Kenneth Copeland - Why Your Words Control Your Life
In this 11th chapter, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Evidence of things not visible". Say it, "Evidence of things not seen, not visual". "For by it, the elders obtained a good report through faith". We understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen, were not made of things which do appear. It's made out of something you can't see. I've actually heard preachers bragging on God, "Created this universe out of nothing". No, He didn't. No, He didn't. He created it out of something you can't see. "Believed it in his heart, said it with his mouth". Glory be to God. And there it is.
I just gave you the fundamental of faith. That's really difficult, isn't it? He believed it and said it. He believed it and said it. It works all the time. It is a spiritual law. Fear in your heart, say it with your mouth. And the stuff you didn't want comes to pass. You believed it and said it. Let me get, I mean, it's just simple as this. Now the law is as simple as this, but then there comes a time when it has to be developed. You understand? You have to develop it, and continue to build and work in it, of course. But it's as simple as this. "Well, pastor, I think I'm going to go back up there at that podium. Pastor, I believe I'll go back to that podium". Big difference. "I think I'll go to the store. Andrew, I need to go to the store. I think I'm going to go to the store. I think I might go to store".
You ain't never going to get to the store. Is somebody going to butt in on you somehow or another? You're never going to get to the store, because you're just thinking about it. Turn that around. "I believe. I believe I'll go to the store. Yeah, I believe I will. And in fact, yeah, I believe I'll just go there now. Well, now, wait a minute, I'm not there, but I believe I'm going to the store. I believe I'm going". If I don't change my confession and the way I'm acting, I'm going to get there. Can it be that simple? It has to be that simple. I like what Charles Capps said, "It is so simple, you have to have help to misunderstand it".
And we've had some really high priced help. That's what Brother Hagin would say. We've had some real high priced help here, to help us misunderstand that, because it is so simple. "I think I'll go to the store". That's going to have to turn into, "I believe I'm going to the store". And then you're going to have to head towards the store, and "I'm going to that store. Praise God. And I am going to that store. Thank the Lord. And now, hallelujah, I'm at the store. I'm there".
Let me tell you something else about faith and fear. If you continue to say something long enough for it to get into your inner being in your heart, it will control your life. Now this goes back several years, when I was resolved to the fact that exercise is in my life. And oh man, and I have a little, small exercise room there at home. And I went in there, and I have an A-frame, and I was going to do some pull-down thing, and other stuff, and I tell you... It was kind of like my first day at school, because I used to hate this man, particularly when my body fat percentage was about 45%. That's rough. But it isn't that anymore. Anyway. And I had a smile on my face, and I caught hold of that, and I said, "God, I hate this". It came out my mouth before I could stop it. And I hollered, "No. No, no, no. No, no, I love this Lord, you've got"...
I physically David, I physically felt that thing leave my body. Now that devil had a home there. Not in my spirit. I got born again, just like you. Old things passed away, and all things became new, and all things of God. Now the devil will get, bury up in your body. It's gone. Well, thank God for that. And when I walk in that exercise room, Gloria said she never ever in the whole world thought she'd ever hear me say this. "I love this room". See, the Lord put me in that room. And I have my vision board there. Amen. I thank God that I can exercise at 84 years. I thank God that I can pass the Bruce Protocol at 84 years old. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. Faith in God. It works. But it has to be put to work. It has to be put to work.
So you follow the laws of faith, you follow, and your understanding of faith has to grow, but it's all faith in God. I'll tell you the first time the Lord dropped that in my heart. I have to walk over here to the Lindsays. When I was a part, Dennis, when I was a part of your mother's homegoing, that's when the Lord dropped that in my heart. And I walked all over that platform. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. Right there on that platform that day. And I've been doing it ever since. Thank You, Jesus. Have faith in God. Have the faith of God. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. Have faith in God.
We were preaching at a Happy Caldwell's church there in Agape in Little Rock. And it's an experience that I've had never before or since. Just in a sound sleep. Now I waked up suddenly before, but not quite like this time. And I've had the Lord just wake me up, and there's been times I've set up in bed or something, but that time, I was sleeping on my back, which I normally never do, but oh, I was so sound asleep. And suddenly, I just, but I didn't raise up. I just raised my head like that. And when I did, there was Jesus at the foot of my bed. Of course in the spirit, you know? And He had this big tray of cookies. I mean, it was such a big tray of cookies. It was an arm, this tray was this big. And usually somebody with a tray of cookies is smiling. He wasn't frowning, but He's stern. He said, "Have a cookie".
Well, I didn't know what to say. I had no idea what to say. He said, "Your response is, 'I believe. I will. I take it. I have it. I forgive'. No, I thank you for it. I forgive". And He's gone. And I lay back down there, and then, and I was meditating on this, and then I just saw myself at a party. There's a lot of people in the room and this person walked up and they're just smiling at me. And they had this little small tray, and walked up to me and said, "Have a cookie". I said, "No, thank you". "Why not"? I said, "Because I have one". I saw it. I saw that whole thing just play out. The six I's of faith. "I believe". Okay, that's a good story. "I will". Now I've got my soul involved. "I believe I will. I take it. I have it. I thank you for it. And I forgive". It takes all six. All six. "I believe".
Say it with me. "I believe. I will. I take it. I have it. I thank You for it. And I forgive". And I just... And I've done that so many times, just lay there in the bed, and there's something I was trying to get on my mind. And I said, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not thinking about that. I just roll all that care over on the Lord, and I believe I will. I take it, I have it". "Oh," I think, "I am so grateful to you". And usually, right along about there, when gratitude rises up, "I thank You for it. I am so grateful to You. I'm just so grateful to You". And this causes you to look into things that you normally wouldn't pay all that much attention to such as, and I'll close with this.
If you'll turn to Exodus 23, this is one of those scriptures taken out of context, and you miss something extremely important. And actually, 23:25. Now hold your place there, I'm going to turn over here to Deuteronomy 28. You don't go there, but I'm going to show you something. In the 47th verse of the curse, "Because you served not the Lord thy God, with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things". I really got in trouble over daily television. Then I've... money situation. I said, "Well, you know, if you're willing and obedient, you can go to the land". And He said, "You were obedient, but you were absolutely not willing".
Absolutely. And He's absolutely correct. Of course. And I'd sit down there, and at that television, daily television. And I didn't smile till they turned the red light on. I literally hated it. So I picked that up. I said, "I'd better get this in my mouth". And so, now notice 23:25, "He shall bless your bread and water, and I will take sickness from the midst of you". Well, He and I? Who is He and who is I? Don't take verses out like that. All you have to do is just back up just a little bit. Verse 23, "For my angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites. And you shall serve the Lord your God, and he, your angel, shall bless your bread and water. I will take sickness from the midst of you. And there shall nothing cast their young nor be barren". You'll not have miscarriages. "In your land. And the number of your days, I will fulfill".
I will do it. I will fulfill. So now when you sit to the table, "Thank You, Lord. I praise You, and I thank You. And I received the blessing of the Lord on this food. Thank You, Jesus". And I pray for my partners, and I pray from my president. And there has been many, many times, going into a restaurant and think, because I know who prepared the table, my table at home. And we're going in and say, "Ministering spirits, now you're the one. You the one who's supposed to take care of this". And I've heard people say, "Well, for Jesus' sake". No, man, I'm not praying this for Jesus' sake. It's my belly's sake I'm praying for this. My sake. Amen.
Now I want to introduce this part, and we'll close. Will we ever be able to build back? 2020 and all of that stuff. Isaiah 51:3, please. Now take the time to go back and read chapter 50, all the way down into 51. Now, I'm going to read this like this. "Hearkened to me". What'd He say? "Listen to me. Listen. You that follow after righteousness. " Well that'd be us, wouldn't it? We've been made the righteousness of God. "You that seek the Lord. Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit, once you are digged or dugged. Look unto Abraham your Father, unto Sarah that bare you, for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him, for the Lord shall comfort Zion".
Hey, that's us today. "He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody". He'll turn that mess into a garden of Eden, if you'll believe Him for it. If you'll stand for it, and say glory to God, hallelujah. Now the Lord said to me, "This year is a year of restoration". "Divine health, divine healing, divine prosperity, and divine restoration". So what you have to do, there is go to the 42nd chapter of the book of Isaiah. Let's turn over there. And of course, read the whole thing.
Let's read down from, oh, let's just start at the 18th verse. "Hear, you deaf, look you blind, that you may see. Who's blind, but my servant, or deaf as my messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect and blind as the Lord's servant? Seeing many things, but you observe not, or you don't see it? Opening the ears, but don't hear. The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake. He will magnify the law. He will make it honorable. But this people robbed and spoiled. They are all of them snared in holes, they're hidden in prison houses, and they are for a prey. None delivers for our spoil, and none said restore".
Nobody said restore. So I say restore. It's A word is recover. Recover. Restore. Recover. Restore. Today's the day. What did David say by covenant? What did he say to Goliath? He said, "Today the Lord, not just the Lord. I come at you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the Lord of the angelic armies of God". He invoked that angel, right then. The Lord of hosts. "I come at you in the name of the Lord of hosts. And this day he'll give you in the mind. Today, I'm going to kill you today". And he did. That rock had to go right, where the only spot. Now, did he kill him with the rock or kill him with the sword? Don't be too quick to answer. It actually said both. One translation said, "The stone brought him down, and the shored finished him off".
That's good, isn't it? "A stone brought him down, and the sword finished him off". No, that's not what killed him. His words. His words. I've said this before, and a lot of you heard me say it. Who made David king? Goliath. Goliath. It was not what Goliath said that frightened them. It was his size. Well, David saw him. He saw him. And the irony of the whole thing, I love it. He chased that whole army back to Goliath's hometown. And he had his head in his hand. "I killed y'alls boy. I got it". Teeth, hair, and eyeballs, all over everything.
Hey, how big do you think it that guy's head looked then? It's got to be big as a basketball. And he'd got it, slinging it around. He's a teenager. And he takes the head. Now, what did he do? Give it to the king? And took it in. But he kept the armor, and he put it in his tent, his room. He put that guy's armor in his room. Just a teenage boy. But he took the head off of that demon. See, Goliath would be, he's just a man. But the devil is trying to kill the future king. He tried to kill him over and over and over again. And he hit him, and he hit him, and he hit him. And he got him, but it never got him good. He couldn't take him down, because of his covenant relationship with his God. Mess up, foul up, wrong place at the wrong time, hang on that covenant. Fall on his knees. And had sense enough to repent and write songs about it.