One of the things He told me to do was to lay hands on every person that had not received the manifestation of healing. I had rarely ever had a healing line and I had never laid hands on that many people after I had been ministering for three hours on healing. When I had finished, I was so tired I could hardly close the meeting. I had to have someone else do it.

After the next healing service, God told me to do the same thing, but at the end He said, Now rejoice before the Lord. Prior to that, I had said, “Lord, I will do anything You want me to do.” I had not planned to rejoice before the Lord in front of all those people.

But I just turned to the musicians and said, “Let’s rejoice before the Lord.”

Then the Lord prompted me: Now worship Me—spirit, soul and body. Don’t just hold up your hands. Begin to dance before Me. I had never done that and had never intended to do it. I could have thought, I don’t believe I’m ready for that yet. But God said it, and I was so committed to obeying Him that I just began to dance before the Lord. And the people joined in with me! We were caught up in rejoicing and had a good time worshiping God.

In the previous meeting I had been absolutely exhausted after ministering. This time I had ministered about four hours when I began to dance before the Lord, and something happened in my physical body. The Holy Spirit quickened my mortal flesh and all the tiredness left me.

The Lord did not say, “If you will dance before Me, you will be rewarded for it. You will be glad you did. It will change many things in your life and your thinking.” He did not say it was that important. He just said, “Do it.” I was so ready to obey Him that I followed through with it. You know, it has been one of the greatest blessings I have ever known.

In previous meetings I would often be so tired that I could hardly make it to the night service. But when I began to rejoice that day, the Spirit of God refreshed me physically. Nehemiah 8:10 says, “…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” That is what rejoicing is all about. All these years have come and gone and I’ve always had the physical strength to finish the healing service. Usually I’m not even tired!

It also did something else for me. It released me in some way from being inhibited to following after God. I became quicker to obey God in other areas that might seem foolish. It broke an inhibition that I did not even realize was there, and somehow I became freer to follow after God.

Do you know what the dictionary says dignity is? “Self-possession or self-respect.” I do not want to be self-possessed; I want to be Holy Spirit-controlled. But I am sure that my idea of dignity had kept me from being as free as I should be with the Lord.

Freedom happens when you follow your spirit. You do not always know what is at the other end of that act of obedience. Your primary action should be to please God. Everything the Spirit of God tells you to do will work for your good. It is always going to be to your advantage.

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

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

Galatians 3:13-14, 29
KJV—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.

Amp—Christ purchased our freedom
(redeeming us) from the curse (doom) of
the Law’s (condemnation), by [Himself] becoming
a curse for us, for it is written [in
the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who
hangs on a tree (is crucified); To the end
that through [their receiving] Christ Jesus,
the blessing [promised] to Abraham might
come upon the Gentiles, so that we through
faith might [all] receive [the realization of] the
promise of the (Holy) Spirit.
And if you belong to Christ (are in Him,
Who is Abraham’s Seed), then you are
Abraham’s offspring and (spiritual) heirs
according to promise.

Moffatt—Christ ransomed us from the curse
of the Law by becoming accursed for us (for
it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs
on a gibbet), that the blessing of Abraham
might reach the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so
that by faith we might receive the promised
Spirit. Now if you are Christ’s, then you are
Abraham’s offspring.

NEB—Christ bought us freedom from the
curse of the law by becoming for our sake
an accursed thing; for Scripture says, ‘A
curse is on everyone who is hanged on
a gibbet.’ And the purpose of it all was
that the blessing of Abraham should in
Jesus Christ be extended to the Gentiles, so
that we might receive the promised Spirit
through faith. But if you thus belong to
Christ, you are the ‘issue’ of Abraham, and
so heirs by promise.

Romans 8:2, 11
KJV—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.

Amp—For the law of the Spirit of life [which
is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being],
has freed me from the law of sin and of
death. And if the Spirit of Him Who raised
up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then]
He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the
dead will also restore to life your mortal
(short-lived, perishable) bodies through His
Spirit Who dwells in you.

Moffatt—The Law of the Spirit brings the
life which is in Christ Jesus, and that law
has set me free from the law of sin and
death. And if the Spirit of Him who raised
Jesus from the dead dwells within you, then
He who raised Christ from the dead will
also make your mortal bodies live by his
indwelling Spirit in your lives.

NEB—Because in Christ Jesus the life-giving
law of the Spirit has set you free from the
law of sin and death. Moreover, if the Spirit
of him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells within you, then the God who raised
Christ Jesus from the dead will also give
new life to your mortal bodies through his
indwelling Spirit.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland