When you do, it will stop the sin in your life. As long as Satan can convince you that you don't have any right to the things of God, then he can keep you under his thumb and sin will control your life. But when you awake to righteousness, you will realize that Satan is a defeated foe and the struggle is over.
Awake to righteousness...become righteousness-minded! You have been thoroughly equipped to handle every situation which comes your way. You are to reign in life as a king by Jesus Christ. You are to live in conformity with the Father.
The Almighty God, Creator of the universe, chose to come down on your level in the form of Jesus Christ, to dwell in your heart by the Holy Spirit, and to give you His righteousness, His ability, and His strength...greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). Praise God!
Ephesians 3:20 says "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." When I fully understood the significance of this scripture, I began to have some confidence in the ministry of the Holy Spirit in my life, and I began to become righteousness-minded.
How do you become righteousness-minded? Romans 8:5 says, "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." We have occupied ourselves much of the time with the fleshly things.
Proverbs 4:20 instructs us to attend to the Word of God. In the past we have not done this. We have thought sickness instead of healing...weakness instead of strength...trouble instead of victory...poverty instead of prosperity...sin instead of righteousness. We have attended to these other things, almost completely ignoring the power of the Word of God to deliver us from the flesh.
Hebrews 5:13 tells us, "For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe." He doesn't know how to use the Bible - how to believe with it or how to fight Satan with it.
This scripture goes on in verse 14 to say, "But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
Only by feeding on the Word will we grow and be able to overcome the things of the flesh and function in line with God. I can speak from experience here because I was overweight and hooked on cigarettes.
For several years, I fought against my body with little success; but when I grew in the Word of God and began to walk in the Spirit, I no longer fulfilled the lusts if the flesh. When I learned that I could control my physical body, my weight came down to normal and the smoking habit was broken!
A person who thinks "righteousness" instead of "sin" is valuable to God, to himself, and to the people around him. He will always be there when you need him. This is not true of the sin-minded, defeat-minded Christian. There is a very deceitful area here which most people have fallen into at some time in their lives without realizing it.
Don't Get Fleeced
There is another area in which many people have been deceived, and this is in "putting out a fleece." The person who uses a fleece is depending on a physical sign of God's will in a situation, and if he's not careful, he'll get fleeced.
Now Gideon used a fleece, but let's analyze his situation for a moment. In the first place, Gideon was not a reborn man; consequently, he was forced to rely on physical evidence. He had no knowledge of God whatsoever because his entire family were followers of Ball.
Secondly, there was no prophet in the land to give him the Word of God, and the prophet was the only source of revelation knowledge in those days. Thirdly, Gideon was dealing with an angel which was completely foreign to him. Therefore, in his position, he had no choice except to put out a fleece, to get a physical sign of what to do.
But, as believers, you and I are not in Gideon's position. We have been born again and are led by the Spirit of God. We have access to the Holy Spirit, and we have the written Word of God to use as a guide in finding God's will for our lives.
If you don't know what to do in a particular situation, go to the Word of God, spend some time in prayer, meditate in the Word, and the Lord will begin to lead you. He said, "My sheep hear my voice" (John 10:27). You will know what to do by the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We don't have to depend on a sign from the natural physical world to lead us. We are not blind. We have spiritual eyes, and we are to use them.
Also, when you put out a fleece in the natural world, you are giving Satan a chance to foul up the operation since the physical world is his field of operation.
Here is a three-step formula which, when used seriously, will cause success in every area of your life. Nothing can stop it. Every Christian endeavor, no matter what it is, will succeed when it is backed with this kind of prayer and dedication because God is behind it.
- Find the will of God in your situation by prayer and meditation in the Word.
- Once you have found the will of God, confer no longer with flesh and blood. Don't ask other people what to do. I may discuss a situation with my wife or my staff, but once we have prayed and I know the will of God, then it doesn't matter what they think or say about it.
- Get your job done at all costs. Don't allow anything or anyone to stand in the way of God's will.
What a statement! This is almost more than the human mind can comprehend.
The Spirit of God has been sent into an earthly ministry just as legal and real as Jesus' earthly ministry. Jesus came to provide the way for us, and the Holy Spirit has come to teach us the way. Jesus came to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant; the Holy Spirit has come to see that the Christian Covenant is fulfilled.
The Spirit of God did not take the place of Jesus - He is God the Holy Spirit, and He is fulfilling His own ministry as God the Father directed Him.
The Word of God and the name of Jesus have taken Jesus' place here on earth. He said, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world" (John 9:5), and "Believe in the light, that ye may be the children of the light" (John 12:36).
As a new creation in Christ, you have the name of Jesus, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God to enable you to stand and minister in the place of Jesus.
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries