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

Bible study plan

here

here here and here the same great

teaching from Joyce that you know and

love now in the palm of your hand with

the new Joyce Meer ministries app think

of it as your daily dose of

encouragement Right Here Right Now

search Joyce Meyer in your App Store and

download the new Joyce Meyer Ministries

app today we hope you enjoy today’s

program please contact us or visit joy

meyer.org to share your prayer request

or partner with us in Sharing Christ and

loving people all across the globe this

program has been made possible by the

partners of Joyce Meyer

Ministries