So Jesus teaches His men and then He
prays for them. John 17:1, “These words spake
Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
Father.” Let’s look at some of the things He
prayed. Verse 13, “And now come I to thee; and
these things I speak in the world, that they might
have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”

Verse 15, “I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep
them from the evil.” You see, we are to live above
the evil in the world. This ties in with what He said earlier—
that we would have tribulation in the world, but to be of
good cheer, because He has overcome the
world. Then He prays the prayer which is the
basis for the way God causes us to live above
the evil in the world— above the trials and
tests and tribulations.

Verse 17, “Sanctify them through thy truth:
thy word is truth.”

Verse 20, “Neither pray I for these alone, but
for them also which shall believe on me through
their word.” He was praying here for you and
me. He said, “I’m not praying just for these
before Me, but also for everybody that believes
on Me through their word.”

All of us received Jesus as Lord by the word
of one or more of these disciples—either
directly or indirectly. Jesus was praying that
prayer for you. What did He pray? “Separate
them with Your Word.” The Word of God will
separate you from the world. The Word is your
sword. Fight with it. It will fight its own fight.
Notice verse 18, “As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world.”

Verses 20-21:

Neither pray I for these alone, but
for them also which shall believe on me
through their word; That they all may
be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I
in thee, that they also may be one in us:
that the world may believe that thou
hast sent me.

Notice that Jesus said, “We’re all going to be
one.” The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians
6:17, “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one
spirit.” Another translation says, “But he that is
joined unto the Lord is one spirit with Him.” The
Bible also says we are bone of His bone, and
we just read that anyone who believes Jesus is
the Christ is born of God.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Let’s consider this question again. This is
what we must grasp. Who is he that overcomes
the world? He who believes that Jesus is
the Christ. Do you believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the Living God? If so, then
you have committed yourself to overcoming
the world. If you believe the Word of God,
then your attitude should be, “Well, praise
God, I’m an overcomer!” This should be your
attitude regardless of what comes against you.

Jesus said in John 16:33:

These things I have spoken unto
you, that in me ye might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation:
but be of good cheer; I have overcome
the world.

In other words, Jesus is saying, “The world
will come at you with everything it has to offer,
but don’t worry about it—I’ve already beaten
it—I’ve already overcome the world.” Jesus was
not referring to just 99 percent of the world.
He said, “I have overcome the world.” One
hundred percent of it! It makes no difference
what the world throws at you, you can turn to
Jesus because He has already overcome it.

Now notice He said, “that in me ye might
have peace.” Jesus was teaching here about
being one with Him and being one with the
Father. He was telling His disciples that soon
the Holy Spirit would come and do things they
could not then understand. They couldn’t
grasp what it meant to be “in Him.” Without
the Holy Spirit today, none of us could understand
this. It takes the Holy Spirit to reveal
these things—particularly the reality of being
born again. Jesus told Nicodemus about it, but
he could only think of a man going back into
his mother’s womb. Jesus told him, “I’m speaking
of heavenly things, and you don’t even
understand earthly things” (John 3:13).

These men had no concept of what Jesus
was about to do at Calvary. They had no idea
that through His death and Resurrection, He
was to become the firstborn from the dead and
issue forth a new race of men who are, in God,
born again and filled with the mighty Spirit of
God Himself. They could not conceive this
when He was on the Cross, nor even after He
was raised from the dead. Only after the Holy
Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost could they
see what Jesus had been saying. Then Peter
stood up and boldly preached the Word of
God by revelation of the Holy Ghost. Can you
see the change in his life?

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

As believers we need to develop that kind
of winning attitude.

Whosoever believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God: and every one
that loveth him that begat loveth him
also that is begotten of him. By this we
know that we love the children of God,
when we love God, and keep his commandments.
For this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments: and
his commandments are not grievous.

For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world: and this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that
Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:1-5)

Now God is being unusually explanatory
here. He normally does not explain things
written in the Word of God this deeply for a
very good reason: He intends for us to take
what He says by faith, go to Him and allow
the Holy Spirit to reveal it to our hearts. This
way He doesn’t tip the devil to what it means.
God wrote the Bible as a code book. Proverbs
says that God has hidden godly wisdom for
His people. This is the way He wants it. But
here in this portion of Scripture, God goes an
unusual step further and asks the question,
“Who is he that overcometh the world?” In
other words, God is saying, “This is the way I
see this—whatsoever is born of Me overcomes
the world; and who is he that overcomes
the world, but he who believes that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?”

Now this can be read another way: “Nobody
but those who believe that Jesus is the Christ
will ever overcome the world.” This world will
not be overcome by a government, by a political
system, or by a monetary system. Money will
never overcome the world! When the Bible
talks about “the world,” it is speaking of the
dominion of darkness, the god of this world,
the evil spirit—Satan—that operates in the
world. No man or system will ever—in any
way, form or fashion—overcome the world
without Jesus Christ as Lord. You’ll never be
able to do it unless you’re born of Him. But
on the other hand, if you are born
of Him, you have an absolute, perfect,
God-given, blood-bought right to overcome every
aspect of the world—everything it could possibly
send your way!

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

While preaching the gospel across this country,
I have realized one main thing the Lord is saying
to His people: God is a winner—He is not
a failure. Consequently, His people are winners
and not failures. We are to have a victorious
attitude in Christ!

In Ephesians 4:23, the Apostle Paul told
the Church to have the spirit of their minds
renewed. In other words, they should have
their whole attitude renewed. We need to
renew our minds to the Word of God—to the
fact that Jesus has overcome the world.

We’ve all heard it said, “It’s not whether
you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”
That is nonsense! If you play the game right,
you’ll win! There is no substitute for being a
winner. Man was created as a dominating lord.
He was given dominion over the earth and
everything that crept, flew, crawled and
breathed in the earth. Man is a winner—he
does not know how to graciously accept
defeat. When he accepts defeat and failure as
his lot in life, he lowers himself, not only
below other principalities and powers, but he
lowers himself below the devil and even below
the animal kingdom.

I’m reminded here of something George
Patton said as a general in the Army of the
United States. He was a great commander with
a God-given insight into war. (You might ask:
“Does God give men insight into war?” Yes.
Look at David—God showed him how to
fight. There are some men called of God to
handle the garbage jobs—the blood-and-guts
jobs—that have to be done. Many times these
jobs have been glorified by men, but they are
not glorious jobs!) George Patton was one of
these garbage men. He knew how to win a war
and said it this way: “Some of you men have
come with your minds made up to die for
your country. That’s not the way to win a war!
The way to win a war is to make your enemies
die for theirs!” He had his mind made up to
win—and dying wasn’t the way to do it. That
man had a winning attitude.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries