Joyce Meyer - How Does The Bible Apply To Me? (08/21/2019)
Joyce Meyer powerfully teaches on the inherent creative and transformative power in God's Word – it never returns void, heals, delivers, and saves souls when spoken, received humbly, meditated on, and obeyed as doers rather than mere hearers. Believers must speak the Word boldly, expect miracles, ditch negative confessions, and let it renew minds and lives for true freedom and blessing.
The Creative Power of God's Word
The Word of God has power in it. The words that we're speaking when we speak God's Word, they're not just ordinary words, but God's Word has power inherent in it. That means it comes with little power bullets that have the ability to change our lives. And so, we're going to start first by talking about the creative power of the Word of God.
Genesis 1:3. And God said... isn't it amazing that the Bible starts out with God saying something? And the good thing is, is what He said came to pass. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. Words contain power. Just like this glass has water in it, words have something in it. And if the words are God's Word, they're full of creative power.
Words: Creative or Destructive?
If they're nonsense words, or useless words, or vain words, or evil words, then they're also full of power, but they're full of destructive power. We all know that if people say right words to us, they can just do wonderful things on the inside of us. And if they say wrong words to us, it can be crushing, and sometimes start a whole lifetime full of devastation.
So, words have power. And God has given us His Word, and He wants us to believe the Word, to meditate on the Word, and to speak the Word of God. There's nothing that can be any more important to us in our walk with God than learning how to speak the Word of God out loud, out of our own mouth.
Angels and the Sword of the Spirit
Because angels, now listen to this, angels hearken to the Word of God. They don't listen to my complaining, they don't listen to your complaining, they're not moved by our grumbling, but they are moved to action on our behalf when they hear the Word of God.
The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. It is a weapon against forces of darkness. Let him who has my Word speak my Word faithfully.
Isaiah 55, 10, and 11. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it might give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
God's Word Never Returns Void
Now let's think, let's don't just read, let's think. Rain comes down from heaven, and it doesn't go back up. It comes down and it does something. It waters the seed that's in the ground, and we get a harvest. So we've got a word picture first here. So shall my Word be, this is God speaking to us through the prophet, so shall my Word be that goes forth out of my mouth, it shall not return to me void without producing any effect or useless, but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
So God is saying, when I, when my Word is spoken, something is going to happen. Things are happening in here as the Word is preached.
Healing and Deliverance Through the Word
Do you know that Psalm 107.20 says, He sends His Word, and He heals them, and delivers them from the pit, and from destruction. And I'll tell you what, I have had my faith out for years on that scripture, that when I speak the Word of God, it's not me, but the Word of God, that people are healed physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially, socially, and in every way that they can.
And I believe that. And I think that I've got my part right, and I want to talk to you today about being a better receiver. When you go to church, don't ever think you're just going to put your time in. Go expecting. I'm excited to hear the Word. When I hear the Word today, something is going to be released in my life. Something good is going to happen in me. I'm going to change. Circumstances are going to change.
Approach the Word with Expectation
And go in and be attentive, like it is the most awesome thing that you could ever hear in your life. Let's have a greater respect for the Word of God, and God is going to do greater things in our lives.
The Word that goes forth out of my mouth. Now, I've kind of decided that if my mouth is His mouth, then the Word that goes forth out of my mouth will have the same effect as what's talking about here in Isaiah 55.
So, I believe when we confess the Word of God out of our mouths, don't look at your kids and say, you are never going to change. Don't ever look at anybody and say, you are never going to change. That is the worst thing in the world that you can do to somebody.
Avoid Negative Confessions – Speak Life
Don't sit at lunch with your friends and say, my husband's never going to change. My kids are never going to change. What you need to say is I'm praying for them and I believe that God is working right now in their lives.
You know what? It does us no good at all to sit in service after service and have shelves full of Christian books and all these things that we have if we're not going to stick with the Word in hard times and hold fast our confession of faith when things look like it's never going to change.
But let me tell you something. Your miracle may be right around the corner and the devil wants nothing more than for you to give up. When God's Word is spoken, it produces an effect. Something happens. It convicts. It convinces. It encourages. It saves.
622 people gave their life to the Lord last night. Something happened. Everybody say, something's happening in here.
Receiving the Word Humbly – James 1:21
James 1:21 "So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness and in a humble, gentle, modest spirit". Now here we go. This is how we're going to receive the Word. And in a humble, gentle, modest spirit. Receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted in your heart.
I love this. Now get this. Contains the power to save your soul. Now as believers, we're already born again. Our spirit is already in good condition. God lives in there. Holiness is in there. Sanctification is in there. There's all kinds of good things in there. But our soul is still a mess. I'm talking about when we're initially born again.
Saving the Soul Through the Word
So I can be just as saved as I can be and still have bad attitudes and bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness. Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. And it needs to be saved. And that happens through a process called sanctification.
We are made holy in God through Christ. But the Holy Spirit then comes to gradually, little by little, by using the Word of God, work that out in our lives. And as our mind is renewed and our attitude improves, we change. And that does not happen without megadoses of God's Word.
The Right Attitude to Receive the Word
But now watch this. Here's what I love. Let's go back to James 1.21. So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness and in a... Now what kind of attitude do we come and receive? In a humble... In other words, I need this. I don't care what you're preaching on today, I need this. We need it all. There's none of it we don't need.
And I don't care how many times you have it underlined in your Bible, that doesn't mean you don't need it. Even if we're gotten pretty good at doing it, we still need it because we have to be refreshed and reminded over and over and over again.
