God is searching our hearts to see what is inside us. He is searching for a people who will do what He says and be dedicated to Him. Jesus is loyal to God. He lives His life for God. This same Jesus lives in us. We are His Body. He is endeavoring to get us to live totally for God. He does it. We are to do it, too.

Jesus said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6:38). When He was on the earth, He did not live His life for Himself. He lived it loving God with His whole heart, soul and might.

Keeping the Word and obeying God’s voice, Jesus also said, “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29). Don’t you know it was a delight to the Father’s heart to see a man in the earth keep His Word, obey His voice and live life totally for Him? Likewise, our Father wants this to be the word of the Church today: “I do always those things that please Him.”

But we need to change. And change starts with individuals—with you and me. We are members of the Body, but members in particular. God wants us to be able to honestly say, “I do always the things that please Him.”

It is important to understand that Jesus laid down His life before He ever went to the cross. During His time on earth He continually laid down His life to please God. Do you think He lived an unhappy life? Did He miss out on very much because He did not seek His own will or His own interests? Did He pay too great a price to walk pleasing to God as far as the rewards of this life are concerned? Of course not!

Did He fail at anything? Yes! He never got around to committing a sin, never experienced sickness, never knew defeat. Just think how much He missed! Would you miss much if you walked the earth as Jesus did with such power, anointing and glory? No, you wouldn’t miss a thing. You would walk in that same high life. God is trying to get blessings to you, and this is the way they will come to you unhindered, and in full measure—by your being obedient to the Lord and by doing what you are told to do.

Jesus walked in total victory. He put Satan down at every turn. Satan could not touch Him because Jesus was allowing God to be God in His life. The Father was an enemy to His enemy, and a friend to His friend.

Because Jesus kept God’s Word and obeyed His voice, God could manifest His power through Him without measure. Jesus did not even speak His own words. Everywhere He went, if they would receive Him, He made the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear. He delivered those who were demon possessed. The wind and the sea obeyed His voice. Every need He had was met by God’s power and action.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

You and I not only have the written Word, but we have the guidance of the Holy Spirit within us. The Word has been given to us to teach us and train us in God’s ways and precepts, but also we need answers in our individual lives: “What am I supposed to do about this problem? What am I supposed to do today? What can I do today, Lord, to please You?”

Jesus knew the written Word of God, and He operated by the voice of God. The two always agree.

In John 5:46 Jesus said, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.” If He had been dealing with the people who knew the books of Moses, they would have believed Jesus when He came, because Moses wrote of Jesus. But He said, “If ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5:47).

Unless we believe the written Word of God, we won’t follow the voice of the Holy Spirit telling us what to do. We won’t believe the Spirit of God as He speaks to us, unless by the written Word we know His ways. God’s ways are so high above our natural ways.

We must have the written Word in our hearts so we can learn to discipline ourselves to make the right choices and live our lives according to the Word of God. Then when the Spirit of God tells us to do something, we will be quick to recognize it as God leading us because we already know how God thinks.

When we walk with God, we must totally learn to rethink our lives because the world’s way—the way we first learned to think—is foolishness to God. The world is in darkness and is backward compared to what God says and knows. The Amplified Bible says that the whole world around us is under the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19).

Because of this, you and I are faced with a decision. We can live in either of the two realms—the natural or the supernatural. We are born again in the spirit, so we can walk in the spirit, or we can walk after our soul (mind, will, emotions—or natural thinking). We can acknowledge God in all our ways and lean not to our own understanding, or we can continue to live like the rest of the world in permanent defeat until we leave this earth. But why choose what the world chooses when we can walk with God?

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

“Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19).

Jesus said He could do nothing of Himself. He did not try. He did not even want to do anything of Himself. He did only what He saw the Father do.

In John 5:30 Jesus said it again:

I am able to do nothing from Myself—independently, of My own accord—but as I am taught by God and as I get His orders. [I decide as I am bidden to decide. As the voice comes to Me, so I give a decision.] Even as I hear, I judge and My judgment is right (just, righteous), because I do not seek or consult My own will—I have no desire to do what is pleasing to Myself, My own aim, My own purpose—but only the will and pleasure of the Father Who sent Me (The Amplified Bible).

Jesus obeyed the Father. He did not make His own decisions, but lived absolutely obedient to the voice of God. He was totally submitted to His Father.

You see, Jesus understood the difference between following after the soul (mind, will, emotions) and following after the spirit. He could have followed after His soul, but He counted that as nothing. Compared to walking after the spirit, that is exactly what walking after the soul is—nothing. You and I just do not know enough to walk after our natural thinking. That is why God gave us His Holy Spirit—to teach us to think like He thinks, to reveal His Word to us (Isaiah 55:7-11; John 14:26).

Jesus knew the written statutes and ordinances of the scriptures, but He also knew and operated by the voice of the Lord. He spent time in prayer with the Father: “What shall I do? What shall I say?” He always obeyed the Father’s direction. “Not my will be done but yours, O Lord.”

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

If you want to walk in obedience and receive God’s goodness, I have good news for you. God wants to be God to you in a very personal and intimate way. He wants to be God in the Church. He wants to be God in your individual life. But He can only be God to you as far as you will follow Him.

As we have already learned God waited and waited for a people who would be obedient to Him, so that He could be God to them, manifesting His presence and glory. Finally, in the New Testament, one man fulfilled His call. One man was absolutely obedient. His Name is Jesus.

Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world to fulfill the perfect will of God. He stripped Himself of His heavenly privileges and was born of a woman. He took upon Himself flesh. The Holy Spirit hovered over Mary and conceived in her a holy thing. Because God was His Father, and not man, Jesus was born without sin.

The life of God was in Him instead of spiritual death. But Jesus did not just come into this world saying, “Look at Me—I’m the Son of Almighty God,” and then live anyway He wanted. The thing that set Jesus apart and qualified Him to pay the price was His living as a man without sin. Yet when the time came, He was willing to lay down His own life and take sin into Himself for you and me. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Had Jesus lived in the earth after His own will, He would never have gone to the cross. But Jesus did not live in the earth after His own will. When faced with death—separation from God—He changed His will in the Garden of Gethsemane to agree with God’s will. Why? Because He knew the scriptures. He knew the Spirit of God. He knew His Father. He had the knowledge of God Who said, “Keep My statutes and ordinances. Keep My Word and obey My voice.”

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

God’s Word to you is “I will be with you.” When Moses asked, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh?” God’s answer was, “I will be with you.” After Moses’ death, God told Joshua the same thing: “I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage…” (Joshua 1:5-6).

Even if you get into trouble by your own thinking, God will honor you if you accept correction: “…whoever heeds correction is honored” (Proverbs 13:18, New International Version). Glory to God! If you press into His kingdom, stretching toward your prize, and remain correctable, He will make sure you stay headed in the right direction. He is with you and for you.

Do you wonder where your attention is? Watch your life. Watch what motivates you and what you’re thinking about. Your words will follow your actions. So keep watch and don’t let divine things lose out.

Don’t be dismayed. Don’t lose your courage. Do what you’re called to do.

You have everything it takes to be a winner—everything you need to be part of the glorious, victorious end-time army of God. As Kenneth E. Hagin said in a prophecy God gave him in 1977, “You can be a part of that army if you want to be. Purpose in your heart that you’ll not be lazy, that you’ll not draw back, hold back or sit down. But purpose in your heart that you’ll rise up and march forward and become on fire.”

Get aggressive. Press in. Lay hold of the kingdom of God with every bit of force you can muster. That’s the price you pay to win this race. But one thing is certain—the eternal victory you gain will be worth it all.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries