BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** “Turning the care of this nation over to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and believing He’ll do something about it, is the most responsible thing I can do for this country! Not only does it align me with the will of God, it brings exaltation—and that’s what the U.S. needs.” —Kenneth Copeland ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * * * * * * * article continues * * * * * * No, you haven’t. You haven’t truly repented until you’ve believed you’ve received your forgiveness and acknowledged it. Once you’ve done that, you can walk by faith in your righteousness and kill that ratty, guilty feeling. “But if I don’t have the ratty feeling, won’t I be more inclined to disobey God again?” you might ask. “Won’t I start using grace as a license to sin?” Not if you’re saved, you won’t. No born-again child of God is looking for a way to sin and get away with it. As a believer, you’re looking for a way to live free from sin—and to do that you must have confidence in God’s grace. You must trust that He’ll forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness every time you come to Him; and you must believe that He’ll do it for this one, all-important reason: Because He loves you! When it comes to receiving God’s grace, getting a revelation of God’s love is vital. For, as 1 John 4 says: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation [sacrifice] for our sins…. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us” (verses 9-10, 16). Believe and Trust the Love It’s one thing to mentally accept God’s love. It’s another thing to believe and trust it. When you really trust God’s love, obeying Him becomes much easier. You don’t need feelings of guilt to make you say no to sin. You can gladly do whatever God says because you believe He has your best interests at heart. Even if what He tells you to do initially looks like it’s going to cost you, you’re still willing to do it because you’re confident that, in His great love for you, God will see to it that in the end your obedience won’t cost you, it will pay. I don’t mind admitting, I haven’t always had that kind of confidence. Even during my years in the ministry, I haven’t always fully trusted God’s love for me. As a result, there have been times when He told me to do something, and I resisted. One of the most memorable examples was back in the 1980s. Gloria and I were preaching in Australia and God told us both that when we got back home, we were to go on daily television. I did not want to do that. First, I was already tired most of the time from preaching day and night. (The tiredness was my fault, not The LORD’s.) Second, the TV evangelist scandals that were going on at the time were having a negative financial effect on ministries. So, increasing our expenses seemed like a bad idea. I spent the entire 13-hour flight home from Australia trying to talk God out of His plan for daily TV. “LORD, I don’t think I can face doing what it will take to produce and pay for a daily broadcast,” I said. “I don’t think I can physically stand the strain of it. I feel like it would kill me.” I could have had a much more enjoyable flight if I’d just relaxed and believed the love of God in that situation. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had just trusted His grace to supply me with more than enough strength, power and the provision I needed to get the job done. But instead, I believed my tired body and all the negative circumstances. As a result, even though I obeyed The LORD and launched the daily television broadcast, I started out mad at it. Every time I went into the television studio to do the tapings, I’d be grumpy until right before they turned on the camera. Then I’d smile, and the anointing would come, and everything would be all right. After I left the studio I’d go back to being mad, and I’d stay that way until I had to go back again. (Yes, I was that stupid.) Eventually I got so empty and depressed, one day I went in and just sat there looking at the camera. Unable to find the anointing to minister, I said, “I quit!” and walked out, never intending to come back. If Gloria hadn’t stepped in at that point, I don’t know what would have happened. But she did, and that’s when her television ministry began. Later, after we prayed about it, we saw that God had intended from the beginning for the broadcasts to be a team effort. We’d just failed to realize it because neither one of us had wanted to do it. Once we both pitched in, things began to go more smoothly, and I assumed everything was fine. Then, one day a couple of years ago, I was praying over the finances of this ministry. As I believed God where the television bills were concerned, I quoted Isaiah 1:19. “LORD,” I said, “according to Your WORD, if I’m willing and obedient I’ll eat the good of the land.” 'You don’t qualify for that scripture,' He said. “What do You mean?” I asked. 'You haven’t had a good word to say about daily television since the day you started it. You’ve been obedient, but you have not been willing.' He was right, of course. Even though I’d gotten over being mad about it, I’d never repented. So that sinful attitude was still lurking around on the inside of me and causing me to resent the daily broadcasts. 6 : BVOV

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