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10/05/23 More Than Your Own Skills

To be able to fulfill your offices of husband and father with power and skill, you’re going to need much more than you can do in your own strength. You’re going to need the power of the Holy Spirit continually working in and for you.

The enemy of your family is hard at work attempting to nullify your marriage and destroy the legacy that God intends for your children. If you think that you’re going to be able to fend off the onslaught that is programmed against you, you’re badly mistaken. If you think that there is no war, you are already beaten and just don’t know it.

Visible evidence of his aggression against your family - such as constant strife between you and your wife, children who don’t want to discuss the things of God with you or have little interest in Jesus and the cross - means you have a spiritual battle on your hands. Head knowledge won’t do the trick, so your preaching at them will fall on deaf ears. Your youth pastor is not going to be able to help continually. Your pastor is not the one.

The power to bring vibrancy to your marriage or to win your children back to God lies with you seeking the Lord on their behalf. It’s in your spiritual job description. They are incapable of winning the fight themselves. They need you as a daddy, fighting for their best interest on your knees. It’s time to bend down and hit the carpet, friend. It’s time to call for help from the winner of all battles. His name is Jesus and He’s waiting for you! It’s you He’s chosen for their sake.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

10/04/23 What God Has Provided

“I would like for you to remember something incredible. It was My idea to bring you to Me in the first place. It’s true. I was the One who initially decided that you would spend eternity with Me. Through Jesus, I determined that any separation that was between you and Me would cease to exist. Now you have full access to My heart. Some of you are misusing that privilege by consuming what I have done on yourself. Some of you have not really taken the time to fully understand what I have provided for you. You are so busy with your life that your future with Me is not worth your time to investigate.

"Then there is you, My true church. Wow! I love your seeking heart. I am honored at how valuable My Word is to you. It pleases Me to see you setting aside any time required to hear My heart and flow in My love toward others. I love Our quiet times together. I love the times that We sing together. I truly enjoy your company and am becoming impatient to show you the fullness of what I have provided for you. There is so much that I have to share with you. In the meantime, thank you for appreciating My Son, Jesus. Thank you for upholding and honoring His Name before your generation. Thank you for not denying Me when challenges come your way.

"Work hard for those whom I need to come with you when I call you home. Look to that time with steadfast zeal but be sensitive to the times. Don’t become so busy in your mission for Me that you change your focus from one of abiding and waiting, to one of busyness - even doing My work. Keep yourself attentive to what I am saying. While others are consumed with whatever is their heart focus, I want you to hear Me when I call.”

Zephaniah 3:17 AMP

The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]! He will rejoice over you with joy: He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing.

While I was writing this, I felt the most intimate moment. It was as if the Lord was observing all of us who call ourselves Christians. It was as if He was observing the different camps to which we belong.

There were camps for: those who consume - they were lounging around; those who strive - they were so busy that they had little time to receive anything He might pass their way; those who fear - they were walking around with their noses in books, looking for promises; those who were oblivious - they kept wandering around looking for food; and those who were so busy that they were unaware of Him altogether. Although His love was flowing toward all of the people in these camps, in my heart it seemed He was observing with a special interest a small camp of people who were - in the midst of their toil - intermittently looking up at Him and smiling.

They were going about their business of methodically cleaning their houses and planting seeds in their fertile gardens with great zeal, astounding peace, and continuous joy; but they periodically just looked up and listened attentively. Some stopped for long periods of time, just to enjoy what the Lord was saying. He in turn, joyfully gave great attention to them, sometimes even touching their upraised hands - like the hands of a small child who wanted to “go uppey” – reaching down to respond to their loving gesture toward Him.

He seemed overjoyed with this last group. He responded to all the needs of the others - monitoring, directing, and implementing much – and addressed their needs in a very loving way; but it seemed that all the time He was doing this, a portion of His attention remained sensitive to those in the group who raised their hands to Him.

Desiring to want only to “go uppey,”

Jim Corbett

10/04/23 How Far Would You Go?

I once saw a movie where a father’s daughter was kidnapped. Instead of following the rules set by the kidnappers, he used his very capable skills to find her, rescue her, and destroy the kidnappers. The movie was a story of his relentless pursuit of someone he loved even more than his own life.

As I look around at the families in the church today, I am amazed at how many are so fractured that they don’t resemble the family that God has in mind. After getting past all the rhetoric about how powerful and influential society and its dictates are, the bottom line is that the rescue of a man’s family is normally not a priority on his list.

I believe that most men have been sold a bill of goods, told that they are too weak or incapable of doing something about whatever worms have crept in to destroy their family. I am convinced that they have been lied to by the enemy, who is out to not only destroy the family, but bent on minimizing the limitless power of the office that the father has to reclaim and help restore the children God has given him.

The guidelines for God’s family are pretty clear. The husband is a spiritual covering, continually seeking the Lord on behalf of those he stewards. The wife is an equal in supporting and undergirding his mission of providing a safe spiritual place for their children to prosper in Christ. They are to nurture their children in the deep things of God, so that they become honorable legacies who are capable of passing on spiritual wealth to their own offspring.

If anything disrupts the flow of God’s love and power in that family, everything else is to take second place until Christ-like harmony is restored. Nothing or no one should get in the way of the war that the father and mother engage in to rescue any one of their children in harm’s way. They are to be relentless in seeking the Lord for wisdom and guidance, and then for doing whatever is necessary to bring His real life back to the ones they love. They are to persevere until the job is completed and the enemy is destroyed. Do you agree? If not, why not?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

PS A good example of this kind of warfare is in the first chapter of our book, The Father Factor.

10/03/23 Every Moment

“When was the last time that you did something simply to bless someone? When did you give someone a gift that was wildly beyond the norm, and did it anonymously? When have you covenanted to pray with another until their need was met, and really did it faithfully? Let’s go deeper. How about blessing someone who has harmed you in the past, really blessing them? Or forgiving so completely that you have their best interests at heart every time you think of them. Do you know that the kind of life mentioned above should be the way you function every moment? It is the way that Jesus thought and acted. It is the way you should, too, if you say that you follow Him.”

Romans 12:9-21 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.

11) Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

12) Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

13) Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14) Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

15) Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

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.

17) Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.

18) If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

19) Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

20) On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21) Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1 John 2:6 AMP

Whoever says he abides in Him ought [as a personal debt] to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself.

The world understands hatred, hitting back, and demanding payment for wrong that has been done to them. Just look in the Yellow Pages under “lawyers.” What the world is desperately trying to understand is the kind of love that Jesus showed when He walked on this earth. His love made the hardened soldier, who had seen daily crucifixions, say of Jesus, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

I believe that centurion had observed Jesus before and was saying, “He must be who He has been saying He was. He lived and died what He preached.”

Our heritage is to live an honorable life with higher standards than even the most honorable person in the world. Jesus did; so must we.

Show me how, Lord,

Jim Corbett

10/03/23 Motivated by Love

Everything that God does for mankind is motivated by love. His creation process brought companionship. His patience with fallen man, the redemption process, and His plans for our future have an astounding, unbelievable love as their foundation.

As a father, everything we do is to be done because of the love we have for Jesus and the privilege of overseeing those He loves. Above everything else, we are to love others as He first loved us. The idea that our stewardship is an obligation or something to dread is foolish worldly thinking. We have the privilege of loving.

The next time the cares of the world seem a little overwhelming, it might be good to go back to the understanding that your Father in heaven is hovering over you with His boundless love. He is pleased as He sees your submission to His plans.

Think of how you feel as a father when you see your son or daughter do well in any given situation, then multiply that feeling to an unlimited degree. That’s how your Father sees you as you go about your days. Bask in that thought and then pass it on to those who need it.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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