God is vehemently against worry. Jesus preached against it. Paul preached against it. The whole Bible preaches against worry because it was designed by Satan to produce stress, strain and death.

Yet many of us still act as if it's an option, as if we're free to worry if we want to. But we're not! Worrying is a sin. It's one of those things the Word of God directly commands us not to do.

What are you supposed to do then with all the concerns you have about your problems? In 1 Peter 5:7, God says you should "cast them all upon Him." All. Not 75 percent of them. Not all of them but the ones about your kids. All of them!

Your confession every morning should be, "I do not have a care in this world because I've cast every one of them onto my Lord."

Let me illustrate how that works. Let's say you were standing about 20 feet away from me and I tossed my car keys to you. If someone else were to come to me and say, "Brother Copeland, I need the keys to your car. I need to use it," I would say, "I can't help you. I cast my keys over on him. I don't have them anymore."

That's what you need to do with your worries. You need to cast them over on the Lord and not take them back. If Satan brings a worried thought to your mind, saying, "What if this terrible thing happens?" then you can tell him to talk to God about it. It's in His hands, not yours!

Once you do that, changes will start to take place in your life. Problems you've been fretting about for years will start being solved. You'll no longer be tying God's hands with your worrying. His power can begin to operate because you've acted in faith and cast your cares on Him!

Remember, though, God will not take your cares away from you. You have to give them to Him. Then you have to replace those worries with the Word. You are the one who has to keep your thoughts under control. But you can do it. The Greater One dwells within you. He is able to put you over. Commit to it. You'll never have to worry again.

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 55

God is called by many names. He is the Lord our Healer, our Provider, our Banner and our Righteousness. He also promises to be our Deliverer. In this troubled world that may very well be what we need Him to be most often.

But there are many believers who never experience God's mighty delivering power because, instead of walking closely with Him day by day, they wait until danger strikes to call upon Him. That just doesn't work. If you want God to rescue you in the bad times, you have to fellowship with Him in the good times. Why? Because God responds to faith. Our faith—not our need—is what causes Him to act on our behalf. And we'll never be able to develop that kind of faith, that kind of trust and confidence in Him, if we don't spend enough time with Him to get to know Him.

First John 3:20-22 tells us that we have confidence toward God when we do the things that are pleasing in His sight. If we only serve God halfheartedly, then we will not have confidence in Him to deliver us from trouble. When danger surrounds us, instead of being filled with faith, we'll find ourselves paralyzed with fear.

Love and serve God with your whole heart. Walk closely with Him in the good times. Then, when you need Him to be your Deliverer, you'll know without a doubt you can trust Him to care for you!

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 108:1-6

Even though Satan lost all his authority on this earth the day Jesus rose from the dead, for the past 2,000 years he's been running around as a spiritual outlaw—continuing to kill, steal from and destroy all who will let him. But, you know, he's not going to be able to do that much longer. There's coming a day when he's going to be put out of business completely. There's coming a day when the evil he's done here on earth will be put totally underfoot by the power of God.

Most believers know that's true. They've shouted and rejoiced over it—but they haven't really understood how it's going to happen. They haven't realized that they are the foot that's going to trample down the works of the devil!

Jesus is the Head of the Church. You and I are the feet. We are the ones who are going to take His authority and power and stomp on sin and sickness and every other demonic thing in this earth. We are the ones God is going to use, as Acts 2:35 says, to make Jesus' enemies His footstool.

That's what Jesus was telling us when He said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature...cast out devils...lay hands on the sick" (Mark 16:15-18). He was saying, "Go ye and be My foot." He was saying, "All power and authority has been given unto Me, both in heaven and in earth. Therefore, you take it and use it to put the devil under."

But instead of obeying Him, we've waited around wondering when God was going to do something about this mess here on earth. We've sat around wondering why it's taking so long for Jesus to come back.

We're the reason it's taking so long! Jesus is waiting on you and me. He's waiting on us to step out in His power, put the devil in his place, and win the world. He's waiting on us to drop our silly doctrinal differences and get busy doing what God said we would do.

The Bible says that one can put a thousand to flight and two can put 10,000 to flight. Every time we get together, we increase our strength astronomically. If we'd just get together and figure out who we are, if we'd realize that we're the feet of Jesus, we could kick Satan out of earth's affairs with ease.

Do you want to hasten Jesus' return? Then quit sitting around staring at the clouds! Start stomping around in the spirit. Start putting the works of the serpent under your feet and we can wrap this thing up and go home to glory real soon!

Scripture Reading:
Genesis 3:1-14

More than 21 years ago, God said something to me that will mark my ministry forever. It was this: The only hope that any man has anywhere in the world is faith in Jesus Christ.

In light of what's happening around us today, the truth of that statement is more painfully obvious than ever before. We are a generation with diseases no man can heal, with problems no man can solve. What fleeting successes we have are quickly overshadowed by new and greater crises.

All too often, that's as true for believers as it is for unbelievers. It shouldn't be. But it is. Believers are being killed by the same diseases that are devastating the rest of the world. They're being plagued by the same problems. And many are walking around without hope—just like the rest of the world.

Why? Because the only hope that any man has is faith in Jesus Christ. And the majority of Christians don't know how to live by faith.

Instead of being filled with the Word and with faith, they've been stuffed full of religious tradition and superstition. And they're suffering. When the devil hits them with sickness and disease, with poverty or depression or divorce, they often stand by helplessly as it destroys them. They simply don't know what else to do. The Bible says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." (Hosea 4:6).

But you know. Your hope is in Jesus. Trust Him. And tell the world—their hope is in Him too.

Scripture Reading:
Mark 4:35-41