All throughout the Bible, God gave people visions and dreams…for their lives, for their future, for their safety…to give them direction, to give them answers, to get them on course and into His will. Some of those dreams and visions impacted what was to happen next - and some were more about what was to unfold over a much longer period of time. This required faith to stand and believe for the vision God had for them.
To this day, God still communicates with us through dreams and visions. What’s more, He wants each one of us to have a vision for our lives. Proverbs 29:18 tells us, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” (KJV).
When we don’t have a vision for our lives, we die spiritually. In other words, we wander through our days with no plan, no purpose, no certainty of what God wants us to do. You could say we just exist, living one day to the next, without intentionality for what God wants us to do. That is not God’s will for any of His children; He wants us to have a vision for our lives, and like everything else He wants for us, that vision will require faith.
When God Put a Vision In Kenneth Copeland’s Heart To Fly
Sometimes, God gives us the vision He wants us to have by placing a desire in our hearts – and then He fulfils that desire for us (Proverbs 3:5-6). This is what happened to Kenneth Copeland when he was just a boy. He became interested in airplanes to the point he drew them all the time. Kenneth drew them on his textbooks and would use a ruler to ensure the wings were perfectly straight. It became a passion of his, something he thought about all the time.
When Kenneth was about 9 years old, someone invited his dad to ride in an airplane and extended the invitation to Kenneth as well. The pilot put Kenneth up front in the cockpit and told him, “Don’t you touch anything.” Kenneth jokingly says that his eyes were probably glazed over, which prompted the pilot to give him such a stern warning. And, knowing himself, Kenneth jokes that he sat on his hands so he wouldn’t touch anything!
That day was the first time Kenneth ever flew in an airplane. It was the first time he ever lifted off this earth, and it set a vision in his heart and mind. As he and his dad were walking away from the plane, Kenneth said, “Daddy, I’m going to do that!”
“What?” his dad asked.
“I’m going to fly airplanes!”
To which, Kenneth’s dad said, “Boy, you can do it!”
As Kenneth says, neither of them had revelation of Mark 11:23, or anything to do with the power of faith, but they were already speaking the vision God had for Kenneth’s life.
“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:23, NKJV).
From that day forward, Kenneth made up his heart and mind that he was going to fly. For years he continued dreaming about it, thinking about it, and drawing airplanes – everywhere. When he was old enough to seriously consider it, he took flying lessons. At first it was challenging to him. He’d go to class…go home…draw the panel from memory…and be his own simulator, as he says. His goal was to fly solo, so over and over in his mind he saw himself taking off, flying and landing. It was the landing part that he was most concerned with, but one morning while shaving, he could finally see himself doing it. And the confidence came.
In August 1961, at 25 years old, Kenneth went on his first solo flight. Because he’d envisioned it since he was 5 years old; because he’d dreamed it, thought it, planned for it, and worked toward it, he had no fear of it. And he never has since.
His dad once said, “Kenneth, if I unzipped your head, airplanes would come out.”
Flying Was Part of God’s Ministry Vision for Kenneth’s Life
Five years later, when God told Kenneth and Gloria to go to Oral Roberts University for Kenneth to attend school, it was flying that would connect him directly to Oral Roberts. It was flying that would uniquely position him to travel with Brother Roberts, be strengthened by him, learn from him, and step more into the ministry God had for him.
Not two weeks before Kenneth and Gloria arrived at ORU, Brother Roberts and his team started to hire a co-pilot, but the Lord stopped Brother Roberts, telling him that a student was coming, and he would be the next co-pilot. Two weeks later, Kenneth had arrived on campus and needed work. He had a family to support and tuition to pay. As Kenneth prayed, God told him, I called you here; I’ll take care of you. Those words set yet another vision in Kenneth’s heart for his time at ORU. God did indeed provide for his tuition that first semester with a financial gift, and the day after he prayed, Kenneth stood in the office area of Oral Roberts University and Brother Roberts hired him.
God gave Kenneth a vision to fly, a vision for attending ORU, and in that same season, God introduced Kenneth to the teaching and ministry of Kenneth E. Hagin. As Kenneth says of his time at ORU, “I was working for one and listening to the other…and faith came…and the vision increased.”
The Vision for Ministry Kept Increasing
In January 1967, Kenneth Copeland Ministries began. Kenneth knew he was called to ministry to preach and to teach, but it wasn’t long before he was in one of Brother Hagin’s meetings and God called out the prophet in him. He wasn’t just to teach the Word of God; he was to be a seer in the Body of Christ.
And the vision kept growing. A few years later, Kenneth and Jerry Savelle were flying KCM’s first airplane over north Fort Worth, practicing touch and goes on an old, long abandoned military base landing strip. As they took off one last time, Kenneth said to Jerry, “Someday, I’m going to own this place.” From then on, it was one more thing Kenneth thought about, dreamed about, envisioned and declared in prayer, until the day it became the property of KCM.
Faith Grows Vision
This is the pattern God has used repeatedly in Kenneth’s life. God would drop something in his heart and mind, and Kenneth would then use his faith to see it come to pass – no matter how long it took.
This is how he went on radio – on more than 700 stations nationwide.
This is how he went on television – reaching millions around the globe.
This is how he has used aviation to spread the gospel and empower other ministers to do the same.
This is how Kenneth Copeland Bible College was birthed and continues to grow.
It’s a biblical process God wants for all our lives. “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” (Proverbs 29:18, KJV).
What Has God Envisioned for Your Life?
What is your vision? What is it that God’s dropped in your heart, put on your mind, given you a glimpse of, that you have yet to see in this earthly realm? If it can be backed by the Word and the principles of God’s Word, then that is something God wants for your life. That is His will for you. That is His vision for you.
Early in his ministry, through Oral Roberts, God told Kenneth three things he should always do to always be successful:
- Find out the will of God.
- Confer no longer with flesh and blood.
- Get your job done at all costs.
That first step is where we go to God and spend time with Him asking for a vision. It’s where we pray for a vision. Kenneth has said, “Prayer doesn’t make faith work; faith makes prayer work.”
Once you have a vision for your life, consistently pray over your vision.
Find Scripture for your vision – to stand on in faith and declare by faith.
Meditate it.
Think about it.
Write about it.
The prophet Habakkuk wrote: “I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed’” (Habakkuk 2:1-3).
It’s time to write your vision.
It’s time to operate in faith where your vision is concerned.
It’s time to keep moving forward in the power of faith and patience that work together.
God has something for you. If you’re already walking in part of your vision, then God has more for you. As long as we’re on this earth, there’s always more.
This year, 2024, Kenneth is believing for a million Partners by the end of the year. He’s believing for the expansion of KCBC. At 87 years old, he hasn’t stopped reaching for more vision. He sees all the students, the added departments and the growth of the Bible college. He sees those Partners already. It’s all in his heart.
Again, what is in your heart? Direct your faith there and begin using your faith to see it come to pass – what you know now and what is to come. Faith added to vision will bring that God-vision into manifestation!
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