Tag: Church

“If you seek Me with all your heart, you will receive everything you need to walk in the love of Jesus. I will hold nothing back. I love you and that is My promise. I also love others. They need to see Who Jesus is. If you begin to live like Him in their midst, they will be able to savor His presence. That changes things. It makes darkness light. You come to Me. I will build His life in you. Then I will give who you have become to others.”

Romans 12:1-2 NIV

1) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

2) Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

1 Cor. 11:1 NIV

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

Colossians 1:9-12 NIV

9) For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

10) And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

11) being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully

12) giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

 

As important as it is to suffer for Christ through the laying down of your own will so that the will of your Father can be accomplished, it is equally important that there are times when you are called upon to suffer with Christ. Few people in the church are willing to take on the burdens that Christ feels toward those who are not saved, or toward those who made a commitment, but are living far from Jesus. To care about what Jesus deems important, to hurt as He hurts for the lost, to be burdened with the things for which He is interceding is more than most of us delight in doing.

Not everyone accepts a suffering spirit when it is given. Some reject it because it is too difficult to carry. You simply do not fit in.  It is for those of you who have felt the burden of God and carry it with Him on behalf of another.

Until you understand that some of what you feel is God working with you for the sake of others, you will believe that there is something wrong with you. You need to know that the Lord is asking you to suffer with Him in that specific area, to carry the weight that He is feeling for a specific situation. It will be an intense time and you may need to be alone with Him. There will be a myriad of people in the church who will be delighted to give their opinion, confirming that you have gone nuts. Don’t listen to them. They cannot see and they do not understand intercession.

Teach me to live Your way, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Don’t doubt Me! Don’t doubt My Word. Stop questioning what you know to be true. I am in your midst working to make all things in order, even if there is no visible evidence of My presence. I have promised that I would always be for you. I have promised that you are Mine and that I would take care of you. I will never fail or forsake you. You are Mine and I love you. Now go and do what you know to do. Seek Me for My will and then move in the promises I have for you. If you have nothing to do, go find a need and fill it. Be the face of Jesus to someone. It will help you to get your eyes off yourself while I am working in your life.”

Ps. 139:7 AMP

Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence?

Matt. 24:35 NIV

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Matt. 25:37- 40 NIV

37) “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38) When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

39) When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40) “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

 

Most of us tend to lose sight of what our purpose on earth is when things start to get a little rough, especially when we are waiting for our Lord to move in a certain situation. We start to look inward instead of reaching to others as Jesus did and does for us. We get selfish, think about our own needs; and lose the true perspective of who we are and why we are saved in the first place.

This life is not about us and our needs. God doesn’t owe us a thing, especially a continually comfortable life. In fact, part of His promise to us is that we will have trials and troubles. Jesus did, His apostles did, many saints that have gone before us did. What would make us think that we have any right to a trouble-free life? Where in the Word does it say that we are ever to focus on ourselves and our needs? When are we supposed to stop looking out for opportunities to share the wonderful gift we have been given?

Open my heart and my eyes, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“You need to take some steps in the direction of your calling. It is time to set aside your fears, wounds, and excuses and begin to move with what you have in your hand. I will provide whatever else is needed along the way. Take a look around. Why would you think that you have time to sit on the sidelines when there is so much to do?

“Your days are cluttered with events that have little eternal consequence. Change that by responding to a need, lending a helpful hand, or assisting someone who is overburdened. If you have no direction, come alongside someone who does. They more than likely have need of what you have. Put aside the fear of rejection. Set the woundedness on the shelf for a while. If you have been unjustly used before, offer it up as a sacrifice.

“If you have little skill, use My skill. Start today. There are many people waiting for what you have to give. Look who I’ve placed in your path and move as I tell you to do so. You will be surprised how soon your life will have clear direction and purpose.”

Matthew 5:13 AMP

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.

John 4:34 NIV

My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

 

Something needs to be put in perspective. Our lives have been bought with a price. We are not our own. We must have the same priority as Jesus - “to do the will of him who sent me.”

Most of us have our priorities backwards. We have a tendency to place the work of the Lord far behind the needs and desires of our everyday living, when the opposite is the desire of our Father in heaven. His work should be our priority. Whatever else that needs to be done should be fit into what we are doing for Him.

Most in today’s church rely on “those who have been called to ministry” to do the work of God, while lending fragments of time, energy, and resources to assist them. At the same time, most of the church is looking for some sort of revival that will somehow bring an outpouring from the Holy Spirit. We expect it to touch each of us as we sit on the sidelines of God’s plan and help ourselves to major portions of His bounty. Our perspectives are way out of line.

Revival of our hardened hearts begins by holding the hand of someone who has need of knowing our Lord, or by easing the burden of another, or by providing the tools to those who are working, or by coming alongside the fearful, or by helping the wounded, or by feeding the hungry every day, or by clothing the naked, or by praying for our enemies, or by…

Revive me, Lord,

Jim Corbett