Contents

A Message from Kenneth Copeland

1    The Forces of the Recreated Human Spirit

2    Faith and Patience—The Power Twins

A Message from Kenneth Copeland

After you have made Jesus the Lord of your life, you are not faced with the problem of getting over in the spirit. The Bible says we are in the spirit, so let's walk in the spirit. You have been born into the spiritual world. People have the mistaken idea that the world of the spirit is an unreal, unreasonable, unsanctioned, and unregulated world where you never know what will happen. This is not true. The world of the spirit is God's realm, and the world of the natural is controlled by the world of the spirit. God is a spirit. Jesus said that those that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. The authority of the spiritual world was given to Jesus when He was raised from the dead; this world is lorded over by Jesus of Nazareth. Believers have been given His name to operate in authority here in the earth. God, a spirit, created all matter, so the world of the spirit is more real and powerful than the world of the natural, physical, see-and-be-seen world. The world of the spirit rules the world of the natural.

Whosoever believeth Jesus is the Christ is born of God. We are creatures of the world of the spirit, and we need to know how to walk under the laws that govern this spiritual world instead of continuing to walk under the laws that govern the natural, physical world. When we learn the laws, rules, and regulations that govern the world of the spirit, we will gain the knowledge of how to govern the world of the natural. We are not to be controlled by the flesh, but we are to control the flesh. We are not to be controlled by our minds, but we are to control our minds. Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. You overcome the things of this world by spiritual power. This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith (I

John 5:4). Those things in the fleshy, natural world are still there, but you and I are to govern them with higher laws and with greater power—the power of God through faith.

The four major forces of power born into the human spirit at the time of conversion are the force of faith, the force of righteousness, the force of wisdom, and the force of the love of God. This book will cover the force of faith and its twin, the power of patience.

1

The Forces of the Recreated Human Spirit

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16, 17, 25

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Romans 8:6 tells us that to be carnally minded is death. The carnal mind is the mind unregulated by the Word of God. You will either be obedient to the lusts of the flesh or to the Word of God. This word flesh as used in the Scripture simply means body, the five physical senses. If you are going to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, it will kill you. This is a blunt but true statement. If you are going to mind the things of the flesh, if you are going to be flesh minded, carnally minded, if you are going to walk after the dictates of the flesh, then death is the result. (When I say flesh, many think I am talking about sex, but sex is only a small part of the five physical sense realm.)

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. In the Greek testament there are no capitalizations. The word spirit has been capitalized here at the privilege of the translators. You need to know that this scripture is not primarily speaking of the Holy Spirit but of your spirit. The Holy Spirit has not been sent to lust against your flesh. He lusts against no one, not even the devil.

He is not warring against the devil. Jesus did that and left Satan defeated. That war is over! The Holy Spirit has been sent to help you. He is your Teacher, Comforter, Advocate, Standby, Intercessor, Helper. His role is not to dominate you but to assist you.

The reborn human spirit was recreated to rule over the human system. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul prayed that God would sanctify you completely—spirit, soul, and body. It does not say body, soul, and spirit. The Bible never speaks of the reborn man in this order. If you listen carefully, you will hear people quote this verse as "body, soul, and spirit." Test yourself and find out where your thinking is. If you have them in the wrong order, change and renew your mind now to spirit, soul, and body.

To be a powerful Christian your spirit, trained in the Word, must be in command of your mind and body. The chain of command is spirit (heart), soul (mind), body (flesh). The words spirit and heart can be used interchangeably; the words soul and mind can be used interchangeably; and the words body and flesh can be used interchangeably. Your mind should obey what your heart tells it to do, and your heart should be trained by the Holy Spirit in line with the Word of God. The human system works perfectly in this order.

Paul by the Holy Spirit is saying that the flesh lusteth or drives against the spirit (the human spirit, the reborn spirit of a man) and the spirit against the man's flesh. The spirit of the man is demanding that the flesh obey him, and the flesh is reluctant to give up its control. Before a man is born again, his flesh (body) completely dominates his life and will continue to do so unless his mind is renewed by God's Word.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow ...

Hebrews 4:12

Only the Word can put the spirit, soul, and body of a man in proper order.

Paul said, with my spirit I serve God. He is talking of the spirit on the inside of him who is doing his best to please God. His flesh is trying to continue to live unrestrained and unregulated as it has had the freedom to do for years. When a man's mind is not renewed to the New Testament, his spirit is trying to go one way at the leadership of the Holy Spirit and his body and his mind are attempting to live as they have always lived, following after the world's order of things. He is being pulled in two different directions at once. When the man was born again, his spirit became a new creature in Christ Jesus, but his mind and body were unchanged. Now his spirit is right with God but his mind and body must be trained.

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like ...

Galatians 5:18-20

Why does the flesh have a desire to do such things? Is our flesh bound to stay that way forever? The devil would like for us to believe so. Then we would continually combat our flesh and let him alone. Your flesh is not evil. The flesh has no nature of its own. It is controlled by some other force—either good or evil. Your flesh cannot even live without your spirit. When the spirit leaves the body, the body will instantly fall over lifeless. It is nothing but a bag of meat and bones. It has no life of its own but draws its life from the spirit within it.

For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil

Hebrews 5:13, 14

This scripture proves that the flesh can be trained so that it will respond to God and the things of God rather than leaping off into sin at every opportunity. Certainly the area of temptation has not been removed. But you know, I am not having any trouble with the devil tempting me to steal, to commit adultery, or to get drunk. My body no longer craves to do these things. The temptations Satan sends my way now must be much more deceptive than these. Sometimes one of them gets by me and I miss it, but thank God, I have an advocate at the right hand of the Father and I say, "Father, I missed it. I confess that as a sin. I receive my forgiveness in the name of Jesus." Then I determine that I will not make the same mistake twice. Satan will never get me with that again. I take authority over the problem area in the name of Jesus with the Word of God.

You are to train your flesh to discern between good and evil. You are not bound to an ugly, sinful body and neither do you have two natures in you. God did not create you a spiritual schizophrenic. Your body is not you. Your spirit is you. You are a spirit, and you have a soul, and you live in a body. Do you have a human? No, you are a human. That body is not you. That body is where you live. If you will stand up on the inside, feed on the Word of God, and renew your mind, your body will just tag along and do what it is told. In fact, it will straighten itself up and begin to function properly.

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts

Galatians 5:24

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh

Galatians 5:16

When the Christian enters the area of walking in the spirit where he can crucify his flesh and put it over in the area of living under the domination of his spirit, he begins to know what peace is all about—to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

The twelfth chapter of Romans says, Brethren, the least thing you ought to do is to make your body a sacrifice unto God and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Your mind is a marvelous instrument created by God to retain the things put into it. It is merely a computer, the most highly organized and the finest that has ever been created. It was not made to be the governing system in man's makeup. The mind gives forth information that has been put into it just as any other computer. When the mind is placed in the ascendency of the human system, many times it cannot continue to function. The mind will break under pressure. It will snap when it has had an overload of responsibility. The mind simply was not created to be lord over the spirit.

The mind can fail in this position but the reborn spirit will not fail. It can take the position of lordship over the human system and operate and maintain the mind and the body. The spirit of man is designed to accomplish this job successfully.

When you get your system in proper sequence and your mind renewed to the Word of God where it thinks in line with the New Testament, you will find out that your mind has no pressure on it. It performs as the carefully programmed computer that it really is. You call on it, it goes di, di, di bom, bom, gets the Scripture, shifts it into gear and tells the body, "The Word says that we are healed! You get yourself straightened up. You are not to operate in sickness." The body does what it is told and receives healing.

It takes some effort and time to get your mind this well programmed with the Word. In the Scripture this process is called renewing the mind. Once your mind is renewed to think and respond in line with God's Word, it refuses to accept anything contrary to that Word.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law

Galatians 5:22, 23

In the reborn human spirit there are four major forces. All of these—the fruit of the spirit—come under one or more of these four major forces. There is inborn in your spirit the force of faith and underneath the force of faith is the force of patience. This is an important force, and you could almost say that it is the fifth major force. Actually the force of patience is an integral part of the force of faith. In the New Testament they are always coupled together, patience and faith, patience and faith, patience and faith. They are the power twins. Next is the force of righteousness, then the force of wisdom, and last is the force of love.

