dismissed at this time. And take your Bibles if you will and turn to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 17, Ephesians 6 and verse 17. And if you notice there on the back of your bulletin there with the handout and the fill in the blanks there you see a bunch of blank lines there about midway of the page and a little higher than that. I'm going to give some things here in just a little while notice what God's Word is referred to And it says God's Word is referred to as the following items we're going to be looking at the sword of the Spirit tonight and Looking forward to what the Lord can teach us throughout this message here, but in Ephesians chapter 6 And verse 17, notice the Bible says, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. Notice the end of this, which is the Word of God. Now every one of us, hopefully you have your sword of the Spirit here tonight, you have the Word of God with you. But there's an awful lot of believers that own a copy of the Word of God. yet they don't apply the Word of God to their mind, they don't apply the Word of God to their heart. You cannot say, well, I'm carrying the sword of the Spirit with me everywhere I go, if you're unwilling to allow the Holy Spirit to apply it to your heart. need the Word of the Lord. Let's go to Lord in prayer, we'll get started here this evening. Dear Heavenly Father we come before You tonight and Lord we thank You for who You are. We thank You for all that You are doing. And Lord all that You are going to continue to do. And Lord we see that Your hand is working in many, many different ways, Lord, in different people's lives. And Lord in different health circumstances. And Lord You are drawing mankind to Yourself. And Lord we are so thankful that to have a part in what you've called us to do here in getting the Gospel out to this lost and dying world. Lord, I pray that you would help us as believers, Lord, to be willing to allow this Word of God to just speak to our hearts, Lord, to flow over us and flow through us. And Lord, I pray that we would take this sword of the Spirit everywhere we go, Lord, not just in page form, but Lord that we would memorize Scripture and that we would be ready to give an answer. Lord, to those who ask. Lord, I pray that You would speak to our hearts tonight, draw us closer to You, and we ask all these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen. We're dealing with the sword of the Spirit tonight, and we are coming at least towards the end, if you will, of the armor of God. and gonna be dealing with a couple of things next week and probably the week after that as well. But we see here in verse 17 there at the end when it says, the sword of the spirit, it says, which is the word of God? Now, here in the armor of God, we see that we're now studying this sword. And as I came to this verse here, as I was looking at this verse, of course, we've gone through the whole armor of God, if you will, and we've gotten down to where we had the helmet of salvation. And when I see the sword of the Spirit, I thought to myself, finally, a weapon that we can use, amen? We have been looking at all of this armor that we should wear, and it's very, very important. But understand, a sword is something that is, it's primary use is not for defense, it's primary use is for attack. It's primary use is so that you can charge an enemy, you can attack a foe, if you will. Look at the book of Hebrews chapter four. I'm gonna read a verse here for us. Ephesians chapter four and verse 12. It says, for the word of God is quick. and powerful, notice, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Notice it says the Word of God is that. It's quick, and it's powerful, and it is sharp. You know Satan hates the Word of God. He hates it, absolutely despises the Word of God. And we know that when Christ was tempted in the wilderness, he blasted Satan with scripture. He said each time that it is written. And he came at him with some scripture. He had the victory over Satan. He had the victory over temptation there. And understand tonight that we can have that victory as well. It's easy for us to think, well, I mean, He's the Son of God. The Bible says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It's speaking of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the very Word of God incarnate, if you will. Of course He could have the victory. Understand why He had the victory, because He used the Word of God. written." Satan said, you need to do this. No, it is written that man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He used the Word of God. We must have the Word of God ingrained into us. You know why the Lord Jesus Christ, why He could quote Scripture? Because He knew the Scripture. A human being just like you and I, but He knew the Scripture. I wish that as a young child, I wish I would have memorized more scripture. You know, it becomes harder and harder to memorize scripture the older you get. And once you have a family and responsibility and those types of things, it becomes hard to do that. But understand that God, His Word should be engraved into our heart. But many times our first response is not the Word of God when temptation comes. Too often our first response is not why we shouldn't do something, but why we feel like we have the right to do it. You know, if we use the Word of God, it's going to combat that sin right away. When we're tempted to steal something, what's the Word of God say? Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. When we try to have that, when our flesh wants to have that thought about someone, the Bible says, thou shalt not commit adultery. We know that the Bible condemns all of these things, but the issue is, We don't allow the Word of God to wash over us and through us. We don't memorize the Word of God. We don't even think about it. Unless the Word of God is open before us, we're not even thinking about the Word of God many times. Why? Because we'll read words on a page, but we won't apply it to our heart. I want you to look at Psalm chapter 119, if you will. Psalm 119. chapter about the Word of God, Psalm 119, and notice verse 11. The Bible says, thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. It doesn't say the words that I only read on the page. The words that I memorized as a kid, but I don't remember them any longer, but they're still hitting my heart. No, this is something we must do all of the time. We must hide God's Word in our heart. I want us to notice something as we look at a suit of armor, especially the armor of God. The sword is the only piece of armor, if you will, that will be used for attacks, used for offense. Everything else is for defense. So think about this. Why does Satan, why does he want to make us doubt the Word of God? Because then we are absolutely defenseless. We can't come back at Him with anything because if we've lost faith in the Word of God, if we're not trusting in what the Word of God says, then we'll go along with whatever this world says, whatever man says. Everything else is used for defense. What happened in the Garden of Eden? Satan came to Eve and he said, yea, hath God said. The very first attack on mankind was an attack on the scriptures. because Satan knows the scriptures are secure. Satan knows that God's word doesn't change. He knows that. He knows he can't change what God has said. So what's he going to do? He's gonna try to make us doubt what God has said. How does he do that? Well, we see all these perversions of the word of God and things like that. And we'll get into more of that here in just a little while. But the reality is this, Satan wants to do all he can to make you doubt that book that's in your lap tonight. He doesn't want you to believe that book. The truth that we must get a hold of tonight is this, if we as believers do not know the Word of God, and if we are not trying to study and memorize it, if we are not hiding God's Word in our heart, we will be defenseless against the devil. The reality is, the reason we give into temptation more often than not, and the reason we are so often defeated in our minds and in our lives, is because we are not in God's Word as much as we should be. We could all do better in this area, every one of us. So I want us to see here this evening some things that God's word is referred to as in the Bible. We're gonna look at quite a few different scriptures here, so bear with me. And if you just wanna write these scriptures down, I can turn to them and read them. But we're gonna go through quite a few things here to write down and just make a statement or so about each one. But God's Word, it is referred to many different things in the scriptures. First of all, we see that it is referred to as a glass. If you look at James chapter one, James chapter one, verse 23 through 25, The Bible says, for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is likened to a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Don't be looking at anything else. Look into the Word of God. And the Bible says that if you do that, if you are not a forgetful here, but you're a doer of the Word of God, it says you will be blessed in your deed. The Word of God reflects the mind of God. Why is it that we don't wanna read the Word of God? Because not only does it reflect the mind of God, but it reflects our sinful condition as well. We read the Word of God, That sharper than any two-edged sword, that dividing asunder that we read about there, that's going to be happening within our own hearts. Because the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Notice not only a glass, but it's also referred to as a seed. In 1 Peter 1, in verse 2, Notice what the Bible says 1st Peter chapter 1 in verse 2 it says elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ grace unto you and peace be Multiplied I know there's another verse here that I was supposed to read down to But I don't have that and for time's sake we're not going to take the time to try to find it. But the Word of God is referred to as a seed. It brings forth life, it brings forth growth, it brings forth fruit when it's planted into the heart of man. Also in the book of Ephesians as well, Ephesians chapter five, In verse 25 through 27, the Bible says this, husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, how? With the washing of water. by the Word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." We see there that it is referred to as water. It cleanses, it satisfies, it grows, and it refreshes a believer. You know, if we're going through a hard time, you open the Word of God, you're going to feel refreshed. You're going to. God's going to speak to you. Look at Psalm chapter 12 in verse six. Psalm chapter 12 in verse six. Notice what it's referred to as in this passage, Psalm 12 in verse six. The words of the Lord are pure words, notice, as silver, tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times. We see that it is referred to as silver. You know, silver is, it's very valuable, and it's purer than many precious metals. That's what the Word of God's referred to as. Also, Psalm 119, in verse 127, notice the Bible says this, Therefore I love thy commandments, speaking of the Word of God, above gold, yea, above fine gold. It's referred to as gold there. Psalm 119 and verse 105, the Bible says this, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. We discussed this when we were talking about the feet being shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, how if we allow the word of God to guide our lives, God's going to show us that next step. He's going to show us where we're supposed to be going. Notice it is a lamp. Over in 1 Peter chapter 2, let me get back over there, 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 2. Notice what it's also referred to as, says, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. So we see it's referred to as milk, not only milk, but you go back to the book of Hebrews chapter five and verse 12 through 14, Hebrews chapter five, verse 12 through 14, For the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, notice, and not of strong meat. The Word of God, understand, this is a very important truth for us here tonight, no matter where we are spiritually, because all of us, we are either growing in the Word of the Lord and helping other people grow, or we're not growing at all, therefore we're still on the milk. But understand, the Word of God, it can be the milk, it can be the meat, either way, understand God's Word can meet you exactly where you're at. If you're a new believer, the Bible has everything you need. If you've been saved for 50 years, the Bible still has everything you need. If you're on the mountaintop, guess what? The Bible has everything you need. If you're in the valley, the deepest, darkest valley you've ever been in, the Bible is everything you need. You don't need to search for anything else. And understand, you don't need to be looking for man's opinion. The worst place to study the Bible is on YouTube. The worst place. The worst place to study the Bible is looking up what man's thoughts are on the internet. Understand, the Bible is everything that we need. Yes, it is great to listen to preaching and the Bible talks about preaching and talks about church attendance and all of those things, but understand, we need to take the Bible as the milk of the Word and as the meat of the Word, but it cannot be only where we're eating here. We must be eating of the Word of God at home as well. So we see strong meat. Look at Matthew chapter four. Matthew chapter four, you can write that down and I'll read a verse for us here. Matthew chapter four. In verse four, the Bible says this, but he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. So there we have the bread, it's food to sustain life for every believer. Back in the book of Psalms again the the psalmist talked a lot about the Word of God and praise the Lord for that We should learn a little bit from that But Psalm 19 in verse 7 through 10 notice the Bible says the law of the Lord is perfect Converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes and The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous. Notice, more to be desired, still speaking of the word of God as well, more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Notice, sweeter also than honey. The word of God should be the sweetest thing in your life. because it says here that it's sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. That's what the word of God is. It's sweet to the soul and it is health to the bones. What else is it likened to? Well, if you look at the book of Jeremiah, notice, let me get turned there. In the book of Jeremiah, chapter 23, Jeremiah 23 and verse 29, the Bible says this, is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. So we see it can tear down, but also it can build up as well. We see that it's likened to a hammer, and it's also likened to a fire there. It's likened to a fire again over in the book of Luke, chapter 24. Luke chapter 24 and verse 32. Notice the Bible says this, and they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures? What happened when the Bible was opened? It said it burned within them. It's likened unto a fire. Then notice one more thing that it's likened to here. It's likened to a sword. Hebrews 4 and verse 12 as we read a moment ago, It's a sword. It pierces the heart and it protects the believer. Why is it that when we're having a service or when we are out at someone's door and we present the gospel no matter where we're at, why is it that there are some people, they don't like that message? Because it's like a sword. Because it doesn't feel good. Not one of us would like it if somebody walked up to us and just said, you are a wicked, rotten sinner. That doesn't make you feel good. but it's