Sin and Salvation

On February 12, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Last week we had a Word on the worship of self and self-power, something we tend to call willpower. However, salvation is not something you do. It is something Jesus did. The point being, salvation is not a matter of willpower.

What, then, is sin? Sin is anything that displaces Jesus’ rightful place. So, you can see from this an assertion I made last week. It is not a far reach to say that willpower is sin because it replaces Jesus as the power to salvation.

I used to think of sin this way, “Sin is doing anything Jesus told me not to do or not doing anything he told me to do.” On the surface, that sounds like a pretty decent definition, but it is off about a mile and a half. Why? It is because that definition applies to actions. It is behavioral. Sin is in the heart. You see, if we let Jesus fix our hearts, sin will not be a problem. My former definition relies on my willpower, my strength and conviction rather than the transformative power of Jesus.

This is why the modern evangelical movement sometimes fails. It relies on a misunderstanding of God, Jesus and love. If we could begin to fathom even the most superficial meaning of John 3: 16, we could help millions of people find salvation. Salvation is found in the love of Jesus and God the Father, and it is only in that love that any of us are saved. If we have tried to be “good;” if we have tried to be saints, then we have failed because salvation isn’t in the behaviors, and it most certainly is not in the power of our self. Will and power belong to God and Him alone. When we try to be good in our own power that is a loud declaration that we don’t need God. Have you not read where Jesus said, “No one is good but God alone,” (Mark 10: 18). None of us are good. Jesus rejected being called good so why are we struggling to be good. No, the only good is in our surrender to Jesus and our Father. In them, we are righteous. Our will and our power have nothing to do with it.

So, how do we tell others of this salvation? There are essentially two camps. There is the fire and brimstone camp and the love camp. The love camp sounds like a bunch of hippies. The fire and brimstone camp at least sounds righteous, right? It tells us to clean up our act and be saved. Otherwise, we are going to hell. However, I would argue this approach is vanity and borderline insanity. Even the world knows that you catch a lot more flies with honey. How can we hear that saying over and over again and yet not understand its meaning? It has become a cliché for a reason. Is the threat of going to hell an effective evangelical tool? Is it kind? Is it loving? Where does “For God so loved the world” fit into that paradigm? Better still, do we believe that a person will fall in love with Jesus if their motivation is simply to avoid hell? This is ludicrous. Salvation exists because of love. I doubt anyone will fall in love with Jesus because we threaten them with hell.

Salvation and evangelism, I believe, can be summed up this way – it is loving God and loving people. Furthermore, to demand that people act a certain way or clean up their behaviors so that God can save them flies in the face of everything the New Testament teaches. We ask people to control themselves, which is an act of self-will. Why do we need Jesus to save us if we can save ourselves through our acts of self will? It is the fact that we could not save ourselves that sent Jesus to earth, so to ask people, not to give their hearts to Jesus, but to police their behaviors is to deny his saving power and to functionally elevate themselves to Jesus’ throne through self-determination rather than surrender.

We’ve got this sin and salvation thing completely on its head. Do you want to lead someone to salvation? Tell them how much Jesus and Yahweh love them. Tell them about the great love, acceptance and forgiveness. And for yourself, don’t try to be righteous, just surrender and you will be. Don’t fight against a sin problem. Give it to Jesus. Let him fight it. You just get under his wing and let him be your savior.

There is no sin problem in love. Love is the great corrector and healer. If you truly love Jesus, if you get your heart right before him, sin will lose its hold on you. It is in the surrender to him, the letting go of your control and power. It’s one of the hardest things to do but this is what it means to be Jesus’ disciple. That is what you want, right?

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Give it Up!

On February 5, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 2: 22 & 24

In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self . . . and put on the new self.

Here we are in February. How are you doing on your New Year’s Resolutions? How is your willpower holding out? Well, here’s the deal, willpower isn’t the thing anyway. In fact, one might go so far to say that it is rebellion from God.

We are not supposed to be self-willed. I think you can see that in the verse above. We are supposed to be people who are surrendered to God. We are instructed to lay aside our old self and the power we think we have. “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord,” (Zechariah 4: 6). Christians are supposed to succeed not by their own might, nor by their own power but by the Spirit of the Lord. So, willpower is the exact opposite of the power we are meant to employ.

Every year we condemn and criticize ourselves because our willpower has failed us. Or, even worse, maybe we enjoy some success by utilizing the force of our own will. That, my beloved, is the greatest failure of all, and it grieves me. I hear people summoning up their will to accomplish some task and I know they will ultimately experience the greatest failure of all.

