Tuning In

On October 16, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 21: 22

And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.

You might say that you have not received all that you have asked in prayer. I have a question then. How is your receiver? Or maybe your believer is broken. The scripture says that what we believe when we ask in prayer, we will receive. If that is true, then perhaps we have received exactly what we have believed. So, we need to work on our belief. The way to increase belief is to spend more time with the Father and his word. The more time you spend hearing, seeing and reading the word related to the subject of your prayer, the more your belief will grow. When you find a really key scripture, one that goes right to the heart of your prayer, you should meditate on that one. Meditate just means that you are thinking on it in a concentrated manner. Think about each word in the scripture. Why did the author use a particular word? Look up the key words in a dictionary. Look up synonyms for the word. Talk to your heavenly Father about the scripture. Ask him what the scripture means to him and ask him to shine even more light of meaning on it for you. As you do this, one day the faith will just jump in your heart. All of sudden you will know that you know. Then the facts won’t count. It will not matter what the situation around you looks like because you will have a revelation of the truth. Truth is above facts and the truth always trumps facts. Once you know the truth, you will truly be free.

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The Contemplative Life

On August 11, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 20: 15        NIV

Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.

In reading this verse, I am struck by how out of place it is in today’s culture. First of all, who would say such a thing? Preachers, I think, might still say these sorts of things but that is probably the limit of it. I ask myself why and find many answers vying for my attention. The most pronounced, though, is that this speaks to ideals that are outside our value system. So, what is in our value system or more plainly stated, what is it that we value? That question is most easily answered by observing what we, as a culture, spend our time, energy and money on. The contemplative life does not seem to make the list and seeking out the one person who has made meditative study a priority is even of lesser importance to us.

Individually we get swept up in the tide of the culture, few of us ever stopping long enough to ask ourselves what is really important. There are images painted for us in media, advertising and literature and we integrate those images into our psyche’s and begin to hotly pursue them without ever questioning whether those things have any real value in them or if they add value to our lives. The first realization we have is that we have no time in our lives. Everyone is so busy. We have no time for the real friends so we have to have virtual friends. Our friends and family are nothing more than social media entries. We have no time them much less for quiet study, meditation and contemplation because we have three other places we need to be. But if we could be honest with ourselves for one minute we would have to accept that we are only as busy as our value system allows. We do what is important to us. If we say that we are too busy for any particular thing it is only because we have not placed a high enough value on that item. So, now when I hear someone say they are “too busy” for something in particular I understand that they are really saying that it just is not important enough for them.

I have this picture in my mind of people sitting at the feet of the sage listening intently to words of wisdom. It is a very tranquil image. It is also a fallacy. Even if we purposely slow our lives a bit then ego interferes. We have become a nation of egomaniacs. Who knows better than we? Is there anyone smarter, wiser or more informed than I? If so, do I value that person or shun them? This is not true for everyone for there are some of you who really do have humility but for many of us we ostracize one who has answers and wisdom because our self-esteems are so low that we see their wisdom as a threat. So those of you who do seek out teachers keep gaining knowledge while those of us who so desperately need guidance cannot receive wisdom because of our outsized egos.

Israel had the same problem. People didn’t listen to the prophets even though God spoke to them through the prophet. So they lacked guidance. I am sure they thought they knew it all just as we do today. We don’t need anyone to speak wisdom into our lives because we are the smartest people we know. It is all very cyclical. We think we are wise, or we allow our tiny self-esteems convince us this is so we do not pursue the teachings of those who could, in fact, help us. Secondarily, we have become so deceived by the devil as to what is important that we do not pursue God in our own time. There are few wise people because few people spend time with God. And then those few who actually have made the contemplative life a priority get shunned because they are wiser than the rest of us. Israel suffered greatly because they wouldn’t listen to the prophets but today we are even worse because we won’t even give anyone the title prophet or teacher even when they have been appointed by God to those positions. 

I wish that by writing this Word of the Day I could change the culture but if it provokes one or two people to a deeper life then it will be successful. Those of you who are thoughtful and meditative, pull on your teachers. Make a demand on them. Teachers, your followers have a right to draw on what God is teaching you and you may have to increase your study. It is your responsibility to feed the sheep and Jesus is the bread of life, so study.

If we could just take one month away from our worldly pursuits, away from seeking pleasure and direct that energy to seeking God, we would not only transform our own lives but our families and communities as well. Consider your time, your obligations and your God. Take time to think about what is really important in life. Then allocate some time to the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. Seek out teachers. Honor them and make a demand on their knowledge base. Make the pursuit of the knowledge of God a priority in your life.

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Dwell on These Things

On June 30, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Philippians 4: 8

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Last Friday I went for a bike ride. I had plans to meet some people for lunch at a trailside restaurant 29 miles down the trail later in the day. I thought I allowed enough time for me to cover the distance without keeping them waiting but I have not done many long rides lately so I was a bit concerned about my mph average and arriving at our meeting spot on time.

I started out at a good pace and was really pleased to feel good at that pace. Before too long though, at around 14 miles, I think, I noticed that my average was beginning to drop. I wanted to go faster but I had also noticed that my legs were beginning to enter the conversation with input of their own. I really focused on going faster and that is when I learned this important life lesson. The more I thought about my legs the more tired I felt. But our dear Father switched my thoughts from the fatigue in my legs to thinking about my cadence and to watching the average speed display on my bike computer. I stopped thinking about my legs and began thinking about the mph. A few minutes later when I looked at the current mph indicator I saw that I was going 15 mph which was the fastest I had gone all day. I had an epiphany right there on my bike. I realized that the more I focused on the bad news, i.e. my legs being tired, the more I reaped tired legs. When, however, I put my mind on my goal, my body just achieved the goal despite the obstacles. In fact, I didn’t even feel my legs. I just achieved a new level of success simply by shifting my thinking.

As I rode I thought to myself that this must be what God is trying to teach us in this verse. Whatever is good or worthy, let your mind linger on those things. If you meditate on your tired legs you are going to reap weariness. If you let your mind camp out on the goal, you are going to reap success. I remember thinking as I rode along, “If we think about being tired, we will be tired. If we think about being sick, we are going to be sick all the days of our lives. But, if we will meditate on the healing, the success, the blessing, etc. then we will be healthy, successful and blessed.” Yahoo! Now that was a bit of practical education that I could apply immediately.

I have a few other strategies that I have developed over the years of riding that I think might work in many aspects of life. First of all, I pray at the very beginning of my ride. I say to Dad that this is our time and that I will be glad to listen and He can talk. I love to acknowledge (even out loud many times) that this is something that He and I are doing together and that not only do I invite Him to share this time with me but that He is just automatically a part of it. Then I often tell Him that we will ride together but that the last 3 miles are all His because I have noticed that no matter how far I ride it always seems that the last 2 – 3 miles become difficult. So we start out with an expectation that He is with me and is doing the bulk of the work. Those are two of my secrets but there is a third which is my emergency ration when I am out of gas and I needed it on this ride.

As I continued Friday, I began to weaken again so I put my earbud in my ear and turned on Praise music. Now I did not say Christian music because I need something more specific in these moments and it is Praise music. Say it loud! Play it loud! I start praising the Lord and listening to anointed singers glorifying the Lord and I get revived. The joy of the Lord can pump your legs even when you feel like there is nothing left in them. One caveat – trying to sing along can really be hard on your wind but then again who cares? Well, maybe some of the other people on the trail would prefer I didn’t start singing out loud but it just may make them ride faster too if only to get away from me.

The end of the story is that I did arrive on time. Actually, I was 40 minutes early. I had a great ride. I asked Dad to use the time to fellowship with me and to speak with me and He taught me this brilliant lesson about what we allow ourselves to meditate on impacting our immediate life. He used my leisure time to develop a Word of the Day teaching me that we can work and play. We had time of praise and I got some exercise. I’ve gotta say, that is a good day.

Bottom line, we can affect our lives by what we think about and those impacts are immediate and lasting. There is something we can do right now to change the outcome of today. There is a lot of power in that.

I hope you enjoyed going on this little 29 mile journey with me. To find out what my “out of gas” refueling music was check out the blog post for Sunday, June 29, 2014 at www.iveyministries.blogspot.com.

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