Daily Devotionals

“It doesn’t matter how hard I try, everything I do turns out wrong!”

Have you ever felt that way? I certainly have. There was a time in my life when everything I put my hand to fell apart. Back then, I chalked it up to “bad luck.”

But I was wrong. I found out in the 25 years since then, that there’s no such thing as luck—good or bad. In fact, I don’t even use that word anymore.

It’s not luck that determines how things turn out in our lives—it’s choices. When we make good ones, things go well for us. When we make bad ones, things go wrong.

Now some would dispute me on that, but no matter how “right” you think you are at any given time, a decision that brings trouble is a poor decision.

“Oh, but Brother Copeland, there’s no way in the world I could have known in advance what would happen in that situation!”

No, there may not have been any way in this natural world you could have made a better choice. But, if you’re a born-again believer, you aren’t restricted to making choices according to this natural world. You have another, far more powerful option.

Consider the disciples and Jesus in the boat during the storm in Mark 4:36-41. There were the disciples facing this fierce storm. No doubt they were doing everything they knew to do in the natural to stay afloat. They were bailing; they were paddling.

But they didn’t say a word to Jesus, even though He was right there in the boat with them! They didn’t call on His power until the boat was full of water and they were about to sink. Why? They’d made a wrong choice. They had chosen to look to natural solutions instead of supernatural ones. Faith never even entered their minds until they were about to drown!

If they’d thought supernaturally, any one of them could have drawn by faith on the Anointing and the words of Jesus and stopped that storm. But they made the wrong choice.

Many well-meaning believers are making that same mistake today. They have Jesus right there in the boat with them, but they’re depending on natural resources to get them through. They’re making wrong choices, and are chalking it up to bad luck. If you’re living like that, stop. Get in the Word. Start living according to the supernatural. Then, when the storms of life come, you’ll know what to do. Instead of just grabbing a bucket and starting to bail, faith will rise up within you and you’ll say, “Look here, Storm. Peace, be still.” It will work for you just like it would have worked for the disciples. After all, you have Jesus in your boat!

Speak the Word

“I have faith in God. I will not fear.”  (Mark 4:40)