BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

********** ADVERTISEMENT ********** Watch Jerry on VICTORY™ Formerly BVOVN® -------------------------- GoVictory.com -------------------------- Roku® | dish® CHANNEL 265 apple tv® 4th Generation YouTube® | amazon fire TV ******************************************* * * * * article from p. 21 continues * * * * Almost instantly she started crying and ran to the back room. Moments later she returned with another lady, tears still streaming down her face and said to me, “Tell her why you’re buying this for your wife. Tell her it’s not for her birthday, anniversary or Christmas.” I said, “I’m buying it because I love her.” Now they both cried. God’s Nature Is to Give John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave….” When we love, we want to give. First John 4:8 tells us, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” And that’s what love does. It gives. It could have just as well said, “He that giveth not knoweth not God; for God is a giver.” People who love are givers. It just comes naturally. It’s the very nature of God to give, and He’s our Daddy. To be a giver you must have resources. You may desire to give, but if you don’t have anything to give, you can’t be a giver. The Bible also tells us God told Abraham He would bless him and make him a blessing. That means the prosperity God would give Abraham wasn’t for him only, but he was to be a “distribution center.” Psalm 84:11 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” The psalmist understood that God is a giver by nature and He withholds no good thing from them that walk uprightly. How many times have you heard your pastor mention a new project or outreach that you desired to contribute to but couldn’t because you had nothing to give. You sat there thinking, I wish I could put some money into that. That is the nature of God in you wanting to express love for the work of God. Now you may not have had resources at that moment, but there is something you can do to increase your resources. Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). If you will begin to seek God with your whole heart, He will add increase to your life. When I first heard Kenneth Copeland back in 1969, I got hungry for God! I wanted to know God like Brother Copeland knew Him. My heart was bursting with a desire to sow into his ministry. The only problem was I didn’t have a dime. I prayed about it and God told me to write Brother Copeland and tell him the only seed I had right then was prayer time, but that I would dedicate the first hour each morning to praying for his ministry. I wrote and told him I desired to sow $1,000 into his ministry, but all I could do at the moment was pray for his ministry one hour each morning. And I did. I’ll never forget when I walked up to Brother Copeland and handed him that first $1,000. It didn’t happen overnight, but it happened. I was pursuing God, and increase was pursuing me. I was getting to know God, and abundance was being added to me. God’s Nature Is Abundance Some people think the nature of God is the miraculous, but it’s not. The nature of God is abundance. Miracles only happen when there is lack. Think about that. God’s best is not for you to live on miracles. His best is for you to live in abundance—then you don’t need a miracle. Would you rather have a financial miracle every six months or live continually in divine prosperity? Would you rather have a miraculous healing every few years, or walk in divine health? Religion has perverted our concept of God. The Scripture clearly states in John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” God and poverty cannot be linked together. Poverty is under the curse, and abundance is the blessing of God. Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:10, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Have you ever heard of anyone being sad, depressed or oppressed in heaven? Have you ever heard it said that there is lack in heaven? God wants us to live down here like we’re already enjoying heaven. First Timothy 6:17 says, “…God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” For the first part of my life, I didn’t know that God was interested in what brought joy to me. I thought if it was joyful, it was sinful, but the Bible doesn’t teach that at all. 22 : BVOV

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