Maybe today your heart isn’t turned wholly toward God. Maybe you’re facing the same situation I was facing back in 1977. You have grown busy and lost your appetite for the things of God. You know you ought to be praying more and spending
more time in the Word, but you’ve lost your desire. You just don’t want to do it.
If so, you can turn yourself around. You can rekindle your fire for the Lord by making the same kinds of changes I made. Before long, you will find yourself addicted to God instead of the earthly pursuits that have been consuming you.
How can I be so sure?
Because God showed me that your desire always follows your attention. Most people think it’s the other way around. They think their attention follows their desire, but that’s not the case.
One of the greatest practical examples of this fact is the average golfer. In the springtime when the weather is nice and there is plenty of opportunity to play golf, most avid golfers become very absorbed in their sport. The more they play, the more they want to play. They think about it, read about it, talk about it. They are constantly wanting to play golf!
But when winter comes, they put away their golf clubs. They stop talking about it and thinking about it. They don’t mope around all winter because they can’t be on the golf course. Why? Because they have turned their attention to other things, and their desire for golf has waned.
I have seen that same principle at work in our conventions. People will come to a Believers’ Convention, and when they arrive they will often be completely caught up in natural affairs. They will be preoccupied, worrying and fussing about some business deal at the office or some problem they left at home.
But after just a day or two of attending the meetings and spending hours on end in the Word of God, they’ll completely
forget about that business deal and that problem. They will be so absorbed in the Word that those things don’t seem so important.
It doesn’t matter how disinterested you may have grown about the things of God. If you will turn your attention toward Him, your desire will follow.
I know that from experience. I turned my attention to the Word of God, spent time listening to tapes and spent time in prayer until I became so addicted to the things of God that I lost interest in many of the other things that had so engaged me before. For example, I enjoy decorating our homes and office, and I used to spend a great deal of time at it. But as I became more involved in the things of God, I just didn’t want to spend much time decorat- ing. Now it’s a chore to do that.
Even today when I think about taking up some new project, starting a new hobby or buying something that would require me to spend my time maintaining it, I say to myself, Can I afford this?
Can I afford the time it will cost me? Usually I decide I can’t! I
have come to value the things of God so much and have such great desire for them that I just don’t want to give my time to anything else unless it is absolutely necessary.
Today I can give testimony that what I’m telling you is true. It has wo r ked. At the writing of this book, everything is good in my life and in the lives of my fa m i l y. Things are well with us. My children and grandchildren are healthy, blessed and serving the Lord.
There is no question about it. The time I’ve spent with God has changed my life. And I can say with certainty that if you will spend an hour or two a day with Him, it will change your life too.
H ow could it be otherwise? How could you possibly spend an hour or two daily with the highest authority and the kindest, most loving being in the universe without having it affect your life and future?
You may be facing problems today that seem to have no solu- tions. You may be caught in impossible circumstances. But I want you to know that God can change those things. If you will give Him a way into your life by fellowshiping with Him every day, He will give you a way out of those impossible circumstances. He will help you solve those problems. He will move on your behalf until you too can say, “All is well with me!”
If you want a change, make a change. Commit yourself to do whatever it takes to stay in right relationship with God, abide in Him and spend time with Him every day. Determine right now that by the strength and grace of God, if you have to get up earlier in the morning, you will do it. If you have to go to bed later at night, you will do it. If you have to change jobs, you will do it.
Decide no matter what it takes, you will maintain your communion with God; you will guard your heart above all, for out of it flow the issues of life.
Agree with me now as I pray for you.
Father, thank You for revealing to us the wonderful fact that we can fellowship with You. Thank You for reminding us that we can spend time with You and talk to You. It is such a great bless- ing to know You’ll give us wisdom and reveal to us in every situ- ation what we should do and then give us help and strength from Your Spirit to carry it through.
I pray for the person who is reading this book right now, Lord. I pray that You will quicken within them a great desire to
go on in the things of God, to go on in the walk of faith, to increase spiritually more and more. Give this person such a strong desire that it will overcome all laziness, every distraction and every hindrance that has held them back from spending time with You.
In the Name of Jesus, I break the power of the enemy over this precious believer. I release this person in Jesus’ Name from any spirit of lethargy. I release the power of God right now to rise up within and come upon and to endue this believer with power, Lord, so they can go on and do the things they purpose to do in their heart. Give this person the power and the grace to go on and increase and to not draw back or be lazy.
