Tag: From Our Father’s Heart

“I would like you to once again pursue your first love. Do you remember how wonderful Our times together were? I remember when I would reveal something to you and you would dig into My Word with an enthusiasm that I haven’t seen for a long time. You were in awe of everything I showed you. Remember how some of you used to be thrilled to show anyone the road to salvation and reconciliation with Me? There was no drudgery about Our relationship. There was no concern about hurting someone’s feeling or robbing them of their time. You had found the greatest thing you had ever known and bubbled with excitement over everyone you met. If you couldn’t reach them, you prayed for them. We really had fun together. What happened? Why have I become commonplace with some of you?

"I realize that for many of you, Our relationship has progressed into one of intimacy. I also realize that you are focusing on maturity, becoming holy for Me. I am very pleased with that and do consider it very important. I would ask you, however, to remember Our first love together. Holy people are not prune-faced. Someone intimately in love exudes joy and wonder. I understand your times of labor. I understand those times of death to your flesh. It is impossible to remain exuberant all the time. I understand. But what about those other times, times when We are just walking together?

"Allow Me to renew your joy. Let’s rejoice. Let’s enjoy each other. I love who you’re becoming, but I also love who you are at this very moment. As you prepare for what lies ahead, remember what is important now. Most important to Me is being with you. Let’s renew the wonder of Our relationship. Not only will it be fun for Us, but everyone will wonder what you are up to. Then you can tell them about Me, and smile while you are doing it. You can tell them about the incredible part!”

1 Corinthians 1:2-9 NIV

2) To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours:

3) Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4) I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.

5) For in him you have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge –

6) because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.

7) Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

8) He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9) God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

Rev. 2:3-5 NIV

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…”

 

Have you ever seen the glow of someone who is first in love with Jesus? They are electric with heavenly light, especially those who come from some kind of deep darkness. I remember sometimes avoiding some of them because they were so overwhelming in their love. Being with them, one had to set aside any feelings of embarrassment. They cared little about what anyone thought. They were in love, and they wanted the world to know about it.

Have you ever wondered where they went? What happened to them? What happened to the enthusiasm, the wonder, the belief in the Word and its power? What happened to the life of Jesus that was so evident in everything they did? Where did it go?

Before you think that I am pointing at anyone else, you need to know that I am looking in a mirror first. The Lord is convicting me about my life.

When I first got saved, I used to hang around with some fanatics because I was crazy in love with Jesus. Some other saved reprobates and I dared to believe what we read in the Bible and expected it to come true in our lives. Funny thing was that it often did!

We saw more incredible stuff - from miracles to healings to salvations to… you name it and it happened. We’d lay hands on anything that moved or stood still. Skin would grow over exposed bones, hearing would come back, and lives would be changed. Prayers were expected to be answered, and they were.

I remember when someone called me to pray over his used car business. He hadn’t sold a car in months. (They were really “tired iron.”) Foolishly, I spent about two hours “anointing” every one of them with oil. I really believed in my heart that they would sell, even though the sales people made fun of me from the showroom. The next day, I got a call from the man who initially called me to pray. He told me that he had sold the whole lot full of cars and his whole business that very morning. Right out of the blue, someone walked in off the street and made him an offer for all of it. We giggled at the wonder of God.

Gotta get back to that kind of wonder,

Jim Corbett

“Guard your heart! There is an onslaught of deception that has been loosed in this world, and you need to be able to discern truth. Your ability to overcome the deception that is prevalent, and that which is to come, will be directly related to how much you devote yourself to Me and how much My Word reigns in your heart. You will have little power to see if I am not allowed to see for you. You will be deceived by what is spoken if My Word and My Holy Spirit do not filter truth from error for you.

"Beginning now, you must find all the areas in your life that do not belong to Me, those areas that have not been put under My Lordship. These are areas that you have been functioning in with your own wisdom, strength, and power. They are the most vulnerable to the enemy. These areas are susceptible to deception, confusion, and folly. Great harm will soon come to you through these breaches in your spiritual hedge if they have not been given to Me. Find where you are functioning in your own gifts and abilities. Find where you are so comfortable that you do not need Me.

"Surrender your most minute sins, your smallest indiscretions, your bits of judgment, your wandering thoughts. Repent of them. Give them to Me. Let My Holy Spirit show you what they are and submit them to My Word so that you will be safe. Holding on to them is not wise. In fact, if you choose to harbor them in your heart, they will soon take you places that are not safe for you to be. I am not in those places. You really do not want to go there.”

Isaiah 30:21-22 NIV 

21) 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.”

22) Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”

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.

 

If we disobey any of the physical laws, we naturally pay the consequences. If you stick your hand into a fire, you will get burned. If you jump off a building, gravity will do its job. You will land hard, possibly hard enough to kill you.

There are consequences to us if we violate the laws of society. If we break them, we pay the penalty.

Why is it that we pay so little attention to the directions that have been provided for us in God’s Word? Following the Lord would seem to be the wisest course of action we could ever take. In fact, throughout the Word it says that if we do not follow Him, our lives will be out of order. Almost on a regular basis, we deviate from those cautions, hedge on our commitment, discard His warnings; and then wonder why our lives are out of order. It really makes little sense.

When I remember how out-of-line my life was when I didn’t follow the Word and its directions, even after I came to the Lord, I realize how much more difficult it will be to do so as times get more deceptive. I won’t have a chance unless I determine in my heart to take His cautions very seriously and then follow through to the point of complete submission to Him in every area of my life.

