BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

words on faith by Kenneth Copeland Don’t Think Like the World “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 If you think like the world thinks, eventually you will act like the world acts. Unrestrained thoughts produce unrestrained actions. So control your thoughts by bringing them into obedience to the Scriptures. Program your mind with The WORD of God. The WORD is spirit and it is life. When your mind is totally saturated with The WORD of God, your will becomes strong to exercise authority to overcome every ungodly thought and evil habit. Don’t let satan deceive you into sacrificing the glory of God in your life for a few moments of self-indulgence and sin. Restrain your thought life. Meditate The WORD instead of selfish, carnal thoughts. Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. V * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * article from p. 7 continues * * * * Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Jesus said to the Father before He went to the cross, “While I was with [my disciples] in the world, I kept them in thy name” (John 17:12), or in other words, “I kept them safe in the strong tower of God by the mighty power that is present in His name.” “But Brother Copeland, those verses are referring to the name of the Father,” you might say. “They’re not talking about the Name of Jesus.” They’re talking about both, because when Jesus was raised from the dead, the Father bestowed on Him His own Almighty Name. The Name that, in the Old Testament, was revealed to Moses when God talked to him out of the burning bush. The Name God told Moses to give the Israelites when they asked him to tell them who had sent him to be their deliverer: “I AM THAT I AM: and [God] said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you…. This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations” (Exodus 3:14-15). The Power That Split Hell Wide Open In the Hebrew language, the Name God used in those verses is spelled YHWH. It has no vowels in it, so no one in our day knows how to pronounce it. Originally, the Jewish people knew, but over time they became too awesomely afraid of that Name to say it. The scribes would write it when copying the Scriptures (although they would go and bathe, even before writing it). But there was so much power in it, they were concerned that if they said it in vain it would kill them. So, when they spoke of it they just said, “The Name,” and eventually the pronunciation of YHWH was lost. Maybe their attitude was extreme. But we, as believers today, can’t criticize it because we’ve gone to the other extreme. We tend to say “in the Name of Jesus” a lot, but we say it shallowly, without much thought or reverence. We use His Name without releasing any faith. How do we change that? We renew our minds with what the Bible says about it. We study and meditate on what the Scriptures say about the great power of that Name and let The LORD reveal to us the mighty things it can do. He is eager to talk about it! I can tell you that from experience. I remember one time, for example, I was studying along these lines and He said, 'Kenneth, in your opinion, what is the largest, most powerful expression of the power and glory that’s in My Name?' “That’s simple,” I replied. “It was the power that was released when You created the heavens and the earth.” 'No,' He said, 'that was easy. At creation, no one was arrayed against Me. All I had to do was just speak. But when I raised Jesus out of hell, everyone was arrayed against Me. All of hell and even My own people were against Me.' What’s more, when Jesus went into hell as our substitute, no one had ever gotten out of there before. The devil had a right to rule there, and up to that point his rule had gone unchallenged. Yet Jesus went there anyway. He did what the Father sent Him there to do, and when His work was complete He used His massive faith to call on God’s Name, and the power of that Name split hell wide open. It flashed into that place like a lightning bolt out of heaven, recreated Jesus’ emaciated spirit, and brought Him up out of there as the first born-again man. It resurrected His body and, as Hebrews 1 says: “When he had by himself purged our sins, [He] sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high…[having] by inheritance obtained a more excellent name” (verses 3-4). Talk about a mighty inheritance! When Jesus completed the work of Redemption, He inherited the excellent Name of the Most High God Himself. He received the greatest honor the Father could bestow—the Name that in the Old Testament is spelled YHWH, the Name above all names. 8 : BVOV

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