Tag: Devotional

“The enemy is attempting to destroy relationships during these closing times. That is because I am building strong, powerful, holy alliances to accomplish My work. This could be a confusing time for most of you if you do not seek Me with all your heart. At present, most of you are familiar with the throw-away relationships that have permeated My church and hindered My work. You are used to those who walk away from you when you have failed, or when you do not live up to the prevailing standard of a particular body of believers. You have become accustomed to gossip, backstabbing, and false judgments against your character, if you choose to follow Me with all of your heart.

“The confusion may come in when I am giving you the opportunity to separate yourself from long-time friendships, because they are not able to be trusted. I will do this by exposing their true character to you. You will see who they really are, and how much they can be trusted.

“In the coming times, you will need to know whom you can trust. You will need advocate friendships, those who will consider your interests before their own. That is the character of Jesus. It should be your standard, one to another. Your life will depend on it. In most cases, friendships that you have established over the years will turn on you to save themselves. They will drop years of investment on your part to save their fickle reputations, or so they do not have to face their sin when I am convicting them. Do not overlook their actions or dismiss their inability to be the kind of friend that you will need soon.

“Yes, you must love them, forgive them when they offend you, and seek reconciliation when they do harm to you; but do not be foolish enough to think that they can be trusted the next time their trust is needed. Only after they have submitted to My hand of healing should they regain your trust. To do so before they are healed could plague you with distractions, confusion, and time-consuming rhetoric. Be wise in My counsel. Be careful in your friendships. If your heart is honest toward My Word, I will separate you from those who do not have the same heart; and find holy alliances for you that will replace them.”     

Acts 15:36-40 AMP

36) And after some time Paul said to Barnabas, Come, let us go back and again visit and help and minister to the brethren in every town where we made known the message of the Lord, and see how they are getting along.

37) Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark [his near relative].

38) But Paul did not think it best to have along with them the one who had quit and deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

39) And there followed a sharp disagreement between them, so that they separated from each other, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.

40) But Paul selected Silas and set out, being commended by the brethren to the grace (the favor and mercy) of the Lord.

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].

 

This issue of relationships seems to keep coming up as the Lord grows us up, and as the times require integrity one to another. So many of us are so short-sighted about this issue that the Lord has to break us from our comfort area and teach us His standards, so that we will be able to accomplish His work.

God is building an army of believers who have been trained to walk in the integrity of Jesus before a world that needs to see His character in action. He is aligning those of like mind and like heart to implement His plans.

We need to face these facts. There are some people within the body of Christ who cannot be trusted. They simply do not have the ability to be a true friend. It may be brokenness, immaturity, or simple rebellion from the teachings of the Word. The fact remains, they do not have the ability to remain focused and faithful when they are needed. To rely on them would be foolish.

Over the years, Merry and I have waded through and observed a quagmire of fickle friendships, broken promises, false interpretations, and downright lies among so-called Christians. We have spent countless hours in prayer waiting for the Lord to bring forth His truth from the immature, controlling spirits that have side-tracked the work of the Lord, attempting to implement their own agendas.

We have seen good, honest hearts hamstrung by false friendships. We have observed hundreds of hours wasted because of the need to detangle webs of self-consuming relationships and warring Christians who once were friends. Often things have appeared so foolish, we thought it impossible to be happening among those who claim to love Jesus. The time has exhausted us. The Lord has shown us that this is His church at present. It is wasting His time and their energy warring one with another, confused and distracted, unable to address the needs of bringing others to Jesus.

I am convinced that our Father has had enough. I believe that He is about to set aside those who choose their own agenda over His and bring like-minded allies forward. From the hidden prayer closets, refiner’s fires, and the quiet retreats will come honest hearts ready to serve as Jesus served. He will bring advocate friends together who have been repelled by the bad representation of their Savior and have no time and no desire to be hamstrung by dishonest associations. He will join together those who have learned absolute obedience to Him and are godly friends one to another. All others who continue to play their selfish games will be nullified concerning the work of the Lord.

Wanting an honest heart,

Jim Corbett

“I would like to thank you for the impact you are having on the rest of My family. I am talking to those of you who are daily laying your lives down for others and not living for yourselves. You need to know that every time you say a kind word, give mercy, or do a good turn to someone in need, you are bringing glory to My Name. Each time you choose to not repay an injustice, or forgive someone who has hurt you, you are implementing the same Holy Spirit that took Jesus to the cross. Every time you repent to Me, or to someone you have harmed, you prove that the work of the cross is functioning in your life.

“These may seem like simple things to you, and they are basic tenets of My expectations; but they are very important. You need to know that I notice them. I hover over them to bless their impact. I am pleased as I see you function in My kind of love.”

Prov. 16:7 AMP

When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Rom. 15:2-3 AMP

2) Let each one of us make it a practice to please (make happy) his neighbor for his good and for his true welfare, to edify him [to strengthen him and build him up spiritually].

3) For Christ did not please Himself [gave no thought to His own interests]; but, as it is written, The reproaches and abuses of those who reproached and abused you fell on Me.

Eph. 4:32 NIV

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

 

Few of us realize how important a kind word, a good gesture, a loving smile, and a steadying hand of support are to some people. The world seems to be better at functioning like this than the church. God, however, considers the reason for doing something more important than the act itself. When we, as believers, live Christ’s life before someone, it is a cup of cold water in the Name of Jesus. It lifts up His Name. Kind acts in the Name of Jesus, for the sake of Jesus, resound in the heavenlies and have eternal impact. We need to make a habit of flowing in God’s love, so that He is pleased.

Show me whom I can bless with my actions, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“What if I told you that I care little about anything that distracts you from Our time together, no matter how good it may appear? What if I showed you My perspective about your purpose for breathing, and you found that nothing is more important to Me than who you are becoming in Me?

“When I observe your life, I see that you often forget that I desire to order your days to accomplish My plans in and around you. You have gone about your own business for so long that you can no longer even hear Me when I call you to change your ways. I remind you that I have also numbered your days. Stop wasting them on padding your comfort areas and going about your own business.

“You are My ambassador. You are the only way that people will see Jesus and come to Him. What are you doing about it? What has become more important to you than that? One day I will show you.”

Matthew 21:28-31 NIV

28) “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

29) “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30) “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will sir,’ but he did not go.

31) “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

James 4:4-5 AMP

4) You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God.

5) Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?

 

Throughout most of our lives, the enticements that the world offers us, not the passions of the Lord, have proven to be the focus of our attention. They are the basis for our selfish pleadings to our Father and really are the gods that we serve.

Because of our lack of desire to focus on our life in Christ as the only reason that we breathe, when the world grows darker as predicted by the Bible, most of us will be so consumed with fear that we will be unable to represent Jesus to those who desperately need Him. We will walk around the same as those in the world, wide-eyed and drooling rather than being able to rise above all of the clamor as Jesus did.

We forget that we are in training. We forget that our training has a reason and an eternal purpose. So many of us come to the Lord and begin to use our newfound hope and our new nature to build our lives around the promises of God that are good for us, rather than really finding His plan for our lives and the reasons for our salvation.

Give me Your heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Passion and zeal are two elements that I choose for you to put back into your life with Me. I want you to set aside all distractions and focus on the specific calling that I have given you. Determine in your heart to follow My instructions carefully as I lead you through these final steps, leading to the coming of My Son. Build on what I have taught you, hone your defenses, polish your spiritual weapons, and rethink your commitment.

“Ten percent OF you is not enough to accomplish what I have planned FOR you. I am giving you new commands that will require you to step out of the well-worn patterns that have held My people in bondage for too long. If I prosper you, it is not so that you can build bigger and serve yourself more. It will be for you to place vast amounts of wealth into the hands of those who will reach people in powerful ways designed by Me.

“The old ways are limited, and some are hindered by self-serving interests. I am about to reach large amounts of people in a small amount of time. If I call you to minister, sell out to Me in a way that is beyond your ability. Cry out to Me for My ability. It is the only way to accomplish spiritual callings. If I call you to prayer, pray empowered by My Spirit and move in My presence. The times of tolerating My complacent church are over. Anyone who chooses to stay there will find himself walking in the flesh in an attempt to appear spiritual.

“To My real church, these efforts will appear comical, and you will separate yourself from them. To the world, they will appear as the foolishness they are. You who have ears to hear, join Me where I am now! Continue with Me where I am going. Move with Me or be left behind with the cold and the dead.”

Rev. 2:3-5 AMP

3) I know you are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name’s sake, and you have not fainted or become exhausted or grown weary.

4) But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love].

5) Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God’s will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent.

Rev. 3:15 AMP

I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!

 

I don’t believe that many of us really understand our responsibility as Christians. We have lived under God’s grace for so long that complacency has set in and spiritual zeal is nowhere to be seen. Holiness is thought of as an unreachable goal, designed for the past saints of God, those who lived during Jesus’ time.

In most areas, our ignorance of God’s ways has gone beyond immaturity, past selfishness, and deep into dead-cold religion. We have the audacity of believing that only ten percent of anything we earn is God’s but claim that He is the One who has prospered us. We claim to praise Him in our services but fail to spend time with Him when we are alone. Love is one of the main elements of what we believe, but the simplicity of loving one another evades us. Most foolish of all, we submit to traditions and beliefs designed by empty preachers and cold denominations that have little to do with the heart of God. Holiness is not even a consideration for most of us.

I’m convinced that our Lord is just about through using and including those of us who have responded irresponsibly to being entrusted with His work. We - as stewards, leaders, preachers, and teachers - have failed to respond to the heart of God; and He is about to replace us with responsible servants if we don’t change. Time is too short, and the wooing is too clear for Him to wait much longer.

Needing to set aside what does not matter and embrace what is important to my Lord,

Jim Corbett

 

“I have allowed this specific mountain to be placed in front of you so that you would need Me. You are attempting to finish in the flesh what I have begun in the Spirit. That will not do! I am investing in you. I am training you to need Me. You cannot survive what is ahead for your world without Me. You will be harmed if you attempt to continue on your own. Need Me desperately and you will prosper through trials, especially through trials. Look around! Remember! I have held you in the past when you were too weak to stand. I will do the same now. I am right here with you. Turn over everything to Me. Trust Me! I love you.”

Jer. 2:13 AMP

For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, and they have hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns which cannot hold water.

Gal.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.

Phil.2:12b-13 AMP

12b) …work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).

13) [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.

Hebrews 10:14 NIV

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

 

One more time the Father is calling on all of us to understand our rightful place in His world. We are to accept our complete bankruptcy and submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives because we are on our way to holiness. Jesus showed us the way; now we must submit to our Father’s will as He did.

Jesus was brought into a world so perilous that children were killed at the whimsical edict of an evil king, crucifixions were as commonplace as morning walks, and people were held in slavery to ignorant teachers and foolish guides, yet He was absolutely fearless. His passionate love, His intimacy with His Father, and His zeal for imparting truth made Him “Teflon” in a world seething with infectious evil and eternal danger. His presence in any society was a gift of love from His Father God. We are in training to be the same kind of gift to those around us wherever our Father sends us.

Jesus could be fearless because He loved perfectly. He cared only for others and desired nothing for Himself. Even though He had all power, He was under full submission to the will of His Father. In His heart, He had given away everything, so He had no fear of someone robbing Him, even of His life. He held Himself in lower esteem than everyone, even the lowly leper, so no one could destroy His reputation. Jesus’ love was so pure that He was absolutely free from any peril that the world would attempt to place on Him.

I choose to need only You, Lord,

Jim Corbett