The Blessing
Articles by People of Faith
Open Windows
Malachi 3:10
“Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10 AMP).
Words of wisdom
God wants to open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings on you today! But you have to do your part first. Your part is to be a faithful tither and to be obedient to the Lord with your finances. See, we are all stewards over the resources God has given us. When we are good and faithful stewards, the Lord entrusts us with more of His resources. He opens the windows of heaven. Have you ever thought about what kind of blessing would be so great that there would not be room enough to receive it? It may be hard to comprehend, but that’s what God’s Word promises. Be a giver today. Be a tither. Prove the Lord and get ready to watch Him move mightily on your behalf! Begin to thank Him today for His faithfulness and blessing in your life. Look for ways the Lord will pour out His abundant blessing. As you obey and believe, you’ll see the hand of God move on your behalf, and you will live the abundant life He has in store for you!
A Prayer for Open Window
Heavenly Father, thank You for choosing to bless me. Thank You for opening the windows of heaven in my life. I choose to be obedient to Your Word. I choose to be a giver. I choose to be a faithful steward of Your resources. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Restore your Soul by using Psalm 23
Psalm 23:1-3
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul…” (Psalm 23:1-3).
Taken from Joel and Victoria @ Lakewood Church
God wants to restore your soul! Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. You are a three-part being: you have a spirit—that’s the part of you that lives for eternity, you have a soul, and you have your body while you’re here on earth. Your soul is where the enemy tries to wound you and hold you back. Your soul is where you may have brokenness from the past, or hurts and disappointments. When God restores your soul, He brings His healing power to those broken places. He makes you whole again. And when God restores you, He makes you better off than you were before! I love the picture painted in this verse. Notice that He leads us beside quiet waters. He makes us lie down in green pastures. This is a picture of rest. When we are resting in Him, He is able to do a work in our lives. He is able to bring that restoration. Don’t let the busyness of life keep you going so fast that you don’t stop and rest. Take time to be still before the Lord and meditate on His Word. As you do, He will restore and heal your soul, and you will live the life of victory God has planned for you!
A Prayer for a restored soul
Father God, thank You for another day to praise You. Thank You for Your plan to lead me into rest so that You can restore my soul. I surrender my brokenness to You and open my heart to receive Your healing in every area of my life today. I am free from the past and look froward to the future. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Look at what Doctor Copeland says
And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight."
(Mark 10:51)
All of us know what it's like to go round in circles. To pray our way through one financial disaster only to be met by another. To receive healing for one illness just in time to be knocked off our feet by the next.
Oh, we try. We pray. We exercise our faith. But we keep getting caught in the same old problems over and over again. Why? Because all too often, we don't actually know what it is we need to be praying for.
I can almost hear your reaction. "Believe me, Brother Copeland, that's not my problem. I know what I need. It's getting that need met that's got me running in circles."
That's what most other folks think too. So they spend all their time working on getting. They waste their energy praying for things they don't really need and asking for things they don't really want. Then they wind up going nowhere fast.
Look with me at Mark 10, and I think you'll see what I mean. Blind Bartimaeus sat by the roadside begging when Jesus passed by. "And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.... And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way" (verses 47,50-52).
Now I want you to think about something for a moment. In the light of what the Scriptures tell us, how many needs did Bartimaeus have? Did he have just one? No! He wasn't simply a blind man, he was a beggar. He probably had more problems than you could shake a stick at, and all those problems would have seemed like legitimate needs to Bartimaeus. But it was sight he needed. If he could obtain his sight, all the rest would fall into line.
He knew that. So, when Jesus said, "Bartimaeus, what do you want Me to do for you?" he knew exactly what to ask for and he got it.
Jesus is just as available to you today as He was to Bartimaeus. He's just as willing to meet your need. The question is, do you really know what to ask for?
Think about that. Pray about it. Let the Lord Jesus open your eyes and show you what you really need. If you do that, your prayers will take on a whole new power. Instead of hitting around at the edges of your problems, they'll go straight to the heart--and solve them. And you won't have to waste your life running in circles anymore.
Are you where you should be?
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat."
(Hebrews 5:12)
Do you want to know why the Body of Christ has been in such a mess over the past few years? Do you want to know why the devil has been able to make a public display of our weaknesses? Do you want to know why, instead of being unified and strong, we've often been torn apart by division and criticisms that come not from without but within?
It is because, as the Lord said in Hebrews, the people of God have need of milk and not of strong meat. They're babies! The people of God for the most part don't know His ways.
That's why He's commissioned you and me to train believers who are unskilled in the Word of righteousness and help bring them to maturity.
"Sure," you say, "you're a preacher, but what about me? What can I do?" Well, I'll tell you. I believe God has called us both to do something. You'll find it in Hebrews 3:13. "Exhort one another daily, while it is called today."
That's no longer just a Bible verse to me. It's a direct command from the Lord. Gloria and I received that command a few years ago when we were preaching in Australia. It prompted us to step out in faith on daily television. But it's not a command that was just meant for us. It's one we all must obey in our own way.
