— But over time, living in a foreign land in Egypt, they had forgot.
— They forgot about it.
— And so he's now revealing this to Moses.
— Well, they really had no way.
— There was no written Bible.
— No, and it was just what you could remember, but it had to be demonstrated. There had to be mental pictures. The cursed mountain was rugged, no good looking curse. And the blessing mountain was beautiful and still is today. It's just two mountains that were picked there to demonstrate the blessing and the curse. And God wasn't telling them he wanted to curse them. He was telling what would happen if they didn't obey his Word. And so he had to demonstrate to all these people something they could remember.
— He had been taking care of them the whole time they were in Goshen. None of the things were happening to them, but he had to get them out, says in the scripture that there arose a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph. In other words, he didn't know the history that Joseph and these people are the ones that saved this country. And that actually saved the world. He had to get them out of that environment, took them to the wilderness where he could then instruct them as to not just who he is, but who they are in him. And so he makes a covenant with us, and that's what we're doing now. What it said right there in II Peter, the knowledge of him, the divine nature, what we're imparting this week to you is your divine nature. What is...
— That's good.
— It's what's in you when you became born again. And Paul will expound on it with the fruit of the spirit and other things. But all of these things are what's already in you that you have access to because of the covenant that God made with Jesus on your behalf. And when you were in Christ, that's why those words in Christ, in him, by whom, all those words are so important because that's part of you. And that's what we're supposed to be exhibiting in the earth today. We're supposed to be as much faith as Jesus had, loved as much as Jesus was love. We're supposed to be that in the earth today.
— Praise God.
— So he teaches Moses a prayer. People throughout time will hit on those attributes and God will move every single time. Because what they're doing is they're praying that covenant word is what they're doing. They're praying the Word.
— They did that in the Book of Acts in the fourth chapter.
— Yeah.
— Right. It said behold their threatenings. Now I don't believe they just prayed that off the cuff.
— Nope.
— They put that prayer together because there are different scriptures and different promises in the first covenant that were included in that prayer. And when they got through praying that, the place where they were gathered physically shook the power and God shook the place as an answer to them. He answered with a demonstration of his power, and they said through the power and in honor of your holy child, Jesus.
— Jesus.
— Well, that was 2,100 years ago. He's not a child anymore. That had become a big thing to them because they saw him right there, grow up, and leave.
— It's right here in Acts chapter four, verse 29. And now Lord behold, their threatening. Grant unto thy servants, that's discipleship.
— That's it.
— Grant unto thy servants or your slaves, that with all boldness, they may speak that Word by stretching forth thy hand to heal. And that signs and wonders may be done. But in the name of that, holy child, Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. They spake the Word of God with boldness. More opportunity came, see they're tapping into what's already in them. They're tapping into the attributes of God through Christ Jesus.
— All of that was right back here. They were all Orthodox Jews. They knew this.
— Yes, absolutely they knew this.
— The Book of Acts hadn't been written.
— No, they had prayed those forgiveness prayers every year when they would go and ask for forgiveness, their sins would be rolled. They had already done this every year of their life they had known this prayer.
— Isn't that magnificent?
— And so we weren't taught it per se, but that revelation's coming forth now that we're beginning to understand that in Christ Jesus this has been fulfilled. Now the disciples will ask Jesus one day over in Luke, chapter 11 is where I was going to go. The disciples said, "Teach us to pray," because they had noticed something. Jesus got results when he prayed. They had seen the Pharisees who begged and pleaded and cried out to God, but got no results, but Jesus gets result. So as they said, "Teach us how to do that. Teach us how to pray". Many people today recite what is commonly known as The Lord's Prayer, not knowing or understanding really that it's a prayer that's already been answered by God in Christ. It has been answered.
— Yes it is.
— And we're the fruit of that.
— His will has been done on earth as it is heaven.
— Now think about that for a second. Back when I talked at the beginning of this week, about the blue sapphire tablets, heaven came to earth. On earth as it is in heaven. Then they took stones from the earth after he broke those. So it's another picture of this prayer, but let's look at this prayer real quick. In verse two, he says, when he said to them, when you pray, say our Father, which art in heaven. Now go back to Moses' prayer. When the Lord...
— Now wait a minute, let's back up. It came to pass that as he was praying.
