Tag: Bible

“As a whole, My church has been weighed and found wanting. You who hear need to come out from her. You must come back to My Word and its fullness, or you will experience the judgment that is about to be placed on those who will not hear. I have seen the falling away. I have tolerated the self-serving attitudes of those who have attempted to form Me into their image. They have misused My words, redefined My purposes, and turned their backs on the Spirit Who once was accepted as truth, defining truth to suit their own agendas. They have witnessed to others that My presence is with them, when I am nowhere near where they are. I don’t come to their ways; they must come to Mine. They sing songs of praise because of what I have done, instead of praising Me for Who I am. Deep down, they credit themselves for their prosperity and blame Me for their trials.

"I have allowed the cold, hard heart to run its course and have asked you, who have eyes to see and ears to hear, to make choices. Some of you have seen what has happened to My people and hate what you see, but have needed to know for sure what to do. I now call you to come out. Cold fellowships are religious activities that only make participants feel comfortable where they are. Cold preachers are no longer My messengers. They allow My children to be complacent.

"I am about to deal with them. I have never been, nor ever will be, part of religious folly. Time is too short to play religious games. If you do, you will miss what I am really doing. You come away with Me. You get back to My Word. You join with others who see, and live the life of Jesus before those who need to know Him. Ignore the sound of judgments that are bringing those who would not hear to their knees. In their independence, they would not come to Me. Soon they will submit. You do My work, endued with My power that comes from being in My presence. I am with you.”

Amos 5:21-23 NIV

21) I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.

22) Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings I will have no regard for them.

23) Away with the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the noise of your harps.

 

There comes a time when the Lord says, “Enough.” Just before that time, He always calls out those who can hear His call and separate themselves from those with whom He is displeased. They miss His judgment because of their obedience.

For many years, I believe that the Lord has been calling His people to pursue holiness and intimacy with Him. In those years, most of us have seen many fellowships resist the call to holiness and replace it with programs and events. Those, who have closed their spiritual ears to the call of God, busy themselves with religious activity, rather than spend the time needed in prayer and fellowship with the Lord, so that they can hear His heart.

Merry and I are incredibly blessed in knowing honest lovers of our Lord all over the land. So often we hear aching hearts crying out for a fellowship near them that doesn’t compromise the call they are hearing, a call to holiness. The common lament is that a call to participate in activities and doing good things has replaced the message of spending time with God. Spending quality time in prayer is avoided. Hours in prayer is considered radical and sometimes unheard of, even by leadership. They say that they have no place to go, so they congregate with one or two like-minded believers in their own homes, continually searching for a strong Word and a call to intimacy, wherever they can find it.

The call to become a holy, separated people, who are dedicated to intimacy with devoted, bride-like qualities, is becoming louder and more urgent each moment.  At the same time, cold, dead religious activity vies for the hearts of the unaware. It feeds on those who have closed their ears and hardened their hearts to the Holy Spirit and are too busy doing good things to spend time with their Lord.

Wanting to hear clearly and respond properly,

Jim Corbett

“Do you know what a prostitute is? It is someone who is willing to sell his or her false affections for a price. Can you imagine the heartbreak of the father of the prostitute? In the world, the rationale would be that his actions must have been less than perfect to cause his child to become so calloused toward himself or herself and others, that he or she is able to function as a prostitute.

"What have I done to cause you to care so little, that you give yourselves away to any lover that is willing to satisfy your required price? I have purchased you for a great price. You have gladly received the benefits of My purchase and have consumed them upon yourself. While you say that you are Mine, I notice that your eyes are wandering to and fro, attempting to find the next lover that will satisfy you in some way. As a Father, I grieve. Nothing that I have done causes you to care so little. Nothing that you have been given would cause you to be unsatisfied. But you are. You constantly need more from Me to fulfill your wandering desires.

"Unlike someone who would give up on you because you care so little, I never will. Unlike a wounded father who is incapable of giving any more, I will continue to lavish My love on you until you can see clearly and turn from your ways. Each time you repent of your wandering, I will forgive you, knowing that as soon as other lovers come along, you will follow them again. I will forgive, and forgive, and forgive. I love you. Nothing you will ever do will stop Me from loving you.”

Romans 2:4b NIV

….not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

I Cor. 13:4, 7-8 NIV

4) Love is patient, love is kind….it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8) Love never fails.

 

I remember going to the Lord for what must have been the thousandth time with the same sin, grieving over my failure; and knowing that I would soon be back in the same position, confessing once again. In the beginning, I would go to the Lord so that I could feel good, so that I could be clean again. His forgiveness and the promise of complete restoration of our fellowship always drove me back to that place of cleansing. In my hurt, undoneness, and immaturity, however, I could never really come to true repentance - a complete turning from my sin. I came to Him for my good, so that I would feel better. In His great love, He was always there. He knew that I’d be back the next time I stepped on His love, but He never turned me away.

Eventually, however, something wonderful happened. My reason for coming to Him with my sin began to change. Because of the astounding love of my Lord, Who always accepted me and never gave up on me, I was free to come to Him until the Word that was working in me could change my heart from within.

I began to come to Him with my sin, not only to become cleansed; but because I began to see how much my sin grieved my Father. He hurt when our fellowship was broken. He grieved as He saw me fall back into my own vomit. He was more anxious to clean me off than I was to be clean.

Eventually, I no longer wanted to offend Him. His love became more powerful than my desire to commit that sin. He held me while I was too immature to see clearly. Then He changed me as He said He would. This happened to sin after sin after sin. It is still happening and will continue to happen until He calls me home. What an incredible promise. What an incredible God!

In Him,

Jim Corbett

“If you seek after anything but a deeper relationship with Me, you will travel down many trails that lead to dead ends, and experience only a portion of My Word. You will need to turn from them and eventually come to a place of making Me your priority. Remember this, miracles do happen; but if you only seek them, you will find only part of Who I am.

"It is the same with all the gifts that I provide. The immature run after spiritual experiences and supernatural power. The mature run hard after Jesus and a deeper relationship with Me. I want you to crave intimacy. Because of that intimacy, I will be able to send you to where I am performing miracles and allow you to flow in My power.”

Matt. 7:21-23 NIV

21) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22) Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord,’ did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

23) Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Matt. 14:22-23 NIV 

22) Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.

23) After he had dismissed them, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.

 

It amazes me to see how often Jesus went away to be with His Father. He was telling us that one can minister only from a place of communion and direction.

In contrast, most of us crave the spiritual power, the miracle-working glory, and the wisdom to accomplish work here on earth. We have no idea that such power without intimacy and maturity is like putting a revolver in the hands of a child. He can make it work but has little ability to understand - prior to it going off - the impact of what havoc it can reap.

Draw me close, Lord,

Jim Corbett