true. The Word of God is like a sword. It can be the dividing asunder, if you will, but then also not only is it like the sword in that way where it pierces the heart, can also protect the believer just as we saw with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the wilderness when He said, it is written. When Satan comes at you and he's trying to convince you that you deserve to live this way, or you deserve to do this, or it's okay if you drop a standard here, or it's okay if you do this over here, it's okay if you act this way, it's okay if you are If you're always caught up on negativity and all those types of things, when Satan is trying to convince you of those things, understand that there is a verse in the Bible that you can turn to, but the only way we can do that is if we are studying the Word of God. We need the Word of God. I need the Word of God. How foolish it is for us to go into battle without a weapon. Think about a soldier who would be willing to rush into battle without a gun. We would all say, well, that person there, he's foolish. They're going to be defeated. Well, we read there in the book of Ephesians that it says in verse 11 of chapter 6, "...put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." We're in a battle. be just as foolish as it would be for a soldier to rush into battle without a gun. It's just as foolish, or more foolish for us as believers to think that we can go through life without the Word of God. We are going to be defeated. The enemy is fighting against us every day. We must be able to protect ourselves through the power of God. by His Word." You know the devil will twist, and change, and pervert the Scriptures to deceive the lost, but also to deceive the saved as well. It's amazing how many I've heard someone that trusted Christ as their Savior, and they are growing in the Word of God, and taking a stand on things, and saying, you know, the Word of God is what I'm following, and this is my manual, and whatever God wants me to do that's what I'm going to do. And then later in life you hear them say, well, I just don't see it that way anymore. Why? Not because God's Word has changed. Not because God changed His mind on something. because they allowed Satan to twist something in their minds. They allowed Satan to make them question. They allowed Satan to say, "'Yea, hath God said.'" Is that really what God meant? That's what the Devil wants to do. Why is it that the King James Version of the Bible is such an issue today in today's times? is it that people have a problem sticking with a single version of the Bible? It's because the Devil wants these other so-called Bibles to take its place because they are watered down perversions. That should have no place in the mind of a believer. You ever notice that someone that is against the King James Version is for every other version? They'll accept any other one. Why? Because it's not the Word of God. against the authority. They are against when it says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. They are against when it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. They are against those things. Why? Because it shows that God is in control. That God is the Creator. How dare we as believers think to ourselves that we can go into battle with a dull sword at best. with these perversions of the Bible. Church, there's a problem when the world is convincing the church which Bible to use. You know, it's amazing to me how many unsaved people, or at least very, very carnally living people, will stand up and promote these perversions of the Bible. will flock to it." Well, because this Hollywood star they are standing for it and they are a good Christian. Well, that's funny in the last movie that they were in they were committing all kinds of immorality, and cursing, and all those types of things. Why are we allowing the world to convince us what the Word of God is? But that's what's happening. And it's not only happening in what we would consider liberal churches, it's happening every single day in independent fundamental Baptist churches as well. Why? Because Satan doesn't care who he attacks. And Satan knows when we're weak. Bible says it is sharper than any two-edged sword. Satan hates the King James Version of the Bible for English speaking people. If Satan hates it that's enough reason to stick with it, amen. If the enemy is against it we need to stick with it, that's enough reason in and of itself. Our Commander loves it. Why? Because it is His Word. I think we'll stick with it. You know as you Study blacksmithing, and I got a poem I'm going to read here in just a moment, but as you study blacksmithing, what you're going to find is they will have an anvil there, and many times a blacksmith, they will go through many different hammers. Hammers will wear out. The handle will break. All those types of things, but the anvil stays the same. It withstands the test of time, does it not? One man said this. He said, last eve I paused beside a blacksmith's door, and I heard the anvil ring the vesper chime. Then looking in, I saw upon the floor old hammers worn with beating years of time. How many anvils have you had, said I, to wear and batter all these hammers so? Just one, said he. and then with twinkling eyes. The anvil wears the hammers out, you know. And so I thought, the anvil of God's word, for ages skeptic blows have beat upon. Yet though noise of falling blows was heard, the anvil is unharmed, the hammers gone." Think about that. are so many times that people have come against the Word of God. They've tried to stand against it, but yet it has withstood the test of time. Why? Because it's not settled here on earth. The Bible says, "'Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.'" God's Word is true. Reality is this, we've got so many believers that are going through life and they are they're not allowing the Word of God to wash over them. During what was known as the Enlightenment, deism was spreading rapidly and Voltaire proclaimed that within 25 years the Bible would be forgotten. And Christianity, he said, would be a thing of the past. Forty years after his death, only was the Bible not forgotten, not only was Christianity not a thing of the past, but the Bible and other Christian literature were being printed in Voltaire's very own home after he passed away. Think about it. God's Word is going to stand. It's going to stand. God has a plan. God has told every one of us the battle that we're in. He's told us how to protect ourselves defensively. But as we learn about this offense, there are some things, understand about the Bible, that we must apply to our lives. Just as a warrior would be trained with a sword before battle, we must be trained with the word of God. And so I want here this evening to give us very quickly three things that we can do to be trained, if you will, in the Word of God. And if we are unwilling to do any of these three things, understand this, you're not carrying the sword of the Spirit. Because it's impossible to grow in the Word of God if we're unwilling to do one or all of these things. Notice first of all, we must read it. We must read it. It's so simple just to read the Word of God. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 17, if you will. Deuteronomy chapter 17, and notice verses 18 through 20. Deuteronomy 17, verse 18 through 20. The Bible says this, And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of his law, and these statutes to do them. that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand or to the left, to the end, that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel." Notice, we must read the word of God. This is a command from God himself that the scriptures understand should be given to future kings. And each king, they were to read them. But notice what the Bible says, they were to read them when? all the days of his life. All the days. You know, more often than not, you're not going to feel like reading the Word of God. Your flesh doesn't want you to read the Word of God. Satan's going to convince you that there's a lot of other things that are more important than reading the Word of God. But understand when we're talking about kings, of course with kings many times we'll talk about wisdom. And we're going to look at a few things that we see in this passage here. But we see, make him a copy of this law. What was that law? It was the Pentateuch. It was Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. the kings were to read those. That was the Scripture that they had at that time. We have the completed Word of God and praise the Lord for that. But God forbid if we think we can go throughout our lives and we can be victorious Christians and we can live in the joy of the Lord if we are unwilling to crack open the Word of God at least once a day. Let's be in the Word of God. I want us to notice There's four that's, if you will, that we read in these verses. The first one is this, that he may learn to fear the Lord. If you don't know the Lord, you're not going to fear the Lord. If you don't know about God's holiness, why would you have a desire to become more holy? If you don't know about God's grace, you're not gonna be thankful for God's grace. If you don't know about God's long suffering, you're not going to learn from that. you don't know about God's judgments. and you won't fear the Lord as you should. So first we see that he may learn to fear the Lord. Second of all, we see that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren. That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren. If you're not studying and applying the word of God, and if you're not studying and applying God's way to your own life, if you're not following the word of God as the instruction manual, you know what you're doing? You're putting yourself in the driver's seat. and you're going to live the life of a pride-filled being. That's what's going to happen. But if we read the Word of God every day, all the days of our life, notice our heart will not be lifted up above his brethren. And we also see this, that he turned not aside from the commandment. If you're not reading the Word of God, you're going to follow your own way. You're going to turn aside from that. You'll end up in a mess. Remember, when we were talking about the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, we were talking about the direction in which our life is traveling. And if we have our feet shod with that preparation of the gospel of peace, we're going God's way. But understand, if we don't have the