Kenneth Copeland - Praying in the Spirit Prepares You for Your Future

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TOPICS: Prayer, Holy Spirit, Tongues

Father, we thank You for this broadcast today. And we are so appreciative of the Holy Spirit, the Greater One, the guide, the helper, the standby, the intercessor, the strengthener, the healer that lives on the inside of us, that you sent to live with us and to abide with us forever, to live a supernatural life in this earth that is crying out to know Jesus. It's crying out. Well, how do you work in this? What do you do in this? We're receiving from you, and we're receiving direction from You, and we thank You in Jesus' name. Amen. Glory to God.

This has been a big week for me. I just so enjoyed it. And if you've enjoyed it, I want you to let me know. Those of you that have received the baptism with the Holy Spirit this week, if you got born again, received the baptism, received healing, anything, let me know. I want to know about it, dear Lord. This thrills Gloria and me beyond measure. Hallelujah.

Mark 11:22, "Have the faith of God. For verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe you receive them, and you shall have them". He did not say, "as long as you understand what you're praying and saying with your mind".

Now, let's go over to I Corinthians 14, "Follow after love, desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God... howbeit in the spirit he speaks mysteries". Now look at the 4th verse, "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifies", or builds himself up. He builds himself up. Now, notice again, "Let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret". Now, you remember, he said, "If I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful". That's the reason you need to pray that you interpret, so that your understanding can catch up with your spirit. Amen. Don't want you to continue to be unfruitful in your mind.

"What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing in the spirit, I will sing with the understanding also". Amen. Now, pray that you interpret. Now, we're not talking about in the 12th chapter where it's talking about the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in ministry. Now, notice, he said, "Here there are diversities of operation, but it's the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every many to profit withal. To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another special faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues".

That is ministry manifestations, power gifts, revelation gifts. In the case of tongues and interpretation of tongues, it is equal to prophecy. So that's not the kind of interpretation he's talking about. Now, let's get back over here where we were in the 14th chapter. "Let him that speaks in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret". He's not talking about you being an interpreter. Now, that could happen in a service somewhere as the Spirit wills. Amen. This is talking about in your own private devotion. Now, I learned a lot from my spiritual father, Oral Roberts, in this area. He taught it publicly, and he walked in it dramatically. And so praying in tongues and then interpreting back to himself in the Spirit. Now, it does not necessarily have to come as words back to yourself.

Now, listen to me now. In fact, I heard him say this. He said, "It may come as a verse of Scripture that comes up while you're praying in tongues, praying with your spirit". See, your understanding is unfruitful, but you pray it. And I do it all the time. I say, "Father, I pray here in the Spirit. I'm praying for all men, kings, all that are in authority, that the church live in peace and honesty and godliness. And I'm praying for the president, and I'm praying for the peace of Jerusalem, and I'm praying this, and I'm going to pray about all of that in tongues. And I pray also that I interpret. And I pray for my partners. I start praying for my partners. Glory to God. I pray for my partners in the Spirit every day".

And I'll pray that way. I pray also that interpret, see. And walking in the office of the prophet and teacher, this manifests in my life a lot publicly. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about in my private devotion times that I'm depending on the Greater One that lives within me to let me know what I'm praying about, particularly when I need to know. When I'm praying I, "Oh, God, what is it? Oh, Lord. I pray, also, here now, Lord, that I interpret. Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, Lord. What is that, Lord? Yeah, I realize that. I'm making intercession for somebody. Lord, what is it? What is it? Well, pray for a member of your family. Okay, yeah, I will".

See, that's part of the interpretation. And He said it will come as a Scripture. It can come as an inward conviction. "What is that"? "Well, yes, Sir. Yes, Sir. Yeah, I know it. I know it. I need to do something about that. Glory to God. Yes, Sir, I repent. I need to do something about that". I had the Lord say this to me a number of years ago. I got hold of this, that, "Believe that you receive while it's still a mystery", "howbeit in the spirit he speaks mysteries". I believe I receive that while it's still a mystery. I don't have to wait until I understand something. I believe I receive it now. Mark 11:24, "Whatsoever you desire, when you pray, believe you receive". I'm believing I'm receiving while it's still a mystery to me. Yes, I believe I receive that, Lord. Thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You.

