BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

purpose? It's not just to get an end result. It's not just to have what you're believing and praying for come to pass. The purpose, Jesus said, is so the Father can be glorifi ed. Notice God isn't portrayed as an impersonal force here. He's not just the behind-the- scenes Power that pulls the strings, pushes the buttons and makes sure the law of faith works. He is not just up there with lightning bolts coming out of His fi ngertips, saying, "Oh, look! They got the faith formula right. Zap!" No, Jesus is talking in these verses about a Father! Rather than calling Him "God," or "The Almighty One on the Throne"— although Jesus is very aware that God is all those things—in this conversation, Jesus calls Him, "the Father." You don't often see God described like that in the Old Testament. People back then didn't really think of Him as a Father. They were more familiar with the legal side of Him. But Jesus took the legal side of spiritual law and infused it with the vital, making it living and real. He not only called God His Father; He talked about Him with a passion and emotion that was born out of the loving relationship He had with Him. When I imagine the love that must have welled up in Jesus when He spoke about His heavenly Father, I'm reminded of how I have felt at times thinking about my earthly father, my dad. On occasions I've been so caught up with love for him, I've just had to call and tell him how much he means to me. Yet as close as I am to my dad, my relationship with him pales in comparison to the love relationship Jesus had, and still has, with His Father. At times, He, too, must have become so caught up with love for His Father that He just had to stop and talk to Him. That must have been one of the reasons He so often would go o™ by Himself and pray. Prayer Is About People Asking for material things is a scriptural thing to do, but that's not primarily what prayer is about. Prayer is about people. Jesus is a Person—an awesome Person. And our heavenly Father is a very real divine Personality. Their hearts beat as one with a longing for people to be close to them. That's always been God's heart. Even in the Old Testament, when He brought the Israelites out of Egypt, His great desire was for them to draw near to Him. When they came to Mount Sinai, He told Moses His plan was to speak to them directly so they could personally hear His voice. "I'm going to come down on the mountain to meet with them," He said. "I want them to come as close to Me as they can, so you tell them to sanctify themselves. Tell them to do everything they can to prepare themselves to be in My presence." (See Exodus 19.) Because the blood of Jesus hadn't yet been shed, true spiritual sanctifi cation wasn't yet available. The way had not yet been made for people to be sin free and clean on the inside. So, since they couldn't wash on the inside, God instructed Moses to have them wash on the outside. He didn't mean for those instructions to be turned into religious laws without purpose to a™ ect the heart. People have done that, but it wasn't God's intent. He was saying, "Moses, you tell My people I'm going to come down and that I want to see them. You tell them I'll talk to them. Tell them to wash their clothes, purge their thinking, and see to it that they don't sin. Tell them to do everything they possibly can to get themselves right, so they can come as close to Me as I dare allow. Don't let them come too close, though. Put ropes around the base of the mountain to keep them at a safe distance because I don't want to hurt them. My glory destroys sin." Moses relayed God's instruction to the people, and for three days they got ready. Then, at the appointed time, God came down on the mountain in a thick, lightning-fi lled cloud. For the sake of the people, the Bible says, God clothed Himself in darkness. Even though the power of His presence shook the whole mountain, He tried to wrap up, B V O V : 1 1 i Terri Copeland Pearsons is Chief Visionary Of cer of Kenneth Copeland Ministries and president of Kenneth Copeland Bible College. The eldest daughter of Kenneth Copeland, along with her husband, George Pearsons, she is also senior pastor of Eagle Mountain International Church at KCM in Fort Worth. Watch EMIC services with Pastors George & Terri on C H A N N E L with Pastors George & Terri on C H A N N E L Live services: Sun. 11 a.m. | Wed. 8 p.m. Replays: Sun. 10:30 p.m. & Sat. 2 a.m. Wed. midnight ET and emotion that was born out of the loving When I imagine the love that must have welled up in Jesus when He spoke about His heavenly Father, I'm reminded of how I have felt at times thinking about my earthly father, my dad. On occasions I've been so caught up with love for him, I've just had to call and tell him how much he means to me. Yet as close as I am to my dad, my relationship with him pales in comparison to the love relationship Jesus had, and still has, with His Father. At times, Fort Worth. Watch

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