Living in Divine

Prosperity

Living in Divine

Prosperity

by

Jerry Savelle

HARRISON HOUSE

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the

King James Version of the Bible.

Some Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from The Amplified

Old Testament. Copyright © 1962, 1964 by Zondervan Publishing

House, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Used by permission.

Some Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from The Amplified

New Testament. Copyright © 1958 by The Lockman Foundation, La

Habra, California. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked Niv are from the New International

Version. Copyright © 1978 by New York International Bible Society.

Used by permission.

Some Scripture quotations are taken from The Living Bible. Copyright

© 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois. Used by

permission.

Living in Divine Prosperity

ISBN 0-89274-247-X

Copyright © 1982 by Jerry Savelle

P. O. Box 2228

Fort Worth, Texas 76113

Published by Harrison House, Inc.

P. O. Box 35035

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74135

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.

Contents

Introduction

7

1 Freedom From Bondage

13

2 Importance of Obedience

36

3 Willingness to Serve

73

4 Nature of Faith

111

5 Seven Steps to the Life of Faith

125

6 Consecration—Key to Prosperity

163

7 Sowing in Famine

195

Introduction

In October, 1981, I had the privilege of

ministering in a convention at Charlotte, North

Carolina, with Kenneth and Gloria Copeland,

Charles Capps, and Norvel Hayes.

Before I went to the convention, I knew

something special was going to take place in

the meetings. Yet at the same time I knew

something was going to happen in my own life.

I had no idea what it was, and I didn't try to

figure it out. I just flowed in the Spirit of God.

My wife Carolyn and I had decided before

we went into the convention that we were

going to fast and stay in the presence of God

every moment that we were not actually in the

meetings.

I fasted and got up very early in the

morning just to fellowship with God. When I

would leave a meeting, I would go right back to

my hotel room and stay in God's presence.

That went on for almost the whole week,

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Living in Divine Prosperity

until Thursday afternoon. I finished preaching

that day, went to my room, and sat down. God

had been dealing with me about some things—

sharing with me about my own ministry and

some new directions we were to take. There

had been some great things happen in that

convention, and I sensed a release in my spirit.

So I told Carolyn, "I'm going to order a meal,

then just relax and rest before we go into the

service tonight." She went into the bedroom to

lie down and rest while we waited for room

service to bring us the meal I had ordered. I

went into the living room of our hotel suite, sat

down on the couch, and propped my feet up on

the coffee table.

Now I didn't ask for this to happen. I didn't

pray for it, or even think about it happening. I

was just sitting there, minding my own

business, not bothering anybody, when

suddenly the Lord appeared unto me.

When He appeared, He said these words to

me: "Son, My people are in financial famine,

and I'm giving you the assignment to tell them

how to get out." Then He began to reveal to me

the keys to deliverance. That is part of what I

will share with you in these pages.

Introduction

9

His presence engulfed me. It filled the

room. In fact, after the Lord had finished

talking with me, His presence—the Shekinah

glory of God—was still so strong in my room

that it woke Carolyn. She ran in and said,

"What's happening in here?"

I said, "The Lord just visited me."

We got so caught up in His presence that

when the waiter brought the meal, we couldn't

even eat.

I could hardly talk or think, I was so taken

aback by what had happened. But I began to

realize the urgency of what the Lord had told

me: "Tell the people that I want them out of

bondage."

When we got to the service that night,

Brother Copeland said to me, "I sense in my

spirit that God wants you to preach tonight."

"Yes, that's what I was going to tell you."

"Well," he said, “you do whatever God told

you to do."

That night I preached a portion of what the

Lord had shared with me, the part about

sowing in famine, which I will share with you

in this book.

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Living in Divine Prosperity

Without a doubt, my life was changed that

night, and the lives of thousands of others as

well. Everywhere I have preached this message

since that time, the testimonies have been

phenomenal.

The message I want to share with you in

this book is this: Put God first place in your

life.

I want you to know that if you will open

your heart and receive what I have to say to

you, you will come out of your bondage. You

may say, "Well, I'm not in bondage." Good, then

pass this book on to someone who is. God's

people must become free, for the job we have to

do in these last days is tremendous and will

demand great financial freedom on our part.

I can show you on paper the names of

individuals and churches who have been

blessed and bettered as a result of receiving the

truth I share in this study. It's not anything

new. It's right out of the Word of God. The

problem has been that we've just ignored it, or

allowed carnally minded men and the world's

system to deceive us into believing that it

wouldn't work.

But I want you to know that God has a

Introduction

11

higher way, and for those who will dare put it

to work, great blessings are in store for them.

1

Freedom From Bondage

1

And Jesus returned in the power of the

Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of

him through all the region round about. And he

taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had

been brought up: and, as his custom was, he

went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and

stood up for to read.

And there was delivered unto him the book

of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened

the book, he found the place where it was

written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel

to the poor ....

Luke 4:14-18

Here we see Jesus proclaiming that God had

anointed Him “to preach the gospel to the poor.”

Now "the poor" can mean poor in spirit, poor in

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Living in Divine Prosperity

soul, poor in body, poor financially, poor

socially. There are many people who are poor

in some area of their life; some are poor in

every area of their life.

In any case, the Gospel is for the poor. If

you are suffering in any area of your life, then I

have good news for you. If you are suffering

spiritually, there is a message for you. If you are

suffering mentally, there is a message for you. If

you are suffering physically, socially, or

financially, God has something He wants to say

to you. He wants to say something to you

about every aspect of your life.

The Higher Way

I don't know about you, but I'm a little tired

of the world telling me how everything is going

to turn out. I'm a little tired of the evening news

predicting my destiny. I'm tired of reading the

newspaper and having it tell me what is going

to happen. In fact, I am “fed up" with all the

carnal knowledge Satan keeps trying to put into

the lives of the Body of Christ. I have made a

decision: As for me and my house, we are not

going to listen to the world; we are going to

listen to God!

Freedom From Bondage

15

I have learned that God has a few things to

say. I've discovered that God has a viewpoint,

and He wants to get it across to His people. If

we will dare to believe it, then we won't have to

live like this world.

Let me remind you that Jesus said, "I am in

the world, but not of it." (John 8:23.) You and I are

the seed of Abraham. We are joint-heirs with

Jesus, partakers of the nature of God. If Jesus is

not of this world, then neither are we.

You may say, "But I live here." Yes, you do.

But that doesn't mean you have to live

according to the beggarly elements of this

world. (Gal. 4:9.)

"Then what am I to do about it?"

Get on a higher plane.

"Where am I going to find one?"

In the Word of God.

In Isaiah 55:8,9 God tells us:

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither

are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as

the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my

ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts

than your thoughts.

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Someone always says, "Yes, that's the

problem. God's ways are past finding out."

No, that once was a problem, but it's not

anymore! Because now we have the Book and

we have the Teacher, the Holy Spirit Who

indwells us for the purpose of leading and

guiding us into all truth. (John 16:13) The Bible

says, " For what man knoweth the things of a man,

save the spirit of man which is in him?" (1 Cor.

2:11). We have not received the spirit of the

world, but the Spirit which is of God. Why? ". .

that we might know the things that are freely given

to us of God" (v. 12).

We're not in the dark anymore. Now we

know who we are and what is ours in Christ

Jesus! When you lay hold on the Word of God

and become filled with the Holy Ghost, then

God's ways can become your ways and His

thoughts can become your thoughts. Then, thank

God, this higher way which Isaiah is talking about

becomes your way of doing things.

There once was a time in my life when I

lived in sickness. But I found out that by the

stripes of Jesus I was healed. (1 Pet. 2:24.) I

found out that He bore my sicknesses and

carried my diseases. (Matt. 8:17.) I discovered

Freedom From Bondage

17

that in the eyes of God I'm not the sick trying to

get well. Since Calvary, I'm the healed and I'm

protecting my health by standing on God's

Word and resisting every symptom that comes

to my body. For the past twelve years my

family and I have enjoyed health.

Someone once asked me, "Don't you ever

have opportunities to get sick?"

Yes, all the time. But as Gloria Copeland

says, "We pass them by."

I'm too busy to be sick. I don't have time to

let the Devil put sickness and disease on me,

especially since Jesus has already borne my

sicknesses in His body so that I don't have to

bear them. You see, there is a higher way to live

physically. Well, I want you to know that there

is also a higher way to live financially, above

the beggarly elements of this world.

As far as the world knows, there is no hope

for financial prosperity and security anymore.

The Bible says in Ephesians that people who are

without God are without hope. (Eph. 2:12.)

They don't have a covenant; they are without

God, without hope. Oh, they can put on a front,

but deep down inside, they are hopeless. They

don't know the outcome of anything. They

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Living in Divine Prosperity

don't know what is going to happen tomorrow.

You may say, "I'm a Christian, and I don't

know that."

You should. I didn't say you would know

every detail of every step of your life. But you

should know this: " No weapon that is formed

against thee shall prosper" (Is. 54:17), and " If God

be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31), and

nothing shall be able to separate us from the

love of Christ. (Rom. 8:35.)

These are a few of the things I've learned

from God's Word about how my tomorrows are

going to turn out. I've learned how to take

God's Word and make circumstances line up

with what God says. We have that privilege;

that's our higher way.

The world is suffering today. This country

is suffering financially. The news media will

verify that. In fact, you may have heard the

reports recently that the unemployment rate in

our nation has reached its highest peak in

decades. People are hurting. The world is in

trouble. Governments are failing all over this

planet. Economic systems are crumbling.

Financial institutions are not working properly.

I can't remember the last time I read any good

Freedom From Bondage

19

news in the paper about the financial situation

of this country or any other country. Can you?

Things are crumbling all around us.

Carnally minded men for the most part have

destroyed the godly principles upon which this

nation was founded. However, that is changing.

Humanism has almost wrecked our educational

system, but that is changing too.

I'm going to tell you something. Don't get

down in the dumps when you see Satan on the

rampage because "where sin abounds, grace does

much more abound." (Rom. 5:20.) Just when it

appears that the Devil has finally taken over,

you can look up, because ".. your redemption

draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28.) God will never let

that rat take over. He'll never let him win! God

will never let the Devil get the best of this thing.

Satan has been trying to do that for centuries,

but you can read history and see: God always

comes out the winner.

And God is going to win this one, too! If

you don't believe it, read the back of the Book—

it says we win! Hallelujah!

We don't have to live according to the

beggarly elements of this world!

20

Living in Divine Prosperity

Believe to Receive

The problem with most Christians is a lack

of commitment. Many Christians are trying to

live by both the world's system and God's

system at the same time. It can't be done. I

realize that this may be a little strong, but it's

time we talked strong. I don't believe in pulling

punches. I don't believe in padding things or

just saying things that people want to hear. I'm

responsible for my calling, for my assignment.

In the book of Revelation, the Bible gives us

God's opinion of this matter of commitment. He

tells us:

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold

nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then

because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor

hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Rev. 3:15,16

Many of God's people think it is okay to dabble

in the things of the world. They want to keep

one foot in the Word and just sort of play

around with it. I want you to know, God is

against that—totally against it. He will not

accept a people with a divided heart. Jesus said,

No man can serve two masters: for either he

Freedom From Bondage

21

will hate the one, and love the other; or else he

will hold to the one, and despise the other.

Matt. 6:24

You cannot serve two masters. Our Bible

tells us that God is a jealous God and will have

no other gods before Him. Either you are going

to get in the world, or you're going to get into

God. If you stay in the world, you will not

enjoy the blessings of Almighty God.

Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not

writing or preaching condemnation or

negativism. There is good news for you. There

is an answer for your need, for your hurting.

But what I am doing is defining the problem.

I'm dealing with some of the reasons why we

are not enjoying all of the blessings God has for

us.

You see, part of the problem has been

dissension among God's children. It is easy to

get identified with a group of Christians and

pick up a bit of the lingo—talk the talk—and

yet live differently from what they preach. It's a

shame that Christians tag and label themselves

as Baptist, or Catholic, or Church of God, or

Nazarene, or whatever. Some still have the idea

that when we get to heaven we are going to be

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Living in Divine Prosperity

segregated by denomination with all the

Baptists over here, the Methodists over there,

and the Catholics someplace else. But it's not

going to be that way at all. God never ordained

denominations. Those came out of strife. They

developed because people were fussing among

themselves.

So now we have a new breed of people who

pride themselves on the fact that they are

neither Baptist, nor Catholic, nor Methodist, nor

Nazarene, nor Church of God. They are "Word

people." They say proudly, "We're Word

people."

"Oh, what do you believe?"

"We believe the Word."

"Well, how is that different from the

Baptists, the Methodists, the Catholics, the

Nazarenes, and so forth?"

"Oh, we're faith people. We believe God.

We overcome the world. We move mountains.

We believe the Word. We won't tolerate

unbelief. We're Word people!"

Yet you would be shocked if you were to

follow some of them around and see how many

of them still have one foot in the world,

Freedom From Bondage

23

compromising God's Word continually.

If we are going to be Word people, then let's

truly be Word people. If we are Word people,

then we ought to be excelling in every area of

our lives.

What do Word people believe? The Word.

Word people believe the Word. Then why, may

I ask, are so many "Word people" fussing over

God's Word?

It is ridiculous the way some members of

the Body of Christ have been so deceived about

certain areas of God's Word, the redemptive

truths He has spelled out so clearly. A person

would have to be totally duped by religious

ideas to miss the clarity of God's Word. As

Charles Capps says, "God's Word is so simple

you need help to misunderstand it." Through

the years we have had plenty of help.

Oh, the clarity and the simplicity of God's

Word! When you begin to search God's Word

and study it, based on the redemptive truths

that took place at Calvary, everything in it

makes sense. It all begins to flow together. You

will understand what happened in the Garden

of Eden. You will understand what is

happening in the book of Revelation. When you

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Living in Divine Prosperity

center it around the cross, everything comes

into focus, because that's what the Bible is all

about.

The Old Testament is a promise of the cross;

the New Testament attests to the fact that it

happened. The first part of the Bible contains

certain things God said would happen; the last

part testifies that those things did occur and

explains their meaning to us as believers. To

enjoy any of God's blessings, you must receive

them by faith. You must believe to receive. God

has provided healing; but you have to believe it

before you will receive it. God has provided

prosperity, too; but you can choose to live in

poverty, never having enough to meet your

needs. You can live that way if you want to. But

there is a better way: His name is Jesus. He was

made to be poor that we might be made rich. (2

Cor. 8:9.)

Some people will literally fight for the right

to stay sick. They will say, "Well, our pastor

taught us that healing has passed away. He

says the prosperity message is just a cult."

Isn't it a shame that Abraham didn't know

that? He should have been warned against it so

he wouldn't have received all those riches from

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25

God.

I have never understood why people argue

about something that God has given us.

Let me clarify something here. I know

where much of this confusion and argument

comes from. It is a result of the

misrepresentation that many so-called "faith

people" have given. I realize that there are some

among us who have their eyes on nothing but

things. They couldn't care less about a real

relationship with God. All they want are things.

They are out to fulfill the lust of the flesh and of

the eye, and to do it in the name of faith. But

let's not reject the whole message of prosperity

just because there are a few like that.

There are some other people on this planet

whose hearts are right and pure before God,

and He is prospering them. I'm not going to

condemn those who prosper. In fact, the Bible

tells us to be " followers of them who through faith

and patience inherit the promises" (Heb. 6:12). I

want to learn from these people, because the

more blessed I am, the more I can do for my

God.

There are people who rebel against the idea

of divine prosperity, but they do it unjustly,

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Living in Divine Prosperity

thinking that anyone who preaches prosperity

is part of the minority that has distorted it.

There are those who have distorted that truth;

and in so doing, they have done a great

injustice to God's Word and a great disservice

to His people.

But that doesn't mean everyone who

preaches divine prosperity is in that trap and

has been deceived as they have. We must be

very careful not to reject the truth of God's

Word just because some have misinterpreted,

distorted, and abused that truth. You see, all

false teaching is based on scriptures that men

have distorted. But just because they distort it

does not mean we should throw out the entire

message.

I want you to know that God wants you

saved, baptized, filled with the Holy Ghost,

healed, prosperous. You can take it or leave it. I

trust that you'll take it, because Jesus paid a

precious price for it.

Good News

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me (Jesus

said), because he hath anointed me to preach the

gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the

Freedom From Bondage

27

brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the

captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to

set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the

acceptable year of the Lord.

And he closed the book, and he gave it again

to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all

them that were in the synagogue were fastened

on him. And he began to say unto them, This

day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Luke 4:18-21

Jesus was saying this: "In these writings by

the prophet Isaiah, he was not speaking of

himself, but of one to come. I am that One."

You would have thought that everybody

would rejoice at that news—especially the Jews.

Here was their deliverer, the one of whom the

prophets had spoken before, the one who

would deliver them, the one who would set up

His kingdom and reign. They were looking for

Him and had been awaiting Him for centuries.

Now He was standing in their midst. Yet it was

not good news. In fact, they got mad. They

wanted to kill Him for saying it.

Why didn't they want to hear good news?

Because their minds had been blinded. The eyes

of their understanding had been blinded.

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Living in Divine Prosperity

Some people can't let go of religious

traditions because of pride. Some ministers

today will not let go of things they have been

teaching which are contrary to God's Word, but

agreeable to their denominations or traditions.

They won't let them go because of pride.

In the sight of God, the man who is willing

to swallow his pride, admit he was wrong, and

be corrected is much greater than the man who

does much, it seems, for the Kingdom of God

but does it in error.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because

he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the

poor ... to heal the brokenhearted.

Every person in that congregation who was

poor, brokenhearted, captive, and blind should

have rejoiced and said, "Thank God,

deliverance has come at last!" But they didn't.

They rebelled against it. They became angry at

what He was preaching. They decided it was

not God's way of doing things. They got mad at

the message and at the Messenger. They tried to

kill Him.

But they couldn't stop Him. Just because a

group of people rebelled, got mad, and

wouldn't believe, God did not take Jesus out of

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29

the earth and say, "Forget it, Son. It's a waste of

time. Nobody's going to listen. I made a

mistake." No, He didn't do that.

What did Jesus do? He simply took His

message to the heathen.

Jesus went to Capernaum. The people there

didn't have any better sense than to believe the

Good News! They didn't argue with it, and

miracles took place. Signs and wonders

occurred as the power of God was manifested

in their midst. Why? Because they believed.

They didn't argue with God. They didn't fuss

about the message. They just said, "Yes, I

believe that." They believed the message, they

believed the Messenger, they believed the

Word of the Living God—and it set them free.

In the early '60s, there was a mighty move

of the Holy Spirit among the Catholics. These

Catholics were getting filled with the Holy

Ghost and turned on to the Word of God.

Miracles were happening all around them.

Do you know what many of the "Full

Gospel" people were doing while this was

going on? They were praying "Oh, God, give us

revival!" And it was happening all around

them!

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I preached in a Full Gospel church in 1970

and God moved by His Spirit. We had a

tremendous meeting. When it was over, the

pastor came to me and said, "I haven't seen

anything like this since 1954. I don't know why

God quit moving then."

I thought, Lord, this man's got tunnel vision.

He needs to get out of here and take a look at what's

happening.

There is a mighty move of the Spirit of God

today, and no amount of people can stop what

God has ordained. They may fuss and gripe

and complain, but all they can do is sit back and

watch the rest of us who dare believe it, receive

it, and enjoy it.

Purpose of Prosperity

Jesus was a messenger of good news, and

it's obvious that a lot of people did not want to

hear good news. What about you? You should,

because that's what the Gospel is—good news.

It's important that you realize that you cannot

stop a movement of God. You can only stop

your involvement in it.

No one is going to stop God from blessing

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31

His people because it is in His mind. It is the

plan of God to prosper His people and it has a

very important role in bringing Jesus back. You

see, this planet has to be evangelized. And, my

friend, you can't do it for $9.17. It takes

enormous amounts of money to get the Gospel

out these days.

At the time of this writing, we are in the

process of producing programs for our national

television ministry. Just sitting and discussing

this with all the people who are involved in it is

mind-boggling. The plan God has given me

almost staggers my mind. But I want to tell you

something. God is El Shaddai— not El Cheapo.

He is the God of abundance, and if He says to

do it, then we can do it. I'm excited about it and

eager for the responsibility of it.

Now, what I want you to realize is this: In

order for the Body of Christ to set the stage (if

you'll allow me to put it that way) for the things

that are going to be happening in this earth

before the return of the Lord Jesus, then there

are a few things we must take control of.

One of them is television. Television is a

vital tool in getting the Gospel out.

The Bible says all things were made for

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Him. Television was not made for

pornography, murder, prostitution, or any of

the diabolical things coming across it now.

Television was made for God. Satellites were

made for the Gospel. And before it's all over,

we're going to have control of them!

Somebody asked me, "How can you say

that? How can the Body of Christ do that?”

I'll tell you how we can do it. The Bible says

in Proverbs 13:22, ". . the wealth of the sinner is

laid up for the just." God will put it into our

hands.

On numerous occasions the Bible says, " The

earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory

of the Lord." (Hab. 2:14). Well, how are we going

to fill the earth with the knowledge of God if

we don't have the means at our disposal? How

is the whole earth going to be filled if we

Christians don't have some avenue to get that

knowledge to them?

The only reason man has progressed this far

technically, scientifically, mechanically, and

electronically is because God is going to use all

of that marvelous knowledge and technology

for His glory. If God did not have a plan for all

these things, man would have been stopped at

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33

the steam engine long ago. The only reason

men have been able to achieve what they have

is because God has a plan. All these marvels

were made for Him, for His use (or more

precisely, for our use).

Did you know that 707s, 727s, and 747s

were not made for sinners? Jumbo jets weren't

invented for the "jet set" to peddle sin all over

the world. They were made for the sake of the

Gospel. Some people are grumbling now

because their preacher drives a nice car. What

are they going to do when he owns a 747 and is

able to carry a whole congregation into a

nation?

By now, I am sure your mind is going, Tilt!

You are probably thinking, Dear Lord, our

church can't even pay for the new education

building, and here this guy is talking about flying to

another country in a jet and taking it over for the

Lord!

Well, if that shakes you, hang around God

some more. He's a big, broad, constructive

thinker! There's no limit to Him!

Jesus was a messenger of good news, and

His message is still going forth. He told His

disciples, "It is more profitable for you that I go

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Living in Divine Prosperity

away." (John 16:7.) He said, "The works that I do

shall you do also, and greater works than these shall

you do because I go to my Father." (John 14:12.)

Jesus was a messenger of good news, but

He was limited in how many people He could

reach with that good news. Because He was in

an earthly body, just like we are, He could only

be in one place at a time. If He was preaching in

a synagogue in Nazareth, that's the only place

people could hear Him. If He was on the shores

of Galilee or in the city of Capernaum, a person

had to go there to hear the message of good

news.

But greater works than those are being done

today because Jesus is totally unlimited. He can

be in thousands of places at one time because

He is not limited to one earthly vessel anymore.

He has the Body of Christ, and all of us are the

messengers of good news.

Once upon a time I was living in bondage—

spiritually, physically, financially, socially, and

mentally. At one point in my life, in 1969, I had

no relationship with God at all. I was

financially broke, spiritually dead, mentally

tormented, and physically wrecked. I just

wanted to throw up my hands and quit. There

Freedom From Bondage

35

seemed no way that I could ever pay back all

the money I had lost in my business. My

marriage was on the rocks. I was a miserable

wreck at age 21.

