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6/11/22 Action Reaction

Men, in general, function on an action-reaction basis. If you hit a nail with a hammer - action, the nail will be driven into the wood - reaction. Sometimes it’s hard for us to understand God’s action-reaction principles. Let’s take prayer for instance.

If we take the time to pray - especially about something specific - we wonder why we don’t immediately see the results of our prayers. We forget that the simple act of praying - turning our need over to God instead of just handling it ourselves - glorifies God. That act in itself is the right thing to do, especially when we put aside something we deem important to do it. We honor God by praying and recognizing that He is the source of our answer. (In His great love, He even provides answers throughout our lives for things that aren’t even on our radar screen, just because He chooses to bless us.)

Those seeming delays to our prayer requests accomplish far more than we can imagine. Only God can see the whole picture. While we’re waiting, He’s refining heart motives, orchestrating circumstances, clearing a path, developing patience … and maybe even preparing our hearts to receive the answer to our prayers. This may take some time. In terms of action-reaction time, it could become days, months, even years! As husbands and fathers, we need to put aside the concept of immediate answers and trust in the principles of the kingdom of God.

If you are seeking God for a specific need, don’t give up if He hasn’t chosen to work on your timetable. He started swinging the hammer at the time of your prayer, maybe even before. The nail will be impacted in God’s proper timing.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

6/10/22 Credentials

The two reasons you or I would never have access to dinner with the Queen of England are: first, we haven’t been invited; and second, we don’t have the credentials. Only those who have fulfilled the requirements it takes to qualify will ever partake of a meal with the Queen.

Our flesh will never be able to gain an audience with God. Flesh simply doesn’t have the credentials to do so. Adam and Eve were removed from His presence as soon as their fleshly nature controlled their decisions. Their reasoning ability separated them from the purpose for human creation - to be in a position where God is our God, and we are His devoted, dependent people.

Men, pride is the most distinguishable cause of why we don’t want to submit to God’s requirements, although ignorance and a myriad of other reasons also stop us from going there. Fact is, we simply want to be in control of our lives and are unwilling to give that up, even if it means that we may never have the answers we need to become the husband and father our Lord intends; or worse yet, will never enjoy the true presence of our Creator God. How foolish!

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

6/09/22 Hot or Cold?

“Be awfully careful of losing your first love for Jesus. Make sure you guard your heart, so that the things that He desires remain the desires of your heart. If you allow the busyness of your world to intrude on the important issues of your heart, you will soon lose the perspective that Jesus has. You will become self-focused. You will become uncaring for those who are perishing. You will become weary in well-doing.

"You will become cold to the issues that are important to Me. You will go days at a time and never weep for one soul.

"It is a dangerous place to be. Make sure you never go there, OK? If you are already there, turn around before it is too late. Turn before you become so cold to the ways of Jesus that you care little if He is glorified in your life or not.”

Psalm 106:12-15 AMP

12) Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise.

13) But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them,

14) But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert.

15) And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death.

Haggai 1:7-10 AMP

7) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways (your previous and present conduct) and how you have fared.

8) Go up to the hill country, and bring lumber and rebuild [My] house, and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, says the Lord [by accepting it as done for My glory and by displaying My glory in it].

9) You looked for much [harvest], and behold, it came to little; and even when you brought that home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of My house, which lies waste while you yourselves run each man to his own house [eager to build and adorn it].

10) Therefore the heavens above you [for your sake] withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its produce.

We live in a society that hates to lose or settle for second best in anything. We also despise paying too much for anything. We will search the globe for the best deal on whatever we choose to purchase, squeezing pennies from a retailer so that we can have the satisfaction in our hearts that we did not get taken.

What amazes me is that we don’t even seem to care that we are being ripped off each and every day when it comes to the things of God. We settle for scraps from His table because we won’t spend enough time with Him to participate in the things that He considers important. We live a mediocre life in Jesus, when the intimacy He has with His Father is available to us. We dabble in the things of the world, when we are called to live in the heavenlies. We fret and worry about fleeting issues and set aside eternal wealth without giving a thought to what we have squandered. We are daily being ripped off by the enemy of our souls and seemingly never give it a thought. How foolish!

Teach me to value what is truly valuable, Lord,

Jim Corbett

6/09/22 Water in the Desert

Even after the Israelites saw God part the Red Sea for them, they had little faith that He would provide water for them where there was no visible sign of it. Their faith in Him was under attack.

At times, when I comprehend the awesome responsibility of my offices of husband and father, great fear rises up in me. I can only see how impossible it is to fulfill these offices. My eyes turn toward the power of the world and the war that I’m facing, and how weak I really am to the point that I become immobilized. Sometimes even hopelessness temporarily sets in.

When this lie invades my thinking, it’s time for me to remember Who my God really is and who I am in Him. It’s also time to remember that it’s not my job to overcome my fears. I’m only called to submit them to God and surrender to His faithfulness to allay them and change me.

God did part the Red Sea for His people. He did provide water for them. He did take care of their every need. He is the same God today as He was then. I am His child and He will take care of me and my cares, just like He took care of theirs. As soon as I remember that, I can find a place of rest in Him and wait for His promises to be as real to me now as they were to His children way back then. I have no need to fear!

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

6/08/22 Credit or Discredit?

“The life you live brings credit or discredit to the work of Jesus and the cross. Most people think that when they achieve much or gain much that they are being blessed abundantly. That is not necessarily so. That is not how I judge your credentials. You bring credit or discredit to the work of Jesus by how much you truly look like Jesus.

"Do you love as He loves? Do you care about My plans as He did? Are you laying down your life for others as He did? In how many ways are you like Him?

"Even though you may appear to be a successful Christian to others, even though you fellowship regularly, even though you do and say the right things, you will eventually bring discredit to the cross if you are not continually submitting to the power of the cross to change your life. If you do not have My interests as your priority, if your heart is not on its way to becoming like the heart of Jesus, you have missed one of the main reasons He died. That is not good!”

I Sam. 16:7 AMP

But the Lord said to Samuel, Look not on his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as a man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

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...”

Hosea 4:6 AMP

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge…

Matthew 26: 53-54 NIV

53) “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

54) But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

At a very crucial time for Jesus, He cared more that the Scriptures were fulfilled than He cared for His own life. How close to that kind of heart are we? Do we even give thought to the Word of God being fulfilled in our lives?

Have we ever really understood that those in the world knowingly and unknowingly scrutinize our lives and determine in their hearts how powerful the work of the cross really is? If we don’t exhibit continual change as we grow in Christ, they walk away and attach little importance to what Jesus did for all of us.

Make my life a credit to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

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