BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

When was I ever supposed to live? they think. All I’ve done all these years is go to work and come home, go to work and come home. Shouldn’t there be more to life than that? Of course there should. And in God’s system there is! He has a wonderful plan for our lives. His plan is for us to focus on Him, do what He’s called us to do and be a BLESSING to others. Rather than us having to spend all our time trying to meet our own needs, His plan is for us to fulfill our divine destiny, while trusting Him to see to it that we are abundantly BLESSED. That’s what Jesus was telling us to do in Matthew 6 when He said: "Do not worry and be anxious, saying, What are we going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to drink? or, What are we going to have to wear? For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all. But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides" (verses 31-33, "Amplified Bible, Classic Edition"). Notice the phrase, HIS WAY OF DOING AND BEING RIGHT. That’s a good definition of God’s system. His system is how He does things. It’s how He operates and how His kingdom works. Sadly, a lot of believers don’t know much about that. They’re citizens of God’s kingdom because they’ve been born again. They love God and go to church, but because all they’ve ever heard is religious tradition, they’ve never learned God’s kingdom ways. As a result, although they look forward to going to heaven when they die, they don’t experience “days of heaven upon the earth” (Deuteronomy 11:21). Thinking they’re still subject to this world’s sin-cursed system, they just keep slaving away under it. They keep trying to make it work for them just like unbelievers do. That’s not how Christians are meant to live. We’re supposed to live like Jesus did when He was in this world. He did things His heavenly Father’s way! He said what He heard His Father say, did what He saw His Father do, and got His Father’s results. He operated in a completely different way than the unbelievers around Him, and when they wanted to know why, He told them it was because “you are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world” (John 8:23, "New King James Version"). Separated by the Word “But Gloria, Jesus could say that because, as the Son of God, He really is from above.” Yes, and you are too if you’re a believer. Jesus said so Himself. In John 17:14, when He was praying for all who would ever believe on Him, He said, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” ("NKJV"). Think about that! According to Jesus, you’re not of this world any more than He is. Like Him, you are from above. Why? Because He gave you His Word and you received it. You heard and acted on what Romans 10:8 calls “the word of faith, which we preach.” Verses 9-10 continue: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” That’s not just how the new birth is received. It’s how we receive everything from God. We receive healing, prosperity and everything else we need to live a BLESSED life by believing, speaking and obeying God’s Word. His Word is the basis of His entire system. He does everything by speaking faith-filled words. We see in Genesis 1, that’s how He created this universe. When there was nothing but darkness on the face of the deep, God said by faith, “Let there be light: and there was light” (verse 3). 28 : BVOV

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