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

This is operating and using what the Bible calls “the royal
law.” Love your neighbor as yourself. Be as quick to care for the
needs of others as you are your own needs. The world knows it
exists; they call it “the golden rule,” but they don’t understand
how it functions and neither do most Christians.

This whole system of finance must be operated by faith in
order for it to function properly. My dad was tithing as God had
said, but he was not believing for the return on his giving. He
had it stacked up in heaven, yet he was getting no benefit from
it here on earth. Finally, when he learned some of these things,
he started believing God and he is better off financially today in
retirement than he was when he worked so hard. He began to
mix his faith with God’s Word concerning finances. There are
many tithers who say, “Why, I couldn’t ask God to give anything
back to me!” This shows that they don’t really know what
the Word says about tithing. When God introduced tithing in
the book of Deuteronomy, He commanded the people to say to
Him, “Look down from thy holy habitation and bless your people
with a land that flows with milk and honey.” They were
commanded to say this to the Lord!

Remember, the basic, fundamental law for establishing your
heart in the covenant of God is meditation on the Word. You
must commit yourself to the fact that God’s Word works.
Meditation is fixing your mind on the Word. Here are seven steps
to help you learn how to meditate God’s Word:

1. Apply the Word to you personally.
2. Allow the Holy Spirit to make God’s Word a reality in your heart.
3. Carefully ponder how this Word applies to your life.
4. Dwell on how this Word from the Lord changes your situation.
5. Place yourself in agreement with what God’s Word says about you.
6. See yourself as God sees you.
7. Begin to realize the integrity of God’s Word. You must commit yourself to the fact that God’s Word is true and that it works!

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

There is another area that I want to share with you about
God’s financial system. In Mark 10:17-23, we find the story of
the rich young ruler. This is one of the most misunderstood
incidents in the whole Bible. We have read this in the light of
the world’s traditional system, thinking God wanted to break
that young man but this is not so. We have misunderstood it
for the same reason that the rich young ruler missed God—
ignorance of the Word of God. He did not know what the covenant
said. He knew “the Law” and the Ten Commandments,
but the Abrahamic Covenant covered much more than these.
God made an agreement with Abraham and promised to do certain
things if he would obey the Word; then the prophets were
raised up to add to this covenant and record it for Israel to use.
Let’s read Mark’s account of this conversation.
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came
one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good
Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?
there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest
the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not
kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud
not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered
and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed
from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him,
and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: 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. And he was sad at that saying,
and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples,
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into
the kingdom of God!

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

God has established His covenant in the earth, but it is not
enough just to know this. For the covenant to be of any value,
we must have our hearts established in it. Psalm 112 is a perfect
description of the established heart. It describes the prosperous
man and gives insight into his prosperity. Let’s examine it closely.

“Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord,
that delighteth greatly in his commandments.” What type of man
is blessed of God? The man who fears the Lord and delights
greatly in His commandments, in the established covenant
of God.

“His seed shall be mighty upon the earth: the generation of the
upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house:
and his righteousness endureth forever.” No one can take it
away! When God gives you something, you should have no
fear of losing it. God has given you His Word. You can stand
firmly on it because it belongs to you!

“Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious,
and full of compassion, and righteous. A good man showeth
favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion [or
good judgment]. Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous
shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of
evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart is
established.” God has established His covenant, and this man
has established his heart in the covenant. His heart is fixed,
trusting in the Lord. You can’t scare him with bad tidings about
the fuel shortage, high interest rates or anything else. He trusts
completely and totally in the Lord and gets what he needs by
his covenant with God. When you are established and operating
in the covenant of God, Satan can’t corner you.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Since God’s covenant has been established and prosperity is a
provision of this covenant, you need to realize that prosperity
belongs to you now! Someone might say, “God can see into the
future. He knows that if I had money, I would spend it unwisely
or act ugly with it. That’s why I don’t have any.” Well, you are
probably right! The fact that you have more faith in this than you
have in the Word of God and in your own competence as a
Christian is keeping you robbed. Satan sold you that lie, not
God. You must realize that it is God’s will for you to prosper (see
3 John 2). This is available to you, and frankly, it would be stupid
of you not to partake of it! When a man realizes that prosperity
belongs to him, takes the Word of God, becomes prosperous, and
then gives it away, he is valuable. The Apostle Paul learned
the spiritual law of giving and operated it proficiently. He was
strong enough in the Lord to believe for prosperity, receive
it, then give it away. This is a valuable sacrifice; it really
means something.

The Word of God says, “Give, and it shall be given unto
you again.” As you begin to operate this law, you will see
that you can’t get rid of it! As you give, it will be returned to
you faster than you can keep giving it away! As we read in
Deuteronomy 8:18, God gives us the power to get wealth in
order to establish His covenant. He does it because He said
He would! When you fully realize that you have Him and
He has you, that you can do all things through Christ who
strengthens you (see Philippians 4:13), all the pride in your
heart melts and you know that without Him you can do nothing.
As you begin to understand these things, you won’t be
afraid to give. You won’t be afraid to turn loose of it. When you
give, you will receive and have even more to give, a constant
flowing! Praise the Lord!

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

From the time of Adam’s fall, man was cursed. Through
the years he was trained under deception and did not have the
necessary spiritual knowledge and understanding to escape it.
After several generations had passed, Adam’s teachings to his
own sons had been forgotten, and no one knew anything about
God or about spiritual law. Most of the things God had said
were absolutely foreign to the human mind. Jesus said “Give,
and it shall be given to you again,” but this is contrary to our
thinking. We say, “That’s stupid! It doesn’t make sense…anybody
knows that if you give it away, you won’t have it anymore!”
But God knows the foundation principle of the law of
giving. Satan knows it too, but he will try to deceive you in
order to keep you ignorant, weak and powerless so that he can
govern you.

When God made His covenant with Abraham, most people
could not understand. As long as they obeyed God, they were
blessed. However, when they relied on their own understanding,
they would go back under the curse again. God was telling
them, “If you won’t follow My Word and do what I tell you,
there is nothing I can do for you. I cannot usurp authority over
your own free will.”

Let’s stop and consider for a moment that when God made
His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He promised
to take care of them and their descendants. They were free men!
Consequently, every Jewish slave who bore the lash under
Egyptian rule was a free man! There was only one problem…
they didn’t know it! Therefore, God called Moses and gave him
the ability and authority to write down the covenant God had
made with Abraham. This way, the people would know what
had been done and what had been agreed to. Moses went forth
in the name of the covenant, performed miracles by the power
of God in the face of Pharaoh, and led God’s people out of
bondage. They could have gone free 400 years before, but they
didn’t know their covenant! God has laid out His innermost
thoughts and desires, His perfect will, in the form of a contract
and placed them in the Bible. They are available to set us free
from Satan’s authority, by the Spirit of God in the Name of
Jesus. Jesus said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples
indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free” (John 8:31-32).

We have seen from the Word that the covenant of God has
been established. We have seen that prosperity is a blessing of
Abraham and that poverty is under the curse of the law. How
does this affect us as members of the Body of Christ under the
new covenant?

Galatians 3:13-14, 29 says, “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.”

Jesus bore the curse of the law in our behalf. He beat Satan
and took away his power. Consequently, there is no reason for
you to live under the curse of the law, no reason for you to live
in poverty of any kind. Many born-again believers live in spiritual
poverty, spiritual malnutrition. They are mighty, spiritual supermen
in the embryo but not growing an ounce because they are
not being properly fed. Spiritual growth comes only by feeding
and acting on the Word of God. “Desire the sincere milk of the
word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2).

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

We have seen from the Word that God has established His
covenant in the earth, but what about the new covenant? The
Word says it is a covenant of righteousness based on better
promises. As we have read in Deuteronomy, God called Israel
stiff-necked and unrighteous. According to the new covenant,
we have been made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.
God does not see us as a stiff-necked people. (He sees us many
times as an untaught people because we do not know the covenant,
but we are not stiff-necked and unrighteous.) He sees us
through the blood of the Lamb: spotless, blameless, beyond
reproach. Israel was the servant of God; we are the sons of God
(see Galatians 4:7). We need to realize our rights as His
children and citizens of the kingdom of God.

To illustrate, let’s look at the parable of the prodigal son
from Luke 15. For many years we have read this story without
realizing its full significance, and it has a very important application
in the area of prosperity which has been entirely overlooked.
As we have read about the prodigal son coming home,
we’ve stopped there. Our minds have been on him, but what
about the other son? The prodigal son took his inheritance and
squandered it. When he returned home, his father killed the
fatted calf and threw a big party welcoming him with open
arms. Then the other son came in, saw what had happened and
got mad at his father. He said, “I have stayed here with you, and
you have never even given me a little goat. Yet when he goes off
and wastes his money, you celebrate by killing a calf for him!”
Then his father said, “But, son, everything I have belongs to
you.” In other words, he was saying, “You could have had a fatted
calf anytime you wanted it. It belongs to you. I’m pleased
that your brother has come home, but you could have had it for
the asking!” You see, the other son would have settled for a
goat when the calf was his all the time! The inheritance
belonged to both sons; only one took advantage of it. The older
son did without because of the littleness of his thinking. Most
Christians are cheating themselves out of their full inheritance
in Jesus Christ because of the littleness of their thinking. By not
knowing their covenant, they do not know their rights as children
of Almighty God!

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Abraham…Moses…David…Solomon…why did God bless
these men? Why have so few men found the blessings of God
in finance? We need to renew our minds to God’s reason for
financial blessings. In the book of Deuteronomy, we see the
predominant rule to remember in living a prosperous life: “And
thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath
gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God:
for it is he that giveth thee the power to get wealth, that he may
establish his covenant which he swore unto thy fathers, as it is this
day” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18).

The predominant rule: God gives the power to get wealth.

Why? To establish His covenant.

Let’s read further from Deuteronomy 9:5-6: “Not for thy
righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to
possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord
thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform
the word which the Lord swore unto thy fathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth
thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for
thou art a stiff-necked people.” In other words, Moses was saying,
“God didn’t drive those people from their land because of
your righteousness. He did it because He promised to do it. He
had made an agreement with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Now
the people did everything they possibly could to keep Him
from it. They broke the covenant in every way, but God instituted
the priesthood to offer sacrifices for their sins. They had
no righteousness to rely on, so God gave them a way out. He
went to great lengths to establish the covenant even among
unrighteous people!

Deuteronomy 29:9 says, “Keep therefore the words of this
covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.”
According to this, we should be prosperous in everything we
do, but we must keep the words of the covenant.

God gave instructions along these same lines to Joshua
during the most critical situation in his life. Moses was dead
and Joshua was to take over leadership of Israel in his place,
a very difficult job to do. Moses…the man who talked with
God face to face…the man who produced water from a rock
in the middle of the desert. Moses walked in prosperity!
When he needed water, God gave him the ability to get it.
The power of God brought the water, and it was priceless!
This is real prosperity!

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland