Let me give you an example: You’ve
prayed for your son or daughter to be set
free from a drug habit. You can get such a
clear picture of what that child will be like
after he has been delivered, that he starts
looking great to you now—even though he
still may be giving you trouble!

You’ll actually get to the point where you
won’t see what a louse he or she is being
right now because you’ve seen him in Jesus
with the eyes of your spirit. People will say,
“I don’t know what she sees in that child.”
They won’t understand that you’re looking
at him through eyes filled with hope.

If you’ll continue to look at him that way
and not let the devil shake you, if you’ll
refuse to jump up in that child’s face and tell
him what a sorry thing he is, one of these
days that child of yours will look on the
outside just like you see him on the inside.
He’ll be delivered!

No doubt about it, that kind of hope is
strong spiritual stuff! Where do you go to
get it?

You go to the same place you go to get
faith—the Word of God. You bathe your
brain in that Word every day. You think
about it all the time, wherever you are and
whatever you are doing.

You keep your faith tapes going. You
keep someone preaching to you all the time.
Because as you keep feeding your spirit on
God’s Word, hope will begin to rise up. God’s
pictures will start to develop in your spirit.
You’ll begin to see them on the inside of you.
In fact, they’ll get bigger inside you than the
circumstances around you.

Then, when the devil comes and tries to
show you an image of some beaten-up, run-down
person wearing your name, you’ll just send
him packing. You’ll shake your head and say,
“No sir, that’s not a picture of me. This is a
picture of me…” and you’ll start talking the
Word of God!

As you meditate on those inner pictures
hope has painted with God’s Word, you’ll
begin to believe you are what the Word of
God says you are. You’ll begin to realize
you’re not what the world says you are.

You’re not what your parents or your friends
say you are. You’re not even what you think
you are. You are what GOD says you are!
You’re the righteousness of God in Christ
Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21)!

When the devil comes at you with his
junk, you’ll reach in, get out that picture
hope has given you, and put it in front of
your eyes. You’ll say, “Devil, I’m not looking
at you. That sick, poverty-stricken, failure bound
person you’re describing isn’t me. This
is me. I’m the fellow with the healed body.

I’m the fellow with all my needs met according
to God’s riches in glory. I’m the fellow
who is more than a conqueror in Jesus!”

Power pictures. That’s what hope
produces. Inner pictures faith can build on.
But you need to understand, these are not
instant photos. The development of hope
takes time.

For instance, when I discovered healing,
I didn’t have any trouble with it. I could
easily see that if God made a body, He could
certainly fix it. That seemed obvious. But I
had a difficult time seeing how God could
ever fix my financial problems. I couldn’t see
the prosperity picture clearly at all.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries