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The Power to Prosper in Troubled Times

A Daily Guide

.mobi ISBN 978-1-60463-473-0 31-1101

27 26 25 24 23 22 6 5 4 3 2 1

© 2022 Gloria Copeland, George Pearsons

All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, excepting brief quotations used in reviews.

This e-book is licensed for your personal, noncommercial use only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book, or sow a copy into another’s life, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, and/or it was not purchased for your use only, please visit kcm.org and purchase your own copy.

Kenneth Copeland Publications

Fort Worth, TX 76192-0001

For more information about Kenneth Copeland Ministries, visit kcm.org or call 1-800-600-7395 (U.S. only) or +1-817-852-6000.

Introduction

There is no question whatsoever that it is God’s perfect will for us to prosper.

The Apostle John confirmed it. Adding his amen to Psalm 35:27, “The LORD…hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.” And he declared in 3 John 2: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

By the time John wrote those words he was called “The Elder.” He was a wise, mature and respected leader in the Church. His integrity was unquestioned. His humility was unparalleled. And his face-to-face relationship with Jesus on the island of Patmos was astounding, to say the least.

One listens very closely to a man of great experience, stature and honor in the Body of Christ. Ask me how I know! So for John to say he desired others to prosper and be in health “above all things” is very significant. It tells us this was his overwhelming passion—a passion that came from the Father.

Seeing people prosper is also the passion of Kenneth Copeland Ministries.

After going to work at KCM in 1976, it became mine as well.

From day one, I began studying the solid biblical principles of faith this ministry teaches. I traveled with Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and listened to countless recordings of their messages. So I became quite familiar with their mission.

Whenever Brother Copeland would share with a congregation what this ministry is called to do, I would write down what he said and add it to my collection of “mission statements.” One day he spoke about his calling where prosperity is concerned. He said, “This ministry is called to teach the laws that govern prosperity and supernatural increase and abundance.”

In his voice, I heard a deep sense of responsibility. It touched my heart. So, both as a believer in Christ Jesus and as the pastor of Eagle Mountain International Church, I received that mandate as my own.

The purpose of this book is to help fulfill it.

The teachings contained in these pages began coming together some years ago when Gloria asked me to teach two weeks on the Believer’s Voice of Victory broadcast. At the time, I was preaching a series on prosperity in our church. So, when The LORD spoke up in my spirit and told me to call the television broadcasts 10 Days of Prosperity, I was not surprised.

What did surprise me, however, was the call I received from Gloria several weeks after the broadcasts aired. It turned out to be one of the most significant of my life. “Pastor George, I have a brilliant idea,” she said. “I just watched your broadcasts, and I want you and me to do the next prosperity series. There is one stipulation: I want you to bring your notes!”

I heartily accepted the offer. Teaching alongside her was a great honor. Gloria Copeland is one of the best teachers I’ve ever heard, and she has the message of prosperity deep within her spirit. So, not only did I learn more about prosperity, taping those broadcasts with her became one of the great highlights of my life.

What a time we had together! One moment perfectly sums it up. During our first day of taping, I happened to say, “Gloria, you just can’t exhaust the subject of prosperity.” I’ll never forget her answer. “Let’s try!” she said. And for 390 broadcasts, try we did.

Now, it’s your turn. And as you go through this study, I pray you’ll be as BLESSED by it as we were.

All of us at Kenneth Copeland Ministries want you to prosper. But as we all know, a transformation of the mind takes total immersion in The WORD. So, get out your Bibles and notebook, and “get with the program!” Take hold as never before of the power to prosper and you will see fulfilled in your life the promise God made to all of us as His people:

“They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land” (Psalm 25:13, NIV).

Thriving and prospering with you,

Pastor George Pearsons

Day 1

Pastor George

From Question Marks to Exclamation Points

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

(3 John 2, NKJV)

One word from God can change your life forever...and this book started with just such a word. The day I received it I wasn’t looking for a decade-long assignment. Writing a devotional on prosperity with Gloria was the furthest thing from my mind. I was simply praying for direction about what to preach the next few Sundays at church.

The month was September. The year, 2010.

It had not been a year most people would call prosperous.

Just two years prior, the nation had suffered the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression and was still struggling to recover. Many people across the country had lost jobs. Some had lost homes and retirement savings. Overall, the national economy, while beginning to mend, had been limping forward at a dismal pace.

As I prayed that day, The LORD told me to call that September Prosperity Month. Then He began to speak to me with an intensity I’d never heard in His voice before. Addressing me like I was waiting with a clipboard in my hand, ready to write down His instructions, He said:

As much as I want My people to be healed, I want them to prosper! As much as I want My people to walk in freedom from care and worry and anxiety, I want them to prosper! Financially, I want them to thrive and not just survive. I want them to flourish, and I don’t want them to fail. I want them to walk in supernatural provision. I want them to experience supernatural debt cancellation in their lives. I want them to know they are not subject to the times; the times are subject to them.

Build their faith. Renew and refresh their minds in these areas of financial prosperity. Enlarge their capacity to receive from Me and stand under an open window of heaven, as tithers should; as sowers to have their seed multiplied; to give and experience it being given back to them.

Those words lit a fire in me that’s never gone out. They inspired me to study with fresh intensity what the Bible says about prosperity. They also opened the door for me to team up with Gloria on the BVOV broadcast to teach on it 390 times over a period of 10 years.

The devotions in this 90-day devotional are a distillation of those teachings. I encourage you not only to read one each day, but to meditate on the scriptures you find in them. Fellowship with The LORD over them. Immerse yourself in the truths they reveal. As you do, they’ll change your life as they’ve changed mine and so many others. Question marks you’ve had about prosperity will be replaced with exclamation points of certainty. Doubts and anxieties you’ve had about your financial situation will be washed away.

Faith begins where the will of God is known, and God wants you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s His will for you to prosper. He not only said so to me by His Spirit on that unforgettable day in September 2010, He said it time and again in the Bible:

- “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 2, NKJV).

- “The LORD…hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant” (Psalm 35:27).

- “The LORD your God…gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant” (Deuteronomy 8:18, NKJV).

God’s desire to prosper you exceeds anything you’ve yet experienced. He wants you to flourish financially and to walk in ever greater degrees of supernatural provision. Believe it. In the months ahead, feed your faith on what He said about it in His WORD—and get ready to prosper as never before!

Day 2

Gloria

The Garden of Eden Effect

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion….

(Genesis 1:27-28)

Contrary to what some people claim, the idea that God wants His people to prosper isn’t new. It isn’t something prosperity preachers just came up with a few years ago. It dates all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

Talk about a prosperous place, the Garden of Eden didn’t lack any good thing. God put everything in it for Adam and Eve to use and enjoy. He furnished it with abundance, and then gave them the whole earth as their kingdom. “Be blessed,” He said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion…” (Genesis 1:28).

Those were the first words God ever said to mankind, and the meaning of each one is important:

- Be blessed means “be empowered to prosper”

- Be fruitful means “increase”

- Replenish the earth translates to mean “use all of earth’s vast resources for the service of God and man” (AMPC)

- Subdue means “if it gets out of line, put it back.”

Those words reveal God’s will for all mankind for all time! They were His will for Adam and Eve, and they’re His will for you today.

If you’re a believer, you’re God’s child as surely as Adam and Eve were. You’re made in His image. He’s a God of abundance, so prosperity is in your spiritual DNA. That’s the reason you have a desire to flourish financially. You are created by God to do so. You are designed by Him to prosper and increase.

What’s more, you’ve been blessed by your heavenly Father with “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). So, you have within you the same empowerment to prosper that Adam and Eve had. You carry around on the inside of you the God-given ability and anointing to subdue the earth and create around you the conditions of the Garden of Eden.

That’s what God meant for Adam and Eve to do. He planned for them to take THE BLESSING He’d given them and expand the Garden of Eden until it encompassed the whole earth. But they didn’t stick with the plan. Instead, they bowed their knee to Satan and committed spiritual treason. They changed gods, and when they did, they got out from under God’s umbrella of BLESSING and opened the door to the curse.

The curse is the opposite of The BLESSING. Where The BLESSING includes everything good, the curse includes everything bad. It’s the reason poverty and lack exist on the earth. God did not create those things. They were never His will. They’re Satan’s creations. They’re his will, and you don’t have to put up with them.

You don’t belong to Satan! You belong to God, and His plan for you is the same as it’s always been for His children. He plans for you to live under His umbrella of BLESSING and enjoy His abundant provision. He plans for you to live as a king on earth, with Him as your heavenly King, and to produce all around you the Garden of Eden effect. His will is for you to be blessed and a blessing wherever you go!

Day 3

Pastor George

An Unchangeable Covenant

Thou shalt remember The LORD thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

(Deuteronomy 8:18)

God is so committed to prospering you that, in the Scriptures, He did more than just present prosperity as an option. He made it a covenant promise. He appeared to Abraham and said:

I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly…. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful…. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee (Genesis 17: 2, 6-7).

Those words sound familiar, don’t they? They sound a lot like what God said in the Garden of Eden when He BLESSED Adam and Eve! When He spoke to them, He used the terms multiply and fruitful just as He did when He spoke to Abraham. But with Abraham, He added extra emphasis. He said He would multiply Abraham and his descendants exceedingly and make them exceeding fruitful. Plus, He made that promise permanent. He included it in the everlasting covenant that He said, “I will establish with you.”

The word establish means “to settle or fix on a permanent basis.” It speaks of an agreement that cannot be altered. By establishing prosperity as part of His covenant, God guaranteed He would never change His mind about prospering Abraham and his descendants. They could either choose to walk in that covenant or not, but God let them know He had made His choice once and for all. “As for me,” He said, “my covenant is with thee” (Genesis 17:4).

Have you ever read about what that covenant did for Abraham financially? It made him extremely rich “in all things…. flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold” (Genesis 24:1, 35). It did the same for Abraham’s natural descendants.

- His son, Isaac, became so wealthy that even heathen kings envied him (Genesis 26:13-14)

- His grandson Jacob was so BLESSED by God that he “increased and became exceedingly rich” (Genesis 30:43, AMPC), even while his employer was cheating on his wages and stealing from him

- His great-grandson Joseph walked in such an anointing to prosper that even being sold into slavery and thrown into prison couldn’t stop him. He kept increasing wherever he went because “The LORD was with him and made whatever he did to prosper” (Genesis 39:23, AMPC).

Those people are your spiritual ancestors! Just like Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, in Christ you too are Abraham’s seed and an heir of the same promise. You have a covenant of prosperity with God just as they did. When they walked in it by faith, they were multiplied exceedingly and became exceeding fruitful. Now it’s your turn.

So, go ahead and take it. Walk boldly “in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham” (Romans 4:12) and “remember The LORD thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:18)!

Day 4

Gloria

Redeemed From the Curse

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Through the work of Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham….

(Galatians 3:13-14, NLT)

It’s wonderful enough to know that through Jesus you’ve inherited THE BLESSING of Abraham. But that’s not all there is to the story.

What’s just as thrilling is to realize that through Jesus you’ve been set free from the curse! Where the declaration of THE BLESSING is an empowerment to prosper and succeed, the curse is a declaration which dooms a person to failure. According to the Hebrew definition, the curse comes “to destroy, do away with, cause to cease, terminate, render idle or unemployed.” It causes a person or thing “to have no further efficiency and deprives them of force, influence and power.”

The Hebrew root of the word curse means “bitterness,” because when Adam and Eve opened the door to it through sin, it made everything bitter. It embittered their lives both in the spirit realm and the natural realm. The curse caused the animals Adam had named to see him as their enemy instead of their benefactor. It embittered the ground so that it didn’t want to grow anything. Instead of joyfully producing abundance, after the curse came on the ground Adam was forced to sweat and strain over it to get anything to grow.

Pastor George and I were teaching about this one day and he put it this way: “Under the curse, everything that can go wrong goes wrong.”

I know what that’s like from experience! Before Ken and I were born again and started learning to live by faith in The WORD, we couldn’t make anything work for us. Especially when it came to finances. The more we tried to get ahead the further we fell behind.

That was miserable. But today, praise God, we have a different testimony. We prosper continually. We refuse to live under the curse anymore because we found out that Jesus has redeemed us from it.

The word redeem means “to purchase, ransom, rescue or buy out of slavery.” It describes everything Jesus did for us when He went to the cross. He paid the price for us to be released from the devil’s bondage. He rescued us from certain doom, destruction and failure. He liberated us from slavery to sin and the death that goes with it.

No one else could have done those things for us. Only Jesus could have redeemed us from the curse because, since Adam fell, Jesus is the only Man to ever walk this earth who wasn’t cursed.

Just think about how much God wants you to be BLESSED! He sent His own Son to die in your place. He redeemed you—not “with corruptible things, as silver and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). He bought you at the highest price that could ever be paid.

Why did He do it? Because He loves you!

Because He didn’t want you to live under the curse where everything that can go wrong goes wrong. He wants you to be “blessed with faithful Abraham” (Galatians 3:9) so that everything in your life that can go right goes right!

Gloria-ism:

“Under the curse you diminish Under THE BLESSING you increase.”

Day 5

Pastor George

High Above All Nations

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of The LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that The LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.

(Deuteronomy 28:1)

Have you ever read in the Bible about the Israelites God delivered out of the bondage of Egypt? When He first set them free, they had the same problem you’ve probably faced in your own life at times. They knew they were Abraham’s descendants and heirs of THE BLESSING, but they didn’t know how to live like it.

They still had the same old poverty and lack mentality they’d developed during their years of Egyptian captivity. Even though they had a covenant of prosperity, they still thought and operated like slaves. For them to prosper, God had to help them change their mentality. He had to help them renew their minds so they could think and live in a whole new way.

How did He do it?

He did the same thing for them He’s done for us: He sent them His WORD.

He laid out His BLESSING plan for them and told them exactly how to operate in it. He told them in Deuteronomy 28:1 that if they would hearken diligently to His voice and observe and do all His commands, He would set them high above all the nations of the earth.

God didn’t put the if in that verse because He was trying to keep THE BLESSING from them. He put it there because He was trying to get it to them. Because hearkening to and obeying Him was what would liberate them from the bondage and lack that they experienced in Egypt and enable them to take the Promised Land.

The same is true in our lives. That’s why in the New Testament God gives us the same instructions. He says to us time and again to listen to His voice and do what He says.

“But what if I can’t hear Him?” you might ask.

You can!

Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice.” You simply need to believe it and tune in to Him by spending time in His written WORD (that’s where hearing the voice of The LORD begins) and paying attention to what He is saying on the inside of you by the Holy Spirit.

When you do that and act accordingly, as Joshua 1:8 says, “you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (NKJV).

I’m telling you, God knows how to make His people a success! He did it for the Jews all through the Bible and He’s never stopped. In modern times, although the Jewish people comprise only .2% of the world population, they’re famous for their contributions to every field of human endeavor.

- Twenty-two percent of all Nobel Peace Prize winners have been Jewish[1]

- Israel has the highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world[2]

- Israeli innovations include the flash drive, cellphone, voicemail, PillCam (digestive tract camera), West Nile virus vaccine, nanowire (1,000 times thinner than human hair), and the Iron Dome missile defense system[3]

- A tiny nation only the size of New Jersey, Israel is surrounded by enemies, yet its $100 billion economy is larger than all its immediate neighbors combined.[4]

If God can do such things through His natural people, imagine what He can do for you as His spiritual child! You have an even “better covenant…established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6, NKJV). You’ve been raised and seated “in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). You’ve not only been set on high above all the nations of the earth, God has picked you up and set you down “in highest heaven in company with Jesus” (MSG).

1 “Why Do Jews Win So Many Nobels?” Ruth Schuster, Haaretz, Oct. 9, 2013, http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.551520 (accessed May 3, 2022).

2 “Why Does Israel Have So Many Startups?,” Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Erika Snder, Oct. 30, 2019, https://spectrum.ieee.org/why-does-israel-have-so-many-startups (accessed May 16, 2022).

3 “65 Years of Innovation, From Rummikub to the ‘God Particle,’” Marcella Rosen, Times of Israel, April 15, 2013, http://www.timesofIsrael.com/65-years-of-innovation-from-rummikub-

to-the-god-particle (accessed May, 16, 2022).

4 Start-Up Nation, Dan Senor, Saul Singer (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2011).

Day 6

Pastor George

A Heavenly Downpour

And all these BLESSINGS shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of The LORD your God: BLESSED shall you be in the city, and BLESSED shall you be in the country. BLESSED shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

(Deuteronomy 28:2-4, NKJV)

Some people seem to think God is stingy with His BLESSINGS. They believe that while He’s fine with BLESSING us spiritually, He isn’t interested in doing much for us materially, and they dismiss teachings about financial prosperity as being extreme. But the truth is when it comes to BLESSING His children God is extreme!

Nowhere in the Bible does He say that He would just give us spiritual BLESSINGS. He said His plan is for all His BLESSINGS to come upon us and overtake us. All means ALL! It means there’s nothing left out; everything is included.

As one Jewish commentary says, THE BLESSINGS God has provided for His people “are wide ranging…involve every area of material life…and bring them untold benefits” (The Chumash)[5].

As a believer, every benefit God has belongs to you—and He doesn’t want you to miss out on any of them. That’s why He says in Psalm 103:2 to “forget not all his benefits.” It’s why He reminds us in 2 Peter 1:3 that He has “bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the…knowledge of Him” (AMPC).

Notice, the knowledge of Him is what enables you to access all the things God has bestowed on you. You have to know Him and see in His WORD THE BLESSINGS He’s provided so that you can believe for and receive them. You have to know what He says so you can obey Him. Then, as Deuteronomy 28:2 promises, “all these BLESSINGS shall come upon you and overtake you” (AMPC)! They’ll “come down on you,” one translation says, and you’ll experience what God describes in Ezekiel 34:26 as “showers of BLESSING.”

A shower of BLESSING is more than just a sprinkling of BLESSINGS. To shower, in Hebrew, means “to pour down and rain upon violently.” In English it refers to a falling of things from the air in thick succession in great and large quantities.

Have you ever been caught in a sudden rain shower? I have! One time our entire family got caught in one together when we were visiting Disney World in Florida. One moment we were totally dry and the next the clouds just burst open and soaked us. We got totally drenched.

That’s what it’s like when God’s BLESSINGS come upon you. You get drenched with them. You get overtaken by them which means, in the Hebrew language, they “take over your life, overwhelm you, engulf you, pile up on you, cover you over and load you up with an excessive amount.” They come on you “like an avalanche or a flood.” As Malachi 3:10 says, God opens for you the windows of heaven and pours out BLESSINGS on you until there’s not room enough to receive them.

If you want to see a picture of this, read in Luke 5 about the time Jesus preached from Peter’s boat. After He finished ministering, He told Peter to launch out into the deep and let down his nets. Peter had already fished all night without success and didn’t expect to catch anything, so he only threw out one net. But when he did every fish in the Sea of Galilee showed up!

So many fish piled into Peter’s net that it broke. He called out to his business partners on the shore; they came out to help him, and together they hauled in a catch so big it almost sank both boats. They prospered beyond their wildest dreams in a day, became Jesus’ disciples, and their lives changed forever.

Now, that’s what I call extremely BLESSED!

Gloria-ism:

“To obey what God says, you have to know what He says and receive it.”

5 The Chumash, The Stone Edition, Rabbi Noson Scherman, Bereishis/Genesis, The ArtScroll Series (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, Ltd.), p. 1076-77.

Day 7

Pastor George

BLESSED Coming and Going

BLESSED shall be thy basket and thy store.

BLESSED shalt thou be when thou comest in,

and BLESSED shalt thou be when thou goest out.

(Deuteronomy 28:5-6)

One of the members of our church used to be the manager of a local Walmart store. After the store was freshly renovated a few years back, he asked if before the grand re-opening I would come and do a dedication service. I gladly agreed, assuming it would be a small event with just a few people.

When I arrived to do the dedication, however, I found quite a crowd. Not only was a large group of employees there, along with several managers from other stores, the mayor and sheriff had showed up. I don’t know what most of them were expecting, but when it was my turn to speak what they got was a 21st century application of Deuteronomy 28.

Grabbing one of the store’s baskets, I put my Bible in it. Then I pushed it around declaring, “BLESSED shall be your basket, and BLESSED shall be your store!”

I told Gloria about it later, during one of our teaching sessions on prosperity.

“I believe that store will break sales records,” she said. And you know what? It did. It flourished so much under THE BLESSING of God and under the BLESSED manager overseeing it that the company moved him to another city to run a bigger store.

“Pastor George,” you might say, “do you really believe God BLESSES Walmart?”

He does if His people are involved and using their faith. We have His WORD on it. He said in Deuteronomy 28 that if we’ll walk with Him, THE BLESSING will work for us in everything.

- We’ll be BLESSED coming and going. As Adam Clarke’s commentary says, “When you comest in from your employment, you shall find that no evil has happened to the family or dwelling in your absence. When you goest out, your way shall be made prosperous before, and you shall have the divine blessing in all your labors.”[6]

- We’ll be BLESSED wherever we are. As John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible says, whether you’re in the city or the country, all will “prosper and succeed, and bring forth fruit abundantly.”[7]

- We’ll be BLESSED in what we do. You’ll be extremely productive, succeeding to a high and extraordinary degree so that it can be said about you what the Bible says about Joseph, “The LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand” (Genesis 39:3).

- We’ll be BLESSED in what we have. Your baskets (or whatever containers you use to store your goods) will increase and overflow until you have a great surplus and become like the young boy in John 6 who gave his lunch to Jesus. He didn’t go home with an empty lunchbox. Jesus didn’t even just replace his little lunch. He BLESSED it, fed the multitude with it, and sent the boy home with twelve baskets full of food (verse 13).

You want to have an anointed shopping trip? Think about that next time you go to the store. As you push your basket up and down the aisles, release your faith in THE BLESSING of Abraham that’s yours in Christ Jesus and declare, “I am BLESSED!”

6 Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, abridged by Ralph Earle (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967) p. 224.

7 John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763), Deuteronomy 28:3, public domain.

Day 8

Gloria

Enemies on the Run

The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

(Deuteronomy 28:7)

Financial lack is never a friend. It’s never sent by God to teach you something. Nor is it in certain situations (as is sometimes wrongly claimed) “a blessing in disguise.” Financial lack is always a manifestation of the curse. It’s a work of the devil, and when it shows up in your life, no matter what disguise it might be wearing, it is your enemy—100% of the time.

Surprisingly enough, that’s good news because God has given you total victory over your enemies! He’s given you His Word that as long as you’re walking with Him, they don’t stand a chance against you. They may rise up against you, but when they do, they will be “smitten before thy face.”

Smite isn’t a word people use a lot these days, but it’s a good one. In Hebrew it means “a sudden, quick, decisive, fatal blow dealt with the intent to utterly conquer and destroy.” It refers to the kind of blow that David dealt Goliath when, as 1 Samuel 17:49 says, he “took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and [Goliath] fell upon his face to the earth.”

That’s a good illustration of what you can do when the enemy of lack shows up in your life!

Instead of putting up with it you can hit it with God’s Word. You can use your mouth like a slingshot, declare the prosperity promises of God, and say to lack what David said to Goliath: “This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee…. for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands” (verses 46-47).

“But Gloria,” you might say, “you don’t understand the kind of lack I’m facing. It’s huge!”

So was Goliath. A giant of a man, he stood over 9 feet tall. He wore a bronze helmet, a coat of mail that weighed 125 pounds and bronze leggings; and had an armorbearer who walked ahead of him carrying a massive shield. Goliath was like a walking armored tank almost completely covered in metal from head to toe!

David, on the other hand, was of average height and didn’t even have one piece of armor. All he had was a slingshot and some stones. He was undoubtedly an expert shot but, in the natural, the odds against him were astronomical.

David wasn’t worried, however, because he knew he had something Goliath didn’t. He had a covenant of BLESSING and God’s promise that “I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries” (Exodus 23:22, AMPC). So, after telling Goliath by faith that he was doomed, David took aim at him and, operating under the anointing of THE BLESSING, delivered a decisive, fatal blow.

You can do the same in your life!

Even if you’re facing multiple enemies at the same time, if you’ll stand by faith on God’s Word, He will cause them to fall or flee before you. As Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible says, “They shall come out against thee one way—in the firmest and most united manner and flee…seven ways—shall be utterly broken, confounded, and finally routed.” They’ll “run away” from you, The Message says, “on seven roads” (Deuteronomy 28:7).

What’s so significant about the number seven? It represents perfection and completion. It tells you that because you have a covenant with God you can walk in total victory. You can triumph over every manifestation of the curse that comes against you and emerge from the battle “perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4, NKJV)—100% of the time!

Day 9

Pastor George

The Commanded BLESSING

The LORD shall command THE BLESSING upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall BLESS thee in the land which The LORD thy God giveth thee.

(Deuteronomy 28:8)

Do you know what happens when God speaks to the material elements and operations of this universe? They obey Him! In Genesis 1, when He said to the darkness, “Let there be light,” light came into being. When He said to the earth, “Bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree” (verse 11), there was no argument about it. The earth obeyed His command.

A command is an order, charge, or decree. And when God gives an order to His creation it is carried out. What He says is how it’s going to be.

This is the reason you as a believer can prosper anywhere anytime. As you walk with Him by faith and obey His voice, God commands THE BLESSING on everything that has to do with your finances. He issues a decree of empowerment over your storehouses.

What are storehouses? They’re multiple places where goods and wealth are stored. In our culture they might be bank accounts, investment accounts, safety deposit boxes, closets or garages. In the Israelites’ culture, they tended to be barns, granaries, cellars and other places where agricultural crops were stored.

Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible says that having God’s BLESSING on your storehouses means “everything that you have shall come by divine appointment; you shall have nothing casually, but everything, both spiritual and temporal, shall come by the immediate command of God.”[8]

According to Deuteronomy 28:8, God also commands THE BLESSING on all you set your hand to. He commands THE BLESSING on you “in all thy business,” as one Bible scholar puts it. He declares success over your efforts in your occupations and any trades in which you are employed and decrees that, as Psalm 128 says, “You will eat the fruit of your labor; BLESSINGS and prosperity will be yours” (verse 2, NIV).

A third thing God’s command of BLESSING comes upon is the land He gives you. The term land speaks not only of the physical property you own and inhabit. It includes the places in which God positions you. Wherever He sends you and whatever the natural conditions might be there, God’s BLESSING causes it to be “a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing” (Deuteronomy 8:9, NKJV). In other words, wherever you go, God does for you what He did for Isaac in the land of Gerar.

That land was a veritable dustbowl in Isaac’s day! It was so stricken by drought and famine that Isaac thought he’d have to move out of it just to survive. But as he was preparing to leave, God stopped him. “Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and BLESS you,” He said. “I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father” (Genesis 26:3, NKJV).

Isaac believed God and stayed put. He “sowed in that land,” and the seemingly impossible happened. He “reaped in the same year a hundredfold” (verse 12).

A hundredfold return was an unusual harvest for Gerar under any conditions! Even in the fertile regions, when there was plenty of rain, the land rarely yielded as much as a fiftyfold harvest. But for Isaac, the soil of Gerar produced so supernaturally that “the man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous” (verse 13).

Jeremiah 17:7-8 further explains why this happened. It says: “BLESSED is the man who trusts in The LORD, and whose hope is The LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”

Those verses describe Isaac quite well, don’t they?

As the BLESSED of God, they also describe you.

8 Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, abridged by Ralph Earle (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967) Deuteronomy 28:8, p. 224.

Day 10

Gloria

Don’t Mess With The Blessed

The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

(Deuteronomy 28:9-10)

Some years ago, the Texas Department of Transportation came up with a slogan intended to keep people from littering. It so captured the spirit of our state that it caught on like wildfire. Soon, the slogan could be seen not only on highway billboards but emblazoned across T-shirts, printed on baseball caps, bumper stickers and even coffee mugs:

Don’t Mess With Texas.

God’s BLESSING on our lives as believers conveys to the world much the same message about us. It lets every one know we belong to God and we’re not to be trifled with. It’s like a sign God posts over us that says to the devil and his bunch: Don’t mess with My people!

You won’t find those exact words in the King James Version of the Bible, of course. It uses more eloquent phrasing. It says to us that He shall “establish thee an holy people unto himself.” The Hebrew word for establish means “to raise up to become powerful; to bring on the scene.” The word holy means “set apart, consecrated, purified and protected from ruin.”

In the margin of my Bible next to Deuteronomy 28:9-10, I have this note: Holy people=BLESSED people. I put it there to remind me that THE BLESSING sets us apart from all the other people on earth. It raises us up and turns us into billboards of God’s goodness and power.

As John Gill’s Expositions of the Bible puts it, THE BLESSING reveals that even the ungodly can see that God’s people are “his children…his portion, and his inheritance; and that they are his, and he is theirs, by the care he takes of them, the provision he makes for them, and the protection they have from him.”[9] When THE BLESSING is in manifestation in our lives it causes even unbelievers to see that we are called by the Name of The LORD and to be afraid of us.

The word afraid in Hebrew means “to be in awe; to regard with reverence or godly fear; to honor or respect, or to be inspired into astonishment.” One Jewish scholar explains, “It will be natural for nations to feel reverence for a people that is such an obvious recipient of God’s blessings, for this Divine bounty will testify to the Name that they bear upon themselves.” As a result, “all nations will come to realize that only God is the source of all strength and blessing,” and “the nation that is intimately associated with God will inspire the awe of all the others (R’Bachya)”[10] (The Chumash Stone Edition).

Think again about what happened with Isaac in Gerar. He prospered wildly there right in the middle of the famine. The people of the region, seeing God’s BLESSING on him, initially envied him so much they ran him out of the country. But in the end, he was honored and respected. So much so, in fact, that the nation’s king and the captain of its army sought him out to make amends.

Isaac was shocked when they showed up. “Why have you come here?” he asked. “You obviously hate me, since you kicked me off your land.” The king replied, “We can plainly see that The LORD is with you. So we want to enter into a sworn treaty with you. Let’s make a covenant” (Genesis 26:26-28, NLT).

Notice, the king said they could “plainly see” God’s BLESSING on Isaac. That tells us THE BLESSING isn’t just spiritual. It produces a visible testimony in your life that causes people to take notice. Even some who once mocked you for being a Christian, when they see you walking in God’s overwhelming abundance, will begin to take you more seriously. “There’s something different about you,” they’ll say. “In good times and bad, you just keep increasing.” Then, they’ll ask how you do it and you can point them to Jesus—which, after all, is what we as believers are on this earth to do.

We’re here to spread the gospel.

We’re here to be billboards of God’s BLESSING and draw others to Him.

We’re here as a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).

9 An Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763), Deuteronomy 28:10, public domain.

10The Chumash, The Stone Edition, p.1016 (Note: Rabbi Bachya bon Joseph ibn Pekudah was born in Spain circa 1021 A.D.).

Day 11

Pastor George

Too Much With Much Left Over

And The LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which The LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

(Deuteronomy 28:11)

One time, during a KCM staff chapel service, Brother Copeland told us he’d been asking The LORD to help him become more like Him and The LORD had responded in a way he hadn’t expected. He answered the prayer by speaking to him about how he treated Gloria.

Kenneth, The LORD said, I want you to pay closer attention to the desires of her heart. Be listening all the time to what she says, and when she mentions something she likes, make it your mission to get it for her.

Brother Copeland is a giver, and loves Gloria with all his heart. So he jumped right on that assignment. From then on, he took note of anything Gloria indicated she’d enjoy having. He didn’t put any limit on what he was willing to get her either. On the contrary! The bigger the desire, the more joy he got out of fulfilling it.

One day, for example, he and Gloria were riding in a certain vehicle and she said, “I really like this car!” As soon as they got back home, Brother Copeland secretly started making phone calls. Shortly thereafter, a car just like the one Gloria had admired showed up in their garage.

What did that have to do with Brother Copeland becoming more like The LORD?

That’s what The LORD is like!

He’s not the miser that religious tradition sometimes makes Him out to be. He takes pleasure in prospering His people—especially when you put Him first in your life. He likes to “lavish you with good things” and “make thee plenteous in goods,” as Deuteronomy 28:11 says (MSG, KJV). To lavish means “expending or bestowing profusely (pouring forth liberally; extravagant; great abundance).”[11] To be plenteous in goods means “to have abundance, more than enough, excess, too much with much left over of prosperity, wealth, good things, beautiful things, and the best things” (Hebrew).

According to the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition, to be plenteous in goods is to have “a surplus of prosperity.”

What does a surplus of prosperity look like?

It looks like the little boy’s lunch did after he gave it to Jesus in John 6. You remember what happened to that lunch. It started out as just enough to feed one or two people—as five small loaves and two little fish. But after Jesus BLESSED it, He not only fed more than 5,000 people with it, when everybody had eaten as much as they wanted, He told the disciples to gather up the leftovers, and they came back with 12 baskets full.

Talk about more than enough! Can you imagine what the little boy must have thought when Jesus gave him those leftovers from his lunch? He probably wondered how he was going to get them all home. He probably looked at those 12 baskets and said, “That’s too much!”

Our God is a too much God, so that’s what His BLESSING is designed to produce. It keeps working in your life until there’s enough…and then it keeps on working. It keeps multiplying what you have and what you sow until you’re living in the overflow.

If you want to keep THE BLESSING working for you, though, you can’t be critical of those who experience the overflow before you do. You don’t want to grumble when somebody at church drives up in a fancy new car and accuse them of being extravagant. No, if you condemn other people’s BLESSINGS, you’ll never have them yourself. So, when you hear about something good God has done for somebody, rejoice and remind yourself you’re in the same BLESSING line.

Say what our congregation at Eagle Mountain International Church says when we hear somebody testify about how God has prospered them. We all shout in unison, “That happens to me all the time!” We stand together in faith on what Deuteronomy 30:9 says:

The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For The LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers (ESV).

Think of it: The LORD actually delights in prospering you! Like Kenneth does with Gloria, He takes note of everything you say you would like or desire because He enjoys fulfilling those desires. If you’ll open your heart and allow Him, He’ll lavish His goodness on you until it overwhelms you. For He is able to do superabundantly, far over and above all that you dare ask or think, infinitely beyond your highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams (see Ephesians 3:20, AMPC).

11 Merriam-Webster Dictionary (online), “lavish,” “profuse.”

Day 12

Gloria

Treasures From Heaven

The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

(Deuteronomy 28:12)

The financial system of this world is extremely unstable. It’s up one day and down the next. Inflation, recession, depression or something else is always threatening, and when it hits, the economy can change so fast that people can go from being rich to being broke overnight.

As a believer, however, you aren’t dependent on this world’s economy. You can put your dependence on God, and He’ll give you access to His economy. As Deuteronomy 28:12 says, He’ll “open unto you His good treasure, the heavens.”

The Hebrew word translated open means “to throw wide open and let loose.” The word translated good treasure refers to a storehouse, armory or depository.

When heaven’s storehouses (or as The Message calls them, God’s “sky vaults”) are thrown open wide to you, you can flourish financially no matter what’s happening in the world’s economy. You can prosper continually because heaven’s economy is always booming. Heaven never has recessions or depressions. Lack is unheard of up there.

With streets made of pure gold, walls made of jewels, and gates made out of one big pearl, heaven is the most lavish place you can imagine. Its storehouses are always well-stocked and full of bounty. They’re overflowing with abundance all the time.

When you have access to heaven’s economy, you don’t have to go into debt to maintain a prosperous lifestyle like the world does. You can go to God “who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). With Him as your Provider, you can “lend to many…but you yourself won’t have to take out a loan” (Deuteronomy 28:12, MSG).

I’m not saying the moment you start walking with God you’ll see an instant change in your checking account balance. I am saying, though (because the Bible does) that the more you believe God’s Word and change your lifestyle to agree with it, the greater the flow of heaven’s prosperity in your life will be. As you say what He says and do what He commands, you’ll increasingly experience what God promised in Leviticus 26:

Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain.… You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for each new harvest (verses 5, 10, NLT).

That’s an agricultural way of saying you’ll enjoy a never-ending stream of increase! You’ll prosper continually without a stop. You’ll be like those in Psalm 1 who delight in doing everything the Lord wants: “They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do” (verse 3, NLT).

Is it really possible to experience such nonstop abundance down here on earth? you might wonder.

Absolutely. All things are possible with God, and His storehouses in heaven are always full to overflowing. So, He has no problem at all keeping your storehouses here on earth constantly filled to overflowing too. In fact, He enjoys it! He reminded us of that through a prophecy He gave through Ken some years ago. He spoke to those of us who are daring to believe what the Bible says about prosperity and said:

I have a great storehouse. Much more has been stored up in the storehouse of riches, beyond your wildest dream, that I laid up for you before the foundation of the world. Much more is stored up there than what the Church has ever called for. I have never held back on the Church, saith The LORD God of plenty. I’ve made it available to you. I put it in My WORD. I gave you a promise and stood behind it with the blood, the precious blood of your Savior.

There has been a backwardness in [many of] My people about laying hold of the things that I have provided for you. But I will say this: There is a people in the land, there is a people around the world, there is a people strong and mighty, growing much stronger and much mightier and more bold to lay hold and put their claim of faith on the things that I have laid up for you, and it thrills Me, saith The LORD, because it’s been yours all the time![12]

12 “God’s Great Storehouse,” word from The LORD through Kenneth Copeland, Nov. 10, 2011, Washington, D.C. Victory Campaign © 2011 Kenneth Copeland. All rights reserved.

Day 13

Pastor George

The Head, Not the Tail

And The LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of The LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

(Deuteronomy 28:13-14)

In yesterday’s devotion, Gloria wrote that when you have access to heaven’s economy, you don’t have to borrow money to maintain a prosperous lifestyle like the world does. Because God is your Provider, if you’ll just believe and obey Him, He’ll give you richly all things to enjoy. He’ll prosper you so much that rather than having to go into debt, you’ll be able to “lend to many,” as Deuteronomy 28:12 says, “but you yourself won’t have to take out a loan” (MSG).

Why is that important?

Because it positions you to walk in the benefit of THE BLESSING promised in verse 13. It positions you to be the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath.

The Hebrew word for tail means “end, stump or attacked in the rear.” It also means “flapping.” Something that’s flapping isn’t in control of its own movement. It’s subject to whatever is dominating it, like a tail is subject to a dog.

God doesn’t want His children to be tails! He doesn’t want us to be in subjection to this world—to be dominated by its ungodly systems and out of control. God wants us to be the head! The Hebrew word for head means “top, summit, upper part, chief, leader or captain.” When you’re the head:

- “You will always be at the top, never at the bottom” (Deuteronomy 28:13, NIV).

- “You shall only go up and not down” (ESV).

- “Thou wilt rise more and more, and increase in wealth, power and dignity.”[13]

God’s desire to make us the head is what’s behind His command in Romans 13:8: “Owe no man any thing.” He wasn’t trying to make it hard for us to ever have anything nice. He knows that debt is an anchor that drags us down. It hinders the operation of God’s BLESSING in our lives and prevents us from ever fully rising to the top.

I once read an article about a man who could confirm this from painful experience. He’d gotten behind on his house payment by something like $14,000. He worked…and worked…and worked as hard as he could to get caught up. When he finally got to the point where he was only about $700 behind, the bank repossessed his house.

That’s a picture of somebody who was not the head. He was the tail. He had no control of his situation. By going into debt, he’d put himself in the hands of somebody else and run head-on into a spiritual principle: “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender” (Proverbs 22:7, ESV). Or, as The Message says: “The poor are always ruled over by the rich, so don’t borrow and put yourself under their power.”

“But Pastor George,” you might say, “I just bought a house! I have a 30-year mortgage.”

I can relate. Many years ago, when Pastor Terri and I first determined to get out of debt, we had a mortgage, too. We committed to paying it off, but initially the feeling that we were still in debt continued to bother me. One day, Brother Copeland told me something that really helped. “Pastor George,” he said, “the moment you make a quality decision to live debt free, God sees you as debt free.”

The same holds true for you. The moment you release your faith and commit to owe no man anything, THE BLESSING of Abraham will be activated to help you keep that commitment. It will go to work to get you out of debt fast.

So, what are you waiting on? Determine today to get out of debt and stay out. Don’t let fear of lack or failure stop you. As Gloria says, “Fear stops you at the gate of abundance. Faith keeps the gate of abundance wide open.” Trust God and open the gates of abundance wide today. Say this by faith:

In the Name of Jesus, I take hold of THE BLESSING. I am the head and not the tail. I’m above and not beneath. I will lend to many nations, and I will not borrow. I make the quality decision right now to live debt free. I declare by faith, I am debt free!

From now on, make that your declaration and walk it out by keeping your focus on God. Feed your faith on His WORD and don’t swerve an inch to the right or left from what He tells you to do “by going off following and worshiping other gods” (Deuteronomy 28:14, MSG).

For, as He told me one time: You don’t need other gods when you have Me. I will provide everything you need. I will get you out of debt. And I will help you to live debt free!”

Gloria-ism:

“Fear stops you at the gate of abundance. Faith keeps the gate of abundance open.”

“And I Will BLESS You Beyond Your Means”

Word from The LORD delivered by

Kenneth Copeland, July 9, 2007

The manifestation of THE BLESSING is at an all-time high. You are approaching a BLESSING manifestation of glory that is an explosion in ways and intensity that the human race has never seen before…. THE BLESSING will encase you and you will learn to walk in the secret place of the Most High God: BLESSED in His BLESSING, BLESSED in His glory, BLESSED in your comings, BLESSED in your goings, BLESSED in your pocketbook.

All debt will have to get up and leave you the way leprosy left the lepers of old. Debt is financial sickness. It is financial leprosy. It is an attempt to do with the natural world’s monies and abilities what I created THE BLESSING to do for you. Only, it is a burden and not a BLESSING. Debt is part of the curse. If you will begin to confess [The WORD], you will be shocked and thrilled at how quickly you will have the glory arise and drive debt out of your life. If you will bring your tithe to Me and spend time with Me, tithing that tithe to Me, I will teach you, and I will train you, and I will show you how to be debt free.

I will BLESS you beyond your means. I will BLESS you beyond your income. I will BLESS you beyond your salaries. I will BLESS you beyond anything you have ever known before.[14]

Gloria-ism:

“A decision to be debt free takes you from what you can afford to what you desire. It takes the limits off.”

13 C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes, Volume 1, The Pentateuch, trans. by James Martin (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1986) pgs. 436-37.

14 Word from The LORD delivered by Kenneth Copeland, July 9, 2007, West Coast Believers’ Convention © 2010 Eagle Mountain International Church Inc. aka Kenneth Copeland Ministries.

Day 14

Pastor George

Not Subject to the Times

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

(Colossians 1:12-13)

For you, as a believer, this is an accomplished spiritual fact: You are not of this world.

You are in this world, certainly. Because you’re living on the earth you can see around you the operations of the kingdom of darkness. But you are no longer a citizen of that kingdom.

You’re of another Kingdom and another realm. You’re a citizen of the kingdom of God. You’ve been delivered from the power of this world’s system and authorized to operate according to God’s system so that, no matter what’s going on in this world, as we’ve seen in Deuteronomy 28, you can walk in THE BLESSING and prosper all the time.

To do so, though, you must make a choice. You can’t just sit around listening to bad financial news on TV and moan, saying, “Woe is me!” You must get with God’s program and believe and say what He says about you.

I remember one day Pastor Terri and I were watching the news and a reporter was presenting an especially bleak economic picture. I pressed the pause button on the remote, looked at Pastor Terri, and together we said, “It’s prosperity time in our household!” Then we began declaring THE BLESSING. “We are BLESSED coming in and going out!” we said. “We are BLESSED in the city and in the field!”

So what if some reporter says these are bad economic times? As a believer, you don’t live under the dominion, the rule, the control or the influence of whichever way the economy and the world’s system are going. As The LORD once put it to me, You aren’t subject to the times. The times are subject to you. The times you live in are subject to the authority of The WORD, the blood and the Name of Jesus that is spoken and acted on by the believer in Christ.

When you release your faith and speak to a mountain of debt in your life, it must erode and be cast into the sea (Mark 11:23). When you bring your tithe to God and declare by faith that the windows of heaven are open over you, He pours out a BLESSING on you that you don’t even have room to receive (Malachi 3:10).

“But didn’t Jesus say in John 16 that in this world we will have trouble?” you might ask.

Yes. But He went on to say, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (verse 33). What’s more, in John 17, as He was praying for all of us who would ever believe on Him, Jesus said to the Father, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy WORD is truth” (verses 15-17).

To sanctify means “to separate.” What did Jesus pray for us to be separated from? The evil in the world. What did He say would separate us from that evil? His WORD!

