by Kenneth Copeland

Everywhere you turn these days, there is fear in the world. The Bible tells us that men’s hearts will fall them for fear of what’s coming on the earth—it seems we’re right in the middle of those times.

But as a believer, you don’t have to live in fear. You have the power over it through your heavenly Father. When you know and believe in your heart that God loves you—you won’t be afraid of anything.

As 1 John 4:18 tells us, “There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror!” (The Amplified Bible).

Develop faith in God’s love for you and develop a fear-free life!

But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall—will remind you of, bring to your remembrance—everything I have told you…. However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say, it is profitable good, expedient, advantageous—for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you—into close fellowship with you. But if I go away, I will send Him to you—to be in close fellowship with you….But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth—the whole, full truth. For He will not speak His own message—on His own authority—but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father, He will give the message that has been given to Him] and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come—that will happen in the future. He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare,
disclose, transmit) it to you. Everything that the Father has is Mine. That is what I meant when I said that He will take the things that are Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) them to you (John 14:26, 16:7, 13-15, The Amplified Bible).

In 1 John 2:20 we read: “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.”

The word unction here is the same word as anointing in verse 27: “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”

This anointing for living is from the Spirit of the God living in us. Jesus said He would lead us into all the truth. He said it was better that He went away because He would send another Comforter (the Holy Spirit) Who would live in us and teach us all things. The anointing of the Spirit of God which we have received abides within us. This unction of the Holy Spirit is in us continually to teach us, lead us, guide us and counsel us. He tells us what the Father and Jesus want us to do. It is just like having a two-way radio linked up to heaven. And He empowers us to do it.

Work out—cultivate, carry out to the goal and fully complete—your own salvation…[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you—energizing and creating in you the
power and desire—both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight (Philippians 2:12-13, The Amplified Bible).

Now here is the catch: “…even as it [the anointing] hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27). What does this mean? That as this anointing teaches us, we obey. We abide in Him. Abiding is obeying. If we do not abide in Him and walk in Him, the Spirit of God is hindered in accomplishing what He has been sent to do. We either walk in obedience to our God, or we pay the price for disobedience.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

The first and most important rule for you to follow in operating
in the power of God and living by faith is this: 100 percent
committal to the Word of God and its authority in your
life. As God told Joshua, the best way to prosper is by meditation
in the Word. Don’t just study it; there is a difference
between meditation and study. Study involves digging in the
Word, running references in a concordance, and so forth; but
meditation many times covers only two or three verses of scripture.
Read a verse several times. Roll it over in your mind; be
quiet and listen to God for 20 or 30 minutes. This has been the
way I have learned many things about the Word and about
Jesus’ ministry. The Spirit of God can say enough in one sentence
to last you a month! He was sent here to teach us the
deep things of God (see 1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

Let me give you an example from my own experience. Some
time ago, I decided to find out how to operate financially
according to the Word of God. I believed that God had a financial
system that most Christians did not know. This was evident
in my dad’s life. My parents decided when they married that
they would tithe their income for the rest of their lives. They
knew very little about believing God for finances. My dad relied
on his ability to work. He was an excellent sales representative
and God blessed his business. When I entered the ministry and
started studying the Word of God, I read where God said to
bring the tithes into the storehouse and He would open the windows
of heaven (see Malachi 3:10). Well, I could look at my dad
and see that this wasn’t working in his life. He made more than
a good living, but he worked for every dime he got! So I began
to study this and question the Lord about it.

One thing that He showed me was the pride element in
most businessmen, especially the ones who worked hard like
Dad. You couldn’t give my dad anything; he was the giver! If
God wanted to give him something, He had to channel it
through the business or Dad would actually get uncomfortable
and embarrassed if someone tried to give to him. This is wrong.
God showed me that most businessmen don’t know how to
receive simply because of their pride.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Now I want you to realize the uniqueness of Joshua’s situation.
This is the moment when both the natural world and the
spiritual world are hanging in the balance. These are God’s people;
if they fail, there will be no Jesus! If God fails them, there
will be no redemption! God must keep His covenant alive in
the earth in order to bring forth Jesus, the Redeemer. He had to
have a man who would listen to Him.

At this critical time in history, where does God put the
exclamation point? What does He deem important? He speaks
to Joshua and says,

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all
the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be
with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong
and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou
divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto
their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very
courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according
to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded
thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left,
that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou
mayest observe to do according to all that is written
therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous,
and then thou shalt have good success…be not afraid,
neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with
thee withersoever thou goest (Joshua 1:5-9).

