Daily Devotional - Obey the Word

But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].
—James 1:22

I recall a woman who attended one of my seminars. She had a lot of emotional wounds that had left her insecure and fearful. She desperately wanted to be free, but nothing seemed to work for her. At the conclusion of the seminar she told me that she now understood why she had never experienced any progress. She said, "Joyce, I sat with a group of ladies who all had a lot of the same problems in the past that I did. They also had emotional problems, but step-by-step God had been delivering them. As I listened to them, I heard them say, 'God led me to do this, and I did it. Then He led me to another thing, and I did it.' I realized that God had also told me to do the same things. The only difference was they did what He said to do, and I didn't."

To receive from God what He has promised us in His Word, we must obey the Word. There will be times when doing what the Word says is not easy. Obeying the Word requires consistency and diligence. There must be a dedication and commitment to do the Word whatever the outcome. "Yes," you may say, "but I have been doing the Word for a long time, and I still don't have the victory!" Then do it some more. Nobody knows exactly how long it is going to take for the Word to begin to work in this life. If you keep at it, sooner or later it will work.

I know it's a fight. I know Satan tries to keep you out of the Word; and once you do get into the Word, he tries everything in his power to keep you from putting the Word into practice in your life. I also know that once you do start putting the Word into practice, he does everything he can to make you think it won't work. That's why you must keep at it.

Ask God to help by giving you a desire to get into His Word and to do it no matter how hard it is or how long it takes to produce any results in your life.