Pray that families choose Jesus this year.
Pray that each of us determines to know Jesus intimately as our life's goal.
Pray that we will have patience to wait on God alone to accomplish all He has given us to do.
Is your family for one another? I don't mean, do they tolerate one another; I mean, are they interested in protecting the interests of the other before their own interests? Are you an example of being for your wife? Is she safe in the understanding that you will make decisions concerning her for her best interests rather than your own?
It's mandatory in God's eyes concerning marriage, you know! Ephesians states that you are to love your wife just as Christ loves the church. He gave up His own interests - even His life - for the church. You are to do the same for your wife.
Whether you know it or not, your children are watching how you behave with your wife. They understand your selfish, self-interested behavior, and do the same toward you and the other members of your family. They learn a self-serving spirit from you. They learn to look out for themselves first, just as you do.
On the other hand, if you serve everyone - looking out for their best interests before yours, especially your wife - you fall in line with the heart of God. His power then reigns over your family. His life is given to those who act selflessly toward others. It is the pattern Jesus set, so He honors it.
If you want your family to be healed, lay down your self-serving life and determine to serve your wife and your children with a Christ-like attitude. Become for them rather than for your own interests. It may take a while to turn the selfish tide you've set, but as you continue to show your children the life of Jesus through your actions, they will begin to turn their hearts also. Become for those around you, and watch the life of Jesus weave His love to all concerned.
Let's talk more!
Jim Corbett
"The fashion of this day for My true ambassadors is the completed character of Christ radiating through My provided armor. Although your armor has been tested and tried through the fiery trials presented to you, it has protected you and given you time to submit fully to Jesus. Now I ask you to prepare one more time. Stir up the gift that has been given you. Prepare your heart through communion with Me. Then stand and wait for Me to send you forth. There is work to do.
"Many in My church need to see how I have prepared you for proper representation of Me. Many in the world need to see Who Jesus is through you. When you have done all that I have asked of you, stand. I will soon call you forth to show them the proper attire of a bridal heart prepared by My hand."
Proverbs 20:24 AMP
Man's steps are ordered by the Lord....
Matthew 11:12 NIV
"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it."
Romans 5:3-5 AMP
3) Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.
4) And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.
5) Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.
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...
2 Cor. 5:20a NIV
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
2:Cor. 10:3-5 NIV
3) For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
4) The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
5) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Rev 19:7 AMP
Let us rejoice and shout for joy [exulting and triumphant]! Let us celebrate and ascribe to Him glory and honor, for the marriage of the Lamb [at last] has come, and His bride has prepared herself.
Many of us forget that our godly armor is proper attire until the day of our wedding. Up until the very moment we see Jesus face to face, we are at war against principalities in heavenly places that stand against the desires of God. As we mature in Christ, we take on battles on behalf of those too weak or too ignorant to win against the devil and His schemes; and our armor is always the full-dress uniform of the children of God.
We are never to let down our guard or fall asleep at our post until the last heart is rescued from perishing. That is the heart of our Father God. That is the heart of Jesus. That is the heart of the waiting bride as led by the Holy Spirit.
Teach me how to wear Your attire properly, Lord,
Jim Corbett
"Beware of the distractions that are formed to hinder a work I have called you to do. They will come from many directions with many seemingly urgent needs. You need to discern what is important for you to do. You need to understand who is being used by the enemy to consume your time. Turn them over to me until they repent. Separate the urgent from the truly important or you will never accomplish what I have called you to do.
"Anything that robs you of your time with Me is not of Me. Anything that attacks you when you are weary is not My doing. I will always send you to a refreshing time with Me, so that you can continue with those things I call important. Always make Our time together your priority. From My presence, move with power."
Matt. 14:22-23a NIV
22) Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.
23) After he had dismissed them, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.
Mark 6:30-32 NIV
30) The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.
31) Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."
32) So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.
John 7:6-8 NIV
6) Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right.
7) The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.
8) You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come."
Have you ever noticed that those who choose not to submit themselves fully to the Lord are often used to distract you with their needs when you are involved with doing what God has called you to do? Sometimes the urgency of their request makes it seem as if everything should be dropped to do whatever is necessary to physically meet their need. However, sometimes the answer is to stand back and pray for them and continue on with what you're doing, letting God Himself intervene in their lives.
Christians in leadership must learn to separate the seemingly urgent from what is really important. There are many pastors who have been burned out by the all-consuming needs of their flock. It would not be very surprising to learn that the ones who were used to weary the pastor went on to do the same thing at another time and place, if they did not repent and turn to God.
Teach me to discern between the urgent and what is important to You, Lord,
Jim Corbett
With all the demands that are on us as husbands and fathers, the idea of changing our focus to pursue holiness as our priority goal seems impossible. Without a holy heart, however - one that is totally dedicated to making the Lord and His priorities our priorities - there is little hope of overcoming the world and its challenges. There is also little chance of us leading those we steward to spiritually safe places.
In a world that is proclaiming darkness out loud and bent on destroying anything that resembles Christ-like living, our only hope is to dwell in an immovable place in God's presence and power. That can only come from making a determination to pursue His throne-room presence with every fiber of our being. There is no more important task, as formidable as it may seem.
In the soon coming darkness, those who are wise will already have determined to refocus their lives. Because we say that we follow Jesus, we must walk and conduct ourselves as He walked and conducted Himself when He was on this earth. We are to make it our only priority to seek God and His ways. That will require a determination to take the time necessary to find an intimate relationship with the Lord, if we want to overcome the world as He did. In leading a full life, the last thing we want to eliminate is the only source of hope we have. Why have we chosen to do so?
Let's talk more!
Jim Corbett
