BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

B V O V : 2 9 things get away from you. You can let your healing slip if you don't keep feeding on healing scriptures. You can slip back into lack if you stop meditating on God's promises of abundance. If you neglect the truths revealed in the Bible about our great salvation, you can fi nd yourself being shaken right along with the world. That's not God's will for any of His children. On the contrary, His eyes "run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are blameless toward Him" (2 Chronicles 16:9, AMPC). He will not force His blessings on us; however, He'll see to it that they manifest in our life as long as we give Him our faith, loyalty and attention. But He won't just come in, take over and make us do things His way. That's the di• erence between God and the devil. The devil will try to dominate and run over you. He'll try to use the dangerous things that are happening in the world to force you to fear. As believers, you and I have no business being afraid! Fear opens the door to the devil. It works the same way that faith does, only in the opposite direction. "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). So, when fear tries to get on you, refuse to entertain it. Instead, rebuke it and speak words of faith from the Bible that contradict the fear. "But I don't know what those words are," you might say. Then fi nd out by spending time in the Scriptures. Once you know what God has said in His written Word, you can declare it by faith and live free. One of the best passages of Scripture you can use to combat fear is Psalm 91. That's a good Psalm to feed on continually because it's packed with powerful promises of God's protection. Describing the person to whom those promises are made, it starts by saying: He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fi xed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]. I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confi dently] trust! (Psalm 91:1–2, AMPC). Notice, according to those verses, God's promises of protection don't apply just to everybody. They belong to the person who dwells in the secret place of the Most High and says that the Lord is his Refuge and Fortress. Dwelling and saying: Those are the two things we're supposed to do. They're our part of God's protection plan. The word dwell means "to abide or to live in a place permanently." To make it your home. So to dwell in God's secret place means you stay close to Him all the time. You don't just pop in on Him occasionally, and then pop out again. You don't ignore Him day to day, and think, Well, the Lord took care of me last time I got in trouble; if something else bad happens I'll go to Him again. No, that doesn't work. God is wonderfully merciful, but when you get away from Him your heart gets full of other things. You start getting rebellious and stubborn. You can even get to where you're not willing to turn to Him in times of trouble. You can't play that game safely! The only safe way to live on the earth is to live dedicated to God and stay tightly under His wing. If you want to enjoy His protection 24/7 that's the fi rst thing you do. The Greatest Challenge You Will Face The second thing you do is speak God's Word. You say about Him and about yourself what He says. You don't say things like, "I'm afraid I'm going to have a car wreck…or get sick…or lose my job." Words like that give the devil a shot at You can let your healing slip if you don't keep feeding on healing scriptures. You can slip back into lack if you stop meditating on God's promises of abundance. If you neglect the truths revealed in the Bible about our great salvation, you can fi nd yourself being shaken That's not God's will for any of His children. On the contrary, His eyes "run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are blameless toward Him" (2 Chronicles 16:9, He will not force His blessings on us; however, He'll see to it that they manifest in our life as long as we give Him our faith, loyalty and attention. But He won't just come in, take over That's the di• erence between God and the devil. The devil will try to dominate and run over you. He'll try to use the dangerous things that are happening in the world to force you to fear. As believers, you and I have no business being afraid! Fear opens the door to the devil. It works the same way that faith does, only in the "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). So, when fear tries to get on you, refuse to entertain it. Instead, rebuke it and speak words of faith from the Bible that "But I don't know what those words are," you Then fi nd out by spending time in the Scriptures. Once you know what God has said in His written Word, you can declare it by faith and live free. One of the best passages of Scripture POINTS TO GET YOU THERE: 1 Make a quality decision to stay close to God and make Him your permanent dwelling place. (Ps. 91:1) 2 Instead of repeating worldly words of doubt and unbelief, keep saying by faith what God says. (Ps. 91:2) 3 Shut the door on the devil by refusing to fear. (2 Tim. 1:7) 4 Continually read and meditate on the all wonderful benefi ts of salvation revealed in God's Word. (Heb. 2:1) 5 Don't wait until trouble hits to make God's promises of protection in Psalm 91 part of your daily life. (Ps. 91:3-4, AMPC)

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