Being separated from the world is part of the great salvation that belongs to us in Jesus. He didn’t come just so that we could go to heaven someday in the sweet by-and-by. Galatians 1:4 confirms, He “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world.”

What does such deliverance look like? It looks a lot like what the Israelites experienced just before they left Egypt. In the days preceding their departure, God put a separation between them and the Egyptians. When He warned Pharaoh about the plague of flies that He was about to send on Egypt, He said, “I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there…. And I will put a division between my people and thy people” (Exodus 8:22-23).

The word translated division in that passage is the Hebrew word for redemption. Redemption is what we have today through Jesus! He’s made a division between us and the world. Because of what He has done for us, a wall of redemption separates us from the curse that’s on the world and enables us to experience “days of heaven upon the earth” (Deuteronomy 11:21).

Think about the difference that wall of redemption made for the Israelites! Not only did it keep the flies out of their land, it also kept their cattle alive when all the cattle in Egypt were dying. It protected them from the plagues of hail and locusts. It separated them, so that when total darkness descended on Egypt, in the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived there was light.

This same protection belongs to you as a believer. So, make the choice today and every day to talk like it and act like it. Rebel against the voices that tell you you’re going to have to suffer during bad economic times. Put a little sign or sticky note on your TV to remind you to say, when some reporter starts talking about bad times, “I am not subject to the times. The times are subject to me. I am BLESSED!”

Day 15

Pastor George

Same Conditions—Different Results

BLESSED is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of The LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

(Psalm 1:1-4)

Every year in July our church members help me to celebrate my birthday. We all get together out at Eagle Mountain to have fun, fellowship and (of course) eat heaps of food. One year, the star of the food portion of the celebration was a massive watermelon. I’m not exaggerating when I say massive. The thing was gigantic. Huge!

As I marveled over it, the people who brought it told me they’d grown it themselves in their garden in Oklahoma. They said that the summer there had been very dry, and most people’s gardens hadn’t done very well, but theirs had flourished. Their neighbors even commented on it. “Our gardens aren’t producing much of anything, but look what you have!” they exclaimed.

What made the difference?

THE BLESSING of The LORD!

When THE BLESSING is in operation, two people can be living side by side and one will be thriving while the other is just barely surviving. Same conditions—different results.

The verses in Jeremiah 17 we read a few days ago (Day 9) explains this. Verses 5 and 6 (NLT) tell us about the just-barely survivors. It says they are living under the curse because they “put their trust in mere humans…and turn their hearts away from The LORD.” As a result, “they are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.”

“But,” say verses 7-8 (indicating a line of separation) “BLESSED are those who trust in The LORD and have made The LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit” (NLT).

Both of those groups of people experienced the same adverse conditions. Both faced the challenges of living in a hot, dry desert climate. But they each got different results. The group that had its roots in the parched soil of the world and did things their own way suffered poverty, lack, hopelessness and helplessness. The group that had its roots in the kingdom of God and did things His way continually prospered and enjoyed lives free of worry, anxiety and pressure.

When you’re walking in THE BLESSING, you can be stress-free, even during the world’s economic downturns. You can just keep walking with The LORD, believing and obeying His WORD, and while other people’s income and the value of their investments are going down, yours will just keep going up. How exactly does that happen? I don’t know. I just know it’s supernatural and it’s the result of founding your life on God’s WORD. As Jesus said:

Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them…. He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great (Luke 6:47-49, NKJV).

That sounds a lot like the verses in Jeremiah 17, doesn’t it? Same conditions—different results! Although the storm hit both men, one man came through it just fine because he was a doer of The WORD. The other wasn’t and lost everything.

We must be doers of The WORD to walk in THE BLESSING! We must immerse ourselves in it, mix faith with it, and act on it. Then, when the storm hits and our unbelieving neighbor’s house caves in on him, we’ll be there for him. We’ll be able to say, “Hey, neighbor, come over to our house. It’s still standing strong because it’s a household of faith!”

Day 16

Pastor George

Thriving in the Midst of Famine

He will save you from death in time of famine…. You will laugh at destruction and famine; wild animals will not terrify you.

(Job 5:20-22, NLT)

Times of famine can be frightening for people. Agricultural famines, like those we read about in the Bible, can cut off food supplies to entire regions and leave whole populations facing starvation. Financial famines, which we’re more familiar with today, may not affect food supplies, but they can cut off incomes and deplete bank accounts. So, while they may not starve people physically, the economic destruction they wreak can be scary for people.

As believers though, we do not fear times of famine. We don’t wring our hands in uncertainty and cry big tears of hopelessness when there’s an economic downturn in the world. On the contrary! Because we know the covenant of BLESSING we have with God; because we know whom we serve, what Kingdom we are in, and what economic system is supporting us, we do the exact opposite of what the world does.

When famine and destruction try to scare us, we laugh!

Laughter in the spirit is like giving praise to God. It silences the devil and puts him to flight. It makes your heart merry, “doeth good like a medicine” (Proverbs 17:22), and stirs up the joy of The LORD, which is “your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

Am I suggesting that you should literally laugh at the financial troubles you might be facing? Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying!

When you’re sitting at the table with bills spread out in front of you, trying to figure out which ones to pay, you ought to say, “Ha, ha, ha! I’m not afraid of these bills! I can laugh at them because the Bible says, ‘The LORD watches over those who…rely on his unfailing love. He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine…. even in famine they will have more than enough’” (Psalm 33:18-19, 37:19, NLT).

The phrase more than enough in Hebrew means “God will supply until no more is needed.” It means He’s going to keep pouring out financial BLESSING on us not just see to it that we survive. The word survive means to be “barely alive.”

Have you ever seen the Canadian-produced TV show Survivorman? On the show, they drop a guy off out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the clothes on his back. The only equipment they give him is a camera so that we can watch him sleep in the rain, eat bugs and snakes, and do whatever else is necessary to stay alive.

That’s considered survival. But while it beats not surviving, it’s no way to live!

It’s also not God’s best for you, so don’t settle for it.

When the economy is strained, don’t drag around just hoping to survive. Laugh and rejoice and expect to flourish. Expect to increase. Expect THE BLESSING of The LORD to make you rich and add no sorrow with it (Proverbs 10:22).

“But I don’t need to be rich,” you might say. “If I can just pay my bills and keep from going under financially, that’s enough for me.”

Maybe so, but it’s not enough for God! He wants to make you rich so that you can be a financial BLESSING to others. He wants you to walk in such prosperity that He can send you to an economically depressed area and you can lift it up, like Isaac did in Gerar.

As you may recall, Isaac didn’t initially plan to stay in that land when the famine hit. He wanted to go someplace else. God, however, told him to stay because He wanted to prove a point. He wanted Isaac to show the people in Gerar that his God could provide even in the midst of famine. Isaac obeyed, sowed seed in that land, and became the richest man in the region.

He also lifted the whole area economically by supplying it with water in the midst of a drought. He would dig wells, intending to use them himself, and when the herdsmen of Gerar would claim them, instead of fighting them, Isaac would give them the wells. Eventually, he dug a well and the herdsmen of Gerar didn’t show up to claim it because, apparently, they didn’t need it. The wells Isaac had given them were providing them with water enough.

That’s a picture of God’s plan for all of us! He said, “I will BLESS thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a BLESSING” (Genesis 12:2). “I will rescue you and make you both a symbol and a source of BLESSING” (Zechariah 8:13, NLT).

Some years ago, during a time of financial famine, our congregation began making this confession by faith. Make it yours today. No matter what’s going on in the world’s economy, laugh and say:

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I hear. I’m going up higher. I’m going to keep obeying God. I’m going to keep sowing. I’m going to keep believing, receiving and walking by faith. I am thriving. I am prospering. I am flourishing, succeeding and advancing. I am growing vigorously and increasing. Thank You, LORD!

Day 17

Pastor George

Who’s In Control?

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

(Matthew 6:24)

Money can’t buy happiness…but given the chance it sure can produce a lot of misery. If not firmly put in its place it can control people’s lives, attitudes and emotions. It can drive them like slaves to exhaust themselves trying to get more of it and keep them awake at night trying to figure out how to hold onto it.

How can you stop money from doing those things to you?

Make sure your relationship with it lines up with God’s WORD. Examine yourself in the light of Jesus’ statement that no one can serve two masters and ask yourself, Who’s serving whom here? Then, if necessary, make an attitude adjustment. Settle it once and for all: I serve God. I don’t serve money. Money serves me. That needs to be a conscious decision. If you don’t make it, you’re likely to assume (simply because you’re a Christian) that you’re serving God when, really, you’re serving money.

How do you serve money? You bow down to it by letting it dictate to you how you’re going to live. You give it your thought life by worrying and entertaining anxious thoughts about it. You give it lordship over you by listening to it and doing what it demands instead of obeying Jesus, who said:

Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?... Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?... for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:25-26, 31-33).

Notice, Jesus said there that we are better than birds. They can’t sow and reap like we can. All they can do is fly around looking for seed (food) to eat. We can sow and reap. We can plant seed and get a harvest because God has given “every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth” to us for our provision (Genesis 1:29). He put seed here “for the service of man” (Psalm 104:14).

Can you imagine a farmer starting to sow seed into the ground and the seed refusing to cooperate? Can you imagine a bunch of little seeds saying to a farmer, “We refuse to be planted today. We’re not interested in growing up out of the ground. We’d rather just stay in the seed bag.”

What a ridiculous thought! Farmers don’t serve seed; seed serves farmers.

The same principle applies to money. It’s referred to in the New Testament as “seed,” which means it’s here for your benefit. It doesn’t tell you what to do; you tell it what to do.

The rich young ruler in Mark 10 is an example of someone who let money tell him what to do. He called Jesus “Master,” but when he asked how to inherit eternal life and Jesus told him, “Sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven,” it became clear Jesus wasn’t the young ruler’s master at all. Instead of doing what Jesus said, he “went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (verses 21-22, NKJV).

Actually, his possessions had him. His money had so much control over him it was able to rob him of the opportunity of a lifetime.

By contrast, the widow in Mark 12 wasn’t controlled by money at all. She only had two mites to her name, yet when offering time came she boldly gave them to God. Although there were a lot of other people in the Temple that day who gave bigger amounts than she did, she was the one who caught Jesus’ attention. “This poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury,” He said. “For they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood” (verses 43-44, NKJV).

There’s nothing wrong with being rich. You don’t have to be as poor as that widow to put money in its proper place. You don’t have to sell everything you have and give it all to the needy. That’s just what Jesus told the young ruler to do. The instructions God has given to the Church are in 1 Timothy 6. It says:

Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate…. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (verses 17-18, 10).

Make sure you don’t experience those sorrows. Settle the matter of who is serving whom in your life right now by making this declaration: “I don’t love money. I love God. I do not serve money. I serve God, and money serves me. I fearlessly tithe on my income. I boldly give as the Holy Spirit leads. I sow and reap and command my seed to multiply, increase and produce the maximum harvest, in Jesus’ Name!”

Day 18

Pastor George

Supernatural Provision

When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?” He said, “Yes.” And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

(Matthew 17:24-27, NKJV)

In providing for us financially, God is not limited by the size of our paycheck. While paychecks are good and we’re thankful for them, God’s streams of provision are unlimited. He can prosper us in ways that are nothing short of supernatural. He can provide for us, as He did for Peter, in ways our natural minds cannot explain.

The problem is, we sometimes forget to believe Him to do so. Although, in the Bible, we see God working financial miracles for His people, we don’t expect to experience such miracles ourselves. We tend to think about money in such natural terms that when we’re standing in faith for God to increase us, it rarely occurs to us that He would do it supernaturally.

We certainly don’t envision Him delivering money to us in a fish’s mouth!

That’s why, one time, I decided to show the people in our church what that would look like. Remembering the mounted largemouth bass Pastor Terri’s grandfather had hanging on his wall, I borrowed it and, after unscrewing it from the mounting, I stuffed a $100 bill inside its gaping mouth. Then I took it to the church and hid it behind the pulpit.

On Sunday morning, I preached about Peter’s experience in Matthew 17 and at the end of the message I pulled out the bass! Holding it aloft, I started walking through the congregation, moving it up and down like it was swimming over their heads. As everyone was laughing, I zeroed in on one particular woman and said to her, “Reach into his mouth.”

Uncertain as to what I was up to, she just stood there for a moment.

“Go ahead,” I said. “Reach into his mouth.” She did, and there was the $100 bill. Then, of course, everyone in the congregation wanted to reach in the fish’s mouth.

We did have a lot of fun in that service. But my purpose wasn’t to entertain. It was to build in us an image of what it looks like to receive God’s supernatural provision. I wanted us to begin to picture God doing for us financially what He did for people in the Scriptures.

Talk about unexplainable!

Have you ever read about how Elijah survived the drought-induced famine that struck Israel? God provided him with a brook to drink from, and sent ravens to bring bread and meat every morning and every evening (1 Kings 17:1-6).

After the brook dried up, God commanded a widow to provide for Elijah. When Elijah met her, she didn’t have anything except a handful of flour and a little oil. She’d planned to make one last meal with it for her son and herself, but instead she obeyed God and used it to make a “little cake” for Elijah (verse 13). From then on, until the famine was over, The LORD kept her supernaturally supplied. She and Elijah and her son continued to eat from her supply of flour and oil for many days. For no matter how much they used, there was always enough left in the containers (verses 15-16, NLT).

In the New Testament, Jesus supernaturally provided wine for a wedding party. When the host’s supply ran out, He turned water into wine and supplied them with an extra 180 gallons! He worked the same kind of miracle with the little boy’s lunch. He took his five loaves and two fish, supernaturally multiplied them, and fed 20,000 people with them (See John 2:1-11,6:6-14.).

Does God still do such things today?

Yes, He does! My friend Tommy Williams, for example, tells about a 15-year-old boy who heard him preach about Elijah being fed by the birds. The boy wanted to give $10 in the missions offering. So, impressed by the story, he went out and commanded the birds to put the money in the trees in his backyard. On day one, he found 65 cents in a tree. On day two, he found $2.35. Day three, $7. After receiving the $10 he’d believed for in those first three days, over the next two months he found $440.

Now, don’t roll your eyes and say, “I don’t believe it.” Taking that attitude will stop you from receiving your own miracle. Say, “I believe it! That happens to me all the time!”

It happened to us here at KCM some years back when we were building our administrative headquarters. We’d run out of finances to continue the construction and, because we don’t borrow money, for months the project was shut down. Then one day a truck showed up at the site with a huge load of sheetrock. We hadn’t ordered any sheetrock! But the driver of the truck insisted he’d been instructed to deliver it to us.

Where did it come from? It came from our supernatural God! As James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Enlarge your capacity to believe for God’s unlimited streams of supply. Expect the unexplainable. Meditate on what The WORD says about God’s supernatural provision…and when He sends a fish your way, reach into its mouth!

Day 19

Pastor George

Supernatural Debt Cancellation

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.... And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

(Luke 4:17-19, 21)

When God brought the Israelites into the Promised Land, He established what’s called the “Year of Jubilee” (Leviticus 25:28). Celebrated every 50 years, it was a time of economic liberation. Israelites who, because of financial hardship, had been forced to sell their land or sell themselves into slavery, got their land and their freedom back. The debts of Israelites who owed money were canceled. All bills were marked paid.

The Jubilee was also called “the acceptable year of The LORD.” As believers today we’re familiar with that phrase because Jesus used it in Luke 4. In announcing His ministry, He said He came to preach the acceptable year of The LORD and to be the fulfillment of it.

Under the new covenant, Jesus is our Jubilee! He liberated us from the slavery of sin and set us free—spirit, soul, body, financially and socially. He brought us into our promised land, where one of the things we’re promised is deliverance from debt. Look at Luke 4:17-19, and you’ll see that promise reflected in everything Jesus declared He came to do. He said He came to:

- Preach good news to the poor (Good news to the poor is your debts are canceled; you don’t have to be poor anymore.)

- Heal the brokenhearted (Hearts that have been burdened to the breaking point by debt are healed when the debt is removed.)

- Preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind (People who are bound and blinded by debt are delivered when they’re told that their debts are canceled.)

- Set at liberty them that are bruised. (People being crushed and bruised under a heavy load of debt are liberated by that financial load being lifted off them.)

Jesus is Anointed to do all those things. And when you received Him as your LORD and Savior, He came to dwell on the inside of you.

You have the Divine Debt-Canceler living in you! You don’t have to stay stuck in a revolving cycle of credit card payments. You don’t have to take five or six years to pay off a car loan or 30 years to pay off a house. You can put your faith in Jesus and believe for your debts to be obliterated.

What does such obliteration look like? The Bible shows us three ways it can happen. 1) Finances can be provided so that debts can be paid off; 2) Debt can be removed completely; 3) God can move on others to pay debts off for you.

In 2 Kings 4, we see an example of the first way when God removed the debt of a widow whose sons were about to be taken as slaves by her creditors. God saved her sons by providing her with the money to pay the creditors what she owed. He instructed her through the prophet Elisha to gather up as many empty containers as she could, take the last little bit of olive oil she had in her house, and start pouring it into the containers. As she poured, the oil multiplied supernaturally until all the containers were full.

She reported the miracle to Elisha and he told her what to do next: “Sell the olive oil and pay your debts,” he said, “and you and your sons can live on what is left over” (verse 7, NLT).

In Matthew 18, a man who owed a king the equivalent of millions of dollars got his debt canceled the second way. When the king ordered the man’s family and all that he owned to be sold to pay off the debt, “the man fell down before the king and begged him, ‘Oh, sir, be patient with me and I will pay it all.’ Then the king was filled with pity for him and released him and forgave his debt” (verses 26-27, TLB).

One of our church members experienced this kind of supernatural debt cancelation. He owed a company $6,500, and seemingly out of the blue, the company sent him a letter that said, “If you will pay us $1600 we’ll take care of the rest.” His debt was reduced by 75% without him even asking!

The Apostle Paul provided us with an example of the third kind of divine debt cancelation. In his New Testament letter to Philemon, he asked for financial mercy for a runaway slave named Onesimus. After fleeing Philemon’s house, Onesimus had gotten born again. Paul had discipled him and was about to send him back.

“[He is] no longer only a slave,” Paul said to Philemon, “but something much better—a beloved brother, especially to me. If I am really your friend, give him the same welcome you would give me if I were the one who was coming. If he has harmed you in any way or stolen anything from you, charge me for it. I will pay it back (I, Paul, personally guarantee this by writing it here with my own hand)” (Philemon 16-19, TLB).

God can use any of those ways to liberate you from debt! What’s more, unlike the Old Testament Israelites, you don’t have to wait 50 years for Him to do it. You can believe and receive your debt cancelation any time you want because Jesus has made every year a year of Jubilee for you!

Day 20

Pastor George

Drawing On Your Heavenly Account

Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account…. And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 4:15-19, NKJV)

God is not opposed to His people having earthly bank accounts. If we do what He says with them and don’t put our trust in them, He’s happy for us to have them. But He also wants us to understand we have an account in heaven.

That account is more valuable than any we could have in the natural. Unlike earthly bank accounts it’s not subject to theft, ruin, corruption or the economic conditions in this world. Banks in this world can collapse and the accounts in them can disappear, but our account in heaven cannot. The treasure we accumulate there “does not fail” (Luke 12:33, NKJV).

How do we make deposits in our heavenly account? By giving to the work of God: by helping finance the preaching of the gospel, as the Philippians did in supporting Paul’s ministry; tithing;[15] giving to the poor;[16] and giving offerings as a praise to God.[17]

How do we make withdrawals? Pastor Terri and I do it by following the scriptural steps Kenneth and Gloria learned to take years ago when they first started living by faith.

They were desperate back then to find out how to make withdrawals from their heavenly account because, at that time in their lives, their earthly accounts were woefully inadequate. As Brother Copeland puts it, he was a preacher without a place to preach, driving a worn-out car with 95,000 hard miles on it. He had college tuition to pay, a family to take care of, and a mountain of debt that he had no apparent way to pay back.

What Kenneth and Gloria did have, however, was a budding faith in God’s WORD, so they decided to act on The WORD by faith. They made a list of all their debts, calculated in detail how much money they needed to run their household, and included a 15% pad in the budget for extras. Then, they wrote a formal prayer of agreement asking God for the total amount they needed and left a place at the bottom of the page for their signatures.

Days went by before they signed their names to that agreement. During that time, they prayed and fasted. They repented before God for not being a good representation of The LORD Jesus Christ financially. They agreed, according to Romans 13:8, never to borrow another dime, to pay back everything they currently owed, and to continue to make deposits in their heavenly account by faithfully tithing and giving offerings.

The process took effort, focus and diligence. For a time, they cut off every voice of the world. They didn’t watch TV or read the newspaper. They saturated themselves completely in God’s WORD. Eleven months later, every debt was paid in full and every need was completely met.

What follows is a step-by-step outline of what Kenneth and Gloria did to get that result. Holy Spirit-inspired and based on the Scriptures, I like to call it a 7-Point Bank of Heaven Withdrawal.[18]

1. Decide on the amount you need. Be exact and single-minded about it. “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8).

2. Get in agreement with someone of like faith. “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:19).

3. Claim by faith the amount that is needed, using your words to make your faith withdrawal. “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…What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:23-24).

4. Bind the devil and his forces, commanding them to get their hands off your money. “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).

5. Loose the angels to go get the money and bring it to you. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14).

6. Continually praise God for it. “I will BLESS The LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1).

7. Avoid strife and unforgiveness. “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any…. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” (Mark 11:25; James 3:16).

Prayer

Heavenly Father, in the Name of Jesus, I make a withdrawal of

$______________ from my heavenly bank account. I have this money in my account and am withdrawing this amount now. I believe I receive $______________. I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth that it is mine now. Satan, I bind you and command you to take your hands off my money, in Jesus’ Name. Ministering spirits, go forth and cause this amount to come to me. Father, from this time forward, I roll the care of this over on You, and I praise Your Name for meeting my needs according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Amen.

15 Malachi 3:10: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith The LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a BLESSING, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

16 Matthew 19:21: “Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven….”

17 1 Chronicles 16:29 “Give unto The LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship The LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

18 Pastor George Pearsons, 21 Days to Your Debt Freedom, Study Notes (Fort Worth: Eagle Mountain International Church, 2013), p. 48.

Day 21

Pastor George

Call In Your Harvest

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.

(Proverbs 10:4-5)

Do you know it grieves God’s heart when His people sow financially into His kingdom and don’t receive the return on their giving promised in His WORD? He spoke to our church about that one time and said it really bothered Him. He even said some people in our congregation had become disillusioned and aggravated with Him because they thought they were waiting on Him for their financial harvest. They thought, as tithers and givers, all they had to do was sit back and relax, and God would cause their increase to automatically come in.

Such thinking is unscriptural, He told us. Reaping is our responsibility. As believers we can’t expect our financial harvest to just jump into our bank account any more than a farmer can expect his crops to jump from the fields into the barn. That’s not what happens in the natural realm, and it’s not what happens in the realm of the spirit. As Jesus said in Mark 4:

The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come (verses 26-29, NKJV).

Notice what those verses say must happen at harvest time: Some one must put in the sickle. Who must do that? The man who scattered the seed.

For him not to do so wouldn’t make any sense. No farmer in his right mind would put in all the work, time and money it takes to put seed in the ground; keep it watered, weeded and free of varmints…and then, when his crops came up, just leave them in the field and go on vacation or take a long nap. In the natural that would be ridiculous!

Yet spiritually, it’s often what we as believers have done. We’ve sown financial seed into the ground of God’s kingdom expecting a return. But then, like the son in Proverbs 10:5, we’ve slept through the harvest.

Why? Mostly because we didn’t know any better. We didn’t realize that, in verse after verse, the Bible puts as much emphasis on reaping as it does on sowing. For example, it says:

- “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8).

- “There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, NLT).

- “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:7-9, NKJV).

I heard about one preacher who didn’t understand the reaping aspect of those verses and, as a result, struggled financially for years. He did well in the other areas of his life. He knew how to believe God for healing, so physically he was strong and healthy. His ministry was growing, and he had demonstrations of God’s power in his meetings. But when it came to money, it seemed he was always in trouble.

He took time to pray about it and The LORD told him what the problem was. He said, You have to reap your finances the same way you reap your healing: by faith!

How exactly does one go about reaping finances by faith? you might wonder.

By using the method God describes in Isaiah 41:15. There He says, “Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, and make the hills like chaff” (NKJV).

A threshing sledge is an old-fashioned harvesting tool. When pulled over a grain field it separates the grain from the stalks with sharp wooden stakes called teeth. The Hebrew word for teeth can also be translated mouths. So you reap your harvest with your mouth! You command it to come in by speaking God’s WORD over it by faith!

The WORD of God is “sharper than any twoedged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). When you put His words in your mouth and speak them over your harvest field, they become like great combines. They release your angels to go and bring in your harvest.

Remember, angels are ministering servants sent by God to assist you. Referred to in the Bible as “reapers” (Matthew 13:39), they excel in strength and hearken to the voice of God’s WORD (Psalm 103:20). When you say what God says, they spring into action to bring that WORD into manifestation in your life.

Keep them busy! Make up your mind that in addition to being a good sower you are going to be a good reaper. Go get your harvest by calling in what God’s WORD says belongs to you.

Say it by faith, “Harvest, you come to me now, in Jesus’ Name!”

Day 22

Gloria

Everything Is Going To Be All Right

For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him. You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.

(Psalm 32:6-7, NKJV)

God has absolutely no problem preserving His people in times of trouble. He proved that in the days of Noah. The flood of trouble that engulfed the world back then was the worst mankind had ever seen or will ever see again. It wiped out everything. It destroyed not only the world’s economy but everyone living on the earth at the time, except for one family—Noah’s.

He and his wife, their three sons and their wives rose above the floodwaters of disaster. They were preserved because they had a hiding place. Why did they have a hiding place when no one else did?

Because Noah was a man of faith.

He believed God when He said a flood was coming and did exactly what God told him to do. “By faith Noah…prepared an ark” (Hebrews 11:7). He urged his neighbors to believe God’s Word and get with His faith program too. But they didn’t. So, when the clouds blocked out the sun and the rain began to fall, they had no place to go. They were in the dark, but Noah and his family were in the ark.

What does that have to do with us as believers today?

The ark was an Old Testament picture of Jesus! Under the new covenant, He is our hiding place. He is “the door,” into God’s kingdom where there’s always deliverance and victory. “If anyone enters by Me,” Jesus said, “he will be saved” (John 10:9, NKJV).

Think of it! Just as Noah entered his place of safety through the door of the ark, we’ve entered through Jesus into the safety of the household of faith. So, we don’t have to be afraid when storm clouds gather. We don’t have to fear when tides of destruction (economic or otherwise) rise in the world. We can put our faith in Jesus and say with confidence:

In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto The LORD (Psalm 27:5-6).

Unbelievers can’t rejoice when times are dark, but you can! Your times are in God’s hand (Psalm 31:15), and He does some of His best work when things in the world are the worst. In Exodus 8-10, for instance, it was during the worst of the plagues that God made the greatest distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians. It was when Egypt was so dark that people there were afraid to move that by contrast the light looked the brightest in Goshen, where the Israelites lived.

Talk about an amazing time of deliverance. On one side of the street Egyptian houses would be swarming with flies while on the other side, in the Israelites’ houses, not a fly could be found. A pasture over here, owned by an Egyptian, would be filled with dead cattle, while over there, in a pasture owned by an Israelite, the cattle would be thriving. Egyptian gardens would be beaten to smithereens and covered in hail, while the Israelites were flourishing and hail-free.

Those kinds of things are going to happen again in these last days before Jesus returns. We’re going to see days of great darkness, yet in the household of faith there is going to be great light. The Lord spoke to us about this some years ago in a prophetic word He gave through Kenneth. He said:

The world is in serious trouble. But in the household of faith, those of you who will cling to My WORD…can stand in your place and worship and praise in the face of hell itself. You can praise yourself into that place where you can say, “Ha, ha, ha! Everything is going to be all right!” The world, I’ll tell you again, is in serious trouble. Some very hard things are coming, in different places around the world. Very difficult times in a lot of places…but for the household of faith, everything’s going to be all right.

Oh yes, you’ll have to make a stand. You’ll have to fight the good fight of faith. But, when did you not have to do that? These are dangerous times. They’re dangerous times financially. They’re dangerous times in the earth because the earth is weighted under a gross weight of sin…. Things are being rattled and shaken. The earth is trying to break in different places.

Stand on My WORD and it will not come nigh you. Praise and worship My Name. Don’t feed on fear and feed fear and trouble into your life and into your mouth. No, no, no, no. Quit living in that house. Get back over here in the household of faith. Feed on My WORD, not on the bread of sorrow. Feed on My WORD. Look in My face…praise and worship and preach The WORD. Everything is going to be all right.

For as I have said, and will continue to say until it becomes solid and strong in your spirit—your time has come. It is your time to excel![19]

19 “Everything Is Going to Be All Right,” Word from The LORD delivered through Kenneth Copeland, Aug. 6, 2010, Southwest Believers' Convention, © 2010 Eagle Mountain International Church Inc. aka Kenneth Copeland Ministries. All rights reserved.

Day 23

Pastor George

Fresh and Flourishing

The [uncompromisingly] righteous shall flourish like the palm tree [be long-lived, stately, upright, useful, and fruitful]; they shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon [majestic, stable, durable, and incorruptible]. Planted in the house of The LORD, they shall flourish in the courts of our God. [Growing in grace] they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap [of spiritual vitality] and [rich in the] verdure [of trust, love, and contentment]. [They are living memorials] to show that The LORD is upright and faithful to His promises; He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

(Psalm 92:12-15, AMPC)

When God spoke to me in September 2010 about how much He desires for His people to prosper, one of the things He said was, Financially, I want them to thrive and not just survive. I want them to flourish, and I don’t want them to fail.

What does flourish mean? Here are a few of its meanings:

1. Flower, blossom, bloom, break through and spread out

2. Enter into a state of prosperity

3. Increase in wealth, favor and honor

4. Grow vigorously and exuberantly, enlarge and expand

5. Become extremely successful

That’s the picture God paints in the Bible of those of us in the household of faith! He describes people who trust in The LORD and whose hope is in Him as being “like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green” (Jeremiah 17:7-8, NKJV). The Hebrew word translated green in that verse refers to something that’s prospering, thriving or flourishing. The Message describes people whose leaves are green as being “like trees replanted in Eden, putting down their roots near the rivers—never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.”

God doesn’t say anywhere in the Bible that the people who trust in Him will just barely get by. And He certainly doesn’t prophesy failure over us. He prophesies the opposite:

- “The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish” (Proverbs 14:11).

- “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch” (Proverbs 11:28).

- “The generation of the upright shall be BLESSED. Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever” (Psalm 112:2-3).

Is that how you see yourself today? Do you picture yourself the way those verses describe you? If not, make an adjustment. Stop viewing yourself in the light of past failures or current contrary circumstances. Instead, view yourself in the light of God’s WORD. Envision yourself blossoming into a state of prosperity, blooming and increasing in wealth, favor and honor, flourishing financially, and becoming extremely successful.

“But Pastor George, according to those verses, to flourish we must be righteous and upright. I’m not sure I qualify.”

Are you born again? If you are, you qualify as righteous, not in yourself but in Jesus. When you received Him as LORD of your life, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says you were “made the righteousness of God in him.” Being upright is simply living in the light of that fact. It’s walking in all the light you’ve received from God’s written WORD and by His Spirit, and continually seeking more light.

If you mess up and sin, being upright is repenting, receiving God’s forgiveness, and going back to walking in the light again. You don’t lose your uprightness just because you stumble. God knows that, like all His children, you’re learning and growing. So, He doesn’t condemn you when you fall. He doesn’t say, “Well, now you don’t qualify to flourish.” No, He reminds you that in Jesus you’ve been made righteous, helps you get back on your feet again, and leads you on.

How can you possibly fail when you put your trust in a God like that?

You can’t! He’s too good! As Psalm 36 says, “How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge and put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They relish and feast on the abundance of Your house; and You cause them to drink of the stream of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light” (verses 7-9, AMPC).

Praise The LORD right now for His goodness. Rejoice in His overcoming power, thank Him for His wonderful plans for you, and make this your confession:

I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever (Psalm 52:8, NIV)!

Day 24

Pastor George

Supernatural Wealth Transfer

To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.

(Ecclesiastes 2:26, NIV)

A minister I know tells a story about a time he was visiting New York City. He was in a hurry to get to an appointment, and had tried for some time to hail a cab with no success. Finally, one stopped for him, but as he was about to get in, a briefcase-carrying businessman in an expensive-looking suit shoved him aside and got into the cab first. Muttering something about having a big deal to close and running late, the businessman barked an address at the cab driver and slammed the door—leaving the minister standing on the curb.

The driver locked eyes with the minister and shook his head as if to say, “Sorry, buddy.” But the minister just smiled. “No problem,” he said. “Just make sure this man gets to his meeting on time. He works for me!”

Of course, the minister didn’t literally mean the man was his employee. He was simply standing on Ecclesiastes 2:26. He was saying, “Since I’m a man of faith I please God, and He gives the sinner the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases Him.”

The Bible confirms this promise repeatedly, in one way or another. It says, for example:

- “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous” (Proverbs 13:22, NKJV).

- “Here is the fate God allots to the wicked…. Though he heaps up silver like dust and clothes like piles of clay, what he lays up the righteous will wear, and the innocent will divide his silver” (Job 27:13, 16-17, NIV).

- “Income from charging high interest rates will end up in the pocket of someone who is kind to the poor” (Proverbs 28:8, NLT).

In a prophecy delivered by Charles Capps in 1978, The LORD said we’d see those verses come to pass in increasingly dramatic ways in these last days before Jesus returns. He said believers will get such a revelation of the truth about giving and the hundredfold return that the reservoirs that have held the riches of the wicked in days past will be drained. The wealth in them will be transferred into the hands of the righteous and “so shall it be that the gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached to all the world, and there shall be no lack in the Kingdom.”[20]

Imagine the reservoirs of wealth that have been stored up by the wicked being released into the kingdom of God. Picture it like the Hoover Dam exploding and the waters behind it bursting forth in a flood. That’s how God intends for His financial BLESSINGS to burst forth on us! They aren’t all going to come through a supernatural wealth transfer, but that is one avenue God uses and we ought to be believing for a manifestation of it in our lives.

We ought to be expecting to do at least as well financially as the Israelites did in Old Testament times. When God brought them out of Egypt they came out “with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes” (Psalm 105:37). The Hebrew word translated feeble means “pauper.” The English definition of a pauper is “an extremely poor person; a person without any means of support; a destitute person who depends on aid from public welfare funds or charity.”

Forget the scene in Cecil B. DeMille’s classic movie The Ten Commandments, that showed Israelites hobbling out of Egypt in raggedy old clothes, carrying the sick on stretchers. That’s not what happened. When they left Egypt, the Israelites were all healed and rich! In fact, the Tehillim, the Jewish book of Psalms with commentary, says that according to one renowned rabbi, “The lowliest among the children of Israel brought 90 donkeys laden with silver and gold when he left Egypt.”[21]

Where did the Israelites get all that silver and gold? They got it from the Egyptians as the result of a supernatural wealth transfer!

First Corinthians 10:11 tells us: “These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come” (NRSV). In other words, what the Israelites experienced when they came out of Egypt is an example of what we, as believers, are to experience. It’s a picture of us being delivered from the Egyptian slavery of sin, out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of light.

Let that picture inspire you today to start releasing your faith for your own supernatural wealth transfer. Take the scriptures that promise it and, believing you receive according to Mark 11:24, pray this:

Heavenly Father, in the Name of The LORD Jesus Christ, I believe what Your WORD says about the wealth of the wicked being laid up for the righteous. Therefore, as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, I release my faith for such wealth to be transferred into my hands to be used as You will. Father, there is much to be done in Your kingdom. The gospel needs to be preached to every person in every nation. People all over the world need to be ministered to and BLESSED. From this day forward I will continue to look to You in faith for the wealth I need to be a greater BLESSING. I receive it now, and I thank You for it. Amen.

Word From The LORD

delivered through Charles Capps, Feb. 1, 1978

“Financial inversion shall increase in these days. For you see, it is My desire to move in the realm of your financial prosperity. But release Me, saith the Lord, release Me that I may come on your behalf and move on your behalf.

“For yes, yes, yes, there shall be in this hour financial distress here and there. The economy shall go up and it will go down; but those who learn to walk in the Word, they shall see the prosperity of the Word come forth in this hour in a way that has not been seen by men in days past.

“Yes, there’s coming a financial inversion in the world’s system. It’s been held in reservoirs of wicked men for days on end. But the end is nigh. Those reservoirs shall be tapped and shall be drained into the gospel of Jesus Christ. It shall be done, saith the Lord. It shall be done in the time allotted and so shall it be that the word of the Lord shall come to pass that the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

“Predominantly in two ways shall it be done in this hour. Those who have hoarded up and stored because of the inspiration of the evil one and held the money from the gospel shall be converted and drawn into the Kingdom. But many, many will not. They’ll not heed the voice of the Word of God. They’ll turn aside to this and they’ll turn to that and they’ll walk in their own ways, but their ways will not work in this hour. It’ll dwindle and it’ll slip away as though it were in bags with holes in them. It’ll go here and it’ll go there and they’ll wonder why it’s not working now. ‘It worked in days past,’ they’ll say.

“But it shall be, saith the Lord, that the word of the Lord shall rise within men—men of God of low esteem in the financial world—that shall claim the Word of God to be their very own and walk in the light of it as it has been set forth in the Word and give. They’ll begin to give small at first because that’s all they have, but then it will increase, and through the hundredfold return, so shall it be that the reservoirs that have held the riches in days past, so shall it return to the hands of the giver. Because of the hundredfold return shall the reservoirs be lost from the wicked and turned to the gospel. For it shall be, it shall be in this hour that you will see things that you’ve never dreamed come to pass. Oh, it’ll be strong at first in ways, then it will grow greater and greater until men will be astounded and the world will stand in awe because the ways of men have failed and the ways of God shall come forth.

“As men walk in My Word, so shall they walk in the ways of the Lord. Oh yes, there will be some who say, ‘Yes, but God’s ways are higher, surely higher than our ways, and we can’t walk in those.’ It’s true that the ways of God are higher. They are higher than your ways as the heavens are above the earth, but I’ll teach you to walk in My ways. I never did say you couldn’t walk in My ways. Now learn to walk in it. Learn to give. So shall the inversion of the financial system revert and so shall it be that the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all the world, and there shall be no lack in the kingdom. Those who give shall walk in the ways of the supernatural! They shall be known abroad. My Word shall spread and the knowledge of the Lord shall fill all the earth in the day and the hour in which ye stand. Ye shall see it and know it, for it is of Me, and it shall come to pass, saith the Lord.”[22]

20 Word from The LORD delivered through Charles Capps, Feb. 1, 1978, Honolulu, Hawaii.

21 Tehillim, The Book of Psalms, Rabbis A.C. Feuer, N. Scherman, M. Zlotowitz, ArtScroll Tanach Series, Vol. 4, Psalm 105:37 (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, Ltd., 2002), p. 1282.

22 Word from The LORD delivered through Charles Capps, Feb. 1, 1978, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Day 25

Pastor George

Supernatural Increase

The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will BLESS us….

He will BLESS them that fear The LORD, both small and great. The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children. Ye are BLESSED of The LORD which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are The LORD’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

(Psalm 115:12-16)

Increasing the world’s way is both exhausting and frustrating. It’s exhausting because, due to the curse that’s in the earth, it involves a lot of sorrowful toil (Genesis 3:17). And it’s frustrating because—again, due to the curse—the results you hope to receive from your sorrowful toil are often undermined by natural conditions beyond your control.

Increasing God’s way, however, is an entirely different matter. It’s both joyful and fulfilling. It does involve work,[23] but there’s no sorrow with it. You can just put your hand to whatever job God gives you, operate according to His system, and He’ll increase you supernaturally.

Super means “above and beyond.” Natural means “of the course of this world.” So, supernatural increase is something above and beyond the natural course of this world. That’s why, once you tap into supernatural increase, you’re not subject to the times. It’s why you can be surrounded by the same negative conditions as others and yet experience different results. It’s why, no matter what’s going on around you, you can thrive and not just survive.

This kind of supernatural increase is what Psalm 115 is talking about. It says when you’re operating in THE BLESSING of The LORD, He “shall increase you more and more, you and your children” (verse 14). To increase more and more in Hebrew means “to continue to add, over and above.”

I’ve had experience with being continually added to, over and above, and it’s wonderful! Pastor Terri and I have enjoyed the benefits of it in our own personal lives, and we’ve seen it manifest year after year at Kenneth Copeland Ministries.

I wasn’t there in 1967 when the Copelands first started the ministry in their little rent house in Tulsa, with no money and no preaching invitations. But when I came on staff nine years later, they had already increased to an extent that, in the natural, could not be explained. Not only did they have a full preaching schedule, vehicles and thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment, they had 12 employees on staff and an office building the size of a large house that overlooked a lake in Arlington, Texas!

I thought that office building was great when I went to work there. But recently, the magnitude of the increase we’ve seen since then really hit me. As I was ministering to a group in the dining room of our current administrative building, which overlooks Eagle Mountain Lake, I realized the entire building we had at Lake Arlington would fit inside what is now the dining room in our present facility. Look what The LORD has done! I thought.

“Well,” some one might say, “certainly God would increase KCM supernaturally. It’s a ministry. Its whole purpose is to BLESS people.”

As a believer, so is yours!

You may not have thought of it in exactly these terms, but for us here at KCM true prosperity is being able to use the power of God to meet the needs of mankind: spirit, soul, body, financially and socially. It isn’t just about living in luxury (although God does give us richly all things to enjoy). Your purpose and motivation for accumulating and increasing in wealth is so that you can distribute it. You want to increase so you can be the BLESSING God has called you to be.

How do I know that’s true of you? Because it’s the heart of Jesus, and if you’re born again, He’s living inside you.

Forget what the religious critics of prosperity say! You’re not being selfish by spending time reading and meditating on scriptures about increasing financially. Reading and meditating on The WORD enlarges your capacity to receive from God, and the more you receive from Him the more you can distribute to others. What happens when you distribute to others? You increase even more and you’re able to be an even greater BLESSING!

Isn’t God’s supernatural increase plan great? It’s like He says in Isaiah 55:9: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” (NLT). Keep going after His higher thoughts and ways. Supernatural increase begins on the inside of you, so meditate on these scriptures about it today:

- “Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall BLESS us” (Psalm 67:5-7).

- “Yea, The LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase” (Psalm 85:12).

- “For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased” (Proverbs 9:11).

- “Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit” (Leviticus 26:4).

- “For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you” (2 Corinthians 9:10, NLT).

23 Ephesians 4:28: “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.”

Day 26

Pastor George

Jehovah-Jireh, Our Supernatural Provider

Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said…“Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” …And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood…. But the Angel of The LORD called to him from heaven and said…. “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided.”

(Genesis 22:7-9, 11-14, NKJV)

What do you say as a person of faith when you’re facing an impossible financial situation? You say what Abraham said to Isaac that day on the way up the mountain when Isaac asked him where they were going to get a lamb for the sacrifice.

You say, “God will provide!”

Those are some of the most powerful words in the Bible.

As believers, we ought to be speaking them all the time. We ought to declare them over our homes, our bank accounts, our churches and our ministries. Following the example of Abraham, the father of our faith, wherever God sends us in life, we ought to call that place Jehovah-Jireh, which translated from Hebrew into English is The-LORD-Will-Provide.

That isn’t just a description of what God does for us. It’s who He is to us. It’s one of His seven covenant Names. He is Jehovah-Jireh, our Supernatural Provider.

The Source of everything good, He can untangle any financial mess you’ve gotten into. You just have to trust Him, do what He says, and keep your eyes on Him. Instead of looking at natural impossibilities you just have to do what Abraham did when he put Isaac on the altar: He lifted his eyes and looked up. When he did, there was the ram that saved Isaac. There was the God whose Name is The-LORD-Will-Provide.

“But you don’t understand my situation. My financial problems are really big!”

As Brother R.W. Schambach used to say, “You don’t have any problems! All you need is faith in God!” No matter how high the stack of unpaid bills on your kitchen table may be, God can handle them. No matter how dire your economic woes, Jehovah-Jireh can deliver you from them and turn things around.

Jehovah-Jireh is the answer to every situation:

How are we ever going to get by if the nation’s economy collapses?

The LORD will provide.

What’s going to happen if I get laid off at work?

The LORD will provide.

How am I going to get out of this debt situation?