The Force of Faith

Faith is not the product of reason. Do you remember in Matthew's Gospel Jesus told His men to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. They could not understand what He meant and He asked, ”Why do you reason among yourselves?” They missed what He was saying by trying to figure it out mentally. They were reasoning. Men say, "We are reasonable men. We are logical men, and what you are saying does not make sense. It is not logical." Believers are not to be led by logic. We are not even to be led by good sense. I have had my sense changed around to where it is good but what the world calls good sense is not good at all. It is bad sense corrupted by Satan, the god of this world. If you want to find out what God thinks, you just take what the world thinks and turn it around exactly backwards. The world says, Seeing is believing. God says, Believing is seeing. Logic is the product of reasoning by the avenues of hearing, tasting, seeing, feeling, smelling. Reasoning is based on the failure of the earth through Satan. Faith is the product of God's Word revealed by His Spirit and is based on the success of the Father in heaven.

The ministry of Jesus was never governed by logic or reason. Jairus fell at the feet of Jesus and said, ”My little daughter lieth sick to death. Come and lay your hands on her and she shall live. ” Reason would have said, "I'm sorry. I wish that there were something I could do." Reason operates under the handicap of having no answer to critical needs. The request of this man was unreasonable, but Jesus answered him not a word and started toward his house.

On the way to Jairus' house He met another unreasonable personality—the little woman with the issue of blood. She had been to many physicians, but continued to grow worse. The doctors had reasoned that she was sick, but their logic had no cure to stop the flow of blood. Understand that I am not knocking doctors. The doctor is a man's best friend if the man does not know how to use his faith. Without them most of the Christians would have died! They have not known how to use their faith. The doctors are fighting the same destroyer that I am. They are operating in the realm of the physical; we are operating in the realm of the spirit. They treat diseases; we go to the root of the problem and deal with the enemy who causes the disease.

This little woman said, "If I but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be whole." There is no logic in that, is there? It just doesn't make good sense. Reason would have answered, "Hey, lady, what is the matter with you? There is a little girl dying down here. I have to go see her. Let go of my clothes." If Jesus had been ruled by common sense as most of the church has been in the past, He would have said, "Folks, let's back off here a minute. We haven't had the morning devotion. We haven't sung 246 or 391. Nobody has taken up the offering yet. Turn loose of my clothes, lady, for goodness sake. We can't fool with you now. After all, you have already been to the doctor and he said there was no hope. What can I do for you? Go on." Common sense will keep you bound when it is time to act in faith on God's Word!

Look at Jesus. He was not led by logic. He was not led by the mind. He stopped and asked, "Who touched me?" Power had gone out of Jesus to heal and dry up the issue of blood, not reasoning power but spiritual power. He said, "Daughter, your faith has made you whole." Her faith caused the power of God to flow into her body and make her whole. That healing was not the product of reason but the product of faith.

Common-sense religion will tell you not to get your hopes, up. God heals some people, but it might not be His will to heal you. That sounds reasonable, but it never gets results. You will always be the one that it is not His will to heal. The reason that this approach to healing will not work is because it is contrary to what the Word of God says. We are talking about being led by the Spirit, not by the common-sense world, not by the logical world. The Holy Spirit will turn you in the opposite direction from the way the world is going but, thank God, He will lead you in the direction that God is going. All you have to do is be like old Jairus. He didn't care what anybody thought. In fact, when the man came and told him, ”Your little daughter is dead, ” he did not say a word. He had already said what he had to say: ”Lay your hands on my daughter, and she will live. ” Jesus turned and said to him, "Jairus, just believe. ” Jairus refused to be moved by what he heard—his sense of hearing. There is someone giving him the news that his daughter is dead, but in his heart there is the presence of some power, a power stronger than the bad report. Something in his heart was saying, "I don't care what they say. This is so. I know it is so. I just know what I know! I refuse to give up." THAT SOMETHING IN HIS HEART WAS FAITH.

What was controlling the ministry of Jesus? Faith. The force of faith was controlling His ministry, and it was not entirely the force of His own faith. His own faith responded to the faith of the people. (It still does.) In Nazareth He could do no mighty works because of unbelief. The people refused to believe. But on the other hand, the little woman's faith stopped Him in His tracks. Jairus' faith moved Him, and Jesus used His faith to raise his little girl. What was the result of Jairus' faith? He received his daughter back again from the dead. Unreasonable! Illogical! But that is victory of the highest order.

When you need more than just common-sense results, faith is the only way you will get it.

The Bible does not say let us come reason together, men. It does say Come, let us reason together saith the Lord. Reasoning with God is different from reasoning with men. God says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. When men reason together, they do so on a basis of fear. Reasoning outside of the Word is always based on fear. Reasoning from men's minds, men's emotions, and men's feelings is determined by fear because the world we live in is operating on the force of fear. The Lord spoke to me while I was preparing this message and said, "The definition of reasoning outside the Word is worry." When you begin to reason outside of God's Word, you automatically begin to worry. "What if that happens? What if this happens? What am I going to do if this doesn't happen? What are we going to do if the Holy Ghost does break out in our denomination and men start talking in tongues right in the middle of church? What am I going to do?" The big I. That is selfishness. The basic root of selfishness is fear.

Faith is not the product of reason; it is the product of the reborn human spirit. It is not the product of the mind but the product of the heart. Faith is a power force. It is a tangible force. It is a conductive force. It will move things. Faith will change things. Faith will change the human body. It will change the human mind. It will change the human heart. Faith will change circumstances.

Let's look at fear, the negative side of the coin. Fear is not a mental force. Fear is a spiritual force, and I will tell you where it came from.

God created a man called Adam, and He gave this man faith. Adam was called the son of God because he was born of God. God created his physical body from the dust of the earth, but the body had no life in it. It was just meat and bones. Then God breathed into Adam the breath or spirit of life. God's spirit was breathed into Adam. This man's life was spawned from the inside of God. He was a magnificent, powerful creature. With his faith he had dominion over the forces of nature. He had dominion over everything that walked, crawled, swam, and moved. This same man committed high treason, bowed his knee to a spiritual outlaw, and gave unto him his authority to rule the earth. Adam gave the vast authority that God had given him into the hands of Satan, and when he did, spiritual death moved into, his spirit. The life of God departed and the life of his new god overcame him. Everything about him. was perverted. The faith force that was born into Adam when God breathed His life into him was perverted and turned into the force that we know and recognize as fear. Fear ruled Adam from that moment, and the first words from his mouth were, I was afraid.

The force of fear is a tangible force. Will fear change the human body? Jesus said that men's hearts would fail them because of the fear of what is coming on the earth. It will change the color of a man's hair. It will change the color of a man's skin. Fear will change his physical body. It will make him sick. Fear will make him conform to the world. It will control his mind. Fear will kill his body.

Fear activates Satan the way faith activates God. Why does the world not accept the logic that if fear, a spiritual force, will make a man sick then faith, the opposite spiritual force, will make him well? If the force of fear can imprison a man, then the force of faith can make him free. Why do men have confidence in fear and not in faith? They are reasoning outside the Word of God. They are reasoning inside the world's order. On the other hand, we are reasoning in the world of the spirit by the Word of God.

You Have Faith

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God

Ephesians 2:8

Everything in this verse is the gift of God. The grace is the gift of God, the salvation is the gift of God, and the faith to receive salvation is the gift of God. This faith is the gift of God; it is not of yourself. It is not a human or psychological faith. The faith that was imparted to you is God's own brand of faith.

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith

Romans 12:3

Men have quoted this verse and said that every man on earth has faith, but this scripture places a qualification upon this measure of faith. For I say through the grace given unto me ... (To whom is he speaking?) to every man that is among you. He was not talking to everybody in Rome. His letter was not written to everybody in Rome but it was written to the Christians there.

Second Thessalonians 3:2 simply says for all men have not faith. Not every man in the world has the God brand of faith, but every born-again man has this world-overcoming faith. There is a form of psychological human faith or confidence that is gained through the mind and experience. It is a confidence in material things that would believe, for example, "I will sit on this chair and it will not collapse." This is not the faith that we are discussing.

The Bible is talking about a gift of God's faith that was given to you to keep. It is yours. It resides within your spirit. It is in there to be developed and used in your daily life. The just shall live by faith. God has given you this powerful faith to sustain you in this life. It is so powerful that even a measure as big as a mustard seed can pluck up a mountain and throw it into the sea.

Every man that has received the new birth, every man that has made Jesus the Lord of his life, every man that has been born again has had this faith put inside of him. You could not have been born again without it. YOU HAVE FAITH. Now for you to say or believe, "I don't have enough faith," or "I don't have any faith," is a slap in the face of the Word of God that says you do. Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the Author and Finisher of your faith. This faith is good enough to make all things possible to the believer.

Let's make absolutely certain that what we have said is according to the Word. Remember, we have said that faith is born in the human heart at the time of conversion. Every born-again believer has the faith of God in him NOW. We have said that the measure of faith in the heart of the believer is enough to do whatever it is called upon to do. Jesus is the author of our faith. Let's look at First John, chapter five, verses one through five:

Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Notice in verse one the word whosoever. This certainly means me and it certainly means you if you believe that Jesus is the Christ. Now notice in verse four the word whatsoever. These two words certainly mean the same person. These verses tell us that whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has enough victory faith in him to overcome the world. Just so there is no mistake about it, verse five asks the question, "Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" The Word has already said that the power used to overcome the world is our faith. Think of it! There is enough of God's very own faith residing on the inside of you right now to overcome anything the world can throw at you.

God is a faith being. You are born of God. You are a faith being. God does not do anything outside of faith. With His faith living in you, you are to operate the same way.

Put on the whole armor of God and be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10-18). Put your faceplate down. That is God's suit, and the devil can't tell you from Him when you are wearing His name and His armor. He knows better than to tangle with God's armor because he has been so badly defeated by it. Resist him, and he will flee from you—run rapidly in the opposite direction. Always remember that Satan does not have any weapon or device that is greater than our faith. Ephesians 6:16 says the shield of faith will quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. We have God's Word for that. Now don't pull your faceplate up and say, "I wonder if he went?" You just dropped your shield of faith! Satan will know for sure that it isn't God, he will turn and jump right in the middle of you. Wonderment will not take the place of faith.

Faith-Filled Words

And Jesus answering saith unto them, 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.

Mark 11:22, 23

In today's language this account would read something like this: "Jesus spoke to the fig tree, and it dried up from the roots." In explaining this Jesus said, "This is the way you operate the faith of God. You speak the desired result and do not doubt in your heart. In other words you believe that your words have power, and the things you say will come to pass. The result is that you can have whatever you say when you believe."

Jesus said to believe that those things which we say will come to pass. He did not say to believe that this thing which we say will come to pass. This does not mean we can continue to speak any way we want and then when we are in a place of need or a time of trouble decide to say some faith words, and God will act on those words and everything will be all right. He is saying for us to change our vocabularies and discipline our speech so that our words are becoming to Jesus. All of our words should be words of faith. We are to say only words that we want to come to pass and believe that they all will produce results. By getting into the Word of God and continually feeding on the Word so that faith controls your vocabulary, you can come to the place where all your words will come to pass. When your words are words of faith, God will be able to trust you with His power in the words of your mouth. What you speak, good or bad, is what you will receive.

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. For your words to be so powerful that they cause things to come to pass, they must have the force of faith behind them—you must believe in your heart. Your mouth will speak what is put into your heart. If faith-filled words are put in there, faith-filled words will come out. If doubt and unbelief are put in there, evil things out of an evil heart will come to pass. Words bring things to pass. Your words work for you, or they work against you. They enforce the law of sin and death, or they enforce the law of the spirit of life (Romans 8:2).

The force of faith is released by words. Faith-filled words put the law of the spirit of life into operation. Faith-filled words dominate the laws of death and its forces ruled by Satan since the fall of Adam.

Lazarus, come forth! The man had been dead four days and mummified; he was bound hand and foot. The power in those words overcame death, picked up the mummy, and put life and healing into the decayed body (whatever killed him had to be healed). Faith-filled words brought Lazarus forth and set him outside the tomb bound. Then men loosed him. Talk about faith-filled words!

How do you get words filled with this kind of power? Can you do it? The Word says whosoever shall say unto this mountain ... he shall have whatsoever he saith. Yes, you can do it. Find out where faith comes from and go to work.

The Source of Faith

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God

Romans 10:17

The Word of God produces faith in your heart. There is no other source of faith. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. When you put faith-filled words—God's Word—in your heart, faith-filled words come out your mouth. The Word has to be put in for faith to come out.

Faith is the product of your spirit. Faith comes in your spirit by hearing the Word and faith is continually developed in your spirit by the Word.

Faith's results are determined by your confession. Your confession corresponds to the level of the Word of God that is working in you. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. When you are filled with the Word of God, faith comes up strong. When you neglect your study and meditation and become caught up in the affairs of life, you consume or use up the force of faith coming out of your spirit. Actually this process works like the physical body only it works in the spirit.

The physical body eats physical food and it produces physical power called strength. The food you eat is assimilated by your body and turned into the force of strength.

The spirit of man feeds on spirit food. Jesus said, My words are spirit and they are life. They are life!

