Kenneth Copeland - God's Words for Prosperity
So let's go back to the fourth chapter of the book of Mark, and then I want to go to the fifth chapter of Mark. Now, we began with the truth that words are spiritual containers. Jesus said that in John 6:63. He said, "My words are spirit and they are life". They are life words. So say this:
I am a believer. I am not a doubter. My faith is strong. My words are healing words. I rejoice at the sound of the truth. And I walk in love. I walk by faith. I fight the good fight of faith. And it's a good fight because the victory is already won. My words are full of victory. I'm a victorious believer. I have a voice. My voice is the voice of victory. And this is the victory that overcomes the world. Even my faith.
Who is he that overcomes the world? The one who believes Jesus is the Christ. Raised from the dead, shouted out. Glory to God. I have the victory, the sower sows the Word. Now, we began that Monday morning and talk about what Jesus said. And the first thing he said, he said hearken and behold. Listen, why did he say that? I'm about to say something. Hallelujah. I used to tell the kids, I'd say alright... Are you listening? I said, "Get your catchers out". Okay, you listen to me. Amen. And as a family, we had a lot of fun, but now we had rules in our house that your mother and I are a solid front. So don't come in here and tell me mother said this. If you're going to come on with that, we're going to go in and talk to Mother. Well, no no no. We never did tell them "I'm going to spank you if you do that again". And they did it again. The spanking came.
Well, yeah, but the next time, well no it's all over. Our words had authority and love. I told John, just a little guy. And I could see right off that he liked knives. Well, he came by. Honestly, I have a whole collection. I got a whole drawer full of knives, I mean, and hunting knives and knives that people have given me and a whole set of Harley-Davidson knives. And he just, if it was a knife he wanted it. So, now my words and I had a drawer there in the kitchen and it had some knives in there. So I took him in there. I said, "Now John, I want to tell you something about these knives". They'll hurt you. I said, "Don't play with them without me. Do you hear me"? I said, "Alright tell me, you don't play with these without me". No. Oh, no.
Well, I went on in the other room and a little bit. Ahhhh! I went in there and he picked up one of the little small knives and he got it open and he tried to close it, closed it on his thumb. So his thumb was in there and when I said, "Don't try to squeeze it, you cut it more". Oh, he's just going. So I got hold of it... pealed it up there like that. And I cleaned it, cleaned the wound and covered it, wasn't all that bad. And I put that on there. I said, "It kind of hurt, didn't it"? I said, "Do you happen to remember what I told you just a little while ago"? I said, "All right".
Now, it was one of those little knives that had one little knife on one side, one on the other, little blade about that tall. I said, "All right". I reached in there and picked it up, cleaned it off. I said, "Now look at this. You take this, and when you open it, open it all the way like that, and you get ready to close it, hold it down here and take your hand and do this and don't ever do this". So when his thumb healed up, I just went in there and he got it. And I said, "Now you do it". Well, he looked at a little bit. He didn't know whether he wanted to. I said, "Do it. It's not going to hurt you if you do it the right way". So he did it the right way. There was no reason in the world for me to jump all over him. I told you, blessed God, not to do that. Now you gonna learn not to do, well he already learned not to do that. Why? Because God has never done me that way.
Now there's something about my dad. He'd say, "Kenneth, I told you not to do that". You did it anyway. Well, I'm gonna spank you for it. And he would go on about everything... well when... I'm going to spank you for it, it's coming... Now mother would go along and if she waited very long she'd back out. But she's an instant spanker, she grab a switch... Just work me over good. My dad said "I'm going to spank you for it". He might go on the road for a week and come back. I never knew when it was coming. I want you to know it was absolute torture because, I mean, when he spanked, he didn't spank me but two or three times in my life. But, oh, honey baby. You know the Word says spare the rod and spoil the child while I was not spoiled, I really was. But I hid it real well. Well, I mean, when the time come... Well, I told you, come on. And we either go out in the garage or go back in his bedroom. He'd shut the door and he'd tell me, You know better.
Now I'm your dad and I'm your friend, but I'm also the one that disciplines you. And I remembered it for days. I'd go to school and sit down and say, "What's the matter"? Oh, well, I don't believe he should have done that. Well, I believe he should. Kellie's son, Max, was having some problems and he was upset with himself. And he was having... He didn't like what he was doing. And he came home from school. Now, Kellie would use a wooden spoon. He went and got the spoon and read the scripture and said, "Here", and he didn't do it anymore. Hallelujah. Now, in this, we noticed that the Word does its part. Look at the 15th verse. "These are they by the way side, where the Word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the Word that was sown in their hearts". They heard the Word. "These are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the Word, immediately receive it with gladness;" The Word was doing what it was supposed to do. It's what the people did or did not do that made the difference. It's how much they listened, how much they retained, what they heard.