So let's have the attitude... You know, people say, what are you going to preach on? It don't matter what I'm going to preach on, you need it. In a humble, gentle, modest spirit, receive and welcome. I need this. I need this. Welcome the Word.
Respect, Honor, and Expect the Word
Now, respect the Word, honor the Word, and expect the Word to work in you. Don't ever leave where you have heard the Word preached under an anointing and think, well, I didn't get anything. Even if you don't know what you got, you got something. Because God's Word is full of power.
Now, there's something in the Amplified Bible that's said a lot in Psalm 119, which if you've never studied Psalm 119, I want to give you a homework assignment. It's 166 verses. It's the longest book of the Bible. And it is all about the power of God's Word.
Hearing, Receiving, Loving, and Obeying
The entire Psalm, all 166 verses, is about the power that's in God's Word. It is an awesome piece of Bible literature that will just encourage us and teach us. And so, one of the things that Psalm 119 says, like for example, 119.56 says, this I have had as the gift of your grace and as my reward that I have kept your precepts.
So he said, my reward is that I have kept your Word. See, obedience to God is a reward. Living an obedient lifestyle is a reward for us because we feel so good when we know that we're doing the right thing.
And then this is what I like. It comes, is brought out in this particular translation. It says, hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them. You see that at the very last the amplification? So he said, this is what I did with the Word. I heard it. I received it. I loved it. And I obeyed it.
I love that. See, some people hear it and they don't receive it. You know, there would be a lot of people I could have walked in here today and said, I'm going to teach for an hour on giving. And right away some people would have put up a wall. Beth, now they're a preacher just trying to get your money.
I'm just trying to point out that some things that people say they're going to preach on it's like all of a sudden now walls we ain't going to listen to that. There ain't even no hearing that. I'll sit here and do something but I'm not going to I'm not getting that one.
Well, all of the word is for all of us. All of the word is for all of us. Hearing, receiving, loving and obeying the word of God.
Be Doers of the Word – James 1:22-25
James 1:21, same we read this before we're going to start here. So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness and in a humble gentle modest spirit receive and welcome the word which implanted and rooted in your hearts contains the power to save your souls.
But be doers of the word obey the message and not mere listeners to it betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the truth. For if anyone only listens to the word and doesn't obey it being a doer of it he's like a man who looks carefully at his own natural face in a mirror for he thoughtfully observes himself and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.
But he who looks carefully into the faultless law of liberty and is faithful to it and perseveres and looking into it being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys he will be blessed in his life of doing he will be blessed in his life of obedience.
Now hearing the word is great but our lives are not blessed from hearing it. Our lives are blessed from doing it. Amen? We need to be doers of the word of God.
Don't Reason Away Obedience
And he says a very interesting thing here he says if we're not doers of the word it's because we reason out some way in our mind that even though we agree that it's true that it's okay for us not to do it.
It doesn't matter what I think about it if God says it and it's clear and I can see it and I don't do it then I'm not doing it because some way in my mind I've figured out a reason why it's okay for me not to do it. Well maybe you got a reason but you missed the blessing.
And if we will get very serious about obeying the word then our lives are going to change dramatically absolutely phenomenally dramatically.
Meditate on the Word – Preach to Yourself
We need to meditate on the word of God. To meditate on the word means to roll it over and over and over in your mind to mutter it under your breath to think about it. In other words I put down here preach to yourself.
Do you know I'm really on fire about these messages because I've already preached these to myself several times. I mean I was up this morning at six o 'clock preaching to myself. While I was doing my hair I was preaching to myself.
Well see by the time I get here I open my mouth and it just rolls out because I've been preaching to myself. Well if you preach to yourself more in your quiet time and private time when you get out around people you're going to behave a whole lot better than what you would have if you spend your morning thinking about who all you're mad at.
Chew the Word for Nutrients
How many of you have ever told your kids now make sure you chew your food don't swallow that hole chew your food chew that better well when we meditate on the word it's equivalent to chewing it and when you chew your food that's how you get all the nutrients out of it if you swallow it whole and don't chew it then there's vitamins and life giving nutrients in it that you don't even get it actually can give you indigestion and a tummy ache if you don't chew it.
And so meditating on the word it's like it's not good enough To show up in a building and sit there and kind of halfway sort of maybe a little listen to what's being said. No, we need to focus. We need to have a humble attitude. We need to be hungry for the Word. We need to believe there's power in this. I don't want to miss any of it. It's working in me right now. This Word is healing me.
I believe that people, when they sit under the Word, can be healed of sickness and disease if they'll release their faith and believe that there's power in the Word. There is power in the Word.
Abiding in the Word Brings Freedom
Meditate on the Word of God. John 8, 31 and 32, Jesus said, If you abide in me and my Word abides in you, you will know the truth. The truth will make you free. And the Word abide means to live, dwell, and remain in you.
Now, the Word of God is truth. How many of you agree with that? Okay, now let's, let's talk for a minute about some of the stuff going on in the world today. Is there any absolute truth? Well, of course there is. I mean, if there's absolutely, if there's no absolute truth, we have all got a really, really, really huge problem.
I mean, I trust that gravity is always going to be there. And you say, well, I don't believe in gravity. Well, it doesn't matter whether you do or not, it's not going to go away. There are absolute truths.
And the Word of God, excuse me, but I'm going to die saying this, and I'll shout it from the rooftops. And I'm happy to say it today on television, where it's going all around the world. The Word of God is absolute truth. I believe it. I believe all of it from cover to cover. I may not totally understand all of it, but I believe it. Amen.
God is good. Why would you not want a relationship with God? He is good. Everything. God's not trying to take your toys away from you. He's trying to keep you from killing yourself. God wants us to have a good life, an amazing life.