The Importance of God's Word

Well, I am so glad that you have joined us today for the program. I've got some things to share with you today that I think are really, really important. You know, I've been studying God's word for 45 years. Now, I went to church for a long time, before I really started studying the word. I would listen to other people teach the word. I read a little bit of the Bible every day, just because I thought it was my duty. But I didn't really study the word. And I think there's a lot of Christians who don't really study the word. And I wanna talk to you today about the importance of studying God's word. The Word of God is actually medicine for your soul. Now, you know, you can go to the drugstore, and you can get medicine for your physical body. But you can't go to the drugstore and get medicine for your soul. The Word of God is the only thing that can get inside of your mind and emotions, and heal them. Repeatedly we are told to meditate on God's word day and night. Proverbs 4 verses 20-22 says, "My son, attend to my words: incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes: keep them in the midst of your heart:" now, listen to this, "For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh". Well, you know, the Hebrew word for health in verse 22, is actually medicine. God's word is medicine to all of our flesh. And Isaac Leeser's translation of Exodus 15:26 reads, "I am the Lord your physician. The medicine he prescribes is his word". I absolutely love that. You see, you have to understand that when you read the Word of God, it's not like just reading a magazine, or even reading a book that somebody has written. It's different because the Word of God is full of God's power. And I believe that when I'm teaching the word, that whatever I'm teaching on, actually, there's power in that to deliver people in that area, or to set them free. For example, if I was teaching on anger, I think there's power in that to help people who have an anger issue, be healed from that. Psalm 107:20 says, "He sends forth his word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and from destruction".

And you know, for many, many, many years I have clung to that scripture, and believed that when I am teaching the word, that people are healed in their mind, in their emotions, in their physical body, every area where they need healing. There's no place that you hurt, that God can't reach and heal you. It goes on to say, "Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for his goodness and loving-kindness and his wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and rehearse his deeds with shouts of joy and singing"! I'll tell you studying the Word of God, will add joy to our life. Now listen, we all have 24 hours a day. We don't know exactly how long we're gonna live, different people live different amounts of time, but we spend our time. Lot a times we'll say, "Well, I spent my time doing this or I spent my time doing that". Well, the thing about time is when you spend it, you don't get it back. So, it's best to invest your time, rather than wasting your time. And so, time spent studying God's word, is time invested that will pay dividends, and benefits in your life. I was such a mess when I started studying God's word. I mean, I had so many problems in my personality, because I had been sexually abused for many years by my father. And my mother didn't know how to handle it. So, she just kinda turned her back and pretended like it wasn't happening. I married the first guy that came along, because I thought nobody would ever want me. And I had another five-year nightmare with him. And so, I just was messed up. And I'm telling you that God has healed me, through the power of his word.

Now, we are not doing God a favor when we read or study his word, we're doing it for our benefit. You know, it's kind of interesting when I first started reading the Bible or studying the word, I kinda felt like that I was fulfilling my duty to God, or my obligation to God. And that's because I was reading it like someone under the law, rather than someone who was under the grace of God. You know, we don't have to study the word. We don't do it for God, he already knows the word. We are doing ourselves a favor when we read or study his word. And you know, you can pick the Bible up, I just tried this, this morning. You can pick the Bible up and you can open to let's say, Matthew 7 verse 1, "Don't judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you". Well, that's information that I can use today. And maybe just reading that will keep me from critically judging somebody else. And it will help me even in the future to realize that when I do that, I'm likely to have the same thing come back on my own head. Then it says, "Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, when you have a plank in your own eye"? In other words, this is telling me I've got enough problems of my own, I don't need to be looking at, and worryin' about what's wrong with other people. Well, see that's something that's gonna benefit me. Now, you don't have to study the word. You're not gonna go to hell, if you don't study the word. But you're gonna have a much better life, if you study the word. Because if you don't study the word, you're not even gonna know really right from wrong. We have an enemy, the devil, and he controls people by lying to them. He is a liar, liar, liar. And the only way that we can know when he's lying to us, is if we know the truth, which is God's word. When we study the word, we are spending time with God, we're honoring him, but we're studying for ourselves. God's word teaches us that he loves us unconditionally. And this is one of the most important things that you need to learn. Knowing that God loves you, is the foundation for your relationship with him. If you don't know that, then you really don't know where to go from there. It's the foundation for your relationship with God. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the Word of God is alive". Now, get this. "It's a live and active. Sharper than a two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow: it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart". You see, when I study the word, it's like looking in a mirror. And I see in there, what I'm supposed to do, what's gonna be best for me to do. But at the same time, it also judges my own heart. Because it lets me know, "Well, Joyce, you need to come up higher in this area". Or, "Hey, you know, you're doing this, you're doing what God wants you to do in this area". And we need to have, God uses the word and the Holy Spirit to convict us, of areas in our life that are wrong. Not to make us feel bad, but so we can change them and have a better life. There's power in the Word of God to produce what it says.

