When the revelation of this statement exploded on the inside of me, it changed the way I think…about everything! I had been praying for several days about a situation that seemed at the time to be overwhelming. I had been confessing the Word of God over it, but that Word had begun to come out of my head and not my heart. I was pushing in my flesh for the circumstance to change. As I made my
confession one more time, the Spirit of God seemed to say to me, Why don’t you be quiet?!

I said, “But Lord, I’m confessing the Word!”

He answered inside me, I know it. I heard you. Now just be still and be quiet a little while, and let the Word of God settle down in your spirit. Quit trying to make this thing happen. You’re not God. You’re not going to be the one to make it happen anyway!

So I stopped. I stopped thinking about that situation and began to get quiet before the Lord. And this phrase came up in my spirit: “One word from God can change anything.”

So I started saying that. I said it off and on all day. It came easily because it came from God—not from my own thinking.

Every time I was tempted to worry or think of ideas concerning my circumstances, I’d think, Yes, but one word from God…

I noticed when I’d say that, the peace of God would come on me. It was so calming. As a result, a habit developed in me. People would bring me issues. They’d say, “Well, what about…” And I’d either say aloud or think to myself, “Yeah, that may be so, but one word from God will change anything.”

It began to be the answer for everything. If I was watching television and the newscaster was telling about a disaster, and the people being interviewed were saying things to the effect of “Oh, what are we going to do? It’s all been blown away, burned up or shook up…,” I’d say, “Yeah, but one word from God can change anything.”

You’ve been searching, seeking help…and God has the answer. He has the one word that can turn your circumstance around and put you on dry ground. He has the one word that gives you all the wisdom that’s in Him. He is your Counselor. He wants you to succeed in all that you do. He wants you to be prosperous and have good success (Joshua 1:8).

God loves you. And He has a word for you. One word that can change your life FOREVER!

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

To understand how this prescription works, you must realize that the Word of God is more than just good information. It actually has life in it. As Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth [or makes alive]; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

Every time you take the Word into your heart, believe it and act on it, that life of which Jesus spoke, the very life of God Himself, is released in you. You may have read the healing scriptures over and over again. You may know them as well as you know your own name. Yet every time you read them or hear them preached, they bring you a fresh dose of God’s healing power. Each time, they bring life to you and deliver God’s medicine to your flesh.

That’s because the Word is like a seed. Hebrews 4:12 says it is “alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]” (The Amplified Bible). It actually carries within it the power to fulfill itself.

When you planted the Word about the new birth in your heart, then believed and acted on it, that Word released in you the power to be born again. By the same token, when you plant the Word about healing in your heart, believe and act on it, that Word will release God’s healing power in you.

In Isaiah 55:10-11, the Lord describes the process this way:

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Add to that the promise in Jeremiah 1:12 where God says, “…I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it” (The Amplified Bible), and you can be certain God’s Word is powerful medicine you can count on to produce results every time.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

By believing God and including the needs of the Body of
Christ in your needs, you become an open channel for the
things of God to flow through to others. Everything you have
received from God flowed through Jesus. Did Jesus ever lose
anything by giving it to you? No, He still owns it all. First John
4:17 makes a startling statement, “…as he is, so are we in this
world.” This does not say as He was or as we are someday going
to be; it says as he is, so are we. In His position at the right hand
of God, Jesus has more than enough to give. Well, we are His
joint heirs, and He is ready to see to it that we have enough to
give (see Philippians 4:10-19).

An example of this channel can be seen in the book of
Revelation. God gave His revelation to Jesus, who signified it to
His servant John by His angel; the angel gave it to John; John
was to give it to the churches; and they, in turn, would give it
to the Body of Christ who would feed it to the world. A constant
channel, a constant flowing—the flow of love…the flow
of power…the flow of money…the flow of food…the flow of
everything you need!