In verse 5, we see the key to wealth and prosperity once
again: “I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
Here is God manifesting Himself to man! Jesus said the same
thing in Matthew 28:20, “Lo I am with you alway, even unto the
end of the world.” He said in John 14:16 that He would send the
Holy Spirit as our comforter to abide with us forever. Prosperity
is a byproduct of God walking with us and manifesting Himself
to us.

God could have told Joshua many things—to fast so many
days each week or to pray so many hours each day. He could
have said, “If you’ll believe Me, I’ll do great miracles,” or “If
you’ll believe Me, there will be a cloud by day and a pillar of
fire by night.” He could have said, “You’ll not have to worry
when you come to another Red Sea or when your enemies
come against you.” But He didn’t say anything of the kind. At
this important hour in Joshua’s life—at this vital time in the
plan of redemption—God said, “This book of the law shall not
depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and
night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written
therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then
thou shalt have good success.” Another translation says, “You
shall deal wisely in all the affairs of life.”

What did God put first? Meditation in His Word.

With one word of His mouth, He established Psalm 138:2
that says He has magnified His Word even above His Name.
You see, when you put the Word of God first in your life and
it becomes your final authority, prosperity is the result. It is
inevitable because the Word of God covers every situation in
life. THE WORD IS FINAL AUTHORITY.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

But I know you, that ye have not the love of God
in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye
receive me not: if another shall come in his own
name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe,
which receive honour one of another, and seek
not the honour that cometh from God only?
(John 5:42-44).

These men were playing the honor game with
each other. That is why they would not recognize
Jesus for who He was and render to Him the honor
due Him as a prophet of God. They chose their own
honor rather than that which comes from God only.
Honor that comes from God only is something
that belongs to God. It does not belong to men.

Jesus was talking about all the aspects of God’s
honor that we discussed in the last chapter—power
over the devil, power over our bodies, spiritual communication,
eternal life, etc. God is the source of all these honors.

I could preach to you about receiving
them and promise them to you, but they can only
come from Jesus. He has been given all authority in
heaven and earth.

I have the honor and the authority that comes
from God to minister to you, to tell you about the
honor and to allow His gifts and honors to flow
through my spirit, and even at times through my
hands. Yet, they do not come from me, but from Him.

Counterfeit Honor

Another part of the honor game is using counterfeit
honor instead of the real thing. Counterfeit honor
is false honor—nothing but pride.

Did you ever hear someone say, “I’m a man of honor;
our family fights for its honor”? He is not fighting for
honor, but for pride—the kind of honor that once was
used to justify two men dueling at daybreak because
of a supposedly insulting remark.

Today, that kind of honor will provoke one person
to attack another because he doesn’t ride the
same kind of motorcycle—or maybe because he
does. It will cause gangs of young people to square
off against one another. They get in the middle of a
vacant lot or even on a crowded street with chains,
knives, bats and guns just because someone is found
on the wrong turf.

That’s not honor. That’s the pride of a fool. It’s the
counterfeit of the real thing and it’s deadly.
If you recognize that as counterfeit honor, if you
know from where it comes, you can take the negative
side of it, flip it over and recognize the real thing.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Let every soul be subject unto the higher
powers. For there is no power but of God:
the powers that be are ordained of God.
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power,
resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that
resist shall receive to themselves damnation
[condemnation] (Romans 13:1-2).

Paul says that anyone who resists civil authority
resists the authority of God and will receive damnation
or condemnation. This is a continuation of Romans
12 in which Paul was speaking about the Christian
Church, the Body of Christ, acting and preferring one
another in honor. He warns that if we do not honor one
another, including those in authority over us, the devil
will move in our households and destroy us.

What if the government is totally against Christianity
and threatens to imprison anyone for preaching
the gospel? That is a dishonorable government. No
question about it. But that does not mean the people
in office are not ordained of God. It means they are
ignoring the ordination that God has placed upon
them. It is available to them if they only knew it.

What the Lord is saying here through the
Apostle Paul is that Christians still carry honor
about them, even in the midst of a crooked and
perverse generation.

The people in East Germany got hold of the Word
of God concerning the authority of the believer. They
prayed and believed God, asking Him for guidance
and deliverance. I have talked to pastors in that totalitarian,
anti-Christian society who had to operate
underground for years. Every one of them said to me:

“We had to learn to love those political leaders who
were trying their best to damn us to hell. We walked
in honor. We began to see that we could pull down
those demonic powers that were opposed to us and to
the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Our fight is not against flesh and blood
(Ephesians 6:12).

These men said they prayed and asked God for
their situation to be changed without bloodshed,
and it was.

It was a different story in Romania. The believers
there, although lovely Christian people, were not
walking in a revelation of their authority from God,
so their deliverance has not been as quick or as
complete and certainly not without bloodshed.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland