BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

“gems” “Regardless of the circumstances, love is the foundation of every step to reconciliation.” *****ADVERTISEMENT***** FREE "A Matter of Choice" minibook #BG150802 Learn how to hear God’s voice in all decisions, big or small. Making the right decision isn’t always easy! In this FREE minibook, Kenneth Copeland shows how—by faith—you can find supernatural solutions to everyday problems. Request your free copy of "A Matter of Choice" today. kcm.org/mag 1-800-600-7395 U.S. only +1-817-852-6000 Offer valid until Aug. 31, 2015 *********************************** How did Peter and John know what to do in that situation? They remembered the upbraiding Jesus had given them. They were thinking, I’m not going to get chewed out again over this. I’ve been told what to do and I’m going to do it. I’m going to believe in and use the Name of Jesus. Truth be told, they didn’t really know anything else to do. They didn’t yet have much additional revelation. They’d just been baptized in the Holy Spirit a few days. They couldn’t read 1 Corinthians and study the verses about the gifts of healings and the workings of miracles because the New Testament hadn’t yet been written. At that point in their ministries, Peter and John didn’t even know much about the new birth. They just knew that unless they wanted to see fire in Jesus’ eyes again, they’d better use that Name! “Yeah, but they were apostles,” someone might say. “They had a special anointing. That’s why they were able to heal that man.” No, it’s not. Peter himself said so. He told the people at the Temple, who stared at him in wonder as the former cripple leaped around praising God, “Why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? Faith in Jesus' name has healed him before your very eyes” (verses 12, 16, "New Living Translation"). Later, when the Jewish religious leaders asked about the incident, Peter said the same thing to them. “By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth…doth this man stand here before you whole. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10, 12). What’s more, it wasn’t just Peter who attributed the man’s healing to the power of Jesus’ Name. John did too. In fact, in 1 John 3:23, he wrote: “This is [God’s] commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another.” Often, when I ask a congregation, “What is God’s commandment to the Church?” they tell me it’s to love one another. But actually that’s just the second half of our commandment. The first part is this: Believe on Jesus’ Name! What’s So Great About Jesus’ Name? First of all, He inherited it from Almighty God. That means it’s God’s own Name. It’s the Name that in the Old Testament is translated LORD (as in Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower”). It’s the Name that was considered by the Israelites to be so powerful and holy that they reverenced it too much to say it and eventually the proper pronunciation was lost. This is the most awesome, powerful Name that exists, and Jesus obtained it by inheritance. It was conferred on Him after He purged our sin through the work of redemption, when He “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,” and God said to Him, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom” (Hebrews 1:3, 8). “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Philippians 2:9-10). Just think of it! The Name Jesus inherited, the Name God conferred on Him after His ascension to the throne of grace, is God’s own divine Name. Therefore the only way to measure its greatness and grandness is by measuring the power of God Himself, and that can’t be done. 6 : BVOV

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