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For example, if Joe Smith, the grocer from down the block, promised you a job at General Motors Co., there wouldn’t be much power in that word because as well-meaning as Joe might be, he has no authority to back it up. If, however, the president of GM called and said you could have a job there, you could take his word to the bank because he has the power to cause that word to come to pass. His word in a letter would have the same power to get you the job as his word when he spoke it to you. The WORD Came First Since God is all-powerful, His WORD is all-powerful. He can and does back up everything He says. Since He is the Creator, His WORD contains the power to create. You can see that truth borne out in the very first verses of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:1-3). Notice that the Spirit of God was moving before God spoke, but nothing happened until God said. Creation did not take place until God released words of faith. Everything in this material creation, everything you can see, touch, taste or smell came into existence as a result of The WORD of God. That means God’s WORD is the parent substance of all matter. Think of it! The paper this magazine is made of came from a tree that can be traced from tree to seed, to tree to seed, all the way back to God’s WORD, “Let it be.” In light of that fact, do you think His WORD still has the power to change this natural, physical world? Do you think The WORD that created the dirt your physical body was made from has enough power to heal that body? Do you think The WORD that brought into being all the silver and gold, all the wealth of this entire earth, has enough power to supply you with the resources to pay your electric bill? Of course! God’s WORD is eternal. It is sovereign. It cannot be changed. (We tried to change it by saying it didn’t really mean what it said. But, thank God, it does mean what it says and there’s nothing we can do to alter that fact.) Psalm 119:89 says, “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” This material universe, on the other hand, is temporal. It can and does change. As Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away” (Mark 13:31). If you take something that is unchangeable and use it to apply pressure to something that is changeable, it’s obvious which one of them will yield—the changeable one! Therefore, whenever you take The WORD of God and apply it in faith to this temporal realm, that realm must give in and conform to The WORD. Jesus understood that truth. He lived His life by it. He had such faith in God’s WORD that when He spoke it, this material creation bowed its knee and obeyed Him. Demons fled. Diseases disappeared. Death gave up its grip. Bread multiplied. Winds stopped blowing. Waves ceased. In fact, by the power of God’s WORD, Jesus was able to live and minister on this death-bound planet, and yet be completely free from all its bondages. Then, before He left, He told us how we could do the same thing. He said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). Most of us have given such a religious meaning to the word disciple that we’ve lost the impact of what Jesus said there. A disciple is simply someone who follows after or becomes like someone else. So Jesus was actually saying, “Continue in My WORD and you’ll be like Me. You’ll know The WORD (see John 17:17) and it will make you just as free as I am.” Containers of Power To understand how God’s WORD can have such a profound effect on your life, you must realize that words do more than convey information. They serve as containers of spiritual power. They have the ability to carry faith or fear, blessing or cursing, life or death (see Proverbs 18:21). Men sometimes speak idle or empty words, but God never does. Every word He has ever spoken has been filled with faith, power and life. Hebrews 4:12 says His WORD is “quick,” (or alive) “and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit....” In fact, God’s WORD actually contains within it the power to bring itself to pass. For example in Isaiah 55:11, He says, “My word...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.” Every word God has ever spoken is backed by His faith, and is as full of power today as it was the moment He said it. So when you believe that WORD, and then your faith comes together with His faith, the power of that WORD is released, the Holy Spirit goes into action, and The WORD explodes into this natural realm and becomes a reality in your life! *******ADVERTISEMENT********* Follow Us on Twitter for short, timely messages from Kenneth & Gloria twitter.com/CopelandNetwork ************************************* 20 : JUNE '14

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