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1/25/24 Stewards, Not Owners

If you are a believer, it’s a given that God owns everything. He’s the sole owner of every heartbeat of all who have ever had blood pumping through their veins. The cattle on every hill are marked with His brand.

Then why is it we, as humans, have the audacity to claim anything as our own? The idea of “we’ve worked for it, so it’s ours” is a detrimental attitude if we are to serve the Lord with all our might. That right to ownership in our minds hinders us from ever coming to the full realization of the sovereignty of God. It stops us from truly glorifying Him in all we do.

As husbands and fathers, you really own nothing. Your wife and children are the Lord’s. Your friends and all the things you have called your own really belong to the Lord. You have only been given a stewardship of everything in your midst. Totally embracing that concept is quite sobering to say the least.

As a steward, you will answer to the Lord for the outcome of your existence. How did you steward everything God asked you to care for? Will the results of your life as a caretaker of people and the things that are important to Him - family, friends, time, etc. – be in accord with His wishes? He gave them to you for a season. How did you handle your responsibility?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

1/24/24 A Reason to Get Up Every Morning

“Are you ready for your assignment? Are your days spent seeking My heart so that you know My will for your life? Is your most important goal in life to receive from Me the character of Jesus, so that you can represent Him properly to your world? Do you care about what I care about? Why not?”

Eph. 3:7-9 NIV

7) I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

8) Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

9) and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

In the above Bible verses, Paul sounds like a man who has happily found his reason for breathing air. I am convinced that long before he could make the statement above, he had to enter into that place of absolute surrender to the Lord and His plans. Everything of the flesh had been burned from him. He had gained the heart of God through transparently meeting with God and lived only for the purposes that the Lord had for him. He was dead to himself and alive only to Jesus.

In my travels, I meet many people. Those who are truly happy are either on a zealous quest to find God’s specific design for their lives, or they have found it and are walking towards its fulfillment through Christ’s power. If you are seeking the Lord with all your heart, if your desire is to spend time with Him for His purposes to be fulfilled in your life, if your eyes are off of yourself and your needs and searching for the heart of the Lord, you are well on your way to saying with Paul, “This is my life work, …..”

I have claimed the above verses from Paul as my own. I have them in my journal and read them when I feel that I may have lost my direction. Every time I do read them, I am flooded with the Lord’s peace because I once again remember why I have been born; and that I have found the answer to my life. It took close to twenty years to be absolutely sure; but once I was sure, there was a very clear reason for getting up each morning that no weapon formed against me could steal from me.

God has a specific plan for you. You have been created for His purposes and are very valuable to Him. That is not a heavy burden, but a privilege. Everything you are going through is heading toward His fulfillment in you, if you are seeking His heart. He is forming you to be able to live the life of Jesus accurately in your world.

Thank You for a purpose for living, Lord,

Jim Corbett

1/24/24 Concealed Carry

There is a license called a concealed carry license. It means you have the freedom to carry a weapon to protect yourself. To obtain that license, you need to attend school to learn about weapons and your responsibilities when you carry one.

As a member of the body of Christ and as a husband and father, you have been given spiritual weapons to overcome every enemy that would attempt to harm you or your family. They are weapons that allow you to war on behalf of those you steward to win seen or unseen battles that confront them. You, in essence, have a concealed carry license from God!

How are you using your spiritual weapons? Are they concealed to the point that the enemy has free reign to overcome your wife or children? Does anyone around you know you possess these weapons, because they know you and your family understand your place in God, and they witness the freedom you and your family function in?

In a world that desires to destroy any trace of Christ-like character in you and your family, you’re not helpless. You have license to destroy the enemy’s challenges and tactics. You have a concealed carry license of unbeatable spiritual weapons. Don’t flash them to show your bravado, but use them to help win the battle for the Lord!

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

1/23/24 On to the High Calling

“Would you give up hearing the words, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’ for relief from whatever you’re going through right now? Is the removal of some of the pressure that is now part of your life worth the price of not blessing Jesus? Will you trade all the work that is intended to be done in you just to have some ease and comfort? I know it isn’t so! So many have given up when the times got too tough. So many took the easy road of moving in their own strength when it looked as if they had to find a way to survive.

"I know that you can see past that immature behavior. I know that you will press on to the high calling that is intended for you. Please don’t cave in under the light pressure to which you are now called. Place your eyes on Jesus. He is your strength. He is your wisdom. He is your guide to the crucified/resurrected life. He did not fail when the cost was everything. His power is now available to you so that you will make it. Press in to Him. He will never fail you.”

Genesis 25:29-33 NIV

29) Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.

30) He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!”…

31) Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

32) “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

33) But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

Philippians 3:12-14 NIV

12) Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

13) Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

14) I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

As trailblazers to the high calling that is once again being heralded by our Father, the only precedent that is available to us is the Word and the lives of those who have gone before us, especially Jesus Christ. Whenever the Lord begins to straighten the path that His church is on, those who respond to the call back to the pursuit of holiness and the high calling of Jesus Christ are considered to be running contrary to the established norm by those traveling the well-worn road. Looking to those who will not deviate from the norm of self-comforting, socially acceptable, practical Christianity will accomplish nothing but confusion and heartache.

Most of you know that the Lord is raising up a standard against the flood of complacency in His church. The standard is Jesus Himself. Looking to Him is the only pattern to follow. Observing the lives of those who walked with Him and understanding that they had the same dilemma in the world in which they lived, can give comfort when times get especially rough. The price paid to overcome the ways of their world - using God’s ways and not their own - was everything they had and all that they owned.

God is not able to fully use those who fold under pressure from the people around them who will not move where He wants them to go. He is calling out those who know His heart, and are determined to follow it, no matter what the cost.

Needing Your strength to make it, Lord,

Jim Corbett

1/23/24 Accept Your Offices

Whenever a new president sets up his cabinet and group of advisors, there are two elements of every appointment. There is a request for service, and then an acceptance of that office by the nominee. One cannot function properly without the other.

If the nominee declines the appointment, he or she would obviously not serve in that capacity. Should the nominee inwardly accept the appointment half-heartedly or with no intent of fulfilling that office to the full extent, however, he or she would do a great disservice to many, and would more than likely eventually fail to carry out the duties of that office.

It’s the same with you as a husband and father. You have been given two offices that are very important to God. Have you ever stopped to consider the responsibility that goes with them? Have you ever really accepted those offices and determined to function in them with everything you are and all that you have for His glory? If you haven’t, you will eventually fail in some way. Your marriage will be average at best, and your children will grow up without a vibrant commitment to God.

Today’s the day to fully accept your offices. Today’s the day to commit your way to God. Determine in your heart that you will only do what is right for your family by nurturing them in God’s ways for His glory. Make today the day you truly accept your position of servant and guide to them, leading them to the deep things of God. You have been called by God to serve. Do you really accept that calling?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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