Tag: Devotional

“Redeem the time that I give you. You have no idea how long this present season may last. If you are in a refiner’s fire, press in to what I am doing, so that I may receive a completed work from you. If you are in a waiting period, wait with Me. Rest with Me. I cherish Our time together. If it is a time of expanding your tent pegs, be diligent and cautious to hear My words and My direction. If your waiting season is over and I am asking you to move in faith with Me, trust Me to be with you each step of the way.

"Every moment you are allotted is a precious moment to Me. Each one is valuable because every one of them is designed to form you into who I am making you. You are My personal project! I am not only accomplishing much through you, I am accomplishing much more in you.

"Make every moment I give you count. Waste none of them. They may seem as if they pass quickly and are gone, but each is important to your eternity.”

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 and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death.

 

Living moment by moment with God is one of the highest honors any one of us has been given. Most of us, however, are so busy anticipating the next moment that we don’t enjoy the one we are in. God has designed every moment of our lives for our benefit. Every one of them adds to who we are becoming, so each and every one of them has an eternal impact.

When was the last time you really rested in the present moment with God? When was the last time you savored the situation you were in, even a challenging one, knowing that God was using it to build you into being more like Jesus? When was the last time you were satisfied to wait until the Lord moved on your behalf, instead of trying to push against the goad of your situation in an attempt to make things happen? Maybe it’s time to repent of all the moments you’ve wasted. Maybe it’s time to begin to learn how to cherish your present and future moments with God.

Teach me to see what is important to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Have you noticed that few people are really concerned about being reconciled with Me anymore? Have you noticed that those who are supposedly wise in your world have done little research as to what happens to them after they close their eyes for the last time? Do you see the inroads that the enemy has made into the minds of fools?

"People are joyously rushing to the gates of hell. My concern is that few of you are attempting to stop them! People are flaunting their foolish doctrines and My preachers are raising money for their ministry institutions. They are dragging the Name of My Son in the mud, and few are responding as His advocates.

"The enemy is insidious in his efforts to deceive and most of you feel you are doing enough. What if you, with a little more effort, could bring one more soul to see? Don’t you really care if that person perishes?  Jesus did - enough to die for him! I care!”

Romans 1:28 NIV

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

Romans 7:21-23 NIV

21) So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

22) For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;

23) but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

 

The verses above convict me of how alive my flesh really is. Most of us really do think of ourselves more than we think of Him. It’s time for each of us to look around and discover, possibly for the very first time since we gave our lives to the Lord, what our priorities really are and do something about them. We need to make some changes.

God hasn’t lost His edge. He is still passionate for souls. Jesus hasn’t let up. His blood is still fresh.

What has happened to us? Where is the weeping for souls? Where is the passion for the work of God? How far behind our own needs and works have we placed the work of God?

Forgive my selfishness, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“What do you still own? In the same way, what owns you? Name something that you will not or can’t give up and I will show you how it is not under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Would you like to know how I feel about ownership? It is what stops you from becoming all that you can be in Me. Lordship means that you own nothing in your heart. It means that you covet nothing but more of Jesus and His ways. It really means that you are absolutely free from the entanglements of the world. You are also free from guilt, because you have not robbed from Me what is rightfully Mine!

"You gave Me everything. When you take back what is no longer yours, it is theft and it is sin. Repent and turn from your old ways. You are too important to Me to have you continue in your old life. Turn now! I love you!”

Luke 12:19-21 NIV 

19) ‘And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.” ‘

20) “But God said to him, ’You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21) “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Luke 21:1-4 AMP 

1) Looking up, [Jesus] saw the rich people putting their gifts into the treasury.

2) And He saw also a poor widow putting in two mites (copper coins).

3) And He said, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them;

4) For they all gave out of their abundance (their surplus); but she has contributed out of her lack and her want, putting in all that she had on which to live.

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.

 

Ownership is a big thing with Father God, especially heart ownership. Jesus paid a big price to have the Father own our hearts. Heart ownership is pivotal as to whether Jesus is the Lord of our lives or not. When He owns our hearts, we can finally be free to give Him what is rightfully His - everything else.

I surrender all, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Remember when Our times together were sweet and full of love? Remember when your only thoughts were of Me and My plans? Remember when being obedient to My will was your only desire? You were completely in love with Me and the influences of your life meant nothing.

"I want you to go back to that place. I want you to go back to and function from first love qualities. I really miss the quiet times.”

Matthew 14:14 NIV

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

John 13:33-34 NIV

33) “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

34) All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”

Rev 2:2-5 NIV 

2) “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.

3) You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

4) Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

5) Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

 

Love is a high priority in the plans of God. Everything centers around and functions from love. If it were not for love, He would not have devised a plan for our redemption from sin through Jesus. Jesus functioned in love as He healed the sick and as He went to the cross. Love means much to God. Our functioning without it, even doing good things for Him, does not impress Him.

Take me back to first love, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Properly overcoming in the spiritual realm has less to do with your understanding of the power that I have given you, and much more to do with your submission to Me. Many of My children know the Word and the authority that they have in the Name of Jesus, but few of them are really accomplishing My will because they haven’t learned to listen to Me. They bind this and cast that, thinking that they are doing My will; but they are far from what I desire.

"You - those of you who have been in My special training fires - are gaining My strength, My unlimited power, and the fullness of My resources because of your thorough understanding of your weakness when you are not in My will. That understanding gives you what is necessary to be truly strong. Your covenant authority imparted to you through My Word, combined with learned submission to Me, brings the fullness of your authority into proper order and focused power.

"When others flail about, using the Name of Jesus to accomplish what they need for themselves, you wait with Me until I tell you when and where to move. When you move with Me, My presence is with you. That is good!”

Exodus 33:15-16 NIV

15) Then Moses said to Him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.

16) How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

Matt. 7:21-23 NIV

21) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22) Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

23) Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Matt.16:19  AMP

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.

Luke 10:19 KJV

“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

John 4:34 NIV

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

 

Most of us rarely consider the damage that we do if we use our authority without consulting with the Lord before we use it. We use logic, need, fear, and many other reasons to push aside the evil that we believe is hindering us, but do we spend enough time with our Father in heaven to have Him direct our steps? Sometimes, repenting before Him in true remorse for our sins accomplishes much more than all of the huffing and puffing against perceived weapons formed against us will ever do.

Wow! Do I ever need You, Lord,

Jim Corbett