The LORD will provide.

What’s going to happen in the future?

The LORD will provide.

The phrase The LORD will provide is translated a little differently in the King James Version of Genesis 22:14. It says that in the place Abraham called Jehovahjireh, “It is said to this day, In the mount of The LORD it shall be seen.” I like that! It tells us that Jehovah-Jireh, our Supernatural Provider, will cause whatever we need to become visible and real in this natural realm. He will cause it to be seen, to manifest in our lives.

I’ll never forget how He did this for us here at KCM in December 1989. I was serving as executive director, and the ministry was facing a huge financial deficit. We’d begun airing our daily broadcasts that year, and the money hadn’t come in to cover the expenses. So, by December we were $6 million in the red.

Six million dollars. That’s a lot of red ink! On paper, best-case scenario was that it would take us 18 months to two years to get caught up, and that was unacceptable. So, like Kenneth and Gloria who, of course, were praying and standing in faith over the situation, I lifted my eyes to God and looked to Him for instructions. He told me to get the staff together every morning and praise Him for His supernatural provision. So that’s what we did.

December passed, and we went into January 1990 still praising God together every morning for supplying all our needs. We kept with it, and by July 7, every past-due account was caught up and every television bill was paid!

To this day, I don’t know how it happened. It was supernatural. God Himself removed what we owed and supplied what we needed. The day I signed the check that wiped out the last bit of that deficit is burned into my being. It’s like a memorial in my mind. Any time I’m confronted with a financial challenge I can think back to the time I watched the Supernatural Provider supply us with that extra $6 million.

In the natural, that was impossible. But with God all things are possible, and He is our Source and Supply. Talk about a wonderful Provider! As the Bible says:

- “He lifts the poor from the dust—yes, from a pile of ashes—and treats them as princes sitting in seats of honor” (1 Samuel 2:8, TLB).

- “[He] daily loadeth us with benefits” (Psalm 68:19).

- “The young lions lack food and suffer hunger, but they who seek (inquire of and require) The LORD [by right of their need and on the authority of His WORD], none of them shall lack any beneficial thing” (Psalm 34:10, AMPC).

- “We went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place” (Psalm 66:12).

Day 27

Pastor George

Our Covenant of Wealth

For the eyes of The LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him….

(2 Chronicles 16:9, NKJV)

As wonderful as it is to know that in your time of need you can look to Jehovah-Jireh, your Supernatural Provider, what’s even more wonderful is knowing that He’s looking for you! Even at times when you’re not in financial trouble, He’s seeking you out for the purpose of pouring out on you His abundance. His eyes are on you 24/7 to show Himself strong toward you.

The Hebrew word for strong refers to wealth! It confirms that God desires to do more than just give you barely enough to get by. He’s looking to make you wealthy. He’s compelled by His undying covenant devotion toward you to locate you and prosper you. His covenant Love for you won’t quit and can’t be satisfied until He has BLESSED you with everything He is and everything He has.

Most people these days, believers included, can’t wrap their minds around that kind of covenant-driven Love. It’s hard for us to imagine because we live in such a covenant-breaking culture. Second Samuel 9, however, provides us with a wonderful picture of it by telling us about David’s love for his covenant friend, Jonathan.

Talk about undying devotion! David never wavered in his commitment to keep his covenant with Jonathan. Even after Jonathan and his father, King Saul, were killed in the battle that resulted in David becoming king, David longed for a way to BLESS him. He searched and searched (his eyes went to and fro throughout the earth) for someone connected with him that he could honor. “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” he said (verse 1, NKJV).

As it turned out, there was. Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s crippled son, was living in the little town of Lodebar. David found him and had him brought to the royal palace. He restored to Mephibosheth all his family’s property and his rightful inheritance and, for the rest of his life, Mephibosheth ate at David’s table as one of the king’s sons.

If David searched that earnestly for Mephibosheth, how much more is God searching to BLESS you as His born-again child? How much more committed is He to restoring your inheritance as Abraham’s seed?

Financial wealth is part of that inheritance. That’s why He said in Deuteronomy 8:18, “Remember The LORD your God. He is the one who gives you power to become successful, and he does it to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors” (NLT). According to that verse, God considers prospering you His covenant responsibility. You’re in Christ, and in Him all God’s promises are yes and amen (2 Corinthians 1:20), so He is always looking to those promises for you. He searches you out so that He can:

- “Rescue you and make you both a symbol and a source of BLESSING” (Zechariah 8:13, NLT).

- Teach you how to believe and obey Him so that all His BLESSINGS come upon, overtake and find you (see Deuteronomy 28:2, NKJV, Brenton).

- Make you plenteous in goods, lavish you with good things, and make you to have a surplus of prosperity (see Deuteronomy 28:11, KJV, MSG, AMPC).

“It is a good thing to receive wealth from God,” Ecclesiastes 5:19 (NLT) says, and God wants all of us as His covenant children to experience that good thing. He continually speaks faith-building words to us through the Bible and by His Spirit to help us receive from Him all He desires to give. He even spoke to one minister friend of mine about it while he was in the checkout line at the grocery store!

The man in front of him, who was paying the cashier, looked at him and said, “Money goeth!” As my minister friend laughingly agreed, The LORD spoke up in his heart and corrected him. No! Money cometh! He said. The minister instantly caught the revelation. From then on, he began to confess by faith, “Money cometh.” Sure enough, the more he confessed it, the more money came.

Is that scriptural? you might wonder.

Certainly. It’s a way of agreeing with God’s WORD. He said in Genesis 15:1, “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (NKJV). The Hebrew phrase translated I am your exceeding great reward, can also be translated I am your rapidly increasing money supply. Hebrews 10:35 echoes that translation. It says, “cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.”

The phrase recompense of reward is translated from the compound Greek word mistha-podosia. The first part of the word, mistha, means “pay, salary, money, repay a debt or payment of wages due.” The second part, podos, means “feet.”

Think of it! The Bible literally says that money is coming on feet in your direction.

God is looking right now for someone to believe that. He’s searching to and fro throughout the earth for Christians who will agree with Him and walk in the fullness of their covenant. Determine right now to be one of them. Release your faith in God’s goodness, and let Him show Himself strong toward you.

Declare it by faith, “Money comes to me now!”

Day 28

Pastor George

The Floodgates of Heaven

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith The LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a BLESSING, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith The LORD of hosts. And all nations shall call you BLESSED: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith The LORD of hosts.

(Malachi 3:10-12)

One of the most thrilling things about prospering financially is that every time increase comes into our household, we get to take 10% right off the top and give it back to God. That never gets old! Pastor Terri and I can testify to it. We’ve tithed ever since we got married and we still get excited about it because we know what a privilege it is.

To think that God would honor us by receiving our tithes is amazing!

He doesn’t need our money. He isn’t so destitute that He needs our 10% so He can get by. God owns all the resources in existence. He could finance His kingdom on earth without any help from us at all. But that’s not what He’s chosen to do.

He’s chosen instead to let us be part of financing His work on earth and receive a reward for it. Because He loves us, He’s set up a system that not only allows us to become financial partners with Him but also allows Him to partner financially with us.

I’ll tell you what: That is a good deal! There’s no better financial partner we as believers could ever have than our loving heavenly Father. He can do for us what no insurance company or investment firm ever could. He can prosper us in any economy. He can protect us from economic destruction and insure us against all financial loss.

Pastor Terri and I have gotten involved in a couple of investment deals in times past that haven’t done so well, but we didn’t lose money. On the contrary. Because we tithed before we invested, God took care of us. In His goodness and mercy, He saw to it that the money those bad investments drained from our accounts was restored to us sevenfold.

You can’t lose when God is your financial Partner! He’s promised that when you bring your tithes to Him, He will (as various translations of the Bible put in the above scripture):

- “Open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a BLESSING until it overflows” (NASB).

- “Open to you the torrents of heaven, and pour out my BLESSING upon you, until ye are satisfied” (Brenton).

- “Throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much BLESSING that there will not be room enough to store it” (NIV).

The Contemporary English Version of the Bible says God will “open the windows of heaven and flood you with BLESSING after BLESSING.” A flood is overwhelming. It’s uncontainable. A major flood can wash away cars and houses and cover entire neighborhoods.

The Flood that God sent in Noah’s day covered the whole earth. It submerged the highest mountain peaks under 22 1/2 feet of water. Where did all that water come from? Genesis 7:11 says “the windows of heaven were opened.”

That’s the same phrase God uses in Malachi 3:10 to describe what He does for the tither! In other words, those two floods are comparable. Just as Noah’s flood was the result of God opening the windows of heaven in the natural, the flood of BLESSING that comes on the tither is the result of God opening the windows of heaven supernaturally over our finances.

One day I decided to get a sense of the magnitude of THE BLESSING flood by replacing the word waters in Genesis 7 with the word BLESSING. The result was eye-opening. Verses 17-20 read like this:

And the flood was forty days upon the earth and THE BLESSING [Hebrew: abundant, liberal, excessive prosperity] increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And THE BLESSING prevailed, and was increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of THE BLESSING. And THE BLESSING prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered with THE BLESSING. Twenty-two and a half feet upward did THE BLESSING prevail; and the mountains were covered with THE BLESSING.

Do you want to get excited about tithing? Meditate on those verses for a while!

Picture yourself riding on THE BLESSING like Noah rode in the ark, on the waters of the flood. Envision it lifting you high above the earth, washing away every worldly obstacle to your prosperity and covering up the financial mountains you’ve been facing with waters of BLESSING 22 1/2 feet deep. Imagine all your possessions sheltered in the tithers’ ark where the devourer can’t destroy them and where they’re covered by the tithers’ extended warranty.

Build your faith to receive all God has promised you as a tither. Stand on His WORD, thank Him for receiving your tithes, and say, “The windows of heaven are open over me. God is pouring out a flood of BLESSING in my life that I don’t have room enough to receive!”

Day 29

Pastor George

God’s Favor and Wealth

The LORD God is a Sun and Shield; The LORD bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

(Psalm 84:11, AMPC)

Nothing will propel you more powerfully into supernatural prosperity than developing faith in the favor of God.

What is the favor of God?

It’s a manifestation of His grace. It’s God’s lovingkindness toward you. It’s His help extended to you in every way as He acts personally on your behalf, doing for you whatever is necessary to make sure you prosper, thrive, flourish and be the success you were created to be.

When the favor of God is operating in your life it produces promotion, restoration, honor, victory, supernatural increase in assets and real estate, and preferential treatment. It causes people to go out of their way to BLESS you, provide for you, assist you and make special concessions for you. If you need them to provide you with extra service or give you an extra good deal, God’s favor on you tends to make them want to do it. “This isn’t our normal policy,” they’ll say, “but for you I’ll make an exception.” The favor of God is a miraculous force! Where it is present, it:

- Makes a way where there is no way

- Opens doors where there are no doors

- Provides where there is no provision

- Does the impossible in the midst of the most impossible situations.

God’s favor, Psalm 84:11 says, is connected with His glory. And the glory, by definition, is “the presence of God that is heavy with everything good.”

When I think of a natural illustration of what it means to be heavy with everything good, I always think of Christmas at the Copelands’ house! On Christmas Eve the whole family—Kenneth and Gloria, the kids and their spouses, grandkids (some of them even have spouses now!) and great-grandkids—get together there to celebrate. Everyone shows up with baskets overflowing with presents and piles them up in great heaps around the Christmas tree.

Before long, people are handing gifts to each other, ripping open packages, and thanking one another. Adults are smiling and laughing, and little ones are squealing with delight. I like to just stand back and watch it all because to me that’s a picture of God bestowing favor upon us.

He’s the ultimate Giver and He enjoys our receiving everything He has to give!

One time, Gloria and I were talking about this and she said, “Pastor George, have you ever seen anybody in our family turn down a gift on Christmas Eve? Have you ever heard anybody say, ‘Well, I have three gifts and that’s enough. I’m not going to receive any more because I don’t want to overdo it’?”

I had to laugh. “No, I haven’t!” I replied. “As long as there are packages left with our names on them, we all keep receiving. ‘Give me another one!’ we say.”

That’s the attitude you should have toward the favor of God. You should be determined to receive everything it’s designed to give you and keep increasing in it. Just as “Jesus increased in…favour with God and men,” (Luke 2:52), you ought to keep developing your faith so that you do too. After all, you live under the new covenant in “the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound” (Luke 4:19, AMPC)! Everything the Bible says about His favor applies to you.

- You are surrounded by favor. “For thou, LORD, wilt BLESS the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield” (Psalm 5:12).

- Favor rests upon you. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14, NIV).

- God BLESSES you with an abundant increase of favor. “I will BLESS you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a BLESSING [dispensing good to others]” (Genesis 12:2, AMPC).

It doesn’t matter how far down you may have fallen in life, the favor of God will raise you up and put you on top. It will do for you the same thing it did in the life of Joseph. Remember what happened to him? He was sold by his brothers into slavery!

Yet even as a slave, “The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man…. And his master saw that The LORD was with him and that The LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and…. he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority” (Genesis 39:2-4, NKJV).

When Joseph was falsely accused of a crime and unjustly imprisoned, The LORD “gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because The LORD was with him; and whatever he did, The LORD made it prosper” (verses 21-23, NKJV).

Eventually the favor of God on Joseph got him out of prison altogether and promoted him to the place where he was the second most powerful man in the Egyptian government. The only person in the nation with more authority was Pharaoh himself.

Wherever you’re called to be and whatever you’re called to do, God’s favor will work for you just like it worked for Joseph. It will produce for you promotion, restoration, honor, victory, supernatural increase in assets and real estate, and preferential treatment. Believe that and become favor-of-God minded. Today and every day, rejoice and say, “The favor of God is working on my behalf!”

Day 30

Pastor George

The Rich and Righteous

THE BLESSING of The LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

(Proverbs 10:22)

THE BLESSING of The LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.

(NIV)

THE BLESSING of The LORD is upon the head of the righteous; it enriches him, and grief of heart shall not be added to it.

(Brenton)

Rich is not a dirty word.

It’s a Bible word.

The Hebrew word for rich means “to accumulate and grow; wax great.” It’s connected repeatedly in the Scriptures with the word righteous and with God’s covenant BLESSINGS. The Bible is crystal clear on the subject: Riches are good, it says. They are not to be shunned and avoided but believed for, gratefully received and celebrated.

How is it, then, that so many Christians seem to think being rich is bad? Where did they get that idea?

From the devil and the world.

Ever the thief, the devil has worked for years to steal believers’ financial BLESSINGS by peddling lies, such as money is the root of all evil.[24] Then the world has made it look like such lies are true. It put on display rich and famous folks who misuse their wealth to such a degree that rather than being a BLESSING it appears to be a curse.

We’ve all seen or heard about people whose wealth seems to bring them nothing but misery: celebrities who use their riches to destroy themselves with alcohol and drugs. Businesspeople who work themselves to death climbing the financial ladder of success. Wealthy families torn apart by strife whose money just seems to multiply the sorrow in their lives. The world is full of such stories.

In speaking about the rich and righteous, however, the Bible tells a very different story. It says THE BLESSING of The LORD makes us rich and adds no sorrow with it. The reason the Bible can say this is simple. Unlike the world, those of us who are walking by faith in our covenant with God know how to handle riches wisely.

We know how wealth comes. (“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” Matthew 6:33). And we know what wealth is for. (“That you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]” 2 Corinthians 9:8, AMPC). Therefore, when it comes into our hands, instead of producing evil, wealth becomes a powerful force for good.

It’s no wonder the devil is so desperate to steal it from us! He doesn’t want us out there doing good. He doesn’t want us out there funding the gospel all over the world, giving to the poor, and showing those who don’t know our heavenly Father how generous and wonderful He is.

God does though!

He told Kenneth E. Hagin, If you will learn to follow the inward witness, I will make you rich. I will guide you in all the affairs of life, financial as well as spiritual. I am not opposed to My children being rich; I am opposed to them being covetous.[25]

I like the motto one minister came up with to help guard against covetousness. He said, “My priorities for prosperity are God first, others second, and me last. We prosper for covenant reasons—not covetous reasons.” That sounds to me a lot like 1 Timothy 6 where the Apostle Paul wrote, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute” (verses 17-18).

This is the attitude of the godly rich: My motivation for accumulation is distribution!

Certainly we can have savings accounts and storehouses, but we don’t hoard up all our money to just spend on ourselves. We do with it what The LORD says. When He leads us to give, we obey. In other words, we’re like the BLESSED man in Psalm 112 who fears The LORD and delights greatly in His commandments. Wealth and riches are in our house…we are gracious, compassionate, give freely, and our righteousness endures forever (see verses 2-3, 9, NASB).

Don’t ever again let the devil tell you that rich is a dirty word. He didn’t come up with it. God did and He says:

- “Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness…. that I may cause those who love me to inherit [true] riches and that I may fill their treasuries” (Proverbs 8:18, 21, AMPC).

- “You know the generous grace of our LORD Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9, NLT).

- “I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great...” (Ezekiel 16:7).

In my Bible, it says the phrase I have caused thee to multiply literally means in Hebrew, “I have made you a million.” God is the Millionaire-Maker! It doesn’t matter what line of work you’re in; He can make you rich. So, let Him do it. Get out beyond the paycheck-to-paycheck mentality, and renew your mind to His way of thinking. Step out by faith into the lifestyle of the rich and righteous where THE BLESSING of The LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

24 The Bible does not say money is the root of all evil. It says, “The love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

25 How You Can Be Led by the Spirit of God, Legacy Ed., Kenneth E. Hagin (Tulsa: Kenneth Hagin Ministries Inc., 2006) p.30.

Day 31

Pastor George

The Heart of Prosperity

Let no one then seek his own good and advantage and profit, but [rather] each one of the other [let him seek the welfare of his neighbor].

(1 Corinthians 10:24, AMPC)

When the devil accuses you of being selfish for wanting to prosper, here’s a good way to shut him up: Remind him of what real biblical prosperity is about. It’s not about accumulating a lot of stuff for yourself, like the rich man in Luke 12 did. It’s not about you being able to “eat, drink, and be merry” (verse 19). Scriptural prosperity is about being THE BLESSING to other people God intends for you to be.

I once heard a Jewish rabbi say, “God’s Word commands us to make money because as His stewards on the earth we’ve been given the responsibility of distributing His wealth.” In other words, as God’s people we have a heart to prosper because we love Him and others. Our motivation for accumulation is the distribution of the gospel, and God’s goods!

Brother Copeland’s various definitions of true prosperity all reflect this. As he’s said over the years:

1. True prosperity is the ability to use the power of God to meet the needs of mankind in every realm of life—spirit, soul, body, financially and socially.

2. True prosperity is when you make it your goal to get salvation into the hands of people and when you make it your purpose to get the gospel to the unsaved.

3. True prosperity is walking with God to be able and equipped to do for others whatever He needs done, whenever He needs it done.

4. True prosperity is the ability to look a man in the eye in his moment of impossibility and take on his needs as your own.

5. True prosperity is not for keeping your bills paid and your body well just so you can lie around and watch TV in comfort. God is not prospering us to get us out of debt so we can get into bigger debt. He is not prospering us so we can buy and buy and buy. He is prospering us so we can give and give and give.

For me, those definitions are more than just words. I have pictures to go with them because I’ve watched Brother and Sister Copeland put them into action time and again. I’ll be forever grateful to God for the privilege of seeing such shining examples of true prosperity. As part of their family and their ministry, I’ve had the opportunity to learn from Kenneth and Gloria in a very personal way. I have learned not only the mechanics of sowing and reaping but the heart of love behind it.

I remember when the ministry was a million dollars behind, and Kenneth announced to the staff that he had heard from The LORD to start taking 10% of the ministry’s income and sow it into the lives of the poor. Initially, as a staff, we weren’t as excited about that as Brother Copeland was. It didn’t look to us as if we could afford to give away one tenth of every dollar to other ministries that were preaching and ministering to the poor.

But as we watched that million-dollar deficit disappear, and experienced the joy of seeing people in prisons and in poverty-stricken nations like Haiti get born again and BLESSED, we caught the spirit of it. More than 35 years later that 10% is still being sown and we’re more excited about it than ever.

I also remember one night at a Believers’ Convention when Kenneth gave the entire evening’s offering to a special guest who had ministered in music. As KCM’s executive director at that time, I knew how tight finances were. Inwardly, I gasped! But then I thought, No, Brother Copeland knows what he’s doing. He lives to give, and he knows this is a good time to sow seed.

Then, of course, there was the time when we’d been saving up to buy the new ministry airplane for which we’d been believing. Suddenly, Kenneth got it in his heart to give the plane we already had to another ministry. (He’s sowed planes more than 30 times.) For a moment I thought, No! We can sell that plane and use the money to help pay for the new one. But then I started rejoicing. Praise God, it’s time to sow!

“A man’s life consists not in the abundance of things he possesses but in the abundance of the things he sows,” Brother Copeland says. Which means for us to fully live the abundant life Jesus came to give us, we must keep prospering so we can keep sowing. Remind the devil of that fact next time he tries to condemn you for believing for financial increase, and keep reminding yourself of it, too.

Write yourself a note like my son, Jeremy, did when he was 20 years old. Tired of the devil’s accusations, he wrote out this confession and put it in his car: I am convinced in my mind by my heart that the reason I want money is to do the work of the gospel! Thank You, LORD, for the peace of that revelation. Satan, you will never be able to make me believe, ever again, that the reason I want money is for selfish gain. God is my Provider.

Today, make that your stand of faith and fortify it by meditating on these scriptures:

- “I will BLESS you [with abundant increase of favors]…and you will be a BLESSING [dispensing good to others]” (Genesis 12:2, AMPC).

- “Let each of you…be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also each for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4, AMPC).

- “Let us practice generosity to all, while the opportunity is ours; and above all, to those who are of one family with us in the faith” (Galatians 6:10, Knox).

- “You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us” (2 Corinthians 9:11, NRSV).

Day 32

Gloria

Don’t Faint!

Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.

(Ecclesiastes 5:19)

Do you know why the heart of true prosperity is to give…and give…and give? Because that’s the heart of God. He’s the ultimate Giver!

He so enjoys prospering His people He made it the law of His kingdom that the more we give, the more we increase. “He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6), He said. “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6:38). In other words, God made it impossible for you to outgive Him! He set up His kingdom so that the more liberally you give, the richer you become.

As Pastor George has already pointed out, rich is not a dirty word. It’s a BLESSING word. It’s God’s word. He is very happy to make His people wealthy. Despite what the devil and religious tradition may claim, God does not consider being rich to be harmful or something to be ashamed of. On the contrary, He told us in the Bible that wealth and riches and the ability to enjoy them is a gift of God.

“But Gloria,” you might say, “I’m not comfortable with the idea of being rich. I’m not sure having wealth is a good testimony to others.”

If it’s not, God sure did make a big mistake with Solomon. Have you ever read about what God did for him?

After he became the king of Israel, God appeared to Solomon and said, “Ask what I shall give thee” (2 Chronicles 1:7). In response, Solomon asked for the wisdom and knowledge he needed to be a good king. God not only granted his request, but He said, “Because this was in thine heart…I will [also] give thee riches, and wealth, and honour such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there be any after thee have the like” (verses 11-12).

Talk about God making someone rich! From that moment on, there was an anointing on Solomon to prosper the likes of which nobody had ever seen. Second Chronicles 9:13 says that his annual income in gold alone totaled “six hundred and threescore and six talents.”

Years ago, when gold was $300 an ounce, I asked Kenneth to figure up on his calculator how much that would be in the current economy. He said it would be about $150 million. Since then, the price of gold has increased sevenfold, which means that in today’s economy Solomon’s yearly income would be over a billion dollars!

What kind of testimony was that billion dollars a year to other people?

Judging by the reaction of the Queen of Sheba, it was a good one. When she heard about what God had done for Solomon, she was so impressed she paid him a visit so she could see his riches for herself. When she saw the opulence of his palace and his servants, and the magnificence of the Temple he had built for God, she was overwhelmed to the point where, the Bible says, “there was no more spirit in her” (1 Kings 10:5).

That means she fainted!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we, as God’s people, had that effect on unbelievers today? Wouldn’t it be great if they were absolutely overwhelmed by THE BLESSING of God they see on our lives? Imagine having to say to people when you invite them to your house, “I have to warn you, God has been very good to me. My house is a really magnificent place. So, when you see it, don’t faint!”

Granted, that would aggravate the religious hypocrites, but the people who are really honest and spiritually hungry would respond the same way the Queen of Sheba did: She gave glory to God! “She said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom: Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it…. blessed be The LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne of Israel” (verses 6-9).

Pause and think about this for a moment: Solomon’s riches resulted in the Queen of Sheba praising the Lord!

Could our being rich as His people today produce the same result?

Certainly, which in addition to the fact that He loves us and enjoys blessing us, is why God wants all of us as His people to keep increasing and prospering. He wants us to be showcases on the earth that reveal His goodness and power. He wants those who don’t know Him to be able to see by looking at us how generous and loving and kind He is.

So, throw aside the traditions of men that have made you feel badly about believing in prosperity. Forget what the religious crowd is saying about you. Who cares what they think? Just go ahead and believe God.

Take Him at His Word. Sow bountifully and reap bountifully. Give and expect it to be given back to you, pressed down, shaken together and running over. Reach out by faith and receive from your heavenly Father wealth and riches and the ability to enjoy them.

It is the gift of God!

Day 33

Gloria

Covenant-Enforcing Agents

But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

(Hebrews 1:13-14)

If you ever have trouble imagining how God could prosper you in a big way, here’s something that will help you. Picture yourself with 20,000 to 100,000 employees working for you full time…every day…at no charge. Think about what a workforce that size could do to boost your income. Then remind yourself of this: As a born-again believer you have that many angels or more assigned to work for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Their job is to minister to you the blessings of the new covenant. Unlike earthly employees, they aren’t limited by natural resources and human ingenuity. They’re operating in the supernatural wisdom and ability of God.

It’s a breathtaking thought, isn’t it?

Yet, according to the Bible, it’s absolutely true. Angels are all ministering spirits sent by God to minister for those of us who are heirs of salvation. The term minister refers not only to one who administers but also to one who enforces. So, you might say that angels are God’s CIA. Or to be more accurate, they’re His CEA: His Covenant-Enforcing Agents sent to work on our behalf.

Angels are not delicate little babies with wings, as they’re so often depicted. They’re big and they’re powerful. According to Psalm 103:20-21, they “excel in strength, that do [The LORD’s] commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.” They’re “ministers of his, that do his pleasure.”

God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His people! Therefore, one of the things He has commissioned the angels to do for us is help us increase financially. Part of their job is to see to it that we prosper, and God has made sure there are more than enough of them to get that job done.

Hebrews 12:22 says they’re “innumerable,” literally more than can be counted. One gathering of them is described in Revelation 5:11 as including “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.”

Clearly, there’s no shortage of angel power. The problem is that, as believers, we haven’t always taken advantage of it. Even though we’re heirs of God’s covenant of BLESSING, and we have Covenant-Enforcing Agents galore assigned to help us, we’ve often neglected to put them to work.

How do we put them to work?

With our words.

Daniel 10:12 confirms this. There, the angel who came in answer to Daniel’s prayers said, “Thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.” Jesus explained in Mark 11:23 the spiritual principle behind that statement. He said, “Whosoever shall say…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.”

Your angels are waiting for you to say something on which they can act!

They can’t respond to just anything that comes out of your mouth. They’re commissioned to hearken to the voice of God’s Word. So, they can only respond when your words agree with the Bible.

Charles Capps, a minister who understood as much about the spiritual impact of our words as any Bible teacher I’ve ever heard, explained it this way:

God’s Word is His will to man. Man’s words should be his will toward God. The angels know this, so they listen to your words, then they move busily about to cause them to come to pass…. If you speak sickness, disease, calamity and bad things, the angels will surely not bring it to pass…. They will bow their heads, back off and fold their hands, for you have bound them by the words of your mouth, and they cannot work for you.

Don’t put your angels in that position! Don’t leave them sitting around, unemployed. Give them some prosperity words to work with. Put God’s promises of financial BLESSING in your mouth and then maintain your confession of faith.

In consistency lies the power, The LORD once told me. That means an inconsistent confession won’t cut it. When you waver back and forth, talking faith and prosperity one day and unbelief and lack the next, your angels must stop working for you. They don’t have any choice because God’s Word says, “He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed…. Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of The LORD” (James 1:6-7).

If you do happen to waver, the moment you catch yourself, immediately declare your words of defeat null and void in Jesus’ Name. Replace them with a declaration of faith based on The WORD of God and reinstate what you want to come to pass.

Once you’ve done that, and your angels are back on the job, keep them there. Continue believing and declaring over yourself and your finances what the Bible says. Keep your Covenant-Enforcing Agents busy working on your behalf and watch what a difference they can make!

Day 34

Gloria

Great Expectations

Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

(Genesis 12:1-4, NKJV)

Throughout history, the Jewish people have been famous for their ability to prosper. No matter what the economic conditions are in the world, or how much the devil tries to oppress them, they always seem to rise to the top. Even when they’ve been forced to leave their homes and move to other countries, wherever they’ve gone as a people, they’ve advanced and achieved financial success.

Why is that?

It’s because in the Jewish faith, children are taught very early that they’re the seed of Abraham. They’re taught from the Scriptures that he had a covenant of BLESSING with God and that, as his heirs, that BLESSING belongs to them. So, they grow up expecting to prosper.

If we as Christians had grown up that way, we’d have the same expectation. If, from the time we were toddlers, we’d been told how THE BLESSING of God operated in the life of “Father Abraham,” and how it will operate the same way for us, we would be famous for prospering too!

Most of us, though, weren’t raised in that kind of environment. We didn’t have THE BLESSING mindset instilled in us as children. So, if we’re going to have the same attitude toward prosperity that most devout Jewish people do, we must play catch-up.

How? By saturating ourselves in the truth about our spiritual heritage. By meditating continually on familiar scriptures like these:

- “If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).

- “They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” (verse 7).

- “Christ hath redeemed us…that THE BLESSING of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (verses 13-14).

- “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed…which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16).

This is how we must learn to think of ourselves. We must get to where, regardless of what our natural ancestry is, we see ourselves as Abraham’s descendants. The more we identify with him, the easier it will become for us to adopt the same attitude toward prosperity that he had.

Abraham never had any trouble expecting to prosper! He walked in wealth as easily as a bird flies or a fish swims because he understood the power of God’s BLESSING. To him, it wasn’t just a pat on the head meant to make him feel good. It was an empowerment to prosper and succeed backed by Almighty God Himself.

Abraham had total confidence in this empowerment! If you want to see proof, check out how he dealt with his nephew Lot.

When they had to part company because their two households had grown too big for them to continue living side by side, Abraham gave Lot first pick of where he wanted to live. He didn’t have to do that. As the younger of the two, Lot should have deferred to Abraham. But instead, he selfishly accepted Abraham’s offer and chose for himself the best part of the land. Opting to live in the fertile plain around Sodom that “was well watered everywhere, like the garden of The LORD” (Genesis 13:10, NLT-96) Lot left Abraham with the rocky hills and deserts.

It looked like Abraham got the worst end of that deal! But right after Lot departed God said to Abraham:

Look as far as you can see in every direction. I am going to give all this land to you and your offspring as a permanent possession. And I am going to give you so many descendants that, like dust, they cannot be counted! Take a walk in every direction and explore the new possessions I am giving you (verses 14-17, NLT-96).

In other words, the Lord turned the situation around! He took Abraham from the one who was being taken advantage of to being the one who came out on top. He gave Abraham not only the fertile plain where Lot chose to live but the entire land of Canaan.

That’s the kind of thing THE BLESSING always does! It takes circumstances that appear to put you at a disadvantage and causes them to work to your advantage. It makes “all things work together” for your good (Romans 8:28) so that no matter what happens, you wind up being blessed.

When I began learning about this years ago, one of the first scriptures I put on my confession list was Genesis 15:1: “Fear not, Abram, I am your Shield, your abundant compensation, and your reward shall be exceedingly great” (AMPC). I revised it and put my name in it, so it read, Fear not, Gloria, God is your Shield, your abundant compensation, and your reward shall be exceedingly great. Then I put it in my Bible and declared it over myself every day.

Why did I do that? Because, as the seed of Abraham, that promise belongs to me. God confirmed it just two chapters later in Genesis 17:7 when He said to Abraham, “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee…for an everlasting covenant.”

I am the seed God was talking about there! If you’re a believer in Christ, you are too! So, raise your expectations. Expect God to be for you everything He was for Father Abraham. Expect to prosper as easily as a bird flies or a fish swims. Have faith in THE BLESSING of God!

Day 35

Gloria

Say So!

Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”

(Luke 15:31, NRSV)

Won’t it be wonderful to get to heaven someday and finally see for yourself all God’s riches in glory? Won’t it be thrilling to walk on streets of gold and see walls made of jewels and gates made of pearl? Imagine standing on that side of the “windows of heaven” and realizing those are the very windows that Malachi 3:10 says God opens over us and pours out upon us blessings too plentiful to receive.

What do you think that will be like?

I think a lot of believers will be shocked. I believe they’ll look at the wealth in heaven and remember how they lived on earth and wonder, Why couldn’t I have had more of these riches during my earth life? If all this was available, why couldn’t I have had more money to give to bless others and spread the gospel? Why couldn’t I have had more good things to enjoy?

The answer, of course, is they could have! God said so very clearly in His Word. In 1 Corinthians 3:21-22, He told us as believers: “All things are yours; whether…the world, or life…or things present, or things to come; all are yours.”

The problem has been that we haven’t fully realized what belongs to us. We’ve been like the elder brother in the parable in Luke 15. Remember him? He stayed with his father and served him faithfully while his younger brother went out and wasted his part of the family inheritance on riotous living. Then, when the younger brother ran out of money and came home, his father received him back as an heir of the family estate.

“Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him;” the father said, “and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (verses 22-24).

This made the elder brother angry. Refusing to join the party, he said to his father: “Lo, these many years do I serve thee…yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends.”

“Son, thou art ever with me,” the father replied, “and all that I have is thine” (verses 29, 31).

Whoa! Look again at that last statement: All that I have is thine. In other words, the father said, “What do you mean I never threw you a party? Everything on this estate belongs to you. If you wanted a fatted calf, or a robe or a ring, you could have had it anytime. All you had to do was call for it.”

That’s what our heavenly Father will say to us as believers when we get to heaven. When we ask Him why He didn’t bless us more financially, He’ll reply, “Everything I have is yours. My wealth is and always has been your inheritance. If you wanted something, you should have said so. You should have called for it by faith.”

How do we call for things by faith? By following the instructions Jesus gave us in Mark 11:22-24:

Have faith in God. For…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…What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

If you need a new car, for example, call it in by having faith in God’s promise to supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19) and speaking accordingly. Stop talking about the junky old car you have now and instead say, “I believe I receive my new car. In the Name of Jesus, I call in the money for it and command the ministering angels to bring it to me. Thank You, Heavenly Father, for my new car!”

“But Gloria,” you might argue, “my budget is limited, and new cars are expensive. Wouldn’t it be OK if I just prayed for the money to fix up my old junker?” Yes, it’s OK to start there if that’s all you can believe for right now. But don’t stop there. Keep feeding your faith on what the Bible says belongs to you in Christ. Keep meditating on the prosperity promises in God’s Word until you no longer think just in terms of your bank balance and your current circumstances. You think in terms of God’s riches in glory and His almighty power.

God can work financial miracles in your life if you’ll believe and obey Him! He’ll do for you the same kind of thing He did for Ken and me, for instance, back when we were first believing to go on television. We needed $50,000 and had no way in the natural to get that much money. Our ministry income was just enough for us to get by on and all we owned of value was the ministry airplane.

The plane wasn’t very big, but it represented three-quarters of our assets and Ken needed it to maintain his preaching schedule. Yet, while we were believing for the TV funds, The LORD told Ken to sow the plane into another ministry as seed. We obeyed, which meant then we not only needed the $50,000 for TV, we needed an additional $150,000 to buy another airplane.

Sure enough, within two weeks a woman walked into our office with a check for exactly $200,000! Our ministry had never received a gift anywhere near that amount before. So, to us it was an amazing miracle. To God though, it was no problem at all. All the riches in heaven and on earth belong to Him and, as far as He’s concerned, everything He has is ours.

Everything He has is yours, too, if you’re His son or daughter—and you don’t have to wait until you’re in heaven to tap into it. Your heavenly Father is saying to you right now, “My wealth is your inheritance. If you want something, say so. Call for it by faith.”

Day 36

Gloria

Fight the Good Fight

After the death of Moses the servant of The LORD, it came to pass that The LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying…. “Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

(Joshua 1:1, 6-8, NKJV)

If you want to walk in the fullness of everything God has promised you, follow the example of Joshua. He’s the leader who took the Israelites into the Promised Land. God told him at the beginning of the journey to keep The WORD in his heart and mouth and act on it, and he’d prosper and have success. Joshua did his part, God did His, and it was a perfect match.

The result was total victory.

Notice, I didn’t say the result was instant victory. Joshua didn’t take possession of the entire Promised Land overnight. But “little by little” (Deuteronomy 7:22, AMPC) he conquered the enemies that opposed him. Rather than allowing them to discourage him, he pressed through every challenge. He kept fighting the good fight of faith until, at the end of his life, he could say, “Not one thing has failed of all the good things which The LORD your God promised…. All have come to pass” (Joshua 23:14, AMPC).

I want to be able to say that at the end of my life, don’t you? It’s certainly God’s will for us. To fully lay hold of that will though, we must be like Joshua. We must not only keep God’s WORD in our heart and mouth and act on it; we must also be fighters because we have an enemy named Satan who comes to steal, kill and destroy.

He will do everything he can to discourage us from believing God. He’ll lie to us and tell us God’s WORD isn’t going to come to pass for us. He’ll try to mess with the circumstances in our lives to make us lose heart. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, Satan is a defeated foe. But for us to walk in the victory that belongs to us as believers, we must resist him.

How do you resist him?

Use The WORD of God to exercise your authority over him. If he tries to put lack on you tell him that, because The LORD is your Shepherd, you shall not want! Say, “Devil, I rebuke you, in Jesus’ Name. Get your hands off my money. You will not put lack on me!”

Don’t be polite about it either. Treat the devil like you would a dirty, mangy, flea-carrying old dog that got into your house. You wouldn’t look at that dog lying in the middle of your bed and say quietly, “Oh my, what am I going to do? I guess I’ll call the church and ask them to pray.”

No! You’d go after that dog with a vengeance. You’d take a stick to him and chase him off your bed and out of your house. You’d refuse to give him any place.

Do the same with the devil. Keep hitting him with The WORD until he can’t stand it anymore and runs for cover. “Be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined]” (1 Peter 5:9, AMPC). Stand steadfast in the hard places, and no matter what happens keep believing and obeying God.

But I just lost my job, somebody might be thinking. I’m facing bankruptcy. It looks to me like there’s no way out.

With God there’s always a way out, because with Him “all things are possible” (Mark 9:23). Even if you did go through bankruptcy, He could bring you out and prosper you beyond anything you ever dreamed. He could turn the whole ordeal into the biggest blessing you’ve ever experienced.

For Him to do so, however, you must do your part. You must stop worrying, fight the good fight of faith, and say, “Hallelujah! God must have a job for me that’s even better than my old one! I can hardly wait to find out what it is!”

That’s the attitude one of our ministry Partners chose to have some years ago when he lost his job. Instead of giving in to discouragement (which he could have done because the job he lost was a good one that paid him a lot of money), he decided to believe God and immerse himself in The WORD. Every morning, he’d go to a local restaurant as if he were going to his office. He’d take his Bible with him, along with Ken’s book The Laws of Prosperity,[26] and sit there for hours, drinking coffee and building his faith to receive the great financial blessing God had in store for him.

He kept putting God’s Word in his heart and in his mouth and obeying it, and he got the same result Joshua did. Little by little, he experienced increasing victory. He prospered and had success until eventually God made him so rich that he became the first person ever to give this ministry a million dollars.

“God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). He’ll bring you out of whatever financial trouble you might be facing and give you total victory, too. Just keep believing what He says, doing what He tells you to do, and refuse to quit until you have the same testimony Joshua had: “All God’s promises have come to pass in my life!”

26 Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1974). Available from Kenneth Copeland Ministries, kcm.org.

Day 37

Pastor George

All of Heaven’s Reserves

But he commanded the skies to open; he opened the doors of heaven. He rained down manna for them to eat; he gave them bread from heaven. They ate the food of angels! God gave them all they could hold. He released the east wind in the heavens and guided the south wind by his mighty power. He rained down meat as thick as dust—birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore! He caused the birds to fall within their camp and all around their tents. The people ate their fill. He gave them what they craved.

(Psalm 78:23-29, NLT)

Imagine for a moment you’re one of the Israelites God delivered out of Egypt. You’re traveling around in the wilderness and there’s no food to be found anywhere. No farms. No grocery stores. No restaurants. All you’ve seen for days is sand, rocks and scrub brush…and along with several million other Israelites, you’re getting very hungry.

You know God promised to provide, but the situation looks impossible. The need is too great. Out here in the desert, the natural resources necessary to feed this many people simply don’t exist.

Can you imagine what you’d be thinking?

Yes, most likely you can.

Even though you’ve probably never been stranded in a literal desert with your stomach growling, you probably have found yourself in the financial wilderness at times. Maybe you got hit with an unexpected expense that overwhelmed you. Maybe you lost a job or fell behind on your mortgage. Maybe the scholarship you were counting on to cover your child’s college tuition fell through.

How am I going to get through this? you may have thought. I don’t see any way. How am I ever going to meet this need?

Those are undoubtedly the same kinds of questions the Israelites were asking in the wilderness—and praise God, they got the answer. They found out that, as James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.” Or, as the Good News Translation puts it: “Every good gift and every perfect present comes from heaven.”

Heaven has exactly what we need to take care of whatever need we have!

When the Israelites needed bread, God didn’t have to let them go hungry just because there were no earthly bakeries available. He poured bread on them out of heaven. He rained down angel’s food on them from above in such plentiful supplies that everybody had as much as they could eat.

When the Israelites decided they also wanted meat, He rained that down on them as well. He threw open “the doors of his sky vaults” (Deuteronomy 28:12, MSG) and showered down quail on them as thick as dust. Think of it: birds falling from heaven by the millions, piling up on the ground as far as the eye could see.

That’s a picture of how God rains down His supernatural provision on you as a believer. As Philippians 4:19 says, He supplies “all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” I like to expand that verse by putting together what those words mean in the original Greek. When you do that, it reads: “God will liberally supply, fill to the full, cram, furnish, satisfy, finish and complete all of your needs, employment, requirements, lack and business, according to His riches, His wealth, His money and His possessions in glory by Christ Jesus.”

I’m going to say it again: Heaven has exactly what you need to take care of whatever need you have! God is just waiting for you to believe it and receive.

Brother Copeland delivered a word from The LORD about this back just before 2011. The world economy at that time was still wobbly from the stock market crash a couple of years earlier. Concerned about the coming year, people were wondering what it was going to be like. The word spoken through Brother Copeland laid out the answer:

Everything is going to be ALL right! For all of you who will take My WORD and stand on it, saith The LORD, the Kingdom is for you, the angels are for you, all of heaven’s reserves are at your call. Rise up and be counted among those who carry faith, live by faith, walk in love and declare that God so loved the world that He gave. Relax and rest and rejoice because everything is going to be ALL right. Everything is going to be ALL right…. 2011—straight from heaven![27]

Even though it’s not 2011 anymore, that word from The LORD still applies to you today. Because it agrees with the written WORD of God, it’s as true now as ever: All of heaven’s reserves are at your call.

So, call in the reserves!

Say, “Heavenly Father, I thank You for raining down Your provision on Your people. I thank You that You continually give us every good and perfect gift from above. I release my faith right now for heavenly provision and prosperity. I rejoice, rest in You and declare by faith that no matter what happens in this natural world around me, everything in my life is going to be ALL right. This year will be a year straight from heaven for me!”

27 “2011—Straight From Heaven,” word from The LORD through Kenneth Copeland, Oct. 28, 2010 © 2011 Eagle Mountain International Church Inc. aka Kenneth Copeland Ministries. All rights reserved.

Day 38

Pastor George

Freedom From Financial Fear

I will BLESS The LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in The LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify The LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought The LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

(Psalm 34:1-4, NKJV)

When, like the Israelites, you’re going through a wilderness of lack, as long as you keep believing God for your heavenly provision, there’s nothing on earth that can stop you from receiving it. Not the scarcity of your financial resources. Not the debt hanging over your head. Not even global economic turmoil.

Those things have no power over you. They’re of this world. You are born of God, and 1 John 5:4 says, “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.”

The same verse says, however, that the victory that overcometh the world is your faith. So, when you’re in the wilderness there is one thing you must watch out for. One thing that, if you yield to it, actually can stop you from receiving God’s supernatural supply.

What is it?

The temptation to fear.

Faith and fear are opposites. You can’t operate in them both at the same time. If you give place to financial fear, your faith in that area stops working. And without faith you can’t expect to receive from God (James 1:6-7).

This is why in several of the words Brother Copeland gave in 2010, when financial fear was rampant in the world, The LORD warned believers to be on guard against it. He said:

Don’t feed fear and trouble into your life and into your mouth. No! Quit living in that house. Get back over here in the household of faith. Feed on My WORD and not on the bread of sorrow…. (Aug. 6, 2010, Southwest Believers’ Convention; see Day 22)

Have no fear of this world. I have overcome it, saith The LORD. I left nothing—absolutely nothing—that faith won’t overcome. I left it no power. I left it no strength. It has NO-THING over you. (Oct. 28, 2010; see Day 37)

I did a study on faith versus fear, and one of the things I realized is they’re both expectations. Faith expects the best. Fear expects the worst. Fear expects bills not to be paid. Faith expects those debts to be wiped out.

What’s more, faith and fear are magnets. They draw our expectations to us.

Financial faith draws provision and financial fear draws lack. Isaac, in Gerar, put faith in THE BLESSING and drew prosperity to himself in the midst of a famine. Job, on the other hand, gave place to fear and it drew to him what he most dreaded: “The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me,” he said, “and that which I was afraid of is come unto me” (Job 3:25).

To use the terminology of Hebrews 11:1, faith for finances is the substance of prosperity hoped for, the evidence of prosperity not seen. Financial fear is the reverse. It’s the substance of poverty dreaded, the evidence of poverty not seen.

Watching Kenneth and Gloria’s example over the years has taught me to develop what I call a “zero tolerance for fear.” Regardless of the financial trouble I might be facing, either at the ministry or personally, my declaration is no fear here!

“But Pastor George,” you might say, “my financial problems are so dire I can’t help but fear.”

Yes you can. All you have to do is feed your heart and mind on the right thing. Faith for finances comes by hearing The WORD of God about prosperity. Fear of lack comes by hearing the lies of the devil about poverty. So, feed your faith on The WORD and stop feeding on the devil’s lies. Then, when fear comes knocking, refuse to let it in. You can say by faith, “No fear here!”

Is it really possible to refuse to fear? you may wonder. Absolutely. I saw Kellie Copeland do it in the midst of one of the most serious situations a parent can ever face, when her daughter, Lyndsey, contracted spinal meningitis. At the hospital, the doctors told Kellie that several other children in Fort Worth had contracted the same strain and died. The pressure on Kellie to fear was tremendous. But after hearing the doctor’s dire prognosis, she looked my wife, Pastor Terri, in the eye and said, “I refuse to fear!”

At that moment, the whole situation turned…and Lyndsey is alive and well today.

As a believer you don’t have to fear anything! The LORD has delivered you from all your fears.

- You have not been given the spirit of fear over your finances— “but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

- God has said to you, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed” over your financial condition; “for I am your God”—your Provider and Supplier (see Isaiah 41:10, NKJV).

- Though a host of bills encamp against you, your heart shall not fear (see Psalm 27:3).

- You shall not be afraid of economic conditions; your heart is fixed, trusting in The LORD. Your heart is established. You shall not be afraid (see Psalm 112:7-8).

- You resist the fear of lack and the fear of lack must flee (see James 4:7).

Make this your confession of faith today: I refuse to fear. I am not moved by what I see. I am not fearful over my financial future. God is my Source of provision. He provides cars to drive, food to eat, clothes to wear, places to live and everything else I need in liberal supply. I live in the household of faith, not in the dungeon of fear. My household is thriving, and not just surviving. My household is flourishing and not failing. Every bill is paid, every need is met, and every debt is wiped out. I walk by faith and not by fear, in Jesus’ Name!

Day 39

Pastor George

My Faith for Provision Is Working

Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

(Galatians 6:9)

Farmers don’t give up on their seed just because it doesn’t sprout immediately after they plant it. They don’t go dig it up and assume it’s not growing just because it doesn’t produce instant, visible results. Believers, however, sometimes do.

They plant the seed of The WORD in their heart, and release their faith with the words of their mouth. And if their circumstances don’t change right away, they let go of their faith. They decide it’s not working and, without realizing their harvest was right around the corner, they start speaking words of doubt and uproot their crop. “Well, I tried believing for prosperity,” they say, “but nothing happened.”

That’s a big mistake. Once you start saying those kinds of things, as Gloria puts it, “You’re toast, buddy!” You’ve dug up your faith seed and it’s not going to produce anything for you. You’re confessing that nothing is happening, so nothing is what you’re going to get.

I received a letter from a couple some years ago that confirmed this. They wrote: “We’ve been asking the same question over and over again. Why is it not working for us? We tithe and we give, but we’re not seeing results.” They got their answer while reviewing our prosperity series on the internet.

“We were very encouraged,” they said. “Our faith is back on track, and now it’s working again!”

How did that couple get their faith on track? They went back to believing and speaking The WORD—and they didn’t quit. They stuck with it, and in due season their crop came up!

The same will happen for you. The key is to stand firm in faith until you see the results. That’s what the Bible tells us to do. It says in Hebrews 10:23 we’re to “hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised).” Or as another translation puts it, we’re to “hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm” (NLT).

When you affirm something, you speak your agreement over it. You agree with The WORD of God that faith is working for you.

When our house was being renovated, for example, Pastor Terri and I had to keep agreeing that our faith was working on the project for five long years. The reason it took so long was because we’d resolved not to borrow any money. So when we ran out of cash, we’d put the project on hold.

Sometimes the house sat in the same unfinished condition for weeks. But rather than taking the opportunity to get discouraged, Terri and I went over there and spoke to it by faith. We walked around declaring the scriptures we were standing on. We talked faith to the walls. We talked faith to the doors. We would “seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess our acknowledgment of it,” believing “He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His WORD” (Galatians 6:9, AMPC).

In five years, Pastor Terri and I never one time said to each other, “Our faith isn’t working.” Instead, we encouraged each other. We continued to affirm our faith, and today we’re enjoying the results. We’ve been living in our lovely, renovated home now for many years.

But I’ve already let my faith confession slip! you might think. My WORD seed is already dug up.

That’s OK. Just repent. Admit to God that you’ve missed it and let the blood of Jesus cleanse you of that sin and blot out your words of unbelief. Then, get your heart and mouth back into agreement with God’s WORD and remain steadfast, imitating “those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12).

If it takes a while for your due season to arrive and you’re tempted to get weary, remind yourself of what Hebrews 10: 35-36 says:

Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised” (AMPC).

Notice, according to those verses faith and patience work together. Brother Copeland calls them the “power twins.” Patience keeps your faith from knuckling under when the winds of adversity blow. It enables you to continue to boldly stand until the storm passes over, however long it takes. Patience empowers you to maintain your stand in spite of circumstances—to be constant all the time, and to see the results before you have them.

Purpose today to develop the patience of a good farmer! Instead of undermining your harvest when you don’t see immediate results, practice speaking life over your faith, your tithing and your giving. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21), so declare:

- My faith for provision is energized and working. I refuse to waver or let go of my fearless confidence in God’s WORD;

- My tithe is working. The windows of heaven are open over my life;

- My financial seed is working. My giving is producing an extreme, maximum, overflowing harvest;

- I give and it is given to me, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over;

- I sow and reap an abundant harvest in due season because I do not faint!

Day 40

Pastor George

Heartily Agree With God

[Abraham] 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.

(Romans 4:18)

It’s one thing to mentally agree with God. It’s something entirely different to heartily agree with Him. Mental agreement can leave your life pretty much unchanged. Hearty agreement changes everything.

Think about Abraham, for example. In Genesis 17, when God told him that he and Sarah were going to have a baby in their old age, Abraham wholeheartedly embraced that promise and was never the same again. From then on, he talked as if God’s word to him had already come to pass. He told everybody to stop calling him by his old name, Abram, and announced that his name was now Abraham, or Father of Many Nations, “according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.”

The Greek word translated according to in that verse means “hearty, complete, unquestioning, unreserved agreement.” It tells us Abraham didn’t just give superficial assent to what God said. He didn’t just religiously say, “Yes, amen,” to it when he was praying and then afterward look at his century-old self and his 90-year-old barren wife and think, Well, I know God promised us a child, but I just don’t see how it can happen. We’re too old.

No! Abraham fully got on board with God’s program. He took the attitude, Old man, you don’t count. Old woman, you don’t count! God, You count and I completely believe You. As Romans 4:19-21 says:

He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the barrenness of Sarah’s [deadened] womb. No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God, fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His WORD and to do what He had promised (AMPC).

This is the kind of complete confidence you want to have in God’s prosperity promises! You don’t just want to mentally assent to them. You want to be in total, complete, unreserved, emphatic alignment with everything God has said about prospering you. You want to come to the place where you so heartily agree with Him that it changes your life!

How do you get to that place?

By walking “in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham” (verse 12). By continually declaring God’s WORD over yourself and calling yourself what He calls you. By talking, even in the face of contrary evidence, as if everything God said about prospering you has already come to pass.

Your words are powerful! They change things. When you bring them into line with God’s words, then they bring you into deep, wholehearted agreement with Him. Then they become containers of faith that cause His promises to become a manifest reality in your life (Mark 11:23).

“But I’m a quiet person,” you might say. “Confessing God’s WORD aloud doesn’t come naturally to me.”

It will in time. Just stick with it. As Proverbs 22:17-18 says, “Listen (consent and submit) to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to [God’s] knowledge; for it will be pleasant if you keep them in your mind [believing them]; your lips will be accustomed to [confessing] them” (AMPC).

If you haven’t already done so, put together your own list of prosperity declarations. As you come across prosperity scriptures that really speak to your heart, write them down, personalizing them so they apply specifically to you. Declare, for example:

- I heartily agree with THE BLESSING of Abraham. All God’s BLESSINGS come on me and overtake me. His commanded BLESSING is upon my storehouses. The LORD makes me to have a surplus of prosperity. He has opened to me His rich treasury (Deuteronomy 28:2, 8, 11-12, AMPC);

- God has brought me out into a wealthy place (Psalm 66:12);

- He daily loads me with benefits (Psalm 68:19);

- Wealth and riches are in my house (Psalm 112:3);

- Because I love The LORD, He causes me to inherit true riches and He fills my treasuries (Proverbs 8:21, AMPC);

- I leave an inheritance to my children’s children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for me (Proverbs 13:22);

- I receive wealth from God and the health to enjoy it. It is a good thing! (Ecclesiastes 5:19, NLT);

- Jesus became poor so that by His poverty I can be made rich and abundantly supplied (2 Corinthians 8:9, NLT);

- God gives me richly all things to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17).

As your declaration list grows, you’ll be amazed at just how much God has said about your prosperity. You’ll realize there’s no room for wavering or questioning. Like Abraham, you’ll call yourself prosperous, “according to that which was spoken.” You’ll grow strong in faith and give glory to God, fully persuaded that He will do what He said, and He will do it for you!

Day 41

Pastor George

Money Cometh to Me, Now!

(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.

(Romans 4:17)

Not only did Abraham use his words to heartily agree with God, as we saw in the last devotion. He also used them as God Himself does—to call those things which be not as though they were. By saying of himself, “I am the father of many nations” (which is what the name Abraham means), he proceeded to “call into existence…things that do not exist” (see RSV). He called for the child God had promised him, and the child came forth!

The word call used in that verse is translated from a Greek word that means “to summon.” According to the dictionary, a summons is “an authoritative command demanding someone to appear.” If you’ve ever been called up for jury duty, you received a summons to appear in court on such and such a date.

When I was a child, my mother had her own version of a summons. To get me to come home for supper, she called me in a very distinctive way. Turning my name into two syllables she’d call out, “Geooor-orge, Geooor-orge.” That call meant come now—or else! I wasn’t interested in experiencing the “or else” part, so I always responded quickly. I stopped whatever I was doing and ran home in answer to the summons.

That’s a picture of how you, as a believer, call in the prosperity God has promised you. Like Abraham, you call the financial supply you’re believing for into existence. You issue it a summons and say, “Money, you are hereby ordered and notified to appear in my life.” Like my mother did with me, you call out by faith, “Money, you come to me—NOW!”

What will happen as a result? Hebrews 10:35 will come to pass in your life. It says, “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.” As you may recall from an earlier devotion (Day 27), the phrase recompense of reward is translated from the Greek word misthapodosia. The first part of that word, mistha, refers to “payment, salary, money, recompense and restitution.” The second part, podos, means “feet.”

In other words, that verse says if you don’t cast away your confidence (or faith) money is coming to you on feet. Or, as my good friend who is a Greek scholar puts it: Money is traveling on feet in your direction!

Hebrews 10:35 isn’t the only verse that says this, either. There are other scriptures that also paint a picture of provision running toward you, pursuing you and overtaking you. Here are a few:

- “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38).

- “And all these BLESSINGS shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of The LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 28:2).

- “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow [Hebrew: pursue, chase, run after] me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of The LORD for ever” (Psalm 23:6).

“Surely you’re not suggesting that money can literally, physically travel to get to me,” somebody might say. “That can’t happen.”

Yes it can. Ask Gloria. One time money traveled across a highway to get to her and Brother Copeland. As she tells the story, “It was back in the days when Ken and I still had to believe God for basics like food and rent. Ken had just finished preaching an out-of-town meeting and we were driving back to Tulsa. We had the kids with us, and they were letting us know from the back seat that they were getting hungry.

“Coming through Oklahoma City, we passed a steak place that had a statue of a big Angus bull up on top of it. The kids wanted to eat there, but there was a problem: We had no money. We didn’t want to say that, of course, because we’d believed God for provision. So, we just assured the kids we’d be eating soon and kept driving.

“Suddenly, Ken said, ‘Did you see that? Some money just flew across the road in front of our car!’ He stopped to check it out and there, stuck in the chain-link fence that ran down the median of the highway, was a $20 bill. At the time, that was a lot of money. Back then, $20 would buy more than $100 will today.

“Ken put it in his pocket and got back in the car. ‘Where do you kids want to eat?’ he said. ‘The Bull!’ they shouted. So, we turned around, went back there and had a fine dinner.”

Pastor Terri and I have had the same kind of thing happen to us. We’ve had money show up, seemingly out of nowhere, at the right time.

If you’ll call for money by faith, it will do the same for you! So, use your words like God and Abraham to call the finances you’re believing for into your life. Say, “Money, I summon you. I hereby call you to appear. You have feet and you are coming my way. Money, come to me NOW, in Jesus’ Name!”

Five Vital Truths About Words

1. There is nothing in this earth so great or powerful, including the physical body, that it cannot be turned around by our words. You can turn around any situation with your words.

2. The entire course of nature (future and destiny) and the circumstances surrounding every human being are controlled by that person’s words.

3. We don’t have a choice in whether we live by words. We do, however, have a choice of what words we live by.

4. If your mouth will feed your heart the Word of Faith when you don’t need it, your heart will feed your mouth the Word of Faith when you do need it.

5. We appropriate what is ours in Christ by making God’s WORD a daily part of our vocabulary. We are to confess what we can do in Christ, who we are in Christ, and what we have in Christ.

Day 42

Gloria

The Hundredfold Return

Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

(Mark 10:28-30)

Years ago, The LORD began to speak to me about the hundredfold return. He told me to meditate on what Jesus said about it and let it become a powerful reality in my spirit. As I set about to obey Him, the first thing I realized was how great the hundredfold return really is.

According to the dictionary, hundredfold means “one hundred times the bulk or measure of anything.” If you give $1 for the gospel’s sake, the hundredfold return would be $100; on $10 it would be $1,000. The return on $1,000 would be $100,000.

Mark 10:30 is a very good deal!

Where in the world are you offered the return of 100 times your investment? In the world’s system, if you double your money, you do well. If you receive 10 times your investment, it is a marvelous deal, but who even talks in terms of 100 times an investment? No one but God!

Once I grasped the magnitude of His offer, The LORD led me to continually give thanks for it. Whenever I thought about it, I would say, “Thank You, Father, for the hundredfold return offered in Your Word. It is such a generous return and it belongs to me.” Then I would praise God.

This kept my faith to receive active and operative, which is important, because none of God’s blessings work automatically. Even though they belong to us, they manifest in our lives as we exercise our faith to receive them. Healing, for instance, belongs to every believer, but that great blessing is only enjoyed by those who exercise their faith to receive it. Tithing carries great benefits and rewards, but if you don’t tithe according to The WORD and use your faith to receive those benefits, they won’t manifest in your life as they should.

In the same way, the hundredfold return is a powerful force in the believer’s financial blessing, but for it to function fully in your life, you must release your faith. You must keep God’s promise of the hundredfold return in your heart and in your mouth.

“But I’ve done that,” you might say, “and although I have received some return on my giving, I certainly haven’t gotten a hundredfold.”

Then keep believing! Jesus didn’t promise you’d receive your full return in the next two weeks or two months. He said you’d receive it “in this time,” which according to W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, means “in this lifetime” or in this present life. [28]

In other words, if you’re still breathing, the game isn’t over. You’re not through yet. Your hundredfold return is still out there working for you. So, stay in faith and keep playing until you win!

I’ll never forget when God got this across to me all those years ago. Like you, perhaps, although I’d been believing for and confessing the hundredfold return for a while, I hadn’t seen it manifest fully. Determined to do so, I decided during a conference Ken and I were attending in Hawaii to put $10 in the offering and believe for the full return to come to me before the conference was over.

Within 24 hours, a woman came up to me and handed me a check for $500. No one had ever given me $500 before. I was thrilled. I knew it was a direct response to my believing for the hundredfold return. But I was still left wondering, When will the other $500 show up?

I got my answer that day at the conference. As one of the ministers read Mark 10:29-30 during the offering, it jumped out at me that Jesus said our return would come “in this lifetime.” I saw it in an instant! My hundredfold return is out there, and it will come to me in this life!

The morning after the conference was over, before we left the hotel for the airport, I went down to have breakfast. I had to wait in line because of the crowd, and when my turn came to be seated, a man cut in front of me in line and took my table. After waiting some more, I wound up at a table all the way in the back of the restaurant.

I sat down on one side, then moved to the other so I could see Ken when he arrived. Within minutes a lady I’d seen in the meetings came up to me. Taking a ring from her finger, she said she’d been impressed for several days to give it to me. Not sure the leading was of The LORD, she’d prayed, “Lord, if You want me to give Gloria Copeland this ring, have her sit next to me at breakfast in the morning.”

Sure enough, that morning I’d been seated right next to her table! I’d even chosen to sit in the chair that put me as near to her as it was possible to get!

The ring she gave me was one of the most unusual I’ve ever seen—with two squares of emeralds and diamonds set in gold that rotated every time my hand moved. As I admired it, I suddenly remembered: The last time Ken and I had been in Hawaii I’d given a diamond ring to someone the morning we were getting ready to go home. When I’d given it, I’d believed for the hundredfold return.

Much finer than the one I’d given away, this beautiful ring was part of my return. Later, when I showed it to Ken, I told him, “This is my hundredfold return ring. Every time I look at it and see the little squares rotating, I’m reminded that the hundredfold return is continually working on our behalf, coming to us—in this life!”

28 Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, W.E Vine, Merrill F. Unger, William White (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985) “time/kairos.”

Day 43

Pastor George

Bulldog Faith

And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to fight the armies of the aliens.

(Hebrews 11:32-34, NKJV)

The spirit of poverty is aggressive. That’s why poverty is so prevalent in the world. It feeds on hopelessness and fear, and when it gets a foothold in a place, if people don’t know how to oppose it, it will absolutely take over. It will take hold of not only individual lives but entire neighborhoods, cities and even nations, turning them into veritable wastelands of lack.

What does it take to counter the aggressiveness of poverty?

Aggressive faith! The kind of faith the people in the Hebrews 11 “faith hall of fame” had. The faith which, according to the Greek word for it, pistis, is an aggressive, forward-directed force. A force that is never passive, retreating backward or shy. A force that, confronted with a foe, takes aggressive action.

Hebrews 11:32 gives David as an example of such faith. When the giant Goliath threatened to kill him and feed his carcass to the birds, David didn’t run from him, he ran toward him (1 Samuel 17:48). He put his faith in his covenant with God, became the aggressor, and took Goliath down.

To prosper as God intends, that’s what you must do when the spirit of poverty and lack threatens you. Instead of crying about it, you must go after that devilish spirit by faith in God. You must stand stubbornly on His promises of prosperity, confront that devilish spirit with aggressive faith, and take it down.

Aggressive faith is faith that doesn’t quit or take no for an answer. It’s faith that takes hold of God’s WORD and refuses to let go. Aggressive faith is what Jesus taught about in Mark 11:24. “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them,” He said, “and ye shall have them.” The Greek word translated receive means “to take with much force, to seize with a grip that cannot be shaken off.”

“But I thought under the new covenant all God’s BLESSINGS are ours by grace,” somebody might say. They are. But what God has so wonderfully given by His grace, we must take, lay hold of and possess with our faith. Otherwise, we’ll miss out on what God has provided for us and promised us. We’ll wind up like the Israelites did in the Promised Land.

Do you remember what happened to them? God told them the entire land was theirs, but they didn’t take possession of it all. They let their enemies continue to live in portions of it, rather than fighting for what belonged to them. Eventually, Joshua got onto them about it. “How long are ye slack…?” he said. “How long are you going to sit around on your hands, putting off taking possession of the land that God…has given you?” (Joshua 18:3, KJV, MSG).

Some years ago, The LORD had to say something similar to me. It was during the time when Pastor Terri and I were having renovations done on the house we’d bought. Talk about dealing with aggressive devils! Not only did unexpected difficulties keep arising, we ran out of money to finish the renovations. What’s more, the rent house we were living in turned out to have problems. The worst involved the septic system. As it turned out, the house didn’t have one! One night, things got so bad we had to evacuate to Kenneth and Gloria’s house. They were gracious to welcome us, of course, but with no place of our own to call home, discouragement really tried to settle in on me.

As I was praying about the situation one day, The LORD said, George, if you want to get out of this, you’re going to have to be aggressive about it. He showed me I’d let the devil get a foothold by being too passive, and that I had to get more determined with my faith. I had to respond to the devil’s aggression by pushing back on him, taking hold of what God’s WORD says belongs to me, and refusing to let go.

Out of that season of my life was born a series I preached at our church titled Bulldog Faith. I called it that because of what I learned one time about bulldogs. Their jaws jut forward so they can bite down on something and hold onto it until it’s theirs. Unlike other breeds that cannot breathe freely while biting, the protruding lower jaw of bulldogs allows them to continue breathing while keeping their teeth locked onto whatever they’ve decided to possess, for as long as it takes to possess it.

Spiritually, as believers, we’re able to do the same thing. We can bite down on The WORD and keep breathing until that WORD is ours. When debt tries to steal our prosperity, we can take an aggressive stand against it. We can lock our spiritual jaws onto our debt freedom, and sink our faith teeth into the plenty God has promised us until lack flees and we possess our promised land.

The Hebrew word translated possess means “to claim a territory by attacking it, seizing it, driving out the inhabitants and occupying it.”

So, be a possessor. Leave passivity behind and boldly, courageously make a demand on The WORD of God. Fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12) and say: “Spirit of poverty, get out of my way! I will either go past you or I will go right through you. Either way, I am going to aggressively take the prosperity that rightfully belongs to me in Christ!”

Day 44

Pastor George

Total Immersion

BLESSED (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather. But his delight and desire are in the law of The LORD, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night. And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper.

(Psalm 1:1-3, AMPC)

It’s one thing to know you need aggressive faith to prosper. It’s another thing to develop it. Particularly when you’re under financial pressure and facing contrary economic circumstances, that can be a challenge.

It certainly was for me all those years ago when we were living in the problematic rent house I mentioned yesterday. Before we moved into that house, we’d paid off the mortgage on our previous home, then sown it to another couple. So, in the natural, we didn’t have much money left to work with. As thoughts about what we were going to do next began to consume my mind, I found myself slipping out of faith into a place of fear.

I asked The LORD to show me what to do, and He put me on a total immersion program. He told me to follow the example of the BLESSED man described in Psalm 1 who meditates on The WORD of God day and night.

I was quite familiar with the concept of day-and-night total immersion in God’s WORD. I’d heard Kenneth and Gloria talk many times about how they did that when they first began learning to live by faith. They quit reading the newspaper, turned off the television and all the other voices of the world, and focused completely on the Scriptures. They listened to Kenneth E. Hagin’s tapes on faith so many times they practically had them memorized. As a result, they rapidly developed their faith and their lives were radically transformed.

Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou [God] wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee,” or “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (NLT). The Hebrew word translated fixed or stayed means “established, focused, totally immersed.”

Clearly, to regain my peace, I needed to fix my mind on God and totally immerse myself in what He said about prosperity. I needed to focus on Him, flood my mind with His WORD, and wash out of it all fear of financial failure. In other words, I needed to do spiritually what people who want to learn a new language very quickly do in the natural. They immerse themselves in that language. They go someplace where only that language is spoken, and because that’s all they hear, they become proficient in it much faster than they otherwise would.

How exactly was I to go about doing this? Again, I sought The LORD about it, and He led me to break my total immersion prosperity program into three different parts.

First, I totally immersed myself, day after day, in scriptures that took my limitations off God. I read in Genesis 18:14, “Is any thing too hard for The LORD?” and answered, “NO!” I read in Numbers 11:23 (AMPC), “Has The LORD’s hand (His ability and power) become short (thwarted and inadequate)?” and answered again, “NO!” I read Matthew 19:26, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible,” and said, “YES!”

The second thing I did was totally immerse myself in anointed WORD-

filled preaching. I got Brother Copeland’s messages on The Laws of Prosperity and Leroy Thompson’s on Money Cometh! To the Body of Christ and listened to them all the time. I listened to them in the car, at home and on the plane when flying to ministry events. I literally kept them playing day and night.

Third, I searched the Scriptures to find out how many different ways God uses to get financial supply to His people. I located 191 scriptures that identify 21 different ways, made a list of them, and meditated on them.

The plan worked wonderfully. My spirit was strengthened. My faith was fed. My mind was renewed, and my life transformed. I got free of financial fear and developed aggressive faith.

God’s total immersion plan will produce the same results for you! He said in Joshua 1:8 that if you meditate His WORD “day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein…thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” He said in Deuteronomy 11, “Lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes…. speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up…. that your days may be…as the days of heaven upon the earth” (verses 18-19, 21).

Think of it: Total immersion in The WORD—days of heaven on earth. Now, that’s what I call a great plan!

Day 45

Pastor George

How To Apply for a Heavenly Grant

I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that My Father will grant you whatever you ask in My Name….

(John 16:23, AMPC)

For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted you, and you will [get it].

(Mark 11:24, AMPC)

In the very early years of Kenneth and Gloria’s ministry, Kenneth’s father, A.W. Copeland, was their business administrator and only employee. One day, he walked into Kenneth’s (very small) office with a question: “Do you know how much it costs to run this ministry?”

“No, and I don’t want to know,” Kenneth answered.

“I think you ought to pray about it,” A.W. said, holding up a piece of paper with a figure written on it. “We’ve grown so much in the last 90 days that I don’t think you have any idea what our expenses are.”

With that, he laid the paper on Kenneth’s desk and walked out.

When Brother Copeland saw the figure on the paper he almost choked.

“Looks like I better do something about this!” he said to himself.

The LORD, however, corrected him.

Boy, you know better than that. You know who your Source of supply is. You get over there on your knees and get it that way!

As soon as Brother Copeland began to pray, The LORD told him to read two scriptures in the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition: John 16:23 and Mark 11:24. Immediately, two things caught his attention: 1) both verses contained the word grant; 2) Mark 11:24 said the grant would cover “whatever” he asked for.

Even in the natural, a grant is a marvelous thing! The dictionary defines it as “a sum of money provided by a government, local authority or public fund to finance education study, overseas aid, building repairs, etc.” Financial grants in the natural, for example, may be used to help a student with college tuition. The student may not have the money to pay his or her own way, but through the grant the funds are supplied from another source.

The verb form of the word grant means “to give, bestow or confer.”

Brother Copeland realized that day there is available to us in The WORD a heavenly grant! We can apply to God for the resources we need and don’t have, and He will give, bestow or confer them on us. He will supply us with the needed funds from another Source—Himself!

Confident he’d heard from God, Brother Copeland took the piece of paper his father had given him and wrote on it: “According to John 16:23, I submit this request in the Name of Jesus. I lay claim to my heavenly grant of (whatever the amount was) every 30 days. According to Mark 11:24, I am confident that whatever I ask in prayer, it is granted to me. I believe I receive my grant in Jesus’ Name.”

From that moment on, the necessary finances came in. That was 50 years ago, and although the amount on the grant requests has gone up a lot since then, all of Kenneth Copeland Ministry’s bills are still paid in full!

By the time Pastor Terri and I got married, we’d watched Kenneth and Gloria write heavenly grants many times. So, we began writing out ours, too. We’d post them on the refrigerator, and when we walked by, we’d slap our hands on them and thank God for granting us what we’d asked.

We wrote out grants for all kinds of things—our home, furnishings for our home, cars—whatever we needed. Over the years, I saved the grants. When we took them off the refrigerator, I put them in a file. One day, not too long ago, I went through the file and was reminded that everything we’ve asked The LORD for has been granted to us.

God will grant your requests, too. So, take advantage of this marvelous resource. As Habakkuk 2:2 says, “Write the vision, and make it plain…that he may run that readeth it.” Write out your heavenly grant!

A Sample Request

for a Heavenly Grant

Be it known this day, ______________, we receive a heavenly grant in the amount of $______________. Father, in the Name of Jesus, we come boldly to the throne of grace, and present Your WORD. According to John 16:23 (AMPC), Jesus said, “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that My Father will grant you whatever you ask in My Name.” Jesus, You said in Mark 11:24 (AMPC), “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].” Your WORD states in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom.” In accordance with Your WORD, we give, we sow seed, in order to set this spiritual law to work on our behalf. According to Matthew 18:18, we bind satan and all his forces, and render them helpless and unable to operate. They will not hinder our grant.

According to Hebrews 1:13 and 14, we loose the ministering spirits and charge them to go forth and cause our grant to come into our hands. Jesus, You said in Matthew 18:19, “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.” Therefore, we set ourselves in agreement, believe we receive now, and we praise You for it.

Day 46

Gloria

You Can Live Debt Free

But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.

(Matthew 6:33, AMPC)

Ken and I haven’t always lived a debt-free lifestyle. Far from it. When we first got married, debts were about all we had! Young and naive, I hadn’t thought to ask when Ken proposed to me how much money he owed. But I soon found out, the answer was a lot.

After we’d been married a short time, we found ourselves living in a rent house with no stove, no refrigerator (in the winter, we kept our food in a cardboard box on the porch) and no furniture that belonged to us. Even our bed—a rollaway that sagged in the middle—was rented.

The job Ken had gotten at the airport, for which we’d had such high hopes, had fallen through, and I had no job either. So, we had no money. Worst of all, we didn’t know to look to God for help because we weren’t yet born again.

Then one day when Ken was out looking for a job and I was home alone, I picked up the Bible Ken’s mother had given him for his birthday. In the front of it, she’d written a note: Ken Precious, Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33. I knew nothing about The WORD back then, but I knew I needed things added to me. So, I turned to the verse. I read the whole passage and responded by praying a simple prayer: “Lord, take my life and do something with it.”

Shortly after that, Ken got born again as well, and right away things in our lives began to change for the better. But still, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t seem to get out of debt. We kept borrowing money and after we paid our monthly bills there was no money left for anything else. We wound up leaving old obligations unpaid and facing the threat of a lawsuit.

Then we moved to Tulsa where Ken enrolled as a student at Oral Roberts University. There we began to learn about the integrity of God’s WORD: that you can depend on His WORD in the same way you can depend on the word of a doctor, a lawyer or your very best friend. We also found out that the key to seeking first of all God’s kingdom and His way of doing and being right, meant giving His WORD first place and final authority in our lives.

Desiring to please God with all our hearts, we committed to do whatever we saw in The WORD, no matter what it was. Then, to my dismay, I found Romans 13:8. Sitting at the little, blue secondhand table I’d refurbished, I read it first in the King James Version: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another….” Surely God didn’t mean that, I thought. Hoping for a different translation, I looked the verse up in the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition, but it didn’t help. “Keep out of debt…,” it said.

At the time, it seemed impossible we’d be able to do anything without borrowed money. We’d never considered paying cash for a car. We’d never bought furniture. How could we ever have anything nice? The material possession I wanted most in the world was a home. Pay cash for a house? You must be kidding. “You’ll never get it,” Satan said.

We didn’t know the scriptural principles of prosperity back then, or that we could receive things by faith. But we’d already said, “We’re taking God’s Word literally and whatever we see in it, that’s what we will do. So, I showed the verse to Ken and he agreed, we only had one choice (which as far as we could tell, wasn’t a very good one): Keep out of debt.

Together, we made what seemed at the time to be some very hard commitments. We declared we would never ask any man for anything, including money or places to minister. We pledged ourselves and our ministry to Romans 13:8 that we would never borrow 1 cent. We would tell our needs only to God and expect what He had taught us to produce. We prayed, confessed our faith and stood on God’s WORD when every circumstance spelled absolute doom.

Sure enough, God’s WORD worked. Things began to happen for us instead of to us. In 11 months, we were free from debt, and we’ve been prospering ever since. All because we made the quality decision to put God’s WORD first in our lives and do what it says about everything—including staying out of debt.

Perhaps you, too, have made that quality decision. If so, praise God, you’re on your way to all things being added to you. On the other hand, perhaps you’ve been hesitant. If that’s the case, this can be your quality-decision day!

Ken says a quality decision is one that forever settles the issue. It is a decision of no retreat and no return. It is a memorial that settles all future decisions. The moment you make the quality decision to live debt free, God sees you as debt free.

So, settle these things in your heart and mind today:

1. God is my Source—not people.

2. I am not limited to a salary.

3. It is God’s will for me to live debt free.

Dare to dive into a Romans 13:8 lifestyle, where you owe no man anything except to love him. I can tell you, both from The WORD of God and from experience, you’ll be forever glad you did!

Day 47

Pastor George

The Grace of Giving

But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

(2 Corinthians 8:7, NIV)

One time, years ago, when Pastor Terri and I were in Arkansas visiting Gloria’s grandfather, Pop, he took me out to his orchard to see his peach trees. I’m not much of a horticulturist, but I was very impressed. The harvest they were producing was so abundant, the branches practically dripped with peaches. When Pop handed me one to eat, I instantly understood why Gloria says, “You’ve never really tasted a peach until you’ve tasted one of Pop’s.” It was delicious!

When it comes to growing peaches, this man knows what he’s doing, I thought. He doesn’t just plop seed in the ground. He knows how to do things right.

That’s how we, as believers, want to be when it comes to sowing financial seed in the kingdom of God. We need to be like Pop and do things right. To “excel in the grace of giving,” so that when we sow, we reap better results.

How do we excel in the grace of giving?

According to 2 Corinthians 9, there are three important keys.

The first is to give willingly. For “he who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously…will also reap generously and with BLESSINGS” (verse 6, AMPC).

God cares more about the attitude behind our giving than He does about the amount. He’s not pleased by gifts given unwillingly or out of obligation; and because they don’t please Him they don’t bear fruit. That’s why Brother Copeland, when receiving offerings, often says to people, “If you don’t want to give, I’d rather you didn’t.” He got that from God!

In Exodus 35:5, when God told Moses to receive offerings from the Israelites, He said, “whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it.” In Mark 12, when Jesus was watching people giving their offerings in the Temple, He said about the poor widow who gave only two mites, “[She] has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus [grudgingly], but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on [willingly and bountifully]” (verses 43-44, NLT).

Do you want the seed you sow to bear plentiful fruit? When you’re about to give, ask yourself, Am I willing? Or am I doing this out of obligation? If the answer is the latter, make a change. Adjust your attitude and say, “LORD, I am sowing with a generous attitude. I am willing to give!”

The second key to excellent giving is to give what The LORD has put in your own heart to give. Don’t look around to see what everybody else is doing and copy them. Don’t just automatically write out a certain size check because a preacher says if you don’t give that amount his ministry will go under. No, God says in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Let each one [give] as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart” (AMPC). So, before you give, check down on the inside of you for the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Look again at Exodus 35 and you’ll see this is what the Israelites did. When they brought their offerings, “they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing” (verse 21). The Hebrew word translated stirred means “moved, inspired, directed or led.”

I remember learning a lesson about this from Brother Copeland back in the late 1980s. I’d just become executive director of the ministry, and he told me he wanted to send a cassette tape of a message he’d preached to every one of his Partners. I knew that was going to be expensive, so I met with some marketing people about the best way to do it. They suggested we cut costs by just offering the tape to the Partners. Then we could send it only to those who asked for it.

I presented that option to Brother Copeland. For what seemed like an eternity (it was probably only seconds), he just sat there looking at me. “Pastor George,” he said finally, “whatever’s in your heart, do it.”

All afternoon and all night I pondered the options and prayed. By the next day, I knew I had it in my spirit to give the tape to all the Partners as Brother Copeland originally requested. I told him, and he said, “That’s good. Then go ahead.”

He’s the boss, of course, so he could have just told me what to do in that situation. But he didn’t, because he wanted me to be part of sowing that big seed into the lives of our Partners. He also wanted me to receive the return; and as an experienced giver he knew for me to do that I had to be Spirit-led in my giving. I had to know I was giving according to my own heart.

The third key to excelling in the grace of giving is to give gladly: “…not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, ‘prompt to do it’) giver [whose heart is in his giving]” (2 Corinthians 9:7, AMPC). The Greek word translated cheerful means “hilarious.”

In other words, God intends for giving to be fun—and it can be when you do it willingly, out of your heart. I’ve been in meetings where at offering time Pastor Terri said to me, “Let’s give our entire savings account!”

I stuttered for a moment, but then I caught the spirit of it and said, “OK!”

Imagine emptying your savings account with a big smile on your face and joy in your heart. It sounds crazy. But we have sowed those seeds hilariously, and guess what? Soon our savings account not only filled back up again but grew bigger than it was before.

That’s the kind of thing you can expect to happen to you as you excel in the grace of giving. You can expect your seed to produce the kind of harvest produced by Pop’s peach trees—a harvest that’s abundant and sweet. As 2 Corinthians 9:11 says, you can expect to be “enriched in all things and in every way” (AMPC)!

Day 48

Pastor George

The God of the Breakthrough

So [Israel] came up to Baal-perazim, and David smote [the Philistines] there. Then David said, God has broken my enemies by my hand, like the bursting forth of waters. Therefore they called the name of that place Baal-perazim [LORD of breaking through].

(1 Chronicles 14:11, AMPC)

When you’re up against a veritable brick wall of financial bad news—a wall so big you can’t see any way around it or over it—remember this good news from the Bible: Your God is the God of the breakthrough! He can knock down any wall of economic impossibility this world can put up. He can bust through any barrier built by the devil to block your prosperity and sweep it away in an overwhelming flood of BLESSING.

The LORD spoke to our friend and Partner in ministry Jerry Savelle about this in a profound way in February 2004. He was in Liberty, Texas, getting ready to preach, and while resting in his hotel room before the service, he had a supernatural visitation. The LORD said to him:

My people are overwhelmed by financial attacks. I want you to tell them the God of the breakthrough will visit their home. Tell them that they know Me as Savior, Redeemer and soon-coming King—but they don’t know Me as the God of the breakthrough. If they did, they wouldn’t be so quick to give up. I want you to show them how to position themselves to receive the God of the breakthrough into their home.[29]

Then The LORD took Brother Jerry to the story in 1 Kings 17 about Elijah and the widow. If you’ve read that story, you’ll recall it takes place during a time when Israel was going through a dreadful famine. Elijah’s provisions had dried up and The LORD had told him to go to the city of Zarephath where He’d commanded a widow to provide for him. When Elijah went to the city, he met a widow who was gathering sticks.

He called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” So she said, “As The LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die" (verses 10-12, NKJV).

Talk about somebody being up against a financial wall! Bless this widow’s heart, not only was there no food to be found in her house, there wasn’t any to be found anywhere in the country. The only option left for her in the natural was to give up, eat one small final meal with her son, and then starve. But Elijah had heard from The LORD. So, he said to her:

“Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says The LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day The LORD sends rain on the earth.’” So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days [a full year]. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of The LORD which He spoke by Elijah (verses 13-16, NKJV).

As Brother Jerry reread those familiar verses, in His visitation The LORD showed him how the widow positioned herself for God to do the impossible for her in that situation. He revealed through her story the three keys required to produce a supernatural breakthrough.

Key No. 1: A supernatural breakthrough requires a prophetic word from God, a rhema word that is specific and relevant for right now. That’s the kind of word the widow received from the prophet. He said to her, “Make me a cake first.”

As a born-again believer, you don’t have to wait for a prophet to receive your word from The LORD. You can hear directly from the Holy Spirit yourself. You can ask The LORD, “What do You want me to do?” Then spend time in His WORD and in prayer, confidently expecting Him to answer. You can say with confidence, “I will hear what God The LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints” (Psalm 85:8, NKJV).

Key No. 2: A supernatural breakthrough requires a willingness to receive and obey the prophetic word. It’s one thing to hear; it’s another to obey. The widow obeyed. She did exactly what the prophet told her. Isaiah 1:19 says, “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” So, make this your confession: “I am willing and quick to act on and obey the word of The LORD.”

Key No. 3: A supernatural breakthrough requires the sowing of a significant seed. A significant seed is one that’s valuable to you. The widow’s seed was the little cake she gave to Elijah. It represented her very life. So, to her it was a very big and precious gift. She gave it willingly and when she did, it opened the floodgates of God’s BLESSING.

Giving is what opens the door of the heart, and the opening you give through is the same opening you receive through. When you open the door of faith wide enough to sow a big seed, you also open it wide enough to accommodate a big return. The seed sowed by the widow turned her “have not” into “plenty.” After sowing it, “she and Elijah and her son continued to eat from her supply of flour and oil as long as it was needed. For no matter how much they used, there was always plenty left in the containers, just as The LORD had promised” (1 Kings 17:15-16, TLB).

Next time you’re up against the wall, remember that story. Put the keys the widow used to work in your life, and the God of supernatural breakthrough will come to your house, too!

29 Jerry Savelle, The God of the Breakthrough Will Visit Your House (Crowley: Jerry Savelle Ministries International, 2013).

Day 49

Pastor George

Sow Your Way Out

He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favorable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

(Ecclesiastes 11:4, AMPC)

When money gets tight and the pressure is on, the temptation is always there to cut back on your giving. In the natural, it makes sense. When finances are in short supply, holding onto as much of your money as you can seems logical.

According to the Bible however, it’s really not. Cutting back on your giving cuts off the flow of God’s financial BLESSINGS just when you need them most. So, it’s exactly the wrong thing to do.

The right way to defeat an attack of lack is to sow your way out!

“We can give our way out from under any pressure the devil brings to bear,” Kenneth once said—and that’s the absolute truth. I’ve seen it proven time and again in my own life and throughout my years at KCM.

The first time I watched Brother Copeland give his way out of an extremely pressurized situation was back in the mid-1980s, when the ministry was facing a million-dollar deficit. I’ve told in previous devotions about the $6 million deficit we faced, but this was a decade earlier. It was at a time when the ministry was much smaller and a million dollars was a lot to be behind!

Back then, we’d never been in a financial situation that dire, and nothing we did seemed to help. Despite our best efforts that tough, stubborn, million-dollar-deficit mountain just wouldn’t move.

Determined to get the answers, Brother Copeland went to his and Gloria’s prayer cabin in Arkansas to spend some extra time alone with The LORD. One day as he was praying, he said for the umpteenth time that he needed a million dollars. No you don’t, The LORD said.

Startled, Brother Copeland stopped for a moment. You could have fooled me! he thought, and assuming he hadn’t heard right, he said it again. “LORD, I really do need a million dollars!”

No you don’t, The LORD repeated. Then He proceeded to tell Brother Copeland that the red ink on KCM’s books was not the source of the ministry’s financial problems. He said there was a bigger problem behind it, and directed him to Proverbs 11:24.

- “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.”

- “There are those who [generously] scatter abroad, and yet increase more; there are those who withhold more than is fitting or what is justly due, but it results only in want” (AMPC).

