The Laws of Prosperity – KENNETH COPELAND
As we begin this study of prosperity and how it functions
according to the Word of God, let’s read the basic scriptures on
which our whole study is founded. Let me mention here that
we are putting the Word of God first and foremost throughout
this study, not what we think it says, but what it actually says!
When we see it in the Word, believe it, and begin to act on it,
faith is created. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God” (Romans 10:17).
The Laws of Prosperity – KENNETH COPELAND
As you read our basic scripture text, remember Jesus said in
John 17:17, “Thy word is truth.” For a clearer meaning substitute
the Word for truth as follows: “Beloved, I wish above all things
that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth [the Word] that is in thee, even as thou walkest
in the truth [the Word]. I have no greater joy than to hear that
my children walk in truth [the Word]” (3 John 2-4).
It would be good to point out that when the Apostle John
wrote this Epistle, he was an old man and had been in the
Christian walk for a long, long time—in fact, from the time of
his youth. He had walked with Jesus and watched Him closely
throughout His earthly ministry. John was a wise old man,
strong in the Lord, and he said, “I wish above all things that
you prosper and be in health.”
Through our traditional ideas, we have been lead to believe
that prosperity is bad or ungodly. However, John writes that
we should prosper and be healthy and then it says in verse 11,
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“Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.
He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not
seen God.” If prosperity is evil, why would He want us to prosper? You see, there is nothing wrong with prosperity in itself.
Money is not the root of all evil. The love of money is the root of
all evil (see 1 Timothy 6:10), and there are people committing
this sin who don’t have a dime! I want you to realize, however,
that prosperity covers much more than finances.
When John said we should prosper and be in health, he
added the phrase, “Even as thy soul prospereth.” Man is a spirit;
he has a soul consisting of the mind, the will and the emotions;
and he lives in a body. Thus, there is spiritual prosperity; there
is mental prosperity; and there is physical prosperity.
To prosper spiritually, you must be born again. When you
accept Jesus as your Savior and make Him the Lord of your
life, your spirit is reborn and brought into fellowship with the
Father, the Almighty God. This then puts you in a position to
receive from Him all the things promised in His Word.
To prosper in your soul, you must be able to control your
mind, your will and your emotions. Just because you have
accumulated large amounts of knowledge does not mean that
your mind is prosperous. Prosperity of the mind comes when
you use the knowledge that has been accumulated—when you
are controlling your mind instead of your mind controlling you.
Second Corinthians 10:5 says we are to cast down imaginations
and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of
God (or against the Word of God), bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ. The person who does this
has control of his mind and is in position to prosper mentally.
You cannot control your mind completely without the Word of
God being alive and operating inside you.
You must control your will in the same way. Some people10
say, “Lord, help my will to crumble.” God doesn’t want a broken will that He can dominate. He wants your will whole and
in submission to His will so that the two of you can work
together in unity. When God made man, He gave him a will
that has power. It is actually a godlike will because man has the
right to choose his own eternal destiny. Only a god has that
kind of choice! Man was made in God’s image and given the
will to make up his own mind. You can go to hell if you want
to and God will protect your right…you don’t have to, but you
can. On the other hand, you can choose Jesus Christ and the
Word of God. In Deuteronomy 30:19, God said, “I call heaven
and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before
you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life,
that both thou and thy seed may live.” What a privilege! The
choice is yours! The Laws of Prosperity – KENNETH COPELAND
When a man’s soul is prosperous, his will is in line with
God’s will. How can you get in line with God’s will? You can’t
until you know what His Word says. His Word and His will are
the same! An honest man can’t will one thing and say another.
If you are in line with the Word of God, you are in line with the
will of God.
The Laws of Prosperity – KENNETH COPELAND
Let’s discuss our emotions as part of the soul. The person
who is emotionally prosperous can control his emotions. I used
to think this meant never showing emotions, but that’s not so.
Jesus had complete control over His emotions, yet He wept at
the tomb of Lazarus! The important thing is that His weeping
didn’t cause Him to join the grief-stricken throng of people. He
continued to move in the Spirit. He put His priorities where
they belonged and raised Lazarus from the dead. He showed
emotions, but He was not moved by them.
You will never be healthier or more prosperous than your
soul. You can be born again, even filled with the Holy Spirit,
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and still not be prosperous in your soul. For instance, an old
saint of God, living in poverty, can pray revival down on a
church, get everybody in town saved, and be lying in bed sick
the whole time—if she does not believe the Word of God for her
health! She can do these things, never knowing the fullness of
the infilling of the Holy Spirit and speaking with other tongues,
even though healing and prosperity belong to her all the time.
You see, her soul was not prosperous in these areas; her mind
had not grasped the full meaning of the Word of God; her mental computer had never been fed on God’s Word concerning
healing, the Holy Spirit and prosperity. She knew the Word
enough to seek salvation and revival and used this knowledge
to pray down the power of God. Her soul was prosperous in
this area.
The world’s definition of physical prosperity (prosperity of
the senses) includes gold, silver, financial favor or power, political favor or power and social favor or power. The world’s definition of mental prosperity (prosperity of the soul) is “knowing
it all.” Put these two ideas together and you have a person who
can use his mind to get financial and political power. This is the
world’s total concept of prosperity. You can easily see its drawbacks! Wealth and power cannot answer every problem. Money
makes a lousy god! It can’t buy good health or prevent sickness
and disease from taking over the human body. Yes, it can go
toward buying it, but the world’s system of healing just isn’t
good enough. In the mental realm, a person can have all the
facts in his head and not have the ability to use that knowledge
to obtain the money or the health that he needs.
What produces spiritual, mental and physical prosperity?
What brings all these areas together? The Word of God. The
Bible says in Hebrews 4:12 that the Word is alive, powerful and
sharper than a two-edged sword. It says that it divides the soul 12
and the spirit, the joints and the marrow, and that it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. When you are
walking in the Word of God, you will prosper and be in health.
We cannot settle for prosperity in the physical or the mental
realm only. It would be easy just to settle for spiritual prosperity, but we can’t afford to be lazy and to discount physical
and mental prosperity simply because we are saved and filled
with the Holy Spirit. It is the will of God for us to be made
whole—spirit, soul and body—and to be kept that way until
the return of our Lord Jesus Christ (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23).
As you walk in the light of God’s Word, you will become prosperous in every area of your life.
The Laws of Prosperity – KENNETH COPELAND
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