Kenneth Copeland - The Road to Success Is Found in The Word of God
Would you open your bibles, 2 Chronicles Chapter 20. Now, I want you to keep an eye for the word praise. "It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with other beside the Ammonites against Jehoshaphat to battle. There came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side of Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar". Did you get that? "Hazazontamar, which is Engedi. "Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord".
That's what you do when you're afraid. You don't put up with the fear, you set yourself to seek God. "And proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand there is not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee"? Now that's praise. Amen. He's not just praying. Do you notice what he's doing? He's praising God. He hadn't asked for help yet. He started off praising him.
"Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? They dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, if, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit". "O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are on you".
This is what happened. This is what you do when you get into financial difficulties. This is what you do when you're deep in debt and don't know how to get out. Praise God, this is what you do. This is what you do when you got plenty of money. This is what you do. Amen. "Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benanaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation". Now, when the Spirit of the Lord comes in the midst of the congregation, something is about to happen. He always comes, particularly when you start bagging on him, and you start praising him, and you start telling him how big he is and how wonderful he is. And he start telling him, "You're not going to let that happen to us, are you"? Oh, yeah, he shows up. That a good place to say amen right there. Hallelujah.
"And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's". Be not afraid of this thing that's attacked your household. Be not afraid of this sickness or this disease. Huh? Don't be being afraid of that. No. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. Why? Because, our God is the biggest thing in the valley. There ain't nothing in that valley to be afraid of. Besides that, the shadow of a dog never bit anybody. It's the shadow of death. Glory to God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
"Tomorrow you down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. You shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you. Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord". You see it? You see it? They feel before him worshiping the Lord. "And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high". Boy, there's a lot of praising going on here. "And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth".
Watch, there's a spot that the Lord wanted you to see tonight. "Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established; believe his prophets, so shall you prosper". Now, listen. I don't know how long and how many times I read this, I thought God told them to appoint singers. How many of you thought that? Well, where's the rest of you raising your hand? The rest of you just sat there and lied, that's all. Look, no, when he had consulted the people, they decided to do this. They made the decision. I tell you, that's a thrill. "When he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of his holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth forever". Say it, praise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever.
Again, praise the Lord for his mercy endures forever. Oh, man. Glory to God. "And when they began to sing and to praise," the Lord God went into action. Oh, Lord, I never thought of that. Could be that Paul and Silas, but particularly Paul, a Bible scholar, could be he had this on his heart and mind in that dungeon in that night in Philippi? Huh? Yeah. Why, sure. Amen. He must have because the Lord dropped that in me. I never had that thought before just a moment ago. "When they begin to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them". Amen.
The devil hadn't got any sense. If he had any sense, he'd had known he couldn't overthrow God. That's stupid, brother. "And when they had made an end of the inhabitants". They made and end of them. You see that? They made an end of them. They weren't none of them left. "Every one helped to destroy another. And when Judah came". Man, I tell you, the joy of the Lord is all over me. "And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much".
Now, I have a question. I want to know why these idiots brought all their money to battle. That's a hard one to figure. Well, we need to take all our jewelry with us. Oh, yeah, we need to take it with us because somebody is liable to steal it. This is what you do. This is a 100% guaranteed model for success right there. Right there. How much more powerful is it today when we are filled with the Holy Spirit? Hallelujah. Don't discount your angels. Hebrews chapter 1, quickly. We're not saying enough about this. We're not talking about this enough. We're not studying about it enough. First chapter, verse 13, "But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation"?
Whoa. We're not talking about this enough. Are you commanding your ministering spirit? I didn't know I had one. Jesus said, talking about these little children, that their angels are ever before the face of the Father. Well, you don't lose your angels just because you grow up. Amen. Ministering spirits. Amen. Say it, ministering spirits sent forth to minister for me. Now, they are, of course, spirit beings. They don't have authority to work on their own. You're the one with the name. You're the one with the authority.
Now, you know good and well the Apostle Paul proved in his writings that asking God to get the devil off of you won't work. Amen. No, there's nowhere in there that says to pray and God will get the devil off of you. It says you cast him out. You have authority. You have the name. Well, that name doesn't cover just the bad side, it covers the good side. Amen. It covers the good side. This is exciting stuff, now. Oh, hallelujah. I first began to learn it from Brother Hagin when the Lord told him, said, "Quit praying about money. Don't come asking me for money". He said, "All the money is down there". He said, "First, bind the devil. Establish the amount".
We're supposed to have money. We're supposed to prosper. We're not supposed to be in debt, we're supposed to be strong. We're supposed to be in good health all the time. All the time because there's many a lot of sick, broke people out there. Hallelujah. Well, you gotta, what we read in 2 Chronicles 20 tonight, follow the model. Did you hear me? Follow the model. And Jesus told Brother Hagin, he said, "I'm not holding back on you, it's the devil that's holding back on you". He said, "Bind him and then put a faith claim on the amount. And then, command your ministering spirits to go get it". Bind the devil. Lay hold by faith what you need and what you desire.