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Issue link: http://magazine.kcm.org/i/1476594
The Power of a Grateful Heart by Kenneth Copeland I was mad at my legs. I was mad at the devil and anyone who came near me. And I hadn’t slept in days. It was just after Labor Day 2004, and I was at the height of one of the most intense battles for healing I’d ever fought. A few days earlier I had ruptured a disc in my back. It felt like a toothache that was 4½ feet long—from my hip to the tips of my toes. During my life, I have been beaten up, shot, thrown off horses and run over with cars…but never had I hurt as bad as I did at that moment. All I wanted to focus on was the pain and getting free of it. God met me in it, but in a very different way than I would have imagined. Back-Porch Praise There I was on the back porch facing another sleepless night. One heating pad was wrapped around my calf. Another was wrapped around my thigh. Each was held on by a bathrobe sash. The heat was turned as high as I could get it. But nothing seemed to help—I was still lying there on my back crying. I didn’t feel very grateful. I certainly didn’t look very grateful. Right in the middle of all that pain, though, the Spirit of God dropped it in my heart to begin shouting out my gratitude for all my heavenly Father had done for me. “Oh, Father, I’m so grateful to You! I’m grateful that my other leg doesn’t hurt. I’m so grateful my arms aren't hurting, my fingers are all working well, and my head doesn’t hurt—it is sleepy, but it doesn’t hurt!” In the midst of all that pain, by an act of obedience I expressed gratitude to God…by faith! More Praise—Less Pain Being grateful by faith. Not by feeling. Not by temperament. But by a deliberate act of faith, I did something I’d done many times before. That night on the porch I decided I would no longer talk about the way I felt, my flesh or its condition. Instead of focusing on the pain and hurt, I filled my thoughts and mouth with gratitude for my life, my family, for all the years I’ve been in ministry, and for every other good thing that arose in my spirit. I started praising and thanking God and the more I praised Him, the less pain I had in my leg. And as I was expressing my gratitude to Him, God began talking to me. The more He talked, the better I felt. Each day I progressed; not one day was as bad as the day before. There were a number of things that brought me to the place where complete healing manifest in my body. Thousands of my Partners; many believers from Spirit-filled churches; faith-talking, true healing-believing doctors; my family and friends; all added their faith to mine. Nothing, however, had more impact than what began that night on the porch. The moment I began thanking God for all that was going right in my life, I was on my way out of the problem. BVOV : 23