The basic principle God has planned to use in supplying the
Body of Christ and allowing the Body of Christ to supply the
world is summed up in one verse from Ecclesiastes, “Cast thy
bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days”
(Ecclesiastes 11:1). Give, and after a while it will come back to
you again. You have to start “casting your bread” sometime—
tomorrow will never do. You can’t wait until your bread comes
back before you cast it out. Many are waiting for their ship to
come in who have never sent one out! Things don’t work that
way. It would be like saying to a stove, “Give me some heat, and
then I’ll put in some wood.” You give—then it will be given to
you again. The key is to give continually. As you are walking in
the Word and God’s prosperity is being produced in your life, you
will reach a point when your bread is coming back to you on
every wave! It is your job to put it on the water. It is God’s job to
see that it comes back! You do your job and let God do His, then
you will be continually receiving. The more you give, the more
you will get; the more you get, the more you will have to give.
God intended for these things to work this way. When you get to
this point, more will be coming in than you can give away!

Satan operates in a way exactly opposite from this. Everything
he does spells filth and stoppage. When you see a wicked
man with a great amount of wealth, you are looking at a financial
reservoir created by Satan to stop the flow. “And Jesus
looked around and said to His disciples, With what difficulty will
those who possess wealth and keep on holding it enter the kingdom
of God!” (Mark 10:23, The Amplified Bible). If a man has a million
dollars in a safe and won’t spend it, it is absolutely worthless—
to him and to everyone around him. There are many people
who could benefit from it, but he has the channel blocked. The
only one profiting from this kind of thing is Satan. He uses the
forces of hate, fear and greed to keep financial resources locked
up. Proverbs 1:19 tells us that greed takes away the life of its
possessors. Satan can show you how to make money, but he
can’t show you how to keep it. Selfishness is never able to maintain
what it builds—it always destroys.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Now, a big question in the minds of many Christians is does
Satan bless people financially? Many times it looks as though the
ungodly men have all the money, but this is not true. There is
more wealth hidden away than they will ever possess. The Bible
says plainly that God will cause us to have the hidden wealth of
the world, the hidden riches of the secret places (see Isaiah
45:3). The Word tells us that “…the wealth of the sinner is laid
up for the just” (Proverbs 13:22). Why then does the sinner
have it? Because there are certain facts of financial law that will
work when put to work. Israel has proven this. God taught
Abraham certain things that the Jews are using today, and they
are still working. You won’t find a Jew who believes in poverty
because poverty is not in the Old Covenant. It is in religion, not
in the Bible. It was put into Christianity as a religion during the
Dark Ages when the Word was taken from the people and put
away in monasteries. Poverty oaths were fed into Christianity
when the religious hierarchy took over. The men operating it
were not born-again men.

You can look at the world’s system of finance and see a perfect
picture of Satan’s whole pattern. It can be stated in just a
few words—“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and
to destroy” (John 10:10).

How do you kill a body of water? Stop it from flowing.

How do you kill a physical body? Stop it from functioning.

How do you kill the Body of Christ financially? Pile up all
the money in reservoirs and stop it from moving. Satan is a
deceiver. Absolutely nothing he does is a blessing. Proverbs
1:32 confirms this, “The prosperity of fools shall destroy them.” It
may look as if he is blessing, but he always destroys. He always
presents a dead end, no way out. In fact, if you want to discern
between the work of God and the work of Satan, remember:
Satan always tells you there is no way out, but Jesus says, “I am
the way” (John 14:6). If it is doubt, defeat or discouragement, it
is from Satan—ALWAYS.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

There is a basic, fundamental truth that runs throughout
the entire Bible, throughout God’s history of dealing with man.
Every time there was a need, no matter what that need was,
God had a man somewhere who had the resources—spiritually,
mentally or financially—to meet that need. For Israel, there
was Moses. For the world, there was Jesus. For Jesus, there was
a man with a donkey. For Ephesus, there was Paul. The Bible
says God gave gifts to men—apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors, teachers (see Ephesians 4:11). He had a man to provide
every need. No one person will ever be so spiritual that he
doesn’t need other people. We all need one another.

Begin to include the Body of Christ in your needs. Begin to
include the lost in your needs. If a man came to you needing
clothes and you didn’t have any clothes to give him, both of
you would be in trouble. You need clothes for yourself, and you
need to be able to supply him with clothes. Jesus said, “Why do
you worry about what you will eat and what you will wear?
Your heavenly Father knows you have need of these things”
(see Matthew 6:31-32). But He also said, “Give, and it shall be
given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together,
and running over, shall men give into your bosom” (Luke 6:38).

