by Gloria Copeland
Every generation has had its role to play in God’s ultimate plan for all the earth to be filled with the glory of the Lord (Numbers 14:21).
During the time of Moses, God manifested His power on behalf of the children of Israel in such spectacular ways that they commanded the respect of the Egyptians. When Moses led the Israelites out of bondage, they were truly regarded as God’s people because of the unquestionable demonstration of His supernatural power.
I believe our generation will experience that same high privilege. The day has come for God to raise up the Body of Christ—the glorious Church—without spot or wrinkle. This Church will command the respect of the world because it has the miraculous power of God in manifestation with signs and wonders! The Church will show forth the glory of God.
But for all this to happen, God’s people must exhibit two distinguishing traits: they must become faithful and available to God—just like Moses did.
Moses was faithful, and God needed his obedience because Moses’ job was to stretch out his hand in the earth and command the will of God to be done. God had to have someone who was loyal and would dare to act on His Word. When Moses stretched out his hand, God extended His hand and performed miracles, signs and wonders!
God was able to use Moses because Moses knew His ways (Psalm 103:7). If Moses had not been faithful to know God’s ways, the children of Israel would never have seen His acts. Moses’ heart was loyal toward God, and he made himself available to God.
Today the Spirit of God is dealing with us much in the same way as He dealt with Moses. We have experienced a move in the Body of Christ in which God has taught us His ways. We have learned to live according to the Word. We have been taught to walk by faith and not by sight because God needs people with a solid foundation in His Word.
God needs faithful, obedient people in this hour because He is going to once again show Himself strong in the earth. He needs those who will not be blown to and fro by every wind of doctrine. He needs those who have made His Word the final authority in their lives. Those who know how to depend on God’s Word will be the backbone of this move of the Spirit.
Vessels of God
You see, God has determined to reveal and manifest Himself in the earth in the Body of Christ. We have been born again to live and operate in the spirit. We have the Holy Spirit—God Himself—abiding on the inside of us!
The Body of Christ is made up of spiritual beings, living in bodies of flesh, who are capable of manifesting the glory of God. Ephesians 4:24 says these beings are created after God in righteousness and true holiness. But God has not been able to reveal Himself to the degree that He desires because we have been dominated by the flesh.
That is why, by His Spirit, God is revealing how we can walk in the spirit and not be controlled by the flesh. As we fine-tune our lives to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, God will have available the vessels necessary to manifest Himself in the earth.
The key element is: God is not looking for ability. He is looking for availability. He needs you and me to do the work that must be done. He must have people who are faithful.
God has a plan for this generation: To sweep the souls of this earth into the kingdom of God, supernatural power will be required just as it was required to deliver the children of Israel! The Spirit of God through the Body of Christ will deliver the children of men from the power of darkness by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Do you see why, when God called Moses, He chose a man who would be obedient? Moses made mistakes, but God was patient with him and would not allow him to draw back. God needed him. Moses had what it took to accomplish the great feat of delivering Israel: He was faithful. Faithfulness results in action. That is called obedience!
If God is to use us as He used Moses, we must be faithful too. We have learned to practice faith. But God wants us to learn to practice faithfulness to fulfill all that He has planned.
God Wants Your Heart!
Far too often men and women have heard the word of faith and have tried to walk in the integrity of God’s Word without putting their heart into it. They want the good things—health, prosperity, victory and blessings—without giving themselves to God and serving Him with their whole heart.
Jesus said, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8). In other words, we can confess the Word of God from now until Jesus comes, but if our heart is not right, it will not come to pass.
Until we get our priorities right, the things of this world will continue to steal time and energy from us that we should be giving to the things of the spirit. We can get so caught up in using our faith for the affairs of this world that our desire will be for the things of the world instead of for God.
Too many have tried to have the best of both worlds—prospering but not dedicating to the ways of God (which in reality is the way to prosper). There may be some outward success that way, but you will not experience the blessings and power of God to the degree He desires for us. Money without peace will only increase the problem.
God requires more of us because we have revelation knowledge of His Word. “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48).
We are a generation to whom much has been given. God has not trained us in His Word so we could consume it on our own lusts. He has revealed His Word to us so we would walk in the spirit while we live in a natural, physical world and yet He desires that we enjoy all good—including abundance.
We must walk in the spirit to fulfill God’s plan for this hour. We must let go of our allegiance to this natural world and put God first place in our lives. Jesus said, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:35). If we follow the course of this world instead of serving God with our whole heart, we will miss out on the glorious things of the Spirit and the wonderful plan that God has for us.
We have a job to do. God needs us to reach the ends of the earth with the gospel. We are the carriers of His Word. We are the Word made flesh, just as Jesus was. If this world does not hear the good news about Jesus from the Church, it will never hear the good news at all.
We have the same opportunity Jesus had to do the will of the Father. He laid down His life in glory to come to the earth and make a way for us to be born again.
He came to set up His kingdom, and He did. We enter into that kingdom by grace through faith. We are messengers of God’s grace, telling the world they can be born again by faith in Jesus Christ.
The Faithful Are Blessed
We have learned to walk by faith. Now we must be faithful with what we know and do whatever is necessary to harvest the souls on the earth. As we become more faithful to God than we are to ourselves, we will experience the power of God that we have sought.
God is calling us to be faithful and alert to spiritual things. Jesus frequently spoke about faithfulness. He said, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?” (Matthew 24:44-45).
I put my name by this verse in my Bible: “Gloria is a faithful and wise servant.” I made the decision to be faithful.
Commit yourself to be a wise and faithful servant. Say from your heart, “God, You can count on me.”
According to the parable in Matthew 24, “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.”
Doing what? Doing what he is told to do: Being faithful to his Lord.
Jesus did not say just any servant would be blessed. The slothful servant was not blessed. He was not enjoying the benefits of the faithful one. The faithful and wise servant was blessed of his lord.
In Matthew 25, Jesus told the parable about the wise and foolish virgins. He was making the same point: Those who were diligent and prepared were blessed. Then Jesus continued to teach the disciples about faithfulness:
For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey (Matthew 25:14-15).
The one who was given five talents made five more talents. The one who was given two talents gained two more. They were faithful with what was given to them. “But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money” (Matthew 25:18).
When the master returned, they all reported what they had done with their talents. To the two who had invested and increased theirs, he said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (verse 21).
Then the last servant reported to him and said:
Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury [interest]. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath (Matthew 25:24-29).
The wicked and slothful servant did not know his master very well. He did not trust his master, so he was afraid. The slothful servant had no faith in his master because he did not know him.
You must become faithful and diligent to spend the time it takes to get to know God. Set apart time every day to fellowship with Him and get to know Him personally. When you know Him, you will trust Him. You will know that He rewards you for being faithful!
Assigned to Serve
When Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave us His Name, His authority and His power. He said to preach the gospel to every creature, cast out devils and lay hands on the sick. He gave us our assignments and sent the Holy Spirit to endue us with the power necessary to fulfill those assignments (Mark 16:15-20; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8, 2:1-4).
In Matthew 28, Jesus told the disciples to teach the converts to “observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” The Body of Christ is to carry on exactly as Jesus did.
You can look at Church history and see the talents the Master has given each generation. He has brought one revival after another, waiting for the Church to do what He commanded. Now we are entering into the revival of the glory of God and of the Spirit being manifest to all flesh. Jesus is giving this generation the responsibility of walking in the spirit so the glory of God will be revealed in us.
It does not matter if you received five talents or two. God expects you to be faithful now. He wants you to grow right where you are and become faithful over what He has assigned you to do. Prove yourself faithful over little, and God will make you ruler over much.
Did you notice Matthew 25:21 says the faithful servants entered into the joy of their Lord? The higher life—the life that is lived in the spirit—is where the joy is! But only the faithful will find it.
God is offering us the high life. He is urging believers to walk in this higher realm, where they can absolutely dominate the things of this earth! It is the blessing and joy of the Lord that we receive when we become faithful.
We need to tell God every day, “Lord, You can count on me. I love You, and I am here to serve You. I deny my own interests. I lay aside the pleasures of this life, and I make myself available to You today. What do You want me to do?”
As we come to that place spiritually, we will begin to walk in an area with God which you thought would be possible only after you got to heaven! God will take you to heights that will amaze you.
Are You Available?
How will we be able to walk in the spirit even though we are clothed with this flesh? By spending more time pursuing the things of the spirit than we spend pursuing the things of the flesh.
We will have to become dedicated to prayer and fellowship with God. We must be dedicated to the Word of God and be willing to pull aside from this busy life around us to get alone with God so He can guide us, teach us and communicate with us.
Your natural ability does not determine your usefulness. All you have to be is one who lives in the presence of God. He has the ability!
Make yourself available to Him by praying in the spirit, worshiping and fellowshiping with Him. Then He can manifest His character, His nature, His glory and His Spirit in you. That is what He wants to do. He came to live inside you so He could radiate from the inside out! That’s what happened with Jesus.
When Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration, the glory of God within Him radiated outward and He was transfigured. “His face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light” (Matthew 17:2).
And since God is the same yesterday, today and forever, it will happen the same way in our day. God has never changed His ways. The glory of God will come from the inside of us—from our inner man—as we give ourselves totally to Him and walk in the spirit.
We were predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29-30). God has reproduced Himself through believers—the Church—so He can show Himself to the world.
Now it’s time for the glorious Church to shine!
Adapted from Gloria Copeland’s book Hearing from Heaven formerly published as Walk in the Spirit.
© 1997 – 2024 Eagle Mountain International Church Inc. Aka Kenneth Copeland Ministries. All Rights Reserved.