Tag: Christianity

“Are you cherishing those I bring into your life? Do you realize that I love them very much, no matter what condition they are in? I send them to you so that they can get a closer look as to what Jesus looks like. Do they see Him in you? Do they have more of a desire to serve Him because they have been with you, and you have shown the wonders of His person?

"That is why you have been called into My kingdom. You have not been called to be with Me so that you can be well-fed and satisfied. You have been called so that My plan can be furthered. Begin to see your life and your purpose for living through My eyes. You will be amazed at how patient I have been with you.”

Psalm 106:12-15a AMP 

12) Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise.

13) But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them.

14) But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert.

15a) And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls…

Matt. 7:21-23 NIV

21) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22) Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

23) Then, I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Matthew 16:22-23 NIV  

22) Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23) Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Out of my sight, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

 

A self-serving gospel is dead religion masked in spirituality. It is another gospel, not the gospel preached by Jesus. So many Christians today think that they are living according to the will of the Lord, when He has long ago bypassed them and is using those with open hearts who long to do His will.

The Lord has a remnant in training, a people who surrender every aspect of their being to His Lordship every moment of every day. They are learning to live entirely in Christ, rather than attempting to find the easiest road to heaven and consuming the things that the Lord has provided for them upon themselves. He is raising up a holy people, calling them out from the cold religious functions so prevalent today.

Do whatever it takes, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Do you remember that I own every beat of your heart? What if I were to call you home today? Would you have fulfilled My desired plan for you? Would your life have been of consequence? You really have a choice. You can do many great and not so great things. You can look to others as if you had a deep relationship with Me because of your many activities. But I know. I know if We have spent enough time together for you to fully understand My will for your life. I know the difference between good activities and anointed steps guided by My heart. Come to Me now to learn of My purpose for giving you more beats of your heart. Come and allow Me to make your life of great consequence.”

Proverbs 16:9 AMP

A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure.

Proverbs 20:24 AMP

Man’s steps are ordered by the Lord. How then can a man understand his way?

Isaiah 2:22 AMP

Cease to trust in [weak, frail, and dying] man, whose breath is in his nostrils [for so short a time]; in what sense can he be counted as having intrinsic worth?”

 

If you were to take all the imaginations of mankind, all the wealth, knowledge, and power of all the men and women that have ever lived and combine them, multiplied by one million to the millionth power, it would not compare to the wonder of one moment of God in His ordinary (for Him) daily activities and interactions with us. With all that our Father God is and has and has done, His heart has favor toward the opportunity He created for those He formed from the ground of the earth to be in association with Him.

This love association is an unparalleled drama that has overwhelmed the mind of the scholar, disgusted the heart of the bigot, softened the heart of the needy, and filled to overflowing the heart of the child.  In all the wonder that is our God, the most amazing aspect, which has baffled mankind throughout his time in existence, is the well-put phrase in the Book of Psalms, “Who is man that you are mindful of him?

Thank You for caring about my life, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Foolish hearts and lying tongues cannot be part of your association or interaction one to another. Both must be far removed if you desire My presence. You must consider the horrible impact of these acts. A foolish heart minimizes the importance of those things that are important to Me. It denies biblical truths and sways others to live for themselves, not for the glory of Jesus. A lying tongue kills the truth. It murders the wealth of My Holy Spirit, separates My children, and destroys the trust, one to another, that is needed if you are to move with Me.

"Get rid of these elements in your fellowship. Get rid of them in your heart. Get rid of them in your association with Me, so that I may use you to touch others. I require you to walk in integrity with a steadfast heart. Come to Me in repentance as you see any sign of these attitudes in your life. I will gladly remove them from you. They must be out of your life before we go on.”

Joshua 7:13 AMP

Up, sanctify (set apart for a holy purpose) the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: There are accursed things in the midst of you, O Israel. You can not stand before your enemies until you take away from among you the things devoted [to destruction].

Jeremiah 15:19 AMP

Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God’s faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece…

Col. 3:9-10 AMP

9) Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old (unregenerate) self with its evil practices.

10) And have clothed yourselves with the new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remolded into [fuller and more perfect knowledge upon] knowledge after the image (the likeness) of Him Who created it.

 

A fool says in his heart that there is no God. Any degree of foolishness that is within us decreases our ability to see our Father for who He really is. The more foolishness there is, the less we appreciate the magnificence of God.

A lie is as deadly as murder to any life in Christ. Satan is the father of lies.

So, let’s see…we lie to one another and harbor foolishness in our hearts by looking to the world for truth and comfort. Not a real good testimony.

Teach me truth, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Delight yourself in Me. Make Me part of those things that mean much to you. Cherish the values of Jesus. Pattern your life after His life. If you do these things, your heart will cherish the things of His heart.  It will hold them dear. With the same heart motives as His, your requests to Me will be in line with My Word and My heart. You can then rest assured that your every request will be fulfilled, for I know it will further My kingdom.”

Psalm 37:4 NIV 

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

I John 5:14-15 AMP 

14) And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us.

15) And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him.

 

Few of us remember that everything we do is supposed to be about God’s desires, His plans, and His will. Many times we attempt to make this Christian walk all about us and our desires and plans. God becomes this bottomless well from which we can draw. He is a gift giver, protector of our freedoms, and maker of our prosperity. Foolish teachers even make dead end doctrines - which are heralded by the selfish and accepted by the immature - out of our need to have our lusts fulfilled.

Once we understand and accept the Lord’s way, we become free. Our prayers come in line with God’s ideas. Our needs become focused on how they can further the Lord’s work. The desires of our hearts change. Our motives become pure.  We ask for ways to become more like Jesus. We crave tools to help others. The things of the world fall away, pale in comparison with the things of God. All of our hearts’ desires are fulfilled, sometimes without even asking. God fulfills them because they are in line with His heart. He is a Father who gives good gifts.

I want Your heart desires, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“If you are My child, We will be walking through many different seasons together. You can count on it. There will be overall seasons that orchestrate the coming of My Son. There will also be personal seasons to refine, change, and develop you into the very image of His character. You will become as the perfect, waiting bride because of the work that takes place in you during these seasons.

"The overall seasons began at the time of My creation of your world. Everything has been put in order to bring My creation to the completed salvation process. You are living in the very end of the time before I call all things to be fulfilled. It is then that the season of future eternities will be implemented. You are very much a part of that season also. You will be used as My instruments during that time.

"I need to have you embrace your personal seasons with zeal. Understand that you must go through each personally tailored season, so that you become exactly who I have designed you to be. If your season is particularly difficult, please know that I understand your pain and that I am with you through it. If you are in a season of rest, please know that I love you enough to refresh you before you embrace the next refiner’s fire. Fires bring forth the perfection. They will become increasingly intense because I am about to require much of you.  Anyone who is not going through seasons of refinement has long ago been put aside. I love them very much, but they have some time ago halted the deep refining work in their lives. It grieves Me, but I honor that.

"Those of you who feel as if I have lifted My hand from your life, that I am not answering your prayers, that I don’t seem to care - you are very, very wrong. The opposite is true. It is because you have given Me freedom to do what it takes to fulfill My desires in you that you are now in deep training. You have responded to Me as My Son did. I am very pleased with Him and I am very pleased with you. Keep submitting and trusting; I am with you.”

Zech. 13:9 AMP

And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will hear and answer them. I will say, It is My people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.

Rom 8:29 AMP 

For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.

Rev. 3:19 AMP

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

 

My thumb is wrinkled from sucking on it like a baby during particularly difficult refining times. In seasons of rest, I sometimes forget the object of my life and take my eyes off the goal. I then run back onto the lap of my Lord the minute things return to the “normalcy” of refinement. Sometimes I forget that the reason that I am living is for God’s reasons.

When I remember that I have been bought into a family that has a mandate to love deeper and care more about someone else’s desires than my own, everything becomes clear. My life is not my own. That’s for real.

Having said that, I realize that it’s going to take a lot to bring me to a place of consistently letting go of my own desires. There will have to be difficulties that I can’t overcome, challenges that are bigger than I am; and trials that make me cry out in agony. Why, I’ll have to be hemmed in on all sides at times, so that I can’t move. It will be important to go down some deadend roads, where perils await me. There must also be times when I feel so alone that it’s physically painful, just so that I cry out for help to the One who bought me.

Obviously, the picture is clear. We have only one purpose in this life. It is not our own. It is to submit to whatever influence that the Lord decides will change us and make us more like Jesus. We should even do it joyfully, knowing how much it means to our Lord. The more we squirm, procrastinate, and decide not to submit to His hand of purpose, the more we proclaim own rebellion. We lie and lie and lie, even to ourselves, making believe that our life is of importance in some other way.

Wanting to really admit where my values are placed,

Jim Corbett