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3/14/23 Surrendered Vessel

“Rejoice that the living Christ is in you, radiant in power to overcome anything and everything when you surrender to Him fully. He is delighted to live His life through you. It is the wonder of the cross. It is the astounding benefit of surrendering to Him.”

Galatians 2:20 AMP

I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]: it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

The Holy Spirit is wooing the church of Jesus Christ to prepare as a bride would prepare for a coming wedding of hearts. Through trials, tribulations, and extreme challenges, He is posturing each of us to get our priorities straight. By leading us to the end of ourselves and placing a new hope in those who will listen, He is calling us to set aside all of the ways of the world and embrace the ways of Jesus as our only reason for living. In doing so, we will be prepared for His coming and able to overcome the hazards that are soon to come our way.

This call is a call to holiness - a pursuit oftentimes not considered attainable or even a necessary part of every Christian’s heart - which will initiate a bridal heart desire that will allow the Lord to live His passionate life through devoted, surrendered vessels. It can be one of the most exciting adventures of your life if your heart’s desire is to increasingly make room for more of the most priceless treasure ever given to anyone – Jesus Christ. As you respond to the heart of God and increasingly develop a posture of waiting for Jesus’ timely return, you will then guide others to His heart as more hear the same call.

Help me to remember that You go with me wherever I go, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/14/23 Warning and Promise

Jesus came with a warning and a promise. He warned the darkness that their rule of mankind was about to end. He promised mankind that they no longer needed to be helpless and under the control of the ruler to whom Adam and Eve had submitted themselves through their disobedience. They could now be released from that bondage if they chose Him and His life.

As a husband and father, the most important life you can show your family is the life of Jesus. Using the Word and the life imparted to you because of the cross, they can have safe passage through all the turmoil of the world. Their lives can be an example of the wonder of the life of Jesus, if you show them Who He is by being an example of Him in their midst.

How are you doing with that? How is your relationship with Jesus and your intimacy with God coming along? Are you prioritizing your days in the quest for intimacy? Are you determined to know Jesus and the power outflowing from His resurrection as your priority? Are your plans for your life the same as God’s?

Men, you carry the most important and most difficult offices ordained by God. You are called to carry His life and His hope to those you steward. You also have access to the throne room to receive anything you need, any time you want. Nothing can hinder your success if you walk with your heavenly Father as Jesus did, and walk in the promise that Jesus gave. The bondages of the world should have no hold on you because you are His. Walk in that freedom for the sake of those who are yours and for the glory of God.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

3/13/23 Rejecting an Offer

A poverty stricken man had to travel to his job, which was located in a distant city. Because he was so poor and it was the only job he could find, he had to make the trip there and back each day in an old, barely running rust bucket of a car. His livelihood depended on that car. It was the only means for him to get there, even though it often broke down, causing him often to almost lose his employment.

So every morning long before anyone else was even up, the man packed all that he would need for the trip, and took off down the road in a cloud of smoke that would obscure him from sight the further he would go. Late at night, he would return exhausted, only to have to do the needed repairs on the car so that he could make the trip the next day.

One day, as the man pulled over on the side of the road to make some repairs so that he could continue on his journey, a kindly man in tattered clothes walked up to him, seemingly from nowhere. "I've been watchin' ya make this trip every day. Been lookin' at ya from my porch over there," he said, pointing to a run-down shack just off the highway behind some trees. "I feel sorry for ya with this no-luck car that ya got, so I'd like to help ya," he continued. "In that barn over there," he turned and pointed to a barn that looked even worse than the house, "I got me this limo. It's yours if ya want it cuz I don't use it no more. I'll even drive ya wherever ya gotta go if ya want me to. Got nothin' better to do."

"Get away from me, old man," the traveler spat with impatience. "I have enough trouble without someone like you making promises that you can't keep." With that, he returned to the well-worn muffler to reattach it.

The next day from his front porch, the kindly man sat and watched as the beat up jalopy hobbled its way down the road again. Shaking his head in sorrow for the embittered traveler, he headed toward the barn to polish the new limo he had inherited, wondering how he might use it to help someone that day.

How often do we, as husbands and fathers, respond in the same way to God’s offer to be in charge of every situation we face?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

3/13/23 Submission to Lordship

“Do you realize that the simplicity of your life is about the heart choices you make and their outcome? Your most important choice is whether or not you choose to come to Me and live in the restored relationship I have provided through Jesus. Your decision has obvious eternal joys or consequences.

"What most fail to understand is that that choice is about Lordship; not whether Jesus is Lord or not, He is. It is about your submission to His Lordship over you. The degree to which you submit to His Lordship over you reveals more than you realize. I observe how submissive your heart is and how willing you are to immerse yourself in His ways; then I make choices. Some of My choices will surprise you if you haven’t submitted your heart fully to Him.”

Exodus 33:13 NIV

“’If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you…”

Joshua 24:15 NIV

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

2 Chr. 16:9 NIV

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him...”

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

5) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

6) in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Romans 12:1 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God…

Ephesians 3:16-17 AMP

16) May He grant you out of the rich treasure of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].

17) May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deeply in love and founded securely on love,…

Lordship has a very clear definition in spiritual terms. It zeroes in on heart position and shows us who we really serve, not who we say we serve. God has committed Himself to have us fully surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Herein lies one of the most wonderful truths of our association with God because of Jesus. God’s part of our covenant is to make sure that we do not remain unlike Jesus. He is continually reminding us that we have sold our old life to Him. (Actually, He bought it from us. The price was the blood of Jesus.)

If we attempt to hold on to our lives, striving to maintain any semblance of control over them, we will lose their real value. If we voluntarily lose our lives, willingly taking the posture of Jesus by giving everything away to God, we gain more than we could ever believe possible. When we choose to make these fleeting moments in time that we call our lifetime all about the glory of the Lord, He shows us that He has far more for us than if we had been concerned only for ourselves.

It works like this: If we really do give everything away, He draws so close to us that our nature is superseded by His nature; and consequently, we care less and less about our own needs the more we come to Him. (Supersede – to force out of use as inferior, to take the place, room, or position of.) Our surrender causes the Lord to develop in us the character of Christ - a nature that is deeply in love with the Father and wanting only His desires - in place of our selfish, carnal character. The freedom achieved through our submission is the really good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God lovingly brings us out of the horrors of our fleshly nature.

I choose to fully submit to Your ways, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/11/23 Fullness of Life

“Is it any fun? Is Our relationship fun for you? I watch you; I notice you. You walk around with no clue as to how I invest My heart in you and grieve when you are burdened by your life. Do you know that My Son laughed and cried and prayed and taught with great zeal? He found fullness in the life that He had been given. I want you to do the same. I want you to have the heart of a zealot in whatever you do. When you laugh, rejoice with Me. When you are being taught a deep lesson, one that is destroying your flesh, remember that it is My great love for you behind that lesson; so embrace it passionately. When you love, do it with abandon as He did.

"Everything is being done for your good, so take joy even in the hard times. My Son surely did not enjoy the cross, but He did look forward to the joy His work would bring to others. Act like that. Take joy in My work being done in you. Take joy in each circumstance that comes to you, knowing that more than you could possibly know is being done by My power. I am your Father. I love you. Know that I am with you through this life. I have planned it; I have ordained it. One day you will rejoice with all of Us Who have gone through it with you.”

Eph. 3:19 AMP

[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

I Thess. 5:16-18 AMP

16) Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always);

17) Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly];

18) Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].

Jas. 1:2-4 AMP

2) Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.

3) Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.

4) But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

Have you ever watched a good worker? I once had the privilege of observing an apprentice in a woodworking shop. It so happened that the apprentice was also the son of the craftsman. It was wonderful to watch the young man tackle every task he was given with zeal. He did more than accomplish a job; he honed his skills at every opportunity.

Whenever his father was showing him a new skill, he was engrossed with every movement, every tool, and every word that the father used to describe the trade that he was imparting to his son. When the son was left on his own, I would notice the father - who was doing his own work - glance in the direction of his son to see how he was doing. If the son was not doing something exactly as he was shown, the father gently guided the boy until he got it right, encouraging him all the way. At the end of the task, the father and son took a great deal of time communicating what had been learned. It was beautiful.

The day that I was there, the son had to leave early. I watched as he cleaned up and walked out the doorway, thanking his father for what he had shared that day. The father stopped our conversation and followed his son with his eyes until he could see him no longer. Only then did he come back to me. When he did resume our conversation, his first words were: “He’s a good boy. I am really blessed.”

I think that our Father in heaven thinks about us like that. I don’t believe He cares about how well we do at any given task. I believe that He simply wants to be with us as we enthusiastically hone our skills. I also believe that He lovingly follows us with His eyes, like a pleased Father, as we go about our day.

Thank You, Father, for Your time with me,

Jim Corbett

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