Protecting Your Family in

Dangerous Times

B Y

K E L L I E C O P E L A N D K U T Z

Harrison House

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James

Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from The Amplified Bible. Old Testament

copyright ® 1965, 1987 by Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan. New

Testament copyright ® 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.

Used by permission.

Direct quotations from the Bible appear in bold type.

06 05 04 03 10 9 8 7 6 5

Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

ISBN 1-57794-272-8

Copyright ® 2002 by Kellie Copeland Kutz

Fort Worth, Texas 76192-0001

Published by Harrison House, Inc.

P. O. Box 35035

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74153

Printed in the United States of America.

All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. Contents and/or cover may

not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without the express written

consent of the Publisher.

This book is dedicated to my family. To Win, Rachel,

Lyndsey, Jenny and Max

Contents

Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1 Make Sure Your Children Are Fully Protected. . . . . . ...13

2 Applying the Blood: From Passover to Present. .............23

3 Protection Through God's Grace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

4 Our Sanctuary—the Holy of Holies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

5 The Absolute Certainty of Divine Protection. . . . . . . ....77

6 It's Your Choice!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

7 It Matters Where You Live. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123

Prayer of Protection for Your Family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

Acknowledgments

hank you, Win, for being the man of God that you are

Tand for your encouragement and strength. Rachel,

Lyndsey, Jenny and Max—I thank you for being all that a

mother could dream of in her children. Thank you for

being obedient and pleading the blood of Jesus every day.

I want to thank you, Mother and Daddy, for teaching

me the Word and living a life of faith before me. Because

of you, I trust in God.

And, the rest of my family (you know who you are),

thank you for your support, for prayer and for believing in

me.

Especially to my Pastors—thank you, Terri and

George, for everything.

To Billye Brim, I must give a hearty thank you. I'm

grateful to you for starting me on this journey and

teaching me about the blood.

Thank you, Jerry and Carolyn Savelle, for JSMI and for

being there every time I need you.

To the Harrison House staff—especially Becky, Mona

and Naomi—thank you for your patience and help. I

needed you.

To Lisa Flanagain—you are a dream assistant. Thank

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

you for typing, for keeping me organized and for checking

my email.

Most of all, thank You, Jesus, for Your precious blood

and thank You for seeing to it that I don't miss out on

anything that You have for me.

Love and thanks to all,

Kellie Copeland Kutz

— 8 —

Foreword

By Kenneth Copeland

he shed blood of Jesus is the fullness of love

Texpressed—holding out its offer of salvation to the

extreme—divine protection from sin, sickness, demons,

fear and hell in the end and heaven in the beginning. It is

heaven's guarantee on the earth that all God has promised

is divinely true. True to any and everyone who will accept

it so that all may walk in its glorious protection and holy

prosperity. Think about it. The spotless, pure, sinless,

holy, righteous blood of almighty God—Love Himself—

poured out for the likes of you and me! Read this book

thinking about it. Read a couple of chapters and then stop

and meditate on it again.

This is a very important book for this dangerous hour

in which we live. Read it until fear is flushed out of your

life like a covey of birds flushed out of their hiding places

and rushing away before your face. God loves you! He

poured out His life for you. He swore every promise of

His holy Word directly to you in His own blood on the

cross. Receive it. Take your place as His very own love

child. Cry out of your heart from the spirit of adoption—"I

have a Father! He's mine and I'm His! He is The Most

High God and He's my Father. I know Him and He knows

me. I have it in writing in His own blood. There is no

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

greater love than the way He loves me."

The Spirit of God has inspired Kellie to bring this

message to us and has anointed her to share parts of her

life with us. Read it and live it with her as you read.

May God richly bless and keep you.

JESUS IS LORD!

Kenneth Copeland

— 10 —

Introduction

od is so gracious to give us exactly what we need,

Gjust when we need it. I believe this book is one of

those gifts. I know when He began to reveal these things

to me, that was exactly how I felt. I knew that I had been

given a precious gift—a deeper understanding of the

protection of the blood of Jesus.

As I began my final edits on this book, the world and

America as we knew it were changed in one tragic

moment on September 11, 2001. It was more than just an

attack on our nation—it was a direct assault on God and

on His people. I began to realize that God wants people to

know that we can trust Him with our whole life, and more

importantly, with our family.

As I prayed about whether or not to add things

concerning war, terrorism and biological threats, I felt that

He wanted me to leave it the way He had given it to me.

He knew what we would face in these days and He has

everything we need to see us through. Praise God, even

though the world may change, God's Word will not. He

wants us to lay hold of all that He has for us and go

forward in victory over the enemy!

Let me add one final thought before you begin this

book. In reflecting on the changes in our lives since we

began to plead the blood of Jesus eight years ago, I

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

realized that fear had been eradicated in our family. The

blood of Jesus has wiped it out! Do you realize that in any

battle you face, fear will cause you to lose? In fear, we say

the wrong things and do the wrong things. But when you

begin to plead the blood of Jesus, faith is built up and fear

loses its grip on you. In the absence of fear you make the

right decisions and you speak the Word of God and

victory is yours!

I am very thankful to my Jesus, not only for His blood,

but also for opening my eyes to real life in Him.

Kellie Copeland Kutz

— 12 —

C H A P T E R I

Make Sure Your Children Are Fully

1

Protected

s a parent, you probably know only too well that

Aoverriding desire to protect your children from

harm. You deal with that desire every time you send your

children out the door to school or watch your teenagers

drive off with their friends to the mall or to the movie.

But what goes through your mind in those moments

when your children leave home for another day's

activities? Just how sure are you that God will bring them

home safely? Do you know with absolute confidence that

the blood of Jesus will protect and deliver your children

from every danger the world can throw at them that day?

Developing that rock-solid confidence is the goal you

should be aiming for as a parent. But how do you reach

that goal? What can you do as a parent to ensure that your

children are protected every moment of every day?

A Wake-up Call

I really began seeking the Lord about how to protect

my children after my cousin Nikki died in a car accident.

Nikki was Miss "On Fire for God," one of the most

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

phenomenal people I have ever known. She had gone to

Bible school in Sweden and was about the boldest thing

on two feet you have ever seen!

Nikki didn't mince any words with people. She was

just very bold about speaking out her faith, a real

powerhouse for God.

But several years ago, Nikki's life was suddenly

snuffed out. The day before our Southwest Believers'

Convention, she was killed in a car accident involving a

drunk driver.

Nikki's death was a huge wake-up call to me. Now, I

would never question God by saying, "Why did You let

this happen?" I did, however, pray, "Lord, I want You to

show me how we let this happen. What do we need to do

to make sure it never happens again?"

God began to answer that prayer immediately. The

same week that Nikki died a close friend and anointed

minister named Billye Brim, who teaches on the blood of

Jesus, stressed to me that, "We have to plead the blood of

Jesus over our families every morning and every night."

It was the first time I had heard that we needed to do

that. It was such a profound revelation to me! I thought, I

don't know what she's talking about—but I'm going to find

out! (Billye has written a wonderful book on this subject

that I recommend to everyone. It's called The Blood and the

Glory.)

From that time on, I started to plead the blood of Jesus

over my children every day just because Billye told me to.

Later Billye came to our church and taught us about the

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Make Sure Your Children Are Fully Protected

blood of Jesus in more depth. And as I began to walk in

what I had learned, the Lord began to teach me more.

You see, I'm the type of person who likes to know why

things work. So I began to study the Word on the subject.

Once I learned more about the power in the blood, I didn't

need anyone else to prompt me. I determined to daily

claim the protection of the blood of Jesus over my children

for the rest of my life! Now, it took some time to build a

habit and lifestyle, but once you understand why we need

to plead the blood, it's easy to make the decision to do it.

I'm so grateful to the Lord for opening my eyes to His

protection. And, as trouble escalates in the world I realize

more and more what a priceless gift God has given me.

Today I can send my children out the door to their daily

activities, knowing with absolute certainty that they will

be safe. I can let my teenage daughters get behind the

wheel of our car and drive off, knowing that, no matter

what, they are protected and will come home safely.

What a gift that is! And the wonderful thing is that

you don't have to take as long as I did to enjoy that gift.

You can begin operating in the truths presented in this

book today!

Take Advantage of Angelic Protection

Pleading the blood of Jesus is the main thing God

taught me pertaining to divine protection after Nikki's

death. However, before I go on to share what He taught

me about the blood, I want to mention three other truths

He taught me that must be operating in your life if your

children are to be fully protected. I want to make sure

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

every area of your life is covered according to the Word.

First, you have to understand and appropriate the angelic

ministry. Angels are servants sent to minister for you. The

world has made them little gods or icons, but the truth is,

they are servants. More importantly, they are your

servants.

According to Hebrews 2:5-6 AMP, angels are not placed

higher than you spiritually:

For it was not to angels that God subjected the

habitable world of the future, of which we are

speaking. It has been solemnly and earnestly said

in a certain place, What is man that You are

mindful of him, or the son of man that You

graciously and helpfully care for and visit and

look after him?

We may seem insignificant when we compare

ourselves to angels. But God doesn't see it that way. He

sent His angels to helpfully care for and look after us!

Hebrews 1:14 says, “Are they not all ministering

spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs

of salvation?” The "them" in that verse is talking about us.

We are the heirs of salvation, and the angels have been

sent to minister for us! That means we have been given

the authority to tell the angels what to do according to the

Word.

Therefore, you need to understand how to send your

angels about their business of ministering for you. You

also need to understand how not to mess up what they are

trying to do for you with careless words of doubt and

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Make Sure Your Children Are Fully Protected

unbelief!

I once read a book by Charles Capps entitled Angels

that greatly helped me in this regard. I grew up learning

how to speak the Word and avoid speaking negative

things, but this book made me pay even more attention to

my words than I had before.

Charles Capps' book will cause you to restrain your

lips from speaking negatively—to just be quiet, if that's

what it takes. It will also teach you how to begin speaking

right things so your angels can do what they need to do

for you.

For example, suppose you keep telling your child,

"Don't go out in the street, or a car will hit you." Now, an

opportunity may never arise in your child's life to run out

in the street at the same time a car is driving past. But if

that situation ever did arise, the angels would only be able

to act according to the words of your mouth.

According to what you've been saying your will is that

the approaching car would hit your child, who should

have heeded your words and stayed out of the street.

Thus, your angels have to fold their hands. They can't

rescue your child or keep the car from hitting him because

that is what you've been saying.

God has given you the authority to command the

angels to act on your behalf. Therefore, it is very

important that you watch what comes out of your mouth.

Make sure that your words reflect what you want to come

to pass because your angels were created to obey what

you say.

So charge the angels to go forth on your behalf. Say, "I

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

charge you angels, in the Name of Jesus, to watch over my

children today, to go before them to protect them and

keep them from all harm!" Then make sure you don't

speak any negative words that bind the angels' hands

from helping you!

Listen to Your Spirit

Another thing the Lord dealt with me about after

Nikki died is that you have to learn to listen to your spirit.

This is so important. You can't protect your children if you

haven't learned to discern what the Spirit of God is saying

to you. (Two of the best books that can help you along this

line are entitled To Know Him and Hearing from Heaven.

Both are authored by my mother, Gloria Copeland, who is

well skilled in listening to her own spirit.)

You see, God is always speaking to us. I don't believe

one calamity ever happens to us that the Holy Spirit didn't

speak to our spirits beforehand to warn us.

John 16:13 says that the Spirit of truth will show us

things to come. He knows what the enemy is trying to do.

But we have to learn to pick up on what He is saying so

we can obey Him. If we are in tune to His voice, He can

protect us from the devil's attacks on our lives.

There have certainly been times in my life when I have

failed to heed the Holy Spirit's warning. When certain

negative things have happened to me or my family, I've

been able to look back and see that the Holy Spirit nudged

me to go a different way or to do something I didn't do.

But I finally prayed, "Lord, I want to learn how to hear

Your voice. I want to know exactly what Your voice

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Make Sure Your Children Are Fully Protected

sounds like so that when You are speaking to me, I will

pick up on it. " I'm telling you, God took me to school after

I prayed that prayer! He put me through one little exercise

after another, and His training caused me to grow light

years in my spiritual walk!

If you've never prayed that prayer, I strongly suggest

that you do it. All you have to do is say, "Lord, I want to

be able to hear You when You speak to me. I want to

know what You sound like."

I promise you, God will answer that prayer and start

teaching you through simple little lessons. During the day,

you'll hear something on the inside and you'll think, Was

that God? Then after you either act on His prompting or

ignore it, He'll come right behind it and prove to you that

it was His voice you heard. As Isaiah 30:21 AMP says,

“Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, This is

the way; walk in it.”

How can you be sure that God will teach you how to

hear what He is saying to you? Proverbs 3:5-6 tells you:

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto

thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge

him, and he shall direct thy paths.” When you ask the

Lord to teach you how to discern His voice, you are

acknowledging that He knows more than you do. And

because you are acknowledging Him, He will begin to

direct your paths.

First Peter 5:8 tells you to be sober and vigilant. That is

also a part of listening to the Spirit of God. Keep your

spiritual antenna up, always listening on the inside for the

Holy Spirit's leading. Stay vigilant to plead the blood of

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

Jesus over your children and to pray for them every day.

Be ever watchful because the enemy walks about as a

roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But as you

listen to your spirit and heed the Holy Spirit's voice, you

can make sure he never has the opportunity to devour you

or your family!

Discipline Your Children

I want to point out one more thing the Lord taught me

when I asked Him to show me how to keep my children

protected. He told me, "If you want your children to be

protected, you will have to discipline them."

There's no way around it. The Word says that if your

children are going to live long on the earth, they have to

obey their parents. (Ephesians 6:1-3.) That doesn't just

happen automatically. You have to teach them to be

obedient, and the only way to do that is to discipline them.

You know, "discipline" is an ugly word to many

people in today's society. Sadly, many Christians have

bought into the world's idea of discipline.

The world says that if you discipline your children,

they are going to turn against you and hate you. But

actually, the exact opposite is true.

God laid out the perfect system in His Word for

disciplining your children. Interestingly, He doesn't even

mention "time-outs"! Actually, the only form of parental

discipline the Word really talks about is spanking—and

that's the one kind of discipline the world says not to use!

Interesting, huh? (I recommend that you read Charles

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Make Sure Your Children Are Fully Protected

Sturgeon's book Train Up Your Child. It is an excellent

book on how to scripturally discipline your children.)

What amazes me is that so many believers have

agreed with the world on this subject of discipline. They

say "Well, the Bible is outdated in its instructions on

discipline. Spanking a child is too violent." Not

surprisingly, these Christians are also reaping the same

results in their children that the world does—

disobedience, disrespect and rebellion!

I haven't found any truth in the Bible that has passed

away, and that includes God's instructions on parental

discipline. It's important that we learn to discipline our

children God's way.

Some people say, "Well, I am praying that my children

will be obedient and not stray from the Word; therefore, I

don't have to spank them."

But you can't believe God for something apart from

the instruction in His Word. You have to obey what His

Word says; only then are you in a position to believe God

for the desired results—children who grow up to be

obedient, respectful, a lot of fun—and continually

protected from all harm!

This same principle applies not only to discipline, but

also to the other prerequisites for divine protection that

I've shared with you. First, you must obey what the Word

tells you to do: plead the blood of Jesus over your

children; utilize the angelic ministry on their behalf; learn

how to listen to your spirit; and discipline your children

consistently according to the Word. Then you can

confidently expect what God has promised in His Word—

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

continual supernatural protection for your family!

— 22 —

C H A P T E R 2

Applying the Blood: From Passover to

2

Present

s you seek to develop a steadfast confidence in

AGod's protection of your children, nothing is more

important than building up your faith in the power

resident within the blood of Jesus. The best place I know

to start that process is the book of Exodus. This is where

the Lord instituted a vital principle of protection that

would forever remain one of His foundational truths:

deliverance from death and destruction through sacrificial blood.

The book of Exodus tells us what happened as God

worked through Moses to set His people free from their

bondage in the land of Egypt. Throughout the entire

ordeal, God protected the children of Israel from the

plagues that were devastating the land around them.

Then in Exodus 12, God instituted the Passover to

protect the Israelites from the final judgment on the

people of Egypt: the death angel's visit to every firstborn

in the land.

I'm sure the Israelites didn't understand exactly what

was going on. Nevertheless, in Exodus 12:3 God instituted

a requirement they would have to fulfill in order to

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

experience this divine protection. God instructed Moses,

In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them

every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers,

a lamb for an house. Every Israelite house had to have a lamb.

Thank God, we have a Lamb as well! He's the

matchless, precious Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. God

appointed Jesus to be the Lamb for our house.

Keeping an Eternal Memorial by Pleading

the Blood

In Exodus 12:14, the Lord went on to say something

quite profound:

And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and

ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your

generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for

ever.

One thing I've noticed about God is that whenever He

says something is to be kept as a memorial in the Old

Testament, He gives the Church some way to keep that

eternal ordinance under the New Covenant. He doesn't

ask us to follow the natural instructions He gave the

Israelites, but He does ask us to do something in the

spiritual realm to keep His memorial.

So let's first see what some of God's original

instructions were for the Passover feast. In Exodus 12:7,

He said, “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it

on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the

houses, wherein they shall eat it.”

God told His people to apply the blood of the lamb

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Applying the Blood: From Passover to Present

with a hyssop branch to the doorposts of their house (v.

22).

He instructed them to do this as a memorial unto Him

forever. The Israelites kept this divine ordinance in the

flesh, but how do we keep it as an eternal memorial under

the New Covenant? We keep it in the Spirit by pleading the

blood of Jesus.

The hyssop branch represents our faith. By faith we

apply the blood of Jesus to the "doorposts" of our lives

with our spoken words. That's the way we daily institute

the Passover as an eternal memorial in our lives.

What Does It Mean to 'Plead the Blood?'

We need to continually be aware of our spiritual

responsibility to plead the blood of Jesus over our

children. "But what does it mean to 'plead'?" you may ask.

"I don't understand. That sounds like begging."

No, I'm not talking about begging God for anything.

The word "plead" is a legal term, as when you're standing

in court as a defendant in a legal case, and the judge asks,

"What is your plea—guilty or not guilty?" In the world's

court systems, those are the only two choices you have.

But in the high court of heaven, you can declare according

to the Word, "I plead the blood!"

The Bible says that the enemy is the accuser of the

brethren. (Revelation 12:10.) Daily he has his finger in

your face, trying to accuse you of something, trying his

best to get at you or your family in order to bring harm

and destruction.

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

But when the accuser stands before the Judge of

heaven and says, "This person is guilty," you can say, "No,

I am not guilty. You can't harm me. This is not mine to

take because I'm not standing on my own righteousness. I

am standing on the shed blood of Jesus. He paid the price

for me. Therefore, I receive His righteousness. I receive

His wholeness. I receive His health, His wealth and His

well-being."

That's what you're saying when you say, "I plead the

blood." You're saying, "I am innocent by the blood of

Jesus. You can't touch me, devil!"

When you plead the blood as your defense, it doesn't

matter if you're guilty or not guilty. The devil has to pass

over!

The truth is, you can always find something to feel

guilty about. But even if you are guilty, repent. The devil

can't get to you when you plead the blood of Jesus.

In a courtroom, the prosecutor can't do anything to a

defendant whom the judge declares innocent. Well, the

Judge of all has declared you innocent by the blood of

Jesus, and the prosecutor—the accuser of the brethren—

can't do a thing about it.

One word of caution here: You can't just know about

the power in the blood of Jesus; you have to declare it with

the words of your mouth. Matthew 12:37 AMP says, “For

by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and

by your words you will be condemned and sentenced.”

When you plead the blood of Jesus, you are acquitted

instead of condemned. But if you start saying the things

the devil wants you to say, you sentence yourself to defeat

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Applying the Blood: From Passover to Present

by your own words.

So we see that "pleading the blood" is a powerful

phrase that lines up with Scripture. It is not just an empty

religious term or an old Pentecostal term.

Actually, the Pentecostals of old knew some truths

about the blood of Jesus that the modern Church has let go

of. But in the last few years, Christians have begun to

regain what the devil had stolen away from the Body of

Christ about the blood of Jesus.

Personally, I'm believing we won't stop learning until

we're walking in the fullness of divine protection and

deliverance by the power of the blood.

Putting Into Place Our Protection

So as the children of Israel applied the blood of the

lamb over their doors, we are to plead the blood of Jesus

over our lives—including our children. That's the way we

put into place the protection God has set aside for us.

For instance, when I enter an airplane, I lay my hand

on the door and say, "I plead the blood of Jesus. I apply

the blood of Jesus to the doorpost of this airplane. This

plane is going to get me where I'm going. My belongings

will arrive safely, and the trip will be smooth and without

incident." I don't say those words loudly, but I do say

them out loud. I don't act strangely or draw attention to

myself. But I also don't leave anything out.

My belongings get to my destination better when I

plead the blood of Jesus over them. My airplanes arrive

where they are supposed to arrive. And as I leave the

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

airplane, I thank the Lord for getting me to my destination

safely.

I'm not afraid to get on an airplane, but at the same

time, I will not miss the chance to take advantage of what

the Lord has given me. I am going to close and lock every

door to the enemy. And I don't care how many people the

devil has an assignment against on that airplane—he

cannot take me down.

I also plead the blood of Jesus every time my family

gets in the car to go somewhere. And I make sure my

teenage daughters, who are driving now, do the same

thing whenever they get behind the wheel.

I want my family protected. In fact, I have made

covenant with the Lord and with my family that we are

not going to be taken out of this world through tragedy,

accidents or any other strategy of the devil. We are not

going to let the enemy have control over us. We are going

to go together in the Rapture. Or if the Lord tarries, we

will all live to an old age. We won't go home to heaven

until we are satisfied that we have completed what God

has called us to do on this earth.

That's what you need to do as well with your family.

Settle it in your heart before heaven and earth that the

devil isn't going to take out any member of your family

through his strategies. Don't wait until your child is in a

coma or until you're standing in a bank during a robbery.

Make that covenant with the Lord right now.

That decision will give you the determination to hold

fast to the Word when a storm comes. It will also keep you

from listening to the devil when he tries to convince you,

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Applying the Blood: From Passover to Present

"This tragedy is God's will for you."

No, it isn't God's will. God's will is not that you or

your children suffer harm or perish, but that you live a

long life. He needs all of us to help fulfill His purposes on

this earth.

It seems so absurd when you think about it. Why

would God try to kill you and your family members if He

needs every one of you? A landowner doesn't send all the

field hands back to the main house for a rest at peak

harvest time.

God's Way to Escape Judgment

When you continually apply the blood of Jesus to the

doorposts of your life by faith, you can live in complete

confidence that the devil can't touch your family because

God has them in His hands.

But why is this so? Why can’t the devil gain access to

your family when you plead the blood of Jesus over them

every day? To find the answer to that question, we have to

understand the way God provided for us to escape

judgment. Let's go back to Exodus 12:12:

For I will pass through the land of Egypt this

night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of

Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of

Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.

When the death angel passed through Egypt, the only

reason the angel was able to kill every firstborn was that

the Egyptians lacked any divine protection. When God

said, "I will execute judgment," He didn't mean He was

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going to send out the death angel just to see how many

people He could kill. He simply meant that death would

pass through the land, and because the Egyptians were

not protected behind the blood, they would be subject to

judgment.

But in the land of Goshen, God had given the Israelites

a way out. In verse 13, He said, “And the blood shall be

to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and

when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” The Israelites

had the choice to either accept or reject God's way. Those

who obeyed God's command to apply the blood of a lamb

to their doors were protected behind the blood and they

escaped judgment when death passed through.

Well, nothing has changed since then. When the blood

is present, death still cannot come in. However, today we

no longer apply the blood of a literal lamb to our literal

doorposts. Now we have the blood of Jesus to protect us.

He shed His blood once and for all to purchase our

complete deliverance from every work of the enemy.

Notice that God said, “The blood shall be to you for a

token upon the houses where ye are.” The blood of the

lamb was a token, or a showing, of God's power. The devil

saw that token and he couldn't prevail against it.

But today we don't have just a token; we have the real

thing. How much more does the devil see the blood of

Jesus covering our families and know that he cannot

prevail against us?

Poor Children in a Rich Father's House

Sadly, many Christians choose to live their lives

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without applying the blood of Jesus to the doorposts of

their lives. Failing to actively believe God for protection,

they leave themselves vulnerable to the devil's attacks.

But we can't afford to be passive about protection.

We're living in a horrible day. In the words of Charles

Dickens, it is both the best of times and the worst of times.

For those in the world, it is a dangerous time without

hope. Disasters and tragedies abound, and the chances are

good that, at some point in their lives, they will be caught

in one of them. Maybe they will become a victim of crime,

of a car accident or of an earthquake that kills thousands.

Regardless of the circumstances in which these people

find themselves caught, one thing is sure—without the

blood of Jesus, they have no supernatural recourse nor

hope of deliverance.

Christians are not in that same plight. They do have a

way of escape; however, too often they are ignorant of

that fact. They don't know they can live each day with a

shield of divine protection around them. They don't know

that they don't have to be pushed to and fro with the

world according to the devil's whims. Therefore, they go

their entire lives receiving only one benefit of Jesus' blood

—that is, the right to go to heaven when they die. They

never know what it is to live a separate life, protected

from all harm by the blood of Jesus.

What a shame that is. It's like being a member of a rich

family, yet living like a poor man all your life. You never

have anything good to eat. You don't have decent clothes

to wear or a decent home to live in. But you know that

when you die, they will build a beautiful golden crypt to

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lay your body in.

That's the way God sees it when His people don't

appropriate the divine protection He has provided. It's

just like any other promise in the Word. If Christians don't

believe God for protection, they aren't going to enjoy the

benefits of that particular promise. The blessing of

supernatural protection will go unclaimed and unused

unless they learn how to receive it from their Heavenly

Father.

Strangers from the Covenant

Some Christians even pray, "If I die before I wake, I

pray the Lord my soul to take." Not only are these people

unsure whether or not they will die before they wake up,

but they aren't even sure the Lord will take their soul if

they do.

Doubting God's ability to protect His children is an

example of religious thinking, which the enemy uses to

keep Christians defeated and under his thumb.

Because of religious traditions, people have not

received the blood of Jesus as a true and practical help in

their everyday life.

For [although] they hold a form of piety (true

religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the

power of it....

2 Timothy 3:5 AMP

According to Ephesians 2:12, 13, 19, we have been

brought near to God and His promises by the blood.

That at that time ye were without Christ, being

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Applying the Blood: From Passover to Present

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 ye

who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the

blood of Christ... Now therefore ye are no more

strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the

saints, and of the household of God.

We are no longer strangers to the covenants of

promise. What a shame to live as though we were!

Without realizing it, we have often doubted the power of

and thereby spurned the blood of Jesus by not putting it

into action in our lives and in the lives of our children. For

instance, whenever we are afraid of something the enemy

is trying to do to our families, we have just discounted the

blood of Jesus as our answer. In essence, we are saying,

"Well, the blood can't do the job here. This is just too big

for God." We have denied the power of the blood of Jesus

and settled for religion, and in doing so, we have failed to

honor the blood of Jesus.

When people receive salvation but don't experience

any life change, healing or prosperity as a result of that

salvation, they have spurned the blood and many other

precious promises because religion—traditions of men—

have caused them to be strangers from the covenants of

promise. The same is true of church denominations that

have taken songs about the blood out of their hymnals,

claiming that such songs "scare" the children.

The blood of Jesus is the very key to our existence. It is

our very life. We as believers must honor the blood above

sin, sickness, problems or lack. After all, isn't that exactly

what the Father did? He honored Jesus' blood over our

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sin. He declared us free from sickness because of the

blood shed on our behalf. We must lay hold of this and

receive it as more than just a church tradition or a Bible

story.

The Church cannot survive in power without a real

revelation of the blood of Jesus. The devil knows this, so

one of his main tricks is to keep Christians from knowing

about the sure protection that is available to them through

the blood.

Even many Word-believing, Spirit-filled Christians

haven't been able to firmly lay hold of their deliverance

because they haven't understood the power in the blood of

Jesus. Therefore, they doubt God's ability to protect them

and their families from all harm.

Praise God, doubt is erased as we begin to receive the

benefits purchased for us through the precious blood of

Jesus. We will never again be as strangers and outsiders,

living as though we had no covenant with God. How that

grieves the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit is the Minister of grace; it is His

delight to deliver us through the saving power of the

blood. Therefore, it grieves Him when He is restrained by

our disobedience from imparting the grace to protect, heal

and prosper us. He isn't grieved for Jesus' sake, but for our

sake. He is limited in ministering His blessings to us

unless we honor, highly prize and appropriate the blood of

Jesus in our lives.

Understanding the Nature of Judgment

We saw in Exodus 12:12 that God said He would

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execute judgment. To understand what He meant by that,

you must first understand the true nature of judgment.

First, it's important to understand that God didn't

invent sin. Everything God created was good. It was the

devil who introduced sin, and he has been twisting God's

perfect creation ever since.

Second, judgment is not God beating people over the

head because they have sinned. God doesn't say, "Well, he

did this wrong, so I'm going to give him cancer or AIDS to

teach him a lesson."

God already decreed that the wages of sin is death

(Romans 6:23). He was saying that death is what sin leads

to, and death is the price that must be paid.

That one verse alone tells us what we need to know

about the nature of judgment. It tells us that if we practice

sin, we open the door to the enemy's works of death and

destruction.

After God decreed that the wages of sin is death, there

was no getting around that judgment because He spoke

the truth. He laid out that eternal principle for us once,

and He never has to do it again. Psalm 111:7-8 AMP

confirms this:

The works of His hands are [absolute] truth and

justice [faithful and right]; and all His decrees and

precepts are sure (fixed, established, and trustworthy).

They stand fast and are established forever and ever

and are done in [absolute] truth and uprightness.

All of God's decrees are fixed. That's the way it is.

Those divine decrees aren't going to change. And

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anything that goes against them will reap the reward of

judgment.

God isn't out there saying, "I'm going to do this to

judge that sin, and I'll do that to judge this other sin." He

doesn't have to judge every situation. He doesn't see a

sinner today and say, "You're living a homosexual

lifestyle, so I am going to strike you with AIDS." He has

already decreed that sin leads to death. That's the way it

is, and it is not going to change.

Think for a moment about the way lawyers argue their

case before a judge in a court of law. Lawyers often refer

to a list of cases that support the way they want the

judgment to go. They do that to demonstrate that in

similar cases, other judges have already made a decision.

The lawyers hope that the current judge will agree with

those past decisions and rule in their favor.

A well-known example of a settled judgment is Roe vs.

Wade. Without a move of God that Supreme Court

judgment supporting abortion is going to stand up in

court. There is no need for a lawyer in a lower court to

argue the issue again. Why is this? Because the judgment

has already been made. Until a new law is passed, abortion

will be legal even if not moral.

That's also the way judgment works as far as God is

concerned. He already determined that the wages of sin is

death. Therefore, as sin runs rampant on the earth,

judgment occurs because of that previously established

spiritual law.

That's why God told the children of Israel, "If you will

do what I tell you to do, you will be blessed. If you don't,

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you will be cursed." (See Deuteronomy 28.)

God didn't create those curses; He didn't create the

repercussions of sin. Sin caused the curse. God just tells us

how to avoid sin's results. He lets us know that sin is a

path that inevitably leads to death and destruction.

So when you think about all the bad things that

happen in this earth, realize that those calamities are just

the natural destination to which sin leads. There is no way

to get away from that fact apart from the saving power of

Jesus. You have to get on a different road and start

heading a different direction in order to arrive at a

different destination.

My father, Kenneth Copeland, gave a wonderful

illustration of this that I can't improve upon. Suppose you

are driving down a highway and you read a sign that says,

"Austin, 200 miles." If you don't want to go to the city of

Austin, you better make a U-turn—because if you stay on

that road, you're going to end up in Austin!

In the same way, God puts up signposts to let you

know which way you're headed spiritually. If you stay on

the road to sin, or if you don't actively do something to get

off that road, you're going to end up in judgment. So if

you don't want to end up there, you had better turn

around.

God graciously gave everyone who has ever lived on

this earth a way to escape judgment through the death

and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Even before

Jesus came, God gave people a temporary way of escape

through the sacrificial blood of animals. Having decreed

that the wages of sin is death, God has never failed to

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provide man with a way of escape.

So how do you get off the road to judgment? And how

do you make sure your children stay off that road so they

can reach God's destination of deliverance and victory?

You do it by obeying the fixed decree that God instituted

on the night of the Passover: When the blood is present,

death cannot come in. You apply the blood of Jesus to the

doorposts of your life, and you never stop speaking the

protection of the blood for you and your family by faith!

God Isn't the Source of Calamity

A lot of Christians tell people that tragedy is God

judging their sins. But that isn't true. Tragedy and trouble

are not from God. Good is from God, and bad is from the

devil. It's just that simple. Actually, it's too simple to mess

up, but we find a way to do it anyway!

God has been so maligned in these last days. His

Name has been so dishonored with false accusations.

People say all the time, "Well, God caused that disaster" or

"God allowed that tragedy to happen." These people think

God is behind the horrible things they hear about on the

news, whether it is school shootings, fatal accidents or

natural disasters.

But God is not the one causing those tragic events. The

terrible things that happen in the world are not "acts of

God, " nor are they God's way of punishing people or

bringing them to a low point where they will finally

repent. That isn't what judgment is.

Actually, people who think God causes bad things to

happen by His sovereign will are not thinking that

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Applying the Blood: From Passover to Present

premise all the way through. Otherwise, they would see

that it just doesn't make sense.

Tragedy is not God's will. We know that because we

have a copy of God's will—the written Word of God—and

it 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”

(James 1:17). Our Heavenly Father gives only good and

perfect gifts. Tragedy is a part of the devil's bag of tricks—

a part of the judgment to which sin inevitably leads.

Actually, the simplest way to define judgment is this:

As the earth fills up with sin, the overflow is judgment.

The world has been on the fast track to judgment for a

number of years now. Just watch the evening news, and

you'll see what I mean! When you can watch a doctor kill

someone on a television news documentary and it is

deemed acceptable, or when millions of unborn babies can

be killed and it doesn't bother too many people—you

know that the earth is filling up with sin!

This earth is groaning and shaking under the burden

of mankind's sin. And when that sin overflows, the end

result is an increase in judgment.

Just as judgment went through the land of Egypt on

the night of the Passover feast, today judgment is

sweeping through the earth in unprecedented measures.

We are witnessing more calamities and large-scale natural

disasters around the world than ever before. As an

example, just consider the recent earthquake in India that

killed more than twenty thousand people!

Governments might try to make things better through

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

programs and policies. However, there is ultimately

nothing man can do to stem the tide of judgment on the

earth.

But God has already done something! He sent His Son,

Jesus, to give all people a way out, and He is doing

everything He possibly can to change people's hearts and

help them start living for Him so they can get off the road

to judgment.

The truth is, although the earth is filling up with sin in

this hour, it is also filling up with God's glory at the same

time. And as Romans 5:20 says, “where sin abounds,

grace does much more abound!”

That divine grace will protect you and your children,

even if you find yourselves in the place where judgment is

occurring. You may ask, "But how could God deliver us in

the middle of an earthquake that kills thirty thousand

people?" Well, Psalm 91:7 says, “A thousand shall fall at

thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall

not come nigh thee.” God says He can and will protect

you, even when death and destruction are all around you.

The promise is there if you want to claim it and are willing

to apply the blood of Jesus to the doorposts of your life.

The Case of God's Sovereignty

The lie that God is behind both the man-made and the

natural disasters that happen in this world is just a trick of

the devil to keep us from trusting God and appropriating

His promise of protection in our lives. If we believe that

lie, we conclude, "Well, God is sovereign, so I have no

control over what might happen to my family and me in

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the future."

Many Christians have that attitude. They say, "Since

God is sovereign, whatever happens to us is His will. We

just have to bear it because it's all part of His plan."

But that is a very deadly thought process that will

keep believers from being able to move into what God

wants them to do. For instance, suppose these Christians

were in a situation where a terrorist was pointing a gun at

them and they sensed the Holy Spirit prompting them to

walk over to the criminal and boldly share the gospel with

him. Without a solid assurance that God will protect them,

how would they be able to do that? That example may

seem dramatic.

But if they believe that whatever happens, good or

bad, is God's will, how can they have any confidence that

God will protect their children from all harm? Yes, God is

sovereign. But God sovereignly gave us dominion over

the enemy through the Name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus

and the anointed Word. God sovereignly gave us

covenant promises. And He sovereignly decided to give

us the choice whether or not to appropriate those

promises in our lives.

God will not take back that choice. He isn't going to

change. Everything would cease to exist if He turned back

on His Word and did something differently than what He

has already said, because what He has said is the truth.

When tragedy hits, Christians who argue the

sovereignty of God say, "Well, it must have been God's

will, or this terrible tragedy wouldn't have happened to

me." That is such a spiritually lazy way to look at life.

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These people are actually saying, "I have no part to play in

what happens to me."

No, that's wrong! God's Word says we are to be alert

and vigilant against the devil's attacks. We can't just go

around thinking, "I'm a Christian, so God is going to

protect me" and then assume that God will prevent

anything bad from happening to us.

Protection is not automatic. In fact, I haven't found

anything in God's Word that is automatic! Even salvation

must be believed, asked for and received.

For some reason, we seem to think that God's promises

are going to be fulfilled for us just because we're

Christians. But it just doesn't work that way. Someone

once said to me, "But I thought that when you got saved

you were automatically protected." The Spirit of God

spoke up inside me and I told her, "Well, that would be

true if the enemy wasn't trying every day to. ." And she

finished my sentence for me, ". . to take it away from you!"

I saw the light come on in her eyes. God has placed the

responsibility in our laps to find out what He has to say

and then appropriate it in our lives.

If we don't fulfill that God-ordained responsibility,

we'll go along with the world's flow until we end up in

judgment just like everyone else. Sure, we'll get to heaven

(possibly sooner than planned), but we could have gotten

there a lot easier and a lot more protected.

I'll give you an example of another dangerous way

that Christians often think. A couple who has just suffered

the loss of their baby might go to a pastor for counsel and

hear these "comforting" words: "Well, God must have

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Applying the Blood: From Passover to Present

needed a flower for His garden. He needed your little

baby to come home to Him."

What an insult to God! What a trampling of the blood

of Jesus to say that something the enemy has done is the

work of God!

Be very careful not to say such words yourself. If you

do, it will hinder your ability to receive the promises of

God in your own life. It's just better to say, "I don't know

how I let this happen, but I'm going to search the Word

and see what God says about it."

God will answer your questions, but not when you

come to Him accusingly and ask, "Lord, why did You do

this?" Anger toward God is always defeating. The devil

will use it to take you further from the answer, and further

from God.

God once said something arresting to me on my way

to teach high-school students about the divine protection

afforded us by the blood of Jesus. I'll never forget the pain

in His voice as He said, I have a hard time convincing My

children to trust Me fully with their lives because they still

don't firmly believe that I'll deliver and protect them.

I understood what the Lord was trying to get across to

me. After all, it's very difficult to have courage in what

you do for the Lord if you're not assured of His protection.

If you think God allows tragedies to occur in your life just

to teach you something, you are going to find it difficult to

entrust your life or your children to Him.

God was saying, "My people won't give their lives

fully to Me because they don't trust Me. How can they

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trust Me if they think I might decide that allowing their

child to be martyred is the best way to further the gospel?"

God knows what it is like to be a parent. He is the

Father! He knows what it is to see your son die. But, praise

the Lord—because He knew that pain, we don't have to!

He is offering us assurance that our children will be

protected. And He says we can have that strong

assurance! All we have to do is walk in the light of the

Word and appropriate His promise of protection.

Just imagine Jesus walking on this earth today. If

someone held a gun to His face, would He be afraid that

He might get shot? Absolutely not. Jesus would know

beyond a shadow of a doubt that His Father would deliver

Him.

Well, God will deliver our children as well. We just

need to get off the road to judgment the world is on and

start going the other way, protecting our children by the

precious blood of Jesus!

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C H A P T E R 3

Protection Through God's Grace

3

ne of the most important things I've learned about

Othe blood of Jesus is this: When we plead the blood of

Jesus over our children, we make allowances for their mistakes,

as well as our own mistakes and shortcomings. Now, don't get

religious on me—let me explain.

That doesn't mean we can live any way we want to

live. But it does mean God has made a way out of the

place of judgment for us. Through the blood of Jesus, He

has set us free from the guilt of sin! First John 1:7 says it

very plainly:

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we

have fellowship one with another, and the blood of

Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all

unrighteousness.

No Weapon Shall Prosper Because of the

Blood

I want you to look at Isaiah 54:17, one of my favorite

Scriptures. It's a part of a very powerful chapter that's just

full of promises you can stake your life on.

The Lord recently opened up this verse to me to help

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

me understand how divine protection is available by the

blood of Jesus through the avenue of His grace.

No weapon that is formed against thee shall

prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee

in judgment thou shalt condemn.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and

their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

The Lord brought this Scripture to my mind a while

back when we came upon an accident on the way to take

the kids to Superkid Academy Camp. A mother had made

the mistake of having more kids in her van than she had

seatbelts. She also let her 16-year-old son drive the

overloaded van on the country roads. As her son drove

around a corner a little too fast, the van went off the road

and rolled several times, totaling the vehicle.

Not far behind this van full of kids, I was also driving

to the Superkid Academy Camp with my children and

two other junior counselors. Shortly after the van went off

the road, we came upon the detour that had been set up

because of the accident. I thought, I better turn around and

see if that accident involved any of our campers.

Sure enough, it did. The emergency personnel were

already there, checking all the occupants of the van for

injuries. I drove up and talked to one of the emergency

workers on the scene. He told me, "I can't believe no one

was hurt in this accident. They should have all been hurt!"

What was the devil trying to do? He was trying to ruin

Superkid Academy Camp for the summer. He was trying

to ruin the lives of the four families represented in the

van. He was trying to take out some powerful, on-fire

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Protection Through God's Grace

Christian kids who know how to pray and believe the

Word. And he was trying to ruin the lives of that mother

and her son. Just think what it would have been like for

them if any lives had been lost while that young man had

been driving!

The devil was trying to steal, kill and destroy

everything he could in this situation. He was trying to

take out anyone he could take out. Nevertheless, the enemy

wasn't able to do what he wanted to do.

The van was lying in a big field next to the road and

looked just awful. But not one of the children had been

hurt in the accident. Even the children who hadn't been

wearing seatbelts escaped without a scratch! The only

person injured at all was the mother, who sustained a few

cuts on her arm.

We piled everyone into the other cars that had stopped

in the meantime and were also headed to the camp. The

young man who had been driving the van rode in my car.

On our way to the camp, the Lord really put it on my

heart to start ministering to this young man because he

was feeling very guilty.

I said to him, "Let me ask you something. Did you

plead the blood of Jesus this morning?"

"Well, yes, " he replied. "We plead the blood of Jesus

whenever we go anywhere. This morning we also prayed

and took Communion before we left."

The young man continued, "I knew I shouldn't have

been driving. I had thoughts that something might

happen."

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I said, "Well, it is important to listen to your spirit."

Right then the Lord reminded me of Isaiah 54:17, and I

realized why the Lord had supernaturally protected

everyone involved in the accident, even though mistakes

were made.

This verse says, No weapon that is formed against thee

shall prosper. It also says that every tongue that shall rise

against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. In this case,

it was the devil's wagging tongue that rose up in

judgment against the mother and son and said, "You

messed up, so I'm going to kill someone today. I'm going

to ruin someone's life today."

The devil isn't just trying to be an inconvenience in his

strategies against you or your children. His goal is to kill

and destroy. In every way he can, he's trying to get rid of

you.

But the devil can't do that if you don't allow him to!

God promises in this verse that no weapon formed against

you will succeed in its evil intent. Then He says, This is

the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their

righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

Walking in Jesus' Footsteps

The Lord was giving me all these insights so I could

share them with this young man as we were driving along

to camp. Then I began saying something I had never

thought of before.

I told the teenager, "You weren't walking in your own

righteousness today, so don't let the devil lie to you and

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convince you that you're guilty. You pled the blood of

Jesus. And even though you messed up—even though you

shouldn't have driven with more kids in the car than you

had seatbelts—this is what the Lord told me: When you

plead the blood of Jesus, you put yourself in His footsteps. You

purposefully live your life in His righteousness, and the

devil can't fight that.”

"Now, as a child," I continued, "it is important that you

obey your parents. And when God prompts you to do

something, it is important to listen to your spirit. It is also

important to obey the laws of the land. But when we plead

the blood of Jesus, we make allowances for our own

mistakes and shortcomings, for the times we don't pick up

on what the Holy Spirit is saying to us."

It's always easier to do something the right way. There

is almost certainly going to be an irritating price to pay

when you're disobedient or when you don't listen to the

Spirit of God.

For instance, that mother's van was totaled. She also

had to go to the doctor's office so the cuts on her arm

could be stitched up. Those consequences for her mistake

were definitely annoying, but they were not life

threatening.

That is the effect of divine protection. When you plead

the blood of Jesus by faith, God will deliver you to the

other side without loss of life—whether it is your life, your

children's lives or your spouse's life. You may endure

inconvenient consequences for not listening to God, but

you will not suffer irreversible tragedy.

On the other hand, you can't just go along sinning on

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purpose, living your life any old way you want to, and

then say, "Well, I'll just plead the blood, and everything

will be okay."

In the case of the van accident, that mother and son

didn't set out on that trip trying to see how far they could

get with God. They weren't trying to blatantly go against

the Lord's instructions. Their hearts were right; they just

missed it.

Psalm 24:3-4 says that we have to come to God with

clean hands and pure hearts. We can't live a sinful life and

then expect everything to go along right for us.

But although it's true that we have to maintain a pure

heart, it is also true that we all mess up sometimes. In light

of that fact, isn't it good to know that God doesn't require

100-percent perfection at this stage of the game? Instead,

He has made it possible for us to walk in the footsteps of

Jesus, in His 100-percent perfection, clothed in His

righteousness and not our own.

We have a goal we're headed toward. We are learning

to listen to our spirits and to hear the voice of the Holy

Spirit. We are endeavoring to do the right thing in every

situation. And we purpose to plead the blood of Jesus over

our families every day. As we do these things, the devil

won't be able to touch our children or us.

But if we mess up during this learning process, we can

be confident of this as long as we keep our families under

the protection of the blood: Our mistake may cost us some

time and money, but it won't cost us our lives or the lives

of our children. If we will faithfully plead the blood of

Jesus, God will deliver our families with our lives intact.

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Protection Through God's Grace

That's a promise we can claim!

So if you do something wrong or miss the Spirit of

God's leading, just repent and then say, "I plead not guilty,

because I plead the blood of Jesus!" Your faith in the blood

puts you in Jesus' footsteps and provides you and your

children with divine protection—all because of God's

grace.

What Is Grace?

I've heard many definitions for grace. By one

definition, grace is unmerited favor; by another, it is God's

ability to do things you can't do. But the best definition

I've ever heard is this: Grace is God looking at you the same

way He looks at His Son. It is God judging you as though

you were Jesus.

What does that mean for you? Well, can you imagine

the Heavenly Father looking at Jesus and saying, "I'm not

going to do that for You"? Absolutely not!

Jesus died in your place and shed His blood so you

could stand in His righteousness. As you plead the blood

of Jesus over your family, God sees you and your loved

ones the same way He sees Jesus—deserving of the same

blessings and the same angelic protection He afforded His

Son when He walked this earth.

How does God see Jesus? Well, He sees a Son who

doesn't make mistakes. God judges Jesus as free from

sickness, sin, calamity and spiritual death. The good news

is that Jesus paid the price for you so that you could be

free as well!

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When you appropriate the blood of Jesus in your life,

God has to look at you and say, "You're free, you're clean,

and you're in My righteousness. You are covered by My

wings."

Now, the devil would love to lie to you and say, "God

can't deliver you from this mess because you brought it on

yourself."

But as you and your family stand in Jesus' footsteps, it

doesn't matter if you've made mistakes. It doesn't matter if

your children mess up. It doesn't matter if you're guilty or

innocent because God's deliverance isn't based on you; it's

based on Jesus. You can plead the blood of Jesus, and His

grace covers your mistakes as you live in His

righteousness.

For example, you may ask, "Yes, but what if my

mistake involves a lot of charge card debt?"

The devil has kept so many believers bowed down

with guilt and discouragement because of this particular

problem. The enemy whispers to their minds, God can't

deliver you from charge card debt because you used your card to

charge an entire closet full of clothes with it! That was selfish.

You knew better than to do that. God can't deliver you because

you put yourself in that situation.

But God judges us according to the way He sees Jesus,

and Jesus doesn't have charge card problems. That means

we are judged as free from charge card problems too.

We can come before God and say, "Lord, I repent.

Please deliver me from debt. I plead the blood of Jesus

over my finances." God then judges us with the same

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Protection Through God's Grace

favor He gives Jesus and responds, "You are perfect in My

eyes. Therefore, I gladly deliver you from debt!" That is a

manifestation of God's grace!

Here's another example: The devil accuses a person in

his mind, saying, God can't heal you from cancer because you

smoked. You knew it was bad for you, but you did it anyway for

years and years and years.

But Jesus doesn't have a problem with smoking. God

doesn't look at Jesus and say, "Well, I can't heal You of

lung cancer because You used to smoke."

So God looks at that believer and makes a judgment

based on how He judges Jesus. Even if that person

smoked for most of his life, he can still trust in God's

measureless grace and therefore stand confidently on

God's promise to heal his body.

In the same way, God protects us as though we were

Jesus when we walk in His righteousness. And the Word

says that Jesus could have called 10,000 angels. If He

could, we can!

The Source of God's Grace

Why is this true? Romans 5:21 gives us the answer. It

says that grace reigns through righteousness. Jesus'

righteousness is the doorway through which God's grace

enters our lives.

God can provide grace to us because we are made

righteous through the blood of Jesus. He now sees us the

way He sees Jesus. His grace on our lives isn't based on

our good works or our perfection; it's based on Jesus'

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

perfection. As Isaiah 54:17 says, “Their righteousness is of

me, saith the Lord.”

That's why no weapon formed against you or your

children can prosper. When you plead the blood of Jesus

over your family, you are living fully in the righteousness

of Jesus. You and your children are literally standing

before the Father in the footsteps of Jesus. You can

therefore say, "It doesn't matter what I or my children did

wrong. It doesn't matter if we are guilty or not guilty. I

plead the blood!" I receive the righteousness of Jesus.

Too many Christians are trying to base their protection

on their own ability. They have forgotten their covenant of

divine protection. They might say a little prayer and read

a Scripture or two in the morning. But then they go on,

trying to get through the day on their own.

But when you plead the blood of Jesus over yourself

and your children each morning, it does something to you.

It sets your mind and your spirit right to realize at the

beginning of each day My family is getting through this day

protected by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus.

Draw Near for Righteous Judgments

Isaiah 58:2 AMP talks about the children of Israel

coming to God for righteous judgments.

Yet they [God's people] seek, inquire for, and

require Me daily and delight [externally] to know My

ways, as [if they were in reality] a nation that did

righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their

God. They ask of Me righteous judgments, they

delight to draw near to God [in visible ways].

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Protection Through God's Grace

Now, in context, God is actually getting after His

people, telling them that their spiritual actions need to be

a reflection of an inward change of heart. But I want us to

look at how He describes those actions: They ask of Me

righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.

That's similar to the New Covenant admonition to

draw near to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16 AMP).

You have already been given a righteous judgment. God

has made you the righteousness of God in Christ. (2

Corinthians 5:21.) He has given you promises that have

already been bought and paid for by the blood of His Son.

Those promises belong to you and your family. Now you

just have to lay hold of them, standing on His righteous

judgments by faith in the blood of Jesus.

As you plead the blood of Jesus, you are coming

boldly before God's throne according to His righteous

judgment to receive His mercy and grace for your family.

You are saying, "We're not in ourselves perfect, Lord, but I

plead the blood of Jesus over our lives so we can walk in

His footsteps. I want my family to live in His

righteousness today." When you do that, God is always

faithful to give you His grace!

When you enter the throne room based on the blood of

Jesus, you are coming to the Father asking Him to judge

you with the same "measuring stick" He judges Jesus. And

when He does what you ask, the miracle of grace is that

you actually measure up!

You don't have to live according to the way of the

world. You don't have to live subjected to the tricks of the

enemy or to the misguided people who follow him. You

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

and your children can live every day in the footsteps of

Jesus!

For instance, suppose Jesus lived in the flesh on this

earth today, and He was standing in a bank when thieves

burst in to rob it. There is no way those thieves would be

able to hurt Jesus. He would be able to turn that entire

situation around!

Well, that's who you are. You have Jesus Christ on the

inside of you. And when you plead the blood of Jesus, you

make yourself more aware of who you are in Him.

As you faithfully plead the blood of Jesus over

yourself and your children, it doesn't change only the

circumstances that surround you. It changes you. It

changes the way you react in difficult situations.

It is easier to respond with confidence and faith when

you know you're standing in Jesus' footsteps. No matter

what the circumstances, you can rest in the knowledge

that your family is protected from harm by the precious

blood of Jesus—because grace reigns through

righteousness, and you are righteous in Christ!

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C H A P T E R 4

Our Sanctuary—the Holy of Holies

4

want to take you to some key Scriptures to show you

Itwo basic principles for protecting your children. First,

your deliverance from evil, tragedy, sickness or sudden death is

by faith in the blood of Jesus. Second, your faith in the blood is

executed and entered into by the words of your mouth.

I also want to show you why these two principles are

true. It all has to do with entering the Holy of Holies—the

eternal sanctuary of God's presence.

The Way Into God's Presence—by Blood

Let's start by going back to the Old Testament and see

how God made a way for His people to enter His presence

by means of sacrificial blood:

The Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother

he must not come at all times into the Holy of Holies

within the veil before the mercy seat upon the ark, lest

he die; for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.

Leviticus 16:2

Moses' brother, Aaron, was the high priest, but he

couldn't just go into the Holy of Holies anytime or any

way he wanted to. He could only go in once a year at the

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

appointed time, and he had to do everything just as God

had instructed.

The high priest couldn't forget the smallest detail.

Every "t" had to be crossed and every "i" dotted. He had to

wash the right way. He had to say the right things. He had

to sprinkle the blood of the right kind of animals. He had

to follow God's instructions exactly to the letter. If the high

priest's sin wasn't covered when he went into the presence

of God, he wouldn't come out alive!

That didn't mean God was trying to make it hard for

His people to come to Him. He wasn't trying to separate

Himself from man because He was prideful. God was

actually protecting man. He knew that sin could not exist in

His presence.

Darkness cannot live in the light. The smallest bit of

light can dispel darkness, but darkness cannot overcome

the light.

That's why God couldn't gather Adam and Eve in His

arms to comfort them after they had sinned. That would

be the natural instinct of any loving father. But if God had

done that, He would have killed them with His goodness

because sin is destroyed in the presence of His glory.

So God in His mercy made a way for fallen man to

draw near to Him, instituting the slaying of an innocent

animal as a temporary remedy for sin. In Leviticus 16, He

gave detailed instructions to the high priest, the people's

representative, on how to enter into His presence. It had

to be by blood, and it had to be just right. (Just read the

rest of Leviticus 16, and you'll see what I mean!)

In fact, Jewish oral tradition tells us the other priests

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Our Sanctuary—the Holy of Holies

would tie a rope around the high priest. After he entered

the Holy of Holies, they would listen for the jingling of the

bells sewn to the bottom of the high priest's robe. (Exodus

39:25.) If those bells had ever quit jingling, it would have

meant he hadn't prepared himself correctly and it was

time to pull out his lifeless body!

The high priest would take the blood of that sacrifice

and enter God's presence for one purpose: to obtain a

good judgment for himself and for the people. If the priest

did everything correctly, they would be judged free from

sin for one year.

Draw Near by the Blood

Interestingly, the Hebrew word for "sacrifice" is from

the same root as "to come near, to approach, to become

closely involved in a relationship with someone. ”1 The

blood of the sacrificial animal enabled the high priest to

enter the Holy of Holies and draw near to the mercy seat

of God. If he hadn't brought the blood of that sacrifice, the

sin in his life would have killed him before he ever

reached the mercy seat.

It wasn't that God needed a gift from the people or

wanted them to do something for Him. Man needed the

blood to atone for his sin so he could draw near to God.

Well, today we have the blood of Jesus, Who was the

perfect Sacrifice. His precious blood takes care of our sin

once and for all, allowing us to draw near to the throne of

God to receive mercy and grace for every situation.

1 The Holy Temple of Jerusalem, Chaim Richman, The Temple Institute and Carta,

Jerusalem, 1977 Carta, The Israel Map and Publishing Company, Ltd.

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

Hebrews 9:12-14 AMP tells us the magnitude of what

Jesus did for us through His death and resurrection:

He went once for all into the [Holy of] Holies [of

heaven], not by virtue of the blood of goats and calves

[by which to make reconciliation between God and

man], but His own blood, having found and secured a

complete redemption (an everlasting release for us).

For if [the mere] sprinkling of unholy and defiled

persons with blood of goats and bulls and with the

ashes of a burnt heifer is sufficient for the purification

of the body, how much more surely shall the blood of

Christ,

Who by virtue of [His] eternal Spirit [His own

preexistent divine personality] has offered Himself as

an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our

consciences from dead works and lifeless observances

to serve the [ever] living God?

God is saying here, "If a goat, a bull or a heifer could

provide a temporary redemption for sin under the Old

Covenant, how much more will the blood of Jesus Christ

provide an eternal and absolutely complete redemption

for you under the New Covenant?"

Let's go on to verses 18-20 AMP:

So even the [old] first covenant (God's will) was

not inaugurated and ratified and put in force without

the shedding of blood.

For when every command of the Law had been

read out by Moses to all the people, he took the blood

of slain calves and goats, together with water and

scarlet wool and a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkled

both the Book (the roll of the Law and covenant) itself

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Our Sanctuary—the Holy of Holies

and all the people, saying these words: This is the

blood that seals and ratifies the agreement (the

testament, the covenant) which God commanded [me

to deliver to] you.

Under the Old Covenant, Moses used a bunch of

hyssop (which symbolizes our faith) to sprinkle the blood

of the animal sacrifice over the people as atonement for

their sins. Then he declared, "This is the blood that seals

and ratifies our covenant with God!"

Notice that Moses spoke those words with his mouth.

This was an Old Testament demonstration of the

important principle I mentioned earlier: Your faith in the

blood is executed and entered into by the words of your mouth.

Instead of hyssop, you use faith to apply the blood of

Jesus to your life. But as you plead the blood of Jesus over

yourself and your children by faith, you are actually

saying the same thing Moses did: "This is the blood that

seals and ratifies the covenant I have with You, Lord. And

part of that covenant is Your promise to protect us!"

Verse 22 AMP tells us why our approach to God must

be by means of sacrificial blood:

[In fact] under the Law almost everything is

purified by means of blood, and without the shedding

of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt

nor the remissions of the due and merited punishment

for sins.

Aaron went into the Holy of Holies by the blood of an

animal. But Jesus took His very own blood into God's

presence. In doing so, Jesus made the way, tearing down

the veil that had always separated man from the presence

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

of God.

Jesus, the "Lamb for our house," paid the price to enter

into the Holy of Holies by the power of His blood. All that

is left for us to do is to apply the blood He shed for us to

our lives—to declare by faith, "This is the blood that seals

my covenant with God!"

As we do that, we are purified and set free not only

from sin, but also from all things pertaining to death and

judgment—the due and merited punishment for our sin.

We can now enter the Holy of Holies for ourselves by the

power in the blood of Jesus according to Hebrews 10:19-20

AMP:

Therefore, brethren, since we have full freedom

and confidence to enter into the [Holy of] Holies [by

the power and virtue] in the blood of Jesus.

By this fresh (new) and living way which He

initiated and dedicated and opened for us through the

separating curtain (veil of the Holy of Holies), that is,

through His flesh.

Jesus entered the place where no sin could go. He had

already carried all our sin to the Cross and to Hell, paying

the price with His own blood. But then He arose and

ascended to the heavenly Holy of Holies, where He

sprinkled His own blood on the mercy seat of God once

and for all for us.

If most people were God, I believe they would have

stopped right there. They would have let Jesus be the only

One Who could enter the Holy of Holies. But God never

stops halfway In verses 21-22 AMP, He invites us to enter

the Holy of Holies for ourselves:

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Our Sanctuary—the Holy of Holies

And since we have [such] a great and wonderful

and noble Priest [Who rules] over the house of God, let

us all come forward and draw near with true (honest

and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and

absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that

leaning of the entire human personality on God in

absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom,

and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and

purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies

cleansed with pure water.

God invites you to come into His throne room where

no sin can come. How are you going to do that if you're

not perfect? Only by the blood of Jesus. By pleading the

blood of Jesus you may confidently approach the throne of

God with clean hands and a pure heart. This has a greater

meaning to us than we have realized.

The Devil Can't Cross the Blood Line

When I first began to gain an understanding about the

blood of Jesus, I would hear Billye Brim say, "When you

plead the blood of Jesus, you draw a circle around your

home and your family, and the devil can't cross that blood

line."

Well, that made sense to me, and I knew it was true.

But I wanted to know why. Why is it that when you plead

the blood the devil can't cross that line? I believed it was

true but I still wanted to understand why.

So I began searching the Word, and the Lord gave me

some answers to my questions—answers that all centered

around pleading the blood of Jesus.

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When you plead the blood of Jesus, you enter the Holy

of Holies by the power and the virtue in that blood; sin

and death can't go there because they can't exist in the

presence of God. You live in Jesus' righteousness. The

knowledge of that truth begins to build up on the inside of

you as you speak forth words of faith: "I'm living in the

righteousness of God today. I'm walking in His footsteps

today. The enemy cannot bring tragedy to my family. He

cannot bring sickness or death to my home. God judges

me the way He would judge Jesus. I'm pure and clean

because of the blood of Jesus!"

And it doesn't stop there. God hasn't just provided the

way for you to enter the Holy of Holies; He wants you to

live your life there!

That is the key. After all, the presence of God resides

on the inside of you. You don't have to live your life

outside the Holy of Holies just because it's time to go to

the grocery store. You and your children can live every

aspect of your lives in God's presence. You never have to

leave His presence—but it's only because of the blood of

Jesus.

So what are you doing when you plead the blood of

Jesus over yourself, your spouse and your children each

morning? You are placing yourselves in the Holy of Holies,

where the devil cannot come. He cannot cross that line,

because on the other side of that line is the presence of

God, and the devil, his plans and his devices are instantly

destroyed!

That excites me so much, because in this day and age

we're living in, no physical location is a sanctuary. Schools

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Our Sanctuary—the Holy of Holies

are no longer sanctuaries. Even a church is not a sanctuary

—unless its people understand how to build a hedge

around it by pleading the blood of Jesus.

There is only one true sanctuary, and that is before the

throne of God. And it is God Himself who issues us an

invitation to draw near:

Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly

draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's

unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive

grace to help in good times for every need [appropriate

help and well-timed help, coming just when we need

it].

Hebrews 4:16 AMP

First of all, understand this: This Scripture is not

talking about approaching the throne of grace once we get

to heaven. We aren't going to need mercy for our failures

after we go home to be with the Lord. All our needs and

desires will already be met. No, this Scripture is our

promise for life on this earth.

So where is the help we need? Only in the Holy of

Holies, the throne of grace. By the blood of Jesus, we can

approach God's throne with fearless confidence. That kind

of bold confidence is what many of us have been missing

—even those of us who know how to plead the blood. But

it is a necessary ingredient for living our entire lives in

God's sanctuary by faith.

Hearing Wisdom in the Holy of Holies

Living our lives in God's presence provides us with

such a wonderful sense of security. That is where our

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

answers are. That is where wisdom is.

Every morning when I pray with my children we

plead the blood of Jesus over our lives. We charge our

angels to go before us to protect us in all our ways. And

lately we've been adding something else to our prayers.

Now we also pray for wisdom.

The Bible says that wisdom cries out. (Proverbs 1:20.)

Well, I want my family to be in a position to hear God's

wisdom when He speaks it to us. So I say every morning,

"Wisdom cries out to us, and we listen and obey"

I find myself hearing the voice of God better when I

live in the Holy of Holies every day by the blood of Jesus.

I make better decisions, and so do my children.

For instance, one day my son Max came in and said

about a certain brand of toys, "Mommy, I'm going to have

to throw them all away. They don't honor God, and they

don't further my ministry."

Now, I had been about to take those toys away from

Max because I had been sensing in my spirit that they

weren't good. But I didn't have to do that because my

eight-year-old son heard wisdom from God—exactly what

we had been praying for!

Max dwells in the Holy of Holies, even though he

doesn't fully comprehend that. But while he was living in

God's presence, he heard the Lord say to him, "That

doesn't honor Me."

My husband, Win, and I have trained our children to

obey. So when Max heard that, he threw those toys away.

He didn't think about how much they had cost him. He

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Our Sanctuary—the Holy of Holies

just threw it in the trash and left it there, and he hasn't

regretted it a moment since.

As some of my children became teenagers, my desire

to protect them and to know that they are able to hear

wisdom grew in me. I'm constantly talking to the Lord

about my teenagers. I'm so glad they can live with Jesus in

His home, the throne room of God. That's where they will

find wisdom. That's where the devil cannot go to attack

them.

When your children are in the presence of God, they

are keeping company with the Wisdom of the ages. God

will give them the wisdom to make right decisions,

whether it is about peer pressure, pornography, cigarettes,

alcohol or premarital sex. Whatever the issue, God has

wisdom for your children to protect them from the

temptations of this world and the devil's evil strategies.

But that divine wisdom resides in the Holy of Holies,

and the only way your children can live there is by the

blood of Jesus. When you and your children plead His

blood, you enter the Holy of Holies, where God is ready to

impart as much protection, favor and grace to you as He

would to Jesus Himself.

As a parent, you must also hear wisdom in the Holy of

Holies if you want your children fully protected. There

will be many times you will have to make a decision

concerning your children and you won't know for sure

what to do. Thank God, you have His promise that He will

give you wisdom liberally when you ask Him for it!

If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of

the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and

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ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding,

and it will be given him.

James 1:5 AMP

All you have to do is pray, "Lord, You said You would

give me wisdom liberally and that I was to let Your peace

rule and reign in my heart (Colossians 3:15 AMP). So I ask

for wisdom and peace from You regarding the right way

to go in this matter."

I can't remember a time when I prayed like that and

didn't get an almost immediate answer from the Lord. For

instance, one time some people wanted my daughter to go

somewhere with them, but I didn't have a peace about it

in my heart. I struggled with what to do because I didn't

want to offend these people.

I have found that we usually say we don't know what

to do when we really do; we just don't want to do it. But

we need to lay aside all the circumstances and the

pressures that surround us and listen for God's wisdom to

show us the way to go.

If you are listening to wisdom, none of those things

matter. Your objective is to hear what God is trying to say

to you so your children can stay protected and blessed. If

you let the pressure of natural circumstances get to you,

you may miss the voice of God.

Anyway, I talked to a friend about this situation with

my daughter. I told her, "I just don't know what to do."

"I bet you do know," she said.

"No, I don't," I protested.

"All right, then, ask God for wisdom," she replied.

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Our Sanctuary—the Holy of Holies

So right there, I prayed, asking God for wisdom

according to His promise in James 1:5. Then my friend

said, "Now, all circumstances aside, do you have peace

about letting her go?"

"No, I don't," I answered.

There was the wisdom I needed! It was the answer the

Holy Spirit had been trying to get across to me all along.

But why was I able to hear wisdom when it was crying out

to me? Because I placed myself in a position to hear.

Wash Your Hands in Innocence

This helps us understand why the devil has been able

to gain so much access to Christians in his strategies to

kill, steal and destroy. Many believers haven't been living

where they're supposed to be living!

You should make it your goal to abide in God's

presence continually. His throne room should be your

home.

In Psalm 26:6 AMP, the psalmist David gives us a

better understanding of what is required to make the altar

of God, the Holy of Holies, our home:

I will wash my hands in innocence, and go about

Your altar, O Lord.

We saw earlier in Psalm 24:4 that we can only draw

near to God with clean hands and a sincere, pure heart.

We can't just act any way we want to and then expect to

get away with it by pleading the blood. We have to live

right and do the right things.

In Psalm 26:6 AMP, David makes this same point when

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he says, “I will wash my hands in innocence.” But how

do we go about washing our hands in innocence? By

appropriating the blood of Jesus to our lives.

We are citizens of heaven, not of this earth. But it is

only by washing ourselves with the blood of Jesus that we

can plead innocent to the accusations of the enemy. God

has given us the ability to "go about His altar," living

continually in His presence. However, we must get there

by washing our hands in innocence through the cleansing

blood of the Lamb.

In John 6:53-56, Jesus talked about something else we

must do in order to live our lives in the Holy of Holies.

Not only are we to wash ourselves in the blood of Jesus,

but in this passage of Scripture, Jesus says we are to drink

His blood.

That must have been a real shock to the disciples when

Jesus told them that! Think about it. They had been taught

all their lives that they were never to partake of blood.

That was forbidden under Levitical law. But Jesus said,

For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink

indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my

blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

John 6:55, 56

So how do we go about obeying this unusual

command from the Master? Well, consider the difference

between drinking and bathing in water. When we bathe in

water, we use it to cleanse us. But when we drink water,

we take it in, appropriating its refreshing properties to

revive and bring new life to our physical bodies.

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Our Sanctuary—the Holy of Holies

In the same way, we have been cleansed by the blood

of Jesus, but we shouldn't stop there. We must drink it—

appropriating its life-giving, protecting power to every

aspect of our lives. And just as we have to partake of

water every day in order to survive physically, we must

do the same with the blood of Jesus to protect our children

and ourselves.

Standing in the Protection of God's 'Even

Place'

Let's go back to Psalm 26 for a moment. In verse 12

AMP, David describes what life is like as he "goes about" the

altar of God: “My foot stands on an even place; in the

congregations will I bless the Lord.”

What a promise God has given you in this verse! Your

family can go through life standing on an even place.

That's talking about the habitation of God's house—a

secure sanctuary with no unexpected bumps to make you

stumble and fall. That place is the Holy of Holies.

Nowhere can you find a place more "even" or secure than

that!

Now, you may miss it and go over a bump of your

own making. But even then, the Lord will see to it that

you and your family are protected as you apply the blood

of Jesus to your lives.

God knows who you are. He knows what you're up

against. And He knows that you are changing, day by day,

into the image of His Son. So He has made a way through

the blood of Jesus for you to win as thoroughly as you

would if you were already perfect! Your family can win

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100 percent as you are faithful to keep them standing on

that even place through the power of the blood of Jesus.

David had no higher priority than to dwell in that

even place all the days of his life. In Psalm 27:4 AMP, he

said this:

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I

seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may

dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the

days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty

[the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness]

of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in

His temple.

David had to go to a physical temple in order to dwell

in God's presence. But when Jesus died on the cross, the

veil separating the Holy of Holies in the temple was

ripped open, and the Holy Spirit came out to dwell within

God's people.

Now we are the temple of the living God. (2

Corinthians 6:16.) Now we can enjoy the sweetness and

the protection of His presence as we dwell in that even

place by the blood of Jesus:

The secret [of the sweet, satisfying

companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere

and worship) Him, and He will show them His

covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning.

My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He will pluck

my feet out of the net.

Psalm 25:14, 15 AMP

God will pluck your family's feet out of the net that the

enemy has laid for them. Why? Because your eyes are ever

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toward the Lord. You are trusting Him for deliverance

from the "day of trouble" spoken of in Psalm 27:5 AMP:

For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His

shelter; in the secret place of His tent will He hide me;

He will set me high upon a rock.

When you plead the blood of Jesus, you are laying

down your pride and your own ability to protect yourself,

your spouse and your children. Instead, you are picking

up the ability of God, putting yourself in a position where

God can move on your behalf to hide you and your family

from trouble.

Notice that all these verses in the book of Psalms talk

about being protected as you stand continually in the

presence of God. I'm telling you, my friend, that is the

key.

But you and your children don't just live in God's

presence automatically You live there by daily pleading

the blood of Jesus over your lives in faith. As you do, you

put your family in a position to live each day in the

sanctuary the devil can't touch—the heavenly Holy of

Holies!

We Have Our Part to Play

Now look at Hebrews 10:23 AMP:

So let us seize and hold fast and retain without

wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our

acknowledgment of it, for He Who promised is

reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.

Notice again that even though we have full freedom to

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enter the Holy of Holies, it isn't automatic. We have to

seize, obtain, draw near, lay hold, enter in and hold fast to the

hope we cherish. We have to confess and acknowledge with

the words of our mouth that eternal hope. We do that by

pleading the blood of Jesus. That is our confession and

acknowledgment of what He has done for us.

Verse 23 AMP also says that He Who promised is

reliable (sure) and faithful to His word. People always say,

"God is so faithful to His people." But this verse says God

is faithful to His Word. He has, in a sense, limited Himself

to helping us to the extent that we comply with His Word.

God is as faithful as He can be to us. He is as faithful

as we let Him be. He is always doing 100 percent of what

He can do for us. Thankfully, He endeavors to teach us

when we mess up. And He is certainly the God of a

second chance (and third and fourth, etc.!). Even so, if we

want to live a victorious life we have to speak the Word,

receive the Word and appropriate the Word on a daily

basis. If we will be faithful to God's Word, He can be fully

faithful to us. But if we're constantly speaking death, He

can't be faithful to that. For instance, if we're speaking

lack, there is very little life God can bring to our finances.

Understand, it works the same way with protection and

safety.

On the other hand, as we speak what God's Word says

over the situations we face in life, He can fix things fast!

He can and He will because He wants to!

It is actually good news to know that God has tied

Himself to His Word. That means all you have to do is say

what He says, and the outcome is assured. God will be

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faithful to perform what He has promised in your life. He

will meet your needs. He will protect your children. He is

going to do what He has said He would do.

God will never go back on His sovereign decision to

give you a choice. You have to decide whether or not you

will do your part to receive His promise of protection. But

God will also never go back on that promise when you

plead the blood of Jesus and stand in His righteousness.

If you fulfill the requirements for divine protection,

you never need to worry that God might not fulfill His

promise to protect you and your family He is faithful to

His Word. And to the extent that you are faithful to God's

Word, you can have all that His Word says you can have.

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C H A P T E R 5

The Absolute Certainty of Divine

5

Protection

ere is an absolute guarantee: There is no more certain

H place to be than in the presence of God. And when I say

certain, I mean safe, secure and assured. You can count on

it. Even if the Lord prompts you to go minister to someone

in a hospital filled with deadly contagious diseases, you

can go with confidence and peace. Why? Because you

know you are walking in God's presence, and in that

divine presence is certain, supernatural protection.

Whenever the Lord says with great certainty in His

Word that you can possess something, it should be very

difficult for the devil to take that promise away from you.

On the other hand, it may be harder for you to be

confident if you are praying for something that isn't

specifically promised in the Word. In that case, you need a

strong inner knowing from the Holy Spirit that the

petition you have asked for is yours to claim.

You are a covenant person. Therefore, you should be

confident that God will perform His promise of protection

for you as you stand in His presence by faith.

Hebrews 6:19 AMP talks about a hope that helps us

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enter the absolute certainty and security of God's

presence:

[Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast

anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break

down under whoever steps out upon it—a hope] that

reaches farther and enters into [the very certainty of

the Presence] within the veil.

Let's read the two previous verses to find out what

that hope is:

Accordingly God also, in His desire to show more

convincingly and beyond doubt to those who were to

inherit the promise the unchangeableness of His

purpose and plan, intervened (mediated) with an oath.

This was so that, by two unchangeable things (His

promise and His oath) in which it is impossible for

God ever to prove false or deceive us, we who have

fled [to Him] for refuge might have mighty indwelling

strength and strong encouragement to grasp and hold

fast the hope appointed for us and set before [us].

Hebrews 6:17, 18 AMP

Verse 17 is talking about the oath God made to

Abraham, the father of our faith. To show Abraham

"convincingly and beyond doubt" that what He had

promised to him was absolutely certain, God intervened

with an oath made by blood. Thus, by those two

unchangeable things—God's promise and His oath made

by blood—we, too, can grasp and hold fast to the hope set

before us.

God wants you to grasp the hope He has given you

through His promise of protection. The blood of Jesus can

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work in your life so much more powerfully when you are

fully persuaded.

You don't get very far when you are wavering in your

faith, always wondering, Is pleading the blood of Jesus going

to accomplish anything? Are my children really going to be

delivered in the midst of danger just because I do this every

day? That's why God wants you to be convinced beyond a

shadow of a doubt that He will faithfully keep you and

your children safe from all harm.

God has laid out in His Word all the provisions of His

covenant with us, including supernatural deliverance and

protection. Then He made an oath by the blood of Jesus,

giving us the mighty indwelling strength and strong

encouragement to firmly grasp hold of this hope that has

been set before us.

Verse 19 AMP says that this hope is a sure and steadfast

anchor of the soul. Your soul—which is made up of your

mind, your will and your emotions—is the part of you that

needs anchoring because it is the arena where the devil

most often attacks. If it weren't for the battle that goes on

with your thought life and your roller-coaster emotions, it

would be much easier for you to make your flesh fall in

line with your spirit man. Therefore, the soul is the part of

you that must be consciously and continually renewed

and submitted to God and His Word.

For instance, as you live your daily life, sometimes fear

or worry can attack your mind and cause you to waver

from the Word. That's when you have to anchor your

tumultuous emotions by telling your soul, "Be quiet! I'm

acting according to what the Word of God says, not

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according to circumstances."

Your hope lies in the oath God made by the blood of

His Son to perform every promise in His Word. You have

that hope as a steadfast anchor for your soul. That hope

cannot slip or break, no matter who tries to step on it. It's a

hope that reaches far into your heart, into the very

certainty of the presence of God within the veil. It is

something you can literally lay your hands on and put

into force, knowing with absolute certainty that God will

do exactly what He said He would do for you through the

power in the blood of Jesus.

Nothing Missing, Nothing Broken

I want to go further in the Word to "prove my case"

that God's promise to protect us from every calamity is

certain and sure. Let's start by looking at Romans 5:1 AMP:

Therefore, since we are justified (acquitted,

declared righteous, and given a right standing with

God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have

[the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace

with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah,

the Anointed One).

Paul uses a lot of legal words in this chapter. For

instance, in this verse he says that we have been justified

or acquitted before the Judge of all.

I want to say something about this concept of

justification. One of the biggest robbers of the Church

today is the making of excuses. When you make an excuse

for the shape your life is in, you are trying to justify

yourself. In doing so, you take your justification out of the

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hands of the only One Who can actually make you

righteous and blameless. You'll be excused all right—

excused from protection and blessings!

When people go through a tragedy and say "It must

have been God's will," I believe that qualifies as an excuse.

In saying the tragedy was God's will, they excuse

themselves from taking any responsibility and deny the

possibility that they may have failed to fulfill a divine

requirement. Instead, they put all the responsibility on

God.

People who live like that forfeit so much of God's

power operating in their lives because they won't allow

Him to justify them. Don't make that same mistake! Do

whatever you have to in order to grasp the fact that you

have peace with God to hold and enjoy.

(By the way, have you noticed that God often uses

words like "grasp" and "hold" in this type of context?

These truths are really something He wants us to get a

hold of!)

In revealing to us the root meaning of the Hebrew

word Shalom, Billye Brim has forever changed the way I

read God's Word! Shalom means nothing missing, nothing

broken. Those few words speak volumes. Peace is literally

living with nothing missing and nothing broken in your life.

That's God's way He has given you and your family

everything you could ever need or require to be

completely whole and successful in life.

Every need you might have to accomplish every single

thing God has ever asked you to do has been set aside in

abundance for your peace and your wholeness. There

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should never be a time when you or your family members

are not whole. But how do you reach that place of peace

and wholeness? Only by the blood of Jesus.

If you look throughout God's Word, you will see that

wherever things were missing, God replaced them with

better things. Wherever things were broken, He fixed

them or gave something brand new.

That's what God wants to do for you as well. By the

blood of Jesus, you have peace and total reconciliation

with Him. He will guard and guide you and your family

in every area of life so that nothing is ever left missing or

broken. Regardless of the calamities that may befall the

earth—the shootings, bombings, airplane wrecks,

earthquakes and tornadoes—God says, "Grasp firmly the

peace you have with Me through the blood of My Son.

Nothing need ever be broken or missing in the lives of

you or your family."

Divine Protection: More Certain Than Being

Born Again?

It's easy to say, "Oh, I do believe that God will protect

my family from all harm." But you need be so sure of that

fact that you immediately respond in faith when your

family is attacked by the enemy.

How can you be that certain of God's protection? Let's

read on in Romans 5:2 AMP:

Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance,

introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God's

favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let

us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and

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enjoying the glory of God.

Through Jesus we have access into the Holy of Holies.

We stand firmly and safely in this state of God's favor and

grace. It is a place where no matter what the devil tries to

do, God looks at us and says, "I judge you the way I would

judge Jesus. I see you as possessing all the good qualities

Jesus possesses. I am just as ready to move on your behalf

as I am ready to move on the behalf of My Son."

That's what happens when you stand in God's grace

and favor. As Isaiah 54:17 says, no weapon formed against

you will prosper in that place because you, by virtue of

His righteousness, stand firmly and safely in the sanctuary

of His presence.

But your access into God's presence is by faith. That

means you have to exercise your faith. You have to

aggressively lay hold of your right to enjoy continual

access to God's throne just because the Word says it is

true.

Now let's look at what verse 9 AMP says:

Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted,

made righteous, and brought into right relationship

with God) by Christ's blood, how much more [certain is

it that] we shall be saved by Him from the indignation

and wrath of God.

First of all, let's see what Paul is referring to in this

verse when he says, "the indignation and wrath of God."

Paul is talking about the judgments that come as a

result of sin on this earth. God is 100 percent against sin.

He is as far from sin as He can get. But although His wrath

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against sin will one day be poured out, that isn't

happening now. When it does, people will definitely

know it. However, we as believers won't be here to see it.

So what is Paul talking about when he says we will be

saved from the indignation and the wrath of God? He is

saying that God will deliver us from paying the price for

sin—death. That would include all that the devil could

bring against you.

Now let's look at the profound statement this verse

makes about how certain of God's covenant promise of

protection is for you and your family Paul says here you

should be more certain that God would deliver you from a

dangerous situation, from tragedy and loss, from sickness

and disease or from anything else the enemy might throw

at you than you were certain He would save you from sin

in the first place!

Let's see what else the Word says about this.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled

to God through the death of His Son, it is much more

[certain], now that we are reconciled, that we shall be

saved (daily delivered from sin's dominion) through

His [resurrection] life.

Romans 5:10 AMP

He said it! If God would deliver you while you were

still His enemy, wouldn't He do even more for you now

that you're His child?

Suppose I asked you, "Are you certain you're saved?"

You would probably say, "Well, of course, I'm saved!"

"Well, I don't know. I don't really think you're saved."

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"Yes, I am!" you'd say indignantly. "I'm going to

heaven. Jesus is my Lord."

More than likely, you are this certain that you are a

child of God. But according this Scripture, you should be

even more certain that God will daily deliver you and your

children from sin's dominion than you are that you are

saved.

But what is "sin's dominion"? It is the judgment or the

price that is attached to sin. That includes all the tragedies,

killings and natural disasters that take place on this earth.

It includes poverty, train wrecks, car accidents, and every

sickness and disease.

All these things fall under the category of sin's

dominion because the wages of sin is death. And God says

that He will daily deliver you and your children from

them all. Because of the blood of Jesus and His

righteousness, you don't deserve the dominion or the

recompense of sin.

God has provided a way to deliver you from judgment

through the blood and the resurrection life of His Son.

That should be an absolute certainty in your heart. There

should be no question about it. The devil should never be

able to come in and convince you that God is not going to

protect your family. You have God's Word on it, and it is

impossible for Him to lie.

A Way of Escape

We have established as an absolute certainty that God

will protect and deliver us from sin's dominion. It just

thrills me every time I think about that. So many of us

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have thought we were still subject to unexpected tragedies

and calamities. We hoped God would protect us, but it

wasn't all that certain to us.

But now we're beginning to see how the grace of God

works to bring us divine protection. Grace is able to work

for us because we're in the footsteps of Jesus. We stand in

His righteousness. It has nothing to do with our own

goodness or righteousness. (If you didn't lead a very

righteous life in the past, that is probably very good news

to you!)

Verse 12 AMP goes on to describe where we all were

before God made a way of escape for us through Jesus:

Therefore, as sin came into the world through one

man, and death as the result of sin, so death spread to

all men, [no one being able to stop it or to escape its

power] because all men sinned.

Before Jesus, sinful people didn't have a way to escape

the power of death except for the temporary fix God put

into place through animal sacrifice. But now there is a way

of escape. We can escape every form of sin and death at

work in the earth today through the blood of Jesus.

Death Will No Longer 'Hold Sway'

One day I was studying the Word on the blood of

Jesus, and the Lord caught me on the first part of Romans

5:14 AMP. It says, Yet death held sway from Adam to Moses. .

Death held sway from Adam to Moses. That phrase caught

my attention. I didn't know what it meant, so I thought, I

know! I’ll call my dad.

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My dad, Kenneth Copeland, is my ever-ready "Bible

encyclopedia." But when I called him, I found out he had

gone fishing!

Since I couldn't ask Dad, I thought, I guess I'll just have

to ask the Lord. (The Lord is the One I should have asked in

the first place!)

I said, "All right, Lord, what does this mean? You

obviously want to tell me something."

To my surprise, the Holy Spirit answered me

immediately with one simple word: "Passover."

Death held sway from Adam to Moses. But on the

night of that first Passover, death lost its control.

Before the first Passover, death held the cards, so to

speak. No one could escape its power. Everything on this

earth was going death's way. Death held sway until that

night when God's people applied the blood of the

Passover lamb to their doorposts. Death could no longer

push its way in where it didn't belong; it had to pass over

the Israelites' homes that were protected by the blood.

The same thing is true today. In the lives of people

who don't know the Lord, death still holds sway. That is

the way the wind of judgment is blowing.

But the Lamb of God shed His blood for you and your

family And if you will just apply it to the doorposts of

your life, death has to pass over.

On the other hand, if you don't take part in that

Passover spiritually by receiving the protection that Jesus'

blood bought for us, death will still hold sway in your life.

Death is still the direction your natural life is headed

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toward unless you get off that path by the delivering

power of the blood.

Imagine What It Was Like

Now I want you to take a moment to imagine yourself

back in the days when the children of Israel were in

slavery. I want you to see yourself and your family there

on the night Moses said the Lord would lead His people

out of bondage.

You pick up the hyssop branch and apply the blood of

the Passover lamb to your door and side posts, just as God

commanded Moses. The blood is on your doorposts, and

you, your spouse and your children are gathered together

behind that door. You hold your youngest child in your

arms.

You know that your sister is in her home down the

street. Her family has also applied the blood of their

Passover lamb to their door.

You and your family are sitting together at the table,

recounting what God has done for your people in the past,

enjoying your time together behind the door of your

home. All of a sudden, you begin to hear weeping and

crying. Children are dying in their mothers' arms. The

mothers wail, "Oh, my baby, my baby!" but there is

nothing they can do except cry in agony.

The screams are horrendous. All that horror and grief

is right on the other side of that door. Every member of

your family can hear the effects of death outside.

Then you look around the room at your own family,

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and you know with unshakable certainty that they will

come through this night unscathed, unharmed and secure.

There is no question or doubt in your mind about it. You

don't have one moment of fear or anxiety, wondering

what might happen to your children.

You realize that because of the promise God gave you

—because you obeyed His instructions to put that blood

on your doorposts—death is not coming into your home.

It is going to pass by because it can't come in.

You look at your little baby snuggled contentedly in

your arms, and you know this little one is protected. You

look at your children and your spouse sitting around the

table, and you know they're safe from all harm. Death

may surround you, but it can't touch you or your family

because of the blood of the Passover lamb.

What security, what peace—that is real "blessed

assurance." But think about it—that is just a fraction of

what we have in Jesus today. The children of Israel were

delivered from death by the blood of an animal. But as the

Word says, how much more does the blood of Jesus deliver

us from every form of sin's dominion?

We see mothers crying on television newscasts

because their children have died. We see people wailing

in grief over the loss of their loved ones during an

earthquake or a hurricane. None of these tragedies make

any sense. To the world, they seem inescapable.

But thank God, we don't live in "the land of Egypt"!

There is "light in the land of Goshen." We live behind the

blood of Jesus in the Holy of Holies! That precious blood

protects us and delivers us from all evil. All we have to do

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is apply the blood of Jesus to the doorposts of our lives on

a daily basis.

As we learn to appropriate and honor the blood of

Jesus, we and our families will be able to walk through life

just as certain of our protection as the Israelites were when

they sat behind their blood-stained doors and death

passed them by.

The Blood of Jesus Seals Us in God's Grace

The Israelites could have chosen to open their doors

and go outside on that Passover night. If they had, they

would have still been God's people. But remember, the

blood of the Passover lamb represented the propitiation,

or the atonement, for their sin. If they had left their homes,

they would have put themselves outside the protection of

that blood where death could go after them.

The Hebrew word meaning propitiation or atonement

doesn't just mean to cover sin. The root word actually

refers to bitumen or pitch, a substance akin to tar that Noah

used to seal and waterproof the ark. 1

The pitch covering Noah's ark sealed out the rain and

sealed the occupants of the ark inside God's protection. In

the same way the blood of Jesus doesn't just cover sin; it

actually acts as a seal between us and sin. It seals sin out

and seals us in the grace of God.

The blood of Jesus seals you and your family in the

Holy of Holies with all the good things of God. At the

1 James Strong, "Hebrew Dictionary of the Old Testament," The New Strong's

Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers,

1985), #3722

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same time, it seals out all the bad things the devil wants to

throw at you.

I want to take you back to an earlier passage in

Romans for a moment. I want to show you a picture of the

world as we know it today. It is a very fitting description

of that which the blood of Jesus has sealed us from.

It is so funny to me when people talk about the Bible

being irrelevant. They must not know what it says. The

truth is, the Word continually updates itself and is always

current. Just look at what Romans 3:10-18 AMP says:

As it is written, None is righteous, just and

truthful and conscientious, no, not one. No one

understands [no one intelligently discerns or

comprehends]; no one seeks out God. All have turned

aside; together they have gone wrong and have become

unprofitable and worthless; no one does right, not

even one!

Their throat is a yawning grave; they use their

tongues to deceive (to mislead and to deal

treacherously). The venom of asps is beneath their

lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood.

Destruction [as it dashes them to pieces] and

misery mark their ways. And they have no experience

of the way of peace [they know nothing about peace,

for a peaceful way they do not even recognize]. There

is no [reverential] fear of God before their eyes.

That is such a good description of the world today!

People in the world think they have the answers and that

Christians are foolish. But the truth is, the worldly people

are the ones who are foolish—so foolish, in fact, that they

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don't even recognize the truth when they see it!

This passage describes the perilous road to judgment.

But, praise God, we can get off that road! We don't have to

be there when judgment is taking place. And if we are in a

place where it is happening, we don't have to be part of it.

We are not citizens of the world as this passage describes.

We are citizens of heaven, sealed in the grace of God

through the blood of Jesus!

Now let's read verses 21-26 in the King James Version:

But now the righteousness of God (or the ability to

stand in God's presence in the Holy of Holies) without

the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and

the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is

by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that

believe: for there is no difference:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of

God; Being justified freely by his grace through the

redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set

forth to be a propitiation [a cover or a seal] through

faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the

remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance

of God; To declare, I say, at this time his

righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier

of him which believeth in Jesus.

If you want Jesus to be your Justifier, you must declare

with the words of your mouth that He is your Justifier by

virtue of His blood. Then He will be your Justifier. He will

be the One Who declares you are innocent by His blood.

The righteousness of God is what the blood of Jesus

paid for. Therefore, your justification—the right to live in

the Holy of Holies, safe from the effects of judgment on

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this earth—is accomplished only through faith in His

blood.

Stay in Your Sanctuary

We have a sanctuary that is far more powerful than

the blood of the Passover lamb that was put on the

Israelites' doors. We have a sure and certain sanctuary in

the powerful blood of Jesus.

Doesn't it just thrill you to know that in this age of

uncertainty? I mean, you may be sure of what you're going

to do each day, but who knows what the person driving in

the car next to you or the person walking into the post

office behind you is going to do?

Praise the Lord, it doesn't matter what anyone else

does—you can live in your sanctuary. No matter what

kind of situation you find yourself in, just stay in that

sanctuary. Wherever your children go, keep them safe

within that sanctuary. Teach them to stay in the Holy of

Holies. God will even help them pick their friends. He will

see to it that they are protected and where they need to be.

Come boldly before God's throne by virtue of the

blood. Walk in the footsteps of Jesus into the Holy of

Holies, and ask for righteous judgment. No matter what is

going on all around you, fix your heart on the certainty of

God's protection as you plead the blood of Jesus over your

family every day. Chaos and judgment may swirl just

outside your door, but you and your children will stay

safe in your sanctuary, protected by the blood of the

Lamb!

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Keep Your Heart Fixed

Psalm 112:7-8 AMP describes someone whose heart is

fixed on God and His Word, a person who is absolutely

certain of his protection within the sanctuary of God:

He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is

firmly fixed, trusting (leaning on and being confident)

in the Lord. His heart is established and steady, he will

not be afraid while he waits to see his desire

established upon his adversaries.

This really describes my family during those times the

enemy has tried to come against us. We truly are not

afraid of evil tidings.

I don't say that in a prideful way at all; it's just the

truth. For instance, my daughter Jenny was in a car

accident when she was 18 months old. Paramedics said

she was unresponsive at the scene and they didn't expect

her to make it. But the Lord supernaturally delivered

Jenny. In just a few days, she was out of the hospital!

How did that happen? While we were in the hospital

with Jenny, we kept our hearts fixed on God's covenant

promises and the power of the blood. Rather than yielding

to fear, we waited to see our desire established on our

enemy, the devil. We knew what the outcome would be,

but it was the blood covenant we had with God that made

us secure.

The blood of Jesus was shed for your salvation and

deliverance from sin's dominion. It is your faith in the

Word of God and the blood of Jesus that makes you

unafraid when challenges arise. You can do anything God

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asks you to do. You can go anywhere God asks you to go

—as long as you are certain of your covenant with Him.

Since Jenny's accident, my family has learned so much

more about applying the blood of Jesus to our lives. Today

we are far ahead of where we were spiritually when that

happened.

However, too many Christians are not covenant-

minded; instead, they react in fear to any type of evil

tidings. When bad things happen, they become fearful

that something similar will happen to them.

For instance, when a shooting occurred at a Fort

Worth church, it scared a lot of Christians. They started

asking, "If I can't send my kids to church and know that

they are protected, where can I send them?"

The truth is, you can't send your children anywhere

and know for certain that they are protected unless you

walk by faith in your covenant and in the blood of Jesus.

On the other hand, if you live this way—if you become

covenant-minded and learn to stay in your sanctuary by

the blood of Jesus—your heart will become fixed. You will

know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God's promise of

protection is not a vague hope, but an established fact.

In contrast, Psalm 112:10 AMP describes the way a

person who doesn't know the Lord responds to adversity:

The wicked men will see it and be grieved and

angered, he will gnash his teeth and disappear [in

despair]; the desire of the wicked shall perish and

come to nothing.

Have you ever seen unsaved people deal with a

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difficult situation the way this verse describes? I have. For

instance, I have watched the different reactions of

unsaved parents whose children were ill with a terminal

disease. Some of them were very angry; some of them

were upset; and some of them just sat in despair with no

clue about what to do. They just waited for the doctor to

tell them what was going to happen to their child.

Lacking a Savior, these parents had no recourse but to

accept whatever the enemy would throw at them. Put this

Scripture together with Proverbs 12:13 which says that the

wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips. He has

an evil heart of unbelief. When something tragic occurs,

what can he do? He will see it (the evil tidings) and be

grieved and mad, but his desire for deliverance will come

to nothing. He is without hope and without God in the

world as in Ephesians 2:12.

On the other hand, the desire of the covenant man is to

see his adversary, the devil, defeated. The covenant man

just waits expecting to see his desired outcome. He knows

it is coming; he is confident that he stands in a place of

favor and grace before the throne of God. His heart is

fixed.

Does that describe you? If you can't answer with a

confident yes, it's time to work on becoming a covenant-

minded believer! Fix your heart on the Word and on the

power in the blood of Jesus until all doubts in your mind

are erased forever. No matter what is going on around

you, keep your family in the sanctuary of God's presence

by pleading the blood of Jesus every day.

Remember, there is no more certain place to be than in

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the presence of God—secure in your covenant with Him.

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C H A P T E R 6

It's Your Choice!

6

ow that you know about the certainty of God's

Npromise of protection, you can probably understand

better what I'm about to tell you: It's entirely your choice

whether or not your family is protected.

The world may tell you otherwise. Even certain

religious people will tell you it is God’s choice and not

yours whether or not your family is protected from harm.

But that just isn't what the Word says. You have a big part

to play in ensuring that you and your children dwell

safely in God's sanctuary.

Do Martyrs Have a Choice?

As I have gone from place to place teaching on this

subject of protecting your family by the blood of Jesus, one

question people have asked me is this: "If those who were

martyred through the years couldn't choose to be

protected from physical harm and death, why can we

choose?"

I thought that was a good question, so I began praying

about it. "What about that, Lord?" I asked. "Why can we

choose to be protected, yet the martyrs couldn't choose the

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same thing?"

The Lord led me to Hebrews 11 for my answer. Now, I

had read this chapter many, many times before. I knew it

was the "hall of faith," the chapter where God talks about

the faith exploits of the mighty men and women of the

Bible. But this time I saw something I had never seen

before. Let me show you what I mean.

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail

me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and

of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the

prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms,

wrought 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, waxed

valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the

aliens.

Hebrews 11:32, 33

This sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? It sounds like

some of the violence going on in the world today! Back

then, people faced swords and wild lions. Today, people

face other dangers.

If the writer of Hebrews lived in these modern days,

he might write, "They quenched the violence of gunfire

and escaped the threat of bombings and terrorists." These

are the types of modern perils we want our children to be

delivered from. We want to know that they're continually

protected from calamity and evil, no matter what may be

happening around them.

Then verse 35 talks about those who were martyrs:

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It's Your Choice!

Women received their dead raised to life again:

and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance;

that they might obtain a better resurrection.

Notice that it says these people were tortured because

they didn't accept deliverance.

In other words, if martyrdom is what a believer wants,

he can have that. The Bible says that martyrs will have a

better resurrection. But there is a lot to be said for walking

in faith and accepting deliverance too!

Now, I want to make sure you understand this:

Anyone who would willingly give up his life for the

gospel should be highly esteemed. I would never do or

say anything to belittle a martyr's ultimate sacrifice for

love of the Father.

Make no mistake, I don't love my life more than I love

God. I'm not afraid to die if given the choice to renounce

Him or be killed. If someone asked me if I loved Jesus

while pointing a loaded gun in my face, I would say

without hesitation, "Yes, I love Jesus." But according to

this verse, it is my choice whether or not I am delivered

from the death that could follow after taking that stand for

the Lord—and I choose not to let someone take my life

away from me!

We know from the writings of the early church fathers

that many of the saints of the early church lived long,

fruitful lives and then chose to be martyred. The Apostle

Paul is one of those who did that. His enemies couldn't kill

him when they wanted to. He lived until he had finished

his course.

Paul even argued with himself about whether or not

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he wanted to go home to be with the Lord. He told the

Philippian church, "I don't know if it's better to stay here

or better to go. I know it's better for you if I stay, but it is

far better for me if I go." (Philippians 1:23, 24.)

Paul was actually debating with himself about

whether or not he should lay down his life in martyrdom:

Do I let them do this to me? Or do I stay here and keep working

for the kingdom of God? Apparently, he had a choice, and he

knew it!

Why do you think Paul just slung off that poisonous

viper that had attached itself to his hand? (Acts 28:3-5.)

Because he had a choice. Paul wasn't ready to go, and he

knew that his flesh wasn't under subjection to the dangers

of the world. He knew he had a choice. So he just flung off

the viper and kept going about his business. It was no big

deal because he knew that it was his choice whether or not

he died and went to heaven at that time in his life.

Finally, Paul decided, Okay, I've finished my course now.

It's time to go home. Only then was he martyred. Paul

earned a martyr's crown, but he also lived out his life until

he was finished with his divine assignment. Martyrdom

was just the way he chose to go.

Just think what would have happened if Paul had

chosen martyrdom early in his life. We wouldn't have half

the New Testament!

Remember, I John 4:17 says “herein is our love made

perfect that we may have boldness in the day of

judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world.” He

said in John 10:17-18 that it was His choice whether or not

He gave His life for mankind:

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It's Your Choice!

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay

down my life, that I might take it again. No man

taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have

power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.

This commandment have I received of my Father.

Jesus could have called 10,000 angels to deliver Him

(and if He could have done that, so can we!). He had a

choice whether to pick up His life or lay it down.

So please understand, I'm not demeaning the martyrs.

Throughout the centuries and still today, Christians all

over the world have continued to give their lives for the

furtherance of the gospel. When faced with denying Jesus

or losing their lives, they choose the higher life. You

would make the same choice if necessary. God's strength

would rise in you to do so and without fear. I honor and

esteem those believers. They were willing to lay down

their lives in order to stay true to Jesus. God doesn't take

the spilling of His people's blood lightly, and neither do I.

But even so, I want to tell you that you can choose

whether or not you are supernaturally protected. For

instance, suppose God asked you to go to China. If your

uncle was martyred for the gospel in that country years

ago, it might be a little difficult for you to say, "Yes, Lord,

I'll take my family to China." If you are not absolutely

assured that God is going to take care of you and your

loved ones, you can't confidently go forth to fulfill His call.

But once you understand that you have a choice, you

can boldly obey the Lord. You can go wherever God

wants you to go and do whatever He wants you to do.

Yes, you can choose to be martyred. But you don't

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have to! In the face of death, you can keep your family

safe. You can know that you and your children are

protected because you have chosen to act on your faith in

the blood of Jesus.

Now, some people may point out that God has often

used the testimony of a believer who is martyred to bring

others into His kingdom. That certainly is true. But,

personally, I don't feel called to be a martyr. I'm receiving

deliverance! My desire is to finish what God has called me

to do. I can affect the kingdom of God while I'm still here

on this earth!

Why Do Christians Get Caught in Bad

Situations?

Knowing that you have a choice in this matter of

divine protection may help you understand why

Christians sometimes get caught in bad situations. This

one question has gotten a lot of Christians confused about

whether or not they can trust God to protect them.

So let's talk about that. Why do Christians get caught in

bad situations? Well, first of all, let me say this one more

time: Protection is not automatic.

Now, protection would be automatic if there wasn't an

enemy trying to take it away from us every day God

doesn't want us to have to struggle or work for the

benefits He has provided for us.

If the devil wasn't out there, there wouldn't be any

earthquakes, train accidents, shootings or disease.

Protection would be ours whether we exercised our faith

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It's Your Choice!

in the blood of Jesus or not.

But the devil is out there, and he never stops trying to

take away our covenant blessings. That means we have to

lay hold of our right to divine protection by standing in

faith on God's Word and by pleading the blood of Jesus

over our families every day.

Just consider this: Suppose you have hundreds of

dollars in cash, and you decide to go walking through the

worst part of town with some of that money hanging out

in plain sight.

Well, it is very likely that you won't make it home with

your money. Why is that? Because you didn't do anything

to put yourself in a position of safety. You didn't properly

secure your cash in a way that would protect it. Anyone

who wants it can come along, rip it out of your pocket and

run off with it. The money would still be yours, but

because you didn't protect it, you would lose out on its

benefits.

That's a good picture of what you are not supposed to

do with God's promise of protection. You have to choose

to secure it by acting in faith on the power of the blood.

Otherwise, the devil may come along and steal it from

you.

Second, I will say it again, we need to understand that

just because something happened doesn't mean it was God's

will. God gave us His will. It is found in the pages of the

Bible. But that divine will isn't going to be fulfilled in our

lives automatically.

Requirements for Protection

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So what are those things God requires that we do in

order to escape the judgment that is present in this world?

We must choose to follow God's will; do the things He

says we must do to be protected; and be obedient to His

Word.

And as I said before, we must also listen to our spirits.

For instance, we must refuse to go where we're not

supposed to be. If God tweaks our spirits and says in that

small, quiet voice, "Don't do that," we're supposed to listen

and obey. That is so important to our own safety and to

the safety of our children. We make things so much easier

in our lives when we listen! As a mother, I'm always on

the lookout for situations in which to teach this to my

children.

Above all, we must take advantage of the power in the

blood of Jesus, pleading His blood over our children every

day. When we do that, we are building a hedge around

our families through which judgment, death and tragedy

cannot come.

First Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because

your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh

about, seeking whom he may devour. ” If you will live

according to these principles I've been sharing with you,

you won't be one of those whom the devil can devour.

Satan is looking for people who aren't living according

to their blood covenant with God, people whose ears are

not open to His voice. Those are the devil's favorite kind

of people! I think he likes passive Christians more than he

does his own sinners. He knows he can blast those

Christians' lives, steal their children, kill half of them and

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It's Your Choice!

then convince them that it was all God's doing. The devil

gets a perverse pleasure out of that strategy! He hates God

and he hates you.

But Satan isn't going to get any pleasure out of my

family! We are off limits to him. I have already

determined that no calamity will befall our home. I have

laid hold of the power in the blood, and you can do the

same for your family!

Build Up the Covenant Inside of You

Many times as you plead the blood of Jesus on a daily

basis, the circumstances surrounding you will change. But

more than anything else, the practice of pleading the

blood changes you.

Pleading the blood isn't some magical incantation that

you do to keep the devil from hurting your family. It is the

way you lay hold of God's promise of protection. As you

plead the blood of Jesus, you are fortifying your spirit

with words of faith. You are making your stand against

the devil. You are changing your thought processes. You

are solidifying and building up your covenant with God

on the inside. That firm foundation in His love drives out

fear.

Then even when the devil tries to strike with one of his

strategies against you or your family, you react the way

the Word tells you to. You immediately speak deliverance

according to the blood covenant you have with God.

Make it your goal to become covenant-minded in

every area of life. Begin to see every obstacle you face

through the eyes of your blood covenant.

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For instance, if your child becomes sick, don't just see

him through the eyes of your mind, will or emotions. If

you do, your child will stay sick. Instead, respond

according to the covenant you have with God. That

covenant will reflect light on the situation, and you'll

suddenly say, "Hey, this is not in my covenant with God!

Jesus purchased my child's healing with the stripes on His

back and with His blood! I claim total healing for my

child's body in the Name of Jesus!"

That's why the heart of a covenant-minded believer is

fixed as in Psalm 112, no matter what challenges may arise

in life. He has his eyes on the covenant and not on the

situation. He knows that his covenant says God will

deliver him, so he just stays in faith, pleads the blood of

Jesus and waits to see the outcome of his desire on the

enemy.

When you plead the blood of Jesus every day, you are

building the covenant strong and solid on the inside of

you. Then when the pressure is on and you find you or

your loved ones in a difficult situation, God's Word, our

blood covenant, is what comes out of your mouth to

deliver you.

For instance, I know of a covenant-minded woman

who was in a bank when it was held up by thieves. The

bank robbers made the people lay on the floor. Then they

put guns to their heads and methodically began to shoot

them one by one.

But when one of the robbers came to this one woman,

she said boldly, "The blood of Jesus is against you!"

The man snarled, "I don't know what's going on, but I

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It's Your Choice!

can't shoot you!" Then he moved on to the next victim and

continued his horrible task.

Long before this tragedy occurred, that woman had

been building the covenant on the inside by making a

practice of pleading the blood of Jesus. And when death

stared her in the face, it was her choice to be delivered.

It's your choice as well. It's also your children's choice.

For instance, if your teenager ever found himself in a

situation where someone at school stuck a gun in his face

and asked him if he loved Jesus, he could say, "I plead the

blood of Jesus!" He could choose to be delivered.

But that kind of faith-filled response doesn't come just

because your child has heard about the blood of Jesus

once in a while in a Sunday school teaching. It comes after

you have helped him build a solid foundation of the blood

covenant in his heart and have pled the blood of Jesus

over him day after day after day.

Every night in our home, we plead the blood over our

children as we tuck them in. Then they pray as well, and

their prayers are every bit as powerful as mine are. They

say, "I plead the blood of Jesus. No weapon formed

against me shall prosper!"

My children know how to plead the blood. They may

not yet fully understand everything I'm sharing with you

in this book, but it's very real to them that they are

protected. They are learning, they are building the blood

covenant strong on the inside, even while they're young.

And should they ever be alone when faced with an attack

of the enemy, that covenant will come out of their mouths

to deliver them and keep them safe!

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A Testimony of Deliverance by the Blood

I can speak from personal experience about the value

of building the blood covenant on the inside of you before

a demonic attack hits your family. On Christmas Day in

1995, my 11-year-old daughter Lyndsey was struck with

an aggressive case of meningitis. It just came clear out of

the blue. One day she was fine, and then suddenly she

was very, very sick.

Meningitis is a very fast-acting disease. Many times a

child can be happy and playing in the morning; yet before

24 hours have passed, he is dead. The antibiotics don't

have a chance to work because the parents are unaware

that the child is seriously sick until he is within minutes of

dying.

Lyndsey started feeling sick with flu-like symptoms on

Christmas Eve. By Christmas morning, she was feeling so

bad that she didn't want to come downstairs and open

presents. My husband and I prayed over her and then

went downstairs to share Christmas with the rest of the

family. We didn't know Lyndsey was dangerously ill.

Then about 12:30 in the afternoon, we heard a

screeching cry coming from Lyndsey's bedroom. We ran

upstairs and found her screaming and thrashing on her

bed, delirious. She didn't recognize anyone. Mystified, I

thought, Well, she was vomiting last night. Maybe her

electrolytes are off.

We called the doctor, and he said, "Take her to the

hospital right away." By the time we arrived there,

Lyndsey was totally unconscious. Her pupils were fixed

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It's Your Choice!

and dilated, and she was as white as a sheet.

The medical staff took one look at her and rushed her

past all the waiting patients into the emergency treatment

area. Then they conducted a spinal tap, a procedure that

entails taking fluid out of the patient's spinal column. If

the fluid is clear, that is good news for the patient. If it is

cloudy, that means the antibodies to fight meningitis are

present. This is the way doctors determine whether or not

a person has the disease.

I was standing near the doctor when he showed

Lyndsey's spinal fluid to a nurse. The nurse remarked,

"That's the cloudiest fluid I've ever seen!" That was a

frightening thing for a mother to hear about her little girl!

