Kenneth Copeland - Renew Your Mind to the Truth of God's WORD
A person who lives by faith, and their life is sustained by faith. We never have to change our lifestyle, whether times are good or times are bad, because we ought to live by faith. And we serve the God who’s more than enough. Thank You, Jesus. Father, we come before the reading of the Word of the living God, and we thank You for blessing it, and blessing us. And we give You praise and honor for the integrity of this written Word, because Your Word, Your blood covenants is just as much God as You are. Thank You, Jesus. We praise You for it.
Romans chapter 12, if you’d turn there with me, please. «I beseech you therefore,» now really you need to go back and see what that’s there for. You don’t just start in the middle of something, but it is the beginning, because you come back over here and you’ll see… it talks about wisdom and knowledge. «I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service». Now he who knew no sin was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That’s not holiness. That’s right standing with God. And when a person does that, obviously I was a baby Christian. I didn’t know anything.
So God gave me physical evidence the second day of November, about eight o’clock in the evening, 1962. Gloria and I were married on April the 13th, 1962. I had flown a man by the name of Weir from Little Rock to Shreveport. To me, it was just like any other day, except I got arrested. I had changed clothes, took my suit off. Gloria waited supper for me. And in fact, when I got in, she was still at the stove. And I heard it in my spirit, «Kenneth, if you don’t get right with me, you’re headed to a devil’s hell, son». I said, «I know it. What do I do now»?
I heard my Sunday school teacher at the University Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas. Her name was Mrs. Taggart. She was about that tall. She was a widow woman. And she wore the same thing to church every Sunday, black with a little black straw hat, little artificial flowers right on top. And so I heard her voice, «Boys, you have to ask Jesus to come into your heart». I thought, that’s old lady Taggart. She called herself old lady Taggart. And I said, «It sounds just as dumb as it did the first time I heard it, but here it goes. Jesus, come into my heart». The silence on the inside of me was the loudest thing I’d heard for a long time, for about 30 or 40 seconds. I didn’t know I was a new creature. I didn’t know there was any such thing. I couldn’t shut my mouth. And profanity was gone from that day until this.
I had a lot of other challenges, but then I thought, what am I going to tell Gloria? And I said, «Gloria, what would you think if I were to give my testimony and talk about God»? And she said, «Hallelujah». I said, «What»? She said, «Well, when you were out looking for that job, I read an inscription in the Bible your mother sent you that you never looked at». It said, «'Ken, precious, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.'» She said, «I sure do need some things. Lord, take my life and do something with it». So that’s the way we got started. «I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy».
Holy comes from the fruit of the Spirit. The nine fruit of the Spirit produce holiness. «And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove». Now look, we’re going to prove something here «…what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God». Good? Well, I was in the good will of God. I didn’t know anything, but I was born again. Well, that was November 1962. January 1963, both of us baptized in the Holy Ghost, speaking with other tongues. Well, we know that’s the will of God. «For I say, through the grace given unto me…» Now notice, «to every man that is among you». Not everybody in Rome. «…not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according as God has dealt unto every man among you the measure of faith».
So we know from that, since it took faith for us to get born again, we had a measure of faith to start with, whether we knew it or not. But then you get into this holy book and it begins to put all the pieces together. «Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectionated one to another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another».
Don’t look at me in that tone of voice. Preferring one another, not gossiping in one another. Preferring one another. And faith is improving because we find out that faith worked by love. And we also find out from this book that all that doesn’t originate from faith is sin. And every idle word that men shall speak, they’ll face judgment over it. What is an idle word? Well, I’ll tell you what, that just scared me to death. You’re lying, you didn’t die. That’s an idle word. Well, see you tomorrow if a train don’t hit me.
Come on. Kellie and John were small. And the four of us played together, Gloria and I and Kellie and John. I jumped out from behind the door and booed and they laughed and giggled. I’m telling you on the inside of me, the Lord said, who do you think you are? He said, «You have frightened those children». And he said, «Fear is not okay. It takes perfected love to cast out fear because it hath torment. And if you don’t do something about that and change that fear in them, they’re eventually going to be in trouble and don’t know why». So I called them both in there and got on my knees and apologized. And that’s where our lives came up. And I’ll tell you about our flu shot before we get done. Well, I said, «We’re going to take our flu shot».
John’s eyes got about that big and Kellie looked at me and she looked at Gloria and Gloria smiling, I’m smiling, but they trusted us. But it was simple. I just went to the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy. And if you don’t hearken to the voice of my Word, then the fever and every sickness and disease not written in this book of the law will come on you. But Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. So we went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. What’s happening? We were renewing their minds to the fact that they don’t have to be sick. Kellie came home from school one day, she was in high school. She said, «Daddy, I’ve had symptoms of the flu all day long».
