Kenneth Copeland - The troublemaker

The Troublemaker

A Message from Kenneth Copeland

When we were in Mexico, I went to a bullfight that left a lasting impression on me: The bull didn't know who his enemy was. He thought that red cape was his enemy. I remember thinking, "If he ever realizes his real source of trouble, that matador wouldn't have a chance."

As I travel among Christians everywhere, it is very evident to me that many believers are just like that poor bull. They are battling "red capes" instead of getting to the real source of their problems. They are contending against the trouble itself instead of the troublemaker.

Who is the troublemaker? Who is the real source of all of your troubles, whether they be spiritual, mental, physical, social, or financial? If you knew, you would no longer struggle against the "red cape" of your problems.

You would eliminate the very source of them. Just as that matador was no match for that mean, ferocious bull, the troublemaker is no match for the believer who battles him with the full armor and mighty weapons of God.

I have prepared this book to help you do just that. So, get ready. You're about to cause some serious trouble for your troublemaker!

Who is the Troublemaker?

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, we 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 double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, and 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 troubleeither by permission or commissionhe 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.

In the world of the spirit, there is a challenger, a counterfeit, an opponent of God who knows his businessbut there is also the armor of God, the Word of God, and the power it takes to defeat this opponent. The Word says to resist Satan, and he will flee from you. But when a man is in a hesitating areanot opposing, but wonderingthen Satan can easily defeat him. We must clearly distinguish between what is coming from Satan and not blame God for something He's not behind. 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 born-again 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. Satan has been stripped of his power.

He 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 deceptionsomething 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.

Let's read from the Book of James and find out what God's Word has to say 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 makes your faith strong. Faith is strengthened by the Word of God, according to Romans 10:17. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So, the trying of your faith works, or 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 bepatient, stable, consistent, the same way all the time. Regardless of our circumstances, regardless of what the game of 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 Jesusthe same yesterday, today, and forever. This is the reason Jesus is always the sameHe never varies to the right or to the left from the Word of God.

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 the troublemaker? Is God my problem or is Satan? Is there a shady area between the two?

This poses another question which 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 promisethe 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!