Kenneth Copeland - The Prayer of Praise
Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. I'm Kenneth Copeland, and we're continuing our study on prayer. And we're talking mostly right now about prayer that changes things, but that's just one kind of prayer. There's intercessory prayer, there's prayers of praise and Thanksgiving and worship. There are many different kinds of prayer.
So Father, we thank You today and we praise You and honor You, that You have given us the privilege of contacting You in prayer. You are in heaven, Lord Jesus, at the right hand of the Father, and we praise God that we've been raised up to sit together with You in heavenly places according to the second and third chapters of the book of Ephesians. And we thank You and praise You for that, and we honor You today in that magnificent name, the name of Jesus. Amen.
Glory to God. And I'm going to ask you today to join with us here in believing God for rain. We need rain, and we're standing on the Word of the living God concerning it. And in Jeremiah, in the third chapter, God was talking to the nation through Jeremiah. He is talking about the nation and comparing the nation to a man. They say, "If a man put away his wife and she go from him and become another man's, shall he return into her again? Shall not that land be greatly polluted? But now you have played the harlot with many lovers, yet return again to me," sayeth the Lord. "Lift up thine eyes. Look up, look up to me under the high places and see where thou has not been lien with. In the ways has thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness. And thou hast polluted the land with whoredoms and thy wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there shall be no latter rain. And thou hadst the whore's forehead, thou refuse to be ashamed".
Well, You can take that however you want to take that. Most people do not realize this nation was declared to be one nation under God. But when the nation starts doing things that are obviously an abomination to God, then the weather gets all fouled up. But this land belongs to God. It doesn't belong to Gloria and me, it belongs to this ministry. Amen. Right? And we're right here on the shore of this lake, what belongs to this ministry, and we command it to rain. Glory to God. If it doesn't rain anywhere else, but in this lake, it's going to rain here, because our God sends us a former and the latter rain. And this is the season for rain, so you just watch out. You just wait and see. Just hide and watch. Glory to God. And with your agreement, we know it'll come to pass. Thank You, Father.
Now we've been talking about prayer. That's one of the ways you pray for rain. And we've seen it happen over and over and over and over and over again. When no one else got any rain, it rained around here because we'd stand out and hold up these scriptures and go to those scriptures where he promised the blessing of rain in its seasons, the former and the latter rain. And this is the rainy season, and we'll have it. We will have it. Praise God. Now, then, and we're talking about prayer, of course. And we've talked about it from different angles now. I want to go to the book of James. Oh, I love this little book. Well, of course I love them all. And here's another one five chapters long. And the 15th verse of the fifth chapter is where you get your healing. But it's a faith book. It's a faith book. Starts off in faith.
So let's go over here at the fourth chapter. In the 18th verse of the third chapter, "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. So from whence come wars and fighting among you"? Where does that come from? "Come they not hence, even of your lust or pleasures that war in your members? You lust". You just got pressure and have not. "You kill", that the cross reference actually says envy or you're jealous, "and desire to have and cannot obtain". He wrote this to Christian people. Have you ever heard such things? "You fight in war, yet you have not because you ask not". Wait, wait. Hold it. Don't stop there. "You ask and receive not because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your lusts and pleasures". You have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss.
Now we found out yesterday from the book of Ephesians, there's all different kinds of prayer. There's the prayer of faith that changes things. It'll change your body, but there are conditions to that. But then there is the prayer of praise and worship. Amen. Brother Hagin called it the praise cure, because more than once, he got healed just praising God. He was born very premature, and his whole chest cavity didn't develop. And they told him he had to die and that he wouldn't live past 17 years old. And they said, "You'll wind up being paralyzed". And he was going just the same way, but he just got into Mark 11:23, 24 and 25 and just stayed there until he received it. And in a moment's notice, his entire chest cavity, his lungs, his stomach, his heart, everything there was instantly changed and turned into health. He only weighed 89 pounds, but he got up healed. Glory to God. Hallelujah.
Well, and he taught on prayer a lot. So you can pray the prayer of faith and leave off the praise, and you ask amiss. You can pray the prayer of faith and leave off listening, and you miss. You need to be listening. You don't just pray a little bit and jump and run. Take the time to listen and just be quiet. Meditate on what you prayed and think about it and think about it. How does that change things? I know from the entire second chapter of first Peter, and I've seen all of those qualifications. And in that 24th verse, Jesus, you bore my sins and your own body on the tree. And by those stripes, I was and I am healed. I know that. I know that. But now what do I do? So you just be still and know that he's God. Now what do I do? Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Get up and go testify to it. Every symptom still there, get up and go testify. Get up and go testify. "Well, Brother Copeland, I can't get up. I'm in a wheelchair".
You're still seeing yourself in that chair. Do you have a cell phone? Testify to somebody. Glory to God. If you have help, get somebody to help you and you go somewhere, and you testify that you're healed. I saw this kind of thing happen to a young man. He had been shot in the back in his wild days, and he was in a wheelchair; paraplegic. Well now you know what happens? You get there, and you can't exercise. You can't do anything, and you wind up gaining a lot of weight. And he in no way could exercise. And still in that chair. And he just began to realize, "I know that says I'm healed". And I just... So he just kept... And he realized he was healed. And he'd gotten so large, he could hardly pick himself up, so he got somebody to help him. And the first thing you know, he's walking. Now, he can exercise. Now, Tim, he can work out. He can work out. He had been healed. Amen. Glory to God. I was present.
Now, listen to me. I was present in a church, not here in the United States. I was present in a church where they would spend so much time praising God. And I was preaching there that morning, so I went early to get in on the praise. And they just praised, and you could physically feel the lifting in that church as people began to praise. And while they were praising, they would start up there to give their testimony. And they had a medical doctor up front there. And if you came up and said your heart was healed, he'd listen. And he'd say, "No, don't come up here yet. We're standing with you, just go back there and keep praising God". And this man was standing up there on the platform. He was a former police officer. He'd been a soldier and then a police officer. And he got shot in the head, I believe.
Yeah. He got shot in the head. It didn't kill him. And they just kept praising God, and just kept praising God, and just kept praising God, and praising God, and praising God, and praising God, and praising God, and praising God and praising God until that bullet left out of his head and it worked its way down and through his body and was eliminated out his body. And he had the x-rays to prove it. Praise and worship, that is praying. The highest kind of prayer is praise and worship. And when we get to heaven, we will have the outstanding privilege to meet the man who wrote more songs about God than any other man alive. And his name is King David. Hallelujah. He was a warrior when he was a little teenage boy. And he took out the giant, Goliath. And people say, "Samuel made him king". No, he didn't. Goliath did. His great victory. They sang songs about him because he was a praiser and a worshiper. And we have the biggest book in the Bible are the Psalms. Praise God.
Psalm 69, "A Psalm of David. Save me, oh God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing. I'm come into deep waters," and he just keeps on and he keeps on, "Deliver me out of the mire". And he just keeps on singing and keeps on singing, "Let them be blotted out," glory to God. "The humble shall see this and be glad. And your heart shall live that seek God, for the Lord hears the poor and despises not his prisoner. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves therein. For God will save Zion and will build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it. And they that love his name shall dwell therein". And then Psalm 70, "A Psalm of David. Make haste, oh God, to deliver me". I mean, he just spent his time just out there, just singing to God. And they're in the book. The prayer of praise and worship.
Brother Hagin said this, "If you praise God long enough, the spirit of glory will come. And when the spirit of glory comes, the miracles and the signs and the wonders follow". Glory to God. Hallelujah. That form of prayer, wonderful. And when you're praying it that way, you don't pray amiss. You don't miss it. You can try to change something with the prayer of faith that only praise in worship will change. Then there's the prayer of agreement. Let's take a... How much time have I got, Tim? Okay. I can introduce this. Let's go over to the book of Matthew again, praise God, the 18th chapter. But you don't start with the 18th, 19th and 20th verses. No. No. Where do you start? How about verse one in the 18th chapter of Matthew, "Then at the same time, the disciples came unto Jesus saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven"?
