BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

powerful God's Word really is. It even worked for people in the Old Testament, and they didn't have the advantages we have as New Covenant believers. They were God's people, certainly, but because Jesus hadn't yet come, they were spiritually dead. They couldn't have the kind of intimate fellowship with God that we do. Yet even so, by hearing and obeying God's Word, they could live under the umbrella of His blessing. They could be protected from the curse and prosper physically and materially. They could live in the natural as the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, and no enemy could stand against them. Wow! If hearing and doing God's Word could do that for them back then, think what it can do for us, as God's people today. We have an even better covenant than they did, with better promises (Hebrews 8:6). Through the new birth we've been made new creatures. We're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and have God's nature and Spirit inside us. We're born to live for Him, plus we've inherited THE BLESSING of Abraham. How much of that BLESSING we experience in our lives, though, depends on how much we get with God's program—and His program has been the same since the Garden of Eden. His blessing plan has never changed. Now, as always, the way we, as God's people, walk in the fullness of all He has provided for us is by hearing and obeying His Word. In John 8, Jesus put it this way: "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (verses 31-32). I remember what it was like not to be free! In the fi rst few years after Ken and I were born again and fi lled with the Holy Spirit, we didn't have much freedom or victory at all because we didn't have much revelation of the Word. We were fi nancially broke, deeply in debt and nothing we did seemed to work. When we began to hear the truth about the power and integrity of God's Word, however, we made a commitment that changed everything. We said, "We're going to put God's Word fi rst place in our lives. We're going to believe Him and do what He says whether it's easy or hard." We didn't really know much at the time about what the Word says when the options for us in His Word, leaves it up to us to decide what we're going to do, and we experience the corresponding results—for better or for worse. In Deuteronomy 28:1-2, speaking to the Israelites, God spelled this out clearly. He said: "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God." Notice, God didn't tell the Israelites just to hear and do what He said on occasion or when they felt like it. He told them to diligently hearken to and act on His Word and promised if they did, His blessings "shall come to pass" in their lives. The phrase shall come to pass in Hebrew, means "it is inevitable, fi xed, predetermined." In other words, God guarantees it: In hearing and doing His Word there is always certain victory, deliverance and blessing. He also guarantees that apart from His Word, there is not. As He said to the Israelites in verse 15: "It shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee." A Better Covenant With Better Promises "Well," someone might say, "that was under the Old Covenant." True. Which just goes to show how 2 8 : B V O V us, as God's people today. We have an even better covenant than they did, with better promises (Hebrews 8:6). Through the new birth we've been made new creatures. We're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and have God's nature and Spirit inside us. We're born to live for Him, plus we've inherited THE BLESSING of Abraham. How much of that BLESSING we experience in our lives, though, depends on how much we get with God's program—and His program has been the same since the Garden of Eden. His blessing plan has never changed. Now, as always, the way we, as God's people, walk in the fullness of all He has provided for us is by hearing and obeying His Word. In John 8, Jesus put it this way: "If ye continue then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (verses 31-32). I remember what it was like not to be free! In the fi rst few years after Ken and I were born again and fi lled with the Holy Spirit, we didn't have much freedom or victory at all because we didn't have much revelation of the Word. We were fi nancially broke, deeply in debt and nothing we did seemed to work. When we began to hear the truth about the power and integrity of God's Word, however, we made a commitment that changed everything. We said, "We're going to put God's Word fi rst place in our lives. We're going to believe Him and do what He says whether it's easy or hard." We didn't really know much at the time about what the Word says when Notice, God didn't tell the Israelites just to hear and do what He said on occasion or when they felt like it. He told them to diligently hearken to and act on His Word and promised if they did, His blessings "shall come to pass" in their lives. The phrase shall come to pass in Hebrew, means "it is inevitable, fi xed, predetermined." In other words, God guarantees it: In hearing and doing His Word there is always certain victory, deliverance and blessing. He also guarantees that apart from His Word, there is not. As He said to the Israelites in verse 15: "It shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee." In John 8, Jesus put it this way: "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (verses 31-32). I remember what it was like not to be free! In the fi rst few years after Ken and I were born again and fi lled with the Holy Spirit, we didn't have much freedom or victory at all because we didn't have much revelation of the Word. We were fi nancially broke, deeply in debt and nothing we did seemed to work. When we began to hear the truth about the power and integrity of God's Word, however, we made a commitment that changed everything. We said, "We're going to put God's Word fi rst place in our lives. We're going to believe Him and do what He says whether it's easy or hard." We didn't really know much at the time about what the Word says when A Better Covenant With Better Promises "Well," someone might say, "that was under the Old Covenant." True. Which just goes to show how 2 8 : B V O V True. Which just goes to show how the fi rst few years after Ken and I were born again and fi lled with the Holy Spirit, we didn't have much freedom or victory at all because we didn't have much revelation of the Word. We were fi nancially broke, deeply in debt and nothing we did seemed to work. When we began to hear the truth about the power and integrity of God's Word, however, we made a at the time about what the Word says when Old Covenant." True. Which just goes to show how B V O V True. Which just goes to show how "In hearing and doing His Word there is always certain victory, deliverance and blessing."

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