BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

In other words, we can experience what believers experienced in the early days of the Church. As Acts 9:31 says: “[They had] rest…and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.” That’s a wonderful way to live and it’s what God wants for all of His children. He wants every one of us—no matter what our circumstances or where we might live—to be built up, comforted, directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. He wants us to multiply in every way while at the same time enjoying the rest that comes from the presence of the Lord. Even though that’s God’s will for us, that kind of life doesn’t fall on us automatically like an apple off a tree. We have to press in to Him and receive it. As Hebrews 4:11 says, we have to “labour therefore to enter into that rest.” What exactly is involved in laboring to enter God’s rest? Clearly, it doesn’t involve struggling to earn your way into it through your own human efforts. Jesus—through His life, death and resurrection—has already done all the earning there is to do. In Him you’ve already been blessed with “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). So when it comes to laboring, Jesus has already done the hard part! Your part of the labor is easy. It just involves putting some effort into your relationship with God. It involves spending time fellowshiping with Him in the Word and in prayer, learning to walk in the spirit and hear His voice. Although it’s sad to say, a lot of believers never get around to doing that. As a result, they have a hard time living the Christian life. They try to do it in the mental realm instead of the spiritual realm. They try to do it by using their own natural willpower to keep a set of religious rules. That’s not just difficult—it’s impossible! You can’t live upright in this wicked world by just following a mental list of do’s and don’ts. You can’t overcome your selfish tendencies in the natural by just relying on the power of your flesh. When the whole world around you is operating with the mentality, If I don’t take care of me, who will?, you can’t successfully walk in love in your own human strength. It doesn’t work. You can’t do it! The only way you can live like God says in the Bible is by maintaining your union and communion with Him. You have to get into the spiritual realm and let Him energize you. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). “But Gloria,” someone might say, “I don’t know if even God can do very much with the mess I’ve made! I have problems so big I can’t see any way out of them and I don’t know anything about operating in the spirit at all!” None of us does when we first get started. In the beginning we’re all like little children just learning to walk. But I can tell you from experience, from the first day you endeavor to hear and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, your life will begin to improve. The darkness that has clouded your spiritual vision will fade away and you’ll begin to see into the things of God. Why do you need to see into the things of God? Because you can’t tell just by looking at things in the natural what’s really going on. All you can perceive is what’s happening in the earthly realm. As long as you’re bound to this physical world in your thinking and in your actions, you can’t tap into the supernatural provision God has made available to you. Even though it’s there in abundance, you can’t take advantage of it. More on Our Side Than Theirs Think about what happened to Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings 6 and you’ll see what I mean. They got up one morning and saw that overnight they’d been surrounded by the Syrian army. With enemy troops, horses and chariots all around them, ready to move in for the kill, Elisha’s servant couldn’t see in the natural that there was any way out of the situation. Panicked, he cried out, “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” BVOV : 7

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