Tag: Faith

“Have you ever studied a piece of equipment that was designed to perform a specific task? You will notice several different characteristics about that piece, the most significant one being that there are very limited uses outside of its intended purpose. That is the way I formed you when you gave your life to Jesus. You really fit nowhere other than where I call you to be. You really excel at little, other than the task that I give you to do. You can take great comfort in that. The world and most of the church will attempt to conform you to their mold. Most of the time, it’s to hinder or nullify your effectiveness. You need to seek wise counsel, but never allow anyone other than Me to direct your steps.

"I have formed you in the womb. You have a specific task that I have designed for you to accomplish. No one else can do your calling better than you. If you have not understood what your calling is, seek Me with all of your heart. You must make this search your priority. It will be the foundation for all that you do. If you have received your task and realize that you have little ability to accomplish it in your own strength, that is My design. You will need Me for every step that you take.

"My heart will prevail because of your need of Me. In the coming times, it will be very important that you are where I intend you to be. It will be the only safe place for you. If you have not sought My heart for your direction, if you haven’t understood who you are in Me, you will never know for sure where that place might be. More importantly, you will not have fulfilled My desire for your life. That would be tragic.”

John 4:34 NIV  

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

Eph. 3:7-9 NIV

7) I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

8) Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

9) and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

 

For twenty years, I had sought to find real direction for my life. I had been in fulltime ministry most of that time, which included traveling, preaching, running a radio station, holding Bible studies, running singles groups, and writing books. My mission statement had been, “To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ through any and all means available.” Somehow, though, there was a need in me to know my specific calling, not just me doing good stuff to please the Lord.

When the Lord showed me that I was doing exactly what was intended for me from the beginning of time, I felt like I was home. It was one of those moments that is difficult to explain, touching me in a manner that only the Lord can do.

I found a résumé of my life – something many never seek Him for long enough to be sure of their calling. He showed me that my mission statement was right on.

I now find that I fit nowhere else. I can do nothing other than this. It is what I eat, sleep, drink, and talk about all the time. When I am not writing or speaking about Jesus, I am out of my calling. Many people and situations have attempted to make me do something else. Sometimes during dark times, I fleetingly think of finding a typical job to ease the pressures of our faith outreach; but I know that I can’t change my calling - no matter how difficult it gets - any more than I can fly. I have been designed by the Lord to do nothing else. So, here I am - a custom-made, uniquely formed, totally dependent, fluffy, punch-drunk lover of Jesus - happy only when I am proclaiming His virtues and His Father’s heart.

The shoe may look silly sometimes, but it’s mine and it fits,

Jim Corbett

“You need to guard your heart in the coming times. There are many ways in which the enemy has access to you. He will use any means to rob you of your relationship with Me. I know that you have learned to place yourself in My hands and use My Word to protect yourself from the deceits with which you are familiar, but many unfamiliar forms of treachery are on the horizon. They are designed to destroy the uninitiated. Make sure that you are aware of them, so that you will not fall. If you were to walk into familiar surroundings, you would know how to function there. If, however, your everyday surroundings become so unfamiliar that they are unrecognizable, you will be faced with challenges never seen before.

"Be prepared for ever-increasing changes that are soon to come. New challenges will require an ever-increasing depth to Our fellowship, so that you will function above the presented situations. Fear will be the predominant spirit that you will need to overcome. Replace it with trust in Me. Continually be renewed by My Word, so that you have a benchmark to work from when all is turned upside down. Anger and hatred will follow closely behind astonishment at what you are observing. Do not allow them a foothold in your heart, or you will not be able to hear Me clearly when I need you to know truth.

"You must remember that these are the times for which you have been created. I have been preparing you for this very moment in time. I am training and equipping you with My right hand. You will not fail, because I am with you.”

Ps. 10:17-18 AMP 

17) O Lord, You have heard the desire and the longing of the humble and oppressed; You will prepare and strengthen and direct their hearts, You will cause Your ear to hear,

18) To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man, who is of the earth, may not terrify them any more.

I Cor.3:18-20 NIV 

18) Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise.

19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

20) and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

II Cor. 4:16-18 AMP

16) Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day.

17) For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!],

18) Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.

I Pe. 5:7-10 AMP 

7) Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

8) Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.

9) Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.

10) And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace [Who imparts all blessing and favor], Who has called you to His [own] eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen, and settle you.

 

I usually seek out news items that come from sources other than mainstream television or radio reports. As I was updating myself the other day, I drew back for a moment to really make myself aware of what I was reading. As little as two or three years ago, some of the items that are news today would bring such fear and disgust, that they would be unbearable. Now, they are so common that we have become desensitized to their horror. We accept them as part of daily living.

There is no question that our world is changing at a rapid rate. Truth is, it will never be the same as it was, even as recently as ten years ago. Back then, there seemed to be familiar standards and reasonable responses to most situations. Now, receiving the news - whether on TV or other sources - is chilling because of illogical, almost inhuman actions, some almost unbelievably sadistic, which are presented as everyday occurrences.

Over the years, godlessness has taken its toll in our land to the point that we’ve become a people who would be unrecognizable as human, in many instances, if someone would observe us with even mid-twentieth-century eyes. We have changed drastically in our actions, in our responses to challenges, and even in how we resolve our conflicts. I am convinced that we, as the human race, are seeing the results of our sin in this land. I would almost go so far as to say that we have been turned over to our sin. If that is so, we haven’t seen anything compared to what is ahead.

We, those of us who have been in training to represent Jesus - the only antidote for what is occurring - must stop playing the “Christian” game; and accept the position intended for us while there is still time. Souls are in desperate need of a Savior.  The world is screaming for answers. How we represent that Answer is up to us. Will we heed the wooing of the Lord and function as we were intended to function in the world in which we live, prodding ourselves to truly hear our directives; or will we continue to play “ostrich” and openly display our self-serving, disobedient hearts to the hopeless world?

Needing to start implementing what I have been taught,

Jim Corbett