BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Many believers know about those promises. They may even start every day by pulling one out of a little promise box, reading it and saying, “Praise The LORD!” But while that’s fine, God’s promises are meant to do far more than just encourage us. They’re designed to correct, direct, protect and perfect us. To give us access to all He is and all He has. “Oh, Brother Copeland, where did you get that idea?” From the Apostle Peter. It’s in his second epistle. In the beginning of that epistle, Peter addressed believers as “them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Isn’t it exciting to know you have the same faith Peter and the early Apostles had? Then, he said: "GRACE AND PEACH BE MULTIPLIED UNTO YOU THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, AND OF JESUS OUR LORD, ACCORDING AS HIS DIVINE POWER HATH GIVEN UNTO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN UNTO LIFE AND GODLINESS, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue [moral excellency]: WHEREBY ARE GIVEN UNTO US EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES: THAT BY THESE YE MIGHT BE PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:2–4, emphasis mine). Everything Is Handled Look again at the capitalized portions of that passage. Both are linked to God’s exceeding great and precious [covenant] promises. One says it’s through those promises that we become partakers of His divine nature, or partakers of all He is. The other says that it’s by His exceeding great and precious promises that He has given to us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS covers a lot of territory! It covers everything you could ever need spiritually, physically, financially and relationally. It covers everything it takes for you to live an abundant, victorious life. In other words, you can forget that silly stuff people say about God withholding things from you. You can forget religious clichés like, “Well, you know, God always answers prayer. But sometimes His answer is yes, and sometimes it’s no.” God’s Book says the exact opposite. It says, “God is faithful…. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you…was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:18-20, "New King James Version"). Why are all God’s promises “yes” to you in Jesus? Because when you received Him as The LORD of your life, you got in on His covenant with God! That covenant is rooted in the one God made with Abram. As Genesis 17 records, God appeared to Abraham when he was 99 years old and said, “I am Almighty God [El Shaddai, the God who is more than enough]…. I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly…. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham” (verses 1-2, 5, "NKJV"). By adding to Abram’s name the letter H (which in Hebrew is pronounced Hashem and is the Jewish name for God) God made it known that He and Abram were now joined together in a covenant of blood. That the Greater had entered covenant with the lesser, and they had become one. That’s what God did for you when you were born again! He joined you to Himself in the blood of Jesus. He made you one with Him through the new covenant, which is a covenant of grace. What is a covenant of grace? It’s a relationship of favor that gives you access to someone else’s power. A natural illustration of it can be seen in the relationship the old Sicilian family members used to have with the godfather of the family. If you’ve read books or seen movies about that relationship, you know how it worked. A weak member of the family would come in and ask the strongest member, the godfather (or the don) for a favor or grace. The don would say, “I will grant this favor and I will ask a favor of you. And when the time comes, I will collect it.” 6 : BVOV

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