Tag: Church

“In your quest to be like Jesus, make sure that you do not remain self-focused. It is not His way. Even though you are concentrating on His character and comparing yours to His so that you can repent for change to take place, keep your heart toward others. Be aware of those around you who have need. Long for souls. Listen to My directives. While the work is being done in you, there is much to be accomplished through you. Jesus always cared for others while I was working through Him. You do the same.”

Genesis 1:27-28a AMP

27) So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him: male and female He created them.

28a) And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]…

Psalm 106:12-15 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.

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

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.”

 

The character of Christ will never be complete in us until we care for others the way He did. He gave His life so that you and I could be spared eternal separation from God. That kind of love is not something that would simply be good to have; it is paramount if we say that we follow Him. If it is not in us, every one of us should make it our priority to attain it. We can’t grunt it into existence. We can’t make believe that we have it by doing good things. The only way it will ever be achieved in us is if we go to the Father in repentance for our lack of desire for Jesus to live through us.

Father, I repent of not wanting to be completely eliminated so that Jesus can freely live through me,

Jim Corbett

“If I were to call you home today, would your life give a testimony of your obedience? Would it show that you have listened to My direction and moved in My heart towards those around you through Jesus? Have you done what I asked you to do? More importantly, have you chosen time with Me over time with the world and its ways? Your life and how you spend it really counts, you know!”

I Sam. 15:22 NIV

But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

Jer. 10:23 AMP

O Lord [pleads Jeremiah in the name of the people], I know that [the determination of] the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man [even in a strong man or in a man at his best] to direct his [own] steps.

Luke 12:48b AMP

For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required; and of him to whom men entrust much, they will require and demand all the more.

Ephesians 3:10-12 AMP

10) [The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.

11) This is in accordance with the terms of the eternal and timeless purpose which He has realized and carried into effect in [the person of] Christ Jesus our Lord.

12) In Whom, because of our faith in Him, we dare to have the boldness (courage and confidence) of free access (an unreserved approach to God with freedom and without fear).

 

You and I have been born with a purpose and for a purpose. We are the Lord’s tools - designed, then redesigned and continually perfected to represent His heart and desire to our specific corner of the world, even to the angelic creation. Maybe we had better get on with it.

When was the last time you became passionate about the Lord’s plans? For that matter, when was the last time the Lord’s plans for your life took priority over the other demands you face each day? God is clearly requiring each of us to make Him our priority. Still, most of us agonize over the demands of simply living out each day - paying the rent, providing for food, etc. To stop, even for a day, and spend it entirely with the Lord should He ask us to do so would be beyond comprehension for some of us.

Give me Your passions, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Unfolding your life for you is a joy every heavenly moment. I relish the idea that you will eventually be the person that I have planned for you to be. I see how you stumble and wander and wonder. I love how you are seeking for truth. It pleases Me that you are coming to Me more often for that truth. You need to know that I am pleased with you. I understand how far you have to go. I appreciate the struggles that you are going through. I knew how many times you would fail long before you were born, and still I gladly invited you to be with Me for eternity.

"If you have any doubt that I would ever leave you or forsake you, eliminate that doubt forever in your mind. It is all a lie of the enemy. I have created you. I have called you. Now I am forming you. I will invest My time in you because I believe in who you are. You are valuable to Me. It delights Me to know that I am becoming more valuable to you each and every day. This is only the beginning. You should see what I have in store for you. Run your race hard. Focus on your calling. Prepare as a bride in waiting with every fiber of your being. It will all be worth it.”

Ps. 139:14-16 NIV

14) I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

15) My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16) your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

2 Cor. 3:3 AMP 

You show and make obvious that you are a letter Christ delivered by us, not written with ink but with [the] Spirit of [the] living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

II Tim. 4:7-8 NIV

7) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

8) Now there is in  store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

 

What an incredible Father! The more we learn of Him, the more we can understand why He goads us, chastises us, encourages us, and flat out loves us. He has a plan for us.

I once received a letter demanding that I remove a person from our mailing list. He asked to be removed because he stated that the messages were for the “namby-pamby, wimpy, and weak.” He went on to say that the messages nauseated him and that a “Mr. Rogers” approach to the gospel was not appealing to him. He said that God is violent with our sins and will rip us from them by force…

I took that letter to prayer often after receiving it, wondering if the strong truth needed to bring each of us to proper, honest repentance was not being spoken. Many times I reviewed the former messages to gain overall insight into what is really on the heart of our Father.

I have come to this conclusion. Our Father in heaven is a loving Father who is eliminating the sin in our lives with determined energy. He has brought us to Himself through Jesus Christ so that we have the privilege of knowing who He really is. God is violent with our sin, but He is loving toward us. We have been brought into His presence because of the shed blood of Jesus. That blood is not wasted.

There is a fearful awe of God that is missing in the church today. He will not be mocked. That awe, however, should never overwhelm us to the point that we can’t go to Him in need while we are in the process of being cleaned up and made into the image of Christ. We can come to Him, confident that He will accept us because of and covered in the blood of Jesus.

I feel very sorry for the one who wrote the letter mentioned above. He has focused on an attitude that shows little of the complete nature of our Father who loves us deeply, whether He is chastising us or encouraging us. The man is missing so much.

Able to cry “Abba” because of Jesus,

Jim Corbett