Today, we are going to be learning from the word of God and how to apply the word of God to everyday life.
Sometimes, we make this so mystical and so complicated. Get your pen and paper to take some notes. Get yourself in a position to learn from the word of God and how to apply it to everyday situations.
It’s like taking a bath. You can make a decision that you want to take a bath, but the bath is not going to come to you. You have to go to the bath. You have to prepare. You don’t jump in with an overcoat. You have to get yourself in a situation to draw your bath water. It needs to be a pleasant experience, but you have to plan for it. You have to make time for it.
Learning from the word of God is a personal experience. It needs to be between you and the Holy Spirit. Let God lead you and teach you. Set aside time.
I prefer to get up early to come before the Lord, praise Him and thank Him and bless Him before I start digging in to learn.
Think of it like greeting a friend. When somebody comes into your house, rather than asking, “What do you want,” we need to say, “How are you doing? It’s so nice to see you.”
There is an approach without reproach.
Psalms 119:15-16 says, “I will meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.” Meditate on it, think about it, and chew on it.
Cows have cuds. They chew and chew because their stomachs have four compartments. Rumination is an important component of the digestion process. It takes time for cows to digest what they eat.
That’s what meditating is–taking the word of God, reading a verse, and then asking, “What does that mean to me? Lord, what are you talking to me about? How can I apply that to my life personally?”
Learn, ruminate, contemplate, and think about God’s word. Selah (pause and reflect).
Read one scripture. Read it again and then chew on it.
Reference Psalms 119:15-16, “I will meditate on Your precepts and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes. I will not forget Your word.”
I’ve been doing this for over 50 years. I encourage you to take notes. I know everybody has a cell phone, iPad, or computer nowadays. When you put pen to paper something happens in your brain. It will stick with you better than using technology.
Keep a journal. Write down your thoughts.
I have found what helps in my Bible study is being able to release and activate God’s word by faith. I am prophetic and I rhyme and rap a lot.
I studied opera for 13 years. After receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I began to sing and the song began to rhyme and the rhyme began to rap.
I have found that more people get blessed by my rapping than they do by any aria that I had ever sung before.
Release and activate God’s word.
You’ve got to activate; you’ve got to ratify.
Open up your mouth, you’ve got to prophesy.
You’ve got to choose by faith to speak the word into your carnal mind.
It might seem absurd, but you’ve got the power in Jesus’ name.
It’s the season, it’s time to proclaim.
Do you really, really, really, love the Lord?
Get your conversation, get it in accord.
Make a decision this very time. Oh my Lord, you’ve made me divine.
I was just an ordinary soul.
Oh my God, you took my brass and you gave me your gold.
Most people don’t think a great-grandmother should be appropriately out rapping, but it’s a gift. I had to activate it. It makes God happy. I found out it makes a lot of other people happy too.
I had a meeting with Sid Roth. I was getting ready to come on to speak. There was a lady in the audience who had come from out of town to this meeting. She said, “I’ve never met a rapping prophet. I came because I wanted to meet the rapping prophet.”
She had an emergency situation. She passed out and they had to call an ambulance. Everybody stopped what they were doing. That’s what the enemy wants you to do.
The lady was put on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on her face. I ran back there and asked for a minute with her before they loaded her into the ambulance.
I put my hand on her and said, “In Jesus name, you’re healed.”
I asked her, “What did you come here for?”
She said, “I came to see a rhyming prophet.”
I said, “Well, get off of that thing in the name of Jesus Christ. You’re going to walk in resurrection life. You’re healed from your head right down to your toes. Get yourself up, it’s time to go. You’re going to be a part of the program today. Don’t you understand? No more delay.”
She rose up and came running back in the room. Everybody saw a miracle that day.
You can turn things around when you activate the power of God.
You’ve got to choose to do that, though. The way you do it is by faith. When you study God’s word, you learn how to apply it.
You have to choose. You have to desire. You have to covet. You have to practice spiritual things and do all of that by faith.
You’re taking notes, right?
In James 2:26 say, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
I can say, I believe Jesus is the son of God and I believe He is my Lord and my Savior. Yet, if I don’t activate any of the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit, if I don’t release myself to do what the word of God says, it won’t work.
The scripture says that as a believer, these are the signs that shall follow them. They’ll heal the sick. They’ll raise the dead. They’ll cleanse the leper. They’ll cast out devils, and they’ll preach glad and not mad. They’ll preach good news.
That is not just for apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers; that’s for ordinary people who are believers.
The devil believes that Jesus is the son of God, but he’s not going to activate any of the power of gifts, because his belief does not produce anything. He does not have the power of the Holy Spirit.
Faith without works is dead. So if you say, I believe Jesus is the son of God, you need to put yourself in a situation and say, I’m going to pray for the sick and cast out demons.
How do you do that? You could be watching television and you see someone or something come up. You can say, “Devil, I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to pervert the minds of people. I take authority over you. I bind your powers in Jesus’ name.”
I went out in the garden the other day. My roses were not blooming. They were green and bushy, but they didn’t have any big red roses on them. The power of God came upon me and I said, “Roses, you will not live in my dirt if you don’t do what you were created to do. I’m going to dig every one of you up and throw you away. Now, you get to blooming. You’ve got seven days.”
You should have seen what those rose bushes were doing. We clipped them three times that summer and they came back so red. They know I mean business.
The word of God in your mouth is powerful.
You’ve got to walk by faith. You can’t be ordinary. You have to choose to be extraordinary. Sometimes you have to lose your dignity and get your deliverance.
What if you do it wrong? Count on it. It’s going to happen.
Correction is not rejection.
You can’t get yourself in a situation where you think you will walk on water all the time. Everybody will not agree with you. Everyone won’t see what you see,
Jesus said to Peter, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water. Now we know he got his eyes on something else and failed, but he’s the only one in the boat that got out.
I decided one cold wintery day on the Bayou that I was going to walk on the water. I went outside and got up to my waist and I realized, Jesus must not have told me to come, because it was really cold.
I was activating, but I had to learn that I was moving in presumption, I was not moving in faith. We learn the difference. The faith of God is in you. Don’t worry about correction. He’s not rejecting you. Your faith is growing and it is going to bless Him.
Beloved, your faith will increase as your word level increases. We prophesy according to our faith. I had a lot of zeal, but I didn’t have a lot of knowledge. I was ignited and excited, but I did not have my doctrine in place.
I haven’t walked on the water yet, but I’m willing to. All I need to hear is the invitation. There are all kinds of water to walk on. Today, I’m walking on the water of the word of God. Today, I’m walking on God’s infallible, inerrant and awesome truth.
What kind of water will you walk on?
Powerful