Tag: Bible

“How much time do you need to get your house in order? How far is your heart from the heart of Jesus? What is the name of the god that you really serve? These are several of the questions that I have been asking you to answer for some time now. Distractions have forced you to modify your priorities for a season and you have set My priorities aside to serve other impending needs. Because you have done that, you have become weary. It is important that you bring your focus back to My heart focus, and approach these and other areas of your life with renewed vigor, or you will not be ready when I need you.

"One of the tactics of the enemy of your soul is to desensitize your heart to My every desire. He often brings so much debris into your life that you reel from its pull and are guided by its influence and seeming importance rather than by My guiding voice. You become so busy that My priorities are no longer the center of your attention. Even good-sounding activities and needs that appear important will often bring you to the point of exhaustion. I understand how that can happen, but now you need to shake yourself loose from anything that takes My place as a priority in your life.

"Get back to the kind of fellowship that We had begun. Sit quietly with Me. Listen to My heart once again. Do not listen to the lie that My needs are heavy weights and that time away from My tasks will give you rest. The opposite is true. You have been trained to place your burdens on Me. Any distraction that causes you to handle your life by yourself is no longer a part of your new nature. Its weight brings weariness, not peace. Your only place of true rest is in Our fellowship. You now only receive true joy when you give the control of your life to Me, rather than being controlled by circumstances and situations.

"As you return to Me, I will pour My peace back into your heart. I will refresh and strengthen you. I will be your source of joy and peace once again. I will restore your proper focus. Together, We will overcome anything that has invaded your heart, so that you can see clearly once more. Come to Me now. I am waiting for you.”

Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

28) “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

29) Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

30) For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Mark 6:30-32 NIV

30) The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that 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.

 

Each of us must find a way to shake loose from our everyday demands and run away with Jesus. I know that is a tall order for some of us. It must, however, become a priority in our lives.

If every one of us, who are too busy because of life’s demands, could express our true longing, it would be for simple, quiet moments with Jesus. That is because our new, born-again spirit has that desire as its only priority. Our inner being is happy only when it is resting with its Lord. That place with Jesus is the only true source of joy and comfort.

If we can find time for meetings with people, if we can be active in sports, if we schedule appointments, why can we find so little time for Jesus? It should be our main goal in life, especially during these times and seasons.

Why wouldn’t a homemaker get a babysitter once a week for three hours so that she can be with Jesus or share “Mom” time with other moms, so that all could find moments to tuck away?  What about a businessman actually scheduling an appointment during his day, so that he can be locked up with the Word? Think of the possibilities. We are creative in all other areas of our lives; what happened to us when the most important need in our life is set somewhere in the back of our minds or forgotten completely? How foolish have we become?

Replace everything else with Your presence, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“When will you really begin to stop playing church games? When are you going to stop talking and start acting out what you have been called to do? Where is the corresponding outpouring to what you’ve been given? Do you realize that you are only eternal moments away from looking into the face of Jesus? What are you going to say when He asks for your portfolio? To those of you who are diligently seeking Me for direction in your lives, be patient; I am at work. I will soon show you who you are in Me and where I want you to spend My time. You are faithful, and I am pleased.

"To those of you who have been lulled to sleep, or settled into complacency, or stopped seeking Me with all your heart for your purpose in life - I am setting My chin against you for a moment, until you come to repentance. You are in danger, and I cannot allow you to remain in your sin. Get up. Get involved in My work with My kind of heart. Find out what I am doing in your midst and pour your life and everything you have into it. I will require an accounting of your moments and resources soon. Time is short. If you don’t understand My heart, why I am calling you to account; and then respond with sincerity, I will move on. Someone else will take your place and accomplish your task. You will miss what I have for you.”

Esther 4:1 AMP

Now when Mordecai learned all that was done, [he] rent his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes and went out into the midst of the city and cried with a loud and bitter cry.

Esther 4:4 AMP

When Esther’s maids and her attendants came and told it to her, the queen was exceedingly grieved and distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, with orders to take his sackcloth from off him, but he would not receive them.

Esther 4:13-14 AMP 

13) Then Mordecai told them to return this answer to Esther. Do not flatter yourself that you shall escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews.

14) For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise for the Jews from elsewhere, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion?

 

The above selected verses paint a brilliant picture of positioned people who have choices to make. In the simplest form, it goes like this. Mordecai was sincerely crying out to the Lord, asking Him to overcome what had been put in place against His people. Esther was in a position of influence and vast resources, enough to have a real impact on the challenge and the fate of her people; but she feared to get involved because she was primarily focused on herself and her own well-being. Mordecai showed her that she was the one ordained for the task at hand; but if she didn’t respond commensurate with her calling and the various resources she had been given, someone else would be used and she would be set aside.

Let me not step aside, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Your world is in constant turmoil and always changing. Small people with evil eyes and loud mouths demand your attention. Their incessant hatred will challenge you to become more like Jesus, so that you can bring hope to those who need to hear truth. People are running out of answers. Give them the answer. His Name is Jesus. You are His representative. Get your eyes off of yourself and your needs.

"I will take care of you. Find out what purpose I have for your life and then function in your calling. You are needed now! Help others to see Jesus before it is too late for them. I am counting on you!”

 1 Cor. 6:19b, 20 NIV

19b) …You are not your own;

20) you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

2 Cor. 1:3-4 AMP 

3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement),

4) Who comforts (consoles and encourages) us in every trouble (calamity and affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort (console and encourage) those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort (consolation and encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted (consoled and encouraged) by God.

2:Cor. 10:3-5 NIV

3) For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

4) The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

5) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

 

Many people in the body of Christ have forgotten why they have been given breath to breathe. It is to proclaim Jesus to a world that has no answers by living His life before them and for their eternal good. Any other focus eventually leads to a deadend road, leaving believers with the same fears that the world has.

Jesus brings life. The life lived for Him brings life to others and has unlimited resources to overcome any challenge, anywhere, anytime. No power on earth can dilute its God-ordained power to rise above anything the world and its ways attempts to throw at it. Life in Jesus sees through fear and on to promise. Loud voices and violent eyes only drive the one in Christ to the safety of His presence. Fearful times bring the remembrance that the Word of God is being fulfilled in our midst. God’s ways are high above any ways of the world.

Teach me Your ways, Lord,

Jim Corbett