That’s right. These are not just good ideas I’m giving you. They are principles from the Word of God that Gloria and I have lived by for more than 30 years now. They are principles that have literally changed our lives.

They’ll change your life, too. In fact, I believe any husband and wife who will live the life of love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 can have a wonderful life together. Even if they start off at zero with no love between them at all, they can end up with a successful marriage because love never fails!

“But, Kenneth, if love never fails, why do so many Christian marriages—marriages that were once based on the love of God—end up on the rocks?” you ask.

It happens because strife and envy are allowed to cut that love short. As a result, those Christian lives and marriages are drained of God’s power. They become carnal, and there is confusion and every evil work.

First Corinthians 3:3 puts it this way: “For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy…among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves…like mere (unchanged) men?” (AMP).

The moment we let envy and strife in the door, we begin to live like people out there in the world. We become like the natural, unsaved men in this scripture—fearful, powerless and defeated—instead of like supernatural, born-again, Spirit-filled people of God.

I agree with Paul. The hour is too late for us to live like that. The coming of Jesus is near at hand. And when He comes, we don’t want Him to find us spiritually sick and weak, living lives that have been poisoned by envy and strife.

We want Him to find us standing tall in the spirit—full of love, faith and power—walking in the victory Jesus bought for us.

We want Him to find us living in the light!

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

That’s important because in this dangerous day, we need God’s blessings more than ever. We need His power. We need to be walking in our full inheritance as believers because this age is about to be brought to a close. As the Apostle Paul says:

The night is far gone [and] the day is almost here. Let us then drop (fling away) the works and deeds of darkness and put on the [full] armor of light. Let us live and conduct ourselves honorably and becomingly as in the [open light of] day; not in reveling (carousing) and drunkenness, not in immorality and debauchery…not in quarreling and jealousy. But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh (Romans 13:12-14, AMP).

The hour is late! It’s time for us to wake up. It’s time we quit allowing the devil to darken our homes, our businesses, our churches and our individual lives with strife and envy. It’s time we quit letting him pull the plug on our faith power. It’s time we started living in the light.

You may be thinking, That’s easier said than done!

I know. But you can do it.

How? Learn to watch over yourself. Pay attention to your state of mind. When you find yourself depressed or downcast, don’t just ignore those feelings. Think back. Ask yourself, “What started this downturn?”

You may realize that a particular situation sparked feelings of aggravation, jealousy or strife within you. If so, look at that situation through the eyes of God and then talk to it (see Mark 11:23).

Say, “That situation has no power over me. I refuse to allow it to bring envy and strife into my life. I yield to the forces of love and joy within me. And, Lord, I praise You for Brother Smith’s new car. I thank You that Sister Jones has those nice clothes!”

Then just start praising the Lord. Sing a song. Put on a tape that will lift you up, and force yourself to sing along. Before long, the love of God will be bubbling up out of your heart again and you’ll be singing in genuine joy.

I know you will, because I’ve done it!

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Isaiah 53:11, The Amplified Bible says: “He [God] shall see [the fruit] of the travail of His [Jesus] soul and be satisfied.” God would see the fruit of Jesus’ travail and be satisfied! It does not satisfy God to see sickness and disease on believers today. He was satisfied when that sickness and disease was laid on Jesus. Many people think God wants them to stay sick, so He can get glory out of their travail, but that kind of thinking is a lie straight from the pit of hell! To put sickness on you after it was put on Jesus would be a miscarriage of justice! You are not the sacrificial Lamb of Calvary. That sacrifice has already been made—it does not need to be made again. You need to receive His sacrifice made for you and appropriate its benefits into your life.

What was the fruit of Jesus’ travail? Salvation, healing, love, joy, peace— the kingdom of God being born in the hearts of men. Praise God!

From these scriptures alone, you can know beyond doubt that God’s will is for every person in Christ Jesus to be healed and made well. He paid the price, so we could receive it.

Any time a believer has a problem receiving healing, he usually suffers from ignorance of God’s Word, ignorance of his rights and privileges in Jesus Christ. To fully understand your position, you need to realize what took place many centuries ago between God and a man named Abram. God approached Abram with a proposition. The agreement, or covenant, they made together is the basis of the entire New Testament. It was in behalf of this covenant that Jesus came to earth.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

To realize the truth of God’s will for healing, you need to understand the full extent of your redemption. Healing is just as much a part of the plan of redemption as salvation, the Holy Spirit and heaven as your eternal home. To stay sick when Jesus has provided healing would be living far below your privileges as a child of God.

Let’s view the plan of redemption through the eyes of Isaiah the prophet. He describes what was to happen at Calvary—the sacrifice, the pain, the suffering, the death. He gave a very accurate picture of Calvary, by the Holy Spirit, showing exactly what would happen in both the physical and the spiritual world: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…” (Isaiah 53:4).

Note the first word of this verse: Surely—not maybe, not perhaps.It’s a fact. Surely Jesus has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows! The King James Version gives an inaccurate translation of the original Hebrew words. The literal Hebrew translation of the words for griefs and sorrows should read, “Surely he hath borne our sickness, and carried our disease.”

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich is his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief… (Isaiah 53:5-10).

Most modern translations read, “It was God’s will that He be bruised.” It was the definite will and design of God that Jesus take all sickness and disease on Himself for us. His purpose was to free mankind from it.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Jesus did what He said He would do: He preached the gospel, healed the sick, brought sight to the blind and delivered the captives. He taught in the synagogues of Galilee and the people were amazed. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power” (Luke 4:32). Every word going forth from His mouth brought deliverance and healing.

Jesus never turned away from healing anyone who came to Him in faith. He never said, “I can’t heal you. God wants you to stay sick a little longer.” He always responded to the faith of the people.

Acts 10:38 says: “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”

God wants His people healed and whole. He demonstrated this through Jesus. You can see His will toward healing expressed very simply in Luke 5:12-13: “And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.”

When the leper asked, “Will you make me clean?” Jesus answered immediately, “I will: be thou clean.”

The leper knew Jesus could heal him. The only question in his mind was whether or not Jesus would. This is the key point in receiving healing—the determining factor in acting by faith or unbelief. You know God can heal. The problem comes in knowing for certain that God will heal and that He will heal you! Until you realize in your own heart that God wants to heal you, you will never receive from Him. You can watch other people receive healing and still never receive it yourself.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

To know God’s will about healing, you must first know what His Word says because His Word is His will. John 1:1, 14 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Jesus of Nazareth was the Word of God made flesh—the total expression of God’s will manifest in human form. This is what He said about Himself:

My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work (John 4:34).

He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me (John 12:44-45).

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also…he that hath seen me hath seen the Father (see John 14:6-9).

If you want to see God, look at Jesus.

If you want to hear God, listen to Jesus.

If you want to know God’s will, study the ministry of Jesus.

According to Hebrews 1:1-3, Jesus is God’s Son—the heir of all things, the brightness of God’s glory, the express image of God’s person. Jesus is the very image of Almighty God! Everything He did, every move He made, every word He spoke was an extension of His Father in heaven.

There is no question Jesus came to do the will of the Father. In John 10:10 He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Abundant life is God’s will for the believer. Jesus explained very clearly how He would bring that abundant life into manifestation:

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:16-19).

When He had finished reading, Jesus closed the book, sat down and said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (verse 21).

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Romans 4:16-21
Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Romans 8:2, 11
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Galatians 3:13-14, 29
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Matthew 21:21-22
Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Mark 11:22-24
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Mark 16:14-18
Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Luke 6:19
And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

Luke 9:2
And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.

Luke 13:16
And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

Acts 5:16
There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Then the story continues with, “Jesus…said unto him, One
thing thou lackest.” What he lacked was a working revelation of
the covenant. The young man only did as he was supposed to.
He presented himself as knowing the Word, and Jesus tested
his knowledge by saying, “Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and
come, take up the cross, and follow me.” What did the young man
do? He walked off sadly because he had great possessions. Jesus
could have stopped him right then and explained what He
meant, but if He had, the man would have obeyed in the natural
and not by faith. If he had asked Jesus to explain Himself,
He would have. Each time His disciples asked Him to explain a
parable, He did, but He never explained it in order to get them
to act on it. If the man had really known the covenant, he
would have thought, “What does the covenant say about giving to
the poor?” He would have remembered Proverbs 19:17 that
says, “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and
that which he hath given will he pay him again.” This was the
biggest financial deal that young man had ever been offered,
but he walked away from it because he didn’t know God’s system
of finance. He didn’t take the time to inquire; he just
assumed that God wanted to break him. Instead of being Word minded
that young man was money-minded.

When the rich young ruler walked away, Jesus said, “How
hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!”
Then an interesting thing happened. The next verse says, “And
the disciples were astonished at his words.” We have just taken
it for granted that Jesus and His disciples didn’t have anything.
But the Bible describes Peter, James and John as professional
fishermen. They owned more than one boat, and they had
household servants! When Jesus spoke those words, it shook
them. It was adverse to what they had seen. They were astonished
at His words! Jesus was not poor in His ministry. He had a
treasurer! Turn off your religious head and read the Word of
God as if it were your newspaper.

Another point I want you to grasp is the reality of Jesus’ words,
“Come, take up the cross, and follow me.” What does “the cross”
refer to? The “cross we are to bear” is selfish, unlovely people. The
greatest commandment is that we love one another. Unfortunately,
some people are not easy to love, but we are to love them anyway.
We are to bear one another’s burdens and uphold one another. We
must stop strife with the love of God. This is our cross. Do you
realize the significance of His words, “Come…follow me”? These
are the words Jesus spoke to every man He commissioned as an
apostle. When I saw this, the Lord said, “Wouldn’t this man have
been the logical replacement for Judas?” Judas failed because of
the love of money. He even stole from the bag! This young ruler
was an excellent businessman; he was honest and had operated
the covenant from his youth. He was perfect for the job, but he
turned his back on this tremendous opportunity to follow Jesus.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Before you begin meditation in the Word, you must commit
yourself to the absolute truth of John 10:10. “The thief cometh
not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they
might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Whenever I read something that seems contradictory to this, I
immediately stop and straighten out my thinking. The truth is
hidden in some way, and I rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal it to
me. God is not our problem. He does not steal from us. He is
the giver of all good things! When you commit yourself to this
basic truth, you block Satan and deal a deadly blow to deception.
As long as you are open to it, Satan will prove that God
wants you to live in poverty and in sickness to teach you
humility. He will try to convince you that the rich young ruler
couldn’t receive eternal life because he had money, but Satan is
a liar and the father of lies!

Here is how the Lord revealed the truth to me: As I read
Mark 10:20, “And he answered and said unto him, Master, all
these have I observed FROM MY YOUTH,” the Lord spoke to me
and said, “See, this is why he was rich.” Then He pointed me to
Deuteronomy 8:18 about the Lord giving power to get wealth
in order to establish His covenant. This young man was evidently
walking in this part of the covenant. The Lord said, “Do
you think I would ask something from him that I hadn’t given
him in the first place?” You must realize these two facts: (1)
God is the only reason you have anything, and (2) He will
never ask you to give up something without giving you something
better in return.

Verse 21 says, “Then Jesus beholding him loved him.” Now
some people think that God doesn’t like people with money,
but this says that when Jesus looked at the young man, He
loved him…before He said anything about giving away his possessions.
You see, He loved him and what He said was to the
man’s advantage.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland