Faith | TFRC | The Faith Resource Community

1/22/22 The Things You Did at First

“Focus! Go back to when you were first in love with Me. Remember the things that were important to you at that time. Remember also what was not important because you loved so deeply and cared only about those things I cared about. I could guide you with My eyes. I could tell you My heart and you would move as if We were One. You need to go back there, so that I can use you in that way again. It is important to Me, but it is also very important for you.

"If you do not turn, We will grow farther apart. You will not be able to know what is important to Me any longer and I cannot embrace the things that you deem important. That is not a good situation for you. Turn now. Repent! Time is short!”

James 4:8-10 AMP

8) Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].

9) [As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins].

10) Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].”

Rev. 2:2-5 NIV

2) “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.

3) You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary.

4) Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

5) Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.”

A significant life is the life of Jesus. Jesus moved only in love, only in His Father’s wishes. As He walked among those He had created, He saw their needs and moved with compassion on their behalf. He gave His all, even for those who hated Him - especially for those who hated Him. Their need became His mission. His love became their salvation.

Take me back to first love, Lord,

Jim Corbett

1/22/22 Serving Others with Brothers We Trust

One of the most outstanding aspects of David’s life is the caliber of men God gave him. Knowing the battles he was about to encounter, God gave David mighty men of valor, well-trained in their respective roles and trustworthy unto death. As you read the accounts of their feats, there is no question about their prowess. As David’s life unfolds, what also becomes strikingly clear is that these mighty men were devoted to him and he was devoted to them. Combined with the presence of the Lord that was upon them, this arrangement was unbeatable. It was a three-way covenant relationship.

Today, that kind of brotherhood seems non-existent, except in motorcycle or street gangs. It is glaringly absent in the church. In a time when having your back covered could make the difference between the life or death of you and your family, I challenge any of you to find that kind of camaraderie - someone you know who’s there for you, even unto death. If you can find him, (other than Jesus Himself, of course,) you are truly blessed.

In the Word, Jesus uses the term “brother” or “brethren” as a premier example of a close bond. These terms were used at a time when family and covenant bond really meant something, unlike today’s fractured world. I am convinced that God is raising up holy alliances of men, joined in the brotherhood of Christ and designed to accomplish mighty feats for the Lord just as in David’s time. These men - washed in the blood of Jesus, refined by the fires of adversity, broken under the weight of extreme challenges, and rebuilt by the Holy Spirit until they are trustworthy before God and trustworthy toward others - are on the threshold of joining with one another to accomplish God-given tasks.

Together they will tear down spiritual strongholds and overcome insurmountable challenges through the power of the Holy Spirit. Available only to God and committed to one another, they will walk together above the spirit of the world as an unbeatable force of holy, mighty men on a mission for our Lord.

Are you submitting to God’s training to be a brother of consequence? If you are not, you will be set on the sidelines as others participate in some of the most exciting adventures the Lord has ever had available in the darkest of times, times when He needs those He can trust.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

1/20/22 Forever Free

“Do you know what your purpose is? I don’t mean what your personal calling might be, but do you know what the overall purpose of My church is? You have the privilege of telling the wonderful news that, in the unseen world, the impossible has been done for all men. Jesus reconciled everything between Us. Now you have been given the joyful task of telling the hurting, the discouraged, the little ones that flounder in the darkness, that all has been made right between Us.

"Without the work that Jesus did, not one of you had any hope of ever being free. Now you can be free from all the horrors in your world and free from all the eternal horrors that awaited you just after you closed your eyes for the last time.

"There is nothing to fear if you accept the work that has been done by Him. Your greatest gift besides your own freedom is the opportunity to tell everyone of this fantastic news. I want everyone to have the opportunity to hear of His wonderful accomplishment. You tell them for Me, OK? I will be with you to empower you when you do it. The angels and I will rejoice whenever someone receives this great gift. It is fun for Me. I can’t wait for you to rejoice with Me.”

II Cor. 5:18 AMP

But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him].

Our great, great, great, etc. grandpa and grandma, Adam and Eve, generated an incredible black hole in the spiritual realm when they defied God. Their seemingly harmless act of rebellion, (the same act that each of us has the choice to wallow in each and every day, by the way) did far more than expose the first apple core (if indeed it was an apple.) It created an impasse between the holy and the newly profane. God could not legally go where His children were and they could not legally go where He was. Two beings once capable of intimate interaction were now as different as darkness and light.

