BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up" (verses 17-18). Those men had never heard of God delivering anyone from a fi ery furnace. They believed and said He was able. But either way, it didn't make any di erence. Their attitude was, "We'd rather burn than dishonor God!" This further enraged the king, so he ordered that the furnace be made seven times hotter. Then he commanded the three Jews to be thrown into the inferno. When he looked down into the pit however, he jumped up in astonishment and said to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fi re?... I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fi re; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God" (verses 24-25, NKJV). Who was the fourth man in the furnace? Jesus! He showed up for those three men of uncompromising faith so powerfully that they walked out of the fi re totally unharmed. They didn't even smell of smoke. King Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed, he forbade anyone in Babylon to ever speak a word against God and promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to even higher governmental positions. The fi rst time I heard a message about the fourth man in the fi ery furnace, Oral Roberts preached it. He's the one who sowed in me the seed of noncompromise. As my father in the faith, he drilled this into me: "If you bow, you burn. Whatever you compromise to keep, you will eventually lose." Remember that—and make a quality decision to walk in uncompromising faith in God's WORD. Find out what it says about your spiritual life, your healing, your fi nances and everything else. Then believe it and act on it— no matter what. If you stick to that program, Jesus will show up for you when all the world seems to be against you. He'll walk you through the fi re, protect you and promote you—and victory will be yours! A HISTORIC MOMENT: 1971 "The WORD will energize your faith, and faith will energize your prayers." Those were some of the fi rst words coming from an excited and energetic young Kenneth Copeland when, on May 27, 1971, he welcomed viewers to The Word of Faith, a one-hour television program that, over time, would evolve into what is known today as the Believer's Voice of Victory television broadcast. Within weeks, however, faced with challenges that included time restraints and insu cient fi nances, the program would be placed on hold. A second opportunity at television, through a half-hour syndicated program called The Prayer Group, that began airing in 1972, would prove to be signifi cantly more successful. But once again, the strain of operating an ongoing TV ministry while maintaining a rigorous schedule traveling and speaking proved to be too much for such a young ministry. By 1974, for a second time, plans for a television ministry were set aside. Instead, in 1976 all e orts and resources were focused on radio, which took o like a rocket. TV wasn't part of the conversation. REACHING THE WORLD THROUGH TELEVISION B V O V : 9 »

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