Category: From Our Fathers Heart

“Would you like to understand some of the reasons that I do not desire for you to attempt to plan your own future, but rely on Me to plan your steps? There is purpose in My asking you to focus on this day, and not look to tomorrow for your need, or happiness, or fulfillment of My plan for you. You know nothing of tomorrow. With your limited sight, you have no idea what tomorrow may bring; and, for that matter, even if I have a tomorrow planned for you. I have given you a task to pursue; I ask you to surrender to the life of Jesus. What are you waiting for? I have called you to a mission. I want you to bear My message of reconciliation.

"When will you make My desire your goal, instead of presuming upon a tomorrow that you may not have, or a tomorrow that the one who needs to hear may not have? How can you be so arrogant? In your foolish pride, you have put off all My callings, saying that you will serve Me with all of your heart another day. So many days have gone by that you have set aside the importance of My calling in your life. It has been dulled within you, all because you have thought that you have many tomorrows to do what I ask you to do today. You must change now. Today is the only day that I have in My hand for you. Today, you must respond to My will for you. Tomorrow may change everything.”

Proverbs 27:1 NIV

Do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

James 4:13-15 NIV 

13) Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’

14) Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

15) Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.

 

One day, a very bright, much loved young man was killed while trying to break up a fight between two members of his high school. He died almost instantly. One of the comments in the local paper read like this.

“He just stepped in and tried to break up a fight. He was an innocent bystander in all of this. He was a quiet, good kid. He mentioned last week to his grandmother he wanted to get saved and get back to church. He was heading in the right direction…”

This young man’s tomorrow never came. Instantly, his life was gone. I wonder if anyone thought that he or she had another day to talk to him about the Lord the day he was killed.  Last week he mentioned that he wanted to “get saved” in a week that never came for him.

What has the Lord given you to do? I don’t mean, how long is your laundry list? What is your reason for breathing today, according to your Lord? Are you anointed to talk to someone about the Lord, ask someone for forgiveness, or simply tell others that you love them? Is it time for you to lay aside your pet sins or your critical spirit so that someone gets a better picture of Jesus? What has the Holy Spirit been talking to you about? Are you going to be obedient to do it?

Each of us needs to repent of what we have not done the many yesterdays in our lives, and be obedient to our life in Christ today. Every one of us is very much needed in our personal world. We need to begin to count every encounter, every word spoken to others, every action of every moment, very important. It is to God. He has given every one of us a defined number of moments that are designated as our lives. How are we going to use them and make them count? Will each of them glorify the Lord and fulfill His plan? What an eternal shame if they don’t.

Today, the first thing that I need to do is tell you that Jesus loves you and that you are valuable!

Jim Corbett

“Are you prepared? Are you prepared to work ceaselessly and tirelessly to understand My ways and find My heart? Are you prepared to defend the honor of Jesus at any cost? Will you give up your life for His life to work through you, so that others can know Who He is? Will you turn from your ways and embrace His ways just because it is right to do so? Are you prepared to love as He loved? Start now!”

 Isaiah 48:3 NIV 

“I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.”

Jeremiah 12:5 AMP

[But the Lord rebukes Jeremiah’s impatience, saying] If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions] in the swelling and flooding of the Jordan?

 

The above Bible verses confirm in my heart that the Lord always tells His people to prepare for a time when strength they do not have at present will be needed at a future date. He is looking for us to grow up, heed His warnings, and become strong enough to face those predicted challenges.

Even the most casual observer can see that our world is changing rapidly. Over the years, the Lord in His mercy has been warning His children to prepare for a time when we will need to be able to function with the heart of Jesus in the midst of those who do not want Him and those who say they serve Him but have no strength to do so.

Most of us don’t want things to change, and some of us desire to discard the warnings; but wish as we might, we cannot stop what is going to happen, especially if these are the end of the end times. Maybe it’s best to heed the warnings and submit to the changes that are needed to represent Jesus properly when called upon to do so.

Do what it takes to prepare my heart to glorify You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“I seek out the hardened heart to change it. I pursue the damaged heart to heal it. I embrace the seeking heart to fulfill My Word in it. Examine your heart. Is it soft toward My ways? Are you available to the moving of My Holy Spirit for My reasons? You need to be.”

2 Samuel 14:14b NIV

“God does not take away life; instead he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.”

Psalm 51:10 AMP

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.

 

I am convinced that God is very particular about heart motives.  Why we do whatever it is that we do is far more important to the Lord than it is to most of us. Jesus had compassion for His motivation. We usually have personal agendas or pride at the center of our actions.

If our motivations for our actions are really as important as I think they are, there are going to be some very surprised Christians facing Jesus one day. I’m afraid some of us will only be bringing tinder for an incredible fire, when we thought we were carrying crowns to lay at His feet.

Change my heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Do you know that you are to be a herald and an ambassador, representing and proclaiming the glories of your Lord? My Holy Spirit is to precede you wherever Jesus chooses to make His presence known. After He prepares the way, you are to move with Him, bringing the character of Jesus to those who need to hear and see. Learn your lessons well. Become a study of your Lord. Learn His heart. Put aside any other gods you served at one time, so that you don’t represent them to the ones to whom I send you. Bring His clear life where it is needed through the Holy Spirit’s power. Watch how His life, flowing through you, changes things.”

Acts 4:29-35 NIV

29) “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

30) Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

31) After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

32) All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

33) With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.

34) There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales

35) and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”

2 Cor. 2:14-16a NIV

14) But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

15) For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

16a) To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.

2 Cor. 5:20 NIV

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

 

Sometimes we forget that one of our primary purposes is to take the indwelling Spirit of Jesus to everyone to whom we are sent. That is who we are, what we do, and one of the very important reasons that we have been born again.

Thank You for reminding me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Where are you going to find truth when truth is non-existent in those you trust? Where are you going to find help when the powerful become helpless? Who will be your source for peace when your world falls apart? You need to really see the signs all around you and make some decisions. If you choose “business as usual,” I will not be able to use you when your seasons change. If you choose to do whatever it takes to bring My presence into your life, We will commune in intimate ways. You will see the wonder of what happened at the cross. You will observe hearts that fail from fear from the safety of My Holy Place. You will understand what is happening when others reel in confusion. You make the choice. If you do nothing to draw close to Me at this moment, you have made a choice. It is not a good one!”

Amos 3:3 KJV

“Can two walk together except they be agreed?”

 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 out-flowing 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].

 Phil. 4:8-9 NIV

8) Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

9) Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

 

In the above verses, Paul understood the difference between making a real difference and simply existing. He grasped the concept of finding the heart of Jesus and tailoring his every moment to pursue it with zeal.

Jesus had a single purpose.  Paul had a single purpose.  Any person that was truly used by God was, first and foremost, sold out to God.  God moves on behalf of one who is determined to be in line with His causes.  Most of us aren’t willing to pay the price; and therefore, never receive the joy of knowing the powerful hand of God in our lives.”

What is your determined purpose in life? Really, for what do you get up every day and pine?

Make my life devoted to Your purpose, Lord,

Jim Corbett