“When you are challenged in any way, who or what do you really turn to? Do you turn to your personal abilities, your own wisdom, or your financial strength? Do you vitalize your connections, automatically call in your resources, and resolve the need within your circle of contacts? Or do you immediately turn to Me? I desire to be your first contact in everything you do. I desire that you understand fully that I am your only source for everything. It is important that your immediate reaction, your first thought whenever you have need of any kind, is to turn to Me.
"From there, I will provide the proper directions and the proper contacts. All will be accomplished in the proper timing. Your first submission to Me indicates how aware you are of My Lordship. It indicates a heart submission that is mandatory for all of My children. Most of My church has forgotten this simple equation for their lives. I have prospered them and given them resources. Soon they make the tragic mistake of becoming independent of Me and then wonder why their lives are out of order, why there is strife in their household. It is because they are using their own resources first, without thinking, rather than submitting to My Lordship as an immediate response. It is a subtle lie, but a very destructive heart position. Don’t make the same mistake.
"Place your priorities in proper order. Even if I have given you all of the abilities, all of the resources, and all of the answers for anything that comes your way, practice first submitting to My Lordship in all that you do. Give your first thoughts and your immediate reactions to Me before you do anything else, placing even the smallest challenge under My Lordship. It will bring your life back in order and give you true prosperity.”
Hosea 13:6 NIV
“When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.”
True lordship has no independence from the lord that is served. In the world, when in service of sin, everything is controlled by the sin. It is what has been submitted to.
The epitome of that lordship (and may I say, Satan’s counterfeit of godly Lordship) would be someone who is a dope addict. Each waking moment serves the lord of dope and addiction. There are no thoughts except those of being high or getting the next fix. People under that horrible taskmaster will do anything to serve that lord over their lives. Most of the time, the thought of breaking free never enters their minds. They are committed heart and soul to the demon lord that they serve.
Much more subtle is the service of self, especially after we say that we submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our lives. Most of us cry out to Jesus for our salvation, seek the Lord on a regular basis, and never really understand that we are holding our sacred independence of Him in most of what we do. We take what He gives us and run with it, until we come to some sort of roadblock. Then we return to seek Him for that need, only to run again, until the next need occurs.
True biblical Lordship is a loving heart position of full and complete commitment to the Lord of all. It is a longing to be under absolute submission to Jesus in everything, standing with Him against any form of independence that might occur in our lives, rather than craving, in any way, to be set free from His total and complete mastery. Even the smallest thought is under His Lordship. Complete, unquestioned, loving commitment and absolute obedience captivate the heart. It is the heart of a joyously surrendered, fully prepared, adoring end-time bride. From that wealthy place, everything else falls in order.
Make me completely Yours, Lord,
Jim Corbett