Great things happen when we study and apply God’s Word to our lives. Today on Enjoying Everyday Life with Joyce Meyer, be encouraged to study and pursue God’s Truth in a deeper way. Get Today’s Offer From Joyce: 1-800-709-2895 https://joycemeyer.org/store – – – – – – – Follow Joyce: WEBSITE: https://joycemeyer.org FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/JoyceMeyerMi… INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/JoyceMeyer/ TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/JoyceMeyer/ – – – – – – – Joyce Meyer, one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers and New York Times best-selling author, shares encouragement and advice to help us enjoy our daily lives. With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way. #JoyceMeyer#EnjoyingEverydayLife#GetInTheWord
we’re just offering you a free resource
today it’s a little booklet called how
to study the Bible by Guess Who Joyce
Meyer so you can get it uh as a hard
copy like this or you can get a digital
copy uh from Joyce Meer ministries app
we love you and we want you to know the
word because God has got a great plan
for your life and you may not even know
about it if you don’t study his word
this program is made possible by the
partners of Joyce Meyer
Ministries I’m Joyce Meyer and I believe
that God can heal you everywhere you
[Music]
hurt get in a Bible study study the word
it’s great to hear preachers I’m glad
you watch my program I’m really glad you
came to the conference but I want you to
study and we have things to help you and
don’t use the excuse I can’t understand
the
Bible there’s too many modern
translations of the Bible for anybody to
say they can’t understand it and there’s
too many uh other uh books and things to
help you study 2 Corinthians 3:18 let’s
put these scriptures up real quick 2
Corinthians
3:18 and all of us as with unveiled face
because we continue to behold in the
word of God as in a mirror the glory of
the Lord are constantly
being transfigured into his very own
image and ever increasing Splendor from
one degree of Glory to another so how
are we changed from looking into the
word of God we see in the word what
Jesus is we see what we’re not we say
God I want that to change will you help
me will you work in me and then God goes
to work
amen James 1121 I love this scripture
James
1:21
so get rid of all uncleanness and the
rampant outgrowth of
wickedness and in a humble gentle modest
Spirit receive and welcome the
word which implanted and rooted in your
hearts contains the power to save your
soul that doesn’t mean the power to be
born again you’re already born again
your spirit is all fixed up honey you
got it it’s the soul that needs to be
saved now my mind my will my emotions
God is working his way out of our spirit
out through our soul and finally out
through our body where the world can get
some
benefit out of what Christ has done in
our life approach the word
respectfully with a humble spirit I need
this I need
this well first let me tell you to have
a very happy new year and I just believe
that you’re going to have a lot of great
things happen in your life this year you
know God’s word is powerful but studying
his word is key to utilizing its
lifechanging principles in our lives it
would be nice if we could just download
the Bible into our hearts and it but it
doesn’t work that way Ginger and I are
going to share some of our experiences
was studying scriptures and so we’re
going to just have a little discussion
here well Ginger how do you go about it
you know I think a new year is a great
time yeah to think about a fresh start
and what do I want to accomplish and
that’s one of the things I do is every
new year I really pray you know God what
do you have for me this year a lot of
people talk about a word for the new
year you know maybe God will give you
something to kind of focus you and that
happens many years but not always yeah I
have a friend that calls me every year
and says what’s the word for this year
yeah now of course I feel like I have to
come up with one wait a minute let me
think yeah so I I think that seeing this
is a great opportunity to say Okay God
what do you what do you want CU studying
the word and I’m sure when you first
said that we we might have had some
people that were thinking oh I can’t I
can’t do this you know I I don’t even
know how to talk about this and so for
them not to go away to listen to a lot
of your suggestions well first I want to
say that we don’t study the word for
God it’s not something we do for him he
likes it when we study the word but only
because of what it does for us yeah we
and I think that’s very important
because I think so many people look at
it as an
obligation I have to read the word today
and the other thing I want to say is
reading is totally different than
studying so these are very important
points to me that I’ve tried to make for
the last few years because uh yes it’s
great when you have time to just read a
chapter in the Bible but it’s always
great if you can take some
