Why God’s Word Is Your Way To Overcoming Victory

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Who doesn’t like the thought of experiencing victory in Jesus? But have you ever wondered why it seems so difficult to obtain? Maybe you are into sports and so you know the thrill of getting the winning goal with ten seconds left on the clock or hitting that game ending home run — There it goes. ee you — Bang! that propels you into the playoffs. But you’re a Jesus follower. Well, what does that matter? You want to pray the prayer of faith — There it goes. See you — Bang! And, you walk off with a miracle from God. How do we get there? Well, the difficulty in obtaining victory disappears when you come into line with God’s Word. That’s where we are going today. Join us as we look at Why God’s Word Is Your Way To Overcoming Victory. That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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The first characteristic of a person who possesses a high level of faith is that this individual has made the decision to be a doer of the Word.

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Question: If you have questions about God’s willingness to bless in the above mentioned areas, leave your question or concern in the comments section below or write us at emery@emeryhorvath.com.

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching on the subject of Divine Healing. You can click on the links below to listen to more podcasts or read blog posts along this line.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 48 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 44 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Prayer

Well again, welcome.
Let’s pray.

Father God thank you for your great kindness. You are the God of victory. We always triumph because of — because of Jesus. Help us, show us, unveil to us the way in which we should walk in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Victory By Being a Person of Faith

1 John 5:4 (ESV) — 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

We have should all have a desire to be people of faith.
I don’t mean a faith, like Pentecostal, Baptist, or Catholic.
I’m talking about faith you can live by.
A faith that obtains stuff.
The stuff I’m talking about here is victory — the victory that you need — that your family needs.
Victory is the will of God for you in every case.
You obtain it God’s way and God’s way is by trusting Him to deliver.
So, let’s park here on this word ‘faith’ and look at some of the traits that characterizes faith that leads to victory.
Now, you want to have a high level of this kind of faith.
You want to be fully trusting God in all things.
It will make your heart happy.
It will make God’s heart happy.

Hebrew 11:6 (ESV) — 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

The first characteristic of a person who possesses a high level of faith is that this individual has made the decision to be a doer of the Word.
Not only has this person made that choice but they also consistently act on that choice.
Victory is in the doing not just choosing to do.
Here you are, you are reading your Bible, you’re reading one of the epistles.
Epistles are letters written to the churches.
You are part of the church and you know by your study of the Word that this commandment is one that you need to do.
Now, what?
And with that thought, here is the Illustration of the Day.

“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only,” warned James (James 1:22, ESV). Those who hear without doing, he continued, deceive themselves. Such self-deception can be a danger in our small groups. We congratulate ourselves for the number of Bible study guides we’ve completed. We’re proud of the scholarly debates (rabbit trails?) we enter into about biblical minutiae. But are we becoming doers of the Word? Our heart cry when we encounter the words of the Living God should be, “Lord, change me!” I once remarked to a spiritual mentor, “Wow! I was really challenged by that message.” Her response: “Yes, but were you changed?”¹

Wow! Isn’t that a great question to be asking?
There is no end to the amount of Bible study material available to the diligent seeker of God’s Word.
But, what are you doing with what you found?
Where God’s Word is concerned we must become a people who take the Word from ‘know now’ to ‘do now.’
That’s one key to victory.
You know the Word, now do it.
You’ve heard the Word, not act on it.
Those with the highest kind of confidence in God are those who make a concerted to apply what they have heard and make it part of their lives going forward.
Tenaciously cling to what you have heard.
Do not allow the Word to slip out of your life.

Victory as It Relates to the Mechanics of Doing the Word

How do you not allow the Word of God to slip out of your life.
How do you become a ‘do the Word now’ person.
First, make a quality decision before God.

“Lord, what ever I read in the New Testament, I am going to do.”

Let’s walk through what this look’s like.

James 1:2 (ESV) — Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

There’s a commandment here — something you and me need to do.
When we face trials, what kind of trials?
Well, they can be various kinds, that’s what the scripture says.
It’s helpful to break down the words.
Define them, know what they mean — that’s studying the Word.
But, study needs to lead to doing.
The Greek word ‘count’ — ‘count it all joy — depicts a choice to determine one’s course of action.
It pictures a decision not left to emotions or circumstances.²
When you study this passage out, you understand it to mean the following.

When trouble comes, make the decision to start walking in the overflowing, supernatural joy already in motion that comes from boldly standing in agreement with what God has already said and done.³

Now, it would be helpful to get a journal of some type, and when you come across a commandment that you need to do, write it in your journal.
Then, review that journal so that you keep the commandment fresh in your heart and mind.
This is a more of a methodical approach to doing the Word.
It may work for you — it may not.
If it doesn’t find something that does.
This is what the Israelites were commanded to do in the Old Testament concerning this very matter of doing the Word.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (ESV) — Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

In verse eight, the Lord said bind the Word on your hands.
Now, how the Jews did this was a small leather box that they attached to their hand.
The box is known as a phylactery.
Inside the box was four scriptures written out.
Those four verses were Exodus 13:1–10, Exodus 13:11–16; Deuteronomy 6:4–9; and Deuteronomy 11:13–21.
This commandment to Joshua falls along the same lines.

