Open post

3/07/24 Where’s Your Heart?

“Wait. Wait on Me. Wait for My plans for you to develop. I set them in motion because I care for you. You, however, go about your business, often giving little concern to what I have in mind for you. When will you wake up? When will you understand that the way to My kind of life is through an understanding of My heart? As you go about your own business in your own strength, without concern for My approval, you are moving out from under the Lordship of Jesus and His ways. That is not a good thing. It is not good for you, and it hurts My heart. You need to change your ways. You need to consider your life and find out how much of it is out of order, because you have cared little if I am where you have gone. You need to repent to Me, and then change your ways.”

Exodus 33:13-16 NIV

13) “If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

14) The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

15) Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.

16) How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

Psalm 37:4 NIV  

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Jeremiah 2:13 NIV 

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

Haggai 1:7-10 AMP

7) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways (your previous and present conduct) and how you have fared.

8) Go up to the hill country and bring lumber and rebuild [My] house, and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, says the Lord [by accepting it as done for My glory and by displaying My glory in it].

9) You looked for much [harvest], and behold, it came to little; and even when you brought that home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of My house, which lies waste while you yourselves run each man to his own house [eager to build and adorn it].

10) Therefore the heavens above you [for your sake] withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its produce.

 

We forget how harmful it is for us to go back to our old ways after we have come to the Lord. It is rebellion plain and simple. God is after the heart that desires to serve Him and Him alone, not the one that wants its own way.

Forgive me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

Open post

3/07/24 How Did Jesus Do It?

From the book, The Father Factor, by Jim and Merry Corbett

In studying the pattern of the life of Jesus, we must come to realize that every aspect of His life pleased His Father. Several glaring examples stand out and should be applied to our own lives. They are attainable only through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was obedient to the will of His Father even to the point of His death. All of His heart determination fell in line with His Father’s desires. What the Father wanted, He did without question. Jesus considered nothing His own, even His life. Everything belonged to His Father. Jesus did nothing by His own reasoning or the logic of the day. Everything was done of His Father in heaven. Do you see the pattern that is acceptable and significant to God and the one we are to follow?

We have been bought with the blood of Jesus. We are owned by God. Everything we have is owned by God. Every breath we take is given to us by God. Every thought, action, dream, and desire is to be confirmed by God before it is determined valid enough to act upon. In this life and beyond, we are to be empty vessels, conduits so that the life of Jesus can be lived through us and the plans of God can be implemented through us, as seen through Jesus’ example.

Our true legacy is to impart the importance of leading a significant life for the glory of God to everyone with whom we come in contact throughout our time on earth. By the power of the Holy Spirit, this honorable legacy, then, is the impartation of the character and integrity of Jesus to everyone we meet through the way we live our lives, teaching them by our words and actions who He is and how He lived as an example for their lives. This continues the plans of God. This is important to God. This makes our lives significant to Him. This is our honorable legacy, which will continue uninterrupted through those who knew us and saw Jesus enough in us through word and deed, so that they, too, had the opportunity to choose and follow Him when He called.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

Open post

3/06/24 A Full-time Relationship

“Do you know that I desire to be with you every moment of every day? I choose to walk with you, attending to your every decision, challenge, and success. I desire to be intimately involved with the minutest incidents of your life so that you will prosper. When you fully understand that Our relationship is not part-time for Me, you will begin to understand the intimacy that I desire with you. You will also understand your heritage. What could possibly harm you, confuse you, or bring fear to you if you have accepted the fact that I choose to be with you in your every encounter throughout your life? You have a choice to make.

"Allow My Word to show you that My presence is with you as long as you are moving in My will and My direction. Allow My Word to also show you the alternative existence if you choose to go your own way, even for a short time, very much like you have been doing most of the time. It’s time to make wise choices.”

Psalm 106:12-15 AMP 

12) Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise.

13) But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them.

14) But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert.

15) And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls…

Psalm 127:1 AMP 

Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.

Heb.13:6 AMP 

So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?

 

When I ponder Psalm 106 above, I get a picture of most of us following after God. It talks about a people who praise God, believe His words, and rely on Him; but they do not wait for His plans regarding them to develop. Basically, they go about their own plans and pray that God will honor what they do.

The verse that really strikes caution in my heart is verse 15: “And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls…”  I wonder how many of us have leanness in our souls because of our insistence in getting our own requests fulfilled instead of desiring God’s prosperity. (I don’t mean money.)

The impression I get when I think of someone who always wants his own way, continually seeking God selfishly, is a person who is unaware of anything but his own needs - clueless about what is really important and void of anything that resembles the life and character of Jesus. What an incredible price to pay for not honoring God but going our own way - shaking off His desire for intimacy with us and settling for some pottage!

Help me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

Open post

3/06/24 Unconscious Advance

Often we forget that God is continually at work on our behalf and for the good of those we love. He has called us to the position of husband and father. He will equip us for the task if we seek Him for His power. He promises to never leave us or forsake us. He will continually advance His plan for our lives and the lives of those we love. There are no “off days” with respect to His hand on us accomplishing what He desires.

When the obligations of my offices overwhelm me, and my failures seem to far outnumber any semblance of success, I remember a comment made by a dear pastor who is now enjoying the Lord's company face-to-face.  He used to say, "There has never been an emergency meeting of the Trinity."  If we could only remember that every moment, maybe we could stop setting those meetings up down here because we see no evidence of change in us or our circumstances.

Is God  trustworthy  and all-powerful or not?  Of course He is! I guess that puts the ball back in our court. "Lord, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart that has the ability to trust You completely!"

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

Open post

3/05/24 The Sole Expression of God’s Glory

“Have you really studied Jesus? Have you observed His life, His character, and His heart so closely, that you know Him? Have you positioned yourself to allow My Holy Spirit to reveal everything about Him? If not, what is your reason for living? Jesus is the embodiment of everything that I hold dear. He is My Word and My Words!  He is the breath of all things created! He is the only life worth living. He is now living through you if you have given yourself to His Lordship. Can you think of one good reason why He should not be your priority over everything? I can’t!”

 Genesis 1:26 NIV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…”

John 1:10 NIV 

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

Heb.1:3 AMP 

He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power.  When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high…

 

So often we become so spiritual that we forget why we do what we do, say what we say, and live what we live. In all of reality, there is one truth that is pivotal to everything. His Name is Jesus. He is Lord. He is God.

Praise You, Jesus,

Jim Corbett

Posts navigation

1 2 3 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 801 802 803
Scroll to top