But a man named Kenneth Copeland came

to town and preached the uncompromised

Word of God. It was the first time in my life I

had ever heard a preacher who wouldn't water

down the Gospel. He said what he meant,

meant what he said, and proved it by the Word

of God. He proved that if you'll believe it, it will

work; but if you don't, it won't.

Most of the preachers I had heard until that

time would cry and tell me, "Be a Christian.

Serve God. Lose everything you've got." I was

already living that kind of insecurity before I

got saved. I had already lost it all!

Thank God, somebody dared to preach the

Good News!

When I got it in my spirit, I began to come

out of that bondage. I got delivered. My

marriage got healed. God delivered me

financially and spiritually. He put my mind at

ease and made a man out of me! Thank God for

Kenneth Copeland who preaches good news!

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Living in Divine Prosperity

There was a handful of people in that

meeting who believed the Word, and they came

out of bondage. The rest of those folks griped,

complained, and stayed the same. But I am not

the same man I was at that time. My God has

caused me to ride upon the high places of the

earth. (Is. 58:14.)

What's the difference? They rebelled against

the message. I received it. You see, God is no

respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34.) I wasn't

something special, I wasn't born under a lucky

star. I just made up my mind, "I'm going to

believe the Word of God regardless of what

anybody else thinks."

I began to seek the Lord. The Bible says in

Psalms, " They that seek the Lord shall not want any

good thing." (Ps. 34:10). God's blessings began to

come upon me and overtake me.

Jesus is a messenger of good news, so all

those who have His message in their hearts

should be bearers of good news. Well, I have

some good news to share with you. God wants

you out of bondage! He wants you free!

2

Importance of Obedience

2

Importance of Obedience

37

It has never been the will of God that His

people be in bondage of any kind. We need to

be free, especially in the day in which we are

now living. When God speaks and tells us to do

something, we must be able to do it quickly,

without hesitation or hindrance, and without

having to consult others about it.

My friend, we have reached the point on

God's timetable that we can no longer be

dependent upon the financial system of this

world. God wants us free from all that. He

wants the Body of Christ in such a position that

everything we have, we possess—not the bank,

nor the finance company, nor the mortgage

company. God wants us to possess the goods of

this world and to make them available to Him

for His purposes. For us to get in that kind of

position is going to take a tremendous

commitment to God's Word.

Carolyn and I had to make that decision in

1969. It was not really a major decision on our

part; we had no choice. We were forced to do it.

We were broke and the bank wouldn't give us

any more money. We had borrowed all we

could from the finance company. We had

exhausted every avenue.

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Living in Divine Prosperity

We had been living in debt for years, just

trying to keep up the interest payments on all

we owed. I didn't know any other way to live. I

thought the only way to get what you needed

was to borrow the money for it. Then if that

wasn't enough, to borrow some more. If God

hadn't delivered me out of that mess, it would

have taken me to mid-Millennium to pay off all

that I owed. That's how long my notes were.

Thank God for deliverance!

That's not how God wants us to live. He

wants His people free, because we are the

extension of Jesus' ministry in the earth. Jesus

had a tremendous reputation as a giver. He

didn't come into this world to take; He came to

give. "The Son of man came not to be ministered

unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom

for many." (Matt. 20:28). Jesus gave His very life

for us. And that's exactly what God wants from

us—He wants our lives.

God doesn't want just part of you. He

doesn't want your money. He wants more than

your money. He wants you—all of you. If He

can get you, then everything you possess will

be available to Him.

Importance of Obedience

39

Giving: The Essence of Living

Now I want you to realize that God is not

telling us that we cannot have “things." God

does not want you to go without. Some people

have the mistaken idea that God does not want

us to have anything. They think that is why He

wants us to give all the time. They have

interpreted all this to mean that you have to be

poor to serve God.

Now let's rightly divide the Word of God.

Whenever God asks you to give, it is first of all

because He wants you to receive.

Do you remember what He told Abraham

in Genesis, chapter 12? Let's look at it:

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I

will bless thee, and make thy name great; and

thou shalt be a blessing:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and

curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all

families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 12:2,3

God said, "I will bless you, and I will make you

a blessing." It's one thing to be blessed, but it's

something else to be a blessing. If I am blessed,

it's because I need to be blessed. But if I am a

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Living in Divine Prosperity

blessing, then I become an instrument of God to

help someone else. I become a vessel through

which His divine favor flows out into someone

else's life.

There is nothing that can compare to being

an instrument of God to help someone else be

delivered. I have had more fun being God's

instrument to bless someone else. I have

learned in my own life just exactly what Jesus

meant when He said, " It is more blessed to give

than to receive." (Acts 20:35). There is no greater

joy in life than to be a blessing. It is a thrill to

have something a person needs and to hear

God say, "Give it to him," then to see it prevent

misfortune in that person's life. There is nothing

on earth that can surpass that joy.

God wants us blessed so we can be

blessings. God is not asking us to give and to

make ourselves available to Him, so we will

have nothing. If He asks you to give, then you

should give with joy, excitement, and praise.

You can't outgive God. He is going to see that

you are blessed in return.

I'm convinced that we need to change our

attitude about giving. The attitude of many

people has been that we give to get. No, that's

Importance of Obedience

41

backwards! We don't give to get; we live to

give! The essence of living is giving. That's

what life is all about. That's the reason you and

I are on this planet—not to see how much we

can acquire before we die, but to see how much

of ourselves we can give away to humanity

before we meet the Lord. That's what Jesus' life

was all about, and that's what our lives should

be all about.

Now it's obvious that spiritual laws are set

in motion when we give. We give and we

receive—that's a spiritual law, like sowing and

reaping. But giving to get should not be the

motivation in our lives. Our motivation should

be: "I'm giving because that's life. Giving is the

nature of God, and His nature has become my

nature."

His nature has become our nature, so it

should be the most natural thing in the world

for the children of God to be givers. It is

unnatural for a child of God to be stingy and to

withhold.

A Life-Style, Not a Scheme

The Lord told me, "My people are in

financial famine, and I want them out. I want

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Living in Divine Prosperity

them free. I don't want them in bondage."

God needs us out of bondage in order to

accomplish what needs to be done in this

earth before Jesus comes.

Therefore, we need to tap into the laws that

will put us into that position, and be obedient

to them, not just so we can prosper, but so we

can be instruments of God.

For many years now, I have had the

privilege of traveling around this nation,

ministering for the Lord. I live in hotels,

airplanes, and auditoriums all over the country.

I've seen people come and go. I've seen people

get into the flow of what God is doing, then I've

seen them get deceived and follow after

something else.

There is one thing I have noticed over the

years which I know must grieve our Lord.

People hear the message of freedom and are set

free only to start centering everything they do

around themselves, forgetting about the rest of

humanity.

When any person replaces his zeal for

winning people to Jesus with a desire for

things, he is in error. That's the problem with a

Importance of Obedience

43

lot of people in the Body of Christ right now. I

meet people who have their minds on things—

cars, airplanes, houses, clothes, everything their

flesh could possibly lust after—so much so that

they haven't won anybody to Christ in years.

Whatever happened to the zeal we had

when we first got born again, that burning

desire to share the Good News with somebody

else?

Many people sit in churches every Sunday

just to hear something else that will enable

them to get more things, yet they have no

concern about the spiritual condition of their

neighbor.

"But I don't have time to witness," they say.

"I've got to make a living. I've got bills to pay.

I've got to get a new car."

Proverbs 11:30 says, " He that winneth souls is

wise", and wise people don't stay broke. Wise

people prosper!

That is the message of this book: “Seek ye

first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and

all these things (you need) shall be added unto you.”

(Matt. 6:33).

You see, many people who come to our

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Living in Divine Prosperity

meetings to hear me preach prosperity think

I'm going to tell them how to get rich quick. Let

me tell you something. Any time you hear a

get-rich-quick message, you'd better check it

out because it's probably illegal.

God has no get-rich-quick, over-night-total-

success,

all-abundance-in-the-next-hour

formulas. God's Word deals with a life-style.

This is not something we try for two weeks to

see if it works. Either you are committed to this

for life, or you are just playing around with it. If

you have one foot in the world's way and one

foot in God's way, you will not succeed.

We need to realize that God has a plan for

His people. He has paid a tremendous price for

this plan and for provision to be made available

to His people. It is our responsibility to get our

hearts right before God, to be upright in

character and pure in heart. If we will do that

and make ourselves available to Him, if we will

allow His blessing to come upon us and in turn

be a blessing to the rest of humanity, then there

is nothing the Devil can do to keep us in

bondage.

But it must be done God's way, not our

way.

Importance of Obedience

45

Obedience Yields Prosperity

Then he sheweth them their work, and their

transgressions that they have exceeded. He

openeth also their ear to discipline, and

commandeth that they return from iniquity.

If they obey and serve him, they shall spend

their days in prosperity, and their years in

pleasures.

But if they obey not, they shall perish by the

sword, and they shall die without knowledge.

Job 36:9-12

Where did we get the idea that God loves

poverty? He loves the poor man, but poverty is

a curse in the sight of God. Thank God, we've

been redeemed from the curse of poverty. (Gal.

3:13,14.)

God has set forth laws, rules, requirements,

and conditions, which, if observed and carried

out, will result in a life of prosperity and

pleasures. However, if these laws, rules,

regulations, requirements, and conditions are

ignored, bondage will be the result. You see,

God never sets things in motion to be ignored.

Why would God waste His time to put this in

print (for which men have shed their very

blood that you and I might have a copy) if we

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Living in Divine Prosperity

were just to ignore it?

Man is God's most prized creation, His

crowning achievement. However, man is the

only creature God made that rebels against

Him. The mule is supposed to be the most

stubborn animal in existence, yet he won't

disobey God.

There was a time when God told the

prophet Balaam to preach, but the prophet

wouldn't obey. So God anointed the prophet's

donkey and the donkey preached. (Num. 22.)

Now that ought to tell us something about how

stupid men can get! The mule, being a stubborn

animal by nature, had better sense than to

disobey God, while man rebelled against Him.

Did you know that the birds won't rebel

against God? God told the prophet Elijah:

Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and

hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before

Jordan ... I have commanded the ravens to feed

thee there.

1 Kings 17:3,4

When God commanded those birds to bring the

prophet bread and meat twice a day, the raven

didn't say, "I don't want to, I did it last time. Get

the sparrow." Birds don't argue with God. The

Importance of Obedience

47

raven wouldn't think of disobeying God.

Fish won't disobey God either. One day

when Peter needed tax money, Jesus told him,

“Go fishing. The first fish you catch will have

money in its mouth. Take that money and pay your

taxes and mine." (Matt. 17:27.)

I'm convinced that when Jesus said that,

every fish around there immediately started

hunting money, because none of them knew

which was going to be the first one Peter would

catch. The fish didn't jump up out of the water

and say, "Jesus, we're not going to do this.

We're tired of hunting money down here in the

deep, scraping our bellies on the bottom of this

lake. We're tired of hunting money for ignorant

folks who can't pay their own taxes. You're just

going to have to get it some other way. Peter

got himself in this mess; let him get himself

out!" No, they wouldn't argue with God. Why?

Because God created all things, and all things

are subordinate to God.

It was only to man that God gave a free will.

He wanted man to be as close to Himself as

possible. It is our choice to obey or disobey. We

can choose to obey God, or we can choose to

disobey.

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Living in Divine Prosperity

Here God plainly tells us that if we obey

and serve Him, we shall—not may or might

possibly, but shall—spend our days in

prosperity and our years in pleasures. He has

also made it very clear that if we do not obey,

we shall perish.

Now we consider ourselves intelligent

beings. If so, then we ought to have sense

enough to obey God. Why don't we always

obey God? If we are totally honest, our answer

is probably something like this: "But God

doesn't understand, I have this problem." I've

said that myself. In times past, when God

would speak to me, I would answer, "But, God,

You don't understand."

Now isn't that stupid? If anybody

understands, God does. After all, He's the All-

knowing One. But because I was faced with a

problem which looked bigger than anything I

had ever experienced before, the problem in my

estimation became bigger than God. Suddenly

God didn't understand what I was going

through.

The Bible says Jesus is the express image of

God. (Heb. 1:3.) He came into this earth and

perfectly expressed the will, the nature, the

Importance of Obedience

49

ability, and the ways of God. The Bible says

that while He was here, He was " in all points

tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Heb.

4:15). There is nothing you and I can ever

experience that Jesus has not already

conquered. He knows what it's like to live on

this planet. The Bible says that we have a High

Priest Who can be touched with the feeling of

our infirmities, (v. 15.) Jesus knows what it's

like being here. He knows how mean and ugly

people can be. He experienced it Himself. He

knows the pressures and trials of this world

because He confronted them too. But He

overcame them all, and He left us an example

to follow.

But listen to the testimony of Jesus: " The

Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those

things that please him." (John 8:29). This should

be our number one goal. Our primary goal in

this life should not be to get rich; it should be

to please God. If you will please God, you will

be rich. God will see to it that you have every

need met. (Phil. 4:19.)

But we need to realize that God has set forth

certain laws, requirements, and conditions

which we must obey if we are to receive our

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Living in Divine Prosperity

needs met. God is not going to make us obey

them. He is not going to force us to live by His

commands. He just simply says, "If you are

intelligent enough to do what I say, then here's

what I will do for you. If you won't do it, then I

have no choice but to let you lead your own

life. You will live like the rest of the world and

you will perish with them. You will die without

knowledge."

God has said, " My people are destroyed for

lack of knowledge." (Hos. 4:6). But there's no

excuse for a lack of knowledge in the day and

age in which we live. The Word of God is going

forth in the world like never before. There is no

excuse for the Body of Christ being ignorant of

the things of God. If there were never another

meeting or cassette tape or paperback book

made available to you, you still have the Bible.

If you will get with the Holy Ghost, you can

learn it. There is no excuse for the Body of

Christ to be destroyed because of a lack of

knowledge.

All the seals have been taken off God's

Word. The Holy Spirit is revealing to us the

inner workings of our covenant with God and

showing us how to live by it. The Amplified Bible

Importance of Obedience

51

says in Proverbs 1:22: "How long, O simple

ones ... will you love being simple?" The wisdom

of God is available. It's crying out in the streets.

Happy—blessed, fortunate [enviable]—is

the man who finds ... Wisdom ...

For the gaining of it is better than the

gaining of silver, and the profit of it than fine

gold ...

Length of days is in her right hand, and in

her left hand are riches and honor.

Proverbs 3:13,14,16

So the wisdom of God is available to us.

What we need to do is to make the decision to

be obedient to God. We have to quit leaning to

the natural, to the ways of this world. Do you

realize that man—carnally minded man—and

God are diametrically opposed to each other?

The world has one way of doing things; God

has another.

If you listen to most forms of mass

communication today, you will hear the world's

way. But the Bible says there are two kinds of

wisdom in the earth. One is earthly, sensual,

devilish (James 3:15). For the most part, that is

what is being conveyed to the world.

The sad thing is that the Body of Christ has

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Living in Divine Prosperity

fallen into the trap of going along with what the

world says. If the world says there is

depression, then we get depressed. If it says

there is inflation, then we get inflated.

Generally, whatever the world says, the Body

of Christ accepts as the “gospel truth." But it is

not the Gospel truth!

There is another truth, another wisdom

" that is from above." (v. 17). This truth tells us

that we Christians are not subject to this world's

system. We belong to a higher order! We belong

on a higher plane!

Need for Discipline

It is sad to report, however, that many of

God's children are not enjoying all the benefits

of that higher life. They simply lack the self-

discipline necessary to get into God's Word and

to make up their minds that they are going to

live in this higher realm whether anybody else

does or not!

It takes determination to do that. Most

people haven't been trained to exercise self-

discipline. Our society today is geared to a sort

of "take-it-easy, hang-loose, if-it-feels-good-do-

it" attitude. The Body of Christ has allowed

Importance of Obedience

53

those principles to creep into the Church. The

prevailing attitude seems to be: "If the preacher

says something I don't like, I'll just leave." "If

things don't go the way I like, I'll just quit." “If I

don't feel like going to church, I'll just stay

home."

With such a "take-it-or-leave-it, anything-

goes" attitude, no wonder so many people are

having a hard time spiritually, physically, and

financially.

Somewhere down the line you have to draw

a boundary in your life and say, "In the name of

Jesus Christ of Nazareth, those are deeds of the

old man. I'm a new man, and I'm not going to

live that way anymore. I'm not going to follow

those paths anymore." When you make that

decision, be forewarned. It won't be long until

you get a marvelous opportunity to go back to

the old way. Why? Because " Satan cometh

immediately, and taketh away the word." (Mark

4:15)—if you let him! Be assured that the Devil

will try to force you back to your old way of

life.

Many times people stand up and say, "I'm

going to do it God's way from now on." Then

Satan comes to attack, and suddenly they begin

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Living in Divine Prosperity

to weaken. The pressure builds, and they fall

apart. All of a sudden they realize that they've

compromised. "Oh, I know this is not right, but

I don't know anything else to do." Sooner or

later, they are totally back into the world's way

of thinking, acting, and living. Oh, they still

love God. But because of a lack of commitment

and discipline, they end up living like the rest

of the world around them, victims of the

world's system.

It's time we were delivered from that. It's

time we make the decision to go God's way.

This is not the easiest decision you will ever

make, but, dear God, it's worth it! It is worth all

of the hours spent in God's Word and in

fellowship with Him. It is worth the effort and

the discipline it takes to refuse to go the world's

way. It is worth it because one day payday will

come. When it becomes a life-style, you

wouldn't consider going any other way!

I can't imagine living the way I used to live.

I can't imagine turning my back on God's

system now. I'm blessed. God is prospering me.

I'm in health. I'm having the time of my life.

I'm not saying that I never have problems.

I'm not saying that I never experience adversity.

Importance of Obedience

55

If anything, I have greater adversity now than

I've ever known, because "to whom much is

given, much is required." (Luke 12:48.)

The Devil does not stop attacking you just

because you gain knowledge. If anything, you

become more dangerous to him, and he will

attack harder. But the more knowledge you get,

the stronger you get. The stronger you get, the

better you resist. The better you resist, the

quicker he flees. God has made provision so

that even though Satan does come to try to steal

the Word from us, we get stronger in the Lord

and can overcome every attack.

Why God's People Suffer

Now notice that God says, “If they obey and

serve Me, they shall spend their days in prosperity,

and their years in pleasures. But if they will not

obey Me, they shall perish by the sword, and shall

die without knowledge." In His visitation, the

Lord told me, "Son, My people are suffering

financially in this day and time because of three

major factors: disobedience, rebellion, and

lethargy." Let's consider these for a moment.

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Disobedience

God has told us what to do, but we have

said that it won't work. He has told us how to

do things His way, but we have said, "But,

Lord, the evening news says . ."

God is telling us one thing; the world is

telling us another. We stand in the strategic

position of choosing which one we are going to

believe. Many times because of a lack of

commitment to God's way, we lean to the

world's way.

Let me ask you a question. Do you have

children? If you do, do you demand obedience

from them? Is it not well with them when they

obey, and not so well with them when they

don't? The Bible says, " Honour thy father and thy

mother ... that it may go well with thee." (Deut.

5:16). That's what I tell my kids every time they

are disobedient. I say, "It is not well with thee,

and it is not going to be well with thee until

thou doest right. When thou doest right, it will

be well with thee again." If there is one

scripture my kids know it's this: "It won't be

well with thee unless thou obeys thy papa!"

I demand obedience from my children. It

Importance of Obedience

57

displeases me when they are disobedient. Now

they are just kids, like anybody else's kids. They

try things here and there, and they get

punished for it. They are corrected and

disciplined. We sit down together and talk

about what's right and wrong. I can show them

from God's Word why what I say is the way to

behave. Then they have the choice of either

obeying or disobeying. If they disobey, it is not

going to be well with them. They open

themselves up for trouble. If they obey, then

just what has been promised is going to come to

pass.

If I demanded obedience from my children,

and then disobeyed God myself, I would be a

hypocrite. What kind of an example would that

be for my children? If I expect them to obey me,

then they have every right to expect me to obey

my Father, and so does God. If we say to our

children, "You are going to obey me or be

punished," then turn right around and say to

God, "But, Father, You don't understand; I don't

want to do that," what kind of example is that?

What do you think will be the result of that

kind of hypocrisy? No wonder so many

families end up with rebellious children,

because the parents themselves rebel.

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Rebellion

You may say, "But I'm not rebelling against

God." Well, let's consider what rebellion is.

Let's take tithing for example. Did you

know that tithing is a principle of G od? Some

people argue about whether tithing is a New

Testament teaching and whether New

Testament people should be tithers. Those who

want to argue against it say that tithing was

instituted in the Old Testament under the Law;

therefore, as New Testament creatures we are

exempt from it.

That's not so. Tithing was part of the Old

Testament Levitical Law. We find the tithe first

mentioned as a requirement of the Law in the

twenty-seventh chapter of Leviticus. But that is

not the first time tithing is mentioned in the

Bible. Tithing goes back to Genesis, the first

book of the Old Testament. There we read that

Abraham gave God " tithes of all." (Gen. 14:20).

In fact, it was not God Who instituted the

tithe—it was Abraham. Abraham did not tithe

because it was a law. The law hadn't even been

given yet! He did it because of his love for God,

because of his "attitude of gratitude" for what

Importance of Obedience

59

the Lord had done in his life.

We tithe because we want to. When you

realize from God's Word that tithing is a

principle in which God expects you personally

to take part, but then refuse to do so, that is

disobedience. Once you have been told that it is

disobedience and still refuse to tithe, then that

is rebellion. The Bible says " rebellion is as the sin

of witchcraft." (1 Sam. 15:23). And God won't

bless witchcraft!

When you fail to obey God, you are

disobedient. Once you realize you have been

disobedient in any area (I just used tithing as an

example) and have been told to correct that

disobedience, but you still refuse to obey, then

you are no longer just disobedient—you are

rebellious. Disobedience leads to rebellion.

If you tell your child to do something

around the house and he doesn't do it, that is

simple disobedience. But if you point out to

him what he was supposed to do, clearly

instruct him to do it—and how to do it—and he

still refuses to obey, then his disobedience has

become rebellion.

You see, many times the reason we have not

known the kind of prosperity that God has

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made available to us is because there are areas

of disobedience in our lives. When we continue

to be disobedient, it leads to rebellion. And

there is no way God can bless rebellion.

But there is a cure for disobedience and

rebellion: repentance. If we will turn to the

Lord in sincere repentance, He will save us and

deliver us from destruction.

There have been times in my own life when

God has instructed me by His Word to do

something, and as soon as I saw it, I wished I

hadn't! I didn't want to hear it, so I tried to

ignore it. If I was mad or angry at somebody, I

would try to forget I had ever read Christ's

teachings about strife and disharmony. I would

find something in the Bible I liked better,

something like, " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and

forget not all his benefits." (Ps. 103:2). I liked the

part about all His benefits. But, you see, we

can't ignore God's instruction and expect to

receive His benefits. It just won't work.

When we ignore the things God has spelled

out very clearly in His Word, that's

disobedience. When we continue to disobey, it

leads to rebellion. When we are in rebellion, we

cannot invite God into the midst of our problem

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61

until we have rid ourselves of that disobedience

and rebellion.

He is always there with open arms, waiting

for the moment that we say, "Father, forgive

me." When we do, that's when He takes charge.

