BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Fear not…and believe the Bible instead of worrying about the bad reports. Fear not…and believe THE BLESSING that’s yours in Christ Jesus will cause you to triumph over trouble, because the God who backs that BLESSING not only loves you, He IS Love—and love never fails! “Well, Brother Copeland, you just don’t understand what I’m facing. It’s really serious. I can’t help but be a little bit afraid.” Yes, you can! And if you want your faith to work, you must, because fear and faith are opposites. It’s impossible to have both at the same time. Fear tolerated is faith contaminated. Therefore, to walk in the faith that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4) you must get rid of the fear. Jesus made this clear in Mark 5 when He was ministering to Jairus. As you may remember if you’ve read the story, Jairus had come to Jesus to request healing for his dying daughter. He had fallen at Jesus’ feet and made a declaration of faith. “Come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live” (verse 23). Jesus responded to his faith and even though multitudes were pressing in all around Him, He began walking with Jairus toward his house. Before they got there though, the woman with the issue of blood pressed through the crowd and interrupted their journey. She touched Jesus by faith, received her healing, and Jesus stopped for a while to hear her story. As it turned out, that woman could really talk! She told about how she’d been sick for 12 years…how she’d gone to doctor after doctor and rather than getting better had only gotten worse…and how the whole ordeal had devastated her financially. When she was finished, Jesus ministered to her and said, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole” (verse 34). While He was speaking to her, someone ran up to Jairus, who was still standing there waiting, and delivered the worst possible news. “Thy daughter is dead,” he said, “why troublest thou the Master any further?” Before Jairus could answer, Jesus answered for him. “Be not afraid, only believe,” He said. In Luke’s account in Chapter 8, Jesus said, “Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole” (verse 50). Notice Jesus didn’t say, “I’ll understand if you’re scared about this, but try not to fear, son.” He spoke to him bluntly, in the form of a command. He said, “Stop the fear! Believe only, and your daughter will be made whole.” What did Jairus do? He obeyed Jesus! Instead of reacting like a lot of Christians today and saying, “Stop the fear? Are you kidding me? They just told me my baby is dead!” he kept quiet and stayed with his faith, and sure enough his daughter was raised up. Jairus wasn’t even born again when he did that! He didn’t have the advantage we have as New Covenant believers. He only knew Jesus in His earthly ministry. We know Jesus as our resurrected LORD and Redeemer. We know Him as the One who became our substitute and took all our sins on Himself, as Hebrews 2 says: “For the suffering of death…that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.… That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (verses 9, 14-15). ***** article continues on next page **** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Points to Get You There: 1) Faith gives you the power to triumph over anything the world or the devil can throw at you. 1 John 5:4 2) Fear tolerated is faith contaminated, so to stay in faith you must get rid of fear. Mark 5:36 3) All fear stems from the fear of death, and Jesus delivered you from that fear when He went to the cross. Hebrews 2:14 4) Believing and walking in God’s love is the key to living fear free. 1 John 4:18 5) You can slam the door on the devil in every situation by staying in faith and practicing love. 1 John 4:16 BVOV : 5

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