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2/23/23 Study Your Children

The Amplified Bible says that we are to “train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent]…”. If we treat our children accordingly, we can help guide them into the life God has designed for them. We are to study them and discover their natural abilities, interests, and the things they prosper in, so that we can build the proper atmosphere for learning around them. In doing so, they can follow the patterns that are most comfortable for them, which will hold their interest and lead them toward success.

That is only one part of the perfect plan God has for your children. You, as a father, must help build taste buds in them for the deep things of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. I don’t mean that you should in any way force religious jargon down their throats until they choke; absolutely not. You are to become intimately in love with the Lord, longing to have Him live His life through you.

As you become all that you can be in Christ, your children will want the incredible life you enjoy. They will long to have the freedom, the wonder, the wisdom, and the power that they see in your life because of Him. The opportunity is there so that they too can become all they can be in Christ. Because they have the freedom to function in the bent God’s given them, and they flourish through the intimate communion they gain from loving Jesus, there is nothing in the world that can minimize the significance of their lives.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

2/22/23 An Empty Vessel

“A new season is at hand. To those of you who understand that there must be a crucifixion of your flesh, anticipate the joy that is your heritage after your resurrection. Understand that I am taking you to a death of everything that you were, all that you own, and all that owns you. I must do this so that you can be trusted with My presence. You must be an empty vessel so that My presence is all that is in you after I call you forth. There will be a resurrection. I will roll away the stone of your grave. I will raise you up for this end-time work.

"Here is what must happen. You must die to yourself. That work is in progress as we speak. Submit to My hand and the trials that you are encountering. They are refiner’s fires that will allow you to embrace the cross as Jesus did. Next, you must rest as a dead person would rest, waiting for Me to move in your situation. Your submission will have planted the seed in you of the anticipation of My resurrecting hand upon you. Then in My time, when all is ready, I will once again bring forth My light to the world. It will be in you as fully as it was in Jesus. Consider this the holy work that it is. Soon, I will call you to come forth.”

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.

Gal. 5:24 AMP

And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.

Gal. 6:14 NIV

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

So many of us desire to have all the good stuff without going through the suffering that conforms us into the image of the Lord. Consequently, we take our head knowledge to those around us. The further consequence of that is that few, if any, people are changed by head knowledge.

God is calling for a holy generation - a resurrection generation, one that has embraced the cross, waited as if dead to our own abilities to push the gravestone aside; and allowed the Spirit of God to completely eliminate our flesh and renew our spirits. We are a remnant, waiting as if a bride for the Lord to complete His work in us. I believe that He is about to call us forth here, and soon to Himself.

There are no shortcuts to completing the work that is needed to be done in each of us. Our Lord is very good at placing us in situations and circumstances that are intended to change us. He wants all of us. That’s how much He loves us.

Only by Your strength, Lord,

Jim Corbett

2/22/23 ABC Christianity

Philippians 3:10-11 AMP

¹⁰⁾[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

¹¹⁾That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

Paul saw the need to overcome the world he lived in. As a husband and father, you need to have the tools to overcome your world just as he did. The verses above give the formula for doing so.

A - Know Jesus. You need to prioritize your time to really get to know the only One Who spent His life so that you can have real life. To understand the wonders of His person is the most astounding privilege available. Knowing Him, and learning to walk as He walked, will also give you answers for how you are to function in your offices and the hope you need to be able to do what it takes so that you and your family can stand before God having lived lives that brought Him honor and glory.

B - Understand what Jesus did, and how it affects your life. Without a working comprehension of what happened at the cross - how it gave you access to your Father in heaven, established a covenant of love for you, provided a new spiritual life for eternity and a new spiritual world on this earth - you have no hope of navigating the challenges that will come your way. With this understanding, those around you will be able to see hope for their lives, too.

C - Become like Him. Becoming like Jesus is not only a hope; it’s a covenant promise for everyone who has surrendered fully to His Lordship. His life, lived through you, gives you the power to see as He saw and act as He acted. In the midst of a dying world, people don’t need another religious person. They need to see the life of Jesus lived out before them. You can be that life if you choose to do so. It’s a gift for you because you are His. It’s a command to you because you are His.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

2/21/23 Your Interpretation of Lordship

“I would like you to peruse everything that you call your own and see if you would really give it away if I asked you to do so. Where does My ownership stop? If there is a time that it does stop in your life, what is your interpretation of “Lordship” and “Master”? Where do you draw the line when it comes to stewardship of My wealth and cross into personal ownership? If I asked you to give away everything, would you do it; or is that kind of request outside of My jurisdiction?

"How can you say that I own your life if I really don’t own every relationship, every moment, and every item in your life? Search My Word and see if you can find your license to claim anything as your own if you’ve given your life to Me. Jesus owned nothing, including His life, as an example to each of those who were to come after Him. His waiting bride is in training to do the same.”

Acts 4:29-35 NIV

29) “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

30) Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

31) After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

32) All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

33) With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.

34) There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales

35) and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”

The above verses fascinate me as much as any verses in the Bible. They occur as a fledgling church moved in a society that was reeling from the most incredible event in history - the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Just after the Holy Spirit empowered them, the church formed patterns for others to follow. As stated above, when in peril, they asked for boldness to proclaim Jesus, not deliverance from the danger. It was too early for the different interpretations of what had happened to pollute them, so they had one heart and one mind. Their risen Master owned nothing and gave everything. It was natural to do the same, not even counting the cost.

Isn’t it fascinating that those who probably walked with Jesus acted very much like He did, once they were strengthened to do so? It seems that as more time elapses - and the further we, as believers, get from the actual resurrection day - the more room for personal interpretation of how Jesus lived is involved in the way that we choose to represent Him. It is also fascinating that we seem to be less powerful in everything we do as that occurs.

At present, we, the church, have become so much like the world in most of what we do, that our impact on the world is far less noticeable. We almost fit comfortably in a society that hates Who we are supposed to represent. Sort of makes you want to go “Hmmmm!”

Change my heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

2/21/23 Nurturing vs. Disciplining

Our Father God disciplines His children. All of His discipline is for our good in the end. He is also the kindest, most loving, most nurturing Father there is. His provisions to us as His children allow us to find a way out of any and all of our wrongdoings. His promises bring us hope. His Words envelop us in love.

Many earthly fathers have missed the mark in trying to carry out their role as a guide for their children, which causes separation between the father and his children. Continual correction and subsequent discipline in the form of consequences, without the corresponding love needed to balance it, brings despair and rebellion. No correction or guidance brings confusion and a spirit of abandonment.

Have you ever seen a true craftsman nurturing his apprentice to help him become a craftsman, too? He cares about the skills he’s imparting. He guides the hands of the apprentice, so they eventually function as his hands do. He passes on his wisdom in every area of the trade. He is always “in the corner” of the apprentice, knowing that only loving guidance will help the apprentice become the skilled craftsman he is called to be.

You are supposed to be a craftsman in the things of God, nurturing your children to become skilled in the things of God also. You are called to pass on those things you have learned from the lap of your Father in heaven. You are not called to be a disciplinarian only. Doing so allows the enemy of your family to plant irreversible inroads and insurmountable divisions between you and those you steward. Nurturing, however, is God’s way of imparting wealth. You can make your children wealthy craftsmen if you nurture them toward the love of God.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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