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7 Keys to Make the Supernatural Your Natural

by Gloria Copeland

In 1977, Kenneth Hagin Sr. gave a prophecy that changed my life. It painted a picture of the end-time Church and helped me grasp the magnitude of God’s will for the Body of Christ.

Brother Hagin prophesied that the Church “will rise up as a spiritual giant, and there shall be a release of power in our day and in our age that man has not seen before…. Men upon this earth shall walk and talk and act like God…. And those who know their God in these days will be strong and do exploits. There is an army of the Lord being raised up…who will know and do their rights and privileges in Christ Jesus…and appropriate unto themselves that which has already been given.”

When I heard that prophecy, I made a decision to do whatever it took to be part of that army and do exploits for God. What I learned and put into practice as a result of that decision has allowed me to walk in victory and do things I never dreamed possible! First Corinthians 2:9 says, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” God had tremendous things prepared for my life-things beyond my wildest imagination. And praise God! I’m seeing them and enjoying them. It’s been a wonderful journey, and God isn’t finished with my life yet. He desires for me to continue to grow in Him and fulfill His plan in my life.

God has marvelous things planned not just for me, but for you and every other believer. He is a great planner. He plans His work and works His plan!

Brother Hagin and others have also prophesied that the Church would progress from a time of fullness into a time of overflow. I believe overflow is the time we are in right now! Our lives can and should be overflowing in the presence and power of God. As believers, the supernatural should be our natural! We ought to be doing “exploits” for God. And we can! There is, however, a condition. Daniel 11:32 tells us: “The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

#1 – Know Your Power Source

If you have a desire to do big things, impossible things for God-the things He calls “exploits”-then you have to fully understand the prerequisites.

To start with, you must know God. That doesn’t mean you just know about Him. Knowing Him means having an intimate relationship with Him. It means He is the first thing you think of when you open your eyes in the morning, and the last you think of when you go to bed at night. Listening to Him all day, every day, and letting Him talk to you through His written Word and by His Spirit is how you get to know Him. You come to really know the Lord by actively seeking Him above everything else and recognizing Him as your source (Matthew 6:31-33). And, as you begin to know Him-you will begin to know His power.

The Apostle Paul said having an intimate, living connection with Jesus was worth more than everything he had previously considered valuable. He said his determined purpose was to know Him. This is a purpose I’ve made my own, and it can be yours too.

“[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him…], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10, The Amplified Bible).

#2 – Be Filled with the Spirit of “Greater Works”

In this passage of Scripture, you can hear how deeply Paul desired the Lord and the power of His resurrection. Jesus told His disciples He wanted them to receive this power, to be “endued with power from on high.” He gave them instructions to wait in Jerusalem until He sent the Holy Spirit for this purpose. And, before being crucified He said: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).

Greater works-exploits! That’s what Jesus expects us to do. And we can when we yield to the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Jesus knew His disciples had to have the Baptism in the Holy Spirit to do the mighty works God planned for them. That hasn’t changed. Knowing Jesus as our Savior and being filled with the Spirit are still the first steps toward doing the impossible.

#3 – Believe That With God, All Things Are Possible

The fact is, God has a purpose for your life that’s exciting and beyond anything you can imagine without the Holy Spirit revealing it. You may not feel able to do great things, but you can. Just realize God never intended you to do them on your own. God knows what He put in you and what He can do in you. Ephesians 3:20 says He is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”

We in the Body of Christ are vessels that God works through to accomplish His will. We have been “recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us…” (Ephesians 2:10, The Amplified Bible).

Exploits should not be unusual for us. Remember we are working with God Himself. We should expect miracles!

Scripture reveals that truth over and over:

  •  “With God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).
  • “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27).
  •  “…with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26)
  •  “…all things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23).

We have a vital relationship with the One who makes the impossible possible. The heroes of faith recorded in the Bible knew God, and they did impossible things. They believed God when He said, “I will be with you.” (See Exodus 3:12; Isaiah 41:10.) Their faith was anchored on that promise. And because God was with them, they weren’t limited to the natural realm.

The giants didn’t matter to David-God was with him. The Flood didn’t matter to Noah-God was with him. Age didn’t matter to Abraham-God was with him.

