If you've been saved for more than five minutes, you already know that from experience. It may even seem to you that Jesus understated the problem. Brother Copeland, you might think, I don't just have trouble—I have double trouble! I have devils ganging up on me on every side.
Maybe so. But thank God, Jesus has already won the victory. He went on to say in that same verse of scripture, "But take heart! I have overcome the world."
We just have to learn how to stand in that victory when the devil comes against us. We have to find out how to firmly position ourselves in the overcoming power of God.
Good News in a Bad Situation
Isaiah 7 tells about an Old Testament king named Ahaz who learned those lessons firsthand. When he was reigning over Judah, two nations who had previously been unable to defeat him joined forces and were about to attack him.
Talk about double trouble! Ahaz knew that militarily he didn't stand a chance against these two united foes.
"And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind" (v. 2).
That's what the King James Version of the Bible says about how Ahaz and his people responded to news of the impending attack. But here's the Texas translation of that verse: It scared the daylights out of them! Their hearts were shaking in fear.
Then said the Lord to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Judah's King Ahaz and say to him, Take heed and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted because of these two stumps of smoking firebrands...[who] have purposed evil against you [Judah], saying, Let us go up against Judah and harass and terrify it;...thus says the Lord God: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.That word from the Lord was good news to Ahaz! It let him know that God had the situation well in hand. Everything was going to turn out all right.
(vv. 3-7 AMP)
You Get What You Pay For
There were, however, some things Ahaz had to do in the meantime. Isaiah stated them very plainly. He said:
- Take heed (Or, pay attention).
- Be quiet (Or, as I like to say, "Keep your mouth shut").
- Fear not.
- Neither be fainthearted (Quit being a chicken).
First and foremost, He's telling us to take heed to Him and what He's saying to us. To take is something you do on purpose.
To take something you must intentionally reach out and receive it. Someone could have a gift for you and even try to give it to you. But if you don't take it, you'll go away empty-handed.
Spiritually, people have proven that again and again. The Bible says, for example, that the free gift of righteousness came upon all men through Jesus. But only those who take that gift are walking in the benefit of it.
So, if we're going to take heed to God, we have to do it intentionally. We have to purposely pay attention to Him and we should do so expecting to receive.
After all, you expect to get something when you pay for it, don't you? When you give the clerk money at the grocery store, you expect to walk out with groceries.
When you go to the department store and pay for shoes, you expect to take them home with you.
In the material world, we understand the process of paying for something and expecting to receive it. We do it all the time. But when it comes to spiritual things, we've let the devil (who is the consummate con artist) talk us into paying without expecting to get anything in return.
We need to stop that business. God isn't a thief. He isn't going to let us pay for something and then refuse to give it to us. When we pay attention to Him, we need to expect to receive divine revelation in return.
If we'll do that, we'll find that this process of paying attention—or taking heed to God and to His Word—is an extremely powerful tool.
Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries