Tag: Devotional

“Get up! Arise! Today is the day for you to step out of the prison of your old lives. It is your resurrection day! I have removed the gravestone of those past days. I will remove the grave clothes of your former lives. Out of the ashes of the refiner’s fires I have guided you through, I will build a fortress of love that will guide others to Me through you.

"It is time to step deep into the anointing I have placed on your lives. As you celebrate the brilliant life of My Son, I will celebrate the victories that We will walk through. You have been faithful with little; now I will give you the stewardship of much to be used for My kingdom. Walk only with those I have called to you. They will be the support of your hands and the energy of your feet. Be wise with what I place in your hand. Honor Me in all that you do. You are about to begin to flourish in the season for which you’ve been trained.

"Rejoice! I am about to overcome every challenge that comes your way. I am about to win every battle that you face. I am about to fulfill every plan I have ordained for you from the beginning of time. I am about to have you enjoy the fruit of your obedience. I love you!”  

Exodus 17:12 AMP 

But Moses’ hands were heavy and grew weary. So [the other men] took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Deut. 1:6 NIV

The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain.”

2 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 127:1 AMP

Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps a city, the watchman wakes but in vain.

 

The Lord often takes His loved ones through intense refiner’s fires. Sometimes these fires are seemingly so consuming that we feel as if we are going to perish. Sometimes we wish we would somehow be relieved of them. Even our death would be a relief, or so we think.

There comes a time, however, when the Lord breaks His fast for our lives and says that it is time to get up and get going. The fire is past. It’s time to move forward in the new life that He has established for us. At that time, we are to get up, shake off all the residue and ashes from the fire, and move in His newfound power and freedom. We are to look only to the future and forget the perils from the past.

It is time to retain a rock-solid belief that Jesus is Lord, you are His, and He loves you and has given you His presence so that you can move forward. If this is your time, do it now. Walk in freedom.

Tell me when to get up, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Difficult circumstances and situations do not cause problems between people. They only expose the sin that is already there. Remember this. I am intensifying the refiner’s fire. I am revealing final strongholds in My remnant. I am exposing the deepest, most hidden sins within those I am about to use.

"At times, you will look and feel as if you have learned nothing during My dealings with you. You will see who you really are not and understand how desperately you need Me for everything. That is how it should be. Remember these humbling times when pride begins to swell as you begin to see the fruit of Our labors ripen in your life. Recall these moments of understanding that there is little value in the work of your own hands. The full recognition of your spiritual bankruptcy without My hand upon you will protect you when I am using you mightily.”

Phil 4:12-13 AMP

12) I know how to be abased and live humbly in straitened circumstances, and I know also how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance. I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want.

13) 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].

Hebrews 5:8-9 AMP

8) Although He was a Son, He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered

9) And, [His completed experience] making Him perfectly [equipped], He became the Author and Source of eternal salvation to all those who give heed and obey Him.

Rev. 3:19 AMP 

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

 

Someone with little understanding told me that many couples in ministry were getting divorced because they had such extreme financial problems during these difficult times. He went on to explain that he was helping them by providing his income-producing vehicle as a means to help the horrible statistics within the church.

There is no question that ministries all over the land are struggling because of a lack of finances, but this man’s reasoning was incredibly faulty. His solution was not helping in every case; in fact, he was probably hindering the work of the Lord in many because of his lack of understanding of God’s ways.

Difficult times, no matter what form they take, never cause relationships to fall apart, or people to fall away from their calling, or marriages to break up. They only expose the sin that was hidden deep within the participants all along. Finding and revealing that sin is, as a matter of fact, the purpose for the refiner’s fires. Removal from situations that the Lord is using to expose hidden sin temporarily hinders God’s plans and delays the release of His people into the work He has for them.

Those of you who come out of such fires—hungry for more of God, full of the understanding of your complete spiritual bankruptcy, and absolutely confident in the Lord’s competency, love, and reliability—have allowed the refining fires in your lives to do the necessary work. You have submitted to the Lord’s work in your life and can now move on, possibly even to the next fire. Those who are called by the Lord for greater things, who then “bail out” because of the pressure, will miss the best that the Lord has for them; and will probably find themselves in a similar refining situation in the near future. The Lord loves you too much to allow you to remain where you are.