He forgives and cleanses, putting that sin under

the blood of Jesus. He wipes the slate clean and

says to us, "Now, start afresh." Then He says,

"Go, and sin no more. Don't be disobedient

anymore."

Thank God for His grace and for His mercy!

But somewhere down the line we should

mature enough that we don't need special

manifestations of His grace. We should begin to

grow up spiritually. We expect our children to

grow up. We expect the principles that we lay

down to become a part of their nature and their

life so that they follow them unconsciously, just

like getting dressed in the morning.

It is a part of my nature to wear clothes. My

mother taught me how to put on my own

clothes when I was a little boy. Though I didn't

understand why, she made me realize I

couldn't leave the house without my clothes on.

I don't have to call up my mother every

morning and ask her, "Mama, should I put on

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my clothes today?"

The things we are teaching our children

should eventually become an integral part of

their lives, of their very natures. In the same

way when God instructs us in an area or leads

us in a path we are to take, we should do it

without hesitancy. We should not even think

twice about whether or not we ought to obey.

It almost amuses me when people come up

to me and ask, "Brother Jerry, God told me to

do something. Do you think I should?"

If God told you to do it, by all means do it!

If you are not sure whether or not it was God,

that's another thing. But if you know deep

down in your heart that God told you to do it,

then you don't need a confirmation. God's

telling you is confirmation enough.

Well, God has told you that if you will obey

Him, you will spend your days in prosperity

and your years in pleasures. Are you going to

do it?

Lethargy

Lethargy is another thing which has run

rampant in the Body of Christ. People get lazy

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63

and slothful sometimes.

In every church there is usually one guy

who is turned on and who wants to do

everything. When the pastor gives him

something to do, he gets in there and does it.

When another need arises, the pastor asks

for people to get involved, but nobody will.

Then this guy pops up and says, "I'll do it,

Pastor!" So he does it.

Before you know it, he's doing all the jobs.

No matter what the need is—teaching a Sunday

School class, keeping the nursery, cleaning the

restrooms—this guy is right there to do it.

Everything gets piled on that one person. Why?

Because there are a multitude out there who are

lazy. They say, "If I take that job, I'll be too tied

down," or "If I get involved in that, I won't be

able to do this," or "If I get committed to that,

I'll miss the Super Bowl." And those people

can't understand why they're having such a

struggle with problems all the time!

I'm so glad God doesn't have that attitude

when I'm in need: "I'm sorry, Jerry, but I'm so

busy with Brother Copeland. I can't help you

right now. If I met your needs, I couldn't visit

with him."

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Aren't you glad God isn't like that? I have

never run into Kenneth Copeland at the throne

room of God, have you? When I go to God, I

never see any of God's children there. Every

time I'm in need, I have God's full attention—

and I don't have to stand in line to get it.

That's the way He wants me to be where

He's concerned—available. If I make myself

available and obedient to Him, then He says I

will spend my days in prosperity and my years

in pleasures.

There was a young man who worked with

our ministry a few years ago. The first time I

met him, I knew he was one of the rare kind

who just can't get enough of the Word of God.

This young man wanted to work with us,

but at the time we didn't have any positions

open. He started coming to our church. He took

notes on everything that was preached. He

studied the Word constantly.

A few months went by, then one day our

office manager said to me, "You know, we need

another maintenance man to clean up around

here." So I suggested that he check with that

young man and see if he was interested.

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65

Most people who come around looking for

a job want to start at the top. They want to

preach. But this young man said, "I'll do

anything." When he came on staff, the first

thing he did was work outside on the grounds.

When I drove up, he was out there working. He

had a cassette recorder about 18 inches long

strapped to his side, with headphones on his

head and wires running all over his body. He

was playing some of my teaching tapes while

he worked.

One day he read in Deuteronomy 6 where

God said to bind the Word around your neck

and have it on your wrist. He came in the next

day with that recorder and headset on as usual,

but there was a big band around his arm. He

had put some scriptures on that band. Every

time he looked at it, he would read it over and

confess those scriptures.

One day he came in with a piece of wire

wrapped around his neck and sticking out in

front of his face. He had some scriptures on it

so he could read them while he was hoeing! I

never saw anything like it.

I'm not suggesting that you go to such an

extreme. That guy was desperate for the Word,

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and he didn't care what he looked like or what

people thought or said about him. Some folks

thought he was nuts. He did look like a nut.

But, you see, he had made up his mind that he

was going to get the Word, and he didn't care

what it took to do it! He just kept obeying God

and doing what God said to do. Today he is the

pastor of a very successful church. God

prospered him.

Lethargy is actually a spirit that comes

upon people—a spirit of laziness and

slothfulness. It is an effort of the adversary to

get us to lay down, give up, and play dead. Lots

of people are affected by this spirit. One reason

is the way they were brought up. Some people

never had any responsibility, so they don't

know how to handle it. (But, thank God, they

can learn.)

I was not a disciplined individual when I

came to Jesus. In fact, I was totally

undisciplined. I was a compromise going

somewhere to happen. I went through at least

ten jobs the first year and a half of my marriage.

Why? Because when things got tough and

pressure came, I would just quit. During my

first semester at college, I did fine until final

Importance of Obedience

67

exams. I quit school two weeks before the

semester ended.

I did not have the principle of discipline

built into me as I do now. It was not something

I had already developed. The Word of God

made a new man out of me.

Jesus said, " If ye continue in my word, then are

ye my disciples indeed." (John 8:31). Disciple

comes from the word discipline. That's what a

disciple is—a disciplined one. If we continue in

the Word, it will discipline us. In fact, if you

expect to live by God's Word, you will have to

get disciplined. It puts a demand on your life.

Many people rebel at what they call the

“faith message." The reason they rebel is

because it demands that they do something.

Some people simply don't want to do anything.

But in both the Old Covenant and the New

Covenant, God always demanded that His

people obey. If they did, it was well with them.

If not, they suffered the consequences of their

disobedience.

Commitment

When you get so desperate for the Word

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that you will obey God no matter what, then

you will spend your days in prosperity and

your years in pleasures. If you don't obey, you

will perish.

Jesus said, " He that hath my commandments,

and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." (John

14:21). If we don't keep His Word, there is every

reason to question whether we really love God.

It's important to realize these things and make

the decision to do whatever we see in God's

Word. We must make the commitment that

whatever God says to us by the Holy Spirit, we

will do. We must not be children who are

disobedient and rebellious, but always pleasing

to our Father.

Where the Blame Goes

I said that the three major things which

have caused God's people to be in bondage are

disobedience, rebellion, and lethargy. The cure,

as we have seen, is simply to repent and begin

to obey God. Now, you need to recognize and

admit one simple fact. Read it out loud:

"If I am failing, if I am not prospering, if I

am not successful, it is not God's fault, nor the

fault of the Word of God—it is my fault."

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69

Too many times people don't want the

responsibility put on them. It's so much easier

to place the blame on somebody else when

things are going wrong. We got that from

Adam. When God asked Adam why he had

disobeyed, Adam said, "It wasn't me. It was

that woman You gave me!" Ever since that time,

people have been pointing their finger at

somebody else.

Ask somebody, "What's your problem?"

They will probably answer: "My wife . . my

husband .. my kids . . my pastor . . my boss . .

my employees . . the government!"

How many times will someone answer,

"Me"? Not very often. But that's where the fault

lies—with us. If there is any failure, any defeat

in our lives, we are responsible. We have no

one to blame but ourselves. But, praise God, we

don't have to stop there. We don't have to

accept things as they are. We can change them.

We just need to recognize the truth of our

failure and quit blaming others for it. Then

repent, begin to obey God, and reap all the

benefits of that obedience!

I'm so glad that God isn't going to wait until

everybody in the world shapes up before He

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does something with me. The responsibility is

on me. My blessings will begin to flow when I

get myself lined up with God's Word.

It is obvious that the world is not obeying

God. That's why the world is suffering like it is

right now. The world is hurting, governments

are failing, economic systems are in chaos,

financial institutions are crumbling, and people

as a whole are suffering. But just because that's

the way the world is going does not mean the

Body of Christ has to follow that trend. We

don't have to go down that negative stream.

God has said:

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither

are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways, and my

thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8,9

If we make the decision to go God's way,

then we will be on a higher plane than the one

on which this world is operating. Even though

the world may be headed for ruin, we don't

have to go with it. Just because the world is

headed for a recession, or depression, or

inflation, does not mean we have to go that

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71

way.

We are in the world, but not of it. The

Psalmist said: " I have been young, and now am old;

yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his

seed begging bread." (Ps. 37:25). Though we are

in this world, and this world is headed in a

negative vein, we do not have to be governed

by that.

Somebody asked me, "What are you going

to do if gasoline reaches $5 a gallon?" As long

as God has $5.10, we can go. Every time gas

prices go up, and grocery prices go up, and rent

goes up, I make an appointment with my

Father and say, "Father, I need an increase in

my allowance." I have never been forsaken and

have never begged for bread. It doesn't make

any difference if bread goes to $19.72 a loaf—

God has $19.73! And it's available to all His

kids. If we are obedient to God, we don't have

to be governed by what is happening in this

world. As for me and my house, we are going

God's way because God's way works! How

about you?

God's system is a higher system, and it

works. It supercedes the laws by which the

world lives. If we are not prospering because

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we are following the course of this world, it's

our fault. It's because of our disobedience. All it

takes for us to turn the situation around is to

make a true commitment to God's way of doing

things, then refuse to back off from that

commitment.

I have never regretted my decision to live

by God's Word—and neither will you. But in

order to reap the benefits, we must be obedient.

Say this with me out loud: “If I obey and serve

God, I shall spend my days in prosperity and

my years in pleasures."

Now stand firm on that promise, and you

will see it come to pass in your life!

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Willingness to Serve

3

It is the will of God that His people prosper.

This is especially important to the Church

because of the times in which we live and

because of our responsibility as Christ's

representatives and ambassadors in this world.

God tells us in His Word that " the wealth of

the sinner is laid up for the just." (Prov. 13:22).

Why is that? What is the purpose of that

wealth? What are "the just" going to do with it?

We are going to finance the greatest revival this

planet has ever seen.

God has not promised wealth for us so we

can spend it on our lust. God is not against our

possessing things; He is against things

possessing us. The wealth of the sinner is laid

up for the just so that our needs will be met, but

its primary purpose is so that we can become

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channels of blessing or instruments of Almighty

God.

It is going to take lots of money to finance

the revival that is coming on this planet before

the return of the Lord Jesus. Right now Satan is

using people in the world as reservoirs of the

wealth which rightfully belongs to the Body of

Christ for the sake of the Gospel. Satan wants

people who will follow him and do exactly as

he instructs them to do. Then he can use those

people as reservoirs to funnel great sums of

money into activities that are evil and

detrimental to society.

But Proverbs 13:22 is a commandment of

God which has already been released, and it

will come to pass: " The wealth of the sinner is laid

up for the just." The Amplified Bible puts it this

way: "The wealth of the sinner [finds its way

eventually] into the hands of the righteous, for

whom it was laid up."

That's why I am so thrilled with the

message Jesus has given to me, so assured of its

authenticity and so confident of our success.

God wants us to prosper because in these last

days we have a tremendous responsibility, a

vital role to play in bringing Jesus back to the

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75

earth to catch away the saints. There is an

enormous job to be done. To accomplish that

job, God needs for us as His people to be

prosperous.

The Lord's Rebuke

As I have already stated, we have not

prospered to the degree that God desires

because of disobedience, rebellion, and

lethargy. We simply have been lazy where

God's instructions are concerned.

Let's read Job 36:9 once again:

Then he sheweth them their work, and their

transgressions that they have exceeded.

Let me make this statement: If you will stay

pure before God and allow Him to reveal your

work to you, He will show you where you are

missing it. He will bring your error to your

attention and show you what you have been

doing wrong. I want you to realize that we as

members of the Body of Christ should welcome

a rebuke from the Lord. If I'm in error, I don't

want to stay there; I want God to correct me.

Error creates bondage, but the truth will set you

free. (John 8:32.) If I am in error, I want God to

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tell me plainly, "Jerry, here's your problem." It

may hurt, but that's better than living in

bondage all my life.

When God points His finger at you and

says, "Quit doing that," it may hurt. At first, you

may not want to accept it. But the Bible says it

is a fool who refuses instruction. (Prov. 1:7.) A

wise man welcomes a rebuke. That's how we

are corrected and brought out of error.

Let me call to your attention what the

Apostle Paul said to Timothy: " Preach the word;

be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,

exhort with all long suffering and doctrine." (2 Tim.

4:2). Two of these three instructions are not

comfortable for the Body of Christ: reprove and

rebuke. Why did Paul instruct Timothy to

reprove, rebuke, and exhort? Because these

things bring perfection to the Body of Christ.

Second Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is

given by inspiration of God and is profitable for

reproof, correction, and instruction.

We need to welcome God's correction in our

lives. When God reveals that we are in error, it

is not because He is condemning us. When you

are acting in conflict with God's Word, He will

not condemn you, but He will convict you by

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His Spirit. I welcome God's correction and

instruction because I don't want to live in

bondage.

He sheweth them their work, and their

transgressions that they have exceeded.

He openeth also their ear to discipline, and

commandeth that they return from iniquity.

Job 36:9,10

That's good instruction. If you will go

before God and say, "Father, show me my

error," God will do it. Then He will open your

ear to discipline. Once you have been shown

your error, God will expect you to discipline

yourself in that area. In other words, you will

be held responsible for that instruction. He will

expect you to walk in the light of it.

You will be expected to determine that no

matter what the pressure or temptation, you

will not compromise and yield to it again. God

will expect you to "return from iniquity."

An Attitude of Servitude

Then verse 11 says, “If they obey and serve

him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and

their years in pleasures.” Once again, we have a

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condition. God says, “If they obey and serve ....”

Some people think about being obedient,

but they will not serve. God says, " If they obey

and serve....” Evidently God wants us to have an

attitude of obedience and an attitude of

servitude.

I realize we are no longer under the Law.

However, Jesus said that no man can serve two

masters. No man can serve two masters.

Apparently there is a responsibility where the

Body of Christ is concerned to serve one

master, not just give lip service to him. When

you relinquish your relationship with Satan,

you become loyal to God. When you say,

"Satan, you're no longer the god of my life. I

make Jesus the Lord of my life," you take upon

yourself an attitude of servitude. Your entire

existence should then center around serving

Him.

When young men are called into the armed

forces of this nation, we say they are "in the

service," meaning "in the service of our nation."

As Christians, we are soldiers of the Lord, in

the service of the Lord.

Have you ever been to boot camp? If so,

then you can relate to the following story.

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79

While I was in basic training, I thought, Dear

God, what's a nice guy like me doing in a place

like this? What's wrong with these people?

Why don't they let me sleep? Why don't they let

me eat what I want to? Why do I have to run

through those exercises yelling "kill, kill, kill"

before I can eat breakfast? I don't want to kill

anybody; I just want to eat.

We had a saying in the service: "There is the

right way, the wrong way, and the Army way."

We learned to do things the Army way,

regardless of whether we liked it or not. When

you're in the Army, you do things the Army

way. Many times that way seemed absolutely

ridiculous to us, but we did it. We learned

obedience. We were taught discipline. We

learned to serve.

There comes a time in the life of any soldier

in combat when he becomes grateful for the

things he was taught in boot camp. Sooner or

later he realizes and appreciates the value of

obedience to commands, because his very life

depends upon it.

Well, my friend, we are in the service of the

Lord. The Bible says if we obey and serve Him,

that obedience and service will pay off. Too

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many times p e o p l e m i s i n t e r p r e t t h e

t e r m "charismatic." They think they are free of

their denominational restriction. But "free"

usually is interpreted to mean irresponsible.

That is not what being charismatic means.

The Apostle Paul warned us about this kind

of attitude. In Galatians 5:1 he said: " Stand fast

therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made

us free." Then in verse 13 he wrote: ". . only use

not liberty for an occasion to (serve) the flesh."

Some people think that because they are

freed from denominational bondage that they

are freed from commitment of any kind. That is

not true. God wants a commitment from us. We

are free from religious tradition, but let's not

forget that the Bible still teaches us to be

committed and totally dedicated.

We need to straighten our thinking where

this freedom is concerned. We are in the service

of the Lord and our lives are not our own. We

have been bought with a price—the shed blood

of the Lord Jesus Christ. We belong to Him. We

are to be at His disposal, in His service, ready

for whatever He desires us to do.

Purpose of Faith

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81

Many people have gotten the "faith

movement" so confused. Now don't

misunderstand me. I'm not preaching against

faith. I'm a faith teacher. I am preaching against

the error that has somehow crept into the

movement.

Some people have the mistaken idea that

we don't have to commit ourselves to anything,

that we can do whatever we want. Such people

never channel their faith toward meeting the

needs of humanity and serving God. But that's

what it's all about. That's what faith is for!

God never intended for you to develop

your faith so you could go around

accumulating the things you want. God wants

your faith strong so you can be His instrument

of blessing to humanity, to stop the ravages of

Satan's warfare in the lives of others. That's

what this thing is all about. If you will get

involved in blessing others, God will see to it

that all the things you need will be added unto

you as well.

Many times we have gotten our priorities in

the wrong order. We seek things instead of

seeking the Creator. That's backwards. God has

said that if we will seek first His Kingdom and

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His righteousness, all the things we need—even

the desires of our own heart—will be added

unto us. We need to realize that we are in the

service of the Lord. Faith has been given to us

by Him to get His work done, not to serve our

own selfish ends.

Daily Prosperity

God has told us, “If they obey and serve Me,

they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their

years in pleasures. But if they do not obey, they will

perish by the sword, and they will die without

knowledge." Obedience causes prosperity to

come to us daily. He said, “They will spend their

days in prosperity." In other words, God desires

that we prosper every day.

There is a verse in God's Word that says He

desires that whatever we set our hand to

prospers. Well, my little hands are busy every

day. If God wants to prosper whatever I set my

hand to, then evidently He wants me to prosper

every day. My obedience will cause me to

prosper daily; disobedience will rob me of a

day's prosperity. If I am not willing to obey and

serve, then my actions will rob me of that day's

prosperity. If I refuse to follow the instructions

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83

God has given me in His Word and by His

Holy Spirit, then I cannot expect prosperity that

day.

That has happened to lots of people. Their

days have begun to mount up, and years of

prosperity have been robbed from them. That is

not the will of God. But, as I have said, there is

a cure: repentance.

If we are willing to repent—to go before

God, confess our sin of disobedience, and ask

His forgiveness—then God will cause that sin

to be removed. When the sin is removed, the

hindrance to our prosperity is removed. We can

start afresh, and our prosperity will begin to

flow again. But He will expect us to walk in

obedience and serve Him daily. We should

prosper every day as we follow God's

instructions daily.

Daily Obedience

Many times people want God to talk to

them about their daily guidance, but are not

willing to follow the general instructions in His

Word. By general, I mean the instructions that

are for all the Body of Christ. You see, the Bible

is for all of us. I am expected to live by it, just as

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you are. However, there may be some

individual instructions God gives to me

personally that He never speaks to you about.

He may tell me to do something He would

never ask you to do. However, we are all

required to obey the written Word.

Our obedience to that Word puts us in a

position to have God speak to us individually

by His Spirit to guide us daily in our own

personal lives. If we are willing to obey the

general instructions, then we are willing to

obey the specific instructions to us personally.

Because some people won't obey the

general instructions, they have a hard time

hearing specific instructions. I hear people

complain, "God never talks to me."

I ask them, "Are you obeying the Word?"

"No."

"Then you shouldn't expect God to talk to

you. If I had written you a letter with

instructions about how to live, and you

wouldn't read or obey it, I wouldn't bother to

try to instruct you verbally."

Some people keep God's Word out on the

coffee table so everybody will be sure to see it

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when they come in. They may pick it up now

and then to read a verse or two at night before

they go to sleep. Some may even read it

religiously, but they will not obey its contents.

Then they go to God and say, "Lord, please

help me. I need some advice."

God asks, "Did you read My Book?"

"Well, no. I don't get anything out of it. But

I've got to have some help on this situation

here. You've just got to tell me how to handle

it!"

If this describes you, read the Book! It will

give you a general concept of how God

operates. From His Word we learn God's

thoughts and ways. When we know such

general things and are obedient to His general

instructions, then we are in a position to receive

specific instructions about our own situations.

Many people are wanting God to help them

in their business, yet they won't follow God's

general instructions about business. They want

God to give them specific instructions about

their marriage, their health, or their finances,

yet they won't obey what He has said in His

Word about these things.

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We cannot expect to receive help from God

if we ignore what He has already told us. We

must learn to obey God's Word. There is no

other way. When we are willing to obey God's

Word (all of it, not just the parts we like), then

God will have daily communication with us by

His Spirit.

Trust the Word

Someone asked me one time, "How can you

possibly base your life on the Bible when men

wrote it, and men are capable of making

mistakes? How do you know those men were

accurate?"

I told that person, "Well, I just believe that

anybody smart enough to create a universe is

surely capable of getting something across to a

man clearly enough that he could get it down

on paper the way He wanted it written."

Another person told me once, "Well, I'm just

not going to base my life on something men

wrote."

"Are you saved?" I asked.

"Yes."

"How did you get that way?"

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"John 3:16."

"A man wrote that. It's John 3:16, not God

3:16. A man wrote that."

"Yes, but God inspired it."

"Yes, God inspired it, and I have the

audacity to believe it. I'm going to heaven

because I believe what John wrote. If I can

believe John 3:16, I can also believe 3 John 2 in

which he said, " Beloved, I wish above all things

that thou mayest prosper." The same man wrote

both verses. It was the same man hearing God.

If John was accurate in John 3:16, it's possible he

was accurate in 3 John 2. If he was accurate in

either one, he should have been accurate in

both. If he was inaccurate, then we are wasting

our time because none of it can be trusted, none

of it will work."

Someone else asked me, "How can you base

success on the Word of God when it was

written by mere men? How can you have the

audacity to believe that circumstances are going

to change because of something written by a

man?"

I answered, "Because that's what Jesus did."

On the mount of temptation, our Lord Jesus

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Christ didn't base His victory and success on

something God had said to Him in an audible

voice. He quoted something Moses had written

—something written by a "mere" man. If Moses

had missed it, Jesus would have been in

trouble. Jesus told Satan, " It is written." Written

by whom? Moses. Not God, but Moses. If

Moses had not written the message the way

God intended it, Jesus would have been basing

His victory over Satan's temptations on a

fallible source. What if Moses had missed it?

But he didn't miss it, because he had heard

from God.

Peter said that these things were written in

times past by holy men who were moved by

God. (2 Pet. 1:21.) Thank God, we can base our

lives on it. I know I'm not going to hell because

God gave the words to a man. God inspired it,

breathed upon it, and anointed it. My eternal

destiny was changed because of it.

Since I believe John 3:16 was inspired of

God, I have no reason to doubt that the whole

Bible was inspired of God. If Paul wrote that

God shall meet all of my need according to His

riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19), to me

that is just as real and powerful as John's telling

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me that if I believe on Jesus Christ I shall not

perish but have everlasting life. I have no more

problem with Philippians 4:19 than I do with

John 3:16.

Some people can believe one part of the

Word, yet have trouble with another part. The

only reason for that is because they haven't

developed their faith in that particular area.

When we believe God's Word (all of it) is

inspired of God and we are willing to obey the

principles outlined in it, then our daily

communication with Him will become very

intimate. He will guide us in our daily affairs.

If you are always willing to do what God

tells you, then you are going to prosper. If you

hesitate, argue, and try to talk God out of it,

you will be robbing yourself of prosperity. It's

just that simple.

Ordered Steps

The steps of a good man are ordered by the

Lord: and he delighteth in his way.

Psalm 37:23

God wants to order our steps. The word

order is a military term. To order is to

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command. God orders (commands) our steps, if

we will obey those orders.

Many people have no idea that God is

trying to lead them step by step in this life.

They just take off in some direction. They try

and fail in different areas. Then finally they

begin to get smart and see their mistakes. Yet

all the time God was wanting to order their

steps and prevent those mistakes. We don't

have to learn by trial and error; we can learn

by simple obedience!

... I am the Lord thy God which teacheth

thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that

thou shouldest go.

Isaiah 48:17

God wants to lead us in the way we should

go. If we will obey and serve, then we will

profit and prosper. If anybody ought to know

how to profit, it's God. If anybody knows how

to live well, it's God. I am so thrilled that this

personality—this All-knowing, All-mighty, All-

successful God—was willing to put the

principles upon which He lives into a book,

then send us His Holy Spirit (Who knows how

they operate) to indwell us, to teach us how to

profit, and to lead us in the way we should go.

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All we have to do is be willing to obey and

serve.

If I want to prosper and succeed in my life,

God already knows the steps necessary to get

there. He has already laid out the path I should

take. He knows what is necessary to reach

every goal or ambition or vision that He has

placed in my heart. He knows what steps I need

to take. If I am willing to let Him order my

steps and if I will do exactly what He tells me

without hesitation or argument, then prosperity

will come to me. Everything I set my hand to is

going to prosper, and I'm going to spend my

days in prosperity. But if I'm disobedient, the

whole wheel of progress is stopped.

Attitude of Obedience

Now let me share something with you

about an attitude of obedience. In Ephesians

6:1-3 Paul writes:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for

this is right.

Honour thy father and mother; which is the

first commandment with promise; that it may be

well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the

earth.

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God has a family. He is the Father, the Head

of that family, and we are the children. Surely,

anything He would tell children in the natural

to do, He would expect from His spiritual

children. In fact, everything I have learned

about being a good father to my children has

come from God. The similitude of my

fatherhood comes from God. In other words,

anything good that I do as an earthly father was

imparted to me from God, my heavenly Father.

I've had some situations with my two

daughters. When they became teenagers, I had

to lay down some new rules. These rules were

not always too popular with the girls. There

have been times when they have disobeyed me.

(They knew better, but they did it anyway.)

Well, it was not pleasing to me, and it was not

well with them. When I come home and find

that my daughters have been disobedient, that

they have rebelled against the instructions I left,

I don't like it. I expect my girls to obey. When

they don't, things definitely don't go well with

them.

What pleases me most is when they obey

what I say without argument. I detest argument

when instructions have been given. I don't like

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that in any kind of relationship, and neither

does God. It is dishonorable to argue with God.

I don't want my children to argue with me,

but I also don't want them to ignore what I tell

them. Have you ever grabbed your child and

said, "Listen to me! Are you listening to me?"

"Yes, sir, I'm listening."

"What did I say?"

"I don't know, but I'm listening."

Many times God is trying to tell us

something, but we are so busy doing something

else that we don't hear Him. "God told me to

give that away, but I don't want to, so I'll just

act like I didn't hear what He said." If your

child did that, you would spank him. Do you

see what disobedience does? It opens the door

to the adversary.

When God has given us instructions which

we refuse to obey, it's not God who beats us in

the flesh—it's the Devil. God is the Father of

spirits. He chastises His children with His

Word. He will scourge (beat on) us with His

Word. God is a spiritual Father; He does not

use carnal methods to train spirits.

As a father in the natural, I use words and

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rods. The Bible says, " He that spareth his rod

hateth his son." (Prov. 13:24). My kids know I

love them, just as my dad loved me.

But God uses words. If I rebel at His words,

it's almost as if He has to fold His arms and say,

"I'm trying to tell you, but you've decided you

want to learn it the hard way." And He just has

to back off and let us have our little experience.

Someone has said, "Yes, but experience is the

best teacher." No, experience is second best. The

Holy Ghost is still number one. If we will obey

God, we will learn the easy way.

Most people are hard-headed. I was so

hard-headed in the past. I wanted an

experience. So God would back away and say,

"Okay, have your experience then." Later I

would say, "I'll never do that again!" I could

have saved myself that hard lesson if I had

listened to God.

My dad used to try to get through to me

when I was a teenager. You see, I was a

hotrodder, always drag racing in the streets,

and Dad didn't like it. He would say, "Son, if

you don't quit drag racing in the streets, I'm

going to take your keys away from you. You're

going to tear up your car. You could hurt

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yourself and endanger the lives of others. I'm

not going to put up with it." He told me all the

consequences that could happen if I continued

to disobey. Do you know why? He didn't want

me endangered. He didn't want my life snuffed

out because of some foolishness. He knew what

he was talking about.

But as a youngster, I thought I knew more

than Dad. As children we think we know it all.

Some of God's kids think they know more than

He does. They have the same attitude toward

Him as youngsters sometimes have toward

their parents: "Oh, what does He know? He

doesn't understand." If only we could learn

once and for all that God knows what is best for

us! Then obedience would be so much easier

and quicker for us. We could save ourselves so

much misery. But, no, sometimes we just have

to learn the hard way.

My dad told me why I shouldn't drag race

in the street. He told me what would happen if

I continued to do so, but I ignored his advice.

At first, it wasn't deliberate. I would just get

tempted to race. I would be fine until

somebody pulled up next to me and revved his

engine. I really didn't intend to race. I didn't

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intend to break the law or to disobey Dad, but I

couldn't resist the temptation. I couldn't refuse

a challenge.

Then one time I left the rear end of my car

laying in the middle of the street when I blew

up the transmission. When I got home, Dad

asked, "What did you do?"

"Drag raced in the street."

"What happened?"

"Tore up my car."

"Didn't I tell you that would happen?"

"Yes, sir."

“Why didn't you obey me?"

"I will now."

Isn't that dumb? But that's what we do. We

grow up with that kind of attitude, then we let

it carry over into our relationship with our

Father God. All God is asking us to do is to

obey and serve Him because He knows what is

best for us. He led the path of Jesus through

this earth, and Jesus was a total success.

God knows the pitfalls along our way. The

Bible says He will show us things to come.

(John 16:13.) He knows how to lead us through

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this life if we are willing to obey and serve Him.

Quickly and Quietly

In the third chapter of 1 Timothy the

Apostle Paul gives some instructions about the

office of bishop. One of the requirements is that

he rule " well his own house, having his children in

subjection with all gravity." (v. 4). The Living Bible

says: "He must have a well-behaved family, with

children who obey quickly and quietly." That's an

attitude of obedience. Quickly and quietly. My

kids have heard that so much. In fact, now

when we tell them, "You should obey . .," they

say, "Yes, we know—quickly and quietly."

That's the attitude there should be in obedience.

That's the kind of attitude God wants us to

have. He wants us to obey Him, not when we

get around to it, not when we finally decide

that He knows best, not after we've tried

everything else, but the moment He says it.

Quickly and quietly. That means without

argument, without hesitation.

Let me give you an example from my own

experience to illustrate what I mean. A number

of years ago, I was getting ready to go to

Memphis, Tennessee, for a meeting. While I

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was packing, God spoke to me and said, "Son, I

want you to sent Joe (a minister friend) some

money."

I said, "I'll do that, Lord, just as soon as I get

through packing."

But I got busy and forgot about it. As I was

driving toward Memphis, the Spirit of God

spoke to me again, "I told you to send Joe that

money."

"Lord, I forgot. But I'll do it just as soon as I

get to Memphis." And I just kept on driving.

Joe was believing God for a need he had

right then, and God was wanting me to help

meet that need—but I was too busy. They were

both doing their part. Joe was praying and

believing; the Lord was moving—but I wasn't

doing my part. The sad thing about it was that

Joe lived less than twenty miles from my home,

but I was going to wait until I had driven all the

way to Memphis before I sent him that money.

It might have taken a week to get to him.

I got to Memphis and checked into my

hotel. As I was lying in bed asleep in the middle

of the night, suddenly I woke up. God said, "I

told you to send that money to Joe."

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"God, I'll do it just as soon as I get back

home."

"That's not good enough. Call you wife and

tell her to get that money over to him right

now."

"But, Lord, it's the middle of the night."

"He needs it now; in fact, he needed it hours

ago. He is standing in faith, believing Me to

meet his need. I've talked to several people

today about meeting his need and all of them

have responded like you." Then He added, "The

next time you're in need and your help doesn't

come when you need it, don't say a word."

When I heard that, I wanted to get in my car

and drive back home right then! I called

Carolyn and said, "Get that money over to Joe.

Don't hesitate. God said to do it now!" She got it

to him as quickly as she could.

God taught me something in that

experience. He said, "Son, there is a spiritual

law that you released in your life when you

acted that way. I said, ' Do unto others as you

would have them do unto you.' That's why your

needs sometimes go days before they are met.

It's not My fault. I spoke, but you caused Me to

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have to speak to people who delay, who won't

obey quickly and quietly, who hesitate and put

it off. You set the pattern in your own life

because of the way you act. Is that the way you

want to live the rest of your Christian life?"

I said, "No, Sir, I'm going to correct that.

From now on when You tell me to give, I will

do it right away. I'm going to allow You to

order my steps and lead me in the way I should

go. I'm willing to obey and serve You.

Whatever You tell me to do, I'll do without

argument, hesitation, or delay."

The attitude in obedience is quickly and

quietly. It does not bring delight or pleasure to

you as a parent when your children argue with

you about something you've told them to do. If

they get around to doing it in a week, that's not

pleasing either. What is pleasing to you? It

pleases me when my children do what I've

instructed them to do without argument,

especially in the presence of others. It is

embarrassing when you ask your children to do

something for you in the presence of others and

they make excuses or act like they didn't hear

you. That's not pleasing.

Neither is it pleasing to God when He says,

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"Go to the pastor's house and give him a day

off; clean his house for him," but we answer, "If

I do that, who's going to clean mine? Besides I

didn't like what he preached last week." If you

act that way, you will rob yourself of that day's

prosperity.

Suppose you go to the grocery store, and

God says to you, "Sister Jones is in dire need.

Buy her some groceries." But you say, "But,

God, I only have $40. You know I can't do that."

If God tells you to do something, He is big

enough to help you carry it out. Our problem

has been that we just haven't been willing to

obey. We come up with all these excuses and

rob ourselves of that day's prosperity.

God says, "Go tell your pastor that I don't

want him sweeping the church floor anymore.

You go down there and sweep it."

We have to learn to obey God. It may not

always be easy, but it always pays!

Serve and Obey

I'm going to tell you something very

important. To prosper the way God wants us

to, we must be willing to obey and serve.

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People willing to serve are people who are

exalted. Everybody wants to be number one.

But Jesus said, " Whosoever of you will be the

chiefest, shall be servant of all." (Mark 10:44). The

chiefest of all are those who are willing to serve.

Men and women who are willing to serve will

be exalted by God. He will bring them to honor

and prosper them.

Let me show you an example of a man in

the Bible who wasn't willing to obey. In the fifth

chapter of 2 Kings we see a man who almost

robbed himself of his prosperity because of his

attitude toward obedience. He was not willing

at first to obey God's instructions because they

didn't line up with what he thought he should

do.

Now Naaman, captain of the host of the

king of Syria, was a great man with his master,

and honourable, because by him the Lord had

given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a

mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.

And the Syrians had gone out by

companies, and had brought away captive out of

the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on

Naaman's wife.

And she said unto her mistress, Would God

my lord were with the prophet that is in

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Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.

And one went in, and told his lord, saying,

Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of

Israel.

And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I

will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he

departed, and took with him ten talents of silver,

and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes

of raiment.

And he brought the letter to the king of

Israel, saying, Now when this letter has come

unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman

my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him

of his leprosy.

And it came to pass, when the king of Israel

had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and

said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that

this man doth send unto me to recover a man of

his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and

see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.

And it was so, when Elisha the man of God

had heard that the king of Israel had rent his

clothes, that he sent to the king, saying,

Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him

come now to me, and he shall know that there is

a prophet in Israel.

So Naaman came with his horses and with

his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of

Elisha.

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And Elisha sent a messenger unto him,

saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and

thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt

be clean.

2 Kings 5:1-10

At this point Naaman must be willing to

obey, or he won't be healed of leprosy. Many

times what God tells you to do will not make

sense to the natural mind. I've had God tell me

to do things that, had I asked people's opinion,

they would have said, "That's crazy!" But I

didn't ask people, I asked God and He said to

do it. So I did it, and it worked!

Here the messenger of God has told this

man what to do. The instructions, inspired by

God, were very simple: "Go jump in the river."

But Naaman got mad. The King James Version

says, " But Naaman was wroth." (v. 11). That's

understandable.

Suppose you were deathly ill and went to

Tulsa, Oklahoma, to have Oral Roberts lay

hands on you and pray for your healing. When

you got there, he wouldn't even come out. He

just sent out a message that you were to go

jump in the Arkansas River. How would you

feel? Would you do what the messenger said to

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do?

I had an experience similar to this while I

was working as associate minister for Kenneth

Copeland. It was my responsibility to take

Brother Copeland to this hotel room after each

meeting and attend to his needs. Also I was

supposed to answer any questions the people

might have. One night in Kansas City, Brother

Copeland and I were sharing a room. We had

just returned from a meeting and Brother

Copeland was physically drained from

ministering to the people for hours. He had just

gotten settled in bed for the night, when

suddenly there was a knock at the door. When I

opened it, there stood a young man who

wanted to see Brother Copeland.

I said, "I'm sorry, sir, but he's in bed asleep."

"I don't care. I want to see him."

"Well, I'm sorry, may I help you? I'd be glad

to help you, if I can."

"You won't do."

"Well, there's nothing we can do for you

tonight. Come to the meeting in the morning."

"I want to see him now."

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"Sir, I'm trying to be as nice as I can, but you

can't see him now. He is asleep and you can't

come in."

"I'm coming in," he insisted, and pushed me

down. When I hit the floor, it woke up Brother

Copeland. He got up and told that man in no

uncertain terms, "Whatever this fellow tells

you, you'd better believe what he says!" I was

just following Brother Copeland's instructions.

Some people won't obey God if He doesn't

conform to their preconceived notions. Naaman

was like that. He should have rejoiced over the

instructions. Who cares what God tells you to

do, as long as it works?

Some people think, But, Lord, that's not the

way you told Brother Hagin to do it. Why do I have

to do it this way? Because you're not Kenneth

Hagin! You had better not try to do something

a certain way just because God told Brother

Hagin to do it that way. You need to do what

God wants you to do. Get rid of all your

preconceived ideas and listen to God's

instructions to you. Then obey those

instructions without question or hesitation.

Notice what Naaman did:

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But Naaman was wroth, and went away,

and said, Behold, I thought... (Right there is one

of our main problems—wrong thinking.) ... He

will surely come out to me, and stand, and call

on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his

hand over the place, and recover the leper.

v. 11

This guy had it all figured out, didn't he?

He had the whole script written in advance.

This thing was going to be dramatic. Sometimes

God's instructions are very simple, so simple

that some people miss them.

Naaman was not willing to obey and

simply follow God's instructions. He was mad,

and finally left. But one of his servants came to

him and asked:

My father, if the prophet had bid thee do

some great thing, wouldest thou not have

done it? how much rather then, when he

saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?

v. 13

In other words, “Listen, if the prophet had

told you to do something really hard, wouldn't

you have done it? Then why don't you do this?

All he's asking you to do is to dip yourself in

that river seven times. He said you would

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recover from the leprosy. Why not do it?"

Thank God, he did do it and the Scriptures

tell us his “flesh came again like unto the flesh of a

little child, and he was clean.” (v. 14). But do you

see how his disobedience, his attitude of

hesitation and delay, his unwillingness to do it

the way God said, could have cost him his

healing?

Do you remember the situation with Peter

in the boat? Jesus was preaching one day and a

crowd of people had gathered around Him and

were about to push Him into the water. He saw

a fisherman, Peter, who had been out fishing all

night long with his partners, James and John,

and their father. They were all on the shore

washing their nets, but Peter was still in the

boat, just coming in to shore. When Jesus saw

Peter, He asked if he could stand in his boat

and preach from it.

When He had finished His sermon, Jesus

turned around to Peter and said, " Launch out

into the deep, and let down your net for a draught."

(Luke 5:4).

Peter replied, “Master, we have toiled all the

night, and have taken nothing ….” (v. 5).

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That attitude almost cost Peter the best

day's fishing he ever had. "Lord, we've been out

there all night long and haven't caught a thing."

But then his whole destiny for that day was

changed with these words: ". . nevertheless at thy

word I will let down the net." (v. 5).

That's how Jesus wants us to respond to His

instructions. When He says to do this or that, to

go here or there, to give something, or to make

ourselves available for some particular work,

He wants us to answer, "Yes, Lord, at Thy

Word I will do it."

When we create that attitude of obedience

in our lives, God will lead us in the way we

should go and everything we set our hand to

will prosper. We will spend our days in

prosperity and our years in pleasures.

4

Nature of Faith

4

In the fourth chapter of Romans we read

that Abraham is known as the father of faith,

" the father of all them that believe" (v. 11). Verse 3

tells us that " Abraham believed God, and it was

counted unto him for righteousness." Because

Abraham believed God, the Lord referred to

him as His friend. (Is. 41:8.) Because God knew

Abraham would believe Him and be obedient

to Him, God chose him to be the man through

whom He would establish His covenant of

blessing for His people, and indeed for all

people who will accept it by faith. In this

covenant (contract, agreement) God promised

that if Abraham (and his seed) would obey and

serve Him, God would abundantly bless him

(and his seed).

Verse 13 tells us:

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The promise, that he should be the heir of

the world, was not (given) to Abraham, or to his

seed, through the law, but through the

righteousness of faith.

God promised that Abraham (and his seed)

would inherit the world. But that promise did

not come because of the Law (which would

come some 430 years later). It came because of

Abraham's faith in God.

Galatians 3:9 tells us that “they which be of

faith are blessed with faithful Abraham,” and verse

29 assures us that “if ye be Christ's, then are ye

Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the

promise.”

That means everything God promised

Abraham belongs to us! We are Abraham's

seed, and the blessings of Abraham are ours!

Abraham was the father of faith. Verse 11 of

Galatians 3 declares that " the just shall live by

faith." If we are going to live in accordance with

the way God has ordained (that is, by faith),

then we need to understand certain things

about faith. We need to understand how to live

it and how to fully consecrate our lives to God

so that they are pleasing to Him and so that

there will be no hindrance to His blessings

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coming upon us as they did upon Abraham.

I would like to be called the friend of God. I

would like to be so intimate with God that He

would not do anything without first revealing it

to me. That's the way it was with Abraham.

God had such an intimate relationship with

Abraham that He would not destroy Sodom

and Gomorrah until He had first talked it over

with His friend. (Gen. 18:16-22.) In fact, it was

Abraham who dictated the conditions for that

destruction. (vv. 23-33.) Now that is intimacy

with God.

We have the ability to walk that closely

with God. But to do it, we need to know

something about how Abraham got into that

favored position. We need to know what he did

to be able to enter into that kind of blessing and

prosperity, how he entered into that life of faith.

Faith Works

Let's look again at the fourth chapter of

Romans where the Apostle Paul is describing

Abraham's life, using him as an example of the

life of faith:

And he (Abraham) received the sign of

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circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the

faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that

he might be the father of all them that believe,

though they be not circumcised; that

righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

And the father of circumcision to them who

are not of the circumcision only, but who also

walk in the steps of that faith of our father

Abraham, which he had being yet

uncircumcised.

Romans 4:11,12

Notice that phrase: ". . who also walk in the

steps of that faith of our father Abraham." God is

instructing us New Testament believers to walk

in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham,

the father of faith.

To some people living by faith means "quit

thy job." It does not. You can live by faith and

have twelve jobs, just as long as you don't make

them your source. Living by faith does not

mean quit your job. In fact, if you're going to

quit your job, then you had better know how to

live by faith first, or you will starve.

Living by faith does not mean you can quit

work. In fact, the opposite is true. My Bible

says, " faith worketh." (Gal. 5:6.) Some people

believe that the life of faith is a life of laziness.

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But Jesus lived by faith, and He said, "My

Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17). In

another place He said, "I must work the works of

him that sent me" (John 9:4). Jesus was sent into

this world by the Father to work, and He told

us, " As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you"

(John 20:21).

When you live by faith, you will never work

so hard nor enjoy life more. I don't work less

now that I live by faith. I work more, and I

enjoy it more.

Faith Obeys

We are to walk in the steps of the faith of

our father Abraham. But what was it about

Abraham that caused God to bless, honor, and

esteem him so much? His faith, of course.

Let's look at the eleventh chapter of

Hebrews—the greatest faith chapter in the

entire Bible—and see if we can pinpoint what it

was about Abraham's faith that God liked:

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go

out into a place which he should after receive for

an inheritance, obeyed ....

Hebrews 11:8

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You ought to underline that word obeyed.

Remember Job 36:11—the key to divine

prosperity: " If they obey and serve him, they shall

spend their days in prosperity, and their years in

pleasures." Faith is essential to receive God's

blessings. That is undeniable. Without faith we

cannot please Him. (Heb. 11:6.) But faith

without works (corresponding actions) is dead.

(James 2:26.) Faith is necessary if we are to be

blessed by God, but obedience is the key to the

miraculous. Obedience is the door-opener to

prosperity.

Faith Trusts

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go

out into a place which he should after receive for

an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not

knowing whither he went.

Hebrews 11:8

There are some people who won't act on

God's Word and do what God says unless they

have absolute proof that it is going to work. "If I

knew this was going to work, then I wouldn't

mind obeying God."

I answer that by saying, "Well, I'm glad that

all you need is some indication that this will

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work. Here it is: It is written!" You see, that's all

the proof we need. What else should we want?

"Well, if I just knew someone that it has

worked for."

If that's all you're looking for, read Hebrews

11—the hall of fame of faith, people who

exercised faith and won. Not only that, there

are a few around today for whom it has

worked.

Now I understand human nature. I

understand why people want to be assured that

it will work before they go out on a limb with it.

But as Christians, our attitude ought to be,

"Bless God, I'm going to act on God's Word

whether anybody else does or not! I'm going

this way because God said it would work, not

because some other person said it would. If I

never see someone it has worked for, I'm still

going to act on it, and it's going to work for

me!"

Some people will tell you that whatever it

is you are trying to do can't be done! Did you

know that according to the laws of

aerodynamics, it is impossible for the

bumblebee to fly. His body is too big for his

wings. It is scientifically impossible for a

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bumblebee to get off the ground. The only

problem is, the bumblebee doesn't know that.

You see, bumblebees don't read scientific

journals. They don't listen to what the scientists

say, and if they did, they wouldn't believe it.

The bumblebee believes he can fly, so he zooms

right over the heads of those learned men of

science who stand earth-bound and shout up at

him, "Come back down here. It's impossible for

you to do what you're doing!"

That's what I like about being a believer.

While the world stands around saying, "It can't

be done," we just keep on flying. That's what

the life of faith is all about. When the world

says we can't do it, that ought to be like "sic

'em" to a bulldog!

Faith Is Patient

Abraham was called of God to go into a

place he knew nothing about. He had no

evidence in the natural that such a place even

existed. God just told him to get up and leave,

so he obeyed.

He went out, not knowing whither he went.

By faith he sojourned in the land of promise,

as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles

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with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the

same promise.

Hebrews 11:8,9

Let's look back at Hebrews 6:11,12 to see a

beautiful example of how this man entered into

the blessings of God, into divine prosperity:

And we desire that every one of you do shew

the same diligence to the full assurance of hope

unto the end:

That ye be not slothful ...

The Amplified Bible says: "That you may not

grow disinterested and become [spiritual]

sluggards." Don't be lazy.

... but followers of them who through faith

and patience inherit the promises.

Notice, they inherit the promises. That

should give us some idea of how we receive

God's blessings.

But it is not enough for us just to have faith;

we must also have patience. We must “let

patience have her perfect work, that (we) may be

perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:4),

“... for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

(Gal. 6:9).

We inherit the promises " through faith and

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patience." (Heb. 6:12).

Faith Knows

For when God made promise to Abraham,

because he could swear by no greater, he sware

by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless

thee.

Hebrews 6:13,14

Everybody is looking for a sure thing. Well,

this looks like one to me. God didn't say He

might bless us or that there was a strong

possibility He would bless us. He said, " Surely

blessing I will bless thee." Surely. We don't need

any other evidence than that. Thus saith the Lord

ought to be evidence enough for any Christian.

If God says you are healed, then you are healed.

If God says you are blessed, then you are

blessed. If God says you are an overcomer, then

you are an overcomer. If God says you are more

than a conqueror, then you are more than a

conqueror. If God says no weapon formed

against you shall prosper, then no weapon

formed against you shall prosper. If God says it

is His will that you prosper, then it is His will

that you prosper!

Why? Because God said, Surely. And God is

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not a man that He should lie. (Num. 23:19.)

Some people seem to think that living by

faith is a life of being insecure. But I'm not

stumbling. The steps of a good man are ordered

by the Lord, and though he fall, he will not be

cast down. (Ps. 37:23,24.) The Lord will grip

him by the hand and lead him on. His Word is

" a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Ps.

119:105). I'm not walking insecurely. I'm not

walking in darkness.

If anybody is walking in darkness, it's the

world—people who don't know my God. I

walked in darkness before I met God, before I

had developed this relationship with Him. But

now I walk in the light. I don't walk in

uncertainty. Like the Apostle Paul, I'm

confident, I walk by faith and not by sight, I

know in whom I have believed, and I am fully

persuaded that He is able to perform that which

He has promised.

Somebody has said, "But those people who

live by faith never know what's going to

happen."

Yes, we do. I know what's going to happen

in every area of my life. When I'm believing

God and standing on His Word, then the

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fulfillment of His Word is going to happen. I

don't know how God will do it, and I learned

long ago to quit trying to figure it out. That's

not my responsibility. My responsibility is to

walk in obedience to Him, one step at a time, to

listen to Him, to follow what He says, and to

believe He is able to perform His Word. God's

responsibility is to confirm His Word with signs

following. How He does it is His business.

When I walk in the light of God's Word, I'm

not walking in uncertainty.

The Apostle Paul said, " I am confident" (Phil.

1:6). That doesn't sound like an insecure man to

me. Living by faith is not living in uncertainty

any more than living by doubt is living in

assurance.

Faith Receives

Abraham was a man who obeyed God, and

the Bible says great blessings came upon him.

God promised Abraham that if he would walk

in the light of His Word and do all that he was

commanded, He would bless him (and his

seed!) abundantly. Abraham entered into that

covenant with God. He walked in the blessings

of the Old Covenant.

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Thank God, we are Abraham's seed! We

are heirs according to the promise, and we

have a right to live in those blessings!

When Jesus gave Himself at Calvary, He

did not do away with the blessings of Abraham

—He enlarged upon them. They are still ours

today. God promised to bless Abraham, and the

Bible tells us that " after he had patiently endured,

he obtained the promise" (Heb. 6:15).

Do you want to obtain the promise? Then

let's walk in the steps of the faith of our father

Abraham. To help you do that, I would like to

share seven factors of Abraham's life, seven

steps that will lead you into the blessed state

which Abraham enjoyed with God.

5

Seven Steps to the Life of

5

Faith

Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee

out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and

from thy father's house, unto a land that I will

shew thee:

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I

will bless thee, and make thy name great; and

thou shalt be a blessing:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and

curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all

families of the earth be blessed.

So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken

unto him ....

Genesis 12:1-4

The first thing we notice is that God's call

upon Abraham's life demanded absolute

confidence in and obedience to the Word of

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God. The same call is upon our lives today. If

we are to reap the blessings of Abraham, we

must display the same absolute confidence in

and obedience to the Word of God that

Abraham showed.

But how do we do that today? After all,

God may not speak to us audibly, as He seems

to have done with Abraham. God may not tell

us to physically pack up and leave our home

country, to move to some unknown Promised

Land, as He instructed Abraham to do.

If we are to follow the example of obedient,

faithful service to God which Abraham set for

us, there are seven things we must do.

Step 1: Separate Yourself from the Ties of

this World

Abraham's call was a call of separation from

the ties of this natural world. You cannot be

blessed by God if you try to live in the world

and in God's system at the same time. God's

system and the world's system are in direct

opposition to one another. They do not agree. If

they did, there would be no need for preaching.

We would already be living God's way

naturally. But the natural world does not live

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God's way.

The natural world tells us, "There's a big

headache out there waiting for you!" That's not

what God says in His Word. God says, "Jesus

bore your big headaches." That's a Savelle

paraphrase of 1 Peter 2:24: " Who his own self bare

our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being

dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by

whose stripes ye were healed."

The world does not say you are healed. On

the contrary. If you listen to the television, you

will soon discover that you're either sick or

about to get sick.

"As long as there are winters and

husbands," the television pronounces, "there are

colds!" And then they set in to sell you

something for the cold they are trying their best

to talk you into.

Then there's this one: "How do you spell

relief?" I always want to jump up and shout, "J-

E-S-U-S!" I'll be so glad when Christians get

some 24-hour-a-day Word TV stations to put

out the Gospel. Then we can start doing our

own “commercials" for the Lord, picking up

where the world leaves off: “How do you spell

relief? J-E-S-U-S!”

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It should be obvious to anyone with any

spiritual perception at all that the world and

God do not agree. The world says, “Watch out!

There's a famine in the land. Hard times are

coming. Depression is upon us. Recession is

here. Hold on to what you've got. Don't let it

get away from you. Things are going to get

worse!" But God says, " Give, and it shall be given

unto you" (Luke 6:38).

My friend, it is time we get both feet out of

the world and into God's Word. Let's quit

hanging onto the world's way, using it as an

alternative in case the Word doesn't work.

God called Abraham and said, "Leave your

home country, your relatives, and your father's

house. Go to a land which I will show you, and

I will make of you a great nation." Abraham's

call demanded absolute confidence in and

obedience to the Word of God. It was a call of

separation from the ties of the natural world.

We are to walk in the steps of the faith of

our father Abraham. His call expresses to us the

starting point of the life of faith, and the first

requirement of that life of faith is separation

from the world.

The Apostle Paul says, “Be not conformed to

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this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of

your mind” (Rom. 12:2). We have to separate

ourselves from the World. We have to get rid of

the world's attitude about life and take on

God's attitude. Second Corinthians 6:17 tells us

to “come out from among them, and be ye separate,

saith the Lord.” Verse 14 says, “What fellowship

hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what

communion hath light with darkness?”

You can't keep mingling in the world's

ways and expect to be blessed of God. You have

to separate yourself from the ties of the world.

Get rid of the world's attitude. Quit hanging on

to what the world taught you. Decide once and

for all that you are going God's way.

The Church does not need to be worldly.

We should not have the same passions and

desires that the world has. I don't have that

nature anymore. I am a new creation. My desire

should have changed. If I catch myself still

craving the things that the world craves, then

I'd better go spend some time with God. I need

to separate myself from the ties of this world.

Now, I didn't say that you're not supposed

to have the material necessities of life. And

Jesus didn't say that either. In fact, He said that

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if you will seek first the Kingdom of God and

His righteousness, all these things will be added

unto you. The things He was talking about

were food, clothing, and shelter—material

things.

God wants you to have the material things

of life. God doesn't want you to live below the

world. He wants you to be more prosperous

than the world. In fact, He doesn't even want

you to be less fashionable than the world. If

anything, He wants you more fashionable!

Where did we ever get the idea that God has no

taste, no eye for beauty?

Some people are still hung up on whether a

Christian woman should wear earrings and

lipstick. “Did you see Brother Savelle's wife on

that platform this morning? Did you see that

lipstick on her lips? She can't be holy and wear

that stuff!"

It doesn't make any difference if a woman

comes to church wearing Lucite house paint on

her face! That's between her and God. My wife's

lipstick has never stopped the anointing in our

meetings.

When God says we are to separate

ourselves from the world, He is not talking

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131

about going around in sackcloth and ashes. He

is not opposed to our having nice things. What

God is opposed to is our following after the lust

of this world, having the same ungodly desires

that the world has. If your ambition and goal in

life is to be rich, then you haven't separated

yourself from the world. Your motivation and

life's ambition should be to know God more

intimately than any other personality in this

universe. If it is, then He will see that you

prosper every day and that your years are filled

with pleasure.

Step 2: Forsake All to Follow God

God said to Abraham, "Leave your country,

your kindred, your father's house." He insisted

that Abraham leave them and follow Him. This

commandment signified that God required a

totally consecrated life. He demanded that

Abraham be willing to forsake all to obey Him.

Many people want to obey God, but they

want it to be on their terms. Somebody always

wants to play "Let's Make a Deal" with God. It

won't work that way. You either play by His

rules, or you don't play.

You see, God is smarter than you and I. He

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isn't trying to be hard. He knows how to make

life work at its best. If you are willing to forsake

all to follow Him, He will lead you into an

adventurous and exciting life.

There is a price to pay, and not many

people are willing to pay it. But God is not

trying to take anything away from you. He is

not trying to squeeze you into a mold and make

you into a robot. It is not His intention to

deprive you of any good thing. Psalm 84:11

says, " No good thing will he withhold from them

that walk uprightly." All He wants from you is

total dedication to Him.

When I was growing up, my greatest

ambition in life was to operate my own auto

paint and body shop. I grew up around

wrecked cars. My dad was an auto body man

with a reputation as one of the best in the state

of Louisiana, and he taught me everything he

knew. My goal in life was to be a better body

repairman than my father and to one day have

my own business. In fact, when I was just a

little fellow, my dad and I would talk about it at

the breakfast table almost every day.

"Dad, one of these days we're going to have

our own shop."

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133

"Yes, when you finish school and get your

college education, we're going into business

and have our own shop together."

"I can just see it now," I would say, "with a

big sign out front that says, SAVELLE AND

DAD PAINT AND BODY WORKS."

After Carolyn and I got married, I worked

at different jobs for a while until finally I

couldn't stand it anymore. I didn't want to go to

college. I wanted to work on cars. So after three

and a half years, I quit college and started

working on cars.

Then one day my dream came true. I finally

got my own shop. I had arrived! That body

shop became my god. It consumed my life. I

was willing to spend twenty hours a day in that

shop to make it go, because it was my god.

God had called me to the ministry when I

was only twelve years old as a result of seeing

Oral Roberts on television. But I rebelled

against God's call on my life. I had my shop. It

had become my god—and I was dying inside.

Then Kenneth Copeland came to my home

town and I went to one of his meetings. He

preached the message of faith. I didn't

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understand everything he said that night, but

the next morning I went to my shop, walked

through the office into the shop area, and went

into the tiny restroom of that shop. I locked the

door behind me, sat down on the floor, and

cried like a baby. I said, "God, I can't take this

anymore. I don't want to live like this. I'm tired

of running. I want to do what You want me to

do. I don't know how to do it. I don't know

what to say. But I'm tired of this kind of life. I'm

giving my life to You. If You want me to

preach, I'll preach."

I made up my mind that day to forsake all

and obey God. At that moment I cut the strings

that linked me to everything I had lived for. I

had served the Devil diligently for the past few

years, so I was going to be no less diligent in

serving God.

When I made the decision to forsake all and

obey God, I didn't care what anybody said or

thought about me. I didn't care whether or not

they understood what I was doing—and most

of them didn't.

I made up my mind: "I'm forsaking all. I

don't care what anybody says. I'm going to

obey God, even if it means severing my

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135

relationship with my own family." You see,

they didn't understand me. They thought I was

nuts. But it made no difference to me whether

they understood or not. I was going for Jesus.

The Holy Ghost spoke to my heart and said,

"Lock yourself up for the next three months,

and I'll teach you the Word."

When I came out of that bedroom after

being locked up for three months with the

Word, I was on fire inside to do the work of the

Lord. I didn't have a congregation to preach to.

I didn't have people inviting me to hold an

evangelistic meeting for them. So I went out

into the streets and hung around outside bars

and lounges, waiting for someone to come

through the door. I would grab some drunk, set

him down, and unload the New Testament on

him. He had no choice but to get saved!

I forsook all to obey God, and everything I

gave up to serve Jesus, He has given back to me

more than a hundredfold! My friend, there is a

price to pay. There is a commitment to make.

But it's worth it.

Some people in this faith movement today

are just dabbling around in it. They are playing

games, learning to talk the talk, but they don't

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know what real commitment is. They have no

root, no solid foundation.

My friend, it is time to get in all the way—

both hands, both feet, head to toe. We must be

willing to forsake all to follow God.

"But you don't understand what I'd have to

give up to do that."

Anything you give up for the sake of the

Gospel is well worth the giving, I assure you.

There is much in store for you when you do,

such as life more abundantly.

Step 3: Don't Turn Back Under Pressure

And Abram journeyed, going on still

toward the south.

And there was a famine in the land ....

Genesis 12:9,10

Abraham decided to obey God; but the

moment he left his country, he walked right

into a famine. He probably thought, Oh, my

God, I wish I had never left my country. Do you

suppose that was really God talking to me, or

was it just something I ate?

Many people decide, "I'm going to live by

faith ...." But when the Devil slaps them in the

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137

face a time or two, they quit. They say, "I want

to start giving. I want to obey God and tithe.”

But then the car breaks down and they quit

giving. Do you know what this reveals? A lack

of real commitment.

Some people are committed as long as

everything is going well. But the moment

things start getting a little bit uncomfortable,

their commitment weakens.

It is very easy to be committed to God while

you are sitting in church hearing the Word and

experiencing the anointing of God. But

commitment really counts when the meeting is

over and you walk out the door by yourself. It

is out there, not in church, that commitment is

really measured.

When it looks like the world has caved in

on you, your commitment will really pay off.

You will be able to stand in the midst of

adversity and say, "I will joy in the God of my

salvation. I will not fear what man can do to

me. I'm not letting depression attack me any

longer. I know this doesn't look like the time to

do it, but I'm going to rejoice in the Lord.''

There will be plenty of opportunities to turn

back under pressure. I will never forget the day

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I found out from God's Word that I was healed

by the stripes of Jesus. I came out of my

bedroom like a bolt of lightning and said to my

wife, "Carolyn, did you know we're healed by

the stripes of Jesus? My days of sickness are

over!"

Before that day was over, as I was sitting in

my living room, I heard a voice in my mind say,

"You're getting the flu. In just a moment your

eyes are going to start watering, your nose is

going to start running, and you're going to get

chills. You'd better go to bed."

When I heard that voice, I believed it. God

confirms His Word with signs following, and so

does the Devil. If you believe what the Devil

says, he will confirm his word with signs

following too. My eyes started watering, my

nose started running, and I got cold.

The voice said, "You'd better get in bed." So

I got up and went into the bedroom.

"Get under the blanket. You're going to get

cold."

I got under the blanket and was sitting there

in bed shaking. Then the voice informed me,

"Your muscles and joints are beginning to

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139

ache." And, sure enough, I began to ache all

over.

About that time Carolyn walked in and saw

me. She said, "What are you doing in bed? I

thought you were healed and that your days of

sickness and disease were over."

I said, "I thought so too, but I've got the flu."

Right then I had an opportunity to turn

back under pressure. What Carolyn said made

me so mad, but she was right. As I was lying

there with the symptoms of the flu, I knew I

didn't have any business being mad at her. She

had told me the truth. I needed to channel that

anger against the Devil. He was the one who

had lied to me and got me into that condition.

Instead of turning back under pressure and

saying, "Aw, that healing stuff has passed

away. It doesn't work. After all, I'm sick!" I

stood on my feet and said, "Satan, in the name

of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I resist you. I am

healed by the stripes of Jesus, and you can't

keep these symptoms on me. I command you to

flee." So he fled and took his lying symptoms

with him.

When you get an opportunity to turn back

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under pressure is when you will find out how

committed you really are.

When you say, “From now on, I'm going to

walk in love, just like God said,'' brace yourself,

because somebody mean and ugly will cross

your path. You will have a golden opportunity

to get into strife!

"From this moment on, I'm going to be a

giver." Brace yourself, friend, because that

attitude is dangerous to the Devil. Once you

truly decide to make giving the essence of

living, you become a threat to him and his

kingdom. He will attack your finances like

never before. He can't afford for you to operate

the principle of giving. It will change your life

and the lives of others all around you. He must

try to stop you. But he can't stop you unless

you let him.

There have been times when I have given a

large amount to some Christian endeavor.

Immediately the Devil set in on me. I would

think, Oh, dear God, I wish I hadn't given that

much. I could sure use that money right now. That

thought was nothing more than an attempt by

Satan to force me to turn back under pressure.

One of his favorite weapons is fear.

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The moment some people put their offering

in the plate, Satan puts his fear in their minds:

Oh, God, I hope nothing bad happens. The Apostle

Paul said, “We are not ignorant of Satan's devices,

lest he get the advantage over us." (2 Cor. 2:11.)

We must realize that the Devil comes

immediately to steal the Word. But when he

comes, we can take the same Word he is trying

to steal and defeat him with it.

Don't turn back under pressure. Slap him

on the head with the sword of the Spirit! Keep

banging him around with that sword. He will

finally leave you alone.

Step 4: Walk the Life of Faith One Step at

a Time

Don't try to figure out the life of faith for

next month. Take it one step at a time. The steps

of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

Don't try to be Oral Roberts, or T. L.

Osborn, or Kenneth Hagin, or Kenneth

Copeland. Don't try to be your pastor. Walk on

the level of your own faith, not someone else's.

Let the lives of such great men of God be a

testimony and an inspiration to your faith, but

don't try to do what they have done because

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they did it. Let their faith-filled actions inspire

you to get close to God as they did, to devour

His Word as they did. When you have

developed the kind of relationship with God

that they have, you will begin to accomplish the

kinds of things they have accomplished.

Many people are trying to be somebody

else. They hear a person say, "I gave my car

away, and God gave me a better one," so they

think, "I need a new car; I'll give mine away

too." If their only motivation is to do something

because someone else did it, they will be sadly

disappointed. It won't work.

I thank God for the inspiration Kenneth

Copeland is to my life, but I don't do things just

because he does them. I do what God tells me

to do.

Kenneth Copeland has done things in faith

that stagger my imagination. But before he

attempted such audacious things, he spent

hours meditating the Word and fellowshipping

with God. He gradually developed his faith so

that it would not be shaken. I would be crazy to

try to do what Brother Copeland has done

without having my faith on the level of his

faith.

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The things that great men of faith

accomplish should not inspire us to take risks,

to act foolhardily, to gamble with our own lives

and the lives and wellbeing of our loved ones.

" Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word

of God" (Rom. 10:17). Spend the time with God

that these men spent, develop your own faith in

the Lord and in the integrity of His Word, then

will come the time when you can act in

obedience to Him and do great things as these

men have done.

When God tells me to do something, I can

do it without doubt, without hesitation, and

without unbelief. If necessary, He will perform

miracles in my behalf to confirm His Word.

Don't try to live somebody else's faith. You

need to walk the life of faith one step at a time,

just as you climb or descend a flight of stairs

one step at a time. To try to skip steps and jump

directly up or down is risky business. If you try

it, you will get hurt.

I realize that taking one step at a time is

slow. It may seem that you will never get there,

but keep at it long enough. You'll make it. It

may not be the quickest way, but, believe me,

it's the wisest.

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"I'm too impatient! I want it now!" That's

not faith. Faith is patient. God tells us in His

Word to be " followers of them who through faith

and patience inherit the promises" (Heb. 6:12).

Don't try to imitate what others are doing.

Follow God's leadership. Get to know Him.

Develop your own faith. Take it one step at a

time.

Step 5: Honor God with your Substance

If you follow these principles, God's

blessings will come on you. When they do,

honor Him with your substance.

Remember, the Bible says in Genesis 13:2

that Abraham was rich as a result of his

obedience to God. In Genesis 14 we see him

immediately giving God tithes of all. (v. 20.)

God made Abraham rich, so Abraham honored

God with his substance.

Many times when the pressure is relieved,

people start giving God less instead of giving

Him more. When the blessings of God start

coming in, they should honor Him all the more

because of His blessings.

Notice what God says in Deuteronomy 8:7-

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14:

For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a

good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains

and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a

land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig

trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil, olive, and

honey;

A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without

scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a

land whose stones are iron, and out of whose

hills thou mayest dig brass.

When thou hast eaten and art full, then

thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good

land which he hath given thee.

Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy

God, in not keeping his commandments, and his

judgments, and his statutes, which I command

thee this day:

Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and

hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

And when thy herds and thy flocks

multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is

multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

Then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget

the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out

of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

Notice first of all that God says, "When— not

if—you begin to prosper, don't forget to honor

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Me." God believes that these principles work.

He knows that if you believe and put these

principles into practice in your life, you will be

prospered.

Secondly, God knows there is a danger that

when His people begin to reap His blessings

and abundance, they will become lax in their

worship and obedience. He has promised us

great abundance, but He also cautions us about

forgetting to praise and honor Him "from

whom all blessings flow."

God is telling us here, "When My blessings

come upon you, honor Me, remember Me.

Remember, I am the One Who got you out of

bondage. Remember, it is I Who delivered you

from poverty, from sickness, from defeat, and

set you on a solid rock."

When God's blessings come upon us (and

they will if we will be obedient) we should not

honor God less, we should honor Him more. If

you were a giver when the pressure was on,

don't quit giving because the pressure is gone.

If you were in bondage and God has set you

free, honor Him. Never forget that it is He Who

delivered you from the house of bondage.

Now let's read the rest of this passage. God

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reminds us that it was He:

who led thee through that great and terrible

wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and

scorpions, and drought, where there was no

water; who brought thee forth water out of the

rock of flint;

Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna,

which thy fathers knew not, that he might

humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do

thee good at thy latter end;

And thou say in thine heart, My power and

the might of mine hand hath gotten me this

wealth.

But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God:

for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth,

that he may establish his covenant which he

sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

Deuteronomy 8:15-18

Abraham was blessed of Almighty God.

God made him very wealthy. He walked in the

blessings that are outlined in Deuteronomy

28:1-14. He was blessed coming in and blessed

going out, blessed in the city and in the field.

Everything he set his hand to was blessed. He

was the head and not the tail. He was above

and not beneath.

When his enemies came against him one

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way, God caused them to flee from him seven

ways.

Abraham walked in the blessings of

Deuteronomy 28. If we are to walk in those

same blessings, we need to follow the steps of

faith of our father Abraham. One of the things

Abraham did when those blessings began to

overtake him was to honor God with his

substance. He gave God tithes of all.

Now I am a blessed man. God has delivered

me out of bondage. I don't give God less of my

life now, I give Him more.

If we were to take a survey of the people

who attend our meetings across the country, we

would probably find that more are under the

circumstances of life than on top. But, thank

God, that ratio is changing as we keep feeding

on the Word.

Many people who come to our meetings are

hurting. The flood has already struck. They are

living under pressure and stress. When they

learn these principles, they make up their

minds to put them into practice in their lives.

They do so, and miracles start happening. Their

blessings start coming in. Then they start

thinking, There's no need to be so diligent now. The

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Lord has blessed us. We have money in our pocket

and a nice car to drive. We gave our way out of that

mess. Now things are looking up. We don't need to

keep giving like we were before. The pressure is off.

Now we can start taking it easier.

The Bible says, " Happy is the man that findeth

wisdom ... and happy is every one that retaineth

her" (Prov. 3:13,18). Don't ever get less diligent.

Become more diligent.

When Carolyn and I first started out, we

were just having to believe God for our own

needs. All I had to be responsible for was my

family. Today I am the president of a

corporation with a large staff. I must be

concerned not only for my own family but also

for the finances to run a ministry. I have people

who must be paid. I can't afford to become less

diligent now that I have more responsibilities. I

must stay on top of things.

If Jesus of Nazareth were to walk up to you

in the flesh and work a miracle in your finances

so that you suddenly had unlimited resources,

God would still demand from you total

dependence upon Him!

You will never reach the place where you

don't have to believe God. You will never quit

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operating in faith. Some people think that when

they get to heaven, they won't have to use their

faith. But they will! God is a faith God. It is

impossible to please Him without faith. We will

use our faith in heaven. The only difference is,

there won't be any resistance to our faith in

heaven. The Devil won't be there to interfere

with it.

God has delivered us out of bondage. We

are blessed, and blessed people honor God with

their substance.

Step 6: Recognize God as your Absolute

Source of Supply

Abraham recognized and acknowledged

God as his absolute Source of Supply. In the

fourteenth chapter of Genesis, Abraham's

nephew, Lot, had been taken captive by a band

of marauders. Abraham took three hundred of

his own servants, caught up with the band of

thieves, and did battle with them. He defeated

them soundly and brought Lot and the others

out of captivity. The Word of God says:

And the king of Sodom went out to meet

him (Abraham) after his return from the

slaughter ... And the king of Sodom said unto

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Abram, Give me the persons (you have

liberated), and take the goods to thyself.

And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I

have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most

high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that

I will not take from a thread even to a

shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing

that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made

Abram rich.

Genesis 14:17,21-23

Abraham made up his mind that his

absolute source of supply was God, not the

world or man or natural means. He said, "I

don't want so much as the shoestring out of

your sandal. I don't want it ever said that a man

made Abraham rich, but Almighty God."

We need to walk in the steps of the faith of

our father Abraham and make God our

absolute Source of Supply.

Step 7: Don't Pursue Riches, Pursue the

Creator

Don't make riches the ambition of your life.

Make knowing God and being His instrument

the ambition of your life. If you will do that,

God will see to it that you are provided with all

the things you need for yourself and to meet

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the needs of others. After all, you can't give

what you don't have.

God places the same kind of call on our

lives today that He did on Abraham's life, a call

of dedication and separation unto Him.

In the tenth chapter of Mark, we read the

story of a man who was not willing to make a

wholehearted commitment to God because of a

wrong attitude about things:

And when he (Jesus) was gone forth into the

way, there came one running, and kneeled to

him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I

do that I may inherit eternal life?

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou

me good? there is none good but one, that is,

God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not

commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do

not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy

father and mother.

And he answered and said unto him,

Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

Mark 10:17-20

Why was this young man wealthy? Because

he obeyed God. God had said in the Abrahamic

Covenant that if His people would serve Him

and do all that He commanded them, they

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would be blessed. This man had done that.

That's why he was rich. God made him rich

because he honored Him and kept the

commandments.

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and

said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy

way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the

poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:

and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

And he was sad at that saying, and went

away grieved: for he had great possessions.

Mark 10:21,22

This young man's problem was not his

possessions; it was his attitude toward those

possessions. He was not willing to separate

himself from them. He was not willing to

dedicate himself to a life of consecration to God.

He was sad and grieved because he was not

willing to forsake all.

And Jesus looked round about, and saith

unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that

have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

And the disciples were astonished at his

words.

Mark 10:23,24

Jesus did not say it was impossible for the

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rich to be saved. He said it was hard for them to

enter into the Kingdom of God. Why? Because

of their attitude toward their possessions.

But notice that the disciples were astonished

at what Jesus said. They were taken aback.

Why? Because they weren't poor men. Peter,

James, and John weren't poor fishermen, as we

so often see them portrayed. They were

businessmen, partners in a thriving commercial

fishing operation.

Let me remind you that Jesus called Peter to

follow Him on the day of Peter's miraculous

catch. Peter caught more fish on the day that

Jesus called him to the ministry than on any

other day in his career as a commercial

fisherman. Peter experienced the most

prosperous day of his career the day Jesus

called him.

Do you know what thrills me about Peter?

His dedication. He wasn't perfect, he made

some mistakes. He was impetuous, always

"shooting his mouth off." But that day he was

faced with the opportunity of realizing the

greatest ambition of his life—to be the best

fisherman in the land and produce more fish

than anybody else—yet he turned his back on it

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all to follow after an itinerant preacher. That

took nerve.

He didn't know where he was going or

what he was getting into. But he left it all and

followed Jesus. That's dedication. That's

consecration to God.

This rich young ruler was faced with the

same choice. He was put to the same test as

Peter, yet he failed. He said, in essence, "I can't

do it. I can't turn my back on it all and leave it

behind to follow Jesus." So he went away sad.

That's why Jesus said it was so hard for the

rich to enter the Kingdom of God. (It is hard for

them, not hard for God.) But Jesus' statement

alarmed Peter. Why should Peter be concerned

about the rich getting into the Kingdom?

Because he had riches. He asked Jesus, "Who

then can be saved?" In other words, if it was hard

for the rich to be saved, then to Peter it seemed

that Jesus was pointing His finger at him and

saying he couldn't be saved. That's why he

immediately said, "Lord, we've left all to follow

You." (v. 28.)

Peter and the other disciples must have had

possessions, or they could not have "left all" to

follow Jesus. If they were poor, they wouldn't

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have had anything to leave.

In verse 24 Jesus explains to Peter why it's

hard for some rich people to enter the Kingdom

of God. It's not because of their money, but

because of their love of it.

And the disciples were astonished at his

words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith

unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that

trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

Mark 10:24

Jesus didn't say it was hard for those who

have riches to be saved. He said it was hard for

those who trust in riches to enter the Kingdom.

You can have riches without trusting in them.

But most people who have riches trust in those

riches. I have spent time with millionaires,

teaching them how to trust in God rather than

in their riches. They've trusted in riches so long

that they don't know how to trust God.

There are many things that riches can't

produce, but faith can. Some things that money

can't buy, our faith can get. No amount of

money can buy healing for an incurable disease.

But faith can get it. The same faith that can heal

your physical body can also meet your financial

needs and put food on your table.

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Jesus said it is hard for people who trust in

riches to enter the Kingdom of God. You may

say, “I'll never have that problem. All I have is

$14.''

Has God ever talked to you about giving

away that $14?

“But, Lord, this is the only money I have.

What am I going to do if I give it away?"

You may not have very much money, but

you have a lot of trust in it! There are people

with only 25 cents who are committing the sin

of trusting in riches!

Jesus said the rich young ruler lacked only

one thing. He lacked commitment. When Jesus

put him to the test to see if he would make a

commitment, he failed. It wasn't what the rich

young ruler had that kept him out of the

Kingdom—it was what he lacked!

He had done what Deuteronomy 8 said not

to do. He had taken God's covenant principles

and become a rich man. Then he had turned his

trust from God to his riches. Pride had entered

into his heart. Jesus was only trying to deliver

him of his trust in riches. He wasn't trying to

take anything away from him.

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Jesus said it is hard for those who trust in

riches to enter the Kingdom. This prompted

Peter to say:

Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.

And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say

unto you, There is no man that hath left house,

or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or

wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the

gospel's,

But he shall receive an hundredfold now in

this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and

mothers, and children, and lands, with

persecutions; and in the world to come eternal

life.

Mark 10:28-30

Here Jesus issues a challenge to the

disciples. He is telling them, "I challenge you to

find a man, any man, who has made this kind

of consecration of his life to Me with integrity

and sincerity of heart, forsaking all to follow

Me, who did not receive a hundredfold in this

life."

Some men today are preaching against the

hundredfold principle. They are doing it

because people have taken it out of its setting.

They have given money without giving their

life; then have expected to receive a

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hundredfold return. That is not what Jesus was

talking about. He was emphasizing the fact that

they did not have to be afraid of losing if they

followed Him, that God provides bountifully

for those who are truly and totally committed

to Him.

Prosperity belongs to us, but it is not to be

sought after. Riches and wealth belong to us,

but they are not to be pursued. Jesus said, " Seek

ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;

and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt.

6:33).

Prosperity belongs to us, but in the minds of

some people, this thing has gotten distorted. All

they are after is things. The only reason they

attend our meetings is to try to learn a formula

for getting things. They think that the faith

message is a get-rich-quick message. It is not! It

is a success story, but it is not a get-rich-quick

message.

The life of faith does not involve taking a

formula from God's Word and using it to fulfill

the lust of the flesh. The life of faith is a life of

total consecration to God. If we will seek first

God and His righteousness, He has promised

that we will not lack any good thing. If we

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serve Him, we will not want, or suffer, or live in

bondage.

I serve God. He has first place in my life. I'm

not in bondage to anything—morally,

physically, mentally, spiritually, or financially.

I'm not seeking riches; I'm following God.

Because I'm following Him, He's going to

prosper me. Why? So I can be a blessing to

humanity. The more I am blessed, the more I

can do for God.

The more blessed we are, the more of a

blessing we can be. That's what God told

Abraham: "I will bless thee and make thee a

blessing." That's what life is all about, being

blessed of God so that you, in turn, can be a

blessing. God wants you to have your needs

met and much left over so you can be an

instrument to help somebody else.

There is no greater joy on earth than to be

able to help somebody out of a misfortune.

There is no greater thrill than being able to keep

someone from losing their home. There is no

greater delight than to give to someone who is

hungry and to see them fed. That's life! That's

living!

This message is not designed to teach you

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how to get all the things you have wanted for

so long. Its purpose is to set humanity free. God

wants His people free from bondage so we, in

turn, can be His instrument to "set at liberty

them that are bruised." God, help us to see that

truth.

6

Consecration—Key to

6

Prosperity

Total consecration to God is definitely the

key to divine prosperity. If there is not a total

dedication of your life to God, you may

experience a temporary prosperity, but it will

not be real or permanent.

Many people today are considered

prosperous from the world's viewpoint, but I

don't call a person prosperous whose stomach

is eaten up with ulcers or cancer, regardless of

how much money he has in the bank. How can

any person be called prosperous whose health

is ruined, whose family life is in shambles, or

whose mind is tormented by doubt, fear, worry,

or stress? That's not prosperity.

God's estimation of prosperity includes not

only money to meet our needs and to help

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others, but also peace of mind, success in

marriage, physical health and well-being, honor

and favor with others, long life—the list goes

on and on. Real Bible prosperity, as defined in

Proverbs 3 is total prosperity—physical,

mental, social, material, and spiritual. It is

prosperity produced by the wisdom of God that

involves all of the aspects of human existence.

Money is just a part of God's prosperity. God

wants us to prosper in every way—spirit, soul,

and body, socially, and financially. The key to

that divine prosperity is total consecration to

God.

This is where we have missed it. We've had

the mistaken idea that we were in this thing to

see what we could get out of it. But we are in

this to please God. That should be our motive.

I delight myself in the Word of God, not

because it will produce something for me, but

because it is His personal love letter to me. I

don't read it to learn how to acquire things, but

to learn more about my loving heavenly Father,

to become more like Him and more pleasing to

Him, to better serve Him.

The things that come as a result of such

consecration and dedication are just "fringe

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165

benefits."

Jesus said, " What shall it profit a man, if he

shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

(Mark 8:36). Someone may say, "I'd rather serve

Jesus and be broke than be rich and go to hell."

Well, you can serve Jesus, miss hell, and still

not be broke.

God wants us to prosper. If we are going to

prosper and live in divine prosperity, according

to God's system, then we must seek God first,

not things.

Be Trustworthy

Many times people have not prospered as

they should, and never will enjoy a great

degree of prosperity, because they can't be

trusted with it. As soon as life begins to get a

little easier, they forget their God.

I hear people say, "That's the reason God

never gives me much. He knows if I had

anything, I would become proud and forget

Him." Change your attitude, then God can trust

you. God isn't interested in keeping things from

you so you will stay out of sin. He wants to see

you mature so He can trust you, and bless you,

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and use you!

It isn't hard to change your attitude and

lifestyle. Second Timothy 2:21 tells us: " If a man

therefore purge himself from these (sins), he shall be

a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the

master's use, and prepared unto every good work."

All you have to do is to spend time in God's

Word, fellowshipping with Him. He will

cleanse you of that sin and remove that evil

thinking from your heart. He will make you

into a vessel of honor, meet for His use. Then

He can entrust you with His riches.

At times God has told me, "I can trust you

with a greater anointing and with more

finances now." At other times I have had to

prove I was ready for more.

The day I left Kenneth Copeland's

organization to launch into my own ministry I

wasn't preaching before crowds of 5,000 to

15,000 people as I do now. Thank God! I wasn't

immediately made responsible for hundreds of

thousands of dollars. I couldn't have handled it.

That's why some preachers go bad. God begins

to advance them, they begin to progress, then

they get their eyes off God and on things. That's

when they start going downhill. I have learned

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167

from others' mistakes. I have watched what has

happened to those people and learned how to

avoid those pitfalls.

I didn't enter the ministry to get rich. I'm

not preaching for wealth. I'm preaching because

I have compassion for humanity. I am a

messenger of God, and I want people to know

they don't have to live in bondage. Anything I

get as a result will be God's doing, not mine. I

couldn't care less about being a millionaire.

You see, I know my heart. And that's the

key. You need to search your heart and find out

what your motives are. If you have a pure heart

and are sincere before God, you will prosper

because God can trust you.

Some people have been suppressed

financially over the years, but in that

suppression they have proven themselves

honest before God. God will not let such folks

remain suppressed. Then there are others who

have had all they wanted of this world's goods.

They have been selfish and greedy with them.

They will find themselves becoming abased,

being brought down. Why? Because it's law:

" Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and

he that shall humble himself shall be exalted" (Matt.

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23:12).

The rich young ruler had this kind of wrong

attitude toward things. His trust had turned

from God to riches. He could not let go of them

to follow Jesus. He had become a slave to his

wealth. That really constitutes idolatry. Money

can become an idol—a god—to people. You see,

God is the Most High God. The Bible says He is

a jealous God. (Ex. 20:5.) He will not allow

Himself to be shared with any other god. He

will not accept a divided heart from His people.

Trust God's Laws of Abundance

When Jesus instructed this man to dispose

of his possessions, He did not intend for him to

remain poor after he had given everything

away. In fact, for that man to have remained

poor after obeying Jesus' commands would

have violated the laws of God. Proverbs 19:17

says, " He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto

the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay

him again." He would have gotten it all back

again because it is the law of God. In Psalm

89:34 God said, "My covenant will I not break, nor

alter the thing that is gone out of my lips."

Jesus wanted that man to put his trust in

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God, not in riches. Evidently his trust in riches

was so strong that the only way to break it was

to have him give it all away. Jesus knew what it

would take for this man to put his trust back in

God. He required that he sell what he had, give

the money to the poor, and follow Him.

Jesus is not asking us to stay broke. He is

asking us to leave all and serve Him. If we do

that, He won't allow us to remain in need. For

Him to do so would violate God's law.

Jesus was offering this gentleman the

greatest financial venture (and adventure) of

his entire life. If he had done what Jesus

commanded, putting his trust in God and not in

his riches, God would have seen to it that he got

back exactly what he had given away. And he

had great possessions. All of it would have

come back to him. But that's not all. God has an

even better deal for those who are obedient to

Him.

Jesus said, “If any man will forsake all for

My sake and the Gospel's, he will receive a

hundredfold in this life." But this fellow was

shortsighted. All he could see was what he had

right in front of him. He blew the best deal he

could ever have been offered.

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Perhaps you have done the same thing. It's

regrettable, but it's not unalterable. It can be

changed. The moment you prove to God that

your trust is in Him and not in your

possessions—the m o m e n t y o u demonstrate

that your heart is sincere and pure, that your

life is totally dedicated to Him, that you can be

trusted ". . because you are pursuing Him and

not things . .”—God will begin to pour out His

blessings upon you. He will continue to pour

them out on you, more and more and more.

Seek First the Kingdom

I know businessmen all over the country

who were once striving to become wealthy.

Their life's goal and ambition was simply to be

a success. Their business became an obsession

with them. It became their god.

Then they met the real God and made Jesus

the Lord of their life. Their attitude changed.

They decided, "I'm not going to let this thing

give me ulcers. I will do what is necessary to

run this business, but I'm going to serve God

first." They started serving God, and God began

to bless their business. God could trust them.

They would take that increase and invest it

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wisely in the poor, in the needs of the saints,

and in the ministry. So God keeps blessing their

business, and it keeps growing.

The more God can trust a person, the more

that person is going to get. That's the way it

works.

But we have to give trust if we expect to be

trusted. If we want God to trust us with His

riches, then we have to trust Him with ours. If

we want God to bless our business, then we

have to "be about our Father's business."

It stirs me to put my trust in God. It stirs me

to keep Him in first place, to keep my heart

pure, to keep myself in a position where He can

always trust me. As long as He can trust me, I'll

never go without. My God will supply all my

needs from His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

(Phil. 4:19.)

How I wish my critics would read this

book, all those who criticize me and this

message of divine prosperity! How I wish they

could realize, once and for all, that we "faith

teachers" are not preaching a "get-rich-quick"

scheme. We are not trying to trick people out of

their money, or to teach them how to acquire

things for themselves. That isn't God's message,

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and it isn't our m e s s a g e . P r i n c i p l e s l i k e

t h e hundredfold return are not set up by God

to be used to fulfill the lust for things. Too

many of God's people are violating God's laws,

trying to make this thing work for them in a

way that God never intended it to work. If we

don't do it God's way, it won't work. God is not

seeking a greedy, selfish, "get all we can"

people; He is seeking a peculiar people, a royal

people, a people who have their minds on Him

and not on things.

Be Willing to Learn

Jesus never implied that those who follow

Him are to live in poverty and lack. He didn't

require that of any who followed Him when He

walked this earth in the flesh. It was not His

intention to deprive the rich young ruler of his

wealth. Neither was it His intention that the

disciples live as paupers. He was careful to

point out to them that anyone who had given

up anything to follow after Him would receive

that thing back a hundred times over.

Why

w e r e n ' t t h e d i s c i p l e s

immediately rich? Because they didn't learn

everything overnight. Peter had a hard time

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getting all this straight, and I'm sure the others

did too. Even Abraham didn't learn everything

in one night. Abraham was brought up in a

home which knew about Jehovah, but his father

was an idol worshipper. That's one reason God

told him to leave his kindred and his father's

house. Abraham did leave, but he took his

father and Lot along. They moved to another

city and stayed there five years. Abraham

didn't leave his own country, as God had told

him to do, until his father had died.

Abraham didn't know much about the

Jehovah God. It was in Genesis 12 that he set

out, but it wasn't until Genesis 17 that God

revealed Himself to Abraham as El Shaddai.

Abraham had to learn about God. He didn't

know anything about faith. He had never lived

this way before. The beautiful part of the story

is that Abraham was just like us, yet he became

the father of faith. He made mistakes, he failed,

yet God v i n d i c a t e d h i m w h e n h e

consecrated his life to Him. God called

Abraham His friend, the father of faith. If

Abraham, with all of his mistakes, could become

the father of faith and the friend of God, surely

you and I can become something in this world,

if we will do what he did.

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Abraham had to learn, just as Peter had to

learn. And he did! Abraham was very rich, very

blessed. Genesis 24:1 says, " And Abraham was

old, and well stricken in age: and the Lord had

blessed Abraham in all things." In all things.

Because Abraham learned, because he was

obedient and faithful, God blessed him in every

way. That same blessing is ours today if we will

be obedient and faithful disciples (learners) of

Jesus Christ.

Like Abraham, the disciples didn't learn it

all overnight. But, thank God, they learned it.

T h e y dedicated themselves to God. It thrills

me to read about Peter in the book of Acts. He

acted just like Jesus. He did the same works

Jesus did, with the same results. God blessed

Peter, even with all of his blunders, mistakes,

and failures. Why? Because Peter was willing to

learn.

Receive God's Blessings

Verily I say unto you, There is no man that

hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father,

or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my

sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an

hundredfold....

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Mark 10:29,30

There is a key word in this scripture. The

word is receive. Notice that the blessings of

God are received, not pursued. If your desire is

to become rich, you are headed for trouble. If

that's your goal, you are headed down a hard

road. Those who seek to simply please their

God receive wealth and riches and blessings.

Such people don't strive after riches; they are

conferred upon them.

If you will learn this simple fact, it will

remove the struggle from your life. Have you

ever been in need of things, and it seemed that

you just struggled and struggled trying to get

them? Well, I want you to do something. Over

the next thirty days, don't try to get anything

else you need; just be a blessing every

moment that you possibly can. At the end of

those thirty days, write and tell me about the

blessings that have come upon you. Tell me

about the struggles you didn't have.

Blessings are received, not pursued. Jesus

said, “But he shall receive ....” That's affirmative.

Jesus is teaching us here that our trust must be

in God, not in riches. Even though riches

belong to us, God wants our trust in Him. Jesus

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said in Matthew 6:24: “No man can serve two

masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the

other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the

other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (or

riches).”

You cannot serve both God and money. You

will either serve one or the other. If your

allegiance is to riches, it's not to God. If your

love is toward riches, it's not toward God. Your

carnal mind will try to reason away your love

for money, saying, "You don't love money, you

just need it. You really love God." Your mind

will justify evil, but your heart won't go along

with it. Your heart will convict you.

The voice of the heart is sometimes called

the conscience. The Bible even talks about the

conscience being seared as with a hot iron. You

can go against the convictions of the Holy Spirit

in your heart for so long that you can actually

sear your conscience. You can negate the voice

of your conscience so that it won't even talk to

you anymore.

Some people have done wrong and have

justified it for so long that they have seared

their conscience. They don't even hear from

their spirit anymore. It takes a supreme act of

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God to get such people straightened out. But,

even then, all they have to do is to say, "Lord,

I'm through. I'm inviting You to take over." He

will be there in a moment to do so.

Pursuing riches will only hinder us from

enjoying real Bible prosperity. I want to give

you an example of a man who had prosperity

on his mind and what happened to him as a

result.

Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah,

who was sixteen years old, and made him king ...

And he did that which was right in the sight

of the Lord ...

And he sought God in the days of

Zechariah, who had understanding in the

visions of God: and as long as he sought the

Lord, God made him to prosper.

2 Chronicles 26:1,4,5

Notice that last sentence: " As long as he

sought the Lord, God made him to prosper." Some

people say, "Just because you serve God is no

guarantee you are going to prosper!" Is that

what the Word says?

And he went forth and warred against the

Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath,

and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod,

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and built cities about Ashdod, and among the

Philistines.

And God helped him against the

Philistines ...

Also he built towers in the desert, and

digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both

in the low country, and in the plains:

husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the the

mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved

husbandry.

Moreover Uzziah had an host of fighting

men ...

The whole number of the chief of the fathers

of the mighty men of valour were two thousand

and six hundred ...

And Uzziah prepared for them throughout

all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and

habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones.

And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented

by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon

the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones

withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he

was marvellously helped, till he was strong.

But when he was strong, his heart was lifted

up to his destruction: for he transgressed against

the Lord his God.

2 Chronicles 26:6,7,10-12,14-16

Not only was Uzziah prospered, he was

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very strong " for he was marvellously helped" by

the Lord. He received honor and glory. His

name was spread far abroad. Yet by reading the

rest of the story, we see that Uzziah turned his

trust from God to his own strength, to his own

riches, and ended up in a sad condition. In

Deuteronomy 8 God warned the children of

Israel that when they had settled in the

Promised Land and were prospering, they were

to remember the Lord their God, that it was He

Who had given them power to get wealth.

Uzziah didn't do that. As a result he was struck

with leprosy, cut off from his throne and his

family, and died in shame and agony. (v. 21.)

In chapters 25 through 35 of Genesis, we

read about Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. He

was already entitled to blessings because he

was the seed of Abraham. However, he had an

older brother named Esau. As the eldest son,

Esau had a birthright. Jacob desired to be rich.

He had seen the prosperity of his grandfather

Abraham, and he wanted to be like him. The

only problem was that Jacob didn't want to do

what his grandfather had done to receive that

prosperity. He didn't want to consecrate his life

to God. Jacob put riches and prosperity above

God. He sought them first. Because of his lust

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for wealth, he would do anything to obtain

riches.

Jacob bargained his brother Esau out of his

birthright and deceived his father Isaac into

bestowing Esau's blessing upon him. As a result

of his deception and his cunning ways, Jacob

was forced to flee from his enraged brother. He

had to leave home, never to see his mother

again. (Seeking the wrong thing will get you

into trouble.)

Later Jacob settled down in a certain area of

the country. There he saw a woman he desired.

Her name was Rachel. Her father said Jacob

could have her in marriage in exchange for

seven years of labor. So Jacob worked that

seven years for Rachel. When the time was up

and the bride was given, it was Leah, not

Rachel, that Jacob got. Jacob was tricked into

working seven long years for a woman he

didn't want. Then he had to agree to work

seven more years for Rachel.

While he was working that fourteen years

for his father-in-law, his wages were cut back

ten times. Jacob was learning a hard lesson

about deception: "Deceive, and thou shalt be

deceived." He had to pay dearly for the trickery

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he had practiced against his father and his

brother. You see, dishonesty won't work.

Impurity of heart won't work. Deception has a

way of falling back on the head of the one who

practices it. Jacob had wanted riches, but he

ended up working for a man who deceived him

and reduced his wages continually.

It was not until Jacob had an encounter with

the Lord and wrestled with the angel that he

began to prosper. The only reason he was

wrestling with that angel was because he was

fleeing for his life. He had heard that his

brother Esau and a company of 400 men were

out to kill him. You see, this fellow had hard

times. He had to learn commitment the hard

way.

After he had met that angel and wrestled

with him, Jacob became a new man. He was

changed. To mark that transformation in him,

God gave him a new name. Jacob means

"deceiver," so God called him Israel, "the prince

of God." Jacob had an experience with God. But

it was not until he had put God in first place in

his life, as his grandfather Abraham had done,

that Jacob became a prosperous man.

Later in his life when he was returning to

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his own country laden down with possessions,

he could say to his brother Esau: " Take, I pray

thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because

God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I

have enough" (Gen. 33:11).

Jacob had made a vow unto God, and God

blessed him. God increased his substance and

prospered him. What kind of vow did Jacob

make to be so blessed by God? The Bible says in

Genesis 28:20-22: " And Jacob vowed a vow,

saying ... of all that thou shalt give me I will surely

give the tenth unto thee."

Can you see the key to prosperity here? It's

total dedication to God. Seek God, not riches.

Be Not High-Minded

In 1 Timothy 6:9-11 the Apostle Paul warns

the Body of Christ against pursuing wealth and

riches and putting them before God.

But they that will be (want to be, try to be,

desire to be) rich fall into temptation and a

snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,

which drown men in destruction and perdition.

For the love of money is the root of all evil:

which while some coveted after, they have erred

from the faith, and pierced themselves through

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with many sorrows.

But thou, O man of God, flee these things;

and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,

love, patience, meekness.

We see clearly that those who seek after

riches have erred from the faith and will pierce

themselves through with many sorrows. But we

are not to follow their example. We are to learn

from it and save ourselves from their unhappy

fate by keeping our hearts pure, by following

after righteousness, and by allowing the fruits

of the Spirit to operate through us.

Some people think that God wants us to

follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,

love, patience, meekness—and be broke. But

you will not be broke by following after

righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,

and meekness. Let's look at verse 17 of 1

Timothy 6:

Charge them that are rich in this world, that

they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain

riches.

Notice that riches are uncertain. You can't

depend on money. About the time you think, "I

have $5,000, I can buy me a car," they go up to

$12,000!

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Charge them that are rich in this world, that

they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain

riches, but in the living God, who giveth us

richly all things to enjoy.

Isn't that amazing? I don't love money. I

don't pursue riches and wealth. I follow after

righteousness, peace, love, patience, meekness

—and God gives me richly all things to enjoy!

Richly all things. Does that sound like those

who totally dedicate their lives to God will go

without? No! God has said, "If you will serve

Me, I will give you richly all things to enjoy."

Jesus said the same thing in Luke 12:

Take no thought for your life, what ye shall

eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on ...

Your Father knoweth that ye have need of these

things ...

Fear not little flock; for it is your Father's

good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Luke 12:22,30,32

If we put our total trust in God, our days of

worry about prosperity and material necessities

—food, clothing, shelter—are over.

Charge them that are rich in this world, that

they be not highminded.

If you make up your mind to totally

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consecrate your life to God, then you will be

blessed. Proverbs 10:22 says, " The blessing of the

Lord, it maketh rich." So, I hereby charge you,

rich person, don't get highminded!

That's what happens to some people after

the blessings start coming on them. They get

high-minded and begin to trust in the riches

more than in God.

Verses 18 and 19 of 1 Timothy continue:

(Charge them) that they be rich in good

works, ready to distribute, willing to

communicate.

Laying up in store for themselves a good

foundation against the time to come, that they

may lay hold on eternal life.

The richer you get, the more God expects of

you. I get amused sometimes by the people

who come to me and say: "Brother Savelle,

would you pray for me? I'm believing to have a

prosperous business, and I'm really going to

put some money in the Gospel when it all

happens."

I ask, "How much are you putting in now?"

"None. I'm waiting for this to happen first."

"Then you won't do it then either."

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"But, Brother Savelle, if you'll just agree

with me that God will bless this business deal,

I'll really put some money in the Gospel. If this

deal goes through, I'll have thousands of

dollars, and I'll put the tithe into the Gospel."

Friend, if you had only ten dollars

yesterday, but today you have seventy-five,

you are richer than you were, and God expects

you to do good with that increase.

God wants the rich to be rich in good

works. That's why He made them rich. He

doesn't want them to be highminded, going

around with their noses in the air saying, "I got

mine. Let them get theirs." God wants them to

be rich in good works, ready to distribute. That

is divine prosperity.

God wants us to be distributors. As we

increase in blessing, we are to be ready to

distribute and willing to communicate. In so

doing, we lay up in store for ourselves a good

foundation against the time to come. As we

give, we build up reserves for ourselves upon

which we can draw in our times of need.

Be a Giver

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We are to be a blessing. We are to be

generous givers. No matter how much or how

little you have to give, be a giver. God will

increase your substance so you can give more.

Remember, giving is the essence of living. It's

the basic element of life. When we are blessed,

we are to give. Proverbs 10:22 says, " The

blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth

no sorrow with it." As God's blessings come

upon us and make us rich, we are to be rich in

good works—ready to distribute, willing to

communicate. It's the law of God to give. Life is

centered around how much of ourselves we can

give out, not how much we can get.

In 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, we read about a

group of people in the Church who were in

deep poverty. They had tremendous trials and

afflictions. The Apostle Paul said they didn't

have anything to give, so they gave themselves

for the ministry of the saints.

Never say, "I don't have anything to give."

There's always you. That's what God wants

more than anything else—you. God wants you

before He wants your money, your house, your

car, or any of your possessions. You may not

have any material things to give, but you can

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always give yourself.

"Well, what can I do?"

You can be a help to somebody who needs a

helping hand. You can clean house, or fix a

roof, or babysit children, or nurse a sick child,

or visit with an old person who is lonely. There

are a thousand ways you can give without

giving money. You can do something. God will

honor that giving just like it was money.

Sometimes we think that if we don't give

money, God won't honor it. That's not true.

Give, and it shall be given unto you. "As ye

would that men should do to you, do ye also to them

likewise" (Luke 6:31).

Ephesians 4:28 tells us:

Let him that stole steal no more: but rather

let him labour, working with his hands the thing

which is good, that he may have to give to him

that needeth.

Once again we see expressed the essence of

living: giving. We are to work with our hands.

We are to labor. The very motive for our

laboring and working with our hands is that we

may have something to give to those in need.

Somebody asked me, “What is all this

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giving going to do for me?"

People tell me all the time, “Well, Brother

Jerry, you know I can understand how people

would give to you, you're in the ministry.

People are used to giving to ministers. But I'm a

businessman (or teacher, or housewife, or clerk,

or salesman, or whatever). People don't give to

me. I'm not a nonprofit organization like you

are."

I'm not either. I'm a working man, just like

you. I have a job just like you. The money we

receive in offerings or through the sale of tapes

and books goes into a non-profit organization

of which I happen to be president. I am not that

organization. I just work for it. I am paid a

salary just like any other working person. Most

of the time that salary doesn't cover all of my

needs. When that happens, I can't just go into

the office and say, "I need ten thousand dollars,

so I'm going to take it out of the ministry

funds." That's illegal.

I'm not an embezzler. I have to believe God

for my needs, just like you do for yours.

"What about all the money that comes into

your ministry through offerings?"

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It goes into a corporation. We have a fairly

large staff of people, and each is paid a salary,

including me.

I conduct meetings. People have an

opportunity to give free-will offerings. We sell

tapes and books. But I don't receive one dime

from any of these sources. All these funds go

into the ministry. I don't get a "cut" or a

"percentage" or royalties or a commission.

Therefore, God has to do miracles for me

personally, just as He does for you.

"Then how does God get things to you?"

In miraculous ways, unusual ways. The

only difference between me and some other

people is that I believe He'll do it. They are

convinced He won't because they are not in the

ministry. I'm convinced He will do it for me,

not because I'm in the ministry, but because I'm

in His will! God is no respecter of persons.

What He will do for one of His children, He

will do for another if that child will believe.

In Luke 6:38 Jesus said, “Give, and it shall be

given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and

shaken together, and running over, shall men give

unto your bosom.” Evidently God uses men to

give to us.

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191

Jesus didn't say, “Give, and if thou art in the

ministry, men shall give unto your bosom." I

don't care what your job is or what mine is,

both of us have to act on God's Word. I expect

God to work miracles for me just like you do.

Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as

the servants of Christ, doing the will of God

from the heart;

With good will doing service, as to the Lord,

and not to men:

Knowing that whatsoever good thing any

man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord,

whether he be bond or free.

Ephesians 6:6-8

Let's rephrase that a bit: "Whether he be Jew

or Gentile, male or female, black or white,

young or old, manager or laborer, owner or

worker, preacher or layman." It doesn't make

any difference what you are or who you are.

Regardless of your social status, economic class,

educational level, age, race, sex, or occupation,

God says that whatever good thing you do for

somebody else, you shall receive the same of

the Lord.

Let me give you an example of how God

gets things to people who need them. Have you

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ever been in a store to pick up something and

think, You know, Mary could use one of those too. I

think I'll just get that and give it to her. That's an

example of your giving into someone's bosom.

You might say, "But nobody ever thinks of

me like that."

Are you doing any good for anybody else?

Start doing good things for others. God has said

that the same will be done unto you. If you help

somebody, God will see to it that you get

helped.

You are not doing good works to impress

God. You impress God when you choose Him.

You're not trying to do good works to win

merit from God. You are already His. He can't

love you more than He already does. All you

are doing is the will of God from the heart.

You're doing good because that is the nature of

God, and He has promised, "I will see to it that

every good thing you do, the same shall be

done unto you."

This is what creates divine prosperity. If we

totally consecrate our lives to God, quit

pursuing riches and things, seek God with all

our hearts, and do good to everybody around

us (even our enemies!), then we will begin to

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193

enjoy divine prosperity.

7

Sowing in Famine

7

I don't know why the Lord chose to reveal

Himself to me in such a special way. When He

supernaturally visited me in my hotel room

that day in October of 1981, the Shekinah glory

of God so filled the room that there was

nothing I could do but stand in His presence.

As I was standing there, the Lord said,

“Son, My people are in financial bondage, and I

want them out. I've given them the principles in

My Word by which they can prosper. But

because of their disobedience and rebellion,

because they have allowed a spirit of lethargy

to come upon them, they are not the head

instead of the tail and they are not above

instead of beneath."

Then He told me, "I don't have another 200

years to free them of that bondage." According

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to God's timetable, this thing is about to wind

up. God needs us free. He doesn't need us

bound up financially, because we are

responsible for financing the great end-time

revival, the greatest revival this world has ever

seen.

God is going to supernaturally intervene on

our behalf and provide us with the abundant

prosperity we will need to accomplish His

objective in this age. If you will receive this

message as from the Lord Himself, it will affect

you. If not, it won't. The choice is yours. My

sole purpose in sharing this message with you

is to be obedient to God. I'm doing what God

instructed me to do. What you do with it is

between you and Him.

This message is working for me, and it will

work for you if you will believe it and act on it.

The decision is up to you. You can take it or

leave it.

God is going to move on our finances as

never before. If you believe this message and

participate in this plan, you will see the power

of God in operation in your finances in a

phenomenal way. Since October of 1981 when

God supernaturally visited me and shared

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these things with me, when He gave me the

keys to deliverance from financial famine, I

have experienced the greatest financial miracles

of my entire life and ministry. Not only has

God brought in more money, He has enabled

me to give more than ever before. And it's not

over yet. Some of the most astounding miracles

have happened to me and to those with whom I

have shared this message. Testimonies have

come from people all over the country

documenting these miracles.

God told me, "Son, My people are in

financial famine, and I'm giving you the

assignment to tell them how to get out.'' And

that's what I've been doing. I've set up meetings

in obedience to God to share these principles

with others. I've had the privilege of sharing

this message before crowds of thousands and

have seen the power of God released as never

before.

If you will be faithful with what God gives

you, He will see that you get the desires of your

heart. But if you think, God is finally going to do a

miracle on my finances so I can spend it on the lust

of my flesh, it won't work. That attitude is why

many are in the situation they're in right now.

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Their minds have been on getting things.

Because of their selfishness and lust, God has

not been able to bless them as He wanted. Their

priorities have been all wrong.

But, praise God, all that is changing. I am

going to be obedient to God and go throughout

the land telling God's people how to be

delivered from financial bondage.

We Must Take Control

God said, “There are many things that must

be accomplished before Jesus can come, and it's

going to take an enormous amount of money to

get it done."

One of the things that will happen in the

near future is God's take-over of every form of

mass communication. God is "fed up" with men

controlling things that were made for the

Gospel.

Colossians 1:16 says " all things were created

by him, and for him." Television wasn't made for

pornography. It was made for the Gospel.

God's people are going to take it over. If we

can't buy time on TV, we'll just buy the station,

or the satellite, or the whole network, if

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necessary! The Body of Christ will control the

means of communication because God has said

so. It all belongs to Him, and He will see that it

is put into the hands of those who will use it for

His purposes.

God delivered His people out of the hands

of one pharaoh, and He hasn't changed. He is

fed up with the Body of Christ being on the

short end. He is fed up with the Body of Christ

not being able to do what needs to be done. He

is going to take action to see that the situation is

remedied. And Satan can't stop it, if we won't

let him. The Devil can't keep us from winning.

It's time we take our rightful stand as God's

kids and grow up. We don't have another 200

years to play around. We have wasted many

years playing church. We have built

monuments, stained windows, filled our

sanctuaries with pews and fancy carpets, and

produced Sunday school quarterlies with

teaching so watered down it sounded like

Reader's Digest instead of the Bible! No wonder

our younger generation didn't want any part of

Christianity. With the double standards the

adults presented and the double standards the

pulpit presented, it's no wonder the young

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people rebelled against the Church.

But that same generation is going to put the

Devil under their feet like no other generation

before. When this group takes hold of the truth,

they can't be shaken. It can't be taken away

from them.

When I went into the ministry in 1969,

pastors who had been Christians longer than I

had lived got mad at me for being so bold. They

didn't like it because I wouldn't agree with their

religious traditions, because I dared to say, "By

His stripes I am healed. My days of sickness are

over." They actually became angry at me

because I said, "I am redeemed from poverty.

It's God's will that I prosper." They would swell

up like toads and say, "Well, I'll tell you one

thing, young man, when you've been in this

thing as long as we have, you won't be talking

like that. You'll find out what it's all about." At

the time of this writing, I've been in it twelve

years now, and I'm getting bolder all the time!

It's working better now than it did then. It's not

getting less effective—it's getting more

effective!

Some Christians got turned on to the Lord

when Carolyn and I did. They made the same

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decision to live by the Word that we made. But

they have gotten under pressure and quit. Some

of them are still mad at us for winning. They're

jealous.

After one of my sermons, a great big guy

grabbed me by the collar and nearly lifted me

off the floor. He said, "I want to tell you

something. I don't like it one bit! I spent four

years of my life in the seminary studying God's

Word. But now I'm selling life insurance to pay

my debts. You've never been to the seminary a

day in your life. You've only been saved about

three months. But you are preaching and God is

doing miracles. I'm not seeing God do

anything. I want to know why!"

Then I told him, "You know a lot about the

Bible, but I'm living the Bible."

It isn't enough just to know what the Bible

says. The key is to live it. And the most

important place to live it is not in the church;

it's in the home. It's time the Body of Christ got

fed up with the Devil running our lives and

with carnally minded men dictating to us.

The Body of Christ needs to become Joshuas

and Calebs. It's time we quit running around

with negative reports, feeling sorry for

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ourselves, weeping and wailing about how

tough life is. That's the world's testimony! If

you're fed up with the Devil, then tell him

where to get off! Then see that he does it!

God is fed up with the Devil controlling our

finances. Unemployment is higher than it's

been in decades. Probably a large percentage of

those unemployed people profess to be

Christians. That ought not be. There is a

monster in this land called inflation. It is

destroying homes and creating havoc all

around us. The whole world is experiencing it.

Half of the Christians you talk to are affected by

it, almost to the point of giving up. That ought

not be.

My Bible tells me that nothing shall

separate us from the love of Christ, not

tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or

famine, or peril, or sword, or principalities, or

powers, or things present (inflation is present),

or things to come, or any other thing! Nothing

can stop us from winning! Nothing!

No matter what kind of onslaught the Devil

brings upon this earth, it shouldn't stop the

Church of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, " Upon this

rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell

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shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). Nothing

shall prevail against the Church that Jesus is

building.

We Will Be Victorious

The day has passed when the Body of

Christ is in the minority. The day has passed in

which the world dictates to us what we can and

cannot do. We've already proven to them that

when we join together, we can't be beaten.

It is exciting to watch the movement of God

and the advancement of the Church of Jesus

Christ in these last days. Friend, God is taking

over. The Devil is resisting, of course. That's to

be expected. He's going to fight. He has his

evangelists running throughout the world,

preaching his propaganda and stirring up

trouble everywhere he can. But he will never

get ahead of God. He can't win. He that is in us

is greater than he that is in the world. We are

victors!

In the past, the Body of Christ has suffered

financially, but that is about to come to an end.

God is ready to make His move. He is not

pleased to hear His people saying, “I wish I

could do more for the Gospel, but I can't. I don't

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have it to give." He wants them to be able to do

what He wants done. He will see that they have

the means to do His work, if they will cooperate

with Him.

When God visited me, He said, "Son, My

people are in financial famine, and I'm

revealing to you the keys to deliverance. I'm

giving you the assignment to go tell them how

to be delivered." As a result, I had to release the

church of which I was pastor in Fort Worth,

Texas. I have been on the road ever since. We

have launched our national television ministry

to get this message throughout the country. We

are going worldwide with this message. God is

divinely intervening in our behalf.

God's People in Bondage

Every time God's people, as a whole, have

gotten into bondage, the only way they got out

of that bondage was through divine

intervention.

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father

in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock

to the backside of the desert, and came to the

mountain of God, even to Horeb.

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto

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him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush:

and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with

fire, and the bush was not consumed.

And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and

see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

And when the Lord saw that he turned aside

to see, God called unto him out of the midst of

the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said,

Here am I.

And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off

thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon

thou standest is holy ground.

Moreover he said, I am the God of thy

father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,

and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for

he was afraid to look upon God.

And the Lord said, I have surely seen the

affliction of my people ....

Exodus 3:1-7

Are you aware that God can see the

affliction of His people? God isn't surprised

with anything. Hebrews 4:13 tells us:

Neither is there any creature that is not

manifest in his sight: but all things are naked

and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we

have to do.

God knows everything about us, even the

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number of hairs on our heads.

He knows everything about His people. He

can see the affliction and bondage of His

people. Hebrews 4:15 says, "We have not an high

priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of

our infirmities." Jesus knows how we feel. He

knows the situation we are in. He is a

compassionate and merciful High Priest.

In this passage from Exodus we see that

God's people were in bondage in Egypt because

of their disobedience. Egypt was not the will of

God for His people. Bondage has never been

the will of God for His people. Being

dominated by the world and Satan has never

been God's will for His people.

God said, " I have surely seen the affliction of

my people which are in Egypt .. " (In our time, in

our generation, God has surely seen the

financial bondage of His people.) ". . and have

heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I

know their sorrows" (Ex. 3:7). When you are

financially bound, you are full of sorrow. When

you can't do what you desire to do, when you

can't give the way you want to give, it's

bondage. When you stay up all night worrying

about how you're going to pay those bills, that's

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bondage.

Some husbands are afraid to face their

families at the end of the day because they don't

bring home enough to meet the needs. Some

families are so tormented by financial bondage

that it is destroying their household. Financial

bondage is one reason many men are in jail

right now, men who otherwise would never

commit a crime. They get under pressure

because they don't have enough to sustain their

families, so they steal or cheat or gamble to get

it. And they end up in prison. That's bondage.

When members of the Body of Christ sit up

at night worrying about finances, we've missed

something. Something is wrong. Jesus told us to

take no thought for those things because our

heavenly Father knows we have need of them.

He said that if we seek first the Kingdom of

God and His righteousness, all those things

would be added unto us. It isn't right for the

Body of Christ to be filled with anxiety,

depression, frustration, defeat, and worry.

God promised that the blessings of

Abraham are ours. In Deuteronomy 28:1-14 He

assured us that we are the head and not the tail,

above and not beneath. He said He would bless

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the work of our hands, that we would be

blessed coming in and going out, in the city and

in the country. These promises are ours now. It

isn't right that any member of the Body of

Christ be suppressed by financial bondage.

Deliverance From Bondage

"I am come down to deliver them out of the

hand of the Egyptians" (Ex. 3:8). There comes a

time when our heavenly Father won't put up

with a situation any longer. As a parent, you

may overlook some mistreatment of your child

once, or even twice. But if someone keeps

hurting your child, you will intercede on his

behalf. If your child is being unjustly treated,

you won't stand by and allow it to continue.

If we take action on behalf of our children

when they are abused, why should it seem so

unusual that our heavenly Father would do the

same for His kids? Where do you think we got

that kind of protective love? We get the

similitude of our fatherhood from the Father

God. When God's children are being hurt, there

comes a time when He cries, "Enough!"

At one time in the history of the children of

Israel, the people cried out, "God, forgive us.

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It's our fault that we got into this bondage, but

please forgive us!"

The Psalmist tells us:

Then they cry unto the Lord in their

trouble, and he saveth them out of their

distresses.

He sent his word, and healed them, and

delivered them from their destructions.

Psalm 107:19,20

When God's people get fed up with being

lorded over by the Devil, they will cry unto the

Lord, "Father, forgive us for getting into this

mess. Forgive us for letting the Devil run our

lives. Lord, deliver us." And He will deliver His

people out of their bondage.

God told Moses, " I am come down to deliver

them." It was bad news for Pharaoh when God

came down on him. He wished he had never

heard of El Shaddai. God showed Pharaoh that

He is the Most High God. Pharaoh thought he

could stand up to God, but he quickly learned

that he was no match for the Almighty. Neither

is Satan!

God's Messenger

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I am come down to deliver them out of the

hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out

of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a

land flowing with milk and honey; unto the

place of the Canaanites ...

Now therefore, behold, the cry of the

children of Israel is come unto me: and I have

also seen the oppression wherewith the

Egyptians oppress them.

Come now therefore, and I will send thee ...

Exodus 3:8-10

God said to Moses, "I've come down, and

I'll send thee." The Psalmist says that God sent

His Word and healed His people. How did God

get His Word to them? How was His Word

sent? By a messenger. God sent a man named

Moses to take His Word of deliverance to His

people.

God sent a man named Oral Roberts to

bring healing to our generation. Religious-

minded men had pushed aside the doctrines of

the Bible saying that healing had passed away,

that the power of God was no longer in

manifestation, that miracles had passed away

with the disciples. God's people were dying of

sickness and disease, so He called Oral Roberts

and told him, “Take healing to your

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generation." It was not an easy job to stand

before the world and say, "God sent me to bring

healing to this generation." But, thank God, he

did it.

I have the greatest respect for Oral Roberts

and for men like Kenneth Hagin who will stand

and preach what God said despite the

opposition and antagonism of people.

Regardless of the consequences, these men kept

preaching the message. Today this nation

knows about the healing power of God, and

Oral Roberts is directly responsible for that

knowledge. God used him as a messenger. He

stirred up other messengers, then people began

to believe and to preach that message.

I am healed today because one man took

healing to his generation. I believed the

message he preached, and I walk in divine

health today because of it. God told one man,

“I'm tired of My people being sick and dying

prematurely. I'm tired of seeing My people

oppressed with sickness and disease. Take

healing to your generation." And he did it.

I asked the Lord, "Why are You telling me

these things? Why am I involved in this?"

"Because I can trust you. You've proven to

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Me that you don't care what men say, that

you'll be My man regardless of what they say."

I haven't always been that way. I remember

praying one time, "Lord, give me a greater

anointing in my life."

But God said, "You're not ready for that yet.

You don't know the price it takes for a greater

anointing. You're too easily influenced by

people."

Then He went on to explain, "For a greater

anointing you have to obey My commands

without hesitation. At this point you aren't

willing to do that. You are afraid of what

people might say if they don't understand your

technique."

I wanted to pretend that it wasn't so, but

you can't play games with God. I knew what

He was talking about. The first time somebody

said something derogatory about the way God

told me to minister healing, my feelings were

hurt badly. But through time and experience, I

have learned to do what God says the way He

says to do it, when He says it ought to be done.

When I am obedient to His instructions,

miracles occur. When I'm not obedient, fearing

people's reaction or opinion, I fail. It's that

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simple. We must always be more concerned

about obedience to God than about public

opinion.

Our Lord Jesus was misunderstood, but He

didn't care what men thought.

Because of His obedience, He was highly

anointed. God said He chose me to carry this

message because I don't care what people think

or say. The message is this: God is going to

deliver His people from financial bondage. He

is coming down to deliver us. He said, "I have

come down, now therefore I will send you.'

Moses said to God, " Who am I, that I should

go ...?" (Ex. 3:11). That's exactly what I said.

That is one of the most humbling experiences of

my life. It is a tremendous responsibility to be

chosen as God's messenger. I treat that call with

the greatest respect and honor. I have vowed

before God that I will never let His call go to

my head, but I will humbly fulfill the

responsibility and trust He has given me.

God told Moses: " Certainly I will be with thee;

and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent

thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of

Egypt.. " (v. 12). Notice God didn't say "if," He

said "when." I have been anointed and sent by

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God to bring you a message of deliverance from

bondage. If you believe and receive this

message, you are coming out of bondage.

God's Message:

1. I Will Bring You Out of Bondage

Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall

be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When

thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt,

ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I

come unto the children of Israel, and shall say

unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me

unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his

name? what shall I say unto them?

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I

AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the

children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Exodus 3:12-14

I AM sent me to you. He is going to deliver

you just as He delivered those people out of the

bondage of Egypt. He took care of Pharaoh

once, and He will do it again. This time our

oppressor's name is Financial Bondage, but

Financial Bondage is no match for God any

more than Pharaoh was.

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And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus

shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The

Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,

the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent

me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this

is my memorial unto all generations.

Go, and gather the elders of Israel together,

and say unto them, The Lord God of your

fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of

Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely

visited you, and seen that which is done to you

in Egypt:

And I have said, I will bring you up out of

the affliction of Egypt... And they shall hearken

to thy voice ... And I am sure that the king of

Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty

hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite

Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in

the midst thereof: and after that he will let you

go.

Exodus 3:15-20

You can be sure that the Devil isn't going to

take this lying down. But he can't stop it from

happening. Pharaoh didn't take it lying down

either, but the children of Israel came out of

bondage anyway.

Notice how God accomplished their

deliverance: by a mighty hand and wonders. It

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will take a mighty move of God to get us out of

financial bondage. But, my friend, God has not

forgotten how to move with a mighty hand. He

split the Red Sea supernaturally. He drowned

the armies of Pharaoh supernaturally. And He

has not forgotten any of His techniques. He's

the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb.

13:8.) He can drown Financial Bondage in our

midst just as He drowned the Egyptian army.

He can do it with a strong hand.

And I will give this people favour in the

sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass,

that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty (v. 21).

Do you remember the story? When Pharaoh

finally let the Israelites go, he stood and

watched as the people, formerly his slaves,

marched out in triumph carrying all the gold

and silver which rightfully belonged to the

Egyptians.

We are coming out of financial bondage!

We are going to march into the enemy's camp

and take back what belongs to us. The Bible

says the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the

just and that it will eventually find its way into

their hands. (Prov. 13:22 AMP.)

We are going to take back what Satan has

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stolen from us. That money belongs in the

Gospel, not in pornographic movie houses. It

doesn't belong in jet planes full of prostitutes

and ungodly men. It belongs in the Gospel.

We can't reach the masses in only meetings,

cassettes, and books. We have to get to them

where they live—in their homes. That's why we

must take over television. It will take a lot of

money to do it, but we will have it. We are

coming out of this bondage!

God's Message:

2. I Will Command My Blessing Upon You

The Lord shall command the blessing upon

thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou

settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in

the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Deuteronomy 28:8

In His supernatural visitation with me, the

Lord said, "I am going to divinely intervene in

behalf of My people, and I am going to

command My blessing upon them." I want you

to realize how powerful the command of God

is. When darkness was covering the earth, it

took only a command of God to remove that

darkness. When the earth was without form

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and void, and darkness covered everything,

God said, " Let there be light: and there was light"

(Gen. 1:3). All God had to do to change the

condition of this earth was to issue a command.

It didn't take years. God spoke the word, and it

came to pass.

God said, "I will command the blessing to

come upon My people." All it would take to

wipe out every financial debt is for God to say,

"Financial debt, go!" God is capable of changing

everything with just one word. That's how

powerful He is.

Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he

commanded, and they were created.

He hath also ... made a decree which shall

not pass.

Psalm 148:5,6

When God commands, neither Satan, nor

evil forces, nor even man can negate it. When

God makes a decree, it stands. It is established.

God is going to command His blessing upon

you.

I am blessed because God has commanded

His blessing upon me. Every time I turn

around, I am being blessed. In fact, in Charlotte,

North Carolina, when He gave me this message

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for you, God told me, "Son, I'm going to use

you as an example to prove to the Body of

Christ that when I command the blessing upon

My people, lack is a thing of the past." Since

that moment, I have experienced some of the

most tremendous financial miracles of my

entire life. More than ever before, I have been

able to give into good works and to families

that are in need.

Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of

your mother's divorcement, whom I have put

away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I

have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have

ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions

is your mother put away.

Isaiah 50:1

God is saying to us, "Don't blame Me for

your situation. Your transgressions put you in

bondage." Now notice verse 2:

Wherefore, when I came, was there no man?

when I called, was there none to answer? Is my

hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or

have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke

I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness.

Do you believe that God is just as capable of

redeeming a people today as He was in the

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days of old? My God's hand is not shortened.

He is still quite able to save us from our

situation. Notice how He connects deliverance

and redemption with words: " At my rebuke I dry

up the sea." To reverse any situation, God only

has to speak the word and it is done. To be

redeemed from financial bondage, all we need

is for God to speak. If that's the case, then I

want God talking to my money, don't you? I

want Him to speak to my finances.

Friend, we've listened to the world long

enough. We've listened to the news reporters

and commentators long enough. We've read

Time, Newsweek, U.S. News, and the Wall Street

Journal long enough. Now let's find out what

God has to say about this situation. He says, "I

will command My blessings upon you. All I

have to do is to speak to the sea and it will dry

up." Anyone who is capable of doing that can

surely change my economic condition without

any trouble.

But the question is: Do you believe He will

do that for you? If you believe He will, then act

like it. God can turn the tide of events with a

word. Jesus proved that one night when His

men were about to drown during a storm at

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sea. To change those circumstances, He simply

stood up in the boat and said, "Peace, be still."

The waves stopped roaring, the wind ceased,

and the sea calmed. The elements knew better

than to disobey the voice of Almighty God.

People ignore God; the elements don't.

Jesus spoke and the elements obeyed. The

men with Him were astounded and asked

themselves, " What manner of man is this?" (Mark

4:41). That is exactly what the world will be

saying as God begins to command His

blessings upon the Body of Christ. Our God can

do it. Our God will do it.

God's Message:

3. I Will Rebuke the Devourer for Your Sake

I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,

and he shall not destroy the fruits of your

ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit

before the time in the field, saith the Lord of

hosts.

And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye

shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of

hosts.

Malachi 3:11,12

God told me that afternoon, "Son, tell My

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people that I will command My blessing upon

them, and according to Malachi 3:11, "I will

rebuke the devourer for their sakes."

Satan cannot withstand God's rebuke. As

believers we have the authority to rebuke the

Devil. When you rebuke the Devil, you get

bolder. But you never rebuke him until you get

totally fed up with what he's doing to you. You

put up with his harassment until you got tired

of it. Then when you have taken all you can

stand from him, you started rebuking him. Do

you know what the word rebuke really means?

"To address sharply, to reprimand."

God said, "I'm going to command My

blessings upon My people, and I'm going to

rebuke the devourer for their sake. I'm going to

talk to their finances and command blessings to

come upon them. I'm going to take care of the

adversary for them while those blessings are

coming upon them. I'm going to address him

very sharply. I'm going to reprimand him. I'm

fed up with his controlling their finances."

It excites me to know that God is talking to

my finances and that He is rebuking the Devil

for me. When God rebukes, all hell trembles. In

the book of Revelation, the voice of Jesus is

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described " as the sound of many waters" (Rev.

1:15). Have you ever been to Niagara Falls? The

roar of those falls can be heard for miles. That's

how it is when God speaks. At one time God

spoke to Jesus from the skies and everybody

thought it thundered. (John 12:29.) When God

says, "Satan, I rebuke you!" all of hell and the

principalities and powers of darkness reel

under the force of that rebuke. As long as our

God rebukes the devourer and commands

blessings upon us, there is nothing the Devil

can do to keep us in bondage.

The word devour means "to eat up, to

consume, to destroy, to absorb completely, to

swallow up." You see, that's what the Devil has

been doing to our finances. He has been

swallowing them up, absorbing them

completely, to keep us in bondage.

God has said, "I will rebuke the devourer

for your sake."

God's Message:

4. Sow in Famine

Even in divine intervention, there is always

a condition that must be met. When God moves

with a strong hand to deliver His people, there

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are conditions which must be met to receive

that deliverance.

The Lord dealt with me about this. He said,

"Son, I will command My blessing upon the

people, and I will rebuke the devourer for their

sakes. I will change their financial condition if

they will do what I tell them to do."

When people are in famine and in financial

bondage, they tend to hold back what they

have. Fearing that they won't get any more,

they look around at circumstances and get

stingy. In times of famine, people start

hoarding up. They withhold, which is the worst

thing they can do in that situation. That is

totally contrary to the principles of God's Word.

Proverbs 11:24 says, " There is that scattereth,

and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth

more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." The

New International Version reads: "One man gives

freely, yet gains even more; another withholds

unduly, but comes to poverty."

A time of famine is not the time to hold on

to the little bit you have. That is the time you

need to sow out of famine. That's how you get

out of famine—by sowing.

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225

God told me, "Son, if people will do what

I'm telling them, I will give them the blessing of

Isaac when he sowed in famine."

Let's look at that story in Genesis, chapter

26:

And there was a famine in the land ...

And the Lord appeared unto him (Isaac),

and said, Go not down into Egypt (in other

words, "Don't run away from the famine");

dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee,

and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy

seed, I will give all these countries, and I will

perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham

thy father ...

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and

kept my charge, my commandments, my

statutes, and my laws.

Genesis 26:1-5

Notice that in the midst of famine, God told

Isaac not to run or be afraid of it, but to stay

where He had told him to dwell. He assured

Isaac that He would be with him and take care

of him, even in the midst of the famine.

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received

in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord

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blessed him.

Genesis 26:12

Isaac didn't withhold in famine. He sowed

in famine. He gave in famine.

And the man waxed great, and went

forward, and grew until he became very great:

For he had possession of flocks, and

possession of herds, and great store of servants:

and the Philistines envied him.

Genesis 26:13,14

God told me, "If My people will give in the

same spirit that Isaac gave, by sowing in famine

rather than withholding, I'll give them the

blessing of Isaac." Then He said, "You start, son,

and I'll use you as an example."

I too was in famine at the time. I didn't have

all I needed and was tired of it. That year had

been one of the hardest periods financially for

my ministry. We stood on the Word of God

constantly. There was not one day that we

could let up. We had to keep our faith against

that mountain every day. It seemed that the

more I received, the more it would take. There

was never enough.

God said to me, "Are you fed up?"

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227

I said, "Yes, I'm fed up."

He said, "Well, I'm fed up too. I'm going to

command the blessing upon you and rebuke

the Devil for your sake. If you'll do what I'm

telling you to do, if you'll sow in famine, I'll

give you the blessing of Isaac—and in the same

year a hundredfold."

Carolyn and I sat down together and took

ten checks out of our ministry, one from each of

the ten major departments that were in famine.

We wrote each check for a thousand dollars, a

total of ten thousand dollars.

You might say, "You gave away ten

thousand dollars? That doesn't sound like

famine to me." It is when you need millions.

Now if you only need five dollars, then ten

thousand is abundance. But when ten thousand

dollars doesn't come close to meeting your

needs, then you are in famine.

Success to one person may not be success to

someone else. Someone may say proudly, "I

made a hundred thousand dollars this year."

But to the person who normally makes five

hundred thousand a year, that's famine.

I was in famine. And I was fed up with it.

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So Carolyn and I wrote out those ten checks for

a thousand dollars each. We needed that ten

thousand dollars desperately; but we sowed in

famine, in obedience to God. God was going to

command the blessing upon us and rebuke the

devourer for our sake.

The blessing of Isaac was going to come on

us.

Then Carolyn and I took a thousand dollars

from our own personal account, the last

thousand we had, and sowed it in famine. God

had told me, "I will use you as an example to

prove to the Body of Christ that I will do what I

say."

Within one week (not one year, but one

week—seven days), God gave me an airplane

worth $150,000 for which I owe not one thin

dime! The next night I was given a check for

$100,000 for the evangelistic ministry. Then I

received another check for $10,000. And it has

never stopped! In one week's time, over a

quarter of a million dollars came to me!

Isaac sowed in famine and received a

hundredfold return. God told me to tell you

that He is going to give you the blessing of

Isaac. You don't have to be a preacher for this to

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229

work for you. All you have to be is a believer.

I preached this message in a church in

Oklahoma City. The people took it and acted

upon it, sowing in famine, in their need. Later

the pastor asked how many in the congregation

had received financial miracles since they

sowed in famine. Over 75% of his congregation

stood to their feet! Over 75% of that church had

received financial miracles because they had

sowed in famine. That is a documented fact.

A woman called our office and said she had

been trying to sell her house for months. She

got tired of it taking so long, so she sowed in

famine. Her house sold the next day. That, too,

is a documented fact.

I could go on and on. My files contain a

folder full of such documented testimonies.

God is commanding His blessing upon His

people!

Are you living in famine? Do you believe

that God is no respecter of persons and that

what He has done for me and for these I have

mentioned, He will do for you?

In Exodus 35:4,5 we read these words:

And Moses spake unto all the congregation

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of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing

which the Lord commanded, saying,

Take ye from among you an offering unto

the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him

bring it, an offering of the Lord.

God wants a voluntary act of faith on your

part. He wants you to be of a willing heart. If

you will sow out of your need for the spread of

the Gospel in these last days, God has promised

that you will reap a bountiful harvest. Don't

make this a one-time effort, but a lifestyle.

All God wants is an opportunity to

command His blessing upon you and to rebuke

the devourer for your sake. If you are of a

willing heart and are ready to come out of your

bondage, then sow, and sow, and keep on

sowing. Your freedom is at hand.

Jerry Savelle is a noted author, evangelist,

and Bible teacher who travels extensively

throughout the United States. Jerry teaches the

uncompromising Word of God with a power

and authority that is exciting, but with a love

that delivers the message directly to the heart.

His down-to-earth approach and dynamic

illustrations clearly present the absolute

authority of God's Word.

At the age of twelve as Jerry was watching

the healing ministry of Oral Roberts on

television, God spoke to his heart and called

him into the ministry. Several years later, on

February 11, 1969, Jerry made Jesus Christ the

Lord of his life. Since that time, he has been

moving in the light of God's calling on his life.

Prior to entering his own ministry, Jerry was an

associate minister with Kenneth Copeland

Evangelistic Association.

The scope of Jerry Savelle Ministries is far

reaching. Besides traveling throughout the

United States, Canada, and other parts of the

world, Jerry conducts a daily radio program,

"Adventures In Faith."

The anointing of God upon Jerry's life is

powerful, and people are set free as the Word

goes forth unhindered.

For a complete list of tapes and

books by Jerry Savelle, write:

Jerry Savelle Ministries

P.O. Box 2228

Fort Worth, TX 76113

Document Outline

- Living in Divine Prosperity

- Contents

- Introduction

- 1 Freedom From Bondage

- The Higher Way

- Believe to Receive

- Good News

- Purpose of Prosperity

- 2 Importance of Obedience

- Giving: The Essence of Living

- A Life-Style, Not a Scheme

- Obedience Yields Prosperity

- Need for Discipline

- Why God's People Suffer

- Disobedience

- Rebellion

- Lethargy

- Commitment

- Where the Blame Goes

- 3 Willingness to Serve

- The Lord's Rebuke

- An Attitude of Servitude

- Purpose of Faith

- Daily Prosperity

- Daily Obedience

- Trust the Word

- Ordered Steps

- Attitude of Obedience

- Quickly and Quietly

- Serve and Obey

- 4 Nature of Faith

- Faith Works

- Faith Obeys

- Faith Trusts

- Faith Is Patient

- Faith Knows

- Faith Receives

- 5 Seven Steps to the Life of Faith

- Step 1: Separate Yourself from the Ties of this World

- Step 2: Forsake All to Follow God

- Step 3: Don't Turn Back Under Pressure

- Step 4: Walk the Life of Faith One Step at a Time

- Step 5: Honor God with your Substance

- Step 6: Recognize God as your Absolute Source of Supply

- Step 7: Don't Pursue Riches, Pursue the Creator

- 6 Consecration—Key to Prosperity

- Be Trustworthy

- Trust God's Laws of Abundance

- Seek First the Kingdom

- Be Willing to Learn

- Receive God's Blessings

- Be Not High-Minded

- Be a Giver

- 7 Sowing in Famine

- We Must Take Control

- We Will Be Victorious

- God's People in Bondage

- Deliverance From Bondage

- God's Messenger

- God's Message:

- God's Message:

- God's Message:

- God's Message:

Table of Contents

Introduction

1 Freedom From Bondage

2 Importance of Obedience

3 Willingness to Serve

4 Nature of Faith

5 Seven Steps to the Life of Faith

6 Consecration—Key to Prosperity

7 Sowing in Famine

Living in Divine Prosperity

Contents

The Higher Way

Believe to Receive

Good News

Purpose of Prosperity

Giving: The Essence of Living

A Life-Style, Not a Scheme

Obedience Yields Prosperity

Need for Discipline

Why God's People Suffer

Disobedience

Rebellion

Lethargy

Commitment

Where the Blame Goes

The Lord's Rebuke

An Attitude of Servitude

Purpose of Faith

Daily Prosperity

Daily Obedience

Trust the Word

Ordered Steps

Attitude of Obedience

Quickly and Quietly

Serve and Obey

Faith Works

Faith Obeys

Faith Trusts

Faith Is Patient

Faith Knows

Faith Receives

Step 1: Separate Yourself from the Ties of this World

Step 2: Forsake All to Follow God

Step 3: Don't Turn Back Under Pressure

Step 4: Walk the Life of Faith One Step at a Time

Step 5: Honor God with your Substance

Step 6: Recognize God as your Absolute Source of Supply

Step 7: Don't Pursue Riches, Pursue the Creator

Be Trustworthy

Trust God's Laws of Abundance

Seek First the Kingdom