Gloria Copeland — Grow Up

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Gloria Copeland

Your born-again spirit, led by the Holy Spirit, should
have a place of dominion over your being. Your spirit
is re-created in Christ Jesus to rule over your soul
(mind) and your body (flesh).

As you learn by experience to walk in the spirit,
remember God’s Word comes to us in two ways: (1)
by the written Word, and (2) by the Holy Spirit
speaking to our spirits. We begin with the assurance
that God’s written Word is our sure word. The Holy
Spirit will never lead you contrary to the written Word
of God. If you receive a prompting that is in opposition
to the written Word, you’ll know it’s not from the
Holy Spirit.

Simply ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to follow
Him. Give Him control of your life and He will reveal
to you the will of God, step by step. He knows how
to bring you to maturity. All He requires of you is
your attention and your obedience.

And let the peace (soul harmony which comes)
from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your
hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions
that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to
which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were
also called [to live]. And be thankful (appreciative),
[giving praise to God always] (Colossians 3:15, amp).

This was one of the first verses the Lord revealed to
me years ago concerning making a decision. Let peace
be your umpire! I have learned to check my heart for
peace. If I am agitated in my spirit about something, I
don’t do anything until that changes. Before I take
action, I wait until I have peace in my spirit. Continue
to inquire of the Lord until you know.

Another scripture that helped me was Proverbs Roll
your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them
wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to
become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans
be established and succeed.

I roll my works upon the Lord and expect my thoughts
to become agreeable to His will. I expect Him to
energize in me the power and desire to will and to
work for His good pleasure, satisfaction and delight.
(See Philippians 2:13, amp.)

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not
unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways
acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be
not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart
from evil” (Proverbs 3:5-7). This is also a vital
scripture on receiving direction. These three verses
helped me as I was maturing in the Lord. God was so
faithful to reveal these simple instructions to me early
in my Christian walk.

He will not tell you to part the Red Sea the first day
you begin to walk as a Christian! You will start where
you are. If you’re a baby Christian and have not grown
spiritually, you will start in kindergarten! (If you don’t
look just like Jesus, you are not fully grown.)

The Holy Spirit will begin to reveal areas in your life
that need to be corrected. He will not send you on
some world-changing errand. But He will begin to lead
you to mortify the deeds of your body so you can
begin to live in the power of God. Romans 8:13-14
tells us this: “but if ye through the Spirit do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
Children of God grow up to be mature sons and daughters
by obeying the Holy Spirit concerning their lives.

All along, you’ve probably been receiving direction
from the Holy Spirit, telling you that you need to
make certain changes in your life. But many times
Christians aren’t too interested in hearing God deal
with them on this level—not realizing that this is
where walking in the spirit begins. They want to hear
something BIG from the Holy Spirit, like Go to China.

If you don’t follow the Holy Spirit in the area of
correcting your own life, you would be of little value
to God when you got to China!

Many times we are like Peter in the Garden of
Gethsemane. He was willing to die for Jesus. He was
willing to go to jail! He was ready to do something
big and important. Anything! Nothing would have
been too great!

Jesus said, “Watch and pray.” “No, Lord, that’s not
what I had in mind.” Peter didn’t follow Jesus’ will in
something simple. Jesus wanted him to pray so that
when temptations came he would overcome them.
Peter didn’t follow God in praying, so when the
pressure came, he didn’t follow God in action. As a
result, he suffered a major defeat.

Jesus didn’t want him to die. He didn’t want him to
go to jail. He didn’t even want him to go to China.
He wanted him to pray!

There’s no leading from the Holy Spirit that is
insignificant. If it’s from God, it’s priority. We should
have this attitude of meekness: “Father, there’s
nothing too great or too small. Reveal Your will to
me and I’ll do it.

Gloria Copeland

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Permalink | Comments (0) | Aug 19, 2009

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