He is still the God of the impossible! And God is still with us. He has planned to do great things through each of us. When we truly get to know Him, we will trust Him, believe His Word and not be afraid to act on it. That’s called walking by faith. And faith is where all exploits in God begin.

#4 – Become a Faith Giant

Faith-believing what God has said-is the foundation for a supernatural life. In John 6:28, the disciples asked Him, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” Jesus answered in the next verse, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

The faith giants listed in Hebrews 11 accomplished great things by faith-by believing God. Verse 1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It is only by faith that what you’re hoping for will manifest.

Today, your body may be sick or diseased, your finances may be in shambles, or your mind may be tormented by fear and worry. If so, I want you to know I understand what that feels like. And I also want you to know that you don’t have to stay in that condition.

Before Ken and I began to know and believe the Word of God, we were imprisoned by those things-but we came out of it! And so can you, if you will get in the Word and learn the truth about all the great things that already belong to you in Christ.

We learned to stand on God’s promises and appropriate them in our lives. Ken and I believed we received what God said was already ours, and we talked like it and acted like it. And, the truth of the Word made us free.

Never will you find in the Bible where God wanted His people to be poor, sick or defeated. Never! Never! Never! It didn’t happen. The only reason God’s people have been broke, disgusted, sorry and sick is because they didn’t do what He said-they didn’t do things His way.

It’s easy to coast along and be like everybody else. But if you truly desire to be a faith giant and do exploits for God, you have to believe His Word. If you’ll believe His Word and do things His way, the supernatural can be your natural.

#5 – Attend to God’s Word

All it takes is one flash of light from the Word to change your life forever. One flash of faith and you will realize, God said I can have that! As you speak that promise, it will become more real to you than anything else. That’s when you have the victory on the inside-that’s when the natural realm must respond. That’s when the supernatural becomes natural.

None of us can afford to be lazy about the Word of God. Our future is tied up in how much Word we have in our hearts.

That’s why God said, “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:20-23).

It’s up to us how much of the power of God we experience. As we feed on the Word, speak it and act on it, the Word will become a reality to us and the power in God’s Word will drive out fear, failure and sickness!

At one point in my Christian life I let my hunger for the Word of God decrease instead of increase. Too much of my attention was going toward natural things. The truth is, I had gotten comfortable in life. We had nice cars, a decent house, a little money in the bank-we just weren’t as desperate as we once had been. But, after I heard that prophecy Brother Hagin gave in 1977, I refocused my attention! He said: “Purpose in your heart that you’ll not be lazy, that you’ll not draw back, hold back or sit down, but purpose in your heart that you’ll rise up and march forward and become on fire.”

I’m glad I quit being lazy about the Word back in 1977. It would have been sad to have missed out on all the wonderful things God had planned for us. Now, Ken and I are pursuing God’s will more fervently than ever! We are determined to be strong and do His exploits.

#6 -Soar in the Spirit!

We know too that “doing exploits” also requires laying aside every weight and sin that can hinder us (Hebrews 12:1). Weights are things that hold us down in the natural realm-things that crowd our hearts and take our focus and energy away from the things of God. Mark 4 gives a good list of those things. Although cares, distractions and desire for other things are not necessarily sin, they are things that will hold us down to the natural realm. And, when the natural man, “the flesh,” is in control, faith loses its aggressiveness.

But why would anyone choose to live in the natural realm, on a low, low level, when we can live in the supernatural realm and soar in the spirit?

With the help of the Holy Spirit you can “crucify” the flesh (Galatians 5:24) and renew your mind to the Word (Romans 12:2). You can be “spiritually minded” and experience life and peace. Or you can be “naturally” or “carnally minded” and think like the world thinks, and get what the world gets-death (see Romans 8:6).

Your spirit-the part of you that is connected to God-can always be in command. When that’s the case, it isn’t difficult to receive the wisdom or help you need to overcome any situation. When you are vitally connected to the God of the impossible, it becomes easy for the supernatural to thrive.

You can live a limited life in the earth-limited to your natural ability and circumstances-or you can live unlimited. It’s your choice, just like it was Israel’s choice. They had to decide if they were going to follow after God, or settle for the natural things in the world and live like the heathen people around them.

#7 – Put Your Foot on the Promise

At one point in particular, they chose wrong. When God told the children of Israel to take the Promised Land, they forgot who was with them and saw only their own inabilities. That generation did not take the land God said He had given to them. They refused to possess-or put their foot on-the land God had promised them.

But in Joshua 1:3, when God told Joshua, “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you,” Joshua believed Him. Notice God didn’t say, I’m going to give it to you. He said, every place you put your foot, I have given to you-past tense. If Joshua hadn’t picked up his foot and put it down on that property-on that promise-he wouldn’t have received it.

But Joshua did! The people were with him, and together they took the land. Joshua did what God told him, when He told him.

March around the walls seven times and then shout, God said.

And, they did. If their hearts had been hardened like the previous generation, they would not have obeyed God. It took God-inspired courage to do that, and they had hearts toward God. What happened? God took action, and suddenly they weren’t limited to the natural realm. Miraculously the walls fell flat. The Israelites possessed their land.

When a miracle was needed, God performed a miracle.

That’s the way God desires the Church to live-believing Him for the supernatural. Today we’re at the same place Joshua was. God had already given him the land, but he had to act on what God said. God has told us things in His Word that belong to us. We have to put our foot on them and possess them. We have to walk out on the Word.

I believe we’re at the place and the hour where Brother Hagin’s prophecy is being fulfilled. The Lord is recruiting an army of believers to do what He wants done in the earth. But He isn’t looking for lukewarm Christians.

He is looking for those who will purpose in their hearts not to be lazy, draw back, hold back or sit down. He is looking for those who will rise up, march forward, be on fire!

He is looking for you and me to make a determination to know our God and do exploits! He is waiting to make the supernatural our natural.

KCM Opens Offices in Colombia and Costa Rica!

As part of our plans to expand ministry in Latin America and serve the region better, I am pleased to announce that KCM has opened offices in Bogota, Colombia, and San Jose, Costa Rica. These new, local offices will allow us to reach and serve people in the region much more effectively with the Word of God…and this is just the beginning! We are planning to open other local offices over the next two years. Serving people in Latin America has always been on our hearts. Thank you for your continued prayers and support for KCM’s Latin America ministry.

John Copeland Signs Documents - FB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Copeland signs documents to open ministry offices in Bogota, Colombia, and San Jose, Costa Rica.

 

Team that went to sign

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictured from left to right: John Copeland, Eileen Lawton, James Tito, KCM Spanish Outreach Manager Marcos Rey, and KCM Attorney Francisco Cortes

 

Jesus Is Lord!

Sincerely,

John Copeland

To learn more how partnering with KCM makes outreaches like this possible, please visit www.kcm.org/partner.

How to Be a Worldwide Blessing

by Kenneth Copeland

Have you ever wondered exactly what you’re supposed to be doing with your life? Have you ever longed to know your divine calling?

If so, pay close attention because I’m about to tell you. In the next few pages, I’m going to show you straight from the pages of God’s Word not only what you are called to do but how you are supposed to do it.

Are you ready? OK…here goes.

You are called to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. That’s right. You have been divinely commissioned to be a worldwide blessing.

I realize that sounds like an impossible job, but biblically there’s no way around it. As born-again children of God, that’s exactly what you and I have been called to do. It’s the purpose Jesus had in mind for us when He went to the cross. It’s the reason He cleansed us with His blood and made us joint heirs with Him. He did it all so “the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:14).

Usually, when we hear about the blessing of Abraham, we think of how God poured out His goodness on Abraham personally, how God met his needs and empowered him to prosper. But actually that’s only half the picture. When God blessed Abraham in Genesis 12, He didn’t just say, “I will bless thee.” He also said, “and thou shalt be a blessing…and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (verses 2-3).

The Power to Get the Job Done

“But Brother Copeland,” you might say, “how can I possibly be a blessing to all the families of the earth?”

You can do it the same way Jesus did. As the true Seed of Abraham, He lived out the Abrahamic covenant in its fullness. He truly became a blessing to the whole world. Most people think He was able to accomplish such a feat strictly because He is the Son of God. They assume His world-changing ministry was a result of His divinity.