"Exhort one another daily." Pray over that scripture today, won't you? Fellowship with your Father over it. Ask Him how He wants you to fulfill that command. He may tell you to help support ministries like Gloria's and mine who teach the uncompromised Word of God daily. He may tell you to fill yourself so full of His Word that it spills out on everyone you meet and encourages them to go on--and grow on--in Jesus.
Whatever He says, do it! There's a Church full of spiritual babies out there and more are being born all the time. You can help bring them from milk to meat. Begin to exhort them. Today.
Scripture Study: Hebrews 3:7-19
Act like God
Therefore be imitators of God--copy Him and follow His example--as well-beloved children [imitate their father]."
(Ephesians 5:1)
Creating new things, changing old things. Because you and I are made in the image of God that's something we're always trying to do. But if we're to be successful at it, we need to learn a lesson about it from the Creator Himself, our very own heavenly Father.
You know, He didn't just come upon creation by accident and say, "Well, what do you know! There's light!" No, before He began to make His universe, He first had a desired result (an inner idea, or image, of what He wanted to create) and then said, "Light be!" and light was.
If we're going to imitate Him, we're going to have to put the principle of the inner image to work too.
"But, Brother Copeland," you say, "that was God. Surely you don't expect me to try to act like God." I most certainly do. Ephesians 5:1 says to!
Let me warn you about something though. Don't waste your time sitting around trying to dream up a positive inner image all on your own. That's nothing more than positive thinking, and while it's better than negative thinking (or not thinking at all), it will eventually fall flat.
If you're a born-again child of Almighty God, God has given you the principle and the power to make permanent changes in your life and in your circumstances.
Think again about creation. God wanted light. So He said, "Let there be light." The words He spoke were directly related to His inner image. He used His Words to get that image from the inside to the outside.
What you need to use as the basis for your inner image and for the words you speak is the Word of God. The Word has supernatural power. And if you fill that Word with faith and speak it out, it will work for you to change your life and circumstances as surely as it did for your Father.
Find out what real creativity is all about. Dig into the Word of God and start rebuilding your world today.
We must fight
But thou, O man of God...fight the good fight of faith."
(1 Timothy 6:11-12)
When you're up against the wall, don't start begging God to break through it for you. That's not the way He works. He'll give you the plan. He'll give you the power. And He'll guarantee the victory. But your hand, not His own, is the instrument He's going to use to get the job done. You're going to have to stretch forth your hand by speaking and acting on the Word, even when circumstances are against you.
God gave me a striking revelation of that over 20 years ago through a vision He gave me in Beaumont, Texas. I was preparing to minister in a service there, spending some time in prayer, when suddenly I saw myself standing in the pulpit of the church. Looking up, I saw a dragon--a horrible, ugly thing--poke his head through the front door of the church.
As he came into the church, his body expanded like a balloon, filling the whole room. He was snorting fire and smoke. When, in the vision, he turned it on me, he almost burned my clothes!
As I fell back onto the floor, I saw Jesus standing nearby with a sword in His hand. "Why doesn't He do something about this?" I thought. "Can't He see I'm hurting?"
But He didn't move. He just stood by with a frown on His face. I could tell He was really put out with me. The Bible says God was not pleased with those who were overthrown in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:5). And He wasn't pleased with me either as I lay there on my back in defeat.
Then Jesus held out the sword to me and pointed at the dragon. The look on His face said, "Get up!"
I reached up to catch hold of the sword, and an instant before I touched it, Jesus turned it loose.
The sword stayed in mid air of its own accord. I grabbed it and began to pull myself up. Not only did it hold firm, but it began to lift me!
I stood and touched the dragon's chin with my sword and it split him from one end to the other. It laid him open right before my eyes. In amazement, I looked down at the sword. "Why haven't I used this before?" I thought.
Don't wait for God to slay the dragon in your life. You have the sword of the Spirit, the all-powerful Word of the living God, at your fingertips. Pick it up and use it today!
This is you
"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."
(Deuteronomy 8:18)
What is God's reason for prospering His people? Is it so we can watch bigger TVs? So we can buy finer houses and more luxurious cars?
Establishing God's covenant on the earth and giving to those in need: Those are God's purposes for prosperity!
I've had some people tell me, "Well, Brother Copeland, Jesus' ministry was poor and He got along just fine." That's ridiculous. All the way through the Old Testament God promised material blessings to anyone who would walk perfectly and uprightly before Him. If God had failed to bless Jesus financially, He would have been breaking His own Word.
Jesus never built a worldly empire for Himself. But that doesn't mean He was poor. It means He was the greatest giver Who ever walked the face of this earth--and it's about time we started following in His footsteps.
If we'll start giving, if we'll start taking care of the needs in people's pocketbooks, we'll be far more likely to win their hearts.
What do you think will happen to the heart of a starving nation when you bring in a 747 full of food, clothes and medical supplies to them in the Name of Jesus and His love? The hearts of those people are going to soften! They're going to be willing to listen to what we have to say about Jesus.
Don't you ever let anyone tell you it's wrong to want to prosper. It's wrong for you not to want to prosper when that prosperity can mean the difference between heaven and hell for millions of people.
Forget about your own little needs. Raise your vision and set your mind on giving to meet someone else's, on establishing God's covenant in the earth. Then stand fast in faith and get ready to enjoy the greatest prosperity you've ever known.
