Study The Word.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Jos 1:8; emp added). According to God, the prerequisite for success is to stay focused on His Word, the Bible. If you want to be successful in any area of your life, you must be familiar with the Bible. You must not only read it but study it regularly. There are many reasons for studying the Bible, but we will pay more attention to it if we see it as our food source.

To meditate is to reflect, contemplate or keep your mind on something. It means to think about it and let it be part of you. All the things that you see today came from the unseen world. “By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” (Heb 11:3). You live in a house today because of the Word of God. Can you see how powerful God’s Word is? Everything you can feel and touch was made from the spiritual world. God spoke, and things were made. It is the same Word we have with us today as Holy Scriptures. Most of us do not know that creation was done in the invisible world before it manifested. If you live your life in the physical world, you will struggle because you are focused on temporary things.

We live in a fallen world, and many bad things that happen to us are not expected. Unfortunately, no matter how well we try to live, our problems do not disappear. Do you know you can limit the number of issues you have? God wants us to live a purpose-driven life. He wants it to be well with all of us, so why are there unsurmountable challenges in our society today? I cannot tell you the exact cause of every misfortune you have, but I can pinpoint some of them out quickly. I discovered that if we learn the Bible and apply the lessons in our lives, we will be successful no matter the challenges that come our way because God’s Word is living and powerful. (Heb 4:12). Let me give you one example. If your husband is cheating on you, what is the cause of it? There may be many reasons for that, but the general ones will be:

1. Lack of self-control. It is direct defilement of the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22-23).
2. Both of you are not Christians. If you are walking with God faithfully, that will be an attack from the enemy.
3. If Christians, what occurred before you got married? Did you have sex before you were wedded? Having sex before marriage is called fornication, a direct violation of God’s commandment written by His hand.
4. You kept looking at things you were not supposed to. These may include pornography, filthy magazines, or immoral programs. “But I say to you that whoeverlooks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt 5:28). There are too many naked women on the street today. When you see them, bypass them. We don’t have a problem with lust; we have a problem with looks.
5. Co-habitation. Most Christians live together and see nothing wrong with it. If you do that, God does not have any legal right to help you. You have yourself to blame. You cannot violate God’s Law and think nothing will happen. A little story: I know a Christian lady I will call Sarah. Sarah had a boyfriend (let’s call him John) and immediately started having sex with him. Within a year, another lady (let’s call her Martha) surfaced in John’s life. Martha wasn’t a Christian. However, John fell in love with Martha and broke up with Sarah. The issue bothered Sarah, who went into depression and asked for prayers from many pastors. After all was said and done, John married Martha and lived with her, breaking Sarah’s heart. Sarah prayed and fasted, wanting God to make John marry her instead of Martha. God couldn’t answer Sarah’s prayers when she had not repented. Can you see how things work? Christians love to pray, but they think God is stingy when they don’t get results. You cannot break God’s Law and simultaneously make Him answer your prayers.
6. There is a curse in the bloodline not dealt with.

I can give you a Bible story of each of these scenarios mentioned, but that will elongate this article. Every sin has consequences, but how can you be punished for a sin you are unaware of? We call this ignorance, which isn’t an excuse. There is a sad story of a man in the Bible called Uzzah. The story is in 2 Samuel 6:1-7 and 1 Chronicles 13:9-12. The ark of the covenant was about to fall, and Uzzah innocently straightened it. “When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out [with his hand] to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen [stumbled and] nearly overturned it. And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his irreverence, and he died there by the ark of God.” (2 Sam 6:6-7; AMP).

I would have done the same thing Uzzah did. This man had a good intention of preventing the ark of God from falling, but God killed him. When I first read this story, I was shaken and didn’t forgive God at all. Later, I understood that God had already instructed that the ark must not be touched. (Num 4:15). Again, the ark was meant to be on poles, carried on the shoulders, and not driven on carts.  (Num 7:9; Ex 25:12-14). It represented God, and man cannot touch a holy God without dying. My point is that Uzzah had to die even though he was ignorant of his sin. If life was taken for ignorance, then you and I can have certain problems in our life because of ignorance.

The essence of studying the lives of various people in the Bible is to avoid the same or similar mistakes they made. “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Cor 10:11; emp added). “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” (Rom 15:4; emp added). God will not come and tell you, “My son, you must observe the Sabbath day.” Why should He? He has already put it in the Bible for us to know. Whatever is written in the Scriptures is for our learning. If we refuse to read the Bible, how can we learn? For example, many Christians do not pay tithes and argue that it was part of the Law. You can say all you want, but God commands us to pay our tithes. If you violate it, He will not bless your finances no matter how long you pray because it is written. Do you know Jesus continuously quotes the Scriptures during His ministry? He will say things like, “Have you not read it?” Jesus didn’t only quote the Old Testament during His temptation but in His entire ministry. For example, He said when asked about marriage. “And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female.” (Matt 19:4). “Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless?” (Matt 12:5). “But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God.” (Matt 22:31). It is estimated that 10% of the Lord’s words were direct quotes from the Old Testament or allusions to them. Jesus lived by the Scriptures. It is written that as Jesus was in this world, so are we. (1 John 4:17). If an unbeliever comes to and asks about the death’s resurrection, what will be your response? That you have no idea? Do you know what is written, and can you mention it?

We must learn the Bible every day not only to prevent problems but to enlighten us. The more of God’s Word we have, the greater the victories we will have. Stay in the Word. Lock the Word in your heart. Meditate upon it and walk by it. One-third of you is a spirit, and your spirit must be fed. In what other ways do you want to sustain your spirit man without the Word? Hence, Jesus says, “Man shall not eat by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matt 4:4, Deut 8:3).

If we believe that this Scripture is accurate, we will not live a day without looking into it. The Word illuminates us; it brightens our path. We make so many decisions each day and many things to sort out. How do we find solutions to our compounding problems, and how do we make the right decisions? The Bible is the answer. The more of the Word of God you have in you, the less sick you will become, and I know this sounds controversial. Psalm 107:20 says, “He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” The Word of God is a medicine to the soul. Our problems in this life are on how to subject the soul and body to the authority of our spirit man. We need to work on our soul by renewing the mind (Rom 12:2), so we can live the abundant life of God. I firmly believe that Christians must walk in divine health. This is possible if we can keep our eyes on the Word.

As much as I believe in God’s love, mercies, and grace, I have also come to understand that God is a very principled God. He doesn’t change His ways and turns the tables round to suit some people. In other words, if you don’t spend time learning the Bible, you are likely to have so many challenges in your life. Jesus said, “I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Mt 16:19). How can you know those keys without learning the Bible? If you are hungry (closed door), you need to eat (open the door). If you decide to pray, your hunger will not go away because, in that case, you are using the wrong key (prayer) to unlock a closed door (need). I did that for many years, and it only led to frustrations. Unless you use the correct key to open the right door, you won’t go far in the things of the Spirit.

I am not encouraging you to read the Bible so that you can impress God or that He will give you a breakthrough. Please develop a passion for the Word until it becomes a part of you. Spend time with God in His Word. I am not talking about having a little devotion in the morning; I am talking about staying in the Word for a couple of hours each day. If you can read or study the Bible for three to four hours a day, you will see how far you will go in life. Three hours seem to be a lot, but we can quickly spend that on movies, football, social media and many other unnecessary things. Finally, remember the words of our Lord that say, “Wherever your treasure is, there your heart will also be.” (Matt 6:21).