Revealed Secrets

On March 25, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 3: 2

For length of days and years of life, and peace they will add to you.

Length of days, years of life and peace are all things most of us deeply desire. Too bad the author didn’t tell us how to receive them. Okay, he did, I’m kidding. It is in verse 1 which reads, “My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments.” Aw man, it’s the same old drill. God hasn’t changed his mind yet. The benefits of his promises are in following Him. Go figure!

You know, it kind of perturbs me today to listen to people talk about life expectancy and getting old. First of all, most people have no expectation of living long and this is true even of Christians in spite of the many promises from God about long life. The other point that is becoming all too clear to me is that we shorten our life expectancy in so many ways the loudest of which is in not following God. When Jesus left he sent his Holy Spirit to lead us in the way we should go but probably more Christians than not never listen to what the Holy Spirit is telling them much less follow his advice. I know this was true of me and it was really showing in my life and health. But now, I have a new lease on life because I have found God’s secrets. He hid them right where I should have found them but wasn’t looking – between the covers of my Bible. But now the lid is off because I know where His secret stash is and that knowledge is now showing in my body and health too. The comparison, in fact, is like night and day.

The first part of the equation is His Word. Hey guys, it really is no mystery. There is life in that book and as I got back into it and started applying the Word, things began to change. I went from hobbling along like an ancient person to riding my mountain bike 35 miles at a time. Doesn’t that sound like a miracle to you? Well, it is but the key for this one was that I was a participant. I helped Dad bring this miracle about by hearkening to His Word, believing it and doing it.

Do you want to know super huge secret number 2? Can you handle it? Okay. The second mystery is found in the 11th word of verse 1. It is the word “heart”. Do you hate hearing that as much as I used to? No, you guys wouldn’t but it used to make my skin peel back. I just hated all that goo-goo stuff that some preachers spoke, like love and heart. Do you know what I mean? I was so intellectually entrenched that I had lost track of where I had put my heart. And just because I say that I was intellectually entrenched that does not mean that I was all that smart. Obviously, because if I really was smart I would not have made my mind and my thoughts the center of the universe. Really? How smart is that? No, it was just that my approach to the world, to problems and even to God was to think about it, to reason. Wow! Find that in the Bible. Now, however, I am on a heart journey and literally that impacts every area of my life including my health and physical well-being. God is now at work within me healing, guiding and repairing the damage. His Word lives within me, in my heart and it is spreading through me like warm honey. And it really is making a difference in how I feel, how I am able to move and how healthy I am. His Word in my heart really does work. I know Dad has been telling us that for thousands of years now but I just finally heard it so I am catching up.

There is one last thing that I have noticed that damages our life expectancy. While today’s verse is good news there are also the verses that tell us what will happen when we don’t follow the good advice that God is giving us. Just yesterday we looked at Isaiah 41: 11 which tells us what will happen to those who hassle God’s kids or who do not treat us with love. They are going to disappear. And you see, this is even true for Christians who gossip, backbite and deal dishonestly. So one of the reasons that we are seeing people die before they should is because we have not been dealing fairly with each other. Brother, when you talk that negative junk behind someone’s back you are planting a seed that is going to produce a crop that you don’t want. Then when that seed begins bearing fruit folks start blaming God. Hey, we don’t have to blame God. He is telling us up front how to live long, healthy lives. Read the Word and do it. You are going to reap great rewards.

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Never Disappointed; Never Disturbed

On December 7, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 10: 11

For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

In the New American Standard Bible, from which I quote verses, small caps, as you see in today’s verse, denote a quote taken from scripture. In this case Paul was quoting Isaiah. I would encourage you to follow these threads when you encounter them. Paul is pulling forth a quote from his education and cultural background. So even though today’s verse is found in the New Testament, its roots are in ancient Hebrew tradition and teaching. You will gain a fuller appreciation for what Paul is trying to relate in a specific instance if you can also see what he is drawing on. The specific quote Paul refers to is Isaiah 28: 16 which reads, “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.”

Probably the first thing one notices is that God was speaking and secondly that He was talking about Jesus. Jesus is the cornerstone. We could spend all day in Isaiah 28: 16 but we won’t. The point Paul makes is that whoever believes in Jesus will not be disappointed or as Isaiah says, will not be disturbed. Won’t you agree with me that is good news? Just taken on its face that is really good news but some interesting things happen when you look at the words disappointed and disturbed. Paul used the word disappointed which is the Greek word kataischunō. This word is interesting. It literally means “put to shame.” Therefore, people who believe in Jesus will not be put to shame. If you look it up in Strong’s you will find that other words associated with it are disgraced and humiliated. All you have to do is to take each one of these words and replace them for the word disappointed. As you do so you will begin to get a full sense of what Paul is saying to you. One of those words will likely go off in you more than others. That is the word that God is speaking to you. Beyond what you personally hear in this passage, Paul is saying that those who believe, and here he would mean a belief which is acted upon, will not be humiliated, disgraced or put to shame for that belief. They will not be disappointed because living out of that belief will yield victory.

Okay, that takes care of the word “disappointed” in Romans 10 but you really need to see the word which was translated as disturbed in Isaiah. The Hebrew word is “chush.” This one threw me for a loop until I spent some time with it. The margin notes of my Bible say it means “in a hurry.” What? How does that make sense? That would make the verse say “Those who believe in Jesus will not be in a hurry.” But stick with me here. This is going to make sense and be a blessing to you. As I sat and thought about being in a hurry I tried to associate the kinds of feelings we have when we are rushed or hurried. The word that came to my mind was agitated. Well, when I looked up chush I found that agitation was one of the synonyms. The concordance entry reads: chush (301c); a prim. root; to hasten, make haste: – agitation (1), disturbed (1), hasten (8), hastened (2), hastening (1), hurried (1), make haste (2), quick (1), ready (1), speedy (1), swooping (1). Taken all together what I think this means is that when we operate in an active faith in Jesus we will not be hurried, harried or agitated. The real crux of it seems to be that we will be able to enter into God’s rest. The cornerstone, Jesus, has provided the way for us to live in divine ease. We can embrace the shalom peace to which we are entitled and in which we are meant to abide.

This is just another way the great prophet, Isaiah, and renowned apostle, Paul, relate an apex truth to us; that in Jesus is victory. Everything we need and everything we think we need are found in Jesus. The most important of these is the calm assurance that we have when we abide in the peace of our Lord Jesus, the Christ.

 

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Making a Good Target

On December 1, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Samuel 17: 1 – 2

Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Please let me choose 12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight. And I will come upon him while he is weary and exhausted and will terrify him so that all the people who are with him will flee. Then I will strike down the king alone.”

Ahithophel suggests a good strategy; wait until your enemy is exhausted and fall on him. When one is tired or stressed out he is a much easier target. Satan knows this. He wants to see you stay stressed and exhausted because you make an easy victim. Imagine what he can do with an entire culture of over-worked and over-stressed people.  

Jesus is the author of peace. When we are fixed on him we are at peace. Soon the world comes in to crash our peace party. Then we find ourselves disrupted and keyed up. In fact, when you take account of yourself you may find that you are stirred up on the inside. That settled, calm feeling has flown. This is exactly what the devil is after. He can do more to damage your health, emotions and life if he can keep you in an agitated state. Some of us retain that agitation even at rest. We never fully relax. I know for many years as a practicing attorney that was the story of my existence. I could rarely ever let myself relax into a completely restful and peaceful state. The most pronounced effect was in my health. I was a mess. You see, peace will guard and keep you and I had none.

The key to living in peace and actually letting peace have a place in your heart is fixing your eyes on Jesus. I was very active in church during that phase of my life so church wasn’t the answer. Even though I attended church and all of the church functions, I really never had quiet time with Jesus. On the surface it seemed like I was doing all of the right things but now, in retrospect, I can see that I never allowed the calm of Jesus to ever sink down into my heart. I kept myself on high alert all of the time. Every nerve tingled with anticipation. Sure, I prayed and praised God but I just didn’t have quiet time for Him and me to commune within my heart. Even when I tried to meditate my mind ran at 1000 miles an hour. This is no way to live and in fact, I was killing myself. And God could barely talk to me. My world was too loud for His voice so He couldn’t even lead me out of my mess.

King David was able to be led by God and it saved him more than once. But he spent quiet time alone with God where he would even still his own spirit so that the Spirit of God could speak to him. He learned to be still and rest his mind, spirit and body so that he did not make a bigger target for Satan’s attacks. If he had not done so, God would not have been able to lead him out of trouble because David would not have been able to hear Him.

So here is my advice … don’t follow my former example. It is a stupid ruse that Satan has planted in our culture that will destroy you. Believe me in this. Instead, follow peace. Learn to give your body, mind and spirit rest and invest time spent with Jesus, the author of peace. Your health, relationships and even your success will be positively impacted if you do.

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Rest for His People

On November 13, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 37: 7 a

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

Pick a word in the verse that you don’t like. Go ahead; there are plenty of opportunities there. Let’s see, how about rest, wait and patiently? How can such a short verse have so many challenges in it?

I am learning that this is a powerful idea even if it is very difficult to do. For all of you Type A personalities who model action and doing this verse probably poses a few trials for you as it does for me. How then are we to attain such an ideal state? I really think there is great power in this verse but to reach this restful state we are going to have to slow down ourselves for a bit. Here is where mediation can be a strong ally. How do you slow yourself down so that you can quietly and patiently wait for the Lord? Sometimes exercise can help you burn off the stress and excess energy so that you can be still and rest in God. Music may work for you, perhaps art. For me it is often about just getting outside. There is serenity in simply admiring God’s great creation. Each of us must find our own strategies for slowing ourselves down so that we can enter a quiet state. When we can be still then we can hear what God is speaking to us and that inevitably leads to rest.

There is also an element of trust imbedded in this verse. In order to rest in God and wait patiently for Him you must trust that He will answer you. Otherwise you will want to work in the might of your hand. As we learn these principles we find that God can do more while we meditate than we can accomplish through hours of striving. A heart that honestly believes in God will be a heart that is at rest. The moment we begin to feel stress then we know that we have moved out of that divine peace which is the hallmark of a life lived in and through Christ. However, if we truly trust our God to meet our need, then our hearts will remain peaceful.

There is more in this idea of resting in and trusting God than I think most of us have comprehended. How can we do all that we need to do and remain in a restful state? There is a revelation on partnership with the God of creation that we have just not grasped yet. Perhaps you are the one who can teach this to the rest of us. This is the essence of faith; trusting rather than striving. I welcome you, all of you, to go to the blog site where we post this daily devotional and enter your comments. Perhaps we can begin a dialogue and share our experiences. Those of you who are more successful at resting in God can help the rest of us. The blog site is www.iveyministries.blogspot.com. 

Be at peace. Rest, knowing that He is God.

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Peaceful Mediations

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

Joshua 1: 8

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

Let us talk about meditation a little today. Yesterday we looked at Psalm 62:5 and Psalm 46: 10 which teach us to be still and quiet in the presence of God so that we may know Him as God. In the still, quiet peace of our souls is where we most easily connect with God. However, it is quite one thing to agree that you need to be still or that you need to meditate and another to actually do it. At least that was my experience. 

I decided one year that I was going to pray for an hour a day and I actually did it for quite a while. Now, you would expect my life to have exhibited a dynamic metamorphosis after praying for an hour a day. There is, however, an element of prayer that is necessary for it to have any power at all. That would be God. My prayer was an endless stream of syllables but I believe it lacked substance. It probably was noise in the ears of our Lord. I never bothered to connect with Him or the Holy Spirit so it was a soliloquy rather than a dialogue and prayer is not meant to be one-sided. Prayer is communication with God through the three persons of the trinity. My spirit, soul and mind were rarely quiet, still or silent. So, I would try with all my strength to be still and quiet. I would try to meditate. How many of you know that when you try that hard and apply power that you just create more noise. There is no effort in stillness. Remember, Psalm 46: 10 says to cease striving. So striving to hear the voice of God or striving to meditate is just not going to work. I was in violation of the principles of prayer and the kingdom of God. God teaches us that we connect and have deep fellowship through peace and ease. David commanded his soul to silence so that he could hear what the Father would say. David knew in whom his hope rested because he had many times experienced that saving grace of the Lord. 

It is exceedingly unfair for teachers to constantly intone about meditation and never teach us how to meditate. For some of you I understand this comes easily. I cannot even fathom. Others of you may have struggled with me. How then do we enter that rest that we often hear about? 

