BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

3 0 : B V O V Jesus and abide in Him, our contact with Him must be a daily thing. If we maintain that daily contact, we become like Joshua—we make our way prosperous, deal wisely and have good success in every area of our lives. If we don't make that daily contact, we wither up spiritually. We get weaker and weaker until we start living like the people of the world. Eventually, we stop dominating the devil and start allowing him to dominate us. Instead of telling him to shut up the moment he opens his mouth, we start listening to him. We think about what he's saying. Ultimately, we'll start to obey him. I heard one preacher say his grandmother once said, "If you give the devil a ride, pretty soon he'll be wanting to drive." That's the truth! You can't afford to give the devil one moment of your time—much less a whole day of it. And you won't, if you'll spend time every day fellowshipping with God. That's because when you're in living contact with God, the devil can't get you to pay attention to him. He can't get a conversation going with you. You're too busy listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit! What's more, he can't get enough unbelief into you to stop your prayers. We know that's true because in John 15:7, Jesus said, "If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you" (AMPC). Do you realize what Jesus was actually saying there? He was telling you that all the power of heaven is at your disposal if you're in constant contact with God! The Most Important Thing Think about that for a moment. Think how wonderful it would be to have such harmony with God that He did everything you asked Him to do! According to Jesus, that kind of prayer power is available to every believer. It's available to you and to me...IF we will make our union with God the most important thing in our lives. So, let's do it! Let's stop compromising and allowing the things of the world to eat away at our time with God. Let's get His Word into our hearts so deeply that no one else's opinion holds a candle to it. Then, let's start asking. Let's ask for what we need. Ask for what we want. Ask for God to meet the needs of others. We won't have to be shy about it. We can be bold, knowing that when we give God priority in our lives, He gives us priority in His life. That's what Jesus meant when He said, "...whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him." (John 14:21, AMPC). The Lord explained it to Rufus Mosely—a great man of God who died some years ago—in these words. He said, Life in Jesus is gloriously easy. But it has one responsibility: the responsibility of remaining in union. If you stay in union with Me, I'll take care of everything else. Isn't that a delightfully simple instruction? You keep the union. He'll take care of everything else. It sounds almost too good to be true. But then again, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. For even in the natural world, it's easy to trust someone you fellowship with each day. It's easy to believe in someone when you're with them constantly, always looking into their eyes, always experiencing their love. The same is true in your relationship with God. When you haven't been spending time with Him, the devil can lie to you about Him and convince you to doubt His Word. But when you've been in His wonderful presence, those lies don't hold water. When you have that living connection with God, it's easy to believe what the Bible says about Him. It's easy to believe He's good. It's easy to believe He cares about you watchfully and affectionately. It's easy to roll your cares over on Him. Listen to me. Faith isn't hard! Love isn't hard! Forgiveness isn't hard! All those things flow naturally when you're walking hand in hand and fellowshipping heart-to-heart with the Father. Everything falls in line when you're in vital union with Him. So, put first things first. Cut away the confusion in your life and focus on the one factor that truly matters—your time with God. And always remember that your success is guaranteed when you maintain a living connection with Him! Let's stop compromising and allowing the things of the world to eat away at our time with God.

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