Is this teaching biblical?
Kenneth Copeland teaches that believers can 'command God' by standing on His Word. This inverts the entire relationship between Creator and creature. God is not a servant awaiting our orders — He is the sovereign King who does whatever He pleases. Jesus Himself never commanded the Father but submitted in prayer: 'not My will, but Yours.' Copeland's teaching makes God a subordinate to human faith declarations.
What did Kenneth Copeland say?
"As a believer, you have a right to make commands in the name of Jesus. Each time you stand on the Word, you are commanding God to a certain extent because it is His Word."
Speaker: Kenneth Copeland
Source: Our Covenant with God, KCP Publications, 1987, p. 32
What does Scripture actually teach?
Psalm 115:3
"But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases."
— NKJV
God does whatever He pleases — He is not waiting for our commands. Copeland's teaching that believers 'command God' reverses the relationship: it makes God the servant and man the master. Scripture says God is sovereign; Copeland says man is sovereign.
Job 42:2
"I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You."
— NKJV
No purpose of God's can be withheld from Him — not by our commands, not by our faith declarations, not by our 'standing on the Word.' God's purposes are unstoppable. Copeland suggests man can direct God's actions through commands; Job learned through suffering that God is utterly sovereign.
Daniel 4:32
"And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses."
— NKJV
The Most High RULES — He is not ruled by believers' commands. Nebuchadnezzar was humbled for the same arrogance Copeland teaches: thinking a man could be above God's authority. The lesson of Daniel 4 is that God rules; Copeland's lesson is that man commands.
Luke 22:42
"saying, 'Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.'"
— NKJV
Even Jesus did not command the Father. He prayed 'if it is Your will' and submitted: 'not My will, but Yours.' If the Son of God prayed conditionally and submitted to the Father's will, what arrogance is it for Copeland to teach that ordinary believers can COMMAND God? This is the spirit of antichrist — placing human will above divine sovereignty.