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11/01/24 Nothing of Ourselves

If you are like most of us guys, plans, ideas, challenges, and a myriad of other mind games consume our time and cause us to seek outcomes that seem logical to us. We think our way into scenarios, feeling that it’s part of our function as husbands and fathers. Although planning for the future is good and necessary, plans that originate with “logical us” instead of God easily crop up, and a life ordained by us doesn’t glorify Him.

Although our Father in heaven wants us to steward our time wisely and make our days count, He is training us to leave every moment we live in His hands.  For most of us, that’s a hard thing to do even though we know that it’s right and it’s what Jesus did. He fully submitted to His Father’s will, doing nothing of Himself.

There’s probably not much you and I can do about how we’ve taken charge of our lives in the past. There is, however, an awful lot we can do from this time forward. Wisdom would say that it’s time for each of us to fully surrender to the Lord in every area of our lives. The example of Jesus fully surrendering His every thought, action, desire, and outcome to His Father is a pattern that pleases the heart of God. It’s also a formula for success as He sees it.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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10/31/24 His Love Never Changes

“My heart is really with those of you who are selling out to Me. Thank you. I have great love for all of My children. What you do or don’t do does not determine how much I love you. My love never changes. Your desire to press in and know Me does, however, allow Me to reveal more of Myself to you. I can show My plans to you. I can share My heart. We can work on yours together. Thank you for hearing My call to holiness. Thank you for pressing in and desiring intimacy. I am delighted when My children understand My ways and walk in obedience to them. My ways always lead to intimacy.”

Matthew 19:14 NIV

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Mark 6:30-32 NIV

30) The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.

31) Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

32) So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

John 5:19-20 NIV

19)  Jesus gave them this answer: “‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

20) For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.”

 

Jesus was always showing us His relationship with His Father, so that we would emulate Him when He restored our relationship with Father God. So many of us miss one of the most important results of the death and resurrection of Jesus—our acceptance into the presence of God. No small thing!

Immature believers go to God for things. Mature believers go for more of God and His ways. The mature heart longs to please God and is a wonder to behold. This is the passionate heart of Jesus. It is also the bridal heart, prepared and waiting for Christ, the one that will overcome and even prosper during the perilous times ahead. As Jesus is one with the Father, the mature or bridal heart beats in unison with Them both.

This heart sees only the Father’s will as important, only the Father’s plans as worth addressing throughout life. The world, the cold church, and all else in the physical realm hold no audience with this heart. There is no purpose but God’s purpose, no plan but God’s plan, no future but God’s future. This heart is untouchable in its alliance with God. It is in total freedom in its chosen “slavery” to only the Father’s will.

Develop a mature heart in me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

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10/31/24 The Husband Bride

When I first came to the Lord, I couldn’t comprehend how a man could also be part of the bride of Christ. “Macho Me” had great difficulty surrendering my masculinity to some bridal story in which I was to play a part.

Over the years, I have learned of the wonder and privilege I have as a member of God’s family, and how I was to prepare for my role as a man, a husband, a father, and a waiting bride. I learned that the epitome of being a man is to prepare myself for Jesus as a waiting bride would prepare for her wedding day. I’m to be sincere about my intentions, focused on my preparations, and meticulous about my appearance before Him. I am to prepare to honor Him and join myself with Him, having gained His kind of heart through my preparation - all for His joy and glory. I want to do that!

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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10/30/24 Becoming Complete

“Do you know that I love watching your lives unfold? You are the stars in the eternal drama that is history in the making. As a true Father, there are many demonstrations of My love that bring you into the fullness of My salvation process. I must respond to your needs and your actions to make sure that you become complete. Any real father has to encourage, goad, chastise, and guide.

“Most of all, however, I love to love you. I love to watch you respond to My calling. I truly enjoy seeing you grow strong in understanding. I love to observe you when you flow in My Word. Most of all, it thrills Me when I see you flowing in My love, not only My love toward you, but My love in you toward others. When you function in both of those realms, you are living the kind of life for which I have formed you. You are complete.

“I know that presently you can only dwell in love, complete love, for very short periods at a time. Sometimes you have little understanding of My love toward you, especially when times are difficult. Other times you find it difficult to love others. To do so you must take your eyes off of what is best for you and live what is best for them, like Jesus did. I also know, however, that as you draw near to Me, you will be able to love deeper more often. Eventually, you will realize that honest loving is why you have been born of the Spirit, and that love is your strongest weapon and your truest joy.

“Learn to flow in love. Do not function in the fickle, self-serving love of your former nature, but the kind of love inspired in the heavenlies, the kind that I have instituted to last for eternity. My love overcomes, creates, heals, and transcends every negative element in life, now and forever. My love is for you to receive and then give away. Flow in it.”

Romans 12:9-10, 16 NIV

9) Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

10) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

16) Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

1 Cor. 13:12b-13 NIV

12b) Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13) And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Eph. 5:1-2 NIV

1) Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children

2) and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Eph. 5:10 AMP

And try to learn [in your experience] what is pleasing to the Lord [let your lives be constant proofs of what is most acceptable to Him].

Rev. 3:19 AMP

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

 

Our limited understanding denies the power of real love. Because we can only comprehend the kind of love that exists on earth—an emotional, evasive, sometimes fleeting kind of love—we have difficulty seeing the wealth of loving God’s way, wealth that is to us and for us.

Do a study of God’s kind of love. You will see that the word itself will take on new meaning. (That was a dual reference. I mean the word “love” and the Word, meaning the Bible.)

Out of a heart of love, God spoke this world into being, created mankind, installed the redemption process, remains patient until all things are fulfilled, and promises eternal freedom. Those are not small items that can be accomplished by flighty, emotional feelings. Our kind of love is so limited in scope that we don’t associate it with such power in action. Love, however, is the foundation for all that is done in God’s economy. Maybe it’s time to learn what it’s all about, and then make functioning in it our priority.

Wanting to understand God’s kind of love,

Jim Corbett

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10/30/24 Player or Prayer?

Are you primarily a player or a prayer in your relationship with your wife and children? A player adheres to the world’s direction for solving his family situations. He acts out the role of husband and father in a way he’s been taught by society. What is society’s definition of being a man? What does society see as the role of father? Where does society say we, as husbands and fathers, should go when problems and challenges arise?

A prayer, on the other hand, is deeply rooted in Christ. He understands society has no answers for him and his calling. His role as a husband or father is ordained and defined by God. His approach to every situation is modeled after the heart of Jesus. When challenges occur in any family situation, the prayer does just that; he prays. He is firmly convinced that every challenge has a Christ-like solution that’s found in the Word of God.

In this very challenging world, our Father is looking for men who are prayers, not players. He’s raising up mighty men who win every battle on their knees. He’s calling forth strong, loving, formidable men to win the war the world has waged against their marriages and families. He’s calling forth families to rise above the stranglehold the world has had over them for too long. He’s calling His men to implement the instructions He gives them during their time in His throne room.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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