Tag: Faith

“With the work that I am doing in your heart comes a corresponding responsibility. I expect you to function in the lessons that I am teaching you. I expect you to understand ownership. As I place ownership of My Word and My precepts in your heart, I am removing the ownership of the things that you have held as your own for so long. You are beginning to understand that you are not your own but have been bought with a price. Many of you have heard that often and have set it aside as yesterday’s news. Now I will aggressively teach you what that really means and the wonder that it really is. Establish obedience in your heart this day. Ask Me to establish My desires in you.

"To those who realize the importance of your relationship with Me through Jesus: Begin now to move in the wealth of the training I have taken you through. Move as My voice, My hands, and My heart to your world. Flow with Me as I flow through you to others. I have given you eyes to see; now open them so you will begin to walk where I show you to go. I am showing you truth; open your mouth and speak it without compromise to those who need to hear it.”

Matthew 11:12 NIV

“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”

Matthew 26:53-54 NIV

53) “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

54) But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

 

As a body of believers, we have been so ineffective by the Lord’s standards that we function with spiritual atrophy. Most of us have never entered into the spiritual power that has been provided for us at the cross. I’m not at all talking about the foolish displays of make-believe authority that allows one to consume the things of God upon himself. I’m talking about the power of the cross that effortlessly eliminates the things of the world and advances the authority of God.

True authority encompasses all the characteristics of Christ and none of the world. It is authority under full submission. Someone, who has learned to remain under the absolute authority of God, will function only as Jesus did. Someone who has been in deep communion with Him desires only to be like Him.

For years, possibly generations, many elements of the church of Jesus Christ have displayed a powerless mixture of worthless religion and make-believe, self-serving relationships to a world that needs to see the risen Christ. I believe that the Lord will soon call forth His own— those who have embraced the refining fires for the sake of their Lord.  Free of the dross of the world, they will move as their Master moves, speak only when He gives them authority to do so; and live only for His glory.

At present, this remnant is a laughingstock to the world and ignored by the cold church. They are as invisible as Jesus was to those who couldn’t see. When the Lord calls them forth, their lives will be so bright with His presence that no one will be able to ignore them any more than the work of the cross could be kept quiet.

Those of you who understand know who you really are. So does your Lord. Consider the “cross” training that you are experiencing as valuable as your Lord considers it. Embrace the fires of refinement for the sake of Jesus. Soon you will be called to move in what you have learned.

Become everything in me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“The way to the throne is always by way of the cross. The resurrection life can only come from the grave. Most of My people short-circuit the plans that I have for them, because they attempt to bypass My way of doing things. They attempt to find a relationship with Me on their terms, rather than in the way that I have established through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Why would you believe that I would acknowledge any other pattern for your life than the life that He exhibited before the world? He came to show you the way.

"You want My favor, but you are unwilling to embrace the understanding that the cross is what I recognize—not your positive confessions and your faith in your faith. Give yourself completely to Me now. Humble yourself before the cross. I will lift you up and make your life significant.”

1 Cor. 11:1 NIV  

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

2 Cor. 1:8-10 NIV

8) We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

9) Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

10) He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us…

Jam. 4:7-10 NIV 

7) Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8) Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9) Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

10) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

 

Our significance is in God, not in whatever we place our significance. We live in a day of pride—pride as a nation, pride in our accomplishments, pride in the things we own, even pride in the sports teams for which we root.

The great things of the Lord spring from humbleness and personal insignificance. We will never have God’s kind of worth until we see things from God’s perspective. He is not looking for us to get better at anything, even serving Him. He is looking for us to understand and function in our need of Him in everything. That goes against everything that we hold dear. As soon as we understand and embrace His ways, we will be free.

Teach me Your ways, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“The extent to which you allow Me to eliminate your life will be the extent to which I will be able to replace it with My life. That is why there are so many different motivations within My church. It is because of the varying depths of surrender.

"First and foremost, everyone, who wants to be Mine and spend eternity with Me, must surrender their lives to the work that I have done through Jesus, and make Him the only Lord of their lives. Everything is simply religious games until that step is taken. Without surrender, there is no relationship. When you surrender to Jesus, you are made spiritually alive and able to spend time in My presence.

"After that, how much you desire to be like Jesus is up to you. The extent to which you choose to surrender will be the extent to which He will live through you. I will work with you to make proper choices and in-depth commitments. Your job is not to try to become more like Him; it is to become less like you through My power. I will change you when We are together. As you voluntarily decrease, He will increase. Spend time in My Word and with My Word. Allow My Holy Spirit to lead you into truth. It is why you have been created all over again.”

Matthew 16:24-25 AMP

24) Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].

25) For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].

John 3:30 AMP 

He must increase, but I must decrease. [He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.]

John 6:57 AMP 

Just as the living Father sent Me and I live by (through, because of) the Father, even so whoever continues to feed on Me [whoever takes Me for his food and is nourished by Me] shall [in his turn] live through and because of Me.

Galatians 2:20 AMP

I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]: it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

 

God has a plan, and we have our own plans. The tragedy of wanting our own way started in the Garden of Eden. Once we, as mankind, decided to go with our own plans and add God to them when we needed Him, things really became messy. Nevertheless, God had a greater plan all along. Instead of creating a second creation that would also obey because it is the right thing to do, (the first being the angels,) He created us—a creation that would eventually follow Him out of love. Therein lies our free will and our ability to make right or wrong choices.

The most important right choice is to surrender our lives to the Lordship of Jesus. That must be a definitive time in our lives when we cross over from death to life in our spirits. After that, we are allowed to make right or wrong choices every day. I am not talking about the typical sin choices. I am talking about choices that determine whether or not we have more of Jesus living through us. Do we surrender to Him and His will, or do we remain in charge over and over again?

It is only through the power of God that we can make the proper choices. We need to seek Him to give us the heart to desire to surrender fully to Jesus. The increasing depth of surrender allows Jesus to live brighter and brighter through us.

Give me a hunger to surrender completely to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett