Kenneth Copeland – Teachings Teaching the Principles of Faith to meet the needs of People worldwide

Kenneth Copeland — The Blessing of Abraham Part 2Posted by admin on March 10th, 2010

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. The Lord shall establish thee
an holy people unto himself, as he
hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt
keep the commandments of the Lord
thy God, and walk in his ways. And
all the people of the earth shall see
that thou art called by the name of
the Lord; and they shall be afraid
of thee. And the Lord shall make
thee plenteous in goods, in the
fruit of thy body, and in the fruit
of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy
ground, in the land which the Lord
sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
The Lord shall open unto thee his
good treasure, the heaven to give
the rain unto thy land in his season,
and to bless all the work of thine
hand: and thou shalt lend unto
many nations, and thou shalt not
borrow. And the Lord shall make
thee the head, and not the tail; and
thou shalt be above only, and thou
shalt not be beneath; if that thou
hearken unto the commandments
of the Lord thy God, which I
command thee this day, to observe
and to do them: And thou shalt
not go aside from any of the words
which I command thee this day, to
the right hand, or to the left, to go
after other gods to serve them.

Praise the Lord! This is the blessing
of Abraham. I want you to notice that
it covers every area of life—spiritual,
physical, mental, financial, social
and political.

Mighty armies have come against the
people of Israel and failed miserably.
As long as the Israelites were walking
under the covenant of God, as long as
they were doing what God said to do in
His Word, they were not harmed. His
agreement with them said, “If an enemy
comes out at you one way, I will cause
him to flee seven ways.”

Some people have said, “Yes,
Brother Copeland, but that’s what God
promised to do for the Jews.” No, this
promise was given to Abraham and
to all his descendants. That means it
belongs to you through faith in Jesus
Christ, as much as it does to the Israelites.
Galatians 3:29 says, “And if ye
be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed,
and heirs according to the promise.”

As a born-again child of God you
are now Abraham’s seed. These blessings
belong to you, too.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Kenneth Copeland — The Blessing of Abraham Part 1Posted by admin on March 3rd, 2010

God promised to care for Abraham
and his descendants in every way—
spiritually, physically, financially,
socially. In Genesis 17:7 God said to
Abraham, “And I will establish my
covenant between me and thee…to be
a God unto thee, and to thy seed after
thee.” The Hebrew name for Almighty
God is El Shaddai. El means “supreme;”
Shaddai means “the breasty one.” In
other words, God was promising to be
their father, their mother, their nurse—
the supreme provider of everything
they would need in life. He spoke the
words of the covenant and swore by
Himself to keep it. This was an ironclad
agreement.

The people of Israel badly trampled
the covenant at Mount Sinai, but
through Moses’ intervention, God forgave
them. At this point, God handed
down the Law and instituted the Levitical
priesthood to help repair the damage
that had been done. God was sworn
to their destruction for breaking the
covenant, but instead He allowed sacrificial
offerings to cover their sins. The
Levitical priesthood was brought into
existence for one purpose: to bridge the
gap between God and mankind.

Hebrews 9:22 states that “without
shedding of blood is no remission
(of sin).” There had to be a mediator
between God and Israel because of the
existence of the blood covenant. The
first mediator was the Levitical priesthood.
The last mediator was Jesus—
our High Priest who ever liveth to
make intercession for us (1 Timothy
2:5; Hebrews 7:25).

In Deuteronomy 28:1-14, Moses
recorded God’s law and the articles of
the covenant, listing the blessings of
God promised to those who will put
His Word first place in their lives.

And it shall come to pass, if thou
shalt hearken diligently unto the
voice of the Lord thy God, to observe
and to do all his commandments
which I command thee this day,
that the Lord thy God will set thee
on high above all the nations of the
earth: And all these blessings shall
come on thee, and overtake thee, if
thou shalt hearken unto the voice
of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt
thou be in the city, and blessed shalt
thou be in the field. Blessed shall be
the fruit of thy body, and the fruit
of thy ground, and the fruit of thy
cattle, the increase of thy kine, and
the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall
be thy basket and thy store. Blessed
shalt thou be when thou comest in,
and blessed shalt thou be when thou
goest out. The Lord shall cause thine
enemies that rise up against thee
to be smitten before thy face: they
shall come out against thee one way,
and flee before thee seven ways.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Kenneth Copeland — God RepentedPosted by admin on February 24th, 2010

The book of Exodus provides more
insight into the strength of the covenant
through what took place among
the Israelites in Egypt and then during
their wanderings in the wilderness.
Exodus 2:23-25 says, “And the children
of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage,
and they cried, and their cry came
up unto God by reason of the bondage.
And God heard their groaning, and God
remembered his covenant with Abraham,
with Isaac, and with Jacob. And
God looked upon the children of Israel,
and God had respect unto them.”

God remembered His covenant
with Abraham and in behalf of that
covenant found a man named Moses
herding sheep on the backside of the
desert. God called him to lead the
Israelites out of Egypt.

After the Israelites were set free and
journeyed into the wilderness, we find
another situation so critical that Moses
went on his face before God for forty
days without food or water. This is the
only fast in the entire Bible where a
man goes without drink. It had to be a
supernatural existence because Moses
would have died without liquid. But
he just refused to let go of God. Exodus
32:9-10, “And the Lord said unto
Moses, I have seen this people, and,
behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now
therefore let me alone, that my wrath
may wax hot against them, and that I
may consume them: and I will make
of thee a great nation.” God wanted to
destroy Israel and start a new race with
Moses as He had with Noah after the
Flood. In verses 11-14 it says:

Moses besought the Lord his God,
and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath
wax hot against thy people, which
thou hast brought forth out of the
land of Egypt with great power, and
with a mighty hand?…Turn from thy
fierce wrath, and repent of this evil
against thy people. Remember Abraham,
Isaac, and Israel, thy servants,
to whom thou swarest by thine own
self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply
your seed as the stars of heaven,
and all this land that I have spoken of
will I give unto your seed, and they
shall inherit it for ever. And the Lord
repented of the evil which he thought
to do unto his people.

God repented! Why? Because of the
covenant He had made with Abraham
so many years before.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Kenneth Copeland — Abraham’s CovenantPosted by admin on February 17th, 2010

Let’s look at Genesis 17:1-5 for a
moment and examine this agreement
God made with Abram:

And when Abram was ninety years
old and nine, the Lord appeared to
Abram, and said unto him, I am the
Almighty God; walk before me, and
be thou perfect. And I will make
my covenant between me and thee,
and will multiply thee exceedingly.
And Abram fell on his face: and
God talked with him, saying, As for
me, behold, my covenant is with
thee, and thou shalt be a father of
many nations. Neither shall thy name
any more be called Abram, but thy
name shall be Abraham; for a father
of many nations have I made thee.

Notice particularly that God said,
“As for me….” You see, Abram did not
have to accept God’s deal. He was not
being forced to do anything—it was
his own free choice. God laid out His
proposition and Abram accepted it. It
gave God access to the earth and gave
man access to God. At this time man
had no real knowledge of God’s nature.
People only knew what their fathers
had passed down to them. After
Adam died and several generations
passed, no one really knew much
about God anymore.

You need to understand the authority
that was placed in the covenant. This
was an absolute agreement
between God and Abram, sealed on
both sides. God sealed His side of the
agreement by swearing by Himself
(Genesis 22:16). In other words, there is
no higher state that God can swear by,
so He swore by Himself. Technically, if
He ever broke the covenant, He would
have to destroy Himself.

The Hebrew word covenant means
“to cut where blood flows.” This is the
strongest agreement in any language.
A covenant is a contract, or agreement,
made between two parties and sealed
by the shedding of their blood. Once
this is done, the covenant can never
be broken. Every heathen tribe on the
face of the earth has a blood covenant.
The blood covenant between God and
man was marked and sealed in man’s
flesh through circumcision (Genesis
17:10-14). In other words, circumcision
was “the cut of the covenant.”

From that time forward, Abram was
a covenant man with God. God even
changed his name to Abraham. In
Genesis 18:17-33 we find God consulting
with His covenant man about the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Can you see the strength of this covenant?
It was powerful!

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Kenneth Copeland — Honor and the CovenantPosted by admin on August 19th, 2009

By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life (Proverbs 22:4).

The Bible, literally, is a book about covenants. Both the Old and New Testaments have honor as the primary point of focus. Honor is central to all the other principles of the Bible.

It is very interesting that we find so much about honor and the covenant in Proverbs. This entire book concerns the godly teachings of a wise man who is instructing his son how to live a righteous life.

The Bible says God chose to establish His covenant with Abraham because He knew Abraham would teach his children to “keep the way of the Lord”; that is, to live a life based upon and filled with honor for God (Genesis 18:17-19). To do so is to be in rightstanding with God.

Right-Standing With God by Kenneth Copeland

He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour
(Proverbs 21:21).

Jesus echoed these same words in the New Testament when He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

He told us to seek not after the things of this world, but after God and right-standing with Him.* He promised that if we would do so, all the things we need would be added to us.

Proverbs 21:21 is in the same light. It assures us that anyone who follows, or seeks, after mercy and right-standing with God will receive both with honor. Now, most Bible interpretations of the word mercy give a false impression of its real meaning.

I will try to explain. Before we can talk about mercy, we have to look at some other words as well. Remember, the Bible is a book of covenants. Both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant were written to people who understood the meaning and significance of a covenant relationship.

English translators have used the word testament in place of covenant. The word testament really refers to the will or desires of a person to be carried out after his death. That is why this word was chosen rather than covenant. The English translators were showing that the New Testament is the “Last Will and Testament” of Jesus. When He died for us, we inherited

His Word, His promises.

The word testament, however, does not really match the original Hebrew. It loses the most important concept. The Hebrew word translated “covenant” is beriyth and means “…cutting…; a compact (…made by passing between pieces of flesh).”1 It refers to a cut made in the flesh so that blood flows as evidence of a binding agreement between two parties.

Kenneth Copeland explains that a covenant is more than a contract or a promise. It is the most binding agreement in existence, because blood is involved. It is more serious, more formal, more permanent, because it involves a blood relationship.

The word mercy is similar to testament. It is a weak translation of a very powerful concept. A rendering of the Greek word agape in the New Covenant is translated “love,” “mercy” or “compassion.”

But this really has a passive or inactive connotation or meaning. The concept of mercy can best be described by the words “will love.” Now, that is powerful. In essence, the person who enters into a covenant relationship with another is saying to him, “I swear in blood that I will love you forever.” It has nothing to do with what the other person does or does not do. It is an oath of love. It is not in return for favors. It is forever, regardless.

The Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word agape is hesed. It literally refers to the compulsion to give and to love without limit those who have no merit. That is why, in the New Testament, the English translators sometimes used the word charity.

Somehow, the concept did not come across. There is so much giving involved in mercy that our English words don’t really convey the full
implication or significance.

This concept is best seen in a covenant. The strongest covenant we know of is that which exists between Jesus and the Church. In essence, Jesus said: “I am giving Myself to you. That includes everything I have and everything I ever will have. Everything that is Mine is yours. You have My Name, My Word and

My nature. Anyone who comes against you comes against Me. Anybody who curses you curses Me. Any enemy of yours is My enemy as well. When you are assailed, just call upon Me and I will do whatever I must to guard, protect and rescue you.” That is mercy.

Keep this concept in mind because it affects the word honor.

Proverbs 21:21 could be translated: “He who seeks after right-standing with God—anyone who has a blood covenant with Him finds life, righteousness and honor.”

Learn more about Kenneth Copeland and his ministry.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries