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5/02/24 Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

“Don’t override My plans with your unbelief. Please don’t hinder My work in you because you cannot fathom that I would have focused attentions toward you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. I made you with My own hands for Myself. You fit into everything that I have for you. More than that, you fit perfectly into My arms. You have a soft place in My heart. I have designed you to rest there. I love you!”

Genesis 1:26a NIV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness”…

Gen. 1:27 AMP

So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Gen. 1:31a AMP

And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good (suitable, pleasant) and He approved it completely….

To hear that God was pleased with what He had created takes on much more meaning when we think about how hard He has pursued mankind over the years to maintain fellowship with Him. All of the Old Testament rings of passionate favor. It is the testimony of a God Who is deeply in love and patiently enduring the ignorance and rebellion of some, so that He could embrace those who chose to embrace Him.

The incredible covenant, implemented at the cost of Jesus, should confirm His love for us once and for all. He could’ve left us in our separated, fallen state. Instead, as an ultimate act of love, He gave His all. He made us to fit into His existence. He formed us to be part of His plans. He made a way and wooed us to choose His presence over whatever else would garner our attentions. He is truly our God; but more importantly, we are His loved creation. His heart has a place for us.

Choosing to go where I belong and fit perfectly,

Jim Corbett

5/02/24 Serving Others with Brothers We Trust

One of the most outstanding aspects of David’s life is the caliber of men God gave him. Knowing the battles he was about to encounter, God gave David mighty men of valor, well-trained in their respective roles and trustworthy unto death. As you read the accounts of their feats, there is no question about their prowess. As David’s life unfolds, what also becomes strikingly clear is that these mighty men were devoted to him and he was devoted to them. Combined with the presence of the Lord that was upon them, this arrangement was unbeatable. It was a three-way covenant relationship.

Today, that kind of brotherhood seems non-existent, except in motorcycle or street gangs. It is glaringly absent in the church. In a time when having your back covered could make the difference between the life or death of you and your family, I challenge any of you to find that kind of camaraderie - someone you know who’s there for you, even unto death. If you can find him, (other than Jesus Himself, of course,) you are truly blessed.

In the Word, Jesus uses the term “brother” or “brethren” as a premier example of a close bond. These terms were used at a time when family and covenant bond really meant something, unlike today’s fractured world. I am convinced that God is raising up holy alliances of men, joined in the brotherhood of Christ and designed to accomplish mighty feats for the Lord just as in David’s time. These men - washed in the blood of Jesus, refined by the fires of adversity, broken under the weight of extreme challenges, and rebuilt by the Holy Spirit until they are trustworthy before God and trustworthy toward others - are on the threshold of joining with one another to accomplish God-given tasks.

Together they will tear down spiritual strongholds and overcome insurmountable challenges through the power of the Holy Spirit. Available only to God and committed to one another, they will walk together above the spirit of the world as an unbeatable force of holy, mighty men on a mission for our Lord.

Are you submitting to God’s training to be a brother of consequence? If you are not, you will be set on the sidelines as others participate in some of the most exciting adventures the Lord has ever had available in the darkest of times, times when He needs those He can trust.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

5/01/24 The Key

“Come close! Listen very carefully! The key to everything you need is Jesus! He is the answer to your every question, the hope of your every desire. Study His life. Examine His ways. Emulate His heart motives, see as He sees, love as He loves; and you shall prosper. Become as devoted to being in My will as He is and your days will glow with the kind of life of which the world has no knowledge.

"You have been bought with a price that He gladly paid. He lives in you. Allow His life to flow through you for your good, for My purposes, and for the sake of others.”

Matthew 16:24-25 AMP

24) Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].

25) For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].

Matthew 21:28-31 NIV

28) “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

29) “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30) “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ’I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

31) “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

To live out Christ’s life in the world around us with the same passion and heart commitment that Jesus lived when He walked among His creation is:

the only fitting response to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
the proper and honorable representation of Jesus to a world that is dying and out of answers.
the highest form of praise that can be given to the Lord as you emulate Him.
the proper response to the call of the Holy Spirit to prepare your heart as a waiting bride for the return of Jesus.
the only way to overcome the perilous times and seasons in which we are living, so that you can fulfill your purpose in life.

Give me Your heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

5/01/24 This Life

What if this life is about nothing more than to prepare those who are going to spend eternity with God and those who aren't? What if God had no other plan but whatever is needed for the eternities, and was simply using this time we call our lives as a qualification process for what we are going to do then? What if mankind added all of the other stuff and made it important when God never intended for us to focus one moment on the things we hold dear?

Let's say that God placed mankind on this planet to first of all, know Him, and then to divide those who decide to serve Him from those who choose not to. Let's say that's all there is to it, nothing more. If that were the case, then everything else – everything - is made important by the will of man, not by God.

Entertainment would not have taken the place of complete happiness in the presence of God. Striving to work to provide for our needs would not be necessary because God, in His rightful place, would be our all provider. There would be no fears even from those who choose not to serve Him, because our reliance would be on His protection. Even if we were harmed, He would be our healer, or we would die and simply be with Him - our life's goal. His plan for us would be complete and our trust in that plan would bring total joy to those around us as we represent Jesus.

Fathers and husbands, how are you preparing those who are watching your life so that they know how to function? Whose plan for real life are you representing? What are you doing to be able to bring clear direction for your family? If you are a blind guide, an ability to see clearly is found in Jesus and His ways. He is waiting for you to come to Him for new life to give to others. Are your eyes and heart open?

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett

4/30/24 There’s a Difference

“Why do you return to the refuse of your past life? Why do you dwell among the ruins, when I have called you to soar in the high places with Me? You have been recreated because of your commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over your life. You are now His. Everything about you has been conformed to dwell with Him. Nothing from your old nature is allowed where He is. It is time for you to realize who you really are in Christ, not so that you become proud as some do; but because others need to know the wonders of the cross. How can you tell them if you have a limited understanding yourself? Come to Me now. I will show you who you have become because of Jesus.”

Ezekiel 36:26-27 AMP

26) A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

27) And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them.

I Cor. 15:50 NIV

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

II Corinthians 5:17 NIV

...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Ephesians 1:17-19a NIV

17) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better.

18) I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

19a) and his incomparably great power for us who believe…

Satan has deceived the world and most of the church of Jesus Christ into participating in a competition of religions, mainly by introducing the concept that all religions are the same and lead to the same conclusion. That is his playing field to try to nullify the power of the cross.

God destroyed all argument and created His own playing field when Jesus overcame death. No religion brings the dead to life. No religion changes the complete nature of its followers. They may take on a spirit, but that is simply an attachment to their old nature. Only Jesus changes everything in people when they surrender to Him. He removed all arguments, defeated all contentions, and set us - His very own - far apart from all others.

If you are truly the Lord’s property, you are not the same as those who are not His. That must not be a source of pride, but it is a fact. It’s time that we walked in the truth we’ve been given and glorify the One who has changed us. He is Jesus. There is no other like Him, for He is the Lord of everything in heaven and on earth. We are now formed to be able to abide in Him and present the same opportunity to others.

Thank You for making me new, Lord,

Jim Corbett

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