BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Scripture reference 2 Corinthians 4:18 Keep Your Eyes on the Word by Gloria Copeland If you want to maintain the spirit of faith, you’ll quit considering the natural impossibilities that might be piling up around you this very moment. God is not sweating them, so neither should you. Ken and I have found that out by experience! More than 45 years ago, when Ken was praying down in the riverbed in Tulsa, Okla., God began speaking to him about preaching to nations. God told him way back then that he would have a worldwide ministry. It was clear God hadn’t considered our bank account. We hardly had enough money to get across town—much less go to the nations! But God didn’t expect us to fulfill that call. He intended to do it Himself through our faith in His Word. He intended to provide the power, the resources, the ability—everything! All He expected us to do was believe and obey. That’s all He expects you to do today. Right now you may be thinking, 'I really want to do that. I want to walk and talk by faith. The problem is, every time I look at the mess I’m in, I get discouraged!' Then stop looking at that mess! Instead, focus your attention on the promise of God. Keep His Word in front of your eyes and in your ears until you can see it coming to pass with the eyes of your spirit. That’s what the spirit of faith does. It looks not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. Of course, I’m not saying you should ignore your problems or close your eyes to them as if they aren’t real. They are real. But according to the Word they are temporal. That means “subject to change.” And you can be assured that if you keep looking at what the Word says, they will change! You can develop your faith. You can walk by faith. You can. You can. You can. Just keep your eyes on the Word. V *************************************************************************** **article from page 25 continues** This is always the major key to coming out of trouble. Why? Because faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4), and faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). That’s the reason the Bible says in Proverbs 4:20-21, “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.” It’s why we read in Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Although it took Ken and me a little while to get our faith level up to the $6 million mark, the Lord helped us and we stuck with it. We kept planting the seed of the Word, keeping it in our hearts and in our mouths, and eventually the seed grew up, produced fruit, and we got our harvest: We paid off those TV bills and turned our trouble into a testimony! Anyone Can Do It We’ve been living this way for 43 years now and it’s never failed to work for us. Every time we’ve ever been in a tight place (and we’ve been in plenty of them) faith in God’s Word has always gotten us out. We’ve seen it do the same for countless others. I could tell you about numbers of believers we’ve known who started out facing almost as much trouble as Ken and I first did. Like us, they had nothing when they first got saved. They were living at below zero. But when they began putting God first place in their lives and filling their hearts and mouths with His Word, they started prospering. Today, they’re enjoying THE BLESSING of God. Great things are happening in their lives. Take Keith Moore, for example. When he and his wife, Phyllis, first heard the faith message and moved to Tulsa to go to Bible school, they barely had enough money to scrape by. The only apartment they could afford was located in one of the worst parts of town. Sometimes they heard gunshots outside and saw police lights flashing. Their first night there someone siphoned all the gas out of their car. In those days, the world’s trouble was knocking on Keith and Phyllis’s door in a very literal way. But they came out of that trouble. They started putting God’s prosperity promises in their hearts and in their mouths, and doing whatever God told them to do. Before long, they were experiencing financial increase. Wealth and riches were showing up at their house, just like Psalm 112:3 says. After a while they were able to move to a better neighborhood and into a nicer home. As they continued to walk with God and believe His Word, they kept increasing in every way. The Lord BLESSED them with a new car and a new boat and jet skis and all sorts of other nice things, until they could hardly find any place at their house to put them. One day, Keith’s neighbor, who had been watching all this, came over and asked him about it. “I want to know what’s going on here!” he said. “How are you getting all this stuff?” As a result, Keith had the opportunity to tell him about the goodness of God—and the very thing that had once caused him so much trouble became a testimony. Does that mean Keith and Phyllis never again experienced any financial difficulties? Certainly not. Although they’re people of faith and some of the most dedicated believers I know, they’re always stretching to obey God and do more to advance His kingdom. So, like Ken and me, they consistently face their share of financial challenges. But, of course, so does almost every other believer. I know because from time to time, I take an informal poll when I preach. I ask people, “What’s the biggest problem in your life?” Then I give a list of options such as sickness, relational struggles and finances. Every time, the majority of people indicates that finances are what cause them the most trouble. **article continues on page 30** 28 : BVOV

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