Tag: From Our Father’s Heart

“Do you see how ready you are to shoot your wounded rather than stand with them? Do you see how you judge one another, malign the name of a fellow believer, and condemn him before the world without even a hint of regret? Do you see the jealousy, strife, gossip, and misuse of My Word that prevails within My house?

 “I place an anointing on someone’s life and you grit your teeth against him. You have jealousy toward those who walk closely with Me and hate them for that relationship, rather than doing what it takes to come closer yourselves. When one of your brothers or sisters is accused in front of you, you run and hide behind your religious mask, instead of standing up for him and with him against the accuser. You are willing to believe the worst in your spiritual family rather than finding the truth, so that you stand as a united front against the sin of the world. Instead, you harbor the same sin, and greater sin because you know better; but choose to remain where you are.

 “You lie to one another, hold grudges, and are willing to take each other to court rather than be wronged and bear it for the sake of My Word. I am about to spit you out of My mouth if you do not repent of your foul sin and start acting as Jesus would act towards one another. You are fools and are making a laughingstock of yourselves while the world watches and goads you on, watching you play one against another and harm each other. You carry the stench of the world on your garments. You hold the unholy in your heart. Instead of preparing for a marriage celebration with Jesus, pressing your garments and making sure that they are prepared for the day you will need them - that soon coming day - you gleefully soil them in My presence and think that I don’t notice.

 “Understand this: if you are not prepared for marriage when it is time to be married, you will not be able to eat at the marriage table with those who have been making preparations all along. You will remain outside the chamber. No amount of pounding on the door will open it at that time. You have chosen to dwell with the vile and unholy. I will then use them to cleanse your garments. They will display the same mercy toward you that you are showing at this moment. Repent now and honor My Name and your family as you once said that you would.”

 Matt. 25:1-12 NIV

1) “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

2) Five of them were foolish and five were wise.

3) The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.

4) The wise, however, took oil in their jars along with their lamps.

5) The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6) At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet Him!’

7) Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.

8) The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

9) ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10) But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11) Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’

12) But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’”

Eph. 4:29 AMP

Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it.

 

Before you put on your spiritual boxing gloves and pick up your “doctrinal defense” arsenal, listen to the heart of what is being said. Don’t miss the intent and heart of the message because you believe a certain way about the tribulation, or where the coming of the Lord fits into the timeline of the church. Granted, those are mighty important issues, which have had the attention and caused differences of opinion among scholars for thousands of years. Those differences of opinion, however, would almost not even be worth discussing if every heart was in constant readiness, waiting only for the return of Jesus, no matter when He comes back.

Father God is purifying His church. He is calling each of us to an account of our actions and our true heart motives for all that we do. How we act toward one another clearly indicates how pure our hearts are and who we are actually following.

In the study of the churches in the book of Revelation, there is a mixture of right and wrong in most of them. It shows a people doing some things right in the Lord’s eyes; and at the same time, they are out of line with His heart in other areas. Strong expressions and pretty harsh measures are indicated for those who did not choose to line up with what He considers important. Whether we agree as to who those people are and how those churches fit into the sequence of the life of the church is secondary to the concern each of us should have for the concerns that the Lord has about the purity and holiness of His people.

There is no question that we are living in times very much resembling the times described at the Lord’s return. How ready are we if these are those times? How close do we resemble a waiting bride? How much are our hearts in line with every aspect of the heart of Jesus? Why would we even think that we are close to Him, if we grow closer to the ways of the world each day? We, as a church, need to turn from the path we are on, and head back in the direction of the heart of our Lord.

Turn my heart around, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Did you know that you will never find a better friend than I am? It’s true. Yes, I am much more than that, but one of the aspects of My nature is to be a true friend to My creation. My commitment to you is stronger than your sin. It is not lessened in any way by your actions. It is not even hindered by your inability to love Me back. In fact, there is nothing that you can ever do to stop Me from loving you.

 “You need to finally rest in the fact that I love you with an undying love. I will always love you. I will never leave you. I will forever protect you and hold you close. My love is not diminished when I need to correct you. In fact, when there is need for correction, it is My passionate love for you that is behind My actions.

 “I know that your ability to fellowship with Me will be minimized if I allow you to remain in your sin. That is not the best life you can have, so I need to use My ways to cause you to change your ways. When I am working in your life, understand that I am not only addressing the need for change; but I am also responsible for giving you the power to change. Your job is simply to understand My love for you and embrace what I am doing. I will do the rest.

 “Never doubt that it is My love for you that is in operation, no matter what you are going through. Embrace Me through any kind of trial. My love for you will always pull you through.”  The

2 Samuel 14:14b NIV

“…But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.”

 

If there is one Bible verse that gives me an awesome, wondrous picture of the nature of God’s love toward us, this verse in 2 Samuel is it. If you have any doubt about who God is and how much He loves you, study this verse until it is part of your innermost being. You will never fear again.

God does what it takes to bring us to Himself. He pursues us. He woos us. Then, if we still will not embrace His love, He causes circumstances in our lives that are designed to make us notice Him. If that doesn’t work, He will allow us to fall, so that we need Him. If even that is not enough, He will break us so that we cry out to Him.

Finally, more than likely after many years of this kind of pursuit, we are His. We are, however, raw and incapable of understanding His love. So the process continues over and over and over again throughout our lives on this earth. He shows His love continually because of His knowledge of what it takes for us to surrender. If we do not know how to accept it, He will do what it takes for us to see it.

Over and over He calls us to need Him. If we will not accept that call and desire to remain in charge, separate from His authority, He begins the process of breaking us all over again.

We want to be strong and very religious. He wants us only to need Him. We want to be full of ourselves and capable of handling anything that comes our way. He wants us to be empty and needy, so we can embrace His strength. In our trials, we doubt His love, when it is His love that may be allowing the trial that is bringing us to the end of ourselves.

I love His love for us. I love the way He continually confirms it to us by eliminating anything in us that will not serve Him. What an incredible love!

Wanting more of His hand on me,

Jim Corbett

“You delight My heart. I sometimes simply observe you while you go about My business, guarding you, protecting you, and providing a way for you when there is no way. It pleases Me to have you with Me for eternity.

 “When your portion of time on the earth is over, I will welcome you into heaven with all of My heart. Until then, fight the good fight. I am with you. I cherish you and I am pleased to be called your ‘Abba’.”

Genesis 1:27-28a AMP

27) So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.

28) And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]…

Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV

11) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

12) Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

13) You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

 

There is no God like our God. There are no people more privileged than those who have embraced the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, and have the wonder of open access to a loving Father.

I remember seeing a cover of a prominent magazine, which pictured some dignitaries sitting in front of the desk of then President John Kennedy. Under the desk, little John-John, who was about two at the time, was playing at his father’s feet. To the dignitaries, the President was “Mr. President.”  To John-John, he was “Daddy.”

Thank You, ABBA,

Jim Corbett

“My mercy and grace flow abundantly toward you whenever you wound Me with your sin. You see, I know the danger you are in because of your separation from Me. Repent!  Turn from your sin. You do whatever it takes to come close to Me again as soon as you can and as often as you need to do so. When you need My forgiveness, it should be your priority to seek it. I promise to do My part and forgive you. Make sure that you do yours by coming to Me in repentance.”

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?

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 conscious clear before God and man.

I Th. 5:24 AMP

Faithful is He Who is calling you [to Himself] and utterly trustworthy, and He will also do it [fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you].

 

I have sinned more since I met Jesus than I did before I gave my life to Him, because I now know what sin is. There were times in the past when I would fall at my Lord’s feet in hopeless despair, sick with my sin, only to find Him mercifully calling me to come to Him and rest. He would show me the cross, His Word, and His promise of forgiveness. Most of all, my God would show me His mercy and grace. He was and is so kind and so forgiving, that over the many years of continued offense and the responding continued forgiveness, my desire to separate myself from Him because of sin is far overshadowed by my desire to no longer offend Him - all because of His aggressive kindness toward me.

Thank You for your mercy and grace, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Are you cherishing those I bring into your life? Do you realize that I love them very much, no matter what condition they are in? I send them to you so that they can get a closer look as to what Jesus looks like. Do they see Him in you? Do they have more of a desire to serve Him because they have been with you, and you have shown the wonders of His person?

 “That is why you have been called into My kingdom. You have not been called to be with Me so that you can be well-fed and satisfied. You have been called so that My plan can be furthered. Begin to see your life and your purpose for living through My eyes. You will be amazed at how patient I have been with you.”

Psalm 106:12-15a AMP

12) Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise.

13) But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them.

14) But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert.

15) And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls…

Matt. 7:21-23 NIV

21) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22) Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

23) Then, I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Matthew 16:22-23 NIV

22) Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23) Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Out of my sight, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

 

A self-serving gospel is dead religion masked in spirituality. It is another gospel, not the gospel preached by Jesus. So many Christians today think that they are living according to the will of the Lord, when He has long ago bypassed them and is using those with open hearts who long to do His will.

The Lord has a remnant in training, a people who surrender every aspect of their being to His Lordship every moment of every day. They are learning to live entirely in Christ, rather than attempting to find the easiest road to heaven and consuming the things that the Lord has provided for them upon themselves. He is raising up a holy people, calling them out from the cold religious functions so prevalent today.

Do whatever it takes, Lord,

Jim Corbett