The doctor then turned to me and said solemnly,

"Your daughter has meningitis."

As soon as the doctor spoke those words, I felt as if

someone had thrown a blanket of fear over me. That is the

only way I know how to describe it. As that spirit of fear

came on me, I could literally feel it trying to paralyze my

own spirit.

Instead of responding to the doctor's words, I just

turned around and left the room. He may have thought I

was nuts, but right then I didn't know or care what

anyone thought.

At that time, I didn't really know what meningitis was.

I had read in the newspaper that several instances of

children contracting meningitis had occurred in the

community over the past couple of months, and I knew

those children had died. And although I didn't know how

far the disease had run its course in Lyndsey, I could see

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that the doctors were treating her with a very intense air

of urgency.

When I walked out into the hall, my sister came over

to me and asked, "What is it? "

But before I could answer her, there was something I

had to do. Let me point out here that I was not thinking.

Because I was living in the Holy of Holies I was

responding in wisdom. I said, with a determined force

that came from within, "I refuse fear!" Immediately, that

blanket of fear lifted and left as if it were a whipped

puppy. From that point on, I was able to operate on God's

terms, not on fear's terms. Thank God for my parents who

taught me to never let fear have its way.

Then I said, "Jesus, there is blood between me and You

over Lyndsey. I have a covenant!"

For the rest of the ordeal with Lyndsey, I never had to

deal with that kind of fear again. If a fearful thought tried

to enter my mind, I was able to easily brush it away.

Later everyone said, "Oh, you must have been

terrified." But I wasn't. I had total confidence that the Lord

would deliver my daughter.

Why was it that easy for us to deal with fear in such a

life-and-death situation? Well, Lyndsey got sick about two

and a half years after my cousin Nikki died. For those two

and a half years, my husband Win and I had been daily

pleading the blood of Jesus over our family, building the

covenant strong in our spirits.

I truly believe it was this two years of pleading the

blood of Jesus that prepared us for this crisis. Because our

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covenant was so established in our hearts, the enemy was

defeated. I am so thankful that God lets us know what we

need before we need it!

If Win and I had responded as people of the world,

our daughter would have gone the way of that disease

and died. But because we knew we are not of this world—

because we had built a hedge around our children by the

blood—God was able to heal and deliver Lyndsey

completely.

Declaring my covenant in that time of trouble was not

something I had thought up beforehand. There wasn't

time to run grab some tapes and read the Word to get

strong in the Spirit. What is inside you will come out in an

emergency—good or bad. The reality of my covenant with

God rose up on the inside of me and armed me for the

battle.

I didn't know all I know now about the blood, but

what I did know had changed me. Every day for more

than two years, I had reaffirmed my faith in the covenant,

pleading the blood of Jesus and speaking God's promises

for my family. That daily exercise of reminding myself

and the enemy that my family was covered by the blood

had built the covenant strong inside my spirit. And when I

needed that covenant to take effect, it rose up and

determined the words of my mouth, causing me to do and

say the right things when it mattered the most.

I didn't have to stand there and think, Okay, now, what

am I supposed to say and do in a situation like this? In fact,

because your mind shuts down (Praise God!) you can't do

that. This is a perfect example of Matthew 12:34-35.

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Oh generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil,

speak good things? For out of the abundance of the

heart the mouth speaketh. As good man out of the

good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things:

and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth

evil things.

When you get under pressure what is inside you will

come out—good or bad. And if the Word is not in you

when trouble comes, it won't come out.

The blood covenant within me literally propelled those

words of faith out of my mouth without my having to

think about it at all. I love the Amplified version of verse

35. It says, “The good man from his inner good treasure

flings forth good things.” Well, my spirit started flinging!

This disease had no right to my daughter's body!

At about 3:30 in the afternoon, the doctor started

Lyndsey on strong antibiotics. However, he warned us not

to get our hopes up. "Meningitis is very deadly," he told

us. "We have antibiotics to fight the disease, but these

antibiotics take at least 24 to 48 hours to have any kind of

effect, and children who have contracted meningitis

usually die before 24 hours have passed."

Remember, Lyndsey started feeling sick on Christmas

Eve, so she had already been sick with this disease for 24

hours. That meant by the time we reached the hospital, the

disease had almost reached the final stages of progression

—a process that normally ended in death.

I was quickly learning what a fast-acting, evil disease

meningitis is. All sickness and disease is evil, but this one

has the devil's signature handwritten all over it. People

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who contract the disease and survive can lose their

hearing, limbs—even their mental ability.

According to the doctor, something had to change

quickly in Lyndsey's condition or she would die. When

Win and I calmly told him that Jesus died on the cross so

that she didn't have to die from this, he looked at us and

said, "I can agree with that." You know he didn't know

what he was saying, but God caused him to be in

agreement.

This brings up another important point. When people

are not established in their covenant, they are afraid of the

doctor's report. Remember Psalm 112? Even Christians

can fall into that category of the wicked if they have an

evil heart of unbelief. I've seen people yell at the doctor,

telling him they won't receive that report—then they

launch into their confessions and hurl them in his face.

What's the problem here? The problem (and the killer)

is they are not doing these actions out of faith in their

covenant with God, but out of fear that it won't work this

time. All they get from it is an angry doctor and a firm

foundation of fear. You cannot wage spiritual warfare out

of fear. And you cannot operate in fear and faith

simultaneously because fear and faith take up the same

spiritual space.

Well, about 8:00 that evening, Jerry and Carolyn

Savelle came to the hospital to be with us (my parents

were out of town at the time). While my husband stayed

with Lyndsey, I went with the Savelles, my sister and my

brother-in-law (who are our pastors) to the hospital chapel

to take Communion and just settle the matter in my heart.

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I didn't know it at the time, but my parents were doing the

very same thing at the very same minute. They were over

800 miles away!

Now, we weren't just trying to be religious or to

impress God by taking Communion. We were

remembering that Jesus shed His blood to bring our blood

covenant with God to pass. So we set before us the

Scriptures that promised us Lyndsey's healing. Then we

partook of the Communion elements, knowing in our

hearts that she was well and whole because the Bible said

it was so.

There is so much power in taking Communion. It seals

your faith in the covenant you have already built up

inside yourself by pleading the blood of Jesus each day.

As we sat there taking Communion, Brother Savelle

received a word from the Lord: "As suddenly as this has

come on her, it is going to go. " So when I left that chapel,

there was no doubt in my mind that we had won. No

weapon formed against my daughter could prosper.

I have to share with Win what just happened, I thought.

But before I could reenter Lyndsey's room, I had to go

through a complicated sterilization procedure, necessary

because of the highly contagious nature of the disease. By

the time I had put on all the hospital garb and carefully

washed, about 15 minutes had passed.

When I was ready, I walked into Lyndsey's hospital

room—only to find her talking to Win. When I had left to

go to the chapel a short time before, she had been both

unconscious and delirious. To keep her from harming

herself as she thrashed about, the medical staff had tied

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It's Your Choice!

her to her bed.

Lyndsey hadn't been able to say a word that made

sense since we had gotten to the hospital. It had been less

than five hours since she started taking antibiotics. Yet

here she was, talking to her dad.

Overcome with joy, I asked, "What happened?"

Win explained: "Lyndsey was just lying there

unconscious, but about 15 minutes ago she turned her

head to look at me and said, 'Merry Christmas, Daddy.'

Then she asked me, 'What are all these machines?' So I've

been explaining to her what has been going on!"

Just like that, Lyndsey was in her right mind again.

From that moment on, her recovery was miraculously

rapid. It wasn't the antibiotics the doctor gave her; there

hadn't been enough time for the medicine to take effect. It

was the healing power of God at work in my daughter's

body that had turned the situation around.

By the time my parents had flown back home, arriving

at the hospital about midnight that night, Lyndsey was

talking to all of us. She was having to use her faith for her

head to stop hurting and for every symptom to go, but she

was well on her way back to complete wholeness.

The next morning, one of the doctors came in to check

on Lyndsey and was shocked to see that she was still

alive, much less on her way to total recovery. The doctor

had just seen the test results, which indicated that

Lyndsey had contracted the deadliest form of meningitis.

Children just didn't live long after contracting this

particular virus.

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It still had not been 24 hours since Lyndsey had been

put on antibiotics. But at 8:00 that morning, she was

ordered out of intensive care into a private room. I

guarantee you, only the blood of Jesus and the Word of

God can do that.

Lessons Learned

I want to give you a few thoughts about what I learned

through this situation with my daughter. First, one of the

main passages of Scripture we stood on during the entire

experience was Isaiah 54. As I mentioned before, there are

some powerful covenant promises in that chapter. Let me

show you just a few of them:

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord;

and great shall be the peace of thy children. In

righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be

far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from

terror; for it shall not come near thee.

Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not

by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee

shall fall for thy sake.

Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the

coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument

for his work; and I have created the waster that

destroys.

No weapon that is formed against thee shall

prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee

in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage

of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is

of me, saith the Lord.

Isaiah 54:13-17

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Verse 15 says, “I have created the waster to destroy.”

That doesn't mean God created the devil to destroy. We

know from the Word that when God created Lucifer, he

was perfect. (Ezekiel 28:12.) The literal Hebrew says that

God created the waster that destroys, and He is saying in

this verse, "I created him, and I can handle him."

God knows how to take care of the devil, and He is on

our side. Therefore, we must give Him full freedom to

thwart the enemy's attacks on our family and keep him

out of our lives.

Then in verse 17, it says, “Every tongue that shall rise

against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.” Every day,

the accuser of the brethren has his finger in your face,

trying to condemn you with his evil judgments, such as,

"You're sick. You're poor. I'm going to hurt your children

today." But according to verse 17, we can condemn the

devil's accusations against us. How do we do that? By

pleading the blood.

These verses in Isaiah 54 were some of the Scriptures

my husband and I had used to build a covenant hedge of

protection around our family for more than two years. We

weren't standing in our own righteousness as we claimed

these promises for Lyndsey. We were standing in Jesus'

righteousness by virtue of His blood. And as we declared

in faith that no weapon formed against Lyndsey would

prosper, God delivered her from imminent death and

restored her to total wholeness.

Here's another important point to understand: It

wasn't because I am Kenneth and Gloria Copeland's

daughter that God came through for Lyndsey. It was the

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fact that we know who we are in Jesus and in His blood

that made the difference.

In the same way, it doesn't matter who you are. It

doesn't matter if you are famous or unknown. It doesn't

matter if you are from a rich family or a poor family. A lot

of money can get you a lot of things, but if you are sick

and there is no earthly cure for your condition, you need

to start doing things God's way. Money is a very poor

source when it comes to healing, joy, peace or anything

else for that matter.

Finally, I want to share with you something else I

learned through this whole situation. I discovered

firsthand how God makes allowances for the times we

miss it as we daily plead the blood of Jesus over our lives.

The Lord had been talking to me about taking

Communion with my family on that particular Christmas

Eve. I had even bought all the Communion supplies to do

it.

However, at the Christmas Eve family gathering, I was

so busy enjoying our time together that I forgot what the

Lord had told me to do. It wasn't until everyone was

starting to leave that I said, "Oh, we forgot to take

Communion." But given the lateness of the hour and the

fact that some family members were almost out the door, I

decided, Well, we'll just take Communion together next

Christmas Eve.

That was a big mistake. After the entire ordeal with

Lyndsey was over and she was back home again, the Lord

spoke these words to my spirit: "If you had done what I

said that night, you wouldn't have gone through this."

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God wasn't trying to start a new tradition in our family

when He impressed me to take Communion together on

Christmas Eve. He had a specific purpose for it. But I

missed it when I took His prompting too lightly and

decided to forego the family time of Communion for the

sake of convenience.

My family could have bypassed that entire ordeal. We

could have had a peaceful, healthy Christmas.

Nevertheless, because I had faithfully pled the blood of

Jesus over my family and built the covenant strong in my

heart, God delivered my daughter out of a deadly

situation. And it ended up being a great Christmas after

all.

You build a firm foundation for yourself when you

plead the blood of Jesus every day. Then each day and

month and year that you keep pleading the blood of Jesus,

you put new layers on that foundation until the covenant

is built solid and strong on the inside of you.

That's so important, because someday a devilish attack

may come like the one I faced with Lyndsey. In times like

that, you don't have time to get ready to take a stance of

faith by meditating on some Scriptures. You have to

respond right the first time, or the devil wins the battle.

That's why you must keep building up the covenant in

your spirit, pleading the blood of Jesus over your family

day after day. Don't wait until problems arise to start

building that covenant inside of you. That would be like

starting to build your house the night before a hurricane

hits! No, you build your house when it isn't storm season.

You build it strong on a solid foundation so that when the

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storms hit, nothing can knock it down.

It's the same way in the spiritual realm. If you have

built a strong foundation of your covenant in your heart,

you will respond in the right way when pressure comes.

Words of faith in God's covenant promises will come out

of your mouth, bringing His power on the scene and

giving you the victory.

But it is your choice. You have to choose to lay hold of

your covenant of protection with God. The protection is

there if you want it, but you don't have to take it. You can

choose to get caught in a bad situation and let the enemy

send you or your child on an early ride to heaven. Or you

can lay hold of your protection by standing on God's

Word and boldly pleading the blood of the Lamb.

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It Matters Where You Live

7

o if it's your choice whether or not to be delivered,

Swhat is that choice hinging on? The answer is simple:

It matters where you live. That is the key. The reason you

plead the blood of Jesus is to put yourself and your

children in the place where you are supposed to abide

continually—the Holy of Holies.

I'm telling you, my friend, you make better decisions

when you live in that place. You hear God's voice better.

You walk in love better. And when you plead the blood of

Jesus in the morning, you secure your place there.

What You Say Is Where You Live

Remember what I told you earlier: Your faith in the

blood is executed and entered into by the words of your

mouth. Why is what you say so important? Because what

you say is where you are going to live.

If words of poverty, sickness and fear are coming out

of your mouth, I can guarantee you that you are living in

the natural realm with a lot of poverty, sickness and fear.

But if your words are proclaiming healing, prosperity and

protection by the blood of Jesus, then you're living in the

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Holy of Holies. Your natural circumstances may not have

caught up with your confession of faith yet, but what you

are saying is exactly where you are headed.

Look again at what Proverbs 12:13-14 AMP has to say

about the connection between our words and divine

protection:

The wicked is [dangerously] snared by the

transgression of his lips, but the [uncompromisingly]

righteous shall come out of trouble.

From the fruit of his words a man shall be satisfied

with good....

Now, "the wicked man" referred to here is a person

who isn't in covenant with God. However, the same

principle applies to a person who doesn't know the

covenant he has with God. Both will be dangerously

snared by the transgression of their lips.

This explains why verse 21 AMP is true:

No [actual] evil, misfortune, or calamity shall come

upon the righteous, but the wicked shall be filled with

evil, misfortune, and calamity.

Think of these proverbs in light of what Moses said in

Deuteronomy 30:19.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against

you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing

and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and

thy seed may live.

It's very clear that where you live is your choice. You

can be one of the righteous who lives free of evil

misfortune and calamity, or you can place yourself in the

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same category as "the wicked" and live a life filled with

evil, misfortune and calamity.

Sadly, there are too many Christians who are living on

that wicked side of life—not because they want to be

wicked or do evil things, but because they don't say or do

what God's Word says. They don't honor the blood of

Jesus, so their lives seem to be filled with one crisis after

another.

But these people don't have to live with calamity and

misfortune. They could choose to pick up their Bible and

find out how to get out of their bad situation. They could

discover for themselves that things go well in the lives of

those for whom the Word of God is the final authority.

The problem is that Christians who live on the wicked

side of life don't give the Word any credence. "God didn't

protect Grandma, so He won't protect me," they say.

"Whatever happens is going to happen, and there is

nothing I can do about it." And what they say is exactly

where they end up living.

But these Christians are not honoring the Word with

that attitude, because God says there is something they

can do about it. They can apply the blood of Jesus to their

lives with the words of their mouths.

Honor the Word

The key to living victoriously in this life is to become

covenant-minded—to honor the blood of Jesus and the

Word above everything else. That includes honoring the

Word above your experiences, circumstances or what

anyone else says. If your family doesn't agree with the

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Word of God, you should pray for them and walk in love

with them, but always make sure that you honor the Word.

I've counseled people who just couldn't seem to grasp

this basic, all-important concept. For instance, one woman

whom I've often counseled comes crying to me with the

same problem every time. At every counseling session, I

sit down with this woman and ask, "Are you reading the

Word?"

"Well, no," she replies. "I just.. " and then gives me her

latest excuse. Finally I told her, "Nothing is going to

change in your life until you honor the Word and give it

first place in your life. You have to come to the place

where you say, 'My answers are in here, and I am

determined to find them.'"

That is why the Word talks so much about the man

whose heart is fixed and established. He is the one who

honors, reveres and worships the Lord. (Psalm 112:7 AMP.)

If you revere the Lord and put Him first place in your

life, you will go to His Word to find your answers. Then

whatever the Word says to do, you will do it. You will

consider the Bible as your instruction Book for life.

That is what makes you a covenant person whose

heart is fixed. Nothing can move you off your stance of

faith. Death no longer holds sway in your life.

I think Ecclesiastes 12:13 AMP says best what I'm trying

to get across to you:

Now all has been heard; the end of the matter is:

Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He

is] and keep His commandments [in other words, look

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It Matters Where You Live

to the Word as the end of all matters], for this is the

whole of man [the full, original purpose of his

creation, the object of God's providence, the root of

character, the foundation of all happiness, the

adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and

conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every

man.

Notice what this verse says about the Word of God.

For one thing, it is the root of character. As you sink yourself

into the Word and cement yourself in its truth, the Word

becomes the root or the basis of your character. Character

that is rooted in God's Word causes you to make the right

choices and to do the right thing. However, this kind of

godly character is only developed when you make the

Word the end of all matters in your life.

The Word is also the foundation of all happiness and the

adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions

under the sun. If you have an inharmonious circumstance

or condition in your life, your answer will be found in

God's Word. As you honor God's Word and begin to seek

wisdom in its pages, He will show you where your

answer is.

The fact is, there isn't one thing the enemy can throw

at you or your family that you can't overwhelmingly

overcome when you honor the Word above all else in

your life. That means if the devil tries to attack your

children, he can't leave them with anything missing or

broken. Otherwise, he has prospered in that attack, and

Isaiah 54:17 says that no weapon formed against you will

prosper. Nothing Satan can come up with is bigger, higher

or more powerful than the Word of God and the blood of

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Jesus that ratified that Word.

Everything contained within the Bible was purchased

for you by the blood of Jesus. Every promise in the Word

belongs to you, and the devil can't do one thing about it,

apart from what you allow him to do. He can't attack you

or your children with any circumstance or condition that

isn't answered in the Word of God.

You can overcome every demonic strategy against

your family by honoring God's Word. Live by it, live on it,

live in it. Remember —it matters where you live.

Learn how to live each day in the Holy of Holies by

virtue of the blood of Jesus. Then when a challenge arises,

come boldly before God's throne and ask Him to reveal to

you in His Word the answer you need.

Once you have your answer, make sure your words

always stay in line with what God has said on the matter.

Your words of faith will not only guarantee your ultimate

victory, but they will make sure you retain your current

living status in the Holy of Holies.

Don't Be an 'Earth-Inhabiter'

Revelation 12:10-12 has more to say about where

believers are supposed to dwell during their lives on this

earth:

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is

come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our

God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our

brethren is cast down, which accused them before our

God day and night.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,

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It Matters Where You Live

and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not

their lives unto the death.

Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in

them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!

for the devil is come down unto you, having great

wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short

time.

Revelation 12:10-12

Verse 12 tells us where we are today in God's timeline.

In the past few years, tragic calamities have escalated

more than ever before. We don't even live in the same

world now as we did 20 years ago. The devil knows his

time is short, and he is upset about it. He is desperate.

Therefore, he is roaming the earth, trying to do everything

he can to stop the inevitable victory of the Body of Christ.

But what happens to you and your family depends on where

you dwell. If you dwell in the heavens, or in the Holy of

Holies, God tells you to rejoice because you have

overcome. You are one of those who comes boldly before

the throne of grace by the blood of Jesus to receive

everything you need.

But inhabiters of the earth are going to experience

calamities and misfortunes. The Bible says, "Woe to them!"

Too many children of God are still inhabiting the

earth. That's why we are seeing so many good Christians

taken out by the enemy through tragic circumstances.

These Christians become part of the earth-dwellers'

woe because they choose to inhabit the earth instead of

inhabiting their covenant in the Holy of Holies. They live

their lives trusting in the world's system and their own

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wisdom and ability. They certainly aren't trusting in God's

ways. The devil has convinced them that God won't

protect them. The enemy has even succeeded in

convincing some of them that God is their problem.

Because these people allow Satan to deceive them, they

become earth-inhabiters, subject to the same calamities

that other people in the world suffer through.

But the truth is, that is their choice. The Word has the

answers they need to become "Holy of Holies dwellers"

and to overcome the enemy's strategies in their lives if

they would just choose to honor what God says above all

else.

The Blood and Our Words

Verse 11 says that heaven-dwellers overcome the

enemy by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their

testimony.

Notice that there are two parts to this verse. As a

heaven-dweller, you overcome the devil's strategies

against your family by the blood of Jesus and by the word

of your testimony.

As we have discussed before, nothing in the Word

comes without declaring it, laying hold of it and speaking

it forth in faith. After all, when you were born again, you

had to confess Jesus as your Savior. In the same way, the

blood of the Lamb won't deliver you unless you lay hold

of it with the words of your mouth.

So we know we are living in the last days. The earth is

filling up with sin, judgment, tragedy and terrible

circumstances because the wages of sin is death. However,

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Romans 5:20 says that where sin abounds, God's grace

much more abounds. According to that Scripture, more

grace is available to us now than ever before because sin is

abounding more now than ever before.

The devil is mad. He knows his time is short and there

isn't anything he can do about it. Therefore, he's plotting

all sorts of evil things. Satan is going to try to take out as

many people as he can, and Christians are the ones he

would most like to get out of his way.

If you're not really doing anything to hurt the devil's

kingdom, you might not be his main target. Nevertheless,

you live on this earth in which sin and judgment abounds

more and more. Just that fact alone puts you in danger if

you decide to be an earth-inhabiter.

But he isn't touching my family because we are

kingdom-dwellers, not earth-dwellers. Every morning we

place ourselves under the protective covering of the blood

of Jesus. We say "We plead the blood of Jesus over our

family this morning. Father, we dwell in the Holy of

Holies today. We live our lives there. And we thank You,

Lord, for the abundance of grace that we find there to

protect, deliver and meet every need!"

You can make that same choice as well. Instead of

being earth-inhabiters, you and your children can be

kingdom-dwellers—untouchable by the enemy because of

the power in the blood of the Lamb.

Dwelling in the Secret Place

You should understand by now that you can live your

life in absolute certainty that God will protect you and

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your children from harm, no matter what is going on

around you. But let's look at another important passage of

Scripture to make sure that knowledge is rooted deep in

your heart.

Psalm 91 is a chapter most Christians have stood on in

faith at one time or another. But many of these same

Christians think, I have claimed that chapter for my family in

times past, but it doesn’t seem like we're living the full benefit

of it. We haven't been delivered out of every attack of the enemy.

Bad things have happened at times.

Well, let's look a little closer at this chapter to find out

why that is the case with so many Christians. Before we

read it, however, let me stress again these two points: 1) It

is important where you dwell in life; and 2) you are a

citizen of heaven. By the blood of Jesus, you can dwell in

the Holy of Holies even though you live here on this

earth.

Now let's see what Psalm 91:1-4 AMP says:

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the

Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].

I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my

Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I

[confidently] trust!

For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the

fowler and from the deadly pestilence.

[Then] He will cover you with His pinions, and

under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His

truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler.

Notice that Psalm 91 is totally conditional. Two

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conditions are given in verse 1 and 2 that must be met first

before the rest of the verses can be claimed. The first one is

that you must dwell in the secret place of God.

The problem is, most Christians don't know how to

dwell in the secret place. They think it is a nice phrase, but

they aren't sure what it means. Maybe we dwell in the secret

place when we pray or go to church, they think. But that just

isn't so 100 percent of the time.

However, dwelling in the secret place is a totally

reachable goal. The secret place is the Holy of Holies, the

throne of grace. All these terms are talking about the same

place, a secret place reserved only for God's people. The

devil can't get in there. In the secret place of the Most

High, you can live safe, healed and protected, abiding

continually in the presence of God.

The second condition that must be fulfilled in order to

enjoy the benefits of Psalm 91 is that you have to say

something: “I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and

my Fortress . . in Him I [confidently] trust” (v. 2 AMP).

Again, you can see the important role of the words you

speak. You have to say with your mouth, "Lord, You are

my refuge. I confidently trust You with my life and with

my children!"

Once you meet these two conditions, all the other

promises of protection in Psalm 91 are yours to claim for

your family. Let's read on:

You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night,

nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the

wicked) that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that

stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction and sudden

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death that surprise and lay waste at noonday.

Psalm 91:5, 6 AMP

These verses talk about the evil plots and slanders of

the wicked and the destruction and sudden death that

surprise and lay waste at noonday. That sounds like the

kind of things we hear about on the news every night. But

it doesn't matter what kind of evil plot the devil tries

against you or your children; his strategies can't prosper.

As verse 5 AMP says, “You shall not be afraid of the terror

by night.”

That sounds like the covenant man we talked about

earlier. He does not fear evil tidings because his heart is

fixed on God and His Word.

Now look at what verses 7-8 AMP say:

A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand

at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.

Only a spectator shall you be [yourself

inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High] as

you witness the reward of the wicked.

You are inaccessible to the enemy's strategies when

you are in the secret place of the Most High.

The key is to live your life in that secret place. Jesus

entered the secret place of the Most High, the Holy of

Holies, by His own blood. Your access to the secret place

is by virtue of His blood as well. In that secret place, you

and your children are inaccessible to the enemy because

you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High

your dwelling place (v. 9 AMP).

Now you can see why Psalm 91 hasn't been fulfilled in

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It Matters Where You Live

many Christians' lives. They may have read it, quoted it,

confessed it and prayed it. But if they haven't done what

Psalm 91 tells them to do, they are not eligible to receive

God's promise of protection for their families.

When the Lord first taught me how to fulfill His

conditions so I could receive the promises contained in

these verses, I felt like He had given me a very precious

gift. As a wife and mother, I so appreciated that gift

because now I can be absolutely certain that my family is

protected by the blood of Jesus.

I am so thrilled to know that. It doesn't matter what

God asks me to do, I can do it boldly because I know He's

going to protect my family and me.

I know God will protect your family, too, if you'll just

act on these truths I'm sharing with you. I suggest that you

read this Psalm to your children every day so its promise

of protection can be rooted deep in their hearts. As you

read it, put their names in the verses. Make it personal to

them.

You and your children can be safe and secure, no

matter what is going on around them. Your part is to

dwell in the secret place of the Most High and to speak

forth your trust in the Lord. As you do, God will be your

family's Refuge and Fortress in every situation. Don't ever

let the devil talk you out of that.

Finally, let me plant you one last Scripture in your

heart to build your faith in God's protecting power. Psalm

33:18-19 AMP says,

Behold, the Lord's eye is upon those who fear Him

[who revere and worship Him with awe], who wait for

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness, to

deliver them from death and keep them alive in

famine.

It's all over the Word: You and your family can be

protected and delivered if you will just receive and

appropriate God's promise of protection. Your children

can live in that supernatural protection 24 hours a day

You can have what the Word says you can have.

Just live every day the way God intended for you to

live—covered in the blood of Jesus, clothed in His

righteousness, endowed with His wisdom and abiding in

His presence. From your position before the throne of

grace, plead the blood of Jesus over yourself, your spouse

and your children with the absolute, utter certainty that

God will keep them safe.

Then with the words of your mouth, boldly declare

your faith in the blood of Jesus:

"Although we live in a world that is overflowing with

judgment and sin, we will find only peace, protection and

abundant grace wherever we go. No weapon formed against us

shall prosper, for the blood of Jesus delivers us from evil and

protects us from all harm!"

As you pray the following prayer, remember to pray

the same over yourself and your spouse. In fact, I include

my grandmother in our daily prayer. She's protected by

the blood too.

Begin to build the habit of praying like this every day.

Ask the Lord to remind you and help you. He will. You

may forget sometimes, but keep on. You'll begin to build

your covenant on the inside of you. Ask the Lord to never

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It Matters Where You Live

allow you to let these things slip.

And, you and your family too will live your lives from

the Holy of Holies—protected, secure, safe and in His

peace.

— 137 —

Prayer of Protection for Your Family

Father, I thank You for Your covenant promise of

protection. Right now I call upon the covenant I have with You

and plead the blood of Jesus over my husband/wife, my children

and myself.

Angels, I charge you to watch over my family and me to

protect us, for we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Go before

us, behind us, beside us and all the way around us. Keep us

from calamity, evil and misfortune. (I name all of our names to

the Lord.)

No evil will befall my family in the Name of Jesus! No

weapon formed against them will prosper, and every lying

tongue that rises up against them I do condemn, for this is my

heritage as a servant of the Lord.

I thank You, Father, that great is the peace of my children.

Their righteousness is of You. They don't walk in their own

righteousness, but in Your righteousness by the blood of Jesus. I

thank You for that, Lord. They will not get off track in life, none

of their steps shall slide (Psalm 37:31) for Your Holy Spirit will

guide them every step of the way.

Father, Your Word says that we, Your sheep, know Your

voice. It says You will show us things to come. It says the voice

of Your Spirit will come to us and say, "This is the way; walk in

it." I stand on these promises, Lord, and ask that You teach us

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

to hear Your voice. Help us recognize when You are speaking to

us, and we will obey.

Now I stand in Your Holy of Holies and open my spirit to

receive the wisdom You have afforded me. I put myself in a

position to hear and receive instruction from You. I enter the

secret place of the Most High by the blood of the Lamb, and I

purpose to live my life in Your presence.

I thank You that You are faithful to Your Word, Father. I

thank You that what You say is certain and sure. When You say

You will deliver us, we can rely on that promise. So right now I

receive Your supernatural protection and deliverance for my

family and me in Jesus' Name. Amen.

— 140 —

About the Author

Speaker, author, musician, wife, and mother of four,

Kellie Copeland Kutz has played a major role in bringing

the gospel to those hungry for the truth of God's Word.

Kellie has taken the Word of God to the world through

television, print media, and conferences, as well as her

music ministry.

Kellie directs the development of all Kenneth

Copeland Ministries' children's product, and is the

contributing editor for Shout! The Voice of Victory for Kids, a

bimonthly children's magazine with more than 160,000

subscriptions. She is best known as Commander Kellie—the

fearless, faith-filled adventurer in the Commander Kellie

and the SuperKids SM video and audio series and Commander

Kellie and the SuperKids™ novels.

Like her character, Kellie has a heart for all to know

victory in life is achieved through a close and personal

relationship with God, the Father.

Kellie has an extensive music ministry, inspired by her

father, television and conference minister, Kenneth

Copeland. Her musical accomplishments include a solo

album, Refreshing Times; a duet album with Scott Johnson,

Goodbye World; and three children's albums, Precious

Moments, Lullabies, and her newest project, And Jesus

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

Healed Them All, a children's healing music album.

Kellie and her husband, Win, the director of Kenneth

Copeland Ministries' music department, have four

children, Rachel, Lyndsey, Jenny, and Max.

Kellie says, "My desire is to see people live on the

Word." She gets excited when she sees someone who has

heard the Word, put action with it, and lives a victorious

life.

— 142 —

To contact Kellie Copeland Kutz,

write

:

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Fort Worth, Texas 76192

United States of America

Please include your prayer requests

and comments when you write.

Prayer of Salvation

A born-again, committed relationship with God is the

key to a victorious life. Jesus, the Son of God, laid down

His life and rose again so that we could spend eternity

with Him in heaven and experience His absolute best on

earth. The Bible says, "For God so loved the world, that

he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth

in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John

3:16).

It is the will of God that everyone receive eternal

salvation. The way to receive this salvation is to call upon

the name of Jesus and confess Him as your Lord. The Bible

says, "That 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

whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be

saved" (Rom. 10:9, 13).

Jesus has given salvation, healing, and countless

benefits to all who call upon His name. These benefits can

be yours if you receive Him into your heart by praying

this prayer:

Heavenly Father, I come to You admitting that I am a

sinner.

Right now, I choose to turn away from sin, and I ask You to

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Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

cleanse me of all unrighteousness. I believe that Your Son,

Jesus, died on the cross to take away my sins. I also believe that

He rose again from the dead so that I may be justified and made

righteous through faith in Him. I call upon the name of Jesus

Christ to be the Savior and Lord of my life. Jesus, I choose to

follow You, and I ask that You fill me with the power of the

Holy Spirit. I declare right now that I am a born-again child of

God. I am free from sin, and full of the righteousness of God. I

am saved in Jesus' name, amen.

If you have prayed this prayer to receive Jesus Christ

as your Savior, or if this book has changed your life, we

would like to hear from you. Please write us at:

Harrison House Publishers

P. O. Box 35035

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74153

You can also visit us on the Web at

www.harrisonhouse.com

— 146 —

Additional copies of this book

are available from your local bookstore

or from:

HARRISON HOUSE

P. O. Box 35035

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74153

The Harrison House Vision

Proclaiming the truth and the power

Of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

With excellence;

Challenging Christians to

Live victoriously,

Grow spiritually,

Know God intimately.

Document Outline

- Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

- Contents

- Acknowledgments

- Foreword

- Introduction

- 1 Make Sure Your Children Are Fully Protected

- A Wake-up Call

- Take Advantage of Angelic Protection

- Listen to Your Spirit

- Discipline Your Children

- 2 Applying the Blood: From Passover to Present

- Keeping an Eternal Memorial by Pleading the Blood

- What Does It Mean to 'Plead the Blood?'

- Putting Into Place Our Protection

- God's Way to Escape Judgment

- Poor Children in a Rich Father's House

- Strangers from the Covenant

- Understanding the Nature of Judgment

- God Isn't the Source of Calamity

- The Case of God's Sovereignty

- 3 Protection Through God's Grace

- No Weapon Shall Prosper Because of the Blood

- Walking in Jesus' Footsteps

- What Is Grace?

- The Source of God's Grace

- Draw Near for Righteous Judgments

- 4 Our Sanctuary—the Holy of Holies

- The Way Into God's Presence—by Blood

- Draw Near by the Blood

- The Devil Can't Cross the Blood Line

- Hearing Wisdom in the Holy of Holies

- Wash Your Hands in Innocence

- Standing in the Protection of God's 'Even Place'

- We Have Our Part to Play

- 5 The Absolute Certainty of Divine Protection

- Nothing Missing, Nothing Broken

- Divine Protection: More Certain Than Being Born Again?

- A Way of Escape

- Death Will No Longer 'Hold Sway'

- Imagine What It Was Like

- The Blood of Jesus Seals Us in God's Grace

- Stay in Your Sanctuary

- Keep Your Heart Fixed

- 6 It's Your Choice!

- Do Martyrs Have a Choice?

- Why Do Christians Get Caught in Bad Situations?

- Requirements for Protection

- Build Up the Covenant Inside of You

- A Testimony of Deliverance by the Blood

- Lessons Learned

- 7 It Matters Where You Live

- What You Say Is Where You Live

- Honor the Word

- Don't Be an 'Earth-Inhabiter'

- The Blood and Our Words

- Dwelling in the Secret Place

- Prayer of Protection for Your Family

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.

Foreword.

Introduction.

1 Make Sure Your Children Are Fully Protected.

2 Applying the Blood: From Passover to Present.

3 Protection Through God's Grace.

4 Our Sanctuary—the Holy of Holies.

5 The Absolute Certainty of Divine Protection.

6 It's Your Choice!.

7 It Matters Where You Live.

Prayer of Protection for Your Family.

”1

1

Protecting Your Family in Dangerous Times

Contents

Take Advantage of Angelic Protection

Listen to Your Spirit

Discipline Your Children

Keeping an Eternal Memorial by Pleading the Blood

What Does It Mean to 'Plead the Blood?'

Putting Into Place Our Protection

God's Way to Escape Judgment

Poor Children in a Rich Father's House

Strangers from the Covenant

Understanding the Nature of Judgment

God Isn't the Source of Calamity

The Case of God's Sovereignty

Walking in Jesus' Footsteps

What Is Grace?

The Source of God's Grace

Draw Near for Righteous Judgments

The Devil Can't Cross the Blood Line

Hearing Wisdom in the Holy of Holies

Wash Your Hands in Innocence

Standing in the Protection of God's 'Even Place'

We Have Our Part to Play

Nothing Missing, Nothing Broken

Divine Protection: More Certain Than Being Born Again?

A Way of Escape

Death Will No Longer 'Hold Sway'

Imagine What It Was Like

Stay in Your Sanctuary

Keep Your Heart Fixed

Why Do Christians Get Caught in Bad Situations?

Requirements for Protection

Build Up the Covenant Inside of You

A Testimony of Deliverance by the Blood

Lessons Learned

Honor the Word

Don't Be an 'Earth-Inhabiter'