BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

I responded by preaching to her what Brother Roberts had preached at the meeting. By the time I finished, she was as excited as I was. We prayed together, believed for the extra money we’d need to keep our monthly partnership commitment…and, sure enough, God immediately started providing it. The next month an extra $20 came in—$2 for the tithe, $10 for Brother Roberts, and $8 extra as a harvest on our giving. From then on, the extra $20 kept coming—and sometimes arrived in very unusual ways. I remember one time, for example, we were driving to Oklahoma City to preach a meeting. We’d put every dime we had into buying gasoline to get there. We had no idea how we were going to buy lunch. Just as we were coming into Oklahoma City, the kids piped up from the back seat. “Daddy, we’re hungry!” they said. “When are we going to eat?” Answering by faith I said, “Any time now, kids. Any time now.” Moments later, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something blow across the highway. “Gloria, that was money!” I said. I turned the car around and drove back to the spot where I’d seen it, and there, stuck up against a fence, fluttering in the wind, was a $20 bill. Back then, a family could buy a good dinner for $8. “Kids, where do you want to eat?” I said. “The Bull!” they shouted. So, we went to the Sizzler® steakhouse (the one with the big statue of a bull sitting out front) and enjoyed a fine meal. Month after month, those kinds of things happened. God kept working miracles for us so that not only were we able to give, within 11 months the $24,000 we’d owed was paid off and we were debt free! We weren’t rich yet, at least not in terms of dollars and cents. But, as 1 Timothy 6:6 says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain;” and we’d found our greatest gain in Jesus Himself. We fell head over heels in love with Him and discovered that when you’re walking by faith you can be very, very content, even when you don’t have much materially, because you know the best is yet to come. Be Rich…Just Don’t Be Covetous Now, 50 years later, we’re enjoying a level of financial BLESSING that’s beyond anything we once could have imagined. What’s more, God is still working miracles and we’re still increasing. Am I saying Gloria and I are rich? Yes, I am! We didn’t set out to get rich. We just set our hearts on God, believed and obeyed His WORD, and the riches showed up. “But Brother Copeland, doesn’t the Bible warn us against being rich? Doesn’t it say that money is the root of all evil?” No. The Bible warns us not to be like “the ungodly, who prosper in the world” (Psalm 73:12). It instructs us to be content with what we have and to guard against covetousness. But it does not say money is the root of all evil. It says, “the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Having money and loving it are two very different things. There are people so poor they don’t have two cents to rub together, who are so in love with money they’ll literally kill to get it. There are also people who are as rich as can be, and yet they don’t love money at all. As believers, we’re to be in that second group. We’re not to shun being rich. We’re to prosper God’s way while keeping our affections set on Him. Instead of loving money, we’re to love God, love people and live to give! I like how 1 Timothy 6:17-19 puts this. It says: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come....” That’s what I call the profile of the prosperous believer! It’s the picture of Christians who have all things richly to enjoy and who are always ready to give, not just at church but everywhere all the time. Christians who’d give everything they had in a heartbeat if The LORD led them to do so, because their trust is not in money, it’s in God! ******** article continues on p. 10 ******** *********** ADVERTISEMENT *********** Join us! events Midland , Mich. : June 13 Living Word Church / marktbarclay.com Southfield, Mich. : June 15-16 Word of Faith Convention / woficc.com Kenneth Copeland and You on the Mountain Newark, Texas / June 27-29 Eagle Mountain International Church South Pacific Victory Campaign Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands July 12-14 Southwest Believers’ Convention / Fort Worth, Texas July 30-Aug. 4 Hidden Springs, Ariz. : Aug. 17 Healing of the Nations Motorcycle Rally cofaz.org Brooklyn Park, Minn. : Aug. 23-24 2018 Upper Midwest Faith Explosion : lwcc.org Orlando Victory Campaign Orlando, Fla. / Aug. 30-Sept. 1 Dallas, Texas : Sept. 7 Jesus Regional Dallas / jesusimage.tv Forest Park, Ill. : Sept. 10-11 2018 International Faith Conference billwinston.org or livingwd.org Charlotte Victory Campaign Charlotte, N.C. / Sept. 20-22 Autaugaville, Ala. : Oct. 26 Greater Glory Canaan Land canaanland.com Washington, D.C. 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