“I want you to understand something. If you are My true minister, if you are really going to be available so that I can use you to present My life to those who are dying, if you are going to present My true heart to My church, you will need to be refined. I will take you to painful places, insurmountable circumstances, and hopeless situations, so that you will fully understand your need of Me. In that need, I will impart Myself to you and equip you to be able to help others in their need.
"When you have ascended above your training because of My strength, and when you have allowed the fires of trials to eliminate your flesh and soften your heart, I will send you to those who need Jesus. Most of the people to whom I send you will never fully realize what it took for you to have what they need. They will care little for the pain you had to go through to be trusted with My presence, nor the price that you had to pay. Some may even be the ones who scorned you or laughed at you when you were desperately in need of Me, while they lived in luxury.
"They may never thank you, but I will know. I will remember your anguish and subsequent submission to Me. I will never forget how faithful you are. It has always been that way. It is the path of Jesus. Are you willing to travel it with Him? Will you do it for Me?”
Luke 9:23-25 AMP
23) And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].
24) For whoever would preserve his life and save it will lose and destroy it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he will preserve and save it [from the penalty of eternal death].
25) For what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and ruins or forfeits (loses) himself?
Romans 5:1-5 NIV
1) Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2) through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
3) Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4) perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5) And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Jesus did everything He did for us and for His Father. He gave His life because He loved deeply, knowing that those for whom He died would at times spit on Him, laugh at Who He was; and despise that for which He stood. He knew that most of the people He had created cared little about what He went through for them.
No one in the world cares about how much He gave and few of His children take enough time to remember all the reasons He left heaven, suffered, and died. Most think that His life and death is all about their salvation. Few understand that His life and death is really about the restoration of fellowship between God and man, because His Father desired it. He did it for us whether we cared or not, and for the Father.
If only for You, Lord,
Jim Corbett
