It’s time to talk about a life of love. Of course, when say “love” here, I’m not talking about the emotional counterfeit the world calls love. That kind of love is dependent on circumstances and feelings.
God’s love isn’t like that. It’s constant. It’s unconditional. The chief ingredient of the God-kind of love is self-sacrifice for the benefit of the one loved. It continues to love people whether or not it receives a response. Divine love is not self-seeking. It is self-giving.
God doesn’t just love the lovely. He loves the unlovely, too. No matter how bad or mean someone might be, if they’ll turn to Him, He’ll cleanse them and forgive them.
That’s the way God loves us! We see the way He loves us in detail in 1 Corinthians 13:

Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails… (verses 4-8, The Amplified Bible).

Faith is believing God’s Word enough to act on it. James 2:26 says, “…faith without works is dead also.” Weymouth says, “For just as a human body without a spirit is lifeless, so also faith is lifeless without obedience.” Faith is acting on God’s Word.

Abraham is a great example of obedience and faith. In Genesis 12:1, God told Abraham to get out of his country and go away from his relatives to a land that He would show him:

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.

Verse 4 of this chapter then says, “So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him….”

When the Lord told Abraham that he would have seed as numerous as the stars, the Bible says, “And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Abraham and Sarah had never been able to have children, even in their youth. The same day God promised him seed, He made a covenant with Abraham (whose name at the time was Abram) declaring “unto thy seed have I given this land…” (Genesis 15:18).

Later God changed his name from Abram to Abraham which meant “father of many nations.” Therefore, every time Abraham declared his new name saying, “I am Abraham,” he was declaring, “I am the father of many nations!”

Isaac was the result of Abraham’s believing what God said to him, even though it was a natural impossibility for him to have a son. Romans 4:3 says, “…Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform (Romans 4:13, 16-21).

Gloria Copeland

God has always desired a people who would choose to walk with Him—to follow Him and to come into agreement with Himin the earth.

Generation after generation He has desired a people He could elevate to such a place that all the nations of the world would know they were the ones He had blessed.

But there has always been a problem. It existed in the Garden of Eden and was in the children of Israel in the wilderness. To a great extent, it’s in the Church today. The problem? Disobedient people.

Under the old covenant, the people had to be obedient by keeping the Law diligently, with their souls—their minds, wills and emotions.

Under the new covenant, we’re to keep God’s Word not only with our souls, but with our hearts (our spirits). It’s so much easier for us to be obedient to God than it was for them because we have a new heart, born again in the image and nature of God.

More than ever, we should be obedient to Him because now we don’t have to walk according to Old Testament law, but in newness of our born-again spirits. We’ve been reborn to be obedient.

While we’re here on the earth, we must do what we can for God. This includes being obedient and victorious in every area of our lives.

Jesus knew this when He was a man on the earth. He was raised among people who knew they had to obey the voice of God and keep His statutes. He learned what the prophets of God before Him had said, and began a walk of perfect obedience.

Gloria Copeland

Once you’ve made the decision to finish your race, there’s one other element of spiritual aggressiveness to put into motion. Patience.

Patience doesn’t sound very aggressive, does it? But it is. In Hebrews 12:1-2 Paul says we are to run our race with patience and without encumbrance: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith….”

Think about those Olympic runners. Think of them pushing themselves to the limit, focusing on the goal, training themselves day after day—with what? With patience! In the Greek, that word means “steady continuance.”

Patience means you don’t quit. You keep doing what you know to do. Sometimes you may not see results for a while. But eventually, if you keep pressing, you’ll get there. As Kenneth E. Hagin said, “God doesn’t settle up every Saturday night, but He does settle up.”

Weights and sin are two different things. But both of them must be removed if we’re going to continue running.

Weights are things that pull you down into the natural realm when you ought to be soaring in the Spirit. So let go of whatever holds you back! Press into the Spirit and run.

Sin is revealed by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit’s conviction. You know when you have sinned. Confess
it. Deal with it, so you can run. Lay it aside and get
back on track.

Gloria Copeland

Now, think again about that question I asked you earlier. How much do you want to succeed in life? Enough to change what you’re saying? Enough to change where your attention is focused? Enough to act on the Word of God even when the rest of the world is telling you it will never work?

If you want it that much, the Word of God guarantees you’ll get your fill of success in life. Good success. Not the kind the world gives, but God’s own brand of success.

Success the world’s way has a price tag of misery attached to it. But Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”

I will warn you of this, though. Satan won’t like it if you choose the way of success. He’ll do whatever he can to stop you, and since he knows God’s success formula, he knows exactly what tactics to use.

He’ll pressure you to say negative things. He’ll try to distract you from the Word and get your attention on anything—it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it isn’t the Word.

His goal is to stop your faith. He knows it’s the only force that can cause impossible situations to change.

He also knows that it comes from the Word of God. So when he sees that Word going in your heart and hears it coming out your mouth, he doesn’t just sit there. He starts talking. Doubtful thoughts will come into your mind, thoughts that are just the opposite of what God’s Word says.

But those thoughts don’t become yours unless you believe them and speak them. That’s what he wants you to do, of course. If the Word says you’re healed, he’ll tell you you’re sick. If the Word says you’re forgiven, he’ll say you’re still guilty. If the Word says your needs are met, he’ll tell you they’re not.

But if you won’t let go, if you keep the Word in your mouth and in your heart, you can’t lose. There’s no force the devil can bring against you that will overcome the Word of God. It will make you a winner every time.

So if you’ve been wanting good success and it’s been eluding you, quit wondering whether you have what it takes to make it—and remember instead Who is with you. Then turn to the Word of God and put God’s success formula to work in your life. Start talking it. Start thinking it. Start doing it.

Before long, you won’t be chasing success…it will be chasing you!

Gloria Copeland

One of the greatest enemies of real faith is a thing I call mental assent. People who operate in mental assent read the Word and think they believe it, but when pressure comes, they don’t act on it.

Mental assenters say, “I believe the Bible from cover to cover. I believe I’m healed by the stripes of Jesus because the Bible says so.”

But when sickness actually comes and attacks their bodies, they stop saying, “By His stripes I’m healed,” and start saying, “I’m sick.”

Real faith believes what the Word says even though your eyes and your feelings tell you something different. Faith doesn’t care what the symptoms are. It doesn’t care what the circumstances look like. It’s not moved by what the banker or the doctor or the lawyer or the bill collector says.

Faith in God’s Word will change the symptoms. It will change the bank. It will bring the money to get the bills paid. Faith will turn every defeat into victory. It is God’s success formula!

But you have to give that faith an opportunity to work. You have to keep God’s Word in your mouth and meditate on it in your heart “that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success” (AMP).

Gloria Copeland

The final step of God’s success formula involves action. We must act as though the Word we’ve been talking and meditating is true—even when circumstances seem to say otherwise.

If that puzzles you, read what Jesus said in Mark 11:

Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, 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. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall
have them (verses 22-24).

Notice Jesus didn’t say we should believe we’ve received what we ask for when we see it. He said to believe you receive when you pray.

Now, if you follow His instructions, how do you think you’re going to act? Are you going to walk around all depressed and joyless? Are you going to stand around wringing your hands worrying?

No! You’re going to rejoice and praise God for the answer to your prayer. You’re going to act like you’ve already received it.

Right here is where many people miss it. They know God’s Word works, but they fail to act on it.

You may have been studying the Word for 20 years. You may know how to live by faith better than anyone around. But, remember, it’s not what you know that will bring you through in victory—it’s what you do.

You can walk in faith consistently through 10 trials that come your way and experience great success. Yet on the 11th one, if you neglect to act on the Word, you’ll fail. Although the string of victories in your past is a wonderful thing, it’s what you do today that will get you through today’s test or trial.

Gloria Copeland

That brings us to the second step of God’s success formula. “You shall meditate on it [the Word] day and night” (AMP).

When you meditate God’s Word, you’re going to do more than just read it. You’re going to take it into your heart in a very personal way and apply it to your own situation.

When you read a scripture about the blessing of prosperity, for example, you won’t think, Hey, that sounds nice, but I could never have it. Instead, you’ll apply it to yourself and say, “Hallelujah! That’s God’s Word to me. He says He’ll meet my needs liberally according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, and I’m expecting Him to do that in my situation!”

If you’ve been reading the Bible like a history book, make a change and begin to see it as God talking directly to you. Take time to meditate on it. Think about it. Digest it. Take it so personally that it moves from your head to your heart, and it will become powerful and active in your life.

Gloria Copeland

“This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth.” That’s the first element of supernatural success God gives us in this verse. I like to say it this way: Talk the Word.

When I say talk the Word, I don’t mean just every now and then when you’re feeling spiritual. I mean continually. In Deuteronomy 6:7, God said you should talk His Word “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (NIV).

That’s pretty much all the time, isn’t it? At home, at work, in the grocery store—wherever you are—keep the Word of God in your mouth.

Romans 10:17 tells us that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” So when you’re continually talking about what God says, what He’ll do and what His promises are, you’re going to be growing in faith because you’re hearing the Word from yourself all the time.

Some people find it hard to talk the Word that much. They just can’t seem to do it! If you’re one of them, let me tell you why that is.

Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh (Luke 6:45). If you’re focusing most of your attention on natural things—watching secular television, going to the movies, thinking about worldly matters, worrying about your job and family—then that’s what is going to be in your heart in abundance. And that’s what you’re going to talk about.

To change what’s coming out your mouth, you must refocus your attention. Turn it toward God’s Word and keep it there. Fill your heart with an abundance of the Word, and your mouth will get in line.

Gloria Copeland

Although it’s great to know God is hooked up with you, that He never leaves you nor forsakes you, before He can release His power on your behalf, you have to be hooked up with Him in return. The way you do that is by obeying His Word. Joshua 1:7 says: “Only you be strong, and very courageous, that you may do according to all the law, which Moses My servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go” (AMP).

Do you know obeying the Word is an act of courage? It really is, because when you obey the Word and believe God in a situation, you’re swimming upstream. You’re going against the current of the world.

When most of the people and all the circumstances around you are screaming unbelief in your ears, it takes courage to stand on God’s Word and not be moved. But once you make the decision to do it, you’ll be ready to activate God’s three-part formula for success.

You’ll find it spelled out in Joshua 1:8: “[1] This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, [2] but you shall meditate on it day and night, [3] that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success” (AMP).

There they are. Three simple steps directly from the mouth of God. Steps that enabled Joshua to conquer the land of Canaan and bring Israel into its inheritance. Steps that will enable you to live like the conqueror God designed you to be.

Let’s look at them one by one.

Gloria Copeland