- “Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything” (NLT).

Reading that verse, Brother Copeland got the message: The only way you’re going to get out of this million-dollar deficit is to sow your way out! He asked what to sow, and The LORD told him. Start giving 10% of KCM’s monthly income to the poor all over the world, to get The WORD to those who can’t afford to get it for themselves.

Brother Copeland came back from Arkansas and announced the solution to the staff. We implemented it, and as we began to sow that 10%, the million-dollar deficit began to disappear.

That’s not logical. It’s supernatural. It’s how Jesus operates. Giving is always His way out of shortage. Wherever there’s a need, He plants a seed!

That’s what the widow of Zarephath did. It’s also what Isaac did in Gerar. The conditions there made it look like it wasn’t a good time to sow. But Isaac wasn’t moved by the conditions; he was moved by faith in his covenant with God. So, he sowed in famine and reaped a hundredfold.

“But I’m broke!” someone might say. “I don’t have any financial seed to sow.”

Then sow something else. Sow clothes. Sow help. Find someone who needs something done that you can do and do it. The size or shape of your seed doesn’t matter. It’s the heart with which you sow it and the faith behind it that opens the door for God to move on your behalf.

Brother Copeland often tells that when he first became a financial partner with Oral Roberts’ ministry, he didn’t have a single cent to give. So, when offering time came and the ushers passed out small pencils with the offering envelopes, he gave the pencil. “LORD,” he prayed, “I want to partner with Brother Roberts for $10. This pencil represents my first $10. As soon as I get that much money, I’ll give it.”

His harvest came immediately! As he was walking out of the service, a lady hollered at him, “Hey, you! The LORD has been worrywarting me this whole service to give you $10.”

“Praise The LORD, lady!” Brother Copeland said. “Give it here.” She did. He retrieved his offering envelope, took out the pencil, and replaced it with the $10. From that time on, Kenneth and Gloria never found themselves without anything to give again.

No matter where you are financially, you can have the same testimony. For the rest of your life, in good economic times and bad, you can sow your way out from under the devil’s pressure, sow your way into supernatural prosperity, and give glory to God!

Day 50

Pastor George

Don’t Forget the Anointing Factor

Therefore remember…at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

(Ephesians 2:11-13, NKJV)

I’m not a chef by any means, but I do know this: If you’re cooking something and you forget to add a key ingredient of the recipe, you won’t be happy with the results.

I’m also not a pilot, but I’ve learned from those who are that the same holds true in aviation. You never want to forget any of the steps that must be taken to ensure a safe flight. It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve been flying, every time, before taking off, you want to go over your checklist to make sure you’ve remembered everything.

I think that would be good for us, as believers, to do sometimes when we’re believing God for prosperity. We ought to have a checklist we go over to jog our memory. A scriptural recipe, so to speak, that we look at to make sure we don’t leave out any of the key elements to our success.

Say for example you’re believing to pay off your mortgage early. If in the natural the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against you, you might tend to forget some of the supernatural things you have working for you. You might get so focused on how big the mortgage is compared to your current income and how impossible it is in the natural for you to come up with that much money that you think, There’s no way!

When you start thinking like that, you’re leaving out a key element that can completely alter the equation. You’re forgetting Ephesians 2:11-13. It says to remember that, as a believer, you are not in the position you used to be before you were born again. You’re not “without Christ…having no hope and without God in the world.” You are in Christ!

The word Christ means “the Anointed One and His Anointing.” It refers not only to Jesus but to the supernatural power of God that’s on Him and that, because you’re in Him, is now available to you. When you factor the anointing into a situation, it changes everything! It trumps the natural with the power of the supernatural. In circumstances that would otherwise be hopeless, it brings hope.

“But the anointing is for spiritual ministry,” somebody might say. “It’s not designed to produce prosperity.”

According to Jesus it is. He said in Luke 4:18-19, “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…to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of The LORD.” Every one of those statements can be applied to finances: The good news to the poor is you don’t have to be poor anymore. Healing, to those whose hearts have been broken by lack, means provision. Deliverance, to those who’ve been held captive by debt, means debt freedom.

What’s more, “the acceptable year of The LORD” is the year of Jubilee. That’s the year on the Jewish calendar when all debts are canceled and all lost property is restored. The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition, refers to it as “the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound” (Luke 4:19).

As a born-again believer you’re living in that day right now! Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, all year long, the salvation and free favors of God are profusely abounding toward you by the power of the Anointed One. His Anointing is in you, on you and working for you. When you stand in faith on God’s WORD, it goes into operation in your life to add God’s “super” to your natural and do for you what only God can do.

Even the devil himself can’t block your success if you keep factoring in the anointing. He’ll try, of course, but he’s doomed to fail. As Isaiah 10:27 says, his “burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.”

What are burdens and yokes? A burden is defined as “a heavy load carried with great difficulty.” A yoke is “an agency of oppression, slavery and servitude; a symbol of subjection.” In Roman times, a defeated army was made to walk under the yoke as a sign of defeat and humiliation. Translate that into financial terms and a burden might be a heavy load of debt or a shortage of funds that makes life difficult. A yoke might show up in the form of an economic recession or depression, or a personal financial defeat.

Those things are tools the devil uses in this world to steal, kill and destroy. But as a child of God, you don’t have to put up with them. You have working on your behalf God’s burden-removing, yoke-destroying power. Your financial life has His Anointing for prosperity “rubbed into, smeared upon and poured all over” it. (That’s what anoint literally means.)

So, never forget to factor in the anointing when you’re believing God to prosper you. Put it on your checklist of faith and when you’re up against odds that in the natural seem overwhelming, make it a point to remember:

The anointing will make a way where there is no way.

The anointing will accelerate the increase of your storehouses.

The anointing will wipe out outstanding debts.

The Anointing of God will reveal the wisdom you need in every situation to thrive and not just survive.

Day 51

Pastor George

Take It!

And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which The LORD God of your fathers hath given you?

(Joshua 18:3, KJV)

…How long are you going to wait before taking possession of the remaining land The LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given to you?

(NLT)

…How long are you going to sit around on your hands, putting off taking possession of the land that God, the God of your ancestors, has given you?

(MSG)

Joshua clearly was not very happy with the children of Israel. In fact, these verses indicate he was downright put-out with them. He certainly had reason to be. He’d led them into the Promised Land years earlier, and yet seven of their 12 tribes still hadn’t taken possession of their portion. They were still living like nomads while the land that belonged to them remained in enemy hands.

What’s worse, the situation was of their own making. God had told them to lay claim to their inheritance. He’d assured them He would back them with His power and cause their enemies to flee before them. But they hadn’t done what He said. They’d been slack (which in Hebrew means “to postpone, put off and waste time; to be slow, sluggish and lazy”)…and Joshua was none too pleased about it. He felt like it was high time they rose up by faith and took their Promised Land.

I think sometimes God must feel the same way about us. He must look at all Jesus did for us—at how He took on Himself the curse of poverty, sickness and every other bad thing; and paid the price for us to prosper, be healthy and thoroughly BLESSED—and He must feel like saying:

“How long are you going to wait to take your debt freedom?

“How long are you going to postpone possessing your prosperity?

“How long are you going to sit around on your hands and put off taking all the BLESSINGS that rightfully belong to you in Christ?”

Those are good questions. We all need to ask them of ourselves on occasion because even as people of faith we can sometimes get spiritually lazy. We can become sluggish in our fight of faith and wind up letting our enemy, the devil, steal our God-given inheritance.

When that happens it’s a sad state of affairs not only for us but also for Jesus. He doesn’t want us to slack off in our believing. He wants us to keep pressing forward. In Mark 11:22-24, He commanded it. He said:

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.

The phrase believe that ye receive, in Greek, means “take with much force, get hold of, seize with a grip that cannot be shaken off.” That tells us faith is aggressive. It doesn’t just passively wait around for God’s BLESSINGS to fall out of heaven like ripe apples off a tree. It seizes them with a spiritual grip and lays claim to them by confidence in God’s WORD.

No matter how contrary the circumstances, or how hard the devil fights it, faith never retreats. It does not “draw back” (Hebrews 10:38). It’s always moving forward, reaching for its goal.

In the Old Testament, faith was the force used by God’s people to subdue natural enemies, possess lands and conquer kingdoms (Hebrews 11:33). As New Testament believers we use the force of faith to do the same thing, only in the realm of the spirit. By faith we subdue the devil and take possession of what’s ours as citizens of God’s kingdom.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). The phrase take it by force is translated from the Greek word harpazo. We get our English word harpoon from it. Remember in Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, how harpoons were used to bring in whales? That’s a picture of how faith works. You send it out like a harpoon to whatever you’re believing for, the harpoon goes into it, and you pull it in.

God had commanded the Israelites to do this with the Promised Land. They were to harpoon it with their faith, so to speak, and take it by force! And thank God, they eventually did it. They “went in and…. took strong cities and a rich land, and possessed houses full of all goods, cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and grew fat, and delighted themselves in [God’s] great goodness” (Nehemiah 9:24- 25, NKJV).

God has great goodness for you as a believer to delight in too! In Christ, He’s given to you “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). He’s made you an heir of THE BLESSING of Abraham. So, find out in Deuteronomy 28 what belongs to you and take it all by faith.

If you have debt, take your debt freedom.

If you dream of owning a house, take a house.

Take the fact that you’re BLESSED coming in and going out.

Take the fact that you’re BLESSED in the city and in the field.

Take the fact that God’s BLESSING is on your storehouses and they’re increasing and enlarging!

Don’t be slack. Don’t postpone it. Don’t put it off. Rise up by faith now and take your promised land!

Day 52

Pastor George

Prosperity and Praise

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

(Galatians 6:9)

Let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.

(AMPC)

I know I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: When you plant seed in the natural, you don’t just walk away and forget it. If you’re a serious gardener, you give attention to that seed. You water it, pull the weeds from around it, and add the necessary nutrients to the soil to make sure your seed flourishes and grows.

When you plant financial seed in the kingdom of God, you do the same. If you’re serious about getting results, you don’t just sow your seed and then ignore it. You tend to it. You continue to do well by it so that when due season comes it produces the maximum harvest for you.

Believers who neglect to do this wind up disappointed. They go along for a while thinking their seed will flourish automatically, and when it doesn’t they let go of their faith and start to complain. “I’ve given and given,” they say, “but I’m not receiving any return. My seed isn’t working.”

As we’ve seen, when you say those kinds of negative, unbelieving words, you dig up your seed. You prophesy failure over it. And since, according to Mark 11:23, whatever you believe and say is what you’ll have, saying your seed isn’t working is the worst thing you, as a spiritual gardener, can do.

What’s the best thing you can do?

Once you’ve sown your seed, continually praise God over it! Praise Him for His goodness and His faithfulness. Praise Him for bringing His WORD to pass in your life, for BLESSING your seed and prospering you.

Your praises are like a spiritual version of Miracle-Gro. You’ve probably heard of that product. It’s a kind of plant food you can put on your flowers or vegetables. According to the manufacturers, it causes them to produce “more bounty.” It guarantees you “astonishing results every time.”

Whether or not Miracle-Gro lives up to those claims might be debatable; but when it comes to praise there is no debate. The Bible settles the issue. Clearly proclaiming the power of praise, it says:

- “Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall BLESS us” (Psalm 67:5-6).

- God “ordained strength [praise] because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger” (Psalm 8:2).

- “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence” (Psalm 9:1-3).

- God “inhabits the praises” of His people (Psalm 22:3, MEV).

Praise is the expression of utmost confidence in God’s WORD. It gives voice to your faith and moves things along in the realm of the spirit. It stops your enemy, the devil, who comes to steal your prosperity, and forces him to flee.

Praise also keeps your attitude right. It keeps you connected to your heavenly Father and brings Him on the scene as your Supernatural Provider. As long as you keep planting and praising, no matter how dark things get in the natural, you can keep prospering. You can be like Habakkuk when he was confronted with financial disaster. He said:

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in The LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation [Hebrew: the God of my prosperity and deliverance]. The LORD God is my strength [Hebrew: The LORD God is my wealth], and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places (Habakkuk 3:17-19).

As Gloria once told me, this is basically what she said years ago when she and Kenneth made the commitment not to borrow any more money. Without borrowed money, it looked in the natural like there was no way she could ever have a nice house (the one material thing she most desired), but she refused to get depressed. Instead, she found house scriptures, asked God for a house according to Mark 11:24, and began thanking God for it.

“I knew praise and thanksgiving was key,” she recalls, “so every day, I’d praise God for His goodness and say, ‘Thank You, Lord, for my new house!’ I didn’t start fretting after 30 days and say, ‘Lord, nothing is happening! We’re still living in this run-down little rent house.’ No, I followed the instructions in Philippians 4:6 (AMPC): ‘Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests) with thanksgiving…make your wants known to God.’”

Over the years, as Gloria continued to give thanks for her house, she and Brother Copeland kept graduating from one house to another, each one better than the one before. Today she’s living and praising God in the house of her dreams.

Jerry Savelle says, “The depth of your praise will determine the magnitude of your harvest.” So, keep praising and thanking God over what you’ve sown. Keep pouring on the spiritual Miracle-Gro so that you can enjoy greater bounty, and your seed can produce amazing results every time!

Day 53

Pastor George

We Lack Nothing (Part 1)

And he [Jesus] said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.

(Luke 22:35)

One day as I was reading this verse, The LORD spoke to my heart. George, He said, since you received Me as The LORD of your life, and I sent you out to do My will and My work, have you lacked anything?

I thought about it for a moment and realized I can answer that question the same way the disciples did. “I’ve lacked nothing!” I said.

Talking about it later with Gloria, she told me the same has been true for her and Brother Copeland. “We’ve been out preaching for over 50 years now, and we never one time went hungry,” she said. “We never had to sleep in the park or in the car or preach on a street corner. We always had a building and a microphone and people to listen to us.

“When the million-dollar television bills started coming in, we might not have always had the money to pay them in full the day they arrived. Sometimes we had to stand in faith for a while for the funds to come in. But ultimately every bill always got paid. We’ve never gotten taken off the air. We’ve never fallen short. All through the years, The LORD has been faithful. We’ve lacked nothing.”

God intends for the same to be true in your life!

His will is that you never fall short, come behind or be deficient in any way. His plan is for you to believe Him, stand on His WORD, and always have a full supply so that when He asks you, “Have you lacked anything?” you too can answer, “Nothing!” just like Jesus’ first disciples did.

“But I’m not called to full-time ministry like the disciples were,” you might say. “I’m not a preacher like they were, or like you and the Copelands are.”

What difference does that make? Whatever God has called you to do—whether you’re in business, raising a family or in some other line of work—you’re still His child. You’re still living your life in His service, and He wants you to be fully supplied. He wants you, as 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 says, to “make it your ambition and definitely endeavor to live quietly and peacefully, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands…so that you may bear yourselves becomingly and be correct and honorable and command the respect of the outside world, being dependent on nobody [self-supporting] and having need of nothing” (AMPC).

I like how the Good News Translation puts this: “In this way you will win the respect of those who are not believers, and you will not have to depend on anyone for what you need.”

It’s good not having to depend on other people (or even on the bank) when you need to buy something! It’s good to be able to pay cash! Not only does it save you a lot of money in interest, it catches people’s attention. It makes you a living memorial of God’s goodness (see Psalm 92:15, AMPC) and gives you an opportunity to bear witness to His faithfulness.

One time, for instance, God instructed Pastor Terri and me to BLESS someone with a new, off-the-showroom-floor car. We went to the dealership and picked out a vehicle. When the salespeople asked how I wanted to pay for it, I pulled out my checkbook. They were stunned, shocked and amazed! “Uh…you know, you can do this on credit,” they said. “You can make payments for a while and then if you want to pay the car off later, you can.”

“No, thank you,” I replied. “We have the money to pay for it in full. The LORD has been really good to us!”

When people see believers not just surviving but thriving, especially during difficult economic times, they stop and take notice. They tend to react like the Egyptians did in Exodus when it was dark everywhere except in the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived. When the Egyptians saw God’s power and goodness to provide for His people, many of them were so drawn to Him that when the Israelites left Egypt, a multitude of Egyptians went with them (Exodus 12:38). They saw the Israelites lacking nothing and said, “Hey, I want to follow their God!”

What if you don’t yet have that kind of financial testimony? What if right now, when you go to buy something big, like a car, you still need the bank?

Don’t condemn yourself over it. Just keep renewing your mind with The WORD. See yourself lacking nothing. Picture yourself paying cash for that new car, and while you’re waiting for that vision to manifest do what James 1 says: “Count it all joy…knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (verses 2-4).

Look again at those last two words, wanting nothing. That’s God’s plan for you! His will is for you to be, as other versions of the Bible put it:

- “Lacking in nothing” (ASV).

- “Needing nothing” (NLT).

- “Failing in nothing” (DRB).

- “Not deficient in any way” (MSG).

Make this confession over your household today: “I/we lack nothing! I/we have a full, liberal supply from God Himself. He supplies all of my/our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The LORD is my/our Shepherd. I/we shall not lack!”

Day 54

Pastor George

We Lack Nothing (Part 2)

And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith The LORD.

(Jeremiah 23:4)

When I first began traveling with Brother Copeland, I would write down nearly everything he said. One statement he made still rings in my ears to this day. “Part of the anointing on this ministry,” he said, “is to teach people the laws that govern supernatural abundance, increase and prosperity.”

Eventually, I realized that same anointing is actually on every pastor and minister in the Body of Christ. Certainly, it’s especially strong on Brother Copeland and KCM. But according to the Bible, all of us, as New Testament shepherds, are responsible to feed God’s people His WORD concerning provision and prosperity. We’re all called to help bring our congregations to the place where they don’t fear or lack...and where, if lack shows up, they can use their faith to drive it out.

In other words, God has called us all to follow the example of the Great Shepherd, The LORD Jesus Christ. He’s the greatest Prosperity Preacher who ever walked the face of the earth! He considered prosperity to be so important that in describing His ministry in Luke 4:18, the first thing He said was, “The Spirit of The LORD is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.”

What’s the gospel to the poor? It’s the good news that the poor don’t have to be poor anymore. It’s the good news that because Jesus the Redeemer has come, we don’t have to lack anything.

That’s a message every pastor in the Body of Christ is called and anointed to preach! And I want to challenge you today to do it and do it boldly. Even if you don’t pastor a church, in one sense or another you’re helping pastor somebody. You have a God-given circle of influence, and the people in that circle are listening to you.

What are they hearing you say? What are you saying at home to your children and to your spouse? What are you saying when you get together over coffee with other believers? Are you preaching to them the good news that they don’t have to fear, be dismayed or be lacking?

“Well, Pastor George,” somebody might say, “I’m reluctant to talk much about prosperity to the people in my town. This is an economically depressed area. I don’t know if the prosperity message can work for people here.”

God’s WORD can work for anyone, anywhere, anytime! What’s more, making it work isn’t your responsibility. You’re just responsible to share with them what God says and trust Him to do the rest.

I learned this years ago from Brother Copeland. He got it across to me in a powerful way back in the mid-1980s when due to financial challenges we’d temporarily halted construction on our headquarters building. A marketing firm recommended we solve the problem by sending out an “appeal” letter, asking for money. A letter that I was instructed to deliver to Brother Copeland.

I did not want to do that! I’d been around long enough by then to know the idea was not going to fly. I brought the letter to Brother Copeland anyway.

When I got to the Copelands’ house, Kenneth was sitting at the kitchen table. I slid the letter over where he could see it and waited as he read it. After he finished, he looked at me with those piercing prophet eyes. He pointed his finger at me as if I were the spirit of compromise itself and said, “George, don’t ever seek ways to get the money in. You seek ways to get The WORD out, and God will see to it that the money comes in.”

If you’re a minister, and your church is struggling financially, make sure you don’t get that turned around. It’s easy to do. When the pressure is on, you can get to where you look out at your congregation and start seeing dollar signs and trying to produce marketing gimmicks to get people to give. Don’t make that mistake! The people are not your source. God is your Source. You focus on getting His WORD to them; the money will come in, and there will be no lack in your church and ministry.

The same principle applies in our interactions with each other just as believers. We don’t have to concern ourselves with how God is going to bring His prosperity promises to pass in each other’s lives. We’re just called to encourage and remind each other that The WORD says:

- “God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly BLESSING) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]” (2 Corinthians 9:8, AMPC).

- “Oh, fear The LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek The LORD [on the authority of His WORD] shall not lack any good thing” (Psalm 34:9-10, NKJV, AMPC).

- “For The LORD God is a sun and shield: The LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).

The WORD of God carries within it the power to bring itself to pass. So, be bold and preach the good news to yourself, your spouse, your children and your fellow believers that in Jesus we lack nothing. Then, trust God. He will do the rest!

Day 55

Pastor George

Not the Time To Quit

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith The LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a BLESSING, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

(Malachi 3:10)

After the financial crash of 2008, some researchers released a report revealing how that crash had influenced Americans’ charitable giving. What they found, quite honestly, shocked me. According to their research, during the economic downturn that followed the crash:

- 24% of Americans stopped all giving to churches

- 17% decreased their giving by 20% or less

- 7% decreased their donations by 20% to 45%

- 17% reduced their giving by half

- 12% decreased their giving by more than half.

What’s worse, the number of people tithing dropped. The practice of tithing—donating the first 10% of one’s income to churches or other charities—had been relatively stable over the previous decade, hovering between 5% and 7%. But a couple of years into the recession, the national tithing rate dipped to 4% of the adult population.[30]

Those declines weren’t primarily due to people’s lack of income, either. While certainly in some instances individuals were unable to maintain their level of giving due to losing a job or being unable to get a position that matched a previous salary, according to the study, the root of the problem involved Americans’ underlying attitudes toward charitable giving.

Most Americans, it seemed, tended to think of giving as secondary to their survival. They saw it as something extra or optional that they did when it was convenient. So, when finances got tight (or people became concerned that they might get tight) charitable giving was the first thing to go.

From a biblical perspective, that attitude is backward! Financial sowing is the key to financial reaping. So as Christians, when we’re faced with an economic downturn, giving should be our fundamental response.

As I was reading the report that day, The LORD confirmed this to me. He spoke up loud and clear in my spirit and instructed me to say to believers during that financially challenging time, “Now is not the time to quit tithing!”

On the contrary, He said, when financial trouble hits, rather than pulling back on the tithe, we ought to reconfirm our commitment to it. We ought to take a scriptural refresher course when we’re tempted to keep some of that 10% and remind ourselves of the benefits of tithing and the covenant BLESSINGS it secures for us.

Talk about a sure financial deal! In Malachi 3:10, God promises if you will bring all the tithe (the whole 10%) to Him, He’ll open the windows of heaven and pour His financial BLESSING out upon you. He even gives some extra assurance to you in case you’re not sure tithing will really work. “Try it out,” He says. “I’ll prove it to you!”

God doesn’t say that anywhere else in the Bible. But He said it about tithing. He also said in verse 11 that if you’ll tithe, He “will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.” In other words, God promised that your tithe will protect the other 90% of your income. It will stop the devil from stealing from you, and if you do experience loss or damage, God will see to it that loss is covered and you’re restored.

I like how Gloria puts it: “The tithe is foundational to your prosperity. It puts everything you have under divine warranty!”

Withholding the tithe, on the other hand, does the exact opposite. It undermines your prosperity and puts everything you have at risk. It turns you into a thief because when you keep the tithe, you’re taking something that doesn’t belong to you. As Leviticus 27 says:

All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is The LORD’S: it is holy unto The LORD…. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto The LORD (verses 30, 32).

The word holy means “separated to or set apart for God.” How do we, as New Testament believers, separate the tithe from ourselves and consecrate it to God?

We take it in faith to Jesus, our High Priest! We worship Him with it, put it into “the storehouse” (or the place where we’re spiritually fed) and go our way rejoicing, confident that no matter what happens in the world economy, The LORD of the tithe will take care of us.

Kenneth’s dad and mother, A.W. and Vinita Copeland, were wonderful examples of this. When they got married they committed to tithe, no matter what. Shortly thereafter, the Great Depression hit. But it didn’t alter their commitment. As A.W. told me in an interview I did with him for the Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine, “When I made Jesus The LORD of my life, I also made Him LORD over everything that I had. So, whether we were working for a salary or on the farm, we always tithed...and God really took care of us.

“He kept me in jobs when there were no jobs. He made sure that our every need was met. The Depression never did have any devastating effect on our lives. We never missed a payment on our home or any of the cars that we owned. I just kept on working and working and kept on tithing. We never lacked anything.”

Think of it! The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn this nation has ever experienced. Yet, even the Depression couldn’t stop God from providing. As long as A.W. and Vinita kept tithing, He was well able to keep the windows of heaven open over them and see to it that they were financially BLESSED!

30 “Individual Giving During Recession Fell More Sharply Than Predicted,” Philanthropy News Digest, April 26, 2011, https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/individual-giving-during-recession-fell-more-sharply-than-predicted (accessed May 16, 2022); “Recession Takes Toll on Charitable Giving,” NBC News, Source: Associated Press, June 10, 2009, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31193687, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31193687 (accessed May 16, 2009).

Day 56

Pastor George

Tithing the Tithe

Honor The LORD with your capital and sufficiency [from righteous labors] and with the firstfruits of all your income; so shall your storage places be filled with plenty, and your vats shall be overflowing with new wine.

(Proverbs 3:9-10, AMPC)

Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over.

(MSG)

There’s a difference between the tithe and tithing. The tithe is the first 10% of your income. It’s the tenth of the financial increase that comes into your household which, as we saw yesterday, belongs to God. Tithing, on the other hand, is the act of bringing to Him that 10%. It’s the faith action that sets the covenant of BLESSING in motion and opens the windows of heaven.

According to the Bible, how we go about taking that action matters!

We’re not supposed to treat our tithe the same way we do our electric bill; as just something to pay and get out of the way. We’re not to just hurriedly scribble out a check on the way to church, and mindlessly plunk it into the offering container when it’s passed during the service. No, true tithing involves honoring The LORD with our tithe.

How do we honor Him with it?

By handling it with respect and reverence. By bringing our tithes prayerfully and with love to “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus” who “receiveth them” in heaven (Hebrews 3:1, 7:8), and presenting them to Him with words of faith.

We see an example of how to do this in Deuteronomy 26. It records the instructions God gave the Israelites about how to handle the tithe once they arrived in the Promised Land. “Thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth,” He said, “which thou shalt bring of thy land that The LORD thy God giveth thee….”

And thou shalt go unto the priest…and say unto him, I profess this day unto The LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which The LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of The LORD thy God. And thou shalt speak and say before The LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: And when we cried unto The LORD God of our fathers, The LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression: And The LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm…And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me…. Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and BLESS thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us (verses 2-10, 15).

Notice in those verses God told the Israelites that when they tithed they were to remember all God had done for them. As believers, that’s what we’re to do, too! In much the same way the Israelites worshipped God over their tithes for delivering them out of the bondage of Egypt into the Promised Land, we’re to worship Him for delivering us “from the power of darkness…into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). For bringing us into a life where “all the promises of God…are Yes, and in [Jesus] Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20, NKJV). Like the Israelites did, we’re to thank God for all He’s done for us, and say, “LORD, here’s my tithe. Now, look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and BLESS me!”

There was a book written back in the 1940s that tells about a farmer named Perry Hayden[31] who decided to prove this out. After hearing his pastor preach about tithing, he embarked on an experiment to see just how much BLESSING it would produce. He started by sowing 1 cubic inch of wheat, or 360 kernels, on his farm and committing to The LORD that for the next six years he would tithe 10% of the harvest and sow the remainder the following season.

The first year, he planted the 360 kernels in a 4-by-8-foot plot of land. The second year, after tithing 10% of his harvest, he had to expand the plot to 24-by-60 feet to have room enough to plant the remainder of the seed. The third year, after tithing the 10%, he had to expand the plot to three-quarters of an acre. The fourth year, after tithing the 10%, he had to expand the plot to 14 acres. The fifth year, he had to expand to 230 acres. The sixth year, after tithing 10% of the harvest, he needed a plot of over 2600 acres to accommodate the 5,000 bushels of seed he had to sow.

The experiment worked! In six years, the original 360 kernels multiplied to become 55 billion, and Perry Hayden made $288,000 (that was a lot of money in 1940!) compared to the other farmers who made an average of $21,000.

As Gloria says, “Tithing gets God in on your deal!” Whatever your deal is—whether you’re a farmer or a teacher or preacher or something else—the tithe allows God to get involved and “increase you more and more, you and your children” (Palm 115:14).

So, make sure you honor God with your tithe. Don’t just pay it like a bill or plunk it in the offering plate. Make tithing an act of worship. Every time financial increase comes into your household, separate the tithe of it to God first thing, before you pay any other bills. Lay hands on it, pray over it, and present it to God with words of gratitude and faith.

Treat the tithe as precious. It is your prosperity!

Gloria-ism:

“Tithing gets God in on your deal!”

31 Raymond J. Jeffreys, God Is My Landlord (Tecumseh: Dynamic Kernels Foundation, 1967).

Day 57

Gloria

How to Believe God for a House (Part 1)

And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].

(2 Corinthians 9:8, AMPC)

In my experience, one of the greatest material blessings we can ever receive is the right home. Homes have always been very important to me. I don’t think that’s just because I’m a woman either. I’m convinced that for all of us—men as well as women—having the right place to live is vital to our well-being. Ken, for example, likes to say if it were left up to him he could live in a tree. But as his wife, I can tell you: It would have to be the perfect tree!

Why do homes matter to us so much? Because they matter to God! In the beginning, the first thing He did for Adam was give him a wonderful place to live. As Genesis 2:8 says, “The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden [delight]; and there He put the man whom He had formed” (AMPC). He did essentially the same thing for the Israelites in the Old Testament. He set aside a whole land for them—“a good land and…large…a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8).

God has a place like that for all of us. He has delightful homes for us to inhabit and enjoy—debt free!

Most people think buying a home without going into debt is impossible. I’ve even heard believers say, “Surely I don’t have to believe God for enough money to buy the right home without having to borrow!”

No, you don’t have to, but I happen to know it can be done. In fact, believing God for homes is my specialty. (Ken’s specialty is believing for airplanes. Between us, we have lodging and transportation covered!) A home was the first big thing I ever believed God for. And I had no choice but to believe Him to get it to us without our borrowing money because going into debt wasn’t an option for us.

We’d already made an irrevocable commitment to owe no man anything but to love him (Romans 13:8). We’d said, “If faith won’t get it, we won’t have it. If The WORD won’t get it, we don’t need it.”

In the natural, it looked to me like I was doomed. If we couldn’t take out a mortgage, how could I ever have the home I desired?

I found the answer in 2 Corinthians 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]” (AMPC).

I hung my faith on that scripture! When thoughts of doubt and unbelief would arise in my mind, I used it to chase them away. When Satan would say to me, “There is no way you are going to have your needs met. There is no way you can buy a house without going into debt. There is just no way!” I’d reply—

“Yes, there is a way. MY GOD IS ABLE.”

God is a real operator! He is ABLE to get things done! If you’re believing for a debt-free home (or for something else that looks impossible) according to The WORD, He is able to get it to you. Just put your faith in Him.

Don’t look to natural sources. Don’t look to your job. Don’t even try to figure out how God is going to bring His WORD to pass for you. Just trust Him and keep looking to Him. Keep your eye single on His WORD. Believe that He can and will work in your behalf and stand on His WORD in unwavering faith.

The unwavering part is vital. To waver means to doubt, and James 1 says:

He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of The LORD. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways (verses 6-8).

I’ve trained myself to not waver when I’m believing God for something. I’ve made the quality decision that His WORD is true. I absolutely believe it, and I’ve built into myself a reliance on it. I believe God’s Word more than I believe what I can see or feel.

Back in 1968, when I began believing God for our first home, I couldn’t see any evidence in the natural that it even existed. I couldn’t see in our bank account any evidence we could pay for it even if it did exist. I also had no idea how long it would take God to get it to us. But I made up my mind it didn’t matter. I trusted that God is able, that He would get my house to me…and sure enough, He did.

I once heard Kenneth E. Hagin say, “If you are determined to stand forever, it won’t take very long.” And in the overall scheme of things, it really didn’t take very long for us to get our house. It certainly didn’t take forever. It didn’t even take anywhere close to the 40 years the average mortgage payoff was back in those days.

No, God got our home to us a lot quicker than that! His ways are always higher than man’s ways. Whenever there is a choice between the world’s way and The WORD’s way, always go with The WORD. The world’s system may seem to be the easier way, but in the long run, God’s way is not only easier but far superior. He has certainly proven that to us.

He went to work on our home the moment I released my faith for it. And in a supernaturally short length of time (I’ll tell you in the next devotion exactly how long it was) He’d accomplished the impossible. He’d provided us with just the right home, a debt-free place of delight.

He can do the same for you.

Gloria-ism:

“If faith won’t get it, we won’t have it. If The WORD won’t get it, we don’t need it.”

Day 58

Gloria

How to Believe God for a House (Part 2)

The LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you…great and goodly cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and cisterns hewn out which you did not hew, and vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant….

(Deuteronomy 6:10-11, AMPC)

I began believing God for the perfect home in 1968, when we were living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the very same time, a lady in Fort Worth, Texas, began building her home. She had the plans drawn and saw to the purchasing of the materials personally. The floor plan of the house exactly fit the needs of our family. In addition to the living space, there was a study in the back of the house, seemingly tailor-made for studying the Word and writing. Since that’s what Ken and I are most often doing when we’re at home, the arrangement was perfect for us.

Isn’t that amazing? When we released our faith for a house, God went to work for us immediately. There was no evidence of it for us to see. We didn’t know that house in Fort Worth even existed. But we’d learned to look to The WORD for evidence and not to circumstances.

Six years passed before we saw that house. We were living in Fort Worth by that time, and it was for sale. So, always on the lookout for the home God had for us, one day we went to look at it. Initially, I didn’t really know if it was what I had in mind. I thought it needed too much remodeling. Over the next few days, however, The LORD started showing me things I could do to fix it up.

The owners were very eager to sell. The house had sat empty for months, and they wanted to get rid of it. They’d even given it away once and then gotten it back. (They couldn’t even give it away. That was our home!)

We told them we would lease the house for a year, and at the end of the year we would pay cash for it. At the time, we didn’t have that much cash in the bank and had no reason in the natural to expect to have it. But in the spirit, we knew our God was able. So, we went ahead with the deal and moved in.

When we did, I was faced with a decision: Should we start remodeling the home or should we wait? We did have some money saved, but I thought: This home is not legally ours yet. It would really be unwise to put thousands of dollars into a house that doesn’t even belong to us. What was I to do?

At that point, I had to act on my faith. I decided this was my house: I had believed I received it, and it was mine, in the Name of Jesus. So, as an act of faith, I went to work, calling in people to start remodeling.

During that year, Satan would say to me, “That sure is a lot of money for you to lose.” But I would answer, “No, this is my house, and it will be paid for in July. We will pay cash for it. I believe we have the money, in the Name of Jesus!”

Maintaining that stand wasn’t easy. Paying cash for a home challenged our faith. We’d stepped into a situation that was beyond our natural ability or means. But we were trusting The WORD of God to perform and accomplish our goal, and The WORD came to our rescue with further revelation!

One day, as I was standing in my house looking out the window and thinking about these things, God gave me what I call a revelation of divine prosperity. He showed me I had been looking at finances and prosperity differently than I did divine health. If a symptom of sickness came on my body, I wouldn’t stand for it. I’d take authority over it immediately and not allow it to remain because I understood that under the new covenant, divine health belonged to me.

Divine prosperity also belongs to us under the new covenant. But I hadn’t approached it the same way I did healing. I would allow symptoms of lack to come on me and stay there. I would tolerate them.

Suddenly, I realized: I don’t have to do that!

Neither do you.

According to Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us,” and poverty is part of the curse just as sickness is. So, you don’t have to put up with either one of them. Divine prosperity is yours just as surely as divine health! Both blessings belong to you and to all of us as believers. Jesus paid a heavy price for us to have them, and we should not neglect either one of them. We should refuse lack just as quickly as we refuse sickness. We should be as unwilling to accept anything less than divine prosperity as we are to accept anything less than divine health.

Isaiah 1:19 says, “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” The word willing there is an action word. It doesn’t mean just to passively accept something or allow it to happen. It means a decision has been made. I will do this!

When I made that decision about prospering, I took another step toward receiving my perfect, debt-free house. When you make that decision, you will too—and Satan won’t be able to stop you. He can no more stop the flow of God’s financial blessings in your life once you decide you will walk in them than He could stop you from getting born again when you decided to receive Jesus as your LORD according to Romans 10:9-10.

Once you decided to do that, salvation became yours immediately. There was no struggle. Salvation was offered and you took it. So it is with Bible prosperity. You begin to walk in divine prosperity with a decision to no longer allow Satan to put lack on you.

Make this your confession today: “God’s blessing of prosperity belongs to me, and I have made my decision—I WILL receive it. Symptoms of lack have no right to operate against me. I refuse to give them any place in my life. Divine prosperity is mine in Christ Jesus, and I take it now!”

In the next devotion, I’ll share with you another revelation God gave me that helped me receive His gift of a wonderful, debt-free home.

Day 59

Gloria

How to Believe God for a House (Part 3)

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.

(Isaiah 53:5, AMPC)

The second revelation I received that helped me believe for the money to pay cash for our house was this: When Jesus bore the curse for us on the cross, He bore our chastisement so that we could have “peace and well-being.” The Hebrew word translated peace means “nothing missing, nothing broken.” We can’t have peace and well-being when our financial needs aren’t met! To have nothing missing, we must have everything we need.

Therefore, peace and prosperity go hand in hand!

God confirmed this in Isaiah 48:18 when He said to the Israelites, “Oh, that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace and prosperity would have been like a flowing river” (AMPC). He also confirmed it in Genesis 15:1 when He said to Abraham: “Fear not…I am your Shield, your abundant compensation” (AMPC).

The term abundant compensation is far-reaching. It encompasses everything good, including wealth. God’s abundant compensation enveloped Abraham in a blanket of well-being and made him a “very rich” man (Genesis 13:2). The same abundant compensation God gave him is now ours as believers. It’s part of our peace and Jesus bought and paid for it. It’s ours now as heirs of THE BLESSING of Abraham.

What’s more, in Christ, God has restored to us the authority over the earth He gave Adam and Eve in the beginning. He “blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion…” (Genesis 1:28, AMPC). He didn’t say, “I will subdue the earth for you.” He said, “You subdue it and have dominion.”

The LORD reminded me of this one day during that year we were leasing our house, and gave me yet another revelation that helped me tremendously. He made me to realize that every material thing that exists on this planet came from the earth’s vast resources, and I already had dominion over those resources. I had authority over every piece of lumber, brick, glass, concrete and mortar in the house we were believing for, and every dollar needed to pay for that house. I just needed to use it.

So, I did! I said, “In the Name of Jesus, I command this specific amount of money (the amount we needed to pay for the house) to come to me. I take my place in Christ and exercise my dominion over that which I need. Ministering spirits, in Jesus’ Name, you go and cause the money to come.”

It’s important to note, I wasn’t taking authority over something that belonged to someone else. That house was for sale. The previous owners had relinquished their authority over it when they put it on the market. I had the right to take authority over it and receive it as mine.

What happened after I did that? The money came in. I’m still not sure how, except by faith in God’s Word. All I know is that the end of the year, we were able to pay cash for our “faith house.”

“But it took more than six years for you to get into that house, and another year to get the money to pay for it,” somebody might say. “That’s almost eight years.”

So? If we’d borrowed the money and paid the house off according to the bank’s plan, we would have been paying on it for 40 years. When you think of it like that, eight years doesn’t seem so long. In fact, it seems pretty fast, given that in 1968 Ken and I had hardly scratched the surface of revelation knowledge. We’d just realized that faith works. We didn’t know how God’s system of prosperity worked. Since then, we’ve learned a lot more. The next house we paid cash for some years later was many times more expensive and we had the cash in three weeks.

Today, our ministry’s monthly television bill alone is well over a million dollars. We would never be able to borrow that much money each month. If we had not committed to stay out of debt all those years ago, we would not know what we know today about God’s system of finance. We’d be limited to this world’s system of borrowing. But because we made a commitment to God’s WORD, to “owe no man anything,” thank God, borrowed money is not our source—HE IS!

The Word of God is your source of prosperity too. It’s the source of everything you need in life. But you can’t receive those things just because I tell you about them. You must take the scriptures on prosperity and meditate on them. You must get them down on the inside of you until they become a reality in your heart and you know prosperity belongs to you.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by The WORD of God. So, instead of looking to people to meet your needs, keep looking to the Word. When Satan tries to convince you that you can never walk in prosperity because of the circumstances around you, look at the Word that says it is yours.

Once you really have a revelation of divine prosperity in your spirit, it becomes rock-solid inside you. Satan can’t talk you out of it. The news reporters can’t talk you out of it. The government can’t talk you out of it. All the economic bad news in the world can’t talk you out of it. Because your faith isn’t based on what the newspapers or the government or the world is saying.

It’s based on the everlasting, unchanging WORD of God that never fails!

Day 60

Gloria

How to Believe for a House (Part 4)

Thus you will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous, and [your generosity as it is] administered by us will bring forth thanksgiving to God.

(2 Corinthians 9:11, AMPC)

There are different degrees of lack, just as there are different kinds of sickness. A headache is one thing; terminal cancer is another. The former is minor compared to the latter, but I wouldn’t enjoy either one of them. In the same way, there are different degrees of lack. Not having enough money to buy a house (or a car, or something else that you need) without borrowing is one thing. Not having enough food to eat or enough money to buy the basics for survival is another.

Again, neither would be enjoyable. So, I refuse to put up with either one. Why should I? Why should I settle for only a part of THE BLESSING of Abraham? The WORD says I’m entitled to all of it.

You are too if you’re a believer! You are just as entitled to have a perfect, debt-free home as you are to have enough money to buy groceries. So why not believe for both? Why live below your privileges in Christ? Why not take the WORD, drive lack and debt out of your life completely and keep prospering until you’re “enriched in all things, and in every way, so that you can be generous” and your generosity can bring forth thanksgiving to God?

After all, The WORD will work for you just like it does for Ken and me. Ken wrote a letter to our Partners reminding them of this not long after we bought our first house. Since I can’t put it any better than he did, here’s exactly what he said:

Just How Far Will You Go on The WORD?

A Partner Letter by Kenneth Copeland

Dear Partner,

Mark 4:20: “And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear The WORD, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.”

Jesus was teaching on the sower soweth The WORD. The object of His teaching was how to produce a hundredfold in this life by using God’s WORD. Notice in verse 20 it says, “…some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.” Why did some produce more than others? Were the people who produced a hundredfold better ground than those who only brought forth thirty or sixtyfold? No. The WORD says they were all good ground. We know that God is no respecter of persons, so He didn’t just decide to BLESS one more than the other. They all heard The WORD and received it. Something had to make the difference.

We hear people say things like, “Well, you know, these things are not just meant to work for some as well as they do for others.” Of course, the person who thinks that way always places himself in the category with those for whom it does not work as well.

If we read the rest of Jesus’ teaching through verse 32, we find that the seed, or The WORD, is what produces. Once we see this, it is obvious that the amount of production is in direct relation to the amount of seed sown. Remember, we are not talking about sowing in bad ground. We have already come past that. We are talking about different levels of production in good ground.

Ask yourself these questions: “Just how far will I go on The WORD? Where is my compromise point?” The WORD says in Ephesians 6: “Having done all, to stand.”

Many people ask me if I believe it is a sin to borrow money. The answer is no. It is no more a sin to go to a banker than to go to a doctor. Of course, there are instances that it would be sin—to borrow knowing you can’t pay it back is sin.

When God told Israel that He would make them plenteous in goods and they would lend to many and borrow from none, He meant He would supply them better than if they went to another nation.

The point I want to make is this. When Gloria and I decided to owe no man anything, we made that decision to glorify God and please God by walking in faith. We started by making the quality decision to borrow no more and release our faith to pay all the debts we owed. We were faced with believing for our everyday supply.

We learned to believe for the small things first. As God taught us to prosper, the day came when we knew we were ready to have a home. We were faced with the same question I told you to ask yourself. How far will we go on The WORD? We made the decision then that if we ever had a choice, we would use our faith instead of some other source.

It took nearly eight years to get that house by faith. We were in a good enough financial position to have borrowed the money and lived in a better house than the one we were living in all those eight years. Believe me, the faith way was better.

We have the perfect home. It is not just a nice home. It became ours through God working miracles. We began by producing thirtyfold. We grew to sixtyfold. We have grown in this area to a hundredfold on God’s WORD. Each time before we grew, we were faced with the same question: How far will I go? The WORD is strong enough in any situation we are ever faced with to go all the way.

Once the decision is made to increase our capacity for faith and grow in any area, we must then begin to meditate The WORD in that area. Give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to teach us and train us in what we need to know in order to produce the hundredfold.

Then came confession. The words of our mouths must continually confess The WORD that we are meditating. We must not tolerate any thoughts or actions that do not correspond to what we are meditating and confessing. Having done all to stand, stand therefore, forever if necessary. The growth will come.

You will not only be BLESSED with the manifestation of what you have believed for, but you will be filled with the joy of knowing your Father is pleased—which is far greater than any physical manifestation of any kind. You hear His voice deep in your spirit saying, Well done, good and faithful servant.

Jesus Is LORD,

Kenneth Copeland

Day 61

Pastor George

Jesus—Our Jubilee!

Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you.

(Leviticus 25:9-11)

I want to confess something that I believe will encourage you if you’re tempted to condemn yourself for getting into debt. Unlike Kenneth and Gloria, who have never borrowed money to buy a home, Pastor Terri and I have.

Twice.

The first time was early in our marriage. We’d been living in a rental house for a while, when Pastor Terri’s grandparents bought a house and, rather than moving into it themselves, decided to sell it to us. We hadn’t developed our faith enough at that time to buy it without borrowing. So, we took up the payments ourselves. We lived in that house for years and it was a BLESSING. Eventually, we almost had it paid off and The LORD spoke to us and told us to sow it to another family.

Actually, Pastor Terri heard Him say it before I did and mentioned it to me. “Pastor George, what would you think about sowing this house?” she asked. A year later, I answered her. (Yes, that’s how long I had to think about it!) In 1998, while on a plane coming home from a Believers’ Convention in England, I looked at her and said, “It’s time to sow the house.” At The LORD’s instruction, we finished paying it off, then fixed it up so the family that would be receiving it would come into a beautiful home. Then, we sowed it.

Afterward, we needed some place to live, of course, so we found another house to buy. And guess what? We borrowed to get into it!

By then, my faith had developed to the place where I could have exercised a little more patience and believed to buy a home without going into debt. But I didn’t. And one day while Brother Copeland and I were on the Believer’s Voice of Victory broadcast together, Brother Copeland pointed that out. “Pastor George,” he said, “you got out of debt before you sowed your previous house. Why did you borrow on the next one?”

We were on TV when he asked me that question—recording a broadcast that was going to be seen worldwide! Our Partners still remind me of it today. I saw it myself again some months later on a ministry trip to Moscow. I turned on the TV in my hotel room and there was Kenneth asking me (in Russian!), “Pastor George, why did you go back into debt?”

Not my finest moment. But I’m grateful for it because, as a result, Pastor Terri and I stirred up our faith and began moving toward getting out of debt as quickly as we could. It took a little time, but The LORD helped us do it. He supernaturally sped up the process, and as I write this we’ve been living in our perfect debt-free home for many years.

Don’t you love Him? Even when you get yourself into debt or some other kind of financial mess when (like us) you should have known better, Jesus never condemns you. He doesn’t say, “Well, you made your bed, now you’ll just have to lie in it. You’ll have to make payments for another 30 or 40 years before you can be financially free.” No! He still says today what He said in Luke 4:

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 (verses 18-19).

In other words, Jesus is still preaching the good news that even if you’ve borrowed yourself into the poor house you don’t have to stay poor. You don’t have to be brokenhearted over the debts you’ve incurred and remain captive to them. You don’t have to live blind, unable to see any way you can ever be financially free. Jesus has come to deliver you. He’s come to proclaim to you “the acceptable year of The LORD.”

The acceptable year of The LORD in the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition, is translated the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound. In Isaiah 61:2, The Message says it is the year of His grace, and Brenton calls it the day of recompense.

In Leviticus 25:13, however, it’s called the Year of Jubilee (AMPC).

As I’ve mentioned before, the Jubilee was a time of release and restoration. God commanded the Jews to celebrate it every 50 years. The celebration began with a trumpet blast on the Day of Atonement and lasted one entire year. During that time, all property was returned to its original owner, all slaves were set free, and all debts were canceled. No one in the nation was excluded from the release. Social status, skin color, sex or financial position didn’t matter; every inhabitant of the land could reclaim the property that belonged to them 50 years before.

Once the year was over though, if you got into debt or financial trouble again, you were sunk. You had to wait for the Jubilee to come back around to be liberated from it. But when Jesus proclaimed the acceptable year of The LORD, after reading about it from Isaiah 61:1-2, He said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears,” or as another translation puts it, “What you have just heard…has come true today” (Luke 4:21, CEV).

That day, the Jubilee ceased to simply be a year in time and became a Person. Jesus became our Eternal Jubilee! If we get into financial trouble or bondage, we don’t have to wait another 50 years to get out of it. We don’t even have to wait another 50 days, or 50 minutes. We can repent right away, receive our release, and get supernatural help from God.

If you have a debt load in your life that’s been weighing you down, go ahead and do that! Instead of condemning yourself, take your stand on God’s WORD, commit to do whatever He tells you, and say by faith, “Debt, I speak to you now in Jesus’ Name and command you to be removed from me! I lay claim to my inheritance as a believer. I have been set free from debt, lack and poverty! I walk in THE BLESSING of Abraham because Jesus is here, and He is my Jubilee!”

Day 62

Pastor George

A Kingdom Transfer

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

(Colossians 1:12-14)

Watching Brother Copeland operate as a minister and a pilot over the years, I’ve learned how important recurrent training is. He’s been flying for years, and his aviation skills are top-notch, yet he routinely returns to flight school to learn more and to go back over what he already knows. He’s preached faith for more than 50 years, yet he continually returns to the same scriptures he’s been studying ever since he first heard the Word of Faith.

Recurrent training helps keep him sharp and proficient in both of those areas.

The same principle applies to divine prosperity. To operate in it consistently and effectively, we must regularly return to certain fundamental truths. One of those truths, which I’ve touched on in previous devotions, is this: As believers we are in this world, but we are not of it.

We are not subject to the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) or to the world’s failing economic system. We have been translated out of that system into another Kingdom. God “has rescued us,” Colossians 1:13 says. He has “delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and dominion of darkness” (AMPC).

The word darkness there refers to everything that originates with the devil—both spiritually and in the natural. Sin, for example, is darkness. Sickness is darkness. Lack is darkness. Debt is darkness. Poverty is darkness. Shortages, famines, economic downturns, along with all the other things listed in Deuteronomy 28 as being under the curse, are manifestations of darkness—and in Jesus we’ve been delivered from them. We don’t have to put up with them anymore! Or, to put it more directly, YOU don’t have to put up with them anymore.

As a born-again child of God, you are no longer under the dominion, dictates and laws of satan’s dark kingdom. You’ve been delivered out from under its control. A kingdom transfer has taken place in your life. You’re now a citizen of heaven. You’re part of “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

It may sound like I’m repeating myself, but walking in this revelation requires repetition. To keep it alive in you, you must remind yourself of it repeatedly.

Why? Because the devil, the world, religious tradition and people who just don’t know any better will constantly try to talk you out of it. They’ll repeatedly say things like, “You can’t expect to be delivered from the evil of this world until after you die and go to heaven. Jesus said, ‘In this world you will have trouble.’”

You want to be ready all the time to answer such arguments. You want your mind to be so renewed with God’s WORD that anytime such thoughts come to you, you immediately remember what else Jesus said. About the world’s trouble, He said, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He said our heavenly Father will “deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). He said about us in His prayer in John 17, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (verses 14-15).

What’s more, the New Testament epistles confirm all those statements. They tell us:

- “Our LORD Jesus Christ…gave (yielded) Himself up…for our sins…in order to rescue and deliver us from this present wicked age and world order, in accordance with the will and purpose and plan of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:3-4, AMPC).

- “He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world” (2 Peter 1:4, AMPC).

- “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” (Galatians 3:13-14).

One time when Gloria and I were teaching about this on the television broadcast, she held up her Bible and said, “This is our D and B Report! It’s our Deliverance and Blessing Report!” That sums it up, doesn’t it? In Christ Jesus, the Bible says, we are delivered out of the curse and into THE BLESSING. We’re delivered out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of light.

Meditate often on that fact. Make the reality of the kingdom transfer part of your recurrent spiritual training so that when economic trouble hits this world, you remember:

I am not subject to the times. The times are subject to me.

I don’t just survive in God’s kingdom—I thrive!

I live independent of circumstances.

I live in THE BLESSING of Kingdom prosperity.

Day 63

Pastor George

Seek First the Kingdom

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?... Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

(Matthew 6:25-33)

One of our ministry Partners shared with us a while back how much he was enjoying life in the kingdom of God. He told us that knowing God is his financial Source has set him free to give and receive as never before. For example, he said, “The other night at 2:30 in the morning, God spoke to me and my wife to give a certain man a hundred dollars. We did, and that very day someone called us and BLESSED us with $1500.”

What’s more, he said, this wasn’t an isolated event. Such things happen to him all the time. “I’m telling you, BLESSINGS are constantly coming on me. They chase me down!” he exclaimed, and then added: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. It’s just that simple. Don’t seek things. Seek God!”

How do you seek God?

The word seek in Hebrew means “to research, to diligently inquire and to investigate, or consult.” So, for one thing, seeking God means you continually study His WORD. You don’t just read it. You give it first place in your life and make it your final authority. You research it diligently, investigate it, and constantly consult it to find out more about God and about how His kingdom operates.

In all the years I’ve known Kenneth and Gloria, they’ve never stopped seeking God in His WORD. It doesn’t matter to them that they’ve been preaching The WORD for 50 years, they still study it. They don’t ever just sit back and say, “Well, I’ve learned all I need to know. I’m satisfied now.” No, they’re still pressing in to learn more because they love The LORD and they understand that as BLESSED as they are, there are still more Kingdom BLESSINGS for them to lay hold of.

God’s kingdom is limitless! You can find in it everything you could ever need. Whatever lack you might have, God has already made provision for it in His kingdom. As 2 Peter 1:3 says, “His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,” and we access it “through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.”

The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition adds the words full, personal knowledge to that verse. Full and personal knowledge doesn’t come from just a superficial acquaintance with God’s WORD. It comes from spending serious time in it. From fellowshipping with God over the Scriptures, taking them to heart, and applying them in your life.

Sadly, many believers never get around to doing this. They get born again and that’s as far as they go, so they never learn to reach out with their faith and take possession of their Kingdom BLESSINGS. What a tragedy! That’s like having a vast fortune sitting in the bank and never learning how to withdraw it—never learning how to write a check.

“But Pastor George, I have been studying The WORD but so far God’s BLESSINGS have not been chasing me down the way your ministry Partner described.”

Stick with the program and they will! Continue looking into The WORD as into a mirror, “being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer,” as James 1:25 says, and you “shall be BLESSED.”

Am I sure?

Absolutely. The Bible leaves no doubt about it. It connects seeking The LORD with financial BLESSING time and again, not only in the New Testament but in the Old, in verses like these:

- “As long as [Uzziah] sought The LORD, God made him to prosper” (2 Chronicles 26:5).

- “O taste and see that The LORD is good: BLESSED is the man that trusteth in him. O fear The LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek The LORD shall not want any good thing” (Psalm 34:8-10).

- “Those who seek The LORD’s help have all the good things they need…. they…shall not be deprived of any good” (Psalm 34:10, GW; Psalm 33:11, DRB).

- “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures” (Proverbs 8:17-21).

Those verses, and the promises in them, belong to you as a seeker of The LORD. Feed your faith on them and lay claim to them today!

Day 64

Pastor George

Always Plenty in the Kingdom

There was a famine in the land, as bad as the famine during the time of Abraham. And Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

(Genesis 26:1, MSG)

I’ve never been through a literal famine like the ones Abraham and Isaac experienced. I have, however, been in some less-than-prosperous places. On my first trip to Texas with Pastor Terri in 1976, for example, she took me on a tour of downtown Fort Worth. As a Yankee, it looked to me like a ghost town! I imagine it had once been a thriving place but at that time it was desolate.

Desolate or not, though, I soon made Fort Worth my home. I moved there to go on staff at KCM, Pastor Terri and I married, and I was thrilled to be there because that’s where God had called me to be. It’s where my God-ordained assignment was. It still is.

I’ve been here for over 45 years now, and throughout that time, along with many other believers, I’ve continued to pray over this city. Those of us at KCM and our congregation at EMIC have continued to decree The WORD over it. We’ve continued to call Fort Worth a city of God, a city of righteousness. Why? Because we’ve learned through Brother Copeland that being BLESSED is being empowered to prosper and to carry THE BLESSING everywhere we go.

Today downtown Fort Worth is as different from when I first saw it as night and day. It’s a lovely, thriving city. It’s safe. It’s a place people like to go to enjoy themselves. Those who come to our Believers’ Conventions here talk about how beautiful it is.

That’s the result of THE BLESSING! The conditions of God’s kingdom are manifesting here because God has people in this city who are believing His WORD and doing what He called them to do here.

“Yes, but Pastor George, like you said, even in 1976, Fort Worth wasn’t as bad as a lot of places are. It wasn’t literally in famine.”

True. That’s why in building my faith to be BLESSED and a BLESSING even in the hardest of times, I repeatedly go back to what happened with Isaac in the land of Gerar. I’ve said this before but I’ve been delivered from the fear of repetition, so I’m going to say it again: Isaac is the picture of a Kingdom man who flourished during a serious economic downturn. In Gerar, he was in famine—but he remained untouched by it.

That was nothing short of a miracle! According to Genesis 26:1 the famine Isaac faced in Gerar was as bad as the one that struck during the time of Abraham. And Genesis 12:10 says the one in Abraham’s day was grievous, severe, a hard famine and intense (KJV, NIV, MSG, AMPC). There was a severe shortage of everything, extreme scarcity, and people everywhere were left wanting and falling financially short.

In other words, Gerar was in a world of hurt when Isaac arrived there. Yet he wound up staying there anyway. He hadn’t planned to. He’d originally intended to pass through that famine-stricken land and go on to Egypt where the prospects were better. But when he got to Gerar, God stopped him and said, “I want you to stay right here.” He wanted Isaac to bring change to that place, to bring THE BLESSING into manifestation there. And that’s exactly what Isaac did.

As believers, it’s what we do too. When tough economic times hit, we don’t run around searching frantically for an escape. We don’t wring our hands and worry about shortages and scarcity, about being left wanting financially and falling short. No! There’s always plenty in the kingdom of God, and we’re kingdom people. We carry THE BLESSING of kingdom prosperity wherever we go.

In the worst of times just as in the best of times we “flourish like the palm tree” (Psalm 92:12). We’re “like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit” (Jeremiah 17:8, NLT).

Even when unemployment is sky-high, we have the best jobs. In fact, we have something even better. As The LORD said to me one Sunday morning as I was preaching about this, we have Kingdom assignments. That means if you get laid off from one job, you’re sure to find another because The LORD always has an assignment for you. You just have to seek Him and find out what it is.

I remember one man who testified about this on the Believer’s Voice of Victory broadcast. He told how after a season of really focusing on THE BLESSING and seeing himself as prosperous, The LORD spoke to him one day. You’re going to be laid off, He said, but don’t worry. I have you in My hand.

Sure enough, within minutes he got a call from his employer and was informed his job had been eliminated. “When it happened, I was in total peace,” he said. “I knew it was God’s plan, and He was aligning me for what He wanted me to do.” An hour and a half later, he got a text inviting him to interview for another job. The salary was $18,000 less a year, but The LORD said to him, Make no decisions based on money. So, he went ahead and set up the interview.

“That day when I got home, there was a check for over $3,000 in the mail from the IRS,” he said. “It was equal to what I owed on my car, minus $1.23. Someone I knew wanted to pay the $1.23, and when they did, The LORD said to me, Pay $60 toward their car, because you owe $6,000 on your wife’s car. I did, and a couple of days later, I got another letter from the IRS that said, ‘We’re sending you another check for $6,100.’ Long story short, in the two weeks I was laid off, over $17,000 came in, in increments equal to the debts I owed, to get me out of debt.”

That’s what Kingdom living looks like! God immediately supplied that man with his next assignment, and more than made up for the difference in salary by paying off all his debts and saving him who knows how much in interest. Plus, the man was able to BLESS someone else in the process.

Say it right now, “There’s always plenty to go around in the kingdom of God!”

Day 65

Pastor George

A Feast of Abundance

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

(Psalm 23:4-5)

It’s wonderful enough to know there’s always plenty in the kingdom of God. But what’s even more wonderful is this: You know the King of that kingdom. Because of what Jesus did for you, you’re royalty there (1 Peter 2:9). You have a standing invitation to dine at the table of heaven’s King.

You can come to His table anytime you want and receive whatever you need there. You can feast on heaven’s abundance right in the middle of this famine-susceptible, sin-darkened world. And try as they may, there’s nothing the devil and his bunch can do to stop you.

One time I was praying about this, and The LORD reminded me of a TV show I used to watch when I was a kid. Centered on a bunch of crime-fighting federal agents the worst gangsters of the day couldn’t seem to touch, the show was called The Untouchables. That’s who you as believers are in these times, The LORD told me. You are the untouchables! Untouchable by the devil. Untouchable by famine and lack. Dining on God’s sufficiency in the presence of our enemies.

It doesn’t matter how many troubles the devil piles up around us in this natural world. He might pile a stock market crash on top of a worldwide pandemic, on top of a surge in unemployment, on top of something else, and our God will lift us above the whole pile and go right on providing for us!

As Job 5 says, “He shall deliver you in six troubles, Yes, in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He shall redeem you from death…. and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes. You shall laugh at destruction and famine…. You shall know that your tent is in peace; you shall visit your dwelling and find nothing amiss (verses 19-22, 24, NKJV).

I’m telling you, it pays to know people in high places—and there’s nobody higher than The LORD! As your Shepherd and King, He will BLESS you so bountifully in times of famine that in addition to having plenty yourself, you’ll be able to help those who don’t yet know how to receive from Him. You’ll be able to BLESS them financially, to share with them what The WORD says, and encourage them. And if they haven’t met Him already, you’ll be able to introduce them to the King.

That’s your purpose for being here! It’s the primary reason you want to prosper on this earth. You don’t just want to have a lot of stuff. Your motivation for accumulation is distribution. You want to prosper so that you can BLESS people in this world, show them how good God is, and help bring them to Him.

For you to do so, though, especially when this world is suffering financially, you must take your place at His table. You must stand by faith on scriptures like this: “The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied” (Psalm 37:18-19). The Hebrew word translated satisfied means “to have enough, to be filled up, and to have plenty.” It means God will supply until no more is needed.

In 2009, at a time when the world economy was in awfully bad shape, Brother Copeland delivered a prophetic word about this at a Believers’ Convention. He said:

I have plans that you have never dreamed of, saith The LORD. They are beyond your wildest imagination…. Heaven is overloaded with things that I have prepared for your enjoyment, if you will simply come to that place where you just say, “God, I am so grateful,” and give Me an opportunity.

Become a giver and not a taker. Become a thinker like I think. I will think through your mind. I will see through your eyes. I will speak through your lips. I will give you power within that is far greater than anything you have ever imagined.

I need you to help Me in these end times to raise up an army of believers. And you are My key personnel. I don’t need you broke! I don’t need you sick! I need you healed and well! I paid for it! Come and get it! Come and dine! Come and dine! Come to the table! I have prepared a table in the presence of your enemies.

This is not a heavenly feast. You don’t have any enemies in heaven! This is a feast of abundance in the valley of the shadow of death. Fear not the shadow of death nor the valley therein. I am your LORD and your Savior. I am The LORD of Hosts, and I am the biggest thing in the valley.

Have no fear, for the table is full. Come and dine. Come and dine. Pass the healing. Pass the debt-free pudding. Pass the miracles down here on this end of the table. Come and dine. Come and dine.[32]

32 “A Feast of Abundance in the Valley of the Shadow of Death,” word from The LORD through Kenneth Copeland, Southwest Believers’ Convention, Aug. 7, 2009 © 2009 Kenneth Copeland. All rights reserved.

Day 66

Pastor George

Obedience Opens the Door

And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. And The LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will BLESS thee.

(Genesis 26:1-3)

God was saying more than you might think when He told Isaac not to go down to Egypt. The phrase go down, in Hebrew, means “to descend.” It let Isaac know that if he went to Egypt (or to the heathen) to escape the famine, he would be lowering himself. He would be exchanging the high ways of God for the lowly ways of the world.

According to The Chumash, the Jewish sage Rashi[33] commented that God actually said to Isaac, “Do not descend to Egypt. For you are an unblemished offering, and it does not befit you to reside outside the [Promised] land.”[34] That was a very strong and clear command. Whether Isaac chose to obey it though, was up to him. He could have disregarded what God said. He could have continued on to Egypt (which in the natural made more sense) and gotten out of God’s will. But he didn’t. He chose to obey instead. And by doing so, he taught us all a very important lesson: Obedience opens the door to Kingdom prosperity!

Especially when you’re facing financial pressure, that’s something you want to remember. When you’re tempted to descend back into an Egyptian mindset—to try to save money by not tithing, for instance, or to just run to the bank to borrow money—you need to listen to and obey God. He’s still saying to us today what He said in Genesis 26:2: “Don’t go to Egypt for your BLESSING. I’m here. I’ll take care of you. Come to Me!”

I like the way Gloria puts this. She says, “Don’t go to the world, go to the Word!” Keep renewing your mind with God’s WORD so that you think and act like He thinks and acts. No matter what happens, maintain a Kingdom mindset. Put your faith in God’s BLESSING, then do whatever He tells you to do and go wherever He tells you to go.

In his book, THE BLESSING of The LORD Makes Rich and He Adds No Sorrow With It, Brother Copeland wrote:

If we’ll just believe what the Bible says about us and walk in the covenant of love, THE BLESSING will produce the conditions of the Garden of Eden around us as surely as it did for the Israelites in the Promised Land. In fact, it will do even more for us than it did for them. Because we carry THE BLESSING inside us wherever we go, God can send us to the hardest, thistle-growing, demon-infested place, and we can go with joy. We don’t have to argue with Him about it. We don’t have to complain and drag our feet. We can go in faith knowing that God is sending us there not to live in squalor but to release THE BLESSING that’s within us and turn that dark corner of the world into a milk-and-honey kind of place.[35]

The place of obedience is always where THE BLESSING is! That’s why here at the ministry when people call and say, “We want to move to Eagle Mountain so we can go to church there,” we always ask them if they’ve heard from The LORD about it. “He may want you to come here,” we say, “or He may want you to stay where you are and allow THE BLESSING to work in you there.”

The important thing in every decision you make is that it lines up with the written WORD and the leading of the Holy Spirit. If it does all will be well. For the Bible says:

- “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. If you’ll willingly obey, you’ll feast like kings” (Isaiah 1:19, KJV, MSG).

- “If they listen and obey God, they will be BLESSED with prosperity throughout their lives” (Job 36:11, NLT).

- “If you fully obey The LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, The LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these BLESSINGS if you obey The LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2, NLT).

One of my favorite illustrations of how obedience opens the door to prosperity is a story Brother Copeland tells about a time early in his ministry when he was believing God for two big things at the same time. No. 1, he was believing for a larger airplane because the ministry had outgrown the 1959 Cessna they had at the time. Second, he was believing for $50,000 to produce a television broadcast.

One day, he asked The LORD, “How will I ever be able to get a new airplane and do this television project?”

The LORD said, You know exactly how to do that. Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

Later, during a meeting, Brother Copeland and Jerry Savelle agreed to get up at 5:00 each morning to pray about this situation. God confirmed to them exactly what to do—and Brother Copeland immediately obeyed: He and Gloria sowed their Cessna 310 into another ministry.

At the time, that was a big seed. The plane’s worth was $25,000, or three fourths of the ministry’s assets. Ten days after they sowed it, a woman walked into the Copelands’ office. She said God had miraculously BLESSED some stock she owned. Then she presented Brother Copeland with a check for $250,000—exactly what was needed to purchase the plane he was believing for and to move ahead with the television project!

After Brother Copeland told me that story, The LORD gave me this phrase: Your prosperity is on the other side of your obedience.

That was true for Isaac. It’s true for Brother Copeland, and it’s true for you and me. So make this your daily commitment, and you will prosper. Say, “LORD, I will fully obey You today!”

Gloria-ism:

“Don’t go to the world, go to the Word!”

33 Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (1040-1105 A.D.), known as Rashi, was a prominent Jewish commentator on the Torah.

34 The Chumash, Bereishis/Genesis, Personal Size Ed., Commentary on Genesis 26:2, p. 129.

35 Kenneth Copeland, THE BLESSING of The LORD Makes Rich and He Adds No Sorrow With It: Proverbs 10:22 (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 2011).

Day 67

Pastor George

Kingdom Increase

The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my WORD. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

(Isaiah 55:10-11, NLT)

At the end of every school year the youth group at our church has a “School’s Out Party.” One year, the festivities included watermelon and volleyball. Sometime after the party that year our grounds maintenance team noticed something unusual. Sprouts began to appear around the volleyball court. As they grew, they produced watermelons. Apparently, the youth had spit out the watermelon seeds on the ground as they were watching the volleyball games and the seeds had produced a crop.

The youth group hadn’t intended to turn their party into a lesson on seedtime and harvest. But they did—and they did it under very adverse conditions. Not only was there a drought that year, the summer was a scorcher. Yet some of those watermelons grew to be a foot long.

The next spring the youth group leaders asked the KCM maintenance department to clean up the volleyball court for summer. The standard procedure included spraying chemicals to destroy the weeds. The request was fulfilled. Despite the chemicals, however, the watermelons returned. Nothing, it seemed, could keep the students’ seeds from bearing fruit.

That’s the way it is in the kingdom of God! As a believer, you can sow in the midst of adverse economic conditions and get a better harvest by accident than people in the world can get on purpose sowing in the midst of a good economy. You don’t have to wait for the stock market to go up to increase financially. It’s always a good time to sow into the kingdom of God. You just have to believe it, obey God and keep putting seed in the ground.

Isn’t that what Isaac did?

Sure it was! We saw it in Genesis 26. He sowed in the midst of a famine, and “received in the same year an hundredfold: and The LORD BLESSED him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great” (verses 12-13).

We don’t use the word wax in that context very much in the present day, but it’s a good word! It means “to prosper, to increase, to advance, enlarge and expand.” In Hebrew, it also denotes speed. It tells us that Isaac increased rapidly. He prospered quickly and expanded speedily, all during an economic downturn. As The Message translation says, he “got richer and richer by the day until he was very wealthy.”

This is something we need to lay hold of! As new covenant believers we’re children of Abraham just as surely as Isaac was, so he shouldn’t have anything on us. We should be increasing speedily just like he did. We should have such faith in our covenant of BLESSING and our hearts should be so full of God’s prosperity promises that they come out of our mouths automatically, all the time, without our even having to think about it, like those students at the volleyball game spitting out those seeds.

Proverbs 18:20 says, “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.” And just as God supplied the seeds for the students, He supplies to us both the seed of His WORD and financial seed to sow into His kingdom. We plant it, and The LORD produces a supernatural harvest of THE BLESSING.

Here are some WORD seeds for you to put in your mouth today:

- Psalm 115: 14: “The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.” (Hebrew: He will continue to add to you, over and above.)

- Deuteronomy 7:13: “He will love you, he will BLESS you, he will increase you” (MSG).

- Leviticus 26:4: “I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.”

- 2 Corinthians 9:6: “...He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”

There’s no limit in the kingdom of God! He’s not limited by what the government does. He’s not limited by what the stock market does. He’s not limited by anything but your faith and your obedience. So, believe, obey…and wax great!

Day 68

Pastor George

Walk by Faith and Love

And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now The LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

(Genesis 26:18-22)

These days we think it’s bad when people talk trash about us for believing in divine prosperity. But Isaac had to deal with more than just trash talk in Gerar. He literally had to dig through trash! To get water for his crops he had to clean out the trash the Philistines had thrown in his father’s wells. What’s worse, once he got a well cleaned out and flowing, the trash-fillers kept showing back up and claiming the water belonged to them.

Isaac could have gotten angry about this. He was human, after all. He could have gotten tired of people persecuting him and trying to undermine him, and thrown in the towel. He could have said, “Forget this! I’m not going to keep digging wells for these scoundrels. I’m out of here. I’m going to Egypt.”

But that’s not what he did. Rather than getting fed up and going off in a huff, Isaac was patient with his persecutors and persisted in faith. When the shepherds of Gerar stole one well from him, he just dug another. He kept digging, even though they kept stealing. He did not give up.

Why? Because faith doesn’t quit, and Isaac was a man of faith.

As a believer, you are too! You’re the seed of Abraham as surely as Isaac was, so you have the same “doesn’t-quit” DNA. When you encounter problems or persecutions or things don’t go exactly as you planned, you can say no to discouragement. You can be patient, stay in faith, keep doing the things you’ve learned to do, and refuse to give up.

In other words, you can do what Hebrews 10:35-36 says:

Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised (AMPC).

“Well,” you might say, “that’s my problem. I don’t have any patience.”

Yes you do. Patience is a fruit of the spirit. (See Galatians 5:22.) So, if you’re born again, patience (or longsuffering as the King James Version calls it) is there on the inside of you. You just need to yield to it and keep your spirit strong by staying in The WORD.

The WORD is spirit food. That’s why it’s so important for you to spend time in it every day. It does for your spirit what physical food does for your body. It nourishes your faith and enables you to keep going when the going gets tough.

I’ve watched Kenneth and Gloria go through a lot of tough things over the years and, like Isaac, they’ve been an inspiration to me. They’ve consistently walked by faith and not by sight. When people criticized them, wrote ugly articles about them, and tried to undermine them, they never let it discourage them or make them angry. They just kept doing what God told them to do, trusting Him to BLESS them.

They did the same thing when faced with financial difficulties. It didn’t matter whether it was a million-dollar deficit, a $6 million deficit or a bad economy, they always dealt with it by standing on The WORD and refusing to cast away their fearless confidence. They never went on TV and said to people, “Listen, if you don’t give, we’re going to fold.” No, they believed God and He delivered us every time.

Every time.

Galatians 6: 9-10 says, “Let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint. So then, as occasion and opportunity open up to us, let us do good…to all people…. [and] be mindful to be a BLESSING” (AMPC).

Isaac did this! Not only did he keep acting nobly in faith in the face of persecution, he did good to all people. Despite the trash he had to put up with from those around him he kept walking in love. When the shepherds of Gerar showed up at one of his wells hollering, “That’s our water!” He just said, “Fine,” and BLESSED them with it.

He didn’t get in strife with them. That would have hindered his prosperity because strife stops THE BLESSING from working. Plus, according to Proverbs 20:3, “It is an honour for a man to cease from strife.” Isaac was a man of honor. Instead of arguing with his adversaries, Isaac just kept digging wells and BLESSING people with them until he finally dug a well they let him keep.

That well turned out to be a gusher! It connected to an underground river, and Isaac called it Rehoboth, which in Hebrew means “room, a broad and spacious place; an enlargement.” God has a Rehoboth for you too. He has a gusher of BLESSING that nobody can steal from you where, right in the midst of famine and even persecution, you’ll be able to say as Isaac did, “The LORD has made room for us and we shall thrive” (Genesis 26:22, TLB)!

Day 69

Pastor George

Symbols of Kingdom Prosperity

We can plainly see that The LORD is with you.

(Genesis 26:28, NLT)

We’ve realized that God is on your side.

(MSG)

Now it is clear that The LORD has BLESSED you.

(verse 29, GNT)

A few years ago, an old friend sent me a picture of myself that was taken when I was in high school. At first glance, I didn’t realize it was me! The way I looked back then compared to how I look now was as different as dark and daylight. I wasn’t born again when that photo was taken. I hadn’t yet been delivered out of the kingdom of darkness. I was still living under the curse and its presence was visible on me.

Now that I’m saved, the shadow of the curse is gone and my countenance is immeasurably brighter. So much so that seeing the change right there in front of me was actually shocking.

It shouldn’t have been though. The Bible makes it clear: THE BLESSING is designed to be seen! Its presence on us is supposed to be visible to the entire world.

That’s how it was with Isaac. Even though he wasn’t born again (the new birth wasn’t available in his day) THE BLESSING of God could be clearly seen on him. It could be seen in the kindness he showed toward his adversaries, in his patience toward them. And it could be seen in the way he prospered.

Wherever Isaac went in Gerar, despite the famine, the area began to flourish. When people got jealous and drove him away, according to Jewish scholars, the conditions of famine returned. Why? Because it was THE BLESSING on Isaac that had kept the famine at bay. And once he was gone THE BLESSING was gone too.

Eventually, when Gerar’s King Abimelech woke up to what was going on he went from resenting Isaac to appreciating him. He even went so far as to seek Isaac out and ask him to make a covenant with him. “We can plainly see that The LORD is with you,” he said.

As you continue to walk by faith in THE BLESSING, people will increasingly say the same about you! They’ll take notice of your faith, love and patience, and your ability to prosper. They’ll become especially interested in you when they see you continuing to flourish during hard economic times. Those are the times people start looking for answers, when it looks like everything in the world’s economy is folding up.

As a believer, during those times, as always, you’re to be a representative of heaven’s prosperity here on earth. You’re to walk continually in such visible abundance, that those who don’t know God see His goodness on you and want to come over to His side.

As we’ve already established, this has always been God’s plan for His people. But His people haven’t always cooperated with it like Isaac did. According to Zechariah 8, at one point Israel and Judah got so far out of His will that they ceased being representatives of heaven’s prosperity and actually became symbols of the curse.

Sadly, in more recent times it’s been almost that bad in the Church. Many believers so lost sight of God’s will where prosperity is concerned that they actually began to equate poverty with holiness. But thank God, these days He’s getting us straightened out! He’s saying to us as He said to the Israelites in verse 13: “No longer! Now I will rescue you and make you both a symbol and a source of BLESSING” (NLT).

The first time I heard that verse quoted from the pulpit, it took my breath away. The thought that, as believers, we’re to be both a symbol and source of THE BLESSING struck me as almost too wonderful to be true. It’s clearly not though, because Zechariah 9:16 makes a similar statement. It says God’s people “shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.” The Hebrew phrase translated lifted up means “to make conspicuous or to sparkle.” The Hebrew word for ensign means “to gleam from afar, to be conspicuous as a signal, a sign, banner, a token or an emblem.”

In one translation, Zechariah 9:16 reads like this: “On that day The LORD their God will rescue them as the flock of his people. They will certainly sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown” (GW).

Are you believing to sparkle with the glory of God in every area of life today? Are you believing to shine so brightly that people come to you like King Abimelech came to Isaac, wanting to be in covenant with your God? You should be! That’s God’s will for all of us as believers. As the Bible says:

- “You mark us with BLESSING, O God, our God. You mark us with BLESSING, O God” (Psalm 67:7, MSG).

- “You will be a BLESSING [dispensing good to others]….

in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be BLESSED [and by you they will BLESS themselves]” (Genesis 12:3, AMPC).

- “All the peoples on Earth will see you living under the Name of GOD and hold you in respectful awe. GOD will lavish you with good things: children from your womb, offspring from your animals, and crops from your land, the land that GOD promised your ancestors that he would give you” (Deuteronomy 28:10-11, MSG).

- “The people of the world will see all the good I do for my people, and they will tremble with awe at the peace and prosperity I provide for them” (Jeremiah 33:9, NLT).

- “You are seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world, holding out [to it] and offering [to all men] The WORD of Life” (Philippians 2:15-16, AMPC).

The world is supposed to see THE BLESSING and Kingdom prosperity on you. So, go out today and shine with the glory of God!

Day 70

Pastor George

Five Keys to Kingdom Prosperity

And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

(Matthew 16:19, NKJV)

Do you remember when you were a kid in school and learning the basic laws of mathematics? You didn’t learn them by just hearing them once. To really master them you had to go over them again and again. You had to keep rehearsing them until they were so ingrained in you that they became a part of your thinking.

To really master the laws of the kingdom of God you must do much the same thing. You must go over them repeatedly. You must keep “hearing, and hearing” what The WORD says about them (Romans 10:17) so that they get down on the inside of you.

Kingdom prosperity starts on the inside. The more the laws that govern it become part of you, the more you walk in them. The more you see yourself prospering on the inside, the more you’ll prosper on the outside.

So, today I want to go back over the laws of abundance we’ve learned from Isaac about prospering in times of famine. I want to put them all together in a list so you can easily remember and rehearse the five keys to Kingdom prosperity that worked so powerfully for him.

1. Seek First the Kingdom of God: Cultivate your awareness of the fact that although you are in this world you are not of it; you’re a citizen of God’s kingdom, and its economy is always flourishing. “Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, What are we going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to drink? or, What are we going to have to wear?... But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides” (Matthew 6:31, 33, AMPC).

2. Obey God: The place of obedience is always where THE BLESSING is. So do whatever God tells you to do and go wherever He tells you to go. Make this your daily commitment: “LORD, I will fully obey You today.” For He has promised, “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land” (Isaiah 1:19).

3. Tithe and Sow Seed: Don’t let the adverse economic conditions in the world keep you from tithing and giving. As a believer, you can sow by faith in a bad economy and prosper more than people in the world can in a good economy. So even in times of famine, keep planting financial seed. And “[remember] this…he who sows generously [that BLESSINGS may come to someone] will also reap generously and with BLESSINGS…. for God loves (he takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or do without) a cheerful (joyous, ‘prompt to do it’) giver” (2 Corinthians 9:6-7, AMPC).

4. Walk by Faith and Love: When people cause you problems and things in your life don’t go as you planned, you can be tempted to get discouraged and quit. But don’t do it. Persevere in faith, be patient with people, and refuse to get into strife with them. Strife will stop THE BLESSING from working in your life because faith works by love. So, no matter how people may treat you, do “not be weary in well doing: for in due season” you shall reap, if you faint not. And as you have “opportunity…do good unto all men” (Galatians 6:9-10).

5. Be a Symbol and a Source of Kingdom Prosperity: THE BLESSING of God is designed to be seen! Its presence on you is supposed to be visible to the entire world. So, expect every area of your life to sparkle with the glory of God. Believe to prosper so abundantly that people who don’t know Him see His goodness on you and want to come over to His side. Be a representative of heaven’s prosperity here on earth. For God has said, “You will be a BLESSING [dispensing good to others]…. in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be BLESSED” (Genesis 12:2-3, AMPC).

Day 71

Pastor George

A Prosperous Journey

But the path of the [uncompromisingly] just and righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more (brighter and clearer) until [it reaches its full strength and glory in] the perfect day.

(Proverbs 4:18, AMPC)

If Brother Copeland were ever to sit down with me and say, “Pastor George, above all things I want you to know this…” I would instantly be all ears. Having worked with him now for more than 45 years and watched his life and ministry, I’d grab a pen and paper and be ready to write down the next thing he said. Because I’ve witnessed firsthand the godly wisdom and faith in which he walks, I’d be waiting expectantly to hear what he considered so important that he would say about it, “I desire this for you above all things.”

Thus far, Brother Copeland has never said those exact words to me.

But you know who has? The Apostle John. He wrote them down in a letter which, because it’s in the Bible, is now available for us all to read. As I’m sure you’ve guessed, the letter I’m talking about is 3 John, and starts out this way: “The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish [pray, desire] above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” (verses 1-2).

Notice John is identified there as the elder, or as it can also be translated, the ancient. That tells us when he wrote these words, he wasn’t a spiritual novice. He was a wise, mature leader in the Church. He was also a man who had walked closely with Jesus for many years. As one of The LORD’s first 12 disciples, during Jesus’ earthly ministry John had studied Him and served Him. He’d come to know His heart to such a degree that he referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

Jesus considered John so trustworthy that on the cross He entrusted His mother into his care. He also chose John many years later to be the one to whom, on the island of Patmos, He would reveal the end-time plan of God. What John wrote down on that island is now recorded in the Bible as the Book of Revelation.

In other words, John was a very seasoned elder! The LORD Jesus Christ Himself approved his ministry. Therefore, we’d be wise to pay very close attention to every word he had to say. We should be all ears and take careful note of what he considered to be so important that he said in the very first verses of his third epistle, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

The word translated prospereth there is the Greek word euhodos, and it covers every aspect of life. It doesn’t just refer to finances. It includes them, but it’s much greater in scope. Euhodos literally means “help on the road.” Additional Greek definitions include:

- a happy journey

- to be on the right, profitable path that leads to real success and good fortune

- to succeed in reaching your destination or to succeed in business affairs

- to grant a prosperous and expeditious journey

- to lead by a direct and easy way.

Those last two definitions remind me of what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Rome about his desire to travel there. “I make mention of you always in my prayers,” he said, “if by any means…I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you” (Romans 1:9-10). Those definitions also remind me of what God told Joshua as he was about to journey with the Israelites into the Promised Land. He 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” (Joshua 1:8).

Those verses confirm it’s not just the Apostle John who desires above all that we prosper and be in health. It’s God Himself. That’s why He tells us time and again in the Scriptures to heed His WORD and obey His voice. He wants us to stay tuned in to Him so that when we need His help on the road of life, He can get it to us.

One time, when I was getting ready to preach about this, I was listening to a message of Brother Copeland’s from 1976. In it, he talked about a time he and Gloria were flying home after preaching in another state. For some reason, the airport they departed from hadn’t been able to supply them with sufficient fuel to make it all the way home. So, at 1:00 a.m., as they were in the air, Brother Copeland was in the cockpit contacting airports trying to find one where they could refuel.

Ahead of him, he could see the lights of McAlister, Oklahoma. It was a big enough city that he thought its airport might be open. He checked in and found it was, but it was also out of fuel. As Brother Copeland calculated how much farther he could fly with the fuel they had left, Gloria sat in the back seat praying quietly in other tongues.

Suddenly, she said, “Go to Okmulgee.”

“Did you say Okmulgee?” Kenneth asked. “Who’s going to be awake in the middle of the night in a little town like that?” It didn’t seem likely that anybody would, but he radioed the airport anyway and, sure enough, a fellow answered. “Not only are we open,” he said, “our fuel tank is full and there’s a truck here right now waiting to put more in it.” It occurred to Kenneth at that point they might have to pay dearly for the fuel because they were in a desperate situation. But as it turned out, although the man could have overcharged them, he didn’t. In fact, he sold them the fuel for less than the going rate.

Praise The LORD, that’s euhodos! And it’s not just God’s will for the Copelands, for Gaius, for Paul or for Joshua. A prosperous journey is God’s will for you!

Day 72

Pastor George

The Full Scope of Prosperity

Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

(Deuteronomy 29:9)

I always enjoy reading the letters people send us about how God has prospered them as they’ve learned to believe and act on His WORD. But one I found especially thrilling came from a pastor on the other side of the world. He wrote it a few months after Gloria and I taught a series on Believer’s Voice of Victory that we called Another Ten Days of Prosperity. In his letter, the pastor said that he and his wife had watched the broadcasts every day and their lives had been greatly enriched and impacted.

Eager to pass on to their congregation what they’d learned, “We started a prosperity campaign in our church for nine Sundays,” he wrote. “We shared the outlines [from your teachings], and our church exploded in many testimonies. We had testimonies ranging from gainful employment, promotion at work, supernatural deliverance, increase in membership, wisdom, excellence, business favor, admission to higher institutions, open doors—lots and lots. We’ve had more testimonies in the last two months than we’ve ever had in the last six years. Thank you!”

At the bottom of the letter was the pastor’s name and address.

He lives in Nigeria!

Granted, in recent years Nigeria’s economy has been improving. (More people there are getting born again and finding out that prosperity is God’s will.) But even so, at the time that letter was written Nigeria’s per capita income was 7% of that of the United States. Seven percent! Yet, when the people in this pastor’s church began to believe and act on what The WORD says about prosperity, they began to increase. Despite the economic challenges in their nation, they started to “do better,” as the people say over there.

Yesterday, we saw that according to 3 John 2 this is God’s desire for every one of His children. He wants us all to prosper not just financially but in every area of life. As the Bible in Basic English says, “My loved one, it is my prayer that you may do well in all things, and be healthy in body, even as your soul does well.” Or as Weymouth puts it, “My dear friend, I pray that you may in all respects prosper.”