Needing His power to even start,

Jim Corbett

“Do you know that there will be times when you will look like a fool if you choose to serve Me with all your heart? Do you know that you might appear to have missed My will for you, yet be exactly where I want you to be, so that you can learn directly from My hand? The gospels of man cannot understand walking in My Spirit. In their hearts, I am held to perform according to their interpretation of My Word, a very self-serving interpretation. I will never do that. Their doctrines appear to work because they appeal to the carnal nature of undiscerning believers.

"My Gospel calls for absolute obedience to what I tell you to do, no matter what the consequence to you. You may never be vindicated if I should use you to expose the hardened hearts of the hosts of the controlling spirits that you encounter. You may never be a success in the eyes of the world and most of the carnal church. Your reputation may be non-existent as I focus on your character. Remember this. I am the One keeping score. I observe truth from folly. Nothing is hidden from My sight. I see those of you who desire to serve Me without considering the cost, when others have a death grip on what I have given them. You are very pleasing to Me. You bless My heart. I love you very much.”

I Cor. 4:9-14 NIV 

9) For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.

10) We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!

11) To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.

12) We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted we endure it;

13) When we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

14) I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children.

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.

 

If Jesus is our example of living, then having nowhere to lay your head would be the norm as followers of Christ. Money to pay taxes would have to come from some form of a fish’s mouth. Being cursed, laughed at, scorned, and even hated enough to be crucified should be part of our job description; even while we are being used to heal the sick or raise the dead. The possibility of being struck dead because we lie to the Holy Spirit about how much we hold back and consider our own, or imprisoned so that we can bless people there or write God’s important correspondence from our cell, is not entirely out of the picture. Let’s not even begin to discuss those incredible examples of God’s love who died in the arenas. But then, that might mean that this walk with the Lord is not about us and our comfort. Maybe we are not our own? Hmmm!

Teach me truth, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“When I hold back on anything that has been promised to you, I am looking for you to have confidence in Me. Confidence is gained not in times of provision, but in times of waiting. It also builds a reliance upon Me for your provision. Think on this. If I were to provide every one of your needs instantly, how would I get you to seek Me? How would I get you to find the heart to examine My heart?  You would be so busy going about your business that you would have no time for Me.

"To those of you who are faithful, waiting on Me is also a time of building testimony. Those around you are watching you while you wait for My Word to be fulfilled in your lives. They need to be able to understand how to stand with Me when there seems to be no answer in sight. They need to see the peace you have in waiting for Me to move rather than trying to make something happen yourself. Rest assured, I will fulfill My promise to you. It will be in My time, My way. No one will be able to deny that I have moved on your behalf when I do.”

Jeremiah 15:19 AMP 

Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God’s faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece…

Hosea 13:6 NIV 

“When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.”

Hebrews 11:1-2  AMP 

1) Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

2) For by [faith – trust and holy fervor born of faith] the men of old had divine testimony borne to them and obtained a good report.

 

Few of us understand what the Lord is trying to accomplish when He delays the answers to our needs. We keep wondering what is holding up the answer. He is making us more like Jesus, and building a testimony in our lives.

The crucifixion of Jesus confirmed to the skeptics that He was nothing more than a mere man with unique ideas. The resurrection silenced them. The time in between allowed everyone’s hearts to be revealed.

Paul’s imprisonment gave many people of that day fuel to discredit his ministry. Rotting in a prison cell sure limits one’s outreach activities. Few could see that reducing those activities to writing letters, rather than traveling the countryside preaching, was exactly the way that God intended to get His Words written down for many future generations of believers to ingest. For centuries after Paul’s death, the Lord has declared the testimony of His faithfulness to His servant. It was important to place Paul in an environment that quieted him and made him seek the Lord with all his might. He provided for Paul in a manner only understood by centuries of later generations because Paul was faithful in the time of waiting.

The depth of seeking God during times of trouble and waiting builds the kind of testimony needed to share Him and His heart with those who need to see it. It is in times of waiting for the Lord to reveal Himself and His provision that most of His wealth is gained by us and for others.

Needing to understand more,

Jim Corbett

“How do you choose to spend your time in My kingdom? How you function while on earth impacts your function for eternity. One day the pattern for your life will be established forever. You will be able to change nothing, repent of nothing, and redo nothing from that moment on. What you have in your hands at that time will be the determined value of your life. You will be given rewards and understand loss. Now you can still be forgiven for your hardened hearts, your self-seeking motives, and your independent thinking. Then you will be exposed if you have squandered My resources that have been placed in your hands for My use.

"Come to Me to change your heart and modify your motives while you can. Embrace My reasons for purchasing you. Study to be as a waiting bride, functioning with proper insights and absolute devotion in your heart. I want you to be able to show your life to be approved. It saddens Me if you arrive on that day with empty hands and worthless trophies. You have no idea how much the pottage that you are consuming is really costing you.”

Genesis 25:29-33 NIV 

29) Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.

30) He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

31) Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

32) “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

33) But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

Matthew 19:21 NIV 

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Luke 12:19-21 NIV

19) ‘And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ‘

20) “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21) “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

 

Some of us are so short-sighted that we never make the connection that we are eternal people. It never dawns on us that we simply have different stages of life - one here and one in eternity future.  In this life, our decisions determine what happens in the next portion of our lives. The major decision about where we place Jesus and the eternal implications of that decision are very clear to most of us. Somehow, though, all of the eternal implications and the impact of our other decisions and actions in this life seem to elude us.

I believe that when we get to heaven, we will not simply sit on clouds and play harps. We will be doing something, working and functioning with our very creative God. What we are given to do, I think, is determined by how faithful we were in this life. If I’m right, my every action, every moment really mean something. Possibly more than I want to know.

Even so, show me truth, Lord,

Jim Corbett