Believe the Word - Part 2

Well, thank you for joining me today on "Enjoying Everyday Life". I'm talking about the power that is in the Word of God. And really encouraging people to not just read their Bible, but study the Bible. Take time to get to know the word. And the more you know the word, the more you're gonna know God. And the more you know him, the happier you're gonna be. And the more you're gonna recognize when Satan is trying to operate in your life. Yes, I said, Satan. He is real. There is a devil, there are evil spirits, there is wickedness, and evil in the world. All you have to do is look around you and all the evil stuff that's going on, it's certainly not God. The enemy is alive and well on planet earth, and he's trying to do his very level, best to get people, to drag them away from God. And we have to stick with God and draw closer than ever before. Believer's authority... Jesus gave authority over evil spirits. Matthew 10:1: "Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority". Wherever you're at right now, if you're in a place where you can, I'd like you to say, "I have authority". "He gave them authority to drive out impure spirits", or evil spirits, "And to heal every disease and sickness". So, Jesus gave them authority to heal people that were sick and to cast out demons. If somebody had a demon. Now, I know that raises questions for a lot of people. "Well, can a Christian have a demon"? Well, you know? No, I believe if God lives in you that you can't also have a demon living in you. But they can influence our behavior. And if we're not careful, the enemy can work through us, even though, we're well-intentioned and don't realize that he's doing it. I mean, I had a lot of people that were good friends of mine, that were Christians, try to talk me out of going into ministry when God called me to go into ministry.

Well, they didn't really mean any harm. But the enemy was using them to try to get me to not do what God was calling me to do. Because when God called me to do this, it was not a thing that women did, and it wasn't accepted in a lot of circles. You see, I didn't know that woman couldn't do it. I just felt like if God called me to do it, then I needed to step out and do it. And so, people can be well-intentioned. And you'll see a little bit later that the devil even tried to use Peter to keep Jesus from going to the cross. But Jesus recognized it right away, and he took authority over the devil. You have authority, but you have to exercise that authority. You have to believe that you have authority, and walk in the world, as someone who has authority. Hold your head up. Don't be afraid of everything that comes along. Don't worry about so many things. Believe that God's for you, that he's in you, and that you have power. Luke 10:19 says, "Behold, I have given you power and authority to tread on serpents and scorpions. And power over all the power the enemy possesses, and nothing shall by any means harm you". Now, that doesn't mean that you can't break a bone, or fall down, or hurt yourself in some way. But it does mean that, ultimately, God will take care of you. I mean, Paul said, "To live is Christ to die is gain". So, we don't even have to be afraid of death. Because for a believer, death is just like going through a door into another realm. Because we're eternal beings. We're gonna live forever with God. Mark 16:17, the Bible says, "These signs will follow those who believe". "And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons: they will speak in new tongues," and it goes on, and on, and on. "They will lay their hands on the sick and they will get well".

Well, how much of that do we see going on today? I mean, hardly any at all. People have given up on things like this. You know, I still pray for the sick. When I have an opportunity, I will lay my hands on a sick person and pray for them, because I believe that the anointing that's in a believer, can drive out the sickness in somebody else. And you need to believe that, also. Pray for people, that God will heal them. Don't let the devil take advantage of you. "These signs will follow those who believe". You know, not just those who believe in Jesus, but those who believe that these signs will follow them. What do you believe about things? Are you sayin' "Well, I don't know. I don't believe, I don't believe in that"? Well, it's sad that we're not taught very much about these kinds of things. And you can't believe something if you've never heard it, or taught about it. Read the word, and see what it says. Study the word. You have power over the enemy, but you have to exercise that power. The Bible talks about rebuking the devil. Binding the devil. We need to realize that we have authority. Bible says, we have weapons for our warfare. You know, there's wars everywhere, wars in our mind, wars in the spirit, wars in nations, wars in our emotions, wars in marriages, wars in families. But we have weapons. 2 Corinthians 10:4 and 5 says, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world". We're not fighting a natural battle. We're fighting a spiritual battle. "On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds". A stronghold is a place where the enemy digs in and hides himself, and tries to torment us from that particular place. And one of the places he likes to hide in, is get an area in our mind and get us believing something that's absolutely not true. If you were listening yesterday, we were talking about how the Bible says that you'll have what you believe, "Be it unto you, even as you believe". Well, naturally, the devil wants us to believe lies. Let's just say that the enemy's got you thinking, nobody likes you. "Well, nobody likes me. Everybody rejects me". Well, if that's what you believe, you know what's gonna happen? You're gonna actually, produce behavior that's gonna cause people not to like you. But God says that he loves you, and you can have favor with him, and he will give you favor with people. So, when the enemy tries to tell you, "Nobody likes you". You just say, "Well, that's a lie. And I'm gonna pray for God to give me favor with the right people in my life". And you pray for God to give you right friends, not just any friends, but right friends. Don't listen to the lies of Satan. But you will listen to the lies of the enemy, if you don't know the truth. And the only way that, you're gonna know the truth is to study this wonderful, amazing book, the Word of God, the Bible. There's so much power in the Word of God. Forty-five years, I've been studying the word. You say, "Oh, my gosh! Forty-five years, I wish that I had been studying that long". Well, start today. Start today and start learning, and start believing. When you read, believe it.

Even if you don't totally understand it. Say, "God, I don't totally understand this. But give me understanding, I'm gonna believe what you say". But you can't get into reasoning. And you can't try to understand everything with your head. You have to understand it with your heart. We need to know the truth. We need to walk in our authority. Hold your head up high and know who you are in Christ. "I'm a child of God, and God's power is in me. And I'm not gonna let the enemy walk all over me, and rule my life. I'm gonna learn the Word of God. So, when Satan lies to me, I will recognize those lies and I can cast them down". In Luke chapter 4, the Bible says that "Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit", interesting, "Into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, 40 days and 40 nights". Now, God tempts no man. But, here, Jesus was led into a place where he was going to be tempted, because there were some tests that he needed to pass, not because God thought he might fail 'em. He already knew that he wouldn't. But the devil needed to know that Jesus was not gonna put up with his nonsense. And he needs to know that from us, too. And the devil began to lie to Jesus. And there are three separate occasions where he lied to him. Jesus was hungry. He said, "Well, if you are the Son of God, then turn these stones into bread". And Jesus said, "It is written, 'man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God'". And then, he took him up on a high hill and showed him all the kingdoms of the world. And he said, "If you'll bow down and worship me", I think one translation says, "Just once". And I love that "Just once" lie. "Just once, I'll give you all of this". Jesus didn't want all that. He just wanted his relationship with God. And so, he, once again, said, "'it is written,'" spoke the word to him. Third time, when Satan tempted him and lied to him, he said, "'it is written'". In other words, Jesus talked back to the devil. Now, I know some of you are probably thinking, "This lady has totally lost her mind". I remember one woman saying, "When I turned you on the first time, you were saying, 'the devil said to Jesus, and Jesus said to the devil, the devil said to Jesus, and Jesus said to the devil'". And she said, "I have to tell you the truth. I thought you were totally crazy". Well, don't take my word for it. Look at Luke chapter 4, the first 11 verses and read 'em for yourself. It's right there. A lot of times people don't talk about these things because they don't know how to fully explain them. I don't have to fully understand this. I'm just going to do what Jesus did. When the devil lies to me, I'm going to quote the word back to him. When he says, "God's mad at you". I'm gonna say, "No, he's not. Because God has forgiven me. I have repented and he is not mad at me. God is a God of mercy".

"Well, Joyce, now you've messed up one too many times. It's too late for you". "It's never too late. Never too late for a new beginning. It's never too late for a fresh start". Don't listen to the lies of Satan. The word is an offensive weapon. You go after Satan with the Word of God, and he's afraid of the word. Because he knows that there's power in the Word of God. When I talk, just regular talk, talk about the weather, talk about the news, talk, talk, talk, there's no power in that. But, when I'm sharing the Word of God with you, there's power in it. And if you're spiritually sharp at all, you know, there's power in it because you can sense the power in it, and you feel it working in your life, even as I'm speaking. I love in my conferences, when there's people there, yeah, I love it when there's people there, but I love looking at the people and watching their faces. I love watching how the Word of God affects people. And how you can see the change come over them as the Word of God, tears down the lies of Satan, that they've been told. People will cry. They laugh. The Word of God changes us. The Bible says, we can bind the devil, resist the devil, and rebuke the devil. James 4:7: "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee". Now, you know, a lot of times people just quote, the second half of that scripture, "Resist the devil and he'll flee". Well, don't go quoting half a scripture. If you're gonna quote a scripture, quote the whole thing. "Submit yourself to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee". Your power over the enemy is in submitting yourself to God. As your obedient to God, the more obedient you are, the more the power increases in your life, the more authority you have over the enemy. You're not gonna have authority over the enemy if you're being purposely disobedient, knowing that what you're doing is against the Word of God. So, don't try to resist unless you have submitted. Resist means don't give in to, or to come against. In Matthew 16:23, well, actually, a little bit before that Jesus was telling his disciples, it was time for him to go to Jerusalem and prepare for what he'd been talking to them about, about how he was gonna suffer, and die, and that he would be raised from the dead. And Peter, took Jesus aside and it says, "He rebuked him". Now, Peter was pretty bold, but he was a little bit dumb, sometimes. And Peter didn't want to go to Jerusalem. He didn't want to face the crowds, he didn't want to be put in jail, or be hurt. And so, he knew if that's where Jesus was going, he was with him that, whatever happened to Jesus was probably going to happen to him. And you know, Peter ended up actually, denying that he even knew Christ. He was forgiven, yes, and went on to become one of the greatest apostles. But when Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, and he said, "Oh, no, Lord, this must never happen to you". See, it was like my friends when they were trying to get me not to go into the ministry that I believed that God had called me to. It wasn't a popular thing back then for a woman to be doing what I'm doing. And it's still not popular in some circles. And I can't help that. I've gotta do what God's telling me to do. Since I've been doing it 45 years, it's a little hard to tell me now that I can't do it. Well-meaning people tried to stop me. Well, Peter loved Jesus. He meant well. But he was trying to stop Jesus from doing what God had sent him to do. And I mean, Jesus didn't waste a second. He turned to him and he said, "Get thee behind me, Satan. You are an offense, a stumbling block, and you're in my way". Well, Peter wasn't the devil. But it was the enemy working through him. And so we have to be careful. Because the enemy will work through people who don't know any better. You know, sometimes, when you're all excited about something and you tell somebody, and they just throw cold water all over it, and it discourages you, this may be somebody who really loves you, and they care about you, but the enemy just used their mouth to try to tear you down. Go with God.

See what he has to say about what you're doing. The devil works to people. People can make us angry. They can hurt us. They can betray us. They can tell lies about us. But we make our worst mistake when we focus on people, when the devil is actually our problem. "We war not against flesh and blood," the Bible says. Now, in Ephesians 6, there's some wonderful, wonderful scriptures about the armor that God has given us. Armor protects you. When a soldier goes into battle, he puts on armor and it protects him from arrows or bullets, or whatever, is going to be coming at him. So, this armor that God's given us, if we wear it, will protect us from the devil, and his plots. The first one, it says, is to, "Tighten the belt of truth," whenever the enemy is coming against you, when he's attacking you, "Tighten the belt of truth". What does that mean? Hold on to the Word of God, that you know, like never before. Because Satan's gonna try his best to take it away from you. You have a negative circumstance and he's gonna say, "You see, that word's not true. It's not working in your life". That's when you say, "You're a liar. It does work. And I will see what God has said, come to pass". Remember in Mark 11, it says, "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and you will get it". You do the believing first, before you see anything, and then you will get it. And there will be a time frame in between where you'll be waiting. And many of you watching, right now, you're in that waiting period. And boy, Satan's been lying to you. He's been trying to get you to give up. He's been telling you, "Nothing good's gonna happen for you". That's when you need to say, "It is written". And quote the word. But you can't do that if you don't know the word. You have to know the word. You have to know God. And you get to know him by knowing the word, know the character of God. So, you tighten that belt of truth, hold fast to your confession, keep believing. "Put on the breastplate of righteousness". Well, what is that? That means that, you know, you've been made right with God through the blood of Christ. You're not guilty and condemned, but your sins have been forgiven. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "He that knew no sin became sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him". Yes, you're right with God. You don't have to think all the time about what's wrong with you. God views you as being right with him, because he sees you in Christ. We're not right in ourselves, but through Christ, God sees us as righteous. And we need to wear that. "Put it on". The Bible says, "Put on the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness". And putting on, in this instance, means believe it. Believe that you're right with God, don't live under condemnation. "Put on your shoes of peace". Wow, you know that peace, is actually armor that will protect you from the enemy. No, wonder he tries all the time to get us upset. The more he can rattle us, the more he can get us upset, the more we're gonna make mistakes and say things, we shouldn't say, and do things we shouldn't do. Hold your peace. The Bible says, "Hold your peace". Hold on to it. It's precious. It's powerful. Romans 14:27: Jesus said, "Peace, I leave with you. My peace, I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you, but my own special peace, I now, give and bequeath unto you". "So, stop allowing yourselves to be upset and disturbed, stop allowing yourselves to be fearful and intimidated". So, really, the truth is, we don't even have to pray for peace, we've already got peace. We just need to put it on and wear it. When we start to get upset, we need to remind ourselves, "No, God's for me. I'm his child. He's got a good plan for my life". It's very important to believe the Word of God, when you're in a battle. And you know, I admit, when I'm in a battle, it's tough sometimes. And you know, when I find that the enemy is probably the most effective over me? When I'm really tired. Not even, so much, if I have pain in my body somewhere, but if I am just really worn out and tired, he can take advantage of me then, quicker than any other time. So, I have to be careful about letting myself get too tired. And the world is full of tired people. Almost everybody, I mean, I asked several people, "How was your thanksgiving"? "It was busy". You know, that's sad that all we can say about our lives, is we've been busy. "Did you enjoy it"? "Yeah, but it was busy". Well, then, maybe, we need to slow down a little bit. Not just say, "Yes," to every invitation that comes along. 