That’s what was happening in the Nigerian pastor’s congregation! The believers there were experiencing the full scope of prosperity. Their testimonies confirmed they were prospering spiritually, in their souls, bodies, relationships and finances. They were seeing fulfilled in their lives what Psalm 1 says about the man who delights in The WORD of The LORD: “Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

I read the pastor’s letter to Gloria on the broadcast one day when we were about to teach, and she told me it reminded her all over again of what she and Brother Copeland have experienced. “Ever since we learned 50-plus years ago that in Christ we’ve inherited THE BLESSING of Abraham,” she said, “we’ve continued to prosper through every economic cycle, every recession, every problem and every situation because we know we’re not connected just to this natural world. We’re connected by faith to the supernatural realm of God. By faith we prosper when there is no prosperity available in the natural!”

Gloria went on to talk about other believers she’s seen do the same throughout the years. She spoke of one church where she and Brother Copeland minister that’s located in one of the world’s poorest nations. “When we fly in,” she said, “we can look down from the airplane and see desperately impoverished neighborhoods. Yet the people who attend the church where we preach are so prosperous they’ve been able to build one of the biggest churches in the world and pay cash for it. The sanctuary, which is beautiful, seats 50,000 people, and at this writing they are building a 100,000-seat facility!

“The members of that church dress nice. They live in nice houses. They have good jobs. They’re living proof that no matter what’s going on around us, God can prosper us in every area of life!”

One man in Scripture who prospered like that was Joseph. He faced all kinds of negative circumstances and yet THE BLESSING of The LORD that was on him continued to promote…and promote…and promote him. Everything Joseph did prospered! Never mind that his brothers threw him in a pit as a teenager, intending to leave him there to die. Never mind that he wound up being sold as a slave and locked up unjustly in prison. According to Genesis 39:

- “The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man” (verse 2).

- “The LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand” (verse 3).

- “THE BLESSING of The LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field” (verse 5).

- “That which he did, The LORD made it to prosper” (verse 23).

To quote Gloria again, “When we prosper and establish THE BLESSING in the earth, especially in the face of negative circumstances, we’re not only glorifying God, we’re spitting in the eye of the devil. We’re saying to him, ‘You don’t have control of us. You don’t control our finances or our body or our family. We’re prosperous, we’re healed, we’re doing well in every area. Our faith in God is the victory that overcomes the world!’”

The full scope of prosperity includes:

1. Spiritual prosperity: being born again and Spirit-filled, and in fellowship with the Father, working with Him in prayer, receiving revelation of The WORD, and being an effective soul-winner.

2. Prosperity of the soul: having peace in your mind, your will aligned with God’s will, and stability in your emotions.

3. Physical prosperity: living in divine health and protection, and being fear free.

4. Financial prosperity: experiencing increase and abundance, with bills paid, freedom from debt, and success in all endeavors.

5. Relational prosperity: enjoying a home filled with love, devotion in your marriage, obedient children and healthy friendships.

Gloria-ism:

“By faith we prosper when there is no prosperity available in the natural!”

Day 73

Pastor George

Prospering Beyond Human Reason

How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power….

(Psalm 78:40-42, NKJV)

Because the Bible says that with God all things are possible you might assume He can’t be limited by anything. But actually, He can be. The Israelites proved it. The first time God tried to take them into the Promised Land they wouldn’t let Him! When they saw the size of the giants there, they put on the brakes and said, “We’re like grasshoppers in their sight! If we try to take this land, we’ll get slaughtered.”

The Israelites had seen God split the Red Sea. They should have known those giants wouldn’t be any problem for Him. But instead of looking to Him and relying on His power, they got their eyes on themselves and relied on human reasoning. As a result, they limited God and spent 40 years in the wilderness.

If you let it, human reasoning will produce the same results in your life. It will rob you of your promised land and strand you in the wilderness. It will cause you to consider only the existing conditions and things that can be perceived with the senses, and leave you trapped within the confines of what’s humanly possible.

God doesn’t want you in that trap! He wants to get you out beyond what you can see, touch, taste and hear, into the realm of faith and of His power. He wants you to get out beyond natural economic restraints so He can prosper you beyond human reason.

In 2011, Brother Copeland received a word from The LORD about this. Drawing our attention back to what we’ve learned from the Scriptures, He said:

Don’t you remember in My WORD that it says, Eye has not seen, neither has ear heard, neither has entered in to the heart of man what I have in store for those that love Me? …Remember, My plan for all men for all time was the Garden of Eden. My plan was that it should have been the worst condition the human man would ever see because it was all good from there on.

THE BLESSING of Abraham is the Eden covenant—but you’ll have to listen to Me, saith The LORD. Adam wouldn’t listen to Me, and if you don’t listen to Me, I can’t get into your hands what I have designed for you. But it is My desire to prosper you beyond human reason. Human reasoning is based on facts. Heaven’s reasoning is based on the future of God’s dreams.[36]

In John 6, we see the difference between human reasoning and heaven’s reasoning when Jesus indicates to His disciples that He intends to feed the multitude who’d come to hear Him preach. Knowing already how He is going to do it, He asks Philip a seemingly unreasonable question: “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” (verse 5, NRSV).

The question was designed to test Philip’s faith, and apparently—at that moment, anyway—Philip didn’t have much. He didn’t even figure faith in God into the equation! He just assessed the existing conditions and concluded there was no way they’d be able to feed all those people. “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little,” he said (verse 7, NRSV).

Andrew, another of Jesus’ disciples, then piped up and, briefly entertaining a more supernatural perspective, said, “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish.” Very quickly, however, human reasoning reeled him back in and he added, “But what good is that with this huge crowd?” (verse 9, NLT).

I can sympathize with Philip and Andrew, and no doubt you can too. The LORD is continually challenging us all to go beyond human reasoning in one way or another. He might be challenging you right now to commit to a debt-free lifestyle, for instance, or to believe to be able to double or triple or quadruple the amount of your giving. And you might be thrilled at the thought. Yet, like Jesus’ disciples, you may have looked at the existing conditions in your life and concluded, It’s impossible! There’s no way!

But, praise God, with Jesus there is always a way! He’s the same yesterday, today and forever, and He is able to provide for us just as supernaturally and abundantly as He provided for the hungry multitude that day. You remember what He did for them. After telling them to sit down in the grass, “Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.’ Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten” (verses 11-13, NKJV).

Some years ago, Jesus worked that exact same miracle for our children’s pastors when they were in Haiti. They found themselves in need of it when they offered a free meal to any child who would come to their meeting to hear about Jesus. Rather than the 100 children they expected, 250 showed up! The food they had wasn’t anywhere near enough for that many kids. But they prayed over what they had, BLESSED it, and—guess what?—every child got fed!

Don’t limit God by trying to figure out how to meet your own needs. Believe His WORD, trust in His power, and get over into heaven’s reasoning. As Ephesians 3:20 says, “Through his mighty power at work within us, [he is able] to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (NLT).

36 “It Is My Desire to Prosper You Beyond Human Reason,” word from The LORD through Kenneth Copeland, Monday, April 25, 2011, International Convention of Faith Ministries (ICFM) 33rd Convention © 2011 Kenneth Copeland. All rights reserved.

Day 74

Pastor George

Are You Doing What You Know?

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

(Matthew 7:24-27)

Day after day, we’ve seen in the Scriptures and in prophetic words God has given to the Church that as believers we’re to thrive all the time. No matter what happens in the world around us we’re to continually increase. Because we believe and obey God, all through the storms and winds and torrents of worldly economic trouble, we remain strong. Our house does not collapse in the midst of the flood.

By now, I have no doubt that you know this. But I want to remind you today that simply knowing it—important as that is—is not enough. To prosper when others aren’t, to keep living in abundance when lack is trying to beat down your door, you must make sure you’re doing what you know!

This is the message of the parable about the foolish man and the wise man. According to Jesus, both those men heard The WORD and both their houses got hit by the same storm. Yet, they experienced very different outcomes. Why? Because only one of them faithfully put what he’d heard into action. Only one of them was a doer of The WORD.

If you’re not watchful, it’s easy to let the doing part slip. I was reminded of this one day as I was rereading a familiar testimony of Kenneth E. Hagin’s. He was telling about the time back in 1949 when he first found out how to claim the finances he needed. He’d just begun his traveling ministry and, as he put it, “adequate provision was scarce.” His family’s three-room apartment was rundown. His children were not properly clothed or fed. His car was worn out enough to sell for junk. And the offerings he was receiving when he preached often fell short of the budget.

He cried out to The LORD about it repeatedly. In times of prayer, he wept and begged and pleaded for the finances he needed—all to no avail. Then one day as he was praying, The LORD stopped him and told him where he was missing it. He said that instead of begging for finances, he should do these three things:

1. Claim what you need.

2. Deal with the devil by saying, “Take your hands off my money, satan.”

3. Loose the angels to go to work by saying, “Go, ministering spirits, and cause the money to come.”

That very afternoon, Brother Hagin put what he’d heard from The LORD into action. He walked over to the church where he’d been preaching, stood on the platform in the empty sanctuary, and said, “I claim $150 this week.” Today, $150 doesn’t sound like much, but in 1949 it was a lot of money. And, sure enough, that’s the amount that came in.

From then on, Brother Hagin became a doer of that word he’d received from The LORD. He followed the three steps he’d been given, and after testing it out time and time again, he said, “I got the money I claimed every time.”

Kenneth and Gloria actually appropriated those three steps from Brother Hagin. They’re the basis of the seven steps we saw on Day 20, in “Drawing On Your Heavenly Account,” and on Day 45, in “How To Apply for a Heavenly Grant.” So, you’re already familiar with them.

As I was reading Brother Hagin’s testimony however, I thought, Are all of us who know these steps being diligent to actually follow them? Are we continuing to claim the abundant financial provision that belongs to us in Christ? Or have we slipped into the mindset of the seven tribes of Israel we read about in Joshua 18?

Those tribes knew what belonged to them. But they lived for years in the Promised Land without receiving their allotted inheritance. “How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which The LORD God of your fathers hath given you?” Joshua asked them (verse 3).

The Hebrew word translated possess means “to take possession of, to dispossess and drive out, to claim.” According to Webster’s Dictionary, claim means “to take as the rightful owner, to assert in the face of possible contradiction, a right to claim or demand.” That’s what The LORD told Brother Hagin to do regarding his finances!

It also sounds a lot like John 14:13. There, Jesus said, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Ask in the Greek can mean “make a rightful claim or demand.” In fact, one Greek translation phrases Jesus’ statement this way: “Whatever you demand as your Christian rights, I will see to it that it is carried out.”

As a Christian, you are the rightful owner of a debt-free, prosperous life! So, take possession of it by continuing to act in faith on what you know to do. Bring your needs before The LORD today and say:

Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your WORD. Your WORD is true. Your WORD works for me. I give it first place and final authority in my life. I claim every need met on the authority of Your WORD. I claim $__________. Take your hands off my finances, satan. Go, ministering spirits, and cause the money to come. I believe it. I receive it. I possess it, claim it and take it as my rightful inheritance. Father, I thank You for it NOW, in Jesus’ Name!

Day 75

Pastor George

Great Expectations

Let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.

(Galatians 6:9, AMPC)

When I was growing up my grandfather was a master gardener. A huge fan of his tomatoes, I used to study him to see what he did to cause them to flourish so. It turned out, his secrets were simple. He regularly dragged the big water hose into the garden and gave his plants a good drink. Then he walked around them looking for weeds and when he found one, he immediately pulled it up. He also built a fence around his garden to keep out any critters who might want to eat his tomatoes before he could harvest them himself.

Why did he do those things?

Because he expected the plants in his garden to grow! He didn’t just throw seeds on the ground and think, Well, now we’ll see if anything happens. He planted with great expectations. He was fully persuaded that if he did his part, the seed and the soil would do their part and produce the biggest, best tomatoes around.

If you want to reap a bumper crop from the seeds you sow in the kingdom of God, you must have the same kind of certainty. As Brother Copeland wrote in the devotional From Faith to Faith, “If you want to have a crop to reap at harvest time: First, you must sow the seed of The WORD in faith, expecting it to grow.”[37]

Even if you know this, it’s easy to let it slip. A lot of believers do. They give their tithes and offerings Sunday after Sunday, without any expectation of receiving a return. Or they start out with great expectations, but after a while they get giver’s remorse. They start thinking, Why did I give that much money in the offering? I could really use it right now. I shouldn’t have let that preacher get me so excited. I wish I had that money back.

Those kinds of thoughts are like weeds. If you allow them to take root in you, they’ll choke out your expectations and suffocate your faith. They’ll stop the seed you planted from bearing fruit. So, always be on the watch for them. Follow my grandfather’s example: Regularly inspect the soil of your heart and, as Brother Copeland wrote, “When a little weed pops up, kill it! Don’t hang on to it for even a moment. Pull it up by its roots. Spray it with The WORD.”

Pastor Terri and I do this all the time. We’ve learned to live in a constant state of expectation over the seed we’ve sown into God’s kingdom. No matter what’s happening around us in the natural, we continually expect increase to come to us. How do we maintain this attitude? By diligently watering our seed and spraying for weeds with scriptures like these:

- “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how” (Mark 4:26-27).

- “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38).

- “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

- “Let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint” (Galatians 6:9, AMPC).

- “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)” (Hebrews 10:23).

Sometimes when I’m declaring verses like those I think of what 2 Samuel 23 says about Shammah. One of the mighty men of valor who fought alongside David before he became king, Shammah really knew how to protect a harvest! When enemies came to steal a field full of lentils that belonged to the Israelites, he fought them with great ferocity. While his fellow countrymen fled, “he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and The LORD wrought a great victory” (verse 12).

The New Living Translation says, “Shammah held his ground in the middle of the field and beat back the Philistines.” In other words, Shammah did with a natural sword what we as believers must do with the sword of the Spirit, which is The WORD of God. We must stand by faith in the middle of our field and beat back the enemies of our harvest!

We must beat back discouragement, doubt and unbelief. Beat back strife. Beat back unforgiveness. Beat down every weed and beat back every critter the devil sends to try to devour our crop.

Take a page from Shammah’s playbook today! Swing the sword of the Spirit by declaring The WORD over the seed you have sown. Maintain great expectations and The LORD will bring forth great victory and a great harvest for you!

37 Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, From Faith to Faith—A Daily Guide to Victory (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1992), July 9 devotion.

Day 76

Pastor George

Prosperity and Patience

Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

(Hebrews 6:12)

It would be great if every time we believed God for financial provision it always showed up instantly, but usually that’s not how things work. It often takes time for what we’ve laid hold of by faith to become a material reality. How do we get through the waiting period? What do we do when results seem slow in coming and we’re tempted to give up?

We put the spiritual force of patience to work!

That force is very different from the kind of patience most people are familiar with. It’s not just knuckling under until the storm has passed over. It’s not simply putting up with contrary circumstances, letting the devil run over you, and being satisfied with whatever happens. As Brother Copeland once said, “It’s not getting beat up with a smile on your face.”

No, real Bible patience is much more powerful than that. It’s courageous endurance, cheerful steadfastness and determined perseverance. It undergirds and sustains faith until the result is manifested. It keeps your faith constant until the money you’re believing for comes in. Or the mountain of debt you’ve commanded to be removed disappears. Or the car you prayed for is actually sitting in your driveway.

Faith and patience are the power twins. They’re the winning combination. Patience slips up under faith when you’re walking through a difficult situation and keeps it going. According to James 1, when tests and trials arise and you “let patience have its perfect work,” you wind up “perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (verses 2-4, NKJV).

That’s God’s will for you! He wants you to be “perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing” (AMPC). For you to get to that place though, you must be able to stay in faith without wavering. For, as James 1 goes on to say, “He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed…. Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of The LORD. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways” (verses 6-8).

Patience keeps you single-minded on The WORD. It enables you to continue to stand strong on God’s promises, no matter how long it takes for them to happen. As Gloria has put it in her teachings over the years:

- Patience is the ability to act like you have it before you see it

- Patience doesn’t surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial

- Patience is courage under fire

- Patience answers every doubt and fear with the assurance of God’s WORD

- Faith takes whatever you need, and patience keeps it.

As I’ve mentioned before, Pastor Terri and I had to employ the force of patience in a major way during the renovation of our house some years ago. Even though we were believing God, that project took five years to complete. We’d committed not to borrow money, so sometimes we had to stop working on it, and for weeks at a time nothing would get done.

I remember one instance in particular, right in the middle of the renovation, things seemed to be going so slow. I was tempted to get discouraged. Then Brother Copeland said something that really encouraged me. He reminded us of how far we’d come. He pointed out every step forward we’d taken and how close we were to completion. “Do not ever underestimate the power of progress!” he said. “Your deliverance is right around the corner. Do not cast away your fearless confidence. Stay patient.”

In other words, he basically preached to us from Hebrews 10:35-36:

Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised (AMPC).

When I walk through our house now, I’m so grateful for the force of patience. I’m so glad we put it to work so that we’re able to enjoy to the full the lovely home The LORD has provided for us. Our house has not only BLESSED us, it’s also been a testimony to our neighbors. We’ve invited them over for Christmas parties and it’s been a witness to them of God’s goodness and the power of faith.

It wasn’t easy to remain steadfast while that renovation was underway. We had to move three times while we were waiting to move in. And even after we moved in, there was still work to be done. But patience got us through, and it will do the same for you.

Psalm 94:12-13 says, “BLESSED (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O LORD, and teach out of Your law, that You may give him power to keep himself calm in the days of adversity…” (AMPC). Patience is the power that holds you calm when you’re going through trouble. It’s the stabilizing force that keeps you standing in faith until your victory manifests. Put that force to work in your life today and make this your confession:

God promised in Philippians 4:19 that He will supply all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I am confidently standing on this scripture and will not move until I see the final results. Adversity and lack, I speak to you in Jesus’ Name. God’s WORD says you are defeated and under my feet, and His WORD is true, regardless of what I see with my natural eye. God’s WORD has a great and glorious reward of provision. I am holding fast to that WORD, and I will not fling away my confidence in it. I will let patience have its perfect work and come out of every test and trial lacking nothing!

Day 77

Pastor George

Who Would You Choose?

Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

(Proverbs 10:4, TLV)

Say you are the owner of a very prosperous, rapidly growing company. A leadership position has opened up that would represent a tremendous promotion for whoever is chosen to fill it. After interviewing members of your staff, the decision has been narrowed to two applicants. Each has the technical skills necessary and a vast background of experience.

At the last minute, you uncover some interesting information. You are told that, even though the first applicant has the necessary skill sets, he is constantly late, leaves early, doesn’t follow through on assignments, and is not dependable. He is described as being “lazy.”

You are informed that the second applicant possesses the same skills, yet is extremely conscientious, reliable, thorough and takes full responsibility for all her assignments. She is described as being “diligent.”

Who would you choose?

The answer is quite simple. Anyone would choose the person described as “diligent” over the one described as “lazy.” When I say “anyone,” that includes God! His system of promotion works the same way ours does. He promotes those who are diligent. He prospers those who are conscientious, reliable, industrious, thorough and responsible.

Psalm 75 says, “Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another” (verses 6-7). God loves us all, but when He looks for somebody to lift up to a higher position of honor or financial BLESSING, He doesn’t go looking for people who are just sitting around, idle. No, He looks for someone who is hard at work. He finds a person who is faithfully doing the job he or she has already been given to do, taps them on the shoulder and says, “I have something more for you.”

Remember, for example, how busy Joseph was before he got his big promotion? He worked so diligently when he was a slave in Potiphar’s house that Potiphar put him in charge of his entire estate. Later, when he was put in prison, Joseph made himself so useful to the captain of the guard that he put Joseph over the whole prison. While he was busy working in the prison, Pharoah heard about Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams and called for him. Giving him what was literally his dream job, “Pharoah said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 41:41).

David’s life followed the same pattern. As a teenager, he worked for his father “tending the sheep” (1 Samuel 16:11). Shepherding was hard, lonely, low-prestige work. But David didn’t throw a fit and refuse to do it. When his father gave him the job, he said, “Yes, sir,” and gave it his all.

That’s one of the reasons he was promoted. Among other things, God saw his diligence. So, when He sent Samuel in search of a new king for Israel, He sent him to David’s house. Realizing none of David’s brothers had been chosen for the promotion, Samuel found out that David was still out in the field working. He sent for him and when David arrived, “The LORD said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he” (verse 12, NASB).

Even Jesus was busy working before He was Anointed and promoted into ministry. Not only was He a carpenter, as His earthly father had been, He was also working for His heavenly Father. At only 12 years old, when explaining to His parents why he’d stayed so long at the Temple, Jesus said, “I must be about my Father's business” (Luke 2:49).

After Jesus went into ministry, He looked for the same kind of diligence when He set about to choose His disciples. Simon, James and John, for example, were hardworking fishermen. The day He called them to join Him, Simon told Him, “We worked hard all night long and caught nothing” (Luke 5:5, GNT). Right after that, Jesus told them they’d been promoted. “Fear not,” He said, “from henceforth thou shalt catch men” (verse 10).

In Acts 6, we see the pattern repeated in the life of Stephen. When he was promoted to the position of deacon in the early Church, he already had a reputation for being a man “of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom” (verse 3). After he became a deacon, while he was busy overseeing the distribution of food to the widows, God promoted him again. “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people” (verse 8).

I’ve even seen this pattern in my own life. When I first went to work at Kenneth Copeland Ministries, although I was officially hired to start the art department, Brother Copeland asked me right upfront, “George, if a truck arrives and needs to be unloaded, are you ready to leave the drawing board to unpack boxes?”

“Yes, sir,” I answered. “I’ll do whatever needs to be done.”

As it turned out, my first job was stuffing envelopes. After that, I was assigned to go on the road and work the book table. Then they found out I could play piano and I got to play the synthesizer in the meetings for a while. As Gloria puts it, whenever there was a job to do, somebody would say, “Let George do it.” I did, and that’s how I wound up being chief executive officer of the ministry and pastor of Eagle Mountain International Church.

God has promotions planned for you too. So, stay positioned for them. Whatever God gives you to do, do it with all your heart. Be diligent and remember that the Bible says:

- Diligent people are hard workers: “Lazy men are soon poor; hard workers get rich. A wise youth makes hay while the sun shines, but what a shame to see a lad who sleeps away his hour of opportunity” (Proverbs 10:4-5, TLB).

- Diligent people thoughtfully plan: “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5, NIV).

- Diligent people are resourceful: “A lazy man won't even dress the game he gets while hunting, but the diligent man makes good use of everything he finds” (Proverbs 12:27, TLB).

- Diligent people serve great leaders: “Do you know a hard-working man? He shall be successful and stand before kings!” (Proverbs 22:29, TLB ).

- Diligent people become great leaders: “Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and never succeed” (Proverbs 12:24, TLB).

Day 78

Pastor George

The LORD Will Furnish Your Home

Praise ye The LORD. BLESSED is the man that feareth The LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments…. Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever.

(Psalm 112:1, 3)

Not only does God promise in His WORD to provide you with a wonderful, debt-free home,[38] He also promises to richly furnish it. Why? First of all, because He loves you. Second, because He understands that the furnishings in your home matter to you. After all, you’re created in His image, and He appreciates beautiful furnishings Himself.

You can see that’s true when you read in the Bible about heaven. Everything there is lavishly appointed. With gates made of pearl, walls studded with sapphires, emeralds and other precious stones, and cities built out of gold, there’s nothing there that’s cheap or shoddy. No, God designed heaven to suit Himself and He has good taste. It’s stunningly gorgeous, and wealth and riches are everywhere.

Originally, He designed earth to be the same way. Even now, in its fallen state, there are places on this planet that are so astoundingly beautiful they practically take your breath away. God created such places for His human family to enjoy. Because He knows that kind of beauty ministers to us, He wants us to be surrounded by it, whether we’re outside enjoying nature or inside at home.

In the devotional From Faith to Faith, Brother Copeland tells how this revelation changed things at their house many years ago. They were just learning about how to walk by faith, living in a tiny rental home and making do with refinished Goodwill furniture, when Gloria read Psalm 112:3. “I’ll never forget the time Gloria discovered that scripture,” he writes:

We didn’t have any money at the time, and the walls in our house were as bare as they could be. But she was ready to decorate. So, she took that promise, “Wealth and riches shall be in his house,” and laid claim to it by faith. Suddenly, everywhere we went, somebody was giving us a painting or some other little treasure for our house. Unfortunately, most believers aren’t as quick to believe God for that kind of thing as Gloria was. Some even claim God doesn’t promise us New Testament believers physical prosperity—just spiritual. But the truth is, you can’t separate the two. That’s why Jesus says if you’ll seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these (material) things will be added to you. He knows the spiritual realm and the material realm are connected. Don’t let anyone talk you out of God’s promises of prosperity. You don’t have to choose between financial and spiritual prosperity. Both belong to you. Lay claim to them by faith. As a born-again child of God, dare to reach out and receive the riches that belong to you![39]

I’m so grateful Gloria dared all those years ago to believe The LORD would furnish her home. She’s been an inspiration to many, including Pastor Terri and me. When we were believing God to finish and furnish our own house, it was encouraging to us to see Gloria living in her dream home—a home so richly furnished that, as she told me one time, there’s no room on her walls for even one more painting.

Kenneth and Gloria are literally living in the fulfillment of the promise God made in Deuteronomy 6 where He told the Israelites that in their Promised Land, He would give them “houses full of all good things” (verse 11, AMPC). The Copelands’ house truly is FULL of ALL good things!

What’s more, Pastor Terri and I have followed in their footsteps. Knowing that God is no respecter of persons, we started years ago putting together our own list of furniture scriptures. We took our faith stand on verses like these:

- Psalm 122:7: “May peace be within your walls and prosperity within your palaces!” (AMPC).

- Proverbs 15:6: “In the house of the [uncompromisingly] righteous is great [priceless] treasure” (AMPC).

- Proverbs 24:3-4: “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures” (NIV).

- Psalm 112:1, 3: “BLESSED man, BLESSED woman, who fear God…. Their houses brim with wealth and a generosity that never runs dry” (MSG).

Today, I see those promises fulfilled throughout our home—particularly in the two rooms that serve as my study. Pastor Terri had those rooms added onto the house especially for me. I jokingly call them my “outer court” and my “inner court.” The outer court has a beautiful leather couch and opens out onto a deck that overlooks the lake. (Pastor Terri purposely had my office built on that side of the house because she knows how much I enjoy looking at water.) The inner court is fitted out with lovely dark woodwork on the ceiling and old-English style wood furnishings that, as Pastor Terri knows, I really like.

It’s a beautiful place designed just for me, and it’s a tremendous BLESSING. It’s conducive to praying, studying The WORD and receiving revelation. Although I could do those things anywhere, I’m not sure if I were crammed into some crowded corner I could hear from God quite as well. I certainly wouldn’t enjoy it as much…and God wouldn’t either.

He’s a good Father, and He gets pleasure out of BLESSING His children with good things just like we as earthly parents do. So, go ahead and let Him BLESS you. Have faith in His generosity, stand on His WORD, and make this your confession today:

Father, in the Name of Jesus, I thank You that You provide all things richly to enjoy. That includes the furnishing of my home. According to Your WORD, I believe I receive: wealth and riches in my home; my house brimming with wealth; my house full of all good things; peace within my walls and prosperity within my palace; great and priceless treasure; the chambers of every area filled with all precious and pleasant riches and rare and beautiful treasures. Thank You for furnishing my home!

38 See Days 57-60.

39 From Faith to Faith—A Daily Guide to Victory, November 13 devotion.

Day 79

Gloria

The Goodness of God

How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you. In the presence of everyone you have acted for those who take refuge in you.

(Psalm 31:19, CSB)

One of the best things you can do to develop your faith for prosperity is meditate on the goodness of God. Knowing how good He is and how many good things He wants to do for you is the very foundation of your relationship with Him. The more you grow in your understanding of His goodness, the wider you can open the door for it to manifest in your life.

Goodness is God’s nature. It’s who He is and what He does. He truly is “Jehovah the Good.”

Often, when I think of how good-natured God is, I’m reminded of my grandfather. When I was a little girl, my mother and I lived at his house for a while when my father was fighting in the war. An extremely good, kindhearted man, my grandfather loved to do good things for everyone, especially his grandchildren. We all called him Pop, and as we quickly figured out, he would say yes to almost anything we asked him to do. I never remember him saying no.

Even before I had my driver’s license, Pop let me drive his pickup around the Arkansas countryside. I remember times he even let me take it to the movies in a nearby town. If my grandmother had not been there to stop him, I think Pop would have given any of us anything we wanted. We still talk about him every time our family gets together. Although he passed on many years ago, it makes us happy just to remember how good he was to us.

After I got born again and began to read the Bible, my memories of Pop became even more precious to me. They helped me picture the goodness of God.

The Hebrew word good, which in the Old Testament is used to describe God, refers to good in the widest sense of the word. It speaks of absolute good. Goodness in totality, to the furthest extreme possible. As my granddaughter Aubrey once put it, “The goodness of God is the greatest good that man could ever think of—only greater;” and it pervades everything God is, everything He has and everything He desires to do for us.

That’s not just my opinion, it’s what God says about Himself! In Exodus, when Moses cried out to Him and said, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory,” God answered by saying, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of The LORD before thee…. The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 33:18-19, 34:6).

Sometimes when we think about God’s glory we picture it as just a kind of shining cloud, but though it can manifest in that form, the fullest expression of God’s glory is His goodness! It’s because God is so good that He’s so gracious (which means easy to receive from), so merciful and so longsuffering. If He weren’t as longsuffering as He is, none of us would be here! He puts up with a lot from us, yet He still loves us and blesses us because He’s abundant in goodness and truth.

The Hebrew word for goodness also refers to financial provision, prosperity, goods and property. So, when Psalm 31:19 talks about the great goodness God has stored up for us, all those things are included. As James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light” (AMPC).

God doesn’t give good gifts reluctantly, either. He’s not stingy with them. On the contrary! David wrote in Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” To follow, in Hebrew, means “to pursue, chase after and protect from behind.” To me, that sounds a lot like what God promised us in Deuteronomy 28:1-2. He said there, “If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of The LORD thy God…all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee.”

When I think of God’s goodness and overtaking blessings, I not only think about Pop, I also think about Ken. He has the most giving heart of any man I’ve ever known. Some wives practically have to beg their husbands to get them things, but Ken is so generous, I hardly get a chance to ask him for anything. He comes up with things to give me that I didn’t even know I wanted.

Some years ago, for instance, he surprised me with a new car. Talk about a good and perfect gift! That car was beyond anything I’d ever dreamed of, and when it overtook me, I was glad. I liked it not only because it was a wonderful car but because it was an expression of love from my wonderful husband. It was a gift to me from Kenneth, the good!

Even as good and generous as Ken is though, God is even more so. The Bible says about Him:

- “You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance” (Psalm 65:11, NKJV).

- “Oh that men would praise The LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalm 107:8).

- “O taste and see that The LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear The LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek The LORD shall not want any good thing” (Psalm 34:8-10).

- “I said to The LORD, ‘You are my Master! Every good thing I have comes from you’” (Psalm 16:2, NLT).

To paraphrase a great Jewish Bible scholar: “The only thing that limits God’s goodness is our capacity to receive it.”[40]

Expand your receiving capacity. Meditate today on the goodness of The LORD!

40 David Baron, Zechariah, A Commentary on His Visions and Prophecies (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2001) p. 333.

Day 80

Gloria

Get Back Up on Your Faith

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.

(Matthew 21:21)

What do you do when you’ve been believing God for financial increase and haven’t yet seen the results you expected? What do you do when you start feeling discouraged and wondering if things are ever going to change? The temptation at those times is to give up. To grow weary in well-doing and cast away your confidence. But that’s not the answer.

The answer is to get back up on your faith!

How do you do that?

First, you rebuke fear. When Satan comes around whispering to you that you’re not going to make it, that you’re going to be a financial failure, you resist him. You say, “Satan, get out of my ear!”

You don’t have to buy the doubt and unbelief the devil tries to sell you. Even if what he says sounds logical, even if the economic news that’s being reported seems to back it up, you have a higher revelation. You have the WORD of God, and He says He will meet all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He says He is your Shepherd, and you shall not want.

If you’ll keep your heart full of God’s WORD, when the devil starts pushing his negative reports on you, the Word will rise up inside you and kick those negative reports out. It will enable you to do what Jairus did in Mark 5. Have you ever read that story?

Jairus’ daughter was sick and he’d gone to Jesus and said, “Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live” (verse 23, NRSV). Jesus agreed and immediately headed toward Jairus’ house, but before they could get there, Jairus got word that they were too late. His daughter was already dead.

I’m sure that report hit Jairus hard, as it would any parent. But Jesus overheard and said to him, “Do not fear, only believe.” So, that’s what Jairus did. Instead of taking in the negative news about his daughter, getting discouraged and giving up, he stuck with Jesus’ word. He got back up on his faith, and sure enough, his daughter got healed.

When the devil shows up spouting bad news, always remember that he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). He might mix in some facts with his lies. He might tell you things that contain some natural truth. But natural truths are different from “the truth.” What The WORD says about you is the truth. And the truth will upend the devil’s lies every time.

Where healing is concerned, for instance, if you have a pain or a symptom, you don’t have to just agree with the devil, say you’re sick and go to bed. While it might be factually true that you don’t feel well, you can go to the higher truth of The WORD of God. You can say, “I’m not having any sickness and disease in my body because Jesus Himself bore my sicknesses and carried my diseases,” and receive your healing.

You can do the same with prosperity. When Satan puts symptoms of lack on you, instead of agreeing with him and getting into fear, you can go to God’s WORD. You can get back up on your faith, fear not and only believe, and eventually those lying symptoms of lack will be replaced with the truth of God’s abundance.

This is what Jesus wanted His disciples to understand in Luke 8, when He talked to them about their encounter with the storm. As you may remember, before that storm ever hit, Jesus had told His disciples they were going to the other side of the lake. While they were on their way, however, He fell asleep in the back of the boat, so when the wind started blowing and the boat started filling up with water, the disciples got scared. Waking Jesus up, they said, “Master, we perish!” (verse 24).

Jesus got up and dealt with the storm for them, of course. But immediately afterward, He asked them a key question. “Where is your faith?” He said (verse 25).

Faith is the answer to the storm!

Notice though, Jesus didn’t just talk to them about faith in general. He didn’t just ask, “Where is faith?” He said, “Where is your faith?” It was their faith that was the answer to their situation. If the disciples had stood on Jesus’ word and gotten back up on their faith, that storm wouldn’t have scared them at all. They could have let Jesus finish His nap, do what He did and dealt with the storm themselves.

The same is true in your life. It’s your faith that’s the answer to your situation. Other people can pray for you and try to encourage you, but when a storm of lack is swirling around you, it’s your faith that ultimately matters. When it looks and feels in the natural like the financial winds and waves are going to sink you, it’s your faith that will enable you to align your words with God’s, say what He says, and come out victorious.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for,” Hebrews 11:1 says, “the evidence of things not seen.” As the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition puts it: “Faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].”

Faith calls “things which be not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). Faith doesn’t say, “Oh, no! I’m going under!” or “When am I ever going to prosper?” Faith says, “According as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken” (2 Corinthians 4:13). Faith says, “It’s mine! I take it now!”

So, when you’re going through a storm and you’re tempted to get discouraged, get back up on your faith. If it’s been sleeping, wake it up! Get the scriptures you’ve stood on in the past and remind yourself that it’s God’s will for you to prosper, for every bill to be paid, and every need met. Then be like Abraham who “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God…being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform” (Romans 4: 20-21).

Gloria-ism:

“Faith is the answer to the storm!”

Day 81

Pastor George

God’s Great Storehouse (Part 1)

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in The LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

(2 Chronicles 20:20)

I’ve learned in working with Brother Copeland that when he delivers a word from The LORD, I need to do more than just listen to it once and shout hallelujah. To receive from it all that God intends, I must repeatedly go back to it. I must take the time to study it in the light of the Scriptures and let it take root in my heart so that I can believe it and prosper!

A prophetic word we looked at on Day 12 that I’ve spent considerable time studying, was given through Brother Copeland in our 2011 Washington, D.C. Victory Campaign. The LORD said:

I have a great storehouse. Much more has been stored up in the storehouse of riches, beyond your wildest dreams, that I laid up for you before the foundation of the world. Much more is stored up there than what the Church has ever called for. I never have held back on the Church, saith The LORD and the God of plenty. I’ve made it available to you. I put it in My WORD. I gave you promise and stood behind it with the blood—the precious blood of your Savior. But there has been a backwardness in My people about laying hold of the things that I have provided for you. But I will say this: There is a people in the land. There is a people around the world. There is a people strong and mighty, growing much stronger and much mightier and more bold to lay hold and put their claim of faith on the things that I have laid up for you, and it thrills Me, saith The LORD, because it’s been yours all the time.

When I first heard that word I got stirred up! Determined to press into it myself, and to help our congregation at Eagle Mountain do so, I spent two and a half months not only studying it but also preaching it on Sundays at church. In the process, our faith really grew!

For example, as we studied what The LORD said about having “a great storehouse,” that storehouse became more real to us. We got a deeper revelation of what Deuteronomy 28:12 means when it says to those of us who are walking in THE BLESSING of Abraham: “The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to BLESS all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.”

The phrase The LORD’s good treasure is translated from a Hebrew phrase that literally means “His storehouse of goodness” (The Chumash).[41] In other versions of the Bible, it’s referred to as “His store-house in heaven” (BBE), “the storehouses of the skies” (CEV), or “the storehouse of His bounty” (NIV).

Whatever you call it, God’s storehouse is clearly a wonderful place! Its contents are so impressive they caused the psalmist to exclaim, “LORD…. How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you. In the presence of everyone you have acted for those who take refuge in you” (Psalm 31:17, 19, CSB). Goodness, in Hebrew, is a massive word. It speaks of treasure, property, silver, gold, et cetera.

God has all those things laid up for us in His storehouse, and I’m interested in receiving them aren’t you? I want to lay claim not only to the material wealth The LORD has stored up for me—but also the et cetera!

What all does the et cetera include? According to the Bible, it includes:

- “All things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3, NKJV).

- Everything you need from God to “strengthen (complete, perfect) and make you what you ought to be and equip you with everything good that you may carry out His will” (Hebrews 13:21, AMPC).

- “Wisdom…knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6).

- “Victory and protection: He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless” (Proverbs 2:7, NIV).

Imagine it! God’s storehouse is stacked to the rafters with all those things and more! They’re all there waiting for you, and no matter how much of them you claim, God’s supplies never run out. Neither does His generosity. You never get to the place where God says to you, “OK, you’ve received enough. I’m going to cut off your increase. From now on you’ll have to get by on what you have.”

No! God’s goodness is inexhaustible. His will is for you to always be increasing; and as we’ve seen so often in Ephesians 3:20, He is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” He is “able to [carry out His purpose and]” do things for us that are “[infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams” (AMPC). As The Message says, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!”

So, keep developing your faith by continuing to deposit The WORD of prosperity in your heart. Keep going back to God’s storehouse and boldly claiming what’s yours.

For I have plans that you have never dreamed of, saith The LORD. They are beyond your wildest imagination. I did it just for you. Heaven is overloaded with things that I have prepared for your enjoyment. If you will simply come to that place where you just say, ‘God, I am so grateful,’ and give Me an opportunity.[42]

41 The Chumash, Stone Edition, Rabbi Nosson Scherman (New York: Mesorah Publications Ltd.), page 1077.

42 “A Feast of Abundance in the Valley of the Shadow of Death,” word from The LORD through Kenneth Copeland, Southwest Believers’ Convention, Aug. 7, 2009 © 2010 Kenneth Copeland. All rights reserved (See also Day 65).

Day 82

Pastor George

God’s Great Storehouse (Part 2)

Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

(Luke 12:32, AMPC)

We saw yesterday that our heavenly Father has a great storehouse filled with everything we need and more, in abundance. It’s stocked with riches beyond our wildest dreams laid up for us before the foundation of the world, and it’s His good pleasure to give to us everything that’s in it. Yet, there’s a lot in that storehouse we haven’t claimed. As The LORD said through Brother Copeland in 2011: Much more is stored up there than what the Church has ever called for (see Day 81).

When I first heard that it stunned me! I could hardly imagine that, given all the financial BLESSINGS we already enjoy, there are still treasures in heaven the Church has yet to access. There are still untapped Kingdom riches on reserve for us, awaiting our bold claim of faith.

Really, though, it makes sense. After all, even in the natural it’s common for valuables to be left unclaimed. I remember hearing one time, for example, that the airlines have a massive storehouse filled with baggage and other treasures passengers have left on airplanes. I’ve also heard stories about huge inheritances that remain in the bank, untouched, for years because the heirs don’t know anything about them. Left by some distant relative or other benefactor, the money never does anybody any good because the rightful owner, unaware of it, never calls for it. Nobody ever shows up at the bank to say, “That’s mine!”

In a sense, that’s the situation we, as believers, have been in! We haven’t called for all that belongs to us because, to a great extent, we’ve been unaware of it. We haven’t claimed by faith all that’s ours because we haven’t paid enough attention to what Jesus provided for us in His will.

What is Jesus’ will?

It’s God’s WORD!

“All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20, NKJV), but sadly there are a lot of promises in the Bible many believers don’t know much about. Take the one in Isaiah 45:3, for instance. There, God promised:

- “I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places.”

- “I’ll lead you to buried treasures, secret caches of valuables” (MSG).

- “I will give you treasures from dark places and hidden stockpiles” (GW).

- “I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places” (NIV-84).

I don’t know how big the warehouse full of unclaimed treasures left by airline passengers is, but I do know it wouldn’t come close to holding all the riches God has hidden in the earth. As Psalm 104:24 says, “The earth is full of [His] riches;” and, as Gloria says, “God didn’t put them here for the squirrels and the chipmunks. Chipmunks don’t know what to do with gold and silver. God put riches in the earth for His people.” He put them here for us!

What’s more, He promised to give them to us in such a way that, as Isaiah 45:3 says, “You may know that it is I, The LORD, the God of Israel, Who calls you by your name” (AMPC). In other words, God promised to BLESS us so spectacularly that there will be no mistaking the fact that He’s the One who did it. He said He would manifest Himself financially in our lives in such magnitude that we (and everybody else who sees us) will say, “Wow! That has to be God! It’s nothing short of supernatural.”

God has manifestations of divine prosperity ready and waiting for us that are beyond anything we’ve ever experienced. He’s just waiting for us to call for them. He’s just waiting for us to find out and believe that, as He said in Proverbs 8:18-21:

Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness…. My fruit is better than gold, yes, than refined gold, and my increase than choice silver. I [Wisdom] walk in the way of righteousness…in the midst of the paths of justice, that I may cause those who love me to inherit [true] riches and that I may fill their treasuries (AMPC).

Wealth and Glory accompany me—also substantial Honor and a Good Name. My benefits are worth more than a big salary, even a very big salary; the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus (MSG).

God has never held back on prospering the Church! We’re the ones who’ve held back on Him. We haven’t taken His WORD as we should have; kept it before our eyes, in our ears and in our mouth; and taken all He’s provided for us.

In Deuteronomy 28:12, where The LORD promised to “open” to us His good treasure, the Hebrew word translated open means “to let loose, to be thrown open.” It’s the same word used in Malachi 3:10, where God promised to open the windows of heaven over the tither. Clearly, God isn’t miserly with His financial BLESSINGS!

As He declared one time through Brother Copeland, All of you who will take My WORD and stand on it, the Kingdom is for you, the angels are for you, all heaven’s reserves are at your call...I’ve made it available to you, I put it in My WORD. I gave you promise and stood behind it with the blood—the precious blood of your Savior.[43]

God has thrown open the doors of His storehouse and let prosperity loose on you! As the seed of Abraham, a joint heir with Christ and a tither, God has promised to give you His secret treasures and hidden stockpiles. Lay claim to them. Say, “That’s my inheritance! Thank You, Heavenly Father! I believe I receive!”

The LORD of the Storehouse

by Kenneth Copeland

January 23, 2012

God is The LORD of the storehouse. He is the treasurer.

Remember that lousy old saying about the king sitting in his counting house, counting out his gold? No, no, no. That’s not right. Our King is not in His counting house, counting out His gold. We are His tabernacle. He sits on the throne of grace. He’s not counting out anything. He’s The LORD of the harvest. He’s The LORD of the treasure. He’s The LORD of the treasure house, which is part of THE BLESSING of Abraham in Deuteronomy 28:12.

That is part of what will come on us and overtake us, if we hearken to the commandment of The LORD. Jesus said, “If you do what I tell you, My Father will love you and I will love you.”

