Is it in a politician or in a political party? Is it in a man or a woman and their claims to make man's system of doing things work better? Or would you say, as Israel's King David said, "My soul faints for Your salvation, but I hope in Your word" (Ps. 119:81, NKJV)?
Now don't misunderstand me. If you've been around me very long, then you know I believe without exception every believer should be involved in the politics of whatever government they are under. And that begins with the most important involvement of all—praying according to 1 Timothy 2:1-2:
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.I am believing for the Body of Christ in my own country to pray, listen to God, get involved and take over both parties. But my hope for the United States is not in the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. It is in the Word of God.
Build Your Dreams on God's Word
You see, even in the worst of what the world is going through you can build dreams on real, Bible hope-based on the promises of God. This is totally different from the kind of hope the world talks about. Think about what the world means when it uses the word hope.
They say things like: "Well, I hope I get that new job." "I sure hope the economy gets better." "Just don't get your hopes up." Even believers get caught up in that kind of speaking. That's not hope. That's wishing.
The only kind of hope that will bring God's desires for man into earthly reality is the hope we read about in Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
No matter what the world is going through, the assignment of every believer is to anchor his or her hope to God. There is no recession in the kingdom of God. His kingdom is based on the blessing He released when He created this earth and placed Adam in it, providing everything for every living thing He had created. That was His perfect will then, and it is His perfect will now.
'Surely Blessing, I Will Bless Thee'
"Well I know there is no recession in the kingdom of God, Brother Copeland. But what about where we live? How do I live in the blessing when the world is going through turmoil?"
God is saying to you and to me: "So committed am I to removing every doubt about My intent, I am swearing this with an oath. My desire is for you to have a 'strong consolation'—strong inner strength—and give you a hope to which you can anchor your soul, both sure and steadfast. My plan is for you to have what I gave Abraham—something so sure that you can patiently endure until you receive what I have promised."
Things Begin to Happen
God's Word is a sure thing. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said: "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it 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" (Isa. 55:11).
In James 1:25 we are told God's Word is the perfect law of liberty. It works for anyone, anytime, anywhere. It will work the same for anyone who will stand on it and press all the way through to victory. It's a perfect law.
Where Is Your Hope?
Is it tied to the ups and downs of a fear-based world system, following leaders who promise quick fixes to make it work? Or is your hope tied to the sure Word of God? Is it tied to the blessing that makes rich and adds no sorrow to it?
If you will begin anchoring your hope to God's Word, only one thing can happen. You'll shed those inner images of lack, failure and defeat and begin building a new inner image based on who you are in Christ and what is yours as joint heir with Him.
Your constant diet of God's words of love and plans for success will become a blueprint for faith growing inside until it begins to drive you and take you into the place of completion. Soon you'll expect things to happen you once never thought possible. Your hope will step out of the wishing realm and give birth to dreams you intensely, earnestly expect to come to pass.
That is why, from cover to cover in His Word, God says to man, "Go ahead. Get your hopes up as high as they can go. Give Me a chance to show you what I can do."
No demon in hell can stop those Word-based dreams. You'll be standing in a dream you once thought too big to even imagine, unmoved by symptoms, circumstances, threats or the world's calamities, declaring: "My hope is in Your Word."
That's why, though we participate in the political process, we don't put our hope in political parties or politicians. We hope in God. We change politics and politicians through praying the Word. How do we lay hold of the hope that is set before us? By laying hold of His Word. We lay hold of Love.
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries
For the last 50 years Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have been passionately teaching Christians all over the world how to apply the principles of faith found in God’s WORD to their lives.
