Long Life, Good Life

On June 25, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 34: 12 – 13             TPT

Do you want to live a long, good life, enjoying the beauty that fills each day? Then never speak a lie or allow wicked words to come from your mouth.

A friend of mine once remarked that we need to be reminded about the words of our mouth weekly if not daily. I so agree. We forget the power that is in our words and we forget the impact they have on our lives and the lives of those around us, like our families.

Don’t you like the idea of beauty filling every day? Of course, a long life and good life are attractive too. The psalmist here is David. He is teaching how to have a beautiful, long and good life. And, he ought to know. Never tell a lie, he tells us and don’t allow wicked words to come from your mouth. You have to decide for yourself what words are wicked and you may find that your definition changes over time but set a bar and make it your determined purpose to refrain from words you wouldn’t want to hear your mother saying. That is a decent test. I also think we can broaden our view by including vulgar words. There are terms we can use in place of words that may not be considered profanity but that are vulgar none the less. Civilization, in part, reveals itself in language. So I cast my vote for a more civilized lexicon, a vocabulary that gives honor to our Father instead of embarrassing Him.

What shall we say of lying? We all know, empirically, that it is wrong and yet do we refrain? Even from little white lies? I do not believe there is such a thing as a little lie. Either a statement is true or it is not. It may be phrased in such a way as to not be an outright lie but it isn’t the truth either. It is a deception and phrased in such a way as to be intentional misleading.

Here is the question I would like answered. Why do we lie? Is it that we are cowardly and cannot face up to the truth? Is it that we are embarrassed by our behaviors and thus attempt to paint a better picture of ourselves? Is it that we wish to avoid the natural consequences of our actions? I don’t know. Perhaps it is all of these and more but here is the bottom line, and I will not equivocate. Every lie is cooperation and companionship with Satan. Jesus is the truth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. There is a very clear line here. We either line up with Satan or we line up with Jesus. Which shall it be? If we want the good life, a long life filled with beauty, then we must make the difficult choice to live in truth. I know it’s hard but everything about following Jesus is a challenge when you live in the world. His way is not the world’s way.

David teaches how to live in God’s blessing. It means we must guard our mouths. This is likely one of the most difficult tasks many of us undertake, but life and blessing are in the words of our mouths. Like my friend, said, remind yourself today about your words. Clean up your language and have a good life.

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True Freedom

On May 7, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 8: 32

You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

Jesus said that when we know the truth, that truth will set us free. What truth is it that will set you free? Does this sound simplistic? Perhaps it does but it reveals a deep truth that is often overlooked. Only the truth about you, will set you free. The truth about me will do little to change your life. We can learn from other people’s examples and that is incredibly valuable but what sets a person free is that truth about themselves which they accept in their innermost being, that truth which they allow to have a transformative impact.

You could go to a four day seminar and hear the truth all day long for the entire four days and never let one bit of it impact you. You may even sit there thinking about all the people you know who need to hear this wisdom. You will only get your money’s worth when you allow the truth to penetrate to your heart and hear what it means in your own life. A healthy self-esteem allows us to let Jesus speak to our hearts. When we are not secure, then these lessons become a threat. We don’t want to hear advice and teaching from others because it challenges our façade, threatening to reveal the real us which lies just below the thin mask we wear.

Another major revelation can be had by seeing this verse in context, “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free,”  (John 8: 31 – 32). Jesus spoke, here, to believers. Of course, even though they were Jewish, they were also converts. Jesus presented a new way of thinking. He told them how to become disciples. That is to continue in his word, which is a viable test of discipleship even ‘til today. There is more though, and it is important that we not miss the nexus between verse 31 and verse 32. You see here that the truth comes from the Word. If you continue in the Word and you allow that Word to speak to your heart, then you will not only prove yourselves disciples, but you will also set yourself free from the bondage of your past. When you meditate on this verse, it will grow such that you will see that it truly does have great power to set at liberty the captives, which, after all, is part of Jesus’ commission.

There is a distinct difference between reading the Word, studying the Word and allowing it to transform your life. Those of you who can say, “Amen” to that statement have experienced the soul shaking power of the Word. It penetrates even to the deepest parts, when we allow it, and heals the broken heart. It finds places within us where strong ropes of belief, misunderstanding and hurt have tied us down to living life within those restraints. Jesus meant for us to be free. He came to set us free and it is his word and the truth it reveals about us to us that breaks the yoke of bondage off of us.

Get real with yourself and with Jesus. It is not painful. He isn’t looking to tell you what a loser you are. You and others have done that plenty well enough already. Jesus wants you to know how loved and valuable you are. He wants to reveal lies you have believed which have kept you from the life he prepared for you. He wants to give you abundance. If you will allow him and his truth into the deepest, darkest recesses of your heart, he will heal the hurts and shine his light in your heart. It’s all good. Don’t be afraid.

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Space of Grace

On February 23, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 4: 29

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.

If you do not stumble here, then you are a perfect person for this is where we usually trip up ourselves, with our mouths. That is the ultimate insight. We damage ourselves with our mouths.

At first reading, this passage is clear enough. However, as we continue to ponder this scripture, one begins to hear a lifestyle emerging through it. Paul was encouraging Christian unity in this chapter. Clearly, there will be no unity in any group if its members do not police their words. Paul leads us a step further though. His words direct us to edify one another with our words. In this he creates a distinction. He didn’t say, “Just keep your mouth shut,” which, by almost anyone’s standard, is good advice. Paul teaches us, instead, to speak words of grace. Our words can lift the hearer. They can build up the group.

Here is the hard part, Paul would have us avoid making statements that are even true if they are likely to disparage another. We are not talking here about lying, never let it be said, but some things just don’t need to be said. As a former lawyer, I can tell you that I struggle with this. Truth is truth and so often I think the scoundrel should be exposed. This is where the world’s way of thinking diverges from God’s way of doing. That is why we have to pay such close attention to the Word. The world’s teaching is engrained within us. Sometimes we have to root it out by really seeing what the Word teaches.

Everything God ever told us, or ever will tell us is for our own good. He didn’t give us a bunch of rules to steal the life from us. He gave us rules to give us life, and that more abundantly. When we let unwholesome speech out of our mouths, we damage ourselves, those who hear, and we do no great favor to the heart of God. However, since we are growing up in the things of God, let us not stop with bridling our tongues. Let’s learn to direct our language in a way which edifies others. Find the space of grace and share it with others. Words can hurt but they can also heal. Use yours to unite and console.

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Belted

On November 7, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 6: 14

Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth.

The first piece of armor God has given us is truth. It is worn like a belt, around your middle. It circumnavigates your whole body and connects the lower and the upper half. Truth is the beginning point. Without tying yourself to the truth, all else will be meaningless. In order to stand firm, the first thing we need is THE truth, and dedication to the truth.

Jesus told us that he is the truth (John 14: 6) and the beginning and the end (Revelation 21: 6). He is continuity. Like a belt or sash wrapped around you, the beginning and the end, come together. They complete one another. There is no loose end because the end is connected to the beginning. The truth is the ongoing support of all else. Jesus was in the beginning with God. Truth, therefore, is the beginning point but it is the ending point as well and everything that is or ever will be must, necessarily, be contained within this circle of beginning and ending and back to the beginning again. Wherever Jesus is, there is truth and we are wrapped with it.

In the case of armor, the belt or sash secures clothing and armament. It is the piece from which many other items of clothing and weaponry depend. Knives and swords are suspended from the belt. In life, it is truth which sets us free. Really, it is knowing the truth, the real truth, not our imagined or perceived truths which is freeing. So, freedom is secured by truth. In an interesting contrast, the more wrapped up we are in the truth, the more free we are. Other garments may be worn loosely but the belt is meant to be snugged securely about us.

When we begin with truth, not only have we begun with Jesus but we actually form the basis by which the rest of our armor, and hence our lives, will depend. The belt of truth is prime importance. There is no possibility in making truth too high a priority. When you hear the word truth, there should be at least two resonant ideas. First is that Jesus is the truth. That should be loud in your mind and spirit. Second, there is the ordinary use of the word truth, as in not false nor even misleading. We should endeavor to live in and speak truth as absolutely as we may. Lying on taxes is not acceptable because it is untruth. Misleading business associates is not living in truth. Do you know that if we are to live in the fullness of victory Jesus has prepared for us, and our battle array to shine and be effective, we cannot even lie to our kids, even when it is uncomfortable? We are going to have to learn new ways to respond to people such that we do not compromise our firm stance. You cannot usher in truth, which is overcoming power and freedom, and at the same time utter untruths. There is a decision to be made here and this is the point of beginning. Will you gird yourself, first and foremost, with truth?

The reality, as we begin this study, is that untruth leaves you exposed. None of us desires to begin with our pants down. So pull up your pants. Cinch your belt of truth and prepare yourself for victory.

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Truth Prevails

On November 3, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 10: 19 – 21

The Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?” But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

If you guessed that the Jews were speaking about Jesus, you are right. Isn’t it interesting that people can be so divided over the message and the message bringer? All of these people heard the same thing yet some attributed his teachings and miracles to his being under the influence of the devil. Still others heard wisdom in these words.

It is no different today and if people accused Jesus of being demon possessed, what will they say about us. We can only hope to stir them up as intensely as did Jesus. I have recently met a woman who is living in the middle of this reality. She longs for the miraculous and has a deep sense in her spirit that there is more of Jesus to experience than we, the church, are currently experiencing. Further, she is actively seeking all Jesus has for her. However, she has run into opposition. The church she attends is not only satisfied with living a watered down Christianity where there is not power, they even go a step further to preach against it. I have a hard time comprehending such a position. You may have read my devotional titled, All my Birthday Presents (read it here: https://iveyministries.org/2015/10/all-my-birthday-presents/). The whole point of it is that I want everything Jesus died to give me. Not one of his good gifts should go unclaimed. Do you agree? And yet, some people, even Christians (or especially Christians) complain and criticize when someone operates in a realm where they have no experience. They elevate their experiences over the Word of God and the ministry of Jesus. That’s nuts!

This lady even has to endure negativity from her pastor and hears it from the pulpit. It bothers me considerably that this pastor is speaking negatively about that which he does not understand. He is hamstringing his congregation and stealing from this woman and others. However, there is grace for him as well. He needs a visit from Christ. Once you have encountered Christ, you really don’t care what some ignorant speaker has to say because you have actual and divine knowledge. I have seen the Holy Spirit with mine own eyes. You cannot convince me he does not exist nor that he is not present in the lives of saints on this earth today. I have been there and seen it.

So why do people like this pastor struggle so? They are spiritually dead or at least unapprised. Jesus said these people have a hardened heart. The thing that makes that such a sad statement is that usually it is we who harden our own hearts. We choose to close our minds and hearts to that which is different or which challenges our current beliefs and knowledge. The hungry Christian need not defend their belief system. We have a Lord so our part is simply to run to him with our confusion and even our doubt. “Teach me, Lord Jesus, what the truth is in this situation!” We also have other Biblical teachers who can bring light if our current associations are ill-informed.

Just like the Jews called Jesus a demoniac, people today criticize and condemn others as blasphemous and demon influenced. First, check the Bible. If what is being criticized is there, then it is of God, not Satan. Second, get further information if you don’t understand. Certainly do not listen to naysayers. Don’t let them steal from you and condemn you to less than Jesus died to give you. If they disparage others, that is a good first clue they are not walking in the fullness of the Spirit. God is love. We do not all have to believe the same but the church is dying from the lack of Jesus’ power in our congregations. Jesus came to give us fullness of life and we are not only settling for much less than he intended, but sometimes we even cut off the flow of his Spirit by criticizing those who are experiencing miracles. Until we are all living in the abundance of life that Jesus intended, we need to keep pressing in to all he would reveal to us. Will some of it be startling? Sure, and even, at times, disturbing but he is the answer to every problem and question. Let’s live big. Let’s start walking on the water.

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Kindness and Truth

On May 11, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 3: 3 – 4

Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, so you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.

If we were to have a Word of the Day on every verse in Proverbs which is highlighted in my Bible we would be here for a while. Today’s verse is one of the more well known proverbs. It is typical of the Proverbs. It shows a cause and effect, a result and the means by which to attain that result. The result we gain today is favor and a good reputation with God and man.

The thing I particularly like about today’s verse is the translation of truth into “Jesus”. In John 14: 6 Jesus calls himself the truth. So then I read this verse as, “Do not let kindness and Jesus leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” I think when people read proverbs like the one for today, there is an immediate acceptance of the ideas contained within. This verse sounds like a good idea but how do you apply it? How do you bind kindness and truth around your neck?

One of our responses may be, “be people of kindness and truth” and that seems to make sense. Thinking about Jesus as the truth creates a more dynamic model. Because we also know that Jesus is the Word, we can actually write this truth on our hearts. That makes today’s proverb less of an esoteric idea and more of an applied model. That is good for us.
What a pleasant idea it is thinking about binding Jesus around our necks and writing him on the tablet of our hearts. He is our Bible partner. As we seek him through the Word, meditating on Biblical precepts as we do, Jesus becomes more and more ingrained into every part of us. He is his word and he is truth and when we make kindness and truth a part of us then God’s favor becomes part of as well. In addition the favor of man and a good reputation with God and man become ours. All of that makes life here on this earth better and easier.

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Knowing Truth

On April 17, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 8: 32

You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

Jesus came to set us free and it is the truth which will set us free but it is not any old generic truth. First, it is in knowing that Jesus is the truth (John 14: 6). The second but equally important part of the equation is that it is the truth that you know which will set you free.

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5: 1). You see, when we do not embrace the truth, then we subject ourselves to slavery. It is true. We fall victim to events in our past, lies we have believed, daily challenges, bad habits and on and on. We find it very difficult, if not impossible to rise above these situation which do, in fact, keep us bound to a life that is less than the abundant life that Jesus came to give us. We find ourselves repeatedly, falling short of our goals and dreams with few explanations. The ultimate reason our purposes are repeatedly frustrated is that there is a truth which we have yet to lay hold of.  However, the great news of Jesus, our beloved Messiah, is that in him is the very truth which we need to experience the breakthrough which will catapult us into everything he died to give us.

You will know the truth and when you do know and, importantly, embrace the truth you shall be set free. Sometimes, though, it is quite challenging for us to embrace truth. We have been living with the lies so long that while they keep us bound, at least they are the known factor. We have grown accustomed to them. Facing the truth can be scary. My friend, Pat Richards, who is the chief Heart Physics coach at Impact Ministries (www.impactministries.com) calls this resistance. It doesn’t mean that we are not sincere in our pursuit of truth. It is just the case that as we close in on it, there is resistance in our hearts to hearing the whole truth. It’s frightening. So, we run away. We shield ourselves from the potential discomfort of facing the bare truth.

Honestly, the fear is much bigger than the reality. I am sure you know people who have never had the courage to face their realities. I find this sad because I know that what we fear is much smaller and less painful than what we make it out to be. The fear of the truth is more painful than the truth. When we finally take that courageous leap into truth the response is always the same, “Hey, that wasn’t as bad as I expected.” Being trapped in the past, in our injuries or any of the myriad of circumstances which hold us back is much more painful.

Jesus wants us all to be free. When you sense that fear of moving forward, when your reaction to a situation is overly strong, or when you keep going around the same old mountain time and time again, then that is excellent evidence that you are encountering resistance to the metamorphic truth that Jesus is attempting to reveal to you. Trust me in this, he is gentle and his yoke is light. If you will invest all of your trust in him, he will, with nurturing grace, lead you into truth. Only knowing the truth as it applies to you can set you free. The revelation of truth about someone else’s situation might inform you, even enlighten you but it will not set you free. It’s Jesus in you, in your life, in every one of your situations that frees. It is the truth about what binds and conflicts you that will break the shackles off your life.

Trust our Lord. Go into that quiet space with him and allow him to show you all truth. Allow him to nurture you into wholeness and peace. There is so much he has for you, so much he longs to do for you and with you. It is all there. Don’t let any of it pass you by. The resistance is a sign. Let it lead you into a peaceful and safe yet revelation filled time with the Lord.

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