Tag: Devotional

“You need to remember that I am making you into the image of Jesus as you requested. Every trial strengthens you. Every need brings you closer to Me. Every heartbreak brings forth My comfort, and allows you to see that your only hope is in Me. I will never fail you. I am trustworthy. I am for you. You must make Me your only source as Jesus did. Then you will be at peace. His heart knew truth. His heart was single-purposed, as I need yours to be. Stay the course. I am with you!”

Amos 5:4b AMP

…Seek Me [inquire for and of Me and require Me as you require food] and you shall live!

Matthew 16:24-25 AMP

24) Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].

25) For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].

John 5:19-20a NIV

19) Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

20a) For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.”

 

That “nothing by myself” part is hard for us to understand. It is even harder for us to walk in it daily as Jesus did. We forget that the obedience needs to be formed in us before we can be truly obedient to the Lord’s every command. Absolute trust needs to be “owned” by us before we are even willing to attempt that “nothing” stuff. In fact, all the character traits of Jesus must one-by-one be formed in us before we can walk in them.

We will never “own” trust until we have desperately needed the Lord and found Him faithful. Obedience is formed in us through repentance of the self-will that is so very evident in us daily. I am convinced that until we embrace our lives as the training ground and “Jesus school” that they really are, we will never be at peace.

Open my eyes to Your work in me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Praise is not songs sung from a distracted heart, a wandering mind, or an organized musical score. Make no mistake; I know the difference. To Me, high praise is a devoted life that longs only to glorify Jesus. It is a heart consumed with the ardent desire to fulfill My plans and My passions. It is an inner being that is passionate to align with My Spirit by submitting to the power of My Holy Spirit and being fulfilled only when it overflows with My ideals and My character. It is a life that is continually making room for My presence. These anthems ring throughout the heavens and become choruses that weave their melodies with those of celestial beings who cry Holy, Holy, Holy!”

Psalm 46:10a NIV

Be still, and know that I am God...

Psalm 51:10 AMP 

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering and steadfast spirit within me.

Isaiah 43:21 NIV

…the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

Luke 6:45-46 AMP

45) The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright (honorable and intrinsically good), and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks.

46) Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not [practice] what I tell you?

 

I am convinced that the Lord God is calling His devoted hearts out of any place that is playing business-as-usual church. The heart of God is saying that dirty hands lifted in song do not please Him. They never did, but now He is making those who will listen aware of how much an abomination it really is. I believe that it is time to shake off all gatherings, programs, and rituals that sound and look like service to God—but are not and turn to Jesus for His pattern of praise while He walked as a man.

Jesus did nothing of Himself. Jesus came to die for others. Jesus was torn from communion with His Father only long enough to fulfill what He had been told to do in that time of communion, and then rushed to get back to His Father as soon as it was implemented. He continually stole away from living out life to gain the power of real life.

Jesus loved with action, wept for the decadence of those He created, and died for those who hated Him. He glorified His Father by being a devoted Son and set a pattern for us to follow. I believe that we must get on with it!

Teach me Your way, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“As you grow in Me, you will begin to realize the work that I am doing in you. You will understand two of the steps that are part of your growth pattern when serving Me. When you first come to Me through Jesus, you learn to make choices between those things that are against My will or those things that are within My will. In essence, you are making choices between good and bad.

"As My heart develops in you, your choices become those of a more spiritual nature, rather than those of your sin nature. You will be making choices between doing good things and doing those things that are specifically of Me. They are no longer choices between good things and bad things, but between good things and God things.

"I am raising you to a place that, when presented with the opportunity to decide whether to do the usual good things or do things that refine you and send you deeper with Me, you choose the latter. “Deeper with Me” is leading you to the heart of Jesus. It is a place of training for His remnant bride. It is preparing you for His soon arrival.”

Jeremiah 10:23 AMP

O Lord [pleads Jeremiah in the name of the people], I know that [the determination of] the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man [even in a strong man or a man at his best] to direct his [own] steps.

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.”

