BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Now those plans had been lying up in that attic for years. Why hadn’t they done him any good before? He hadn’t chunked his $5 in the bucket yet. He hadn’t stirred up the force of faith inside his spirit. He hadn’t put his servant to work. You have that same servant! He’s in there when you go to bed at night. He’s there when you get up in the morning. You’re walking around wringing your hands wondering what to do and your servant is all the while right there inside you. He’s saying, “Do you have a mountain you want blown away? If you’ll just stop here for a minute and give me a chance, I’ll do it.” But most of the time you won’t let him. Sickness comes knocking at your door and instead of sending your faith servant to the door to drive it away, you let it in. You say, “Come on in, sickness. I’ll put a pair of silk pajamas on you, put you up here in the bed and spend every dollar I have on you. How long are you going to be with me this time?” All the while your faith servant is there scratching his head, “Boy, doesn’t this beat all? Here comes that scrawny sickness again, coming in here and running this household down. Am I in the right place? Yes, it’s the household of faith. Jesus sent me here to serve this person, but he doesn’t act like he knows I’m here. “Come on, man, I’m your servant! Get your Bible. Turn me loose on that sickness. Don’t keep me standing over here in the corner!” If you’ve been treating faith that way, stop! Put it to work and see just how powerful it is. Jesus spoke to that fig tree and faith went right down into the ground and grabbed hold of the roots and said, “No man eat fruit of you again forever.” It will do the same thing to cancer. You release your faith servant on it and it will start eating away at that foul thing. Finally, that cancer will say, “Man, let’s get out of here. I don’t want to mess with the chief servant over at the Faith House. He’ll eat me alive!” Right now your faith servant is trying to get through to you. He’s waiting eagerly to blow away the mountains in your life. Quit putting him off and put him to work. After all, you are the House of Faith! It’s time you started to act like it! V * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * July 1992 This is one of the first articles by Mac Hammond to be published in BVOV. Protecting Your Heart From the Devil’s Deadly Poison by Mac Hammond A spiritual poison is immobilizing many believers today. It works so subtly most of them don't even know it's happening. This poison is more than dangerous. It's deadly. In fact, it's the primary weapon Satan uses to block the effectiveness of our lives and ministries. It's called disappointment. The Bible refers to it as “hope deferred." Proverbs 13:12 tells us how it works, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick...." Put that scripture together with Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life," and you'll understand why disappointment is so devastating. It strikes at the very center of your being. It pollutes the wellspring from which your life forces flow. Disappointment Undermines Our Faith "Webster's New World Dictionary" defines disappointment as “frustrated expectancy.” As I've studied and prayed about it, I've come to see that frustrated expectations either produce or perpetuate all the poisons that spoil the quality of life Jesus died to give us. Disappointment will undermine our faith, spoil our vision and block our ability to impart the life of God to anyone else. It will cause us to stagnate right where we are. Just think about what disappointment can do to relationships and you'll understand what I mean. Relationship poisons such as resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, jealousy and envy all stem from disappointment. ****** article continues on p. 24 ****** BVOV : 23

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