BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

I’m going to say something here that’s not very religious at all, but it’s the truth. The old sinner you were before you were born again, no longer exists. The moment you received Jesus as your LORD and Savior, that old sinner died and you became a new creation, a new species of being that never existed before. If you were a murderer, the murderer passed away. That old identity was blotted out forever. Reborn in the image of Jesus, you aren’t any more a murderer (or an adulterer, liar, or whatever kind of sinner you used to be) than Jesus is, because you’ve been re-created of God. Spiritually you’ve been made brand-new. “But Brother Copeland, shouldn’t I still feel sorry about my sinful past?” No, you should forget it and see yourself as a new creature just like God does. You’d never look at a newborn baby in the natural and say, “Oh, he’s a sweet little thing, but isn’t it a shame about his past?” That wouldn’t make sense. A baby doesn’t have any past, and when you’re born again into the kingdom of God, you don’t have a past either. So refuse to look back. Focus instead on the person you are now. Not only have your sins been wiped out by the precious blood of Jesus, you now have within you His very own nature. He’s moved into your spirit and brought with Him faith, His righteousness, His love, His forgiveness, and all His other attributes. You’ve been reborn into greatness! According to the Bible, you’re “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:23). You are part of “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). You’re one of those who can say with the Apostle John, “[Jesus] loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God” (Revelation 1:5-6). Say this out loud right now: “I’m a king and a priest!” That’s who we all are, as believers. We’re spiritual royalty, born of our heavenly Father: “Who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light…delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love…. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself…in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Colossians 1:12-13, 19-22, "New King James Version"). Talk about BLESSED! Everything in those verses has already been done for us by God. We really are new creations in Christ. We just need to start thinking and acting like it. We just need to start saying no to the devil’s lies, and saying yes, amen, to the truth of God’s WORD! Hindrance No. 2: A Lack of Understanding of Righteousness “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 This second great hindrance to faith holds more Christians in bondage than anything else: They don’t understand that they’ve been made the righteousness of God in Christ. They may have heard it said. They may have read verses about it in the Bible. But they missed the revelation because they don’t really know what righteousness means. Because it’s rarely used outside of church, most Christians think righteousness is just an old-fashioned word that refers to being religiously correct enough to earn God’s approval. The one who taught me faith, Kenneth E. Hagin, used to say that’s what he thought in his early years as a Christian. He would read in James 5:16 that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” and think, If I could become righteous—whooo, boy!—I’d be a real praying whiz! Then he’d shake his head because he figured it would take two lifetimes to ever do enough to be right in God’s eyes. 6 : BVOV

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