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Blessing is a Choice

Ivey Rorie On April 5, 2018 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Deuteronomy 28: 2, 45 NIV

All these blessing will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God. 45 All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord you God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.

He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11: 28 (NIV).

I call on heaven and earth as witnesses today that I have offered you life or death, blessings or curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants will live. Deuteronomy 30: 19 (GW).

Lest we be deceived, thinking God has changed His tune since we are living in the New Testament, I included the words of Jesus from the gospel of Luke. There is blessing in obedience. No one wants to hear this, I know. Obedience is not at the top of our favored subjects. We should not mourn, though. There is plenty of good news here. Yes, if we do not obey, the curse, which is in the land, will overtake us. You do know that there is a curse out there, right? It came with the fall of humanity, but God’s blessing is bigger than the curse. And, it is elective. Anyone who chooses to participate in the blessing, rather than the curse, can. We learn that from Deuteronomy 30: 19. God allows us to choose. So, we can choose to be blessed and why wouldn’t we?

Well, because the price is obedience and, honestly, our generation has a problem with being told what to do, even by God. We are very self-aware and self-guided. That is the choice we make. Will we humble ourselves to the direction of the Lord, or will we adhere to our own form of wisdom? The answer seems obvious, doesn’t it, but if you observe the world around you, I think you will find very few people who are actually submitted to the Lord.

The other question which must be addressed is, “What, or whom, are we to obey?” Jesus answered that question in Luke. We must first humble ourselves to hearing and receiving the Word of God. Then we obey what the Word says. That’s it. Listen and obey. It sounds easy but it requires slaying our egos and that is hard. Still, I think I would rather have the blessing than build an altar to my already over-inflated ego. What about you?!

One Thing

Ivey Rorie On April 5, 2018 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Luke 10: 40 – 42

But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

I seem to come back to this verse every year or two. There is a gold mine here if we can unearth it.

I want to show you another translation as well. This is from the Passion translation. A friend of mine shared this translation with me. If you are not looking at it, you may want to. “The Lord answered her, ‘Martha, my beloved Martha. Why are you upset and troubled, pulled away by all these many distractions? Are they really that important? Mary has discovered the one thing most important by choosing to sit at my feet. She is undistracted, and I won’t take this privilege from her.”

The disciples were staying at Mary and Martha’s house. Martha was busy trying to serve everyone while her sister, Mary, parked herself at Jesus’ feet and listening to him. Martha was incensed that Mary was enjoying Jesus’ presence when there was so much work to be done. What did Jesus say, though? He honored Mary’s pursuit of the one thing, which is, of course, him.

The word for us today is that we need to do as Mary did, seek his presence, listen to his voice. All of the other stuff are just distractions which, like Martha, pull us away from Christ. I know I often get mentally wrapped up in all the things I think I need to do and all that is going on in my life. I have learned to write down the to’ do’s so that my mind can be free. I have also discovered that many of the things that seem important at the time don’t actually matter at all. Some of the things I fret about getting done would go unnoticed if I didn’t do them at all. The One Thing, the thing which is important, is seeking Jesus. It’s not just about spending time with him. Many of us translate that into reading our bibles which is possible to do without Christ. No, the one thing is seeking his face and actually spending time increasing in relationship with him.

Matthew 6: 33 reads, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The things, both material and non-material, which you need, are in him. He is the answer, so all answers are in him. Don’t seek the answers, seek him. When you do, you will have the answers. You will also find the material you need to build your dreams, take care of your family and give to others.

These are such simple verses, simplistic even. Yet, I think the wealth of revelation in them could radically change our lives if we could see the truth in them. There truly is only one thing which is important. When we set our hearts and minds on deepening our relationship with Jesus, when we seek his presence, then many of the other things take care of themselves. He is the power which fuels our day. Put the one thing in place and all the other things will fall into place.

Confidence

Ivey Rorie On April 4, 2018 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Romans 5: 5 GW

We’re not ashamed to have this confidence, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Can we truly be confident in the Lord, so confident that it shows? The love of God brings hope and we will not be disappointed in our hope because God has given us the Holy Spirit. Did you know that one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to pour love into our hearts? He pours, not dribbles. A great volume of love is available to anyone who will receive. This love brings confidence.

We have confidence that God will never leave us nor forsake us because He poured out His Spirit to us. His Spirit lives in us so God is bound to us. He has chosen to be bound to us. We cannot be separated from Him because His Spirit is in us. That is a powerful statement. Therefore, nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8: 39). Surely this truth yields hope, a hope which leads to confident expectation.

Look at this verse from the New Living Translation, “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Is that not special? Here is the Passion version, “And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!”

Just think, it was God’s choice that provides us with a never-ending flow of His love. No one coerced Him. He came up with the idea and the plan. So, our confidence is in His love because He offered it freely even while we were yet lost. When we did not love Him, He devised a plan to furnish us with an everlasting, endless supply of His love and His love never fails. We should have confidence in that love. It is reliable and we can trust in it.

Let your hope in God’s love fill your heart with confidence. There is no guesswork here. God has given Himself to you because He wanted to. If He would give you His Spirit, and His Spirit is constantly pouring the love of God into your heart, what would the Father deny you? He has given the best, why not the rest?

Law and Life

Ivey Rorie On April 3, 2018 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Matthew 12: 1 – 2

At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Behold, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.”

Whoa! This is major bad news! Jesus, he whom we hold up as perfect, as having never sinned, broke the law. He and his disciples did not keep to the law regarding the Sabbath. The law says, “For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death” (Exodus 31: 15).

How many times have we read over this without even pausing to consider the significance? For myself the answer is, many times. This passage is right here in the middle of the first book of the New Testament; in the gospels. It would seem to have calamitous results for our faith. So, what gives?

Jesus’ answer is contained in verses three through eight but the substance of it is in verse seven, “But if you had known what this means, I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE, you would not have condemned the innocent.” What does he mean by this and how does this answer the problem of the law?

The answer is found in 1 John 4: 8, “God is love.” Compassion has greater weight in the Kingdom of God than law. I am not disregarding the law, only showing that there is something superior and that is the love of God which is most clearly demonstrated in acts of grace. Jesus came to bring God’s Kingdom to earth, but what is His Kingdom? Here we see that God values grace over law. He sent Jesus so that we could be free from the curse of the law.

How many of us stand in the same shoes as the Pharisees? I know that I have in the past. When confronted with someone who was engaged in an adulterous affair, all I could see was the law. It is very, very hard not to be so hide bound that all you can see is the letter of the law applied to the situation. Where does grace fit in here? What does love have to do with it and why was Jesus not put to death for his violation of the law? How does compassion apply to this situation and who are the innocents of whom Jesus speaks?

The Pharisees had them dead to rights. Why didn’t they prosecute? Even the Pharisees were forestalled by Jesus’ response. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (v. 8) which means what Jesus brought into the earth is a higher law than the law of Moses. Jesus reminded the Pharisees, who knew the law, what was recorded in Hosea 6: 6, “For what I desire is mercy, not sacrifices.” Mercy, grace and compassion, those are the laws of the Kingdom of God. They are a higher law than anything else.

This, I believe, is what Jesus was trying to tell us in this passage. We have a tendency towards strict application of the law to all people other than ourselves. We get a revelation of grace when we are in the hot seat, but it is considerably harder when we look upon others. Why were the actions of Jesus and his disciples not sin? Because the higher law stepped in. God’s mercy and Jesus’ lordship are bigger than the law. There is a higher law in the land now, one that is rooted in the love and compassion of God. Jesus came to set us free from the bondage of the law so that we too can walk in the grace of our Lord. This explains why the fruit of the Spirit and the characteristics of God are shown in kindness, goodness, gentleness, etc. When we are able to really wrap our heads around this, we will understand a great deal about the Kingdom of God. I would say this is a great passage to meditate on and even to journal. Ask the Father to explain this to your heart, “How can Jesus be sin free when he broke the law?” The answer is as big as God Himself and will completely revolutionize the church if we can grasp it. Herein lies the Kingdom of God in its glory. Partake of His goodness in full.

No Worries

Ivey Rorie On April 2, 2018 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Psalm 94: 19 Names of God Bible (NOG)

When I worried about many things, your assuring words soothed my soul.

How about some reassurance this Monday morning? It’s the day after Easter, Resurrection Sunday, and we have renewed belief in the power of the resurrection and the glory of the Lord. He is alive and present. His resurrection and the power that raised him confirms in our hearts that he is with us, even until the end of the age. Now why should he be continually present in our lives if not to help us and comfort us?

I noted the psalmist, didn’t write that when he prayed about his troubles, God soothed him. While I believe that would be inevitable, it is comforting to know that God soothes even our troubled thoughts. Not only that, it is clear that God spoke to him because he wrote that it was God’s assuring words that soothed him. God was on hand in the moment of need.

It is easy to get bogged down in a mountain of worries. Jesus acknowledged that each day has enough worries of its own. The power of the Trinity in our lives, though, is to carry those burdens for us. Peter told us to cast all our cares upon the Lord because He cares for us. So, we mustn’t be weighed down with the cares of the world but instead set our eyes on him, the author and perfecter of our faith. Seek the Kingdom of God while Jesus bears the weight of problems for you. It may sound irresponsible, but this is New Testament faith, union with the Holy Trinity so integrated that our problems are theirs as well. Jesus gives us his glory and takes our troubles. It’s not fair but it sure is good.

Listen to the heart of the Lord today. He is calling you into a new place with Him. It is the first day of new life today. Let him speak soothing and reassuring words into your ears. He loves you, you know. Just let him show you today. Be blessed.

The Living One

Ivey Rorie On March 30, 2018 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Luke 24: 5

Why do you seek the living One among the dead?

Oh my! This literally made me laugh out loud this week. As Easter is upon us, I was reading all of the accounts of the resurrection. A number of things struck me, but this was loudest. The angels that spoke to the two Mary’s framed the resurrection beautifully, if ironically. They stood in Jesus’ tomb as harbingers of the good news of his resurrection.

He is alive. That is the good news. He is alive today too. I think we lose track of that sometimes as we pour over the historical record of him. He got up from his tomb and he took his body with him. He came back from death to life. Hallelujah. He wasn’t just raised from the dead into a mortal body that would again suffer death. No, he overcame death. He has authority over death and he is alive and well.

So, if, as the angels indicated, Mary and Mary were looking for him in the wrong place, where should we look for him today? Among the living is the obvious answer. He is real. He is not some ethereal entity with no understanding of life on earth. He is God who walked the earth, suffered as we do, and knows the trials we face. He has retained the experiences. He understands. So, we seek him as we seek a real, alive person but, he does not occupy physical space in the earth the same way others do. He doesn’t have a physical location where his body resides and that is where we become challenged.

Let me offer you this. He is literally everywhere. He is right there with you right now. Become aware of your surroundings for a moment. There is life all around you, right? I am not being metaphorical when I say, “He is the life.” He is with you, seated right next to you. His presence is in the air around you. We are not always sensitive to the spiritual beings which occupy the same space we do but he is there. Just believe it.

He is the light. Every time you see a speck of light, remind yourself that is Jesus. He is the Word. Do you want more of him in you and around you? Put the Word in the air. You can play Christian music or even have the Bible read aloud to you. Grasp this though, wherever there is life, there Jesus is. He is in every molecule on the planet. He gives motion to the atoms.

Do you think the two Mary’s perspective changed when the angel told them, “He is not hear, but He has risen?” They ran back to the others and told them the good news. They became the very first people to spread the gospel. Yeah, I think their entire attitude changed. They went from grief to exultation and great joy. So, shall it be when we get a clear perspective of “He is alive.” Our grief shall also turn to joy as we understand that he is with us, right now. He is not on a cross. He is not laying in a tomb. He is the risen Lord who died to give you abundant life.

This Easter, I hope you celebrate a bigger revelation of Christ with you. I pray it fills you with joy. Neither hell nor the grave could crush him and he won’t let them crush you. The living one is with you. Amen.

Prideful

Ivey Rorie On March 29, 2018 / Word of the Day / Leave a comment

Ezekiel 16: 49 CEB

This is the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were proud, had plenty to eat, and enjoyed peace and prosperity; but she didn’t help the poor and the needy.

You know what happened to Sodom, don’t you? The city was obliterated from the face of the earth. What was her crime? The Complete Jewish Bible tells us clearly, “The crimes of your sister S’dom were pride and gluttony; she and her daughters were careless and complacent, so that they did nothing to help the poor and needy.”

Did you know that pride was a sin? What about gluttony? Now that definitely hits below the belt. Sodom was prosperous. Her people had plenty and although they lacked for nothing, their hearts were hard, so that they did nothing to help the poor or the needy.

Does that really sound so different from our towns and cities today? How about the church? Are we, as the church, doing much to help the poor and needy? We can even reduce this analysis to the individual level and ask ourselves how well we are doing at helping others. The New American Standard Bible says that the people of Sodom were arrogant. They were so blessed in their prosperity and peace that they became arrogant. They began to think they were responsible for their wealth and expected other people to make their own way too.

It’s a funny thing. Sometimes when we have much, we become more greedy than those who have less. That is what happened to Sodom. They horded their wealth rather than helping to meet the needs of others.

It’s too late for Sodom but not for us. We have a chance to do something about our fate and that of those less fortunate than ourselves. At every level we can change our perspective and begin to give to others. Our churches can greatly impact their communities. We must change our consumer culture and become one of charity. With our tithes and offerings, even our local churches can have a great impact. Ask yourself, what you can do to effect change. We should all begin with prayer and with seeking God. We should trust Him to show us new paths and we can follow those paths to an entirely different way of living, one which does not only consume the blessing but instead spreads the blessing to those less fortunate. Let’s allow this to sink in and then let’s all find ways to initiate change.

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