Success is in surrender. I know this will make you uncomfortable. It does me as well but then, I find that a great many of the things our Father asks of me make me uncomfortable, initially. It is more comfortable to rely on our own strength and determination than to meekly and humbly surrender control to anyone, even God. It takes humility in our hearts and honesty to surrender control to God. It is truly a humbling experience. It is also one of those experiences which is best lived daily. Every time we surrender a bit of ourselves, if we are honest and truly give in to the process, we find there is more surrender needed.

Our greatest strength is in admitting we have none. Even Jesus said he could do nothing without the Father and yet somehow, we believe we can lose weight, resist sin, be kind to others, and so on, in our own strength.

Please, take a moment to think about the goals you set for yourself for this year. What are you going to do to accomplish them? The answer you should now know is that you are going to give them to God and ask Him to show the way. Give him your goals, dreams, and ambitions. Ask Him to help you be the person you want to be. You cannot change yourself. You make think you can, but you are fooling yourself. He is the master and creator and if we will give our hearts to Him, He will create all that we want. Let Him work in your heart. Lay yourself open in surrender. Give Him the problems you would like to see changed. Vanquish willpower. Give away all your power because it is vanity and futility anyway. The Lord said only by His Spirit shall a thing be done, so there is the one sentence instruction and command for succeeding in all things.

Willpower and self-determination are idols raised up against the will of God. The power of self is an affront to the command of God but also to the love, grace and saving blood of our Lord Jesus. It’s not what you can do that is important. It’s what you can let go of that makes the difference. Surrender your power. Surrender your heart. Let Jesus be Lord.

Did this make sense to you today? Do you have questions or need help? Engage in personal coaching at Ivey Ministries.

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Help My Unbelief

On January 29, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 9: 24

Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”

This is one of the most important prayers we can learn. We know we are not perfect yet nor filled with all knowledge. Guess what! Father knows that too, so, He stands ready to help us in all our imperfections.

I hope you will read the entire story for yourself but, briefly, a father took his son to Jesus for deliverance from a demon which had plagued the boy all his life. He begged Jesus to help, if he could. Jesus replied, “If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes (v. 23).” The father made an immediate declaration of faith. At the same time, though, his heart faltered because he knew that he also had doubt. Faith did not reign in his heart. He did, however, have enough faith to turn to the one who is faith and ask for help with his unbelief.

Sometimes, this is the only prayer we have. Sometimes we want to believe with our whole heart, but we feel the tremors within as we attempt to extend our faith. It is then we must call upon our faith in his faithfulness. Does that make sense to you? Sometimes all we have is our belief in who he is and that is enough to ask him for the help we need in increasing our belief level.

Are you believing for something that is beyond your faith level? Do you have a desire for something that challenges your faith? When you think of this thing you want, do you feel a shutter in your heart because you can’t quite believe for it? Don’t feel alone. Most people experience the same thing. However, you do not have to stay in that space. You can help yourself by letting Jesus help you.

This boy’s father had the right idea. Help me in my unbelief. Replace my unbelief with faith. Jesus wants you to believe for the impossible. He said all things are possible to the one who believes. Therefore, to do the impossible, we must believe. That is why he must help our unbelief. He wants us to become believers so that all things will become possible. Don’t be overcome by the impossible. That is Jesus’ specialty. If a thing is possible, then just make it so. If it is impossible, now you are in the realm of walking with Jesus. If it’s impossible, you are right where you need to be. Fill up on faith by praying this very simple prayer. Let Jesus fill you up. Walk with him. Talk with him every morning. Ask him, every morning, to help you with your unbelief. Ask him to give you another measure of belief. Then you and Jesus go do the impossible.

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Chasing God

On January 22, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   2 Comments

1 Chronicles 28: 9           New Living Bible

If you seek him, you will find him.

What do you want from Christianity? Is your main purpose to avoid hell? That’s not hard. Do you perhaps expect and desire more? What is it that draws you to Christ and to Christianity?

I hope your answer is that you want to know Yahweh, Jesus and the Holy Spirit personally; you want to be their friend; to have a personal relationship with the God of Divine Creation. To my way of thinking, those of you who answer in this way are true Christians. There are many people who sit on a pew on Sundays and who even go through many of the forms and rituals of a Christians existence, but who are missing the critical piece, a life with Christ. This is what matters.

What does this look like? Well maybe it is church on Sunday and Wednesday, but it is definitely washing dishes with Jesus, riding a bike with Yahweh, walking with the Holy Spirit. Relationship with the Triple Crown of Divinity is living a life with them. Hopefully Sunday school and Bible study are done together with the Father, Son and Spirit, but there are tons of folks who are not engaged with Jesus even in those “spiritual” things.

One of the reasons bicycle riding became so important to me was because it was time Father and I spent together. It became a large part of my spiritual and emotional health regime. To this day I even get jealous with my time when I have been riding with friends because, although I enjoy riding with friends very much, I sometimes just want to get out there alone with Dad.

The best way to develop a personal friendship with any of the members of the Trinity is to seek them. You know my story how, I wanted a deeper, closer relationship with God, so I chased Him all the way out to California from North Carolina. I like to say, “I chased Him until He caught me!” It is so true, and that is how I can tell you that this verse is absolutely true. If you seek Him, you will find Him.

So, what do you want from Christianity. Do want to go to church and have friends? Do you want to learn Bible Scriptures and be knowledgeable about the Bible? Or, do you want to know God? Please answer the latter and seek Him. I promise, you do not have to chase Him all the way across the country. You can chase Him to your backyard or your spare bedroom. You can chase until you find Him in your kitchen. Start your prayer this way, “Father, Dad, I am seeking you. I am searching for you and a closer relationship with you. Reveal yourself to me. Teach me how to seek you.” Be still, be quiet and feel your heart. Have a Bible near in case He wants to speak through it, but listen in your heart, not your brain. You will learn other ways to seek Him and then it would be great for you to share them with the class, so to speak. Use the comments section in any Word of the Day to share with all of us the things the Lord is teaching you. Let’s start the best possible kind of revolution – one of determined purpose to know Jesus and Yahweh better, as our very best friends.

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To the Winners

On January 15, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Corinthians 10: 5

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

It is one thing to familiarize oneself with the scriptures, but quite another to find its application in everyday life. So easy, it is, to agree with the theology of today’s scripture but quite a different matter to live it when we walk away from our prayer closet. Recently our Father showed me how this isn’t just a nice piece of theology, but rather something He wanted me, and indeed all of us, to learn how to use in our daily walk.

First, though, look again at the scripture and see that we are to take our every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. What does that even mean? The God’s Word translation reads, “We take every thought captive so that it is obedient to Christ.” In other words, our every thought is to be shaped so that it is obedient to Christ. That means that it must be obedient to his Word and to what he has told us about our lives.

Beautifully, Father gave me a real life example to guide me. A little background first. I have begun a training program. Every day is specifically designed, even down to rest days. It began easily enough, 30 minutes riding while keeping my heart rate low rather than riding hard or fast. Okay, simple enough but honestly, a little boring. It was so short and so easy that I found myself saying, why even put on workout clothes for this? So, what I want you to see is that right from the beginning, my mind, my thoughts, were a challenge. The exercise schedule progressed until and within a few weeks the program called for 90 minutes on the bike, going easy. Now, there was a whole new challenge.

In the meantime, I was in conversation with others. One person said she couldn’t do that because she would get bored. Another lady that I often see at workouts told me that her joints bother her sometimes. She saw that I was wet from having been in the pool. She said, “I know I am going to end up in the pool sometime, but I just hate the thought of getting undressed, getting wet, having to shower and then dress again. I was having my own challenges with thoughts, so these two people’s statements went off in me. The latter stated that it was the “thought” of having to change clothes, etc. that was stopping her. Even though she believes the pool would be good for her and help her, the thoughts are stopping her. The other person lets the thought of being bored stop her from even considering certain exercises or programs. Her mind is limiting her because she isn’t taking those thoughts captive.

So, here I was with a goal and task ahead of me and the benefit of other’s challenges to warn me. I know God gave me this exercise schedule but how do you sit on a indoor bicycle for an hour and a half without getting bored? In my heart I knew that I could not afford the luxury of boredom. I was just going to have to find a way to overcome it. Once I took that thought captive, everything became easier.

Once I realized this was a battle in my mind and that I had the ability to choose the outcome, the battle was over. The thought of being bored was vanquished and my mind eagerly sought solutions. It is really quite amazing how willing our minds are to serve us when we take authority over them and give them direction. I put it to the task of solving the problem instead of making up excuses and I immediately found my solution.

That is what it means to take a thought captive. That thought of being bored was not obedient to the overcoming authority of Christ. It was not obedient to the program Father laid before me. God gave me a schedule that would help me. The first thing that happened, though, were excuses. In the beginning it was too short and too easy. Then it was too long. However, by taking these thoughts captive, I have been able to adapt to everything I have encountered. I don’t need excuses. They aren’t going to help me be healthier. I need victories and so do you.
So here is the thing. We are still in the first month of the year and there are, no doubt, things you wish to accomplish this year. Don’t let the devil steal your victory by filling your mind with a myriad of excuses. They will be there but just take them captive and make them be obedient to goals God has given you. Don’t allow yourself the luxury of excuses. Flush whatever one is working for you right now. As soon as you say, “No” to it, your mind will find the solution you need. And don’t forget about prayer. Talk to Dad. Ask Him to help you with whatever the challenge is.

The scriptures are not only about our spiritual life. They are about our life. In fact, Father would have us not separate our spiritual life from our physical life. They are integrated to Him and that is what He wants you to see in this Word of the Day. Taking thoughts captive and making them obey Jesus has everything to do with what we do when we wake up tomorrow until the moment we lay our heads on our pillows. There is nothing you can’t do. You are not too old, not too broke, not too uneducated, not too bored. All those lies Satan has been feeding you, spit them out. He has held you captive long enough. As long as a particular excuse works, he will keep feeding it to you. It is up to you to take those lies captive and send them back to hell from where they came.

Come on team! Let’s go for the gusto! Let’s grab the brass ring. Let nothing stop you. Fulfill your destiny. Be the testimony of God’s glory. As always, if I can help you, please reach out. We have coaching available and always words of encouragement. Be blessed!

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Giver of Good   

On January 8, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

James 1: 17

Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.

Every good gift comes from our Father who is in heaven.  Where do you suppose every bad gift comes from?  Not the Father of lights, for there is no darkness in Him, no hint even of a shadow.  Honestly this sounds like a very simple principle.  Well, I suppose it is, but people get confused about it all of the time.  John 10: 10 tells us that the devil comes only to steal, kill and destroy and this verse tells us that good gifts come from our Father.  Why is it, then, that so many people think that God sent them cancer or some other portion of the curse.  He is the Father of light, the author of the blessing.  The devil is the one trying to kill you.

In 2 Corinthians 12: 7 Paul tells us about his “thorn in the flesh.”  Now some folks will tell you that God gave Paul that thorn in the flesh.  I don’t know how they get there intellectually since the verse says plainly that it was a messenger of Satan.  Do we think that God sent a messenger of Satan to Paul?  Well, of course not.  That is silly.  So why do we think God sends us thorns in our flesh?  Well, the answer is that we have been deceived.  The devil is a liar and the Father of lies according to Jesus (John 8: 44).  We don’t have to believe his lies though.  And we must be diligent to know the Word of God so that the devil cannot deceive us any longer.

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Tabula Rasa

On January 1, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Peter 1: 3

Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! God has given us a new birth because of his great mercy. We have been born into a new life that has a confidence which is alive because Jesus Christ has come back to life.

Tabula Rasa is Latin for blank slate. Empiricists like John Locke argued that the mind begins as a blank slate which experience then writes upon. I use this term to think of the spiritual, social, economic, education, familial and all other experiences which write upon our souls making our lives what they are today. In large part, we are living the life that our experiences, educational and otherwise, have developed into belief patterns. That is to say, it is not only our experiences which have molded our lives but what we believe about those experiences. Years of situations and our reactions to those situations have written upon our hearts. What you read affects your beliefs and what movies you watch. All these things write on the tablet of your heart for good and for ill. Here is the good news though, it is New Year’s Day – if you will allow me, it is Tabula Rasa Day.

Every January 1st we get a new lease on life. Many people embrace this idea wholeheartedly. I am one of those. Apparently, so was Peter. From this passage we learn that we have reason to have great confidence because we have a new life in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah! If you have been following the Word of the Day for a while, you will know that I believe any day can be your Tabula Rasa day. If you feel you need a reset, then you can declare any day to be your personal January 1, your start over with a clean slate day!

Consider this from the Apostle Paul; 2 Corinthians 5: 17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” He understood that on any given day, we can boldly declare that old things have passed away and all things are new. That is the promise of the New Year. That is the promise of every single day in the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as we celebrated his birth last week, today we celebrate the new life he gave us. We are born again. Our life is renewed in him.

I hope this gives you cause to celebrate because it is good news you can use. If there are any habits or beliefs which are not contributing to the life you want, erase them today. They are old and old things have passed away. Those things which are written on your heart that invite life and joy, renew those in Jesus’ name.

Now, do this with me – wipe the slate of your heart blank. See it white and clean. As you look upon it, see God writing on it. What does He write on your heart? He will restore and renew those old memories which are life affirming, those which build you up. Then He will write new messages on your heart. See His will, hear His words. Muster up all your courage to believe what He says. Return to your whiteboard daily and read what the Master has to say about you.

Today is a new day with a new life in Christ. I call you to celebrate your new life which begins anew today. Rejoice. Christ was born and came to give you new life. Glory to God on High for His majesty and grace. Praise Him all you His beloved for the new thing He wants to do in your life today. Praise to His name and may His light shine upon your face every day of 2024!

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