“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed” (2 Tim. 2:15).
A lot of people have been playing games when it comes to the Word. They claim to be faith people in public. But in private, they never open the Bible at all. Then when a time of trouble comes and they try to stand on the Word, they fall flat on their spiritual faces.
Well, the time for playing games is over. It’s time for us to realize that real faith involves action. James 2:20 says “faith without works or corresponding action is dead.”
If you want the kind of faith that will keep you on your feet when others are falling around you, you need to take some action where the Word is concerned.
First, you need to study. You can study the Word in many ways. You cannot only read it, you can dig deeply into it with concordances, Greek/Hebrew dictionaries, and other study guides. What’s more, if you have a cassette player, you can walk around half the day listening to teaching tapes. It’s only one way of study, but it is a powerful one.
The second thing you need to do is go where the Word is being preached. When Romans 10:17 says “faith comes by hearing,” it’s talking about the preached Word.
Whenever I start feeling surrounded by problems and I’m having trouble hearing from God, I drop everything and find some place where I can hear the Word preached. I’ve received more answers from God that way than I can count.
Even though the preacher may not have been preaching about anything even remotely connected with the issue I was struggling with, some word of scripture would suddenly start my thoughts in a certain direction. Then I’d realize, “That’s the answer to that problem I’ve been dealing with for the past six weeks!”
Third, you need to start confessing the Word you’ve heard. Find the promise of God that covers your situation and then declare it out loud as if it had already come to pass in your life.
Get serious about the Word of God. Study it. Go hear it preached. Confess it. Become such a diligent workman that the devil himself will look at you with fear and say, “There’s one believer who’s not playing games anymore.”
Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 1:3-10
Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries
For the last 50 years Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have been passionately teaching Christians all over the world how to apply the principles of faith found in God's WORD to their lives.
They have seven ministry offices around the world: United States, Canada, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Ukraine and Latin America. Their God-given directive is to preach and teach the uncompromised WORD of God on every available voice, which is being accomplished through a variety of channels, including our Believer's Voice of Victory TV and radio broadcasts, podcast and magazine; Believers' Conventions, Victory Campaigns and Living Victory meetings; published books, website, and social media channels, to name a few.
With the expansion of technology, they have more work to do now than ever. They are determined to let the world know Jesus is LORD, and they are not slowing down anytime soon!