Kenneth Copeland - Praying Early in the Morning
Kenneth Copeland: Hello everybody, I'm Kenneth Copeland. Do you know what hope is? Well, you know, no really, the Bible says faith is the substance of things hoped for. Now, Mary Colbert, in this book, "Prayer that Changes Everything", I remember years and years ago a radio preacher and he would come on and he would say, "God is still on the throne and prayer changes things". I love it, don't you? God is still on the throne and prayer changes things. Praise God, amen. "Prayer that Changes Everything, Five Principles to Activate Faith". And would you join me today in welcoming Mary and Don Colbert again to this broadcast. Don, I appreciate everything that your family and your life and Mary's has done for our family and our lives. We've been together a long time and we're family and we praise God for your family. Thank you, sir.
Don Colbert: Well, thank you too, your family, amen.
Kenneth Copeland: I'm borrowing his, where everything is amazing. I picked that up from him, amen. Amazing and wonderful.
Don Colbert: Amen.
Kenneth Copeland: So, Mary had an outstanding experience and the Spirit of God, the Father Himself just downloaded this book into her life and into her ministry. And yesterday, we talked about faith that excites God and we'll very quickly read our two verses of scripture and the faith that excites God in the eighth chapter of Matthew, the fifth verse. "And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto Him a Centurion beseeching Him saying, 'Lord, my servant lies at home sick of the palsy or he's paralyzed, grievously tormented.' Jesus said, 'I'll come and heal him.' The Centurion answered and said, 'Lord, I'm not worthy that You should come under my roof.'" He understood that he was not Jew, but now this is the same Centurion that built the same synagogue in Capernaum of which Jairus was leader. Now, you start tying little ends together, it's exciting, isn't it? It's what I call going widescreen, all the pieces you'd start going in. Anyway, the bottom line is, he said, "I am a soldier", this man, he was a Roman officer. A Centurion meant that he had at least a hundred men under him and so he said, "Speak the Word only, my servant shall be healed". Now, that was what excited Jesus, his faith in His Word and then he outlined authority. "I'm a man under authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this man, 'go,' he goes, another, 'come,' he comes, and my servant, 'do this,' and he does it". So what did he say? He said that paralyzed, whatever he's paralyzed from, that paralyzation is subject to your Word. You have authority over it, speak it. Now, Jesus said, "Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, not in Israel". He was excited about that.
Mary Colbert: That was exciting faith, yes.
Kenneth Copeland: And then the Syrophoenician woman, now isn't it amazing that neither one of these people were Jews? They hadn't come under tradition so powerfully that they didn't recognize the authority of His Word and having authority of the Word and having faith in the Word excites God, 'cause in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God, amen. And then the other one, Matthew 15:8, 15:21, excuse me, through 28. "Jesus departed unto the coast of Tyre and Sidon, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto Him saying, 'Have mercy on me, 'oh Lord, thou Son of David.'" So, in another account, it said she had heard of Him. So, she called Him Messiah right then, Son of David. She knew who He was and she worshiped Him, but she had no covenant, but she pressed in anyway.
Don Colbert: Amen.
Kenneth Copeland: "'And my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil' "and He answered her not a word". Now, He did that on purpose. What's she gonna do? They just didn't say anything to her but she just kept following Him. She just, she aggravated the whole bunch.
Mary Colbert: And that's an important period of time right there.
Kenneth Copeland: Yes, it is.
Mary Colbert: When He goes silent and there is no, you don't hear anything and there's nothing come about that.
Kenneth Copeland: She could've just said, "Well, He's not gonna do anything, I'm not a Jew you know, I know He's Messiah but I'll just give up". No, no.
Don Colbert: Gotta press in.
Kenneth Copeland: "And His disciples came and saw and said, "'Get her out of here, she crying after us.' He answered and said, 'I'm not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, I only have covenant with them.' Then came she and worshiped Him". That broke it. She fell before Him, she worshiped Him and called Him Lord, really got His attention. Lord help me. "He answered and said, 'It's not right to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs.'" And you know, He called her a dog but she's not touchy. You can suggest to somebody's overweight and they won't talk to you.