My revelation was not my own. A dear friend and mentor led me, this year, to two ministries which in conjunction have opened the prison doors and set me free. The first of those ministries is Communion with God Ministries whose founder is Dr. Mark Virkler. How appropriate. Now, do you think a ministry with that name may be able to help you find God and assist you in communing with him? Absolutely! And it was certainly true for me. Dr. Virkler’s foundational program is 4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice. If you want to hear God’s voice speaking directly to you, then this program will make it happen for you. Dr. Virkler very subtlety teaches us left brained people to stimulate the right side of our brains bringing us into greater balance and causing us to experience the other half of the world (maybe more than ½). His website is a great beginning place and it is loaded with tons of free content. Free is good. I learned how to use the 4 keys just from his website and had an immediate breakthrough. The website is www.cwgministries.org. 

The other ministry that has radically altered my life this year is Impact Ministries with Dr. James Richards. Dr. Richards has many areas of expertise which can impact your life but the Heart Physics program is what has taught me how to be still. It was amazingly easy too. I was absolutely astounded at how quickly I began having significant breakthroughs. In fact, during the first week I had several major ideas just “come to me.” That which Dr. Richards teaches can alter every area of life. And while it takes a few minutes to go through the heart exercises, that time and more is added back in productivity and creativity. He also teaches you how to have more energy. You will be amazed at the peace you gain through heart physics and I guarantee you will learn how to calm yourself down and to meditate. It is a very fruitful program. Find all of Dr. Richards’ resources at www.impactministries.com or www.heartphysics.com.

We can all have peace. We can all find God in the stillness of our hearts. These two ministries can help you find that place of calm serenity where Jesus is waiting for you. Be still and know your God and savior. Find peace and truth in meditation.

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Be Still

On November 10, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 62: 5

My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him.

The first thing I needed to understand about this verse in order for it to minister blessing to me is that David is actually addressing his own soul. I think there is an entire message in the truth that sometimes we need to speak to our souls commanding them in a particular direction but what I really want to talk about today is being still before God so that we can enter into deep communion with Him. 

This has been a contemplation of my heart for a long time now and a focus for this year. I have never been very good at being still. Psalm 46: 10 tells us, “Be still and know that I am God” or as it reads in the NASB version, “Cease striving and know that I am God.” Either phrasing is equally difficult. Being still relates to both physical stillness and mental quiet. I found being still and quiet physically challenging but mental quiet near impossible. I would sit down to pray and my mind was all over the place. I thought I had a quick, active mind but in truth I had an undisciplined mind. In my experience, it is very difficult to have an active communication with God when my mind will not shut up for one moment. Something, therefore, really struck me about the silence David commanded to his soul.

It turns out that this “silence” is an interesting word. It is the word “damam”. Its primary meaning is “to be or grow dumb, silent or still – ceasing.” Not surprisingly, we see the expected silence but there is also the concept of stillness that is found in Psalm 46: 10 as well as the mandate to cease striving. This is a profound silence then, akin, in my mind, to peace. When we look at all of the definitions and synonyms for this word “silence” we find the words relax, rest and wait. There is an imperative tense too in made silent, kept silent, stand still, stay still, wait in silence. These are the commands David spoke to his soul. He tells his inner being to be still, quiet, relaxed, etc. knowing that God will speak into the silence.

We know David to be a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13: 14). We also see in David a person who fully expected God to be an active player in his life. I have to conclude that this internal discipline that David exercised and his core belief that God would speak into the silence were critical factors in the enviable relationship that He enjoyed with God. There is nothing, however, that God did for David that He will not also do for you and me. Therefore, it may be wise for us to look into this man’s behaviors and attitudes, no, not to observe only but rather to model his behaviors so that we may enjoy the same fruit. For I am convinced that if we sow the same seed that David sowed, we will reap the same fruit, that of a close, personal, Psalm 23 kind of experience with the Father of lights, the God of the universe, our very own dear father.

Finally, for some of you quiet contemplation may come easily though that is beyond my comprehension. Others of you may find this topic challenging. All of us probably need to meditate (think on, cogitate, ponder) over this topic. Quiet spirits, still minds and bodies are not the stuff of modern society. If, however, we want to enjoy daily communion with our Father, if we want to hear His voice speaking into our everyday life then we are going to have to master the art of silence, the skill of still.

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Precious Peace

On November 5, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 14: 27

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.

So here is the question. If Jesus gave us his peace then why are we not more peaceful? I have been playing in a week long bridge tournament and it is a great place to study peace (or the lack thereof). I just wonder what a psychologist would say if he or she studied people in bridge tournaments. It is an amazing dynamic. There are a lot of great people and I really enjoy getting to see the people from my mother’s bridge club that I do not get to see often. My goodness, it warms my heart just having my eyes filled with the visage of these beautiful people. Then you sit down at the table and start playing cards with someone you probably have never met before and you get to see human relationship dynamics at their loudest. I have said before, bridge can really highlight your shortcomings. If you are, impatient, bossy, rude, controlling, or have any of a number of character flaws, the game of bridge takes a 25,000 lumens spotlight and shines it right on your weakness. It pulls the brokenness right out of you and puts it on the table for everyone to see. This is especially true when you play in a week long tournament. As Saturday and Sunday roll around the rude behavior increases. Some folks are so impolite you would have a hard time believing me it I told you about it. 

Probably my greatest weakness (having to choose between several here) is that I don’t like to let anyone push me around. I am a fighter and have been since I was a child. So when these bossy, rude people get in my face I tend to push back. Now, I don’t think I am usually rude back but I don’t let their bad-mannered comments to me slide either. So Jesus said to me this week, “Why are you letting them have the peace I gave you?” Whoa!!

We also had some major issues with the hotel in which we stayed and one young guy who worked there almost made me lose my testimony. Well, truth be told, he cannot make me lose my temper. I am the only one who can make that choice. So Jesus challenged me all week long to hang onto that which he gave me. If Jesus gave me his peace then why would I let some jerk steal it from me? 

One lady at the bridge table got me a little. She and her partner played the first two hands and took their jolly sweet time in so doing. No problem. I am not going to cause them stress or boss them to hurry. Unfortunately, when it came to the last hand I was trying to play and she kept interrupting my chain of thought to tell me to hurry. Well, who died to make her the boss of the world, right? So eventually I pushed back (didn’t I tell you I hate to be bossed around?). I told her that her interruptions were making it hard for me to think quickly. I wasn’t rude but I think I was at least firm. Well, one thing led to another and we left that table with less than cordial feelings. It certainly was not mine nor my partner’s intention to be rude or contrary but I have a hard time not pushing back when someone gets in my face. That’s my damage showing. But here is the thing, I have a lord who loves me more than life itself and as he left this earth he gave me his sweet peace. Why, then, am I letting some goober steal it from me. 

The peace of the Lord is precious, sacred even. Moreover, Jesus left his peace for us because he knew that we needed it. His peace is not just a gratuitous offering. It is necessary for life. If we abide in his peace we will manifest much better health than those who let the turkeys get them down. So many of today’s medical malconditions result from allowing our peace to slip. It is called stress and every time we allow stress to replace peace we are allowing damage to be done in our bodies. We can recover but we need to do so as quickly as we possibly can. Say a quick prayer (even while you are sitting at the bridge table) and repent if need be. Repentance may be a simple as, “Lord, I am sorry I let your peace get away just then. Forgive me and help me to move back into peace right now.” That is not difficult, is it? Then you might take a deep breath, close your eyes for one second and let his peace flood right back into you. It really does work but you have to be intentional about it. This is not a magic formula. It is all about setting your heart and mind on living in Jesus’ peace and being determined.

There is one other point I would like for us to think about. What does it say about the person who is acting out? Maybe they are fussing at their partner or being crabby but what they are really saying if you listen well is, “I am hurt and broken! I need help.” You see, the damage in our personality is showing and it really is a cry for help. Now, you cannot always intervene in the person’s life at that moment but you can pray for them. And I think I am going to get better at praying for all of my opponents before the games. I will say that we only had that one encounter with an opponent but I did pray for all of the players before the tournament began. Maybe as each new opponent comes to my table I can say a very short prayer and thus avoid those issues. Hey, and remember to pray for your partner (not about them). It is up to you and me to be the carriers of the blessing. Criticizing our partners and feuding with opponents is not part of the blessing. There is something much more important going on here than just our master points. We are the actual ambassadors of Christ to a hurting world. We are affecting eternity with our words and attitudes so let us keep everything in perspective and live and love, in Jesus’ name.

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