My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:20-23

God's words are spirit and they are life. They are life to your spirit. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. The force of faith issues out of your spirit and brings life and health to your flesh. The Word not only brings healing, but it keeps you healthy. Above all that you do, keep your heart full of the Word because out of the heart are the forces or issues necessary to live this life successfully. In other words, whatever you do protect and nourish your spirit. Feed your spirit with the Word of God, and the force of faith will issue out of your spirit and work whenever it is needed. You can understand why the Word says to keep or to protect your heart with all diligence.

Faith, like any other force, must be applied in order to gain any benefit from it. In the illustration we used about the physical body, we can see that we eat physical food and our body turns that food into strength. The strength in the body, then, must be applied. It must be released. We release our physical strength through action. The same is true with faith. The spirit man consumes spirit food (God's Word) and that spirit food produces spirit power which is called faith. Now, this faith force must be applied.

We have already discussed the releasing of faith and applying it with words. Faith is also released by acting on God's Word. James 1:22 says to be a doer of the Word. Jesus said in John 3:21,

He that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.

James 2:17 says,

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead.

One translation says, ”faith without corresponding action will not work."

We begin by putting God's Word in our heart. As an act of our will we believe it. We say it with our mouths and act accordingly. You cannot continue to talk doubt and unbelief. You cannot continue to act as though the Bible is not true. The Bible says God is our strength. Begin to talk and act strong— even before you feel strong or look strong. The Bible says you are healed. Begin to talk healed and to act healed. The Bible says that God meets our needs according to His riches in Glory. Begin to talk as though it is true. Begin to act as though it is true because IT IS TRUE! This is faith receiving what God has already provided for us in Jesus.

Learn and develop this confession of faith. I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe. The victory is mine! 1 have it NOW! I can see it through the eye of my faith!

2

Faith and Patience—The Power Twins

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 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

James 1:2-4

That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 6:12

The power of patience is a working power. When faith has a tendency to waver, it is patience that comes to faith's aid to make it stand. The power of patience is necessary to undergird faith. Almost everywhere you find faith mentioned in the Bible, you also find patience. Faith and patience are the power twins. Together they will produce every time. Patience without faith has no power to call into reality the thing desired. Faith is the substance of the things we hope for. Patience without faith has no substance. On the other hand faith without patience many times will fail to stand firm on the evidence of the Word that gives deed to things not seen. Jesus told Peter that He had prayed for him that his faith fail not. Without the power of patience at work, we will allow sense knowledge—the things we see—to overwhelm our faith based on what the Word says rather than what our natural eye can see. Patience undergirds faith and gives it endurance to persevere until the answer comes. Faith is a powerful force. It always works. It is not that our faith is weak and needs strength, but without the power of patience we ourselves stop the force of faith from working with negative confession and action.

It is our faith, and we can put it into action. It is our faith, and we can stop it from working.

Traditionally, we think of patience as knuckling under and being satisfied with whatever comes our way. That is not at all what patience is. Patience is a real force. It is to be developed. The Word says in Titus 2:2 that we are to be sound or developed in patience. Faith is a force that is to be developed. The same scripture says that we are to be sound in faith. Patience and faith are two individual forces. They work together the way faith and hope work together. They work together the way faith and love work together. All of these are different forces. They each play a different role in our Christian lives.

It is dangerous to confuse these forces and try to use one in the place of the other. For instance the Bible says in Hebrews 11:1 that faith is the substance of things hoped for. Hope without faith has no substance. People say, "We are hoping and praying." This sounds good but it has no substance. In this case hope is being confused with faith. Without the substance of faith that kind of praying will not produce any results. You can see that in a critical situation this would be dangerous. We need to have our thinking straightened out according to the Bible so that we can properly use these forces in their proper places and produce God's perfect will in our lives.

One of the most common traditions and mistakes in this area is believing that trials and tribulations develop faith. Trials and tribulations do not develop faith. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Trials and tribulations develop patience. We have already learned from the first chapter of James that this is true. The Apostle Paul says the same thing in Romans 5:3.

Faith is developed as we act on the Word of God. Hebrews 12:2 states that Jesus is the author and finisher, or developer, of our faith. It does not say that Satan is the developer of our faith. It is vitally important that we realize the difference between the developing of faith and the developing of patience. Faith should be developed on the Word of God before the trial or testing comes. Jesus said in Luke 6:47, 48 that if a man acts on His words He likened him unto a man who builds his house on a rock. When the flood beat upon the house, the house did not fall. Notice the man had to dig deep. This is where his faith was developed. During the storm is when his patience was developed. He knew his house would stand because it was built on rock. Remember how Jesus said the man built on that rock. He acted on the Word. Faith is developed before the trial comes. The force of patience is developed in the trial or tribulation and undergirds or keeps the door open for our faith to work and to overcome whatever has been put before us.

