BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

So, go ahead and sell out to Him. Don’t hold anything back. Dedicate yourself to His Word and live in contact with Him, so you can walk in love toward all men and in holiness, just like He said. “But Gloria, I just don’t have enough willpower to do that.” You don’t do it by willpower. You do it by faith. You do it by believing what 1 Corinthians 1:30 says: “[You are] in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption.” Let me ask you something. Do you receive wisdom from God by exerting your willpower? No. According to James 1:5-6, if you need wisdom, you just ask and receive it by faith. Do you receive righteousness and redemption by willpower and your own human efforts? No. According to Ephesians 2:8, you receive them by faith, as a gift from God. Obviously then, sanctification (or holiness) must be received the same way. It wouldn’t be the only one in that list that you have to work up on your own. Holiness becomes yours the same way wisdom, righteousness, and redemption do—through faith in Jesus. Those of us who’ve been around faith teaching have learned a lot over the years about how to believe and receive. We’ve learned to believe and receive healing. We’ve learned to believe and receive prosperity, and to believe for souls to be saved. Now the time has come for us to believe and receive the power to live godly, sanctified lives. For us to become known not only as faith people, but as holy (holiness) people. First Corinthians 1:2 says we are the Church of God, “consecrated and purified and made holy in Christ Jesus” ("AMPC"). Let’s believe it and make a quality decision to go for God 100 percent. Let’s move into this final frontier of holiness, expect God to manifest Himself in greater ways among us, and let all men see the glory of God! V ******************************************* Don’t Duct-Tape the Holy Ghost by Mark Barclay If you look at your life, you can probably see strong evidence of the Lord’s work as far back as you can remember. Our lives are proof of His work. The book of Acts says that after Jesus ascended, after He was seated at the right hand of the Father, “he through the Holy Ghost…showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:2-3). That’s you and me! Our lives are the infallible proof of His love and power. When I look, I can see God working in my life all the way back to when I was a dirt-poor sinner boy, hating everything and everyone. From that point forward, I see miracle after miracle after miracle. I see infallible proof in those around me, too. There was the time my wife, Vickie, was supposed to die of cancer within 32 days…and she was healed. My daughter-in-law, Trish, had killer cancer, too, but the Lord intervened. You may have heard the story about the time my granddaughter drowned in our pool and was pronounced dead…and then she was raised from the dead moments later. The infallible proofs of the Lord’s work and love go on and on. I’m sure that’s true for your life, too. BVOV : 29

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