December 2024 | TFRC | The Faith Resource Community

12/28/24 Deception

From The Father Factor by Jim and Merry Corbett

For many years, I was so dull in my thinking that I gave little consideration to what really pleases God. What did He consider a significant life? Would He consider my life significant when I stood before Him to give an account? These were questions I never thought to ask myself and no one else asked me, as best I can remember.

Sure, there were teachings about Jesus and His desires to only please the Father. I heard many stories about people who lived their lives in complete obedience and stories of the great saints of the past who lived exemplary lives; but the thought that my Father in heaven considered my life and the things I did while living it of great significance and would judge them never crossed my mind. I was saved, I dealt with the sin the Holy Spirit showed me, I desired to please Jesus most of the time; but generally, that’s as far as it went.

I eventually discovered that somehow, sometime, someplace in the past, I was rendered incapable of having – or even desiring to have - taste buds for only those things that Jesus embraced. I was spiritually walking across a busy highway to pet the cute little doggy on the other side, unaware of the impact of the spiritual traffic that had been hidden from me. I was deceived and the “beauty” of my deception, as with any masterfully contrived lie, was the fact that I truly believed that I was walking in truth. That’s what makes it so insidious (having a gradual and cumulative effect.)

As a Christian husband and father, I am obligated to shake off any worldly habits and beliefs that hinder me from being all that I can be in Christ. My responsibility to know truth and function in it is paramount if I am going to live a significant life before the Lord and have my family do the same. It’s time to get real!!!

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

12/27/24 No Other Gods

“Have you noticed the hardness of heart in some of My children? Have you missed the joy they once had? Do you see the unrest settling in My church as they begin to trust the world’s ways for their security? So many are working harder to get ahead, when I am calling them to spend time with Me. So many are working for the things they have purchased to calm their unrest.

“In their attempt to buy possessions to give them happiness, they have substituted a false god for their provision. That god has never really met their needs and is powerless as things become darker. The god they looked to has now become the god that has no answer. Everything they purchased from him to satisfy their foolish needs are now the overwhelming burdens for which they must pay.

“Make no mistake - I am God. Serve no other gods. Turn back to Me with all of your heart and I will give you true rest. Turn completely to Me and I will give purpose to your life.”

Joshua 24:15 NIV

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Psalm 25:12-14 NIV

12) Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.

13) He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.

14) The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

Prov. 28:14 AMP

Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) is the man who reverently and worshipfully fears [the Lord] at all times [regardless of the circumstances], but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

Matthew 5:13 AMP

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality) how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.

As the purifying of the children of God intensifies, those who say that they love Jesus - but really only love themselves and the world - become distinguished by their actions. True motives for living are revealed as trials and challenges are placed in their lives. As sad as it is to see and as horrible as the prospects are for these selfish hearts, it brings great opportunity to function as Jesus would in their midst. We can learn to care as He did for their souls. We can be an example of inspired living in a dark world. We can show confidence in a Father Who is all and everything that’s ever needed.

The life you and I live is important to God, to us, and to others. It is important to God, because we are placed as His presence in a dark world, as the life of Jesus flows through us to those who need to see Him. Our lives are important to us, because we have found the answer to life in Jesus Christ and are aligning our hearts continually with His heart, as we walk with purpose through our days in service to the Lord. Our lives are important to others, because God can use our Christ-centered lives to show them His unconditional love, address their needs, and share His plan of redemption and reconciliation. Hopefully, they too will be drawn into their own relationship with Him.

Teach me to not waste a minute of my life, Lord,

Jim Corbett

12/27/24 Missing Something?

From The Father Factor by Jim and Merry Corbett

Could it be that we, as men, are impotent to even desire the heart of God, much less function in it? Let’s revisit the idea that Satan has a plan to spiritually make all of mankind impotent, so that they have no natural desires to fulfill the plan of God and honor His wishes for their lives. Let’s consider the possibility that he has so completely succeeded at his plan, that society and even the church in general no longer really see their distance from God’s desires as something even remotely out of line.

Does Father God really expect us as believers to make our daily priority the salvation of those who don’t know Jesus? Is He really asking us to care about the welfare of others in the same way that He does, the same way that Jesus does? Has God really entrusted us with His financial prosperity along with the accompanying mindset that it’s not about how much we give back to Him, but how much we are allowed to keep for ourselves? If we study the Word thoroughly, if we find that the Lord really does want us to function in the same way that Jesus functioned, if we call ourselves His followers, then many of the teachings we have been under are laced with deceit and have rendered us impotent to even desire to do things God’s way.

Isn’t it time we as husbands and fathers decide to really do things God’s way, so our marriages are an example of the relationship of Christ and His church? Shouldn’t our children be prepared in a way so they can stand before the Lord one day with a significant life to give Him? What do you say we get on with it as our priority in life?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

12/26/24 The Answer Will Unfold

“Wait! Stand just a little longer! Soon I will move on your behalf. You will see how I have answered your prayers to Me. It is My delight to give you what is best for you. Look through what is visible at first and rejoice as your answer unfolds.”

Psalm 111:2 NIV

Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.

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 66:9 AMP

Shall I bring to the [moment of] birth and not cause to bring forth? says the Lord. Shall I Who causes to bring forth shut the womb? says your God.

Matthew 10:29-31 NIV

29) “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

30) And even the very hairs on your head are all numbered.

31) So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Sometimes we don’t recognize answered prayer when it comes. More of the character of Jesus is the best answer we can ever receive. It is the gift that compounds itself - straightening our path, meeting many needs; and even modifying our future prayers and petitions as we properly respond to His heart working in us.

True crucifixion means that a death must happen. We are called to be dead in Christ, so that His life can be lived through each of us. The hardest thing about being dead in Christ is lying on the slab as if dead until He calls us forth or answers our prayers.

Most of us, instead of patiently waiting for the Lord to intervene in our lives, get up off the slab, pace around the tomb, kick at the stone; and yell at God to roll away the stone because we feel we’ve been there long enough. When our patience wears out, we take a pry bar, move the stone ourselves (doing whatever we can do in our own strength to get us out of our pressure situation,) and go forth in very much the same manner as we did before - powerless, fully alive to our own strength, and “lean of soul” in the work of the Lord. We have no real power to give others, because we have not allowed Christ’s power to be formed in us.

Give me the patience to wait for You to answer, Lord,

Jim Corbett

12/26/24 Breaking Up the Fallow Ground

The key to the success of your marriage and family is planting pure seed into fertile soil. Seed will not grow in hard, dry ground. It may sprout for a short time, but it will die soon if it isn’t tended.

As a husband and father stepping into your offices, your first step is to break up the hardened, fallow ground before you plant any seed. That is done from your knees. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit and waiting on God to go before you - guiding your heart and directing your steps - will any lasting work be done.

Start today! Observe your wife and children, asking the Lord to let you see them with His eyes. Ask Him to show you their spiritual needs. Ask Him to reveal to you what He desires for their lives. Ask Him also what you need to change. Partner with Him against anything that denies His Lordship in your family. Wait on Him for His power and timing before you move in any direction. When He reveals something, wait on Him some more until you’re told to move; then move in His love. Step after step, healing after healing, you will find good fruit growing, because good seed was planted in prepared soil. It’s God’s way; isn’t it time to make it your way, too?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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