The definition of patience is being constant or being the same way at all times. James says in chapter one that we are to be single minded. We must always respond or react in every circumstance of life the same way—on the Word of God. Regardless of what may be thrown at us, we must become so Word-of-God-minded that we do not act in fear or doubt but always act on whatever the Word of our God says. The Word says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus has always and will always respond to the Word rather than to circumstances, reason, or fear. This is the way that we should be. Being sound in patience is to answer every doubt and every fear with the firm assurance and confession that God's Word is true regardless of what we feel or see. Regardless of what storm may come our way, my Father's Word cannot fail. In that kind of atmosphere faith is free to move and overcome whatever Satan has put in our way.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. 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.

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

James 1:12-21

In order to properly develop the power of patience, we must know what the Bible says about testings and trials. The Greek word translated temptations in these scriptures is the same word for trials and testings. It is vitally important that we know from verse thirteen that God is not tested by evil, and He does not tempt or test men with evil. We are warned never to say that we are tested of God.

Verse fourteen explains what a test or trial is. A test or trial is anything that applies pressure on the lusts or desires of the flesh. Any pressure that draws us away from God's Word is the beginning of a test. If we then act on that lust, sin is the result. Still we have a way of escape for the Word says we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. He is faithful to forgive us our sins when we confess them. We are still more than conquerors in Jesus. When Satan applies pressure on our bodies to make them sick, we don't have to succumb to that pressure. When he presents us with financial ruin, we don't have to yield to the temptation to turn to the world and borrow. Most of the time, this only makes matters worse. Thank God, we can turn to God's Word in Philippians 4:19 and use our faith. Then regardless of circumstances, we exercise the power of patience and continue to stand fast in the liberty into which we have been called.

Don't forget the ministry of the Holy Spirit in all of this. He is continually working in you, teaching, interceding, backing your faith with His mighty power. This is where the power of patience is so very important. As long as your faith is active, the Spirit of God is active. It is impossible to please God without faith. Patience guards against your admitting a doubt or confession of fear into your consciousness. Even when we stretch our faith as far as it will go, He that is within us is greater than he that is in the world.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

I Corinthians 10:13

This scripture reveals three more important things about trials: (1) Testings and temptations are common to man. No man is ever tested or tried with things that are not common to mankind. Satan does not have the right to call upon his experience as a heavenly being to apply things that are outside the realm of humanity as tests or trials. (2) God is faithful. You will never face anything that you cannot overcome. (3) God always provides the way of escape.

Satan cannot attack with any weapon that is greater than what God has provided for us as weapons. Thank God, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but powerful through God for the pulling down of strongholds. Satan is limited to the things that are common to mankind but we are not. We have access to the full armor of God. Our patience rests solidly on the full assurance that, no matter what comes next, Jesus has provided more than enough victory to put us over.

Many Christians use all things work together for the good of those that love God as an excuse to fail. To them this scripture says, "All the devil does to me will turn out for my good. After all, you know the Bible says we are made stronger by the trials and tribulations of this life." The Bible does not say that at all! When the Apostle Paul wrote that all things work together for the good of those that love God and are called according to His purpose, he was teaching on intercessory prayer.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:26-28

All things work together for the good of those that love God, when we are operating together in intercessory prayer!

While a friend and I were talking about prayer, the Lord spoke to me and said, "Those things do not mean all bad things work together for the good of those that love God. I am talking about the things of God: the Word of God, the gifts of the Spirit, the name of Jesus, and the power weapons of the body of Christ. These are the things that work together for the good of those that love God." Under this kind of operation the things that the devil throws at you will be overcome by the power of the things of God, and victory will be the result.

Many trials that Satan causes make people weaker instead of stronger. If it were the trials and tribulations that make us strong, everybody on earth would be a spiritual giant. Certainly there have been enough trials and tribulations to perfect the saints. That must not be the avenue through which God perfects the saints.

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11, 12

This is the way that the saints are perfected, not through tribulations. We are to be perfected by the Word through the ministry.

