Tag: Devotional

“You need to stop watching what others, especially the high-profile people, are doing. Find out what I am doing. Then you do that. I am not in the din of noisy emotionalism. I am not in the loud voices. I am not in the pre-digested food of others’ words. I am in the quiet places. I speak when We are alone. I am made known to the quiet, seeking heart. Quiet your heart. Rest your spirit, so that you can hear My still small voice. Refresh yourself in Me!”

I Ki 19:11-13 NIV

11) The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

12) After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

13) When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Isaiah 2:22 AMP 

Cease to trust in [weak, frail, and dying] man, whose breath is in his nostrils [for so short a time]; in what sense can he be counted as having intrinsic worth?

Isaiah 30:15a AMP 

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength.

Isaiah 30:21 NIV 

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Col. 3:1-3 AMP 

1) IF THEN you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2) And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.

3) For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.

 

Yep!!!!!

Teach me Your ways by Your hand and from Your Word, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“If I were to stop your heart in the next five minutes, would your house be in order? Would you be in right standing with everyone around you? Would you know for sure that everything between Us has been taken care of? Make sure that you focus on the issue of Lordship. Who really is the Lord over everything in your life? Is there a part of who you are, or what you have, that has not been completely surrendered to Jesus? What about your relationship with others? Do you judge, hate, hold grudges, or harbor unforgiveness? Do you hold on to any part of your life, or have you turned everything into My hands? Examine your life. I do!”

Romans 10:9-10  NIV 

9) That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

10) For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Acts 24:15-16 NIV

15) …and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

16) So I strive always to keep my conscious clear before God and man.

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].

 

So often “life” gets in the way of those things that are really important. At the same time, God is using our life experiences to expose our hearts and show us who we really are; all so that we can come to Him for cleansing.

Because this life is so “in our faces,” most of us forget that it is only a wisp of time compared to our eternal future. These days are very important, but not for the reasons that we often think. These days establish all of our eternal days.

The world focuses on this life span as the only time of importance. Most spend more effort deciding which car to buy or house to own than they give to deciding what is “absolute truth” after they close their eyes for the last time.  It seems that sometimes the body of Christ has fallen into the same pattern. We have accepted our favorite teachings to make sure that we are “covered” with God, and then rest in them, giving the balance of our thoughts to how we can live comfortably.

We are supposed to know better. We are in this world, but not of it.  Why would we agree with any portion of what the world holds dear, especially something as important to God as this?

Allow me to understand my freedom, Lord; but never allow me to become complacent or dull of hearing,

Jim Corbett

“When Jesus was dead in the tomb, it was just a matter of time before I said, ‘Come forth.’ My intervention was inevitable. Remember, it was absolutely necessary for Jesus to die. It was also mandatory that He overcame death.

"So it is with you. When you submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus, your old form of living ceases to exist. You die to who you were. If any area of your life has not fully submitted to that death in Him, I must complete that work in you. I cannot leave you as you are.

"When the time is right, however, and the work that needs to be done is completed in you, I will say ‘come forth’ to you just as I said it to Jesus. I will raise you up to a renewed life in Him. One more step has been completed for you to serve Me fully. I will intervene in your life to complete what has been started at the cross. It is inevitable. It is because I love you.”

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…

Galatians 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.

 

The heart revival that is being implemented all across this land in those who are submitting to the will of the Lord is a renewal of the absolute Lordship of Jesus in our lives and absolute trust in God. That means an absolute death to our own lordship in every aspect of our lives and a death to doing anything in our own strength. It means a conscious submission of all that we are to the cross.

True crucifixion means that a death must happen. We are called to be dead in Christ so that His life can be lived through each of us. The hardest thing about being dead in Christ is lying on the slab as if dead until He calls us forth.

Most of us, instead of patiently waiting for the Lord to intervene in our lives, get up off the slab, pace around the tomb, kick at the stone; and yell at God to roll away the stone because we feel we’ve been there long enough. When our patience wears out, we take a pry bar, move the stone ourselves (doing whatever we can do in our own strength to get us out of our pressure situation,) and go forth in very much the same manner as we did before - powerless, fully alive to our own strength, and “lean of soul” in the work of the Lord. We have no real power to give others because we have not allowed Christ’s power to be formed in us.

There is a little ditty that goes like this: “I anticipate the inevitable, the supernatural intervention of God, I expect a miracle...” As the Lord completes the needed work in you, lie on the slab of your spiritual grave as if fully dead, anticipating the supernatural intervention of God in your life. Expect a miracle. Let Him remove the stone. He will call you forth! He will raise you up in His power! He will fully live His life through you after He has removed every trace of your old life completely! It is His way. It is inevitable.

Getting back on the slab and staying there this time by Your power, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Are your days significant in My eyes? Personally, you are of great significance to Me because of Jesus. However, how close is your life to the most significant life that ever lived? How much do you resemble Jesus in your daily priorities and activities? You say that you are a follower of His life. In what ways are you doing that? Do you love others as He does? Do you commune with Me in the way He showed you? Do you care only about My will being done everywhere and in every way? In what way do you really resemble Him? Who are you really following while still calling yourself by His Name?”

I 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.

 

What does it really mean to be a follower of Jesus according to God? Could it be that every one of us has bought the lie to some degree that we can call ourselves by His Name and still go about our business, little resembling Who He really is?

If someone would take your name, claim your identity, and travel as your ambassador, but acted contrary to your wishes and beliefs, how would you feel? What if he cared little about what you stood for, spoke his own words, and gave his personal opinions to others - opinions that little resembled yours? If he cared little about protecting your reputation, defending your good name, or maintaining your integrity, how long would you desire that he continue to represent you?

Is that not what we do to Jesus every day? We say that we abide in Him but walk and conduct ourselves in a way that little resembles the way in which He walked and conducted Himself.

Forgive me for being so insensitive to You and Your Word, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Where is your heart? To whom are you listening? What kind of plans are you making and why am I not at the center of them? Be encouraged. I am so pleased at the progress most of you are making toward absolute surrender to My will.

"I know that it seems as if nothing is changing in you, that you are never going to be who I want you to be. I also know and see much more than you can from your limited perspective. I see your surrendering heart. I see your desire to sometimes become all that I want you to be. I also see your frustration when you see how little you seem to have changed when you leave Me out of your plans. What little you see happening in you is not truth as I see it. 

"Most of you, who are on the threshold of greatness in My eyes, have never been really, really good at anything. You have walked through your lives with average gifts and talents, excelling in possibly one or two areas. Perfection in anything, however, seems to have eluded you. Again, be encouraged. Even though you can only see your lukewarm heart, your distracted goals, and your self-focus, I see your perfection through the work of the cross. I also see greatness in your future. I have the ability to look past who you are at present, to see who you are becoming, and also see who you will forever be.

"At present, through Jesus, you are perfect to Me. Soon you will function in greatness and excel at loving Me. Then you will become holy. I will have your whole heart. Your thoughts will be My thoughts. I will be the center of your very being.”

Hebrews 10:14 NIV 

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

Hebrews 12:2 NIV

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…

 

I love the prospect of excelling at loving Him.  The thought of never being really, really good at anything has haunted me most of my life. The possibility of being on the threshold of greatness in the eyes of my Lord is beyond my comprehension. The promise of holiness encourages me beyond belief.

Think of it. At present, we are perfect in God’s eyes because of the wonder of the cross and its work. Because we have embraced that sacrifice, we have entered into the covenant promise of being made holy. The process has begun and is being completed this very moment whether we feel it or not. Jesus is completing us. Boy! That takes a ton of weight off my back.

In these days, because of the times and seasons and the awareness of who I am not, I have found myself striving to do what Jesus is already doing in me. Somehow, I have attempted to do what is not my job to do. My job is to simply surrender to the process and have faith that the work is being done in me. I have the freedom to know that in my Father’s eyes, I am perfect right now. I am fully accepted by Him. I can also be confident that He has the ability to make me what He wants me to be.  In fact, because He has begun the process, anything that I do to try to stop it will be nullified. He will overcome my stupidity with His love.

Thank You, Jesus,

Jim Corbett