Kenneth Copeland - Pray In God's Love
— Hello, everybody, we're Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. And here we are on Tuesday in April at Eagle Mountain Lake in Fort Worth, Texas, and the wind's blowing and ...
— And your hands are cold.
— Anyway, glory to God. And Father, we thank You today for the privilege of teaching and preaching Your Word. We thank You for it and praise You for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's once again read our golden text for this teaching this week. From the book of Numbers, the 23rd chapter, listen to this now. God is not a man that He should lie. Neither the son of man that He should repent. Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? And like we said yesterday, the reason this covenant... The first covenant and the second covenant, old and new, is called the Word of God is because it's His bond. He's not a man that He should lie. Jesus came as a man and he could have lied, but didn't. Amen. So now, let's go back to the moments in the life of Jesus and these 12 men that changed heaven and earth.
— Where are you?
— Right now we'll take up again in a 13th chapter of John. The 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th chapters of John are all in that meal. Now, they were not seated at a table. I think our dear brother Da Vinci could have read the Bible and known that, but he didn't. He had Jesus in the middle. It would've taken a table that would have seated 26, because they were all on one side of the table. No, they were not at a table. They were lounging on the floor. There were large pillows, and it was in the middle of the night, and it's by candlelight and lantern light. So let's go back where we were yesterday in the 14th chapter there where Jesus said... No, let's back up to the 13th. Now, remember, Jesus got Judas out of that room as quickly as he could. After the sop, Satan entered him and Jesus said unto him, "To what you do, do quickly," and he got out. So, verse 34. A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you. That you also love one another. By this shall all men, all people, know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. And then John in his first letter said, "We have known and believed the love that God has to us".
— We're identified by showing love.
— That's right. But if you ask Christians, I mean, all of them know that... Most of them anyway, know that our commandment is the commandment of love. But...
— It's not knowing though, it's doing that's...
— Well, and that plus the fact that he added believe the love that God has to us in there, to believe that love. Now, James talked about...
— Well, you have to know it to believe it.
— Yeah.
— So there.
— But then you get it from here and you have to believe what the book says.
— That's right. That's right.
— But now remember what James said?
— What?
— He said, "Any man that lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to all men and upbraids not or doesn't find fault. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways". Well, that's the same thing that Jesus was talking about there, a double-minded man. So think about this. When the storm hit, Peter said, "Master". He called him master, he called him rabbi, he called him, "Master, do you not care that we're dying"? That's a double-minded man. That's a man that he thought Jesus loved them, but he wasn't sure of all that. But we have known and believed the love. When did we know that? That know there is not a mental thing; it's ginosko. We have known. Well, that happened when you were born again; that's when we passed from death unto life. And so we knew the love of God, but do you believe it? Well, Lord, oh, Lord, I know You love me, but why did You let this sickness come on me? You don't believe the Lord. That whole 40 years in the wilderness, it was an 11 day walk to where they were going. But because they never did grasp the fact that God loved them, and they kept saying it over... Now these are covenant people, that's where that first Passover came from. And so over and over, they kept saying, and... Jesus said, "You have what you say. Because what you say is what you believe". And so, they kept saying, "We're going to die in this desert. We're going to die in this desert". They kept saying that, "He doesn't care. He brought us out here to kill us. We're going to die in this desert". And God said, "Your words have come into My ears and you will die in this desert". Now that doesn't mean they went to hell. That just means what they said came to pass. They did not believe that He loved them. Now the younger ones did because they were there all the time. They were born out there, and so they saw all the miracles. And so He said, "Anybody older than 20, I'll build a new army," and He did. So all of this comes to the fact that God does not have love, God is love; He has faith. And the Bible says, in the book of Hebrews, that He created all things by something you can't see, in the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews. Well, you can't see faith, but you can sure see the results of it. Amen. So here we are now, and He said, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me". Now, come on down here, yesterday, we talked to about He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. If you had known Me, you should have known My Father also," from henceforth and so forth and so on. Now, here's what I wanted to get to. Philip said unto him, "Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth". Jesus said unto him, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, 'Show us the Father?'" Now get this, listen to this. "Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me"? Listen, "The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself, but the Father that dwells within Me, [Together] he does the works".
— Now, if we just stopped right there... but we didn't stop right there. "Believe me that I'm in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe Me for the work's sake. Verily, verily..". Anytime there's two verilies, stop and see what it's there for. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also. And greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto My Father," listen, "And whatsoever you shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in My name, I will do it". Now, in the Greek text, the word ask is... If you have a Blue Bible app, and they're free, you can learn, you can know all these things. WE Vine's dictionary
— WE Vine's Dictionary of New Testament Words. And that word means ask or make a request; it also means to demand. Whatever you demand in My name, I will do it. Well, you don't demand Him to do anything, but-
— No, but He does call love a new commandment
— Yes, He does. Now that we're there, let's slip over here to the 16th chapter, and the 23rd verse. And in that day you shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you. Listen to this. This is the Classic Amplified. And when that time comes, you will ask nothing of Me. You will need to ask Me no questions. I assure you most solemnly, I tell you that My Father will grant you whatever you ask in My name as presenting all that I am. Up to this time, you have not asked a single thing in My name, as presenting all that I am. His name can do anything He could do.
— His name represented Him.
— Praise God. But now ask. Keep on asking, and you will receive so that your joy, gladness, delight may be full and complete. Your joy may be full and complete. Now, you remember this in the book of James? You remember what he said about the Holy Spirit? You have not because you ask not? Oh, well, but, no. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, don't jump the gun here. Read the whole thing.
— Are you asking me this?
— You ask and receive not because you ask amiss. And then he went ahead to say, you just want, whatever it was, you just want to blow it on your flesh. Well, there's a lot more than that about asking amiss, and we get into a whole teaching on prayer. Praise God. And that's where we're headed. Whatsoever you shall ask in My name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter that He may abide with you forever. Now, wait a minute, He just got done saying, it's the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works. Jesus would say, "I will come and heal him," but He's depending on the Father. Well, how can we do that? Well, it's Christ in us, the hope of glory, by the spirit. If the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He will quicken, or make alive, your mortal body. It's the same spirit; there's not two Holy Spirits, there's just one because it is the Spirit of God. Amen. And He's in Genesis one: In the beginning, God. Jesus said, "God is a spirit. And those that worship Him, worship Him in spirit and truth". So He's right there, the Spirit of the living God is right there. Light be, and the Spirit was moving on the face of the deep. And then God said, "Light be," and light was.
— So the words got God up and with it, didn't it?
— Oh, yeah, from verse one. And we find Him in the book of Revelation. First book, last book. And He's in all the other 64 books of the Bible. He's there, because He wrote the whole thing inspiring people.
— Yeah, that's right.
— He did.
— And he expects his people to be there.
— Yes, He does. And if a person says, "Well, it was just a bunch of old white guys writing it". No, no, no, no, no, no. It was men inspired by the Spirit of God. And our modern day universities and so forth, that's their whole idea and they think they've really got it together. Oh, that book, that's just a bunch of old white guys writing a bunch of stuff, it's got... No, no, no, it wasn't. They were men and women. There's Deborah, there's Esther, and women. There's Mary, the mother of Jesus.
— Well, I wasn't there.
— So the thing of it is, the Spirit of God is the author of this book, and that's what makes it real as it is.
— That's right. That's what makes it work.
— Now, let's go on down... And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter that He may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it sees Him not, neither knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you. They didn't know it, but the day of Pentecost is coming, glory to God. Actually, it happened before Pentecost when He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit". What happened? That's when they got born again, right there. Not on the day of Pentecost. That's when the Spirit came in fullness and back into this planet. Now, yeah, I want to read that in the Classic Amplified in the 14th chapter. And the 14th chapter, and, let's see, the 16th verse.
— Where are you?
