Category: From Our Fathers Heart

“Even though you are aware of the times and seasons and see that end-time prophecy has the potential to be fulfilled in your generation, you must be diligent in your study, steadfast in your growth, and trustworthy with My Word; so that future generations will benefit from you having walked the land. No lives that have been ordained by Me have the right to live only for themselves. I require that you become all that you can be, so that Jesus is glorified, and others will benefit from your diligent study and positive application of My Word and Our association as you go about your days serving Me.

"My Word applied never loses its power over time. Your experiences in Me need to become testimony for others to be encouraged in their walk. Your failures need to be noted so that others do not fall. Although Our relationship is designed to be very personal, stop limiting Our experiences together by thinking that they are for you alone. They are wealthy material for others to study and follow. Make your life really count.  Think of the welfare of those who follow you, just as you have benefited from following the experiences of others. Expand your worth by leaving a roadmap to My heart.”

Romans 15:1-7 NIV 

1) We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

2) Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

3) For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”

4) For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

5) May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,

6) so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7) Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

I Cor. 15:58 NIV

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

II Tim. 2:15 AMP

Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.

Hebrews 12:12-13 NLB 

12) So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs.

13) Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong.

 

Too often we forget that our own little world is not all that matters. If all the saints who have gone before us had been concerned only for themselves, we would have little testimony and few patterns to encourage us. We would have little to see that the life lived by Jesus can be lived by ordinary people just like us.

How many people in future generations will be able to grow in their relationship with the Lord because of the legacy that you leave? What roadmap to the heart of God will have your fingerprints on it when others read it? Who will be able to say that they were able to see how a life in Christ was supposed to be lived because they observed your life or mine?

Our everyday, very ordinary lives are leaving their marks whether we know it or not. Will that mark be a benchmark for others to emulate, or a mark in the sand that can hardly be seen?

Make my life count, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“After everything is completed, what is really most important? At what cost will you attempt to maintain your reputation? What price have you paid to remain right? How has your need to express your opinion exhibited the heart of Jesus? Shallow victories come at a high price. Only fools are willing to pay for that kind of success. There is still time to make right all of the things that have masked My reasons for your associations. You can take the posture of Christ. You can lose! It’s OK. You can be wrong! Big deal!

"It really is pleasing in My eyes when you give more than all of the others with no desire to gain anything for yourself. Any other posture for living robs you of the joy that I have intended for you. Give more! Love deeper! When no one else is loving you, you love anyway. I am pleased with that kind of behavior. I can use you to represent Jesus.”

1 John 4:18 NIV

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The man who fears is not made perfect in love.

 

It has taken me a long time to begin to understand about perfect love and what the Lord was saying in the above verse. If you would replace the word “punishment” with the more accurate word “loss” the meaning of the verse rings with clarity and amplifies the spirit of the surrounding verses.

Jesus came to “lose” in the sight of those who couldn’t understand, all so that we could “win.” He had no fear of losing His reputation; therefore, He was able to esteem everyone higher than Himself. He “owned” nothing, so there was no fear of loss in His heart. No one can take what is not owned. He even gave His life away long before Pilate attempted to take it. Whatever Pilate did, therefore, held no fear for Jesus. He could even love Pilate - and those who were cursing Him, and those who drove the nails in His hands; and every one of us who reject His ways - perfectly.

Because Jesus loved perfectly, He could function freely in His Father’s will. In fact, His Father’s will was far more important than His own. He loved His Father so perfectly that His own will meant nothing. When functioning like Jesus means more to us than our need to be right, the need to protect our reputation, or the need to win at the expense of someone else losing, our Lord will be able to use us to represent Him to the world.

Forgive me for my priorities, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Holiness is not something that you set your mind on. It is a step-by-step positioning of your heart for Me to do a mighty work in you. You can never attain holiness in your own strength and determination. It must be accomplished in you by repentance and surrender; otherwise you can claim some part in it. That would be pride. You need to come to Me often. We will talk about the areas of your life of which you need to repent. We will talk of obedience to My Word. We will examine your areas of unforgiveness and anger. I will lead you to repentance. You will suffer the loss of control over your life. It will be painful to your flesh. Each step, however, is a very important step on the road to My accomplishing holiness in you.”

 Hebrews 5:8-9 AMP

8) Although He was a Son, He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered

9) And, [His completed experience] making Him perfectly [equipped], He became the Author and Source of eternal salvation to all those who give heed and obey Him.

Rom. 6:16 AMP

Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether that be sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness (right doing and right standing with God)?)

Rom. 6:19 AMP

I am speaking in familiar human terms because of your natural limitations. For as you yielded your bodily members [and faculties] as servants to impurity and ever-increasing lawlessness, so now yield your bodily members [and faculties] once for all as servants to righteousness (right being and doing) [which leads] to sanctification.

Rom. 6:22 AMP

But now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life.

 

Taken from The Overcoming Life by Jim and Merry Corbett

Jesus Even Learned Through Suffering

 Often, the message conveyed in Heb.5:8 drops to the ground before it impacts our lives.  The plan of Satan is to see that we never really receive the truth that this Scripture imparts. If he can stop us from receiving, he can nullify our effectiveness, or completely destroy our relationship with the Lord because of our misunderstanding of His ways. Here’s a real key:

Through suffering (denial,) obedience is learned (Heb.5:8.) Obedience leads to righteousness (Rom.6:16,) and righteousness leads to holiness (Rom 6:19,) which results in eternal life (Rom. 6:22.)

Most of us spend our lives avoiding suffering of any kind. Our comfort is of primary importance to us. Most of us also wonder why we have little power to obey God. The role that suffering plays never enters our rose-colored picture unless we allow the Holy Spirit to break through the fog that hinders our understanding. How can we progress, if we do not recognize the first step to holiness?

Jesus is holy. His coming from heaven, His life, and the heart position in the way He died show the character of One Who is holy. He asks us to be holy and says that He is holy, giving us the example to follow. Our hope is to become like Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Complete Your work in me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“When was the last time you were so caught up in worship that time had no meaning? How often do you rejoice in My presence? When has honest praise enveloped your entire being to the point that nothing else mattered? Have you ever been so aware of our intimacy that you were dropped to your knees by My power? These postures are your heritage and should be your daily experience! You are designed to be enveloped in My presence. You have been reborn to become intimate with Me.

"To enter into the kind of wealth that is yours will cost you, however. The price is a readjustment of your priorities. I must be first, last, and everything in between in your life. I must never be your second place. You have no idea how much you miss by having other loves. You have no idea how much you will gain by practicing a life of having Me as your first love. Study My Word and see what Jesus has done for you. Ask Me to show you what I have provided for your life. It is foolish to settle for less.”

 Psalm 37:4 NIV

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 150:1-6 AMP

1) Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power!

2) Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!

3) Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!

4) Praise Him with tambourine and [single or group] dance; praise Him with stringed and wind instruments or flutes!

5) Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!

6) Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

 

It amazes me how we are willing to settle for scraps in the street when we have been invited to a daily banquet of the presence of our Lord. To know the heart of God, understand our portion in His kingdom, have astounding peace for any and every situation, dwell in our rightful place of intimacy with the Almighty, and be able to pour the wealth of our Lord into anyone and everyone who needs it, only come from one place. They are only available after we make the unalterable decision to give God His rightful place of being truly first in every moment of our lives.

Prioritize my life, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“You need to never fear. I have always taken care of those who are called by My Name. I hover over you with a jealous love, one that can never be extinguished. In time, you will understand the fullness and depth of that love. For now, however, I am able to reveal only portions that you can comprehend. Under no circumstances should you think that I have left you. That is impossible for Me to do. I have placed My Spirit within your inner being. I am part of you.

"With that confidence, you can overcome any and every circumstance that comes your way. You can be assured without a doubt that all works together for good, even those things that look bad at the time. One day you will see My love at work in them. One day you will be able to comprehend the fullness of My plan. One day you will understand your part as I reveal why things unfolded as they did. You will see My love at work. For now, you become obedient to My Word. You walk in My precepts. You live the life that I have planned for you. I will be with you every step of the way. I love you.”

Isaiah 38:17 NIV

Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

Jude 21-23 NIV

21) Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22) Be merciful to those who doubt;

23) snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear-hating even the clothing stained by corrupt flesh.

 

Walking in God’s love means something very different to me the longer I study the Word. When I first came to the Lord, His love was all about my freedom, comfort, safety, and pleasure.  His love was a tickly, feely, emotional kind of thing that I used for my benefit and hung onto because of my desperate need for a reminder of my physical safety in Him. Although I do believe that I was allowed to experience that portion of His love to help me through my brokenness, limiting the Lord to that perspective throughout life would condemn me to the milk of His character and His Word.

I believe the strong meat of His Word only comes through an understanding that the love of God has little to do with the safety of my flesh. In fact, my flesh cannot survive the love of God. It is doomed under His Lordship.

My understanding of walking in God’s love certainly includes the uplifting, emotional aspect; but also the confidence and trust that He cares, no matter what circumstances result as I walk in obedience to Him. I can be confident that His love brought me to a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. I am safe forever. In that relationship, however, my part is His purpose and His purpose alone, no matter what that might bring.

Wanting to understand more each day,

Jim Corbett