Love your enemies...turn the other cheek...to most people that sounds like a pretty weak way to handle someone who's causing them trouble. But, the truth is, it's the most powerful way there is. It's the way Jesus did it—and His way never fails.

Do you remember when Jesus went back to Nazareth and the religious folks were angry with Him and wanted to push Him off a cliff? What happened? He just walked right past them, and no one could lay a finger on Him. Another time they decided to stone Him, and He didn't retaliate that time either. He just walked off. No one could touch Him.

When Jesus walked through that crowd, He wasn't afraid. He knew they couldn't hurt Him because He was walking in the love of God.

When Jesus said to turn the other cheek, He didn't mean for you to stand there and have your brains beaten out. He meant for you to stand there in love and in faith believing that the protecting power of God that accompanies that love would keep you safe. He meant for a man to swing at you and not be able to hit you!

The story of Nicky Cruz as recorded in David Wilkerson's book, The Cross and the Switchblade, is a perfect example of that. Nicky was reputed to be the most ruthless gang leader of his time. Yet, when David Wilkerson stood in front of him, telling him about Jesus, Nicky was totally unable to hurt him. He thrust his knife at David several times. But every time he did, David just said, "Nicky, you can cut me into a thousand pieces and every piece will still say, 'I love you and God loves you.'" Because of love, Nicky couldn't get his knife close enough to David to hurt him. A supernatural force always stopped it short.

"But I don't have that kind of love!"

Yes, you do. Romans 5:5 tells us that the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit. All you have to do is make the decision to be motivated by that love rather than your own human feelings.

My friend, love never fails! You don't have to be afraid of failure anymore. In fact, you don't have to be afraid of anything. If you're walking in the love of God, you're living the most powerful kind of life there is.

Scripture Reading:
Matthew 5:38-48

Words. Use them right and they'll move mountains. Use them wrong and they can cause your entire life to go up in smoke.

"Now, Brother Copeland," you may say, "I find it hard to believe that major catastrophes can be caused by a few simple words. I just can't see the connection."

Look again at the phrase James used. "How great a matter a little fire kindleth!" Have you ever lit a few little pieces of kindling wood and set them in the fireplace beneath a stack of logs?

What happened?

Most likely, the fire began to spread first to one log then to another until finally you had a great big blaze going. After it was over, you couldn't go digging around in the ashes to find the kindling that started it all, could you? No! It would be burned. There would be no trace of it at all.

The tongue is like that. It first defiles the body, then sets on fire the whole course of nature with a blaze so great that it leaves no natural trace of its origin. The words that started it end up so deeply buried in the ashes that you'd never even know they were there.

So, don't ever underestimate the power of your words. I can assure you, Satan doesn't. He works constantly to get you to turn them in a negative direction. He'll fire darts of pain and sickness and discouragement at you just to get you to speak faithless words—words that will eventually send your life up in smoke.

Don't let him succeed. Instead, put out that fire by following the instructions in Ephesians 6:16. Do as the Apostle Paul says and "above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."

Speak words of faith and stop the fire before it starts today!

Scripture Reading:
James 3:1-10

If you're up to your neck in debt today, I have good news for you. God wants to set you free from those debts and He has the power to do it.

I know. He did it for me.

I'll never forget it. I had $22,000 worth of bad debts at the time. I'd committed to God to pay them off and never borrow another dime—but it looked to me like I'd never be able to do it.

We didn't see how, but we believed that "God is able." Day by day we looked to God for our deliverance from debt. Not asking Him every day, but thanking Him because we believed we received when we prayed. Eleven months later, we were out of debt. As we looked back, nothing spectacular had happened, but God worked in our finances continuously. As we were faithful, He was faithful.

God can do the same thing for you if you'll dare to believe His Word. If you'll make a commitment before Him to get out from under those debts and then obey Him every step of the way.

As you look at your situation right now, you may not be able to see how you could ever get out of debt, much less stay that way. I felt that way too, at first. I just didn't see how I'd ever be able to do much of anything without borrowing money.

But He showed me how—and He'll do the same thing for you.

There's no debt too big and no business too complicated for Him to handle. If you'll trust Him to manage yours, He will bring you out on top...and you'll never have to be a slave to debt again.

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 37:21-40

If you think like the world thinks, eventually you will act like the world acts. Unrestrained thoughts produce unrestrained actions. So control your thoughts by bringing them into obedience to the Scriptures.

Program your mind with the Word of God. The Word is spirit and it is life. When your mind is totally saturated with the Word of God, your will becomes strong to exercise authority to overcome every ungodly thought and evil habit.

Don't let Satan deceive you into sacrificing the glory of God in your life for a few moments of self-indulgence and sin. Restrain your thought life. Meditate the Word instead of selfish, carnal thoughts. Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith.

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 119:11-18