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4/13/21 Be the Expression of God’s Word

“Within the heart of any fellowship, whether individual or corporate, must beat the desire for intimacy, commitment, honesty, and trust. Without them, I am unable to express Myself to the world. Without them, the world will never see Jesus in those through whom I have chosen to express Him. Sad to say, they are missing in most of your dealings with each other and with the world. You gather together wanting to hear the expression of My Word, not knowing that you are to be the expression of My Word. How you act toward one another is the outward expression of the depth of your intimacy with Me. You meet together, not understanding that I have designed that fellowship to present Jesus to one another. The way you treat each other displays your depth of commitment to Me and whether you honor My desire to move in your midst.

"The world observes your behavior and realizes how shallow you are. It observes that you are not honest, even with each other; so it cannot trust the words that you present to them. They fall to the ground in front of your feet, not because they have no potential power, but because their effectiveness is nullified by your actions. Don’t you see that who you are, especially to each other, is more important than what you say? Can’t you understand that what you do, especially to each other, testifies of the work of the cross? All of your religious activity is nullified if you do not love one another.

"Turn your hearts back toward those I have placed in your midst. Your relationships are not complete as far as I am concerned. Your investment in them is vital to Me. Your commitment to those around you indicates the depth of commitment you desire with Me.”

Exodus 33:13-16 NIV

13) “If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

14) The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

15) Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.

16) How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

Matthew 5:13 AMP

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality) how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.

You and I are on this earth for two reasons: to know God and to represent Jesus. The more we invest in really knowing God and His heart, the better we will represent Jesus - to each other and to the world. The less we know our God, the less we will function like Jesus in our dealings with each other and with the world. If that doesn’t shake you up, little else will.

Wanting to know God intimately so that I can represent Jesus properly,

Jim Corbett

4/13/21 Why Are You Married?

Most of us would answer that question in some way that has hopefully grown past the "I really love her, man" kind of statement. Let's forgo the stupidity of the "I really can't keep my hands off of her" answer and get on with why our Father in heaven has given us permission to be married.

In a nutshell, God has had us men covenant with Him to marry the one He has chosen for us, for His honor and for her best interests. I know that kind of thought has rarely passed through our world-trained, pea-brain ability to understand His ways about marriage; but it is, none-the-less, true. We are to join together with one of His precious children so that she has fertile soil to become all that she can be in Him. That honors Him!

In Ephesians 5, we husbands are called to lay our lives down for our wives in the way that Jesus laid His life down for the church. He died so that we could live. That is how the Lord can use marriage as an example of the relationship of Christ and His church.

When two people are joined together, they are given the privilege of knowing the most intimate details of the other person. They get to see whatever is undone in the other. Most of the time, especially after many years together, those cute little habits or actions become a source of irritation, sometimes even separation, instead of looking at them with Christ's heart. Jesus would hold them before His Father so that we and our wives could be healed. So should we.

God sees our job in marriage as laying down our needs, our desires, and our comforts, and living for the best interests of our wife and our children. The best interests of our circle of influence violates every area of our fleshly comfort zone. It demands that we live in the spiritual zone where Jesus lived for us. That is why He has given us someone to go through our lives with. They are to be given an atmosphere to learn how to love Him with all of their hearts. We are to provide that atmosphere by the power of the Holy Spirit. How's that working for you?

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett

4/12/21 Focused on His Heart

“I am about to bestow gifts upon those who have been faithful to Me in this time of drought. I will also show Myself to those who do not know Me. These individual giftings will be a prelude to My presence being made known in groups of both surrendered servants and open rebels. I will show up where I am unexpected. I will empower those who have focused on My heart, not My hand of power. Once again, I will shake up My church by the power of My Holy Spirit. She will never be the same. The times of man-centered services will be no more when I am present. Time will go unnoticed, praise will be real, and worship will be so intense that the intrusions of the flesh will be set aside for good. I will maintain order. No one will be in charge but My Holy Spirit.

"Sometimes I will visit unannounced to those who do not even know Me. People will be going about their daily tasks in office buildings, warehouses, bars, and anywhere I choose to visit, only to be separated from their flesh to bask in My presence. I will cleanse them, restore them, and empower them for service immediately. Other times, I will come to those who have been waiting for Me. It will be My prerogative, My choice. I will make myself known to little children, wild rebels, and wayward sons and daughters. I will visit and empty places where people have been judged insane. They will be restored to their right minds, delivered from all bondages, and go about proclaiming My Word in power.

"To those of you who have waited for this time, you are about to be blessed as I begin to move. Some of you, however - you who have jealousy in your hearts or have wanted My presence for your own gain - will be set aside. You will be exposed for who you really are. Because you have not submitted to My call to a crucified life, you will watch while others show the world the power of the cross. To those who have ears to hear, listen to what My Holy Spirit is saying. For a season, I am about to visit you with signs, wonders, and great gifts. They will be unlike anything you have seen in your generation. They will bring a new focus to the cross, a dedication to Jesus, and a spirit of truth to My people.”

Isaiah 41:4 AMP

Who has prepared and done this, calling forth and guiding the destinies of the generations [of the nations] from the beginning? I, the Lord – the first [existing before history began] and with the last [an ever-present, unchanging God] – I am He.

