BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

The disciples should have known this, and they would have if they’d been focused on what Jesus was doing and saying that day. But their fear about the food shortage had distracted them. They weren’t paying attention...until Jesus made this attention-grabbing statement. “The multitudes don’t need to depart. You give them something to eat.” Suddenly the disciples were all ears. 'What? You’ve got to be kidding!' they must have thought. “All we have is five loaves and two fishes!” they told Jesus. “Bring them here to Me,” Jesus answered. An Easy Command to Obey If you want to know how God pulls people out of the landfill of poverty and promotes them to the boardroom of abundance, there it is, right there. He says to all of us what Jesus said to His disciples that day. “Bring what you have to Me.” Some people think that’s a hard command to obey, but it’s really not. Once you have a revelation of what Jesus wants to do for you, once you really believe that on the cross He became poorer than any person ever, that He bore the curse of poverty so that you could become as rich as He is, it’s easy to put what you have in His hands. Even if you don’t have a penny to your name, you’ll be so eager to give something to Jesus you’ll go outside somewhere, find a decent-looking rock, polish it up and bring it to Him. You’ll be like the Macedonians and make an offering out of yourself! Why? Because you know He’ll do the same thing for you that He did for His disciples when they handed Him those few loaves and fish. He’ll take what you give Him and bless it; and as Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” THE BLESSING of The LORD is what turned the disciples’ paltry provisions into an “all-you-can-eat” meal for the multitudes. THE BLESSING is what caused the food to multiply in the disciples’ hands so that, as they gave it to the people, “they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full” (Matthew 14:20). Will THE BLESSING do the same for you in your situation? Yes, it will! All you have to do is cooperate with it by putting faith in God’s WORD. Believe what He said about your financial condition instead of what the world says. Then bring what you have to Him and say, “LORD, what do You want me to do? Who do You want me to feed? Who do You want me to serve?” It doesn’t matter if you’re sitting there with five empty pockets and holes in every one of them. It doesn’t matter if the hour is late and you’re stuck out in the middle of a financial desert. Get yourself off your mind and determine to be a blessing to someone else. Give God something to multiply in your life. He can make the desert bloom like a rose right where you’re standing. He can turn your nothing into a Garden of Eden; and He can do it before you can say, “Bless it again!” But it has to start inside you first. So grab your Bible and renew your mind. Take the water of The WORD and wash away every trace of that old poverty mentality. Move out of the landfill of lack and into the boardroom of abundance. As a joint heir with Jesus, that’s where you belong. V *********************************** Points to Get You There: Abundance Poverty or lack of any kind is not a money problem. It’s a spiritual problem. It came on mankind through the curse of sin, and there’s only one way you can solve it: by renewing your mind to what Jesus did for you through the plan of redemption. Here are a few points to help you: 1) On the cross Jesus took on Himself the curse of poverty so that you could be set free. 2 Corinthians 8:9: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” 2) Even if you’re starting at zero, God can prosper and promote you. Psalm 113:7-8: “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.” 3) What looks hard to you isn’t hard for God. Matthew 19:26: “...with God all things are possible.” 4) When you get your eyes off yourself and begin to give, God will turn your financial desert into a Garden of Eden. 2 Corinthians 9:7-8: “...for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” 5) Jesus blesses what you put in His hands, and THE BLESSING causes it to multiply. Proverbs 10:22: “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” FEB '14 : BVOV : 9

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