Then I talk to you about the fact that Gloria and I went to the Word to get out of debt, but we found more scriptures than Romans 13:8. You can't do that. He wasn't even talking about money there, but that's what got our attention. So we let these words go down in us and Gloria said, "We're going to have to do soil samples here. We're going to have to be this hundredfold group. We have to be in order to do what the Lord's told us to do". I'll say, that's right. "Our day will come". And it did. But now just follow this all the way down. And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the Word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts or pressures of other things... Look up the word lust. It is a drive and a crave to do things that are forbidden. This is the way you have to look at sin.
Now if I had time, we would read the Ten Commandments. Just don't stop reading at the Ten Commandments. Keep reading because he begins to talk about the blessing. So here's the way the Lord read it to me. You shall have no other gods before me. And he said, "Kenneth, you don't need another God. I'm the best". He said, "Whatever second place not gonna make it, bud". Amen. And he said, "Don't covet another man's wife". He said, "Don't be doing that". He said, "Did not I do you well"? And I had no idea Gloria Jean was even in the world. Glory to God. Hallelujah. The blessings are involved. That's what those commandments are about. They're not do's and don'ts. They're blessings. Hallelujah. Thank you, Billie.
Now Isaiah 55:8, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. It shall not return to me void".
Well, how does it return? You take his Word and pray it back at him. I was praying one day and just really having a good time at it. And the Word of the Lord came to me and he said, "Let the Word fight his own fight. Let the Word fight its own fight". For you see, saith the Lord my Word is referred to as a sword, but it is a double edged sword. It is sharp and sharp and sharp and it'll cut and it'll do things and if you put my Word in your mouth and then you bring it back to me, then I'm obligated to listen. So come before me with my Word in your mouth and plead your case. Plead your case. I want to hear it. I'll plead my case. Let my Word do the fight. You just hold the handle of the sword... Glory to God. Well, you suit up with the full armor of God, and then you find out it's prayer armor. There was a woman I've been praying for I was ministering to her over the phone.
She said, "Well, now, Brother Copeland I'm telling you, now, mama's sick". Now wait a minute. What? I thought you had a covenant with God. I said, "You don't sound like". Well, I do have a covenant with God. I said, "Well, what does it say"? Oh, well, I'll tell you what it says. And she just started coming at me with that. The louder she got, the more excited she got. I tell you, bless God. I have a covenant. God, I'm gonna tell her to just get up and get well. And it went on along there for several days, she called me back. Brother Copeland God said... Now, just hold it. I thought you told me you had a covenant. "Yeah, I do have a covenant, and here she came again".
Well, it didn't take all that long and it stuck. Now, there's another woman that I had ministered to her, and she was healed of cancer. Well, it came back on her, so she called me and I said, "All right, now I'll tell you what. Now I want you to get your Bible and reread this together". And I could hear she held her hand. She asked somebody, "Where's my Bible"? So I just sat there on the phone a little bit. I said, "Did you find it"? I said, "You already know what's the matter? You put your Bible down". I said, "That cancer's working 24 hours a day and the Word isn't". 10% Word, 10% results. Let the Word fight its own fight. These words are spiritual containers, Now let's go back over there once more, where we were in Mark 4.
Now continue with me. Look here in 21, he said into them, "Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed"? What good is a candle under a bed? It's worthless. Now notice, there is nothing hidden which shall not be manifested. Neither was anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad. Let's go now to the 26th verse. He said, "So is the kingdom of God". So this is the way it is. This is the way the Kingdom of God is. "As if a man should cast seed into the ground". He's already said the sower sows the word. So he's talking about the words of God. He's talking about his own words here. "Should sleep, and rise night and day, the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how". He doesn't need to know. He doesn't need to be a biologist for a seed to grow. The Word is the power because it's the Word of the Living God.
"Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under it. And with many such parables spake he... Now wait, listen to it... And with many such parables spake he the Word unto them, as they were able to hear it".
Notice how many times here was in this. And when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. All things. I mean, he taught them on this. Evidently he got them by themselves. Got out of that crowd. I mean, he must have gone over this a whole lot. I think... Now, you don't hear me say I think a lot, but I am convinced that that's when he taught them about agreement prayer, because over in the book of Matthew, he said, "Again, I say unto you, if any two of you on Earth shall agree", well, when he's expounding all things. So those are the times when he got into those thing. Now, here's what I want you to see out of this. And here's what the Lord wants you to see.
The same day, say "the same day". "When the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow", been teaching all day, "They woke him up and said, 'Master care now not that we perish.' He arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace be still. The wind ceased and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, 'Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?' They fear it exceedingly and said to one another, 'What manner of man is this? Even the wind and the same sail.'"
I'll tell you what was a matter with them. They quit listening. He expanded the whole thing. He went to sleep, expecting them to take him home. And the devil stirred up a big wind out there. And they got scared. Instead of taking what he thought and saying, he gave us the command to go to the other side. Now we are going and I'm not going to wake him up in his name. I'm telling you, storm to get out of here. It would have ceased for them. The same as him. But they were not listening well enough to keep it. The devil stole it after.