Faith Calls

On May 2, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 18: 40

Jesus stopped and ordered them to bring the man to him.

A funny thing happened on the way from the showers . . .. I was at a bicycle weekend recently. My friends and I were walking back to our campsite after leaving the shower truck and walking by some lovely old homes in Edenton, NC. As we walked past one particular house, there were people sitting on the porch and somehow we began speaking with them. I noticed a crutch leaning against the house and asked to whom it belonged. A woman there said it was hers and without a moment’s hesitation I asked if I could pray for her. I didn’t know her from Adam and didn’t know what her ailment was. I just felt compelled to pray for her, so I did.

As I mounted the porch, she arose telling me she had scoliosis. Well, given one more minute I would have surmised as much for she was bent over. I prayed for her and as I prayed, I felt the Spirit moving. The woman began to pray along with me. I know something happened that day though when I left, she was not standing upright like when Jesus prayed for the woman in Luke 13: 13.

Days later I was thinking about this incident, and something struck me. The two ladies I was walking with each had a need. One has MS and the other has Celiac Disease. I did not have a compulsion to pray for them even though I camped with them all weekend, but I was compelled to pray for a woman I literally was walking by and didn’t know at all. Isn’t that interesting? What was the difference?

Faith calls. Faith pulls. Faith demands. It turns out that the woman with scoliosis, Connie, is a person of faith. In fact, she is the worship leader at her church. The spirit in her sensed the spirit in me and pulled on that anointing whereas the two women with me have no faith for healing.

This was astounding to me. As I pondered this event, I recalled James 5: 14 – 15. It reads, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.” The person who is sick is to call for the elders and the prayer offered in faith shall restore the one who is sick. My friends had no faith, but Connie did. Her faith reached right out to me and stopped me in my tracks the way Jesus was often arrested by faith. Isn’t that amazing?

I think too about the woman with the hemorrhage. She, literally, went and pulled on Jesus. There is a lesson here. Your faith heals. Jesus felt power go out of him. He told the woman, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well,” (Matthew 9: 22). That statement causes me to pause. We know God is the healer, but our faith must connect with that healing power and that is when the miracle happens. Even though Jesus didn’t know the woman was there, her faith reached out and took a miracle. Bless God!

Did you know that Jesus couldn’t always work miracles? Mark 6: 5 reads, “And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them,” (NLV). As crazy as this first sounds, it does make sense when you recall Revelation 12: 11, “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony.” We would think that the blood of the Lamb is sufficient to overcome all obstacles, but we would be wrong and unbiblical. This scripture is very clear in teaching that overcoming is the product of the blood and the “word of their testimony” or, in other words, the words of our mouth. This reality makes us uncomfortable for two reasons. First, it places responsibility on our shoulders when we just want Jesus to make everything alright for us. Second, it defies our theology. We have been taught God is omnipotent and we took that to mean that He acts independently of us. That just isn’t Biblically sound. There is nothing in the Bible that says that. In fact, it says just the opposite. Psalm 115: 16 says, “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men.” God gave us freewill, and He gave us authority and He will not usurp either.

Well, this devotional might speak to a number of different things for you today. One take away for me is that you never know when God is going to move or when and how He is going to teach you something. I would have never guessed that the blessing of the Lord would manifest while I was walking from a shower truck to my tent with a towel slung over my shoulder, but there He was. Ready to bless someone. Oh, but this touches my spirit. Paul told Timothy to be ready in season and out (2 Timothy 4: 2) and brother, I am glad I was ready. We were also taught to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5: 17). That means even when you are not at church and not dressed up.  Be ready to pray at all times.

You can see the implications for an entire message in each of those scriptures as it relates to this experience. So, be ready at any time to minister but also, stir up your faith for whatever you need. Pull on the anointing in your spiritual leaders. If you aren’t calling me or writing me, you are missing an opportunity for God to minister to your need. Be filled and overflowing in Jesus’ name.

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2021 Message

On January 26, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Deuteronomy 4:29

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

There is no doubt that God is calling to His people. Whether or not this is the last of the end times, we don’t know, but we are certainly seeing signs which Jesus gave us as indicators of the last days. God is calling. He is calling you.

In November of 2020 I heard God saying, “Raise an army.” At first, I thought He might go on to instruct me to build the prayer team bigger. I thought He might be speaking of an army of intercessors or simply a prayer army. I thought He might encourage us to prayer again this year. No. As soon as I thought those things, the answer came through as, “No.” Prayer is an important part of any Christian’s life and this year, as last, we are fools if we are not praying continually (1 Thessalonians 5: 17). God is communicating something different this year. He is calling us to a different place in Him.

I believe with all my heart that what God is telling me to tell others is that He is calling His people to Him. He is asking us to step into a more devoted and immersive relationship with Him. The image I see is of dedication. I see us dedicating more time to seeking the Father and getting to know Him. I believe He is calling every single one of us to draw closer to Him.  The word I cannot escape is, “devoted.”

Let’s be honest with one another without judgment. You know that most of us are not as committed to our relationship with Yahweh as we might be. We used to go to church on Sunday and maybe participate in a Bible Study too. Those were the bigger parts of our connection with God. Christianity is no longer about Sunday church. Covid changed that. Instead of church services, Father is calling us to His bosom. He wants our breath and His interconnected. He wants to live in the midst of us. We need a transformation in our church, but it begins in our own hearts. Leadership come from below which means, it comes from you and me.

What does this look like? In the following days, I will endeavor to show you some of the ways you can deepen your relationship with the Father. To begin this journey, I ask you to seek the Father’s opinion about this message. I believe the 2021 message He wishes me to convey is that He is calling us to a deeper, more personal relationship with Him and that this is begun by seeking Him. Ask Him if I have it right. Is this the call that He has issued? Is this the message He wants you to hear for 2021?

You can use this link to post a question, https://iveyministries.org/ask-ivey/ or contact me directly at irorie@iveyministries.org.

 

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Trust Me

On October 6, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 26: 3                 NIV

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

Father God will keep your mind in perfect peace. How does that sound? Imagine, no matter how much stress or turmoil is going on around you, your mind will be abiding in perfect peace. But wait a minute, does that describe you and every other Christian you know? Are we all perfectly peaceful? No. This promise comes with a condition. God will give us perfect peace when we trust in Him. So, to state it a bit differently, “For those who trust in you, Father, you will keep their minds in perfect peace.”

There are a lot of verses which encourage us to trust our Father. The most well-known is probably Proverb 3: 5 – 6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” That is such an inspiring verse that you would expect us all to make a Herculean effort to put all of our trust in God. So why don’t we?

We have learned too much from the world and we just hold on too tightly. It is hard to let go of the things about which we have concerns. However, we can begin by acknowledging Him in everything and that will help us to move into deeper trust. That means that we include Him in everything we do. You know, the Bible says that we are to pray at all times (Ephesians 6: 18). Praying all of the time makes perfect sense if you are going to acknowledge Him in everything you do. Of course, prayer has to get real if you are going to do this. If you think and expect prayer to be amazingly eloquent and formal, you are never going to make it. Prayer is just talking with your Father. When you make it an ongoing conversation, as if you are talking with a friend who is going to accompany you all day, then it becomes really easy to pray at all times. There is another verse which says to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5: 17). How are you going to do that if you ritualize prayer? The answer is that you are not. This relationship with the Father needs to get out of church and into your life.

Another big factor is just lack of experience. Once you begin giving Dad your trust it becomes easier to do it next time. A friend of mine just sold a house. She had written down exactly what she wanted and expected in a buyer. Well, there were two contracts which fell through. What? This had been prayed over. Here is where trust comes in. She never lost her peace, never left the facts dissuade her from what she believed God was going to do. She placed her trust in the Father and He kept her in a constant state of peace and her mind tranquil. Do you want to know the end of the story? Yep, the house sold for the full asking price and everything else she asked for when she wrote down what she wanted also came through. Her trust and faith had been built by years of trusting God with small things and then bigger things. How much easier do you think it will be for her to trust Him next time? Nothing breeds success like success.

Trust me in this as I attempt to entice you into trusting the Father. I am being honest with you. The Father can keep you in perfect peace but first you must let go. You’ve got to give Him the reins and expect, and trust, that He is going to come through for you.

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Prayer Time

On August 3, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Daniel 6: 10


And he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God.
This verse used to really impress me. I was, and still am, humbled by Daniel’s devotion to God and to prayer. However, I have a new revelation of prayer, and perhaps you do too. Last week we considered 1 Thessalonians 5: 17 which says, “Pray without ceasing.” Well, if praying three times a day is impressive, how much more is praying without ceasing?

While I still applaud Daniel, it is true that this is an Old Testament view of prayer. Prayer no longer need be a formalized, ritualistic event. Don’t misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with going into your prayer closet, kneeling or whatever you do, and praying. It’s all good and even to be encouraged but if you are going to move into new dispensation prayer and pray without ceasing then you are going to have to adopt some other methodologies. Consider Ephesians 6:18: “pray at all times”. What? How are we to do that?

The key is in the words I did not reveal to you from Ephesians 6: 18. The rest of the quote is, “in the Spirit.” There is our super-power. You see, in Daniel’s time the Spirit of God had not been poured out yet. We need to learn to walk in the Spirit, worship in the Spirit and pray in the Spirit. This is exactly what Jesus had in mind when he said, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16: 7). The apostles must have thought Jesus was crazy in saying that it was to their advantage that he leave but Jesus understood about life in the Spirit. He knew what it would mean to us and how the Spirit’s coming would change everything.

So there we are. Rather than praying three times a day, pray all day; pray without ceasing. Do you think this will change your life?

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Partner Meeting

On July 28, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Thessalonians 5: 17


Pray without ceasing.

Now what does this have to do with our partnership with Christ? In yesterday’s Word of the Day I shared how Father gave me insight and answers while I prayed. Now, what if I want that divine insight and wisdom all day long? Well, pray all the time, right?
I am increasingly impressed that our part of many situations is simply prayer. However, there are times when there is more for us to do. It is through prayer that Dad tells us what to do. He wants to lead us every minute of every day and the way He can do that is through our vigilance in prayer.
One of the cultural problems we encounter is that we have built prayer up to a formal event. Read what David wrote and you will appreciate that prayer was never meant to be ritualistic. It is the common communication between you and your father. It has to be familiar rather than formal if we are to pray without ceasing.   Prayer is simply talking with your Father, God.

Another element of prayer is making ourselves receptive to His voice. We also use the time in prayer to give Him the authority in every situation. This is when you can put the problem in His “inbox” (see the Word of the Day for June 4, 2014 and October 19, 2015). We need to invite God into our every part of our lives and day and then we need to let Him work out the problems and tasks for us. In prayer give Him your projects and then begin to thank Him and praise Him for the result. And do this all day long, without ceasing. This is your perpetual partner meeting.

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