Tag: Bible

“You need to never fear. I have always taken care of those who are called by My Name. I hover over you with a jealous love, one that can never be extinguished. In time, you will understand the fullness and depth of that love. For now, however, I am able to reveal only portions that you can comprehend. Under no circumstances should you think that I have left you. That is impossible for Me to do. I have placed My Spirit within your inner being. I am part of you.

"With that confidence, you can overcome any and every circumstance that comes your way. You can be assured without a doubt that all works together for good, even those things that look bad at the time. One day you will see My love at work in them. One day you will be able to comprehend the fullness of My plan. One day you will understand your part as I reveal why things unfolded as they did. You will see My love at work. For now, you become obedient to My Word. You walk in My precepts. You live the life that I have planned for you. I will be with you every step of the way. I love you.”

Isaiah 38:17 NIV

Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

Jude 21-23 NIV

21) Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22) Be merciful to those who doubt;

23) snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear-hating even the clothing stained by corrupt flesh.

 

Walking in God’s love means something very different to me the longer I study the Word. When I first came to the Lord, His love was all about my freedom, comfort, safety, and pleasure.  His love was a tickly, feely, emotional kind of thing that I used for my benefit and hung onto because of my desperate need for a reminder of my physical safety in Him. Although I do believe that I was allowed to experience that portion of His love to help me through my brokenness, limiting the Lord to that perspective throughout life would condemn me to the milk of His character and His Word.

I believe the strong meat of His Word only comes through an understanding that the love of God has little to do with the safety of my flesh. In fact, my flesh cannot survive the love of God. It is doomed under His Lordship.

My understanding of walking in God’s love certainly includes the uplifting, emotional aspect; but also the confidence and trust that He cares, no matter what circumstances result as I walk in obedience to Him. I can be confident that His love brought me to a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. I am safe forever. In that relationship, however, my part is His purpose and His purpose alone, no matter what that might bring.

Wanting to understand more each day,

Jim Corbett

“In your darkest hour, I am with you. As you walk through the most dangerous place, you are not alone. You need to stop walking in fear. You need to trust Me. You also need to begin to do what I tell you to do for My reasons, not so that you benefit. Your reasoning mind cannot interpret My heart. Step out in faith without consideration of the consequences. Even if you look like a fool, even if it appears as if you have failed, trust Me to determine your success. I am with you because you are Mine. Eternity will be the judge of what is successful and what is a failure, not immediate appearances. Be bold in Me. I am with you.”

Isaiah 43:21 NIV

“the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

8) “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

9) “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Jeremiah 10:23 AMP

Oh, Lord [pleads Jeremiah in the name of the people], I know that [the determination of] the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man [even in a strong man or a man at his best] to direct his [own] steps.

 

God is calling for the mature bridal heart to be accepted by each of His children. He is bringing to those who will hear a desire to sell out completely, so that the passionate life of Jesus can function through us, exhibiting His character to a dead and dying world.

Whatever you do, don’t allow the enemy, or even your friends, determine whether any move you have made in obedience to God was of God. He is the One to determine success or failure. He is the One to plan your steps. Your response is to be obedient. Outcome is His responsibility.

Love deeply. Walk in His Word, making sure that you are in line with His Word. Seek wise counsel. Then do what you know to be right in your heart. Get up if it looks like you have fallen down. Dust yourself off and prepare for another opportunity to serve your Lord. If you seem to have fallen again, allow the Lord to minister to you. He loves you. This life in Christ is exciting. Go for it!

Hold my heart as I follow You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“I desire that you relate My Word with an urgency in your heart. Become aware of this. I am calling you to move from religious activity and maintain a walk of integrity as you present Jesus to others. Align your life and your words with My Word. Before you will be able to do that, you must align your heart with My heart. That is a logical decision, not an emotional, religious concept. Shake off foolish teachings and traditional habits and open your life to My desires.

"Draw close to Me and realize what I am doing in your midst. You will see that I am calling your generation to pattern yourselves after the life of Jesus, as I have done with every generation before. You, however, can look back through the corridors of time and see that little is to be done before all things are completed. Grasp the importance of that knowledge. Now move as if you were living in urgent times. You are.”

John 5:19 AMP

So Jesus answered them by saying, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the Son is able to do nothing of Himself (of His own accord); but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does is what the Son does in the same way [in His turn].

John 15:5 AMP 

I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.

I Cor. 11:1 NIV

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

Eph. 5:1 AMP

THEREFORE BE imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father].

 

Being a true Christian is not really very complicated. We are to simply embrace the life of Jesus and go to our Father in heaven and trust Him to make our lives like His.

As simple as that may sound, at first, few of us ever really learn how to do it. We love to read about Jesus and understand the importance of being like Him. Then we make a big mistake. Somewhere down deep within our carnal self, we say, “I can do that,” or at least, “I can look like I’m doing that.” Once that is in our hearts, we cast aside the humility needed to really become like Jesus. We become a religious façade, rather than a humble, teachable tool in the hands of our Father.

Each of us needs to go back to basics with our Father and humble ourselves. We need to admit to the truth and say, “I can’t do that. Only You can do that in me.”

Think of the arrogance of the “I can do that” statement and compare it with the “I do nothing of myself” words of Jesus. He relied completely on His Father for everything, doing nothing of Himself. How can we have the audacity to think that there is something in our flesh that is capable of helping God?

Armed with a working understanding of our desperate need for the Lord to accomplish any good thing in us, we can approach this life of being a Christian with a clear head and an honest heart with God. Having allowed the Lord to demolish the arrogant wall of self sufficiency, we can begin the journey of allowing Him to work other truths in us - by His power, not ours. Along the way we will begin to really know Him, His heart, and the urgency of the times that He wants to impart to us.

Please do it in me, Lord,

Jim Corbett