But according to the Bible, that’s not the case. It says Jesus laid aside His divine privileges when He came to earth. It says He humbled Himself and came in the likeness of man. How then was He able to do the miraculous things He did? He said it was because “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me…” (Luke 4:18).

Jesus’ entire ministry was a result of the anointing that was on Him. He was able to do everything He did because “God anointed [Him] with the Holy Ghost and with power” (Acts 10:38).

According to Isaiah 10:27, it’s the anointing that frees people from the oppression of the devil. It’s the anointing that removes burdens and destroys yokes of bondage. Because Jesus was anointed, when someone who was burdened with sickness reached out to Him in faith, they were healed. When someone who was in bondage to a demonic spirit came to Him for help, the anointing on Him cast out that demon. When the multitudes were burdened by hunger, the anointing multiplied the loaves and fish, and fed them.

Most important of all, the anointing empowered Jesus to preach the gospel to people, to declare to them the good news that He, the Messiah, had come with the power of God upon Him to set them completely free from sin and every other work of the devil.

Talk about being a blessing to all the families of the earth! Jesus absolutely fulfilled that divine commission, and when He was finished, He passed it on to us.

We Have the Same Anointing

Read Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-18 and you’ll see that for yourself. In those passages, Jesus essentially said, “All authority both in heaven and earth has been given to Me, now you go and make disciples, teaching them what I’ve taught you. You go and preach the gospel. You go and lay hands on the sick so they’ll recover. You go and cast out devils. You’ve been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, now you go and be a blessing to all the families of the earth.”

Of course, there’s no way to do all that without the anointing. So, through the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Jesus made it available to us and gave us the power to get the job done.

Now we, as believers, are the Body of Christ on the earth. The word Christ means “anointing or anointed One.” Therefore we are now the Body of the Anointing.

“Surely, you’re not saying I have the same anointing Jesus had!” someone might argue.

I don’t have to say it. The New Testament said it for me. First John 2:20 and 27 plainly tell us that the anointing we have received from Him abides in us now. Who gave us that anointing? The Holy One, or in other words, Jesus Himself.

That word tells us that Jesus gave us His Anointing; and if it’s His Anointing, it will do the same thing through us it did through Him.

The Miracle of Spiritual Partnership

That would be hard to believe if it weren’t for the fact that we see examples of it in the lives of New Testament believers. Take the Apostle Paul, for instance. Acts 19 tells us God worked unusual miracles by his hands, “So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them” (verse 12).

Doesn’t that sound like the things Jesus did? People were healed and delivered by touching His clothes, too. The anointing worked through both Jesus and Paul in the same way.

“Yeah, but that was the great Apostle Paul!” someone might say. “He had a special grace and anointing that’s not available to other believers.”

That’s what a lot of people believe, but according to Paul himself, that wasn’t the case. He indicated that the people who supported him with their faith, prayers and finances shared that anointing with him. He said in Philippians 1:5 that he and those folks had “fellowship in the gospel.” The Old English word fellowship in that verse doesn’t refer just to enjoying one another’s company, it speaks of “partnership.”

A partnership is formed when people get together to accomplish what one person can’t do alone. In partnership, the resources of each partner become available to the others to achieve a common goal. In financial partnerships, the partners share their finances. In intellectual partnerships, the partners share their knowledge. In spiritual partnerships, the partners share their supply of the Spirit. They become partakers of each other’s anointing and grace!

Paul left no doubt about that. He told the Philippians clearly that because they’d been his partners through thick and thin, “both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace” (Philippians 1:7).

That’s Shouting Ground!

I’m convinced that statement was shouting ground for the Philippians. After all, they knew what the anointing on Paul could do. Their church actually got its start the night the anointing on Paul exploded through the Philippian jail, where he was being held for preaching the gospel, and blew the locks off the doors. That anointing broke the place wide open, stopped the prisoners from running away, and got the jailer and his whole family born again. The story was well known among believers in that city because the jailer eventually became the pastor of their church!

The Philippians also knew about the signs and wonders that followed Paul everywhere he went, confirming the Word as he preached it. They knew the kind of divine power that backed him when he had to stand up and defend the gospel with his own life.

Can you imagine what it meant, in the light of all that, to hear Paul tell them that as his partners in ministry they had access to the anointing that was on him? It probably made the hair on their necks stand straight up! They must have been absolutely thrilled when they heard him say, “And my God shall supply all your need…” (not just God, but my God, the God who supplies me with all the power you see operating in my ministry!). “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Because of their partnership in the gospel, Paul and the Philippian believers were not only blessed, they were able to be a worldwide blessing. That’s important for us to know because partnership works the same way today. When we partner up for the purpose of preaching the gospel and being a blessing to all the families of the earth, we become partakers of each other’s grace.

The anointing that’s on you to pray, believe and give to advance the kingdom of God becomes available to me and helps me do what God has called me to do-which is to preach the uncompromised Word of God from the top of the world to the bottom and all the way around. In return, the anointing that God has given me becomes available to you. Every gift of the Spirit I operate in becomes accessible to you to help you personally do what God has called you to do.

What’s more, as we become partners in being a blessing to the world, and start believing for everything necessary to get that job done, our own needs get swallowed up in the process! We don’t have to worry about them at all because they get met according to God’s riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

It Really Works

I’m not just talking theological theory here. I’ve personally seen it happen time and time again. I’ve seen it in the lives of Partners like the little widow down in southern Louisiana who took me on years ago as her personal prayer project. Because she knew my dad, she’d call him occasionally and ask about something she’d been picking up in prayer.

One time she phoned him and said, “What’s the matter with Kenneth’s stomach?”

Dad didn’t know so he called me and relayed the message. “Mrs. So-and-so said you had a bellyache,” he said. “Is that right?”

“Yes, I had one last night,” I answered, “but it’s gone now.” That little lady probably prayed it off me before it could cause any problems. She had an anointing to do that kind of thing and, since we were Partners in ministry, I became a partaker of her grace.

In return, God met her needs in miraculous ways. She had no natural source of income except some money she’d received when her husband passed away. But God continually provided for her. For example, she told me about one time she decided she should have some of the timber cleared off the property she owned. Before she could do anything about it, a man knocked on her door and said, “I don’t know why, but I just thought you might need some trees cut down.”

She ended up making $20,000 off that wood! Things like that happened to her all the time.

Another one of my Partners, who later became a very close friend, was working as a church janitor when he first joined up with us. He got so excited about the Word we were preaching he decided to do everything he could to help get it out. He didn’t have much money, but he started praying and believing God for enough to buy some of our tapes and a battery-operated recorder.

Once he got them, he started getting little groups of people together and playing the tapes for them. Afterward, he’d pray for those who needed to be healed and saw tremendous results. After a while, the Lord told him to leave the tapes at home and preach the messages himself. He didn’t think he could do it, but he was my Partner in ministry and, sure enough, he told me later, “I preached all those tapes at once! They just started flowing out of me!”

Before long, he was ministering full time and didn’t have time to be a janitor anymore. Today that one-time janitor has a jet and preaches the gospel all over the world!

Set Your Sights Higher

Do you know what excites me about those two Partners? They took advantage of the blessing that belongs to them through their partnership with this ministry.

If you’re a Partner, you can do the same thing! You can rise up by faith and become as much a part of this ministry as Gloria and I are. As far as God is concerned, it doesn’t matter whether you’re the one who goes out preaching the gospel or you’re the one who sends the person who preaches. If we’re working together we all have access to each other’s anointing and we all receive the same rewards.

Once you understand that, you’ll realize you actually can be a worldwide blessing. In fact, if you partnered with us this past year, you already are! You’ve helped put Believer’s Voice of Victory on more than 600 TV stations, where 83 million households in the U.S. can see it. And you’ve put it on a cable satellite station in Hong Kong that can be seen by 75 million people in 20 countries-including Bangladesh, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Nepal and Cambodia.

You published gospel materials in French, German, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew and Farsi. You helped Gloria and me preach in Italy at the International Charismatic Praise and Worship Conference, where one priest got so excited about the Word he jumped up on the platform just as I finished preaching and shouted, “This is the best stuff I’ve ever heard in my life!”

Yet, with all that, you still have a lot to believe for. You need to believe for the money to double your television ministry. You need to release your faith for your Internet ministry that blessed a half million people last year, to bless a million this year. You need several million dollars to build an airplane hangar and buy helicopters, airplanes, food and supplies for Angel Flight 44, your international aviation outreach that helps the needy in times of disaster.

“What? I don’t have a television ministry!” you may say. “I don’t have an Internet ministry or an aviation outreach to the needy!”

Yes, you do. Those aren’t just outreaches of Kenneth Copeland Ministries. If you’re a Partner, they’re your outreaches too. So start wrapping your faith around them. Get your sights set above your own personal needs and set them on meeting the needs of the world.

Take up your call to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Become a worldwide blessing! I can promise you on the authority of God’s Word, your own needs will be swallowed up in the process and you will be abundantly blessed.

Reaction Tour Uganda 2015…Look What The Lord Has Done!

THANK YOU, JESUS! Once again, our trip to Uganda was a huge SUCCESS! Thanks to everyone who sent in shoes, sowed financial seeds, and—most importantly—prayed for us.

We had a mission set before us, and through the grace of God, we conquered.

For a full week, 600 youth joined us. Every day we filled their hearts with preaching and worship, followed by activities including basketball, soccer, dance, volleyball, workshops on leadership and worship. Each camp, The Lord has been faithful to show us how to extend our ministry through these activities.

This year, we had over 150 salvations! At the end of camp, during Healing School, we made a “tunnel” (made up of the Reaction Tour team and Ugandan ministry leaders standing side by side), for anyone who wanted healing in their home, heart, mind or body. ALMOST ALL OF THE 600 KIDS CAME THROUGH THIS TUNNEL. We poured out what The Lord had waiting for them. It was one of the most powerful ministry times I have ever experienced. Kids were saved, lives were changed, and most importantly, The Lord was present!

We know that He does not let a work go unfinished. I am so thankful for every seed planted during the week. From the shoes, to the food, to The Word, The Lord revealed Himself to every person there.

Again, THANK YOU. We could not have held this camp without you. Continue to follow us to see where The Lord leads us next!

Be blessed and remember…

Jesus Is Lord!

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Courtney Copeland

3 Steps to Living in The Safe Place During the End Times

by Gloria Copeland

Since the day I was born again, I have realized the end times has always been a subject of in-depth teaching and serious discussion by both Christians and non-Christians. I am one of those who has dug into God’s Word to learn all I can about the subject, and I have had countless discussions with fellow ministers about the last days.

Specifically, the Lord has led me to explore His ways and means of providing for His people and keeping us safe when we experience times like those the Bible describes as end times or the last days. And I have discovered one thing about our Father’s intent for us at times like these-He has a safe place for us!

So, you may be wondering, Gloria, do you believe we are in the end times? Are these the last days? The thing I have noticed is the world seems to be fitting the Bible description more with each passing day.

In Matthew 24:6-7, Jesus told His disciples to watch for the signs that mark the end times, including wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines. We don’t have to look hard to know these things have increased throughout the world in our generation. And they are likely to get much worse before the very last days. But, we can have comfort in knowing we will not be around for that great tribulation. The Bible says Jesus will return right on time to take us out of this world. In the meantime, we know God has everything under control, and He will protect and provide for His children.

He has shown me one thing for sure, and I’ve said it many times: “These may not be the last days, but they are my last days. And I will live out my days-long and strong-in God’s safe place.”

#1 – Believe God’s promises of protection to live in the Safe Place

Yes, I said I know for sure!  I am sure I will live out the days of my life and fulfill God’s plan for me in His place of safety and protection. And you can know for sure, too, no matter how tough times get, you can live out your last days in the safety of God’s protection!

Scripture is filled with God’s promise of protection for His children. He will not fail to do His part to fulfill what He promises. And He has made it clear what our part is in living in His safe place. The big question for each of us is: Will we do our part?

Psalm 91 is a scripture we can all take as our foundational promise of God’s sure protection. The whole chapter gives a great picture of the protection God provides His people. Take a minute to read it out loud right now to see just how far-reaching our protection is.

Psalm 91

New King James Version

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.” 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. 8 Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, 10 No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; 11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. 12 In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. 13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. 14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”

Look again at verses 1 and 2. This is basic instruction for staying in our place of protection. This is our responsibility-our part. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.'”

Throughout our days, our safe place of God’s protection is found in two words-abide and say.

#2 – Abide in God’s Word to live in the Safe Place

Dwelling in the secret place of our Most High God requires our decision to place our whole being-spirit, soul and body-under His protection. He is the secret place and perfect hiding place for His people. Nothing is higher than the Most High. Paul said in Colossians 3:3 that because we are in the Body of Christ, our life “is hid with Christ in God.”

When we decided to take our place with Christ in God’s secret place, we walked through the door to our abiding. Abide means “to remain or stay put.” It also means “to live or lodge in the place.” It’s the place where we reside-where we build our whole life!

I like to say, “Abiding is obeying.” We can receive everything God has for us as we abide in Him, hearing and obeying what He says to us through His written Word and by His Spirit within us.

Spending time in His Word is the first step to our safety in His hiding place. When we sit down to spend time with Him-reading, studying and meditating on His Word-every moment spent with Him builds our faith and establishes us solidly in the place where nothing can by any means harm us.

We position ourselves in this safe place with Him where He can speak to us and teach us directly. As we put ourselves in this place, His will becomes our will and abiding becomes our way of life.

#3 – Say God’s Word of protection to live in the Safe Place

When we add our saying to our abiding, we actually close and lock the door of the hiding place to any successful attack the devil might be planning to launch against us. We say boldly of our God, “He is our refuge, our fortress, our God, and we trust in Him.” This abiding faith of words and action thwarts every work of any enemy.

Our saying in faith declares we are in agreement with God’s Word about Himself and His relationship with us, His children. We are saying, “I have received God as my protector just like I took Him as my Savior. He is my safety. He is my security. He is my provider. I live in His safe place!”

So, we talk about our deliverance. We talk our protection. We don’t talk fear or doubt. Any thought that comes to our minds that is based in fear or doubt, we must cast down and rebuke. Those thoughts have no right to even knock on our door, and we will certainly not get up from our place of safety to open the door.

No matter what circumstances come up-health issues, financial challenges, weather warnings, relationship trials-none of them has the power to take you out of your place in God. You don’t have to go over on the fear side of anything. You trust in God’s ability to bring peace and reconciliation to every situation in your life. That’s His safety plan for His children.

We don’t have to let circumstances and situations overwhelm our lives. We speak to them the truth of God’s Word in the Name of Jesus. The moment I am faced with a bad situation, I have learned to refuse the fear, rebuke the threat and immediately start saying, “I dwell in the secret place of the Most High. I abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I say of the Lord, He is my refuge. He is my God. I trust in Him!”

Build your very own list of safety and protection scriptures. God’s Word is filled with them. Have them ready. Just get in there and dig out His Word on protection. There is so much comfort in scriptures like Psalm 27:5: “For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent will He hide me; He will set me high upon a rock” (The Amplified Bible).

God’s Word is our arsenal of weaponry against the attacks of the enemy. Jesus set the example for us by speaking only the Word in response to the enemy’s attempts to draw Him out of God’s place of protection (Luke 4). It’s the same with us, no matter the trial or trouble; when we speak only God’s Word we are kept safe! The enemy is forced to get out of our way!

Safe-At All Times!

The world is experiencing some of the greatest days of trouble our generation has ever known. And, yes, I believe the end times are knocking on our door. But God has promised to keep us covered during troubled times.

If you have not developed your faith by getting alone with God and spending time with Him in His Word, there’s no better time to start than today. He is the only sure hiding place any of us will ever have.

Put your relationship with Him first. Abide in Him, and let Him teach you from His Word. Hear Him clearly and obey His direction. Keep your faith ready by daily spending time in God’s Word. And continually speak His promises boldly over yourself and your family. I guarantee you’ll find this to be your true and sure place of safety.

So, are these the end times-the last days? I believe so. How long? I don’t know. You and I may not know the answer to that, but one thing we can know for sure: These are our last days, and we can live them out securely and safely. We have nothing to fear. We can live out His plan for our lives. When we stay in His hiding place, He keeps us covered, and we are safe at all times!