BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

* * * * article from p. 26 continues * * * * “But Gloria,” you might say, “I don’t see why that kind of press should be necessary for me as a New Testament believer. I’m a citizen of God’s kingdom. Why should I have to fight to lay hold of His BLESSINGS? Why doesn’t He just give them to me?” He has given them to you! He’s BLESSED you with “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). He’s provided for you every BLESSING in the Bible and they’re all waiting for you now in the realm of the spirit. You just have to reach out and take them. How do you do that? By faith. As Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for….” It’s what brings physical materiality to God’s Word in this natural realm. It’s what causes THE BLESSINGS that are stored up for you in heaven to manifest on earth so you can touch them, see them, feel them, wear them, drive them and enjoy them. Simple…but Not Easy Acquiring faith is relatively simple. It comes “by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). But walking in it isn’t easy. It always involves a press because it’s contrary to the ways of the world. The world trains you to be negative. It teaches you to think and speak doubt and unbelief. To walk by faith, you have to press through that negative training. You have to break a lot of old habits. You have to resist the downward pull of the world, believe what God says and do things His way. You also have to resist the devil. He’s here on this earth and he’s on a mission to steal, kill and destroy. So, as soon as you step out in faith, he always shows up to throw obstacles in your way and tell you God’s Word won’t work for you. When he does, you have to take authority over him in the Name of Jesus. You have to rebuke him and cast down the ungodly doubts and imaginations he tries to plant in your mind. First Timothy 6:12 refers to resisting the flesh, the world and the devil as fighting “the good fight of faith.” It says that’s how we “lay hold on” the abundant, kingdom of God kind of life. Sadly, many lovely, sweet, precious Christians don’t want to engage in this fight. They want God to do everything for them. They want Him to heal them while they just lie in bed, talking about how sick they are. They want Him to prosper them and get the devil off them, while they’re sitting around watching soap operas on TV. But that’s not how God’s kingdom works. It works the way Jesus said: “Seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides” (Matthew 6:33, "AMPC"). This is how you walk in God’s BLESSINGS! You seek Him in His Word. You find out His ways of doing and being right and put them into action. As you believe, speak and do what He says, the kingdom of God on the inside of you starts coming out and changing the elements around you. His dominion is released through you, and His BLESSINGS start showing up in your body, your family, your bank account and your circumstances. I’m not saying everything will change all at once. But if you’ll press in to God, before long you’ll begin to see a difference in your life. Regardless of where you are or what’s going on around you, your conditions will start to improve. Ken and I have seen it happen even in the lives of people who are in prison. I remember one man we heard from was locked up in a maximum-security unit when he got born again and started learning about faith. An old outlaw biker, his ways were about as far from God’s ways as they could possibly be. But he saw in the Bible that God would supply his needs, so he believed God for some money. Sure enough, after a few days, his mother (whom he hadn’t heard from in five years!) sent him a letter with some money in it. The next thing he believed for was to get out of maximum security. That required a bigger fight of faith. Because of his background, he didn’t feel like he was worthy to get out of that place. He felt like he was nothing but trash. But he latched on to God’s Word and pressed through those negative thoughts. He took a stand of faith, and a short while later he was transferred out of the maximum-security unit into a much better situation. 28 : BVOV

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