Tag: Faith

“I know who you are not, and I love you. I see your desire to be like My Son and your struggle to attain that goal. You fret, strive, and worry when I goad you to become more like Him. I see you grieve when you can’t live up to the standards that I have set for you in My Word. When did I ever say that you could accomplish that task in your own strength? When did I ever require you to accomplish what even My law could not do in the most ardent follower? Why would you carry that burden?

"Listen carefully. You must hear this. Stop striving to become better. You must change your ways of achieving My goals or you will soon be overwhelmed if you continue misunderstanding Our relationship. Your job is to submit; My job is to change you. I am raising the standard. I am about to require bride-like devotion from anyone who will be used by Me in the near future. I need a representative people to show the world My Son. Only submissive power will rise above the turmoil. Only Christ-like obedience will bring souls to Me during the soon-approaching great deception.

"How will you ever make it? You will not possess My presence by striving to change what you have not been able to change so far. Stop striving. Stop struggling. Submit to My hand and surrender to My working in you what I need to do. There is no other way. What I require is impossible for you to do. I promise, however, to do it in you and for you. You can be free. Why would you insist on having it your way and continue to fail?”

2 Cor. 3:17 AMP

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord  is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).

Gal. 3:3 AMP

Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh?

 

Our publication, A White Stone, is - among other things - a clarion call to holiness. The main characters set an example of how each of us can prosper during perilous times. After reading it, many people come to me with a renewed enthusiasm to be like one or several of those characters; in essence, to be the kind of representation of Jesus that the character is.

They often tell me of several ways in which they intend to change. If I can’t talk them out of their formula and must let them attempt to change themselves, it is normally just a matter of time before they come back to me - broken, overwhelmed, and very confused - wondering why the Lord did not honor their hearts.

Most of the time, I just take them to the above verses and they get the picture. The Holy Spirit started all of this. He is the one who must be in every equation during the changing process; and He must be allowed a free hand to fully accomplish His will in making you like Jesus. Anything else is simply frustrating, burdensome religion. It is a yoke that is too heavy for any of us to carry.

Understand this. When you break under the weight of attempting to become holy in your own strength, crumple at the feet of Jesus. Repent of your foolishness of attempting to accomplish by yourself what only the Holy Spirit can do. You are needed in the upcoming times. Don’t allow your stubbornness to cause you to be left on the sidelines.

Needing to remember that the Lord authored my faith, and that it’s His job to finish it,

Jim Corbett

“Direction for your life comes from quiet times with Me. You cannot hear Me in the din of your activity. You will not find My will while doing other things. I want all of your attention. It shows Me that you consider Our time together important. Jesus certainly considered it important. He died so that We could spend time together.”

Luke 23:44-45 NIV

44) It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,

45) for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

 

Most of us forget that one of the most important reasons Jesus died was so that we could have access to His Father. Think of it. He considered that access so important that He gave His life for it.

Father God knows how important time with Him is. He allowed the death of His Son so that we can come and spend time with Him.

How important is time with our Father to us? How many minutes out of our important schedule do we allot for time with the Creator of all things? How far is our life out of line with the heart of God because we consider other things more important than being with our Father in heaven?

Make time with You my priority, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Where do you find safety? You read the headlines and accept the fear that they bring. You watch the news and release your comfort to its influence. You listen to the radio and choose to hide rather than face the season in which you live. Why do you not come to Me to see how you can be at peace, no matter what your circumstances might bring? I know why. You do not trust Me.

"In My Word and throughout history, many of My people have been harmed in many ways. Some were killed violently by violent people who hated Me. You do not call that being safe with Me. In fact, it seems to you as a grave danger to truly trust and sell out to Me, if that’s the result. You do not understand safety as I see it. Selfishness blinds your spiritual eyes. Over the centuries, service to Me has deteriorated from joyous proclamation of My good news for the sake of others, no matter what the cost, to fearful cowering and fervent petitions for personal gain.

"When will you realize that I alone am safety for those dead to themselves? When will you learn that I provide the Spirit of My Son in perilous times. Nothing could touch His heart of love and His zeal to protect you from real harm. Come to His kind of safe haven in Me. Nothing can touch what I own. Whatever part of you that is not totally Mine will reel and flounder when times are tough. I protect whatever is totally Mine. Nothing can touch what I protect.”

 Prov. 21:30-31 AMP 

30) There is no [human] wisdom or understanding or counsel [that can prevail] against the Lord.

31) The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance and victory are of the Lord.

Prov. 29:25 AMP

The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever leans on, trusts in, and puts his confidence in the Lord is safe and set on high.

Phil. 4:6-7 AMP

6) Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.

7) And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

 

Some of the first century church - who had their possessions confiscated, who fled to the hills to live in squalor, who died in the arena - physically walked with Jesus. Quite possibly, they saw His loving, sun-touched face up close and personal on a daily basis before His death, a death that was a pattern for their own life and death.  He loved them and they showed their love to be an example of the power of His actions.

In the arena, as the mastiffs were attacking their children, as the lions devoured their own bodies, I am convinced that they saw His face, now glorified beyond belief, once more. His power was with them. They were fully protected from causing any shame to come to their very best Friend. His priorities had welded themselves deep within the fibers of their inner beings, gaining strength every moment as they approached the glory of God.

Life for the new believer had taken on a new form with new priorities. Quite possibly, some of those who took part in the crucifixion - the soldier who drove the nails in His hands, perhaps the one who pierced His side - exchanged their lives for a life of dedication to the one true God.

Equipped with His presence, they overcame all of the characteristics of their former puny existence and embraced the spiritual power to live above the hatred of the world. Their unqualified love is a testimony that resonates through the corridors of time, encouraging each of us to throw aside all of our crippling fears and look once again upon the face of Jesus, our true Master and Lord.

Needing to become much more familiar with Your face, Lord,

Jim Corbett