Dear Partner,
What is the definition of the word routine? It means “regular, unvarying, habitual, procedure, constantly, repeated formula, as of speech or action.” Your life actually began this morning when you opened your eyes. What is your routine just before you go to sleep and first thing when you wake up? Is it strife? Let’s see what The BOOK says about it in the Second Covenant. Take a look at the letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians in Chapter 4:22-27 of the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition:
- Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; and be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], and put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another. When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].
Look now what our God said through His prophet, Isaiah, in Chapter 55:9-10, AMPC:
- For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from the heavens, and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater….
Read verse 11, and shout about it!
“Why Brother Copeland?”
There is a command statement in Philippians 2:3-6: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”
Now 1 Corinthians 2:16 in the AMPC: “For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of The LORD so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.” MY GOD! I told you, you’d shout! “The BOOK also says that we are “fellow heirs with Christ”! Look at Romans 8:15, 17 (AMPC):
- For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!… And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.
So then, the question was, and is, in Isaiah 55:11: “So shall my WORD be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” How does it return to Him? Where in The BOOK is the answer? Remember now, these are blood-backed, exceeding precious questions and answers. Ephesians 6:13-16, 18, AMPC:
- Put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place]. Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God, and having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace. Lift up over all the [covering] shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one]…. Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).
Prayer armor! So—suit up! Put on the whole armor of God and continue on into 2025, and then don’t ever, for any reason, take it off! The key here is “lift up over all the…shield of saving faith.” Without faith, the armor of God falls off. Look at Hebrews 11:1, 6 (AMPC):
- Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]…. But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].
It is impossible to please God without faith! Why? It is the title deed to the things we hope for!
Let me share with you, dear Partner, my routine. I believe it will help you as it has me. First, every night, I say to Gloria, “Good night, my love.” Then I say the words Jesus said in Mark 12:31: “And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” Then I go to John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
Then I pray John 17:20-23: “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. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”
According to the words of the Master (red words!), our heavenly Father loves you and me as much as He loves Jesus! Sure, He does! We are joint heirs with Jesus, OUR BLOOD BROTHER! We are celebrating His birth—OUR MESSIAH, the Christ. Now I go to Luke 4:18-19 in the AMPC:
- The Spirit of The LORD [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], to proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of The LORD [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound].
“THE DAY WHEN SALVATION AND THE FREE FAVORS OF GOD PROFUSELY ABOUND”! That’s the reason why, when I open my eyes, my first words are: “This is my receiving day.” And then I speak Isaiah 53:4-5 and Matthew 8:14-17: “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his WORD, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”
Then I go to 1 Peter 2:24: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” After that, I go to Acts 10:38: “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” I have the Ten Commandments and John 13:33-34 written on a small piece of legal-pad paper I have taped to my shaving mirror. I say them before I go to bed and also first thing in the morning. They are the last scripture words I say at night before bed, and the first scripture words I say in the morning. Now turn in your Bible and read Proverbs 4:20-23: “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
The cross reference says the word health in verse 22 is the Hebrew word for “medicine.” So there is absolutely NO way you can overdose! Verse 24 says: “Put away from thee a froward [crooked, deceitful] mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.” Words! And then verse 25, talks some more about your eyes, and verses 26-27 about your feet: “Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” Now I go to 2 Corinthians 5:6-7: “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from The LORD: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:).” Then verses 17-21:
- Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us The WORD of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 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.
Now I go to verses 6-7, this time in the AMPC: “So then, we are always full of good and hopeful and confident courage; we know that while we are at home in the body, we are abroad from the home with The LORD [that is promised us]. For we walk by faith [we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance.”
And then the “bottom line” is in verse 21 (AMPC): “For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness].”Jesus, our LORD, according to Acts 2:23-24: “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”
In Psalm 16:7-10, David prophesied that Jesus would spend three days and three nights in hell so that we wouldn’t have to go! That is the gospel of the Kingdom! Jesus is alive and at the Father’s right hand in heaven. He has taken “the high ground.” That is a military term. In the military, you’re told to “take the high ground and hold it at all costs”—to never be “under the enemy’s guns.” As believers, we take the high ground when we:
- Walk in the integrity of the written WORD
- Keep the commandment of Love
- Walk by Faith and not by sight
Second Peter 1:17-19 says: “For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts
Excellence of ministry, life and all “that your hands find to do.” That is our spiritual high ground! Remember, Faith works by Love. I’ll close with this. Now read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (AMPC) in your Bible.
Notice, it says, “Love NEVER FAILS.” Why? BECAUSE GOD IS LOVE!
Here is my joy to you: That you, your family and all in your house, have a magnificent and glorious Christmas. God Loves you, we Love you, and Jesus is LORD!
