BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Commander Kellie’s Corner by Kellie Copeland Stir the Pot! Superkid, do you like to cook? I have always enjoyed cooking. My grandmother Ma Dear was a great cook. She didn’t really even need a recipe! I loved to go to her house and cook with her. In her pantry, she had everything we needed to make just about anything. She could take even the most basic ingredients and make something totally divine, marvelous, glorious, excellent and great! I wish you could have tasted the goodness! It’s funny, Superkid, because those words are the exact same words that Peter used in the Bible to describe the faith and the God-filled life that the Father has blessed us with. He has called us to know Him and to daily grow in our relationship with Him. In His Word, He has given us, not only a recipe for greatness in Him, but all the necessary ingredients to make us! Look at it this way Superkid, God is the Master Chef. He knows what He wants you to be and He knows what ingredients it takes to make you into His own image. God intended for us to look just like Jesus, our Big Brother. I know that sounds like an impossibility, and it would be except for the main ingredient: JESUS HIMSELF living inside us. So, you may be wondering: Why don’t we look more like Him today than we do? Well, I can think of two possibilities: First, the Bible says don’t despise the day of small beginnings! We are all growing up into God’s image. Ephesians 4 tells us that Jesus gave us teachers and ministers to help us grow up into Him. Don’t get impatient while the cake is baking! Right now you are becoming all that God has planned for you. But there is still some growing up to do. So, what about those other ingredients I mentioned and how do we put them together? We need a recipe. I have found 2 Peter 1:1-11, "New Living Translation," to be a powerful recipe. I call it The Great Eight. Even though it isn’t talking about food, it is talking about your very life. When you start with a recipe, you know what you want to end up with, just like God knows what He wants you and me to be. The following recipe, taken from the verses I mentioned in 2 Peter 1, includes the ingredients necessary for you to become what God wants you to be. The Recipe for a Godly Life: (verses 3-4, "NLT") “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” Step One: Begin with faith in His promises: “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises” (verse 5). Step Two: Stir in generous portions of moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, patient endurance and godliness: “Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness” (verses 5-6). Step Three: Mix in plenty of brotherly affection: “and godliness with brotherly affection” (verse 7). Step Four: Top this off with love for everyone: “…and brotherly affection with love for everyone” (verse 7). Step Five: Let it bake for the rest of your life! “The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 8). Serves: EVERYONE YOU COME IN CONTACT WITH! Superkid, I hope this illustration helps you see that, just like my Ma Dear’s pantry, your spirit contains all the ingredients needed to make something special out of your life. God intended us to pull them in and add His power and goodness to our lives. When your life, or even your day, is not going like you want it to, stir in those ingredients! All the fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, "NLT," love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (or, as they are listed in the "King James Version," love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance), are the right ingredients for your life. There is NOTHING that can beat these life ingredients! They make your life turn out great! Just like the best-tasting dish your mother or grandmother makes. So, stir it up. When you begin to complain, stir in patience (and some thankfulness, too!) When you are tempted to be disobedient, stir in faithfulness and self-control. Angry? Grab a pinch of peace and gentleness off the shelf! It changes everything. Just like chocolate chips change flour, eggs and sugar into something amazing, joy and patience can turn a grumpy, unhappy day into a Superkid adventure with Jesus that everyone around you can enjoy! Happy baking, Superkid! ♥ Note to parents and leaders: It is my hope that you will take this article as an opportunity to talk to your Superkids about the fruit of the spirit. Explain to them what they are, and what it means to be morally excellent. Our kids need these ingredients working in their lives as they grow up—SUPERKID STYLE! 8 : BVOV

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