Well. I don't know about you, but I'm glad to know that God did not send cancer to edify me or poverty to perfect my faith. No, these curses are not from God. They are from Satan, and we are to triumph over them with the power twins—faith and patience.

The Word does not say that faith is developed by trials, but the Word does say that the trying of our faith worketh patience. It is what we do with trials and tribulations that makes the difference, not the fact that we are suffering. There are those in the church who think we are to glory in tribulations. Tribulation is not the goal of Christianity. Many think that we cannot be worth anything until we suffer. That is not true. You will not be worth anything unless you overcome that suffering. Suffering is the result of the attack of Satan. There is no glory in knuckling down and enduring trial. The glory is in overcoming that trial with the Word of God through the power of God. This is why we can count it all joy when we are tried. We know that Jesus has defeated Satan, and that we are victors over anything he sends our way.

Jesus said in John 16:33,

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

The glory lies in overcoming the world and its trials and tribulations. Trouble may come our way, but through the good things of God He always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus.

Paul said,

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.... And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope.

Romans 5:1-4

Paul was saying that he had peace with God whatever came his way. He had this peace, not only when things were working right for him, but also when trouble came down the road. He did not let go of his peace with God because of tribulation. This tribulation only worked patience in him, and patience brought the experience of victory. Then the experience of victory worked hope.

Cast not away therefore your confidence (or faith), which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise .... the just shall live by faith.

Hebrews 10:35-38

Now remember he said in Romans 5 that tribulation works patience, and Hebrews 10 says that we have need of patience because patience works experience. Experience is the reward. Patience produces the reward of experiencing the answer.

“For you have need of patience that, after ye have done the will of God" or you could say it this way, "After you have acted on the Word of God, employ the power of patience and you will receive the promise of that word." Hebrews 6:12 tells us that through faith and patience we inherit the promises. Faith is acting on the Word. God's Word is His will. After you have exerted the force of faith by acting on the Word, the will of God, then patience comes into action to produce the experience of victory!

With the power of patience at work, the experience of faith's result is inevitable.

This is how faith and patience work together to produce victory. Your body has symptoms of sickness; it is screaming with pain. You must get your faith into operation. The first thing you do is go to the will of God—the Word. Open your Bible to Matthew 8:17, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. First Peter 2:24, Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. God's Word does not say that by His stripes you may be healed. The Word says by his stripes you were healed. YOU WERE HEALED.

Now you are beginning to look at healing through the eye of faith. Your faith is looking beyond the symptoms in your body. Then you say, "Father, First Peter 2:24 says that by the stripes of

Jesus 1 was healed. I apply this Word to my body, and I command it to be healed in the name of Jesus. The Word says that I am healed. I say that I am healed. Sickness, I speak to you in the name of Jesus, and I command you to leave my body."

That did it! You believed you received when you prayed. Jesus said, Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. You have His Word.

Many times all symptoms leave immediately but not always. There are times when the power of patience must be put into operation to undergird your act of faith on God's Word. You did the will of God when you did what the Word says. Now you have need of patience so that you will be entire and wanting nothing. The experience of that healing is inevitable. It is not a "maybe it will and maybe it won't" situation. The Word says you were healed. Now through patience you must hold fast to this Word concerning healing regardless of symptoms or pain, knowing that patience will produce the experience of healing. Working the power of patience is the difference between success and failure in the faith walk.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

You must believe that you are healed before you see the results in your body. You cannot wait until your body looks and feels healed before you believe it. If you do, you will never receive by faith. You cannot get faith's results without exerting the force of faith. Faith is believing that you receive whatever you ask before it can be seen with the sense of sight or felt with the sense of touch. You do have evidence in faith, but it is the Word of God, not the sought-after result. The Word is your evidence that you have it now.

You have exercised your faith in God's Word. Now let patience have her perfect work. The force of faith is at work, undergirded by the power of patience. Your faith connected with the Father the very moment that you took His Word as the evidence of your healing. Confess with your mouth that it is yours, and by your actions show that it is yours. You must talk healing, and you must act healing. Patience begins to work from the time that you believed you received, and it must be allowed to work until the last symptom leaves your body. The voice of patience says, "I know God's Word is true. I will not be moved by what I see or feel. I will only be moved by the Word of God. I patiently rest on the truth of God's mighty Word!"

The experience of the answer is inevitable.

Table of Contents

A Message from Kenneth Copeland

1 The Forces of the Recreated Human Spirit

2 Faith and Patience—The Power Twins