How Do I Apply the Word of God?

I am having trouble in my marriage. My child is rebellious. I am afraid of the tornadoes and hurricanes coming my way. How do I apply the Word of God?

I heard about soldiers in the Middle East in the first Gulf War. They prayed the 91st Psalm over themselves every day. Amazingly, not one of them died or suffer any injuries.

A pastor encouraged his congregation to pray the 91st Psalm over themselves, their families and countries. During the Tsunami of 2004, it didn't touch any of them or their properties.

A man car-jacked a woman, who had been studying the 91st Psalm at church. She couldn't remember the entire Psalm. She said all she could remember. She screamed, "Feathers! Feathers!" The car-jacker thought she was crazy and left her and the car.

A person knocked on the door of another woman at an odd hour, and instead of being afraid, she quoted Psalm 91:1--our spiritual 9-1-1--He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty. When she opened the door, she found a police officer who had the wrong address.

Now these are just a few accounts of what happened when people quoted the 91st Psalm and believed it.

Imagine what would happen if we used the Bible in every situation we faced.

Last year, I had an Internet buddy that feared every time a tornado would come her way. She feared that it would do her, her family and her property harm.

As Believers, instead of being afraid of the tornadoes, we can quote the 91st Psalm. Then we can go to sleep, resting in the promises of God.

By the time my grandfather died, I had been battling an illness for a long time. The combination of grief, sickness and fear kept me up at night. I didn't sleep much at all. Then I discovered the sleeping Scriptures in Psalms and Proverbs (Psalm 3:5, Psalm 4:8, Proverbs 3:24-26, Psalm 121:5-8). Now I quote them every night before I go to bed. Now I can't stay up all night even if I tried. I can't stay up worrying because I fall asleep.

I couldn't stand staying in houses where people had died. Upon moving into the same house my grandfather died in, I clung to those Scriptures. I've been in this house for two years now, and I have not had one sleepless night. I even enter the room my grandfather died in on a regular basis.

When I am afraid or I heard about sickness or violence on the news, I quote, "No evil shall befall me neither shall any plague come nigh my dwelling" (Psalm 91:10).

When I eat something questionable, I quote the Scripture, "Bless the Lord all my soul and all that is within me bless His Holy Name" (Psalm 103:1), and "I live not die but live and declare the works of the Lord" (Psalm 118:17).

I can attest that the Word works! When we quote Scriptures and believe them, we are resting in the promises of God.

How do we apply the Word to our lives?

As a child attending Christian schools and Sunday morning and Wednesday night classes at church, I memorized a lot of Scripture. It is important that if we are going to apply the Word to our lives that we become familiar with the Word of God.

Now I'm not saying we have to memorize the whole Bible or any of it, but I am saying that we should become familiar with it.

What is our area of need?. Is it finances? Health? Relationships? Believing God loves us? Then we need to find all the Scriptures we can on that subject.

Write them down. Then narrow the list down to two or three on which to stand..

For finances, try Deuteronomy 8:18, III John 2 and II Corinthians 8:9.

For health, try Jeremiah 30:17, Isaiah 53:4-5 and Romans 8:11.

A good concordance will help us in this endeavor.

We can write down the two to three Scriptures on 3x5 cards to take with us wherever we go. When we have a free moment, like at a stop sign, in the restroom, on our lunch break, waiting in line, we can say them to ourselves. Under our breath, if people are around. The Bible says we are to believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths.

Without intending to, the more we do this, the more we will commit the Scripture to memory.

Lately, I have been trying an additional approach.. I have been doing what I call "association" confessing.

If a commercial for prescription drugs comes on the television, I quote a healing Scripture (Jeremiah 30:17, Isaiah 53:4-5 and Romans 8:11). If a financial commercial, such as for credit cards, foreclosures, banking, quick money places, comes on or the news talks about how bad the economy is, I quote a financial Scripture (Deuteronomy 8:18, III John 2 and II Corinthians 8:9).

Dodie Osteen, Joel Osteen's mother, does this every time she would drives past a grave yard when she quotes "I will not die but live and declare the works of the Lord (Psalm 118:17)."

Every time I have pain, I quote a healing Scripture. I am using the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, when I need it, at the moment of pain or crisis.

I used to read a lot of self-help books, especially ones on anxiety. I read one in particular that said I should write down every negative thought I had for a week.

Then next to each thought, the author urged me to write down a positive affirmation to say whenever I had that thought.

I think the concept is sound. Instead of writing down a positive affirmation, though, I believe we should write down a Scripture to counter each thought.

Let's say we are having bad thoughts about our finances, like "What if I lose my job, "What if I can't pay the bills," the we could say, "My God supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)". and "God is my Provider, and in Him, I am rich in Christ Jesus."

Every time we have a bad thought, we counter it with the Word of God.

By doing this, we are training our minds to think differently. We are also wielding the Word of God at our circumstances. We are splitting them a part a little more each time we speak the Word. We may not see it, but one day, we will see the fruition of our labor.

The Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), but it must be used responsibility.

Many preachers create whole sermons and doctrines off of misquoted and half Scriptures.

For example: most preachers teach in this world we will have trouble (John 16:33), which we will, but they stop right there. Only the Scripture doesn't end there. Jesus went onto say, "but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Jesus overcame the world.

What does that mean? It means that though we have trouble, through the finished work on the cross, Jesus made us victorious in every situation. A problem is just an opportunity for us to show how big our God is and what He will do on our behalf.

In order to be victorious, we must claim the promises of God. We need to stand on them and never let them go until see victory in that area.

God promises to always cause us to triumph (II Corinthians 2:14). That's a promise we can take to the bank. Guaranteed!