BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

2 4 : B V O V by Kenneth Copeland every passing year. For the impact of our ministry upon people's souls (their minds, wills and emotions) and their physical health to keep growing…day after day, month after month, year after year, for the next 30, 40, 50, 60 or 70 years. "But I'm 50 years old," someone might say. "For me to keep increasing for another 70 years I'd have to live to 120." Good! As far as God is concerned, that's a normal lifespan. He said in Genesis 6:3 that man's "days shall be an hundred and twenty years," and He never changed that number. It's His standard of longevity all the way through the Bible. Increase In Spiritual Walk God needs us to stay here for a long time. He needs us to keep growing in our walk with Him and increasing in our spiritual impact. Why? Because, if we do that, by the time we're 120 years old we'll be walking in so much of the power and life of God, that people will say about us what they said about Peter and John in Acts 4:13, that surely "they had been with Jesus"! That's what believing for long life and increasing impact in ministry is all about. It's not just about us chalking up a lot of birthdays, or people being impressed with us. It's about them being impressed with Jesus. It's about us being vessels through which God can increasingly touch people's lives and manifest the light of His kingdom in this sin- darkened world. We've been born again in the image of Jesus, about whom God said, "from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." We're partakers of His "excellent ministry." We've been made one with Him and inherited His most "excellent name." (See 2 Peter 1:17; Hebrews 8:6, 1:4.) By our very nature in Christ, we're created to excel! God has called you to have an impact for Him on this world, and that impact is to be always increasing. Year after year, you're to be touching more lives and manifesting the light of God's kingdom more brightly. Decade after decade you're to keep expanding your infl uence for Him until one day, at a very old age, you hear Jesus say, "Well done, faithful servant. Come on home!" A few years ago, as I was praying and preparing to preach at a ministers' conference in Lagos, Nigeria, I heard The LORD say, Impact should always be increasing. At the time I was thinking about the ministers at the conference, who were for the most part full-time preachers. But I've realized since, that The LORD's statement didn't just apply to them. It applies to every born-again child of God. No matter what our natural vocation might be, as believers we're all called to ministry. We're all called to have an impact for God on this world and that impact should always be increasing—whether we're behind a pulpit, at home, in our neighborhood, at school, in the workplace or somewhere else. Having the same impact today that we had fi ve years ago is not enough. God is a God of increase. He intends for our spiritual infl uence to grow: for us to put more pressure on the forces of darkness with We're all called to have an impact for God on this world... whether we're behind a pulpit, at home, in our neighborhood, at school, in the workplace or somewhere else. EVER- INCREASING IMPACT

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