BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Read Through the Bible JUNE 2017 Old Testament/New Testament Thu 1 2 Kgs. 4-5 / Eph. 6 Fri 2 2 Kgs. 6-7 / Phil. 1 Sat 3 2 Kgs. 8-9 / Phil. 2 Sun 4 2 Kgs. 10-12 / Phil. 3-4 Mon 5 2 Kgs. 13-14 / Col. 1 Tue 6 2 Kgs. 15-16 / Col. 2 Wed 7 2 Kgs. 17-18 / Col. 3 Thu 8 2 Kgs. 19-20 / Col. 4 Fri 9 2 Kgs. 21-22 / 1 Thess. 1 Sat 10 2 Kgs. 23-24 / 1 Thess. 2 Sun 11 2 Kgs. 25; 1 Chr. 1-2 / 1 Thess. 3-4 Mon 12 1 Chr. 3-4 / 1 Thess. 5 Tue 13 1 Chr. 5-6 / 2 Thess. 1 Wed 14 1 Chr. 7-8 / 2 Thess. 2 Thu 15 1 Chr. 9-10 / 2 Thess. 3 Fri 16 1 Chr. 11-12 / 1 Tim. 1 Sat 17 1 Chr. 13-14 / 1 Tim. 2 Sun 18 1 Chr. 15-17 / 1 Tim. 3-4 Mon 19 1 Chr. 18-19 / 1 Tim. 5 Tue 20 1 Chr. 20-21 / 1 Tim. 6 Wed 21 1 Chr. 22-23 / 2 Tim. 1 Thu 22 1 Chr. 24-25 / 2 Tim. 2 Fri 23 1 Chr. 26-27 / 2 Tim. 3 Sat 24 1 Chr. 28-29 / 2 Tim. 4 Sun 25 2 Chr. 1-3 / Titus 1-2 Mon 26 2 Chr. 4-5 / Titus 3 Tue 27 2 Chr. 6-7 / Philem. Wed 28 2 Chr. 8-9 / Heb. 1 Thu 29 2 Chr. 10-11 / Heb. 2 Fri 30 2 Chr. 12-13 / Heb. 3 “Read Through the Bible in a Year Plan” written by Marilyn Hickey, and used by permission. ************************************************* * * * * * * * * article continues * * * * * * * * Keeping that Word in your heart with all diligence will enable you to avoid a lot of trouble. It will cut way down on your trips to the doctor, the lawyer and the banker. It will keep the forces of God’s life flowing out of you, pushing away the devil’s trash, and keeping your life on track. The Unstoppable Fruit of the Spirit “Well, all that sounds good,” someone might say, “but I don’t understand exactly what you mean when you refer to ‘the forces of God’s life.’” For one thing, I’m talking about spiritual forces the New Testament calls the fruit of the spirit. According to Galatians 5:22-23, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, [and] temperance.” Generally, people tend to think of those things as just nice qualities. But in reality, they’re something much more powerful. They’re the attributes of God Himself. They’re created in you the moment you’re born again, and as you feed on the Word of God and listen to His voice they flow out of your spirit and produce godly conditions in your life. Nothing Satan has can counter the forces of the fruit of the spirit! He can’t use the law of sin and death against them because, as verse 23 says, “Against such there is no law.” He can’t use the flesh to stop them because, as verse 16 says, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” It’s very difficult for Satan to succeed in making you sick when the spiritual forces of love, joy and peace are flowing in your life. • He can’t break down your physical immune system with the tension that comes from strife and unforgiveness because “[love] pays no attention to a suffered wrong” (1 Corinthians 13:5, "Amplified Bible, Classic Edition"). • He can’t take you down through weakness because “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). • He can’t successfully saddle you with all the diseases that are caused by stress because “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” continually guards your heart and mind (Philippians 4:7, "New King James Version"). If the force of temperance is flowing out of you, the devil faces even more problems. He can’t wreck your health by getting you to overeat or getting you addicted to drugs or some other unhealthy substance because you’re able to discipline your body. You’re able to walk in dominion over its carnal desires and take care of it the way God intended. God knows what it takes for you to live in victory in this world, and He’s provided every bit of it for you! He’s put His life in your spirit and He’s given you His Word to keep that life flowing. I’ve found, after walking with God for more than a half century now, that when I’m staying in the Word and walking in the spirit I just don’t experience many symptoms of sickness. Sometimes I go for years at a time and hardly know I have a body at all. Yet, even after all these years, if I slacked off the Word and quit feeding my spirit, the forces of God’s life would quit coming out of me. They’d quit repulsing the things of the devil and before long I’d find myself getting sick. It’s easy to get sick. All you have to do is nothing! Just stop listening to God and start listening to what the world is saying and—voilà!—pretty soon you’ll be catching whatever viruses or bugs the devil is passing around. “But Gloria, if that happens can’t I get back into the Word and believe God to be healed?” Yes, but it’s better not to wait until you’re under attack to start preparing for the faith fight. It’s better to get ready in advance by spending time in the Word and in prayer every day. Even if life is going well for you right now, and you’re not looking to be divinely delivered from some kind of trouble, such time spent with God is never wasted. You don’t have to worry that you might get up an hour earlier every morning to read the Word and pray, and wind up with nothing to show for it. That can’t possibly happen. The Bible guarantees it. Galatians 6:7-9 says: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” I’ve already said this but it bears repeating: It always pays to hang in there with God! It pays rich dividends to consistently spend time in His Word. So if you aren’t doing it already, get with it and stick with it. Don’t wait until the devil attacks you and puts you on the defensive. Get out ahead of him. Live on the offensive. Put God’s Word first place every day and let those forces flow! V 30 : BVOV

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