Well, this came out of my spirit. I never had had this thought before, but it renewed my mind. I said, «Kellie D, we are not the sick trying to get healed. We are the healed and the devil’s trying to take your health away from you». She said, «I’ll be back in a little bit». Went in her room and all the symptoms were gone by the time we had supper. Now, when COVID-19 hit, minister’s conference, 2019, I was on the front row of the minister’s conference and I began to chill and began to hurt around behind my eyes. I was sitting right there on the front row. And so if you were about where Cynthia is next to me, you might’ve heard me say that. But I said, «You can’t put that on me. You know you can’t put that on me. I resist you in the name of Jesus. Now get».
About 15 minutes, it was gone. I’m not bragging on me. I’m bragging on this book. The blood, the name, and the Word. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Now that, if you can’t get stirred up over that, I mean, your wood’s wet. You know that? I mean, I get stirred up. Let’s go to verse nine again. «Let love, without dissimulation, abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good». We’re talking about the renewing of our minds now. «Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another». To honor one another.
We’re believers. We should honor one another and be happy to do it. «Not slothful in business, fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. Distributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality, bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice. Weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another». He’s talking to a whole congregation about renewing their mind as a congregation and individually until that congregation comes to that place where they think alike. Mind not high things. Condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. And if it possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in do so you heap coals of fire on his head. So be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Love works no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Now, I write this in the front of my Bibles. This is a new one. I wore the other one out. And boy, didn’t have to start another one. I mean, it was so worn out. I mean, the pages had been scotch-taped back together. And I was going to have it redone. And finally, I just said, no. I gave it to Pastor George. I said, «Put this thing in the archives. I’ll start another one».
August 23rd, 2024. Always stay on the God’s side of everything. August 23rd, 2024. Let the Word fight its own fight. It has the power to bring itself to pass. No one can defeat thoughts with thoughts. Think his words and say them by faith until his words become my thoughts. Then this then is the renewing of the mind. This is the renewing of the mind. And it’s an ongoing thing all the time. You renew it, renew your thinking. I’ve noticed, and I’m talking about myself now.
I have noticed that I will, well, in fact, I was in Shreveport preaching there where Jerry and Carolyn were raised. And I went in early and I noticed a tightness right in here. And I was there three weeks. And it was so painful. But I’d walk out on the platform and the anointing would take hold and I’m paying attention to it. And more than once, I’d walk off of the platform and that thing would hit me. And once or twice it hit me and I screamed out loud. And I just laid down on the bed. I said, «Lord, you can’t miss it. I missed it. Where am I missing this»?
I heard him say this in my spirit. The memory of a potato has never nourished anyone. You have to get the potato in the system. He said, «You’ve been quoting all your scriptures by memory. And some of them you’re not quoting quite correctly, but you haven’t read any of them». I said, «I changed that today». So it was so painful. And Kellie and John didn’t go on that meeting. They were young. So our house was south of town there on Florentine Street. We got on the airliner. I don’t remember now what, our airplane was in a shop or something anyway. I’m sure glad because I wouldn’t have flown in that condition.
And I could hear the devil just throbbing. He said, «I’m going to kill you». He said, «It’s about a mile to the baggage area there and you’re going to walk it and I am going to kill you». I came down the stairs. I’ve been sitting in that airline seat and it was just throbbing. I have no idea until this day. I don’t know. This fella came up there with a wheelchair and said, «You need this».
I thought oh! And I said, «Healed men don’t need wheelchairs». And it was almost a mile. And finally I said, «Dad, I can’t go on our house. Let’s just stop off at your house. I’m hurting too bad. I can’t go any further». So I went back there and what had been my bedroom when I was about the time I got out of high school. And I just went to sleep by faith. I just went sound asleep. My mother’s sitting there praying in the Spirit. Her favorite term was, «Hit it in tongues, honey, hit it in tongues». She did. And suddenly I just sat right straight up. She said, «That did it».
And that pain was gone until this day. So that renewed my mind that to don’t trust your memory where these scriptures are concerned. That’s the reason I have them written down. Do not be conformed to the world. Change the way you think. Proverbs 23:7, praise God. «For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he eat and drink. Say he to thee, his heart is not with thee». What you think about most of the time you eventually will become, what you spend most of your time thinking about, whatever you or I or anyone else compromised to keep, we will eventually lose it. Those are spiritual laws.