Category: From Our Fathers Heart

“Throughout My Word, I require that you trust Me. You must trust Me to be the God that I say I am. Trust Me when I say that Jesus is Lord and that He has done and is doing what My Word proclaims aloud. You must believe in My covenant and all of its provisions, and trust that what has been provided for you after you close your eyes for the last time will come to pass. I require you to trust Me with your every moment of life; that I will direct your steps and that you will prosper if you do so.

“Because I require you to have an unlimited amount of trust in Me, I place Myself in a position of being trustworthy. If that were not so, then all that I have said and all that has been done would be a lie. You can be confident of My promises because I am in covenant with you. You can be assured of My ability to direct your steps and fulfill My promises for your life. You can rest in the fact that I am your God, worthy to be honored. You may walk in some dark places surrounded by thorns but rest assured that I am with you. I will never leave your side, nor will I ever forsake you. I promise. You can trust Me.”

Eze 2:6-8 NIV

6) “And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house.

7) You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.

8) But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

Ac 20:22-24 NIV

22) “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.

23) I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.

24) However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me. – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace...”

Ac 21:11-13 NIV

11) Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

12) When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

13) Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

 

If we look at this relationship with God through Jesus as a means for us to become “healthy, wealthy and wise” in this life, we will be sorely disappointed and deeply discouraged. We will make ourselves vulnerable to any attack of our enemies, and eventually distrust God completely. Should we expect and demand only a bed of roses, our life with the Lord will be one miserable experience. Few, if any, will see reason through us to embrace Jesus as Lord.

Whatever difficulties we may encounter have little or nothing to do with the trustworthiness of God. He never said that our life would be easy. In fact, He has often said that to follow Jesus would involve hardships, trials, and even death.

The Word says that if we say that we abide in Him, Jesus, we should walk and conduct ourselves in the same manner in which He walked and conducted Himself. He walked and conducted Himself in a world that mostly hated everything He said and did. The visible outcome of His actions was a miserable death on a slivered cross.

Paul - one of God’s most used messengers - was imprisoned, beaten often, and lived a good part of his life in squalor. In his eyes, however, none of that mattered. His God was not only worthy of trust, He was worthy of all praise and worship because of the honor of serving in that capacity.

We need to grow up and shake off all of the old teachings that proclaim that we call the shots with God, that He owes us wealth and success in some way. That kind of teaching is man-made foolishness and directly opposed to the Word of God, no matter how many times the Word of God is manipulated to try to prove that premise.

We have been bought with a price and have entered into God’s plan for the redemption of anyone who will hear. We are to carry God’s message of reconciliation to a dark and dying world that hates us and our message. It is a war won every day in the heavenlies and played out in each of our lives.  We are God’s vessels, designed to implement His will, no matter what the cost might be to us.

His promises to us are that He will be with us every step of the way, guiding us and protecting us from faltering; and above all else, loving us. He can be trusted every moment of every day to do that. Praise Him for the privilege of serving a trustworthy Lord.

Turning my heart toward home,

Jim Corbett

“Many people are waiting for you to become all that you can be in Christ Jesus. To some, you are the only Jesus they will ever see. To others, you will be just one more weak, religious hypocrite who cares little about them or others. Whether you want it or not, your life is placed in full view of everyone in your whole world as soon as you take on the Name of My Son, Jesus. You stand out because you are different. I have designed it that way.

“Understand this! Whether they know it or not, every heart that exists has a need for Jesus. It is a part of the life process that I have created. Embracing Him is the only answer to life, the very reason for living. Every man, woman, and child is in search of this answer. Whether you like it or not, you are representing the life of Jesus before them. When you consume His life on yourself, they see it and turn away. When you spend His life for others, they see it and desire more. When His life in you is selflessly devoted to My will, they see it and embrace Him.”

Isa. 30:21 NIV

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Hos.  4:6  AMP 

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge…

Matt. 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.

John 4:34 NIV

”My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

Eph. 3:16 AMP

May He grant you out of the rich treasure of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].

 

Have you noticed that as soon as you acknowledge in some way that you are a Christian, people look at you in a different way? Have you ever wondered why? I have a theory! I believe that all people are looking for the answer to life. I know that Jesus is that answer. Deep down in the inner being of each and every person, I believe that they know it and hunger for it.

When you and I somehow make it known that we represent Jesus, the inner being of those around you is immediately at attention. The inner being that is in search of life becomes alert to everything you and I do and say with spiritual vigor, because we have said that we represent the truth for which it is seeking. How well we represent that truth from that moment on determines how free the Holy Spirit is to move that person closer to embracing that truth. I believe that the clarity with which we represent Jesus to every person in our little world is very important to them and to Father God. Just a theory!

Needing to understand the importance of my actions everywhere I go,

Jim Corbett

“Times are changing. What happened in the heavenlies times ago is oozing upon the earth with increasing speed. Evil is gathering momentum while good desires to remain comfortable. When you wake up, it will be too late to present Jesus to those who hate you. You will have missed the time of training unless you choose to invest in My heart now. The world and My unprepared church will respond to evil with carnal weapons because they choose to live with a carnal heart.

 “I am after your heart so that We can walk together spiritually against the warfare at hand. Learn of My spiritual weapons. Learn to love those who hate you. Learn to use My mighty power against those who cannot fight My kind of warfare. It’s time to use wisdom before it’s too late and you have no power to overcome. Turn your priorities around. Become a study of My ways.”

Ps. 56:1-4 AMP

1) Be merciful and gracious to me, O God, for man would trample me or devour me; all the day long the adversary oppresses me.

2) They that lie in wait for me would swallow me up or trample me all day long, for they are many who fight against me, O Most High!

3) What time I am afraid, I will have confidence in and put my trust and reliance in You.

4) By [the help of] God I will praise His word; on God I lean, rely, and confidently put my trust; I will not fear. What can man, who is flesh, do to me?

Isa. 59:19b AMP

…When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight…

Jer. 15:19-20 AMP

19) 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. [But do not yield to them.] Let them return to you – not you to [the people].

20) And I will make you to this people a fortified, bronze wall; they will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save and deliver you, says the Lord.

Phil. 3:10 AMP

…and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness…

 

We don’t like to hear it; but it is, nonetheless, true.  To become like Christ, it will cost you everything that you desire in the flesh. To finally renounce everything that hinders you from becoming like Him, you will experience the death of those things one-by-one. The trials that come allow us to choose the sufferings of Christ in order to deny those hindrances any place in our lives.

Let’s talk about two kinds of suffering - suffering for Christ and suffering with Christ. To care only about what Jesus cares about means you willingly die to what you value. (Did you really hear that with your heart?) God’s trials and purging in our lives bring about this heart in us. It’s His heart with all of its characteristics, passions, and zeal.  It is the only way to be transformed into His likeness.

Paul knew it and accepted it fully. It then became a lifelong joy.  He joined God in killing his “flesh” man to become like Jesus. His joining with God against everything that denied Christ in his life, instead of fighting God over those issues (sin,) allowed the Lord to flow unhindered through him.

Because Paul did not cling to fleshly desires, he could take on the desires of his Lord. He felt the pain of those who would be separated from his Father for eternity. He understood the desperate needs of those around him. He had compassion on those who were in desperate need. After putting aside his flesh through the power of the Holy Spirit, he could take on the heart of Jesus that his heavenly Father willingly offered while they were in communion.

Teach me Your ways, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“When will you come to the end of yourself, so that Jesus can be Lord of your life? What areas are still under your control? When We talk on that final day, how important will it have been to have controlled what was not given over to Him?

 “You need to submit fully to His Lordship. Get your hands off of what owns you. Your submission will bring the freedom for which you have been looking. More importantly, you will then be walking in the obedience that I require.”

Matthew 6:19-21 NIV

19) “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

20) But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

So many of us really need to reexamine what God means by Lordship. Our social freedoms have trained us to strive to have our own way to the point that we often apply them to our relationship with Jesus. That is a big mistake. I wonder how much we really are doing in our own wisdom, strength, and abilities and calling them “God” things. How much of our lives are really under the Lordship of Jesus?

Help me submit fully, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Redeem the time that I give you. You have no idea how long this present season may last. If you are in a refiner’s fire, press in to what I am doing, so that I may receive a completed work from you. If you are in a waiting period, wait with Me. Rest with Me. I cherish Our time together. If it is a time of expanding your tent pegs, be diligent and cautious to hear My words and My direction. If your waiting season is over and I am asking you to move in faith with Me, trust Me to be with you each step of the way.

“Every moment you are allotted is a precious moment to Me. Each one is valuable because every one of them is designed to form you into who I am making you. You are My personal project! I am not only accomplishing much through you, I am accomplishing much more in you.

“Make every moment I give you count. Waste none of them. They may seem as if they pass quickly and are gone, but each is important to your eternity.”

Psalm 106:12-15 AMP

12) Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise.

13) But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them,

14) But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert.

15) And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death.

 

Living moment by moment with God is one of the highest honors any one of us has been given. Most of us, however, are so busy anticipating the next moment that we don’t enjoy the one we are in. God has designed every moment of our lives for our benefit. Every one of them adds to who we are becoming, so each and every one of them has an eternal impact.

When was the last time you really rested in the present moment with God? When was the last time you savored the situation you were in, even a challenging one, knowing that God was using it to build you into being more like Jesus? When was the last time you were satisfied to wait until the Lord moved on your behalf, instead of trying to push against the goad of your situation in an attempt to make things happen? Maybe it’s time to repent of all the moments you’ve wasted. Maybe it’s time to begin to learn how to cherish your present and future moments with God.

Teach me to see what is important to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett