BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Questions & Answers by Kenneth Copeland Q: I’ve always heard that it’s God’s will for His Word to produce a hundredfold blessing. But when I plant the Word of God in my life, it seems like things get worse instead of better. What am I doing wrong? A: The answer to your problem can be found in Mark 4. There Jesus said that after God’s WORD is sown in the heart, satan immediately comes to take it away. What tools does he use to dig up the planted WORD? Jesus tells us: afflictions, persecutions, cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things. Whenever you sow The WORD, satan is going to send some of those things your way in an attempt to pry you loose from The WORD of God because he knows that WORD will give you victory over him. So be prepared to resist him. No matter what happens, stick with The WORD. Study it and apply it every day. Learn to take that WORD and use it as the sword of the Spirit to stop satan’s attack (Ephesians 6:10-18; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5). As you persist in speaking and acting on The WORD, satan will flee (James 4:7). And that’s when you’ll begin to see the hundredfold return become a reality in your life! V * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ***** article from p. 29 continues ***** “Exactly what does it take?” you might ask. First and foremost it takes doing what Mary did the day Jesus came to her house. It takes spending time with the Lord in His Word. The Word is what sanctifies us. It’s what separates us from our old worldly ways of thinking. As Ephesians 5:26 says, we are cleansed by “the washing of water by the word.” God’s Word has the power to wash away from you the things that are getting in your way spiritually. It can wash away old habits and straighten out your priorities. It can wash away strife, unforgiveness and the frustrations you’ve been feeling about the natural things of life. Before the Word can wash you, though, you have to get in the tub. You have to put the Word first place in your schedule and spend time in it every day. The more you scrub your thinking with the Word, the freer you’ll be from the weights of this world that have been holding you down. The more you listen to what God says in the Scriptures and by His Spirit, the more you’ll be transformed by the renewing of your mind into a glorious believer “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but…holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). Show Your Flesh Who’s Boss “I don’t know,” someone might say, “my carnal mind has some pretty stubborn spots and wrinkles.” I know what you mean. I’ve had a few stubborn tendencies of my own over the years. But I learned how to deal with them. The secret is in Romans 6. There the Apostle Paul, reminding us that we’re partakers of the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection, says: "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life…. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Romans 6:4, 11-14). This is the key! This is how you deal with sin and any other carnal tendency in your life you want to get rid of: Stop seeing yourself as a sinner dominated by pressures of the flesh. Instead, consider yourself dead to sin and the flesh, and alive to God. See yourself as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and your body as an instrument of that righteousness. Then, by faith, take dominion over your body. Tell your body what it can do and what it can’t do. Tell your mind what it can and cannot think. Tell your flesh, “Flesh, just sit down and shut up. We’re not going to spend this entire day on natural things. We’re not going to sit around eating cupcakes and watching TV. We’re going to get in the Word today. We’re going to fast and pray!” Do you know what you’ll discover when you do that? You’ll discover that sin, the flesh and the things of this natural world, truly have no dominion over you. You have the power to set those things aside and choose to fellowship with Jesus, like Mary did. You can make His Word your No. 1 priority and, just as John 8:32 says, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Free to live the high life in God! V 30 : BVOV

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