8/03/20 Seal Your Marriage

How many of your friends know some of your wife’s faults? How many times have the words from your mouth been less than high praise for the partner God has given you? How many of your “prayer needs” to others are nothing more than spiritual gossip and an opportunity to minimize her and show your spirituality?

Well, men, if any of those questions or something like them pertains to you, you have some repenting to do. You have completely missed the concept and astounding, powerful impact that sealing your marriage has.

God has ordained a marriage to allow two people to grow and prosper in Christ through His power. He has joined two very imperfect people together so that they can provide a safe place for each other to fail over and over again, and then be healed over and over again. In His eyes, they have covenanted to live their lives for the best interests of the other.

People today think nothing of violating the trust of their husband or wife at the drop of a hat, missing the fact that each violation minimizes the ability of the spouse to safely share his or her personal details. Each instance of gossip, “counsel” with a friend, or even a small verbal jab shows the spouse that communication with his or her mate is a potential danger of the exposure of his or her deepest needs. That danger closes the door to any form of deep healing.

God’s way is to have those He has joined together go to each other for their healing. He intends that every marriage should be sealed and off limits to everyone else unless both partners agree to have some form of counsel, and then only to a point they both agree on. Other than that, they are to go to God for the needs of the other. Once trust is established again, true God-impacted healing can take place. Maybe it’s time to rethink things.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

Open post

8/03/20 Have You Done What God Asked of You?

“If I were to call you home today, would your life give a testimony of your obedience? Would it show that you have listened to My direction and moved in My heart towards those around you through Jesus? Have you done what I asked you to do? More importantly, have you chosen time with Me over time with the world and its ways? Your life and how you spend it really counts, you know!”

I Sam. 15:22 NIV

But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

Jer. 10:23 AMP

O Lord [pleads Jeremiah in the name of the people], I know that [the determination of] the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man [even in a strong man or in a man at his best] to direct his [own] steps.

Luke 12:48b AMP

For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required; and of him to whom men entrust much, they will require and demand all the more.

Ephesians 3:10-12 AMP

10) [The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.

11) This is in accordance with the terms of the eternal and timeless purpose which He has realized and carried into effect in [the person of] Christ Jesus our Lord.

12) In Whom, because of our faith in Him, we dare to have the boldness (courage and confidence) of free access (an unreserved approach to God with freedom and without fear).

 

You and I have been born with a purpose and for a purpose. We are the Lord’s tools - designed, then redesigned and continually perfected to represent His heart and desire to our specific corner of the world, even to the angelic creation. Maybe we had better get on with it.

When was the last time you became passionate about the Lord’s plans? For that matter, when was the last time the Lord’s plans for your life took priority over the other demands you face each day? God is clearly requiring each of us to make Him our priority. Still, most of us agonize over the demands of simply living out each day - paying the rent, providing for food, etc. To stop, even for a day, and spend it entirely with the Lord should He ask us to do so would be beyond comprehension for some of us.

Give me Your passions, Lord,

Jim Corbett

Open post

First

Whatever or whoever you place first in your life is the god you serve! No matter how much you deny it or how much you convince yourself ptherwise, your primary focus is your god.

If you would like to find out who or what your real god is, think back on the prayers you've prayed in the last few weeks. If you've been praying for safety, comfort, and for things to get back to normal, it's pretty clear that one of the gods you serve is you. If you've been praying for the Lord to be glorified in all you do, you're on the right track.

Just get honest with God and with yourself. You may be amazed at the number of "firsts" you'll be able to bring to the Lord in repentance. Smile! That's a good thing!

8/01/20 Your Privilege

As a husband, your position is one of service, never dominance. If you really understand Ephesians 5, you will see that you are to lay down your life for your wife in the same way that Jesus laid down His life for you. He gave Himself up for you. In God’s eyes, loving your wife as Christ loved the church is the only reason you are to leave your father and mother and be married.

With that in mind, what does your wife need? I don’t mean what does she want, but what does she need to help her become everything she is supposed to be in Christ? What kind of fertile soil are you providing for her to prosper spiritually?

Your marriage relationship is to be an example of the relationship Christ has with the church. The world is supposed to see Jesus through how they perceive your interaction with your wife. How is that working for you? How do your actions toward your wife - caring for her spiritual life, placing her before yourself, communication to others about her - reflect the character of Jesus in front of others?

In general, men, the family is out of order in this world, mostly because men don’t comprehend the impact of their actions toward their wives. You as a man need to understand the spiritual implications of your husband to wife interactions. You need to know that interaction not only affects your whole family, it affects how those who are watching you see Jesus. Your continual awareness of your wife’s needs is one of God’s ways of you fulfilling your offices of husband and father in His eyes. He considers it good stuff! Do you?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

Open post

8/01/20 Valuable to God

“Unfolding your life for you is a joy every heavenly moment. I relish the idea that you will eventually be the person that I have planned for you to be. I see how you stumble and wander and wonder. I love how you are seeking for truth. It pleases Me that you are coming to Me more often for that truth. You need to know that I am pleased with you. I understand how far you have to go. I appreciate the struggles that you are going through. I knew how many times you would fail long before you were born, and still I gladly invited you to be with Me for eternity.

If you have any doubt that I would ever leave you or forsake you, eliminate that doubt forever in your mind. It is all a lie of the enemy. I have created you. I have called you. Now I am forming you. I will invest My time in you because I believe in who you are. You are valuable to Me. It delights Me to know that I am becoming more valuable to you each and every day. This is only the beginning. You should see what I have in store for you. Run your race hard. Focus on your calling. Prepare as a bride in waiting with every fiber of your being. It will all be worth it.”

Ps. 139:14-16 NIV

14) I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

15) My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16) your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

2 Cor. 3:3 AMP

You show and make obvious that you are a letter Christ delivered by us, not written with ink but with [the] Spirit of [the] living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

II Tim. 4:7-8 NIV

7) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

8) Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

What an incredible Father! The more we learn of Him, the more we can understand why He goads us, chastises us, encourages us, and flat out loves us. He has a plan for us.

I once received a letter demanding that I remove a person from our mailing list. He asked to be removed because he stated that the messages were for the “namby-pamby, wimpy, and weak.” He went on to say that the messages nauseated him and that a “Mr. Rogers” approach to the gospel was not appealing to him. He said that God is violent with our sins and will rip us from them by force…

I took that letter to prayer often after receiving it, wondering if the strong truth needed to bring each of us to proper, honest repentance was not being spoken. Many times I reviewed the former messages to gain overall insight into what is really on the heart of our Father.

I have come to this conclusion. Our Father in heaven is a loving Father who is eliminating the sin in our lives with determined energy. He has brought us to Himself through Jesus Christ so that we have the privilege of knowing who He really is. God is violent with our sin, but He is loving toward us. We have been brought into His presence because of the shed blood of Jesus. That blood is not wasted.

There is a fearful awe of God that is missing in the church today. He will not be mocked. That awe, however, should never overwhelm us to the point that we can’t go to Him in need while we are in the process of being cleaned up and made into the image of Christ. We can come to Him, confident that He will accept us because of and covered in the blood of Jesus.

I feel very sorry for the one who wrote the letter mentioned above. He has focused on an attitude that shows little of the complete nature of our Father who loves us deeply, whether He is chastising us or encouraging us. The man is missing so much.

Able to cry “Abba” because of Jesus,

Jim Corbett

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