When the Lord showed me this passage of scripture and it

really started having a major impact in my life, I was still in a denominational church that was against everything I was believing for. They acknowledged that there was such a thing as the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, but argued that it's the least of all the gifts and not really valid for us today. They didn't emphasize these truths, and they certainly didn't emphasize righteousness and grace. I was in a situation where the Word of God I was hearing was constantly being persecuted.

My good friend Joe, who had a huge impact on my life, served at one time as an associate minister of Kenneth Copeland. He even traveled with him for awhile. I used to attend Kenneth's meetings in Fort Worth,Texas, when he would rent the Will Rogers Auditorium. That place could seat up to 3,500 people. I remember Kenneth confessing and thanking God for that place to be full when he only had two hundred of us sitting down in the front. I was so green in my faith and lacking understanding from the Word, that I didn't realize that he was speaking forth his faith. I just figured that he knew something I didn't know, and that maybe there were some buses on the way or something.

I didn't know much then, but I'd go over there and hear

Kenneth Copeland speak the Word of God concerning righteousness. It would get me so fired up that I'd go back to this little denominational church and preach the very same things I'd heard. This was causing no small stir.

People were getting healed, delivered, and set free. Good things were happening, but the leadership of the church was against what I was doing. They thought it was

inaccurate compared to their interpretation of scripture.

So, because of this, they criticized me.

OFFENDED

Notice that this is exactly what Mark 4:17 is saying. The stony ground has:

No root in themselves, and so endure but for a time:

afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

This is describing people who were excited about the Word when they heard it, and would act on it to a degree, but didn't have root in themselves. When affliction, persecution, and criticism against the Word began to come, they became offended.

The word "offended" here doesn't mean that they quit believing or renounced the Word. I didn't renounce the fact that God still heals today, that the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues is valid, and that the

miracles were of God. I still believed these truths, but I became offended, which means that I lost my enthusiasm and excitement about these truths. The fire I had for these truths cooled off because of the criticism I was receiving.

You need to recognize that Satan doesn't have to make you

totally disavow the Word you're believing for. If he can just get you to where you're cautious and afraid to speak, where you're hurt and offended and now you aren't enthusiastic the way you used to be, then he has

succeeded. If the devil can get you into that mode, he can stop the Word of God from working in your life.

This is exactly where I was when the Lord showed this truth to me. I'd hear Kenneth Copeland speak, get all excited about the Word I'd heard, and then go back to preaching truths like righteousness, faith, and grace in that denominational church. For a week or two, it would be really powerful. Then I'd receive so much criticism that I'd become introspective. I still believed the same truths, and was trying to say them and teach them in the classes I was leading, but it just wasn't getting any results like it had before. There wasn't any fruit coming from the Word.

"NOT YOUR REVELATION"

This happened so often that I began to recognize the cycle.

I'd hear Kenneth Copeland speak and be okay for a week or two. Then I'd get to where I was trying to say and do the same things I had witnessed of Kenneth Copeland, but it just wasn't getting results. So I'd have to go back and get my next Kenneth Copeland fix. This happened on a

constant basis. When I began to see myself start running out of steam, I knew that the next time I got up to teach just wasn't going to be as powerful as it was before. I got to where I expected this cycle. I didn't understand why it was happening, but I saw it happen so many times and that I could recognize it coming.

As I was studying this verse of scripture, the Lord spoke to me. He said, "The problem is that the truths you are

saying aren't your revelation. They're Kenneth

Copeland's. You're simply saying things that you've heard somebody else say." Before God spoke this to me, I'd get up and teach saying, "I heard this man Kenneth Copeland say..." and I'd quote him. I'd talk about what he taught using his examples, his illustrations, and his jokes. People were being blessed by it because I was sharing truth—it just wasn't my truth. When the Lord showed this to me, a light switched on inside me. I realized that this was why I wasn't able to maintain and keep equilibrium. This was why I was up and down, sometimes excited about the Word, and other times wondering, What's going on? It was because I didn't have root in myself. I was living off of another person's revelation. It was a good revelation, but it wasn't mine.

I remember the Saturday night when the Lord showed this to Jamie and me. I discussed it with her, decided, and declared, "From now on, I am not going to say 'so and so said' or quote somebody else and tell people about what their revelation is." As a matter of fact, you may watch my television program, listen by radio, or read my books, but this is the first time you've ever heard or seen me mention someone like Kenneth Copeland in this way. Really, I'm just speaking of him by way of testimony. That's because I totally got away from quoting what somebody else had to say. From that point on, God's Word started becoming personal to me.

I made a decision that I would stand no matter who came against the revelation that God had been speaking to me. I was going to keep that Word in my heart. I was going to get it rooted and grounded on the inside of me.

Mark 4:17 really ministered to me when I saw that the

afflictions and persecutions I experience come for the Word's sake. They don't come because of you or me personally. It's because of the Word. The Word of God has power in it. When you start speaking the Word, God uses His Word to bring conviction to people. The Word starts pressuring and motivating them to change. If the person doesn't want to change, then they have to do something with this conviction that they're feeling, which they perceive as coming from you. They may not mentally be able to separate this conviction and understand it, but this is really what's happening. They may think that it's you they're upset with, and so it's you they're criticizing, but what they're really doing is criticizing God's Word that is coming through you. It's because of the Word's sake that affliction and persecution come. People are trying to resist and nullify this Word that you've spoken that's brought conviction into their life.