“If you’re not using the gifts and moving in the anointing that I have given you, you have a problem. You need to turn from whatever is stopping you from reaching out to those who need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am concerned about you, but I am also concerned for those who are not benefiting from who I am making you to be. Your selfishness is a great loss to many who are waiting for you to grow up. Because you are so busy tending to your personal whims and pet pains that have been inflicted on you by others, those who need to see the characteristic love of Jesus lived before them are missing out. Because they can’t see Him in you, they may not see Him at all.

"Stop holding on to pet grudges and past wounds. Stop hiding behind them as an excuse for you to remain wounded. They are sin, so confess them for what they are and get on with the life I have called you to live. Enter the incredible life of freedom for which Christ has set you free. Make your life count. I am counting on you.”

 Ps. 147:3 AMP 

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their sorrows].

Jer. 30:17 AMP 

For I will restore health to you, and I will heal your wounds, says the Lord, because they have called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no one seeks after and for whom no one cares!

Gal. 5:1 NIV 

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Most of us use past times when we have been taken advantage of as an excuse to stop giving when we get nothing in return. We embark on a life of doing good, but always when we are appreciated for what we do. We give in secret, help the needy, and do many “good” things, all in the Name of Jesus – and all in areas that we can control, none where we are vulnerable. These are safe places to go. They are also perfect places for us to lick our wounds, never growing past childish, religious activity and never entering into the anointing to which God has called us.

Jesus hung on the cross for those who hated, used, and cursed Him. He enthusiastically came to be crushed for those who really needed a Savior, not for those who embraced kind, loving, religious activity. He has asked us to do the same.

Even the world can love those who love them back. If we call ourselves by the name of “Christ follower,” we are commanded to love those who hate us, use us, and care little about how much it costs us to bless them. Shrinking back from that kind of duty is sin. We choose to remain the lord over that area of our lives.  It is a lack of faith in the fact that our Lord will take care of us as we lay our lives down for the benefit of everyone but ourselves, just as He did.

Forgive my sin against You, Lord,

Jim Corbett