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6/14/23 Knowing vs. Serving

From The Overcoming Life by Jim and Merry Corbett

Oftentimes we choose to serve God rather than get to know Him because it is easier to focus on and control what we do than it is to focus on becoming who God desires us to be. The Lord’s main concern centers on us reflecting the character of Christ, and the only way that occurs is by spending time in His presence. Interestingly enough, it’s also the only way to truly serve Him, because how do we really know what He desires us to do if we do not wait in His presence to find out?

Remember, even Satan would be pleased to have you busy with good things if it stops you from becoming intimately acquainted with the Lord and walking in the real power that comes through surrender and obedience.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

6/13/23 God Knows

“Do you know that there will be times when you will look like a fool if you choose to serve Me with all your heart? Do you know that you might appear to have missed My will for you, yet be exactly where I want you to be, so that you can learn directly from My hand? The gospels of man cannot understand walking in My Spirit. In their hearts, I am held to perform according to their interpretation of My Word, a very self-serving interpretation. I will never do that. Their doctrines appear to work because they appeal to the carnal nature of undiscerning believers.

"My Gospel calls for absolute obedience to what I tell you to do, no matter what the consequence to you. You may never be vindicated if I should use you to expose the hardened hearts of the hosts of the controlling spirits that you encounter. You may never be a success in the eyes of the world and most of the carnal church. Your reputation may be non-existent as I focus on your character. Remember this. I am the One keeping score. I observe truth from folly. Nothing is hidden from My sight. I see those of you who desire to serve Me without considering the cost, when others have a death grip on what I have given them. You are very pleasing to Me. You bless My heart. I love you very much.”

I Cor. 4:9-14 NIV

9) For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.

10) We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!

11) To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.

12) We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted we endure it;

13) When we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

14) I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children.

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.

If Jesus is our example of living, then having nowhere to lay your head would be the norm as followers of Christ. Money to pay taxes would have to come from some form of a fish’s mouth. Being cursed, laughed at, scorned, and even hated enough to be crucified should be part of our job description; even while we are being used to heal the sick or raise the dead. The possibility of being struck dead because we lie to the Holy Spirit about how much we hold back and consider our own, or imprisoned so that we can bless people there or write God’s important correspondence from our cell, is not entirely out of the picture. Let’s not even begin to discuss those incredible examples of God’s love who died in the arenas. But then, that might mean that this walk with the Lord is not about us and our comfort. Maybe we are not our own? Hmmm!

Teach me truth, Lord,

Jim Corbett

6/13/23 Choices

From the book, The Father Factor, by Jim and Merry Corbett

Chris stared at the needle tracks in his arm, a constant reminder of the choices he had made to bring himself to this point in his life. Once a successful businessman on his way to the top with a loving wife and family, he could only lament over the turns his life had taken because of his addictions. How could he have fallen so far? How could his needs mean more to him than those he once loved and who once loved him?

He had to make a choice, or he was going to die as one more hapless vagrant in some garbage-strewn alley. He had to choose either life or death. He knew it and he knew how difficult the road back would be. Picking up the filthy needle, he inserted it in his arm once again. As the drug flowed through his body, he resolved that maybe he would choose to love his wife more than his habit tomorrow. Maybe he could help his kids tomorrow. Maybe … Chris rolled into a smelly corner near a large dumpster and passed out.

Across town, Jerry turned the corner and drove into the parking lot of his club. Late for his meeting, he had shaken off the pleading look in his son’s eyes that said, “Please, Daddy, stay here with Mommy and me.” Business once again called. It was going to be one more late night, one more closed deal that allowed him to live the way he wanted. “Success has its price,” he thought to himself. Anyway, to change direction in life now would be almost impossible. He was way too far down the corporate road to give his family the amount of personal time with him they seemed to need.

Maybe one day his wife and family would realize that he was doing this all for them. It was a time in life to set them up, so they wouldn’t have to grow up in poverty as he did. They needed to realize that. He was sure that God knew that.

“Why don’t I have peace in my heart, Lord? Why can’t I shake off the look that Tommy gave me? Why do I feel so bad when I’m doing so much for them?”

As he locked his car and headed for the club entrance, Jerry resolved to spend more time at home tomorrow. Tomorrow he would give some special time to his wife, Susan. Tomorrow, he would really focus on her insistent need to be with him and make some changes that he knew were necessary to be the husband and father she and Tommy wanted. Oh wait, tomorrow was that conference in Detroit …

Whatever vehicle Satan uses to hinder the work of God, whether dismal failure, monumental success, or anything in between, the results are always the same - an insignificant life standing before Father God one day. His entrapment is so diabolical that the road back is impossible to embrace without God’s involvement and intervention.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

6/12/23 Building a Testimony as You Wait

“When I hold back on anything that has been promised to you, I am looking for you to have confidence in Me. Confidence is gained not in times of provision, but in times of waiting. It also builds a reliance upon Me for your provision. Think on this. If I were to provide every one of your needs instantly, how would I get you to seek Me? How would I get you to find the heart to examine My heart? You would be so busy going about your business that you would have no time for Me.

"To those of you who are faithful, waiting on Me is also a time of building testimony. Those around you are watching you while you wait for My Word to be fulfilled in your lives. They need to be able to understand how to stand with Me when there seems to be no answer in sight. They need to see the peace you have in waiting for Me to move rather than trying to make something happen yourself. Rest assured, I will fulfill My promise to you. It will be in My time, My way. No one will be able to deny that I have moved on your behalf when I do.”

Jeremiah 15:19 AMP

Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God’s faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece…

Hosea 13:6 NIV

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

Hebrews 11:1-2 AMP

1) Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

2) For by [faith – trust and holy fervor born of faith] the men of old had divine testimony borne to them and obtained a good report.

Few of us understand what the Lord is trying to accomplish when He delays the answers to our needs. We keep wondering what is holding up the answer. He is making us more like Jesus, and building a testimony in our lives.

The crucifixion of Jesus confirmed to the skeptics that He was nothing more than a mere man with unique ideas. The resurrection silenced them. The time in between allowed everyone’s hearts to be revealed.

Paul’s imprisonment gave many people of that day fuel to discredit his ministry. Rotting in a prison cell sure limits one’s outreach activities. Few could see that reducing those activities to writing letters, rather than traveling the countryside preaching, was exactly the way that God intended to get His Words written down for many future generations of believers to ingest. For centuries after Paul’s death, the Lord has declared the testimony of His faithfulness to His servant. It was important to place Paul in an environment that quieted him and made him seek the Lord with all his might. He provided for Paul in a manner only understood by centuries of later generations because Paul was faithful in the time of waiting.

The depth of seeking God during times of trouble and waiting builds the kind of testimony needed to share Him and His heart with those who need to see it. It is in times of waiting for the Lord to reveal Himself and His provision that most of His wealth is gained by us and for others.

Needing to understand more,

Jim Corbett

6/12/23 Godly Men

From the book, The Father Factor, by Jim and Merry Corbett

Father God’s goal for your life is that you become all you can be in Christ Jesus. So if your goal is to head toward becoming a pathetic, frail, atrophied, self-serving loser in this world, while claiming to be a follower of the ways of His glorious, all-powerful Son, don’t look for Him to help you get there. There is no more important mission on His heart than the mission that Jesus has for you. There is no more powerful way for Jesus to be glorified than to have valiant spiritual warriors, who are unwilling to compromise, unwilling to turn away until the battle for souls has been won and the last enemy of the cross experiences the eternal consequences of his choices.

The Lord is cheering you on and doing everything in His power so that you can come to a full realization of who He created you to be both now and in eternity. His great desire is that you walk in the fullness of the overcoming, victorious life in Christ that is available to you.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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