Religion might have tried to explain the
absence of those blessings in my life by telling
me God made those promises to the Israelite
nation, not to me. But I had already found
out from Galatians 3:29 that everything God
promised Abraham belongs to the gentiles
now through Christ Jesus. For “if ye be
Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs
according to the promise.”

No, there was no doubt in my mind that
these blessings were legally mine. The only
question I had was, “How can I get my hands
on them?”

As I dug into the Word, I found the
answer. To enjoy the blessings of Abraham,
I was going to have to walk in the same kind
of faith he did.

Now, as in Abraham’s day, faith opens
the door to God’s promises. To me, that was
good news.

Not everyone sees it that way, however.
Some people want the blessings without
having to walk by faith. But like it or not,
that’s just not the way things work.
“Well,” you say, “I wish they did!”

No, you really don’t. God didn’t set up
the system of faith and prayer in order to
make things difficult for you. He did it because
Satan and his crew are always trying to steal
our blessings. God’s system is designed to keep
them from pilfering our inheritance.

That’s not hard to understand. After all, we
protect things of value, even in the natural world.
Think about how your bank works, for example.
You have money deposited there. You know it
belongs to you. But if you want to receive it,
there are some things you have to do.

Why is that? It’s certainly not to keep
you from getting your own money—it’s to
keep other people from getting it. The pro-
cedures are for your benefit.

Of course, if you want to, you can ignore
the procedures. You can go into the bank and
squall and cry, beg, plead and jump up and
down, but if you don’t follow the established
procedures, you won’t get your money.

In that same way, God’s promises belong
to you. They’re locked up in the spiritual
treasure house of Almighty God. To access
them, you’ll have to take the time to learn
the procedures. You’ll have to study God’s
Word and discover His ways.

My willingness and even eagerness to do
that was about all I had going for me back
there in those early days, but it was enough.
I was so desperate to learn faith that I locked
myself in my garage with some tapes of
Kenneth E. Hagin’s messages about our
inheritance in Christ Jesus.

For a week, I didn’t talk to anyone else;
I didn’t listen to anyone else. I just went out
there with the garbage, my Bible and my tape
recorder. I told Gloria, “Don’t call me more
than once for a meal. If I don’t show up in
five minutes, go ahead and eat without me.

I’ll come in and sleep when I’m ready and
then I’m coming right back out here. If
anybody calls me, I’m not available.”
I stayed out there with those tapes hour
after hour. I couldn’t get enough of the Word
of God.

I’m the same way today. I can’t get enough
of it. I don’t care what else is going on in the
world, I’m going to stick with the Word. It
brought me out of debt. It healed me. It healed
my children. It has taken me through everything
that has ever come my way, and I’m not
about to turn loose of it now.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries