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Doing Good

Ivey Rorie On June 2, 2025 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Psalm 37: 1 – 3

Do not fret because of evil-doers, be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass, and fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

This is such solid advice. I remember so clearly when I learned this. I saw mean people prospering and living the high life while “good” people had less in the way of material goods and “success.” I thought it so unfair. But this is when I learned the truth of Galatians 6: 7 which says that a person will reap whatever he sows.

So, while God was teaching me that verse, I was watching these people abuse others and enjoy all that life could offer. There was a great reckoning though. And they did reap just what they sowed. It was not pretty. The mighty fell and they fell hard.

God instructs us not to be envious of those people. Don’t worry and fret because of them. You just trust in the Lord and continue doing good like Jesus did. Keep your mind fixed on Jesus. Don’t even pay attention to them and their ways. And definitely don’t be jealous of them because a day will come, and it won’t be long, that you will not want to be in their shoes.

Put all of your trust in God. Don’t walk by sight but by faith. That means don’t pay attention to the way things look. God is at work and even if you don’t see the fruit of it right now, believe me, you will. You just keep up the good work and have your faith and hope firmly fixed on Jesus and his Dad.

Blessed Memorial Day

Ivey Rorie On May 26, 2025 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

This is the day we pause to remember all our fallen soldiers. Many thanks, also, to the families of those soldiers. We sometimes forget the price paid by those who stayed home. Women, especially, who had to raise children alone; mothers and fathers whose children didn’t come home; and children, some of whom never knew their soldier parent. We remember them all today with grateful, though mournful, hearts.

For all of you who served and did return, even if today is about remembering our fallen heros, we are thinking of you and the choices you made. Some of you returned injured. We haven’t forgotten.

I pray for all our service people and their families. May you be blessed and receive the thanks of a grateful nation. The blessing of the Lord be with you.

Ivey Ministries

Hang in There

Ivey Rorie On May 19, 2025 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

John 6: 66 – 67

As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore. Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”

Verse sixty-six tells us that many ceased to follow Jesus because of a difficult teaching. Do you realize which teaching it was that caused many to fall away? It was the one in which the Lord declared that he is the bread of life and that those who follow him must eat of his flesh and drink of his blood (John 6: 48 – 58).

Jesus had many followers. His disciples were considerably more than just the twelve apostles. We think so often of just the twelve but that was only his executive cabinet, if you will. People followed him everywhere he went trying to get in on all his teachings. Then he taught something difficult, something they didn’t want to hear, and they fell away. It is just as 2 Timothy 4: 3 – 4 warns, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Jesus, knowing that people were choking on his words, turned also to the twelve and asked them if they wanted to leave as well. Peter answered wisely though. He had actually listened to and heard the word that Jesus had just spoken. Jesus had just told all of those people that his words were spirit and life and they immediately began to spit them out. Jesus’ preaching did not tickle their ears. Furthermore, he began to teach them the deeper things and they couldn’t handle it. They could only handle the milk when he was endeavoring to give them a little bread and meat.

But Peter and the twelve were wise. They had just heard Jesus say that his words were life. Even if they couldn’t understand the depth of all that Jesus was teaching, even if they couldn’t swallow it at that time, they had the good sense to just hang on until such a time that they could.

Many of us do the same thing that some of Jesus’ disciples did in this passage. When things get tough, when the Pastor steps on our toes, we leave. We might think the Pastor is wrong in what he is teaching but the reality is probably that we just aren’t mature enough to understand it yet. As more of our layers are peeled off and we become deeper people, we will have the ability to understand.

If nothing else, don’t be a quitter. Don’t be the modern version of these people who walked away from Jesus. Can you imagine such a thing? They had the opportunity that we would love to have; to sit at the feet of the master and yet they abandoned it because it got a little tough. For goodness sake! I don’t want to be one of those people and I hope you don’t either. Can you imagine what those folks will say when they face Christ one day? What would you say to him? I know what I want to be able to say, “For all my faults and short comings, I hung in there. I am still with you Jesus.”

