March 12, 2001

Monica,

Let me first bless you with a testimony about which I heard. In World War II a man was flying a gunner airplane. It was a powerful gunner. One trigger would fire all the guns making a virtual wall of bullets flying out the whole front of the plane. He was flying over Germany. When he went up over a rise in the terrain, he found himself face to face with an anti-aircraft cannon. He thought he was dead. He only said, "O God!" The anti-aircraft gunner could not miss. Desperately he pulled hard on the trigger of his guns, and nothing happened. He expected to blow up any second, but nothing happened from the anti-aircraft gun either. The frightened pilot just flew on out of there. He test fired his guns a little later, and they worked fine.

Some years later he went with the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International to share his testimony in Germany. He told all about that experience. He told them it was not far from where he was speaking then. He told how grateful he was that people were praying for him back home in the USA.

After the meeting a man came up to him, introduced himself, and said, "I am the gunner." The man said that, when he saw that gunner airplane come over the hill, he thought he was dead. He said he started jamming his foot down on the trigger to that cannon, but it would not fire. He was surprised that the airplane did not fire on him, and he was glad people back home were praying for him.

Now is that beautiful or what? In the middle of a war, two men come face to face with each other and certain death. Both have people praying for them, and angels jammed both men’s guns. Oh, the power of prayer!

Now we move to another topic although it has a lot to do with the power of prayer.

You know that Jesus told us we will do the works he did and greater works. He also said that, if we ask for anything and believe that we have received, than we will receive. I read the Old Testament with a consciousness that Jesus as a child and young man learned all the ways of his Father by reading the Old Testament with the Holy Spirit. I watch for things that told Jesus what to expect and how to pray as he was learning this way.

Guess how far Jesus had to read to find the whole basic pattern. He had to read Chapter 1. I believe our pattern is spelled out in Genesis 1. I have mentioned this some before. I told you God said, Let there be." Then I believe he saw in his mind what he was speaking into being. Then he said it is good. Then it began to appear in the physical realm.

Today I heard Kenneth Copeland talking about Genesis 1, and I learned some more interesting things. I wonder what we miss by not reading Hebrew and not thinking Hebrew. Ken Copeland says that the Hebrew in Genesis does not say, "Let there be light." It says, "Light be." The voice of authority, the voice of faith, simply gave a command.

When God created man, he did not say, "Let us make man in our image," as though he was toying with an idea. "Hey, Son, let’s get some dirt and some water and form something and blow it up with air and see what happens." No, he had everything planned.

He did not say, "Let us make man in our image." He said, "Man be in our image." Can you see the beauty of that in conjunction with the name he revealed to Moses? I Am said, "Man be," and man was. Man is. But the Bible reveals that he knew each of us from the beginning. So he also said, "Edward Sutton Richmond be." He told me to be and I am. In the image of I Am, I am.

Ken Copeland believes that, when Genesis says God breathed life into man, it is referring to the speaking of man into existence. When he said, "Man be in our image," he was breathing life into man. The explanation of the creation of man is expanded in Chapter 2. It is very interesting to me that in Genesis 2:7, when the NIV says, "a living being," it really should be "a talking spirit." He created us as talking spirits.

He gave man dominion when he created him a talking spirit. He made man to rule with authority. Man had authority in the beginning. Jesus saw it and by the Holy Spirit he understood it. Now that Jesus has reconciled us to God, we are beginning to see it and understand it. There is creative power in your mouth. Your mouth is sowing to good or to bad every time you speak. Don’t say things like, "I just love you to death." We need to change our speech. We love people to life. When this gets ahold of you, you will be very bothered by how people talk around you.

Love,

Dad