James 1:4 tells us that, if we will let
patience have her perfect work, we will be perfect
and entire, wanting nothing. A patient
man is a stable man. He is a constant man. He
is a single-minded man. He doesn’t have to ask
himself, Who is my enemy? Is God my problem or
is Satan? Is there a shady area between the two?

This poses another question many
Christians are asking today. Does God use Satan
to discipline His family? What is the chastisement
of the Lord? Does it mean the same in the
New Testament as it does in the Old?

To answer these questions, you must know
how to rightly divide the Word of Truth.
Where do you rightly divide the Word? At the
cross and resurrection of Jesus. One side is a
promise—the other side is a fact.

Isaiah 53 is a prophecy of Jesus, the
Messiah. Isaiah is prophesying here and is
speaking of the things that are to be laid on
Jesus. Notice verse 5:

But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for
our iniquities: the chastisement of
our peace was upon him; and with
his stripes we are healed.

The English dictionary defines chastisement
as “punishment by inflicting pain.” Jesus bore
our sins so that we don’t have to bear them. He
bore our sicknesses so that we don’t have to
bear them. He bore our punishing chastisement
so that we don’t have to bear it. Praise God!

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Let’s find out what God’s Word has to say in
the book of James about our troubles and shed
the light on religious tradition.

My brethren, count it all joy when
ye fall into divers temptations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your
faith worketh patience. But let patience
have her perfect work, that ye may be
perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of
God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not; and it shall be given
him. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like a
wave of the sea driven with the wind
and tossed. For let not that man think
that he shall receive any thing of the
Lord. A double minded man is unstable
in all his ways. (James 1:2-8)

Notice that James 1:3 says that the trying of
your faith works patience. It does not say that
the trying of your faith is to teach you, or that
it perfects your faith, or that it makes your
faith strong. Faith is strengthened by the Word
of God. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). So,
the trying of your faith exercises patience.

Now, what does patience mean? The definition
of patience is not “to put up with” like
many of us think. The dictionary says that to
be patient is “to be constant, or the same way,
all the time regardless of the circumstances.”

This is the way we, as believers, must be—
patient, stable, consistent, the same way all the
time. Regardless of our circumstances, regardless
of what life throws at us, we should always
respond in exactly the same way: “Thus saith the
Word of God!” When we respond this way, we
take on the same attribute as Jesus—the same
yesterday, today and forever. This is the reason
Jesus is always the same—He never varies to the
right or to the left from the Word of God.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

In the world of the spirit, there is a challenger, a
counterfeit, an opponent of God who knows his
business. But there is also the armor of
God, the Word of God and the power to defeat
this opponent. The Bible says to resist Satan,
and he will flee from you (James 4:7). But when
a man hesitates—not opposing, but wondering—
then Satan can easily defeat him. We must
clearly distinguish between what is coming
from Satan and not blame God for something
that is not His doing. This is why it is so
extremely important to rightly divide the Word
concerning this issue.

Whenever God reveals His Word to a man,
Satan comes immediately to steal the Word
from his heart. Jesus said that he would. He
said the sower sows the Word, and Satan
comes immediately to take away the Word
which was sown. (See Mark 4.)
Satan has no defense against the Word
of God. He has no defense against the lordship
of Jesus or the Name of Jesus. He has no defense
against the bornagain believer who is walking in
faith and acting on the Word of God. He has no defense
against these because Jesus said that all power
has been given unto Him both in heaven and
in earth (Matthew 28:18). Satan has been
stripped of his power.

The devil knows he is defenseless, so in
order to stop the revelation of God’s Word in
the believer, his only tool is deception. He
must sow a deception—something that sounds
good and looks good but is really a wolf in
sheep’s clothing, He usually does this most
successfully in the area of religion. He uses
religion to blind and deceive the people. By
sowing the seed of deception through religious
tradition, Satan has robbed the Church of her
power. He has no defense against our real
spiritual weapons, but he can easily defend
himself against our carnal, religious traditions.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Trouble seems to be as much of a part of life as
breathing. Everyone has trouble at some point in
his or her life. And human nature always wants
to place the blame for its trouble on someone
else. That started in the Garden of Eden. As soon
as Adam had to explain his disobedience to God,
he pointed the finger to his wife! When God
said, “Adam, have you eaten from the forbidden
tree?” Adam replied, “The woman that You gave
me, she gave me of the tree and I ate! It wasn’t
my idea!” (The paraphrasing is mine.)

When trouble arises, the most natural thing
to do is to place the blame for it on someone or
something. Sadly, for the most part, many
Christians have been falsely accusing God of
being the cause of their troubles. This is the
number one deception sown in the Church
today—that our problems, our trials and our
temptations are sent by God to teach us. This
lie says that trials and tribulations are God’s
tools of developing and strengthening our character.
The very extreme end of this deception is
that God Himself is the author of our troubles
or that God is the One Who makes us sick in order to
teach us something.

This is absolutely against the Word of God. Why?
Because the very basic principle of the Christian
life is to know that God put our sin,
sickness, disease, sorrow, grief
and poverty on Jesus at Calvary. For God to put
any of this on us now to teach us or to strengthen
our faith would be a miscarriage of justice. To
believe that God has a purpose for your sickness
would mean that Jesus bore your sicknesses
in vain. What an insult to His love and care and
compassion toward you!

In order to place blame where blame is due,
believers need a fresh revelation of who is our
true source of trouble. The only way we will
receive this revelation is by rightly dividing the
Word of Truth. James 1:8 says that a doubleminded
man is unstable in all his ways. Jesus
said in Luke 11:17 that a house divided against
itself will fall. Therefore, if a man thinks, imagines,
assumes or in any way has the idea that
God is behind his trouble—either by permission
or commission—he will never resist it.
And if he does not resist it, then he will certainly
fail, because his hesitation will give Satan
just the edge he needs to defeat him.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

“But, Gloria,” you say, “all that sounds
so simple!”

It is simple! Sometimes I think that’s
why God chose me to teach it. Because
I’m simple. When I read the Word of
God, I just believe it is speaking to me
personally. I don’t worry and fuss and
say, “Well, I wish that would work for
me, but I don’t think it will because of
this or that….” I just expect God to do
what He says.

You can do the same thing. You can
come to the Word like a little child
and say, “Lord, I receive this. I believe
Your Word above all and I trust You
with my life.” If you will, you’ll never
be disappointed.

How can you get that simple, childlike
faith? By hearing the Word of God.

Romans 10:17 says, “Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God.” But you need to know something
else: Doubt comes by hearing
also. That’s why Jesus said, “Be careful
what you are hearing…” (Mark 4:24,
The Amplified Bible).

What you’re hearing can be a matter
of life and death when you’re dealing
with healing. If you’re going to a church,
for example, that teaches healing has
passed away or that God uses sickness
to teach you something—and you keep
hearing that Sunday after Sunday—what
do you think will grow in your heart?
Doubt, not faith.

What you plant in your heart grows—
always. Doubt will grow and keep you
bound. Truth will grow and make you
free. So be careful what you’re hearing.
Listen to the Word of God. As Proverbs
4:21 says, “Let them [God’s words] not
depart from thine eyes; keep them in
the midst of thine heart.”

Read the Word every day. Make
notecards for yourself using the
healing scriptures and tape them to
your mirror.

Play audio teaching resources. Listen
to them in your car. Listen to them
while you dress in the morning. If you’ll
listen to the Word while you’re driving
back and forth to work every day, you’ll
be surprised how fruitful that time will
become. It will change your life. I challenge
you to try it!

Kenneth Copeland Ministries