Delighting in the Word

Many believers desire to live a blessed life, but blessing is connected to honor. It is connected to what we delight in and how we respond to the Word of God. The Word of God is very clear about this. Psalm 1 tells us, “Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man… but his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law he habitually meditates by day and by night” (Psalm 1:1–2, Amplified Classic). The blessed man is not simply someone who hears the Word—he is someone who delights in it.

That raises an important question: do we delight in the Word, or do we despise it? Because the Bible also tells us, “Whoever despises the word and counsel of God brings destruction upon himself; but he who reverently fears and respects the commandments of God is rewarded” (Proverbs 13:13, Amplified Classic). People want the reward, but they don’t always want the commandment. They want the blessing, but they resist correction. That is not how the kingdom works.

When a person despises the Word, they eventually cease from being doers of the Word. When the Word is ignored, doors open that should have remained closed. God’s Word is given for our protection, but it cannot protect someone who refuses to honor it. We do not get to pick and choose which parts of God’s Word we want to obey. It is not “I like this book but not that one,” or “I receive this promise but reject this instruction.” The Word of God is covenant. We must embrace all of it.

Yes, some parts of the Word will challenge us. Loving your neighbor, having to forgive someone over and over, staying separate from the world and sin, and choosing obedience when it costs you something are not always easy. We cannot despise the Word because it keeps our flesh in line. The Word was not given to restrict us. It was given to preserve us.

Psalm 1 shows us the result of delighting in the Word. The person who meditates on the Word becomes stable and fruitful. He becomes like a tree planted by rivers of water. That kind of life does not come from occasional exposure. Many believers only engage in the Word when it appears on a screen in church, and that is why growth remains limited. Strength comes from continually feeding on the Word of God. Increase comes when the Word becomes part of us, not something we visit from time to time.

This is not a message of condemnation. It is a call to examine our lives. If we can go for days without the Word and feel no hunger for it, something is off. If the only time we open the Word is when someone else opens it for us, something needs to change. The Word is not just information we seek; it is life. It is the key to the Blessed life.

So, ask yourself: what is your attitude toward the Word of God? Do you delight in it, or do you despise it? If you will delight yourself in the Word, the fruit of it will be evident and your life will go from one level of glory to another. That is the will of God. The path of the just is a shining light that grows brighter and brighter until the perfect day. (Proverbs 4:18). Stay with God and His Word. Your life will never be the same when you do.

Are You The Strong Man?

When the strong man, fully armed, [from his courtyard] guards his own dwelling, his belongings are undisturbed [his property is at peace and is secure].

But when one stronger than he attacks him and conquers him, he robs him of his whole armor on which he had relied and divides up and distributes all his goods as plunder (spoil).

Luke 11: 21-22 Amplified Bible Classic

Are you the strong man? As believers we are stronger than the devil. I John 4:4 tells us:

Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

Having Jesus on the inside of us already puts us in a position of authority over the enemy. Despite that spiritual reality, many are still at the mercy of their enemy. Many are sick, broke, and oppressed because they don’t know who they are in Christ. It is important for us to know who we are because that is how we overcome. We overcome through knowledge.

Proverbs 24:5 tells us that a wise man is strong and is better than a strong man, and a man of knowledge increases and strengthens his power.

People are losing every day because of a lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6 tells us that God’s people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. People also lose because they have knowledge and do not act on the knowledge they have. It is so important that we continue to accumulate knowledge. Colossians 1:10 Amplified Bible Classic Edition:

That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and [j]desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, [k]acquaintance, and recognition].

We are to grow and become more through knowledge. God wants us to become more and more. Better and better. That comes through knowledge. In today’s world, it is important what type of church you attend. You want to attend a church that is going to give you knowledge that will cause you to overcome in every area of your life. It is important to listen to men and women who will teach you the foundational truths and principles of the Word of God. God wants us to overcome, but we must overcome through knowledge. The person who increases his knowledge, increases his strength. Are you the strong man?

The Good Life

We all desire the good life (or at least we should). The good life is a life designed by God. The depth of our relationship with God will determine what we walk in. Jesus came so that we can experience the good life. Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the life and that no one can come to the Father except through Him (John 14:6) The good life comes out of a relationship with God. That life is a life of abundance. It is a life of divine health. A life where we experience good in every area of life. That sounds a lot like Galatians 3:13:

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

The good life is a life that is free from the curse of the law. The curse includes sickness, disease, poverty, lack, spiritual death, and everything associated with sin and the fall of man. God sent Jesus into the earth because He wanted to bring man back to His original state, and that was a life without the curse.

The good life starts with the fear of God. We fear God by reverencing both Him and His Word. When we honor God’s Word in our life, we are honoring Him. When we are willing and obedient, we eat the good of the land. Deuteronomy 29:11 says:

Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

Did you see the correlation between the Word and Prosperity? God was saying to the people that if you keep the covenant (His Word), then you will prosper in all that you do. When we honor God, God will honor us. If we want to know the blessing, we must know God. Jesus put it this way in John 14:21 (Amplified Classic):

The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.] 

When Jesus and the Father God manifest themselves in your life, your life won’t be the same. The results will only be good because God is good. There is only one life in God: the good life.

Let’s Move Forward

I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

Philippians 3: 13-14 Amplified Bible Classic Edition

As we embark upon this new year, let us leave 2025 in 2025. In other words, we must move forward if we are going to walk in all that God has for us in the new year. I am sure there were some great moments, and I am sure there were some not so great moments. Regardless of what we experienced, we must be willing to move on from the past. Some people’s past will always be greater than their present or future, because that is all that they want to focus on. They always talk about their high school years. They talk about their college years, but that is all that they want to talk about. They have no goals for the future. They have no future aspirations. They have not sought the Lord when it comes to His plans for their lives, so they are stuck in the past. God does not want us to be stuck. God even tells us to forget the former things. Isaiah 43:18-19 tells us

Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

God wants us to experience some new stuff in the new year.  We must embrace the new and learn from the old. Our past is to be a teacher. We are to learn from our mistakes and learn from our victories as well. The past is to be a reference point, not a place to stay. Let’s not get stuck in the past. God has so much more in store. He wants to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or think, if we would just let Him.