Faith | TFRC | The Faith Resource Community

9/16/23 Just Get in the Car

A while ago I was faced with an opportunity to see how much I lacked faith and really needed God if things were going to work out. As a husband and father, the weight of my responsibility was somewhat overwhelming. We had packed everything we owned in a small truck and our van, given away what we were told to share, and spent most of what we had at the time for necessities. What little I had, I knew that my faith was being tested. I felt like a rubber band that had been stretched to its limit.

I had read somewhere that faith combined with sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit fills hands that were formerly empty. Well, my hands felt really, really empty. My faith felt like a single drop of water on its way to attempting to put out a raging fire. So we went - not in a bright powerful way, but just one foot after another, one mile after another until we reached a temporary destination.

A little while later, someone mentioned a phrase that really spoke to my heart. He said something like, “Faith is simply getting in the car and going when you are told.” Boy, did that hit home! I felt that phrase applied directly to me. “Just get in the car.” That’s faith!

Men, if you are attempting to be a monument of faith to your family, you may be imparting the wrong message to them. Maybe it’s time to trust in the faithfulness of God instead of your ability to have faith for any situation. Maybe it’s time to simply “get in the car” and trust God to do what He has told you He would do. God is faithful. You are His greatly loved child. He desires to walk with you even more than you desire to walk with Him every moment. Why not trust Him to be Who He says He is?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

9/15/23 Separating Wheat from Chaff

“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

9/15/23 Pancakes and Sausage

How many of the men’s groups around this land are no more spiritually filling than the pancakes and sausage breakfasts that are considered valuable gatherings? How many men’s groups do nothing more than gather as a social get together? How many men’s group leaders have real answers for men attempting to restore their marriages or rescue their children? Look around; there are seemingly very few.

God is in the process of rebuilding Christian families, because they are the most powerful witness available to a dark and dying world. A proper marriage tells others about the relationship between Jesus and His church. A proper family builds a legacy that not only impacts those around them, but potentially generation after generation to come.

Men, the power, love, and wisdom needed to walk with God in order to help restore those offices will not come from one more pancake breakfast or weekly social gathering for men. It will not happen through weak leaders who have no answers for themselves. The power to help turn marriages and families around will only come to a man who desires to see wholeness restored as He seeks God in His throne room.

If the leader of your men’s group (even a pastor for that matter) is not a frequent visitor to the throne room of God, where he can receive what is needed to help rebuild marriages and families, he is nothing more than a blind guide. He’s probably a very nice, very caring guy; but, more than likely, he’s incapable of helping anyone who really is serious about God’s plan for the family, which is the key unit for all He does. That man is unable to share and give away whatever is needed if he doesn’t own it himself.

Today is the day to look around at those you are following and those who are walking with you in life. Are they heading in God’s direction, or are they remaining where they are, hoping that things will one day get better? Are they hearing the call to become servant leaders, first in their marriages and families, and then to those around them? If they aren’t, it might be time to make some changes, so you don’t find yourself with no answers and no one to encourage you to go to God for inspired answers when they are needed.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

9/14/23 How Jesus Would Respond

“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

9/14/23 Distorted Obligations

Many years ago, I met a man who was having difficulties at home. His family was disjointed in opinions, needs, and direction for their lives. He spent most of his time putting out fires and filling the wants of some very needy family members. After several instances of pouting, crying, and just plain self-focus, it became very clear what the dynamics of his family were. In the course of a conversation, the man expressed to me that his goal in life was to keep his wife and child happy. It was all he wanted to do. It was the reason for his life. This goal kept him incredibly busy on a never-ending journey from morning ‘til night each and every day of his life.

As I observed the family in action, it became very clear that the pattern he had set was joyfully embraced by those involved. His wife and child were very needy and continually looked to him to fulfill the need, whatever it might be. Yes, there were legitimate needs, but whims and personal desires became gods to be served. His days were quite involved in finding ways to bring comfort rather than taking the time to figure out with his family a more reasonable way to function.

The saddest part of the whole situation was the fact that the man had been called to a faith ministry. For several years, he walked in his calling. As the Lord was building his faith through trials and difficult circumstances, his wife grew increasingly alarmed and uncomfortable. What changed the direction in his life and caused him to abandon his calling began with her statement, “I never want to walk in a faith ministry again.” So began the dissolution of an outreach that was touching many people.

Men, your job is not to find ways to keep your family happy. Your job is to provide an atmosphere that allows them to become everything they can be in Christ. Sometimes that will mean hardships and journeys far from their comfort zones. It may require you to stand by, dig yourself in with the Lord, and watch them squirm while He is dealing with their selfishness. It’s called real love. Will you walk in it?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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