What is the basis for studying and understanding the Word of God?

Les explains that faith is the starting point: these believers in Greece were abounding in faith, and that was the beginning of it. A listener wondered whether experiences were taking the place of faith, and Les affirmed that this is exactly the danger. He teaches that doctrine comes by faith, and when faith plus doctrine are put together, then experience follows. Too many people forget doctrine and talk about nothing but experience, which will not fly and does not please God, because faith is one of their major gifts. That God-given ability and power lets us believe what God says, and believing what He says is the whole basis of studying and understanding the Word of God. Les also cautions that this does not mean bringing into operation what God told Israel to do in the Old Testament, such as Malachi's storehouse giving or the animal sacrifices and priestly instructions.