And I was in a good friend of mine's church out in California, and just with the whole group, we were praying and dedicating the new building. And, we were just having a big time and praying in the Spirit. And he said, "Brother Copeland, you have something you'd like to say"? I didn't. And all of a sudden, I said, "Now, 'Christ' is not Jesus' last name". And I began to talk about that, and, boy, I mean, here it came. I preached on the Jesus, the Anointed One, the Messiah. I preached on it for, I mean, years, I preached on that. And the Lord just kind of sprung it on me in that night. Glory to God. And it came up in me.

Well, sometime later, in fact, oh, I don't remember now, several years later, the Lord said to me, "That's what you were praying out in the Spirit when you got the revelation that to receive while it's still a mystery". He said, "I was building that revelation in you then. You were praying it out in other tongues. You were praying it out in the Spirit and then it flowed up in you, and there it was, see". Amen. Well, I've had things like that happen before. And I'm just praying in the Spirit and just praying and praying in the Spirit, praying in the Spirit, praying in the, "Father, I pray that I interpret".

Now, you don't need to be doing that, you need to go do this over here. Years ago, I mean, way back, 1968, I was preaching up in a little town in the panhandle of Texas; Hereford, Texas. And I had several, my TV with a 21-day meeting preaching in there once every day, including a Sunday afternoon, and then twice a day the rest of the time. And so I had written outlines here as the Lord gave them to me. And I'm praying in the Spirit, and I'm studying. And I'm in the Word, and I'm going here to these, and I'm studying the other material that I had, and I'm just walking around my bedroom there, praying in the Spirit. And I heard this come up in my spirit, "You've got those in the wrong order".

And I stopped. It came out my mouth, "You've got those in the wrong order". I said, "Okay". "Put that one over here and put that one here". "Yeah, okay. Yeah, I'll do that". Well, and just while I was there in that meeting, I spent a lot of time praying in the Spirit and listening to the Lord. See, I pray that I interpret. And I'm standing in the bathroom getting ready, I'm standing there shaving and getting ready for the evening service. And I heard it. It came up on the inside of me. Huh. "Don't be concerned about the prophet's ministry. It'll come". "Really? Okay. Whatever you say". I said, "Lord, now I'm not going to announce it".

Ooh, particularly back there then, bad enough now, but you go out and just announce somebody, "Well, I'm a prophet". Ha-ha-ha, are you kidding me? Back in those days, most people didn't believe there wasn't any prophets left, you know. And so I said, "You'll have to announce it. I'm not going to". I just went on about what I was praying. I forgot about it. He said, "Don't even be concerned about it". And I heard that in my spirit while I was praying in the Spirit. That was part of the interpretation of what I was praying. I didn't realize it back then, but then the Lord showed me that that's what was going on. That's what I was praying in the Spirit.

And that was in 1968. Then in 1977, 30th of July, which was Saturday night in the last night of Brother Hagin's Campmeeting. And he'd already preached his whole message that night, and he came up to the place where he was praying for people. He was about to give an invitation. And as he always prayed it this way, "Father, I pray if there, per adventure there's anyone here, any man, woman, boy, or girl that don't... oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I understand. Yeah, Lord. Yeah. Yeah, I understand that. Yeah, I understand that", he said, "I understand that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah".

Well, while he's doing that, "Yeah, yeah", he's talking to the Spirit of God, the Lord said on the inside of me, "Get on your knees". I said, "Oh, Lord, I'm sitting right behind him. I'm on the platform here". I said, "Lord, no, no, I don't want to do that. I'll draw attention from him". He said, "Get on your knees". I said, "Ooh, okay". Just as I got on my knees, he said, "Yeah, I understand that. I understand. Yeah, I understand that. Oh, yeah, yeah, I'll tell him. Ken Copeland"? And here I am on my knees just a second or two before he said that, I thought, "Oh, I'm sure glad I obeyed God". Amen.

Now, I want you to notice what happened here now. Remember now, nine years ago, as I was praying in the Spirit, the Lord said, "Don't be concerned about the prophet ministry. It'll come". And then I said, "Okay, yeah, yeah". And so I wasn't. I wasn't even thinking about it. Didn't cross my mind. If it did, I said, "No". I just said, "I'm not going to announce it, you're going to have to announce it". And He said, "You're going to have to move over there into that healing ministry a little faster than you thought you would", and so forth and so on. And then He said, "Whether you want to or not, you're going to minister in the office of the prophet". There's 9,000 people in that place that night. He announced it...

Now, listen to how He put it. This is the Spirit of God put it this way because Brother Hagin, he was hearing the voice of the Lord and repeating it to me. He said, "Whether you want to or not". I wondered for years why He put that like that. Well, yeah, He was protecting me from people that would have maybe criticized all of this. But of course, I wanted to. Are you kidding me? But I wasn't out seeking to be a prophet. I just, I'm His to command. I have a desire to follow Him. I'm not following after, you know, anything other than to be what He wants me to be. Glory to God. I'd be just as thrilled to be anything that Jesus wants me to be.

"Whether you want to or not", whoa, that got rid of the gainsayers right there. Glory to God. If you're going to minister in the office of the prophet. So He did what I asked Him to do. And I realized, oh, many, many, many years later, I realize I'm praying this out in tongues all that time. Nine years this was going on, and the Lord's preparing me. You know what he preached on that night? He came out there and he said, "Well, I was praying today, praying for what I'm supposed to minister tonight". And he said, "All I kept hearing the Lord say was, 'The bones of Elisha. The bones of Elisha.' What I'm going to say about the bones of Elisha, I don't have any idea, but here it goes".

He preached the whole night on the office of the prophet! I mean, it went Old Testament, New Testament, and now, as I go back and listen to that message, I realize he's preaching to me all night! Well, of course he's preaching to other people, but the Lord was answering me. He's preparing me. He's getting me ready. I don't know who all else He's getting ready, sure He was, lots of people He's ministering to. But I'm just showing you how you keep yourself in line and position so that you're right on time.

If you're a little bit late, the Lord will goose you up a little bit. If you're fixing to get out there ahead of God, in fact, Brother Hagin said, "He said you're going to have to move over there in that healing ministry". I was in the healing ministry, but he was talking about more in the gifts of healings and so forth. And he said, "A little sooner than you thought you would. There was a time you could wait on some things, but you're not getting out ahead of God, you're keeping step with God".

See what is happening? The Holy Spirit's not egging me, He's leading me, He's nudging me on to get me to go and move out there instead of holding back like I was. I didn't want to step out into something here before I needed to. You understand, this is 40 years ago. And, of course, over the years, I've learned so much. I don't know much yet, but I know a whole lot more than I did back there then. And the more I learn, the more I find out how much I don't know. Amen. But you understand what I'm saying? Man, I'm telling you, this is something that is so huge. No wonder the apostle Paul said, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all".

Now listen to this. In the 18th verse, I want you to hear it in the Amplified, "I thank God I speak in tongues more than any of you or all of you put together". And if you talked in tongues more than that Corinthian bunch talked in tongues, I mean, they talked in tongues all the time. I mean, that's all they did. And that's why he was correcting them, he wasn't coming down on tongues, he was putting it in the right place. And some people say, "He had a dim view of talking in tongues". No. He said, "I talk in tongues more than all of you put together, but I don't talk in tongues when I need to be teaching in English".

You understand? That's what he was saying. I'm edifying the church. I can't stand up there and just preach in tongues all night, they ain't got an idea what I said. I preach, I speak in tongues all night in my bed. Like Smith Wigglesworth, one of the most powerful men, ever, in faith, they ask him, "What is your secret? I mean all these documented cases of people being raised from the dead". He said, "It's simple. I go speak in tongues two or three hours, edify myself. I go out that night and edify the people". Man never spent a day in school in his life. God taught him how to read. The Holy Ghost taught the man how to read. Now, you're going to tell me that tongues are not important? You've come too late for me, brother.