Don Colbert: Couldn't get offended which is amazing. Nowadays, so many people get offended.
Kenneth Copeland: At anything. - Anything, and that causes again, it caused so many people to be full of bitterness and hatred.
Kenneth Copeland: It is.
Don Colbert: And it separates them from God when they're that way.
Mary Colbert: Even President Trump, when some of his tweets and things he says and calls, you know, he pegs people with a name. He's a name caller, right? And I've told people, you know, 'cause I'm a big Trump supporter, surprise and I'd tell people, I say, "Well, hold on, Jesus was a name caller, so get over your offense". He called Herod a fox. He called the Pharisee...
Don Colbert: White-washed tombs.
Mary Colbert: White-washed tombs.
Don Colbert: Amen, brood of vipers, John the Baptist called.
Mary Colbert: Brood of vipers.
Kenneth Copeland: I was raised in a home with a world class salesman, man of God. My dad loved God, I mean he and my mother both. He was a good negotiator and he's not a politician. Well, Mr. Trump called that Erdogan a nice guy. You don't start off by calling him a dog and then go try to negotiate.
Mary Colbert: Thank you, Lord.
Kenneth Copeland: That's not the way you work with a heathen. Now, my dad would make you mad. I got so tickled at him. I never would, boy as long as he was on this earth, I never would even attempt in the ministry or anything to go buy a car, I want my dad to go do it. And he was buying a new station wagon from the Buick place and Gloria and I are just sitting in there and I'm just marveling at the way he's working with the sales manager of this Buick thing. And all of a sudden, the salesman ran out of the room, just ran out and what had happened, my dad had made an offer the salesman couldn't approve. So he's got it in front of the sales manager and the sales manager is going for it. And this guy just ran out and he came back in a few minutes and he just through this file back there. He said, "I thought I recognized this old man, he beat us one time before". That sales manager just, I laughed, Gloria laughed, we bought the car.
Don Colbert: That's funny.
Kenneth Copeland: Negotiator.
Don Colbert: Yeah, that's correct.
Mary Colbert: Negotiator for a car.
Kenneth Copeland: And Mr. Trump will get under your skin.
Don Colbert: Sure.
Kenneth Copeland: And if he can't do it by being nice to you, he'll make you mad, make you fight with him and fuss with him, but we're gonna get to the end of this.
Don Colbert: That's right.
Kenneth Copeland: He's not diplomatic, he's not a politician.
Mary Colbert: Thank God.
Don Colbert: Amen, amen.
Mary Colbert: I am so tired of politicians.
Kenneth Copeland: Anyway, He said to her, she said, "That's true Lord, yet the dogs get the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Jesus said, 'Woman, great is your faith, be it unto you, even as you willed.'" Now, does that remind you of something else Jesus said? "If you abide in Me and Me Word abides in you, ask what you will and it shall be done unto you". It all goes to these two covenants, both of these are covenants of blood. The first one started out in the, God said, "Take for Me an animal, don't kill a man, kill the animal". And then He met with Abram, changed his name. That's very covenant-related, He changed his name. We get that from marriage covenants today. The woman changes her name because you covenanted together. All right, He changed his name. He put H in the middle of his name, HaShem, and he put a HaShem on the end of Sarai's name, calling her Sarah.
Don Colbert: Amen.
