Kenneth Copeland - It's Your Decision To Get Your Spirit in Shape
Kenneth Copeland: Hello everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is the Believer's Voice of Victory Broadcast. This is Professor Greg Stephens and this is the class and the Spirit of God is here. So good morning to all of you. We're going to have an exciting week this week. One of my favorite, most favorite subjects of the Bible comes from a situation I had many, many years ago and just a lot of years ago. And I was talking to the Lord about my weight, he started talking to me about my weight. And so I went up to the prayer cabin and I prayed and sought the Lord and fasted and in 1983, fasted on and off the month of January of 1983 and talked about that and all of these things. And he kept telling me, the decision is yours, the decision is yours. He said, "I can't make your decisions for you. I provide the material, but the decision is yours". Let's turn in our Bibles to Joel chapter three, verse 12. "Let the heathen be wakened. and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel". The valley of decision. Greg, what I have noticed, Hosea said, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge". You don't just read that one verse. You cannot separate heaven and earth. They're eternally connected together. And what happens on the earth affects heaven. Adam sinned, changed the whole earth. It's amazing how many Christians don't pay any attention to that. Decisions.
Greg Stephens: The Earth groans. The Earth is part of the covenant, it was under his stewardship.
Kenneth Copeland: And what the decisions people make about voting, the decisions that people make about everything. Everybody makes decisions all day long, based on what? My feelings. Well, I don't feel led. Well, that's fickle. Now, the Lord has given you things, Greg. I want you to get into concerning this, because there are spiritual decisions, there are mental decisions, there are physical decisions, there are family decisions. But we have all the answers here. And the Lord taught me some strange kind of ways to renew my mind. I realized just recently I was snacking too much and it rose up on the inside of me and I saw that and I was hanging along there around 163, 164, 162. And I thought, that's done, no more snacks. And somebody said, "Would you like that"? And I said, "No snack here..." I had to make that decision. No more snacks. Once you make the decision, it's easy. It's when you're wavering. Do I feel like... get the feelings out of the way, immediately. So this morning I weighed 160.5.
Greg Stephens: Praise God.
Kenneth Copeland: Just from that decision. Did I miss any of it? Are you kidding a couple of cookies. I don't eat cookies, but I was nibbling around on stuff just enough to hang on to two or three pounds there that there's no use in. So the decision is yours, Greg.
Greg Stephens: Over a year ago I said something. We were there at a restaurant with a ministry friends at Ministers Conference, and I ordered the chicken fried steak. And of course everybody whoa, you know. And I said, "Well, that be the last chicken fried steak". And I said that I think it was here in the studio, I'll never forget it. And you grabbed me by the hand and said, "I agree in the name..." And I thought, oh, no, No, no, no. I'm just telling you what I said. But my spiritual father jumped in on it, you and did that. And I'm over a year now. Haven't had one.
Kenneth Copeland: Don't want one.
Greg Stephens: No, that's it. I don't want one now.
Kenneth Copeland: I don't want it.
Greg Stephens: Now, for several months that wasn't the case. We'd be out to eat somewhere. Oh, they got the best chicken fried steak here. You ought to look at that. And somebody at the table next to me would order that big old thing, you know, hanging over the plate. But now that's gone. So making the decision and staying with it. And one time I was tempted. I almost ordered it. I thought it would be okay this time. And I heard you again when you grabbed me by the hand and set your faith in agreement with me over something I was just saying. But see, I had an accountability partner there and thank you for that. Because here it's been over a year.
— Here it is time. We can't do much about what the rest of the world does. I am fed up with going to heart attack funerals of friends of mine. Heart attacks come from the breakfast table. The lunch table. The supper table. That's where they come from. Mexico edged us out of being the diabetes capital of the world. Mexico just moved a little ahead of us.
— The teachings this week, Brother Copeland and the next week are the fundamental principles of the Bible. If you learn this and learn how to operate in it, you can receive anything.
— Yes you can.
— God gave us the privilege and he gave us the responsibility of making a choice.
