BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

In verse 27, Jesus gave us this command: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Now, if you're going to operate in power, that means you're going to have to keep that command. In other words, when all kinds of chaos seem to break loose around you, you'll have to refuse to panic. You'll have to be willing to say to your heart, “Heart, you're not going to be troubled and you're not going to be afraid in any situation and particularly not in this one I'm facing right now. Jesus said not to do it, and I'm going to keep His command!" “Oh, Brother Copeland, I don't think I could do that!" Yes, you can. And when you do, you'll have put the first part of God's supernatural power package to work in your life. Part 2: Speaking the Name Once you make up your mind to keep the commands of Jesus, and begin to allow The WORD to dwell in you richly, the Name of Jesus will become something far more powerful to you. It will become more than just a word. It will become a force that will cause every circumstance and every demon that tries to stand in your way to bow its knee to your command. I tell you, the Name of Jesus works. There is far greater power in it than any of us have yet realized. As Philippians 2:9-10 says, God has given Jesus “a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth"! Every prayer I utter is in His Name. My faith is so set on the authority of the Name of Jesus, there are times I just say, “In the Name" and the power of God comes on the scene. In fact, I've discovered that the Name of Jesus—just the Name alone—is effective when spoken by a WORD-abiding believer. It doesn't need a lot of other fancy words to go with it. Revelation 19:13 says the Name of Jesus is The WORD of God! So, when an evil spirit is trying to bring sickness, poverty, depression or any other garbage into my household, I don't have to quote every scripture I know to stop him. I can just point my finger at him and say, “Jesus!" That's like throwing the whole WORD of God in his face at one time! Part 3: Living the Love Letting The WORD of God abide in you, and speaking the Name of Jesus. They are two parts of a power package that can absolutely tear the devil's kingdom apart. And although those two are vital, always remember it's a three-part package. And it won't work without all three parts. Jesus tells us what the third part is in John 15:12-13: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Love. That's the power charge of this whole package. The rest is simply no good without it. And though I realize that keeping the law of love could be included in the first step we talked about (after all, it is the first and foremost command Jesus gave us), I think we need to talk about it separately, because so many believers neglect to do it. I'm talking about believers who can quote tremendous amounts of Scripture and who may speak the Name of Jesus 35 or 40 times a day, yet they're rough and insensitive to the needs of their friends and family. They're so busy “serving God,” they don't have time to serve people. They're often critical of others in the Body of Christ. And they'll fuss and fight with each other at a moment's notice. Strife is their hallmark. Such folks are not only devoid of real spiritual power, the Bible says they are spiritually foolish. Look at 1 Corinthians 2:14 and you'll see what I mean. There, the Apostle Paul addresses the Corinthian believers about their lack of love, saying: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” In 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, he said, “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ…. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" In other words, Paul was saying strife will bring you down to the level of the unbeliever. It will dull your spirit until you can't see or understand spiritual things! You may have been saved 45 years. You may talk in tongues all day long. But if you've got strife in your heart and you're not living by the love commandment of Jesus, spiritual things are foolishness to you. And as long as spiritual things are foolishness to you, satan is going to do with you just about anything he wants to. When you're in that condition, the Name of Jesus won't work. Faith won't work. Prophecy won't work. The word of wisdom won't work. In fact, none of the gifts of the Spirit will work if you don't have love! First Corinthians 13 says so. Do you want to see the incredible power of God released through your life? Then you're going to have to love one another. You're going to have to stop arguing and criticizing and start laying down your life—for your wife...and your kids...and your pastor...and even that bunch down at the church that has their doctrine all wrong. Love is the power charge. You can lay hands on people until you rub all the hair off their heads. You can shout the Name of Jesus until you're hoarse. But if you aren't obeying the commandment of love, you're not going to see anything happen at all. God's power package just won't work without it. We've put up with this power failure long enough. We've whined and cried and begged God to fix it. We've done almost everything except what Jesus told us to do. But, starting today, you and I can change all that. We can make up our minds to let The WORD dwell richly within us. We can set our hearts on keeping the commands of Jesus. And we can begin to speak His Name with confidence and authority. And, most important of all, we can begin to love one another. Then, instead of asking, Where is the power? we can answer boldly—“It’s here, and, praise God, it's beginning to flow!” V BVOV : 25

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