BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Upon hearing his words, Mary responded by saying, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). Most people have heard or read this portion of the Christmas story many times, but there’s one question they rarely ask about it: When, exactly, did Gabriel’s words to Mary actually come to pass? At what point did the Holy Spirit hover over her, sow the seed of God’s living WORD in her womb and cause her to conceive? I’ll tell you when it happened. It happened the instant Mary yielded herself to The LORD, believed His WORD and released her faith with the words of her mouth. It happened when she said, in essence, “I’m all Yours, LORD! I belong to You. Be it done unto me, Sir, as You have spoken.” In that moment, Mary gave herself in faith to God and He gave His Son. The Holy Spirit, who had been hovering there in that room, brought God’s WORD to pass and His WORD became flesh in Mary’s womb. From the Only Begotten to the Firstborn “Brother Copeland, I agree that’s a wonderful story. But it’s about Gabriel, Mary and Jesus, not about believers like you and me.” Yes it is, and here’s why: The same thing that happened to Mary when she believed God’s WORD and gave herself in faith to Him happened to us when we got saved. The moment we believed The WORD and said, “Jesus, come into my heart; I receive You as my LORD and my Savior,” the Holy Spirit hovered over us and implanted the incorruptible seed of God’s eternal WORD in our spirit and we were born again. That means we’re as much born of the Spirit as Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Our spiritual DNA is The WORD of the living God. “But what about John 1:14?” someone might ask. “It refers to Jesus as the only begotten of the Father.” Certainly it does—and He was the only begotten when He was born on the earth. But once He was crucified and resurrected, He was never again called God’s only begotten Son. From that point on, He was called the “firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18). Why? Because through the work of the Cross and the triumph of the Resurrection, He made it possible for many sons and daughters to be born into God’s family. By destroying the power of sin that had dominated mankind since the Fall of Adam and reconciling the world to God (2 Corinthians 5:19), He became not only God’s Son but the Big Brother of all who would put their faith in Him. As a result, ever since the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been hovering over the earth, just like He hovered over Mary. He’s been present, ready to bring God’s WORD to pass for anyone who will believe it and say like she did, “Be it unto me according to thy word!” If you’re a believer, the Holy Spirit was there hovering over you the day you were born again, and now He’s not only hovering over you, He dwells within you. He’s never stagnant. He’s always moving. He’s always waiting for you to get God’s WORD in your heart and in your mouth so He can bring it to pass. Like Jesus said, it’s “the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10). If you need healing, you can speak The WORD of healing and the Holy Spirit will move on it and cause it to be made flesh in your body. If you’re in financial bondage of some kind, you can speak The WORD of prosperity and the Holy Spirit will move on it and make you free. If you’re a parent, you can speak The WORD over your children and the Holy Spirit will move on it and it will be made flesh in them. This is the good news! It’s what the angel of The LORD was proclaiming to the shepherds who were watching over their flocks out in the fields of Bethlehem: "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:10-14). Personally, I believe the angels that showed up at the end of that passage were so excited about this message they just exploded onto the scene. They couldn’t contain themselves. They were absolutely delighted to be delivering the news that the war between heaven and earth was over; God had made peace with all mankind and released His goodwill toward them! Of course, at the time, even the angels couldn’t understand the full extent of what was happening. Much of God’s plan was still hidden from them. But as we look back at it now, we can see the whole wonderful truth: On that first Christmas day, God’s perfect Sacrifice had been born into the earth. Jesus, the living WORD, had come to pay the sin debt for all men forever. Within 33 years, His blood would be shed; He would be raised from the dead; and any man, woman or child on earth would have the right to believe on Him and become a new creation. No matter how sinful a person had been, he could receive Jesus as Savior and his old life would pass away, all things would become new and in his spirit he could become exactly like Jesus—His identical spiritual twin. Talk about thrilling! Just thinking about it makes me feel like it’s Christmas 1953 all over again. But there’s one big difference: The Triumph I found waiting for me in the driveway when I was 16 years old is now long gone. But the triumph I found in Jesus will last forever. I’ll be riding with Him through the ages to come, living by faith and speaking His WORD with a grin on my face that will never fade. “Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ...” (2 Corinthians 2:14). If Jesus is your LORD and Savior, you will too. So go ahead and get excited. Celebrate the birth of Jesus like it’s your own—and live for eternity in a dream come true. V BVOV : 7

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