Give me Your strength to stand wherever You ask me to stand, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Most of you, My children, have become thin-skinned and easily offended. You can receive nothing because you run from correction. You immediately take offense when you are challenged to rise to a higher standard in Me. You will separate yourself from those who call you to places you need to go so that you can mature. What will you do when those who hate you enough to kill you are in your face? What will you do when those who thrive on hatred are in your world? Will you hate them back? Will you despise who they are and harbor unforgiveness and murder in your own heart?

"You are missing the very essence of My Word and what I am doing in those who are My remnant. I am moving those who love Me to be able to love even their enemies. It is the way Jesus loved. I call you to love as He does.”

Jeremiah 12:5 AMP

[But the Lord rebukes Jeremiah’s impatience, saying] If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take to flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions] in the swelling and flooding of the Jordan?

Amos 3:3 KJV

Can two walk together except they be agreed?

Luke 23:34 NIV 

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

Rev. 3:19 AMP

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

 

The Lord is developing the character of Jesus in His remnant/bridal believer. We must be like Him in our hearts, if we are to intimately walk with Him. Can you imagine Jesus coming for a bride who is selfish, self-centered, and harbors murder in her heart? Can you imagine Him enjoining Himself to one who looks to delicacies around her that please her more than He pleases her? Does it seem possible that Jesus would function in a relationship where His bride would not have the same desires, the same motives, and the same purposes in all that They do together? To think so is ludicrous!

How, then, is Jesus going to form us, who need His character developed in us during these end days before He comes?  He is going to allow us to see who we really are. He will allow us to face ourselves so that we can come to repentance. He will do what it takes to expose our sin. Each time we repent, He will change us to be more like Him. It is an act of astounding love on His part. It is also our choice to respond or reject His efforts.

There is so much to be done in me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Look around at your life. What are you consuming upon yourself that could be used for my work? Where are you spending your time and talents because of your plans and denying My plans? What are you doing to allow others to proclaim My Word? By whose standards are you sharing My wealth? I am asking you these questions now. Make no mistake; I will ask them again when We make an account of your life. Now, you can still do something to change whatever is not in line with My heart. Please do so! When we meet face to face, it will be too late.”

Psalm 127:1 AMP

Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.

Hosea 13:6 NIV

“When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.”

Matthew 16:22-23 NIV

22) Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23) Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Out of My sight, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

 

Jesus considered the “things of men” to be in league with Satan. Have you ever really looked at your life as if Jesus were physically there with you? Have you ever really judged your actions, examined your heart, and questioned your behavior in all that you do, as if you were going to be called to account for them by the Lord one day?

We live in a church society that condones—in fact, teaches—selfishness as part of the Gospel. What amazes me is that no one seems to say anything about those who teach such nonsense.

Jesus lived a selfless life. He harbored nothing as His own. He gave everything He had so that His Father’s plans would be fulfilled. He even died so that others could live. We say, “Thank you for all of that, but I’m going to take what you have accomplished and use it so that I can prosper. Then I’m going to teach others to do the same, so that I don’t look so selfish sinning alone.” That’s not what we say consciously; but it is, in essence, what we do when we choose to live that lifestyle.

Lord, help me to understand the impact of my actions here and in the future,

Jim Corbett

“When was the last time you determined to live the life of Christ for the good of someone else? I don’t mean the last time you preached at him. When was the last time you decided to show him Who Jesus is, no matter what it cost you? How far did you go before you stopped? What price was too high? That price is the god you really serve. That is your focus, no matter how you have justified it. It is not Jesus. It is not His way. He would not give your excuses. He would not stop short of everything. You need to come to Me to gain His heart.”

John 10:17a & 18a NIV

17a) “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life…

18a) No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord…”

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.

1 John 2:6 AMP 

Whoever says he abides in Him ought [as a personal debt] to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself.

 

Somehow, many in the church interpret parts of the Bible as if it does not say what it really says about how we, as followers of Jesus, should live. If you simply study the three verses above, there is an undeniable heart position that Jesus had and requires of us. There are no limits to His love. He held back nothing. All that He owned was given for the sake of others—you and me. He never stops giving. His intent is to do it through us.

Forgive me, Lord,

Jim Corbett