BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

In New Testament terms, having a perfect heart toward God is simply doing what Matthew 6:33 says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” What happens when you do that? According to Jesus, “all these things shall be added unto you.” Personally, I love having God add things to me! What He adds is good. It brings life and peace and every other blessing. What the devil adds, on the other hand, is bad. It’s under the curse. The curse has poverty in it. It brings fear, doubt, captivity, disease, defeat and death. The devil adds things to us we don’t want. When we believe and act on what he says, he just keeps loading us down with more and more of his ugly stuff. As one woman said, “When you let the devil in the back seat, pretty soon he’ll be wanting to drive.” And when the devil is driving you around, you end up going places you don’t want to go. Adam and Eve found this out in the Garden of Eden. They initially had a perfect life there. God had BLESSED them to such a degree that they didn’t even have to cook dinner. Their food (which I’m sure tasted heavenly) literally grew on the trees. Lack of any kind was a completely foreign concept to them. Rich in every conceivable way, they enjoyed absolute authority on earth, and on top of it all, they got to fellowship face to face with God. For Adam and Eve, as well as for their heavenly Father, life in the Garden was a dream come true! But then sin came in. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and died spiritually. Suddenly, THE BLESSING was gone. Nothing good was being added to them anymore. They had to live by the sweat of their brow, eking a living out of the earth, and struggling to get by on their own—all the while putting up with the devil and the curse. You’d think all mankind would have learned a lesson from this. You’d think everyone from then on would have chosen God’s way and not the devil’s. But all through the Old Testament, people kept doing the same old thing. They kept following in Adam and Eve’s footsteps, making the wrong choices again and again. In the days of the prophet Jeremiah, for instance, the Israelites chose to worship idols. God pleaded with them to stop it. He told them repeatedly to return to Him so He could bless them and protect them from their enemies. But they refused to listen. They said, “We will do whatever we want. We will burn incense and pour out liquid offerings to the Queen of Heaven just as much as we like” (Jeremiah 44:17, "New Living Translation"). As a result, they ended up losing their nation, their freedom and their lives. You may be thinking: Surely Christians today never behave like that! Yes, although it’s sad to say, sometimes they do. Sometimes even born-again believers choose to disregard God’s Word and do things their own way. And the outcome is always bad. I’m thinking right now of one believer I heard about who absolutely refused to forgive. Even though she knew she was disobeying God, she held on to unforgiveness so stubbornly and so long that she became physically sick. The Lord did His best to help her. He sent a well-known minister to her, to pray for her and tell her, “If you will just forgive, you will be healed.” *****ADVERTISEMENT***** Setting the Record Straight Too often, God is blamed for what the devil instigates. But in this powerful series, Gloria Copeland reveals—beyond any doubt—that God desires to do you good. You’ll see in this life-changing study how, throughout Scripture, God is a good God whose clear motivation behind all He does is love. Take your understanding of your heavenly Father to the next level as you discover The Goodness of God…and see how you can be a living demonstration of His goodness to everyone you come in contact with today. "The Goodness of God" 6 CDs sale $19.99* reg $30 #B141006 Order online and save an additional 10% kcm.org/mag 1-800-600-7395 U.S. only +1-817-852-6000 *Plus shipping. Offer price valid until Oct. 31, 2014 ******************************* 28 : BVOV

• Cover