sword of the Spirit, if we're not reading God's word, if we're not allowing God's word to flow through us, we're going to turn aside from the commandment. Think of the kings in Scripture that found themselves in a heap of trouble. Why is that? Because they turned aside from God's commandments. Notice also we see the fourth that that we see in that passage is this, that he may prolong his days in his kingdom. You know, as kings stayed in the Bible, God gave them longer reigns many times. Why is that important? Because God will use a person and give him a greater influence throughout his life if that person is willing to stick with God's Word. If he's willing to glorify God, what He does. You know what happens is when a person that once stood for the truth of God's Word, a person that once built their life on the Word of God and they had a great influence on people, as soon as they start changing things not only are they not going to have a positive influence on the people to come, but they are going to lose the influence they had on the people of the past. Why? Because they were not in the Word of God. We need to read it. It's necessary for us to read it, to memorize it, to learn it, to apply it, just as the kings did. So notice, first of all, we must read it. Second of all, we must memorize it. We must memorize it. Now, this is, physically speaking, the hardest point here. Memorizing anything is tough, but memorizing the word of God, not only is it something that our flesh doesn't want to do, but Satan's going to be fighting us the whole time anyway. In Proverbs chapter 22 and starting in verse 17, notice the Bible says, bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, they shall withal be fitted within thy lips. Notice that thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things and counsels and knowledge, that I may make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee? Notice we must apply it to our heart. There is a dearth of Scripture memorization going on in churches today and in the lives of believers. Why is that? Well, I believe it is for two reasons. First of all it is because as a whole we are lazy beings. That's what it is. We are lazy. We'll do all kinds of things to advance our career. We'll study for tests and we'll get to know the things that we need for our career. But when it comes to memorizing the Word of God, we say, well, I just can't do that. You know, not one time does it say that you have to memorize it all or nothing. No, start with a verse. You know, I personally, what I struggle with is I can remember the verse itself, but you ask me where it's found, and I'll say, well, I'll have to get back to you on that. But I know the truth of God's word. I know that verse there, when I run over and over and over in my mind, not only is it because we're lazy, but second of all, it's because we don't memorize scripture because we don't truly have a desire to know the Lord. Somebody that we truly desire to know, We're going to do all we can to know them. Do we desire to know the Lord? If so, we'll strive to memorize his word. When we go through a battle and Satan is attacking us, many times we'll say, well, I just don't know what to do. I just don't know where to turn. And when we hear just trust in the Lord, it sounds to us like a cliche. It sounds like it's just words to us because it's just too hard to trust in the Lord. But in Proverbs, just read we are to memorize Scripture. Why? Here's what it said, that thy trust may be in the Lord. Apply these things to your heart. Why? That your trust might be in the Lord. I think all of us would agree that Fanny Crosby was a woman who knew the Bible. When you look at the hymns throughout our hymnal, there are just many of them that will have her name on there. We can see it all through her songs. We see biblical doctrine. We see that it was taught through those hymns that she penned and we sing them all the time. How do we know that she knew that much scripture? It wasn't because she read it, she was blind. She memorized it. You know what she memorized? memorized the book of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and most of the book of Psalms. That's what she memorized. She memorized it by hearing it. have good vision and yet what's our excuse? Preaching to myself here tonight. Many times we go through life and we act as though we'll never get the victory over something that we're going through, but yet it says here that we need to memorize Scripture. We need to hide God's Word in our heart. Why? So that our trust might be in the Lord. Memorizing Scripture is help you. In Psalm 119 verse 11 of course, I'll hide God's Word in your heart that I might not sin against thee. I'm going to read that here because it is one of those verses. But also it will help us not to sin, but then also it will help us to get answers to prayer. We are going to read a verse on that here in just a moment. But then also to find the knowledge of God as well. But in Psalm 119 in verse 11, I'm going to get there eventually. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. John chapter 15 in verse 7. Notice what the Bible says here. Many times we say, well, I just don't know how to get answers to prayer. Well, if you look at John 15 in verse 7, the Bible says this, if ye abide in me and my words abide in you. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. When's the last time we took a promise of God and we just took it at face value and said, you know what, if God said it, I believe it. The answer is to prayer. It says you need to allow the word of God to abide in you and then also to find the knowledge of God we see in Proverbs Chapter 2 in verse 1 through 5, it says, this, my son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding, yea, if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Well, I just don't know what God wants me to do. Are you reading God's word? Well, if I read God's word, I'm going to read how he spoke to other people and what he told them to do and all of those things. No, the Bible says here that if you're in the word of God, you'll find the knowledge of God. God's not going to call someone that's not reading his word. He's not going to do that. We must read it. We must memorize it. And then lastly, we must meditate upon it. You know that word meditate, it means this, to dwell on anything in thought, to contemplate, to study, to turn or revolve any subject in the mind. Whatever you read, maybe you read in the morning, you should be thinking about those things as you go throughout the day. Maybe you read in the evening, well then until the next evening you should be thinking about what you read in God's word. God tells us in his word that this is important. In the book of Joshua chapter one, notice what God says here, Joshua chapter one in verse eight. Joshua chapter one in verse eight, the Bible says this, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Why? That thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. You wanna prosper in life? Read God's word. Meditation. heart, what digestion is to the body. You know meditation of God's Word will cause a person to prosper. Think about how your body digests food. When you eat food that food goes through your system and as your body is digesting that what's it doing? It's pulling the nutrients from that and it's feeding the body. That's what meditating on the Word of God will do as well. You want to become spiritually strong? You can't do it without reading the Word of God. You can't do it without studying the Word of God. You cannot do it without memorizing the Word of God and meditating upon the Word of God. We must have the Word of God running through our minds at all times. When our delight is in the law of the Lord, what are we going to do? We're going to meditate on it day and night. So what does this mean for us? Simply this, we must hide God's Word in our heart. It's not if Satan's going to attack, it's when. He's attacking at all times. We battle not against flesh and blood. Satan's attacking. Many times we're running into the battle without our sword. You may say, well, I just don't know which scriptures to memorize. I just don't know where to start. Well, the area in which you're spiritually weak or the things that you're struggling with right now, find scriptures that speak to that. You know what that's going to do? It's going to help you in that area that you're weak in. It's going to give you some hope in the area in which you're struggling in. We've got to be in the Word of God. These verses will give us strength. Church, we are in a battle and the enemy is fighting against us. The Lord fought the devil with three words. It is written, how dare we think that We can do the same when we don't read, study, and meditate upon the Word of God, and when we don't allow the Holy Spirit to apply the truth that's written in the Word of God. As we go through life, church, we need this book. We need the truths of this book. We can't allow ourselves to think that we're spiritually fed when we only hear this book on Sundays and Wednesdays. We can't allow ourselves to think that we're spiritually fed when all we do is read words on a page, but we don't take the food. How foolish would it be for us to sit down at a table and have a plate full of food, not touch it, and about 10 minutes later stand up and walk away and think to ourselves, well, I'm glad I was nourished there. No, you have to take the food. Allow the Lord to speak to your heart. things that of course we have available. We've got discipleship studies, we've got shorter studies, and longer studies, and we've got the Bible reading plans that are out in the track rack, and books to read, and all those sorts of things. Things that are teaching you truths from God's Word. We just got these in which are called Call to Glory. They are devotional booklets, they are available on that back table there. We've got all of these things, why? Not because we need something else to spend money on. Not because we, well, we need to fill our track racks, we just needed something to put out there. Well, we needed something to have on the back table. No, there's plenty on the back table. There's plenty of sign-up sheets and all kinds of other stuff. Why don't we have it? Because I know and you know we need the Word of God. We need the sword of the Spirit. And we need to carry it. We need to study it. We need to read it. We need to memorize it. We need to meditate upon it. We need to allow the Lord to apply it to our hearts. It's the weapon that God has given us.