Open post

8/14/20 More Important Than Your Problems

“Too often the cares of your day hinder your ability to trust Me. You look at the challenges before you and they loom big in your eyes. Trust Me! Trust My promises to you. I am faithful. Often I delay answers to make you turn your heart around to Me. When I am more important than your problems, answers will come. I love you! You are Mine. I will take care of you!”

Mark 4:18-19 AMP

18) And the ones sown among the thorns are others who hear the Word;

19) Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.

2 Cor. 1:8-10 NIV

8) We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

9) Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

10) He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us…

 

Father God is developing a bridal heart and the same character that Jesus has in those who will respond. We must be like Him in our hearts if we are to intimately walk with Him and live passionately for Him. Can you imagine Jesus coming for a church that is selfish, self-centered, and harbors murder in her heart?

Can you imagine Him enjoining Himself to one who looks to the delicacies around her that please her more than He pleases her? Does it seem possible that Jesus would function in a relationship where His bride would not have the same desires, the same motives, and the same purposes in all that they do together? To think so is ludicrous!

How then is Jesus going to form us, who need His character developed in us during these end days, before He comes? He is going to allow us to see who we really are. He will allow us to face ourselves, so that we can come to repentance. He will do what it takes to expose our sin. Each time we repent, He will change us to be more like Him. It is an act of astounding love on His part. It is also our choice to respond or reject His efforts.

Make me who I need to be, Lord,

Jim Corbett

8/13/20 Distorted Obligations

Many years ago, I met a man who was having difficulties at home. His family was disjointed in opinions, needs, and direction for their lives. He spent most of his time putting out fires and filling the wants of some very needy family members. After several instances of pouting, crying, and just plain self-focus, it became very clear what the dynamics of his family were. In the course of a conversation, the man expressed to me that his goal in life was to keep his wife and child happy. It was all he wanted to do. It was the reason for his life. This goal kept him incredibly busy on a never-ending journey from morning ‘til night each and every day of his life.

As I observed the family in action, it became very clear that the pattern he had set was joyfully embraced by those involved. His wife and child were very needy and continually looked to him to fulfill the need, whatever it might be. Yes, there were legitimate needs, but whims and personal desires became gods to be served. His days were quite involved in finding ways to bring comfort rather than taking the time to figure out with his family a more reasonable way to function.

The saddest part of the whole situation was the fact that the man had been called to a faith ministry. For several years, he walked in his calling. As the Lord was building his faith through trials and difficult circumstances, his wife grew increasingly alarmed and uncomfortable. What changed the direction in his life and caused him to abandon his calling began with her statement, “I never want to walk in a faith ministry again.” So began the dissolution of an outreach that was touching many people.

Men, your job is not to find ways to keep your family happy. Your job is to provide an atmosphere that allows them to become everything they can be in Christ. Sometimes that will mean hardships and journeys far from their comfort zones. It may require you to stand by, dig yourself in with the Lord, and watch them squirm while He is dealing with their selfishness. It’s called real love. Will you walk in it?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

Open post

8/13/20 Seeing with God’s Heart

“Purity has a purpose. The pure in heart will be able to understand My heart. You will be able to gain insight into Who I am and why I do what I do. As you remove all of the clutter that darkens your reasoning process, you will be able to move closer to Me. We will move in concert. I will be able to trust you with more of My plans, for you will desire to implement them with honest motives. Come to Me today to be cleansed from everything that the world has to offer. Come to gain My heart in everything you do. If you see with My heart, you will see Me and your world much differently.”

Ps. 24:3-4 AMP

3) Who shall go up into the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His Holy Place?

4) He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted himself up to falsehood or to what is false, nor sworn deceitfully.

Matthew 5:8 NIV

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Luke 12:1 NIV

Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

Phil.4:8 AMP

For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].

 

One year, Merry and I had the opportunity to watch the Super Bowl with some fellow believers. Actually, we watched very little of the game, but had a delightful time simply being with those who loved the Lord and are pursuing Him with all of their hearts.

When half-time came, the so called “entertainment” intruded upon us with the kind of filth that violated the senses of everyone in the room to the point that we turned the TV off and began to pray. The program was embarrassing and an intrusion upon everything we believed.

I know that what is happening to the world is predicted. I know that we are coming closer to the coming of our Lord and that the world is being prepared to accept anything that is not of Christ. I see the world getting darker, but I also see the remnant believer desiring to be separated from anything that is of that world.

As we are able to see Who our Lord is with less distorted vision, anything having true value is compared only to His beauty. He becomes the benchmark for what is worthwhile in our lives to the point that dark values become distasteful and putrid. Those who love them are seen as pawns who need Jesus, rather than those to be envied and idolized.

Create in me a clean heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

Open post

The Key!

The key to really knowing God is to pursue intimacy with Him. As believers, we have been invited into the throne room with Him to receive grace and mercy in our time of need. It's foolish to waste that amazing invitation. To do so proclaims our desire for independence, the direct path to weakness and confusion. Our loving Father has given us the invitation. If you haven't taken Him up on it so far, I ask you: "How's that working for you?"

8/12/20 Mighty Men of God

According to Ephesians 6:12, our real war is against the principalities and powers in the spiritual realm - not flesh and blood - and the Lord has equipped each of us to overcome those powers. The covenant He has established with us is an unbeatable contract, which supplies all we’ll ever need to function high above the demands of this world and its harmful challenges.

As I’ve stated many times before, the highest offices God has created are the offices of husband and father. To help us function in those offices, He has given us an amazing spiritual arsenal we can call upon whenever we face a battle. It’s called the armor of God. These spiritual weapons are crucial in addressing and overcoming any obstacle, and they are readily available and effective for the man whose heart, thoughts, and actions are aligned with God.

All you need to do is look around to see the havoc the enemy has created through distorting the criteria God established for these offices in the minds of both men and women. Through misinterpretation and the foolishness of worldly reasoning, he has accomplished a great deal to help nullify the effectiveness of the roles of husband and father, which results in a standard for the family unit that is far from God’s intentions. The standard of today is a disjointed, weak, unruly, powerless family that has little ability to overcome the world.

Men, it’s time for you to do what’s necessary so the Lord can reveal the spiritual power that is available to you to reclaim your marriage and family. If your marriage and family are not bright, world-overcoming examples for others to follow, perhaps you need to make some changes prior to standing before the Lord. He has given you a stewardship and every tool that is necessary for you to see that stewardship prosper and function as God intends. What is stopping you from pleasing God by flowing in what He desires and knows you can be?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

Posts navigation

1 2 3 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 872 873 874
Scroll to top