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7/10/24 Let Jesus Be Seen through You

“I have given you a Savior. His Name is Jesus. You are to make Him Lord over every area of your life. Prepare your heart now as a bride would prepare hers. Wait for Him with increasing anticipation as she would wait if she knew that the time was drawing near. Be pure in your motives always. Be holy as He is holy. Become an enthusiastic study of His life. Show others who He is by who you are becoming. Be passionate about your preparation and accurate in your representation. Honor Him with your every breath. Glorify Him with your every action. Never tire in your devotion. He is your soon coming King.”

John 1:1-5 NIV

1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2) He was with God in the beginning.

3) Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

4) In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

5) The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

John 1:10-14 NIV 

10) He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

11) He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

12) Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -

13) children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14) The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

As followers of Jesus the Christ, we are to celebrate His birth, study and walk in His life, remember His death, fully believe in His resurrection, and prepare as a bride for His return. We are to be consumed with only Him. He is Lord.

Be glorified, my Lord,

Jim Corbett

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7/10/24 Getting Honest with Yourself

Men, if you are typical of the Christian man of today, you function as if you are unable to recognize your spiritual impotence to the point that you do not desire to see the character of Christ reproduced completely in you or in those around you as your priority in life.  As a typical Christian man, you have chosen to set aside God’s desire for your life in order to fulfill your own concept of what your life should be, or maybe just survive in an incredibly difficult world. You feel that you are spiritually comfortable and adequate, and see no need to consistently act as Jesus would act and love as He would love in your family.

Like a gelded horse that no longer has an interest in mares, most of you have little Christ-like spiritual enthusiasm toward the people within your circle of influence or for your part in God’s plan for mankind. Remember, we are talking priorities. If you would really get honest with yourself, your thoughts are not continually on where others will spend eternity or on who they could become in this lifetime through your influence on them by the way you represent Jesus. Even the spiritual well-being of your family, those God has entrusted to you as His steward, falls somewhere behind economic challenges, your job demands, the home and yard work, the toys you want to acquire, and the sports teams you idolize. If this is you, you are impotent in discerning the things that are important to God.

As an example of your impotence, if you sports fans would also get honest with yourself, you’d admit you focus more on whatever teams you follow than on the spiritual condition of your wife and children. Even if you do care about their spirituality, you probably have little ability, little desire, and few tools to foster their spiritual growth, to do whatever it takes to have them able to present a significant life to God. If you are not that heavy into sports, you can substitute the word “sports” with any other personal god, such as worry, fear, work, success, money, or worldly power, etc., to which you’ve pledged your allegiance.

[Even attempting to gain a significant life for your own good shows your spiritual impotence.]

If you take that same “getting honest with yourself” and carry it further to the point of getting honest with God, you will have to admit that the things that are important to God have been placed somewhere behind the things that give you some semblance of purpose for your life here, not eternally. Focusing on your personal fulfillment for so long, you may have actually become impotent in even discerning the things that are important to God.

Think of the eternal impact of those last statements if they are true for your life. Ask the Lord to reveal how accurate they might be for you. They may not be exactly where you stand with God; but more than likely, they’re quite close to the spiritual impotence you experience every day, if you are like Christian men in general. To whatever degree you are dealing with spiritual impotence in your life, the sooner you realize and admit it, the sooner you will be on your way to a significant, world-overcoming life in God’s eyes.

(From The Father Factor by Jim and Merry Corbett)

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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7/09/24 Because of Jesus

“You need to always remember to anticipate My involvement in your life. I am always going to intervene when you are in trouble. I will assist you when you have need. I will wait while you learn your lessons. I am always for you and never against you. Since you gave your life to Jesus, you have become Mine. I get involved in the lives of those I love. I love you!”

John 3:16 NIV 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 8:28 NIV 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

 

Because of Jesus, you and I have been given access to our Father in heaven. Better still, He has access to us. He wanted it that way from the beginning. He wanted to lavish His love on us. Now He can. Now He will.

Thank You, Lord,

 Jim Corbett

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7/09/24 Too Many Times

When I was young in the Lord, I had many besetting sins. Even though I loved the Lord with all my heart, the bondages had not yet fallen away. The Lord was removing them one at a time and I had many left to address.

Once after many failures, I cried out to the Lord, asking Him how He could continue to forgive me. It seemed like the thousandth time I had come to Him. In the quiet of the evening, He came to me and said, “Do you know that I forgive you no longer unto My remembrance?  I don’t have a bad memory; I choose to forgive and forget, never remembering the last time you offended me. Your sins are as far as the East is from the West.”  He then told me I had a million “forgivenesses” in my account and many more after that if I needed them.

Our Father is on our side. He knew how many times we would fail Him even before He asked us into His kingdom, and He still asked us! He is in the forgiveness business as long as we are in the repentance business. That means we always have His power available to us to do whatever tasks we may have on hand with the knowledge that He is with us.

Men, there are times when you and I fall down on the job concerning our families. If things are so bad that the possibility of reconciliation seems hopeless, we can be confident that the Lord is with us in our time of need. He is waiting for us to call out to Him, and by the power of His Holy Spirit, He will do whatever it takes to help us overcome our situation.

You can’t fall down one too many times. He will be there, enabling you to repent. Your life is His. It was His idea in the first place, and He delights in your need of Him.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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7/08/24 Time to Look in the Mirror

“If you overcome your pride and acknowledge your sin, come to Me as your only source of help, seek My Face for Who I am, not for what I can do for you, and change your lifestyle of offending Me—choosing My ways instead of your ways—I will do mighty things in your midst. I will hear your prayers. I will forgive your sin of rebellion. I will even bring those around you to Me, so that they might be saved. That is not a formula. That is a promise.”

2 Chr. 7:14 NIV

“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

 

This verse has been used as a rallying cry to condemn the actions of those who don’t know Jesus. It has been used as a reason to carry banners, point fingers, and break the law - all for the purposes of being a moral watchdog, proclaiming personal righteousness, and condemning anyone other than us as horrible sinners.

It amazes me that there is not one word in the verse that points at anything other than the sin of those who claim to know the Lord as the reason that a land is out of order, or that God’s hand of help has been hindered. God points to the sin of His people, those who claim to know Him, as the reason that darkness has become prevalent.

God calls for His people to change before He will move in a land. We would rather point at others and their sin to sell a need or rally for a cause. It makes us feel better and overshadows our need to change.  It also closets the character of Jesus that is supposed to be in us, allowing the darkness to increase. Just look around.

Forgive us, Lord,

Jim Corbett

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