BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

6 : B V O V because your spirit was still producing the reciprocal of God's WORD. That's not the case anymore. But if you allow fear to get into you from the outside, your spirit can house it, even though your reborn human spirit doesn't produce it anymore. It produces faith. Faith is what enables you to cry out to God, "Abba, Father!" Abba means "Daddy." It's a term of belonging. It's di erent than the word Father. Even people who have no personal relationship with God call Him Father. But they don't say it with faith, confi dent that He loves them and is on their side. They say it as if He's someone to be afraid of, as if they're backing away from Him in fear of what He might do to them. Those of us who know God as Abba don't have to back away from Him. We can run to Him. We can have the same attitude natural children have when, seeing their father holding an ice cream cone or some other treat, they run to him saying, "Daddy, Daddy! I want some of that!" The very word daddy reveals how much faith the child has in his or her father. It indicates that child already knows Daddy is going to give them what they ask. I was like that with my mother whenever she was cooking. As a young boy, I would follow her around the kitchen sticking my fi ngers into whatever she was making so I could get a taste of it. Sometimes she got aggravated at me being underfoot and tried to shoo me away. But I stayed right there, looking up at her (and as I grew taller, looking over her shoulder) saying, "I want some of that." What made me so bold? She is my momma! I'm her boy, and I know she loves me. It would have never occurred to me to crawl into her kitchen on my knees and beg her to give me a taste of something. I would never have said to her, "Mother, I'm so unworthy. Could I just have the crumbs?" There would have been no faith in that— only fear. Yet, Christians can often be heard saying exactly those kinds of things to God. They'll pray, "Oh, Father, if I could just have the crumbs o Your table, that will be enough." If a child is afraid of his or her parents, there's something wrong. When the relationship between them is healthy, the child has faith in his parents' love, so he is never afraid of them. Yet he also honors and respects them enough to obey them. That's the kind of relationship I had with my natural father, A.W. Copeland. I called him "Daddy" all the days of his life. I didn't care whether it sounded mature or not. He was my buddy. But growing up, I also knew that, as my father, he would whip me good if I lied, sassed my mother, or did something else that was seriously wrong. That's how it is for us, as believers, in our relationship with God. We honor and reverence Him as our Father and, at the same time, we know that He loves us and that He's our Abba, our Daddy. We can boldly say, "The LORD is on my side: I will not fear!" because we are born of Him, and He has not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of faith. Powerful Spiritual Forces Faith is God's creative power. It's the spiritual force He uses to bring His WORD to pass. Anytime it's in operation, you're going to come out better. Faith will always do you good. As faith's reciprocal, fear does the exact opposite. It will always do damage. Anytime it's in operation, it's going to make things worse because it is the spiritual force satan uses to bring his evil will to pass. It's not just an intellectual concept or an emotional feeling. It's actually a negative spiritual force. Have you ever noticed when someone is badly startled, they're likely to put their hand on their chest and say something like, "That scared me so much it made my heart come right up in my throat"? Without realizing it, they're correctly identifying where the fear came from. It came from 2025 Southwest Believers' Convention July 28 - Aug. 2 | Fort Worth, Texas Omaha Victory Campaign Nov. 6-8 | Omaha, Neb. Kenneth Copeland is also speaking here: For His Kingdom Conference Living Word Aug. 12-17 | Brooklyn Park, Minn. lwcc.org International Faith Conference Living Word Christian Center Sept. 11 | Forest Park, Ill. For updated event information visit: KCM.ORG/EVENTS events Join us! Schedule is subject to change without notice. Southwest Believers' Convention Superkid Academy Registration Policy: Advance registration is required for all participants. A signed liability release form from a parent or legal guardian must be submitted before a child can be checked in. Register at KCM.org/SWBC Southwest Believers' Convention ®

• Cover