Jesus said, “Blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me” (Matthew 11: 6). He was warning people that it wouldn’t always be easy following him. But he said that we would be blessed if we didn’t allow ourselves to fall away. So, let us not be tripped up by him or his word. Do not forsake Jesus or his teaching. That means you keep on pursuing him. You keep on partaking of his word. It doesn’t mean just showing up in church and warming a pew for an hour while all along not listening to a word that Jesus is ministering. Remember, God is sending alarm clocks into the body of Christ. They are going to shake up some folks. Just hang on. Pray for enlightenment and trust Jesus. You are his disciples, his beloved. Don’t withdraw from him.

Over My Head

Ivey Rorie On May 12, 2025 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Judges 7: 2

“The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’”

Imagine yourself in Gideon’s position. One day you are a farm boy, the least of the least, and the next day you are called to free your nation from an army that has successfully oppressed your people for seven years. Once you finally wrap your head around that idea, and it took Gideon awhile to accept it, then God says, “Wait a minute, you have too many people with you.” Gideon began with 32,000 men. At that you can imagine he was plenty worried, but before he went against the Midianites God stopped him. God said Gideon had too many men with him to go against an army that was able to keep Israel enslaved for 7 years. How can you have too many men?

Before Yahweh let Gideon go up against the Midianites, He reduced Gideon’s army to 300 men. We don’t know how many men the Midianites had but the text says they were as numerous as locust. Why did God reduce Israel’s army to so few people to go up against so many?
Sometimes I think the only things worth doing are those which are impossible. That was certainly Gideon’s position. There is no way a group of 300 men can rout a full army. In fact, there were two armies for the Amalekites were with the Midianites. Yahweh knew that if Gideon went up against the two armies with 32,000, he might begin to think he prevailed by his own might rather than that of the Lord. That is a dangerous way to think.

Jesus said he could do nothing without his Father (John 5: 19). How much more true is this of us? There is, however, a larger idea here, I believe. This story makes me think that where we should desire to live is in water over our heads. We should live with impossibilities so that we require the power and presence of the Lord.

Father God wants us to rely on Him. Gideon could not win the battle against the Midianites and the Amalekites on his own. He had to have God on site, or he and his measly 300 men would have been obliterated. Father wants us to live out on the edge like that too! If you can do your project in your own strength and wisdom, then maybe it really isn’t the task for you. Delegate it to someone else and get a project that is bigger than you. If it scares you at night and makes you want to pray, then you are likely in the right spot. Father wants you in a situation where you must partner with Him. He wants to scare the problems away so that your energy is only needed for raking in the spoils.

Gideon is called a great and valiant warrior, but the truth is that he didn’t even have to unsheathe his sword. Our Father did all the work, yet Gideon ended up with a reputation as a brave warrior. That is God’s business plan. When we rely on Him, He promotes us. It is the craziest thing!

Look at your horizon. What do you have coming up? What is out there which is impossible? That is your goal. Find the impossible, ask Father if that is what He has in mind for you and then put the partnership into gear. If you aren’t in over your head, you’re cheating.

Do you know why God picked Gideon, a young boy instead of a seasoned fighter? I believe it is because Gideon’s only hope was in the Lord. A seasoned soldier may have tried to prevail in his might rather than the Lord’s. So, the moral of the story is, we don’t have to be too smart, too experienced, too clever or wise. We only need one skill. That is the ability to believe God and put that belief into action.

Oh, mighty and valiant warrior, go slay your dragon!

Angels and Asherah Poles

Ivey Rorie On May 5, 2025 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Judges 6: 13

Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.

An angel appeared to Gideon and proclaimed, “The Lord is with you,” (v. 12). You can see, above, Gideon’s response. I chose this passage of scripture because I thought Gideon’s reply sounds very much like what most of us have at least thought at one time or another, perhaps more than once. If God is with us, why are things in such a mess? In those times of life, a preacher comes along saying to you, “Be of good courage, the Lord is with you.” It almost makes you mad, doesn’t it? The angel called Gideon a warrior of valor but Gideon was emotionally where most of us are. He was looking for evidence of the Lord’s presence amongst the rubble of his life.

