Tag: Devotional

“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

“When I seem to be nowhere in sight, when there are no answers to your heart questions, when you feel that it is far past the time when I should have moved on your behalf, stay the course! Make sure that your demands of Me to fulfill My promises do not deny My Sovereignty. Search your heart for the things that I am after to make you holy. Repent of what I am showing you. Allow patience to have its work in you. Learn to make waiting on Me your highest reward. Think of it! You are learning to look to Me for everything. Soon I will really be your God.”

Psalm 37:4 NIV 

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Romans 2:4 NIV 

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

2 Cor. 1:8-10 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.

10) He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us…

How easily we forget what trials are meant to accomplish when we are coming to the end of ourselves. When it gets really uncomfortable, we squirm, reel with discomfort, and demand that God get on with His promises to us as our evil hearts are exposed. Often, we even curse His ways.

God is revealing our real heart motives. The refiner’s fire of His love is intensifying for those on their way to a bridal heart. He wants us to know when we will give up; and if we do, to remember how desperately we need Him. When will a break from our schooling be more important than becoming like Jesus in our hearts? When will we sell out for a bowl of pottage? When will we demand that God move on our behalf and deny His Sovereignty? How close are we to demanding our ways over His ways? When will we rest in His love and rejoice in His Lordship once again?

Forgive me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Point to Jesus! Direct your every step in the direction of His holy Name. Sing of His praises. Rejoice with all the heavenly choir at His Lordship. Tell everyone you know about His love. Cry out to those who need to know of His glory. Testify of His forever work. Sing holy songs of praise as loud as you can from the depth of your inner being. Prepare yourself to honor Him. Delight in His soon appearance. He is Lord - worthy of all praise, honor, and glory - your soon coming King!”

Psalm 150:1-6 AMP 

1) Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power!

2) Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!

3) Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!

4) Praise Him with tambourine and [single or group] dance; praise Him with stringed and wind instruments or flutes!

5) Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!

6) Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Hebrews 1:3 AMP

He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power.  When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high…

He is worthy of your praise today!

Jim Corbett

“Fewer than you know are really following Me with all of their hearts. Most of My church is busy with their own agenda and calling it My plan. They are going about their own business and finding that they have little power in their lives because I am not where they are. You need to stop today and make sure that you are exactly where I want you to be, no matter how humble your circumstances may appear to others. Let nothing but My Word and My personal confirmation to your heart influence your decision.

"Settle it once and for all that I have called you to where you are before you move again. When you move, confident that you are in My perfect will, nothing will be able to hinder you or sway you. You will not be influenced by pressure, doubt, or any changing circumstance. You will be grounded in the knowledge that I have called you. Circumstances and situations may come and go, but you will remain steadfast and secure, knowing that I am with you right where you are.”

Hebrews 12:12-13 NLB

12) “So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs.

13) Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong.”

Someone once told me that true ministry is a whole bunch of ordinary days full of ordinary decisions, some producing extraordinary results. After many years of full-time ministry, I fully concur.

In carefully studying the events and decisions that led Paul on the path to prison, I marvel at God’s plan and preparation that unfolds with supernatural rhythm and purpose. Zealot Saul - humbled, shaken, shown truth, chastised, threatened, steadfast, determined, led to prison by love. Hindsight shows the fingerprints of God all over his daily travels and his imprisonment.

In that day, some thought he was insane. Some understood. Most had little comprehension of the incredible anointing that was on his life, thinking that imprisonment was the end of his ministry.

Carnal, success-oriented thinking clouds most of the real work of God. In a backslidden church, the foolish clamor of frothing preachers, who emotionally charge audiences and open pocketbooks, resembles an anointing. To the undiscerning, what looks like power and God’s presence is always accompanied by “feel good” situations and “bottom line” credibility. Rarely, however, is any real kingdom work accomplished from this kind of theatrics.

Like Paul, most of the real work of the Lord is accomplished in the trenches by unnamed, unheralded lovers of God and others, who simply follow the leading of their beloved Lord. Some follow that leading right into incredible poverty, others to prison, still others to unheard of conditions in foreign places. God is with them; most of the church is not.       If you look up from your daily toil only to observe that you are not fully understood and accepted by those around you because of your zeal for the Lord and His work, you are more than likely in the company of the many “Pauls” who have gone before you - those highly favored of God and mostly ignored by man.

Take me to Your places with You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Are you so foolish that you believe you will not be deceived when the world turns around? You are badly mistaken. Some of you already follow doctrines that are marginal at best and sometimes have little resemblance to My Word. You swallow the doctrines of manipulative preachers who have set out to thrill you with their spirituality, rather than preach the truth of Christ and Him crucified. You don’t even care that I am offended. You are not founded in My Word enough to confront them about their folly. I need you to stop following every wind of doctrine that sounds powerful or creative.

"If every aspect of what is being said does not line up with what I have already said in My Word, I am not in it. Don’t go near it! You should be outraged that I am being associated with winds of foolishness, instead of tolerating them in your midst. I don’t like that! You need to come back to the basics with Me. You need to remember what is absolute truth. Learn from My Word and My lap. Refocus your beliefs on Jesus and what He has done. Repent of your sins. Go back to honoring Me and My Word. Hold it in high esteem. Guard your heart and guard against the misuse of My Word. I am about to expose those who don’t with zeal.”

Galatians 1:6-8 NIV

6) I am astounded that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -

7) which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

8) But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!

In the above verses, Paul was talking about the Law and a system of works. I want you to notice, however, the intensity with which he is portraying the heart of Father God. The Lord is saying through him that if any man, even an angel, distorts the Gospel, let him be eternally condemned. That is a pretty clear call.

Today, we lift up and even herald so many foolish ideas, movements, and doctrines simply because they are preached with gusto or make us feel good. We buy into anything that has the Name of Jesus attached to it, never even attempting to find out if God is really at the heart of it. We have whole church movements based on weak premises, single portions of the gospel, personal charisma, large reputations, and promises of something that allows us to remain in our sin and still look as if we are close to God. We don’t even question some incredibly ridiculous activities because they appear to have power that is claimed to be from the throne room, even though they are identical to the same kind of manifestations that come from hell.

God is calling for a holy, discerning people who have spent enough time in the Word and with the Lord to know the truth. He is calling for us to fall deeply in love with Jesus and be willing to run from anything that does not glorify Him.

Foolish is still foolish, no matter how it is presented. Truth is still absolute truth. God determines the difference. He has made it abundantly clear how He feels about both and about those who preach or, for that matter, embrace a gospel other than His. It would behoove us to learn His kind of truth and discard anything else - no matter who it comes from or how godly it sounds.

Teach me Your ways, Lord,

Jim Corbett