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5/11/22 The Dog and Pony Show

For many years, the errant, undiscerning church has embraced various ways that they interpret as the presence of God being with them. False prophets, so-called evangelists whose agenda is to build a following, and even just plain, honest people needing to hear from God have manipulated the Word, tapped into the wrong source of supernatural power, and even flat out lied in their claims of supernatural intervention – some trying to convince their audience that God is real, others to make themselves look credible and important. The world has watched this dog and pony show for so long, that they’ve cast aside any need for this kind of foolishness in their lives.

Make no mistake. God is real, and He is about to separate make-believe religion from the cross-won relationship given to us by Jesus. I believe that He is about to clearly define Himself to the true church and to the world. In fact, He has already been proving Himself strong in other parts of the world, and beginning to do the same here in America.

As a husband and father, you need to become very discerning in the days ahead. Business-as-usual policies will not be an answer to the needs and challenges on the horizon. Only a real relationship with Jesus and a determination to walk in the world as He did will allow you to overcome as He did.

It’s time to stay away from the dog and pony shows and seek out honest believers, who are only concerned with the souls of men and women, the truth of the Word going forth, and glorifying the Lord. Hang with them and you will walk right into an atmosphere ripe and prepared for the overwhelming, wonderful presence of our majestic God and Father. It’s a good place to be.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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5/10/22 Never the Center

“If you are going to walk in My authority to accomplish My work, then you must submit to My total authority over your life. If you want My presence to go forth in whatever you are called to do, then you must remove yours. You can never be the center of anything I call you to do. In fact, you are to be an empty vessel for Me to flow through. I call you to lay your life aside. Exchange your life for Mine. I call you to surrender all that you are and all that you have to the complete Lordship of Jesus.

"You have little power to really affect your world because there is so much of you in all you do. You desire to share Lordship! You desire to own some of My power. You will even distort My Word in an attempt to prove that you can maintain some ownership of your life and still serve Me. How is that working for you? Allow Me to crucify everything of your old nature. Become an empty vessel. Then see Who I really am and what I choose to do through you.”

Ps. 39:7 AMP

And now, Lord, what do I wait for and expect? My hope and expectation are in You.

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV 

5) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

6) in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Isaiah 2:22 AMP 

Cease to trust in [weak, frail, and dying] man, whose breath is in his nostrils [for so short a time]; in what sense can he be counted as having intrinsic worth?

Isaiah 40:31 AMP

But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

Isaiah 42:25 AMP

Therefore He poured out upon [Israel] the fierceness of His anger and the strength of battle. And it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not [the lesson of repentance which the Assyrian conquest was intended to teach]; it burned him, but he did not lay it to heart.

 

Jesus asks us to exchange our lives for His. We continually want to share in the lordship of our lives, to take part in our healing, our spiritual growth, and sometimes even our salvation. He asks only that we give our old life away in exchange for His to be lived through us. Why don’t we understand?

Take everything, Lord,

Jim Corbett

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5/10/22 All Smoke and Mirrors

Have you ever heard someone say that magic tricks are all smoke and mirrors? The magician deceives us by using tactics that distract us from reality and turn us to the false reality he wants us to accept. His illusions and deceptions appear genuine in our minds, unless we uncover his secrets - his use of false images and just plain trickery.

Believe it or not, the devil does the same kind of trickery every day in each of our lives. He continually goads us to believe that what the world presents is reality. He flashes false wisdom, creates seemingly insurmountable scenarios, tries to plant his own thoughts in our minds, and attempts to deceive us into thinking that he holds the keys to our days.

Well, as real as his plan seems, it’s all smoke and mirrors. The Word says that we’re to look past what we see with our earthly perceptions, and focus on the eternal, the truth of what’s really happening. We’re to allow the Lord to retrain our thinking. We’re to look past what seems normal, and see what the Lord has done and is doing in every situation. We’re to believe more in God’s kingdom principles than the principles we’ve been taught by the world all our lives.

There is no smoke and there are no mirrors with God. His Word is always true. His promises are always reliable. What Jesus has done for us will always be real, no matter how much it is distorted by the world and its ways. You can rely on the fact that God is far more powerful than any situation you face. God said it; therefore, it is clear, honorable, smokeless truth. Do you believe it?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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5/09/22 God’s Concerns

“Do you even remember how many times you have lied to Me? How many times have you made promises to Me only to do the opposite of what you have said? What about all the times you have told others you would pray for them and never gave your commitment in My Name another thought? When was the last time you made the reputation of Jesus more important than your own comfort? Do you see how little you have done to show Me that you have My concerns as the priority of your heart? I don’t like your hypocrisy, no matter how it’s presented; but I will forgive you if you repent! You need Me to change your heart and your actions now! Don’t tolerate that kind of behavior in your life, and don’t associate with those who do. Why would you think that I don’t see, and even more important, why would you even begin to believe that I don’t care?”

Psalm 51:10 AMP 

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.

Acts 5:1-5a NIV

1) Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.

2) With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

3) Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?

4) Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”

5a) When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died.

 

“Yeah, OK, but today lies are not as important to God. Nobody’s been killed like that lately. Anyway, everybody’s doing it! I know some people who say they love Jesus and can’t be trusted at all. Look around, nobody gives important stuff to God anymore. I think He just wants us to look and feel good, no matter how selfish we really are. You see, He understands that …”

I believe that some of us who call ourselves representatives of Jesus and stewards of what we have been entrusted with are going to be very surprised one day. Our hands are dirty. It’s time to change now!

Oh, Lord, have mercy on us!

Jim Corbett

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5/09/22 Mind Wars

Does this sound familiar? You’re finally able to clear your busy schedule and find those few quiet moments you’ve been looking for to spend time with God, only you’re unable to focus on Him. The Bible study part comes relatively easy because you can focus on the words on the page; but to sit quietly and simply wait on Him for intimate communication is an incredible task. Your thoughts go to incidental stuff that needs to be done, old sins, the work load that’s waiting, etc., etc. Finally, you give up and walk away, feeling that your time was wasted or even that you’ve failed God one more time.

Most of us don’t realize the real war we face. The enemy has relatively little trouble with us going to church, attending men’s breakfast meetings, feeding the poor, or participating in any other spiritual in nature activity. However, if he can keep us from building an intimate relationship with our Lord, he wins. His deadly fear is that believers - especially men who are stewards of others - will develop an intimacy of love, power, and spiritual wealth with their Father in the throne room.  The enemy is already defeated through the cross, but he loses all battles in every area of our lives if we get our strategies directly from God.

Therein lies the battle. We, as believers, need supernatural wisdom to overcome the world. The only place we can get this kind of wisdom is in quiet intimacy with our Father God. Since the enemy knows this, he will do anything to keep us from that kind of interaction. He will use extreme challenges, distractions, business, remembrances of past fishing trips, anything to keep us from developing that relationship.

Understanding the war and knowing the primary battle is the first step to winning.  The battle plan is to keep going to God and pressing in through His power. Cast down the imaginations placed in your way. Give them over to the Lord. Seek God for His power to keep your mind focused. Press in, press in, and press in some more until the only desire you have in your heart is to be with your Father. Delight yourself in the Lord, and all the heart desires and needs you have will become part of the full, mature, loving relationship for which you’ve been born.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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