Tag: Devotional

“My heart awaits the completion of promised events in your world. Make no mistake; they are unfolding as we speak. Soon you will witness the confusion of those in My church who haven’t heeded My warnings and heard My call. They will miss so much because they have perused their own selfish motives and have not heeded the warnings I have given. Those who have not turned their lives to Jesus will need answers; but there will be none, except in Him.

"You, however - those of you who hear and respond - will not be surprised. Keep close to Me. Continue to listen carefully to My heart. Move as I tell you to move. To you I can whisper whatever is on My heart. You will hear everything I say because you practice being close to Me. You will miss nothing.”

Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV

1) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

2) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3) Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Rev. 22:17 AMP

The [Holy] Spirit and the bride (the church, the true Christians) say, Come! And let him who is listening say, Come! And let everyone come who is thirsty [who is painfully conscious of his need of those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported and strengthened]; and whoever [earnestly] desires to do it, let him come, take, appropriate, and drink the water of Life without cost.”

 

The heart separations that are subtly happening in the ranks of those who say they are following Jesus and those who have really committed everything to His Lordship are important to notice. I am convinced that they indicate a season coming to fulfillment. Those who have learned to practice the heart of the Lord above all the din of religious activity are being defined and equipped for honest service to their only Master, Jesus Christ. A strong, vibrant, honorable bridal heart is rising from the fires of adversity and testing. She has purchased gold and proper clothing from the lap of her Father and God, and been formed to receive only what is served at the Master’s table.

Oh, God! Let me hear and obey,

Jim Corbett

“To gain a bridal heart, you need to become a study of Jesus. It must be your priority for living. It is imperative to learn what thrills Him, what grieves Him, what He will not tolerate, and what breaks His heart. That is just the beginning. You are to take the heart posture of holding Him in high esteem to the world, defend His reputation; and maintain His honor out of love for Him. This can only be achieved by devoting yourself to learn of everything that He is and all that He desires. You must gain an understanding of His heart and take on His desires as your own.

"Few feel the need to invest so much of their time learning of Him. You will have little company as you pay the price required to gain this knowledge on your way to a love relationship. Stay the course, however. You have found the innermost desire of My heart. I am with you.”

Phil. 3:10-11 AMP

10) [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

11) That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

Rev. 19:7 NIV

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

 

Those who have responded to the call that the Holy Spirit has issued know that their relationship with Jesus is much more than the initial salvation experience. It is far beyond a system of good works, greater than any and every program, past functional obedience, and continually resisting the temptation for personal gain. Their quest is to have selfless intimacy and a personal love relationship with Jesus. They have begun to understand His heart and pray for the power to mirror it at any cost. To please only Him has become their goal.

We choose to love only You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Because My Word has been distorted and maligned by self-serving, arrogant heralds of foolishness and false prophets, I have brought a famine of it in your land. I have withdrawn its nourishment from those who do not crave it with all of their hearts. Only those who hunger after truth will now be comforted. Only those who crucify their flesh will be able to be trusted to carry My Word to the hungry and needy. For too long those who have been building cathedrals for themselves, mansions for their flesh, and ministries for their egos, have sought My Word only to conform it to their agendas and self-elevating missions, rather than teach My people to come to Me to find truth. I have put a halt to their folly. Only the foolish will soon be their followers.

"My remnant has been crying out for truth in a land where little truth is to be found. My holy people have been unable to find where the life of My Word is imparted. They have wandered from place to place, from teacher to teacher, only to find cold, dead words from cold, dead fools. Now I am about to raise up trusted vessels as guides to Me and My heart. Our intimacy has taught them My heart from My mouth. They have cast aside their own motives and have learned of My desires. They will lead My people to Me, not to their missions.

"While most of My church starves on predigested food from cold preachers and malnourished teachers, you, My remnant, will feast on fresh manna from My heart at all times. Your famine is over. Because you have craved only Me and My truth, as you come to Me, I will feed you directly. Take what I give you personally and eat, then nourish others who are starving. Hold them close until they are well-fed from My hand. Teach them to come to Me to find rich nourishment for themselves. I will then give them enough to give away to others.”

 Jeremiah 2:13 NIV

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 NIV

13) “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,

14) if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Amos 8:11-12 AMP 

11) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but [a famine] for hearing the words of the Lord.

12) And [the people] shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord [inquiring for and requiring it as one requires food], but shall not find it.

 

How many people have you heard say that they can no longer find true words in the fellowships they have been attending? How many sincere, remnant believers have spoken of their discouragement in finding a strong, convicting Word of truth spoken from the pulpit from broken pastors who only desire to spend time with their Lord? How many times have you walked away from your fellowship or from so-called Christians, empty and starving? The Lord has sent a famine in our land to cause a separation in His church. He is calling out those who are tired of playing church and desire only Him and His truth. In their hunger, they have begun to seek God for themselves instead of having others do it for them. To them, He has been found.

In Hosea 4:6 AMP it reads: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you, [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God…”  The mantle of anointing has been taken from teachers of the Word who do not crave only God, and spew only self-taught knowledge to their flock. Their words fall ineffectively to the ground at their feet. Those who do not have a priority of intimacy with God will soon find themselves without food enough to eat, much less enough to give away.

Famine causes hunger. Hunger initiates the search for food. The more you are hungry, the more food becomes a priority. The true remnant church is hungry for the food of His Word. We are becoming hungry enough to make our search for His Word our only priority. It will only come from Him directly, or from those instruments who seek to be like Him, spending enough time with Him to know His heart. Thank God that He devises means to draw us to Him!

Take me there, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Place all your fears, your needs, and your cares upon Me. Give them all to Me because I really care for you and will carry the weight of them for you. It is your right to do so, because of what Jesus has done for you at the cross. It is not right for you to carry the load and the pressure yourself. Your doing so is pride. It is actually a rebellion against your submission to Me. Once you really understand your desperate need of Me, and humble yourself enough to accept My help instead of handling things yourself, you will be forever free. It is My desire for you to flow in the freedom of submission that has been earned for you through Jesus.”

Ps. 55:22 AMP

Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail).

1 Peter 5:6-7 AMP 

6) Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you.

7) Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

 

It is most difficult for us to understand that in complete submission, we are totally free. It is also difficult for us to understand that carrying the load of our needs is sin if we say that we have submitted our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is rebellion, and a lack of trust in the Lord to be faithful to carry them for us.

Charles G. Trumbull wrote: “Worry is sin, a black murderous, God-defying, Christ-rejecting sin. It is a sin to worry about anything, anytime, whatsoever. We will never know the victory over worry and anxiety until we begin to treat it as sin. For such it is. It is a deep-seated distrust of the Father, Who assures us again and again that even the falling sparrow is in His charge.”

Forgive my sin, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“When Jesus was born, all the world had been prepared to receive Him. I don’t mean that all present at the time understood Who He was or were even aware that He existed. What I do mean is that when Jesus was present in the world, I had moved everything into its proper order to accept the work that I was doing. All the proper people existed at that time.  All the needed technology was present; everything was in My order. Even the nations that were needed to accomplish My goals were in existence so that My plan could unfold. Every player did his or her part. Knowingly or unknowingly, they positioned themselves into My plan and performed exactly as needed; so that all things could be accomplished according to My will. It is the same today. You are raised up for such a time as this. I am aware that those words have been used so much that they have almost lost their meaning, but they are as true today as they were when I first said them through My servant who was placed as a player in that specific work.

"Because you understand that I am completely capable of accomplishing everything that I have set in motion, you can be assured of this; I am aware of you. I know who you are, what you are doing, and where you will end up. It is not that you have no free will – because you do! It is just that I have already seen the end of everything, so I know what happens. Look at My Word. Is not everything spelled out very clearly? Have I not foretold the result of everyone’s actions - what they did - so that when it is all combined, the result is My plan?

"You are now fulfilling what is necessary so that the results of everything being accomplished will remain My planned outcome. You must know this so that you will not see anything that comes your way as bigger than I am. You must also rest in the fact that you are placed exactly in the position that I have formed for you. If you need to move, I will show you and you will respond. I am capable of doing what is necessary in your heart to move your feet in My direction. Be assured that I am aware of you.”

 Esther 4:12-14 NIV 

12) When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai,

13) he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.

14) For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

Eph. 2:10 AMP

For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

 

In Esther 4:14, the Jews were going to be delivered; that was God’s plan. Esther could choose to participate, or she could walk away from what she had been called to do. Many people, when considering the fact that God knows everything, then assume that every action in their lives really matters little. That makes no sense.

Father God knows the beginning from the end of all things. He has “already been at the end,” so He knows the outcome of every thought and every action of every person. Free will still comes into play at every moment, but there are no surprises in His world. He knew Esther was the proper person for the task at hand because of what He had completed in her. She, at the proper time, needed to give the proper response to the circumstance in which she found herself. God places, orchestrates, creates, and develops everything and everyone — all to His desired end.

Every present moment, every choice we make and its subsequent action should be vitally important to us. Seeking God’s will is paramount to our being exactly where He has ordained us to be. It is much more than something that is good for our well-being; it is necessary for us to know what His will is - the same as it was for Esther - so that we might play out our part in His plan. That “well done” stuff will then come later.

Needing to seek only His desires,

Jim Corbett