Gloria Copeland Standing with You for God’s Master Plan for Your Life
About Gloria Copeland
With a passion for Scripture and a determination, Gloria Copeland has been teaching about the life-changing power of God’s Word for more than 40 years. Read MoreLive Long, Finish Strong
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You Must Stir Yourself Up by Gloria CopelandPosted on June 24th, 2009
And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with
the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us
also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25). We cannot
afford to let spiritual things get away from us. We hear
the Word. We get determined.
We get “on fire.” We get dedicated. We must learn to
maintain that zeal. Praying in the spirit and spending
time with the Father will keep you dedicated. It will
keep that fire burning on the inside of you. It will keep
you moving in the right direction—toward God.
I have learned something I want to share with you.
Ken and I have been in this a long time. When we first
heard the message of faith, we were so on fire for
God that nothing else in the world was of interest to
us. We knew that the revelation of the integrity of
God’s Word was what we had been looking for in our
Christian lives. We learned we could depend on God’s
Word the same way we would depend on the word of
a trusted friend. For example, we learned we could
depend on the written Word that said, “With his
stripes we are healed,” just the same way and with the
same expectation as if Jesus appeared to us in the flesh
and called us by name.
We became so hungry to find out what God’s Word
says that we totally sold out to it. We didn’t have
time for anything else. I had two small children. Kellie
was 3 and John was about 9 months old. I took care
of my children and my husband and studied the Word.
I didn’t go shopping. (I didn’t have any money to
spend anyway! I had to pray in tongues just to pay
for what was in my grocery basket.) I wasn’t doing a
lot of other things, but that didn’t matter to me. I
didn’t care. There was nothing else as exciting to me
as the Word of the living God! I was doing what I
wanted to do.
Ken had begun preaching at meetings, and sometimes
he would be gone for three weeks at a time. He had
to have long meetings because it would take two and
a half weeks before anyone would find out he was in
town. After that, it would be only a three-day meeting!
No one knew who he was and no one cared. He would
start with a few people and build. He might even have
200 people. In big meetings he might have 300 by the
end of three weeks. He would teach two services a
day for 21 days.
In the beginning, we didn’t have the money for me to
go too, so I stayed at home with the children. I must
tell you, I was in one of the biggest revivals the world
has ever seen and I was all by myself! Other than to
care for my family, I didn’t do anything except spend
time in the Word of God. I was so hungry for God and
for His Word, I spent time in it night and day.
I read God’s Word, I listened to tapes and I read books
I had found about God’s Word. I was dedicated. I
hardly thought about anything else. My total interest
was in the Word of God.
But after a few years I began to lose the strong desire
I’d had at first. I think that happens to many people.
It has happened to many who have started to walk by
faith. It may have even happened to you.
When you first find the reality of the Word, you’re just
naturally excited. It’s such good news, you don’t want
to do anything else. Your desires go in God’s direction
without effort.
But after a time it becomes easier to be drawn away.
You can begin to allow yourself to grow cold. You
don’t have to, but many do. You can get interested
in other things and lose your desire and hunger for
the Word of God. You find that revelation doesn’t
come as quickly to you anymore. The Word doesn’t
seem as exciting. You begin to think, I already know
all that. That’s what happened to me. I lost the
enthusiasm for the Word I had once enjoyed.
I didn’t realize it because I am a disciplined person
and continued to make myself spend time in the Word.
I had learned enough to know I couldn’t live healed
and blessed without it. I still studied it, but I wasn’t
as hungry and excited about it as I had been at one
time.
But a prophecy I heard in 1977 was a word from the
Lord that corrected, instructed and chastened me.
(See 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 12.) By the Holy
Spirit, the preacher began to talk about the great and
mighty army of the Lord. He said, “Men upon this
earth shall walk and talk and act like God. For they’ll
live in the power of God, motivated by His power,
motivated by His Spirit.” At the end, the prophet of
God said: “In fact, many of those here tonight are a
part of that army. You can be one if you so desire.
Purpose in your heart that you will not be lazy, that
you will not draw back, hold back or sit down. But
purpose in your heart that you will rise up and march
forward and become on fire.”
As he was speaking by inspiration of the Spirit, I
thought, You know, that has happened to me. I’m not
hungry for God like I used to be. I’m more interested
in other things. I have to make myself spend time in
God’s Word.
At one time in my life, I didn’t care about anything
else. I wanted to spend my time in the Word of God.
I don’t think I had realized I had begun to cool off
until the Holy Spirit spoke to me that night.
It pays to be honest with God. When the Word of
God comes to correct you, if you’re not honest with
yourself and with God, you’ll never grow up
spiritually. When the Word of God comes to you to
chasten you and it cuts into your heart, don’t start
making excuses. Don’t start saying, “Well, I’m really
not that way.” Be honest. Allow the Holy Spirit to
just open up your heart and show you what needs to
be changed. Plead guilty and take the necessary
action to change it.
I thought, You know, I’ve let myself get lukewarm.
I was not doing anything as far as recognized sin. I
was just not where I should have been spiritually. You
can go through the motions, but that’s not what God
wants. He wants the affection of your heart! All of
you—spirit, soul and body!
The spirit is the part of you that is reborn and made
into the image of God. Your soul is your mind, your
will and your emotions. First Peter 1:22 says your
soul is purified in obeying the truth through the spirit.
Hebrews 4:12 says the Word of God is sharper than
a two-edged sword, dividing asunder between soul
and spirit. That’s what happened to me.
You have to be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to
change you to be in agreement with God. The Spirit
of God changed my mind, my will and my emotions
to stop following after natural things with my
attention, and to immediately turn my attention to
the things of God.
Your soul’s desire will go after whatever you spend
your time doing. I can prove this to you with
something natural. If you’re a golfer, you may go for
months without even thinking about golf, if you don’t
play for a while. But once you start playing again,
your desire for it comes back. That’s the way it is
with anything in the natural world. And it’s the same
way in the spiritual world.
If you quit praying and spending time in the Word of
God, your desire for the things of God will become
weaker and weaker. Desire follows attention, whether
it’s something good or something bad. It might be
just a hobby that is perfectly all right. But it’s not all
right to desire that natural thing more than to desire
the things of God.
You want to keep your heart and soul fervent with
desire for the things of God. You must do that. I can’t
do it for you. Remember that what you give your
attention to determines your desire. Your motivation
follows your attention.
I was working for God, but my heart, my affection
(soul), and my attention were somewhere else. God
wants all of you.
I believe Revelation 3:14-22 was what the Spirit of
God was saying to me that night: And unto the angel
of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things
saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works,
that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert
cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with
goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not
that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and
blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold
tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the
shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint
thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous
therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door,
and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and
he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to
sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame,
and am set down with my Father in his throne. He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches.
In my soul I thought I had need of nothing, while in
my spirit I was appearing wretched, miserable, poor,
blind and naked. Only the Word of God can clarify and
divide between the two.
The Scripture says to delight yourself in the Lord and
He will give you the desires of your heart. I read that
as saying, “You delight yourself in the Lord and the
things that you really want in your heart, He’ll give
you.” But I believe the depth of the meaning in that
scripture is, “Delight yourself in the Lord and the
desire that you have in your heart will be of God.”
That’s what we want. We want our desires to be for
Him. That’s the high life!
I realized my condition, and determined to do
something about it. This word from the Lord said,
“Rise up. March forward. Become on fire. Don’t be
lazy. Don’t hold back, and don’t draw back.” I had
enough spiritual understanding to know that what I
needed to do was to rise up spiritually, spend more
time in the Word, and spend more time going after
the things of God. I began to do just that. I dropped
things in my life that were stealing my time, and put
my attention on the things of God—where it should
have been all the time.
It took awhile to get that fire back into my heart.
It took awhile to get back my strong desire for God
rather than for natural things.
If you’re in that condition today, it might help you
to know that you are not the only one this has
happened to. Everyone has opportunity to lose that
fervent desire for God. If you don’t keep yourself on
fire for God, you’ll begin to cool off. If you let yourself
go long enough in that condition, you’ll get into trouble.
Had I not listened to the Holy Spirit and allowed that
word from God to correct me, I would have continued
to grow colder and colder.
Jesus is not fond of someone becoming lukewarm. He
said, “If you are lukewarm, I’ll spew you out of My
mouth. I’d rather you be hot or cold” (paraphrase).
Being lukewarm is disgusting to Him. Why? Because,
if you’re lukewarm, it means you’ve had something
offered to you by the Holy Spirit but you wouldn’t
receive it.
If you’re lukewarm, you have received some Word
and some knowledge. You’ve had the Spirit of God
dealing with you, or you wouldn’t be lukewarm. You’ve
had an opportunity to become on fire. That’s
what is disgusting about being lukewarm.
We don’t have to be that way. It’s up to us. It is our
choice whether we go on and march forward, rise up
and become on fire, or whether we stay lukewarm and
eventually get cold. This isn’t the day and the hour to
be a lukewarm Christian. We are at a time when the
power of God is going to be manifested. The people
who are lukewarm are going to have a very difficult
time. People who are sitting on the fence are going to
be moved. When the Spirit of the Lord comes in like a
flood, they’ll get washed off the fence. The best thing
would be to get off the fence now, become on fire for
God, and get into the camp of the army of the Lord!
I began to change my attention. I became more
diligent. I knew I had to change my heart if I wanted
to be part of the army. Jesus knocked at the door of
my heart that night. I heard His voice and opened the
door. That army is an overcoming army! That night, I
volunteered! I enlisted! I’m so glad I did. I offered my
body as a living sacrifice.
What did I do? I stirred myself up on purpose. That’s
what Daniel did. (See Daniel 9.) He stirred himself up
to lay hold of God. The Word says, “Draw nigh to God,
and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8).
If you were on fire for God at one time, and you’re
not now, you’ll have to stir yourself up. Stir yourself
up with spiritual things. Begin to pray. Pray in the
spirit. Build yourself up on your most holy faith.
Begin to study the Word like you’ve never studied it
before. Believe and act on everything God says to you.
You can do exactly what I did. You can purpose in
your heart you won’t be lazy about spiritual things. If
you are, you’re not going to walk after the spirit and
walk in victory. “For they that are after the flesh do
mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the
Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally
minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace” (Romans 8:5-6). To live in life and peace
is the best there is!
Earlier we offered our bodies as living sacrifices.
That means we’re no longer going to live to please
ourselves. We’re going to live to please God.
Transformed Into His Image by Gloria CopelandPosted on June 18th, 2009
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren”
(Romans 8:29).
Allow the Holy Spirit to so affect
you so that you live right here on earth
as if you were already in heaven.
You will not be squeezed into the mold of
This world, but will look and act just like
Jesus! Heaven has no sin, sickness or lack.
You have the unlimited realm of the spirit
right on the inside of you. God dwells in
you and walks in you. He wants His Body
to be vessels of His glory manifested to the
whole world.
Second Corinthians 4:6-7 says, “For God,
Who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this
treasure in earthen vessels, that the Excellency
of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
God wants the Church to be transformed
into the image of Jesus. He wants us to control
and dominate the physical world around us.
When your body is presented as a living sacrifice,
then God will be revealed in you.
Today is the day! Before you do another
thing, put this book down and lift your
hands to God. Make your body a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to Him.
You will never be the same!
Gloria Copeland
Train Your Flesh to Obey by Gloria CopelandPosted on June 9th, 2009
Before you experienced the new birth, your body
was trained to enforce evil practices. You were
dominated by outward influences. As you yield yourself
more and more to God, you are retraining your flesh
to enforce the things of God (Romans 6:16-23).
“For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the
word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong
meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even
those who by reason of use [or through practice] have
their senses [bodies] exercised to discern both good
and evil” (Hebrews 5:13-14).
It isn’t easy at first, but through practice, your
body will discern the difference between good and
evil. It’s not something you have to fight. If you’ll
walk in the spirit, when temptation comes, the Holy
Spirit will lead you to mortify the deeds of your body
and you’ll resist the temptation. You’ll find that the
more you walk in the spirit, the more your body is
affected and brought under obedience to God.
The Spirit of God will have an effect on your
natural body. Proverbs 4:20-22 substantiates this,
saying the Word of God is “life unto those that find
them, and health to all their flesh.”
Hebrews 4:12 says, “The Word of God is quick
[alive], powerful, and sharper than any twoedged
sword….” His Spirit is in His Word so it will bring
health to your body. The Word of God and the Spirit
of God will quicken—make alive, give life to—your
flesh. Jesus said, “The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63).
Proverbs 4:23 says to “keep thy heart with all
diligence; for out of it are the issues [forces] of life.”
As these issues or forces of the reborn spirit are
released through your will, they crucify the desires of
the flesh and demand that it obey God. These forces
are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. (See
Galatians 5:22-23.) Doesn’t love, joy and peace
benefit you physically? These issues of the spirit will
quicken your mortal flesh and train it to enforce the
things of God rather than reject them.
Once we have given ourselves totally to God, how
do we get to the place where our spirits are the
dominating force? I believe 1 Peter 4:1-2 is speaking
very directly to us today:
So, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us,
for you, arm yourselves with the same
thought and purpose [patiently to suffer
rather than fail to please God]. For whoever
has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of
Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has
stopped pleasing himself and the world,
and pleases God], So that he can no longer
spend the rest of his natural life living by
[his] human appetites and desires, but [he
lives] for what God wills (amp).
As believers, we are called to enter into the
sufferings of Jesus (1 Peter 4:13). Religious tradition
has taught that these sufferings are trials, sickness,
disease, poverty, etc., but the Bible says Jesus was our
substitute. When He paid the price for sin, He
redeemed us from all the curse of the law (Galatians
3:13; Deuteronomy 28:15-68).
First Peter 4:1 says we need to arm ourselves with
this thought: I would rather suffer in the flesh than
fail to please God. Thinking this way releases the Holy
Spirit to strengthen and empower us to overcome.
Our will releases Him to impart Himself to us. We
must make the decision whether we will please
ourselves or please the Father. “For he that hath
suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” That person
has stopped pleasing himself and the world so he
might please God. And that’s what God is calling us
to do. He’s asking us to give ourselves. He’s asking us
to serve.
Jesus said, “If any man serve me, let him follow me;
and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any
man serve me, him will my Father honour” (John
12:26).You cannot serve yourself and your own interests
and serve Jesus at the same time. You have to make a
decision, “Who am I going to serve? Am I going to
serve my own interests and go after the natural things
that are in the world—after my natural desires? Or am
I going to serve the Lord Jesus, who bought me?”
“For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased
from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his
time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of
God” (1 Peter 4:1-2). And that’s where we want to
live—in the will of God.
To enter into His sufferings simply means to give
up the desires of our flesh in order to walk in the
spirit. Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
me” (Matthew 16:24). It would be accurate to say, “let
him deny his flesh,” or “let him deny selfishness.”
Taking up our cross is denying ourselves the luxury of
walking after the flesh. We must disregard our own
interests and desires in order to walk in the spirit.
God must be allowed to be Lord of our lives.
Jesus suffered in that He came to the earth and
lived in a natural body just like yours and mine. He
was tempted by the weakness of the flesh, yet He
never sinned. Jesus suffered through His obedience.
For verily he took not on him the nature of
angels; but he took on him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore in all things it
behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of
the people. For in that he himself hath
suffered being tempted, he is able to succour
[Greek: aid, relieve, help] them that are
tempted (Hebrews 2:16-18).
We are tempted in the flesh. That’s the way we
suffer. That’s the way Jesus suffered when He was
living on the earth.
We are to suffer the crucifying of our flesh by
bringing it into obedience to God so His glory can be
revealed in us.
The little suffering we do by commanding our
flesh to be obedient is nothing compared to the glory
that will be revealed in us (Romans 8:18). We are only
giving up the things in this life that work death in us.
The wages of sin is death and the gift of God is life.
Death has no sting when it has been swallowed up in
life. First Corinthians 15:56 reveals that sin is the
sting of death. Sin gives death its place.
First Corinthians 15:24-26 says, “Then cometh
the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down
all rule and all authority and power. For he must
reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The
last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
“But insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings,
rejoice, so that when His glory [full of radiance and
splendor] is revealed, you may also rejoice with
triumph [exultantly]” (1 Peter 4:13, amp). God wants
to reveal His glory in you!
