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I’ve had people say to me, “I’ve read the Bible. It didn’t work.” To that, I say, “Read it some more.” If you feel like you are forcing yourself to read the Word, ask God to give you a desire for it. And keep reading.

Karen says, I heard one minister say, “What you give yourself to, you create a desire for.” I think that is true in every realm. Take golf for example. Years ago Karen’s first husband’s uncle taught him how to play golf. At first he didn’t want to go to the golf course every day, but he kept going and kept playing. After a while, he loved golf. He created the desire for the game by doing more of it, not doing less. It is the same with the Word—you can create a desire for it by spending more time reading it.

The Word of God is truth. Your circumstances are subject to change, but the Word is not. It has never failed in thousands of years, and it is not going to fail now. Read it some more.

I’ve met some Christians who say, “I wish Jesus would talk to me.” I tell them, “Read your Bible. That’s Jesus, the Word made flesh (John 1:14) and that’s Him talking to you.” I’ve also heard people say, “I wish I knew God’s will for my life.” I tell them, “Read your Bible. His Word is His will.”I know those answers might sound too simple. You might be thinking, “There’s got to be more to overcoming than read your Bible, read your Bible, read your Bible.” But if there were, I would tell you! Instead, I’m telling you that your answers are in the Word. Your faith gets built up when you read the Word. You can’t expect to be an overcomer in this life without the Word of God in your heart, in your mind, and in your mouth.
Please understand, you don’t read the Bible in order to earn and deserve God’s blessings. It’s not: “I’ve read my three chapters today. I’ve been a good Christian. Now I’ve earned my blessings!” No. All the blessings already belong to you, in Christ. You didn’t earn or deserve any of them. You received them by faith (Eph. 2:8-9). You get them by believing in the covenant that Jesus bought and paid for in His death, burial, and resurrection.
No, you and I read our Bible to remind ourselves of those blessings. To feed and solidify our spirits and renew our minds to God’s way of living (Rom. 12:2). That’s the way we overcome the troubles of life.

 

Let’s pick up from yesterday’s dailyeword about believing God to be well. Part of the confusion about sickness and disease comes because people do learn lessons and gain insights from God when they’re sick or in trouble. This happens, though, because when trouble comes, they run to God, press into His Word, listen to all their teaching CDs, and take lots of notes at church. If they’re confined to bed, they have plenty of time to seek God and listen to the Holy Spirit. I think most of us have pressed into God when we’re in trouble, and He has answered. But of course, we could have learned the lesson at hand without being sick or in trouble! God doesn’t need us to be sick to teach us something. Every time we press into God, He is there to meet us, teach us, and help us grow.

God teaches us by His Word and His Spirit, not by trouble, trial, sickness, or any other tool of the enemy! You can avail yourself to His Word and His Spirit any time you want. In fact, it pays to seek Him before trouble comes so you’re ready to stand up strong and overcome by enforcing your covenant. Yes, there are tests and trials in life. Here’s how to know if it’s God or the devil: if it’s not good, it’s not God! Know your enemy, and stand against him.

Maybe you’ve heard people say, “God’s put this trouble/trial/sickness on you to teach you something.” Or maybe someone’s well-meaning advice was: “God has allowed this trouble/trial/sickness to come upon you to help you grow.”Not true! It may sound spiritual to say something like that, but it is very, very wrong. If you think that, then you won’t know what to stand against. If you think God caused your trouble, how can you believe Him to deliver you from it? You can’t. We have to get this straight: God is good and the devil is bad. Don’t get confused about it, because it can undermine your faith. Know who your enemy is!

Say, for example, someone needs to overcome sickness. If they say that God put sickness on them to teach them something, then they’re saying that it is God’s will that they’re sick, right? But then they take medicine or go to the doctor to try and get the illness to go away.I want to say to them, “Wait a minute. If the sickness is God’s will for you, if this is how He’s going to train and teach you, then why are you taking meds and going to the doctor to try and get out of God’s will?” Of course we can see that’s ridiculous. Of course a person who is sick wants to get better. And God wants that person to get better too. It’s never His will for people to be sick; it’s always His will to heal us. He always has been and always will be a healing God. He said, “I am the Lord who heals you” (Exod. 15:26). Jesus Himself bore your sicknesses (Matt. 8:17) and by His stripes you were healed, more than 2,000 years ago (1 Pet. 2:24). Lets talk about this more tomorrow.

Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your daily eword. I have asked my friend and fellow writer, blogger and speaker, Karen Jensen Salisbury to be a guest blogger for me this week. She is an author of two great books, and is also a wonderful friend. I know her words will encourage you to overcome in every area of your life. As a bonus, her son Josh is our youth pastor at AGF. I know you will enjoy Karen Salisbury’s words as you listen to me them to you on your dailyeword.

We all like to hear about being an overcomer, but here’s the thing: any time you hear about someone overcoming, it means there was something to overcome. In other words, there was trouble! So we can’t be surprised about facing trouble in this life – we live on an earth with a curse. Trouble is going to come! Jesus Himself said in John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation…” He warned us! So we shouldn’t be surprised when trouble comes. But we should be ready. And we should know where the trouble comes from – it doesn’t come from God! We have an enemy, Satan, and if we don’t understand that, we won’t be able to overcome him.

Thankfully there is more to that verse in John 16. Jesus finishes His sentence by saying, “But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” That’s great news! If Jesus overcame, we can overcome. It’s our very nature to overcome. Jesus gave us His authority to overcome every trouble the enemy sends our way (Luke 10:19).

Happy Sunday! Happy Church day! Happy Worship Day! God is calling everyone to come and worship Him together. Every Sunday, we have the opportunity to come to church and bring our family to worship God. It is an awesome way to begin our week, and it is an awesome example to our families that God really is a priority in our life and our world. It’s easy to turn on a worship DVD, or listen to a podcast, or even watch AGF online, but there is something really special about coming to the house of God to worshipping in person on a regular basis. We get the opportunity to worship together, and being together corporately is really wonderfully special. The anointing is multiplied in corporate worship. I’ve heard it said you can learn on your own, but you really need others to grow. If growing spiritually is our goal, I encourage you to come and worship at church. Make it a priority, and come to church every time the doors are open to worship!

I am so thankful to be filled with the Spirit and have experienced worshipping God extravagantly. One of the things Jesus said was that He wanted true worshippers who would worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Jesus was speaking to the woman at the well when He said this, and I think He was getting to the heart of worship. He wants our whole heart, and worshipping Him takes focus and commitment. It also is important that we know Whom we are worshipping. It’s not a building or an idea, or not the one leading worship, it is God who deserves our worship, in spirit and in truth. We have the opportunity to give the one true God our whole heart for our whole life! We aren’t subject to Old Testament rules for worship, we give God the best of our life for the rest of our lives. As we do, we will continue on our path to knowing God more deeply. Let’s be the kind of worshippers that Jesus is looking for, those who worship Him in Spirit and in truth!

There is a lot of junk in the airways! I’m sure you have noticed! There are some music stations that you don’t want to subject your ears to. I am so glad for great ones that pump encouraging positive lyrics out 24/7 (Like KAGF!) Do you remember the little kids song that went like this…Oh be careful little ears what you hear, oh be careful little ears what you hear, for the Father up above is looking down in love, oh be careful little ears what you hear. The main message of this song is that we need to be aware of what we are listening to. And just like a computer, what goes is what comes out. We want to guard our heart and our ears, because, out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak. The best kind of things we can let into our heart are things that encourage and bless our lives. And worship music is high on the list! Make your home and your car an oasis with music that brings you a little bit of heaven on earth. Make worship and worship music an important priority in your life, and the life of your family.

As much as I love worshipping with others, to make time to worship on my own is one of the most encouraging, reenergizing things we can do. We can put on a worship station on pandora, or you can sing your own tune, with your own melody and lyrics, or sit down at an instrument, and worship your heart out. Being a busy mom, with work, church and home responsibilities, finding time to worship God on my own, happens only intentionally. Sometimes it accidently happens when there is a random slot of time that appears, but most of the time, personal worship happens because it is on my schedule and I give it a priority. As beautiful as it is to have time on your own, if you have little ones at home, or are a mom or dad of school age kids, take time together with your kids to worship God every day. Turn off the TV, the computer, your phone, and any other distractions, and worship God together as a family. Sing fun silly songs, and then do some real worship songs together. You are modeling to them how to worship and that time will minister to you personally, and you can experience the presence of God at home with your kids. What a great way to train your kids at the same time. WIN!

One of the reasons Sunday is my favorite day of the week is because it is the day we get to worship together. We are called to worship, and coming together to worship each week, not only blesses God, but blesses us. As we worship together, God does amazing things in our midst. We minister to Him, and He ministers to us. He meets us right where we are. If we come in to the sanctuary hurting, with broken hearts or broken bodies, He wants us to leave whole, with mended hearts and healed bodies. If we come in discouraged, He wants our heart lifted and encouraged when we leave His house. If we come to church without hope, He wants us to leave with hope. All those things can happen when we worship together. Besides just the beauty of worshipping together, there is also a multiplied anointing that happens as we all join together to worship. God inhabits the praises of His people, so He lives in the middle of our worship. Worship is God’s love language. God’s power is made manifest as we worship together, so get to church, worship with other believers, and see God do amazing things!