BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

B V O V : 5 by Kenneth Copeland universe. The Genesis account of Creation tells us that, as God carried out His plan, He took time to examine what He had done. And what He saw, He liked. He called it "good." It was all so good, in fact, that by the time He was finished, God had made every man and woman who would ever be born into this world wealthy beyond their wildest dreams and imaginations. Imagine tending to a garden that has gold lying around on the ground. That's how the Bible describes the Garden of Eden. I would call that wealthy. What the Church has not completely grasped is that making man wealthy beyond his wildest dreams has been God's intention all along. Since the beginning of time, God has fully intended for every person to spend all of eternity exploring the abundance of possessions and inheritance He had prepared for them before the world ever began. He has fully intended for every man and woman to prosper in every way possible. That was His plan under the Old Covenant. In Psalm 66:12, we read: "Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place." Other translations use the phrase, "a place of abundance." God had prepared a wealthy place for His people. It was a place in Him that o‰ered an abundance of wisdom, an abundance of health, an abundance of financial prosperity, an abundance of love, and so on. His intention is no di‰erent today under the New Covenant. "For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship)," the Apostle Paul writes, "recreated in [the Anointed] Jesus [by His anointing], [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]" (Ephesians 2:10, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition). Before the foundation of this world was ever set into place, before Adam and Eve ever took their first breath, God prepared for each one of us a wealthy place…a place of abundance in Him. "But, Brother Copeland, if God has that wealthy place for me, why did He put it where I can't see it or touch it with my natural senses?" That's easy…He put it someplace where man wouldn't lose it. A Win-Win Life When God laid out the framework for this place of abundance before the foundation of the world, He not only made us wealthy, but He also designed it all in such a way that it could never be stolen from us. Although God had made the Garden of Eden for His family, He knew it wouldn't be long before Adam would turn it all over to the devil. So, He had a plan, and the secret to that plan is found in Ephesians 1:3-5: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus [the Anointed One], who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in [the Anointed One, and in His Anointing]: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself…. Notice the word hath in verse 3—"hath blessed us." That's Old English for "has already." From this, we see again that God BLESSED us before the world existed. In fact, this verse goes on to say, "who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places…." If you think about it, before this natural, physical world existed, there was nothing but heavenly places. Earthly places had not been created yet. All this planning had to have happened before the foundation of the world. Just what was all the planning about? God was carefully preparing our eternal Covenant. And that is where the word BLESSED (verse 3) comes into play. The word BLESSED, when applied to a covenant situation, literally means "empowered to prosper." Now, it's pretty obvious we do not need a covenant or binding agreement with someone in order to become poor. We can become poor all by ourselves. "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep," Proverbs tells us, and poverty will come as an armed robber. The point is, we don't need a covenant to show us how to reach a lower level of living—whether it's failing at life, going broke, getting sick or whatever. What we do need is a covenant with someone who is at a higher state than us, if we want to move to a higher level of living. It takes a Covenant with Almighty God to reach our wealthy place in life, to be free of sin and its e‰ects, to be born again and have the very Anointing of God abiding within us.

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