When I realized this and began to consider the needs of
others before my own, I found that my needs were met supernaturally!
It was uncanny! I had spent practically all of my
adult life in debt. It seemed that every business venture I tried
just fell apart, leaving me even further in debt. Then I turned to
the Lord, determined to commit myself to His Word, and began
walking my bedroom floor with my Bible in my fist, shouting at
the top of my voice, “My God meets all my needs according to
His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!” I just kept confessing this
hour after hour, day after day! My situation looked absolutely
impossible at the time! I had no place to preach and nothing
much to say! (One thing I could say was, “My God meets all my
needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!” I knew
that sentence very well!) Eleven months later I was completely
out of debt. In the meantime, I learned to include other people
in my needs by giving to them and getting involved with them.
When I began to give, I suddenly realized one day how very
busy I was with God’s work. Years have come and gone and I
haven’t caught up yet. When you do this, God will move heaven
and earth if necessary to reach you.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

You know, the Bible says in Philippians 4:19 that God will
meet your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus,
not according to your need. I have heard it preached that if you
ask God for $100 but need only $20, you’ll probably just get
$10. You won’t find that in the Bible, but God does say:

If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of
the land (Isaiah 1:19).

What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that
ye receive them, and ye shall have them (Mark 11:24).

…ye have not, because ye ask not (James 4:2).

When you act on the Word of God, the desires of your heart
will begin to grow and line up with God. Then He can cause all
grace to abound toward you (see 2 Corinthians 9:8). The first
step is to get your mind off yourself. Begin to take up the needs
of the Body of Christ as if they were your own. The Word states
very plainly that if a man comes to you needing food and
clothes, don’t just pray for him and send him away cold and
hungry. Feed him and clothe him!

Another thing, God will not just meet your needs according
to your job. Businessmen have come to me and said that these
things work for me only because I am a preacher, but this is
foolishness! I know preachers everywhere it’s not working for.
Some men say, “But I don’t have the opportunity for people to
give to me. I’m not out preaching. They don’t think of me when
they give. I have to work for mine.” Well, if you have more faith
in your job and your own ability to work than you have in the
Word of God, then it definitely won’t work for you. God will
certainly use what is available in your job to bless you or even
get you a better one, but He is not limited to your job unless you
limit Him to it. If you will stop and think for a moment, God
did not make His covenant with a preacher; He made it with a
farmer, a working man named Abram. The Scriptures show that
Abram turned to the Sodomite king and said, “I don’t even want
the string from your sandal because you could say a man made
Abram rich” (see Genesis 14:23). No man made Abraham rich.
God made him rich. Can you see this?

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

In John 14:18-23, Jesus was teaching His disciples and gave
the perfect outline of prosperity:

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet
a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye
see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye
shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I
in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth
them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me
shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will
manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not
Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself
unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and
said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words:
and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him,
and make our abode with him.

This is speaking of a manifestation of God. When God
manifests Himself to you and lives with you, then you are living
in prosperity. You see, God by the Holy Spirit is here in the
world. He is ready to move whenever a sinner makes Jesus the
Lord of his life, but He will not manifest Himself in a person’s
life until that person calls on Him. If God’s presence were
enough, every human being on earth would get saved because
we all are in the presence of the Holy Spirit. He was sent to
earth on the day of Pentecost and is still here today. The manifestation
of God is the important thing. When we operate in the
Word of God, when we keep His Word, then Jesus will manifest
Himself, or make Himself real, to us. He won’t just be there—
He will live there! Do you see the difference? If we put His
Word first in our lives, Jesus will reveal Himself to us. Then
whenever a problem arises in the physical realm, we know the
answer is in His Word. We also know the Great One living in us
will put us over when we act on that Word, no matter how
impossible the situation is.

Some people are waiting for a special manifestation of God’s
grace before they will get saved, but they don’t have to wait at all.
We are born of His Word (see 1 Peter 1:23). If a man will confess
Jesus as Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the dead,
he will be saved (see Romans 10:9-10). It is a simple matter of
believing God’s Word. You don’t have to wait to receive salvation—
it is being offered. You don’t have to wait to receive prosperity—it
is being offered. These things are offered by Jesus in His Word.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

To live a prosperous life, your soul must prosper in all the
truth of the Word. God’s power is in direct relationship with
His Word. He has used His Word to release His power. He has
sent His Word to us so that we may be in contact with His great
power. Isaiah was quoting God Himself when he wrote, “So
shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).
His power covers the entire spectrum of human existence—so
also then does His Word. We can see it in scriptures such as
Hebrews 1:3 that says He is upholding ALL things by the Word
of His power and Hebrews 4:12-13 that the Word is a living
thing which covers spirit, soul, body and thought life. It even
goes so far as to say that nothing in the earth is hidden from the
Word of God.

