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6/13/23 Choices

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

Chris stared at the needle tracks in his arm, a constant reminder of the choices he had made to bring himself to this point in his life. Once a successful businessman on his way to the top with a loving wife and family, he could only lament over the turns his life had taken because of his addictions. How could he have fallen so far? How could his needs mean more to him than those he once loved and who once loved him?

He had to make a choice, or he was going to die as one more hapless vagrant in some garbage-strewn alley. He had to choose either life or death. He knew it and he knew how difficult the road back would be. Picking up the filthy needle, he inserted it in his arm once again. As the drug flowed through his body, he resolved that maybe he would choose to love his wife more than his habit tomorrow. Maybe he could help his kids tomorrow. Maybe … Chris rolled into a smelly corner near a large dumpster and passed out.

Across town, Jerry turned the corner and drove into the parking lot of his club. Late for his meeting, he had shaken off the pleading look in his son’s eyes that said, “Please, Daddy, stay here with Mommy and me.” Business once again called. It was going to be one more late night, one more closed deal that allowed him to live the way he wanted. “Success has its price,” he thought to himself. Anyway, to change direction in life now would be almost impossible. He was way too far down the corporate road to give his family the amount of personal time with him they seemed to need.

Maybe one day his wife and family would realize that he was doing this all for them. It was a time in life to set them up, so they wouldn’t have to grow up in poverty as he did. They needed to realize that. He was sure that God knew that.

“Why don’t I have peace in my heart, Lord? Why can’t I shake off the look that Tommy gave me? Why do I feel so bad when I’m doing so much for them?”

As he locked his car and headed for the club entrance, Jerry resolved to spend more time at home tomorrow. Tomorrow he would give some special time to his wife, Susan. Tomorrow, he would really focus on her insistent need to be with him and make some changes that he knew were necessary to be the husband and father she and Tommy wanted. Oh wait, tomorrow was that conference in Detroit …

Whatever vehicle Satan uses to hinder the work of God, whether dismal failure, monumental success, or anything in between, the results are always the same - an insignificant life standing before Father God one day. His entrapment is so diabolical that the road back is impossible to embrace without God’s involvement and intervention.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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6/12/23 Building a Testimony as You Wait

“When I hold back on anything that has been promised to you, I am looking for you to have confidence in Me. Confidence is gained not in times of provision, but in times of waiting. It also builds a reliance upon Me for your provision. Think on this. If I were to provide every one of your needs instantly, how would I get you to seek Me? How would I get you to find the heart to examine My heart?  You would be so busy going about your business that you would have no time for Me.

"To those of you who are faithful, waiting on Me is also a time of building testimony. Those around you are watching you while you wait for My Word to be fulfilled in your lives. They need to be able to understand how to stand with Me when there seems to be no answer in sight. They need to see the peace you have in waiting for Me to move rather than trying to make something happen yourself. Rest assured, I will fulfill My promise to you. It will be in My time, My way. No one will be able to deny that I have moved on your behalf when I do.”

Jeremiah 15:19 AMP 

Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God’s faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece…

Hosea 13:6 NIV 

“When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.”

Hebrews 11:1-2  AMP 

1) Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

2) For by [faith – trust and holy fervor born of faith] the men of old had divine testimony borne to them and obtained a good report.

 

Few of us understand what the Lord is trying to accomplish when He delays the answers to our needs. We keep wondering what is holding up the answer. He is making us more like Jesus, and building a testimony in our lives.

The crucifixion of Jesus confirmed to the skeptics that He was nothing more than a mere man with unique ideas. The resurrection silenced them. The time in between allowed everyone’s hearts to be revealed.

Paul’s imprisonment gave many people of that day fuel to discredit his ministry. Rotting in a prison cell sure limits one’s outreach activities. Few could see that reducing those activities to writing letters, rather than traveling the countryside preaching, was exactly the way that God intended to get His Words written down for many future generations of believers to ingest. For centuries after Paul’s death, the Lord has declared the testimony of His faithfulness to His servant. It was important to place Paul in an environment that quieted him and made him seek the Lord with all his might. He provided for Paul in a manner only understood by centuries of later generations because Paul was faithful in the time of waiting.

