“Are you prepared? Are you prepared to love deeper and care more, no matter what someone does to you? Are you prepared to give everything you have if I ask you to do so? What about forgiveness? Can you forgive those who harm you and hate you? Can you stand silent as Jesus did, with no malice in your heart, even when you are wrongfully accused? Can you love your accusers?

"I am asking you to function with eternal values while you are preparing to be with Me. They are of great consequence now, because they testify of the wonder of the cross to the world. They are also of great consequence to your eternal future, for you will be judged on what you have done while you are in Jesus.”

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?

Amos 3:3 KJV

“Can two walk together except they be agreed?”

Matthew 5:11-12 NIV

11) “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

12) Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

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.”

Most of us have listened to the lie that our salvation ends with the altar call or however we came to the Lordship of Jesus. From God’s perspective, that time was only the beginning. We simply answered a wake-up call and accepted the mercy of God.

Everything after that is a working out of and growing up in the plans of God. Before we were new creatures with born again spirits, we had no clue that a life in Christ even existed. Since we have come to Him, He is able to talk to us because our inner man has become alive; and we are able to listen and respond, if we choose to do so.

Teach me to listen and respond properly, Lord,

Jim Corbett