Word of the Day Archives - Ivey Ministries Ivey Ministries

Goal Achieved

Ivey Rorie On January 20, 2025 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Isaiah 31: 33

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

This is the crux of the new covenant. I am especially moved by the latter part where God says that He will be our God, and we will be His people. This is where we are today. God wishes to be your personal God and you and me to be His people. There is a very personal, intimate anticipation in this. It is about the relationship that we are to enter into. No longer is God to be a distant and removed God, who can only be approached by a few select people, but rather a personal God with whom we have direct contact.

Jesus told us in John 14: 23 that He and His father would come and make their abode with us. He also told us in the 17th verse, of that same chapter, that the Holy Spirit abides with us and in us. You see, this is a shift from the Old Testament relationship. In the new covenant, God wants to be a very personal God to us all. He no longer has His presence in an ark but rather in us as we have become the temple of the new covenant.

His Word is now a part of our hearts by the Holy Spirit and by the son himself. We have been told that Jesus is the word (John 1: 1-14). Here we see that the Word, Jesus, has come to live in our hearts. Additionally, the Holy Spirit who has been charged with teaching us and guiding us into all the truth (John 14: 26, 16:13) has made His home in our hearts. So, the Word has now been written to our hearts and is in our hearts.

The God of all creation, the God who made the sun, all the planets and every star, who made the trees, all animals and us, has come to live inside of you. He has chosen you as His temple. You are His chosen people. This is what God has been looking forward to for millennia, that we should be His people, and He should be our own God. You are the realization of His ambition.

These are the days. We are the prophesied people. You are no lowly worm of the dirt. You are the chosen people of Almighty God. You are the culmination of all of His desires and plans for thousands of years. That should make an impression on you and hopefully make you feel differently about yourself. Maybe it makes you consider your relationship with the Father a bit differently. Collectively we are the body of Christ. Individually you are a member of the body. You are important to God, immensely important. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Love Perfected

Ivey Rorie On January 13, 2025 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

1 John 4: 18

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

God is love (1 John 4: 8). There is no fear in love. By this I know there is no fear in God. Fear is a nasty, awful thing. The King James version reads, “fear has torment.” Isn’t it true? Fear is crippling. It prevents people from enjoying their lives. That is in contradiction to what God wants for us. God is love and loves each of us. He wants us to have a good life. Jesus is good news, not torment.

I like what Jesus said about himself in John 10:10 NIV, “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” Torment interferes with his mission. John gave us this good news so that we could navigate life’s challenges. Because of his intimacy with Christ and the many revelations Jesus gave him, his words are able to act as a guide for us. So, when we are confronted with fear, the first thing we can do is to reassure ourselves that the torture of fear is not Father’s intention for us. Knowing that, we may ask ourselves how we can be free of it. The first answer is always the Bible. What does the Bible say about our situation? There are 300 verses in the New Testament alone which speak about fear. Does that sound like a lot to sort through? Use the Ivey Ministry website to help you synthesize what they mean to you. I have written on fear many times because it is something with which we all wrestle. Then, take these verses, and what you have gleaned from them, to God in prayer. Even ask Jesus and the Holy Spirit to lead you in your prayers. God will answer you because it is His will that you live free.

Fear is not of God and has no right to disrupt and hinder your life. God has the power to free you but, as is always the case, we must open our arms and heart to His ministrations. We must invite Him to be a part of the solution. Remember, Yahweh is a gentleman. He will never overrun your will, even when it is to your advantage. That would make Him a bully and a controller. Jesus’ death insured our free will, and Father will not violate it.

As always, if you need help, Ivey Ministries is here for just that purpose. Email me or go to contact us.

Have a Good One

Ivey Rorie On January 6, 2025 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Please allow me to add my well wishes to the many you have received for a prosperous and happy New Year! May the blessing of the Lord be with you, following you every step of your day. I pray for you inspiration and insightfullness for your year. I agree with you for the positive ambitions you have for the new year.

If you want me or our prayer team to agree with your specific prayers and goals for this year, send them to us here. You can leave it anonymously or ask me to leave your name out of the request if you prefer. I usually only use first names anyway.

Happy New Year my friends!

Holiness & Santa Claus

Ivey Rorie On December 23, 2024 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Santa Claus is certainly not the holiest image I could send you for a Christmas message. However, there are several reasons I like this image and chose it for you today.

First, I simply wanted to send some cheer and whimsy into your life today. If this picture invoked a smile, then I am satisfied.

Secondly, and the more important reason, I just love a guy who has devoted his life to giving and making other people’s lives more cheery. In the simplicity of my theology, Santa speaks to me some of the messages that Jesus imparted. Santa brings joy and hope. He goes about doing good, leaving a trail of smiles in his wake.

I recognize that people have real problems. That is precisely why the idea of Santa (which means holy) is comforting. In this lighter view of the Christmas celebration, our hearts open to the real meaning of Christmas. In my view, Santa is the embodiment of who we all are when we embrace the love and message of Jesus. Few better typify the love and generosity of our holy father and His dear son than Santa. We don’t always have to take ourselves so seriously. It is okay to enjoy the simple things and sometimes, if you look, they are the easiest ways to find our beloved.

So, I hope this picture brings you a smile. I hope your heart feels light and full of joy. I pray it ministers God’s pure love to your heart. I pray you have a blessed Christmas with Jesus so close to you that you hear his voice and feel his love. Merry Christmas!

The Good News

Ivey Rorie On December 16, 2024 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Malachi 3: 10 – 11

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts.

I promised you good news last Monday. Last week’s message was pretty hard and the whole topic is uncomfortable for some folks, BUT here is the good news, and don’t you know that the gospel is Good News? Everything God said is for our benefit.

So now this section of Malachi 3 is just as loud to me as last week’s passage. God comes right out and tells us why He has made this requirement. And that is not like God. He doesn’t usually tell us why He wants us to do a thing. We are supposed to just trust Him and do as He says. He tells us here that we are the ones that supply His house.

Then, no sooner does He gets these words out of His mouth than He starts making some BIG promises: 1) He will open the windows of heaven for you, 2) He will pour out a blessing on you so huge that you will not be able to contain it and, 3) He will rebuke the devourer for you. Now, any one of those is enough but all three is really above and beyond.

I want you to see and understand that the promises He makes are part of the same sentence as the dictate to bring the tithe into the church and the explanation of why He gave the directive in the first place. In other words, in the same breath He starts telling you about the benefit to you when you stock the storehouse of God. The reason these are all together is that provision for you is the reason He wants you to give in the first place. He is telling you something for your own good. He is so adamant about this that He invites you to test Him in this. Isn’t that remarkable? Wow! God wants you to put Him to the test. He wants to bless you, and He wants to protect your seed and your harvest. He is trying to show you how His kingdom operates. He is trying to get you to let Him into your finances so that He can be the cultivator and protector of your harvest.

You see, we are in covenant with God. When you take care of the finances of His house, you have just invited and given permission to Him to take care of the finances of your house. It really is that simple. That is what He is trying to get over to us. He is trying to get something to you, not something from you. He wants to stand in your garden and protect it from the devourer. You have sown seed when you give into God’s house, so you are due a harvest. He is going to watch over that crop until the harvest if full and ripe. That is what it means when he says your vines won’t cast their grapes or fruit. Fruit which has fallen off of the vine is no good. It needs to stay on the vine until it is ripe, receiving nutrients, and then it is picked at the height of maturity.

If we could really grasp this, I mean really get it down into our hearts and into our understanding, we would never hesitate to give to God. No, we would give with great joy and excitement. When you are a tither, you can make a demand on God’s resources. When hard economic times come, you know with confidence that your harvest is protected by God. You will increase while others decrease because your wealth is tied to God rather than to the economy. If something bad heads in your direction, you will have the boldness to stand strong in the promises of God. You won’t have to ask God about your finances. That is already handled. You will just stand firm with that shield of faith out in front of you declaring and decreeing the Word of God.

So tithing is good news. Tithing is good for you. It was designed to bless you and protect your finances. It is part of God’s kingdom resources. You need to be a tither today more than anytime in the past. I know it is tough when you first start, but start. Get involved in God’s economic system. Don’t let another day go by that you don’t tell God you want in. If you don’t have an income, find something, anything to sow into His kingdom. You can always give time. You can probably find something of value in your house that will really bless someone else. Just do whatever you need to do in order to become part of God’s economy. Get in on His system today.

Eeeek, Not that!

Ivey Rorie On December 9, 2024 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Malachi 3: 8 – 9

“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed Thee?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you.”

Let me talk to you about tithing and let me encourage you to hold on for the good news. Tithing is a very unpopular topic and many people do not want to teach about it. It is hard for your pastor to talk to you about it so here, perhaps, we can look at tithing Biblically in an unthreatening environment. I say unthreatening but that is God speaking in the verse above and it is pretty frightening if you read thoughtfully.

I don’t think God leaves a lot of room for discussion here. As a matter of fact, He is talking about more than tithing. He says He is being robbed in tithes and offerings too. The tithe is the first 10% of your income. Technically “tithe” means ten percent. And it is supposed to be the first ten percent. That means we are supposed to tithe on gross income folks. I know you don’t want to hear that, but it just is what it is and our discomfort doesn’t change God’s word.

Now I know some of you are having a hard time wrapping your head around that, so you are really going to love this next part. It is clear from this passage that God expects us to give above and beyond the tithe. Otherwise, He would not talk about offerings. He even says that He is being robbed in offerings. That indicates that the offerings are His. So, when we don’t give them to Him, we are stealing from Him. Come on! That is strong God! And yet, day after day we look at promise after promise that He has given us. The fact that He requires a little something of us really shouldn’t cause us so much heartburn. But there is little that is more controversial and misunderstood of Biblical principles. People really don’t want to hear that God wants them to give something. Isn’t that amazing with all that He has given us, wants to give us and has promised us. It’s not like He is asking for 90% and asking us to live on 10%.

I know that many of your churches have different doctrines regarding tithes, offerings and pledges, but just ask yourself this one question. From where did those doctrines arise? Are they purely from the church’s need to finance its programs? Was there a divine source? If it came from God, how can it contradict His word?

I know this really challenges some of you but there are very good reasons God has required the tithe of us. Yeah, I know some of you will say that tithing is from the “Old Testament” or the “Old Covenant.” I honestly don’t think that even deserves a response but for those of you who are sincere rather than just looking for an excuse not to tithe or give gifts let me give you two things to think about.

If the Old Testament people who were under compulsion from the law gave 10 percent of their income, how much more should we who are under grace, who have received the gift of the Christ, give? Secondly, all those promises that we cling to, that we believe and that we hold up to God, many of those are in the Old Testament too. Do you expect all of those promises to have passed away? Of course not! That would be ridiculous. The Bible says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever,” (Hebrews 13: 8) and that is New Testament. The truth is, the things that make us uncomfortable we claim passed away somehow but the parts we like, we keep.

Lastly, why am I bothering to teach you about this? Not because I want to but because God wants you informed. He wants you to tithe. I do not stand to gain from you embracing this teaching. Most of you have a home church to which you will give your tithe. Others of you, I know, are supporting many ministries. I want you to learn this because I want you blessed and I want this entire nation to grow in the glory and blessing of our Lord. But here is the thing, it begins with you.

Refuge

Ivey Rorie On December 2, 2024 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

2 Samuel 22: 31

He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

I want you to know that God has provided protection for you nine ways from Sunday. Everywhere you look in His word has the promise of His protection. He is a refuge, a shield, a strong fortress. He sends angels to look after you. He has sent His son and now He has sent His Holy Spirit. Everything He is and has is laid at your feet.

Now here is the rub. There always seems to be a contributory factor for which we are responsible. Last week’s scripture told us to listen to Him and that those who do shall live securely. Today’s scripture tells us that we must take refuge in Him for His protection to operate for us. Now this isn’t meant so that you can become confounded, frustrated and worried. It really is as simple as His building a fortress for you and you deciding whether or not you will avail yourself of it.

Imagine medieval times and God has built a strong, walled city. Some people build their homes outside the city walls though. None the less, in times of trouble they are allowed, even expected to withdraw within the protective walls of the city. This is such a good image of the protection the Lord has provided. Some people actually are going to choose to sit outside as marauding invaders approach rather than take advantage of the protection provided for them. Is that nuts? And then when those brigands fall on them, who do the people blame? They blame God, of course? You hear it all of the time. “Why did God let this happen to us?” He didn’t. He provided a fortified city for you to dwell in. It is not His fault if we are too proud or foolish to avail ourselves of it.

We must look to the Lord as our fortress and our refuge in times of need. If we constantly look to the things of the world for protection and to solve our problems, then we are effectively shutting God out. It is like sitting outside the gates. Just run into His city and allow Him to defend you. Look to Him instead of governments and other human agencies to be your guard. When you see a threat on the horizon, talk to Him first. He has already prepared an answer for you. He loves you and wants to help you in all things.

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