Joshua 1:8 (ESV) — 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

What does ‘make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success’ mean?
Well, it’s another way of saying victory.
Isn’t victory having good success?
Isn’t a prosperous way a victorious way?
Sure it is.

Victory: The Bible of the First Century Hearer

Romans 2: 13 (ESV) — 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

The Greek word ‘hearers’ means just that — one who hears.
In other words, not those who merely listen to the Law are the ones who are righteous in God’s sight.’⁴
Wuest says that the word for “hearers” here is not the usual word which refers to the act of hearing, but [a different word] used of pupils who are constant hearers educated in the law.⁵
Now, let’s slow down and think about this definition.
Let’s put it in the context of the first century where there were no Bibles in peoples homes.
In the first century, you didn’t see copies of the scriptures in public places like the markets.
You understand, there were no electronic devices that could play scripture in the first century.
We’re talking scrolls here made of papyrus or leather [animal skins].
These scrolls were huge relative to our modern day Bibles.
Who had a Bible strapped to their donkey? No one.
The Bible of the early first century was the Old Testament.
It was a hand written work painstakingly scribed.
And with that thought, here is the Historical Background of the Day.
The Old Testament was meticulously copied by Jewish scribes who followed strict and elaborate rules to ensure accuracy⁶
These scribes adhered to specific practices, such as washing their entire body and wearing special clothes before writing, and maintaining precise formatting requirements like 30-letter wide columns with thread-sized spaces between letters⁷.
They were forbidden from copying from memory and had to transcribe letter by letter⁸
They could only use clean animal skins, both to write on, and even to bind manuscripts.
The ink must be black, and of a special recipe.
They must verbalize each word aloud while they were writing.
They must wipe the pen and wash their entire bodies before writing the word “Jehovah,” every time they wrote it.
There must be a review within thirty days, and if as many as three pages required corrections, the entire manuscript had to be redone.
The letters, words, and paragraphs had to be counted, and the document became invalid if two letters touched each other.
The documents could be stored only in sacred places (synagogues, etc).
As no document containing God’s Word could be destroyed, they were stored, or buried, in a genizah – a Hebrew term meaning “hiding place.” These were usually kept in a synagogue or sometimes in a Jewish cemetery.
So, here you are a first century person hungry for the Word of God.
Where did you go to hear what thus says the Lord?
You went to the synagogue.
So, then those who went to the synagogue were hearers.
Those who were responsible for handwriting these Old Testament scriptures [scribes] were hearers also.
Those Rabbi’s who spent time studying the scriptures were hearers as well.
So, we have hearers, and hearers and hearers.
Well, that’s cool that there were so many hearers.

Victory: Hearers Versus Doers

Now, let’s reread Romans 2:13.

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

The Greek word ‘doers’ means one who does something that is prescribed.
If a doctor prescribes for you a medication that you need and you take that according to the directions, then you are a doer of that prescription.
That makes your doctor happy.
If you take a scriptural commandment according to the directions in that verse, you are a doer of that verse.
That makes God happy.
It will make you happy as well because you will obtain the victory in that area of obedience.
Our dedication to God must be to raise our living to the level of our hearing.

James 1:22–25 (ESV) — 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

‘Doing’ brings the blessing of victory.

Victory: Doing the Great Commission

Consider that one of the main things we ought to be doing is the words of Jesus as they relate to the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV) — 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 [Go therefore] and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Our job as disciple-ers,’ that is, a person who understands what a Jesus followers fundamental job consists of, is to make disciples of all nations.
A disciple is a student or a learner.
He has authority and understands that he does.
A disciples fundamental job is to teach those who are being discipled to observe all that Jesus commanded.
Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to teach people to do the same as you’ve been instructed to do — go and do the Word.
Our job is to take people from ’know now’ to ‘do now.’
The current landscape of Christendom is that we have not done a great job doing the main job.
We have to teach people to get after it.
To do the Word now.
Decide it — get it settled — get after it.
Start by teaching yourself.
You know the Parable of the House Built on a Rock that Jesus shared one day.
You’ve heard this preached multiple times.
Jesus said, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments’ [John 14:15].
His commandment is to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation knowing that these signs will accompany those who believe… they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” [Mark 16:15–18]
Now you know this passage in Mark 16.
You also know that Jesus gave a directive to lay hands on the sick.
He gave that to all disciples not just apostles.
You’ve committed to being a doer of the Word.
So, you head out and when you do, you run into an individual who says ‘that healing was been done away with after the last apostle died.’
You know that’s not right — so you choose to not believe that.
In fact, you blow right past that wrong thinking — that incorrect believing, because you have this scripture here both in Matthew and in Mark.
And, you don’t have any scripture that says healing is done away with.
It doesn’t exist.
So, you head out.
Be encouraged to stretch out on the plain Word of God.
Go be a doer of the Word.
Exercising yourself in this way is the highest kind of faith.

A Roman Centurion Experiences Victory

In last week’s podcast, we started out talking about the Centurions servant.
I say, started out because we didn’t quite finish up.

Matthew 8:5–13 (ESV) — 5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

If you recall, we talked about the faith of the Roman Centurion who had servant, a small boy, who was in paralyzed and in a really bad way.
Jesus had an open door to heal this boy because of the high faith that the Centurion had.
This is Acts 10:38 — ‘How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil for God was with Him.
God was with Jesus in healing the Centurions servant.
Jesus wasn’t out there playing the Lone Ranger.
No, Jesus was a doer of the Word.
He was a doer of His Father’s Word.
The Father that dwells in me, He does the works Jesus said.
And how did he do that — through Jesus spoken Word.
The Centurion said to Jesus in verse eight.

8 “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

Look what Jesus did.

13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

Jesus spoke the Word and the servant was healed.
That’s one way to minister healing to people.
Speak the Word.
That is one method of divine healing.
Notice, Jesus didn’t pray.
He didn’t say to the Father, ‘Oh God, heal this boy. Don’t you see how bad off he is?’ So, get this now.
Faith works by praying — that’s a Bible fact.
What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them.
Faith works by praying but Jesus didn’t pray here.
He spoke the Word: “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.”
‘Let it be done as you have believed’ — notice the importance of the man’s faith.
To receive from God you must believe.
So, faith works by praying, and faith works by saying.
Speaking the command of faith get’s people healed if people have to receive.

A Crippled Man Experiences Victory

Here is the same method of healing in the Book of Acts.

Acts 14:8–10 (ESV) — 8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.

Do you see this?
This healing is via the same method as the Centurions servant.
The Centurion’s servant was paralyzed.
This man was crippled.
Jesus saw the Centurions faith.
Paul saw this man’s faith — same thing.
Jesus spoke the command of faith to the Centurion and Paul spoke the command of faith to the crippled man.
Both were healed via the same method, speaking the Word.

Your Victory Challenge

Okay, so now where are you in these things?
We are to be doers of the Word, we know that’s what the Lord requires of us.
Knowing that, what is your comfort level with ministering healing like Jesus did — like Paul did?
What is your comfort level with speaking the Word of Faith when ministering healing?
Our first order of business is to accept the record of the Word of God on this.
That’s the challenge.
In both of these cases of healing that we looked at, Jesus didn’t pray for the servant to be healed and neither did Paul pray for the man who never walked.
Now, that is not saying that praying for the sick is incorrect.
Don’t misunderstand.
We have this passage in James which is addressed to the elders of the church.

James 5:14–16 (ESV) — 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

At some point, we may get over into discussing this passage and its prayer component.
But for today, faith works by saying.
And, you are a doer of the Word.
Will you boldly imitate Jesus?
Can you see yourself fulfilling the Great Commission as Paul did by calling for the healing power of God?
Be open to anyway that the Lord wants to use you to bring His salvation to others.

Now, Father God thank you for helping us to see these truths by opening our hearts through your Holy Spirit. Your Word is so precious to us and thank you for it sir, in Jesus Name, Amen.

Why God’s Word Is Your Way To Overcoming Victory.
You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

The Importance of Doing the Word of God; The Epistle of James 1:22-25

__________
References:

Discipleship Journal, Issue 98 (March/April 1997) (NavPress, 1997). ↩
Keith Trump, Renners RIV on James ↩
Renner RIV ↩
Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 282. ↩
Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 44. ↩
Josh McDowell and Kevin Johnson, The Amazing Bible Adventure for Kids: Finding the Awesome Truth in God’s Word (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2012). ↩
Eleanor Rupp and Barbara K. Bellefeuille, A Student’s Notes on Genesis: The Bible for Public Schools (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2016) ↩
Jinger Vuolo and Julie Lyles Carr, People Pleaser: Breaking Free from the Burden of Imaginary Expectations (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2025), 144. ↩

emeryhorvath.com

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Why God’s Word Is Your Way To Overcoming Victory

Podcast: Light on Life Season Twelve Episode Eleven

by Emery Horvath

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download |Subscribe to PlayerFM

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching on the subject of Divine Healing. You can click on the links below to listen to more podcasts or read blog posts along this line.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

Victory By Being a Person of Faith

Victory as It Relates to the Mechanics of Doing the Word

Victory: The Bible of the First Century Hearer

Victory: Hearers Versus Doers

Victory: Doing the Great Commission

A Roman Centurion Experiences Victory

A Crippled Man Experiences Victory

Your Victory Challenge

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download |Subscribe to PlayerFM

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching on the subject of Divine Healing. You can click on the links below to listen to more podcasts or read blog posts along this line.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

Victory By Being a Person of Faith

Victory as It Relates to the Mechanics of Doing the Word

Victory: The Bible of the First Century Hearer

Victory: Hearers Versus Doers

Victory: Doing the Great Commission

A Roman Centurion Experiences Victory

A Crippled Man Experiences Victory

Your Victory Challenge

Related posts:

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