Tag: From Our Father’s Heart

“Is there anyone you need to repent to or ask their forgiveness? It is important that your relationships are in order, if you are looking to have intimacy with Me. How can you come to Me if you disobey My command to forgive those who have offended you, or choose not to make things right with those you have offended? How do you expect Our relationship to be complete with sin between Us? Put things in order between you and everyone you can as soon as you can. Then come to Me. I will share My life with you. I will wait!”

Acts 24:15-16 NIV

15) …and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

16) So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

Matthew 5:23-24 NIV

23) “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,

24) leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

 

Most of us in the church hope that the Lord doesn’t really mean what He says in these verses. Surely He is not that concerned about our relationships with others if we say we are following Jesus. Is He? He is?

Get my heart right, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Have you noticed that people in the world are becoming more vicious toward one another? That is no accident. The veil of restraint is being lifted more swiftly during these end times to begin to reveal clearly the true hearts of those who are in rebellion against Me. I am turning them over to their depraved nature. Notice how they are beginning to truly enjoy hating one another. Even their games involve killing and destruction. Murder has become sport. The property and life of others has no meaning. They are progressively moving past even normal civil restraints and on to blatant disregard for all authority, vacant of love. It is society breaking down and moving toward its eventual destruction.

"You, My people, however, must put into effect what I have been teaching you. You must love one another deeply. You must pass normal caring and proceed to be advocates one for another. I am now asking you to throw off all the restraints of selfishness and independence toward your brothers and sisters in My covenant family. I am now requiring you to actually seek to provide for the needs of others. Set aside your own interests and pursue the best interests of others before your own just as Jesus did. That kind of love is what will bring those who have ears to hear to Him during the coming times. It will be what sets you apart from the world.

"As you move closer to Jesus and begin to act toward others as He would, while the world moves farther from His kind of love, your light will become increasingly brighter. The difference between the ways of the world and My ways will become very evident. You will proclaim My love of them by your love toward them and toward one another.”

 Romans 15:1-7 NIV

1) We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

2) Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

3) For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”

4) For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

5) May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,

6) so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7) Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Titus 3:3 AMP

For we also were once thoughtless and senseless, obstinate and disobedient, deluded and misled; [we too were once] slaves to all sorts of cravings and pleasures, wasting our days in malice and jealousy and envy, hateful (hated, detestable) and hating one another.

 

The dictionary translation of “advocate” is: “one who defends or maintains a cause for another.” The place where we see advocacy as it applies to our mission is to be “advocates one for another, maintaining a cause for another and then to the world.” The Bible dictionary defines “Advocate” as counselor, comforter, supporter, backer, and helper.

When the true body of Christ begins to function in their everyday lives as they are intended to function, there will be little need for preaching to the world. Our lives and our actions will be the testimony of Jesus to them. They will see who He is by who we are. How will that ever happen if we don’t start by loving one another?

It has been interesting to observe the ability for the world to appear to be able to love one another better than the body of Christ does.  9/11 was a very visible example of that.

After September 11, 2001, many people gave far past the needs of their own lives and lived for the needs of others. Christ’s love was indistinguishable from the world’s love. In fact, the world often seemed to love more sacrificially. There were isolated examples of the Christian church stepping into its intended role; but for the most part, we failed miserably to show the nature of Jesus by our continuing sacrifice.

As things grow darker and hatred spreads deeper into all elements of society, our actions will be the only message that penetrates hardened hearts. Empty words will not suffice. Only as we love deeper than they ever could, will they see Jesus. That is the way it was in decadent Rome. The dying Christians - in the arena, on the roadside crosses, and in caves - gave testimony of Jesus by how they sacrificed themselves for Jesus. They loved those who killed them just as He did.

We who call ourselves Christians have difficulty loving each other. God requires us to love the world even unto death - a far cry from our abilities at present.  As we take small steps toward each other, He will build in us the heart to love even those who hate us - something the world has no ability to do. That is where we are called to go so that we point to Jesus. Right now we point only to ourselves. The cartoon character, Pogo, once said something like this: “We have seen the enemy and he is us.”

Help us, Lord!

Jim Corbett

“There will come a day when you cease to offend Me with your sin. The things that have for so long beset you will no longer belong to you. I will have changed you. I will have placed the desires of Jesus in you. You will want only My will for your life. You will be free from the spoils of the world. It is a completed work for those who continue to submit to Me. It is a promise from My Word. Keep turning from your sin by the power of My Holy Spirit. Keep coming to Me when you need My mercy. Keep opening your heart to My grace in your time of need. I will be there for you. My kindness will eventually cause you to desire to no longer offend Me.”

