7/14/20 I Appreciate You!

When was the last time you looked your wife in the eyes and said “I appreciate you”? For that matter, when have you ever simply spent some time with your children and expressed the appreciation you have for them? If that is not part of your MO, why have you been so fooled? Only the enemy of your soul would desire expressions of love and affirmation to be absent from your relationships, especially family relationships.

Most of us men had to earn any kind of affirmation from our fathers. Then, as we grew older, we earned our respect by what we did, not for who we became. All our lives we’ve been attempting to prove our worth by what we do, whether we know it or not. Visible success determines worth in today’s society.

Well, that’s not how God sees things! For some unknown reason, God has placed value on each of us, certainly not because we have earned it; but simply because he chooses to do so. He has in essence said, I consider them valuable enough to spend eternity with them. I appreciate who they are!

Men, the next time you withhold any expression of appreciation toward your wife or your children because you feel they haven’t earned your appreciation, remember how God has dealt with you. Then consider the horror of Him choosing to withhold His favor until you’ve earned it. If that really registers with you, you just might begin to express a waterfall of appreciation to those you love. Just watch as their lives change in the same way that a desert would if water began to flow into its parched land. They’re waiting for you!

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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7/14/20 Not in Your Own Strength

“I know who you are not, and I love you. I see your desire to be like My Son and your struggle to attain that goal. You fret, strive, and worry when I goad you to become more like Him. I see you grieve when you can’t live up to the standards that I have set for you in My Word. When did I ever say that you could accomplish that task in your own strength? When did I ever require you to accomplish what even My law could not do in the most ardent follower? Why would you carry that burden?

"Listen carefully. You must hear this. Stop striving to become better. You must change your ways of achieving My goals or you will soon be overwhelmed if you continue misunderstanding Our relationship. Your job is to submit; My job is to change you. I am raising the standard. I am about to require bride-like devotion from anyone who will be used by Me in the near future. I need a representative people to show the world My Son. Only submissive power will rise above the turmoil. Only Christ-like obedience will bring souls to Me during the soon-approaching great deception.

"How will you ever make it? You will not possess My presence by striving to change what you have not been able to change so far. Stop striving. Stop struggling. Submit to My hand and surrender to My working in you what I need to do. There is no other way. What I require is impossible for you to do. I promise, however, to do it in you and for you. You can be free. Why would you insist on having it your way and continue to fail?”

2 Cor. 3:17 AMP

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).

Gal. 3:3 AMP

Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh?

 

Our publication, A White Stone, is - among other things - a clarion call to holiness. The main characters set an example of how each of us can prosper during perilous times. After reading it, many people come to me with a renewed enthusiasm to be like one or several of those characters; in essence, to be the kind of representation of Jesus that the character is.

They often tell me of several ways in which they intend to change. If I can’t talk them out of their formula and must let them attempt to change themselves, it is normally just a matter of time before they come back to me - broken, overwhelmed, and very confused - wondering why the Lord did not honor their hearts.

Most of the time, I just take them to the above verses and they get the picture. The Holy Spirit started all of this. He is the one who must be in every equation during the changing process; and He must be allowed a free hand to fully accomplish His will in making you like Jesus. Anything else is simply frustrating, burdensome religion. It is a yoke that is too heavy for any of us to carry.

Understand this. When you break under the weight of attempting to become holy in your own strength, crumple at the feet of Jesus. Repent of your foolishness of attempting to accomplish by yourself what only the Holy Spirit can do. You are needed in the upcoming times. Don’t allow your stubbornness to cause you to be left on the sidelines.

Needing to remember that the Lord authored my faith, and that it’s His job to finish it,

Jim Corbett

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Value

Our society—and even believers—have obscured the line of what is valuable and what is not. It seems that judging something of real value has lost its value! (Huh?) Just think about it!

Having value once meant that something was of great consequence and truly purposeful. Now the term is nothing more than a whimsical sliding scale, changeable at the drop of a hat.

Back to basics. Whatever God places value on is truly of great consequence. Whatever He says is of no value is absolutely worthless. Clear and simple!

7/13/20 Follow Me as I Follow Christ

These incredible words are one of the most powerful directions a man can give to his family. Just think of it, a man who chooses to follow Christ could assure his family that no matter what happens, he has Christ as a guide for himself and them. How comforting this would be for a wife and family who are serving the Lord.

With that kind of commitment in place, the man would have a corresponding commitment to do everything to protect his family, just as Christ did for the church. He would willingly lay his life down for the ones he loves.

Can you imagine the peace a family would have in knowing that their husband and father would lay his life down for them? Do you see the impact that kind of atmosphere would create? A wife would be free to trust motives and decisions made in doing things that affect the family. The children would bask in an arena of absolute, unquestioned love. The family unit would be impenetrable. The outside forces against the family would never gain a foothold.

What a glorious picture - all members moving in unison, guided and directed by a father who is guided and directed by God alone. What an astounding plan! Maybe that’s the way our Father in heaven wants it. What do you think?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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Doing VS. Becoming

One of the hardest struggles I face is the idea that God is more focused on who we are becoming than on how much we do for Him. Everything I have ever been taught since I can remember was to make sure a task got completed or it didn't mean anything. The idea of simply waiting on God as my priority is foreign to my builder, task completer personality. I am so grateful that my Father in heaven is relentless against everything I used to be, so that He can make me all that I can be in Him.

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