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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Gloria Copeland — Responding With Compassion Part 3Posted on May 12th, 2010
The nature of compassion is to give you a part of what
it possesses. This is how it works. For example, in spite
of His personal circumstances, Jesus prayed and
ministered to the people all day long and then provided
for their physical nourishment.
After all this had taken place, it says in Matthew 14:22
that “Straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into
a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he
sent the multitudes away.” Jesus had a reason in His heart
for telling them to go. I am satisfied that the Spirit of God
directed Him, in the middle of ministering to the people,
to go to the other side of the lake where more ministry
awaited Him, more sick, desperate people needing help.
Compassion was still directing Him.
He sent the disciples to the other side of the lake and
spent the evening in prayer. Matthew 14:23-28 picks up
the story: “And when he had sent the multitudes away,
he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the
evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was
now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the
wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night
Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.”
His compassion for them brought about this miracle.
The Spirit of compassion, the Holy Spirit, revealed they
were in trouble. He then enabled Jesus to walk on the water
to get to them: “And when the disciples saw him walking
on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and
they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto
them saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And
Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me
come unto thee on the water.”
Because Peter cornered Jesus by saying, “If it be You,”
Jesus could not answer Peter any other way but to say,
“Come.” Jesus knew Peter did not have the level of faith to
walk on that water, but He didn’t rebuke him for stepping
out on what little faith he had.
Gloria Copeland
Gloria Copeland — Compassion, In The Face Of TragedyPosted on May 5th, 2010
In every situation, the compassion of God controlled
Jesus. Even in the face of personal tragedy when Herod
beheaded His cousin, John the Baptist, Jesus triumphed
over His emotions.
Jesus and John had shared a special kinship that began
even before they were born. John’s mother, Elizabeth,
and Mary, the mother of Jesus, spent most of their pregnancies
together.
So when Jesus heard of John’s death, Matthew 14:13
says that “He departed thence by ship into a desert place
apart.” Jesus wanted to get out of town away from the
people and go to a place to pray. But it says, “When the
people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of
the cities. And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude,
and was moved with compassion toward them, and he
healed their sick.”
Even in the face of personal tragedy, compassion
moved Jesus to act and meet the needs of the people. After
He finished preaching, He called the members of His
own staff together to give the people something to eat. He
knew that the people were so hungry they would faint if
He sent them away. All that was available was a few fish
and loaves. Nevertheless, He commanded His disciples to
bring the food to Him and instructed the multitude to sit
down. In His compassion, He blessed the food, multiplying
it so there was more than all of them could eat.
Gloria Copeland
Gloria Copeland — Responding With Compassion Part 2Posted on April 28th, 2010
Even Jesus expressed and acted on the inward yearning
of compassion. Matthew 9:36 notes Jesus observed
that the people were like sheep having no shepherd, and
He was moved with compassion on them. His immediate
response was to select 12 men to go and minister among
them. The choosing of the 12 disciples was directly related
to His compassion.
Matthew 10:5-8 says:
These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded
them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles,
and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom
of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the
lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have
received, freely give.
Jesus had a revelation of the mercy and comfort of God
and this caused Him to want to share it with everyone.
He told His disciples to “go preach” and to “heal the sick,
cleanse the leper, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely you
have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:7-8).
Matthew 9:35 says Jesus went through the cities and
villages teaching and preaching. Teaching and preaching
are acts of compassion.
When you have the same revelation of God’s mercy
that Jesus had, compassion will rise up on the inside of
you. He was continually praying, at times fasting, always
listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit—always walking
on the verge of that inner explosion of compassion. We
have the same Spirit of compassion living within us,
desiring to bring us to that same place of spiritual
preparedness, always ready to minister His love and
mercy through us.
Gloria Copeland
Gloria Copeland — Responding With Compassion Part 1Posted on April 21st, 2010
Having the Spirit of God move and lead you by compassion
from deep within your innermost being is not mental at
all. It is beyond feeling and even beyond saying “I feel
led.” It is where we yearn and experience the heart’s
desire of God.
From that area, rivers of living water begin to flow.
In comparison to a spring of everlasting life which
touches only you, a river reaches out to everyone.
It flows out of your innermost being for others.
Most people have only experienced the spring because they
spend the majority of their time praying for themselves and
their own needs.
Jesus had a river of life flowing out of Him. He was
sensitive to the needs of the people through the Holy Spirit
working in Him. The Spirit of God guided Him in the perfect
will of the Father. Jesus operated in the gifts of the Spirit
to set people free.
From deep within His Spirit, Jesus perceived what
the Father would have Him do. He was led by the inward
moving and yearning of the Spirit of God: “For what things
soever he (God) doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise”
(John 5:19).
There were times when Jesus had visions and saw
things in His Spirit. On other occasions, the Holy Spirit
moved deeply on the inside of Him in the area of knowing,
which is the word of knowledge. He perceived what people
were thinking or what they had in their hearts. This also
happened at the tomb of Lazarus. He groaned from deep
within His Spirit, then said to the Father, “I know You have
already heard Me.”
In a similar manner, we have the capacity to respond
to the compassion of God by expressing ourselves through
groanings and utterances in the spirit. Sometimes when I
pray, it comes out in groanings. I find at times the more I
pray the deeper down in my spirit it goes. Sometimes it gets
down into an area where it is hard to express in words.
Gloria Copeland
Gloria Copeland — Be Filled With the Spirit Part 3Posted on April 7th, 2010
I am so grateful to be able to pray in
the spirit by the Holy Spirit. As we saw in
the Scriptures, when believers received the
Baptism in the Holy Spirit, they spoke with
other tongues. This will be a great blessing to
you. After you receive your prayer language,
pray in the spirit every day. This helps your
spirit to be strong and keep rule over your life.
First Corinthians 14:14 says, “For if I pray
in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but
my understanding is unfruitful.” The Amplified
Bible says, “…my spirit [by the Holy Spirit
within me] prays….” The Holy Spirit is giving
your spirit the prayer or praise. Your voice is
giving sound to this spiritual language.
The Amplified Bible also says that Cornelius
and his household spoke in unknown languages
and extolled and magnified God. The definition
of extol is “to praise enthusiastically.”
When you receive the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit, your spirit will immediately have
a desire to express itself in praise to God.
How could you help but pour forth praise
after having the Holy Spirit, who proceeds
directly from the Father God, come upon you
in power? Your well begins to overflow and
rivers are the result (John 4:14, 7:37-39)!
There may be no unusual feeling physically.
Spiritual blessings are received by faith—not
by sight or by feeling. Your lips may flutter
and your tongue feel thick, or you may hear
the supernatural words forming down inside
your being. Or none of the above may be evident.
The lips and tongue are the organs we
use to form words. Your physical instruments
of speech—lips, tongue, vocal cords—must
cooperate with your spirit in order to give
sound to prayer or praise that the Holy Spirit
has given. Immediately upon receiving, spiritual
language is ready for you to speak.
Remember, you have nothing to fear.
God has already said that you would receive
the real thing. Isaiah 57:19 tells us that
God created the fruit of the lips. Do not
be concerned with what it sounds like to
you. God will perfect your praise. “Out of
the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast
perfected praise” (Matthew 21:16).
“And these signs shall follow them that
believe…they shall speak with new tongues”
(Mark 16:17). Jesus said that the believer would
speak with new tongues. You are a believer.
When you pray in tongues, you are
praying in the spirit. Just as your native
language, such as English, is the voice of your
mind, praying in tongues is the voice of your
spirit. Therefore, after you ask, speak no more
of your native language. You cannot speak
two languages at once.
Expect the Holy Spirit to come upon you
just as He came upon the believers on the
Day of Pentecost, at Samaria, at Cornelius’
home and at Ephesus, and you will begin to
speak in other tongues as the Spirit gives you
the words.