8/06/20 Disciplining or Nurturing?

Fathers, are you only disciplining your children when they do something wrong, or do you spend your life nurturing them in the path they should go? Discipline alone on a continual basis leads to a “I can never do anything right” attitude in a child. It leads to a beaten spirit that says, “Why try? He won’t like what I do anyway.” This attitude fosters the seeds of rebellion and heart separation. It turns a child away from a father’s sound biblical influence of love and encouragement to his or her peers’ worldly perspective.

Nurturing, on the other hand, leads to loving interaction and proper companionship between father and child. Their relationship is like the one between a craftsman and his apprentice.

A true craftsman is a person with practiced skills, skills that over time make him an expert because of the perfection found in his work. When a craftsman takes on an apprentice, the purpose of their association is to hand down the craftsman’s skills to someone who chooses to be a study of him. The craftsman guides, instructs, directs, and nurtures the skills of the apprentice with understanding and patience as he learns. It is a relationship for the good of the apprentice. When the skills handed down are mastered by the apprentice, he is then a craftsman himself and the process is completed. The new craftsman has what is necessary to function properly in what he does.

So it is supposed to be with a father-child relationship. The father - a man who has learned what he knows from the throne room of his Father - is ordained to pass those skills down to his offspring by guiding, instructing, and teaching his children so they can navigate their time in the world with Christ-like character. This teaching includes loads of love, encouragement, and enthusiastic monitoring. The result for you is a person who is ready to function as a significant legacy. The benefit to the child is the ability to fulfill his or her task of representing Christ properly to a dying world. Your children are waiting for the wealth you have to give them!

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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8/06/20 Nothing Has Changed

“Jesus always completes what He has begun in you. The work of the cross is as powerful today as it was on that day on Calvary. His blood is as fresh this moment as it was the moment the first drop left His body. My Word is as sharp and powerful as it was the instant I spoke. Nothing has changed. Nothing has diminished over time. My promises are real and for all of eternity. They are as accurate as when I gave them to My vessels.

"All that I have said will come to pass. It is unfolding this very moment. You can rely on the cross, My Word, and My promises. Apply them to your life. Nothing can stop them from accomplishing what I intend them to accomplish. Trust in them, because you can trust Me!”

Isaiah 48:3 NIV

“I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.”

Isaiah 66:9 AMP

Shall I bring to the [moment of] birth and not cause to bring forth? says the Lord. Shall I who causes to bring forth shut the womb? says your God.

John 1:1-5 NIV

1) In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God.

2) He was with God in the beginning.

3) Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

4) In him was life and that life was the light of men.

5) The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Romans 8:38 NIV

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 3:14-19 NLB

14) When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,

15) the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.

16) I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.

17) And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love.

18) And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.

19) May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Hebrews 12:2 NIV

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…

 

Feeling our present and future pain of separation from the Father, there was nothing that He could do but spend His life for us. His focus was on our loss. He cared about what would happen to us if He didn’t intervene on our behalf.

Having no separation between His heart and the heart of His Father, He also took as His own the loss that the Father had because of the sin of mankind, which caused separation. Father longed for all those He loved to cherish His glory for their well-being. Because the Father felt that way, so did Jesus - not in an elementary form of human caring, but with all of the compassions of the Father. When He moved in compassion, our needs and pains were taken on by Him as His own.

I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief,

Jim Corbett

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Right or Wrong

In this world—where there is a mushy line between what is determined to be right or wrong—we, as believers, have the amazing privilege of knowing which side of that line to stand on. The Lord shows us the right thing to do in every situation, if we seek Him and apply His Word to our lives.

He also lovingly counsels us on the wrong way to live in this world and explains the consequences of our actions if we choose that way. How privileged we are to be able to avoid the sliding scale of correctness the world has to offer. How wonderful to have the freedom to know where there's solid footing to walk on for everything we do!

8/05/20 Investing in Your Children

Whether it looks like it or not at this time, your children need you to be a godly father to them. No matter how far they may be into the world or how far they seem to be OK without your loving input in their lives, they need you.

If you’ve taken on the role of disciplinarian and minimized the role of nurturing father, the relationship with your child has more than likely gone south. Any form of real, loving communication is more than likely a thing of the past. If that is the case, your input into their lives is less than minimal and in some cases non-existent.

I had a friend who counseled a man and his daughter. Their only form of communication was loud, aggressive, and wounding at every turn. It was clear that both parties had long ago abandoned any hope of meaningful interaction. The possibility of joy in their relationship was hopelessly off the radar.

Here’s the counsel my friend gave the father in front of the daughter. For the next two weeks, he was to allow her to express anything - even her deepest hurts, angers, and wounds that he had created - without fear of any return comment, defense, or grudge on his part. He promised to keep his mouth shut and allow her to express anything she wanted.

For the first four days, a torrent of his violations toward her - real or perceived - poured from her heart. Wounds from long ago - most of them long forgotten by the father - spewed forth every time she opened her mouth. On about the fifth day, something pretty incredible happened. It started with her asking questions about his violations. He began to apologize and accept the blame for everything without transferring it to her in any way. She responded to that with tears and deeper communication of her wounds. He simply started to hold her close, physically and in his heart.

After about a week, meaningful dialog became part of their lives. They decided to hold each other in high esteem. The relationship took on the glow of love rather than the fire of anger. Beginning steps were made to a long, proper father-daughter relationship. This may not be something for you, but ask the Lord for His direction in your situation. You are the daddy. You begin the healing by humbling yourself in any way that the Lord directs. Will you do it for His sake and theirs?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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8/05/20 More of God

“Are you ready to be entrusted with more? I don’t mean for you to do more programs, nor am I asking you to take on more work. I am questioning whether you have heeded My calls and My warnings to prepare your heart for more of Me. I give Myself to those who desire to live the life of Jesus in front of those who need to see Him. To gain His life requires your death.

"Have you asked to be broken before Me? Have you renewed your commitment to His Lordship over every area of your life? Are you longing only for His return? Is your sole purpose for living My purpose for your life? How can I trust you with more if you have not honored what I have already given you? I desire to give you more of Me, but I can’t until you are ready to receive it, and use it properly. I am waiting!”

Galatians 2:20 AMP

I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]: it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

2 Cor. 5:14-15 AMP

14) For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] One died for all, then all died;

15) And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake.

2 Cor. 5:20 NIV

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us.

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.

All over this nation and in some parts of the world, Merry and I are communicating with people who are hearing the call of preparation. It is a remnant call of holiness, death to self, and full devotion to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I believe that it is the bridal call.

For many years, the Holy Spirit has been wooing lovers of Jesus to separate themselves unto Him and Him alone. Those who have responded are setting aside the trappings of the world and of self to prepare as a waiting bride would prepare. Nothing is too difficult, no price is too high, and no measure is too great for those in waiting. They are truly no longer their own. Their only goal is to be more like, and therefore honor, the only One they love.

Break my heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

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