Strengthen this person out of the rich treasury of Your glory, Lord, with might in the inner man. Enable them to rise up and become on fire for You, to march forward and do the things necessary to maintain this person’s time and union with You at all costs.
We know, Father, that in the end it won’t cost us, it will pay us. It will bless us. It might cause a little harassment on our flesh for a while, but the Bible says we have been crucified with Christ and that flesh has to be put under subjection. We know we cannot do that in our own strength. So we depend on You, fully confident that You will help us, encourage us and enable us to do what we know to do.
Now reveal to those who read these words exactly what they need to do in order to grow and maintain their spiritual walk. Show them what they need to drop out of their lives and what they need to add. Give them spiritual goals they can set to help them walk in the spirit. Teach them to maintain a lifestyle of daily fellowshiping with You.
1 Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament, Vol.
I [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1973] p. 163.
2 The Fruit of the Spirit, Donald Gee [Springfield: Gospel Publishing House,
1928], p. 60, used by permission of publisher.
3 Romans 12:1, Kenneth S. Wuest, An Expanded Translation [Grand Rapids:
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1961]
4 “Lord, Lordship,” W.E. Vine Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words
[Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985] p. 379.
5 Rufus Moseley, Manifest Victory, A Quest and a Testimony [Saint Paul:
Macalester Park Publishing Company, Reprinted 1986] p. 121.
6 J. Rufus Moseley, Manifest Victor, A Quest and a Testimony [St. Paul:
Macalester Park Publishing Co., 1986], p. 117.
7 John G. Lake—His Life, His Sermons, His Boldness of Faith, rev. ed. [Fort
Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1994] p. 59.
8 The Companion Bible (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1990) p. 892. 9 “Tongues,” meaning not their own language, but an unknown language given
by the Holy Spirit.
10 Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language [New York:
S. Converse, 1828] “diligent.”
11 John G. Lake—His Life, His Sermons, His Boldness of Faith, rev. ed. [Fort
Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1994] pp. 9-10.
12 John G. Lake’s sermons have been compiled into the book John G. Lake—
His Life, His Sermons, His Boldness of Faith, which is available through
Heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. Your Word says, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). I am calling on You. I pray and ask Jesus to come into my heart and be Lord over my life according to Romans 10:9-10: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” I do that now. I confess that Jesus is Lord, and I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead.
I am now reborn! I am a Christian—a child of Almighty God! I am saved! You also said in Your Word, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: HOW MUCH MORE shall your heav- enly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13). I’m also asking You to fill me with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, rise up within me as I praise God. I fully expect to speak with other tongues as You give me the utterance (Acts 2:4). In Jesus’ Name. Amen!
Begin to praise God for filling you with the Holy Spirit. Speak those words and syllables you receive—not in your own language, but the language given to you by the Holy Spirit. You have to use your own voice. God will not force you to speak. Don’t be concerned with how it sounds. It is a heavenly language!
Continue with the blessing God has given you and pray in the spirit every day.
You are a born-again, Spirit-filled believer. You’ll never be the same! Find a good church that boldly preaches God’s Word and obeys it. Become a part of a church family who will love and care for you as you love and care for them.
We need to be connected to each other. It increases our strength in God. It’s God’s plan for us.
Make it a habit to watch the Believer’s Voice of Victory television broadcast and become a doer of the Word, who is blessed in his doing (James 1:22-25).
Gloria Copeland is a noted author and minister of the gospel whose teaching ministry is known throughout the world. Believers worldwide know her through Believers’ Conventions, Victory Campaigns, magazine articles, teaching tapes and videos, and the daily and Sunday Believer’s Voice of Victory television broadcast, which she hosts with her husband, Kenneth Copeland. She is known for “Healing School,” which she began teaching and hosting in 1979 at KCM meetings. Gloria delivers the Word of God and the keys to victorious Christian living to millions of people every year.
Gloria has written many books, including God’s Will for You, Walk
With God, God’s Will Is Prosperity, Hidden Treasures, and A re You Listening? She has also co-authored several books with her husband,
including Family Promises, Healing Promises and best-selling daily devotionals, From Faith to Faith and Pursuit of His Presence.
She holds an honorary doctorate from Oral Roberts University. In 1994, Gloria was voted Christian Woman of the Year, an honor conferred on women whose example demonstrates outstanding Christian leader- ship. Gloria is also the co-founder and vice president of Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Fort Worth, Texas.
Learn more about Kenneth Copeland Ministries by visiting our Web site at www.kcm.org