time I’ll say even in your week and
actually study and study means you you
start reading a chapter and something
catches your attention
and you need to dig a little bit deeper
and so like like a word or something
that you need help in or you something
something you need help with or
something you don’t quite understand or
you know maybe even something you don’t
agree with right off you know but it’s
so easy to study the Bible now because
of everything that’s available on the
internet yeah I mean when I first began
to study it was a project I mean I would
have to have a concordance and a
dictionary and a just all I mean all
kinds of books and stuff around me and
you’re going from this book to that book
to this one to that one and
now let’s say you read something about
anxiety and you think well I have a real
problem with that you know I wonder
where else in the Bible I can find more
on that well all you have to do is put
in your search
engine show me all the scriptures in the
Bible about anxiety yeah and you can
even ask for it in a in a specific
translation right and they’ll give it to
you so I think it’s really important for
people to understand that you are doing
yourself a favor when you study the word
because you’re
learning how to
live the life that is going to be the
best for you you know it’s like I think
so many people look at everything that
God tells them as an order and you know
if you don’t do this God’s going to be
mad and but the thing thing is is his
word just reveals to us the life that’s
going to work yeah if you want to get
right down to it I’m sure there was a
time because you have this wonderful
love for God’s word and a passion for
reading it but there was probably a time
in your life that you didn’t have that
that you didn’t understand what it would
give you so for for everyone who’s
watching right now who’s like I kind of
want to do this but you know I’m not
sure if I want to put the effort into it
or if I have the time how would you
encourage them to get to the place where
you are now well first of all
I even from the time Dave and I got
married I always tried to read one
chapter a day in the Bible but to be
honest I was doing it out of obligation
and I would do it as quickly as I could
and I probably couldn’t have remembered
anything that I read but
uh when I was filled with the Holy
Spirit in 197
76 every believer has the Holy Spirit
but that’s different than being filled
with the Holy Spirit I always say we
have the Holy Spirit but does he have us
you know and I I came to a place in my
life where I was very tired of being
unhappy of doing everything that I felt
like I was being told to do as a
Christian although I really wasn’t um
and I just more or less came to a point
I came to the end of myself it was like
God you have got to do something and to
be honest at that point I didn’t really
much care what it was as long as you
know I was just tired of arguing with my
husband and being unhappy and being
discontent and
uh God touched me filled me with the
Holy Spirit and uh the holy spirit is
our
teacher and he gave me a love for the
word but you do need to realize that the
holy spirit is your teacher now I’m a
teacher
but the holy spirit is your teacher and
so I can teach
something but I need a strong anointing
on my life for what I say to make sense
I always say we don’t need information
we need Revelation so knowing that the
holy spirit is our teacher right takes a
a huge I think pressure off of us well
and to depend on him for that when I
start I can do this because of him when
I start to read our study the word in
the morning and I spend time in the word
every morning I always say holy spirit
help me understand what I read yeah yeah
because we can there’s so many things
that we read that we don’t understand
and I know that there are people
watching that say but I don’t understand
the Bible so I want to throw a question
at you you always get to ask me the
questions today I’ve got one for you uh
what do you do when you come to
Something in the Bible you don’t
understand so I do much of what you said
and one thing I like to do um to utilize
a search engine utilize Google and I
will often start with understanding a
little bit about who saying it or who
it’s talking about like if it’s
something that that um Paul
said I’ll Google tell me what was
happening with Paul at this time right
and because when you realize that Paul
was in prison when he wrote some of the
things that he wrote it it it helps you
understand it better well and some of
the things that Paul said
he said them because of the customs of
the day but you know one of the things
that I do when I don’t understand
something I’ll give it a try to
understand it but if I still don’t
understand it I just do what I call put
it on a
shelf I think people sometimes waste a
lot of time trying to understand
something they don’t understand and
maybe you only have a certain amount of
time say you’ve got 30 minutes to study
the word yeah well don’t waste 20 of it
trying to understand something you don’t
understand oh that’s great set that on a
shelf and say God I really don’t
understand this and I need you to bring
me Revelation uh but I’m just going to
go on with my study for today you can
always go back to things like that later
I think that’s really wise because first
of all we are not going to understand
every I mean there’s things in the Bible
I don’t understand I’ve been studying it
for 45 years I’ve studied the
Bible literally as long as I could read
right and you know not always real
effectively by any means but there are
so many things that I don’t understand
but there are many things that I do
understand now that I didn’t before
because of the Holy Spirit helping me or
like you said not to allow that
misunderstanding to come between me and
what God wants me to learn because there
have been times that I’m like you know I
this doesn’t make sense I don’t get this
you can put it down and walk away or you
can do like you said and continue going
and say God show me what you want me to
get from it yeah and then you may even
have another time where you just want to
spend just some special time trying to
gain more understanding on that specific
thing right there are some things
especially in the Old Testament that I
just
go you know yeah it’s like yeah
definitely I just don’t I mean I trust
God so I know he had a reason for what
he told them to do some of them were
like but wow there again it was a whole
different time uhuh and so it have made
a lot more sense then yeah than it does
now but people definitely need to not
let the devil convince them that they
cannot understand the word because God
will help us understand it and maybe you
don’t understand all parts of it but
don’t let that prevent you from the
parts you can understand and realize
it’s okay not to understand everything
not to know all that stuff and you know
if there’s something else that I read
that I really don’t quite get what it’s
going and like you said studying more
about what you really need is I’ll just
Google that thing right and that will
give me more understanding of what I
just read as I read other things that
Jesus said about it or what else what
other scriptures connect that and it’s
also very good to read
books about the Bible like books that
you know like I’ve written I don’t know
over 150 books now and so I give a lot
of explanation in those books for things
in the Bible and not me but there are
hundreds and thousands of people who do
that and really I learned a lot do you
know that you know the first book that I
read after Dave and I got married I read
it was about this thick it was a
children’s Bible story
book that is such a great idea and but
it was so simple such a good idea and it
it was all the stories in the Bible
about Ruth and Esther and David and all
the different things and you know Samson
and Delilah and I read those stories and
they really helped me yeah have a
foundation of understanding and I didn’t
have to figure anything out they were
written for a child and so I could get
it and understand it all and so you
don’t have to start with a book of
Revelation you know written by some
genius that’s got four degrees you know
start with with something simple and
maybe some teaching CDs or things that
you download there’s there’s so much
available to people today that really to
be honest there’s and I don’t mean this
in a wrong way but there’s no excuse not
to study the Bible well we’re going to
come back and ask a few questions that
all of our our viewers have asked from
social media but before we do that let
me just ask you this one thing um the
most important thing that anybody can do
to start a new year outright is to begin
investing their time spending it with
the Lord um how would you suggest that
they start that new practice today well
we have things available that can give
them guidance we’ve got a book that they
can get free a hard copy of or they can
uh download it online we also have a
thing called the 3030 challenge yeah
where we encourage people to study the
Bible for 30 minutes a day for 30 days
and we give
them things to study and uh and and
there’s other Bible studies available if
you want a Bible Bible study there’s all
kinds of people that write
good Bible study books or you know
things that you you read a certain part
then you ask a question and you answer
the question or just start with you and
the Holy Spirit and you know I don’t I
think
that everybody’s plan is
individualized and even in even in the
way that I study the Bible I may study
one way for a month and then I may study
another way for a while and you know for
a season I was had a goal to read six
chapters every day and now I’m not doing
that quite as much you know I might like
we have a study Bible called the
everyday life study Bible and I even
like to use it myself because it’s full
of articles
about yeah what that chapter is about
yeah and so even that you can if you buy
a good study Bible in whatever
translation you like and I like ours so
you know they can get ours or if not
they can get somebody else’s but
there’s you can join a small Bible study
group get in a good good group with
people where you can ask questions I
think that’s so important for a young
believer especially to be able to ask a
question
and have a group that you can discuss
that with so just start somewhere start
somewhere pick up that bible and start
somewhere do something lest you do
nothing yeah good well we’ll be back in
just a few minutes to answer some of
your questions about studying the Bible
some really good questions so stay with
us
the Bible has a lot to teach us but
knowing where to begin can feel
overwhelming God’s word was not intended
to be an obligation it’s a handbook for
living Joyce’s book how to study the
Bible can help you develop a personal
study plan that’s right for you it gives
simple straightforward keys to
approaching the Bible whether you’ve
been studying it for years or opened the
Bible for the very first time you’ll
exper experience God’s word in a fresh
new way for your free copy of how to
study the Bible contact us right now how
to study the Bible is available to order
today visit online at Joy meyer.org or
call using the information on your
screen well now we’re going to take time
and answer some of your questions sent
in through social media about how to
study the Bible Well Jinger do you have
something interesting for me we do and
this is the best way to learn how to do
anything yeah right start doing it ask
people who also do it know how so Andrea
from Minnesota ask this I struggle with
staying in God’s word daily what would
be helpful to keep me motivated to study
the Bible and to spend time with God
well I think that really understanding
how important it is for you and once
again I said this on the first half of
the program but we study the Bible for
us
not for God not to get some check mark
with God that I studied the Bible today
I think that having a time I
have a set aart time I’ve done it for
years and when I get up in the morning I
get my coffee I go somewhere where I can
be my myself and first I pray and then I
study and
um it’s really just a matter of having
that time like Dave used to spend his
lunch hour at work studying the word
because he had to get up so early in the
morning yeah and so he would sometimes
he’d walk around the neighborhood by
where he worked and pray and sometimes
he would sit in his car and you know
read a book you you don’t always have to
read the Bible sometimes you can read a
book that is about the Bible I’m reading
a book right now called The Gentle Love
of the Holy holy spirit it’s an older
book by E Simpson and this is my third
time to read it and it’s probably full
of scripture it is well it’s full of
scripture and it’s got all kinds I’ve
got all kinds of stuff underlined in it
that really meant a lot to me and uh you
know I I
read three chapters in The Bible this
morning and then I spent time reading
that book I wrote a little bit in my
journal and uh lot of it’s habit is it
yeah did some pray and a lot of it is
habit and um
I uh I was talking to the Lord this
morning about maybe sometimes adding a
second time during the day where I would
spend some time with him but I’m not
going to make a law out of it as soon as
you make a law out of something then
your flesh just doesn’t want anything to
do with it so it has to be something
that you you want to do at first you may
have to just do it because you know that
it’s good for you it’s not here again
it’s not something you do for God it’s
good for you to do it but I think you
know for her it’s like you got a set of
time you you just like you have a time
you leave for
work you have a time when you eat dinner
you need to set aside a time and that’s
what you do and you have to be pretty
strict about it because the devil
especially in the beginning he will try
every way that he can to cause that time
to be interrupted and so that’s that’s
what I recommend to start farming I yeah
that’s good talking about motivation too
one of the things that I have found that
that motivates me is like you said
writing some things down so when I find
a scripture that God really speaks to my
heart through I’ll I’ll write it down
and I can look back at it because I mean
honestly I sometimes you read through
and nothing stands out quite as much
yeah so when God really says something
that that you just know it’s for you
that it’s touching your heart you know
I’ll write that down and that’s really
motivating and and I’ll write down
answers to prayer and things that um
I’ve seen God do and that is really
motivating when you begin to see the
impact of studying God’s word you want
more and more of it and when you sit and
write things out in long hand it helps
you get it on the inside of you you know
I didn’t have a computer when I first
started and I had to yeah I had to write
everything out and I think it was
helpful to me and I always encourage
people it’s good to
listen to me but look these scriptures
up yourself and actually look at them
you know I think today we’ve become far
too dependent on just sitting back and
letting somebody else feed us and we
need to put a little effort into it
that’s a really good point okay next
question this is Margaret from New York
Margaret Margaret says I’m currently
reading a book of the Bible and I’m
using a study reference but I’m still
not understanding the book at all are
there any books the Bible that were
harder for you to understand and what
helped you well uh some of the Old
Testament books like
Leviticus I was so glad when I got
finished with lus hon I made a
commitment to read it but it’s all about
the intricacies of the law and we don’t
live under the law anymore but it was it
was in it was interesting to me to
see how challenging it must have been
to follow that many rules and
regulations and you know some of them
were from God but people have a tendency
to add and add and add and add and add
so yes her for her question it is very
hard and I would just say if you are
trying to study a book of the Bible that
you just really are not grasping then I
would go to something that you can’t
understand because the whole point of
studying the Bible is to learn something
especially that is going to help you in
your
practical everyday life we all need to
have a foundation of good Doctrine
but Jesus is very practical and he
teaches us how to treat people he
teaches us how to have a right
relationship with him how to have a
right right relationship with ourself
this morning I was just uh reading in
Timothy and it talks very strongly about
taking care of your parent your elderly
parents and grandparents even if you
have to Def
uh put aside some of your
responsibilities at home in order to do
that that’s a very important thing to do
well there’s probably a lot of people
that don’t even understand how important
that is and it actually says that if an
unbeliever does it and a Believer
doesn’t that the unbeliever is better
off wow than the believer but there’s
things that I don’t understand I figure
I’ll still got a lot to learn when when
I get to heaven yeah Absolut there’s so
much to learn I’ve also learned that
there is a blessing in Reading God’s
word even if we don’t understand it and
something the Holy Spirit just does
right it it’s not like you said about
checking things off your list but it’s
all inspired it’s all God’s word right
and when we do it with the intent to get
what God has for us and to grow closer
to him even if we don’t understand
everything that’s happening that’s very
true then there there is a blessing that
because God really is he cares about our
heart yes yes okay Rebecca from
Australia says is it okay if I study the
Bible on my own and not go to church and
vice versa is it okay to go to church
but not study the Bible Well I think the
best answer is to do both you know I’m
not going to tell anybody that it’s okay
not to go to church I mean it’s not your
salvation is not based on you going to
church but to be honest I think a lot of
times people look at it while like I
don’t get anything out of it or why
shouldn’t I just stay home and watch it
on TV but how about looking at it a
different way instead of going to church
to get something for
yourself how about going to
serve and to be a blessing to somebody
else what if you went with the intention
of watching for somebody that seems like
they’re hurting or
lonely and you went specific Al to be
friendly with them or try to help
somebody great and so uh you know
obviously we go to learn too but you uh
you you should never just pick one over
the other yeah I mean you one of the
things you can do is if your pastor has
a sermon then you can use that for your
study for the next week yeah so it’s not
enough just to go to church and listen
to other people tell you about the Bible
you need to crack it open yourself I
don’t think so I think I mean anything’s
better than nothing mhm you know it’s
better to go to church than to do
nothing it’s better to to go to church
and listen to other people than nothing
but I tell people all the time if you
have to choose between spending time
with God personally and studying his
word and coming to my conference I’d
rather that you spend time with God
because that’s something that is you you
just you develop a relationship with him
when you spend time with him well I’m
excited to see what what this
encouragement for people to start this
New Year in the word will do well I just
want to encourage you once again to make
a beginning and ask the Holy Spirit to
help you so we’re just offering you a
free resource today it’s a little
booklet called how to study the Bible by
Guess Who Joyce Meyer so you can get it
uh as a hard copy like this or you can
get a digital copy uh from Joyce Meer
ministries app we love you and we want
you to know the word because God has got
a great plan for your life and you may
not even know about it if you don’t
study his word have a great
day watch episodes of Enjoying Everyday
Life read daily devotionals follow a
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