Enter Jesus. Far more than hanging on a cross, He once more bonded Creator and creation and made them inseparable. He destroyed everything that once separated us from God. (You can jump for joy right here if you want.)

I remember once, when my older daughter was a teen, Satan had created a separation between us for several months. Those months were the most agonizing months that both of us ever spent. Nothing could console me. There was nothing that I wouldn’t have done to be able to bridge the gap between us. There was no solace for me; nothing mattered except reconciliation. I’m sure she would have felt the same if she could have. I was a daddy who was hurting, and she was a child hurting equally as much.

One day there was complete restoration of our relationship. God said that the gap had been there long enough and moved on our behalf. It was one of the happiest days of our lives. The healed relationship was so complete that we returned to being best friends.

Remembering my pain as a human father, I believe that our Father in heaven must ache so much more for every one of His children who can’t experience His love. We need to tell them, for their sake and for His.

Wanting to see my Daddy happy,

Jim Corbett

1/20/22 This Life

What if this life is about nothing more than to prepare those who are going to spend eternity with God and those who aren't? What if God had no other plan but whatever is needed for the eternities, and was simply using this time we call our lives as a qualification process for what we are going to do then? What if mankind added all of the other stuff and made it important when God never intended for us to focus one moment on the things we hold dear?

Let's say that God placed mankind on this planet to first of all, know Him, and then to divide those who decide to serve Him from those who choose not to. Let's say that's all there is to it, nothing more. If that were the case, then everything else – everything - is made important by the will of man, not by God.

Entertainment would not have taken the place of complete happiness in the presence of God. Striving to work to provide for our needs would not be necessary because God, in His rightful place, would be our all provider. There would be no fears even from those who choose not to serve Him, because our reliance would be on His protection. Even if we were harmed, He would be our healer, or we would die and simply be with Him - our life's goal. His plan for us would be complete and our trust in that plan would bring total joy to those around us as we represent Jesus.

Fathers and husbands, how are you preparing those who are watching your life so that they know how to function? Whose plan for real life are you representing? What are you doing to be able to bring clear direction for your family? If you are a blind guide, an ability to see clearly is found in Jesus and His ways. He is waiting for you to come to Him for new life to give to others. Are your eyes and heart open?

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett

1/19/22 Don’t Settle

“I have given you life and I want you to live that life abundantly. I have called you to live it passionately as Jesus did, not with minimal enthusiasm for it or mild involvement in My ways. Your days are full of choices; your years are numbered according to My will. You are on a tailor-made and very personal adventure planned by Me.

"Most of you miss the joy of your journey. You see challenges as threats rather than opportunities for Us to strategize together. You long for the highs and miss the wonder of learning to trust in Me when in the valley. You hope rather than know that My Word is true. You settle for morsels of what I have available. You struggle to maintain control, when absolute surrender to Me and My plans would bring you freedom. Your days are dull and mundane, rather than full of the exuberant life that Jesus lived. He understood how much His life and your life in Him meant to Me. He shared My desires rather than inventing His own to maintain His safety.

"I want you to shake off all of the foolish reasons you have for not becoming deeply involved in My plan for you, no matter what the cost might be to you. I want you to begin to live wondrously, full of the heart of My Holy Spirit. Stop settling for less than I have for you.”

Hos. 2:14-15a AMP

14) Therefore, behold, I will allure her [Israel] and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly and to her heart.

15) There I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor [troubling] to be for her a door of hope and expectation…

Rev. 3:19 AMP

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

Somehow we have believed the lie that things such as comfort, the world’s definition of success, and a life without challenges and heartaches are more important than an intimate relationship with our Lord. We seek the visible comforts rather than understanding that whatever causes us to need Him, to come to Him, to wait for Him or to rest in Him alone are what give us true wealth and an abundant life. We miss how God is working to fulfill our days and pattern our lives after the abundant life of Jesus when we look only for the mountain tops, ignoring the opportunities for growth and intimacy in the valleys. We miss the joy of the journey while waiting for the comforts of our flesh.

Let me find Your abundant life in every aspect of my days, Lord,

Jim Corbett

1 2 3 … 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 … 643 644 645

Posts navigation