You Must Stir Yourself Up by Gloria Copeland
Posted by admin | Filed under Gloria Copeland, Kenneth Copeland Ministries
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.
Tags: Believe, God's Love, Stir Up
