Category: From Our Fathers Heart

“If you are going to walk in My authority to accomplish My work, then you must submit to My total authority over your life. If you want My presence to go forth in whatever you are called to do, then you must remove yours. You can never be the center of anything I call you to do. In fact, you are to be an empty vessel for Me to flow through. I call you to lay your life aside. Exchange your life for Mine. I call you to surrender all that you are and all that you have to the complete Lordship of Jesus.

 “You have little power to really affect your world because there is so much of you in all you do. You desire to share Lordship! You desire to own some of My power. You will even distort My Word in an attempt to prove that you can maintain some ownership of your life and still serve Me. How is that working for you? Allow Me to crucify everything of your old nature. Become an empty vessel. Then see Who I really am and what I choose to do through you.”

Ps. 39:7 AMP

And now, Lord, what do I wait for and expect? My hope and expectation are in You.

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

5) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

6) in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Isaiah 2:22 AMP

Cease to trust in [weak, frail, and dying] man, whose breath is in his nostrils [for so short a time]; in what sense can he be counted as having intrinsic worth?

Isaiah 40:31 AMP

But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

Isaiah 42:25 AMP

Therefore He poured out upon [Israel] the fierceness of His anger and the strength of battle. And it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not [the lesson of repentance which the Assyrian conquest was intended to teach]; it burned him, but he did not lay it to heart.

 

Jesus asks us to exchange our lives for His. We continually want to share in the lordship of our lives, to take part in our healing, our spiritual growth, and sometimes even our salvation. He asks only that we give our old life away in exchange for His to be lived through us. Why don’t we understand?

Take everything, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Do you even remember how many times you have lied to Me? How many times have you made promises to Me only to do the opposite of what you have said? What about all the times you have told others you would pray for them and never gave your commitment in My Name another thought? When was the last time you made the reputation of Jesus more important than your own comfort? Do you see how little you have done to show Me that you have My concerns as the priority of your heart? I don’t like your hypocrisy, no matter how it’s presented; but I will forgive you if you repent! You need Me to change your heart and your actions now! Don’t tolerate that kind of behavior in your life, and don’t associate with those who do. Why would you think that I don’t see, and even more important, why would you even begin to believe that I don’t care?”

Psalm 51:10 AMP

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

Acts 5:1-5a NIV

1) Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.

2) With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

3) Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?

4) Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”

5a) When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died.

 

“Yeah, OK, but today lies are not as important to God. Nobody’s been killed like that lately. Anyway, everybody’s doing it! I know some people who say they love Jesus and can’t be trusted at all. Look around, nobody gives important stuff to God anymore. I think He just wants us to look and feel good, no matter how selfish we really are. You see, He understands that …”

I believe that some of us who call ourselves representatives of Jesus and stewards of what we have been entrusted with are going to be very surprised one day. Our hands are dirty. It’s time to change now!

 Oh, Lord, have mercy on us!

 Jim Corbett

“Do you hear the swords rattling all across the nations? Can you not see the sides being drawn? Is it not becoming increasingly clear that your safe little world is about to change forever? What are you doing about it? How are you preparing yourself, so that I can use you during desperate times? Are you locking up with Me, so that you are bold when others are immobilized with fear? Are you prepared to show people Jesus, when they finally realize that they need to turn to Him? You realize that you have been born for this season to carry out My Word, don’t you? What are you doing to prepare for your task?

 “You need to come to Me for My reasons, instead of your petty stubbed toes. You need to learn to love deeper and stronger than the hate of the world. Now is the time. Soon it will be too late. You won’t have what is needed to overcome if you don’t come to Me now. Instead of being My vessels of honor and power, walking in the fullness of My love, you will be part of the cowering masses. My, my, what you will be missing!”

Zechariah 7:13 NIV

“ ‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen.’ says the Lord Almighty.”

2 Chr. 16:9a NIV

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him...”

Matthew 5:13 AMP

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality) how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.

Acts 4:29-31 AMP

29) And now, Lord, observe their threats and grant to Your bond servants [full freedom] to declare Your message fearlessly,

30) While You stretch out Your hand to cure and to perform signs and wonders through the authority and by the power of the name of Your holy Child and Servant Jesus.

31) And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they continued to speak the Word of God with freedom and boldness and courage.

 

There are many stories and fables about preparedness. It generally ends up that the ones, who wouldn’t heed the warnings to be prepared for the predicted season of danger, are found seeking assistance from the ones who did heed the warnings as the season comes upon them. The prepared ones usually help the unprepared and some lessons are learned. Those are nice stories and worthy of attention. There is one situation, however, in which things won’t work so well for the unprepared.

When God calls His people to prepare, only those who respond to His call will prosper when whatever is ahead happens. Since God gives Himself when people come to Him, those who will not heed the call will have little of the nature of the Lord to call upon when peril hits. His nature is what is needed to overcome any situation. Because they responded to the call to intimacy, those who have His nature may desire to help; but they will not be able to give away what only God can give.

This can only end in tragedy for those who decide to respond only when peril is at the door. The nature of God is imparted over time and for reasons other than for selfish survival in panic situations. It is imparted so that His people can rise above any situation and accomplish His purposes in His way.

God has been calling His people to come to Him for some time now. There are very hard times coming in the near future. Those who are responding to His call have become aware of the dangers in our world and are receiving the nature of the Lord to understand them from His perspective. He imparts the part of Himself that sees future situations as opportunities to bring others to Jesus, rather than times to cower in fear. Others, those who are not responding to His call, are going about the business of fighting for their rights, and making unfruitful, personal petitions to pad their comfort areas. They will miss out on walking in concert with the Lord and overcoming the peril of the times ahead. What a tragedy!

I want to live in Your truth for Your reasons, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Press in. Press in to Me for whatever part of the character of Jesus that’s needed in your life. You need to respond to My call during this season. You will need the wisdom I have for you. You will need the faith that you will gain by Our fellowship. I am about to test those who say that they have little need of Me. I am about to break the pride of those who will not serve Me now but are Mine. You press in now. Gain what I have for you. Carry what I give you to those who will be reeling from My hand upon them. My hand will bring them to their knees. My heart will hold them while you show them Jesus. Press in now!”

John 20:21 NIV

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Rom. 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.

II Cor. 1:3-4 AMP

3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement),

4) Who comforts (consoles and encourages) us in every trouble (calamity and affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort (console and encourage) those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort (consolation and encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted (consoled and encouraged) by God.

II Cor. 5:20a NIV

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

 

So often we forget what our real purpose is. We become so involved with the matters of our own lives and the needs of our own hearts that we pass by so many opportunities given to us by the Lord. The world really does take care of its own in its own way. We are called to take care of our Father’s children in His way. His way is the way of Jesus. His way has eternal value, not temporal fixes.

Send me with Your heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Fear is a tactic used by the enemy to nullify your effectiveness. When you fear, you make improper decisions and rash judgments. You tend to look at your circumstances and then attempt to change them on your own. Usually that brings you to a place that is not My perfect place for you. When you are driven anywhere by fear, much time is required to bring you back to a place of real safety in Me.

 “I ask you, My children, to determine in your heart to stand in the freedom that you have found in Me. Do not be moved by those things that challenge your physical security. Be moved by the things that allow you to remain free, no matter what is transpiring around you. That is your real place of safety.”

Luke 10:19 KJV

“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

2 Cor. 10:5 AMP

[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),

Gal.5:1 NIV

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

 

During my early years with the Lord, one of the subdivisions near my home blocked off two streets during the Halloween season. About sixty houses on those two streets went all out in decorating their homes with the most macabre scenes I have ever seen. Most were animated in some way, and sometimes people would hide behind bushes and jump out when you passed by. You could only walk down the streets, which added to the fright of the night. There was an astounding darkness that encompassed the times that the displays were up, and thousands upon thousands of people came with their children.

(To combat the darkness, we set up a brightly lit, human demonstration of the recording, “The Champion,” by Carman. In the midst of all of the horror, every five minutes or so, the words “Jesus is the Champion” rang out throughout the night. Many people came to the Lord. The Halloween celebrants of the subdivision didn’t like us at all, but that’s another story)

During one of the evenings, a man - having just walked through one of the dark roads with his screaming four or five-year-old child on his shoulders - dropped the child hard to the ground and proceeded to scold him. The child was frightened beyond normal fear. He was shaking uncontrollably. Then the dad jerked the child away after repeated tongue lashings and nasty remarks, mainly focused on what a wimp he considered his son. He kept asking, “Why are you always so afraid?”

Fear is a very real weapon, which Satan will continually employ to try to nullify us. He uses it to capture his people. He also tries to inundate God’s children by using fear to get us to react to whatever is making us afraid, instead of relying on God. The most important action anyone can take when fearful is to draw close to God. He calls us to become familiar with His presence, to practice it during times of peace, so that we are comfortable being there when things get rough.

God is the source of our peace. He knows that when we are in His presence - sitting on His lap, and viewing our challenges from His lofty perspective, high above the din - we are where we have been born to be. From there He whispers His love to our heart, drowning out any clatter of fear.

Throwing down the junk and tucking in with my Father,

Jim Corbett