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11/19/21 Foolishness

In my teens, I had this car. It was relatively unremarkable, but I used it to show my bravado and came close to hurting myself due to my stupidity every time I got behind the wheel. I loved to look under the hood at its three carbs with chrome pots. Over the life of the car, I replaced two engines, three transmissions, and two rear ends. I burned through three sets of tires and the favor of several neighbors within a matter of a couple years. I can only look back on that period of my life and shake my head in wonder at the idiocy displayed in those days.

I guess that was the beginning of my pattern of foolishness before the Lord got hold of my heart and showed me its real value. Looking back, there are so many things I would’ve done differently if only I’d known better. Country singer Roy Clark recorded a song called “Yesterday When I Was Young.” In it, he laments over his foolish approach to life. Boy, I can identify with that song!

In the song, however, the singer unfortunately has no answers and no forgiveness. I’m so grateful that I do in Jesus. My Lord erased my past with its hopeless future and designed a new bright plan for my life. His love has built a hedge around me to protect me from my own foolishness. His power is available to me whenever I begin to travel blindly through the gears of my life. I praise Him for it! So does my family!

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

11/18/21 Loyal Love

“Because you are My child, I run to you when you fall or fail Me. I marshal whatever forces are needed to bring you back into My presence. When you repent, I welcome you with open arms and love you with loyal love. You are Mine and I am with you as you grow. Never fear Me when you have done wrong. We will work things out together. As long as you are ready to repent and desire to turn from your sin, you are safe. It is when you harden your heart that you are in danger.”

Matthew 26:31 NIV

Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”

Acts 17:30 AMP

Such [former] ages of ignorance God, it is true, ignored and allowed to pass unnoticed; but now He charges all people everywhere to repent (to change their minds for the better and heartily amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins),…

God calls us to a radical life change of repentance for the sin we see with our new eyes. Before we came to the Lord, our eyes were darkened to the fact that we were in sin. We simply didn’t care. Now that we live in our new nature, not only are we accepted by God as His children, we also have the freedom to continually walk in the freedom of forgiveness. Our job is to continually go to the Lord in repentance, something only those who know Him desire to do. Doing so demonstrates His Lordship and exemplifies our submission. Repentance and submission bring His presence and His power to change us and eventually allow us to deny the sins that so easily beset us.

Thank You for forgiving me often, Lord,

Jim Corbett

11/18/21 Silent Movie

When I was in my teens (and dirt was a new thing,) a local radio personality devoted one entire afternoon of programming time to sharing a silent movie with his audience. Think of that, a silent movie on the radio. As foolish as the idea sounds and is, this guy gave a narrative of certain scenes in the movie between songs. What is even more peculiar is he captured my attention throughout the three-hour show. I couldn’t wait for his next input, which - by the way - was very funny.

As I reflect back, there probably was no real silent movie being played. In reality, the man just took license and came up with a plan that captured the attention of his listeners by using a unique approach. What I was hearing had no bearing on reality.

Now that I know the Lord and observe how we, as men, respond to each day’s challenges, I see a definite parallel to that man’s program. The enemy of our marriages and families is making up stories filled with lies and make-believe, and handing them to us, our wives, and our children. He then tells us there is a reality to what he is saying, when God calls all of his plans imaginations. To God, they are not funny!

God has a plan laid out very clearly for us in His Word. There is no make-believe. There are no silent movies that someone else has to interpret, because He has given us His Holy Spirit. His plan has nothing hidden. We can count on it to help us overcome all the silent movies of the enemy.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

11/17/21 In Time

“This is a season in which I desire to deal with issues of your heart that, if left unaddressed, will cause you harm in your future walk with Me. It is time to move closer to the kind of life I desire for you. I desire that you truly walk in holiness. The perfection of My Son has been provided for you. His integrity with Me is a standard that you have access to if you so desire. His compassion for the lost, His loving obedience, and His dedication to My will are all yours should you choose them.

"You need to come to Me. Tell Me that you desire all that I have for you. Submit fully to His Lordship over your life. Renew your desire for first love. I will then bring forth My wealth in you. First you will see who you are not, so that we can eliminate those issues from your life. Then you will understand who you really can be; and, in time, you will walk as He walked. All that Jesus is can be yours. It’s time to go deeper with Me. Simply ask. I will accomplish it in you.”

Deut. 1:6 NIV

The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain.”

2 Chr. 16:9 NIV

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him...”

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.

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.”

John 3:30 AMP

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

1 John 2:6 AMP

Whoever says he abides in Him ought [as a personal debt] to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself.

When was the last time you became passionate about the Lord’s plans? For that matter, when was the last time the Lord’s plans for your life took priority over the other demands you face each day?

God is clearly requiring each of us to make Him our priority. Still, most of us agonize over the demands of simply living out each day - paying the rent, providing for food, etc. To stop, even for a day, and spend it entirely with the Lord should He ask us to do so would be beyond comprehension for some of us. We are convinced that the answer is heart commitment.

Merry and I believe that each and every one of us, who call ourselves Christians, must make a choice to live Christ’s life passionately throughout our very ordinary days. We are to approach the tasks and the people placed before us with His kind of zeal and unquestioning love, presenting every one of them as an offering to the Lord for His glory. We are convinced that this life is not so much about what we do as it is about the One for whom we are doing it.

If everything that we become involved in is truly offered to the Lord and placed under His Lordship, the fluff will fall away and the eternal purposes of God will become priorities to us. Living Christ’s passionate life unto the Lord will change us and those around us who are looking for answers.

Take my stuff and replace it with Your stuff, Lord,

Jim Corbett

11/17/21 Commitment to Lordship

From the book, The Father Factor, by Jim and Merry Corbett

The Lordship of Jesus Christ over everything is the single corridor God has provided to remove your spiritual impotence. It is the spiritual equivalent to the mechanical “How does it work?” of the natural realm. It is the only “action-reaction” provided by God to overcome useless, unacceptable works of the flesh.

If you need to do so, introduce yourself to Jesus all over again. Open your heart up to the Lord in prayer. Rediscover His overwhelming love for you. Pursue first love with Him once again and recapture the wonder of His mighty works. Ask Him to show you which areas you have surrendered to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ and those you haven’t. Write them down. Don’t push this aside with the usual “I’ve already given everything over to Him,” as you may have done for many years, all the while being deceived and remaining spiritually impotent. Don’t be fooled into believing that everything is under His Lordship when it probably isn’t. Your spiritual life depends on it!

Take the time to list everything you can think of in your world, your marriage, your children, your ministry, your career, your relationships, etc., that is or is not under His Lordship. Come clean. Cover everything and include it in the following prayer when you can mean it from the bottom of your heart, because the Lord is waiting eagerly to answer your prayer and transform you through the power of His Word and His Spirit – the Holy Spirit. It’s a win-win situation!

Lord,

I place everything in my life (read your list) under Your complete Lordship. I am tired of trying to complete in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit. Teach me to understand Your ways and then give me the power to continually walk in them. Thank You, Lord!

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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