Study God's Word

"For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is 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" (James 1:23-24 AMP). The Word of God is the Mirror of God. The Word isn't just a set of rules and regulations we abide by; it's the revelation of the Christian. The Word shows you who God has made you to be. You don't tell a mirror what you want to see; it's designed to reflect your image to you. In other words, you're what you see in the mirror. I'm sure there were times you had to adjust your hair because you weren't pleased with what you saw in your mirror. But the Mirror of God is nothing like the one you have on the wall of your room.

The Mirror of God is supernatural. It'll change you; all you need to do is keep looking at it. "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAS). When you look in a mirror, who do you see? You see your reflection! If you don't see yourself, then you're not looking into a mirror. The mirror naturally reflects what is placed before it. It's important that you understand this because it'll determine whether or not you'll understand what I'm sharing with you now. The Holy Spirit is as familiar as you are with the way a mirror works. So, when He likens the Word of God to a mirror in 2 Corinthians 3:18, be sure He knows what He's talking about. You'll see the reflection of the glory of God when you look into the Word (God's mirror). That means you're the glory of the Lord. Hallelujah!

Jesus said, "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them..." (John 17:22). If you're a child of God, you're a true reflection of your heavenly Father, and the more you look into the mirror of God, the greater the intensity of the reflection of the glory of the Lord. That's why we must always look into the mirror of God's Word. When you use a physical mirror, you can easily adjust your physical appearance without anybody's help. Likewise, you can adjust yourself spiritually by looking at the mirror of God's Word. There's nothing you can't change in your life when you use the mirror of God's Word. Remember that the Bible says, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18).

There's a transformation, a metamorphosis, a transfiguration that takes place in you every time you look into the Mirror of God. Unlike that well-known fairytale, you don't say, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful person?" You don't tell the Mirror what you feel, think or see. You don't say, "I'm very sad; I'm weak; I'm a failure." Rather you say, "That same Spirit which dwells in Jesus Christ is in me. He vitalizes my body right now. I'm beautiful and I have the life of God in me. I carry the glory of God and His presence with me everywhere I go!" When you wake up in the morning, you say, "Lord I'm having a blessed day today, I'm walking in the glory of God, things are working for my good," and you go ahead to declare what you want to see in your day. If you're going for a job interview declare that you have the job. If you're going for an exam, declare your success.

When you release yourself to the transformation of the Mirror of God by the Holy Spirit, then you're on your way to the top. Do you want to be blessed? Then From the Amplified Bible, James 1:25 tells you: "But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the law of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys, he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience)." The Word of God never fails. God's Word is practicable and it is for us to live by. Some Christians only talk prosperity but never live it. This shouldn't be so. You see, when you're living on the plane of life where all you know is what God has said, your prosperity is assured. But if you always vacillate instead of keeping your focus on God's Word and your trust in Him, you'll never have it made.

Somebody says, "Well, I'm trying my best to live according to God's Word, but I don't know why I'm not prospering financially." You're looking at the wrong thing! When you say you've been putting your faith to work and it's not working, then you've not been putting your faith to work, for faith always works! God's Word never fails! After trying fruitlessly to cast the devil out of a young lad, the disciples of Jesus went to Him and asked, "Master, why couldn't we cast the devil out?" (Matthew 17:19). Jesus answered them and said, "Because of your unbelief" (Matthew 17:20). He didn't try to be diplomatic; rather, He told them the outright truth. The disciples didn't think they were unbelieving, but Jesus said that was the reason they couldn't cast the devil out of the young man. Sadly, this is the situation of some of God's children today.

Many of God's children are trying everything they know; they're working hard at their jobs and businesses, yet they're still broke and in debt. I'm talking about prayerful, wonderful believers! Many times you hear them say, "I've done everything, but nothing has changed." For such folks, unbelief is what short-circuits the power of God in their life. God's Word is something you can stake your life on. It's tested and proven! It never fails. Once you've learnt to anchor your existence on the Word, you're ready for permanent prosperity. Therefore, set your focus on the Word; refuse to observe any contrary situation and you're on your way to a life of success and permanent prosperity. I love what the Psalmist said: "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him" (Psalm 12:6; 18:30).

God's Word is so valuable; learn to see it as such. The Word of God has the creative power to transform your life. When you meditate on the Word and it gets into your system, it would travel through your veins and correct every anomaly in your body; it might be a growth or a deformed heart, it makes no difference. It'll bring health and life to your body and can transform the circumstances of life to suit you. The Word of God is like the sun. As it shines, everyone receives whatever he or she requires from it. Some need its heat, some the light, while others require some other solar energy. What this means is that even when a minister is not teaching about your situation specifically, you can still receive your heart's desire. For example, you can receive your healing whilst listening to a message on finances; the message on finances can stir up faith in you to reach out for whatever you desire.

The Word of God is God (John 1:1), and it will bless your spirit, soul and body. It will always reproduce what it talks about. The reason some Christians don't experience consistent victory in their lives is because of ignorance or unbelief of the Word of God. The Word of God is surely our light in this darkened world. David said, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). Life is filled with choices that can either make or mar you. At different stages of life, you're presented with different choices and to make such decisions without errors, you need proper guidance which only God's Word can provide. In John 1:9, the Bible says the Word of God is the true Light. It's the Sword of the Spirit with which you pierce your way through the darkness of life. If the true Light dwells richly in you, fear, defeat, failure, and all other result of darkness won't have any place in you. You won't fear because the true Light will show you that God has not given you the spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7).

You won't be defeated because you'll see that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). You won't be sick because you'll discover that by His stripes, you were healed (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). The Word of God will reveal to you, what God sees you to be. It's your responsibility to invest the Word of God in yourself by studying it regularly. If you can inundate your mind with it and store it in your spirit, the Word of God will produce great results in you and you will glow with the glory of God. You'll have a clear direction in life and others will acknowledge that you're different. Do you now see how victoriously you can live if you keep the Word of God in your heart? If there's any darkness in your family, academics, or business, just take a hold of the light of God's Word and pierce through the darkness in the Name of Jesus!

God's Word is the most wonderful Book, "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life" (Proverbs 6:23). Don't think about the wrong stuffs in the world; have nothing to do with them. Instead, think on the word! Bible admonishes us: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (Philippians 4:8). The things listed in this scripture are by no means exhaustive. Paul only wanted us to have the idea of the kind of things God's children should think or meditate on. Some people think positively according to the teachings of intellectual men rather than according to the Bible. That's not correct!

You have to understand that nothing else can put you over in life except God's Word. Thinking on God's Word is much more than positive thinking. The Bible says through knowledge shall the just be put over, that is, delivered into their inheritance (Proverbs 11:9). I want you to realize this is not talking about knowledge of science or philosophy; it refers to revelation knowledge, which the Spirit of God imparts to you as you study God's Word. Man can only give you his own philosophy, and his wisdom never works. It's a shame to find how people respect men who have acquired money and fame and forget what really matters. True life is only in the Word; you must realize that! Don't build your life on some philosopher; build your life on Jesus and His living Word. God's Word gives life. Think on it; let it fill your thoughts morning, noon and night. Whatsoever things are pure, just, honest, lovely, of good report, full of praise and virtue are what you should think on.

I don't think there's anything in all of creation that can be truer, more just, more honest, lovely and of good report than the Word of God. It's actually an exhortation to think on His Word! Spend time daily to think on God's Word! Your words and actions are a function of your thinking. If you think right, you will talk right and you will surely live right! Whenever you find yourself in a challenging situation, instead of thinking on the problem and magnifying it, simply get a hold of God's Word and begin to think and meditate on it! As you reflect upon God's Word, there'll be a transformation, a metamorphosis, a transfiguration that will bring about a solution and a permanent change in your life! "Those who discover these words live, really live; body and soul, they're bursting with health" (Proverbs 4:22 MSG). There is a story of how a young lady who suffered from a blood condition and fibroid got healed by meditating on the Word of God.

In her account, she said her doctor had already given up on her. Even if medical science could do something about the fibroid, her blood condition had no known medical cure. So they told her she had but only a few weeks to live. More so, she had to be placed on a strict medication to keep her alive for those few weeks. While listening to a particular message, a verse of scripture from the book of Proverbs struck her: "For they (The Word) are life unto those that find them, and health (medicine) to all their flesh" (Proverbs 4:22). Suddenly, it dawned on her that if she could subject herself to the medication from the doctor, which could only give her temporary solution, she could also put herself under the therapy of God's Word for a permanent cure. She meditated on this scripture for some weeks, declaring the words to herself. When she got to the hospital for a check up some time later, the doctors made a startling discovery.

Her blood condition was completely healed and the fibroid had disappeared. Glory to God! This lady discovered the Word and held on to it as medicine for her body and it worked; she was healed! The Word of God went through her blood and cleansed her of her blood condition. The Word of God always works! God's Word is medicine and it will vitalize every part of your body. God sent His Word to you to bring you out of sickness. Hold on to His Word, for with it you can receive your healing and walk in divine health. Do you actually know that you have all you you'd ever need or require in life? Bible says "...For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours" (1 Corinthians 3:21-22). Everything you require for the good life is inside you, just like everything a seed needs to grow to a fruit-bearing tree is already in it.

That seed doesn't need to cry out, "Help me, I need a branch! Help me, I need roots, I need leaves!" All it requires is to be in the right environment; everything it needs to produce its roots, stems, branches and leaves are inside it. God's Word will be productive if it's sown in your heart in an environment of faith, but when you're outside this environment, you're in trouble. If you're in the faith environment, it doesn't matter what you go through, you'll be tough all the time. I'm tough! Every other thing looks so small because I've been building my life on the Word of God all this time. The Word of God is your life: describe yourself with the Word. That is, see yourself the way God sees you. Build your faith in the Word of God. God has given to every Christian the measure of faith (Romans 12:3), but what you do with it is now your responsibility.

God will never allow you to fall into any situation that's higher than your faith. So it will be wrong for you to say the situation you're going through is more than your faith; your faith is bigger than every situation in your life. If your faith is small, unbelief can easily come in. Quit telling people what you're going through. God doesn't want you bragging about your troubles; rather broadcast your victories. Tell the whole world what God has done for you. Declare what you have in Christ - EVERYTHING! "And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:3-4). It's great to live your life by the leading of God's Spirit and to have Him live in every fibre of your being.

When you look closely at the life of Jesus, you'll observe that everything He did was always led or directed by the Holy Spirit. He was completely submitted to the authority of the Word; remember that He is the Word made flesh. The Lord Jesus never did anything by chance. Rather, He dominated sickness, death, poverty, hunger, and all the other kinds of challenges that confront man today. In His encounter with Satan, Jesus kept referring to the Word. He said, "It is written..." We are faced with circumstances where we have to say, "It is written..." because all those great Words in the Bible were actually written for our benefit. As the Bible tells us, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" (2 Timothy 3:16). The Word goes beyond letters; it goes beyond the written pages. It is alive and it ministers life. It lives in you and is at work in you.

You bring the written Word to life when you use it. When you speak the Word, it leaps out of the written pages. Today, we don't have to wonder if God is with us. We have God indwelling us and communing with us. He has made His abode in us and has given us life eternal. You received eternal life when you received the Word. That means you can only have the fullness of that life and enjoy it when you stay in the Word and keep it in the midst of your heart. A man led by God's Spirit is an overcomer. You can tell He has won ever before the contest begins. Everyday brings with it new challenges, but thank God, they are daily opportunities for you to apply the Word that has been written, and bring its victory to reality. Hallelujah! From Matthew 12:34 we learn that, "...out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." The amount of what you put into you is what you speak. Meaning, when you put more of the Word in you, whatever you say will be in conformity with the mid of God.

The more of God's Word you have in you, the lesser you struggle in life. "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." Proverbs 4:23. Other translations say the heart is the wellspring of life, and we just learnt that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. This means that whatever is stored in you is what comes out. If you keep fear and the wrong stuffs in the world in you, they're certainly what you'll produce. You find people who're never happy in their lives. Only if they'd get to the Word, their lives would be a product of what they expect; joy, happiness, peace, satisfaction, fulfillment, bliss, contentment, well-being etc. If you're in the scriptures, no one can deceive you because you come to the point where you know and you know and you know. I even don't understand why some Christians describe the intake of certain foods to be sinful.

The apostle Paul says, "I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence." Romans 14:14, 20. All kinds of food are morally clean but it is morally unclean to him who eats with hurt to his conscience. The conviction is that of a mind in communion with Christ, enlightened by His Spirit. No kind of food is unclean of itself. The legal distinction between clean and unclean animals is abolished. If one, uninstructed, considers anything unclean, to his conscience it is so. It is wrong for him to eat it. So someone telling you he or she doesn't like a certain kind of food doesn't necessarily mean you should also go against it. If it's evil, it's evil unto him and not you.

Paul makes this clearer in the letter he sent to the brethren at Colosse: "So let no one make rules about what you eat or drink or about holy days or the New Moon Festival or the Sabbath. All such things are only a shadow of things in the future; the reality is Christ. You have died with Christ and are set free from the ruling spirits of the universe. Why, then, do you live as though you belonged to this world? Why do you obey such rules as "Don't handle this," "Don't taste that," "Don't touch the other?" All these refer to things which become useless once they are used; they are only human rules and teachings. Of course such rules appear to be based on wisdom in their forced worship of angels, and false humility, and severe treatment of the body; but they have no real value in controlling physical passions" (Colossians 2:16-17, 20-23 GNB). I believe you're challenged to read (meditate) on the Word of God.

Don't be like the folks who open their Bibles only when it's Sunday or any other church day. I do listen to Pastor Joel Osteen and whenever he starts to preach, he, together with the congregation confess aloud saying, "This is my Bible. I am what It says I am; I have what It says I have; I can do what it says I can do. Today, I'll be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be the same, I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever living seed of the Word of God. I will never be the same; never! Never! Never! I will never be the same, in Jesus' Name. Amen!" I want you to make the same confession each time you're about to study God's Word. It's a powerful and you can never read the Bible and remain the same. I want to take this opportunity to thank my Pastor, Rev Chris Oyakhilome - I've learn a lot in his messages about righteousness.

We're through with this article but finally brethren, "Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life" (Proverbs 4:13). "Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them" (Deuteronomy 4:9).

God bless you!