Tag: Faith

“Have you ever wondered where My anointing has gone? Have you noticed that the preaching in most churches falls two feet in front of the pastor’s mouth? Do you question why so-called “praise leaders” play well-orchestrated songs, but cannot lead anyone into My presence? Do you see the cold fellowships with their cold programs, incapable of touching their communities with power, love, and My presence? All of the above is because My real presence left you long ago and you haven’t even noticed. Each of you has wondered what is wrong in the church. Well, the basic problem is that I am no longer in most churches. I will not call Mine what I don’t own. I don’t own the hearts of most of My people.

"It’s written in My Word that you have been bought with a price; that’s true. The problem is that most of you, My people, still believe that you have not been purchased. You go about your days thinking that I am with you for most of what you do. That is not true. How can I be with you when you lie to one another? How can you think that I could honor hatred, unforgiveness, jealousy, and backbiting? Do you think that My presence would dwell with you when you are unwilling to get rid of favorite sins that you harbor and hold in My face? You sing so-called praises to Me and say that you are preaching My Word, but most of the time you are doing it by yourself because of the sin in your life. Get real!

 "For many years I have tolerated your rebellion, so that you will be able to discern the difference between functioning in My presence and doing things on your own and calling them “anointed.” You are, at present, observing your so-called freedoms without My presence. It is becoming distasteful to you. Those of you who are really Mine long for Me to once again put My hand on your lives. When all is ready, I will again bring My presence to those who ardently desire to become like My Son, Jesus – those who hate their flesh and will no longer tolerate any of it in their midst. I will again draw close. I will have a people. Choose this day whom you will really serve!”

Exodus 33:3-5 NIV

3) “Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”

4) When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments.

5) For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’ ”

Exodus 33:13-16 NIV

13) “If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

14) The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

15) Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.

16) How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

 

Boy! Are we foolish!

Have you ever really observed a con man in action? All of his days are spent attempting to show himself as something that he is not. He connives, schemes, and plots all his steps just so that he has the appearance of good, when in reality there is nothing but evil behind everything he does. Once he is found out, his past actions become crystal clear, and he is exposed for who he really is.

I see that as a parallel to most of today’s church. We attempt to grunt our way into an appearance of holiness. We manipulate each other with righteous-sounding words and false anointings, thinking that we are fooling God. Our actions are actually mocking Him. He is a holy God; but still we flaunt our “make–believe religion” in His face, thinking He will tolerate it because He has been merciful for so long. We don’t understand His ways. He has given us enough rope to hang ourselves.

In our foolishness and church games, we believe that we are a witness to the world. It’s fascinating that we are the only ones who can’t see our folly. The world has seen it long ago, and it has minimized our impact on them accordingly. They don’t hear because we can’t tell them. We have no power to represent a holy life before them, because we do not crave to be holy ourselves. God has honored our wishes and left us to our foolishness for a while.

However, He will have a holy people. I am convinced that “game times” are almost over. God is making our own lives distasteful to us and is drawing us to Himself to again see who He really is. That will bring us to unqualified repentance.  Everything starts there.

I believe that He is raising up a people to represent and honor Him properly. It starts with repentance and leads to holiness, as we spend time with Him with honest hearts. We are becoming aware of our false religion, and those who are really His are falling on their faces to honor Him and once again realize their need of Him. Soon we will do nothing without Him. Then, the world will take notice. Jesus will once again be in their midst.

Needing to fall on the floor and never get up,

Jim Corbett

“If I were to call you home this moment, would your life have been worthwhile? Would it have been of value to My kingdom on earth? Will it bring crowns for Jesus because you have been a player in My harvest? Will those around you have seen Jesus so beautifully in you that they couldn’t resist giving their lives to His Lordship? If not, what are you living for? More importantly, who are you living for? If these questions bring answers that do not please you, how do you think I feel about them?

"Stop repenting of things. Repent of your life. Come to Me now. Need and accept My power to change who you are and what you do with My days. Find My perspective for your days. Do something about them before it’s too late. I am waiting with mercy and forgiveness. I love you, but I also love others who need you. Stop wasting your time on foolish endeavors. Change your ways, so that I can trust you and send the needy to you.”

