Kenneth Copeland — Receiving Men Rather Than God
But I know you, that ye have not the love of God
in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye
receive me not: if another shall come in his own
name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe,
which receive honour one of another, and seek
not the honour that cometh from God only?
(John 5:42-44).
These men were playing the honor game with
each other. That is why they would not recognize
Jesus for who He was and render to Him the honor
due Him as a prophet of God. They chose their own
honor rather than that which comes from God only.
Honor that comes from God only is something
that belongs to God. It does not belong to men.
Jesus was talking about all the aspects of God’s
honor that we discussed in the last chapter—power
over the devil, power over our bodies, spiritual communication,
eternal life, etc. God is the source of all these honors.
I could preach to you about receiving
them and promise them to you, but they can only
come from Jesus. He has been given all authority in
heaven and earth.
I have the honor and the authority that comes
from God to minister to you, to tell you about the
honor and to allow His gifts and honors to flow
through my spirit, and even at times through my
hands. Yet, they do not come from me, but from Him.
Counterfeit Honor
Another part of the honor game is using counterfeit
honor instead of the real thing. Counterfeit honor
is false honor—nothing but pride.
Did you ever hear someone say, “I’m a man of honor;
our family fights for its honor”? He is not fighting for
honor, but for pride—the kind of honor that once was
used to justify two men dueling at daybreak because
of a supposedly insulting remark.
Today, that kind of honor will provoke one person
to attack another because he doesn’t ride the
same kind of motorcycle—or maybe because he
does. It will cause gangs of young people to square
off against one another. They get in the middle of a
vacant lot or even on a crowded street with chains,
knives, bats and guns just because someone is found
on the wrong turf.
That’s not honor. That’s the pride of a fool. It’s the
counterfeit of the real thing and it’s deadly.
If you recognize that as counterfeit honor, if you
know from where it comes, you can take the negative
side of it, flip it over and recognize the real thing.
