BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

When you’re reading the Word and you get revelation, you suddenly see it as more than a set of rules and regulations. The Word comes alive to you. You see how to live it, talk it and operate in it so you can walk with God in the spirit, unhindered and undefeated. There is nothing in the world as wonderful as revelation from the Word! It lets you in on what Jesus called the “secret counsels of God which are hidden from the ungodly” (verse 11). It lights you up on the inside with the very wisdom of God. As a believer, you’re born to walk in that wisdom. That’s the reason God has given you His Word. He wants you to receive light from Him every time you read the Bible. As Jesus said in Mark 4: “Is the lamp brought to be put under a…bed, and not [to be put] on the lampstand? [Things are hidden temporarily only as a means to revelation.] For there is nothing hidden except to be revealed.… If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend” (verses 21-23, "AMPC"). There’s a reason Jesus used the word lamp in those verses. Your spirit is “the lamp of the Lord” (Proverbs 20:27, "AMPC"). The Word lights it up with revelation from God so you can see what to believe, what to say and what to do. That’s what happened to Ken and me back in 1966 when we were stuck in poverty, debt and lack. We began to hear the Word of Faith preached and the lamp of our spirit got turned on. It lit us up on the inside, and we crossed over from lack into abundance. Getting More Light More than 55 years have passed since then and God’s Word is still lighting me up on the inside. Sometimes, just studying my Bible by myself in the mornings, I get so excited I want to run around the room. I’ll see something in the Word and think, Yes! That’s the answer I’ve been needing! Sometimes I get light about what belongs to me in Christ. Other times the light corrects me and shows me where I’ve been missing it. But even correction when it comes by revelation is a blessing of God. It’s a manifestation of His grace that helps us walk in obedience to God so that His kingdom—the kingdom of heaven!—can manifest in our lives. Heaven doesn’t manifest on this earth in the lives of disobedient people. Even though we’re born again, if we won’t obey God we’ll just wind up muddling along in defeat. Certainly, God will get as much of His goodness to us as He can. But if we don’t walk in the light of the Word, and keep going back to it to get more light, we’re not going to enjoy the peace and blessing that belongs to us in Christ. This is why Jesus said in Mark 4 when He was teaching about the seed of the Word, “Take heed what ye hear”! Or as Mark 4:24, "AMPC," puts it: “Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you—and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.” However much attention you give to the Word of God, that’s how much virtue, or power and anointing, is going to come back to you! In other words, it’s not just the amount of the Word you hear that matters—it’s the amount of honor and consideration you give it. You can read five chapters of the Bible every day without giving much thought to what you read and get next to nothing out of it. Or you can read one chapter honoring and receiving every word as the voice of God speaking to you, and that chapter will come alive in you and change your life. Over the years, I’ve learned to take my time when I’m studying the Bible. Often, I’ll read a chapter in the "King James Version," then I’ll read the notes about that chapter in "The Companion Bible" by Bullinger. Then I’ll get my "Amplified Bible, Classic Edition" and read the chapter through again. By the time I’m finished, I’m usually amazed at how much revelation there is that I initially overlooked in the chapter. 28 : BVOV

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