If you really want to get the wisdom of God, you'll have to do more than casually read the Scriptures a few minutes a day. You'll have to feed on them night and day. You'll have to get rid of the rubbish you've been feeding into your consciousness by reprogramming your mind with the Word of God.
"Oh, Brother Copeland," you may say, "that's unreasonable!"
We’ve seen some tremendous medical breakthroughs in our generation. We’ve seen “miracle drugs” developed that can conquer many kinds of sickness and disease.
But, you know, in the 45-plus years I’ve been a believer, I’ve discovered another, much more effective, kind of medicine: the Word of God. There’s never been a miracle drug that could equal it. God’s medicine is the answer to every need. It is life. It is health. It is the power of God. And if you put it in your heart and act on it, you will be healed.
Throughout the Scriptures, God warns us about the danger of strife. Yet, it’s still one of the most common problems among believers. We let it get into our homes, our workplaces, our churches...everywhere!
Of course, we don’t purposely let it in. We don’t wake up in the morning and say, “I think I’m going to stir up some major strife today.” We just inadvertently let it slip up on us one minor irritation at a time.
One of the reasons Gloria and I have seen the results we have in our lives and in our ministry is because when we realized what the Word of God would do, we literally immersed ourselves in it. We turned off the radio and television, put down the newspaper, and spent nearly every waking moment of the time available either reading the Word, listening to tapes on the Word, or thinking about the Word.
All that time in the Word eventually had a powerful effect on us. It began to revolutionize everything about us. It began to turn failure into success.
How does the devil see you? Does he see you as a terrifying and mighty warrior of God...or does he see you as a wimp he can whip in a minute?
The answer to that question depends on you. I realized that one day as I was studying the children of Israel and their failure to enter the Promised Land. The key to their failure is found in these words: “And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
I want to tell you the only real secret to getting ahead in this world. It’s simple. Put the Word of God first place in your daily life.
“Well,” you may be saying, “I’ve heard that before. It’s no secret.” But when you understand what I mean, it could be a revelation to you.
You see, the Bible is not just a textbook, a storybook or a history book. It’s a handbook for living. It’s the wisdom of Almighty God written down so that you can apply it to your everyday circumstances.
Did you know that the battleground for the problem you’re facing right now is in your mind and on your lips? If you’ll hit the devil with the Word and cast the care of the situation over on God, you’ll win.
Let me warn you though, hanging on to the Word isn’t always easy. The devil knows that if he doesn’t steal it from you, you’ll use it to enforce his defeat.
How many blessings are you going to receive from the Word of God? It depends on how many you expect to receive. When God measures them out to you, He’ll be using your measuring stick, not His own. He always works that way.
Two people can hear God’s Word about healing, for example. One will measure it with faith. “Praise God, by His stripes I was healed!” he’ll say. “I believe that with all my heart, and I’m going to keep on believing it until I receive my healing.”
Quite simply, God says love is keeping His commandments. That brings love out of the indefinite into something explicit. But God has done more than define love for you. He’s given you instructions so that you can know how to love as He loves. By giving you His Word, God has given you His love manual in black and white. All you have to do is follow it and you’ll be walking in love.
I want you to begin to develop an addiction today—an addiction to the Word of God. That may sound odd to you, especially if you don’t have much of an interest in the Word right now. But, believe me, it’s possible. I’ve done it myself and I’ve seen others do it, time and again.
All you have to do is make a decision to give yourself to it. To focus your time and attention on it. The more you give yourself to it, the more your desire for it will grow. Eventually, it will consume your thinking.
As a believer, you actually have residing in you the same new life God gave Jesus when He raised Him from the dead. The old sinner you once were has died. You’ve become a new creation on the inside.
You are full of the resurrection life of God!
But sin, disobedience and living a selfish, carnal life will keep that resurrection life from flowing out. Sin will separate you from the power of God, even though you’re born again. Resurrection life will lay dormant in you if you walk in sin.
Have you ever really thought about what it truly means to be in Christ Jesus? Have you ever gotten a clear revelation of that? Once you do, it will revolutionize your life.
You see, it’s in Him that we’re raised up from our sins. It’s in Him that we’re made to sit in heavenly places so that God can show us the exceeding riches of His grace. It’s in Him that we’re made the righteousness of God!
The Spirit of God is delivering a vital message to you today: Get ready for Jesus’ return! It’s an old message. But there’s a fresh urgency to it. An urgency you can’t afford to ignore.
Some believers make the mistake of saying, “Oh well, I just don’t think we’re supposed to know about the Second Coming. It’s supposed to come upon us like a thief in the night!”
God has given you a promised land. It’s a place flowing with milk and honey, where your every need can be met. A place where you can keep sin underfoot as you rule and reign with Christ. A place where no weapon formed against you will prosper. A place where you are seated with Christ in heavenly places, far above principalities and powers—far from oppression.
As you study the Word of God, you’ll find that’s an accurate description of the kind of victory you should be experiencing in Christ—not in the sweet by-and-by—but right here, right now.
So many believers wring their hands and worry about whether or not they’re praying according to God’s will. “Oh, dear me,” they say, “I certainly can’t expect God to do something for me that’s outside His will.” And they’re absolutely right.
But they don’t need to waste time standing around looking puzzled. They need to grab their Bibles and find out what the will of God is.
Have you ever been in prayer and suddenly had the disturbing sensation that God simply wasn’t listening?
It’s happened to all of us. But few of us know just what to do about it. We just limp along praying the same old prayers, half-hoping those prayers are heard and half-suspecting they’re not.
If you’re born again and have the Word of God in your heart, you can live in victory. You may not have all the answers. There may be a great many spiritual things you don’t understand. But it’s not those things that are most likely to destroy you. It’s the things you know to do—but don’t—that usually make you fall.
It’s easy to be so afraid of making a mistake that you never get around to stepping out on faith. You can spend all your time wondering, Is this faith? Or is it presumption? What if I exercise my faith for something and find out later I’ve missed God’s will?
Don’t worry. God can handle any mistake you can make. I know because I’ve made plenty of them. When I did, I’d just go to the Lord and He’d tell me, Stay on the Word, son. Together we’ll overcome this thing. And we always did.
Years ago, I decided I was going to walk by the Word of God. I told God that, as far as I was concerned, His Word was final and I’d confess it the rest of my life no matter what. That was the most important decision I’ve ever made.
Not too long after that, I decided that no matter what happened, whether I felt like it or not, I’d walk in love. Because the Bible clearly says “faith worketh by love.” It won’t work any other way.
Those two decisions—to operate by faith in the Word of God and to walk in love—are the two most important decisions I’ve ever made in my life.
The more you fellowship with God around His Word, the more you’ll know the “power outflowing from His resurrection.” You’ll develop joy. You’ll develop faith. You’ll start developing God’s own characteristics...just by fellowshiping with Him. You’ll begin to understand who you really are in Jesus.
I remember one day I was reading the story of the woman with the issue of blood who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed.