BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Another time, Gloria and I were on a motorcycle trip with the same bunch. We stopped at a store and a boy about 10 years old came running up to us. “You’re preachers, right?” he said. “You’re the ones on television that pray for people that are sick!” “Yes, we are,” we said. “Will you pray for my mama?” he asked. “She’s got cancer.” We didn’t see his mother anywhere around so we just got in a circle around him and started to pray. “No, don’t pray for me!” he said. “Pray for her. She’s right there in the car.” He led us over to where she was, and we gathered up around the car and attacked that cancer devil in prayer. God’s love and power started overflowing and our trip to the store turned into a healing meeting! “That’s great, Brother Copeland,” you might say, “but you all are on TV.” I know it, but you don’t have to be on television to have those kinds of experiences. You just have to yield to the working of the Holy Spirit. If you’ll cooperate with Him and get God-inside minded, He’ll draw people to you and overflow through you in all kinds of places and all different ways. Of course, you have to stay ready if you want Him to do that. You have to prepare yourself by using your faith on a daily basis to live in God’s BLESSING in your own life. Otherwise you won’t be in much of a position to help others. You won’t be ready to pray in faith for healing in someone else’s body, for instance, if you’re not believing God where your own body is concerned. You won’t boldly lay hands on the sick expecting them to recover if every time you sneeze you say things like, “I believe I’m taking that flu bug that’s been going around lately. Everyone I know has been getting it and now it’s gotten on me!” No, if you’re going to overflow in the area of healing, you have to practice saying what God says about it. Instead of talking like sickness is following you, you have to talk like healing is following you. You have to believe and declare the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead is quickening your mortal body (Romans 8:11) so that your faith can spill over onto others and their bodies can be quickened too! The Power of Spill-Over Faith Whenever I think about spill-over faith, I think about what happened to me years ago when I was at our cabin in Arkansas. I was working around our property and I decided I wanted to get rid of a useless old fence post that was sticking up out of the ground. I was tired of looking at it and, since the dirt around it had hollowed away, I figured I should be able to yank it out without much trouble. I had some high-tension straps handy—straps I use to secure my motorcycle when it’s on the trailer—so I wrapped them around the post and tied them to the hitch on the back of my station wagon. I got into the station wagon and pressed the accelerator a little, expecting that post to just pop out of the ground. The post didn’t move on the first try, so I tried again—this time hitting it with enough power to lift up the back end of the car. But still, the post refused to budge. I was sitting there wondering what on earth could be holding the thing in place when suddenly I realized what I’d done. Not only had I failed to remove the post, I’d just messed up two perfectly good tie-down straps! Jumping out of the car, I went over to look, and—sure enough—the knots in those straps were pulled so tight it was like they were fused. I got a screwdriver and made a few attempts to pick at them, but they were too flat and slick. The screwdriver just slid off. Determined not to let those knots defeat me, I asked The LORD for help. “Heavenly Father,” I prayed, “forgive me for doing such a dumb thing. I repent and receive my forgiveness. Now I’m believing You to restore my straps and I’m saying by faith, these knots are coming undone!” I continued to pray for a while in the spirit and at the same time started working again on one of the straps. I didn’t appear to be making any headway but, since faith without works is dead, I kept scratching at it. “Thank You, LORD, that these knots are untied and my straps are straightened out,” I said. At the same time, according to Mark 11:23, I spoke to the knot that was in my hand and said, “You are loosed.” Half an hour or so went by and the knot began to give a little. A few minutes later it gave a little more…and a little more…and finally it came loose! By that time, I could sense the power of God at work so I danced around the car and celebrated. Then I picked up the second strap, intending to go to work on it, and discovered something surprising: The knot in that strap had already come undone! ****** article concludes on p. 10 ****** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * OCT Read Through the Bible Old Testament /Psalms Sun 1 Isa. 49-51 / Ps. 52-53 Mon 2 Isa. 52-53 / Ps. 54 Tue 3 Isa. 54-55 / Ps. 55 Wed 4 Isa. 56-57 / Ps. 56 Thu 5 Isa. 58-59 / Ps. 57 Fri 6 Isa. 60-61 / Ps. 58 Sat 7 Isa. 62-63 / Ps. 59 Sun 8 Isa. 64-66 / Ps. 60-61 Mon 9 Jer. 1-2 / Ps. 62 Tue 10 Jer. 3-4 / Ps. 63 Wed 11 Jer. 5-6 / Ps. 64 Thu 12 Jer. 7-8 / Ps. 65 Fri 13 Jer. 9-10 / Ps. 66 Sat 14 Jer. 11-12 / Ps. 67 Sun 15 Jer. 13-15 / Ps. 68-69 Mon 16 Jer. 16-17 / Ps. 70 Tue 17 Jer. 18-19 / Ps. 71 Wed 18 Jer. 20-21 / Ps. 72 Thu 19 Jer. 22-23 / Ps. 73 Fri 20 Jer. 24-25 / Ps. 74 Sat 21 Jer. 26-27 / Ps. 75 Sun 22 Jer. 28-30 / Ps. 76-77 Mon 23 Jer. 31-32 / Ps. 78 Tue 24 Jer. 33-34 / Ps. 79 Wed 25 Jer. 35-36 / Ps. 80 Thu 26 Jer. 37-38 / Ps. 81 Fri 27 Jer. 39-40 / Ps. 82 Sat 28 Jer. 41-42 / Ps. 83 Sun 29 Jer. 43-45 / Ps. 84-85 Mon 30 Jer. 46-47 / Ps. 86 Tue 31 Jer. 48-49 / Ps. 87 “Read Through the Bible in a Year Plan” written by Marilyn Hickey, and used by permission. BVOV : 9

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