Tame Your Tongue and Set Your Course By Kenneth Copeland

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One of the most natural things we do in life is talk. In fact, long before most of us knew what we were doing, we were learning to talk. We started forming our first words while we were still babies.

But there's also something very supernatural about our ability to talk.
You and I are the only creatures God made with the right to choose our own words and then speak them.

What's so supernatural about that?

Well, consider a parrot. A parrot has a tongue, as well as all the other equipment necessary to sound like a man. But a parrot's tongue is hooked only to its body, therefore, it can only mimic sounds it hears. It cannot actually choose its own words and carry on a conversation.
You and I, however—being created in the image of God—were designed with our tongues connected to our spirits and souls, as well as our bodies. That means, we have the ability to speak words that contain a creative, or supernatural, force that enables those same words to come to pass.

Consequently, each of us is the prophet of his own life. We set the course of our own future. Our health, our wealth and our place in eternity, is in our mouths. Everything about us has been, and will be, determined by the words we speak.

The challenge we face, then, is…What can we do to make sure our words are carving out a good life for us on this earth, and a future for us in heaven?

You're the Captain—You Decide!

To get an idea of just how powerful our words can be, let's read James 3:2-8:
If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the [captain decides]. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

In verse 4 James talks about a great ship being turned by a small rudder. Now, this ship that James talked about is our earthly body. It's the vessel which contains our spirit. And while we all know how much trouble our bodies can give us, James explained that these five-physical-sense bodies of ours can be turned, or guided, by our tongues.

James leaves no question as to the power we hold within our tongues, but that power can either work for us or it can work against us. Either way, we are the ones who decide, because we are the captains of our own lives. Each of us stands at the helm and decides where his ship is going.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:37, "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." So it is the tongue that sets the course for our lives.

There is no storm on life's sea through which we cannot safely sail by proper use of the rudder that's in our mouths. Our tongues can be a powerful tool used in our favor, they can also be an unruly and deadly force, causing our lives to be shipwrecked if we let them run out of control. Our only hope for taming them, and thereby charting a good course for our future, is the Word of God.

It's Our Word Against God's

As we've seen in this series, true success in life comes from putting God's Word in our mouths and in our hearts. Matthew 12:34-35 says, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things."

If you and I are going to use the Word of God to navigate through this life, however, there are a couple of issues we need to settle first. To see what I mean, let's look at James 3:13-16.
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

A key phrase that I want us to examine in this passage is, "lie not against the truth" (verse 14).
Have you ever noticed how we can wake up some mornings with every symptom of the flu, or maybe a head cold, and the first thing we want to do is tell someone all about it? We go looking for someone to get into agreement with us—"Yeah, you're sick, all right!"

Or, how about those times when things are just not going our way? Maybe it's a hairdo, or the family vacation, or work at the office. Whatever it is, pressure just seems to keep building and building until we feel like we're going to explode if we don't say at least something about it!
Why do you think it's so hard to keep our mouths shut in situations like that? Jesus answered this in Mark 4. He warned that satan comes to steal the Word of God from our hearts through persecution, offense, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and lust of other things. He uses anything and everything in this natural realm to stir up our flesh and get us to open our mouths.

So the issue comes down to: What's going to come out?

Only by getting hold of our tongues can the devil put anything on us, or take anything from us. If he can get our tongues, then he can get the rest of us. All he has to do is get us to lie against the truth which is God's Word.

It's not so surprising, then, that when we're under pressure from our flesh—being moved by what we see, or feel, or think—we tend to open our mouths and say things like, "I'm so unworthy!" "I'm so tired!" "I'm so broke!" "I'm so ugly!" "I'm never going anywhere in life!"
When the pressure is on, that's when we really find out what's on the inside of us— and it's usually not the Word of God.

Yet, what we see, what we think and what we say, does not change the truth of God's Word. That's why James called it lying against the truth, or lying against the Word.

The truth according to the Word says, "By [Jesus'] stripes ye were healed…" (1 Peter 2:24). When we say, "I'm just so sick!"—we're lying against the truth. We're giving the devil a foothold into our lives, and setting the course for a life full of sickness.

If we say anything other than what the Word of God says about a situation, we are lying against the truth.

Facts Change—The Truth Doesn't

Another key phrase in James 3 that links our words to our success in life is found in verse 17—"without hypocrisy."

So, it is this same Word that is "without hypocrisy." That's why it is not hypocrisy for us to have every flu symptom in the world, yet go around quoting God's Word as our own and saying, "By His stripes I was healed. Healing is mine, and I receive it now!"

Sure, people may look at us and say, "Well, that's a lie. Look at you—you're sick. You're just a hypocrite!"

No. We're not going around declaring our physical health according to the Word in order to convince people there is nothing wrong with us. If we were to do that, we would be lying.
We're confessing God's Word and saying those things to change what's wrong with our bodies. We're calling "those things which be not as though they were" (Romans 4:17). God Almighty, Himself, does that.

Granted, the fact may be that we look sick, and that our bodies are showing symptoms of sickness. But that is not the truth of the matter. That's not what God's Word says about the situation.

What's more, the truth—God's Word—is eternal. It never changes. Facts, on the other hand, do change. And it's the truth that changes them.

The symptoms of sickness are a fact. God's Word is truth. Truth takes authority over facts and changes them.

Have You Considered Jesus?

I've seen it happen countless times in my own life. I get into a situation where God's Word says one thing, but the facts that are staring me in the face say another.

How do we get those facts to change and line up with the truth of the Word?
Hebrews 2:18-3:1 (The Amplified Bible), tells us.

For because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted (tested and tried), He is able (immediately) to run to the cry of (assist, relieve) those who are being tempted and tested and tried [and who therefore are being exposed to suffering]. So then, brethren, consecrated and set apart for God…thoughtfully and attentively consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest Whom we confessed…

When symptoms in your body scream, "You're sick! You're sick!" or, when the figures in your checkbook scream, "You're broke! You're broke!"—that's a good time to…consider Jesus!
Thoughtfully and attentively consider Jesus, not the pain. Thoughtfully and attentively consider Jesus, not your bank account. Get your mind off your flesh, or the natural, and get it over on Him!

Consider Jesus, the One appointed and anointed by Almighty God to be High Priest of your confession, the One given full responsibility and all the resources of heaven to see that your words—His Word spoken out of your mouth—come to pass in the earth. Consider Him!
The Bible says Abraham "considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb" (Romans 4:19). That's saying a lot when God promised that Abraham would have offspring as countless as the stars, and become the father of many nations.

How was Abraham able to believe God and consider not the natural circumstances that must have been screaming at him? Romans 4:20-21 says, "He staggered not at the promise of God…being fully persuaded that, what [God] had promised, he was able also to perform."
Abraham had a promise. He had the Word of God. He had the wisdom of God. He had the truth of God on the matter.

Armed with the truth, Abraham changed the facts. He set his course. He went from Abram—a 100-year-old man with no descendants—to Abraham, father of many nations and offspring as numerous as the stars.

Today, you and I are among those descendants of Abraham. And like our father of faith, we have a promise from God. We have His Word. We have His wisdom. We have the truth…in every matter. With that truth we can set our course and change the facts. But those facts certainly won't change until our tongues change.

So tame your tongue—fill your mouth with the Word of God—and then set your course for a life full of success.

Confession Brings Possession

Confession is a powerful word. It's a Bible word that means far more than just an affirmation of something.

Romans 10:10 says, "For with the heart man believeth…and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

In other words, confession brings possession. It brings possession of everything God has promised us in His Word. It brings salvation, healing, protection, prosperity and so on.
That's why, when we confess our faith, we're not simply affirming something positive we want in our lives. We're staking our claim on what is already ours according to God's Word.
In light of that, our responsibility is to go to the Word, find scripture that covers whatever we're believing God for, and then stand in faith on the truth of that Word. If it's something not promised in the Word, we have no business confessing it.

To help you get started on your Bible-based confessions, here are five fundamental confessions we find in the New Testament. Search through the Scriptures, looking for verses that fit each of these five groups, then begin confessing those truths every day.

Confess what God did for us in Jesus Christ—in the Anointed One, and in His Anointing—at Calvary in His plan of redemption.

Confess what God—through His Word, and through the Holy Spirit—did in us in the new birth, and what is now available in us by the infilling of His Spirit.

Confess what we are to God, the Father, in the Anointed One Jesus, and in His Anointing.
Confess what Jesus is doing for us at the right hand of the Father, where He is interceding for us.

Confess what God can—and will—do through us, and what His Word will do through our lips. Again remember: Jesus is the High Priest over His Word in our mouths. He is anointed to see to it that His Word comes to pass.

Courtesy of: Kenneth Copeland Music & Ministry(KCM.org)

Revival In The Land By Kenneth Copeland / Gloria Copeland

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“God’s very best is His outpouring of mighty power to save, heal, deliver and set men free. We call it revival.”—Kenneth Copeland

Revival!… The battle cry of prayer warriors, the hallmark of change—the drawing of a nation back to God. Revival has been a mighty force in our nation’s heritage, influencing government, shaping destiny. Critical times in our nation’s history have sparked believers to hunger for the manifestation of God’s renewing presence through revival.

When our forefathers arrived on these shores, many were on fire for God with a passion to advance His kingdom. But as the years passed and new generations emerged, that zeal cooled and was replaced by a focus on economic advancement. Godless ideas began to take hold as the Age of Enlightenment swept first across Europe, then America. Church membership was still a requirement to vote in the colonies, so nonbelievers participated out of pure formality. Drunkenness and immorality became commonplace, particularly among the young.

