Dial 1-800-GOD

On August 6, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 107: 6

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.

My name is Cain Rorie and I am Ivey Rorie’s nephew. I am twelve years old. I am writing to you today because I want everyone to know and feel God’s love.

What I take from this scripture is that God is always listening in good times and bad. He is always there to help you to get through bad times. He loves you, no matter what. God is your Father. He will never leave you.

Even when you are alone and sad, God is listening. You may feel alone but you are not. In times of stress and trouble, He is with you and will help you. He knows your stress and will rescue you. Even in your darkest night, He is the light. God knows your worries and fears. Whenever you cry out, He hears you. He is waiting to help you and heal you.

Never worry. God’s love is with you every minute of every day. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is always going to be there for you. Don’t lose faith. Just call 1-800-GOD.

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Rest Area

On August 5, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 6: 31

And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves.

Jesus and his disciples were absolutely flooded with work; so much so, in fact, that they did not even have time to eat. Have you ever been that busy? If so, look at the teaching Jesus gave the disciples. Take time out. Do not keep up this pace. Jesus took them away from their work to a quiet, lonely place so that they could have rest. The work they were doing was important. It was the work of the Lord. They were ministering to the needs of the people and people were getting saved. Yet even though they were doing Jesus’ own work, working in his own ministry he took them away from it. It was important to Jesus that he teach them balance. This lesson was so important to Jesus that he took his disciples away from the needy and hungry children of Israel. Can you really grasp how significant that was? Jesus’ ministry was only to last three years and yet he took his disciples away from work.

And why did this story find its way into the Bible? Of course it is so that we will not make the same mistake that the disciples were making. Jesus wants us to learn to balance our lives. He takes no joy in a work-a-holic. Our society applauds busyness and over work but in Jesus’ book those are the signs of someone who is out of balance and headed for a crash. Jesus said his yoke is easy and his burden light (Matthew 11: 30) so if we are struggling under a heavy burden then we know we have stepped out of Jesus’ yoke and picked up a burden of our own. Jesus would “often slip away to the wilderness and pray” Luke 5: 16. He taught his disciples to slip away so that they could rest and pray. If he did that and he taught his disciples to do the same, then why do you think that he wants something different for you? Luke says that Jesus would “often” slip away. That means that he didn’t just wait for his annual vacation. He lived a life of balance and he wants us to do the same. I once heard Kenneth E. Hagin preach a wonderful message about living a fasted life. Some people live life full steam in one direction and then full steam in another direction. Hagin was teaching balance. Work when it is time to work but rest when it is time to rest. Take time to pray and take time to live. Don’t overload in any direction but rather keep yourself in peace and balance. If Jesus was not only willing but dedicated to leaving his work in order to get rest and prayer time, then don’t you think it is wise for us to do the same thing? I know this can be a difficult lesson to learn but listen to the Spirit of God. He is trying to tell you something. It is in your best interest and for God’s glory.

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Eating Fruit

On August 4, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Galatians 5: 22 – 23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

This is one verse we really must get down in our spirits. Even if you don’t memorize the scripture itself, remember Galatians 5: 22 so you remember how to get back to it and refresh yourself.

And here is the big reason you need to remind yourself. When you were filled with the Spirit of God, the fruit of the Spirit entered in with him. So, if the Holy Spirit is living in you, then his fruit, his nature, his characteristics, are living inside of you too. Therefore, I want you to read the scripture this way: “I am love. I am joy. I am peace. I am patient. I am kind. I am good. I am faithful. I am gentle. I have self-control. These traits are already in you by the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to develop them you have only to express them, to allow them to manifest through his presence inside of you. Meditate on them already being in you and confess them. Read the confession above aloud so that your own ears hear you saying what you are. You will find that you begin demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit more and more.

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Position Available

On August 3, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 4: 11 – 12

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.

These are called the five-fold ministries and God calls people to these offices. What I found so interesting about this list is that only one of these ministerial offices is directed towards people outside of the church and, of course, that would be the evangelist. Verse 12 tells us that God gave these offices, and people to fill them, in order to equip the church for her work. In other words, the saints, or the laity, are being equipped for the work of the church. You are the body of Christ.

Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel (Luke 16:15) but then when he gave the ministerial offices he gave four that were designed more for the church and only one specifically for the unsaved. These offices are appointed to equip us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. They are designated to teach us and build us up. But we are not supposed to only absorb the teachings for ourselves. We are meant to be the distributors of the good news of Jesus Christ. Now how do we do that? Well, this specifically means that we were not all called to preach since we are not all called into one of the five-fold ministries. But we are all called and equipped for “the work of service.” Your calling might be as a school teacher or a hair dresser. Or maybe you are a doctor or work in a laundry. You are the word of the Lord that is sent into the world and you are going to interact with a lot more people than the pastor at your church.  

You are the one who will be there when a co-worker has trouble. You will be the one they see day in and day out. You don’t have to preach at them. Just let the love of God show in what you do. Be loving and compassionate. Do your job with vigor and honesty. Let them see how a child of the most high behaves. Let the light, who is Jesus, inside you shine. It’s not about telling other people what they should do. It is about being who you should be and allowing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22) to manifest in your daily life. That is how people will be saved, by love. Because God so loved, he gave . . . (John 3: 16).

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Live in the Light

On July 31, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 8: 12

Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Recently another minister and I were to teach on the spiritual realm and believers’ participation therein. We discussed many aspects of the integration of our lives beyond the physical realm. Of course a part of that conversation dealt with communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The scripture says that God is spirit (John 4: 24). Therefore, if we are to commune with God we must engage the spiritual realm. That’s pretty simple logic isn’t it?

The next part of the discussion had to do with angels. Do you know that angels are real beings? They, of course, are spiritual beings, i.e. they are spirits. Well, no big deal there, we are too. Our essential self and that which will never perish is our spirit. The conclusion was that we should certainly be able to recognize angels and the role they play in our everyday life.

Invariably a discussion about angels leads to a discussion about demons. Demons are very real also. They interact with human beings and have throughout human history. Some people deny their existence, some people are afraid of them. Both are inappropriate responses and I imagine that the truth is that those who deny the existence of demons are in truth just afraid and too overcome to admit it. There is no reason for us to fear though. Jesus has overcome all of the powers of darkness. That is part of the good news of the gospel. Fear not!

There is another group of Christians though. These are the ones that obsess on demons and demonology. They see demons everywhere and behind everything. We know by now that balance is always supposed to be a key factor. Any time we are overly involved in any one aspect of life there is probably a balance issue. Here is what this other minister and I discovered as we dialogued. We decided not to discuss demons at all in the soon to follow talk. The reason is that we have discovered that hanging out in the light means that we won’t have to deal as much with the darkness. In other words, when we focus our attention and intention on the light, i.e. Jesus, we do not have to spend as much time fighting demons. They flee from us because they cannot bear the light. If we abide in Christ and he abides in us then we become like a sun storm in the darkness. 

Satan’s forces recognize Jesus. That was evident in the New Testament gospels. When, therefore, we don Jesus as I have been encouraging you to do, you will find that there are fewer issues with pestering demons. I do want to say, though, that there are times when demons have to be dealt with and we are well able to do that. The gospels show us the way. Also, there are people whose ministries specialize in demonology. They have an anointing and calling for that service and we are glad to have them in the body of Christ. For most of us though, we just need to bathe in the light. Jesus’ brother, James, gave us the key to living in a world populated with evil, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4: 7). Resist evil and it will flee but don’t ignore the first part of the prescription, submit to God. If we pitch our tents in the throne room of God and spend time communing with our father, then we will have little worry or trouble from the pawns of evil.

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Answer Desk

On July 30, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 14: 6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

There is so much in this verse but I want to focus on just one narrow aspect of it today and hopefully bring light, answers and freedom to people. That narrow focus is that Jesus is the way, the answer. So, think of someone you can forward this to today.

One day while sitting at my desk working I was thunder struck by all the trouble and problems people have. I really do not know how people who don’t have Jesus work through all of the junk that life puts in the way. As I probed the issue, though, I realized that many of us Christians are not living in the fullness of the victory that Jesus has won for us. I see people struggling with problems and I know the answer God has for them and yet they never turn to God for the solution. I have some mini-books lying on my desk and as I look at them I think how just one of these little books could set someone free if only they would seek help. 

Not only does God have an answer, He is the answer. Jesus didn’t pay the price that he paid so that we would continue to wrestle with problems. He taught us, in fact, that he had already overcome all of the troubles we would face. Why, then are we not living in his answers? Why are we overcome with problems? 

I am not going to pretend I have all of the answers. I still have challenge areas too. I can share with you what the Father is teaching me though. I have noticed that my problem solving process is entirely too egocentric. I ask myself, “What am I going to do about this.” You can see in that one sentence the real problem. There are three pronouns which have to do with me. There is problem. Even when I get out of myself enough to pray about the situation I often ask Dad what I should do. Increasingly His answer has been, “Nothing.” You see, I am not the savior and while that is very evident the truth is that within the boundaries of own our lives most of us do act like we are our personal deliverers. We are the problem solvers. We are the fixers. No wonder we are drowning. If I could have done these things for myself, Jesus need not have come. 

Very few of us pick up the phone and call another, even for encouragement or prayer. We rarely call or write seeking advice or inspired scripture. We don’t even pick up these little booklets written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and I believe the reason why is ego. To call someone else is to admit weakness. Oh God forbid! Furthermore, it is an admission that they may know more than we or be more spiritually mature. Well, here is the rub. Not calling proves we are not mature spiritually. Another reason we don’t reach out is because we have guilt in our lives. We already know we are not doing as we ought and we do not want to receive recrimination. 

Part of the solution is that if we are called, if someone does ask for help, we need to make sure that we encourage and edify them rather than belittle them. They already feel small and inadequate. Secondly, don’t give them your worldly advice. If you cannot seek the Father and His counsel or give them relevant scriptures then refer them to someone who can. Refer them to a book even.

Guys, I entreat you. There is no need for us to suffer as we do. Let us all go get the help we need. Let us dare to pick up a “good for us” book and let the author minister life. Call your pastor, call me and ask what book may help. There is so much help available and no need for us to continue to go around the same mountain again and again. No matter how smart you think you are, God just knows way more and has seen it all before. He can give you the answer in a second. Let’s retire as the lords of our lives and just see if there is something Jesus can do. Let’s end the suffering for ourselves and our friends. God is the answer and He really will help in every single little and big situation. Don’t wait until you are drowning to reach out. At the first indication of trouble, call your praying friends and if you don’t have friends who pray, it is time to get new friends.

Lastly, no matter where you are in the world, we at Ivey Ministries are here for you. This is our passion. We want to see God’s people living free. The Word of the Day is being read in many different countries now and on six continents. Where ever you are, whoever you are, we are praying for you and will always be here to help in the time of need.

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The Audacity

On July 29, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 4: 21

Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised.

This verse was written about Abraham who is called the father of faith. This is the picture of faith; not questioning whether God is able to fulfil His promise to us. Verse 20 reads from the NASB thus: “Yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.” Abraham did not waver. He was fully assured that the God who made him a promise was well able to deliver on that promise. Fully assured, not partially, Abraham was convinced that God would come through.

After reading this verse I felt compelled to look up assurance and assure in the dictionary. This is what I found.

Assurance: 1. The act of assuring. 2. A statement or indication that inspires confidence. 3. a. Freedom from doubt; certainty. B. Self-confidence. 4. Boldness; audacity.

Assure: 1. To inform confidently, with a view to removing doubt. 2. To cause to feel sure; convince. 3. To give confidence to; reassure. 4. To make certain; ensure.

Wow! Those are strong words. I love the boldness with which we can be assured that God is with us and for us. Can we even go so far as to be audacious? Sure we can and some are. We can have absolute certainty that the one who promised is prepared to follow through on His promise. What, then, makes us different from Abraham? That is to say, how many people do you know personally with audacious faith? My goodness but I would like to aspire to be known as one with that kind of outrageous, radical faith. Can you imagine how much the locals made fun of Abraham and Sarah? People probably said, “Oh, you know, they are those ‘faith’ people. They think they can have a baby at their advanced ages because their God made them a promise.” Oh that we could be that daring, that bold in our believing. Jesus said that with just a little bit of faith, nothing would be impossible to us (Matthew 17: 20). 

God is mighty and able to deliver on all His good promises. Do you believe it?

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