BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

It may be just a book when it’s lying unopened on your nightstand or your coffee table, but the words inside it contain the very power of God. His Word is His creative power! When you put it in your heart and speak it with your mouth, that power goes to work to change your bank account, your body, your family or anything else that needs to be changed in your life. “Well, I tried speaking the Word for a while but it was too hard. I just couldn’t keep doing it. ” That’s because you didn’t have it in your heart in abundance. But if you’ll stick with it, if you’ll keep planting it in your heart by listening to it and reading it every day, it will eventually take root and grow. You’ll get a breakthrough on the inside and it will start showing up on the outside. You’ll find yourself speaking the Word without even thinking about it. In Matthew 12:33-35, Jesus explained it like this: “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit…. for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” Notice in that verse, God wasn’t the one who decided what the good man and the evil man received; they did. They each determined by what they did with their eyes, ears and attention, what kind of crop they were going to harvest. Whatever they chose to sow in their hearts and reap with their words was what they received. That’s how the spiritual law of receiving works for anything—good or bad, positive or negative. Think about how pornography gets hold of people, for example. They put their eyes on it and start giving it their attention. They might just be browsing around on the Internet one day and suddenly an ungodly picture pops up on the screen. Rather than look away, they fix their eyes on it. Then they start seeking out those kinds of pictures on purpose. They look at pornography more and more until it eventually gets into their hearts and starts taking over their lives. Don’t ever let that happen to you. When you’re in the grocery store line and you see a magazine with an evil picture on the cover, don’t say, “Wow, look at that!” Turn your head the other way. Put your attention somewhere else. Say, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes” (Psalm 101:3). This is serious business! What you do with your eyes and ears, what you give your attention to, is what gets down into your heart; and, according to Proverbs 4:23, out of your heart “flow the springs of life” ("AMP"). If you keep your eyes on bad things, bad things will get in your heart and start flowing in your life. But if you keep your eyes on God’s Word, His BLESSINGS will flow. Either way, your future is stored up in your heart and your words. You get to choose what your outcome will be. If you’ve stored up wrong things in the past, you can repent and wipe out that bad crop with the blood of Jesus. Then you can start over with a clean slate. Isn’t it wonderful? God is so full of mercy, He set things up so that with the Word, we can change our future anytime we choose. So if you don’t like what you’re experiencing right now, instead of giving up, double up! Double up on the Word and turn every trouble you encounter into a testimony. Overcome it with faith in your heart and in your mouth, and make the devil wish he’d never come knocking on your door. V *********************************** Enjoyed this article? For more insightful teachings, go to kcm.org. *********************************** Points to Get You There: Overcoming Trouble As a believer, you don’t go around expecting bad things to happen to you. Because you know God loves you and you trust His Word, you’re always expecting something good! Yet as long as you live in this fallen world, from time to time trouble will come knocking on your door. And when it does, you can overcome it. You can turn that trouble into a testimony. Here are some points to get you there: 1) Don’t get upset and discouraged when things go wrong. John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” ("New International Version"). 2) Ask God in faith for whatever you need. Mark 11:24: “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” 3) If the trouble persists, don’t give up; double up on the Word. 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.” 4) Stick with it until your heart is so full of the Word it overflows through your mouth. Matthew 12:34-35: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” 5) Keep standing in faith until the victory comes. 1 John 5:4: “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” BVOV : 31

• Cover