Joshua and Caleb held onto their confession of, “We can
take the land” for 40 years, until they were both 80 years
old. Then Caleb said to Joshua, who was their spiritual
leader, “Give me that mountain. I can take the land.” His
confession had remained unchanged.

Caleb knew of the faithfulness and mercy of God. It
motivated him to draw closer to God instead of running
from Him. He was convinced his God was able. When we
get a revelation of mercy and obtain it for ourselves we will
begin to speak it out in faith. That’s when mercy begins to
explode and manifest itself outwardly.

It all comes down to this: God’s original plan was for
man to live in close communion with Him. But after Adam
sinned, this was no longer possible. God could only deal
with man at arm’s length. Fellowship was impossible.

But, the Father had mercy on man and sent His only
Son to be our Savior and Redeemer. Through His death
and resurrection, Jesus restored us to our rightful place in
God’s original plan—a place of fellowship and communion
with the Father.

As joint heirs through Christ’s saving power, we have the
right to God’s mercy and all that goes with it. So, take
advantage of this gift from God. Ignite the power of mercy
in your life by spending time in prayer and fellowship with
the Father. Study His Word. Take hold of the promises found
in His Word, and by faith speak your needs into being. Confess
and believe in His power. If you do these things, God’s mercy
will continually be manifest in your life. For His mercy
endureth…forever!

Gloria Copeland

If we are having trouble keeping our confession of
faith, we need to take hold of mercy. Obtaining mercy
will enable us to be faithful to God. Paul illustrated this
in 1 Corinthians 7:25. In dealing with family affairs in
the Church, he said, “Now concerning virgins I have
no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment,
as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.”

It was the revelation of mercy that caused Paul to be
faithful to God. It was as if he said, “I’ve never received
a commandment of God in this, but I am faithful enough
to God and He is faithful enough to me that I know how
He thinks about it, and I will just go ahead and tell you.”
Paul knew that obtaining the mercy of God would keep
men from fainting and preserve their faith.

The Apostle Peter acknowledged the scriptural truth
of what Paul said and continued the same thought when
he wrote 2 Corinthians 4:1: “Therefore seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking
in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully;
but by manifestation of the truth….”

Have you ever fainted in the middle of your confession
of faith and said, “Dear God, I just can’t hold on to this any
longer. I don’t think I can continue to stand up. I have been
confessing this thing for weeks and weeks. How long am
I going to have to do it?” If you have come to that place,
remember Ephesians 6:13 says, “Wherefore take unto you
the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand
in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand
therefore….” If you are ready to stand forever, you won’t be
there very long.

Gloria Copeland

The words we speak are important. Holding onto our
confession of the living Word will ignite the mercy of God!
Hebrews 4:12-14 says:

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and
sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of
the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there
any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but
all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of
him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that
we have a greater high priest, that is passed into
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast
our profession.

We are to keep a faithful confession based on the
Word of God. We can do that because our High Priest has
already been touched with the “feelings of our infirmities”
and “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without
sin” (Hebrews 4:15). On that basis, we are to come boldly
to the throne of grace and as verse 16 says “obtain mercy”
through the mercy of our High Priest, Jesus.

If we cling to confessions of how bad we feel and do not
take hold of mercy, we are not igniting the dynamite. We
are igniting some other force that we did not want to blow.
The wrong words give the devil power he does not rightfully
possess. It is like holding an explosive and giving him the
match. When we confess sickness and disease, we let him
blow us away with our own guns.

The spiritual law of the Word of God is in Mark
11:23 where Jesus said: “That whosoever
shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be
thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart,
but shall believe that those things which he saith shall
come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”

That law works on the negative side, as well as the
positive side. If Satan had any power, he wouldn’t have
to use deception. He would just kill us. But, since he is
powerless, the only thing he can do is deceive us by lying
to us. He tries to work and put us into an area where we
will make the wrong confession. If he can get us to say, “I’m
so bored. I’m so no-good. Oh, I’ll never make it. Oh God, I’m
so sick and tired,” he knows we can have whatever we say.

Gloria Copeland