Your faith is in direct relation to the level of the Word in
you. Get your Word level up so that you can believe spiritually,
mentally, physically, financially and socially. Thus you will be in
the position to handle any problem that comes your way
according to the Word of God. You may not have the answer,
but God has! Getting through to you is His only difficulty! God
always knows the answer, but we are not always in a position to
hear what He is saying.

If you know how to use God’s ability to receive healing and
never use it to help anyone but yourself, then it won’t work for
you very long. If you can believe God for healing, help someone
else get healed. Spread it around! If you know how to
believe God financially, start helping the people around you.
You will begin to grow as you reach out to others.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Once again, we have the world’s information opposing
God’s information. If you know what God thinks or what He
has said, then you have a very easy task of thinking and believing
the same way. If you know what God has said, you cannot
be deceived.

To the world, prosperity, like everything else, is completely
born of the senses, or the sense-ruled mind. The world is governed
by natural impulse and the physical senses. Its slogan is
seeing is believing. If you can see it, taste it, hear it, smell it, or
feel it, then it must be true; if you can’t contact it with
your physical senses, it is not true.

As we have discussed earlier in this chapter, the world’s definition
of prosperity is very limited in its scope—financial ability
and power. In fact, it goes only this far by its own admission.
The world itself admits that it has no power to overcome poverty,
sickness, spiritual ills or social ills.

True prosperity is the ability to use God’s power to meet the
needs of mankind in any realm of life. This covers much more
than just finances, politics and society. Money is not the only
degree of prosperity. You can have all the money in the world
and still be poverty-stricken spiritually, mentally and physically.
Money is the lowest form of power that exists on earth. Do you
know what is the highest? The power of prayer! You can pray in
the Name of Jesus, and God will use His ability to handle your
situation, whatever it is. It takes the power of God to make
you completely whole. God’s power is the only power that
covers the entire spectrum of human existence. God is more
than enough!

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

At this point, let me emphasize Satan’s part is this. When
you hear the Word, when you learn to believe God—especially
in the area of giving—you become dangerous to Satan! Jesus
taught that the sower sows the Word and Satan comes immediately
to take out the Word which was sown (see Mark 4:1-20).
Why? For three basic reasons:

1. The Word of God is the key to the laws of the Spirit.
2. The laws of the Spirit govern the laws of the natural.
3. Satan works in the natural world.

When you take the power of these laws and function them
by faith, Satan is finished! When you learn the rules of the
game, he is through. He is a defeated foe!

Let me mention that these laws of prosperity will work for
anyone, regardless of their age! My children operate them just
as successfully as my wife and I. They have learned God’s system
of finance and can absolutely believe God for anything in
the world and get it! I remember when we needed a van for the
ministry to carry our equipment. My daughter Kellie came to
me and said, “Daddy, I want to be the first to give money for
this truck.” She had a couple of dollars, so she gave it, and we
made an agreement together. Then she started confessing the
return on her money and got it! It didn’t take her several
months, and she didn’t start whining about it—she simply said,
“In the Name of Jesus, it’s mine!”

One day our little boy, who was about 6 years old at the time,
came in and said, “Daddy, I want to give my money.” No one had
said anything to him, he just came through leadership of the
Lord. He doesn’t fully realize that God is directing him, he just
responds to it. He’s a child. (This is how we are to respond as
children in obedience.) He gave his money into the ministry and
began believing God for the return. A few days later, he got it! A
6-year-old boy! It works for him proficiently! Why? Because he
is a born-again believer filled with the Holy Spirit. He is a child
of God, and he has a right to work these laws. It isn’t a man’s age
that causes the law of gravity to work; the law of gravity works
because gravity is a force. Remember, faith is a spiritual force and
works by spiritual law (see Romans 3:27).

Kenneth Copeland Ministries