BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

“Big guns?” you ask. “Aren’t all the weapons of our spiritual warfare mighty through God?” Yes, they are all mighty and effective. All of them fire the ammunition of faith so they’re all powerful. But they’re not all the same. For instance, if we compared them with natural weapons, we might say that one is like a pistol, another like a rifle and another like a cannon. If we’re in a spiritual battle and we’ve already used the pistol and the rifle, but the devil just keeps hanging on, only the cannon will do—the cannon of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the “big gun” in our spiritual arsenal. It keeps us connected to God and receiving from Him even when circumstances are dark. It keeps us in an attitude of faith even when the devil is assaulting our senses and giving us a thousand natural reasons to doubt The WORD and the power of God. When the storms of life are thundering around us, if we’ll just stop right in the middle of it all and give thanks, it will keep us standing strong. Don’t Wait Until Things Get Better “But Brother Copeland, I don’t feel like giving thanks at times like that.” Neither do I. But it doesn’t matter how we feel. The Bible says, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). So we don’t have the luxury of waiting until things get better. (If we don’t give thanks, they’ll never get better!) We can’t afford to wait until Sunday. The Bible tells us to give thanks now, right in the midst of whatever we’re facing. That’s what Jesus did even when His ministry was being rejected by whole cities of people. When He ran up against stiff-necked religious leaders who refused to repent after witnessing the presence and power of Almighty God—even then, Jesus prayed and said: “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Matthew 11:25-26). Just think how easy it would have been for Jesus to give in to frustration or discouragement in that situation! There He was preaching His heart out, moving in such authority that devils were fleeing, miracles were happening, and people were being healed and set free. Yet people ignored those works, and not only that, they actually accused Jesus Himself of being demon possessed! If most of us were in that situation, we’d get mad and quit the ministry! We’d throw our hands up in disgust and say, “What’s the matter with this ignorant bunch of people? Don’t they know God is moving in their midst? Can’t they hear a word I’m saying? I give up! I’m not messing with this bunch anymore!” But Jesus didn’t do that because it would have broken His connection to the Father. And He knew that in the heat of that spiritual battle, He had to keep His connection strong. So He pulled out the big gun and gave thanks! Silencing a Sinister Enemy He did the same thing when He went to Lazarus’ tomb. Talk about a major spiritual battle! Lazarus had been mummified by the time Jesus reached him. The embalming chemicals were already working on his body. If that weren’t enough, he’d been dead four days and his body was beginning to decompose. BVOV : 21

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