1 Cor. 1:18-19 AMP

18) For the story and message of the cross is sheer absurdity and folly to those who are perishing and on their way to perdition, but to us who are being saved it is the [manifestation of] the power of God.

19) For it is written, I will baffle and render useless and destroy the learning of the learned and the philosophy of the philosophers and the cleverness of the clever and the discernment of the discerning; I will frustrate and nullify [them] and bring [them] to nothing.

From the sound of things, our Father is about to put to shame the box in which we have attempted to contain Him. But then, that has always been the case. The glory of God is so much greater than any man can attempt to duplicate.

In today’s churches, because of the hardness of the hearts of most of us, we have attempted to portray our perspective of who God is to a world that doesn’t seem to recognize Him. That’s because we do not really know Him ourselves. We cannot give someone a description of the One we haven’t ever really seen.

I certainly am not an expert on the characteristics of any kind of revival. In fact, to attempt to characterize and categorize the aspects that signify revival is foolish. God usually confounds those who attempt to do so by “being God” and doing something unique every time. Whenever true revival occurs, however, it has one element missing from those conjured up by man. What’s absent is the presence of anything man-made.

In the early 1900’s, the Holy Spirit visited a warehouse on Azuza Street in California for a season. While He was there, the “preacher” hid his face from those present by placing his head in a crate so that he could be alone with his Lord. Those attending spent their time under benches and in corners, getting “right” with God, sometimes for days. Others were dropped to their knees in repentance as far away as two blocks from the warehouse that He chose to envelop. Anyone who attempted to stand and proclaim their own words in “the meetings” was dropped to his knees under the power of God. Flesh was not allowed in the presence of God. God did something that man had never heard of before.

We have become so dulled in our experience with God that we have attempted to duplicate His presence with more songs, louder preaching, and empty promises of power. We have “cast this out and bound that” in make-believe, macho bravado. We have said, “Thus sayeth the Lord,” when He has not said it. We have falsely “taken cities” with pumped up enthusiasm, conjured up by “evangelists” who have to come back to that same city to “take it” again. (It amazes me that they are even invited back.) We have become foolish to the world with our empty promises, nonsensical actions, and powerless lives.

I believe that God will not allow that to continue for much longer. His Word is too precious for Him to allow us to mess with it as we have, without Him intervening and saying “enough.” God will have His holy people, His way, in His time.

Needing to “drop and wait,”

Jim Corbett

4/12/21 Comfort Zone Gifts

After broadcasting a person's need for a couch over the air at our radio station, we found ourselves staring at something that once resembled furniture in the living room of someone who answered the request. When we refused the explosion of stuffing that was home for her cat, the woman said, "Well, what am I supposed to do with it now?"

Her "gift" to someone in need may be the extreme example of wrong motives, but her attitude resembles the attitude of the church throughout history. Although heartfelt generosity propels the gospel of Jesus, there is an underlying plague of corrupt thinking originally confronted by Jesus. As gifts were being given, He asked a question that rings through the centuries right up to each of us. "Who gives more, those guys over there who give out of their abundance, or the widow who gives a small amount, but it is all that she has?"

As a covering for our families, we as men are to teach those in our midst about the heart of Jesus by our actions. When referring to gifts and giving, we are stewards, not owners of everything we have. We are to teach others about the cross of Jesus by sacrifice, not by giving away our surplus. If a person has untold wealth and gives a seemingly large amount away, God looks upon the gift as far less than one who gives very little, but it is all they have.

Be assured that people who don't know Christ - and for that matter our children, - are watching us as fathers, and how we function. Without knowing it, how we act in every area of our lives is speaking much louder than our words. The freedom in which we give to others, especially sacrificial giving, broadcasts volumes to those who may not understand the cross and its work. People see Jesus in every cup of cold water given by us, especially if the water given means that we go thirsty. Are you ready to be uncomfortable?

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett

4/10/21 The Results of Seeking

“As you grow in Me, many will come to you in need of what you have. Some will simply pass by on their way to other places. Others will tarry with you until they are whole enough to stand on their own. Still others will meet Jesus for the very first time because of the anointing that I place on you for their sake. Because you are beginning to understand your place in My economy and move only after waiting for My presence, I am free to anoint you with whatever is needed in any given situation.

"The more you give yourself to Me, the more I am able to impart Myself to you and direct others to you so they can find truth. A new portion is yours because of your seeking Me with all your heart. I am pleased. I will bless you with an abundant life. It will be My kind of abundance, full of eternal, life-giving qualities. Give away what you have now; I will continually give you more as it is needed. I love you!”

Hebrews 12:12-13 NLB

12) ”So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs.

13) Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong.”

You need to know that there are many people waiting for us to grow up in Christ. They may not know it. We may not know them now, but in the Lord’s timing our paths will cross. In those ordained moments, days, weeks, years, or lifetimes, what has been given to us will be beneficial to their lives. It may even be life changing.

So many of us fail to realize that any growth to which we submit is really for the glory of God and the benefit of others. As we give the Lord more place in our lives, His wealth in us allows more to be poured to others. We become agents of His nature to those to whom He sends us or to those who come to us.

It’s not about me, is it, Lord?

Jim Corbett

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