BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Read Through the Bible DECEMBER Old Testament / Psalms Thu 1 Dan. 9-10 / Ps. 119:73-96 Fri 2 Dan. 11-12 / Ps. 119:97-120 Sat 3 Hos. 1-3 / Ps. 119:121-144 Sun 4 Hos. 4-5 / Ps. 119:145-176 Mon 5 Hos. 6-7 / Ps. 120 Tue 6 Hos. 8-9 / Ps. 121 Wed 7 Hos. 10-11 / Ps. 122 Thu 8 Hos. 12-13 / Ps. 123 Fri 9 Hos. 14; Joel 1 / Ps. 124 Sat 10 Joel 2-3; Amos 1 / Ps. 125-126 Sun 11 Amos 2-3 / Ps. 127 Mon 12 Amos 4-5 / Ps. 128 Tue 13 Amos 6-7 / Ps. 129 Wed 14 Amos 8-9 / Ps. 130 Thu 15 Obad.; Jon. 1 / Ps. 131 Fri 16 Jon. 2-3 / Ps. 132 Sat 17 Jon. 4; Mic. 1-2 Ps. 133-134 Sun 18 Mic. 3-4 / Ps. 135 Mon 19 Mic. 5-6 / Ps. 136 Tue 20 Mic. 7; Nah. 1-3 / Ps. 137 Wed 21 Hab. 1-3 / Ps. 138 Thu 22 Zeph. 1-3 / Ps. 139 Fri 23 Hag. 1-2 / Ps. 140 Sat 24 Zech. 1-3 / Ps. 141-142 Sun 25 Zech. 4-5 / Ps. 143 Mon 26 Zech. 6-7 / Ps. 144 Tue 27 Zech. 8-9 / Ps. 145 Wed 28 Zech. 10-11 / Ps. 146 Thu 29 Zech. 12-13 / Ps. 147 Fri 30 Zech. 14; Mal. 1 / Ps. 148 Sat 31 Mal. 2-4 / Ps. 149-150 “Read Through the Bible in a Year Plan” written by Marilyn Hickey, and used by permission. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * In the Gospels, Jesus said it time and again: • “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37) • “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” (Luke 6:45) • “Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” (Mark 11:23) The New Testament epistles add: • “We having the same spirit of faith…believe, and therefore speak.” (2 Corinthians 4:13) • “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus…[and] let us hold fast our confession.” (Hebrews 3:1, 4:14, "New King James Version") Add to those verses a few like these from Proverbs, and there’s no way to argue about it: • “A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth….” (Proverbs 13:2) • “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.” (Proverbs 15:4) • “A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.” (Proverbs 18:7) • “A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.” (Proverbs 18:20) • “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” (Proverbs 18:21) Don’t ever let the devil convince you that your words don’t make any difference. From beginning to end, the Bible teaches us that faith-filled words are the key to everything! Start With a Quality Decision How can you make sure you’re consistently speaking faith-filled words? First and foremost, since faith comes by hearing The WORD of God, you have to open up your Bible and take time to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. You have to find out what God is saying to you and get your thoughts in alignment with His: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). “Brother Copeland, that sounds hard!” It would be if you had to do it by yourself, but you don’t. The Holy Spirit will be right there to help you. He’ll lead you and back you up with His power every step of the way once you make a quality decision to think and speak and live by faith. A quality decision is a decision from which there is no retreat and about which there is no more argument. It’s the kind of decision Gloria and I made many years ago about our children, for example. They were very young when we went into the ministry and, because we’d seen the devil go after other ministers’ children, we spent three or four days at our prayer cabin seeking God about them. We didn’t pray about anything else during that time. We just got our Bibles and preaching tapes and piled them up all around us. Then we read, listened, made notes and prayed in the spirit. Once we knew our hearts and minds were in agreement with God, we made our declaration: “We are not losing our children! We have made the decision; as for me and my house, we will serve The LORD!” The LORD immediately responded. I’ll take care of it, He said…and He absolutely did. Today not only are all three of our children working with us in the ministry, we have 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren—and all of them are serving God. It didn’t just happen automatically, though. It happened because we stood fast on God’s WORD and refused to let it depart from our mouths. 6 : BVOV

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