— I need to make something clear here. When I was short of breath I was preaching in the prison for Mike Barber over there close to Dallas. And I got back in the airplane and I heard the Lord say, "I've given you a new heart". Well, the bottom line of all of this was bad decisions on my part. When they put the dye in and checked everything, I had one blocked artery, but it had bypassed itself. I needed no stent. I preached myself to exhaustion twice. That kind of stress will kill you. And finally, as I got older, I stopped doing that for quite a while there. But it took its toll on me. And so I had to have a pacemaker because the electric part of my heart got off. That was a bad decision. But I stopped that. And then particularly hard Southwest Believers' Convention just particularly hard and just a number of things that had happened before that convention and all. And Sunday morning and I was standing there in the shower and I twisted to pick up my washcloth. And that horrible pain that I found out later was when a disc exploded in my back. When I hit the floor of that shower, I made the decision, I will not have surgery on my back under any condition. Well, I'm pain free today, no surgery. Those decisions need to be made right on the spot and then stick with it. Now, had I made the correct decision back when the Lord said to me, "Start walking and don't stop," then I would not have had to do it on a treadmill. I wouldn't have had that whole scenario to start with. The decision to disobey, I remember it Greg. He said, "Walk", I started trying to jog and then I'd get too tired and just quit. I had a treadmill for a while, hung clothes on it. But I got hit hard. But then in that valley of decision, step by step by step, I was able to move into an area spiritually, move into an area where my soul, because I had the Lord say to me, will you... grows up in my spirit. And when it happened the night before, I slept on the floor of the hotel because of the pain in my back. I was dressing then for the evening service, "Will you get your spirit in the best condition it can possibly be". I said, "Yes, sir". "Will you get your soul in the best condition it can possibly be in"? And I said, "Yes, sir". "Will you get your body in the best physical condition it can be in". And I agreed that morning and I'm there now.
— Amen, you were created, all of us were created in the God, class with the ability to choose, he gave us that right to think for ourselves, to choose our own destiny. Life is a series of choices, your entire life. Don't be a person that says, "I can't decide what to do".
— Never say that.
— Don't say that. Because if you do that, you're in trouble. You just said it. It's time to get in shape. It's time you start spiritually to get in shape. Daniel had an excellent spirit about him because he made a choice. He wasn't going to eat the food of the king. He was going to keep himself. I don't have a choice with my position. I'm not in Jerusalem. I'm not where I'm supposed to be. You brought me here. But I do have a choice about what I'm going to put in me. It was Daniel's moment. I'm not going... I'll be better off eating just vegetarian food while you guys eat this. And you watch and you see, you judge me and see if I want to look better. And he did. Because he made a choice. I can't control the circumstances I'm in. Joseph couldn't control the circumstances he was in, except by choosing to be about an excellent spirit. There was nothing bad said about either one of those two men.
— Daniel refused to compromise.
— That's right.
— And he taught that to the other three.
— That's exactly right.
— The decision to never compromise. And my spiritual father, Oral Roberts, preached on those things and he said, "If you bow, you burn".
— That's right.
— Talking about the fiery furnace.
— Fourth man in the fire.
— If you bow, you burn. If you don't bow, you can't burn. And whatever you compromise to keep, you will eventually lose. And anyway, go ahead with Daniel.
— Daniel... They have found the Dead Sea Scrolls when they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran in Israel, they found five copies of the Book of Daniel and they were all perfect in harmony with one another. So we know that the Book of Daniel that we have is authentic and it's good. Chapter two through seven in Daniel were written in Aramaic, which I find that very interesting, and the remaining portions are written in Hebrew. So the word excellent that he had excellent spirit in Aramaic is Utara, which is a little different than the Hebrew word. The Hebrew is Utar. So they're alike, they're similar, but they're different. And it says so in that word... That word is a little more of an idea of abundance. So his choice brought him abundance. Even in slavery, the Aramaic word carries the idea of preeminence. So an excellent spirit is where the Spirit of God is preeminent in your life. So when he wrote it in Arabic or Aramaic, rather, he wrote it that he had an excellent spirit about him, meaning that the Spirit, the things of the Spirit were preeminent with Daniel. That's the choice he made, that I'll choose the Spirit more than I'll choose anything else. And so what he's talking about is he's talking about that he had an excellent spirit, meaning the spiritual things became preeminent in his life. He sought that more then he sought anything else. So Daniel made a decision to live by the Spirit is what he was doing, even without the Holy Spirit, you know, indwelling in us. How much more Brother Copeland us having the Holy Spirit in us, should we be led by the Spirit of God. The Sons of God should be led by the Spirit of God. If you'll learn to listen to your spirit, your spirit will tell you, "Don't eat all that ice cream in the fridge". Don't buy those.
— Don't get up in the middle of the night and go in there either.
— Exactly. So he made a decision to put the Spirit of God first, above all things, above the king, above himself. And there are two people besides Jesus that are spoken of in the Bible that have an excellent spirit. There's nothing bad ever said about him, Daniel. Nothing bad ever said about Joseph. Both made that decision and the same thing I would say the same thing about Jesus, but there are things people did say bad things about Jesus, you know, people in the natural. But he said, Jesus... even said, "The words that I speak, they're not mine". They're what the Father says. The things that I do is what the Father says to do. So he was being led by the Spirit and all these things. I'm fully convinced, if we would learn to live by the Spirit, let the spirit man dominate us, you won't bow, you won't get up and eat the stuff in the fridge. And so it's time to get in shape spiritually and to get our spirit man in shape, get our house in order. You said a few years ago, and it's absolutely true. This body is the temple of not only my spirit, but the Holy Spirit. So therefore, I need to paint this temple. I need to make my temple accordingly and look right and be right. In John, Chapter eight... Speaking of the Spirit, let me get here real quickly.