Esther 4:13-14 AMP 

13) Then Mordecai told them to return this answer to Esther. Do not flatter yourself that you shall escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews.

14) For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise for the Jews from elsewhere, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion?

Psalm 25:12-14 NIV

12) Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.

13) He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.

14) The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them.

Isaiah 30:21 NIV 

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying “This is the way; walk in it.”

Luke 9:23-25 AMP 

23) And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].

24) For whoever would preserve his life and save it will lose and destroy it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he will preserve and save it [from the penalty of eternal death].

25) For what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and ruins or forfeits (loses) himself?

 

We have been given one life to live and we have been born to live it for God’s purposes. If we are not ready to do that, He will make us ready if we go to Him. Most of us get in the habit of going to God with all our little sins that distract us and forget about our lives that are far from serving Him. It is good to repent of those things that are wrong, unless they get in the way of us understanding that our whole life has taken on a wrong perspective and is out of order.

When we begin to seek God for His purposes to be fulfilled in our lives, we begin to see things more clearly. He begins to bring forth a much bigger picture than our small, self-focused perspective. His mercy goads us to live for Him and gives us the ability to do so as much as we can. All the while He keeps changing us to be more like Jesus.

Almost two thousand years after His resurrection, Jesus is still joyously reproducing every fiber of His being in anyone who embraces Him as Lord and chooses to sell out to His kind of life. That is the Father’s chosen way of bringing lost people to Himself.

The life of Jesus is imparted to us through the Holy Spirit and we are supposed to simply carry Him to others by allowing Jesus to live His life through us. It is a wonderfully ordained concept of one living God’s way in front of another, who does the same in the midst of others, and so on.

How can it be then that we, as exact reproductions of the Lord because of His Holy Spirit living within each of us, can live daily among the inhabitants of this land and go unnoticed as resembling Him?

Today, most of us tell the story about a man named Jesus and expect people to embrace it unto salvation. Because of our lackluster Christianity, we talk of miracles of the past to show the power of God, name the heroes of the faith as the only testimony of God’s kind of life being lived through people; and rely on “preachers” to evangelize those to whom we should be showing Jesus. It never dawns on us that we are the message as well as the messenger. That’s too big a price to pay for most “Christians.”

Thank You for Your mercy in allowing me time to change, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“I am very concerned about where you are getting what you are learning. You need to guard your heart. Make sure that the people you are listening to understand the times and seasons in which you live. Do not listen to those who have decided not to grow in Me and are working on an old anointing. They will confuse you. They have little to offer you. I am calling for repentant hearts. I am calling for intimacy. I am calling you to prepare for difficult times. Other gospels will not prepare you for what will be needed soon.

"You draw close to Me. You partake of the overcoming life that is yours. You come to receive My heart and My desires. I will give you manna hidden from those who refuse to lay their lives down for the sake of others. You come where I am, not where I have been. Seek out those of like mind and receive fresh food for this day. I love you.”

Isaiah 30:21 NIV

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Mark 4:24 AMP

And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you – and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.

John 6:57-58 AMP

57) 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.

58) This is the Bread that came down from heaven. It is not like the manna which our forefathers ate, and yet died; he who takes this Bread for his food shall live forever.

II Peter 3:16b-17 AMP

16b) There are some things in those [epistles of Paul] that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist and misconstrue to their own utter destruction, just as [they distort and misinterpret] the rest of the Scriptures.

17) Let me warn you therefore, beloved, that knowing these things beforehand, you should be on your guard, lest you be carried away by the error of lawless and wicked [persons and] fall from your own [present] firm condition [your own steadfastness of mind].

 

I love how our Father loves us and takes care of us. Since I have had the privilege of writing these “Father’s Heart” messages, I have seen the Father give us many glimpses of His wonderful character.

Today’s message is not new. He is once again focusing on something that has been said before but is important enough to share again to make sure we learn the lesson.  It assures me once more of His concern for our proper growth and His monitoring of that growth. He has once again given us guidelines for our safety now and in the future. What an incredible privilege it is to know how much He cares!

Thank You for being my Father,

Jim Corbett