12/30/19 The Path to Needing Nothing

        "Some of My people have tired of the way that I do things. They have become hardened to the crucified life and have decided to live most of their lives for themselves rather than for others. That means that they have stopped living only for Me. They have redefined My true Gospel. In their folly, they no longer take correction from their peers. They have become thin-skinned one to another.

        "Everyone feels that they hear from Me. Few are really hearing what I am saying. They make up their own gospel that allows them to remain deceived about their cold love for Me. Soon they will harden their hearts to even the strongest Word when I call to them. They will tire of all correction and seek only comforting words, words that make them useless to My desire that none should perish. That is a very great falling away.

        "I weep as I see even some of My most loyal children succumbing to weariness and dullness of hearing, rather than turning and running into My presence. Soon they will feel that they have need of nothing and deserve everything. They will feel that they are fine in their form of religion. All passion for My ways will be gone. It is a very dangerous place to be.

        "This day I ask you to check your heart. How far are you living from the way that Jesus lived? Any path that leads away from that standard is a path away from Me. Turn from it now before you become poor, blind, and naked!"

Jeremiah 2:13 NIV

"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."

Jeremiah 9:6-7 AMP

6) Your habitation is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit]; through deceit they refuse to know and understand Me, says the Lord.

7) Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will melt them [by the process of affliction to remove the dross] and test them, for how else should I deal with the daughter of My people?

Jeremiah 15:19 AMP

Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God's faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece...

Rev. 3:15-18 NIV

15) "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!

16) So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

17) You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

18) I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."

 

If we are on a path to destruction, we tire of hearing correction. It is a matter of heart. A full hardening of our hearts does not mean that we visibly turn from God; it means we stop heeding His warnings. We even feel little need to repent of the differences between our lives and the life of Jesus.

Take this day's message. If you do not go to God with fear and trembling to have Him search your heart, if you feel that you could never succumb to a falling away, if you feel that the message is for others and not for you, you are on dangerous ground.

Soft hearts toward God heed every opportunity to check themselves for any hint of offense against God. They check their lives against the plumb line of God's Word and Jesus' heart. To not do so continually, at every opportunity, is the path to needing nothing - first from others who care and eventually even from God. That's a really big oops!

Soften my heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

Week of December 30th, 2019 Prayer Focus:

- For Families:

Pray that people will understand the wonder of the Word from the manger to the cross and resurrection.

- For Each Other:

Pray that all of us will be aware of the needs of others and then do something about it.

- For Our Mission:

Pray that we will have patience to wait on God alone to accomplish all He has given us to do.

12/28/19 Unlimited Power

One of the reasons the enemy attempts to destroy the offices of husband and father is to eliminate a powerful threat to his plans. He understands that there are no offices closer to the heart of God and no institution more loved by Him than the family.

Far more significant than being a simple breadwinner, God has placed his mighty men in a position to oversee the future men and women of influence from the very beginning of their earthly lives. A man with enough wisdom to be aware of this incredible opportunity also understands the favor Father God has for the servant leader who seeks Him.

There is no more powerful person than an aware, humble steward who continually seeks direction for his family from the lap of His Father God. One, who makes continual visits to the throne room for intimacy, guidance and submission with a loving heart, has all the available power of heaven at his disposal. No weapon formed against the man who has placed himself under the complete Lordship of Jesus Christ will prosper. A man, who submits himself and his family to the Lord and knows the authority he possesses when on his knees in prayer, wields a deathblow to the plans of the enemy. Guaranteed! Is this the life you desire? Maybe not, but it is the one you need.

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett

12/28/19 All of You

        "The holy life of Jesus that has been designed for you in My presence and bought for you at Calvary is not for the faint of heart. It is not for the self-serving, the materialistic, or the controlling. If you truly want to live out the life that has been planned for you, it will cost you everything. It cost Jesus everything to win it for you; now it's your turn.

        "I want all of you. I will take all of you, if you will respond to Me with all of your heart. Submit to My Word. Submit to My ways. Submit to My heart. Submit to My hand of training. I will reproduce the character of Christ in you, so that I can touch others through you.

        "You must come to Me completely willing to do My will, whatever the cost to you, just as Jesus did. I will then take who you are and who you are not and eliminate them, replacing them with who you are designed to be. The death of your old ways will bring forth His ways, which are My ways, by the power of My Holy Spirit."

Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV

26) "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

27) And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."

John 1:10-14 NIV

10) He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

11) He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

12) Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -

13) children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

14) The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 3:30 AMP

He must increase, but I must decrease. [He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.]

John 6:57 AMP

Just as the living Father sent Me and I live by (through, because of) the Father, even so whoever continues to feed on Me [whoever takes Me for his food and is nourished by Me] shall [in his turn] live through and because of Me.

Hebrews 10:14 NIV

...because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

 

The pursuit of Jesus usually begins for our good and pleasure. He meets our needs, brings us to salvation, and makes us feel good every time we go to Him. That's good for us. There comes a time, however, that we understand the Father's plan more clearly.

He shows us that this relationship is not only about us and our needs. He brings us to an increasing level of maturity. As we begin to understand His character better, we understand and move with His heart more often. As this action, response, action, response relationship continues, we gain more of His heart, and love more and more as He loves. We also begin to identify with His heart so closely that it becomes our heart.

The closer we get, we actually fall in love with His ways and move from admiration of Him to a love for Him. Getting to know Him and His ways leads to increasing love for Him, because we are changed more and more from being in His presence. Once we know Him, we act in a way that pleases Him because of the love for Him that has been placed in our hearts.

Destroy everything that is of me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

12/27/19 It’s Never Too Late

What if your life up to this point has been out of line? What if your family is so fractured that it doesn't even resemble a Christian family? What if your marriage is nothing more than two people going through the motions? What if you've missed it in every aspect of your responsibility to oversee a life-giving, Jesus-serving, people-reaching family? What if your children are serving the world and want nothing to do with you or the Jesus you supposedly serve? What if your life holds little significance regarding the work of God through what you and your family have done?

Today the Lord would say to you, "So what!" What do any of those excuses have to do with the opportunity to change things around completely by the power of the Holy Spirit? All of the above are physical observations. They have nothing to do with what God can do if you, as the holder of God's highest office, choose to repent of your failure to be a proper steward of your family and turn from your sin.

Look at what the Word reveals in James 4:7-10 AMP. So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you. 8) Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery]. 9) [As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins]. 10) Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].

So resist the devil by being subject to God. A significant life for you and your family in God's eyes is only a heartfelt repentance away. As a steward, wouldn't it be wise to start today? As you turn your heart in God's direction, your family has a better chance to do the same.

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett

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