Not My House

On April 2, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 91: 10

No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent.

This verse was written for today. There are many great utterances from the Lord which are appropriate for our current situation and I will be sending them to you over the next weeks but is there any verse more timely than this?

Psalm 91 is such a great chapter anyway. If you have not read it in a while, take some time to read it. You will find it greatly encouraging. You may find yourself thinking that the author was looking through a crystal ball when he wrote it. You know, sometimes working with God is that way. You are in the present, but He also has His mind on the future.

We can use this verse a couple of ways. First, as a prayer, and while I am in this thought, “Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray these words over every single person who reads this devotional. Lord, put a bubble of protection around them, their families and their homes. Father, I declare in the authority I have in the name of Jesus, that evil will not befall them and that no evil, plague or virus shall come near their abodes.”

Now, you can pray that every day – which brings me to the second use of this verse. Simply speak it over you, your family and your household daily. That is how we activate the gifts of God. First, of course, believe them and believe they are for you even if written a very long time ago. Second, believe these God utterances which have been captured in the Bible have actual meaning and power for you and for today. Then, speak them as if they are true, as if you believe them. What does that look like? “No evil shall come nigh me nor shall covid-19 or any other dis-ease come to my house.” Or, “I will not contract covid-19 nor will I get the flu.” It’s all about positive declarations made continually.

And here is one time I use them which sometimes puts people off, but we are talking about life and death here. If someone speaks fear in my presence or if someone asks if I am worried, I come out with “No evil shall come near me and no disease may enter my house.” Does it make you sound a little weird? Well, yeah. I don’t care. My health and my relationship with my God are more important than anyone’s opinion. This is key. It is very nice to receive the great verses, but it is critical that you know how to use them. That is why I am spending the extra time to write to you about application. You are getting training on how to walk in them and I am very much hoping you are applying yourself to using these teachings. I know this makes the devotional longer, but I feel a strong responsibility towards you. I am going to work hard to deliver to you the good news and a fresh Word from God daily.

God wants you safe. I want you safe. He has given you His good word and I am going to teach you how to wear it like a holy robe of His grace. You are clothed with the Word of God and it keeps you. Blessed be the Lord and praise to His name.

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Prayer Time

On April 1, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Pray without ceasing.

Never was there a more appropriate time for this verse, at least in our own lives. The world has suffered many challenges throughout history, but the coronavirus has touched almost every country in the world and that is big. This is our time. Wherever you live in the world, your nation needs you to pray. For once we do not have the excuse of being too busy. For once, we have time to spend with God.

Before too long, we will look back at this period in history and we will either be able to say we excelled and grew, or we wasted the time we had. I have made a personal decision to make this a time of personal improvement and acceleration. Rather than give into convenience foods, we have decided to come through this crisis having eaten well, exercised and weighing less. It would be the easiest thing in the world to use this predicament as an excuse to live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cereal. It would be just as easy to use the extra time I have in my calendar to feed my flesh. My household has decided to feed our bodies and our spirits wholesome food and use this time to grow in the Lord. I will be better at praying than ever before.

What are you going to do with your time? Are you going to spend it on Facebook and television? Today is the day to decide. If we are not careful, we will slide, unnoticed into apathy, wasting our time on frivolities when we could be nurturing our spirits, bodies and minds. We could be positively affecting the globe and our neighbors.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think you are going to need some down time, whatever that means to you. For me, it usually means exercise and computer games. That is okay. These are stressful times and you need to know what destresses you. However, prayer is the absolute best thing you can do for your spirit, your soul and your body. They all feed on the connectivity with our Father. Your country, state, province, county, town, village, etc. needs you to have time with your Father too. We all need you praying. I need your prayers.

We can overcome coronavirus, and we can even come out stronger on the other side. I hope your spirit is sensitive to the loss of life and human suffering that are facts of life right now. Let it move you to prayer. Pray without ceasing. Never in your life has there been so great a need for believers to call upon the Father of all. The entire world needs us to stop talking about being Christians and get down to the serious business of being Christian. Cry out to the Lord with a loud voice. He is listening. He is waiting. Pray without ceasing. It’s what Paul told the church at Thessalonica.  It is good enough for us too.

What will the world say about Christians when we look back?  I hope they will see a faith filled group of praying people, people who believe in the saving power of their God.

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Carried Away

On March 31, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 8: 16 – 17

And when evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES, AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES.”

What do you love about this verse? We’ve read this before, but it has taken on new meaning in this current viral situation. Or, at least it’s importance and meaning are more present in our thinking. Personally, I love the part that says he carried away our diseases. Now that is something we can pray. In this verse, our Father has given us a prayer for eradicating the Corona virus. Do you see that?

I am in the mountains for a prolonged period of study and prayer. I was about to pick up the book I brought to read but saw my Bible lying there and just had a desire come over me to pick it up and hold it in my hands. I wanted to feel the leather cover and hear the sound the pages make. As I picked it up, it fell open to this verse. I was immediately impressed with this verse and God’s goodness.

He is sending us a verse so that not only can we be encouraged but also because it is a tool, even a weapon if you prefer. We have a new prayer. It is not only about having been healed, receiving our healing or even praying for the health of others. God, our compassionate Father, is telling us that we can pray for Jesus to carry away this disease. He is sending us a prayer and asking us to get into agreement with Him. Who can see this? Please shout back to me to let me know I am getting this through as the Lord is showing it to me.

How can I say it other than our Beloved Father and Lord has sent us a prayer for us all to pray, together? Jesus will carry this virus away. Where he carries it, I don’t know or care. I just know that Yahweh has sent us a point of contact. We can visualize Jesus and his angels roaming throughout the earth collecting all of the contagion and carting it out of the earth. You can see the angels destroying it with their flame throwers. There is a way out of this, and God has, this day, provided it. Use it.

We have transitioned from an Ivey Ministries prayer team to a prayer army. It is a necessary step at this time, but we need you. We need collective prayer, an army of pray-ers all praying in unison, praying the same thing from the same vision. Join our warrior army. Do not be bashful, be faithful. You have been called for this time. Now pull out your prayer guns and let’s get to work. This is not hard work either. I will send you an email of prayer requests – you pray. Easy peasy.

Reply to this email telling me you are willing to join our prayer force. Alternatively, email me at irorie@iveyministries.org. And, get your friends of faith to join us. This is a time for us to join together, so solicit every faith person you know. Together we can overcome this much faster than if we let the world deal with it. Our Father has indicated that He is ready if we will only cooperate with Him. Let’s do this!

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Confidence Pill

On March 30, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 94: 14

For the lord will not abandon His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance.

This verse does not need a lot illumination. It is understandable on its face. It is some good news though and that we need a lot of right about now. Also, this is a verse which may be easy to share with others. It is simple and straight to the point.

Probably the best use of this verse is as a confidence builder. I am reminded of medicines you take by holding them under your tongue until they dissolve. This verse is like that. We might hold this in our hearts until it becomes a part of our chemistry. If we simply swallow this pill, it will only impact our minds for a small time. In order for it to be effective and to change our situation, we must ingest it slowly and deliberately. Holding a pill under your tongue until it dissolves is not as easy, not as simple as just swallowing it but in this case, it is far more effective and that is what we are after.

This is a time for transformation for the church and for us individually. We could look back at these troubling times and see how we followed God and became stronger personally and corporately. We will accomplish that and become a healthier church if we will take our medicine daily. Mediate on this scripture until you are convinced, in your spirit, that our God has neither forsaken nor abandoned us. Meditate on it until you are strong enough to share it with others.

Bless you.

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Immune Boost

On March 24, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   1 Comment

Proverb 4: 20-23

My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their whole body.

I know I said I wasn’t going to send out the Word of the Day this week but there is something that is really nagging me. There are a couple of things which seem to be missing from the national dialogue. One of those is that there are things you can do to boost your immunity. This is not an exhaustive list. To the point, you may think of other things you would add, including anything which increases inflammation in the body. This is a good starting point, however.  I consulted my friend, Ann Musico https://www.threedimensionalvitality.com, on what we can do to boost our immune systems. Here is our collaboration.

• Drink lots water: of course, purified, filtered water is best. Alternatives to water are unsweetened tea and unsweetened coffee. If you must have a sweetener, use stevia. We make our iced tea with decaffeinated green tea and love it. No sugar at all and it’s still good to this southerner.

• Dr. Don Colbert advises drinking hot fluids.

• Use probiotics: they build gut health where most of your immune system resides.

• Take a good multi-vitamin: that means not man-made but derived from natural sources.

• Vitamin C – Ann says she takes 5-6,000 mg on a regular basis and more when fighting something off. Check with your doctor on dosage amounts.

• Get good sleep: It is best to sleep during the nighttime hours and get 8 hours of sleep.

• Eat wholesome food: meaning whole real food. If it is a box, it’s not a real food. I think of it this way, eat it like God made it. An apple should still look like an apple.

• Do not stress or panic: stress, worry, anxiety and panic suppress the immune system. Pray and get your believer level up.

• Avoid sugar: it suppresses the immune system.

• Get regular exercise: just move your body. There are lots of ways you can move. Sit in a chair, but just as your bum touches, stand back up. Clean the house, clean the garage, walk around the exterior of your house. You get the idea. Don’t make this difficult. Just get off the couch at least every hour.

• Add zinc to your diet.

• Also, check out Dr. Axe online: He has additional suggestions.

The short and long of it is that you do not have to be a sitting duck. You can defend yourself and your family. Need I say, pray. That is your first line of defense but additionally, do the things Yahweh has taught us in order to support and strengthen your immune system. Drink lots of water, it bears repeating. When God gives us wisdom it is Him protecting us. Apply His medicinal wisdom and be whole.

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Coffee Break

On March 23, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

 

 

 

 

 

Mark 6:46

After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.

Greetings Friends,

While I am taking a break, I want you to know there is plenty of content on my website to keep you fed for weeks.  Click here and enjoy hundreds of messages to keep you encouraged and uplifted.  You can also scroll down the right hand side and see topics I have written on.  Click on a topic or a verse and all of the messages on that topic or containing that verse will display.  I think you will find it handy and even a bit fun.

Farewell!

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Bird Song

On March 20, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 6: 26

Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

As I sit here working in my office, I can hear the birds happily chirping outside. They are celebrating the arrival of spring. Listening to them, the world seems so normal. They haven’t a care in the world and, apparently, haven’t heard of corona virus. If I were to turn on the television or even go to my email inbox, I would see a very different view of the world.

We are experiencing a global phenomenon unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes or in generations. If you were to look at earth from space it might look like the human species vacated the planet. It is like some spooky science-fiction novel of post-apocalyptic earth. Thank God for His lovely birds.

The world is going on and we will overcome this. Our Father has not abandoned His beloved anymore than He has vacated the birds. He is meeting their needs daily and He loves us even more than He does the birds.

Here’s my advice to you. Listen to the birds. Go sit on your porch and watch them go about life as normal. Let them give you perspective. It will help your spirit and your faith to see life proceeding normally.

I will be out of the office all next week in study, prayer and meditation. Hence, I will not be producing the Word of the Day. Please keep each other encouraged. If you should have an emergency, leave me an email or voicemail.

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