BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

I remember one time before we got into the ministry, when I was struggling with depression because I hadn’t obeyed God’s call to preach, I got mad about something and just blew up at her. I hollered and blustered, but she never said a word. She just stood there looking at me. Then suddenly, I kind of separated from myself and heard what I was saying. As scripturally illiterate as I was, I realized I was wrong and I stopped. Sitting down on the couch I said, “Oh Gloria, forgive me! Forgive me!” Then, oddly, I fell over on my side and went into what seemed to me a deep sleep. I just slept for a few minutes, but I woke up feeling like I’d slept for hours, and found Gloria sitting right next to me praying for me in tongues. We could have had a knock-down, drag-out fight that day! She could have gotten right back in my face and said, “You aren’t talking to me like that, you fat-mouth so-and-so! I’m getting out of here and going back to Arkansas!” and I would have reacted in kind and it would have been the end. But instead, it turned into a beginning. I opened my eyes and saw her there praying and said, “Gloria, I have to preach.” “I know it,” she said. “Let’s go!” and she’s been saying that ever since. Over the years I’ve learned to follow her example. Although it took me longer than it should have, I kept going back to what The WORD says about love until that love ripped out the fear and anger that had gotten hold of me as a kid. I kept practicing until, like the wonderful wife God has given me, I got to where I could walk with Jesus in love. You can get to the same place…and if you’re already there you can keep on developing in it. You can keep meditating on Love Himself, on who He is and how He thinks, until you think like He does. (He thinks love all the time.) You can keep pressing in closer to Him and, like the Apostle John did, call yourself the disciple whom Jesus loves (John 21:7). If you’ll do that, when trouble looms instead of getting scared and saying, “LORD, don’t You care? Why are You letting this happen to me?” you can just start laughing. You can say, “Devil, you can’t threaten me with that!” and keep right on walking in faith and living as an overcomer—loved and unafraid! V * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Tap Into the Reserve by Jerry Savelle Are you expecting God to do something big in your life in the coming year? You should be. The Lord has made it clear that He has things in reserve for us that we haven’t yet experienced. God has always been good to us, but we have yet to see all the goodness that’s about to be poured out. Praise God, we’re about to tap into the reserve! Psalm 31:19 tells us there’s a reserve for the children of God: “Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!” That’s exciting! Goodness has been laid up for those of us who fear and revere God. Isaiah 64:4 reiterates this, promising that God has great things prepared for us. It says, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). That phrase, “riches in glory,” indicates there is a reservoir—a large and vast supply that’s immense, unusually great, and boundless—laid up and prepared for us. That’s what God has for you and for me. No one has yet tapped into all that the reservoir contains. We’ve experienced a bit of it throughout the years, but there is so much more to come. And here’s what I’m hearing the Spirit of God say: 'The reserves are opening.' Get ready because we are about to experience the goodness of God like never before! Paul says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). * * * * * article continues on p 10 * * * * BVOV : 9

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