Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!

Last week we began a new series on the topic of dealing with hard times. I don't have to tell you that life is difficult these days because surely you've figured that out. And you know as well that the difficulties aren't just financial; they're in every area of life. Non-believers have little choice but to experience the hard times and to live without hope as victims in a man made, Satan-inspired system that's not working right. Christians on the other hand have options: we can live like the folks in the World do or we can live in the Kingdom of God where there's faith and hope and solutions and victory. For us, Jesus has overcome the World and here's the entire verse in the Word of God that says so:

John 16:33 = These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.

Unfortunately most Christians don't tap into the VICTORY that Jesus won for us and so they spend most of their time in the World suffering and complaining and looking for various kinds of handouts just like the non-believers do. Either they don't know how to get into the VICTORY of Christ or they don't trust what they know. Indeed, since every single Christian on the face of the earth started out in the World before they believed in Jesus, the ways of the World seem more familiar, easier to follow by default than to learn a whole new system that's grounded in LOVE and FAITH and the spiritual things of the Kingdom of God. But the pursuit of those things is the ONLY way to live in the Kingdom where the VICTORY is instead of in the World.

The objective of this series is to point out twelve key things that Christians MUST pursue if they want to OVERCOME the hard times that are most likely only going to get progressively worse until Jesus returns. Last week we talked about the REQUIREMENT of RESISTING the World instead of joining ourselves to it, and this week a second REQUIREMENT is to actively and aggressively pursue the WORD OF GOD. You'll NEVER, I repeat NEVER get the VICTORY the Kingdom has for you until you make a resolute, unshakable commitment to pursue the Word of God because it's the SOURCE of all power in the universe.  

The Word is ALL Powerful 

Most believers are undervaluing this source of power. Their perspective of it is pretty much limited to the written Word, which is to say their Bibles. Of course, Bibles are books and in the natural realm books are inanimate objects. As we know, inanimate objects don't actually do anything in and of themselves; they're incapable of taking action or changing anything. But it's what's stated in those books that has the POWER to produce change once they're read and UNDERSTOOD, and never has there been such a book of POWER as the Word of God. When the Bible was finally allowed to be printed in mass production at the end of the Middle Ages, it quickly changed the entire earth in only a few years. In short, most believers look at their Bibles and see a book that takes time and effort and sacrifice to read, but that book contains and manifests unlimited POWER for those who learn how to use the words it contains.

But I should also point out that the WORDS of God were originally SPOKEN WORDS and then someone recorded them so that the inanimate book could be written. It's the WORDS spoken BY God that have the POWER, the LIFE, not the ones spoken ABOUT Him by other people that we can find in other books. If the Bible were not full of WORDS spoken BY God Himself and directly quoted by others or spoken through others by the Holy Spirit, it would not be nearly as POWERFUL a book as it is. God works through His spoken words and that's why it's so important for Believers to receive their own REVELATION, their own UNDERSTANDING of what the Word of God actually says instead of what other people have said about it. The POWER of the Word is transmitted to Believers in proportion to their level of UNDERSTANDING. We can't walk in victory and success based on what others tell us about the Kingdom. We have to know it for ourselves so we can apprehend and use the POWER for ourselves. This is a vital concept that's routinely overlooked by the great majority of folks in the Body of Christ to their ongoing detriment.

What the Bible Says About the Word

The Bible is full of scriptures that talk about how full of POWER the WORD OF GOD is. If you agree with and are committed to the Word's authority in your life then the POWER is clearly REVEALED for those who'll take the time to study and discover it. God is working 24/7 to REVEAL Himself through His WORD and the REVELATION of God is always accompanied by SIGNS AND WONDERS which are supernatural demonstrations of the POWER of the Word. Why does that happen? It happens because God is a Spirit (John 4:24) and He operates in the supernatural which is a place and condition of existence we're only just beginning to understand. It's a place of POWER, the total and awesome POWER of God that's being partially REVEALED to us in our Bibles.

Consider for a moment that when God created the heavens and the earth, He SPOKE WORDS in order to create everything (Genesis 1: 1-31). When God speaks WORDS, something is always created, something always happens. He doesn't say WORDS that have no purpose, He doesn't speak idle WORDS. He doesn't speak WORDS of defeat or decrease or insufficiency or lack or sickness or disease or failure. No, His WORDS always produce life and grace and faith and progress and increase and growth and VICTORY.

Consider also that when Jesus started His ministry on the earth about the first thing He did, led by the Holy Spirit, was to go into the wilderness where He was tempted by Satan (Matthew 4: 1-11). How did He resist the temptation and defeat the devil? He quoted scripture and it was the POWER of the WORDS of God re-spoken by Christ that the enemy could not overcome even though he was and still is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). There's nothing in the World that can stand up to that POWER, there's nothing in the domain of darkness that can overcome the Word of God, and there's nothing in the natural realm that can stand up to it. The WORD of God is ALL POWERFUL.

Indeed, the Bible clearly says that the WORD OF GOD is ALIVE (quick) and POWERFUL and sharper than any two-edged sword. In other words it can cut through anything and everything in all directions. And friend, you too can use it against the enemy just as Jesus did because it's an effective weapon that the devil can no more stand against in your hands than he could stand against it in the hands of Jesus. The sword of the Spirit which is the WORD of God is all POWERFUL against the enemy (Ephesians 6:17) and if Jesus has been given all POWER AND AUTHORITY in Heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18) then by birthright through FAITH you have the same POWER AND AUTHORITY He has and the only thing that restricts its use in our lives is our lack of UNDERSTANDING of who we are in Christ. We can change that by learning to receive and apply the POWER of the WORD by Faith.

Jesus IS the Word

I want to recommend here that you take a moment to SLOWLY read John 1:1-18. You may want to read it several times and meditate on it to get some growth in your understanding which is after all the objective. But it will be time well spent because from these scriptures we find out some important truths:

1. The Word of God is eternal and has existed from the beginning.

2. The Word IS God just as much as God IS LOVE (1 John 4:8, 16). The Word is therefore a

     manifestation of God.

3. All things came into being by the Word of God. He spoke them into being with words (Genesis

     1:3-31).

4. Life is in the Word.

5. The Light (God's revealed enlightenment) is also in the Word which therefore has the ability to

     enlighten all men.

6. Therefore God IS also Light (1 John 1:5).

7. The Word of God was made flesh (human) and lived among us. Therefore Jesus IS the Word of

     God.

8. Grace (God's favor and empowerment) and Truth have been given to mankind through Jesus who

     IS the Word.

9. Therefore, Jesus is also Truth (John 14:6)

Now in these few verses are some of the most important statements in the entire Bible. They're not easy to understand on a natural level so at first we receive them by faith because they're in the Bible. A lot of Believers read them but don't really RECEIVE them. In other words they don't understand them and instead of pursuing the understanding they just gloss over them and go on to something easier. But there's nothing written in the Bible that's exempted from our pursuit of understanding. Everything is there for us to pursue. So, as we start to meditate on these scriptures, the Holy Spirit will give us additional revelation to help us understand; and as we receive additional revelation (enlightenment) we will grow in faith and Christian victory. Revelation NEVER comes to completion in one's human life; it's a continuous process.

The Practical Application

Our objective as Christians should be to receive ongoing personal revelation upon revelation about the Kingdom of God and our personal role in that Kingdom by studying and meditating on the Word. To do that we have to make a related effort ourselves which requires time and commitment. Unfortunately MOST Believers don't want to actually do anything and think they can go to their local churches once or twice a week, hear their Pastors preach eloquently for a while and learn all they need to know in order to be successful in life.

But it doesn't work that way. No one can simply rely on what their Pastors preach on Sundays. You need to get the revelation about a particular subject for yourself. Your Pastor may already have it for himself but you need to receive and understand it for yourself. It's very difficult to receive a real revelation concerning the Word of God just by listening to other people speak about the revelations they've received. We can't teach a revelation; the Holy Spirit is the One who teaches (John 14:26) and we can only inspire or encourage folks to go to the Word and pursue some subject until they receive the revelation by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Each of us must receive revelation for ourselves so that by our understanding we can take ownership of the related principles and apply them in our own lives.

Friend, another way to say this is that the Word of God has to become REALITY for each of us revelation by revelation. We have to "download" every single revelation for ourselves and bring it down on a human level so we can understand and use it. When you suddenly understand something important from the Word it means it has become REALITY for you. You have the understanding and it can begin to work in your life and produce God's favor and empowerment. Once you own it, it's yours. Once you own a revelation from the Word of God it's your revelation and the Word will always work in our lives just as it says it will. Where are you today: are you trying to make the Word produce in your life in a particular area without owning the related revelation? Make the effort to pursue the understanding yourself and it will become REALITY for you.

The bottom line is this: the Word of God has the power in and of itself to change your circumstances and your life, to change your hard times into overcoming victories and successes. But it MUST be pursued on a regular, high-priority basis. Not so long ago I heard a well-known Christian teacher challenge his audience to try pursuing and reading and studying the Word of God for one year and then experiencing the power for themselves by the actual results of their pursuit. He guaranteed that the results would be worth the effort and I likewise challenge our readers tonight who're going through difficulty to give the Word a chance to manifest its power in your lives. Pursue it aggressively for one year and let me know what happens. I guarantee improvement even while the World is falling apart all around you!

Special Offer

Back in early 2011 we taught a series in our Miami House Church called "Let the Word Become Flesh." After each of the seventeen teachings we wrote up summaries and eventually compiled them into a written e-publication that we sell today on the Internet. If you're interested in looking into this subject in a little more depth, please send me an email and I'll send you back FREE of charge this little publication that will be a special blessing for you.

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on August 3. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing, compelling you to PROSPER in every area of life!

Sinners' Prayer

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:

Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:8

Prayer Requests

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.

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Donations

If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.

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