Tag: Church

“You need to remember that I am a God of sudden actions. All My Words will be fulfilled. All My warnings will come to pass. All the attempts to make you complacent about My plans will fall away and be proven to be the lies that they are. Everything will happen suddenly! You will have no time to prepare. You will have no time to scramble around to know My heart. You will need to find safety in Me, but I will have closed the doors to My ways for you. I have often asked you to repent of your independent ways. I have asked you to spend the time with Me to know My heart. I have cautioned you to prepare. You have gone about your business instead of learning of My business for you. Suddenly, everything is going to change, and you will be unprepared. What will you do then? You still have time. Don’t wait for the suddenly.”

Isaiah 48:3 NIV

“I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.”

Isaiah 66:9 AMP

Shall I bring to the [moment of] birth and not cause to bring forth? says the Lord. Shall I Who causes to bring forth shut the womb? says your God.

Jeremiah 2:13 NIV

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

Jeremiah 12:5 AMP

[But the Lord rebukes Jeremiah’s impatience, saying] If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions] in the swelling and flooding of the Jordan?

Hosea 13:6 NIV

“When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.”

 

Noah’s flood came suddenly after one hundred twenty years of preparation. The day that Israel was told to move from the desert came suddenly after forty years of waiting for the Lord’s promise to be fulfilled. The sandals of the Messiah stepped on the shores of the Jordan River suddenly, after four thousand years of promises.

Our Lord has invited us to draw close to Him for many years. He has shown us of the times and seasons in which we live. Over and over again He has asked us to prepare our hearts for Jesus as a bride would prepare for her wedding. Suddenly, when all things come to pass, the promised fulfillment of everything He has been saying will show us how foolish we have been.

Help me to understand and submit to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Do you have any idea what you are doing? I don’t mean, do you know how to do what you do? I mean, do you know why you do what you do? Let’s talk. I have a very specific plan for each life that is Mine. Each of My children has been born into My family to prosper in a specific calling. In My plan, each of you has a specific role to play so that My will is accomplished. All of your life’s experiences have happened, so that you flow freely while doing your part in My plan. When you function in that role, however, you not only fulfill My desires; but you also are completed and fulfilled yourself because you are doing what you have been created to do.

“Is it any wonder that most of My church flounders through their lives, moving and being moved by the dictates of wrong decisions and fleshly-motivated actions? Most of you have not sought Me enough to have even a clue as to what you have been created for. You now find yourselves unhappy and without joy, plodding through your days, handcuffed by and serving the gods that you have created. My desire for you is that you prosper. My desire is for you to show the world the joy of serving Me, so that they will have taste buds to do the same. Come to Me today and submit your will to My perfect will for you. You will be surprised at how wonderful your life becomes when We flow together.”

Prov. 19:20-21 AMP

20) Hear counsel, receive instruction, and accept correction, that you may be wise in the time to come.

21) Many plans are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand.

Phil. 2:12b-13 AMP

12b …work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).

13) [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.

Heb. 13:20-21 NIV

20) May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,

21) equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 

I once knew a husband and wife who were called into the mission field. The call had been confirmed to them many, many times.

Over the years, while the call was being given to them, they acquired many “things” and submitted themselves to a lifestyle that demanded their full attention and daily service. After several years of not responding to the Lord, the call on their lives became quieter and quieter until they could no longer hear it. Having counseled with them often during the time of their struggle to respond to the Lord, the specific time when they said their final “no” on the Lord’s timeline was very evident. Their joy left. Their needs and wants now totally stifled the voice of the Lord.

Their lives became a sad myriad of religious activity without true joy and void of real meaning.  They had chosen their way, rather than the plan for which the Lord had created them.

Praying to desire to hear and respond only to the plans of God,

Jim Corbett

“I am deeply concerned with your lack of response to My warnings. I don’t want you to begin to strive to do anything that I ask you to do. I do, however, ask you to submit yourself to Me, so that I might change you. It is for your good that I ask you to observe the times and seasons in which you live. It is for your good that I ask you to draw close to Me. I know that you are hearing the same requests over and over again, but it is necessary for Me to tell you so that you make some proper decisions regarding your priorities. Listen to this. Time is short. I need those, who follow Me with all of their hearts, undistracted by the world in any way.

“Things will soon not be as they are now. You must heed My call to sell out while you can, so that you will be able to be used by Me fully. Most of the world and many in My church will wander around, wide-eyed and drooling at the mouth from fear as circumstances change. I will need leaders who remain clear thinking and full of My passions. They will be used to bring reason to an unreasonable time. My people must now prepare, so that they will have what is needed for those who are unprepared. Please listen and begin a life of submission.

“Do not believe in your faith to uphold you. Believe in My commitment to you and you will be a beacon in very dark places. I will soon do a new thing in those who heed My call. I will be strong for them. Those who do not respond now will not be able to find the kind of wealth that will be needed to overcome when darkness prevails. Come to Me now with longing hearts. Be like children, so that I am free to make you mature missionaries, who are free when others only feel bondage.”

Isaiah 28:9-11 NLB

9) They say, “Who does the Lord think we are? Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, barely old enough to talk?

10) He tells us everything over and over again, a line at a time, in very simple words!”

11) Since they refuse to listen, God will speak to them through foreign oppressors who speak an unknown language!

Jeremiah 12:5 AMP

….. If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take to flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions] in the swelling and flooding of the Jordan?

John 12:35 NIV

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you.”

 

The longer I walk with the Lord, the more I’m convinced that preparedness is a key. Throughout the Word, God calls His people to prepare; then He acts. Those who heeded His warnings and encouragements thrived because they acted on His call. Others, who did not listen to Him, were overcome by the foretold circumstances.

I may have shared this with you before, but it brings home a point. Suppose you were in jungle combat training but felt that things could not be as bad as everyone said they were, or that you knew enough to get by. Because of your foolishness, you decided not to attend the survival training meetings, or the hand-to-hand combat seminar, which was held on the same night as the football game; and parachute training was somewhat of a bore. Things would go pretty much as usual for a while as you slept in the safety of your barracks. Your life would seem relatively safe, at least until you found yourself in line to get on the plane that takes you to the drop zone over the jungle. About then, I suppose that your eyes would be pretty wide with fear.

As you were in the air, I imagine your focus would be to attempt to get some information from the others around you. More than likely, you would ask some pretty pointed questions regarding what they had learned in training.

About the time you hit the jungle floor, (if you survived the jump,) you would probably realize that you are really no good at what you are called to do. Not only are you unreliable, you are now a hindrance to those around you because you require of them what you should have learned yourself long ago. Bankrupt of any real skill, your survival now depends on their knowledge and skills.

Let’s carry this a little further. What if they never went to classes either?

Wanting to really hear and submit,

Jim Corbett