Tag: Church

“Holiness and intimacy with Me is the antidote for any terror that comes your way. Nothing can stand against My presence. As you draw close to Me, you will know of My plans, understand My heart, and live My kind of life in your world. You will be impervious to any kind of threat from the enemy of your soul. You will move in unison with My will, hiding in the folds of My garment. There is no safer place. There is no more powerful place. There is no place more peaceful. Rest in Me! It is where you belong.”

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.

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.

Hebrews 10:14 NIV

because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

 

Those who desire to draw closer to the Lord and become all that they are intended to be know that religion, soulish good works, and striving have no part in their lives. Sometimes, however, every one of us has a tendency to fall into the trap of each one of those elements, especially when we hear the call to holiness and preparation for the coming of our Lord.

As the Father reveals all aspects of His heart, sometimes I reel with the overwhelming challenge that I am called to face. I begin to condemn myself for who I am not, cower at the prospects ahead of me as a Christian in the coming times, stagger at the weight of my responsibility to represent Jesus properly; and become discouraged as I attempt to prepare for His return. It is then that I remember that none of this was my idea in the first place. My Father has ordained my life and has promised to fulfill His plan for it and in it. My job is simply to need Him desperately.

In the above verse in Hebrews 10, I am so encouraged by the statement “those who are being made holy.” The wonderful part of “have [already] been made perfect” [in God’s eyes] is pretty incredible and difficult for me to understand fully, but “being made holy” soothes my heart.

At this very moment - and every moment until we are with our Father in Heaven - the process of making us holy is being accomplished, because we have surrendered our lives to Jesus and His completed work on the cross. When God is in the process of breaking us, He’s not trying so much to get us to say “uncle” as He is trying to get us to say “Abba.”

Teach me to say more “ABBA” and less “uncle,” Lord,

Jim Corbett

“What will be your legacy to future generations should the Lord tarry? For that matter, what kind of gift are you giving to those around you at present? What kind of person do people see when they observe your life? You are very fortunate. I have shown you the kind of character that truly pleases Me. Of course, there is Jesus. He is the One that each of you should emulate. His life was perfect. Throughout the years, however, I have been pleased with many of My children. Their greatest asset was the understanding that their lives really meant something, and they sought to find that meaning by seeking My heart; and then they followed what they learned from Me.

“I observe the lives of you and your generation. It appears to Me that most of you have given little thought to the fact that you are building a legacy. You seem to go about your days focused on your personal, earthly portfolio and have little concern about the impact it has on those who will follow you. I am not impressed at how much you have in the bank, how big your house is; or for that matter, how big your church is. It all came from Me anyway. I am impressed with how much you honor My reputation, how much you value what was done for you on Calvary; and how much you love others. Everything else matters little to Me.

“When was the last time that you began your day with the intent to honor Me in all that you did that day as your priority? When was the last time you determined in your heart to show everyone you met how valuable Jesus is to you? Have you ever begun your day with the goal of caring only for the needs of others, setting your own desires aside completely? That is the stuff I care about. I ask you this. After I call you home, what will people remember most about you? In the same way, what will you have in your portfolio to give to Me?”

Exodus 33:13 NIV

“If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.”

2 Cor. 3:2-3 NIV

2) You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.

3) You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Heb. 12:1 NIV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

 

One of the realizations that came to me some time ago is the fact that I can do nothing about what I have already done. It’s true. I can mend some broken fences, heal some soiled relationships, and rethink some of the mistakes; but I can’t undo what has already been established as my life. It is what will be presented to the Lord as my legacy when I face Him.

That frightened me enough to push the pause button. In my pondering, the Lord showed me that every action I take, every move I make, every situation I face, every interaction I have, and every word I say are creating my legacy. The moment they occur, they are unchangeable, cut in stone for eternity. I wanted to stop time, move the clock back, erase the board, and hide away until I could come up with a better game plan than I had so far. It was a very rude awakening.

After I pushed away a feeling of panic, wanting to try to stop my life from infecting more people adversely, I realized two things. First, the Lord showed me that His abundant mercy more than covered my abundant foolishness. He had it covered! Whew!!

Second, now that I was aware of the fact that my life really mattered to the plan of God, I had a responsibility to do something about it. The bottom line was I called myself a Christian, so I represented Jesus in everything I did or said whether I wanted to or not. I am the letter that He sends to those in my determined circle of influence. I am what He looks like to the grocer, the baker, and the candlestick maker. What I say and do to them is, in their eyes and in the eyes of My Father, my representation of Jesus. They see who He is by who I am!

One day I will see how well I did. I’m sure that my legacy will be covered in abundant mercy, but will it look like a crown?

Needing to really understand the impact of my life,

Jim Corbett

“When I put you in a place where you cannot move and have hemmed you in all around so that you must make difficult choices, I am allowing you to see who your god really is. In most cases, your god is your need at the time. It is all that you can think about. It is what you focus all of your attention on. It is what you serve with all your heart. You must take your eyes off of your need and find what I am doing in your situation. Begin to focus on the need of others. Begin to find My purpose in the situation that you are in. Fools serve Me only from their comfort areas. My power flows through you when you serve Me from a place of challenge.”

Matthew 26:53-54 NIV 

53) “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

54) But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

Luke 23:34 NIV

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Phil 4:13 AMP

I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].

 

Jesus cared more for the souls of those who drove the nails in His hands than He cared for the pain He was going through. Paul ministered to those in need from a prison cell. Those who lost their homes proclaimed the gospel from their place of need.

Throughout the Word of God, we see the true heart of many individuals emerge when they are faced with much need themselves. We see the rich young ruler choosing to cast aside his own salvation rather than loosen his grip on his god of money. In contrast, we see Paul choose obedience to his Lord over his own comfort and safety. Each instance was an exposure of heart motive. One failed miserably; the other glorified the Lord.

At this very moment in time, I believe that God is again exposing the true heart motives of the church. From difficult places, extreme circumstances, unusual challenges, and God-orchestrated opportunities, whether we know it or not, we are once again proclaiming out loud by our words and actions, who or what holds our hearts and is the true lord of our lives. Our mask of religion is being taken from us by everyday occurrences, revealing an honest image of who we really are and what god controls our lives.

Bring me to repentance if I serve anyone or anything but you, Lord,

Jim Corbett