Vigorous

On April 27, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 105: 37               King James

He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.

We saw from Deuteronomy 34: 7 yesterday that Moses died at age one hundred and twenty but that he was not feeble when he died. Today’s verse is about when God led His people out of Egypt. There were several million people in that great exodus but not one of them was feeble. Isn’t that amazing? There had to be people of all ages in that group yet every one of them was able to walk without stumbling.

Yesterday I wrote that we do not have to get old and feeble but let’s now look at a broader picture. Moses was eighty years old when he led the Israelites out of Egypt. He was strong and full of vigor. All of the people of Israel, regardless of their age were able bodied. They packed up their entire households and marched out into the desert. Honestly, how many of us today could walk in the desert day after day?

Here is the good news though, the power that gave their bodies strength is just as available to us as it was to them. In fact, we have a greater mediator and intercessor than they did because we have Jesus. Jesus has conquered death, hell and the grave but guess what, that is not all. He has conquered infirmity. Hallelujah! You’ve got to get this idea deep down into your bones. Let it sink in deep. When you do, you will find that it gives life to your body. You have a promise and a heritage of strong, able and vigorous strength for every sinew, bone and cell of your body. Focus your mind and attention on the truth. Every day remind yourself that none of the Lord’s people are weak or feeble. The more it sinks in, the more invigorated you will be. Tell yourself the truth, and the truth really will set you free.

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Feeble or Able?

On April 26, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Deuteronomy 34: 7

Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.

So, if Moses’ vigor was not abated, of what did he die? We have gotten this nutty idea that the cycle of life ends with getting old, getting sick and dying of that sickness. That is an incredibly skewed view of life. Moses died of having run out of years. God had already told mankind that He was limiting their life span, “Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years’” (Genesis 3: 3). God told Moses his time was at hand and for him to make arrangements for his succession. So, at one hundred and twenty years of age, Moses simply transitioned to the next phase of his life. He left his mortal body and moved to heaven. He wasn’t sick, He wasn’t diseased. He was just done. He had finished his race.

This is the revelation we all need for our own health. We weren’t designed to get old, get sick and die. We were meant to live out the number of our years fulfilling our destiny just like Moses did. Then we simply change addresses. We lay down this body and move to eternity with Jesus.

There is just one more question which plagues me, if Moses could live to one hundred and twenty in the Old Testament, before Jesus, what should our life spans be?

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No Weariness Here

On March 23, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 40: 28     (paraphrase)                               Index Card 7

I do not faint or grow weary, or tired.

This is a good word that most of us need to hear weekly if not daily. Our strength really isn’t in our bones and muscle. It is in our interconnectedness with the Lord. When I am in Him, I am strong. When I rely on my own strength I get run down and bone tired. That makes me think that if I am complaining about being tired, it is probably a good indication that I am relying on my strength rather than the Lord’s.

The slogan for Ivey Ministries is “Intertwined with Jesus”. The image in my mind is of an Ivy vine being inexorably intertwined with Jesus so that you cannot separate the two. The Lord, our God, showed me this while pondering Isaiah 40: 31 which reads, “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” The word “wait” in that passage means to become intertwined with. The fruit of becoming intertwined with Jesus is much more expansive than in this context alone but here is our promise of physical strength and vitality. You know, when Moses was one hundred and twenty years old the scripture says of him, “his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated” (Deuteronomy 34: 7).

There is one other thing I would like to point out about this passage. If you look it up you will find that I have paraphrased it rather than quoting it. Remember, I am taking these from my index cards. So, what I have done here is make this personal. This is a personal promise from God to me. Father never grows weary, tired or faints and since we are inextricably intertwined, I don’t either. No weariness here!

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Living Long

On July 22, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Genesis 6: 3

Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

How long should we live? In this passage from Genesis God says a hundred and twenty years. Personally, I think that should be a minimum because this was after the fall. In other words, man in his fallen state should live to be one hundred and twenty years old. How long, then, should redeemed, restored people live? Before the fall and before the curse presumably people would live longer. Or before people learned how to die young, they lived longer.

Even in the depths of our disobedience people had an expectation of long life. In Psalm 90: 10 Moses wrote, “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away.” In this Psalm Moses wrote about the Israelites’ fallen state and how they had invoked the anger of the Lord. It is a lament, not a declaration. He is almost weeping as he writes this dirge. The Israelites were not living in the grace of the Lord. They had spurned the loving grace of God and chosen instead to worship idols. Still you couldn’t kill these guys. The life of God within them continued to bear witness in their flesh despite their gross disobedience. And to further undermine this life span limitation, Moses lived to the age of one hundred and twenty. Furthermore, “Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated” (Deuteronomy 34: 7). Moses was still climbing mountains when he reached the end of his life. He wasn’t feeble and broken and you are not meant to be either. We are children of the King, endowed with the life giving power of God Almighty living in our bones. He that called forth life from the very beginning is alive and well in every cell of our bodies right now. Only, we have the switch. We can be in life and health or we can increase in sickness. God said, “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants” (Deuteronomy 30: 19). Why, then, do we keep choosing death? For goodness sakes, Moses was 80 years old when he went into ministry. “Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh” (Exodus 7: 7). His ministry was just beginning. The job that he is still known for didn’t even begin until he was what some may consider advanced in years and then he stayed in that job for forty years. Let’s get a revelation folks. We have been lied to.

Now let us quickly look at Psalm 91: 16, “With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.” While the 90th Psalm was written in the context of disobedience and God’s anger with the rebellious Israelites, the 91st Psalm is written about they who trust in the Lord. If you have section headers you may want to look in your Bible at this Psalm. My chapter heading reads “Security of the one who trusts in the Lord.” This is a direct promise to you if you live your life in Christ as we have been taught. If you trust God with you daily life then you should move out of the 90th Psalm into the 91st and expect to be satisfied with a long life. The late Kenneth Hagin said, “If you hear I have passed on you will know that I got satisfied.” And he did. He was satisfied with a long life and just laid his body down and moved to heaven.

Live as long as you want to and remain in good health the whole time. Be active and fruitful. Our Father has said “And I shall fulfill the number of your days” (Exodus 23: 26). So don’t go early unless you are satisfied. If you want to see your great-grandchildren then hang around and rely on the life giving power of our Heavenly Father.

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