If you study healing scriptures, it has the power to heal. If you study scriptures on healing a broken heart, it has the power to heal that area of your soul. Who else but God, can get on the inside of you, and heal a broken heart? There's no medicine that you can go get for the healing of a broken heart. But I can tell you the Word of God is medicine, that will heal a broken heart. And the thing that's so great about God's medicine, the word, is that you can get as many refills as you want. You can take it as many times a day as you want. You can never take too much of it. And I'm telling you it works. Now, obviously, just reading it doesn't change your life. Just studying it doesn't change your life. You study it in order that you might do it. Joshua 1:8 says, "Meditate on the Word of God day and night, that you may do it: and then you will prosper and things in your life will turn out good". Obviously, there's the doing it. But you can't do it, if you don't even know what to do. Psalm 147:3 says, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds". Listen, if you're sittin' and watching today, and you've been hurt by somebody, you've been abandoned, you've been abused, somebody's lied about you, somebody you trusted broke your confidence, and you're hurting on the inside, there are scriptures that will comfort you. Isaiah 61:1-8 are scriptures, I cannot tell you how many times I read and studied these scriptures, during the early years of the time that God was healing my brokenness from my childhood. And this is what it says, Isaiah's prophesying about the coming Messiah, "The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of the vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn". There's a comforter available for you today, "To all those who mourn, provide for them who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them beauty instead of ashes". I love that, beauty instead of ashes. Well, you can't have the beauty, if you don't give up the ashes. For a long time, I would sit around and feel sorry for myself, and I had a chip on my shoulder because I'd been abused. And I was mad at everybody because I'd been abused. And I had to be willing to walk away from all that, and give all that to God, and then he could start giving me the beautiful life that he wanted to give me. He says he'll give us, "The oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair. Then we'll be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. And then they will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated: they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations".

And you know, that's exactly what I'm doing here today. I'm bringing restoration through sharing the Word of God to people's lives. Many of you have been broken hearted. Many of you have sadness. And I'm telling you, God is for you, he is not against you, and he has got a good plan for your life. And nothing that has happened to you in the past can destroy your future, if you will believe the Word of God. Let's just say that you've been abused, and have a root of anger in your life, that's harming all of your relationships. It could even be affecting your job. You try to control it. But no matter what you do, you explode in anger, at the slightest provocation. You don't wanna act like that. Matter of fact, you're not even sure why you act like that. But you know, you can have deep-rooted anger in you, from being mistreated when you were a child, and that needs to be dealt with. And it can be dealt with through the Word of God. You can't go to the doctor and get medicine for anger. But medicine is available in God's word. Listen to this: there are 131 Bible verses about anger, in the King James Version of the Bible. Well, if you feel angry and you feel like you're about to explode, if you get a concordance and, really today, it's so simple. All you have to do is put into your computer, "Give me scriptures on anger," and they'll just pop up, a long list of 'em. And you can sit there and read them, and speak them out loud. And I can tell you that you will begin to calm down, that anger will begin to dissipate. Because the Word of God is more powerful than anything that the enemy wants us to do. They tell you, these scriptures, not to be angry, to control your anger, to refrain from anger, etc. And you might think that's exactly what I've been trying to do. But the difference is, is that when you study the word, then the Holy Spirit, who is your helper, can work through the power in God's word to set you free from those things. God will help you get to the root of your anger, and the truth will set you free. John 8:31 and 32 says, "If you are my disciples, then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free". When you begin to study the word, you'll probably learn that you need to forgive the people who abused you. And that will be the key that unlocks your healing. And you just think, "No, I can't, I can't do that, Joyce. I can't forgive them, they don't deserve forgiveness". Well, you're probably right, they don't deserve forgiveness. But you deserve, peace. So, when you forgive them, then you get peace. And when you forgive them, then you put them in God's hands, and you give him an opportunity to deal with them. And he will try to bring them to a place of truth, so they can repent, and be forgiven. You cannot even pray and hold unforgiveness in your heart. You say, "I can't do it, I just can't do it". Yes, you can. You study every scripture that you can find on forgiveness. And you believe that there's power in that word to enable you to forgive. And I can tell you that you will be able to do it. Well, just because you don't explode, doesn't mean that you're not angry. There's passive internalized anger that can often do more harm than any other kind. God's word teaches us how to live right. There is a right and a wrong. Today in our world there's a lot of gray, but there's no gray in God's kingdom. It's either right, or it's wrong. And actually, the Bible says the day will come, when people will say that right is wrong, and wrong is right. And I think we're in that day, right now. I mean, there's some pretty crazy stuff going on in the world today. And if there was ever a time when people need to know the word, to know what truth is, it is today.

Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path". It shows you how to walk. In Matthew 7, I believe it is, it says that we are to stay on the narrow path that leads to life and off of the broad path that leads to destruction. Yeah, you can do anything you want to. Paul said I'm free to do anything I want to, but not all things are expedient, not all things are good. Your salvation is not based on what you do or don't do. But Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey me". The way that we know what God wants us to do, is through studying the Word of God. I'm just gonna say it as plain as I know how to say it. If you will not put time into studying the Word of God, you're never going to be able to live the victorious life. You say, "Well, Joyce, I go to church every Sunday". Well, that's good. You're hearing somebody else, speak what they've studied. At least write the scriptures down that you hear on Sunday, and go home and look 'em up yourself, and think about 'em a little bit. Meditating on the Word of God means to kinda chew on it, to mutter it under your breath, to roll it over and over in your mind, and to think about what does this mean? And what does it mean to me? 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17 says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work". You know, one translation says that, "The Word of God rebukes us". Well, you know, one of the problems we have today, is nobody wants to be corrected. Everybody loves to be encouraged, but people don't wanna be corrected. They don't wanna be rebuked. And you know what? It is impossible to grow up into the mature Christian, that God wants you to be, and never be corrected. God has to correct us. He has to discipline us. He has to show us what's right, and what's wrong, because he wants us to do what's right. I believe that the answer to every problem we have, I really believe this, I believe the answer to every problem that we have, is found in God's word. Studying God's word strengthens us. It brings us joy. It brings us peace. It teaches us who we are in Christ. And what belongs to us as children of God. God's word changes us. 2 Corinthians 3:17-19 says, "Now the Lord is the spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom", there is liberty, "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory". In other words, you're looking in the Word of God, and you see God. Jesus said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the father". He came here to represent the father. And he came here to show us how to live. So, when we look in there, we see his glory. And it says, "We are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the spirit". It doesn't happen all at once. God changes us, but he does it little by little by little. And, you know, I had so many problems when I first began to study the Word of God. I mean, honestly, I can tell you, after five years I felt like I hadn't made any progress at all. So, if you've been studying the word, and you feel like this is not doing you any good, you know what? That's a lie from the devil. He wants you to think it's not doing you any good, because he doesn't want you to keep studying it. And I'll tell you another thing the devil will tell you, "There's no point in you trying to study the word, because you don't understand it. Oh, and any way just a bunch of men wrote it". But every Word of God, every word in the Bible is inspired by God. Yes, it was written by men, but it was inspired by God. And when we take that word into us, and we believe it, there's power in it to change us. The Bible says that we are to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Do you understand what I'm saying? You can become more and more like Jesus every day. You can behave the way he behaved. Meditating on the Word of God, and doing it brings wisdom, prosperity, and success according to Joshua 1:8. The word reduces the capacity to sin. It strengthens us against temptation. How does it reduce the capacity to sin? Well, we're all tempted to sin, just because you're a Christian, doesn't mean you're never tempted to sin. But when you do, it makes you uncomfortable. There are things now that I used to do, that didn't bother me at all, that if I tried to do that now, I would know this is the wrong thing to do. And how do I know that? Because I've studied the Word of God, and found out that's not the way God wants me to behave. The Bible says in Psalm 119, that the word makes you wiser than your enemies. Well, boy, who doesn't want that? I wanna be smarter than the devil. I wanna be smarter than people that would be in the enemy category. The Bible tells us that our sins are forgiven. Jesus has paid for all of your sins. And it also says that he forgets them, moves them as far as the east is from the west, and remembers them no more. And that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Wow! The Bible is so full of good news. You can find things like that in Romans, you can find it in different, Hebrews, just all over the place. Psalms 103, I think, says that "He forgives our sins and forgets them". And so, when you sin and you're sorry, and you repent, you need to receive God's forgiveness. And then you don't need to waste the next three, four weeks, or months, or years feeling guilty, because the Bible says that he forgives our sins, and he removes the guilt. The things that God's word does for us is endless. And studying God's word is one of the best things that we can do with our time. Don't approach it like something you have to do, to make God happy. Approach it expectantly and take your time with it, digest it, and let it heal your soul. It will give you direction for your life. Satan wants you to think that you cannot understand the word. Well, you know what? I'll be honest with you and tell you there are things in the Bible that I don't understand. But when we get to heaven, we're gonna know everything the same way God knows it. But you know what? There's more that I do understand, than things that I don't understand. So, I've put those few things I don't understand on a shelf, and I trust God to give me the understanding when I need it. Don't use that as an excuse, "I can't understand the word". Start in the New Testament. Start maybe in the book of John. Or start in Psalms. You know, don't start with something in the Old Testament that's really hard to comprehend and understand. Begin with the New Testament, and then as you grow, you can go back and study the Old Testament. The ways to digest the Word of God today are endless, and there's absolutely no excuse to not study the word. It's so easy. There's so many translations of the Bible. There are study Bibles. We have a study Bible called, "The Everyday Life Study Bible," and I think it's great. Books about the Bible are available. Bible studies on the internet are available. We offer several Bible studies online, free. You don't even have to pay for 'em. It's so easy to look up scriptures on the internet, now. Teaching is available on television, on radio, on YouTube, and other social media outlets. Just be careful that you're listening to somebody who has a reputation as a good and accurate Bible teacher, because there's also some kooky people on there that you don't wanna listen to. And I tell you, I love the word. I don't even know how to tell you how much I love the word. Sometimes, I just give my Bible a big hug, because of what it's done for me in my life. And I really want you to love the word. I want you to love the word so much, that you will spend time in the word every day, some time, as much as you can. Different people's lives are different. Maybe you've got a bunch of little kids at home right now, and you can't be like me. I can get up every morning and study the word, hour, two hours, three, whatever I wanna do, 'cause I make my own schedule, now. But you may not be like that. Well, just do the best you can. You know, my husband when he worked in the engineering field, he took his lunch hour and studied the Word of God. There's always time that you can find to study, if you wanna do it.