BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

I realize all Christians don’t have that testimony, but we do because we learned this a long time ago: To enjoy all the blessings God’s Word promises us, we have to mix His Word with faith. We can’t do what the Old Testament Israelites did when God promised to deliver them from slavery in Egypt and bring them into the land of blessing. As Hebrews 4:2 says: “When the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them...the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith...by those who heard it” ("Amplified Bible, Classic Edition"). That was a tragedy! They could have believed what God said and been delivered from every kind of bondage. They could have enjoyed days of heaven on earth (Deuteronomy 11:21). But they missed out on it because they didn’t mix faith with God’s Word. In the lives of many Christians, the same thing is still happening today. They sit in church every Sunday and hear the Word, but don’t know they’re supposed to believe it and walk in the light of it. So, even though they’re God’s people, they’re still living in all kinds of bondage. They’re still suffering under the curse instead of enjoying THE BLESSING. I think of it like making a cake and leaving out the baking powder. Do you know what would happen if you did that? You wouldn’t get the results the cookbook promises. The same is true in the Christian life; for it to turn out like God promises it has to be mixed with faith. What exactly is faith? It’s the confidence to think, speak and act on the Word of God. It’s believing what God says and acting like it’s true. Hebrews 4:2 describes faith as “the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness” ("AMPC"). Faith is so powerful it can change your whole life! It is, as 1 John 5:4 says, “the victory that overcometh the world.” Keep Moving On to Greater Things If you’ve heard these things before, right now you might be thinking, I know this, Gloria! I’ve been a faith person for years. That’s wonderful! Ken and I have too. But even so, we’re always up for a refresher course. We’re continually endeavoring to stir up our faith and keep it strong. Recently, when I was preaching to a congregation full of seasoned faith folks, the Lord gave it to me this way: He said we need to “stay current” on our faith. Although I’d never thought of it in those terms before, I knew precisely what He meant. He was saying we must not only maintain the faith we’ve developed in the past, we must keep moving on to greater things. As believers, we can’t afford to get so busy with the mundane affairs of day-to-day living that we let our faith level get low. If we do, we’ll be vulnerable to the conditions of this world...and, in case you haven’t noticed, this world is a dangerous place. It’s crazy! The devil is stepping up his operations in a big way these days. The darkness out there is getting darker. We’re living in the end times and bad things are happening in the world. But they don’t have to happen to you and me. We can live as end-time believers. We can overcome this crazy world, and live in victory until Jesus comes. As I’ve already said, however, to do so we must stay current on our faith. That means, first and foremost, we must keep our attention on God’s written Word. Because “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17), we can’t allow ourselves to get lazy about it. If things start coming up and suddenly we realize a week has gone by and we’ve only spent 15 minutes reading our Bible, we should make some changes. Fifteen minutes a week in the Word is not sufficient! We need to spend time in it every day. * * * * article continues on p. 20 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Points to Get You There: God has a good future prepared for you. He has a plan for you so filled with His BLESSING that the more you walk in it, the more you’ll see His goodness manifested around you. 1) Get the news about your future from the Word instead of the world. Jer. 29:11 2) Open the door to God’s plan for your life by seeking Him first. Matt. 6:33 3) What you do with God’s Word determines how much of His plan and future you will experience. Isa. 55:11 4) God’s kingdom operates by the law of seedtime and harvest. Mark 4:14, 20 5) Keep God’s promises in the soil of your heart, be patient, and you will reap the harvest of a wonderful future. Heb. 6:11-12 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BVOV : 19

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