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8/05/21 All Smoke and Mirrors

Have you ever heard someone say that magic tricks are all smoke and mirrors? The magician deceives us by using tactics that distract us from reality and turn us to the false reality he wants us to accept. His illusions and deceptions appear genuine in our minds, unless we uncover his secrets - his use of false images and just plain trickery.

Believe it or not, the devil does the same kind of trickery every day in each of our lives. He continually goads us to believe that what the world presents is reality. He flashes false wisdom, creates seemingly insurmountable scenarios, tries to plant his own thoughts in our minds, and attempts to deceive us into thinking that he holds the keys to our days.

Well, as real as his plan seems, it’s all smoke and mirrors. The Word says that we’re to look past what we see with our earthly perceptions, and focus on the eternal, the truth of what’s really happening. We’re to allow the Lord to retrain our thinking. We’re to look past what seems normal, and see what the Lord has done and is doing in every situation. We’re to believe more in God’s kingdom principles than the principles we’ve been taught by the world all our lives.

There is no smoke and there are no mirrors with God. His Word is always true. His promises are always reliable. What Jesus has done for us will always be real, no matter how much it is distorted by the world and its ways. You can rely on the fact that God is far more powerful than any situation you face. God said it; therefore, it is clear, honorable, smokeless truth. Do you believe it?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

8/04/21 New Creatures in Christ

“Why do you hang on to your old sin as if it were something to cherish? I have killed it. For you to still consider it alive is like hanging on to the carcass of a pet that once meant a great deal to you. It is dead. The life that you loved no longer resides within the decaying shell. So it is with your sin. It was given a fatal blow when you gave your life to the Lordship of Jesus. He now resides within you. You are new inside. His life is now available to be called upon for the power to overcome anything and everything. Allow His life to be lived through you. Release yourself to Jesus. He will make a way.”

1 Cor. 13:11 AMP

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.

II Cor. 5:17 AMP

Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ, (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

Gal. 2:20 AMP

I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

I have heard that in a culture long ago, one form of punishment for murder was to strap the murderer to the one whom he had killed, face to face, body to body. The murderer would carry the rotting corpse of his victim around until he died. I assume he died, among other things, from the poisons he breathed in day after day as the corpse decayed.

You and I are new creatures altogether, if we have submitted everything that we are or have ever been to the Lordship of Jesus. Who we once were and what we once desired to do no longer lives. You will notice I said “Lordship,” not some emotional altar call or half-hearted commitment.

Once that true submission has been made, our old nature and each specific sin, once they are submitted, are dead in us. The vibrant life of Jesus Christ now lives in us.

Why would we carry around the carcass of our old death-dealing, sinful nature - something rotting and decaying - when Christ’s life-giving, sinless nature is within us? His nature insures abundant life. Our old nature is sure death.

Set me free, Lord,

Jim Corbett

8/04/21 Mind Wars

Does this sound familiar? You’re finally able to clear your busy schedule and find those few quiet moments you’ve been looking for to spend time with God, only you’re unable to focus on Him. The Bible study part comes relatively easy because you can focus on the words on the page; but to sit quietly and simply wait on Him for intimate communication is an incredible task. Your thoughts go to incidental stuff that needs to be done, old sins, the work load that’s waiting, etc., etc. Finally, you give up and walk away, feeling that your time was wasted or even that you’ve failed God one more time.

Most of us don’t realize the real war we face. The enemy has relatively little trouble with us going to church, attending men’s breakfast meetings, feeding the poor, or participating in any other spiritual in nature activity. However, if he can keep us from building an intimate relationship with our Lord, he wins. His deadly fear is that believers - especially men who are stewards of others - will develop an intimacy of love, power, and spiritual wealth with their Father in the throne room. The enemy is already defeated through the cross, but he loses all battles in every area of our lives if we get our strategies directly from God.

Therein lies the battle. We, as believers, need supernatural wisdom to overcome the world. The only place we can get this kind of wisdom is in quiet intimacy with our Father God. Since the enemy knows this, he will do anything to keep us from that kind of interaction. He will use extreme challenges, distractions, business, remembrances of past fishing trips, anything to keep us from developing that relationship.

Understanding the war and knowing the primary battle is the first step to winning. The battle plan is to keep going to God and pressing in through His power. Cast down the imaginations placed in your way. Give them over to the Lord. Seek God for His power to keep your mind focused. Press in, press in, and press in some more until the only desire you have in your heart is to be with your Father. Delight yourself in the Lord, and all the heart desires and needs you have will become part of the full, mature, loving relationship for which you’ve been born.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

8/03/21 Make Room in Your Heart

“So much is poised to break forth in the spiritual realm. So much is ready to be fulfilled. Soon you will see many foretold events fulfilled with lightning speed. Soon, what you hold in your hand will be of little importance. What is held in your heart will be what matters. Make room in your heart for the ways of Jesus. Make room for His character and His obedience. Invest in those things that have eternal value. Cultivate a heart for the souls of men. Make it your priority in everything that you do. In doing so, you will be functioning with Me, heart to heart. When that happens, I am blessed, you are fulfilled, and My plan is going forth.”

II Sam. 16:7 AMP

But the Lord said to Samuel, Look not on his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as a man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

Eph. 1:17-19a NIV

17) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

18) I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

19a) and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

II Peter 3:9 AMP

The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.

It is so easy to lose God’s perspective. From a heavenly perspective, our scurrying around, attempting to store up those things that are passing away, must seem a little silly to say the least. Sad to say, I believe that our foolish actions break the heart of our Father.

If you begin in Genesis and end in Revelation, one very clear point is made. God wishes that none should perish. It is the thread of truth that weaves its way throughout all of Scripture. It is why Jesus did what He did. It is what we are in position to do every moment of our lives.

Let me move with You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

8/03/21 The Captivity of Activity

Each of us has seasons in our lives, which are designed by God to further our walk with Him or to challenge us to find His power to win the war against our drawing near to Him. One of my more recent seasons was spent on a porch in North Carolina, where I enjoyed the view of a wonderful mountain landscape. For five years, weather permitting, I was able to spend hours and hours with Him. I had been given no purpose but to sit and wait in His presence, find His direction, and then come back to His lap when any assignment was completed. Even though I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, this season was more marvelous than I can express in words.

My season has definitely changed. At present, the demands of my life cause me to fight for moments with the Lord. I know He’s always available, waiting for me to join Him; but now, obligations are pressing in on all sides. There is a continual war raging to keep me from those quiet moments I had learned to cherish. The freedom to be with Him at almost any time I wanted now has to be fought for in the midst of the business of my life. If I don’t recognize the war and engage in the battle to be with Him, I become captive to all the activities that demand my attention. It’s a conscious battle that must be fought moment by moment if I want my life to be really significant in Him.

As husbands and fathers, you have the most important battle of your lives facing you every moment of every day. The demands you face and the choices you make will determine how well you are able to carry out your offices. If you don’t recognize that your priority must be to develop an intimate relationship with Father God and fight desperately for it, your life and the lives of those in your care will be greatly affected. Instead of a vibrant, world-overcoming love relationship with your Lord, you will find yourself and those around you counted among the lukewarm masses, unable to lead others to a significant life, the one bought for you at the cross. You’ll be held captive by your activity, unable to break loose from your bondage or help others to overcome their war. Is that what you want?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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