— Now right here in this third chapter in that 10th verse. "Let the weak say I am strong". Just that little decision right there.
— That's a decision.
— That is a decision, let him say that, when you say it, you bring faith.
— Now, I can't say it for you,
— You have to say it.
— And I have to make the decision to say it enough times until I renew my mind to that, that I am strong. Well, then, of course, that leads me to Isaiah 40:39 and 40. Rise up with the strength of an eagle. Same thing. My suggestion is you write these things down, make a list of it, and convince yourself by renewing your mind that I am strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Now we're over into the second covenant.
— That's exactly right.
— And remember, every word of this where I highlighted... every word of it, all of it are backed in blood.
— These guys were prophesying our covenant. So they were already seeing into it. There was the transition time.
— The role of the first covenant prophet was to give the people something to say. You say it. This is what you say all the way through. You say this, David, you say this, and you don't go around talking about how weak you are.
— That's right. You talked about it a while ago. We read that there in Joel the Valley of Decision. The Valley of decision is, a valley has to be between two mountains.
— So there you are.
— Blessing Mountain, Cursing Mountain, and the King in Joshua chapter eight was hung between the two mountains. So as they're saying, the blessing and the cursing, accepting it for that generation, entering into the land, they're in the land now. That is the decision moment for the two of them, for the entire nation. They were deciding that will be amen. That's going to be it for us. And that was the valley of decision for them.
— And then God speaking through Moses.
— In Deuteronomy 28, 29, 30.
— He said, then the bottom line was in 30:19, I have placed before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore you choose life that you may live. I'm led of the Lord to say this right here particular to this radio and television audience. The Spirit of God said through the great apostle Peter, his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live under righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. If there are things in your past life that keep coming up, they just keep coming up and you just keep, man, I wished I hadn't done that. Oh, if I could get that back. I wish I had not done that. Oh, I wish I had. What are you doing? I wish I hadn't made that decision. Well, join the club. You get on that. I have scriptures that I have handwritten out that I do every morning in my bathroom, right on my mirror. I get up. I mean, I stand there and shave and look at those scriptures every day. Every day, he bore my sins. He bore my sins in his own body on the tree that I'd be dead to sins. I'm dead to it. I am dead. I'm a dead man to sin. But I'm alive to righteousness. And do it and do it and confess it and confess it. And look up the Scriptures in your Bible. And you stay there, you park there, and you stay there until the joy of the Lord comes and you begin to think about that and you think, ha ha ha, that's not who I am. That's who I used to be.
— Romans Chapter three and four. He was crucified, he died because of the transgression. He was resurrected for my justification. I have faith in that resurrection. I see myself as having been crucified with him, buried with him, resurrected with him. So I'm justified based on his resurrection. If he had only, if he wouldn't come out of the grave, I still could have been saved. I still could have been healed. I still could have been prospered because that reversed the curse. But that resurrection justified me. Made me righteous. And so now I have my faith in what he did in that resurrection that I was raised with him. That's a symbol of water baptism. Paul was making the argument about circumcision, the flesh versus not first covenant versus second covenant, but we have been crucified with him. See, a lot of people think, why do bad things happen to good people? Because they make bad choices.
— Bad choices.
— I heard you say that. And so that's all that is, all of that stuff in the past of me. Paul said this, forgetting those things which are behind me. I pressed toward the mark of the rise of the high calling. We all have things in our past. And I remember arguing with the Lord about that one time. Well, I wasn't like Paul. I hadn't killed anybody. He goes, "Yes, you have". And I, "Well war stuff". And he goes, "No, no, you have" and I went, "I haven't killed anybody".
— Yes, you have. And the Lord show me, he goes, "You did it with your mouth, when you spoke evil, when you said these things, when you did that against a brother, you murdered him, did the exact same thing". I said, "Oh, Lord, forgive me". And he said, "I already did, but I want you to know what I've done. And now you make a decision not to do that anymore. Make a decision to let me talk through your mouth. Make a decision to be my voice today because I want to speak blessing to people. I want to speak blessing in the earth. And I need your voice to do it". Daniel made the decision to open his shutters. And defy everything the king had said and everything that that bad bunch around the king had said. And just opened those shutters and praise and worship his God. So his own personal life did not mean that much to him. He was willing, rather, to worship God.
— Death had lost it's sting for him.
— Well, we're out of time, man, the five minute broadcast. That's all right we'll be back in just a few moments.