Why would He hold that treasure until you got to heaven? You don’t need it there. Here’s where you need treasure. Here’s where you need things. The treasure is on the inside of us. You activate it with the voice of faith. As you do that, it releases THE BLESSING. It goes out and causes ALL things to be added to you. It’s not going to fall down from heaven. It’s on the inside of you.[44]

43 “2011—Straight From Heaven,” word from The LORD through Kenneth Copeland, Oct. 28, 2010, Autumn Assembly of Prayer © 2011 Kenneth Copeland. All rights reserved.

44 “The LORD of the Storehouse” © 2012 Kenneth Copeland. All rights reserved.

Day 83

Pastor George

God’s Great Storehouse (Part 3)

And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

(Numbers 13:30)

If you’re determined to claim every BLESSING that’s been laid up for you in God’s great storehouse, Caleb’s example is a good one to follow. His faith was strong enough to possess what God said was his. When his fellow Israelites (with the exception of Moses and Joshua) were crying for fear of the giants they’d have to fight in the Promised Land, Caleb was declaring, “The LORD will bring us into this land, and give it to us!” When others were drawing back in doubt, Caleb was believing God’s WORD and pressing forward in faith.

What’s more, even though, due to his unbelieving brethren, he had to wait 40 years to go into the land, Caleb’s confidence in God never weakened. On the contrary! When he finally got the opportunity to take possession of the territory God had promised him, he said to Joshua:

“Here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that The LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, The LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance (Joshua 14:10-13, NIV-84).

Caleb is an Old Testament picture of the people of God who are in the land today. In the prophetic word we’ve been studying the past few days, God said that now—unlike in the past when His people were backward about possessing what belongs to us—there is a people in the land who have the spirit of Caleb.

There is a people strong and mighty, growing much stronger and much mightier and more bold to lay hold and put their claim of faith on the things that I have laid up for you, and it thrills Me, The LORD said.

Notice, the faith that thrills God isn’t passive, retreating, backward and shy. It’s an aggressive, forward-directed force! It’s a confident trust that’s fully persuaded God will do what He promised. It’s the kind of faith that boldly believes and acts on what Jesus taught in Mark 11:24: “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive.”

As you’ll recall, the Greek word translated receive means “to take with much force, seize with a grip that can’t be shaken off.” It refers to the type of believing and receiving done by all the great faith heroes in the Bible. Hebrews 11 records that “through faith” they “conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised.” They “shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword.” They turned “weakness…to strength” and “became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies” (verses 33-34, NIV-84).

Wow! What a list of accomplishments! It’s no wonder that faith thrills God.

Faith enables us to put His power, goodness and glory on display in this world. It brings into our lives all that our heavenly Father has so lovingly and graciously provided for us. For faith to do that for you, though, you must not only have it, you must release it.

How?

By now, you know the answer. You make the claim of faith by speaking faith-filled words. You do it by operating like God does. As Romans 4:17 says:

- He “calleth those things which be not as though they were.”

- He “calls into existence the things that do not exist” (NRSV).

- He releases His faith by “calling the things not being as being” (Greek).

God’s system of faith is voice activated! What He has so abundantly provided by His grace we possess with words of faith. Faith-filled words draw into our life whatever we’re calling for. As I heard somebody say one time, we use them much like a cowboy uses a lasso. Living here in Fort Worth, where we have the Stockyards, that’s easy for me to visualize because I’ve been to rodeos and seen the calf-roping events. They’re fascinating to watch.

The cowboy charges into the arena on his horse, whirls his lasso in the air and loops it around the calf’s neck. Then he jumps off his horse to the ground, pulls in the lasso and draws the calf to him. Once the animal is within reach, the cowboy wraps the rope around its feet, ties it and takes possession of it.

Think again about Caleb. That’s essentially how he took possession of his promised land. He lassoed it with his faith and his words. He believed, because God had given it to him, that the land was already his; said so; and acted accordingly. Caleb had “the same spirit of faith” 2 Corinthians 4:13 talks about: “according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken.”

Today, God said, there is a people in the land who have the same spirit. And guess what? You’re one of them! So, pick up your faith lasso, open your mouth, and draw into your life the financial abundance God has provided for you. Believe you receive treasures from His storehouse, say so and shout, “Yee-haw!”

The Dual Nature of the Storehouse

Word from The LORD through Kenneth Copeland

January 23, 2012

Some have thought that the storehouse was in heaven, and rightly so. Only a very few have even considered that there was a storehouse there, except to have the idea, propagated by religion, that the heavenly storehouse was to be opened only after one gets to heaven.

Nothing is any further from the truth.

Even fewer have understood the dual nature of the storehouse. Dual only in concept of the natural mind, because, you see, it is the same storehouse.

But for the sake of your understanding, the duality of the storehouse is that the storehouse in heaven is also inside your spirit man. All of it. It doesn’t have to come from heaven to the earth. All things are already in the earth that you need to do the job in the earth that I called you to do. And the power that reaches out from inside you and procures all those things, I’ve set aside for you and put your name on it, [so you can] accomplish that which I have called and hold you responsible for. That power is in you and on you.

It is because of My LOVE for you that you will come behind in nothing. No thing!

That power is called THE BLESSING. B-L-E-S-S-I-N-G that came from the BLESSED One, the BLESSED Redeemer, the BLESSED Father, the BLESSED Holy Ghost. The One who is that power has BLESSED you and has done so in My Name and in My blood, as though you have never sinned.

So rejoice. Look to the storehouse. It is all there, and it is all waiting for My WORD to energize your faith, the key to the Kingdom, and unlock that storehouse. For as one among you recently said, this is a voice-activated system.

Activate it. Release it. And you’ll surely know great reward on the earth and in heaven.[45]

45 “The Dual Nature of the Storehouse” © 2012 Kenneth Copeland. All rights reserved.

Day 84

Pastor George

The Law of Progressive Increase

Ye that fear The LORD, trust in The LORD: he is their help and their shield. The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will BLESS us; he will BLESS the house of Israel; he will BLESS the house of Aaron. He will BLESS them that fear The LORD, both small and great. The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.

(Psalm 115:11-14)

Our God is the God of eternal increase. If you live according to His plan, He said He will increase you more and more. The phrase more and more in Hebrew means “to continue to add, over and above.” In other words, the increase just keeps mounting. There’s more and more…then more and more…then more and more! There’s no end to it. It never stops!

In the From Faith to Faith devotional, Brother Copeland writes, “One of the most exciting things I ever discovered about God’s law of sowing and reaping was the fact that financial harvests are not seasonal. If you plant year-round you can be receiving year-round. If you will keep planting consistently, you will receive just as consistently. If you continually cast your bread on the water, eventually it will come in on every wave!” [46]

One time when I was studying about this, The LORD gave me a name for it. He called it The Law of Progressive Increase. He defined it as a supernatural momentum, an exponential growth and a BLESSING cycle that occurs when giving and receiving are set on a consistent and uninterrupted course.

Have you ever seen a cartoon of someone making a snowball and rolling it down a hill? The farther down it goes, the faster the snowball travels and the bigger it gets. That’s exactly what happens in our lives, as tithers and givers. As we continue to walk by faith and do what God says, our increase keeps coming in faster and faster and getting bigger and bigger.

What’s more, unlike a literal snowball, which will eventually get to the bottom of the hill and stop, God’s prosperity plan for our lives keeps moving forward forever. His Law of Progressive Increase not only continues to add to us, over and above, while we’re on the earth, it keeps working for us when we leave and go to heaven. We’ll spend eternity exploring and receiving all the riches God has for us there!

Of course, for our prosperity to keep snowballing, we do have to stick with God and consistently apply His WORD. For, as Gloria has been teaching us for years: In consistency lies the power. “The longer you walk [with God] and the longer you sow, and the more deposits you make, the greater your harvest will be,” she says. “Soon your tithe is what your salary was when you started. It keeps increasing and increasing and increasing. It goes from 10 times to a hundred times. Do you know what I read in the Scripture about God? He doesn’t just add to us—He multiplies! Our days are multiplied. Our goods are multiplied. That’s why The WORD talks about abundance and abounding—these kinds of words describe God and what He does.”[47]

God’s design is for our lives to get better and better in every area. For us to keep improving spiritually, mentally, physically, relationally and financially. His desire is for us to keep sowing, believing, speaking The WORD and walking by faith so that we continually experience exponential growth.

As a pastor, I’ve watched this happen in our church. I’ve seen people apply God’s principles and go from faith to faith and from glory to glory, succeeding and improving their status in life. I’ve seen them go from having no car to having a beautiful car, from renting an apartment to owning their own home, from working as an employee to becoming an employer.

I love seeing that and, more importantly, so does The LORD! He delights in BLESSING His children. That’s why throughout the Bible He repeatedly tells us to keep walking in His BLESSING. It’s why He gives us numerous scriptures to show us how His Law of Progressive Increase works as we keep it in operation in our lives.

I call those scriptures “case studies in progressive growth.” They clearly reveal how God’s more-and-more pattern of increase continually advances us from one stage of prosperity to the next. Consider these examples and you’ll see what I mean.

Case Study 1: Luke 6:38

“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

- Stage One: Good measure

- Stage Two: Pressed down

- Stage Three: Shaken together

- Stage Four: Running over.

Case Study 2: Mark 4:30-32

“Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.”

- Stage One: It grows up

- Stage Two: It becomes greater than all the herbs

- Stage Three: It shoots out great branches

- Stage Four: The fowls of the air lodge under the shadow of it.

Case Study 3: Genesis 26:12-14

“Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and The LORD BLESSED him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great. For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants.”

- Stage 1: He received in the same year an hundredfold

- Stage 2: And the man waxed great

- Stage 3: He went forward

- Stage 4: He grew until he became very great (As you may recall, in the Hebrew the phrase translated waxed great means “to increase, advance, be promoted, to exceed to tower.” Very great means “speedily, quickly, rapidly.”)

- Stage 5: For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds and a great store of servants.

This kind of progressive increase isn’t just for people whose names are in the Bible. Kenneth and Gloria have proven it. A case study themselves, they’ve gone from believing God for $10 a month to partner with Oral Roberts (Stage 1), to launching their own fledgling ministry where they preached to a few hundred people at a time (Stage 2), to broadcasting on radio and television (Stage 3), to establishing VICTORY Channel™ and preaching to millions of people from the top of the world to the bottom and all the way around the middle (Stage 4).

Today, they’re in Stage 5 and still increasing. After 55 years in ministry, their snowball of abundance is not only still rolling, it’s going faster and getting bigger than ever. As you keep applying God’s Law of Progressive Increase, yours will too!

46 From Faith to Faith—A Daily Guide to Victory, August 12 devotion, “A Supernatural Cycle of Blessing”

47 The Kingdom of God—Days of Heaven on Earth, “Your Heavenly Account,” Message 4, Part 1, Gloria Copeland © 1996.

Day 85

Pastor George

The Laws of Poverty (Part 1)

The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor.

(Proverbs 10:15, NIV-84)

Just as there are spiritual laws that set prosperity in motion, there are also laws that set poverty in motion. And we need to be familiar with both. We need to know what the laws that govern prosperity are so we can abide by them. We need to know what the laws that govern poverty are so we can stay away from them.

The Bible minces no words about the importance of staying away from poverty. It says plainly that poverty brings ruin. In Hebrew, the word for poverty means “to be destitute, needy, poor, insufficient, deficient; to live in a state of lack and extreme want.” Unlike prosperity, which is a BLESSING that increases and elevates our status in life, poverty does the opposite. It diminishes and lowers our status in life and is a curse.

As believers, we’ve been redeemed from the curse, therefore we’ve been redeemed from poverty. Yet we can fall prey to it if we continue to activate its laws. Remember how Deuteronomy 28 says that if you hearken to the voice of The LORD to do His commandments, THE BLESSING will come upon you and overtake you? The same principle works in reverse. If you don’t listen to and obey God, the curse will come upon and overtake you.

“You have to spend time in The WORD in order to get your thinking straight, your speaking straight and your actions straight,” Brother Copeland said when he was teaching on the laws of prosperity. “As long as you are thinking, talking and acting poverty, you are going to get more of it than you can stand.”

You don’t want more poverty than you can stand! You don’t want any poverty at all! If you did though, the Bible tells you how to get it. All you have to do is follow poverty laws like these:

Law 1: Don’t Acknowledge God or His WORD

This is what The LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from The LORD. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives” (Jeremiah 17:5-6, NIV).

If you want to live in poverty, do not put God and His WORD first place in your life. Instead, do things your own way. If you get so desperate that for a while you do start seeking God first, once He puts you back on your feet again, go back to your old ways again. Leave your Bible closed and gathering dust on your nightstand and go back to handling things yourself. That will put you right back on the road to poverty.

I say this tongue-in-cheek, of course. I know you’d never intentionally ignore God. But if you don’t stay in The WORD, it’s an easy trap to fall into. That’s why Deuteronomy 8 specifically warns us: “Beware that thou forget not The LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes…. If thou do at all forget The LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them…ye shall surely perish” (verses 11, 19).

In her teaching from the audio series, The Kingdom of God—Days of Heaven on Earth, Gloria says, “Prosperity is the result of doing God’s ways. Some pass the poverty test but fail the prosperity test. You get your needs met and receive great abundance. But if you don’t keep God’s WORD first place in your life, your heart will begin to grow cold. You’ll be taken with the material things that have been added to you.

“You have to walk circumspectly to walk in prosperity. You have to keep putting God first. When all your needs are met, remember how you got it. Remember that it was God who gave you the power to get wealth. One thing about wealth—it can come quickly and it can go quickly.”[48]

You can see an example of what to do and what not to do in 2 Chronicles 26, in the story of the Old Testament King Uzziah. In the early years of his life “he set himself to seek God…and as long as he sought (inquired of, yearned for) The LORD, God made him prosper” (verse 5, AMPC). Later in life, however, he got full of himself and stopped acknowledging God. He “became proud to his destruction” (verse 16, AMPC) and lost everything he had.

King Uzziah had access to God’s WORD. He undoubtedly knew the law of prosperity in Proverbs 3:6: “In all thy ways acknowledge [God], and he shall direct thy paths.” But he forgot that law, activated the No. 1 law of poverty instead, and it ruined him.

Law 2: Don’t Exercise Self-Control

He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich…. Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path. Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags (Proverbs 21:17, 23:19-21, NIV-84).

As a believer, your spirit has been born again, but your flesh has not. So, if you want more poverty in your life just let your flesh do whatever it wants. Once you let it take charge, it will push you into overspending, overeating, overdrinking and overindulging in carnal pleasures that will deplete you not only financially but also spiritually and physically. It will seduce you into loving fleshly pleasures more than you love God, and rob you of a truly prosperous life.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 6: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (verses 7-8, NKJV).

You want life and prosperity, not poverty and corruption. So, choose to exercise self-control as well as all the fruit of the spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness—and steer clear of the second law of poverty.

“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16, NKJV)!

Gloria-ism:

“Both poverty and sickness are cured by more of God because they’re a curse and He’s THE BLESSING.”

48 The Kingdom of God—Days of Heaven on Earth, “Your Heavenly Account,” Message 4, Part 1, Gloria Copeland © 1996.

Day 86

Gloria

The Laws of Poverty (Part 2)

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

(Proverbs 6:6-11, NIV)

Poverty is something I have personally experienced. As I shared on Day 46, Ken and I were poor in the early years of our marriage. And you know what? I DID NOT like it.

If you’ve ever been there, I’m sure you can relate. When you’re living in poverty, you’re always focused on what you don’t have. You continually think about what you need and how impossible it is for you to get it. “I’ll never be able to afford that,” you say to yourself. “I don’t have enough money.”

Once you switch over and start operating in the laws of prosperity, however, you start thinking in terms of abundance. When you see something you need or desire, you can go to God with confidence and ask Him for it. You can believe you receive when you pray, take by faith what you asked for, and rejoice knowing you will have it (Mark 11:24).

The prosperity mindset is entirely different from the poverty mindset and produces entirely different results! So, let’s continue today looking at what Pastor George calls the laws of poverty so that we can be sure to avoid them.

The first law of poverty on his list is Don’t Acknowledge God. Leave your Bible closed, unread and gathering dust if you want more poverty in your life, because studying The WORD and continually feeding on it opens the door to prosperity.

The second law of poverty is Don’t Exercise Self-Control. That will make you poor for sure and, like all the laws of poverty, it doesn’t require you to exert any effort. To walk in the spiritual fruit of self-control, which, along with the other fruit of the spirit, helps keep prosperity flowing, involves bringing your outer man into subjection to your inner man. It requires you to make a choice and exercise your spirit. You don’t have to do much of anything at all to give in to your flesh. Just leave it unrestrained and it will drain your resources dry.

Law of poverty No. 3 is Don’t Work. Just be a sluggard and a slacker. If you’re unemployed, stay that way. If you have a job, be late to arrive in the morning, leave early and waste a lot of time lazing around in between. Such things are guaranteed to leave you lacking. For as the Bible says:

- “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied” (Proverbs 13:4, ESV).

- “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth” (Proverbs 10:4, TLV).

- “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man” (Proverbs 24:33-34, NIV-84).

- “Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare” (Proverbs 20:13, NIV).

- “You lazy fool, look at an ant. Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two. Nobody has to tell it what to do. All summer it stores up food; at harvest it stockpiles provisions. So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing? How long before you get out of bed? A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next? Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, poverty your permanent houseguest!” (Proverbs 6:6-11, MSG).

I have no ambition to be poor, so I’m going to keep getting out of bed in the morning and doing what I’m supposed to do.

Law of poverty No. 4 is Don’t Tithe and Give. Instead, spend all your income on yourself, including the 10% that belongs to God. Be stingy and quit helping other people. In other words, do not be like Kenneth Copeland!

I learned about giving from him. He’s the most extravagant giver I’ve ever met. I think he enjoys giving more than anything else—even more than preaching or flying airplanes, which is saying a lot. He truly would rather give than receive. That’s why our ministry has prospered. It’s why our Partners are prospering. We keep tithing and giving.

Proverbs 11 says, “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (verses 24-25, NIV-84). Other versions of the Bible put it this way: “It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything…. The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller” (verse 24, NLT-96, MSG).

If that’s not warning enough, Proverbs also says, “A stingy man is eager to get rich and is unaware that poverty awaits him,” yet “a generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor” (Proverbs 28:22, 22:9, NIV-84).

The fifth law of poverty, while simple, covers a lot of territory. It is this: Don’t obey God. Obedience to Him produces prosperity and BLESSING. Disobedience produces the conditions of the curse. Every time. Really, it’s that black and white, and the choice is up to you: “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 1:19-20).

Here again, I speak from experience. Although Ken and I started out poor, as soon as we began acting on what the Bible says, even when it didn’t look like it would be to our advantage, we started increasing financially and have been increasing ever since. And you know what? I found out I like it. As the old saying goes, I’ve been poor, and I’ve been rich, and rich is better!

I’m sure you agree, and the Scriptures confirm that God does too. Life is simply better when you shun the laws of poverty. Even though living according to the laws of prosperity requires more effort, I’ve found the results are well worth it, haven’t you?

Gloria-ism:

“I have no ambition to be poor, so I’m going to keep getting out of bed in the morning and doing what I’m supposed to do.”

Day 87

Pastor George

Our Generous Father (Part 1)

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering….

(James 1:5-6)

Here’s a truth for you to meditate on today: You have a heavenly Father who loves you and enjoys splurging on you. A Father who owns everything and desires to give you everything He has. You have a God who “gives generously to all without finding fault” (verse 5, NIV). A “giving God who gives to all with simplicity and without reserve” (James 1:5, WUEST).

Not only will He give you wisdom, as verse 5 says, He so delights in BLESSING you that no matter what good thing you need or desire, you can “ask our generous God” for it, “and he will give it to you” (NLT). Why? Because that’s His nature! It’s who He is. As Gloria says, “God is most generous all the time. You’ll never catch Him on a bad, stingy day!”

Even so, God can only give you as much as you will receive from Him. And since expanding your capacity to receive is up to you, meditating on His generosity is one of the best things you can do. The more you rehearse what The WORD says about what a Giver God is, the more it will bolster your faith in that aspect of His nature. The stronger your faith grows, the less room there will be in your thinking for wondering or wavering.

That’s important! For as James 1 goes on to say, “He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed…. Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of The LORD” (verses 6-7).

Sadly, right there is where a lot of believers miss it. They ask God for something, then wonder if He’s going to give it to them. They try to believe they receive but then their confidence wavers because they don’t know how generous God is. They think He might be holding back on them.

We need to get this settled in our minds once and for all: God never holds back on His children! He can’t! For Him to do so would be a scriptural impossibility because the Bible says:

- “The God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ…hath BLESSED us with all spiritual BLESSINGS in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

- “The God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ…has BLESSED us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) BLESSING in the heavenly realm!” (AMPC).

- “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life” (2 Peter 1:3, NLT).

Notice, the verbs in those verses are all past tense. They say God has already BLESSED us as believers with every BLESSING He has. It’s done. Therefore, we can say with absolute confidence what David said in Psalm 23:1: “The LORD is my Shepherd…I shall not lack” (AMPC).

According to the Tehillim, the Jewish book of Psalms with commentary, the phrase I shall not lack points back to God’s boundless generosity toward the Israelites in the wilderness. Remember how liberally God provided for them there? Even though there were no grocery stores, no restaurants and no malls where they could buy new clothes, when the Israelites’ wilderness journey came to an end, Moses could say to them, “These forty years The LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing” (Deuteronomy 2:7).

“Travel has three detrimental effects,” notes the Tehillim. “It wears out clothing, it exhausts the body, and it forces one to skimp on food (due to the great financial burden of travel). None of these deprivations befell Israel, who lacked nothing in the wilderness. Furthermore, it is human nature that when a person welcomes a guest, on the first day of his visit he slaughters a fat calf for him. On the second day, a sheep. On the third, a hen. On the fourth day, he serves beans, and on the fifth day even less. Not so in the wilderness…. On the last day of the forty years God was just as generous as He was on the first. Rabbi Nechemiah said: They lacked for nothing. All they had to do was say a word and their wish was immediately fulfilled. If they so much as said. ‘let the Manna taste like calf’s flesh,’ so it did. Or, they could give it the taste of rich oil, or fine flour, or spiced wine, or sweet cakes. The Rabbis say: ‘It was not even necessary for them to speak. All they had to do was to think, and their heart’s desire came to pass immediately.’”[49]

If God did that for the Israelites, He’ll do that for you. He’ll grant even the wishes and desires of your heart!

“Pastor George, do you really believe that?”

Yes! I’ve seen Him do it for me. For example, years ago when I first began serving as the ministry’s executive director, I’d have business meetings with Gloria that often turned into WORD meetings. Sometimes we’d wind up talking about the things of God for several hours. One day, after one of those meetings, I had this thought: It sure would be fun if Gloria and I could do a Believer’s Voice of Victory broadcast together.

That’s all there was to it. I just had that thought. I didn’t pray about it or even think much about it after that. I just went on with my life. Then, a few years later, Gloria asked me to tape some broadcasts with her about prosperity and we wound up doing hundreds of them together. It was so much fun, and I have no doubt that God was behind it! He took note of my desire and arranged for it to be granted, because that’s just how He is!

So, let this be your meditation today. At every opportunity, remind yourself that you really do have a generous heavenly Father. He loves you so much He enjoys splurging on you, in ways big and small. He’s such a generous Giver that, truly, “no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly…. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek The LORD lack no good thing” (Psalm 84:11, 34:10, KJV, NIV).

Gloria-ism:

“God is most generous all the time. You’ll never catch Him on a bad, stingy day!”

49 Tehillim, Volume 1, Psalm 23, pages 288-289.

Day 88

Gloria

Our Generous Father (Part 2)

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

(James 1:5, NLT)

Do you know what the devil often does if he can’t get you to doubt God’s generosity? He’ll try to deceive you into believing you’ve messed up too badly to qualify for it. He’ll bring up all the sins and failures in your past, and even though you’ve repented of them he’ll condemn you for them. He’ll tell you that if you ask God to bless you after all the dumb things you’ve done, it might just make Him mad.

Like everything the devil says, that’s rubbish! Don’t ever believe it.

The Bible says our generous God will not rebuke us when we take our requests to Him. As Pastor George pointed out yesterday, whether we’re asking for wisdom or some other good gift, God “gives generously to all without finding fault” (NIV). Rather than discouraging us from asking Him for the things we need and desire, He does the opposite. He says:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened…. What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-11, NKJV).

“But Gloria,” you might say, “I just don’t feel like I deserve much from God.”

Neither did the prodigal son in Luke 15. Remember him? He sinned in a big way. He asked his father to give him his portion of the family estate and then abused his father’s generosity by going out and wasting his fortune in reckless and loose living. When his money ran out, he wound up literally having to eat pig slop to survive.

Realizing his foolishness, he repented and headed home. When he arrived, he intended to tell his father, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son. [Just] make me like one of your hired servants” (verse 19, NKJV). But he never got the chance. When his dad saw him coming down the road toward home, he ran to meet him, threw his arms around him, and started calling the servants. “Bring out the best robe and put it on him,” the father said, “and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet” (verse 22, NKJV). Then, having restored the son to his place in the family, he had a fatted calf killed and they had a party.

I’m sure you recall the elder brother’s reaction to this. (We talked about it on Day 35.) He complained to his father and said, “Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.” The father graciously replied, “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found" (verses 29, 31-32, NKJV).

All that I have is yours. That statement perfectly captures the heart of our heavenly Father, and it didn’t just apply to the elder brother. It applied to the younger son, too. Even though he’d been prodigal, when he repented and returned home, the father was right there to bless him.

You can count on your heavenly Father to be there to bless you too! Even if you’ve sinned, once you repent, He is faithful to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). He’s faithful to receive you when you come to Him, throw His arms around you, and say, “All I have is yours!”

Don’t you love Him? He could have just said, “Much of what I have is yours,” and it would have been wonderful. But He’s so generous, merciful, gracious and forgiving, He used the word all. He included that word in the Bible a lot. It says:

- “ALL these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 28:2).

- “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not ALL his benefits” (Psalm 103:2).

- “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us ALL, how shall he not with him also freely give us ALL things?” (Romans 8:32).

- “God shall supply ALL your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

- “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly ALL things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).

That last verse is one of my favorites because it doesn’t say God gives us just what we need to survive, but that He provides us with all things “for our enjoyment” (NIV). I enjoy new cars, for example. The time Ken surprised me with a brand-new little sportscar I really enjoyed it. What’s more, Ken really enjoyed giving it to me.

That’s how God is. He enjoys giving you special things just for your enjoyment! He’s not a grouchy giver. As Jesus said, it’s His “good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Or as Psalm 35:27 puts it, He “hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.”

God gets His kicks out of blessing and being generous toward us! When you bring Him your requests you’re not irritating Him, you’re asking Him to do the very thing He wants to do.

Don’t ever let the devil talk you out of believing that. Don’t ever let him make you doubtful and double-minded about it. Stay single-minded. Continue to meditate on the goodness and generosity of your heavenly Father until it becomes such a part of you that it’s easy for you to receive from Him!

Gloria-ism:

“God gets His kicks out of blessing and being generous toward us!”

Day 89

Pastor George

The Generous Life

Be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father].

(Ephesians 5:1, AMPC)

The day my son, Jeremy, was born, from the first moment I held him in my arms I had an important job to do. That job was to be an example of God to him. As his parents, Pastor Terri and I had been entrusted with the responsibility of showing him what it looks like to live a godly life.

Committed to sharing with him our love of The WORD, when he was about 3 years old we got him some cassette tapes with Bible stories on them. The title of the tape series was Stories That Live. After listening to them over and over, one day Jeremy said to Pastor Terri and me, “I have something I want to tell you.” We asked him what it was, and he started quoting, verbatim, from those tapes.

He told us about Jonah and the whale. He told us about the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace and Daniel in the lions’ den. We were stunned. Eager to share this thrilling development, we thought about the Bible study Brother Copeland’s mother, Vinita, taught at her house every Monday night. “Jeremy, would you preach this at Nonnie’s Bible study?” we asked.

He considered it for a moment. “I’ll preach it if I can have a three-piece suit and a watch pocket,” he said.

We knew what he meant. He wanted to look like his grandfather did when he preached, and back then Kenneth wore a vested suit and carried a pocket watch to every service. We bought the little suit and took him to the Bible study that night. I set him up on a chair, held the microphone for him, and he preached three sermons.

When I remember how delighted I was to see my son, at such a tender age, follow the godly examples of his parents and his grandparents, I think of how much our generous heavenly Father desires for us to follow His generous example. Even if we’re barely spiritual toddlers first learning to prosper, He delights in seeing us imitate Him in our giving. He rejoices when He sees us not only believing that He will liberally supply all our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19, AMPC), but also believing that He will enable us to become liberal suppliers of the needs of others.

In other words, God delights in seeing us follow in the footsteps of His Son, Jesus. He was noted for His generosity during His life on earth. His disciples got so accustomed to His continual giving that during their last Passover meal with Him, it didn’t even occur to them, when Judas slipped out, that he was going to betray Jesus. Instead, since Judas was the treasurer, they assumed Jesus had sent him out to give to the poor. (See John 13:27-29.)

Talk about having a reputation for giving! Clearly, Jesus must have met people’s financial needs a lot. I believe, for example, that’s what He did after He saw the widow in Mark 12 put her last two mites in the offering at the Temple. “This poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together,” He told His disciples. “All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all” (verses 43-44, MSG).

While that’s all the Bible says about the incident, it couldn’t have been the end of the story. Jesus couldn’t possibly have walked away from that woman without doing anything to help her. It wouldn’t have been consistent with His generous nature. Plus, it would have violated the instructions the Apostle John gave years later when, teaching believers to walk in love, He wrote:

If anyone has this world’s goods (resources for sustaining life) and sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in him? Little children, let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity) (1 John 3:17-18, AMPC).

Jesus is Love incarnate. He never closed His heart of compassion to a brother or sister in need. He wasn’t a cheapskate—and we aren’t either! We’re born again in His image, children of the same heavenly Father, and our passion is to follow in His footsteps of generosity. To talk like Him, act like Him, live like Him and give like Him.

I’ve said this often, but it bears repeating: As believers we don’t prosper just so we can hoard up riches for ourselves. Our motive for accumulation is distribution. Our heart is to be able to use the power of God to meet the needs of mankind in every realm of life—spiritual, physical and financial. What’s more, that’s God’s heart for us. He’s said to us the same thing He said to Abraham in Genesis 12:2: “I will BLESS you [with abundant increase of favors] and…you will be a BLESSING [dispensing good to others]” (AMPC).

What a wonderful way to live! What could be better than being BLESSED of God, being a BLESSING, dispensing good to others? The generous life is wonderful and, according to the Bible, the more you live it the better your life gets. “It is well with the man who deals generously and lends…. He has distributed freely [he has given to the poor and needy];” Psalm 112 says, “his righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God) endures forever; his horn shall be exalted in honor” (verses 5, 9, AMPC).

- “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25, NIV-84).

- “...I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be BLESSED” (Psalm 37:25-26, NIV-84).

- “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously…. and God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:6, 8, NIV-84).

- “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and…your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (verses 10-11, NIV-84).

Today, and every day, step into your calling as a generous child of a generous God. Watch all the time for people the Holy Spirit is leading you to give to. Like 3-year-old Jeremy preaching his first sermon in a three-piece suit just like his grandfather’s, bring delight to the heart of your heavenly Father. Be a conduit of His BLESSING.

Live the generous life!

Day 90

Pastor George

Are You Prepared for Prosperity?

The BLESSING of The LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

(Proverbs 10:22)

Throughout this book, I’ve shared prophetic words from The LORD about prosperity that have been given by Brother Copeland. There’s one, however, that I haven’t yet mentioned. Delivered on June 27, 2011, it had a particularly strong impact on me, as I trust it will have on you. In it, The LORD said this:

I am looking to and fro across the earth for those to whom I may show Myself strong and transfer My property and My influence in the earth—out of the hands of the powers of darkness and into the hands of My people. Are you prepared? What would you do if I put you in charge? Would you follow the plan that the world already has that is full of confusion and doubt and unbelief, or would you dare rise up and say, “Thus saith The LORD”?[50]

Those questions, directed by The LORD to all of us in His Church, are thought-provoking, just by themselves. But in the months after I first heard them, The LORD spoke to me about them in a way that made them even more personal. George, He said, if I gave you $10 million tomorrow, would you know what to do with it?

No, I realized, I would not!

While I knew that I would tithe on that $10 million and give offerings from it, I couldn’t say exactly where I would direct them. I didn’t know what ministries, other than Kenneth Copeland Ministries, I would give to. What other Kingdom works would I use that money to support? I wondered. Once I’d tithed and given offerings, what else would I do? What areas of my life and my family’s life would I invest in?

The fact that I didn’t know the answers to those questions startled me. It made me realize I wasn’t ready to handle the great transfer of wealth God desires to give us, as His people, in these last days. It challenged me to become more prepared.

Remembering a recent trip Pastor Terri and I had made to Israel, I considered all the preparations I’d made for it. I’d put together a checklist of everything that needed to be done before I left town. I’d packed my suitcases. I’d reviewed our travel schedules and looked up the places we planned to visit to learn more about them.

Those are the kinds of things we all do when we know something significant is about to happen in our lives. When we’re about to get married, we book a date for the wedding, call the florist, and assemble a guest list. When we find out we’re having a baby, we start buying tiny clothes and painting the nursery. We prepare because, when the time comes, we want to be ready.

Why shouldn’t we do the same thing with wealth?

If we’re truly believing God to prosper us, why don’t we prepare for it?

One reason is because the devil is always trying to convince us that extreme wealth is not really available to us. “Don’t even bother preparing for it,” he says, “because you’re never going to have it.” But that’s contrary to God’s WORD. As you know very well by now, it says definitively that THE BLESSING of The LORD makes us rich. It proclaims in various ways (time and again!) that wealth and riches shall be in the house of the righteous (Psalm 112:3).

If we really believe that, we ought to be acting like it’s true. We should be putting feet to our faith by preparing ourselves to handle great prosperity!

As God’s covenant people, we’re to handle prosperity very differently from the world. The worldly rich are all about themselves and what they want. One time, a young man from our church told me after spending a summer working at a hotel that catered to the very wealthy, that most of them treated him badly. They tended to be arrogant, pushy and demanding. Many times, that’s how people in the world act when they get a lot of money. As believers we’re to be totally the opposite. No matter how wealthy we become, we’re to walk in humility and be kind and considerate.

We’re also to make sure we put our trust in God and keep Him first place in our lives. That’s not how the world’s wealthy operate. They look to money for their security. They treat it and the things it can buy as their god, and therefore, their wealth ultimately brings them ruin. It’s a scriptural principle: “The prosperity of fools will destroy them…[because] the fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Proverbs 1:32; Psalm 53:1, MEV). The righteous honor God by putting their faith in Him rather than in their financial status. Therefore, as Proverbs 28:10 says, “The upright shall have good things in possession.”

Years ago, there was a television series called Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.[51] I like to think that if there were ever a show made about us it would be called The Lifestyle of the Rich and Righteous! Instead of using people to get things, we use things to love people. Instead of wealth being all about ourselves, for us it’s all about advancing the kingdom of God and serving others. Instead of our motivation for accumulation being acquisition, our motivation for accumulation is distribution.

I like the word accumulate! Along with the word grow, it’s one of the meanings of the Hebrew word in Proverbs 10:22 that’s translated rich; that describes what happens when you walk in THE BLESSING of The LORD. You accumulate and grow in riches. You keep going to higher levels of prosperity in every area of life. You keep increasing in love, in faith, in the fruit of the spirit and in wealth.

So, get ready for the next level! See yourself walking more fully in THE BLESSING of God and possessing more wealth than you’ve ever had before. Prepare yourself for greater prosperity so that when it comes in, you’ll know how to use it.

Take the challenge The LORD gave me. Ask yourself, “If God gave me $10 million tomorrow, what would I do?”

Become an Expert at Managing God’s Resources

from Blessed To Be a Blessing

by Kenneth Copeland

In a world that believes the only reason for prosperity is to buy bigger cars and finer houses, a new Church is rising. These believers are not deceived by greed. They know God’s purposes for prosperity.

These believers know God wants to bless His people so they can be a blessing. They know He gives us the power to get wealth, so He may establish His covenant (Deuteronomy 8:18), and so we “may have to give to him that needeth” (Ephesians 4:28).

God wants us to minister to a world caught up in the cycle of greed and lack. We can’t do that if we are wondering where our next meal is coming from. God knows that. That’s why He has provided us “all sufficiency in all things”—so we may have enough to “abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

Our part is to learn how to access His resources and how to use what He provides. You’ve heard people say about their money and their giving, “It all belongs to God anyway.” That sounds good, but it isn’t true. Your money isn’t all God’s, and it’s not all yours. All wealth comes from God. And He is the One who has given you the power to get wealth. But He is very specific about what is His, what is yours and what you are to do with what He provides.

The bottom line is this: You are blessed to be a blessing. You oversee both your and His resources. You oversee wealth He has provided for some very specific Kingdom purposes.

Silver, gold and all the wealth of the earth are His. For too long the forces of satan have controlled those resources, using them to drag men into darkness. Now it’s time for the Church to learn what true wealth really is, tap into the riches that spring from The WORD instead of the world, and enjoy living as givers in spreading the gospel throughout the earth.

The most powerful spiritual invasion the devil has ever had to face since Jesus walked this earth will be the Church alive to God’s purposes for prosperity. They have found more joy in giving than in anything money could buy. They allowed themselves to become experts in managing the resources God provides.[52]

50 “Are You Prepared for Prosperity?” excerpted from “The Kingdom Is at Hand” word from The LORD through Kenneth Copeland on June 17, 2011, Annual Word of Faith Convention, Southfield, Mich. © 2011 Kenneth Copeland. All rights reserved.

51 Hosted by Robin Leach, the show aired in syndication from 1984-1995.

52 Kenneth Copeland, Blessed To Be a Blessing—Understanding True, Biblical Prosperity (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1997) p. 5.

About the Author-Gloria Copeland

Gloria Copeland is a noted author and minister of the gospel whose teaching ministry is known throughout the world. Believers worldwide know her through Believers’ Conventions, Victory Campaigns, magazine articles, teaching audios and videos, and the daily and Sunday Believer’s Voice of Victory television broadcast, which she hosts with her husband, Kenneth Copeland. She is known for Healing School, which she began teaching and hosting in 1979 at KCM meetings. Gloria delivers the Word of God and the keys to victorious Christian living to millions of people every year.

Gloria is author of the New York Times best-seller, God’s Master Plan for Your Life and Live Long, Finish Strong, as well as numerous other favorites, including God’s Will for You, Walk With God, God’s Will Is Prosperity, Hidden Treasures and To Know Him. She has also co-authored several books with her husband, including Family Promises, Healing Promises and the best-selling daily devotionals, From Faith to Faith and Pursuit of His Presence.

She holds an honorary doctorate from Oral Roberts University. In 1994, Gloria was voted Christian Woman of the Year, an honor conferred on women whose example demonstrates outstanding Christian leadership. Gloria is also the co-founder and vice president of Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Fort Worth, Texas.

Learn more about Kenneth Copeland Ministries by visiting our website at kcm.org

About the Author-Pastor George Pearsons

George Pearsons is CEO of Kenneth Copeland Ministries and senior pastor of Eagle Mountain International Church (EMIC), located at Kenneth Copeland Ministries near Fort Worth, Texas. However, growing up as a young artist on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Fort Worth was not part of his life’s dream. His dream was to be a graphic designer in New York City.

During his second year of art school in Boston, George’s dream of running a major art studio, as his father had, was replaced by another dream—the dream of becoming a pastor. Pursuing that destiny, he attended Oral Roberts University. There he met and later married Terri Copeland, the daughter of internationally known minister Kenneth Copeland, now Chief Visionary Officer at Kenneth Copeland Ministries.

After his first year at ORU, he moved to Fort Worth for the summer to launch the KCM art department. He never returned to ORU and eventually became director of the KCM publishing department, then executive director of the ministry.

George and Terri, who became pastors of EMIC in 1993, live in Fort Worth. Their son, Jeremy Pearsons, and his wife, Sarah, pastor Legacy Church in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, with their two children, Justus and Jessie. George and Terri’s daughter, Aubrey Oaks, mother of three daughters, Eiley, Kayelin and Piper, is a gifted vocalist who also serves as creative strategist on staff at Kenneth Copeland Ministries and Eagle Mountain International Church.

George’s “summer job” at KCM became a covenant connection that has spanned more than 45 years. And from his place of ministry he has become a man of God who is well-acquainted with the life-changing effects of both an international ministry and the local church.

Learn more about Eagle Mountain International Church

by visiting our website at emic.org

When The LORD first spoke to Kenneth and Gloria Copeland about starting the Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine...

He said: This is your seed. Give it to everyone who ever responds to your ministry, and don’t ever allow anyone to pay for a subscription!

For more than 50 years, it has been the joy of Kenneth Copeland Ministries to bring the good news to believers. Readers enjoy teaching from ministers who write from lives of living contact with God, and testimonies from believers experiencing victory through God’s Word in their everyday lives.

Today, the BVOV magazine is mailed monthly, bringing encouragement and blessing to believers around the world. Many even use it as a ministry tool, passing it on to others who desire to know Jesus and grow in their faith!

Request your FREE subscription to the Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine today!

Go to freevictory.com to subscribe, or call us at 1-800-600-7395 (U.S. only) or at +1-187-852-6000.

Prayer for Salvation and Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. Your Word says, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). I am calling on You. I pray and ask Jesus to come into my heart and be Lord over my life according to Romans 10:9-10: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” I do that now. I confess that Jesus is Lord, and I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I repent of sin. I renounce it. I renounce the devil and everything he stands for. Jesus is my Lord.

I am now reborn! I am a Christian—a child of Almighty God! I am saved! You also said in Your Word, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: HOW MUCH MORE shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13). I’m also asking You to fill me with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, rise up within me as I praise God. I fully expect to speak with other tongues as You give me the utterance (Acts 2:4). In Jesus’ Name. Amen!

Begin to praise God for filling you with the Holy Spirit. Speak those words and syllables you receive—not in your own language, but the language given to you by the Holy Spirit. You have to use your own voice. God will not force you to speak. Don’t be concerned with how it sounds. It is a heavenly language!

Continue with the blessing God has given you and pray in the spirit every day.

You are a born-again, Spirit-filled believer. You’ll never be the same!

Find a good church that boldly preaches God’s Word and obeys it. Become part of a church family who will love and care for you as you love and care for them.

We need to be connected to each other. It increases our strength in God. It’s God’s plan for us.

Make it a habit to watch the Believer’s Voice of Victory Network television broadcast and become a doer of the Word, who is blessed in his doing (James 1:22-25).

We’re Here for You!®

Your growth in God’s WORD and victory in Jesus are at the very center of our hearts. In every way God has equipped us, we will help you deal with the issues facing you, so you can be the victorious overcomer He has planned for you to be.

The mission of Kenneth Copeland Ministries is about all of us growing and going together. Our prayer is that you will take full advantage of all The LORD has given us to share with you.

Wherever you are in the world, you can watch the Believer’s Voice of Victory broadcast on television (check your local listings), the internet at kcm.org or on our digital Roku channel.

Our website, kcm.org, gives you access to every resource we’ve developed for your victory. And, you can find contact information for our international offices in Africa, Australia, Canada, Europe, Ukraine and our headquarters in the United States.

Each office is staffed with devoted men and women, ready to serve and pray with you. You can contact the worldwide office nearest you for assistance, and you can call us for prayer at our U.S. number, +1-817-852-6000, every day!

We encourage you to connect with us often and let us be part of your everyday walk of faith!

Jesus Is LORD!

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

Table of Contents

Cover

Copyright

Introduction

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

Day 27

Day 28

Day 29

Day 30

Day 31

Day 32

Day 33

Day 34

Day 35

Day 36

Day 37

Day 38

Day 39

Day 40

Day 41

Day 42

Day 43

Day 44

Day 45

Day 46

Day 47

Day 48

Day 49

Day 50

Day 51

Day 52

Day 53

Day 54

Day 55

Day 56

Day 57

Day 58

Day 59

Day 60

Day 61

Day 62

Day 63

Day 64

Day 65

Day 66

Day 67

Day 68

Day 69

Day 70

Day 71

Day 72

Day 73

Day 74

Day 75

Day 76

Day 77

Day 78

Day 79

Day 80

Day 81

Day 82

Day 83

Day 84

Day 85

Day 86

Day 87

Day 88

Day 89

Day 90

About the Author-Gloria Copeland

About the Author-Pastor George Pearsons

The Believer's Voice of Victory Magazine

Prayer for Salvation and Baptism in the Holy Spirit

We're Here For You®