1 Thessalonians, 5:13 says, "Live in peace with each other". Hebrews 12:14: "Make every effort to live in peace with everyone". Wow, in Romans 12, it says, "As far as you're concerned, be at peace with all men". Not everybody may be willing to be at peace with you, but you could say, "I'm not gonna live my life upset and I'm not gonna live my life angry at you. I'm gonna hold on to my peace, because as long as I stay peaceful, Satan has no power over me". Whoo...I hope you're getting this. You say, "Well, right now, I'm mad". Well, you need to ask God to help you get over that. Forgive whoever hurt you, and lay it aside, don't keep letting the enemy take advantage of you. Colossians 3:15: "And let the peace of God, rule in your heart as an umpire continually, deciding and suddenly, with finality, all questions that arise in your minds". And so, what's this really saying? You know, an umpire, in a ball game, says what's in and what's out. Well, God's saying let peace be the umpire in your life. If you have peace about something, it can be in. If you don't have peace about it, "No, get away from me". Don't buy things, you don't have peace about buying. Don't marry people, you don't have peace about marrying. Don't say things, you don't have peace about saying. Follow peace. If you follow peace, you're gonna be slamming the door in the devil's face. Don't let the enemy take advantage of you. Let peace, lead all of your decisions. When Jesus comes, the Bible says, "Be found without spot or blemish and at peace". Wow. If Jesus came today, would he find you at peace? Or are you all upset about 20 different things that you can't do anything about? That only God can, and you'd be much better off to spend your time just believing God, and studying the word. Romans 16:20, boy, this is a good one. "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet". Wow. There's power in peace. No, peace, no power. And then, it says, "To lift up the shield of faith". Well, what does that mean, to lift up the shield of faith? It means, you gotta release your faith. We have faith. God gives faith unto every man. But in order for faith to work, to do anything, you gotta release it. You say, "Well, Joyce, how do I release my faith". Well, you can release it by praying. You can release it by saying that you believe the Word of God. And you can release it by taking God-inspired action. But we can't just be passive and do nothing. We gotta release our faith. When Satan lies, you talk back to him. You speak the Word of God. Everything, "Anything that's not of faith is sin". Romans 14:23. "Lift up the shield of faith". Release faith, in the name of Jesus. Remember the blood of Jesus, that you're washed in the blood. We receive by faith. We overcome by faith. We walk by faith. We live by faith, we go from faith to faith. We keep our confidence by faith. Just a couple more pieces of armor, "The helmet of salvation," which means, really, right-thinking. Are you thinking like a Christian? Are you thinking like God would want you to think? Or are you thinking like somebody out in the world who doesn't even know God? If you're thinking wrong, cast down those wrong thoughts and take up right thoughts. If you're sitting around thinking how mad you are at this person over here, change your thinking, pray for them, instead. It's hard to stay mad at somebody you pray for. I mean that. I try that all the time. If I'm a little aggravated with somebody, I'll just start praying for 'em, and it's amazing how it changes your heart. Put on that helmet of salvation. Keep renewing your mind, day after day, after day. Keep it renewed. And then, the Bible says to, "Wield the two-edged sword," which is the Word of God. So, that means, use that word, use that word against the enemy. And then, lastly, cover everything with prayer. At all times, everywhere, pray. Resist the devil. Rebuke the devil. Bind the devil. Don't let him rule your life. It's my desire that you would study the Word of God. I know what it's done for me, and I believe it will do the same thing for you. There is life and power in God's word. And the more, you know of the word, the more you're gonna enjoy every single day of your life. I pray for you, in Jesus' name, that you would have a desire to study. And that you would carve time out of your life, to study the Word of God, that you would become knowledgeable, so the devil can no longer take advantage of you, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for being with us today, and join us again next time on "Enjoying Everyday Life".