Tag: Church

“You need to begin the quest for those you can trust. The time is coming when it will be very important to understand who your friends and holy alliances are. Spiritual discernment will be the key to your safety. Be especially aware of those who seem to be with you but have a hidden agenda and are out to destroy the work that I have given you.

"Watch for jealousies. Cherish your anointing. Beware of those who only want to distract you and consume your time in endless controversies. In the times ahead, I will send many alliances your way. Mark them by their integrity regarding My Word. Watch their lifestyles. Judge their priorities. Allow Me to show you truth concerning their position in your life.”

Amos 3:3 KJV

“Can two walk together except they be agreed?”

Acts 15:36-40 AMP 

36) And after some time Paul said to Barnabas, Come let us go back and again visit and help and minister to the brethren in every town where we made known the message of the Lord, and see how they are getting along.

37) Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark [his near relative].

38) But Paul did not think it best to have along with them the one who had quit and deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

39) And there followed a sharp disagreement between them, so that they separated from each other, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.

40) But Paul selected Silas and set out, being commended by the brethren to the grace (the favor and mercy) of the Lord.

 

The above words are not to be confused with being judgmental and condemning, or even about loving your enemies. We must never condemn others and are required to love everyone, even our enemies.

What is often misunderstood is the need to be cautious about placing trust in those who are untrustworthy, walking together with the untrained, and relying on the spiritual integrity of someone who has none. Many lives and ministries have been sidetracked or even destroyed by people infiltrating their ranks with hidden agendas, impure motives, and untested maturity—even though they may have come from prominent, seemingly successful positions, and appear spiritually mature.

After more than thirty years in outreach, we have learned that very few people are what they seem at first encounter. Because of that and our awareness of the importance of being stewards of our mission, we need to discern how much importance people place on their life in Christ, especially if there is an attempt to walk closely with us. The Lord has many times allowed the true spiritual colors of individuals to come to light, mercifully before much harm is done. Over time, the Lord has given us true, trustworthy alliances—proven faithful under fire and spiritually wealthy. He has also shown us those who buckle under when times get rough.

In the times and seasons ahead, be especially discerning about those you allow to share in your calling or the private issues of your life. Love everyone. Befriend and assist many. Bless your enemies. Allow the Lord, however, to make it very clear to you those with whom you are to walk closely and share His work.

Show me the truth, Lord, 

Jim Corbett

“There are times when I orchestrate your life away from the things you want and the turns you desire to take. I will step in the way of some of the directions in which you are heading. I will provide detours on the road that you are traveling. You will experience sudden heart changes, noticeable attitude adjustments on the parts of others involved, and outcomes that were unpredictable in the beginning of your journey— all so that you are stopped from making a major mistake in your life’s direction. Although you will not understand, at the time, why your plans did not work out and your present situation seems as if I have not answered your prayers, one day you will see that My way was correct.

"I always have your best interests in My heart. I always know how you can best fulfill the plan I have for you. Submit to My will in every situation. Let go of anything that is not My promise to you, which I am not allowing to come to pass. You have limited understanding. I know the beginning from the end.”

II Chr 16:9 NIV

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him...”

Psalm 25:12-14 NIV

12) Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.

13) He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.

14) The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

Jude 17-21 NIV

17) But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.

18) They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”

19) These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

20) But you, dear friends, build yourself up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.

21) Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

 

We have to be careful to discern the difference between God-spoken promises that we have been given and personal desires that we want the Lord to fulfill for us. You know—those heart cravings that are not from Him but feel as if they should be.

When we have been given a promise by the Lord, we can stand with Him until it is fulfilled, no matter how long it takes or how impossible its fulfillment in the future appears to be. If it really is His promise, we can have absolute confidence that He will fulfill it in His time and in the way He chooses.

After many years of being with the Lord, I can look back and find that He has often protected me from myself. He did not allow something to happen that I was sure He should bring to pass for me. At the time, I thought it had to be His will. It felt so right, and it would make me really, really happy. I knew for sure it was a God thing!

As I remember situations, relationships, and opportunities that did not come to pass as I thought they should, I am so grateful for the Lord’s intervention. From the vantage point of hindsight, I now see that some of what I wanted would have caused great harm to me and the work of the Lord, had I continued to travel the road I was on. God sure takes care of His ignorant kids. Whew!

Thank You so much for Your intervention, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“You need to take stock of what you have used to replace intimacy with Me. What have you used to comfort yourself, instead of allowing Me to do a deeper work in your heart? Do you not know that you are working against Me when you do such things? I am fulfilling My promise by making you into the character of Jesus, while you are buying things that you really don’t need and taking on activities to make you feel better. How counterproductive is that?

"Observe why you are doing what you are doing. Compare it to what I would be doing to make you more like Jesus. Spend enough time with Me to know what is truth for your life. Submit to My hand upon you.”

II Samuel 14:14b NIV

“But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.”

Romans 2:4 NIV

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

Romans 5:1-5 NIV

1) Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2) through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

3) Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

4) perseverance, character; and character, hope.

5) And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

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.

 

I cringe when I attend evangelistic altar calls where the preacher promises health, wealth, and a trouble-free life if someone comes to Jesus. Usually, it is only a matter of time before a person who has responded to come to Christ for those reasons finds himself disenchanted, confused, and looking for other ways to soothe the need he has inside.

Our submission to Jesus as Lord should be for one reason and one reason alone. We are to submit to His Lordship because He is the only Lord, and we are created to love and serve Him.

Through the working and wooing of the Holy Spirit, we come to Jesus. Once we respond to that call, our lives are a continuous series of submissions to the hand of our Lord and changes that are completed in us because of those submissions. We are being made into the image of Christ. To do anything to fight against that process is actually working against God. No wonder we are so exhausted so much of the time!

I quit wanting my own way, Lord,

Jim Corbett