Tag: Devotional

“Forever is an extremely long time. We are going to have an unlimited number of times together. I have been patient, but My patience has served its purpose. All things are about to come into My planned order. Everything is unfolding as I have told you it would. Stand for just a little while longer. The refining fires must do their work. They are necessary to accomplish the foundations of future plans and other ordained movements. You may see these times as the end of the end times; I perceive them as the beginning of future eternities. Oh, We will have so much wonderful time together! Wait until you see what I have planned for you!”

Psalm 51:10 AMP

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

Isaiah 48:3  NIV 

“I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.”

 

Most of us are so focused on our own little problems and our own personal worlds that we have forgotten how much more of real life there is. If I understand the Bible, we have eternities upon eternities to spend with the Lord. Our present life is simply a wisp of time compared to what is left.

What concerns me, however, is that those who do not pass the tests of these times - particularly the main one of accepting Jesus as their Savior so that they do have a bright future - are soon going to be in a world of hurt. Maybe we should get our eyes off ourselves and our own puny needs and begin to think about those who need to see Jesus before it’s too late. What do you think? Is that a “DUH,” or what?

Help me to focus on what is important to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Are you really learning the lessons I am teaching you? Are they being burned into your heart or do you just retain them in your mind for reference? You need to make what I teach you your private stock. You need to own them. Feed on them. Practice them at every turn in your life. Apply them in your relationships with others. Don’t waste one moment of My time with you. I will require that you deem Our times together worth your while. I will give you whatever time you need to grow if you consider it of value. If you don’t, I will find someone who will.”

2 Chr. 16:9 NIV

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him...”

Isaiah 42:25 AMP

Therefore He poured out upon [Israel] the fierceness of His anger and the strength of battle. And it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not [the lesson of repentance which the Assyrian conquest was intended to teach]; it burned him, but he did not lay it to heart.

 

Few of us realize how important it is to not waste God’s time. We need to understand that His purpose is to use those who choose to be used in His plans.

I am reminded of the television show “Welcome Back Kotter.” There was a character named Horshack who would jump up and down with his hand raised in the air in the back of the school classroom when he knew the answer. He enthusiastically wanted to be called upon.

As the Lord’s eyes go throughout the earth looking for those who want to serve Him, it would be wonderful for all of us to act that enthusiastically, wanting to be called upon by Him. That zeal would help us learn the lessons we’re being taught and use them wisely for His purposes.

Pick me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Why do you come to Me to be changed? What is your reason for wanting Me to make you like Jesus? Do you know that your heart motive for wanting something, even honorable requests, is very important to Me? In fact, it means everything to Me. Many of My children are doing what appear to be wonderful works, using My Name; and I am nowhere near them because they are nowhere near Me. They may have requested Me to bless what they are doing, and who they are becoming; but their hearts are motivated by the flesh. You need to make sure that everything you do is motivated by love for Me and My purposes. Should you have any other reason, any hidden agenda for your actions, I may use your efforts for My sake and the sake of others, but they will merit you next to nothing. Seek Me with every fiber of your being. Serve Me with an honest heart and live.”

Psalm 51:10 AMP

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

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.”

Hebrews 4:12 NIV 

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Col. 3:23 NIV

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

 

So many of us do the right things for the wrong reasons. I know people who give money to the work of God out of guilt or obligation. Others visit hospitals, attend church four nights a week, and feed the hungry; but have no real love in doing it.

Some people spend countless hours in prayer, yawning through every minute of the time, raise their hands in praise while looking around at what others are wearing; or receive communion because they are hungry and everyone else is doing it.

All of these foolish people might as well burn their money in the back yard or spend their time at a baseball game. God is not looking for good things being done in His Name from a cold heart. The world can do that. He wants those who are His to move in His Spirit and present His heart of love to a dying world.

Create in me a clean heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Do you see how your world is changing? For many years I have told you of My coming judgment on your nation if you don’t turn from your wicked ways. Soon you will see that I mean what I say. Your nation has laughed at and scorned Me far too long. I brought it into being so that My Word would go forth to all the nations of the world. Now others must be sent to you, so that those who have ears to hear will be able to listen to My call to them. You embrace every other idol and false religion, making a way for it to prosper, while My church falls asleep as if in a drunken stupor.

"For many years, I have called those of you who are Mine to separate yourselves from the world. I have called you to be a holy people. You have become so cold that you feel I will hold off My judgment. How wrong you are. Judgment has already begun. It started in My church a while ago. Some of you have repented and are seeking Me with all of your hearts. You will overcome in the coming horrible times. Some of you are just starting to wake from your slumber. I encourage you to set aside everything of this world with an unparalleled urgency.

"I am about to move fast. Things will all change suddenly and you must be ready. To those of you who do not heed My warnings, I will leave you in your foolish thinking. You will be numb until it is too late, and then you will have no ability to overcome. You will perish with your hardened hearts. Some of you will even curse Me, believing that I have forgotten you. Turn now. Very little time is left.”

Proverbs 19:27  AMP

Cease, my son, to hear instruction only to ignore it and stray from the words of knowledge.

Isaiah 9:1 AMP 

But [in the midst of judgment there is the promise and the certainty of the Lord’s deliverance…

Isaiah 48:3  NIV

“I foretold the former things long ago, My mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.”

Hosea 13:6 NIV

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

 

In these Father’s Heart messages, we have seen the many sides of a loving Father calling to those who desire more of Him.  Over the years, there have been two reoccurring messages. The Lord has been calling His church to a walk of holiness, and He has been telling of impending judgment on this nation if it doesn’t repent.

What has become very obvious is that our nation has not turned from its wicked ways, even with the many warnings and opportunities to do so. As soon as disaster of any kind strikes, the people cry out to the Lord for a short period of time. Once the peril has subsided, we forget our God and go on with the wickedness. It almost seems to increase.

Look how we are embracing the occult, rampant sex, and open, horrific murders. Even young children are killing each other, sometimes just to see what it feels like.

I am convinced that we are in the times predicted years ago. We are under judgment for our sin as a nation and will never be the same again. Instead of turning to God, we are gladly giving our freedoms away because it will supposedly be safer for us.

We, as the church of Jesus Christ, must see and hear what the Lord is saying in this time. We will be needed to lead others to Christ when they come to the end of themselves.

Are you ready to be a willing vessel in the hands of the Lord, fit for His use, loving deeper and caring more? You and I are needed. Now is the time to decide to surrender fully.

Yes, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“In My house, the cost of the gift is what counts. I gave everything when I gave Jesus. He gave everything when He died for you. Now I judge your gifts to Me with the same standard. If I give you much and you give little, it means little. Think of the widow’s mite. She gave all. The rich gave little in comparison, even though the amount was greater. She gave everything she had. What they gave really cost them nothing. Their gifts meant nothing to Me because they owned My treasures in their hearts and would not give them back to Me. Remember, I look at your heart. It is deceitfully wicked until I am allowed to change it through Jesus. It is the test of who you really are. Don’t minimize the gift that Jesus gave. Surrender fully to Me. I will bring your heart priorities in order.”

Isa.30:18 TLB

“Yet the Lord still waits for you to come to him, so he can show you his love; he will conquer you to bless you, just as he said. For the Lord is faithful to his promises. Blessed are all those who wait for him to help them.”

Luke 21:1-4 NIV

1) As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.

2) He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.

3) “I tell you the truth,” he said, “This poor widow has put in more than all the others.

4) All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Hebrews 10:14 NIV

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

 

When we read the story of the widow’s mite, we usually think of money. In fact, many times we make it a money issue to bring home some money point. I am convinced that the Lord was expressing a heart issue. How people act is simply an expression of their true heart priorities, as it always is.

God is in the business of bringing our priorities in order. He knows that we can’t do anything to be right in His eyes, so He first makes us right through Jesus and then keeps making our priorities right as we keep coming to Him.

As the Father reveals all aspects of His heart, sometimes I reel with the overwhelming challenge that I am called to face. I begin to condemn myself for who I am not, cower at the prospects ahead of me as a Christian in the coming times, stagger at the weight of my responsibility to represent Jesus properly; and become discouraged as I attempt to prepare for His return. It is then that I remember that none of this was my idea in the first place. My Father has ordained my life and has promised to fulfill His plan for it and in it. My job is simply to need Him desperately.

In the above verse in Hebrews 10, I am so encouraged by the statement “those who are being made holy.” The wonderful part of “have [already] been made perfect” [in God’s eyes] is pretty incredible and difficult for me to understand fully, but “being made holy” soothes my heart.

At this very moment - and every moment until we are with our Father in Heaven - the process of making us holy is being accomplished, because we have surrendered our lives to Jesus and His completed work on the cross. When God is in the process of breaking us, He’s not trying so much to get us to say “uncle” as He is trying to get us to say “Abba.”

Give me the power to surrender fully to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett