What were those instructions? You can find one of them in 2 Timothy 2:3. There Paul says, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

Notice Paul didn’t say, “If hard times come, endure them.” He simply said, “Endure hardness.”

There are no “ifs” about it. Hard times are going to come in the life of every believer. There will be times when circumstances will seem dark, when you face seemingly impossible obstacles—when defeat seems inevitable.

Some Christians get confused when those times come. “What’s happening here?” they cry. “I thought Jesus redeemed me from the curse!”

He did, but you can rest assured, Satan will challenge that redemption. He will try his best to steal it from you by pulling you off your walk of faith. Jesus warned us about that in the parable of the sower. He said:

The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended (Mark 4:14-17).

Satan will not sit idly by while you sail through life, effortlessly believing the Word of God. He’ll pressure you with hard times. He’ll attack you with sickness or lack, and then lie to you, telling you God doesn’t care. He’ll try to convince you that God is not going to answer your prayer this time. He’ll attempt to talk you into believing there’s no way out and you’ll end up a miserable failure.

When those hard times come, don’t cave in to the pressure. Don’t give up. Stand on the Word of God and endure hardness like a good soldier.

Gloria Copeland

Now, in every army there are good soldiers and sloppy soldiers. There are soldiers who win battles and conquer enemy territory, and there are soldiers who fail and lose ground. I want to be a good soldier for the Lord, don’t you? I want to drive the devil back and advance the kingdom of God.

The Apostle Paul was that kind of soldier. He was a man of victory. He triumphed in every circumstance. The devil tried to stop him again and again with persecutions, beatings and trouble of every kind. But Paul kept right on marching in victory, preaching the gospel, healing the sick, working miracles and building the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eventually, Paul was put in prison and in chains. Imagine how terrible the conditions in prison must have been in those days! No doubt, the devil expected that to stop Paul—but it didn’t. Instead of lying down and feeling sorry for himself, Paul used his time in prison to write most of the New Testament. Prison didn’t even slow him down. Just look at the victorious words he wrote when his life on this earth was through:

“The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

Aren’t those wonderful words? I want to be able to say words like that when I come to the end of my earthly life. I want to know that I have fought the good fight—and won!

Someone might say, “Well, Gloria, that was the Apostle Paul! He was special. We can’t all be like him.”

Why not? We have the same Savior. We’re filled with the same Holy Spirit. We even have the words he wrote to Timothy, his precious son in the faith, just before Paul departed this life—instructions he knew would enable Timothy to be a victorious soldier of the Cross just as Paul had been.

Gloria Copeland

“I’m tired of fighting! As soon as I whip one problem, there are a hundred more knocking at my door!”

Some years ago a friend of mine said those very words to the Lord. At the time, she was weary from the battles of life and ministry. She was fatigued from the constant pressure of pushing back the powers of darkness in her own life and in the lives of those around her. I’ll never forget the Lord’s response to her as she voiced her frustration. He said, What is an army for, if not to fight? You’ll either be fighting or retreating from now until Jesus returns!

Those words come as a shock to many Christians. They don’t want to be warriors. They want a comfortable, easy life. They want to lie back, take it easy and go on a spiritual vacation. But that’s not what we as believers are called to do.

We’re called to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). We are an army and we are at war, “not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

But we are not in this war without help. God has given us spiritual weapons that are “mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). He has given us His own armor (see Ephesians 6:10-18). In other words, He has equipped us to be spiritual soldiers in His army.

Gloria Copeland

The mercy of God is not weak. It was the motivating
force behind the plan of redemption that brought Jesus to
the earth. In the mind of God, mercy was the revelation
that developed the plan. It was God’s design to extend
His goodwill toward man. Because of mercy, the division
between man and God was eternally broken.

When Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem the night
of Jesus’ birth, angels came and appeared to the shepherds
in the field and proclaimed the glory of God: “Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
men” (Luke 2:14). We have interpreted that to mean
goodwill among men. But the Apostle Paul and the
Apostle Peter both said that Jesus came preaching
peace, not among men, but between God and man.
God was proclaiming, “Goodwill to men from God.”

God sent Jesus as a mercy sacrifice to the world. He
acted in compassion when He sent Jesus to the cross. Jesus
was not the one needing mercy from God. It was you and
me. Nevertheless, the Savior came to this world offering
His comfort: “Come unto me, all ye that…are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). And He left this
world promising to pray and intercede for us that we might
receive the Comforter.

Jesus bore the shame of the cross for the joy of knowing
that we would be able to be reborn in the power and the
image of Almighty God and receive the Comforter—the
Holy Spirit. He knew we could then manifest the same
mercy and comfort on the earth as He had done. “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works
that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these
shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).

Compassion, mercy and comfort directed all the works
of Jesus’ ministry. If mercy and compassion were over all
the works of God, then it was over all the works of Jesus
because Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of himself,
but what he seeth the Father do” (John 5:19). Matthew
9:36 says, “But when he (Jesus) saw the multitudes, he was
moved with compassion on them, because they fainted,
and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”

Notice what it says: “He had compassion on them.”
The word, compassion means “an inner yearning deep in
your bowels [or innermost being].” It is not just a feeling. It
is talking about being led by the Holy Ghost as described
in Romans 8:26. He is compassion. There it says that the
Holy Spirit will move within us with groanings which
cannot be uttered.

Gloria Copeland

According to 2 Corinthians 1:3, God is “the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God
of all comfort.” If you study this verse, you will see what
the Spirit of God is saying through the Apostle Paul. He
is saying, Jesus Christ is mercy and comfort. Take hold of
that. Simply put, mercy and comfort express who Jesus is.
God is saying the same thing when He says He is both the
Father of Jesus and the Father of mercy and comfort.

The Son of God did not come to judge us or to teach
us something through hurt and pain. He came in mercy
and comfort to bring us the Father’s mercies—salvation,
deliverance, healing and more.

Ephesians 2: 4-6 says: “But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
(by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Together with Christ we were brought to life! Mercy
did it. It made us alive. We can say that “When we were
dead in sin, He made us alive together with mercy.” Why?
Because God is love, and when we say that, we are also
saying He is mercy and compassion. Because these words
are exact substitutes for one another, we can also say that
God “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together
in heavenly places in mercy and comfort.”

As joint heirs with Jesus Christ, we are able to sit together
with Him and partake of His inheritance. This
means we share in His ministry of mercy. We become
mercy and comfort as He is. In His Name, we have a command
to take mercy and comfort to the rest of the world.

If we understand mercy in this light, then we can
gain an idea of how great and powerful His mercy is. Too
often we have looked at the word mercy like it meant pity
or sympathy—a weak thing. The voice of sympathy says,
“Oh, I wish there was something we could do.” But mercy
and compassion use faith and say, “There is something we
can do. We will pray in the Name of Jesus.”

Mercy and compassion act. Nothing is too great for
them. Faith works by love and God is love.

Gloria Copeland

The mercy of God is a celebration of love. In the
Hebrew language, mercy, love and compassion all
come from the same word, so when you say God is
love, you are also saying He is mercy and compassion.
We have had the idea that God is just love. God is
also mercy—the kindness that gives help to the most
undeserving. He is also compassion—the desire to bear
and relieve another’s distress.

The combination of mercy, love and compassion form the
identity of God Himself. Mercy is not a thing and compassion
is not a feeling. Together, they manifest a person. When
these three qualities demonstrated themselves in the Son of
God, they became a powerful force.

In His ministry, Jesus fully expressed the inner
character and nature of His Father each time He acted
in mercy. He gave us a revelation that mercy, love and
compassion are a person.

Consider these three scriptures as the foundation
for studying mercy in Jesus’ ministry: Psalm 145:8-9;
2 Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 2:4.

Psalm 145:8-9 says: “The Lord is gracious, and full of
compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The
Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all
his works.” The fact that mercy is over all God’s works
is important. Mercy, not wrath and power, motivates
God to act. It covers every work He performs, and it
is the reason He does everything.

The Bible not only proclaims the power of God, but
also gives us a picture—a revelation—of His mercy.

For instance, if you were to compare a father with his
small son, you could easily see which of the two is the
stronger. But the only way to get a picture of the love this
man has for his son is to see him in action, exercising his
power of protection over the child. It is this open display of
mercy that allows us to see this father’s love.

Gloria Copeland

We need to learn to act on what God’s Word says and
take hold of His mercy like this woman did. We need to
learn to place our faith in the mercy of God, especially
when we sin. The devil will come along and accuse us,
telling us how bad we are for sinning when he is the one
that caused us to do it! This is the time to exercise our faith
in God’s tender mercy.

Second Peter 1:4 says that through His exceeding great
and precious promises, we become partakers of His divine
nature. His nature is mercy and compassion. We must
stand on 1 John 1:9 which says that “If we confess our sins,
he (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Don’t be moved by feelings of guilt after having
acted on God’s Word. Stand on it in faith. Stop putting
your faith in the way you feel, and begin putting your
trust in His tender mercy. Release your faith in His grace
and compassion.

Here are four ways to do that:

1. Put the Word first place. Make it the final authority
in your life, and change your thinking to agree
with it. When the Word says, “If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us,” begin to have
faith in that. Begin to incline your ear to that Word
and act on it even when you don’t feel like it.

2. Meditate on God’s mercy. Keep your mind on
Jesus and His mercy. Don’t think about all the
failure and bad things you’ve done. If you have
never done a good thing in your life, do one before
the day is over, and think on it. Remind yourself
that God did not get down on you when you were a
sinner, and He’s not going to get down on you now
that you are His child.

You cannot hide your mistakes from God when
you fail, but you can see His mercy following you,
and you can see yourself yielding to it. Meditate
on running to Him when you sin. Then think
about this. “How has my life changed since I have
believed that His mercy follows me forever? What
can I do to stand on the mercy of God?”

Do not meditate on fear. All fear is selfish
and is not of love. That makes it a sin. Worry is
fear because it is a self-centered concern that
always causes you to be afraid of “What’s going to
happen to me?” The way to cast it out is to replace
it with thoughts on love. The Bible says, “…perfect
love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18). The more you
meditate on love, the less worried about yourself
you will be because you have mercy and goodness
following you.

3. Act on the Word. As you meditate on it, the Word
will begin casting out fear. As you are released from
fear, you will begin to look for opportunities to act
on your faith. The more deeply rooted you become
in God’s Word, the more you will desire for Jesus to
bring people across your path so that you can pray
for them and see Him raise them up. Remember
faith always acts before seeing the results.

4. Make a decision to live the life of love. When
we live the life of love, we become vulnerable,
but God knows that. The Apostle Paul wrote in
Romans 8:36 that to the world we are considered
lambs to the slaughter. However, he also said, “…we
are more than conquerors through him that loved
us” (v. 37). First Corinthians 13:8 says love never fails.
He becomes our shield and protection.

Gloria Copeland

When I made a decision to live my life based on my place
in Jesus Christ, I had to take that place by faith. I couldn’t
earn it. Jesus of Nazareth hung on a cross and paid for
it so I could receive it freely. So when I say, “By His
stripes I am healed,” I am not just quoting a verse of
scripture. It is a statement of where I stand in Him.

If someone were to ask me, “How are you?” I would
say, “Great!” even though physically I may feel very
sick. I am not talking to you from my place in the natural
realm. I am speaking to you based on my position in Jesus
Christ. The Word is absolutely true, and I am speaking and
acting accordingly. Therefore, I believe what I say comes
to pass. I am speaking by faith to exercise that faith and
change my physical condition.

I speak to you based on the Word of God, not my
physical body. His Word is a higher authority than my
body. In doing this, I am putting pressure on the scripture
that says, “By His stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). I
am putting my faith in the Word of God by obeying what
Jesus said: “He shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23).
These scriptures are strong and they will uphold us.

Christians have often misunderstood the confession
of faith because it is hard for them to call things that are
not as though they were. But the Bible says this is what
God does.

One lady I know was rolled up in a ball with muscular
dystrophy when her family took her back to the hospital to
die. They had to carry her in a sheet because she could not
move, but she would not leave the house unless someone
would get her shoes. She said, “Go get my shoes or I am not
going! When Jesus raises me up, I don’t want to walk on
those cold hospital floors in my bare feet.”

They got her shoes and took her to the hospital.
Jesus appeared to that woman in the middle of the night
and raised her up. They said when her bones and body
straightened out it sounded like somebody shooting a gun
in that room.

Gloria Copeland

God promises us His mercy, but as believers, we must act as though His Word is true, or we will never have any faith in it. You can lay a Bible on the table and say, “Oh, this is a holy book.” But if you never depend on what God says in it and act on it, its power will never be released in your life. Holy things are not fragile. You can stand on God’s Word when all else looks like it is going to fail.

Realize that you must place your faith in the Word of God for His will to come to pass for you. You must exercise faith in His mercy to receive mercy just as you exerted faith in the law of salvation to get born again. For example, a man could die and go to hell after spending every Sunday of his life in church, if he never placed any action on his belief.

Romans 10:17 says: “…faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Because the Bible is our source of faith, you must hear what the Word of God says about faith in order to develop it. In the same way, if you want to exercise your faith in the mercy of God, you must study and meditate on what the Word of God says concerning His mercy.

Some Christians don’t know what they have in the new birth. They have heard the message of the Cross and received faith to be born again, but haven’t heard what the Word says about salvation for this life—for today and tomorrow. If they had, they would have discovered that they are already in Christ Jesus, and have received His worthiness to be in the Father’s presence. They would begin to understand that God is not looking at them except through eyes of mercy and grace. He sees us in Jesus—in His worthiness.

Gloria Copeland

As our Shepherd, Jesus has invited us to a banquet
table laid out in the presence of the devil and all of hell,
where we can feast upon the provisions of His tender
mercies. Psalm 23:5-6 says: “Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my
head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

Jesus is not talking about the marriage supper of the
Lamb or any heavenly feast, because none of our enemies
are present in heaven. He is referring to an earthly
celebration where we can come and feed on the meat
of God’s Word at His table. We come to that banquet by
an act of our will, by faith. Verse four says: “Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil.”

Instead of enjoying the tremendous feast, most people
want to get underneath the banquet table and eat the
crumbs because they feel so undeserving. God has trouble
getting them to receive what He has provided. They forget
that although Jesus is the only one worthy of being there,
He has extended His mercy to us and paid the price that
we might eat with Him.

Remember what Psalm 23 says: “Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” Can you see
what God is saying? It is a sure thing that His mercy and
goodness will follow us. His mercy is with us through
the good and the bad in our lives. And if His mercy is
continually following us, then think how easy it is for
us to stop and embrace it.

Gloria Copeland