— Yes.
— He was already praying. That's just huge.
— That is huge.
— He was already praying in a certain place. When he stopped, one of his disciples said unto him, "Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples". So now that makes me wonder what John taught his disciples. He got it in the same place.
— That's right.
— It came from the same place.
— That's right. All of those prayers. They had learned the covenant prayers.
— Yes.
— Exodus 34 was a covenant.
— Yes.
— That's that covenant prayer, beseeching on the name of the Father and all of those attributes of him. And that's exactly what he's doing, because what's the very first thing Jesus going to do with his disciples? He's going to teach them that God's their Father. Our Father. See that changed. He's no longer some deity that can't be reached and he's disconnected from his children. He's your Father. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed would be thy name. It was Lord, Lord, God. There's the name. And he gets the five commandments on that sapphire stone, was the natural stone this time, to not take the Lord's name in vain. Hallowed be thy name. He's teaching them to pray that, but in a different way. Can you see this?
— Yes I can.
— So he taught the prayers about a relationship, not a religious exercise. So let's go through it here. When you pray our Father, which is art in heaven, hallowed be by name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done as in heaven so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Those are all in those attributes right there. That prayer has all of those attributes from Exodus in it in that verse. But it's in a different way. Now Jesus will later after this teach them. Before now you've never asked anything in my name. Now you're going to use my name.
— That changed.
— Because the relationship's about to change.
— Yeah, it changed because it changed covenants.
— Yes. Jesus is transitioning us right here, out of that covenant to his covenant, which is the covenant of Abraham, which is by faith. The law required no faith, strict obedience. But when anybody under the law acted out in faith, things happened.
— Yes, it did.
— The centurion's an example. The Syrophoenician woman, the dogs get to eat the crumbs. See, they're not praying Exodus 34. They're not praying out of the law.
— They didn't know to do that.
— They didn't know the praying faith.
— Now Cornelius was so impressed with Jesus because he's a garrison commander. He's a centurion which meant that he was in command of at least a hundred men. It didn't have to be just a hundred, but at least a hundred men, with a hundred Roman soldiers. Well, they're the best in the world. And he was so impressed with Jesus because Jesus was so easy. And he said, "I'm not important enough for you to come under my roof. But say the Word. You're a commander. I recognize that. I tell a man to go and he goes. I tell a man to come and he comes. I tell him when to do this and he does it. And I recognize when you speak to disease, it'll do it". Well, Jesus first said, "I will come and heal him". He said, "No, don't need to do that". But now this so impressed Cornelius and he was flowing so toward the kingdom. You just say the Word and it'll work. So Jesus said the Word and it worked. Now you see why Cornelius said what he said at crucifixion. He was the crucifying officer.
— Yes.
— That was there.
— Right.
— He said, "This had to be the son of God".
— Right.
— I didn't understand that for a long time, until the Lord made it wide screen that it was all the same man. Because Cornelius lived right there, just a stones throw from where Pilate was.
— Sure. Yep.
— And they knew one another.
— Caesarea.
— And he couldn't stand it any longer. He just kept praying and just kept praying and just kept praying and just kept praying. And an angel came to him. He didn't say sin for Simon Bar-Jonah. He said sin for Peter. Because he's not Simon anymore.
— Because even angels will respond to that name change.
— Yes.
— They know.
— Yes.
— Now, as you were talking about that for a second, you mentioned authority. Faith is not mentioned in that entire encounter with him until authority is brought up. Once authority was brought up, faith is mentioned. I've not seen such great faith. It's when you recognize his authority, that's when I'm operating in faith. This is not Greg doing this, this is Jesus doing this.
— And it didn't have a thing in the world to do that he felt one way or the other. He recognized his authority. He said you say it and it's done. Well in his name, we have that authority.
— Yes, absolutely. See even the Pharisees marveled at the authority when which he spake.
— That's right.
— His own synagogue marveled at it. Even the disciples marveled, what kind of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey him. But we have been given that. He gave us his authority again. And this is why we've got to get a knowledge of him in what you say.
— He's just about to go out of sight. All authority has been given unto me, both in heaven and in earth. Therefore you go in my name.
— Now you had A.W. Copeland's name. When you were a little five-year-old, you didn't have the authority to sign his name on anything. But as you grew, you became the patriarch of your family. Now see, when we were born again and placed your trust in Jesus Christ, God became my Father. I was born again by his Spirit. I had his nature in me. I've got to learn how to use it and walk...
— And yield to it.
— And yield to it and walk in it. And when I do...
— Now, there was so much of that that Gloria taught me because I'm reading now the full story of Smith Wigglesworth, and The Apostle of Faith is a group of his sermons and so forth. But Smith Wigglesworth, the complete story is a biography of him. And he was high-tempered. Well, the Lord said to me back there years and years ago, he said, and he wasn't hard on me about it, but he said very plainly, "Kenneth, I can't expand your ministry any further". I said, "Why"? He said, "You're too high-tempered". He said, "Someone criticizes your ministry and what to you say? Did you just fly off the handle and then once you release words like that, you can't get them back. And then they go over and over and over in your mind and you get more aggravated and madder". He said, "You tell your staff to never give you anything in print about yourself again, whether it's good or bad". I said, "Not even the good"? He said, "No, you'll tend to believe that too. Now," he said, "neither one of them. And then you won't have anything to regret". Well, I did that, but I still was on the angry side of it.
— That's Paul, forgetting those things which are behind. Paul had that same type of temper. Moses had that same temperament you're describing.
— So then there was Gloria.
— Yes.
— And all that time, I don't care what anybody said. "Well, you could just say the most terrible things," and she just didn't pay any attention to it. She demonstrated such love, not only to me. We were married six months before both of them got saved. But even back then, she was just so lovely all the time. And I couldn't get a fuss in edgewise. And so we just have never had any arguments over the years. She demonstrated the love all the time, day in, day out. I copied her. The mellowness of that love that didn't have any conditions on it.
— Well, she understood that prayer, thy kingdom come, that the kingdom had come. Romans will teach us in Romans 14, verse 17, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. She's operating out of the kingdom, as a result affecting you.
— And she would just go around and she quoted them in the Amplified. She'd just go around, quoting those. And she'd quote the 13th chapter from the Amplified. When you stay around somebody like that long enough, you will imitate that. Because she was just imitating the Jesus that was in her.
— That's exactly right.
— And is in her.
— I Corinthians 16, do everything in love.
— Yes.
— And that's what she's doing. All of those are manifestations of the Lord's Prayer, living out in her. She's walking in that. And as a result...
— I never thought of it like that, but that's true.
— And it's coming out of her and because the spirit of God's inside her, she has that DNA. She has those attributes in her. She's learning to yield to it by walking in love. That's a big key to the whole thing. That's what Moses never could get. He misrepresented God. That's what it cost him from going into the Promised Land. He struck the rock the first time, which is a symbol of the Messiah will be struck. The next time you speak to it. He's trying to teach him Mark 11:23 and 24 right there.
— But his temper got the best of him.
— The temper got the best of him and he struck it out of showmanship there. God's trying to teach him. After the rock has been struck, you won't have to do that again. You'll just speak it.
— And he really spoke harshly to them. I mean, he said some things that got him into trouble. He misrepresented God.
— He did. And it's dangerous. And pastors, you better watch that because as we've been forgiven, we're to forgive others now. That's part of that Lord's Prayer again. That has been fulfilled in Jesus...
— That's 11:24, 25.
— 25 is right behind it. See all of these things are connected.
— When you stand praying forgive, if you have ought against any so that your Father in heaven will forgive you your trespasses. It's The Lord Prayer.
— Ephesians 4:32, be kind one another tender-hearted, forgiving one another. even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.
— For the sake of the anointing.
— Right. And that Lord's Prayer ties back to Exodus 34 prayer.
— It does.
— It's all word together. It's the Word. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, but now dwells in me.
— I saw this a number of years ago in the spirit. I had been praying in the spirit and suddenly I saw these beams of light and they started doing this, and then they started weaving together and they turned into threads and they became a garment of light. And then you could see it. It was fabric. It was a spiritual fabric.
— My God.
— Made out of all of the promises of God. And you put it on like a coat.
— It's clothed in the glory.
— Yes. And we're out of time.
— Praise God. Amen.
— Hey, glory, we'll be back here tomorrow.