Kenneth Copeland - Turn Your Hurts Into Harvests

Turn Your Hurts Into Harvests

What do you do when someone mistreats you?

I didn't ask what you want to do. I didn't ask what your automatic fleshly reaction is. I already know that.

Your natural, knee-jerk response is the same as mine. You want to strike backto do or say something that will even the score. If you can't manage that, you might settle for a few hours (or days or years) of feeling sorry for yourself. You might try to ease your wounded feelings by telling someone how wrongly you've been treated.

On a purely natural, human level, that's how we all want to react when someone does us wrong.

But I want to tell you something today. If you're a born-again child of the living God, you have no business just reacting to things on a natural, human level.

God has called and equipped you to live on a higher level. He's given you the power to respond in a supernatural way when someone does you wrong. He's given you the power to respond in love.

"Oh, Brother Copeland, that's too hard. I don't want to do that!"

Yes, you doand here's why. If you will train yourself to respond God's way, you can take mistreatment and transform it from the curse the devil intends it to be into a seed of tremendous blessing in your life.

When you learn to obey God in the face of persecution, you can literally get richfinancially, in favor and opportunityfrom the very persecution the devil sent to keep you down.

Serious Business

Make no mistake, that is the devil's intention.

He sends people across your path to offend and mistreat you for the express purpose of stealing the Word of Godand the anointing that goes with it

out of your life. Mark 4:17 says, "Persecution ariseth for the word's sake."

The devil knows how powerful you are when you are anointed. He knows because he was once anointed himself. The Bible says before evil was found in him, he was the "anointed cherub." So it is his one ambition to trick you into cutting yourself off from that anointing.

That's why he sends bigots to insult you and thieves to steal from you. That's why, whenever he can, he goads people around you into being insensitive and unappreciative. He wants you to get offended and cut off your supernatural power supply.

Most believers don't realize it, but that's what offense does. You can see that in Matthew 11:4-6.

There, the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked if He were truly the Anointed One. Jesus answered and said to them: Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

We need to realize, my friend, that offenses are serious business. They are sent by the devil to rob us of the anointing and block the flow of the blessings of God. That fact alone should be enough to make us decide never, ever, to be offended again.

I know I've made that decision. I've determined that no matter how someone may insult my intelligence, my beliefs or even my race, I'm not willing to lose my anointing over it.

No matter how they treat me, or what they might call me, I will not take offense.

Now I realize someone may be reading this and thinking, Yeah, that's easy for you to say!

Nobody says and does the things to you like they do to me!

That may be true. Although I am an American Indian, and have had ample opportunity for offense where race is concerned, I know there are many people who have suffered much greater mistreatment than I have. But I can say this: No matter what color you are, you are welcome in more churches than I am. I've had entire books written for the express purpose of criticizing me.

How many critical books have been written about you?

I only bring these things to your attention because I want you to know that dealing with offenses isn't any easier for me than it is for anyone else. I've come up against some hard people and some hard situations in my life. So I know if God can see me through, He can do the same for you.

Rejoice!...No Kidding

Once we decide to turn a devil-sent opportunity for offense into a harvest of blessing, the first thing we need to know is what God wants us to do in that situation. If we're not supposed to strike back, or get our feelings hurt and go off in a huff, what are we supposed to do? First Peter 4:12-14 answers that question:

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you....

God doesn't want us to cry and complain when someone does us wrong. He doesn't want us to sue them. He wants us to rejoice!

I can just hear your old flesh groan: "Man, you have to be kidding! I'm supposed to rejoice when someone does me wrong? What do I have to rejoice about?"

Plenty!

According to Jesus, persecution sets you up for blessing. It opens you up for great rewards!

Jesus made that very clear in Luke 6:22-23. He said: "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven."

To get the full meaning of what Jesus was saying there, you have to realize what the word blessed means. It's not just a weak, religious sentiment. To be God-blessed means you're empowered by Almighty God Himself to prosper and succeed. It means you're empowered by the Holy Spirit to be exceedingly happy with life and joy in spite of any outside circumstances.

Think about that for a moment. When people mistreat you, they're actually giving you the opportunity to receive greater measures of power and success from the Spirit of God. They are opening the door for you to step up to a higher plane of heavenly reward!

Religion has taught us that we couldn't enjoy such heavenly rewards until after we die. But nothing could be further from the truth. God intends for us to make use of our heavenly rewards here on this earth where we need them!

You see, as believers, we each have a heavenly account that functions much like a natural bank account. The Apostle Paul refers to that account in his letter to his Philippian partners.

He commended his partners for giving to him, not because he wanted gifts from them, but because he desired fruit that would abound to their account.

Paul's partners had made deposits in that heavenly account through their giving, so he was able to boldly say "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).

Jesus also spoke of that heavenly account when He said: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:19-21).

If you've studied the Word under this ministry any length of time, I'm sure you already know how to lay up treasure in your heavenly account by giving financially into the work of God. You know about the spiritual law of seed, plant and harvest.

You know that when you give to God from your material resources, He multiplies it and gives it back to you a hundredfold (Mark 10:30).

But let me ask you this: Did you know you can do the same thing with persecution? Did you know that you can plant it as a seed by obeying Godby leaping and rejoicing in it instead of taking offense?