Gloria Copeland

As you fight the good fight of faith today, remember this: Your mind is where the battle will take place. Whatever you allow to captivate your mind will rule your life. Will it be the Word of God or the lies of Satan?

The decision is yours.

If you want the Word to reign, make up your mind now to resist the devil when he comes to plant doubts within you. Refuse to surrender to the circumstantial pressure he brings your way. Decide at the outset that you will not succumb to this trial. Dig your heels in and stand immovable upon the promises of God.

Few things in the Bible have created more fuss than the issue of speaking in tongues. Churches have split over it. People have been persecuted for doing it. People have even been killed for it.

Who's behind all the trouble? Satan himself. He's so frightened of our ability to pray in tongues that he's continually trying to steal it from us through persecution and strife.

You see, the devil knows (even if we don't) that praying in tongues is the only way you and I can pray beyond what we know. It's the tool God has given us to use to tap into the mind of the Spirit.

Have you been praying that God will let you know whether a certain action you want to take is agreeable to His will or not? Let this peace of Christ be your guide. Let it help you settle the issue. If you start to take that action and you realize you don't have peace about it, don't do it.

Notice that this scripture instructs us to give thanks in all things, not for all things. When tragedy or temptation strikes, we are not to thank God for them. He is not their author. He's the One who provides our way of escape from them. And that's what we're to thank Him for.

If you read the four Gospels, you'll find that Jesus never gave thanks for sickness or death. Instead, when He encountered them, His response was to overcome them by God's power. So give thanks as Jesus gave thanks—not for Satan's activities but for the victory God has given you over them.

The Greek word translated afflicted doesn't mean the result of sickness and disease. It means "troubled."

If you're in trouble, you need to pray. That's what the Word says. Notice it didn't say your pastor needs to pray for you or your friends need to pray for you. It says you need to pray.

Too often we try to find a quick fix to our problems by asking everyone else to pray for us. There's nothing wrong, of course, with having others pray for you, but you'll never get your life to a place of permanent victory until you begin to pray yourself.

God is called by many names. He is the Lord our Healer, our Provider, our Banner and our Righteousness. He also promises to be our Deliverer. In this troubled world that may very well be what we need Him to be most often.

We're created to praise God. Some people don't know that. When the praise service starts, they sit back and say, "I'm not comfortable with all that singing and shouting. I guess praise is just not my thing."

Yes, it is! According to the Bible, if you breathe, you were meant to praise.

And don't try to slip by with saying, "Well, I have praise in my heart." That's not enough. The Word says you need to have it in your mouth as well (Psalms 34:1)! Psalm 132:9 says, "Let thy saints shout for joy." You can't shout and be quiet at the same time.