— John 14:16. And I will ask the Father, listen to this, and He will give you another comforter, counselor, lawyer, helper, intercessor, advocate, strengthener, and standby that He may remain with you forever.
— Amen.
— I remember it, Gloria, like it was yesterday, Brother Hagin was talking about the standby. Now he said, "Back when I was driving an old car that was worn out," and he said, "All the tires were bald," and he said, "I just pushed down," and he said, "Nothing happened". He said, "Oh, but when I got that new Oldsmobile," he said, "I could push down and it went into passing gear". He said, "That's your standby. When you're going up a hill, that's just so rough you think you're not going to get to the top, depend on your standby and he'll throw it in another gear, and over the mountain you go".
— That's right. And the Holy Spirit goes to work.
— Yes, he does. He goes to work and strengthens us.
— Praise God.
— Now I learned this, oh, when I had that situation with my heart and I was preaching for Mike Barber in the prison over close to Dallas, and I, really, short of breath. No pain, I never did have any pain with it, but I learned later that my heart was out of rhythm and it was beating way too much. But I got in the airplane that night and the glory of God just filled that airplane, just a little before 8:00, October, this... Just right there in beginning of October. It was raining outside a little bit. And I heard the Lord say on the inside of me, "I have given you a new heart".
— Praise God.
— So I took it. I said, "Thank You. I have a new heart". I'm Kenneth New Heart Copeland. I have a new heart. So I began to confess that. I believe I have it. Well, I didn't notice any change right then. And so, then they examined me and found out I needed a pacemaker and all that. So I said, "Lord, I'm just going to get that by faith". He said, "No, you're too far behind the power curve". In other words, it's gone too far. He said, "Receive the pacemaker by faith," so I did. I said, "That thing's mine. I receive it". Now, I've been flying airplanes for over 60 years. And so, I didn't want to lose my medical, so I had to go to work. And they put this thing in there and it had a defibrillator in it, and the FAA knew all about pacemakers but they didn't know about having that defibrillator in there. I had to go to work believing all the time, I have a new heart. I had to get on the treadmill and I began to have a workout. And I'd get on there and I'd say, "Thank God for my new heart". And I'd just get on that treadmill and just say, "Thank God for my new heart". And a couple of times I set that thing off, but I just kept working and just kept confessing it, I thank God I have a new heart. And my heart kept getting stronger and it kept getting stronger and it kept getting stronger and it kept getting stronger. And there's a thing called the Bruce protocol. It's an FAA stress test that you have to go through. And that thing goes up to a 14 degree angle and it gets a little fast and it's nine minutes long. And so by the time it came to take the Bruce protocol... Now listen to me, now. I was working out at the Bruce protocol, all the time saying, "I have a new heart". Corresponding action had to occur, but I had the standby in there, and I'd just say, "Okay, Lord, just rise up within me. Amen. You're my intercessor, you're my strengthener, glory to God, and I have strength because of You". And when it came time, I took the Bruce protocol with the defibrillator in there, and it was just textbook. And when I got done, they said, "Are you all right"? I said, "I'm fine". And then I had to go to a doctor that's an FAA consultant, and he wanted to examine me, so they brought me over and got on the treadmill. And she said, "Mr. Copeland, we need to do about six minutes here". And I said, "Sure". So I got on there and they turned the treadmill on and... Now listen, I have a new heart. She said, "Mr. Copeland, could we do another minute or two? We can't get your heart rate up enough to do our test". My heart had become so strong because the standby was on the inside of me, and the Spirit of God began to encourage me, and the standby was working, and I passed it with the defibrillator in there. And then the tech rep came out and paired up with the pacemaker and the defibrillator and turned the defibrillator off because I don't need it! Glory to God. And I have my pilot's certificate, it's in my pocket. Glory to God. Because of the standby, the Spirit that dwells within me. He encouraged me from His book, He stood by me, and I'm strong.
— Amen.
— Praise God.
— Praise God.
— Amen. We'll be back in just moment.