Author: Jim Corbett

        "There are many ways that I bless My people. Some of them look and feel as if I have abandoned them, but the opposite is actually what is happening. Few people in the church see prosperity as I see it. It is because their flesh dominates their thinking. They are unable to really see My ways, because they haven't died to the world's way of thinking.

        "Prosperity, in My economy, is how much your heart and life are in line with the heart and life of Jesus. Few really press in long enough to gain His heart, turning away when I begin to separate them from the norm. You are truly prospering when I place you in My refiner's fire. These times are misunderstood and frowned upon by most of the church, because you look as if you are out of control; and most of the time appear as if you have failed miserably, sometimes for long periods of time.

        "The road to intimacy with Me, which creates in you the heart of Jesus, is never a comfortable road to the flesh. I take you there because I have plans for your life. Some of you have wondered why you are even on that road. Your life is continually in upheaval, your plans are dashed on the pavement; and you feel as if you are abandoned more often than you feel secure. Be at peace. No matter how much your flesh resists, I know who you are in your inner being, the real you. I have called you to a place you have never been; a place you may never have thought of going with Me.

        "Soon, even though you could never imagine it now, you will be more comfortable when you are being refined, than you are when you're at rest, being refreshed. You will even be anxious to get back on the path to Jesus. Your heart will delight in each trial and test, knowing that you are pleasing Me by your submission to My hand. The "inner man" in you will cherish spiritual growth more than material gain, understanding that it is far more important in My eyes.

        "While others attempt to protect their lives from any kind of discomfort, you will embrace the challenges that I present to you as the love gifts that they are. While others remain close to the world with their cold religion and empty lives, you will crave only intimacy, and press into every trial with fervor. They will appear to be the ones who are being blessed. You and I know better."

Isaiah 30:18 The Living Bible

Yet the Lord still waits for you to come to him, so he can show you his love; he will conquer you to bless you, just as he said. For the Lord is faithful to his promises...

Isaiah 30:20 The Living Bible

Though he give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet he will be with you to teach you - with your own eyes you will see your Teacher.

Isaiah 55:8-9 AMP

8) For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.

9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Phil. 3:10-11 AMP

10) [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

11) That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

Rev. 3:19 AMP

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

The times soon to come will require honest followers of Jesus Christ, not cold, confused zealots. God is refining a people to not only represent Jesus properly in this world; but also, to be fully prepared and waiting eagerly to meet Him when He comes. Unfortunately, many in the church do not see themselves as both.

Jesus will not be joined in marriage with anyone who has a whorish heart, a heart that is not like His in every way. This presents a problem for many of the doctrines present in the church today, because most of the church has a heart that craves many things other than His heart for satisfaction. We "sell" our emotions and desires to areas of comfort, rather than refinement. We look for His return only because it will allow us to escape this world.

Should the return of Jesus be soon, two things must happen. Either He will take only a very few - those who have a mirror of His heart - with Him, or an intense refining fire is coming to the church to create His true heart in us before He comes, one that desires and loves only what He desires and loves. Anything other than that denies the work and intent of the cross and the holiness of Jesus.

I believe it is vital for all of us to set aside all conjecture, debate, and contention about pre, mid, post, or "even if" and seek God's presence with all of our hearts. Finding out what pleases God should be our only pursuit. This life in Christ requires the absolute death of all our fleshly ways. It is the intent of the cross and the only way to intimacy and Christ-likeness.

It's time that we got on with it. Each of us needs to request that the Lord do what it takes to take us where He wants us to go. What is His intent for our relationship with Him? How are we intended to represent Jesus? How do we become like Him?

Wanting to really press in,

Jim Corbett

        "If I allowed your life to be crushed, would you glorify My Name? I don't mean if some tragedies befell you, or if you encountered some great challenges. I'm saying, would you enthusiastically praise Me with all of your being if you became similar to one who had leprosy, as in the Bible? What if I asked you to give away everything you own, even your ability to make money? All of your savings, stocks, furniture, everything -except the clothes on your back -would no longer be owned by you. On top of that, because you gave everything away, all of your friends left you since you couldn't function in the same way as before. You no longer had what it takes to hang around with them.

        "If you lost your reputation, scorned by everyone, would you look to Me with praise in your heart, questioning nothing that was happening to you? If I allowed your land to be consumed by hoards of ruthless people bent on destroying you, your family, and friends, how would you tell others about My love for you? I would like to tell you something. None of the above should affect how you proclaim My glory. I have observed those of you who feel full of faith in your safe world. You praise Me because I have allowed you to be blessed. You believe that you could have enough faith to overcome when times are rough. You believe that you would gleefully praise Me when peril is all around you. You are confident fools and you have missed it.

        "Those who will be strong in peril are those who are displaying weakness and repenting of it now. In their hardship, I am training them to trust. In their frailty, I am showing them My strength. Great peril is coming and I will have a powerful people, who will acknowledge their weakness and therefore receive My strength.

       "To you who are suffering at present, be encouraged. Be submissive and embrace the trial. I am your strong tower and I am imparting My strength to you. I have not forgotten you. In fact, you are the most prosperous of all My children. You have an acute awareness of your need of Me. That is true prosperity. Never forget that nothing I do or allow to happen affects Who I am. You are functioning in My plan, and I will accomplish it in My way. You praise Me, and trust what I'm doing. That is your part. I will be a trustworthy God. That is My part."

1 Cor. 4:9-13 NIV

9) For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.

10) We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!

11) To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.

12) We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

13) when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

Rev. 3:19 AMP

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

I used to simply tolerate the "super faith" people, who felt that it was a lack of faith in God to display any form of weakness when in the midst of a trial. Now I feel sorry for them. Anyone who is always "high" either has not submitted to the hand of God for training or he's a liar.

In the above verse, God is calling those who are going through the rigors of training and chastening to be enthusiastic. So many immature believers feel that to have real faith, one must always carry a presence of sweetness and joy, never expressing the reality of the hurt that accompanies growth. In our walk, the Lord over and over brings us to the limit of our ability to tolerate the pressure. At that time, inner joy of God's love may be present; but outwardly, if we were honest, we would have the freedom to say "ouch."

There is a great difference between a self-serving attitude of whining and complaining, and a warlike countenance when our flesh is being destroyed. Under His hand during the time of pressure, we may squirm, squeal, and hurt. The trial shows our weakness; but by our submission, we gain His strength, ready for the next limit of our endurance. The next trial always has higher limits because we have grown.

The enthusiasm that is spoken of in Rev. 3:19 should not be interpreted as enjoying the pain. We are enthusiastic because we have a loving God who cares enough for us to continually take on the responsibility of eliminating our weakness. Jesus Himself endured, tolerated, and hurt on the cross for a future joy. He wasn't smiling in the garden or on the cross. Only at the resurrection was His joy complete. Before that He was real and hurting, but in His pain He was still full of faith and supremely confident in what His Father was doing.

Willing to say "ouch," but remembering the love,

Jim Corbett