Psalm 103:10-12 NIV

10) …he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

11) For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;

12) as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV

26) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

27) And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Romans 2:4 NIV

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

 

The above verse in Romans always brought me to express my wonder of the ways of God. You would think that the power or the majesty or the fear of or the knowledge of God would be the reasons we eventually come to the point of no longer offending God with our sin. But kindness!

One day I went to God for the umpteenth time with my sin and finally understood the concept of His kindness bringing about a change in me when I reflected on the fact that because of what Jesus had done for me at the cross, I could go to Him as many more times as I needed. Over and over I offended Him. Over and over He forgave me. What incredible kindness! What astounding mercy!  I am convinced that one day His Word will perform a forever healing in me, bringing me to forever repentance.

Thank You for Your kindness, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“As you, My children, find your way to the bridal heart of Jesus, His life will be revealed in you in greater measure. You are to hold others closer, love deeper, and care more. Your service to those in need is to ring with praise unto Me. The need for things of this world will decrease, and your desire for heavenly wealth will increase as you mature in Him. Your only purpose should be His purposes. Your true wealth should be that which He holds dear. Some people around you should be starting to adore Him, because they see His marvelous life in you. Others will be exposed for who they really are. Your life should mirror His more and more each day. How are you doing?”

Eph 4:12-13 AMP

12) His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),

13 [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.

 

Life often gets in the way of what is real and purposeful by God’s standards. Everyday needs and activities muddy our perspective of how we are to live, if we say that we follow Jesus. Our pride goads us to remain alive and important in our own eyes. When Jesus is our only goal, the cross is our only direction and the Father’s will is our only purpose, those around us, whose hearts are open, should be forgetting who we used to be and craving more of who we are becoming.

Focus my life, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“The longer you stay with Me, the more you will realize that My ways are not your ways. You will understand that success, as I see it, is not the way that the world and most of the church sees it. Those of you who are called to a deeper walk, one of intimacy, will not be understood at all by those around you. Your lives will often appear foolish and full of what look like bad decisions, as I lead you from challenge to challenge to refine you. People who have not heard what you have heard for your life will not understand and will continually attempt to bring you to their idea of the way you should live. In their ignorance, you will be chastised, ridiculed, judged, and cast out.

"Sometimes you will be alone with only My promises. I plan it that way. I am birthing My Spirit in you. You are being taught obedience. You are being taught how to love when no one loves back. You are being taught how to give everything away, so that you have room for only My life in you. While others are busy attempting to appear spiritual by doing many good works, you wait in My presence for orders to do only those works that hold My presence. Walk only where I tell you to walk. Move when I tell you to move. Never fall for the lie that you are alone. I have many who are being taught of My ways. I have many who have heard the same call to holiness.

"While I am doing My work in you, serve others. Love deeper. Empty yourself of all malice and judgment. You must never take a posture of anger or hostility. Never defend yourself or your actions when you have sought My Word and wise counsel. Never come against anyone who judges you. Bring an aroma of the gentle Spirit of Jesus with you wherever you go. Live a soft life. I will be your defender. I will be your friend. I will be your reward. My way is eternal. My way is the way to true riches.”

1 Cor. 4:9-13 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.

2 Cor. 2:14-16a NIV

14) But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

15) For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

16a) To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.

 

Many years ago, when I was in the Air National Guard, a division of the Air Force, I had the opportunity to fly to Germany on a training mission with others from Wisconsin. We went over on one of our refueling planes, so it was necessary to have parachutes handy, “just in case.”

One member of our group was a person who loved being right, always boasting about who he was, how much he had accomplished; and why he was better than any of us. Listening to no one, he always had all the answers. Biblically, he would be called a “fool.”

To make a long story short, because he thought he knew everything, he did not pay attention while the instructions about the parachute were being given. In fact, as soon as we were in the air, he pulled the wrong handle, and the contents of the bag fell in a glistening white pile on the floor of the plane. Instantly, this man - knowing now that if anything should happen to the plane, he would be in deep trouble - changed from being an arrogant, prideful, “having all the answers” person into a fearful, humbled man, who now went from person to person to see if he could attach his harness to theirs should we run into trouble.

I believe that many people, who call themselves Christians, have not been listening to instructions. Relying on their own strength, power, and wisdom, they have not understood the importance of devoting themselves to those things that the Lord deems important.

Things such as total surrender, absolute obedience, and humble faith in the Lord’s provision seem foolish to them while their ways succeed, because they haven’t been tested in the fire of affliction. In difficult times, these ways - the ways of the world that have been brought into the church - will not work. Just as the empty parachute case emptied the bravado of the man in the plane, overwhelming pressures will cause those, who are untrained in the wonder of desperately needing God every day of their lives for everything, to run to those who have only listened to the instructions of the Lord as their life source.

Needing to need only Jesus,

Jim Corbett