Kenneth Copeland: So, now, God is in covenant, their names have been changed. Now, in the third chapter of the book of Ephesians, we've been named after the Father, come on. So the point being here, that His Word is on the line for this nation. You remember Rose and Bob Weiner in a college campus ministry? Anyway, oh man, what powerful, powerful people and in March of 2009, she said, "It was a blessing to see you and Gloria in Washington at the Kennedy Center". Anyway, the Glenn Beck rally and all that. Anyway, she came down and she said, "In March of last year, I was with a small prayer group at Harvard. After worshiping and singing in tongues for a long period of time, I had a vision". I love this. "In this vision, I was above the clouds, looking across the expanse of the sky like flying in an airplane. The sky was filled with bells that were ringing. There were myriads of many of them, many of them look like the Liberty Bell. I saw Jesus walking in the middle of those bells. Then the Lord spoke to me and said, 'You know, this is the only nation ever founded because people loved Me in the history of the world. I founded Israel because I love the people and made them a great nation to bring forth the Messiah, the savior of the world. But the United States of America was founded because people loved Me and sought to create a nation where they could have freedom to worship Me, I will never forget that.'"
Don Colbert: Praise God.
Kenneth Copeland: "When He said this, His voice broke up with emotion and you could hear that He was holding back tears. Then He said, 'I'm going to move in a great spiritual awakening to call this nation back to Myself'", and it's happening right now.
Don Colbert: Praise God, amen, amen.
Kenneth Copeland: We are in it right now.
Mary Colbert: Yes we are, yes we are.
Kenneth Copeland: Praise God.
Don Colbert: Absolutely.
Kenneth Copeland: That just stirs me to my core.
Mary Colbert: That's right on.
Kenneth Copeland: He said, "This is the only one". He said, "I will never forget it, I will never forget it". Now, if we continue to remind Him of that, there is no way, there is no way that socialism is ever gonna be a part of this nation. It is not gonna happen, it's time to end the baby killing, it's time to end all the perversion, and it's time to do it now.
Don Colbert: Now.
Mary Colbert: Amen, and when this happens, we need to call forth a fast of repentance.
Don Colbert: Yes.
Mary Colbert: We can't do it in the middle of the war but I'ma tell you, when this comes to an end, there needs to be a day of fasting and repentance so we never let it happen again. One of the things that the Lord showed me that has been lost about prayer, and I think it's important you know, we all have times where we need an answer and you're wanting to hear from Him and I wanna give you a nugget that He gave me. He showed me in the book of Genesis, and it's right in the book of Genesis chapter two. It says that right after Adam and Eve had fall in sin, the Bible says, "And He was out walking in the cool of the day". Now that is an important thing. He, the Bible says He changes not, "I'm the same yesterday, today and forever". So the cool of the day is when? Before the sun comes up. And if you'll notice, there is a presence on the earth before that sun comes up, always. There is a presence and you don't get that same presence throughout the whole day. Well, I want you to know, He is out walking every morning before the sun comes up looking for his Adam and Eves to interact with you, to give you answers, to give you wisdom. So time is an important, and then you go over to the book of Mark. Go Mark chapter, I wanna show you this to back it up 'cause you always have to have the new and the old compliment each other. And the chapter, Mark chapter one verse 35, it says, "And in the morning, rising up great while before it's day". This is Jesus, would go out and commune with His Father. So I wanna encourage you, for those of you, rise up early with your husband or your wife, whichever, or just you. Go out in the early morning, and I want you to begin to commune with the Father. He is out there wanting to download you revelation about what's going on in your life, what He wants to do. He wants to bring back the visions that you have lost, the discouragement that you have been met with. You will meet Him there, He is there ready to meet each and every one of you, every morning. His mercies are new every morning. So, I wanna encourage those that have lost vision, become doubtful, discouraged. Would you rise up before the sun, go out in the cool of the day and talk to your Father? He is there to speak and sometimes, I'll just go out and just sit and listen. I don't say anything.
Kenneth Copeland: Just to be still.
