Tag: Devotional

“When you are challenged in any way, who or what do you really turn to? Do you turn to your personal abilities, your own wisdom, or your financial strength? Do you vitalize your connections, automatically call in your resources, and resolve the need within your circle of contacts? Or do you immediately turn to Me? I desire to be your first contact in everything you do. I desire that you understand fully that I am your only source for everything. It is important that your immediate reaction, your first thought whenever you have need of any kind, is to turn to Me.

"From there, I will provide the proper directions and the proper contacts. All will be accomplished in the proper timing. Your first submission to Me indicates how aware you are of My Lordship. It indicates a heart submission that is mandatory for all of My children. Most of My church has forgotten this simple equation for their lives. I have prospered them and given them resources. Soon they make the tragic mistake of becoming independent of Me and then wonder why their lives are out of order, why there is strife in their household. It is because they are using their own resources first, without thinking, rather than submitting to My Lordship as an immediate response. It is a subtle lie, but a very destructive heart position. Don’t make the same mistake.

"Place your priorities in proper order. Even if I have given you all of the abilities, all of the resources, and all of the answers for anything that comes your way, practice first submitting to My Lordship in all that you do. Give your first thoughts and your immediate reactions to Me before you do anything else, placing even the smallest challenge under My Lordship. It will bring your life back in order and give you true prosperity.”

Hosea 13:6 NIV

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

 

True lordship has no independence from the lord that is served. In the world, when in service of sin, everything is controlled by the sin. It is what has been submitted to.

The epitome of that lordship (and may I say, Satan’s counterfeit of godly Lordship) would be someone who is a dope addict. Each waking moment serves the lord of dope and addiction. There are no thoughts except those of being high or getting the next fix. People under that horrible taskmaster will do anything to serve that lord over their lives. Most of the time, the thought of breaking free never enters their minds. They are committed heart and soul to the demon lord that they serve.

Much more subtle is the service of self, especially after we say that we submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our lives. Most of us cry out to Jesus for our salvation, seek the Lord on a regular basis, and never really understand that we are holding our sacred independence of Him in most of what we do. We take what He gives us and run with it, until we come to some sort of roadblock. Then we return to seek Him for that need, only to run again, until the next need occurs.

True biblical Lordship is a loving heart position of full and complete commitment to the Lord of all. It is a longing to be under absolute submission to Jesus in everything, standing with Him against any form of independence that might occur in our lives, rather than craving, in any way, to be set free from His total and complete mastery. Even the smallest thought is under His Lordship. Complete, unquestioned, loving commitment and absolute obedience captivate the heart. It is the heart of a joyously surrendered, fully prepared, adoring end-time bride. From that wealthy place, everything else falls in order.

Make me completely Yours, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Things are becoming more intense in the spiritual realm. Darkness is being unleashed by the enemy for his end-time showdown. It is only the beginning. When will you wake up, My people!? When will you repent of your lives and submit to My ways? This life is not about you! It is not about your comfort. How will you overcome and rise above when real darkness, black hell unleashed by darkness himself, consumes your world? You will not make it if you remain as spiritually empty as you are now. You have little inner power. You are thin-skinned and will not receive correction, even from Me.

"Soon it will be too late. You need to submit to My hand, or you will perish in your weakness while you hold on to those things you thought would protect you. They are false gods and have no power. How foolish you are to continue to trust in them, when you can walk with Me high above the darkness of the world if you repent. Instead of cowering in fear with others, you could be where I am pouring out My Spirit while we bring in those who will hear.”

Psalm 3:1-6 AMP

1) Lord, How they are increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.

2) Many are saying of me, there is no help for him in God. Selah [pause and calmly think of that]!

3) But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

4) With my voice I cry to the Lord and He hears and answers me out of His holy hill. Selah [pause and calmly think of that]!

5) I lay down and slept, I awakened again, for the Lord sustains me.

6) I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about.

Psalm 46:1 AMP

God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.

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!’”

Rev. 3:15-18 NIV

15) “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!

16) So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

17) You say, ’I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

18)  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”

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].

 

Our sovereign God has presented a way for us to live if we say that we are followers of Jesus. It is to live as He lived, love as He loved; and die as He died for others and to the things of this world. That way is immovable, no matter how many ways we attempt to modify it to suit our needs. It is the standard by which our lives will be judged even if we wish it were not so. This is real stuff with real consequences or rewards for our actions and heart positions.

Help me repent, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“I have always given My best to you. Never have you received less than the finest that all of heaven could offer you. My love for you is more powerful than any wealth in heaven or on earth, so I hold nothing back. When it came time to redeem all of mankind from the nature that everyone legally inherited, the very best was sent to do what was necessary. His Name is Jesus.”

John 3:16 NIV 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 10:17a, 18a AMP

17a) For this [reason] the Father loves Me, because I lay down My [own] life…

18a) No one takes it away from Me. On the contrary, I lay it down voluntarily.

 

Have you ever seen the movie “Dances with Wolves?” There is one statement in it that has touched me deeply. When Lieutenant Dunbar was getting married, the tribe was generous in supplying him with “payment” for his bride. They would give gifts that he could, in turn, give to “purchase” her. His statement, “The more valued the gift, the more easily it was given,” reminds me of the heart of our Father God. God’s love for us was so strong that only the most valued gift would suffice when He sent a Savior. The perfect sacrifice would not have been complete with anything less. Perfection in its truest form would have been watered down if a lesser gift had been sent.

Jesus, in turn, did the same. He gave His life. There was, again, no greater gift that He, as God, could give for fallen, depraved man. Just consider the astounding imbalance. The life of God was traded for the uncaring, undeserving, rebellious heart of man.

The saga continues to unfold as we continually violate every principle established for us. God gave His best. We, when we are called upon, give what we no longer need or what we have left over. Rarely do you see the newest car given to someone in need rather than the “junker,” or the best furniture instead of whatever was replaced because it was no longer wanted. We even give second best to God, holding back parts of our lives when we have promised Him everything. Somehow, we then have the audacity to demand God’s best for us. Yikes!

Help me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“I am about to do something in My remnant people that most of My church will miss. I am about to implement My covenant with them in a much more visible form to separate wheat from chaff. To the casual observer, My hand on some will look as though they have made big mistakes and wrong decisions, appearing to fail Me and those around them. In reality, I am bringing a refining fire to their lives to purify them and bring them to the end of themselves, so that I can fill them with My Spirit.

"Although things may seem harsh at first, it is My mercy fulfilling My part of the covenant that I have entered into with My chosen ones. So often the church judges those who are going through rough times harshly. Often, I lead My children in a direction in which they appear to have failed. It is in that precise spot that they are of most value to Me.”

2 Cor.1:8-9  NIV 

8) We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

9) Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

 

Through foolish, self-serving teachings that sound good to the ear, we have doctrines that have little to do with biblical truth. Let me say this out loud. In some places this statement would be considered heresy. When you move in a direction that you believe is God and things don’t work out, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you haven’t heard Him.

The Bible is full of examples where His greatest servants looked as if they had failed miserably; when, in fact, they were directly in the center of God’s will. Paul is one of the most visible examples. He spent most of his ministry in prison. To others, even to some of those whom he led to the Lord, he was a failure.

Here are some well-worn statements that are used to cripple anyone who has moved where the Lord has led him only to find hardship and peril. You need to be on the alert for them, so they don’t cripple you when you hear them. Plan on it. When you are down, one or more of these will be given to you by someone ignorant in the Word and the ways of God.

“If God guides, He will provide. You are a burden to the church. If it was of God, it would not have failed.” These are usually said by people who have the means to relieve you from your plight but may not know what to do with you.

You don’t have enough because you are: out of the will of God, haven’t given enough, don’t tithe, there is sin in your life, you don’t hold your mouth right when you speak,” (that was a joke) and so on and so on and so on. These statements are true in some cases, but not all cases. They are usually presented to you by people who haven’t spent enough time in the Word to have their own opinion. They are simply mouthing the words of some well-known evangelist or teacher.

Don’t be discouraged if you happen to receive this counsel. Some of the most used people of God appeared foolish. Look at Jesus Himself. To many He looked like He had failed. However, plans that no one could see at the time of the cross were being implemented by the Father.

Wanting to trust my Father, even when it looks like I’ve failed,

Jim Corbett

“Why are you still responding to situations as the world does, rather than how Jesus would respond? You still defend your reputation when He laid His down. You have difficulty forgiving small offenses. He forgave those who killed Him. You think mostly of yourself, while He is still your Advocate. I ask you once again to study His life. I need you to represent Him to your world. Time is so short and there are many who need to turn from their sin. Love them as He loved you. I do! Respond to that!”

Isaiah 28:9-10 TLB

9) “Who does Isaiah think he is”, the people say “to speak to us like this! Are we little children, barely old enough to talk?

10) He tells us everything over and over again, a line at a time and in such simple words!”

John 4:34 NIV

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

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.

 

Most of us ask God to serve us rather than us serving Him. We surrender to Him through Jesus for our good, so that we can go to heaven; and then act as if He is our personal genie, who fulfills our commands, whims, and requests.  We often forget that it is only through incredible mercy on God’s part that we even have the privilege of knowing the One True Living God at all.

Jesus is our example of living. As we study how He, as God, lived among those whom He had created, we - those of us who have His Spirit - are to live the same way. It is not an option; it is the way we reveal that we are really His.

Teach me Your ways, Lord,

Jim Corbett