BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

We must believe and stand firmly upon Psalm 31:15 which says, “My times are in thy hand....” Separated From the World’s Failing System We are to thrive and not just survive. To survive means “to barely get along and merely exist.” That is not us! Thrive means “to flourish, succeed, advance and prosper no matter what the times are like.” John 17 establishes the fact that we may be in this world, but we certainly are not of this world. We are separated from the world’s failing system. In verse 14, Jesus prayed to His Father, saying: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” This truth is so important it’s repeated in verse 16. In verse 15, Jesus prayed that the Father would separate us from the evil that is in the world. Evil in the world includes fear, poverty and disease. Look at these scriptures: Matthew 6:13 says, “...deliver us from evil.” Galatians 1:4 says, “…deliver us from this present evil world.” First John 5:18 tells us, “…that wicked one toucheth him not.” Jesus then asks the Father in John 17:17 to “sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” The word sanctify means “to separate or cut out away from.” Through this prayer, we have been cut out away from the world’s failing economic system. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free [has separated us] from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). We are not subject to the economy. We thrive and flourish in spite of what is happening around us. The Wall of Redemption The Old Testament is a type and shadow of the New Testament. In Exodus, for instance, we find a picture of how we are to live today. God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him, “Let my people go.” If Pharaoh refused, there were serious consequences. We find them described in Exodus 8:21-22: "If thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth." Take special note of what God said in verse 23: “And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.” The word division in the Hebrew is the same as the word redemption. God actually built a “wall of redemption” between the Egyptians and the children of Israel. And as a result, the plagues that came against Egypt did not touch God’s children. Their cattle did not die, hail didn’t touch them, and there was light in the land of Goshen when it was pitch black among the Egyptians. How does this apply to us now? Look at Galatians 3:13-14: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” We have been redeemed, separated and cut away from the curse of fear, sickness, lack and debt! Jesus paid in full for you and me to live above whatever is happening in the world’s system. Because of Him, we prosper! Because of Him, we are separated from the evil in this world! Because of Him, we are not subject to the times! Same Conditions—Different Results We just found in Exodus a principle that resonates throughout Scripture. Even though the children of Israel were living in the same vicinity as the Egyptians, the wall of redemption separated them from the plagues. I call it, “Same conditions—different results.” Jeremiah 17:5-8, "New Living Translation," is a great example from the Old Testament. It says, “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.” Now, here comes the wall of redemption: “But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.” 24 : BVOV

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