Praise God, we do have the Holy Spirit to
reveal to us the hidden truths in Jesus’ words. So,
let’s look in John 17 at the last prayer Jesus prayed
for His disciples before He went to the cross. This
prayer is especially important for us. Why? Look
at verse 20. Jesus says, “I’m not praying just for
these in front of Me, but also for everyone who
will believe on Me through their word.” All of us
received Jesus as Lord by the word of one or more
of these disciples—either directly or indirectly.
That means Jesus was praying that prayer for you
and me. So we need to pay close attention to it.
Let’s begin with verse 13. “And now come I to
thee; and these things I speak in the world, that
they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”
Verse 15 says, “I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil.” Jesus’ prayer indicates
that we are to live above the evil in the world.
This ties in with what He said earlier—that we
would have tribulation in the world, but to be of
good cheer because He had overcome the world.
Yes, He wants us to live above the evil, above the
trials and tests and tribulations of the world,
though we are constantly surrounded by them.
But how is that possible?
You’ll find the answer in verse 17: “Sanctify
them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” In
today’s English, Jesus is saying, “Separate them
with Your Word.” The Word of God will separate
you from the world. It is your sword. Arm
yourself with it. It will fight a winning fight.
If you’re still not totally convinced you’re a
winner, look at verses 20-21. Jesus says, “Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word; that
they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me,
and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:
that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me.” Did you catch that? Jesus said, “We’re all
going to be one.” The Apostle Paul said the same
thing in 1 Corinthians 6:17. “But he that is joined
unto the Lord is one spirit.” Another translation
says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one
spirit with Him” (New King James Version).
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Tags: believe, evil, Holy Spirit, prayer, tribulation, winner, Word of God
Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have
spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of
good cheer; I have overcome the world.” In other
words, Jesus is saying, “The world will come at
you with everything it has to offer, but don’t
worry about it—I’ve already beaten it—I’ve
already overcome the world.”
Now when Jesus said He had overcome the
world, He wasn’t referring to just 99 percent of
it. He said, “I have overcome the world.” One
hundred percent of it! It makes no difference
what problems the world brings to your
doorstep. Just turn to Jesus and you’re
guaranteed to conquer those problems because
He has already overcome every one.
There’s something else in that scripture I want
you to notice. Jesus said, “…that in me ye might
have peace.” He was teaching here about being
one with Him and the Father, and telling us that
our battles here on this earth don’t have to keep
us in turmoil. He has guaranteed our victory, so if
we’ll just trust in Him, we can have peace, even
in the midst of trouble.
When Jesus said these things, He was
speaking to His disciples—men who had been
with Him day and night for three years. Yet they
couldn’t grasp what it meant to be “in Him” as
well as you and I can today. You see, the Holy
Spirit had not yet come to dwell in them, and
without the Holy Spirit, it’s impossible to
understand spiritual things. It takes the Holy
Spirit to reveal even simple truths, like the
reality of being born again.
Just think of it. These men had never even
heard of being born again! Jesus told Nicodemus
about it, but Nicodemus thought He was talking
about a man going back into his mother’s womb.
Jesus told him, “I’m speaking of heavenly things,
and you don’t even understand earthly things.”
(See John 3:1-12.) These men had no concept of
what Jesus was about to do at Calvary. They had
no idea that through His death and resurrection,
He was to become the firstborn from the dead
and issue forth a new race of born-again winners
filled with the mighty Spirit of God, Himself.
Only after the Holy Spirit came on the Day of
Pentecost could they see what Jesus had been
saying. Then Peter stood up and boldly preached
the Word of God by revelation of the Holy Spirit.
Can you see what a change the Holy Spirit
brought in his life?
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Tags: born again, Holy Spirit, overcome, peace, preach, teach, the world
God wrote the Bible as a code book. The
book of Proverbs says that God has hidden
godly wisdom for His people. That’s the way
He wants it. But in this portion of Scripture,
God goes an unusual step further and asks,
“Who is he that overcometh the world?” In
other words, God is spelling it out, so we can’t
possibly miss it. He is saying, “This is the way
I see it—whatsoever is born of Me overcomes
the world; and who is he that overcomes the
world, but he that believes that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the living God?”
This statement can also be read another way:
“None but those who believe that Jesus is the
Christ will ever overcome the world.” No matter
how smart, how strong or how rich you become,
you can never truly be a winner—you can never
really overcome the world—without Jesus as
your Lord.
That means this world will never be overcome
by a government, a political system or a monetary
system. Money will never overcome the world!
When the Bible talks about “the world,” it is
speaking of the dominion of darkness, the god of
this world, the evil spirit—Satan—that operates
in the world. Without Jesus Christ as their Lord,
no man or system will ever in any way, form or
fashion, be able to overcome the world. It simply
can’t be done.
But, on the other hand, if you are born of
Him, you have an absolute, perfect, God-given,
blood-bought right to overcome every aspect of
the world—everything it could possibly send
your way!
It doesn’t matter how much you feel like a
loser. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve
failed in the past. If you believe Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the living God, then you’ve
committed yourself to overcoming the world. And
you’ve been given the power to do it. You’ve
become more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37). If
you believe the Word of God, then you should
respond to every challenge by saying, “Well,
praise God, I’m an overcomer!” That should be
your attitude. Does having this attitude guarantee
you won’t have any more trouble? No! It simply
means you can go through that trouble and
emerge triumphant.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Tags: attitude, government, loser, money, overcome, the world, winner
But, you know what? You have an even better
reason to have a winning attitude than the general
did. God has guaranteed your success. Let me
show you what I mean. Imagine you’re about to
tackle a really tough job. Before you even get
started, God speaks to you right out loud and
says, “I just want you to know, I’m going to
personally see to it that this project you’re
working on succeeds.” Wouldn’t that give you a
tremendous feeling of confidence? Even if you ran
into some rough spots, you wouldn’t worry about
failing because you would have God’s word that
you were going to succeed. That would make it
easy to have a winning attitude, wouldn’t it?
Well, let me tell you something. You do have
God’s promise that you’ll succeed. He said in His
Word that you’re an “overcomer”! In Him, you can
overcome any problem the world throws your way.
Read 1 John 5:1-5:
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the
Christ is born of God: and every one that
loveth him that begat loveth him also
that is begotten of him. By this we know
that we love the children of God, when
we love God, and keep his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that
we keep his commandments: and his
commandments are not grievous. For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh
the world: and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world,
but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son
of God?
God is being unusually explanatory here. He
doesn’t normally give such in-depth explanations
of things that are written in the Word of God. The
reason: He intends that we take what He says by
faith, go to Him, and allow the Holy Spirit to
reveal it to our hearts. That way the devil isn’t
tipped off to what it means.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Tags: attitude, love, overcome, success, winning, winning attitude
You’ve probably heard it said, “It’s not whether
you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”
Do you believe that?
I don’t!
Man was created to be a winner. The Bible
tells us so! In Genesis, for example, we read that
man was originally put on earth as dominating
lord (Genesis 1:26-30). God gave him dominion
over the earth and everything that crept, flew,
crawled and breathed there. In fact, man didn’t
even know what it meant to lose until he
separated himself from God through disobedience
in the Garden of Eden. It wasn’t until then that
man ran headlong into defeat. He was forced to
accept failure as his lot in life, lowering himself to
a subordinate position—a position he was never
meant to occupy.
It’s a sad story. But if you’re a born-again child
of God, I have good news. Your story has a happy
ending. Through faith in Christ Jesus, you’ve
been transformed from the inside out. You’ve
been made a winner once again!
You may be thinking, I don’t feel like a winner.
I feel like a loser—and I have plenty of failures in
my life to prove it. If that’s the case, don’t worry.
You just need a new attitude. And you can get it
from the Word of God.
In the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul
told the Church to be renewed in the spirit of
their minds. That’s what you need to do. Renew
your mind to the Word of God—base your
thinking on the fact that Jesus has overcome the
world. Begin seeing yourself as a winner in Him!
I’m reminded here of something Gen. George
Patton said. He was a great commander of the
United States Army with a God-given insight into
war, and knew how vital a winning attitude could
be. Once while addressing his troops, he put it this
way: “Some of you men have come with your
minds made up to die for your country. That’s not
the way to win a war! The way to win a war is to
make your enemy die for his!” Patton had his mind
made up to win—and he knew dying wasn’t the
way to do it. He had a winning attitude.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Tags: attitude, dominion, failure, loser, transformation, war, winner, winning attitude