Now they've been arguing among themself. "Who's greater, you or me"? And just check it out. They argued with one another all the time about who's the boss of this group. Jesus was the boss of the group. But then there's always Peter, James and John. Peter, James and John. Why is it always Peter, James and John? How come we didn't get to go up on top of the mountain? Peter, James and John. Why... Peter James, it's always Peter, James and John. "Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them and said, Verily I say unto you, except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore that shall humble himself..."
Oh, there you have it right there. Now think about it. Now they're all griping at one another, and you just check it out. When they came down from the mountain, here was the man with his son and he brought him there to be delivered from a devil and healed. And he said they couldn't cast him out. Well, actually they could, but then they couldn't. And then they got around him, they said, "Why"? And he said, "Because of your unbelief". Yeah, but Brother Copeland, it says this kind comes out with prayer and fasting. If you check that out, you'll find out that is not in the best manuscripts. Isn't that interesting? I said, check it out. Don't just take my word for it. But he said because of your unbelief. What his unbelief? Zero faith. "This kind comes out..." Your problem was your unbelief. And then he upbraided them for their strife. So humble yourself under the Mighty hand of God.
Now, and you read all of that. "Take heed that you don't despise not one of these little ones". And then in the 14th verse, "Even so it is not the will of your Father, which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. If your brother shall trespass against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone, between you and him alone. If he shall hear you, you've gained your brother. If he'll not hear you, take with you one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established". You're not ready to make the agreement prayer yet until that's taken care of. "If he should neglect to hear them, tell it to the church. If you neglect to hear the church, let him be under thee, let him be under thee, as a heathen man and publican".
He didn't say he was. He said get him out of your prayer life. He won't turn loose of strife. Just get him out of your prayer life. Love him, but just put him aside. You're going to have to pray and agree on something here. So just get in out of the way. "Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven". Well, you know who that is. "And whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven". Well, we're on earth. We can pray this. "Again," he had said this before. "Again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask," this is the prayer of agreement, "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".
Well, here we are. And there's more than two or three of us, so he's here. Well, of course he is, but he's talking about the prayer of agreement. He's saying if two or three of you are gathered together and set yourselves in agreement, there I'll be right in the middle of you to carry out that agreement. I will see to it. My angels will see to it, and my Father will back it. He'll see that it is done. Amen. Well, we have that big meeting downtown at the Southwest Believers' Convention. That big building cost a lot of money to rent that and all of the things that go with it and everything. And there has to be a contract by about that building and the finances about it. So we get the contract drawn up, and they say, "Okay, Mr. Copeland. Is this satisfactory"? Yes, it is. Yes it is. "So then according to this contract, you will have so many thousands of dollars in place and in our hand by this date right here". Well, I sure do hope so. "What"?
Well, we got a lot of faith. We're just believing for it. There's no agreement. They'll say, "Well, when you get to money, call us". No, you've established everything before you ever get to that place. You've taken care of all of the above. If there's some person that just won't turn a loose of a beef he has or she has with you and it just won't listen, listen, you don't go talk about it in the church. "Well, that old sister". No, you're wrong now. You need to get that straightened out, because you're not in any shape to make an agreement that the Lord Jesus can agree to. Get it all done, and then come before him and agree. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, do you agree with these verses?
And I've had the people that come in there with all the healing verses and all the financial verses. "Yes, sir. This one was right". We write them down and we write down a petition and we stand on all of those verses and set ourselves in agreement and then don't ever let it go. Don't ever see it any way other than that agreement. Don't talk any other way, and it will come pass. And we are out of time. I'll be back in just a moment.