America had begun a downhill slide. But God had a plan.

Early Stirrings

Into this cold, complacent atmosphere of 1720 America, Dutch Reformed minister, Theodore J. Frelinghuysen arrived.

Fervently preaching the necessity of a real commitment to Christ, Frelinghuysen saw many embrace the “good news” while others resisted change. But God was drawing people into the Church. Early embers of revival began to glow.

About 1735, Presbyterian minister William Tennent, disgusted with resistance from the Yale and Harvard administration toward the new evangelical fire spreading in the colonies, started his own Bible school in New Jersey in a log cabin, derisively known as the “log college.” Beginning with his four sons, Tennent trained preachers to take the revival to the colonies. Graduates of the school greatly influenced religion and education in America and were known for their “evangelical zeal.”

William Tennent’s son Gilbert became a major force in spreading revival across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Though charges of “emotionalism” and other accusations were leveled by the “Old Lights,” trying to stop the revival, the fire continued to spread.

Souls Flock to Jesus in Meetings

Around the same time—in 1734—God was pouring out His Spirit in another area. Conviction for sin swept through Puritan minister Jonathan Edwards’ Massachusetts congregation as young and old, rich and poor desperately cried out, “How can I be saved?”
Edwards wrote that souls came “by flocks” to Jesus. The town seemed filled with the presence of God.

Many were gloriously converted, abandoning their former sins. Talk turned to God’s kingdom alone. The tavern was left empty. The whole town was affected. Edwards noted “the surprising work of God” in his city and witnessed the revival’s spread to many other areas in Massachusetts.

By the mid 1700s the fire began falling in the meetings of another anointed man of God. George Whitefield, an already famous revivalist preacher in England, left his homeland with a burden for the colonies. His prayer was for these separate 13 colonies to become one nation under God. He began preaching in open areas. Thousands came from miles around to hear the Word and see God move. George Whitefield’s booming voice could reach as many as 30,000 people at a time and could be heard nearly a mile away!

An eye witness, Benjamin Franklin wrote in his autobiography of the change in Philadelphia’s inhabitants as a result of Whitefield’s meetings: “From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seem’d as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro’ the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.”

The revival became known as the First Great Awakening and soon spread to all the colonies. Churches overflowed in numbers and activity. A blaze of missionary and social programs was birthed. Christian love sparked concern for reaching the poor, the slave, the Native American and others. Orphanages and schools were established. Antislavery sentiment began to stir.
The revival fires of this Great Awakening changed colonial thinking, opening colonists’ eyes to view themselves as a whole, a body of believers—one nation under God. They were a covenant people chosen by God to be a light to the world. The plan of God was manifesting.

But the American Revolution 30 years later overshadowed everything and by 1775, revival fires had died down to a smolder. Still, during the war General George Washington encouraged his troops to attend church services and live moral, Christian lives.

Reawakenings

The fire seemed all but extinguished during the time of peace and prosperity following America’s victory. But by the 1790s, sparks once again appeared in the northeast.

In 1801, the fire fell again bringing more than 20,000 people to a dramatic camp meeting at Cane Ridge, Ky. The phenomenon was repeated in camp meetings across several states.
Revival continued to spread in the 1820s and 1830s at the meetings of fiery evangelist Charles Finney. Over 500,000 came to a saving knowledge of Jesus through this move of God.
By 1857, another war threatened. That same year Jeremiah Lanphier started a prayer meeting in New York City with six people. As the stock market crashed, banks failed and thousands lost their jobs, daily prayer meetings in cities across the country became packed.

Turning Back to God

When civil war finally gripped the nation in 1861, General Stonewall Jackson helped organize the Chaplain’s Association and along with General Robert E. Lee promoted revival among their troops. Abraham Lincoln also fervently sought God and enlisted the prayers of others.
Following the war, new life and new believers again flooded into the Church as the population turned to God.

In the mid-1800s and early 1900s, throngs turned out to hear evangelists Charles Finney, Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday and others. Bars and theaters closed. Revival brought lasting change and spread beyond our shores to affect the world.

In the 1900s Azusa Street and the healing and Word revivals had a great impact, changing the complexion of the nation.

Today the spirit of revival continues as the Word is preached in faith-charged meetings and conventions worldwide.

Revival! Once again the embers are beginning to glow brightly as the battle cry is being sounded in prayer closets and meetings across the nation. Alarm over moral decay and fear of international terrorism is moving a collective consciousness to seek God amid the lull of prosperity and pleasurable pursuits. God has a plan.

“One nation under God” is not just a catchphrase—it’s His dream!
Courtesy of: Kenneth Copeland Ministries
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