5 Characteristics of Bulldog Faith Pt. 1-Kenneth Copeland

Do you have bulldog faith? You can! Learn the 5 characteristics of bulldog faith and start pursuing what belongs to you today!

Bulldogs have a reputation. Sure, they have cute wrinkles on their foreheads, but it isn’t their appearance that draws the most attention. Bulldogs are a breed of remarkable ferocity, courage and tenacity of grip. They are stubbornly aggressive, persistent and determined. If something that belongs to you gets in a bulldog’s mouth—don’t plan on getting it back! He’ll hold on, lock down and stand his ground much longer than you’ll want to hang around. That’s tenacity!

As Christians, we need to be just like the bulldog when it comes to the promises of God. We need to have bulldog faith.

Why do we need bulldog faith?

We have an enemy who doesn’t want us to have what Jesus paid to restore to us. The devil knows we can have anything and everything we need and desire simply by having faith—so his plan is to drain, weaken and wear down our faith through continual pressure, disappointments and discouragement. He wants us to back down and give up. He wants us to live in a constant state of retreat. He wants us to lose.

If you’re fed up with the devil stealing your blessings, and you’re ready to claim what is rightfully yours in Christ, it’s time to develop these five characteristics of bulldog faith.

1. Bulldog Faith Is Aggressive

“The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” –Matthew 11:12 (NIV-84)

Faith is more than believing. The very nature of faith is aggressive, persistent, determined, tenacious, confident and commanding. It is always moving forward and continually reaching for its goal. Faith is not passive, retreating or moving backward. Like a bulldog, it seizes with a grip that cannot be shaken off.

So, where is your faith today? Take a moment and consider the following.

Are you maintaining or pursuing?
Are you holding the fort or taking new ground?
Are you settled into the status quo or reaching up to the next level?
Are you throwing in the towel or going in for the next round?
Are you settled in to what you already have or aggressively possessing all that is rightfully yours?

God has given us everything by His grace, but we must take it forcefully with our faith. It won’t just fall into our laps. Just as you had to have faith to take salvation, you must also have faith to take every other blessing available to you as a child of God. But, you’re going to have to be willing to fight for it.

Why is faith a fight?

When we “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12, KJV), the Greek translation describes this as fierce combat with an adversary. If a parent hands his child lunch money, it is a gift meant for that child. On the way to school, the boy may face adversaries who want to take the gift from him. He will have to fight to keep it! The same is true with the blessings of God. He has freely given them, but we have an adversary who wants to take them from us.

That’s why you need to seize your blessing with a grip that can’t be shaken off. Weak faith isn’t going to produce. That’s why Gloria Copeland says, “If you let it go, it’s gone. If you don’t let it go, it’s still operating.”

In other words, aggressive faith doesn’t draw back. Hebrews 10:38-39 (KJV) says, “If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” Does that mean God doesn’t like you if you draw back? No. It means it is His pleasure for you to have what He’s promised you, and when you draw back, He knows you are drawing away from THE BLESSING.

That’s why you need aggressive, bulldog faith. The kind of faith that is never passive. Don’t ever let the devil catch you being passive!

There was a time when Brother Copeland’s mom needed to get the devil out of a situation in her life. When he told her to take authority, she gently and quietly said, “Now Satan, now in the Name of Jesus….” He stopped her and said, “Mama, if a big, muddy sow came walking through the back door of your spotlessly mopped and clean house, what would you say?” She said she would chase him out swinging a broom! Then he said, “Mama, there’s something a whole lot more dangerous than a sow hog that has come into this place.” That’s when she got aggressive in kicking the devil out of her territory—God’s territory.

You can’t afford to be passive about anything where the curse is concerned. You can’t afford to be passive about the Word, you can’t afford to be passive about any attack in your life. No. It is time to take up arms and fight the good fight of faith—aggressively!

Learn more about Bulldog Faith from Gloria Copeland and Pastor George Pearsons in this video.