November 2024 | TFRC | The Faith Resource Community

11/15/24 Ask for Help

Being the steward of a Christ-like family is an impossible task. Husbands and fathers, who think they can oversee that kind of family in their own strength, are fooling themselves. Without God’s help and the prayers of others, a mediocre marriage and children who don’t really serve the Lord will more than likely be the result. How can we be content to present that to God one day?

If you care little whether or not your marriage is an example of the relationship between Christ and His church or whether or not your children live significant lives before the Lord, then you can remain a blissful blind guide. You’ll be teaching your family - and many future generations if they follow your lead – to settle for far less than God intends. Why would we do that to those we love?

If, however, you want a marriage and family that pleases God and represents Him properly, then begin by asking Him for help at every opportunity. Make a life of prayer your home base so you’ll have the wisdom, guidance, and power to war against the plots of the enemy. Call upon your family to pray for you, too. Share with your wife and children the responsibilities of your offices of husband and father, and that you understand how much you need the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill them for your family’s good. Make them an integral part of family prayer. Without violating any trusts within your family, call upon one or two trustworthy friends to hold you accountable. Get to work. There is much that needs to be done!

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

11/14/24 Never the Center

“If you are going to walk in My authority to accomplish My work, then you must submit to My total authority over your life. If you want My presence to go forth in whatever you are called to do, then you must remove yours. You can never be the center of anything I call you to do. In fact, you are to be an empty vessel for Me to flow through. I call you to lay your life aside. Exchange your life for Mine. I call you to surrender all that you are and all that you have to the complete Lordship of Jesus.

“You have little power to really affect your world because there is so much of you in all you do. You desire to share Lordship! You desire to own some of My power. You will even distort My Word in an attempt to prove that you can maintain some ownership of your life and still serve Me. How is that working for you? Allow Me to crucify everything of your old nature. Become an empty vessel. Then see Who I really am and what I choose to do through you.”

Ps. 39:7 AMP

And now, Lord, what do I wait for and expect? My hope and expectation are in You.

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

5) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

6) in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Isaiah 2:22 AMP

Cease to trust in [weak, frail, and dying] man, whose breath is in his nostrils [for so short a time]; in what sense can he be counted as having intrinsic worth?

Isaiah 40:31 AMP

But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

Isaiah 42:25 AMP

Therefore He poured out upon [Israel] the fierceness of His anger and the strength of battle. And it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not [the lesson of repentance which the Assyrian conquest was intended to teach]; it burned him, but he did not lay it to heart.

Jesus asks us to exchange our lives for His. We continually want to share in the lordship of our lives, to take part in our healing, our spiritual growth, and sometimes even our salvation. He asks only that we give our old life away in exchange for His to be lived through us. Why don’t we understand?

Take everything, Lord,

Jim Corbett

11/14/24 Your Table

A family, known in their community as compassionless due to their uncaring attitude for everything other than satisfying their own needs, sat down for their evening meal. One table - adorned with a fine linen tablecloth and exquisite china - was set for the parents and their children. A second table for the grandparents was off to the side, set with a vinyl tablecloth and unbreakable plates and cups because they had grown feeble. Their shaking hands and poor eyesight had caused just too many spills and broken dishes for the family to trust them at the other table.

One day the young daughter of the family was playing house. She had a second table set up with her dishes and cups. Her mother entered the room and asked why she had the extra table. The daughter responded, “Oh, that’s for you and Daddy when you get old.”

Compassion is one of the characteristics of Jesus. He cared for others more than He cared for His own life. Families with little or no compassion for the plight of others are relatively useless in a society. Taking and rarely giving, while teaching their children to do likewise, they exhibit their unChrist-like attitude wherever they go. Imagine the ripple effect.

As a father, you have an astounding opportunity to add wealth wherever you and your family live, if you understand God’s plan for you. When you invest the wealth of Jesus in your children, not only do you give them the opportunity to lead honorable, significant lives before the Father; they also gain the ability to affect their immediate surroundings with that same immeasurable wealth and much needed compassion.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

11/13/24 God’s Concerns

“Do you even remember how many times you have lied to Me? How many times have you made promises to Me only to do the opposite of what you have said? What about all the times you have told others you would pray for them and never gave your commitment in My Name another thought? When was the last time you made the reputation of Jesus more important than your own comfort? Do you see how little you have done to show Me that you have My concerns as the priority of your heart? I don’t like your hypocrisy, no matter how it’s presented; but I will forgive you if you repent! You need Me to change your heart and your actions now! Don’t tolerate that kind of behavior in your life, and don’t associate with those who do. Why would you think that I don’t see, and even more important, why would you even begin to believe that I don’t care?”

Psalm 51:10 AMP

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.

Acts 5:1-5a NIV

1) Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.

2) With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

3) Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?

4) Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”

5a) When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died.

“Yeah, OK, but today lies are not as important to God. Nobody’s been killed like that lately. Anyway, everybody’s doing it! I know some people who say they love Jesus and can’t be trusted at all. Look around, nobody gives important stuff to God anymore. I think He just wants us to look and feel good, no matter how selfish we really are. You see, He understands that …”

I believe that some of us who call ourselves representatives of Jesus and stewards of what we have been entrusted with are going to be very surprised one day. Our hands are dirty. It’s time to change now!

Oh, Lord, have mercy on us!

Jim Corbett

11/13/24 One Day

Harry Chapin wrote a song called “Cat’s in the Cradle.” It talks of a father who’s always too busy to spend time with his son, even though the son admires him and wants to be just like him when he grows up. At the end of the song, we learn the son turned out exactly like his father, prioritizing everything else above their relationship.

Each of our days is important enough to be numbered by God. He is looking to fulfill His purposes in the people He brings our way through us, especially our children. Our children should desire to be just like us because they experience us being just like Jesus toward them. That hope should be nurtured each and every day. It will not happen automatically one day in the future. It happens conversation by conversation, fulfilled promise after fulfilled promise, with a continual assurance and demonstration of their importance. They need to know you value your relationship with them, which will help them to understand God’s love for them.

God wants your children to grow up to be just like Jesus. The best example He has placed in their lives to show them the character of Jesus ought to be you. In what ways are you showing Him to them?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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