During these challenging times, I can sometimes almost hear those words coming from our Father. While we focus on all the changes and challenges that are part of our lives, our Father in heaven is attempting to get us to listen to what He's saying.
I'm convinced He's saying "Just wait! Wait til you see what I have in store for you. Just wait until you see Jesus face to face. Wait until you see the mansion that's been made specifically for you. If you wait just a little bit longer ..."
While functioning in the offices of husband and father, have you ever thought about the reason why your Father God chose to give you breath? I know that is pretty much a leading question; but none-the-less, it’s a question most men don’t really know how to answer. Let me answer it for you before you go on the typical rabbit trails of providing for them or making sure they’re safe in this world.
God has placed you in the most important position He ever created so that you can provide a fertile atmosphere for your wife and children to overcome the world. That’s it! All the money you make, the kind of house you own, the cars, vacations, the college educations mean nothing if those you are steward of have not learned how to function in a life separate from the world and its tentacles. As a husband and father, you will answer for that when you stand before God. Whether you like it or not, it’s what your offices require of you.
Most men don’t have a clue on how to create this atmosphere, because they haven’t chosen to function in that atmosphere themselves. Most men don’t grasp the impact of what Jesus was telling them when He said that those who overcome the world, as He did, will sit beside Him on His throne just as He overcame and sat down beside His Father on His throne.
Men, what is your plan to get in line with God and His desires for the offices He has given you? How do you plan to turn your life and the lives of your family around so you can all prosper in a dying world and overcome it through the power of the Holy Spirit? The answer to those leading questions is for you to make your priority intimacy with God. You need to change your address to God’s Throne Room to receive all that is needed to lead others where you have been. Once you determine in your heart to live there yourself, you will be able to lead others there, too. God has called you to live that life with Him so that you can give away what you own! Will you do it?
Let’s talk!
Jim Corbett
“Is it any fun? Is Our relationship fun for you? I watch you; I notice you. You walk around with no clue as to how I invest My heart in you and grieve when you are burdened by your life. Do you know that My Son laughed and cried and prayed and taught with great zeal? He found fullness in the life that He had been given. I want you to do the same. I want you to have the heart of a zealot in whatever you do. When you laugh, rejoice with Me. When you are being taught a deep lesson, one that is destroying your flesh, remember that it is My great love for you behind that lesson; so embrace it passionately. When you love, do it with abandon as He did.
"Everything is being done for your good, so take joy even in the hard times. My Son surely did not enjoy the cross, but He did look forward to the joy His work would bring to others. Act like that. Take joy in My work being done in you. Take joy in each circumstance that comes to you, knowing that more than you could possibly know is being done by My power. I am your Father. I love you. Know that I am with you through this life. I have planned it; I have ordained it. One day you will rejoice with all of Us Who have gone through it with you.”
Eph. 3:19 AMP
[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
I Thess. 5:16-18 AMP
16) Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always);
17) Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly];
18) Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].
Jas. 1:2-4 AMP
2) Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.
3) Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.
4) But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.
Have you ever watched a good worker? I once had the privilege of observing an apprentice in a woodworking shop. It so happened that the apprentice was also the son of the craftsman. It was wonderful to watch the young man tackle every task he was given with zeal. He did more than accomplish a job; he honed his skills at every opportunity.
Whenever his father was showing him a new skill, he was engrossed with every movement, every tool, and every word that the father used to describe the trade that he was imparting to his son. When the son was left on his own, I would notice the father - who was doing his own work - glance in the direction of his son to see how he was doing. If the son was not doing something exactly as he was shown, the father gently guided the boy until he got it right, encouraging him all the way. At the end of the task, the father and son took a great deal of time communicating what had been learned. It was beautiful.
The day that I was there, the son had to leave early. I watched as he cleaned up and walked out the doorway, thanking his father for what he had shared that day. The father stopped our conversation and followed his son with his eyes until he could see him no longer. Only then did he come back to me. When he did resume our conversation, his first words were: “He’s a good boy. I am really blessed.”
I think that our Father in heaven thinks about us like that. I don’t believe He cares about how well we do at any given task. I believe that He simply wants to be with us as we enthusiastically hone our skills. I also believe that He lovingly follows us with His eyes, like a pleased Father, as we go about our day.
Thank You, Father, for Your time with me,
Jim Corbett
The Bible states that we should train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. How that works day to day has a rhythm of spiritual wonder and potential. We are to make our lives a study of our children, observing those things they are interested in and have a bent for. After observing those traits, we are to build a pattern for their lives, directing them into those gifts and re-enforcing their interest in them.
When our daughter Jubilee was young, there were many things she had an innate ability to do with ease, and also those things that only came to pass through intense struggle on her part. The final outcome of the two processes were a night and day difference. It became increasingly obvious that emphasizing and endorsing her natural abilities was a success pattern for her life.
With that in mind, we set a course of continually studying her, tailoring her schooling, recreational activities, social interaction, and personal tastes to develop her God-given abilities. The results have been quite wonderful. There is a quiet peace in her direction for life. (There are also life skills she acquired that came from having to meet the challenges associated with those things she achieved through great struggle.) It’s almost as if the Lord gave her new abilities because she had such freedom to flow in her natural tendencies.
Men, begin to make it your life’s work to study your children. Participate with your wife in planning their lives around their natural abilities. Watch them meet the challenges with an anointing that is God-given as they prosper in Him. You will be amazed at the freedom they have to succeed. Sounds worth pursuing, doesn’t it?
Let’s talk more!
Jim Corbett
“What changes will you make to your life to be exactly where I want you to be so that I can use you? Will you pack your belongings and move to a place you do not know? Will you leave all that you have to be in My will? I call you My ambassadors. I need you to represent Me to those who need to see Jesus. Go and give Him away. Go and bless others as I have blessed you. You can be sure that wherever I send you, there are those who need you waiting to know you. Many have been praying for new best friends. Maybe that friend is you!”
Isa. 6:8 AMP
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
John 10:27 AMP
The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me.
John 20:21 AMP
Then Jesus said to them again, Peace be to you! [Just] as the Father has sent Me forth, so I am sending you.
2 Cor.5:20 NIV
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us…
The Lord is positioning His people for His end-time work. That is really quite a thrilling prospect. It means that on new horizons with unfamiliar people, you and I may find cities of refuge, holy alliances, and kinsman friendships who will walk with us during the times to come.
Often when our loving Father stirs up our nest and makes our comfort zone a little less comfortable, He has a mission for us. If that is the case in your life right now, if you are feeling that nudging to respond to His adventure, get to it! You may be amazed at how perfect the place that He sends you to fits the preparation you have been going through. It may be an incredibly difficult experience, an astounding joy, or both. Whatever the case, it is tailor made for you if you are hearing from God.
Move me wherever You want me to go, Lord,
Jim Corbett
