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8/08/22 Pursuing a Higher Standard

As a husband and father, would you do anything to change your ways if you realized the lives of your wife and children are gifts that will be presented to God one day? Who they become will be laid at the feet of our Lord. Because you hold these offices, you’re a steward of those lives. You’re responsible to provide an atmosphere for them to become all they can be in Christ and you’ll answer to God for the result.

You see, as Christian men, you and I are called to a higher standard than those who live in the world. We’re to love more, serve more, and have God’s higher purposes in mind for everything we do. We are God’s representatives on this earth. He owns our lives, which makes us stewards of them for His honor and glory.

In the world, husbands and fathers are considered a success if their marriage is outwardly OK and their children are accepted by society’s standards. You have a higher call. God asks that your marriage be an example of the relationship of Christ and His church. He asks that your children come to know Him personally through their submission to Jesus as their Savior and Lord and serve Him with all their hearts. He asks you to pave the way for that to happen through the power of the Holy Spirit. Success in His eyes is far different than the supposed success of the world. Which will you choose?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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8/08/22 Walking in the Spirit

“You, My people, have missed some steps in your walk with Me. You have avoided the cross, fled the grave, and attempted to live a resurrection life without My life-giving hand upon you. When Jesus returned from My presence, He was flesh and bone. There was no blood or humanness in Him. That blood was shed so that you don’t have to shed yours to be like Him. Your inner being has been renewed into the likeness of Jesus. It has been born alive to the Spirit and responds only to the Spirit.

"Pray that your inner man is endued with power and might by the power of My Holy Spirit to be free to respond to My ways. Pray for the determination to no longer walk in the futile life of your flesh. Pray for the power to become dead to all that resembles the world and its ways, so that you will be aligned with My ways and in My perfect will. It is the way of the cross. It is the way of Jesus.”

Luke 24:39 NIV

“Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

John 20:17 NIV

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father.”

1 Cor. 15:50 NIV

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Ephesians 3:16 AMP

May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].

 

Many of us attempt to approach the things of God by using our own reasoning and strength. That is one of the main reasons that our attempts to approach God and affect our world fail. The things of God are spiritual, not religious - and certainly not of the flesh.

The removal of our flesh and the entering into the power of our covenant with God, in any equation with God for that matter, always follows the pattern established by Jesus. It is first the cross - an initial submission of our entire being to the Lord with subsequent submissions each time our flesh intrudes upon our new life. Then comes the tomb - the waiting on God as if dead, so that Lordship is completed in us. Finally, there is the resurrection - the empowering of our spiritual being by the Holy Spirit, that new inner man receiving spiritual power and might, responding in spiritual ways. The result is the ability to flow in the compassions of Jesus through the perfection of God’s established ways.

Do it Your way, Lord,

Jim Corbett

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8/06/22 The Antidote

“I have the antidote for anything and everything that is wrong. His Name is Jesus. He has overcome the world and its ways. He has overcome all of the frailties of mankind. He has overcome all future perils. You can trust Him! Stop looking at the challenges that face you. Look to Jesus. Stop looking at who you are not. Look to Jesus. He will make you whoever He wants you to be. Jesus is everything! Forever.”

Romans 8:33-34 NIV

33) Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

34) Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

2 Cor. 5:18-20a AMP 

18) But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him].

19) It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).

20a) So we are Christ’s ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us.

I Cor. 3:11  AMP

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

Hebrews 1:3 AMP 

He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power.  When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high…

 

I love the idea that a perfect Person made the perfect sacrifice, so that anyone who chooses to believe can be perfected in God’s eyes. To me, that thought carries over into the day to day working out of life’s situations and challenges. In fact, I believe that they are there to be used as tools to help perfect us. If that is true, what is there to worry about? We have a perfect Savior Who knows how to work things out perfectly – especially in us!

Teach me to trust only You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

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8/06/22 Just Say Yes

Make sure you respond to the call God has for your life. Make sure you don’t choose to take the easier road by living a life that’s different than God intended.

If you follow hard after God, you’ll probably feel like you’re on the outside looking in within the church. I'm not talking about doing weird things that discredit the integrity of the Gospel. I mean that if you follow the example of the life of Jesus and move only when and where God tells you, people will not understand. You may find yourself giving away your possessions, taking a lesser job so you can reach people, or - heaven forbid - trusting God completely for your provision while you go into full time service.

One of the most heart-wrenching sights you'll ever see is the  emptiness in the eyes of those who have not responded to the call of God, usually because of fear or their lust for worldly goods. Those desires may be simple things, like security, new clothes, or a new car. They understand deep down that they have heard the call of their Creator and have said "no" when asked to fulfill His desires for their lives. Nothing,  absolutely nothing, will satisfy the emptiness of soul that follows.

After saying “no” to the Lord, most of them eventually find themselves working feverishly at some other ministry or filling a myriad  of church positions to cover up the emptiness. The end result is almost always an involvement with other weary, often critical people who are also doing good works, attempting to make a difference of some sort to cover their pain, rather than following after God's original plan for their lives. How sad! How grievous to God. Just say yes!

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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8/05/22 Invited to Tarry

“Do not shake off the desire that I am placing in your heart. I am calling those who will listen to an intimacy with Me. Personal attention has been won for you at the cross of Jesus Christ. You have a covenant right to spend time with Me.

"It came at a high price, the blood of My Son. Don’t take this call lightly. It is for your eternal good. I will show you My heart. I will show you My will. I will prepare you for what lies ahead in your life. I will give you the wisdom, strength, and power to overcome everything that attempts to destroy you. Come close now. I am waiting.”

Mark 15:37-38 AMP 

37) Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed out His life.

38) And the curtain [of the Holy of Holies] of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Romans 2:4 NIV

Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

Romans 12:1 NIV

Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – which is your spiritual worship.

 

In the world, access to the heart of a friend is earned. It takes time to develop the trust and vulnerability that is required. True friends understand the privilege it is to have that kind of access and they guard it carefully.

Jesus has won access to His Father for us. When the temple veil was torn from top to bottom, it would never separate us from Him again. Access from the holy place into the holy of holies, once reserved only for the high priest once a year, is now available to all those who have given themselves over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

What is so incredibly sad is that few of us actually tarry with God, the Creator of all things, even though we are invited to do so. Think of it, we are invited into the presence of the One Who gave us life, knows our hearts, and desires to spend time with us. When we do not go to Him, is that pride, ignorance, fear, busyness, or a combination of them all?

Form in me whatever it takes to be able to come to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

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