These scriptures are all saying the same thing: We
are to render our flesh obedient to God so we might
know, or experience, Him and the power of His
resurrection. The Apostle Paul said:
[For my determined purpose is] that I may
know Him [that I may progressively become
more deeply and intimately acquainted
with Him, perceiving and recognizing and
understanding the wonders of His Person
more strongly and more clearly], and that I
may in that same way come to know the
power outflowing from His resurrection
[which it exerts over believers], and that I
may so share His sufferings as to be
continually transformed [in spirit into His
likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]
that if possible I may attain to the [spiritual
and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out
from among the dead [even while in the
body]…. So let those [of us] who are
spiritually mature and full-grown have this
mind and hold these convictions; and if in
any respect you have a different attitude of
mind, God will make that clear to you also
(Philippians 3:10-11, 15, amp).
The manifestation of the glory of God in our lives
depends on our bringing our flesh under subjection.
If we don’t have control over our flesh, then the Holy
Spirit doesn’t have control over our flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but
if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds
of the body, ye shall live…. For ye have not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear;
but ye have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
we are the children of God: And if children,
then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified together. For I
reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with
the glory which shall be revealed in us
(Romans 8:13, 15-18).
As the Holy Spirit leads us to mortify the deeds of
our bodies, as many as obey will grow up to be the
full grown, or mature, sons of God. We can live the
life of God right here in the earth. Jesus said the
kingdom of heaven is within you. We can live that
high life Jesus spoke about. We can live in a position
for the Spirit of God to flow through us to the world
and reveal Him to them. That’s our calling.
Gloria Copeland
Offer Yourself by Gloria CopelandPosted on June 3rd, 2009
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service. And be
not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God”
(Romans 12:1-2).
This scripture in Romans 12 is talking about
crucifying the flesh, as is Galatians 5:24-25: “And they
that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also
walk in the Spirit.” We are admonished to offer our
bodies as living sacrifices. We are to lay aside our own
natural desires in order to fulfill God’s desires. The
Wuest translation of Romans 12:1 says we are to
“place [our] bodies at the disposal of God….”
According to the Bible, then, this is only our
reasonable service—though it might seem an
unreasonable demand to some. Why is it our
reasonable service? Because Jesus gave His body as a
living sacrifice for us. We have been bought with a
price, and we are to glorify God in our bodies and in
our spirits (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
The Greek word translated Lord means “master”
or “owner.” Jesus became your new owner the moment
you made Him the Lord of your life. Most Christians
want to be born again but will not allow Jesus to be
Lord in their lives. They want to continue to walk in
the darkness of this world, when they could be
walking in the light of God.
“[The Father] has delivered and drawn us to
Himself out of the control and the dominion of
darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of
the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13, amp). We have
been transferred into the kingdom of God and are to
place our bodies and minds under His authority,
allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us how to live
under the dominion of God.
This sacrifice of our bodies is to be a holy and
well-pleasing (acceptable) sacrifice. The Greek word
thusia, translated sacrifice, denotes “the act of
offering.” We are to make an offering of our bodies.
We are the offering God desires. He wants to change
our bodies from a dedication to worldliness to a
dedication to godliness.
How do we do this? We are to be transformed by
the renewing of our minds. W.E. Vine says the word
renew means “the adjustment of the moral and
spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God.” We
are to adjust our thinking to the mind of God. The
Holy Spirit teaches us to think like God thinks and
to act like God acts. As we do this, the outward
expression of our bodies will begin to match the
inward expression of Jesus. We will begin to walk in
the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.
Offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God. Lay
down your own desires in order to fulfill His desires.
This is not an unreasonable thing for God to ask. It is
only your reasonable service, because you have been
bought with such a precious price. Jesus purchased
you with the crucifying of His own flesh, and shed
His own blood to redeem you. He became a living
sacrifice for you. The least you can do is give your
body to Him, for you are not your own. (See
1 Corinthians 6:19-20.)
There is a decision to be made. Are you going to
serve your own interests or the Lord Jesus? I believe
you are going to decide to offer yourself as a living
sacrifice. And when you do, you’ll find you don’t have
to fight the war between your flesh and spirit, but
your spirit, controlled by the Holy Spirit, will stop the
war! As you obey the Holy Spirit, the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus will make you free from the law
of sin and death.