BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

This means we can do exactly the opposite of what Adam and Eve did. We can put our faith in God’s goodness, obey His Word and the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and start seeing the Garden of Eden restored in our lives. We can live in the place God designed us to live—a wonderful place, an exciting place, a place where we wake up every day thinking like Adam and Eve did: What marvelous thing does God have for me today? “Gloria, that sounds too good to be true!” I know. But it’s the way God is. His goodness toward us surpasses our wildest imaginations. That’s why the Bible says in Psalm 31:19, “Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!” First Corinthians 2:9-10, "The Amplified Bible," says, “What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him. Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit....” On our own, we can’t even dream up all the goodness God has stored up for us. If we didn’t have the Word and the Holy Spirit to reveal it to us, we wouldn’t be able to wrap our minds around it. One Hebrew Bible scholar said in his commentary on Psalm 31 that God is so good, “there is no limit to His giving, save His creatures’ capacity of receiving.” In other words, the sky’s the limit. We can each have as much of God’s goodness manifesting in our lives as we can receive. **** continued on next page *** ************************************ Victorious Christian Living Vessels of Glory by Kenneth Copeland “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.” John 17:20-22, "New American Standard" Every once in a while I hear someone say, “God will never share His glory with any man.” They usually say it in a deeply religious tone of voice. And if you don’t know better, you’d think it was not only very spiritual but absolutely true. The problem is, it contradicts the Bible. Difficult as it is for our minds to comprehend, God loves us so much that in Jesus, He has given us His glory. We can’t take credit for it, of course. We didn’t do anything to earn it or deserve it. It’s part of our divine inheritance. It’s a gift to us from our LORD Jesus Christ—The LORD of glory and The LORD of love. When God’s glory is in manifestation, great and unusual things happen. Overwhelming life comes on the scene and changes things suddenly. Romans 6:4 says that Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. Ephesians 1:19-20 says that same glory power is at work in and for us who believe. The Hebrew word translated 'glory' means “the heaviness of God—His heaviness with everything good, the heaviness of His splendor and majesty.” In His goodness, splendor and majesty is the hiding place of His power. In Luke 2, it was the glory of The LORD that shone round about the angel who announced the birth of Jesus. It’s the glory that made the face of Jesus shine on the mount of transfiguration. It’s the glory of The LORD that blinded the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. It’s the glory of God that Stephen saw when the Jews began stoning him. Revelation 15:8 says it’s the glory that fills God’s heavenly temple! Our natural mind staggers at that. It says, “What could that glory possibly have to do with a nobody like me? I can’t even understand it!” Yes, you can! You can not only understand it, you are a container of it. Second Corinthians 4:6-7 says: “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” Remember that next time you hear someone say God will never share His glory. Give a shout of praise for the amazing God of love and grace who chose to put His glory in you. V BVOV : 29

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