Partnership II

On September 19, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 2: 6 -7

For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.

The Word of the Day you read last Monday was written back during the summer. Since then, I have thought about and talked with God about partnership a good deal. This verse resonates with me within the concept of partnership.

I asked the Father how this partnership works. I see how He works with me but is my example the only way He partners with us or even the single most significant way. God answered me by showing me his storehouse of wisdom.

His wisdom is one of the ways He leads us. Imagine beginning a project of any type or even beginning your day. What if Father began your day by giving you His wisdom. I will tell you what happens. You end up spending your time more wisely. You are more likely to have the right things to say in a situation which moves your goals forward and again, helps you save time because you get to your goal more quickly. You don’t end up having three meetings. Instead, one gets the job done and that is a big deal. Also, you end up at the right place at the right time when you have His wisdom. I cannot tell you the number of times I have run into someone I needed to see just because I allowed the Father to arrange my day.

Of course, there are two bits to this infusion of Godly wisdom. Although, He has stored it up for us and desires to give it to us we must first ask for it. God will not thrust His wisdom upon you any more than He will impose His will on you. You are a sovereign being in His sight. Therefore, we must ask Him and do so daily.

Second, we must listen. I find this can be an incredible challenge because it requires us first, to slow down. I have trouble with pausing, just like you do. I can say though, that my life works much better if I slow down, inquire of the Father and then take the time to listen. Also, some of us have so much noise in our heads that we find it difficult to discern the Father’s voice out of the cacophony within. I could teach an entire series on this topic. In fact, I have taught on how to quiet yourself down and how to hear God’s voice. Search the devotionals on our website and let them speak to you. Or, you have my email address.

Press the pause button of your life, ask the Father to give you His wisdom, ask for His guidance today and then quiet your mind and listen. Breathe. Let the Father do His part which is to guide you with His vast storehouse of wisdom. He is the wisdom and the plan. You are the hands and feet. Let Him instruct you. Then, all your ways will prosper. I believe!

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Partnership

On September 12, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 115: 16

The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of mankind.

This is the first verse I should have used in the healing verse series because if we do not understand this verse and the premise it holds, then we shall fail in our partnership with the Lord.

Consider this verse, “I can do nothing on My own,” (John 5: 30). These are the words of Jesus. And yet, we know that Jesus did perform. He was successful in life and ministry. So, how do we reconcile this dilemma?

If you search the Ivey Ministries website under the Daily Devotional tab for the word “Partnership” you will find the search returns no less than 7 pages of Words of the Day that dealt with the concept of partnering with God. In fact, I have written before that the story of Hezekiah reveals God’s desire to partner with us as an Old Testament model for a modern world (Praying the Will of God, August 4, 2014). Since that time, I have continuously taught that God’s will is to work hand in hand with us. Indeed, this concept of partnership was a central theme to Jesus’ message. He came teaching that the Father would come to live in us, with us, and that together nothing would be impossible to us.

None the less, we have difficulty grasping this truth. The reason is that most of us have not been taught this reality. We have been taught trivialities and cliches which have failed us and the world. Words like, “Well, if it’s God’s will, I guess He’ll heal me.” By now we know God’s will is to heal so that is not the issue. In fact, the Bible reveals God’s will in all things. We don’t have to guess, and we don’t need trite statements to throw to the wind.

The truth is, that it is easier for us to pretend we have put a problem in God’s hands and left it there, but there are two problems with this. First, I don’t see that most people leave their problems with God. They make a prayerful show of it but then as soon as possible, they take the problem back by worrying, fretting and generally getting all mixed up in the minutiae of the problem. The second problem with this is that God never said for us to sit on the sidelines and cheer or whine while He fixes the problem. You know this verse, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,” (Philippians 4: 13). Who can do all things? You can, but only through He who strengthens you. Jesus said even he could do nothing on his own, but in his Father, he made the blind to see, the lame to walk and much, much more. He could do all things in partnership with his Father but nothing on his own.

We have relegated our responsibility in the partnership to empty phrases. We pray one time, not seeking God’s wisdom or instruction, but rather whining and begging for Him to do something. What did God answer Moses? “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward,” (Exodus 14: 15). God wanted Moses to get up and do his part.
God has a part to play, and we have a part to play. This is true in healing, finances, and everything we do. He will guide us and give us His wisdom. We have failed so often because we don’t do our part. Then we blame God because we didn’t get the result we wanted. Some people even fall away from God. We give a bad example to the world. They are watching us to see our God in action, but we are failing to listen to Him and work with Him. We want to have Him fix all our problems by saying one prayer. Well, occasionally one prayer will work, but more often than not, God has a bigger plan for us, and it involves us getting our hands dirty. We may have to pray every day. We may have to meditate daily over the scriptures. We may even have to read our Bibles.

I am telling you this today because I see too many Christians led astray by wrong teaching. I do not understand how people can read the scriptures and then teach the crazy things they do. Maybe they get their sermons from a book rather than from the Holy Spirit. I don’t know but it worries me. If you are sick or have any other big challenge, you need to know that God is for you and wants to help you. However, you also need to know that He is working in you, with you and through you. It’s work I tell you. It’s life. God doesn’t work through magic. He works through faith!

God has given the earth to us. It was His to give. He expects us to rule in this earth. In fact, He has limited Himself in the earth by giving us authority and power. It is important for us to understand that everything with God is in partnership. The good news is that He is the senior partner and has all the answers. All we have to do is plug into Him. We must model Jesus who, though he could do nothing on his own, was supremely powerful when he followed the Father.

Please, if you do not understand the divine partnership of which I write today, reach out to me. You can also run the same search on my website that I did and find many writings on the subject. If you need an answer to prayer, if you need God’s help then seek because I can promise you that if you seek, you shall find.

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Speaking Wisdom

On September 5, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 2: 6 -7

For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.

I asked the Lord for a bit of good news to send today, and He showed me this. I know this will be a word of great comfort to many who receive it today. God is right there in your situation with you, and He has wisdom, knowledge and understanding for you. Isn’t that great? What an encouragement. God does not intend for you to plod through this earth and through your life uniformed. He does not expect you to blunder about until you stumble over the answers you need. His idea is that He give you the wisdom, knowledge and understanding that you need. He has it stored up for you, for just this day.

Now, how are you to receive this wisdom from God? Well, you are probably not going to get your Word of wisdom from the TV. One thing you can do is what I did today. I asked God for what I wanted and then I opened my Bible and there it was. Now that is the number one way God is going to communicate with you. If you never open that book you are going to have a hard time.

God also speaks to us in our own internal ear. You have a thought; you hear a thought go through your head and realize that it was not your thought. That was God talking with you. That is how He does it. You have got to shut down the noise in your environment and your mind, though, to allow that communication. God will also speak to you through other people. Maybe the “Word of the Day” reaches you and it was just what you needed to hear. Perhaps your preacher teaches like he or she has been reading your mail. God uses people, especially those dedicated to Him, to give you exactly what you need.

First, realize that God has stored up wisdom for you. Know that it is His intent that you draw from His storehouse. Then talk with Him. Tell Him what you need and want. You are why He built and filled the storehouse in the first place. Lastly, listen. Listen to your pastors, teachers and preachers. Listen to what God may be saying to your own ear. And open your Bible. Be attentive to listening because God is going to supply your need.

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Lord, Lord

On August 29, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 6: 46

And why do you call Me “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say?

Jesus is the most kind, most compassionate person any of us know, yet He is not afraid to tell it like it is. And this is pretty plain language. Jesus is not impressed with lip service. A person can bow and kowtow all he wants. He can say Jesus is his Lord until the cows come home, but none of that matters to Jesus. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. What are you doing?

In John 14: 21 Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me.” In other words, show your fealty by obeying His commands. Do what He has said. Did He say love one another even as He has loved us? (John 13: 34). Hasn’t He said, give generously and judge not (Luke 6)? Then those words should guide our actions. Jesus is the Word (John 1). Are we doing what the Word says?

Now just in case Jesus had not made himself plain enough in Luke 6, listen to His words in Matthew 7: 21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”

Jesus wants us to honor Him by doing what He says to do. He doesn’t want us just to tell Him how much we love Him, but rather to demonstrate it by doing what He says and by loving others. Being a deacon at the church doesn’t buy you into heaven. Following the Words of Jesus is what matters. Do you want to please Jesus? Do you want to be one of the people of whom Jesus says, “He/she loves me?” Then follow His words.  Obey His commands.

Action Thought: What one area can you improve in today?
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Will He or Won’t He?

On August 22, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 6: 7

And the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely, to see if He healed on the Sabbath.

On one particular Sabbath Jesus was teaching in the temple. Present was a man with a withered hand. The amazing thing about this scripture to me is that the Pharisees and scribes were not watching to see if Jesus could heal the man with the withered hand. They were watching to see if Jesus would. They were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus.

Interestingly, this is at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He had not even chosen the twelve apostles at this time. None the less, people were certain of His ability to heal. The fact that no one questioned His ability and willingness to heal is an absolute wonder to me. Verse 19 really speaks to this:

And all the multitude were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.

They expected Jesus to heal them. People flocked to Him in order to be healed and delivered. Here’s my question. Isn’t this the same Jesus that is our Lord and Savior? Isn’t He still alive today? Even Jesus’ enemies expected Him to heal the sick. Their only question was whether or not He would heal on the Sabbath. Well, we certainly don’t have a problem with Jesus healing on the Sabbath if He is going to heal at all, but do we expect Him to heal us? And what would happen if we really did start expecting Him to touch our lives with His power? What if we showed up to church expecting God to touch us? Has the power that was coming from Jesus expired? No, it is the same Holy Spirit. I think it is just that our believing has waned. Stir yourself up. Stir up your faith in the Jesus that does good works. Let us all invite his power back into our lives and our services. Let’s believe in Him again like the people of old and let us receive His goodness and pass it on to others.

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From Glory to Glory

On August 15, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   1 Comment

Luke 6: 12

And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

If it was good enough for Jesus, then it is good enough for me. That is a slogan we could all well adopt and frankly it is the way most of us approach situations now even if we don’t articulate it that way. Specifically, I am talking about two things that I glean from this passage.

First of all, note that Jesus went off by himself at times. He isolated himself from all distractions so that he could spend quality time with Dad. When all of the weight of the world is pressing on you, and you have about a hundred things on your “to do” list running through your mind, it is very difficult to have quality time with the Lord. Sometimes you simply need to get away to a quiet spot where there are fewer distractions. You need to turn off your telephones and televisions and let some peace enter your space. It is challenging to hear God speak to you when you have constant noise in your mind and your environment.

Secondly, Jesus found it necessary to pray all night long. Isn’t that something? You would think that the Son of God wouldn’t have to work so hard. So many people think that Jesus got his power and his holiness by birth, but they would be wrong. He got his humanity from his birth. His holiness he got from committing his time and effort to communing with the Almighty. He treated our Father with honor by dedicating time with Him. He needed that closeness. But then we all do. If we truly want to walk as Jesus walked; if we really want a high calling on our lives and deeply desire to do the work that the Lord has called us to, then we are going to have to get committed to spending time with our God and Father. We need the Word of God sown into our lives and we need prayer time. Every once in a while, it wouldn’t hurt any of us to take a whole day, or all night as Jesus did, to pray to the Father. Only when we finally dedicate ourselves to a devoted walk with the Father are we going to finally see His glory manifest in our lives.

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Unusual Kindness

On August 8, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 6: 35

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great; and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

Jesus says a lot in this short passage. It is a summation of the previous several paragraphs. He is giving us a model for living. This is the way He and His Father interact with others. Jesus tells us that God is kind to ungrateful and evil men as a way of showing us that we, being made in the image of God, should behave in like manner.

Anyone can be kind to those who are kind to them, but the life of Jesus calls us to a higher plane of existence. Jesus wants us to be like Him. To do so, we must expect more of ourselves than the simple life that anyone can accomplish. We should aspire to the high life, and that is the life and likeness of Jesus.

We need to love even when it is uncomfortable. We must learn to not only forgive those who transgress against us but also to pray for them; and moreover to pray from a generous and kind heart. We should learn to give generously, especially when there is no hope of a return. It is not a gift if you are expecting something in return. It is an investment. God, on the other hand, gives even to those who hate Him. He would have given His son even if there was only one person on earth and that person hated Him with the full strength of his being. Our God is a loving God, and we are seeking to be just like Him. Therefore, we must give from our heart love, goodness and every good thing, expecting nothing in return but just to please the Father.

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