Study God's Word

To grow as a child of God, you've got to study the Word of God. You're to constantly meditate on the Word and it'll metamorphose you. It's important to note once again that it's what you read, watch and listen to, that makes you. The Apostle Paul had a very important prayer for the church. He said, "For I always pray to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation of insight into mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him, By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), And so that you can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength" (Ephesians 1:17-19 Amplified Bible).

There're secrets and mysteries that we should get to know as children of God. The only way to do this is to keep studying the Word by which we can know such things by the help of the Holy Spirit. You have to desire to expand your knowledge in the things of God. That's actually one of the reasons why I created this blog; to let people know their rights and responsibilities in Christ. Peter admonishes us: "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen" (2 Peter 3:18). The relationship that each of God's children has with Him differs from one to another. Sometimes, we meet Christians who relate with God in a way that might make us wonder whether we really know Him as much. But the more knowledge you have of God, the more of His grace you're able to walk in.

Let's look at the content of Paul's prayer for the Philippian church: "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment" (Philippians 1:9). The Amplified Bible translation uses the word "insight" instead of "judgment" and this means that the more knowledge of the Word you have the more insight you'll have into the things of God. So when you see a fellow brother or sister doing things in ways you don't understand, don't be upset; he may have some information you're not yet exposed to. For example, Brother Sam prays aloud with so much power and force; he doesn't think God would hear him if he prayed quietly, whereas, Brother Ron prays quietly because he knows that God would still hear the simplest and quietest prayer. So which of these two brothers is correct? They both are!

They're both relating to God according to the revelation they have. But did you know that if Brother Sam suddenly decides to start praying like Brother Ron, he may not have results? You see, until Brother Sam receives the kind of revelation Brother Ron has, he wouldn't be able to pray in faith, and God only responds to faith! Your relationship with God is based on your revelation of His personality through the Word and by the Holy Ghost. So you see, you must expand your knowledge of the Word of God. This is why the apostle Peter says we should grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. After the resurrection of Jesus, He appeared to his disciples when they were returning from an unsuccessful fishing trip. In fact the disciples had toiled all night at sea and caught nothing. When Jesus appeared to them, He asked them if they caught anything, but their reply was negative.

Jesus then said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the ship and you shall find" (John 21:6). If there was one place in all the waters where the disciples weren't expected to find any fish, it was definitely around their ship as they had troubled that spot all night long. The fishes ought to have fled from there. But the Bible says, "...they threw the net out and could not pull it back in, because they had caught so many fish" (John 21:6 TEV). Now, the big question is: "Where did all the fish come from?" They came from the Word of the Master! The Bible says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen...Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God" (Hebrews 11:1-3). Those fishes were framed by the Word of God, Hallelujah! In Genesis, the Bible says God spoke to the water and it brought forth fishes.

Now, Jesus, the living Word of God, speaks again and His words go out to frame the fishes! If Jesus is the Lord of your life, happy are you; you'll live a life free of worries, knowing that His words can frame things to being in your life. All you need do is discover what He has said about you from the Bible and begin to appropriate it to yourself. That way you'll effect any change you desire in your job, finances, family, business, academics, health, or character, and you'll never be disadvantaged in life. When you're born again, that's not all. God wants you to grow in His Word. When a child is born, he has to be fed. Soon he begins to crawl, then starts to take a few steps and talk until he's able to do everything on His own. When you're old your parents don't bath for you anymore; they don't feed you. It's the same with God.

He wants you to grow so much that you'll help others grow. From the Amplified Bible Hebrews 5:12-14 says, "For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God's Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food." For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action), for he is a mere infant not able to talk yet! But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law." When I was a child, I realized the grey-haired people were sitting somewhere called the "elder seats."

I thought they were those the Bible calls the elders in church. Later, by studying enough, I realized grey hair has nothing to do with spiritual maturity. You may be a young person but well vexed in the things of God. "THEREFORE LET us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ (the Messiah), advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead formalism) and of the faith by which you turned to God" (Hebrews 6:1 Amplified Bible) We're to leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ; the rudiments, the milk fitted only for babes. Let's go on to the higher lessons which belong to full grown men. The exhortation is to go on from the lessons of Christian childhood to those of manhood in Christ.

To lay the foundation once is enough, if it is laid right. These first principles are the foundation of Christian life, but we must build higher and higher upon them. Repentance is essentially a change of the will, the rebellious will becoming a will to serve the Lord. Some try to save themselves by trusting in their works, but they are as vain to save as though they were dead. Study more of the Word: "...study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). In our day, we have many preachers of the Word of God and that's beautiful! But you know, you can be so highly gifted as a believer or even a minister, and yet not know the Word of God! That you're reading something out of the Bible doesn't mean it's the Word of God. We tell people to study the Word of God, but what exactly is the Word of God? What should they study, since there's so much in the Bible?

The Word of God is any statement, declaration, message, thought or instruction that is consistent with God's plans, purposes and will in Christ Jesus concerning a person, place or thing. The Word of God is not theology. Someone may theologize with the Scriptures but that's not to say he's speaking God's Word. There are several books written by theologians that can't give life, tremendous exposé on several subjects that can't help! You may have studied Bible knowledge in school, but that's not to say you know the Word of God, because it takes a revelation to know the Word of God. You don't get that revelation knowledge from any school of theology. Someone may say, "I am a student of the Bible." You're still a failure if you're not a student of the Spirit! The Holy Spirit is the One who imparts revelation knowledge to you. 2 Corinthians 3:6 tells us that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. He is the Life- giver.

The Bible remains an empty book until you yield yourself to the Holy Spirit to impart to you the life and power of the written Word. Jesus is the Living Word. To know Him takes a revelation! When you get to know Jesus, you'll discover that Christianity is more than speaking words and preaching from a black book called the Bible. You'll become acquainted with the life and power behind the written pages. You'll discover that the Word of God has transforming, prevailing and operative power. Get acquainted with the Holy Spirit; He's the Teacher and He will teach you the Word of God and cause you to function in His wisdom, power, and glory! "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Colossians 3:16). Isaac was the custodian of the Abrahamic blessing.

When he was old and was about to die, he told Esau, his firstborn, to prepare him some venison so that he could eat it and transfer the blessing to him. Jacob, Esau's younger brother, learnt about this from his mother, acted quickly and got the blessing instead of his brother. What I really want you to observe is how Isaac transferred the blessing to Jacob. He said, "...with corn and wine have I sustained him" (Genesis 27:37), yet he didn't present him with any documents; he only spoke words to him. Jacob became the custodian of the Abrahamic covenant by words. His father's words were so potent that they sustained him with grain and wine and put the nations under him. When he received the words into his heart, they activated divine energy within his system and made him more than just an ordinary person. They transformed him into a possessor and thus, he became a man of divine prosperity, favour, and inheritance.

It matters what you go for in life. You ought to fill your life with the Word of God until you're rich with it. The Bible says, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good..." (Luke 6:45). It's impossible for you to lack if you have Word of God stored inside you. That's where the house, the land, the car, the wife, the husband, the children, peace, joy and everything else you require will come from. Jacob didn't need to collect any property from his father after he was blessed; the words he received were enough. Whatever you do, make sure you go for the blessing and not for material things, for all things that you'll ever need in your life are wrapped up in the blessing; they are wrapped up in the Word. At first, I was confused when I heard some Men of God say they can't be sick. How possible?

I actually got the answer from Proverbs 4:20-22 which says, "My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh." The Word of God is life and medicine unto those that feed on it. Doctor says take the medicine 2-5 times daily but God said meditate on my Word. The one taking a daily dose of the Word of God is just like the Man taking pills everyday. When you meditate on the Word it'll change your genotype. This is what you need for the cancer! When you take the seed of an orange, as small as it is, it has all in it to produce a stem, root, several branches and hundreds and thousands of fruits. You can produce whatever you want anywhere you are with the Word from God.

The good part is that God's Word never changes. Listen, you can stake your life on the Word of God because it doesn't fail. Money is the simplest thing to have. If you give the Word attention, money will pay attention to you. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away" (Mark 13:31). God is faithful and His Word concerning you never changes; it's always constant. Anytime you open your Bible to read, God's Word in it is the same but it comes to you fresh and brings new revelations to your spirit. This is why you can read the Word over and over. I learnt a Man of God read the Bible over a hundred times. In fact, you may read the same scriptures everyday, and yet receive new revelations from them each day. That's the power of God's Word: it never changes but it causes changes for good, Hallelujah! However, man - especially the sense-ruled man - is not constant. He walks according to his senses; he moves and acts by the way he feels.

That's why his love is fickle and you can't hold him to his word. God can't work with such people who go back on their words. Whatever God has said concerning you remains; it'll never change. You might change your opinion of Him, but He wouldn't change His opinion of you. No wonder Paul said even when we are faithless He remains faithful to His Word, as He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13); not one jot or title of it shall pass away without being fulfilled (Matthew 5:18). You can depend on Him, for His Word never changes. He said, "...I am the LORD, I change not..." Malachi 3:6. Some Christians follow too much of the things of the world. Meanwhile Bible says, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:2).

All over the world we hear about earthquakes, wars, famines, floods, outbreak of new diseases and so on. We're frequently bombarded with the reports of places ravaged by these destructive elements. These however are some of the signs which the Bible says would precede the end of the age. The gruesome pictures painted have filled the hearts of many people with fear, apprehension and despondency. Amidst all these, God is raising a mighty generation of believers that don't know enough to worry, for they're well grounded on God's Word. I'm not saying they're naive or completely ignorant of what's going on in their environment. They've simply chosen to fill their minds with God's Word, rather, than worldly information. They're like little children who don't have enough information to worry about anything, for they're assured and confident they'll get whatever they desire from their parents.

They've chosen to let God's Word dominate their hearts rather than the news media reports. Thus, they're more God-conscious than man-conscious! The Lord Jesus said in Mark 10:15, "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." Just as a little child trusts his parents to look out for him, we also should trust God to make everything work out for our good (Romans 8:28). You're a part of this generation that God is raising and this is the attitude He wants you to have. If you want to live above the dominion of the forces of darkness in the world, especially at the close of this age, you must fill your mind with God's Word rather than with the headline news or any other information that talks about the things Satan is doing. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

I'm certainly not moved by what goes on in the world for I know that "whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith. Who is it that is victorious over that conquers the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on that fact" (John 5:4-5 Amplified Bible). As you study the Word of God, you also come to the knowledge about your inheritance in Christ Jesus. There are Christians who look somewhere for blessings but they actually don't know they're blessed with all things. 1 Corinthians 3:21 says, "Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours." The Bible doesn't say some things are yours or only spiritual things are yours but that all things are yours! That means there's nothing you need today that hasn't been made available to you by God.

That's one reason you must study the Bible; it's the book of your inheritance. There's no way you can appropriate the blessings of God to your life if you don't know the Word. The Bible is a Book of good news that tells you all the beautiful things God has blessed you with. When you get to know what belongs to you, your struggles will be over. The solution to the problems of most folks in the Body of Christ is not prayer. I see people who go about asking others, "Please pray for me; I need a break-through," but there's no situation you can't change by yourself! Quit looking for someone to wave the magic wand over you or offer spiritual pronouncements for a breakthrough in your life. The ability to cause the changes you require is inside you. Use what you have. There's power in your tongue, use it!

For how long will you rely on the prayers of others to put you over in life? God's intention is not for you to be a victim of the circumstances of life, nor does He want you to be subject to Satan. He has made you a master over Satan. He wants you to live a victorious life through His Word. Get a hold of His Word, study it and discover your inheritance in God. Your life will not remain the same! The Word of God cleanses you as you meditate on it. "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). The Lord Jesus said, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John 15:3). The Word of God continually washes you, cleanses you, and takes all that 'mud' out of your life. God wants you to be clean in your life. He's already brought you out of the world, but He also wants to get the world out of you.

In other words, He wants you to renew your mind so you don't think and act like the rest of the world. God has already cleansed you of the mess you couldn't otherwise take care of, but now He tells you, "Hey, you get rid of the wrong stuff in your life!" Apply His Word by studying and meditating on it. As you do this, God's Word will affect your whole being. You can cleanse yourself through the Word and stay pure in Him today and always. The apostle Paul said, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 2 Corinthians 7:1. We're able to do that by meditating on the Word of God. Man is hopelessly lost until he receives God's Word (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The Word of God is the true light (John 1:9). This is the light that you need to find your way through life.

The world is pervaded by darkness and until you recognize the Word as the true light, you'll continue to grope in life. Fear, confusion, poverty, disease and death are all forms of darkness. They all originated from the same source, the devil, who is himself darkness. The reason many people fall by the way side in life is that they didn't have the light to go through the darkness of life and there was no light for them to navigate when they fell. As a result, they plunged themselves deeper into darkness. When you get a hold of the Word of God, your path becomes illuminated and you're able to find your way through life. If, however, you neglect the Word and your choices are made in darkness, you'll get yourself into bigger trouble. The Bible says, "He (God) sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions" (Psalm 107:20).

Therefore, it makes no difference the type of darkness you're going through today, all you need is the Word of God, the light of life, the Lord Jesus, Who is the Word of God made flesh. He said, "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness" (John 12:46). He'll lead you through the darkness of confusion, frustration, disease, poverty and fear. The light which is the Word of God is what we need in life. No wonder David prayed by saying, "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles" (Psalm 43:3). There are some who want God to bless them but actually live as though they have no guide. God said, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success" (Joshua 1:8).

Meditation, as taught in the Word of God, means taking a Scripture and ruminating over it, pondering upon it, and muttering it to yourself continuously. You may have seen those Jews standing by the wailing wall of Jerusalem, nodding their heads continuously as they mutter the Scriptures to themselves. What they're doing is meditating. God expects us to do the same - meditate on the Scriptures. Bible says "...give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all" (1Timothy 4:13-15).

The Psalmist also said, "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day" (Psalm 119:97) and no wonder David prospered in all his ways. The Word of God has absolute authority, "...For no word from God shall be void of power" (Luke 1:37 ASV).