This passage, perhaps, presents an opportunity for us to feel compassion towards Gideon and ourselves, and I wish for us to hold onto this compassion as we continue to discuss this passage. Let’s not fall into recrimination against ourselves or others but rather, have hope that our story can turn out as Gideon’s eventually did.

As one continues to read this sixth chapter of Judges, one discovers a potential reason why not all was well. The angel gave Gideon instructions. Among these was to tear down the altar to Baal that Gideon’s father erected (v. 25). Reading this, one might think, “Well, we certainly do not erect alters to heathen gods.” True, but as I read it, I wondered if there isn’t a kernel of revelation in this statement.

As you look at our culture in general, you may propose some idols we have erected in place of our God, but the more important query is one we must each ask ourselves. Is there anything we have allowed to slip in front of our passion for God? In the US we sometimes allow God to be sacrificed upon our altar of busyness. I know I find myself guilty in that regard. What is so important that I should prioritize it over my God? And yet, I find myself slipping sometimes and I am sure there are some among you who can empathize.

Why did God choose Gideon? Had Gideon kept his eyes on the God of Israel even as his own family slipped away? We will discuss Gideon more later, but I want you to hold on to this image of Gideon, his doubt and his father’s household as we move forward. For today I simply want to ask the question, is God’s power less evident in our lives because we have shifted our eyes from Him? Remember, no guilt or recrimination, just introspection. Have we unwittingly raised an altar to something else? Maybe Yahweh sent this Word of the Day to get us to tear down some asherah poles in our lives because they are obscuring our view of the Lord.

Maybe for some of us this Word will be difficult if we are honest with ourselves, but our beloved Father sends it as Good News, not ill tidings because He doesn’t want anything withstanding the blessing He has for each of us. He knows we love Him, but He also knows we get ourselves out of kelter at times. Do some soul searching with me and allow yourself a whole new cornucopia of blessing.

Facts and Faith

Ivey Rorie On April 28, 2025 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Romans 10: 17

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

The facts don’t count. You’ve heard me say this before. It’s what you believe about the facts that matters. I watched a movie recently in which the school system had replaced the textbooks with new books which had “corrected” history as you and I know it. In reality, there are people today who do not believe humans have travelled to the moon or who do not believe the Egyptian pyramids are real. Watching the movie and observing characters’ absolute belief in their position made me realize the facts don’t matter. It is what you believe that matters. How does one get a non-believer to believe? The reality is that exposure to facts does not transform unbelief in the heart of someone determined not to believe. You can show scientific data, pictures, live accounts, personal experiences and none of it matters if a person is disinclined to believe. The question, therefore, becomes, what do we believe. What do we choose to believe? Where is your authority for what you believe?

I am a believer. I choose to believe. I am neither cynical nor skeptical. Why? Faith is the business of believing. In truth, it is the business of believing when there may not be evidence. Sometimes the facts are even against you. Perhaps you feel pain in a joint, but you know The Word says you are healed. The fact is, you feel pain, but what is the truth? You must choose what to believe. Is the Bible your authority? Do you believe Jesus meant what he said? The choice is not whether you feel pain or whether you are healed. The choice is, when in the midst of pain or discomfort, do you believe you are healed, or do you believe you are not? Faith is found in the midst of pain, not in its absence.

I know many, many Christians who are cynics rather than believers. When faced with new information, their first reaction is doubt. Perhaps it is in their DNA to be skeptical. They begin from a point of cynicism and then must coax themselves out of doubt and skepticism. It is a much more challenging way to live, but they are rarely duped. As an example, one day a fellow came into our law office asking for $20 to get a taxi to get home. He promised he would pay pack the twenty. My partner was steadfast in his refusal although I was inclined to give it to the fellow. “He’ll never pay it back,” my partner said. Still, I leaned towards giving it to him and did. Of course, we never saw that guy again. My law partner was less inclined to fall for a scheme or false promise. I, on the other hand, have never regretted giving that fellow the money.

It is easier for me to trust. It is easier for me to hope for a good outcome than people like my former law partner. Some people just are not faith based. I think that makes life more of a challenge because doubt, cynicism and skepticism undermine everything that faith tries to give us.

As I ruminate, I ask myself, if we are not prone to belief, then how does that affect our Christianity which is a faith based belief system. How do we know God is real? Isn’t it only because we believe? Who is Christ? Is there really a Christ? You see, the hinge pin of our religion, for lack of a better term, is belief. Therefore, we must endeavor to broaden our capacity to believe.

Now we come to the heart of the matter. If one wishes to live in hope, how does one alter their outlook? The only answer I know is to have more of oneself intertwined with Jesus. That comes from spending more time with him and this process begins, as it seems it always must, with time in the Word. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Perhaps some of us are prone to be people of hope and faith while others are us are designed to be wary. I believe, though, if I am to be more engaged with the living person of Jesus Christ, then I am going to have to live further and further out of my comfort zone. I believe we all must jump out of the boat and walk to where he is as Peter did (Matthew 14: 29). Remember, though, what happened to Peter. He got out of the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus but once he took notice of the facts, i.e. the wind and the waves, he began to sink. Jesus said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

You recognize that the facts didn’t matter. The same wind was blowing when Peter got out of the boat and yet he walked on the water. What changed? Peter’s focus changed. When his hope was set on walking to Jesus, the truth aligned and he walked on the water. When his focus shifted to doubt, he manifested his fear and sank. Both outcomes were his for the choosing.

This reality is ours as well. Now you understand why I choose to believe and hope even if I risk being duped or made a fool of. I would rather hope and believe, chasing good outcomes, than doubt and mistrust and perhaps miss out on a chance at something better.

Jesus is the truth. He is the light and the life. The more we steadfastly fix our eyes upon him and follow him, the greater our chances of living the abundant life he secured for us. I believe this requires us to spend time reading the Bible. Secondly, we must choose to live in hope rather than skepticism. We must be open to thinking new thoughts and open to new ideas. If we wish to transform ourselves, then we necessarily will have to think differently tomorrow than how we thought yesterday, and that need not be scary when we walk hand in hand with Jesus. Better to hope and try and miss than to have never tried, I say.

Tell me what methods you think we can employ to help ourselves believe bigger.

Light and Life

Ivey Rorie On April 21, 2025 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Colossians 1: 13 – 14

For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

I wondered if we fully appreciate the truth behind this verse. This is an immense concept. Do we look over it lightly? Maybe it is too difficult to fully perceive.

The miracle that our Father wrought in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is not only a great story, but it is the greatest news of the gospel. We have been translated into the kingdom of light from the kingdom of darkness. Jesus told us in John 8: 12 that he is “the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” We were legally under the authority of Satan, but Jesus broke that bondage. He went to hell and came out victorious and with the keys of death and hell (Revelation 1: 18). He broke us out of hell, and we became part of his victory, part of his inheritance. Because of Jesus’ victory over hell and the grave, we have become part of the kingdom of light.

Now this is interesting. Jesus then says that we are the light of the world (Matthew 5: 14). When we accept the gift of salvation and receive redemption, then we are translated out of the realm of darkness and into the kingdom of light. Then we actually become the light because we are in the light. Jesus is the light and we are in him, so we are the light in this dark world. This is pretty heavy but what this is really saying is that we are Jesus in this world. We are his body. That makes us his hands, his feet and his mouth. We have been saved from darkness and brought into the light so that light completely infuses us. We have become full of the very essence of Jesus if we are in him and he in us.

All of the power of hell and the grave has been broken off of us. We are completely regenerated in the life giving power of God. That new life in us has the power to break the bondages off of others as well. We have new life, a life of light and power in Christ Jesus. Darkness no longer has any power over you. That has got to be a reason to celebrate.

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