The depth of seeking God during times of trouble and waiting builds the kind of testimony needed to share Him and His heart with those who need to see it. It is in times of waiting for the Lord to reveal Himself and His provision that most of His wealth is gained by us and for others.

Needing to understand more,

Jim Corbett

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6/12/23 Godly Men

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

Father God’s goal for your life is that you become all you can be in Christ Jesus. So if your goal is to head toward becoming a pathetic, frail, atrophied, self-serving loser in this world, while claiming to be a follower of the ways of His glorious, all-powerful Son, don’t look for Him to help you get there. There is no more important mission on His heart than the mission that Jesus has for you. There is no more powerful way for Jesus to be glorified than to have valiant spiritual warriors, who are unwilling to compromise, unwilling to turn away until the battle for souls has been won and the last enemy of the cross experiences the eternal consequences of his choices.

The Lord is cheering you on and doing everything in His power so that you can come to a full realization of who He created you to be both now and in eternity. His great desire is that you walk in the fullness of the overcoming, victorious life in Christ that is available to you.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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6/10/23 While on Earth

“How do you choose to spend your time in My kingdom? How you function while on earth impacts your function for eternity. One day the pattern for your life will be established forever. You will be able to change nothing, repent of nothing, and redo nothing from that moment on. What you have in your hands at that time will be the determined value of your life. You will be given rewards and understand loss. Now you can still be forgiven for your hardened hearts, your self-seeking motives, and your independent thinking. Then you will be exposed if you have squandered My resources that have been placed in your hands for My use.

"Come to Me to change your heart and modify your motives while you can. Embrace My reasons for purchasing you. Study to be as a waiting bride, functioning with proper insights and absolute devotion in your heart. I want you to be able to show your life to be approved. It saddens Me if you arrive on that day with empty hands and worthless trophies. You have no idea how much the pottage that you are consuming is really costing you.”

Genesis 25:29-33 NIV 

29) Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.

30) He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

31) Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

32) “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

33) But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

Matthew 19:21 NIV 

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Luke 12:19-21 NIV

19) ‘And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ‘

20) “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21) “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

 

Some of us are so short-sighted that we never make the connection that we are eternal people. It never dawns on us that we simply have different stages of life - one here and one in eternity future.  In this life, our decisions determine what happens in the next portion of our lives. The major decision about where we place Jesus and the eternal implications of that decision are very clear to most of us. Somehow, though, all of the eternal implications and the impact of our other decisions and actions in this life seem to elude us.

I believe that when we get to heaven, we will not simply sit on clouds and play harps. We will be doing something, working and functioning with our very creative God. What we are given to do, I think, is determined by how faithful we were in this life. If I’m right, my every action, every moment really mean something. Possibly more than I want to know.

Even so, show me truth, Lord,

Jim Corbett

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6/10/23 God Loves Honorable Covenants

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

God has established the most powerful, unbreakable, eternal covenant with us through Jesus! Before that was accomplished, Father God established many other covenants with trustworthy Old Testament figures to propel mankind closer to the cross of Christ. He established covenant in long ago generations for their protection and safety, as they would covenant one with another. He is doing the same today.

God Himself will anoint and reinforce your relationship with Him in very visible ways. He will anoint your marriage so that it is a brilliant representation of the relationship between Jesus and the church. He will anoint your children and your children’s children to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. He will bring forth holy business alliances for the purpose of fulfilling His will and flowing resources to accomplish His plans through trustworthy stewards.  He will create kinsman friendships for the protection of you and your family during perilous times. He will do all of this so that His plan on earth can go forth and because you have submitted to Him to make you trustworthy with the stewardships He has given you.

God is in the business of doing these things not only so that none should perish, but also that they will be brought to maturity in Him. It is part of His plan that spiritually potent men properly oversee the offices He has given them so that others can see Jesus. This kind of life has never been expected on our part, because He has not had enough trustworthy men to make it clearly visible. That is not the way it will be for the coming church, as they wait for the return of Jesus and live His kind of life while they wait. His real church, those who allow His life to flow through them, will be engulfed with powerful holy alliances, unbreakable covenant relationships among valiant men, women, and children, and family-like kinsmen friendships that overcome anything the enemy has in store for them.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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