You may be facing trouble today that’s being caused by people who have willfully plotted to do you harm. They may be trying to steal your business, your home, your children, or even to destroy your marriage. If so, I have a word of encouragement for you. According to Psalm 33:10, God will bring the plans of those people to nought. He will make their devices of none effect. The counsel of the heathen is brought to nought, but the counsel of the Lord stands forever!
If you feel like you’re under pressure these days, you’re not alone. Satan is putting more pressure on more people right now than ever before. He’s pressuring us mentally, financially, emotionally and every other way he can. The pressure has gotten so great everywhere that governments don’t know what to do. Businesses don’t know what to do. Families don’t know. Churches don’t know.
But praise God, Jesus does! He says we can give our way right out from under any pressure the devil brings to bear.
If, as God tells us in 1 Timothy 2:4, it’s His will for all men to be saved, why aren’t we seeing more of the masses of lost people born again every day? Have you ever wondered that?
I have...and as I’ve sought the Lord about it, I’ve come to realize that, for the most part, it’s because those of us who are already saved don’t pray persistently for those who aren’t. Instead of persevering—staying before the Father, praying for them to receive the bread of salvation—like the man in Luke 11:8 did for his friend, when we don’t see immediate results, we simply give up and go home.
So many believers think of the fruit of the spirit as little more than a passive list of pleasant qualities that can help improve their personalities. But it’s far greater than that! It’s pure spiritual power.
Love is so powerful, the scripture says, that it never fails. Patience is so powerful it cannot be stopped. No matter what the circumstances, it will not quit. Temperance is so powerful it can master all the unruly desires of your flesh.
Years ago the devil started a rumor. He told a few Christians that as long as they lived in the world, they had to suffer as the world did. He told them they had to share the diseases and the defeat, the poverty and the failure of those around them.
It was a crafty lie—and it worked. Believers accepted it and began to spread it among themselves. You may have even heard it yourself. If so, I want to help you put that rumor to rest today. I want to help you get the facts straight once and for all.
The company you keep has such an influence on your spiritual life. Fellowshiping with godly people will help speed you on to victory, while fellowshiping with those who are ungodly will drag you down to defeat.
That’s why the Bible has some things to say about your friends. That’s why it tells you to separate yourself from the world. Because evil companions will corrupt you.
Now, I’m not talking about ministry. Jesus Himself ministered to sinners. You have to mix with them to preach to them and pray for them. What I’m talking about here are the people you choose for friends.
I talk a lot about faith. But there’s another force that goes along with it that’s just as important. It’s patience—the ability to stand fast on the Word of God even when your victory seems slow in coming.
Patience is not automatic. It won’t go to work unless you let it go to work. So many people don’t understand that. They somehow think faith and patience will go to work for them without their help. They just let the devil tear their lives apart and then they say silly things like, “Well, I guess God sent that trial to strengthen my faith.”
Whenever things around you get dark and you feel the devil is about to overpower you, remember this: You have the Light of the world in you, and try as they may, all the forces of hell can’t put it out!
Even when you’re at your weakest, even when you feel like the light within you is small, the devil’s darkness is no match for you.
This is the key to holding on to the blessings of God. When pressure comes, when troubles and trials are bearing down on you, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead!
Remember that when Jesus arose, you arose. When He came out of hell and defeated the enemy, you came out of hell and defeated the enemy. His victory is your victory because you’re in Him.
Under the circumstances…. Have you ever caught yourself using that phrase?
“I suppose I’m doing pretty well under the circumstances.”
If you’ve ever said something like that, I want you to kick those words out of your vocabulary right now. Because you, as a victorious child of God, don’t have any business living your life “under” your circumstances. You don’t have any business letting problems and situations rule over you.
God’s rest. Considering the hectic, busy lives you and I live that sounds like a pretty good thing to have, doesn’t it? But exactly what is that rest? And how do we enter it?
The third and fourth chapters of Hebrews compare God’s rest with the children of Israel taking possession of the Promised Land. That land was to be a place where their every need would be met, a place of freedom from their warring enemies, a place no one would ever drive them from again. All they had to do was go in and possess it. But something kept them from it: unbelief and disobedience.
You can't win a victory as long as the problem is the biggest thing in your life!
The Lord woke me up to that fact a few years ago. At that time I was facing some difficulties in my ministry that seemed so big to me, I thought about them from morning till night. Even though I was standing against them, I was thinking more about those problems than about the scripture promises I was standing on.
Then I saw something in Matthew 6:24-25: "Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life...."
You shall never fall. When you think about it, that's a startling statement, isn't it? Most of us have been tripped up by the devil so many times we don't like to think about it.
But the Word of God says it doesn't have to be that way. He says there's something that can keep us on our feet. What is it? Diligence.
If you haven't already, you need to realize how important diligence is. You need to face the fact that you simply can't live a life of victory without it.
Thousands of years ago, God told the children of Israel to go up and occupy the land that He had given them. He told them to take it, by force and without fear, from the ungodly ones who were dwelling there.
He's still saying that today. God is still trying to get us, as His people, to take the good land He's given us. He's still trying to get us to use the power He's given us to run the wicked one out.
Have you ever been afraid to give yourself totally to the Lord because you think you might be deprived of some pleasure in this life? Chances are, you have. That's because Satan is working overtime to convince you that he can really make your life worth living. But don't believe him for a minute. The real truth is, yielding completely to the Lord won't cost you anything that's worth having. It will only cause you to live life to its fullest!
Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth. Not just enough truth to get by on. Not just an occasional truth to help us teach our Sunday school classes. All truth!
If you're a businessman, that means the Holy Spirit will show you how to increase your profits and reduce your expenses. If you're a mother, it means the Holy Spirit will show you how to settle arguments between your children. If you're a student, it means the Holy Spirit will show you how to excel in your classes.
It's easy to get your spiritual eyes fixed so firmly on the problems in your life, you overlook the blessings completely! As a result, you end up suffering through situations that should have you rejoicing.
Let me show you what I mean. Not long ago, this ministry was facing some great financial pressures. I stood in faith against them. I battled against them with the Word and in prayer.
Words. Use them right and they'll move mountains. Use them wrong and they can cause your entire life to go up in smoke.
"Now, Brother Copeland," you may say, "I find it hard to believe that major catastrophes can be caused by a few simple words. I just can't see the connection."
Look again at the phrase James used. "How great a matter a little fire kindleth!" Have you ever lit a few little pieces of kindling wood and set them in the fireplace beneath a stack of logs?
What happened?
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!"
A healthy body. Enough money to pay all your bills and extra to invest in the work of the gospel. A godly marriage and happy, healthy children. Peace of mind. God has prepared a banquet full of blessings for you.
But those blessings are not just going to fall in your lap. You must be willing—as well as obedient—if you’re going to eat the best from God’s table.
So, be willing!
Don’t be willing for Satan to put sickness on your body. Be willing, instead, to be well! In honor of Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary, refuse to accept anything less than divine health.