As you put God’s prescription for health to work in your life, don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. Although many times healing comes instantly, there are also times when it takes place more gradually.

So don’t let lingering symptoms cause you to doubt. After all, when you go to the doctor, you don’t always feel better right away. The medication he gives you often takes some time before it begins to work. But you don’t allow the delay to discourage you. You follow the doctor’s orders and expect to feel better soon. Release that same kind of confidence in God’s medicine. Realize that the moment you begin to take it, the healing process begins. Keep your expectancy high and make up your mind to continue standing on the Word until you can see and feel the total physical effects of God’s healing power. Really, you are “treating” your spirit which is the source of supernatural life and health for your physical body.

When the devil whispers words of doubt and unbelief to you, when he suggests that the Word is not working, deal with those thoughts immediately. Cast them down (see 2 Corinthians 10:5). Stop right where you are and say out loud, “No. I cast you down, you evil imagination. Devil, I rebuke you. I bind you from my mind. I will not believe your lies. God has sent His Word to heal me, and His Word never fails. That Word went to work in my body the instant I believed it, so as far as I am concerned, my days of sickness are over. I declare that Jesus bore my sickness, weakness and pain and I am forever free.”

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Actually, the Life of God in your heart will not only heal you when you get sick, if that Life abides in you fully, it will continually keep you in divine health. The Proverbs 4 prescription for healing says it this way: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (verse 23).

What are the issues or forces of life that flow out of your heart when you’re feeding on the Word and fellowshiping with God? They are things like “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). The Bible calls theses forces the fruit of the spirit. They are the life of God flowing from your heart in abundance. You’ll find it is as hard for you to get sick as it used to be for you to get healed. The devil might try to bring sickness on you, but he won’t be able to make it stick.

Years ago, the Lord showed me an illustration of that principle I’ll never forget. I was in the Philippines, preparing to preach in a meeting at the time and I’d been studying the fruit of the spirit. As I looked out the window of my hotel room, the Lord brought to my attention a fountain in the courtyard below. He pointed out to me that as long as water was flowing from that fountain, no trash could remain in the mouth of it. Someone might toss some trash in, but the force of the water would just push it right back out again.

I realized then that our hearts are like that fountain. As long as the forces of God’s Spirit are flowing out of it, we’ll be free from the devil’s junk!

How can we make sure those forces keep flowing from our hearts? We must watch over them with all diligence. When we’re tempted to get into bitterness or unforgiveness, we must refuse that temptation and instead yield to the fruit of the spirit: Then we must turn the water of Life up higher by (you guessed it!) turning our attention back to the Word.

Remember this: The forces of life and power coming out of your heart will be in direct proportion to the amount of Word that goes into you.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

There is one particular area in which the
Body of Christ has been trouble-minded for a
long time. We have taken one verse of
Scripture, lifted it out of context, and misused
it terribly. In Romans 8:28 the Apostle Paul
wrote this, “And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose.” You
have probably heard this quoted over and
over again in the light of trouble.

All the way through Romans 8, Paul is
talking about the difference between the law
of death and the law of life—that these are
two different laws. He tells us that we are not
governed by the law of death, we have been
delivered from it. “The law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). He shows us
the difference between being carnally minded
(or flesh-minded) and being spiritually
minded (or Word-minded). He says, “For to
be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). There
is the division between the two. You can’t be
trouble-minded and spiritually minded at the
same time. Trouble isn’t born by the Spirit of
God—it is born by Satan.

Now, look at Romans 8:26, “Likewise the
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:
for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought: but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us.”
The Spirit of God is not interceding
for us—He is helping us to intercede.
That’s His ministry. The Holy Spirit leads us and
takes up where we fall short of spiritual knowledge.
The word translated helpeth actually is
three Greek words combined. It literally says
“takes hold together with us against.” This verse
literally reads, “The Spirit takes hold together
with us against our infirmities.”

For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought: but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered.
And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the
saints according to the will of God. And
we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose.
For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might
be the firstborn among many brethren.
(Romans 8:26-29)

The Apostle Paul is talking here about
intercessory prayer—how it works, how it
operates. By being trouble-minded, we have
subconsciously read verse 28 like this: “For
we know that all bad things work together
for the good of those that love God.” But it
doesn’t say that at all! It wasn’t talking about
bad things—it was talking about good
things—about intercessory prayer.

He says in verse 29, “he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son.”
What tools does the Holy Spirit use to conform
us to the image of His Son? The nine
gifts of the Spirit, the Name of Jesus, the
blood of the Lamb, the Word of God, and
everything that the New Testament guarantees
the believer in this life and in the world
to come. When the believer begins to move
into intercession, when he begins to intercede
for the Body of Christ as he should,
then these tools come together and operate
against our infirmities, so we pray accurately
and powerfully by the anointing of the Holy
Spirit. In this way, all these things work
together for the good of those that love God.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Psalm 68:19-20
NKJV—Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads
us with benefits, the God of our salvation!
Selah. Our God is the God of salvation; and to
God the Lord belong escapes from death.

AMP—Blessed be the Lord, Who bears our
burdens and carries us day by day, even the
God Who is our salvation! Selah [pause, and
calmly think of that]! God is to us a God of
deliverances and salvation; and to God the Lord
belongs escape from death [setting us free].

NIV—Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens. Selah. Our God
is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord
comes escape from death.

NAS—Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears
our burden, The God who is our salvation.
Selah. God is to us a God of deliverances; and
to God the Lord belong escapes from death.

Psalm 91:16
KJV—With long life will I satisfy him, and show
him my salvation.

Moffatt—I will satisfy him with long life, and
let him see my saving care.

TLB—I will satisfy him with a full life and give
him my salvation.

Psalm 94:17-18
NIV—Unless the Lord had given me help, I
would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O
Lord, supported me.

KJV—Unless the Lord had been my help, my
soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said,
My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held
me up.

AMP—Unless the Lord had been my help,
I would soon have dwelt in [the land where
there is] silence. When I said, My foot is slipping,
Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord,
held me up.

Moffatt—If the Eternal had not been my help,
I would have soon passed to the silent land.
When I think my foot is slipping, thy goodness,
O Eternal, holds me up.

Psalm 103:1-4
Moffatt—Bless the Eternal, O my soul, let all
my being bless his sacred name; bless the
Eternal, O my soul, remember all his benefits;
he pardons all your sins, and all your sicknesses
he heals, he saves your life from death.

KJV—Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that
is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth
all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from
destruction.

AMP—Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise)
the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest]
within me, bless His holy name! Bless
(affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His
benefits—Who forgives [every one of] all your
iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your
diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit
and corruption.

NIV—Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost
being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins and heals all your
diseases, who redeems your life from the pit.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries