Author: debo

I love the verse that tells us to study to show ourselves approved unto God, like a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Most people as soon as they are done with school put study behind them forever. As Christians we are going to be life long learners and life long “studiers” of God’s Word. There is so much meat for us to digest, that truly in a lifetime, we can’t exhaust all the riches to be found in the Word of God. Each day as we read and study the Word of God, we are on a treasure hunt. What new “golden nugget” will we find today? What question in your life will be answered by taking time to read and study the Word of God? What preparation is taking place so that you can overcome any fiery dart the enemy may throw your way? What great foundation is being built so that when the storms of life hit, you will stand strong, and not be blown out of the water.

Make an appointment every day, put it in your schedule, just like you do any other important thing in your life. If you have a daily plan, you give yourself permission to take time to do something for yourself that is important. Probably most of you take time to exercise several times a week. (If you don’t you should!!!) Probably most of you go to church every Sunday to spend time worshipping God. (If you don’t you should!) Probably most of you take time to get to the grocery store to buy good healthy fresh fruits and vegetables at least once a week. (If you don’t, you should!!!) So why not make it a priority to eat some living bread, and drink some living water that will not only build your spirit, but give you wisdom and strength for your life. That sounds like something that is too good to pass up!

So make this commitment today. From this day forward, I will not only feed my body, I will feed my spirit. I will make sure that I nourish the most important part of me. My body is temporary, but my spirit is eternal. I will give God’s Word top priority in my life.

Do you know that starting a positive habit in your life has great advantages for the long term? There are lots of things that you can do in the natural realm that help you live healthy, just by developing a positive habit. How about the habit of getting exercise daily, instead of being a couch potato, or eating fruits and vegetables, instead of eating twinkies and drinking Dr. Pepper, or exercising your mind by reading or playing games, instead of watching TV or playing computer games all day. One awesome habit to begin is to read your Bible everyday. What is so great about God’s Word is that it is jam packed full of wisdom, and it is full of life! The Bible tells us when given the choice between life and death, to choose life! So one way to do that is to read the Bible! It is great to have a reading plan, and be systematic, but actually, just getting the Word of God in your life any way possible will have tremendous benefits. The Word of God is a light to your path. It is wisdom for your life. It has the power to change your behavior. It gives you courage to face your fears. The list could go on and on. So, why not read a chapter from the New Testament and a Psalm and a Proverb everyday. It will take you less than15 minutes, and you will gain more than you can realize. When you digest God’s Word, and make it a priority in your life, not only will you be empowered to succeed in the plan God has for you, but, you will have mastery over the areas in your life that could have led you down a wrong path. So what kind of habit can you begin that will bless you for your whole life? Start reading the Bible everyday. Why not try it!

The Bible: God’s instruction Book….read it, follow it, live it! You’ve probably all heard the song that says the word Bible is an acronym for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. I’m not sure who came up with that, but I think it is great. The time that having the Word of God planted deeply in your heart benefits us the most is on this side of heaven. When we reach glory, we will be in the presence of the Word made Flesh – Jesus himself. So the Bible really is our manual for “doing life” on this planet. And truly the Word of God isn’t really complicated. The basics are pretty simple. When we love God with all of our heart, soul and might, and love our neighbor as ourselves we have summed up the whole book. Loving God is the easy part, sometimes we make the next part complicated. When we can love ourselves like God loves us, we can love others. When we take time to study the Word of God, we can learn the value God places on us, and begin to value and cherish what He has put on the inside of us. When we have love to give, everyone around us benefits. A great word study to do is to look up all of the scriptures on love. Study to find out how you can love more completely, and how love is supposed to act. You could probably take a year on that one word alone. We can get creative doing the Word. James 1:22 in the Greek means this: Put your heart and soul into finding ways to act on what you have heard. The NKJV says it this way, be a doer of the Word. The best way to do something is to know about it, to have read up on it, and to study it. So study away! To be an effective doer, get the Word of God planted deeply in your heart!

It says in Col 3:16, for us to make God’s Word feel at home in your heart. Are you comfortable with it, and know it inside and out? In real estate, the mantra is location, location, location. I want to encourage you to find your perfect location in the middle of the Word! We can find our home and live and abide in the promises of God which are all wrapped up in His Word. On a daily basis we can have the freshly spoken word of God – the “rhema” become manifest in our lives as we read and study the building blocks or logos or foundational princples of God’s Word. Everything we do should be measured against the standard of the Word of God. Whenever we wonder about anything, we should find out what God’s Word has to say about it. When something comes out of our mouth, we need to make sure it lines up with God’s Word. A great question to keep in mind is …..where did you find that in the Word? So much of the time, we hear something repeated and because it sounds good, we take it for truth. But the enemy really finds joy in deceiving believers. The way to avoid deception is to be aware when God’s Word is being twisted or taken out of context, because you have knowledge of the context. When the Word of God is hidden in your heart, you won’t be easily deceived. The Bible tells us to pay attention to my word. All through the book of Proverbs, continually there is the admonition to pay attention to God’s Word. I want to encourage you the same way! Pay attention to the Word, plant the seed of God’s Word in your heart, and you will reap the harvest. Start planting today!

Yesterday we talked about the value of having the word of God hidden in our heart so that we can stand firm against any attack of the enemy, our adversary the devil. The Bible tells us to stand firm and be inflexible in Heb 10:23. We are to hold fast, tightly, rejecting all attempts of anyone who tries to steal it from us, not fickle in our commitment, but determined to be inflexible and unmoving in what we believe and confess as it says in another version of the Bible. Most of the time, it is good to be flexible. Certainly your muscles and joints feel better when we stretch them and are flexible. Dealing with people, we just can’t be pushy and inflexible when it comes to opinions and preferences. If you’re married you’ve certainly learned that being flexible enough to compromise is a good thing. Each opinion is important, and for peace in the home, we have to be flexible. But when it comes to the Word of God, there should be no wavering. We stand firm! We will not be shaken! A huge key in having the ability to do that comes from reading, studying and meditating on God’s Word! Taking the time before an attack comes is so much easier than trying to read the manual during the battle. Advance preparation is key. So today remember this, we do have weapons to fight with, but they are not carnal. They are powerful, because they are our tools provided by our Father God to overcome in this life. The weapon is the Word of God. Read it, study it, be prepared to use it!

The Bible is a sharp sword….Eph 6:17, and a two edged sword as it says in Hebrews 4:12. Because not too many people we know use swords as weapons anymore (thank God!) those scriptures don’t have the same meaning to us as they might have to a new Christian who lived in the first century when a sword was an invaluable tool. But even today, when cooking in the kitchen, sharp knives make life easier. A dull knife is just about useless, it makes things take longer and can even be dangerous because of the extra force needed to make even a simple cut. The Bible is a sharp sword! It has a point that gets to the point. As we talk about studying God’s Word this week, I think it is good to remember that the Bible is our best weapon against the enemy’s attacks. A good chef will sharpen his/her knives. A military man or woman will make sure they clean and care for their weapons. Even a hunter will make sure their arrows are sharp or their gun is well cared for. When we realize that we are in a war, it would be to our advantage to know our weapon. Knowing requires study! We should become well acquainted with how the Bible is set up, why there is an old covenant and a new covenant. We should know who are the major men and women surrounding the most important person in the Bible – Jesus. It is great to know our weapon so that when we are attacked by the enemy, we have an artillery of scripture that can help us stand strong and not be shaken. Because we have studied, we will know the character of our God, and know how He operates and what He would want us to do in each situation. What great benefits we have from taking time to study His Word.

During this week I want to talk about putting God’s Word first in your life. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. From reading the Word, to taking time to study it, to meditating on it, and to memorizing and living it out, God’s Word is our guiding force. To make right choices, and to live the victorious life God has for us, let’s give God’s Word first priority always! Here is your encouraging word for the day.

What does it mean to study the Word of God? I know lots of you read your Bible everyday, but do you know as Christians we are to study the Word of God as well? Remember the scripture “study to show yourself approved unto God”? The word study really is in there! When you study something, it isn’t just a casual read through. We should study the Word like we would study for a test. There might be a couple of them on your journey! Here are a couple of things I always use when I study the Bible. The most valuable tool to me is my concordance. I use a Strong’s Concordance, and it is fabulous. It is called an exhaustive concordance, because it is! Anything you need to find is in there. Additionally, there are all kinds of Bible helps available on computer, that I encourage you to use as well. A second thing that I always do is have something to write on or have my computer handy. When you receive some clarity on a scripture or a passage in the Word, I write it down. I would encourage you to write down your thoughts about what you have learned. Think about it, do some cross referencing which means finding other scriptures that say nearly the same thing, or relate in some way. Then do a word search to find other scriptures that have the exact word you are studying within them.
The greatest encouragement I could give you when it comes to studying God’s Word is to find a place to start. Why not make today the day you start studying to show yourself approved unto God. Then, don’t get down on yourself if you miss a day…..keep right on going! Make a plan, work the plan, and get ready to grow in God as you grow in your knowledge of the Word.

Don’t you just love freebies? That’s when you get things you don’t have to work for just because. Whether it is candy at a parade, or free ice cream at on a special day, a birthday check or whatever, things that we get for free are wonderful.

Not only do we live in a free country, because we love God and have made a choice to serve Him, we have more free things than you can imagine. The biggest freebie is Heaven! We get to live with God forever when we die. Another freebie is that we can live above our problems and see God do great things for us because we pray. Another freebie is to have a conscious that is totally clean and clear because we choose to obey God’s Word. Another freebie is the ability to go to church each Sunday and learn more about the God we love so much. God is pretty amazing! He gives us so much!

Just like the freedoms for our nation, we know that really it does cost somebody something. We are thankful for the people who defend our nation and especially those who gave their lives for America. Our freedom in Christ cost Jesus His life. He did the ultimate sacrifice because He loves you so much. Pretty amazing…..all those benefits I listed above, plus many more…..His provision is abundant in every area of your life! It’s a freebie to you, but cost Jesus a bunch! You know how you can repay his love for you? His Word says that if you love Him, you obey Him. You can make the choice to make good life choices, to make the Word of God your priority, and then the things of the world will never even have a pull on you. That’s the way to live in true freedom!

Happy 4th of July! What a big party this weekend is for all Americans! So much of our nation’s history is founded by godly men and women, longing for freedom to worship God. From the original voyages across the ocean looking for a new world, the explorers were on a mission, to tell the new world about God. When the puritans came from England, they wanted freedom of worship. Not only was the new world a land of opportunity, it was a place where God could be worshipped freely. America’s founders were Godly men and women. America was founded on godly principles. We have strayed from that foundation, but thankfully, we still live in a country where we can worship God freely. 2 Cor 3:17 says that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We use that verse in our churches all the time. We can apply that to our country too. Where and when we let the Spirit of God reign, we will experience freedom. Let’s not forget the foundations and our humble beginnings. Let us not forget those who gave their lives for our freedom. Let us not forget to thank God, for men and women of courage, who bravely fought for our freedoms. Thank God we are free.

One of the greatest joys in my life is worshipping God through music. I love to sing and play before the Lord and worship God in totally freedom. I can remember back so well at the time in my life when I was just beginning to walk into the understanding of living the Spirit-led, Spirit-controlled life. I can recall having the urge to lift my hands to the Lord but feeling very self-conscious about it. I was sitting next to a friend in a worship service and she must have known from the outside the struggle I had going on in the inside. She whispered in my ear…. “it really won’t hurt to lift your hands, and it will probably bring you more freedom than you’ve ever known.” She was right. I went from being totally self-conscious about worshipping God to total freedom and a greater consciousness of God than ever before. Simply breaking through something in the natural realm, moved me into a greater depth of freedom than I had ever experienced before. Now I love the freedom I have to worship God with all my might – and with my mind, soul and strength.

Perhaps you are feeling bound in an area of your life, maybe there is a habit that has you bound. The devil has bondage mastered! He doesn’t want us to be free. When you realize the incredible price Jesus paid for your freedom, you may begin to look at bondage from a different view. It isn’t all just about will power. Freedom is about being completely dependent on God and knowing His will for you is to be totally free. It not only takes the spiritual element, it takes making wise choices as well. When you add God’s “SUPER” to your “natural”, it becomes supernatural! That’s what freedom is all about. God living BIG on the inside of you, and you making right choices. That’s living supernaturally! That’s true freedom!