Mary Colbert: Just to be still, to see what He brings to my heart, what brings to my mind, and it's amazing what He will do. Now, God has partnered with you and I and He has given us the power of the spoken word. The Word says, "He said, 'Let there be light,' and there was". Now He's put in you that same creative power for you to take your faith, your excitement, your faith to believe and create the world. So what happened with me and you were wanting me to get to this real quick. When I was in college at ORU, I did not wanna date just to date, to date, to date. That was not me. So, I went to the Father and I said, "Now, Father, you know who he is, I am not gonna get in all this dating game, I just don't wanna do that. You tell me who You have for me to be joined with". And that's, you wanna be joined to the right one, don't be unequally yoked man. That's a mistake, you wanna be yoked to the person who has faith like you. Now, you're gonna be opposites in a lot of ways, you're not gon' see things the same, so get over that. That's not what He's talking about when he says, "Be, you know, equally, yoked", that's not what He's saying. Matter of fact, more opposite you are the more probably called you are, because between the two of you, you'll get His vision. And when one becomes just like...
Kenneth Copeland: That's what covenants do.
Mary Colbert: That's what they do.
Kenneth Copeland: If you're both just alike, then there's something missing.
Mary Colbert: If I become just like him or he becomes just like me, the need for one of us has been omitted. So, it's in the differences, we get His plan, we hear. That's why it's so important that the Democratic party come back to Jesus. It needs to bring that party back.
Don Colbert: The godly principles, they've taken God out of the platform.
Mary Colbert: It's gone, it's gone, so we, we're gonna pray for it and it's gonna change. I'm telling you, it is going to change. And so, I began writing down, I said, "Lord, You tell me who he is". He started telling me, okay, "He'll be 6'3". Well, okay, tall, tall is good.
Don Colbert: Now listen, this is Habakkuk 2:2 she's following. You first have to have a vision and then you have to write it down, and that's what so many Christians don't do, they don't write it down and this is what's so important. The Lord actually instructed her, write it down but go ahead, I'm sorry.
Mary Colbert: No, no, no, no.
Don Colbert: That's Habakkuk 2:2.
Mary Colbert: Now I hadn't met him, I did not know him, I had no idea what you know, it was just in a time of prayer of seeking Him, the Father, and wanting to hear from Him and you know, I have learned these principles that He summarized this particular night and it's kind of like David. David learned God was with him through killing the bear and the lion and through life's experiences is how he knew that God was with him, right? So, some of my life experiences in this book is how I have come about to reiterate these five principles. And this was one of them, you know, faith is the substance of things. What is the thing you need God to do in your life? Well, for me at that time, I wanted the right man in my life, I didn't want the wrong man. So He begin telling me, He told me the color of his hair, told me he'd be real smart and educated and be viewed as being very smart. He told me he'd have a strong love for Him, the Lord and then he sealed the thing, which was really precious to me. He goes, and he will have a strong love for you and I just thought, awe thank you for that. I remember thinking, thank You.
Kenneth Copeland: And a nickname.
Mary Colbert: Oh, his nickname. Yeah, He said his nickname, I have three letters and in college, his nickname was Buzz. Now, y'all know him as Don Colbert, but all his medical students and all the students from ORU know him as Buzz Colbert and his family called him Buzz. So, it was amazing how God brought him into my life. My roommate was starting to tell everybody, oh, Mary's got this list. Warning, be careful who you share.
Don Colbert: Yes, amen. You know, and she started telling, "Mary's got this list, God has told her who her husband is". And so it was pretty ironic, you know. So one day we're going across the campus and he's walking and she sees him and she's like, oh, oh, I know that guy, stop and pick him up, pick him up, give him a ride and she was kind of crazy, wild and crazy. So I pulled over and he got in the back and we just kept talking and she was talking about, well, we're talking about this other guy's name is Joe, it's not a nickname, this guy's taller, he's dark, dark hair. I'm like, no Kathy, this guy, he doesn't fit the list, I'm just telling you. So he goes, what are y'all talking about? So she starts telling him, "Mary's got a list".
Kenneth Copeland: And we're out of time.
Mary Colbert: And here he is.
Don Colbert: That's a quick summary.
Mary Colbert: Quick summary.
Kenneth Copeland: We'll take it up again tomorrow, I butted in on it today, but tomorrow, we'll take it up tomorrow 'cause this is so good.