Tag: Christianity

“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

“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

“I have designed you to be advocates one to another. I have called you to watch out for your brother’s or sister’s best interests before your own. You are to lay your life down for them. That is the very basic heart involvement toward one another if you call yourself followers of My Son. There are no options. If you act in any other way toward each other, you are denying My love to them. You are a hypocrite if you do not love one another and then profess love for Me. Your praises are empty. Your worship is nothing but lies. Turn from carnal feelings and sensual motivations. Love one another as freely as you breathe. You will then testify of My love for you to a world that needs to understand the wonders of the cross.”

John 13:34-35 NIV

34) “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

35) All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”

John 15:12-14 NIV

12) “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

13) Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

14) You are my friends if you do what I command.”

1 John 4:20a NIV

If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar.

 

It is always fascinating how we pick and choose the Bible verses that allow us to remain in our carnal ways of thinking, by-passing those that are definitive commands to follow. The Word is very clear about how we, as followers of Christ, are to act one to another; yet we gloss over some of the commands - not suggestions - of the Lord as if He really didn’t mean what He said.

The word “friend” in John v.14 above is a covenant term. Jesus was making a covenant statement about how we are to act one to another if we say we are in covenant with Him. It looks like He said we are “in covenant” with Him IF we love each other in the same manner that He loved us. Wasn’t He the One who gave up His life for us?

Yikes, Lord! Turn my heart to Your ways,

Jim Corbett

“Submit your needs to Me. I will cover them with My love. Submit your plans to Me. I will apply My wisdom, so that they have eternal value. Most of all, submit your heart fully to Me as Jesus did. I will enlarge it to include all that I am as your God.”

Proverbs 16:9 AMP

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

Proverbs 20:24a AMP

Man’s steps are ordered by the Lord.

Isaiah 30:21 NIV

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Matthew 10:29-31 NIV

29) “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

30) And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31) So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

John 5:19-20 NIV

19) Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

20) For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.”

 

What an astounding privilege - to have a loving Father Who cares about all of our days and desires to be involved in them for our good!

A spirit of compassionate insight (mourning) is the spirit that “drove” Jesus from His kingly station in the heavens down to earth to take on the form of one of His own created beings. He placed Himself “in the shoes” of each one of us both in this life and for eternity.

Feeling our present and future pain of separation from the Father, there was nothing that He could do but spend His life for us. His focus was on our loss. He cared about what would happen to us if He didn’t intervene on our behalf.

Having no separation between His heart and the heart of His Father, He also took as His own the loss that the Father had because of the sin of mankind, which caused separation. Father longed for all those He loved to cherish His glory for their well-being. Because the Father felt that way, so did Jesus - not in an elementary form of human caring, but with all of the compassions of the Father. When He moved in compassion, our needs and pains were taken on by Him as His own.

Own my heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“There is great tumult in the spiritual realm. Much is being done to fulfill the times and seasons that will continue to usher in what you might call the end times. All is going as planned. All is in order as I see it. As I observe both the spiritual and physical realms, I see a great wonder to behold for those who are discerning enough to enjoy what is transpiring. To the casual observer, chaos, fear, uncertainty, and upheaval of their normal lifestyle will be all that is evident. What is happening in their little world will be so large to them that they will miss the wonder of the fulfillment of My plans that is taking place in their midst. Sad to say, that will be the plight of most of My church.

"As a woman in labor can only focus on the pain of childbirth, the world, and most of My people, will focus on only the physical manifestations that are before them. They will be tossed in every direction, responding to their own pain and fear. Trying to hold their tiny world together, they will struggle to survive rather than see the wondrous opportunities to bring souls into My kingdom. Those who have heard My call over the years and have been trained to interpret what is happening from My perspective, however, will have the strength and wisdom to look past what is evident and see the forthcoming birth, not the pain of labor. They will prosper. They will not waste a moment of the precious time that is left in padding their own comfort zones. Powerful, loving, and totally free, they will go about My business with only My plans and My desires in mind. Thankful for the time, they will relish the time that is left as opportunity and promised fulfillment. One in heart with Me, My real church will see clearly, love deeply, and rise above their physical lives. Moving in My power, they will walk under My anointing and bring many home with them.”

 2 Cor. 2:14-16a NIV

14) But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us everywhere spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

15) For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

16a) To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.

2 Cor. 4:17-18 AMP

17) For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparison and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!],

18) Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.

 

I am amazed at how alive and well my flesh is after all these years. For many years, I have studied the times and seasons. I have often preached about the coming of the Lord and the chaos that will happen just before that wondrous event. I know that only the strength of the Lord will allow any of us to overcome what is ahead, but in that strength we will be able to prosper and truly be victorious. Why then, do I bounce around between wonder, joy, and fear?

Forgive me, Lord. Give me Your strength. Let me see and function only from Your perspective,

Jim Corbett