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9/09/23 Founded in God’s Word

“Are you so foolish that you believe you will not be deceived when the world turns around? You are badly mistaken. Some of you already follow doctrines that are marginal at best and sometimes have little resemblance to My Word. You swallow the doctrines of manipulative preachers who have set out to thrill you with their spirituality, rather than preach the truth of Christ and Him crucified. You don’t even care that I am offended. You are not founded in My Word enough to confront them about their folly. I need you to stop following every wind of doctrine that sounds powerful or creative.

"If every aspect of what is being said does not line up with what I have already said in My Word, I am not in it. Don’t go near it! You should be outraged that I am being associated with winds of foolishness, instead of tolerating them in your midst. I don’t like that! You need to come back to the basics with Me. You need to remember what is absolute truth. Learn from My Word and My lap. Refocus your beliefs on Jesus and what He has done. Repent of your sins. Go back to honoring Me and My Word. Hold it in high esteem. Guard your heart and guard against the misuse of My Word. I am about to expose those who don’t with zeal.”

Galatians 1:6-8 NIV

6) I am astounded that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -

7) which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

8) But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!

In the above verses, Paul was talking about the Law and a system of works. I want you to notice, however, the intensity with which he is portraying the heart of Father God. The Lord is saying through him that if any man, even an angel, distorts the Gospel, let him be eternally condemned. That is a pretty clear call.

Today, we lift up and even herald so many foolish ideas, movements, and doctrines simply because they are preached with gusto or make us feel good. We buy into anything that has the Name of Jesus attached to it, never even attempting to find out if God is really at the heart of it. We have whole church movements based on weak premises, single portions of the gospel, personal charisma, large reputations, and promises of something that allows us to remain in our sin and still look as if we are close to God. We don’t even question some incredibly ridiculous activities because they appear to have power that is claimed to be from the throne room, even though they are identical to the same kind of manifestations that come from hell.

God is calling for a holy, discerning people who have spent enough time in the Word and with the Lord to know the truth. He is calling for us to fall deeply in love with Jesus and be willing to run from anything that does not glorify Him.

Foolish is still foolish, no matter how it is presented. Truth is still absolute truth. God determines the difference. He has made it abundantly clear how He feels about both and about those who preach or, for that matter, embrace a gospel other than His. It would behoove us to learn His kind of truth and discard anything else - no matter who it comes from or how godly it sounds.

Teach me Your ways, Lord,

Jim Corbett

9/09/23 Train Up a Child

The Bible states that we should train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. How that works day to day has a rhythm of spiritual wonder and potential. We are to make our lives a study of our children, observing those things they are interested in and have a bent for. After observing those traits, we are to build a pattern for their lives, directing them into those gifts and re-enforcing their interest in them.

When our daughter Jubilee was young, there were many things she had an innate ability to do with ease, and also those things that only came to pass through intense struggle on her part. The final outcome of the two processes were a night and day difference. It became increasingly obvious that emphasizing and endorsing her natural abilities was a success pattern for her life.

With that in mind, we set a course of continually studying her, tailoring her schooling, recreational activities, social interaction, and personal tastes to develop her God-given abilities. The results have been quite wonderful. There is a quiet peace in her direction for life. (There are also life skills she acquired that came from having to meet the challenges associated with those things she achieved through great struggle.) It’s almost as if the Lord gave her new abilities because she had such freedom to flow in her natural tendencies.

Men, begin to make it your life’s work to study your children. Participate with your wife in planning their lives around their natural abilities. Watch them meet the challenges with an anointing that is God-given as they prosper in Him. You will be amazed at the freedom they have to succeed. Sounds worth pursuing, doesn’t it?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

9/08/23 They Don’t Understand

“Even though you may not see it now, there is real value in what I am teaching you through your present trials. You are gaining spiritual wealth and insights that those who scorn you will need from you someday. If that sounds foolish, you need to understand that it is the way of Jesus. He was ridiculed, scorned, and crucified by those who were in need of the salvation that He was providing for them. His heart was for the one who spit on Him.

"You are called to do the same. There are those in your life who are clueless to what you are going through. They have separated themselves from you because they don’t understand. Some have even come against you. You are to keep on loving them. You are to dig in with Me so that you can become all that I plan for you. I am doing the work in you for their good and for others who need to see Jesus. They will call upon you when they are out of answers. You be ready. You love them when they need you. I will be glorified.”