 

I remember when I first came to the Lord. I was so full of worldly sins - yet so full of love for my newfound Lord - that I would fluctuate between extremes of overpowering desires to sin and then a rush to repentance immediately after my sin was committed. My life was a roller-coaster ride of high praise and deep repentance, a desire for the fulfillment of my lusts and an equally strong desire to no longer sin. I feel like I have sinned more since I’ve come to the Lord than I did before I accepted Him as my Savior. At least it seems that way because I now know what sin is.

The Bible says that the kindness of the Lord brings us to repentance. Over the years, the reality of this verse and the promised effectual working of the Word in my life have changed the complexion of my sin. Offenses that I once was powerless to overcome, no matter how hard I tried, have become distant memories and manageable temptations through the power of the Lord. The change has little to do with me and everything to do with what God has done in me. It is His covenant fulfilled in each of our lives, as we seek the Lord and choose His ways over ours every day.

As Paul changed from the hapless sinner who agonized over his helplessness in doing what he didn’t want to do - and was not able to do what he really wanted - to the person who only wanted to know his Lord and the power of the resurrection, we too are changed from glory to glory. Our purposes for living, our attitudes of service, and our focused desires all change as the work of the Lord is continually being completed in each of us.

Only You can complete what You’ve started, Lord, 

Jim Corbett

“You must never hesitate to bless someone. You must never be afraid to share what I have given you when I tell you to bless that person. It’s time for you to realize that whenever you have come to Me in your need, I have shared something of Myself with you. You have never gone away empty-handed. You have always become a bit more like Jesus. If you have the misfortune of thinking that all the wealth I have imparted to you is for you alone, you are wrong. You are My ambassador to those around you.

"Here’s how it really works. I woo you—or drive you if necessary—to Me, so that you can be changed. You come at first because of your need. Eventually you begin to come because of Our mutual love. That is when I can begin to trust you with those who also need Me. Share with them what We share with each other in its proper season. Keep coming to Me. I have much more for you. Then help others begin to know Who I really am.”

Matthew 19:14 NIV

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

John 14:12 NIV

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

2 Cor. 1:3-4 AMP 

3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement),

4) Who comforts (consoles and encourages) us in every trouble (calamity and affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort (console and encourage) those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort (consolation and encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted (consoled and encouraged) by God.

 

Whenever we become self-centered and selfish, we lose the overall purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God’s plan is to have each of us come to Him through Jesus, learn of Him; and then tell others about Him, so that they can repeat the cycle. Most of us must not really learn of Him, or else we would know His heart. He wishes that none should perish. We wish that things always get better for us.

Create in me a clean heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“How grateful are you for those whom I place in your life as refiner’s fires? What gives you the right to turn your back on them, when they are a gift from Me? Do you really understand that every challenge that enters your life is really a gift to you as I see it? They are agents of refinement and change. I promised that I would war against your flesh and build your spirit. You are on your way to becoming like Jesus.

"Make note of this. Everything that you face is working for Me to bring you closer to My desire for you. If you would embrace the people, situations, and challenges that you encounter, instead of becoming angry or discouraged, you would find real peace as We walk together. Look around. Find those things that are making you grow. Begin to be thankful for them and see how your life changes.”

Lam. 3:27-28 AMP

27) It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke [of divine disciplinary dealings] in his youth.

28) Let him sit alone uncomplaining and keeping silent [in hope], because [God] has laid [the yoke] upon him [for his benefit].

2 Cor. 3:18 AMP

And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

 

We don’t get it. God is in the business of doing everything necessary to destroy any trace of our old man, and we seem to be in the business of ignoring or never understanding the ways He is doing it. For some reason, it never seems to occur to us that almost every person, place, or thing that enters our lives is an opportunity to either show us how much we have grown, or how stagnant we really are, by the way we deal with it.  Our representation of Jesus is not defined by how spiritual we think or say we are. It is defined by how we act, especially to those who boil our potatoes.

You mean they were part of my blessing, Lord?

Jim Corbett