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

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