Psalm 3:1-6 AMP

1) Lord, How they are increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.

2) Many are saying of me, There is no help for him in God. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

3) But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

4) With my voice I cry to the Lord and He hears and answers me out of His holy hill. Selah [pause and calmly think of that]!

5) I lay down and slept; I wakened again, for the Lord sustains me.

6) I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about.

Psalm 51:10 AMP

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.

Luke 23:34 NIV

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Although the Word of God is very personal and our relationship with Jesus is one of intimacy, our lives are to be spent for the good of others just as His was. Otherwise, the whole work of the cross is a sham. God is duplicating Jesus in each of us. Jesus did nothing of Himself, held nothing back when called upon to give His life; and continually intercedes for each of us every moment. Those are some pretty big sandals to fill!

The United States gospel of guaranteed prosperity and utopian goals is for the immature believer at best, and apostate thinking when brought to its final conclusion. It does not mirror the crucified life of Jesus; therefore, it must be flawed. Jesus went through all that you and I are going through and then some, all for the best interests of others. We are to do the same. It really is that simple.

Teach me Your ways, Lord,

Jim Corbett

9/08/23 Generation Gap

Did you know that in God’s eyes there is no such thing as a generation gap? That whole concept is nothing more than spiritually ignorant, psycho-babble hogwash. Spiritually alive parents who have chosen to invest in their children, considering them more important than themselves and spiritually alive children, who have chosen to invest in the family by the power of the Holy Spirit, have no time to buy into that ridiculousness.

The generation gap concept was created by spiritually impotent people, who attempted to incorporate their impotence into guiding and directing their offspring. It is nothing more than a way to excuse their inability to lead their children as they continue to walk in their own ways and thinking. What they really need to do is submit to God through Jesus Christ so that the life of Christ can flow in them through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is God’s wisdom, strength, love, etc. that we need – not ours. Ours will not truly get the job done. Of course, each generation has its own tastes and preferences; but communication, understanding, mutual love and respect, discernment, and prayer overcome any differences and allow generations to flow together with peace and harmony.

Raising godly children requires a lifetime of investing in them, most of the time in ways that violate our personal comfort zones. It is going to take a lot of surrender of our own ways to the Lord, a lot of prayer, a lot of selfless choices, placing their well-being above our comfort; and a lot of heart work. Yes, heart work. However, the eventual satisfaction and rewards of seeing a child being formed by God and the character of Jesus going forth through our children more than compensates for whatever price we may have to pay.

Godly children, who eventually become godly adults, are the goal and heart desire of Father God for both marriage and family. His standards are higher than the world’s standards and most of the standards in the typical church of today. He is after the heart of our children, not their compliance. His methods raise the bar in comparison with “normal” child rearing.

[While education is vitally important and must be part of any child’s growth process, which child lives a more significant life – one who has all of the degrees in the world, a successful business, and a mediocre life in Christ; or one who has the priorities of God as his priority, dedicating himself to bringing others to significance while having few of the successes of the world?]

Investing in our children God’s way creates generations of strong, healthy children, who are full of integrity and inner wealth and capable of not only overcoming any of the challenges that come their way, but actually prospering because of them. Raising children God’s way brings proper credit to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and a testimony of His eternal work.

Knowing this, each of us has a choice to make at some point in our lives. This moment may be that time for you. You can approach child rearing with an attitude that your children are the ones who need to conform to His ways on their own, or you can settle it in your heart, once and for all time, that who you are and who you become in Christ is a major factor in determining who they will become.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

9/07/23 Changed Completely

“It is My desire that you fully appreciate who you are in Jesus. The most magnificent thing happened to you when you made Him Lord over your life. You were changed completely. You were made to exist with Me for eternity. You are under Our new covenant. You and I can share intimate moments because We have been reconciled. There is so much more. Study My Word. Spend time with Me. I will show you all that you have become. I will also show you all that I desire you to be. This is a wondrous time for you. Enjoy it!”

1 Cor. 1:2 NIV

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ - their Lord and ours.

2 Cor. 5:17 AMP

Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ, (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

Fully understood, what God has done for mankind is the most wonderful action ever taken for the sake of another. We were helpless and without hope. Instead of leaving us in our misery, mercy is extended to any one of us who chooses to accept it. By accepting the extended hand of God, we enter into a relationship unparalleled since the Garden of Eden.

I praise You for what You have done for me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

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