And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven (Matthew 16:19).

This familiar passage on the keys of heaven
and binding and loosing brings up some interesting
questions: What is the realm of faith like? Why
should we be so vitally, constantly, continually
interested in faith?

Think about how we protect the feeding of our
physical bodies. We may claim that we have no time
to spend in the Word of God, but we don’t miss any
meals! There is no such thing as not having time to
eat—not for long. The same should be true of our
spiritual nourishment.

We must do something about this attitude, especially
as we move forward toward the catching away
of the Church. The Church that has already gone to
heaven and the Church that is still on earth are going
to meet one day and never be separated again. The
Bible says that one day we will be like our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ (1 John 3:2).

The closer we get to that day, the more is required
of us. As the time grows shorter and shorter, the more
we in the Church are going to have to learn more
and more how to schedule our work time around the
Word instead of trying to schedule the Word around
our work time.

This is not something we ought to do. It is something
we must do. If we do it, there will be more revelation
poured out on the Body of Christ than there
has been in the past 2,000 years combined. We will be
either the most spiritually knowledgeable or the most
spiritually ignorant generation in history.

The faith realm must come first, because faith
is the catalyst that hooks the natural world and the
spiritual world together. We cannot get from one to
the other without the spiritual force of faith.

The Bible says to be carnally minded (in debt
to the flesh) is death, but to be spiritually minded
(free from debt to the flesh) is life (Romans 8:4-13).

If we are operating in the realm of the spirit, there is
no way the flesh can dominate us, because we will
be dominating it. That truth is so vital in the day in
which we live.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

admin Kenneth Copeland, kenneth copeland ministries faith, heaven, The Church

I discovered that I did not need to find my
identity. I needed to learn what my father, A.W.
Copeland, knew.

At one time I rebelled against him. I dishonored
him. I didn’t give him authority over me. Oh, up to a
point, I did. I gave him authority and dominion while
I was in his presence. But when I got out of his sight, I
did whatever I wanted to do.

The things that my father taught me and practiced
in front of me were for my benefit. They were honorable
things. I finally came to the point where I realized
I was being stupid. I was out trying to learn things
the hard way that my father already knew. I realized
I could learn them from him and not have to pay the
price of learning them for myself.

I came to understand that I could start my own
life of learning after I had learned what my father
knew—and I could get his years of experience free of
charge and in a whole lot less time than it took him
to learn it.

The reason some children of successful men and
women are not worth much is that they don’t bother
to learn what their parents know about building a life
or a business. In some cases, their parents fail to instill
it in them. Often, children set out to learn for themselves
rather than let the Lord teach them.

I found out when I went to college that if I didn’t
learn from God, I wasn’t going to learn a thing in college.
I came to see that honor was the answer—honoring
God, honoring His Word and putting it first
place in my life. Please don’t take me wrong.

I am not underestimating the value of a college education. But
if what a person learns at the university does not conform
to the principles of God and His honor, then it
is not an education. It is really just a head full of nonsense—
useless facts and procedures.

Wisdom Will Put You Over

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the
man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise
of it is better than the merchandise of
silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She
is more precious than rubies: and all the things
thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left
hand riches and honour (Proverbs 3:13-16).
It is not knowledge that will put you over the
top—it is wisdom.

Wisdom is the God-given gift to know what to do
with knowledge. Wisdom gives understanding. There
is in God a wisdom understanding of honor.

When you have a godly understanding of honor,
it takes away the fear of acting on it. In the next chapter,
we will learn more about the kind of honor that
comes only from God.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

admin Kenneth Copeland, kenneth copeland ministries honor, understanding, wisdom

For both he that sanctifieth and they who
are sanctified are all of one: for which cause
he is not ashamed to call them brethren
(Hebrews 2:11).

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace
to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

I don’t know why it is so hard for Christians to say,
“God is my Father, and Jesus is my blood brother.”
Jesus calls us brother, and we call Him Lord. At the
same time we may just as well call Him brother, because
He said he is not ashamed to call us His brethren.

There is one who holds faster than a brother,
and that is a brother of covenant, a brother of blood.
When two men are covenanted to one another, they
are blood brothers. They are more like brothers than
if they had been born from the same mother.

Jesus is your blood brother. You call Him Lord,
because you serve Him; but He said, “if any man serve
me, him will my Father honour” (John 12:26). God
calls you His son. He wants to treat you like a king.

You may have been trying to sneak into the throne
room of God, but He says, “Come boldly.” If you start
telling everyone how unworthy you are, there you go,
dishonoring the sonship God has honored you with.
Get rid of that attitude!

“But I’m bombarding the gates of heaven.”
I don’t know why. They aren’t locked.

Quit storming the gates as though you can’t get
inside. Dare to come straight to the throne room.
Enter it with a smile on your face, and say to the
Lord, “I come boldly to present to You my needs,
that I may obtain mercy and find grace to help in
time of need.”

If you will settle once and for all this question of
who you are in Christ Jesus, you will never have to
go another day without your needs being met fully
and abundantly.

Get in the Word of God and develop a firm faith
foundation. You will wake up one day and discover
those little things you were so worried about are all
yours—even the things you may have thought were a
little foolish. Your heavenly Father loves you, and He
wants you to have them.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

admin Kenneth Copeland, kenneth copeland ministries brother, honor

But I know you, that ye have not the love of God
in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye
receive me not: if another shall come in his own
name, him ye will receive (John 5:42-43).

In these passages, Jesus is pointing out to these
men that He will not play their honor game.
What’s the honor game? Giving each other “honor”
or medals or titles in order to boost one’s own sense of
self-worth. I’ll give you rank so you can give me privilege,
etc. That is pride and greed, not honor.

Jesus is not saying that men should not honor
other men, because the Word of God says we should
give honor to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7). It is
a wonderful thing to honor the hard work and diligence
of other men. It is, however, a dishonor to God
to seek the honor of others rather than that which
comes only from the Lord.

You and I cannot demand that we be given honor.
For instance, we must not demand that others call us
“doctor” or “teacher” or “master.” This is the very thing
Jesus is talking about to the proud Pharisees of His
day—and to us in our day.

Jesus won’t play honor games.

Seek God’s Honor

How can ye believe, which receive honour
one of another, and seek not the honour that
cometh from God only? (John 5:44).

Notice the word “only” at the end of this sentence.
As we have discovered, there is honor that comes from
God only. You cannot give it to me, and I cannot give it
to you. I can only tell you about it.

For instance, I cannot give you the kind of honor
that conveys authority over the devil. I can tell you
about your authority over Satan, but it is God who has
given that authority to you. How did He give it to you?
By giving you His Name.

I cannot give you God’s Name. I could give you
my name and enter into some kind of covenant agreement
with you. I could adopt you, thereby bestowing
my family name upon you; but that act would not
give you authority over the devil. It might give you
authority over my earthly possessions, but not over
the enemy of your soul.

Only God can give you that power and dominion.
Why? Because only His Name has authority over the
evil one. That is an honor that only God can give. Jesus
spoke about this honor in a passage of Scripture from
Mark’s Gospel.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

admin Kenneth Copeland, kenneth copeland ministries honor, honor game

As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so
honour is not seemly for a fool (Proverbs 26:1).
For the turning away of the simple shall slay
them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy
them (Proverbs 1:32).

A fool and honor are like oil and water—they do
not mix. The Bible does not say that prosperity ruins
a person. It says it ruins the fool. The key to this situation
is, don’t be a fool.

How do you know you are not a fool unless you go
to the Bible and find out what a fool is? One thing we
know already about a fool is that he is dishonorable.
He does not know the honor of God.
Honor does not look right to a fool. It just makes
no sense to him.

We have been “blessed” in recent years with an
outstanding work of foolishness called situation
ethics. If there ever was a concept imbued with the life of
a fool, it’s situation ethics.

Basically, situation ethics says that right isn’t
always right and wrong isn’t always wrong—it
depends on the circumstances or the situation. It is
really an excuse to be dishonorable. I guarantee you,
the person who thought up this theory does not really
believe it himself. It seems right, however, to anyone
who does not have the honor of God inside him to
influence his thinking.

Recently, I was praying over a situation that had
to do with a young, born-again man who had gotten
into some serious trouble. Everybody around him was
totally shocked by what he had done. They knew he
had committed his life to God and the ministry. There
was no question about it.

The worst thing about the whole situation was
how he felt about what he had done. He could not
understand that he had done wrong.
When I heard about it, I prayed, “What’s the matter
with him? Has he taken leave of his senses?”
No, the Lord answered, he’s dishonorable. You have
a whole generation of honorless people. They don’t
know anything about honor.

There are such people in all segments of society
today. We see them everywhere. In every area of life
there are dishonorable men and women. Even our
ministers and spiritual leaders are not immune to
dishonor, as we have seen all too often.

We must always be on our guard lest we too fall
prey to the devil’s devices. We must be careful to keep
our eyes on the Lord and our feet on the path of honor.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

admin Kenneth Copeland, kenneth copeland ministries dishonorable, fool, honor