Tag: From Our Father’s Heart

“Live out this day for My good! I have appointed it and I desire your participation. Your part in My plan is important. If you waste your time pining over yesterday or spend valuable moments fearing tomorrow, you will not appreciate all that I have for you today. If you live your life in the joys of the past, or base your hope on a better tomorrow, you will not consider today important enough to involve yourself fully in My plan for you.

“Start considering each day as important as I do, be it filled with challenges, alive with opportunities, or a simple day of rest. Learn from your past, look forward to My future with you; but live this day with the passion that Jesus lived each moment He was with you. He understood how important His each and every day was. So must you!”

John 4:34 NIV

”My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

Acts 17:28a  AMP

For in Him we live and move and have our being...

2 Cor. 3:3 AMP

You show and make obvious that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, not written with ink but with [the] Spirit of [the] living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Cor. 5:20a NIV

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

Colossians 1:7-12 NIV

7) You learned it (the gospel) from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,

8) and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

9) For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

10) And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

11) being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully

12) giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

 

I am heartbroken over the days that I have wasted by focusing on past mistakes or by worrying about what is ahead. As I think of how little was accomplished by my worry or regret, I can understand why it is so much more fruitful to direct my attention to each day’s tasks and situations as they happen. It also means that I am trusting my Lord with all of the rest. If I seek Him as my priority, I can be confident that He will cover what I have done, and that He is in charge of what comes next.

It’s a matter of trust, isn’t it, Lord?

 Jim Corbett

“Why would you give what I have given you to those who choose not to hear, when there are so many people who are hungry for My Word? I have trained you to walk with wisdom. You have eaten at My table. I have given you My heart. I have whispered My secret longings to you in our intimate times together. Be careful what you do with them. Make sure that you share this wealth only with those who will not throw it down as yesterday’s laundry.

“You have been trained to walk and reason above the ways of the world. Stand until I tell you to move. Go only where I call you to go. You have been taught to move only for My reasons, in response to My heart, not by the needs that you encounter. You are My vessel of service. I have trained you and fed you from My hand. Nourish others when and where I tell you. I love 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?”

 Luke 6:45-46 AMP

45) The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright (honorable and intrinsically good), and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks.

46) Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not [practice] what I tell you?

Luke 10:5-6 NIV

5) “When you enter a house, first say, ’Peace to this house.’

6) If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.”

Luke 10:10-11 NIV

10) “But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say,

11) ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you’…

 

Moses had the key to a powerful life. He would not do anything unless he was told to do it; and then, he knew that whatever he was told to do was fruitless unless the presence of God had gone before him.

Think of how many times we have gone running ahead of God and fell flat on our faces. Think of how much more peaceful our lives would be if we knew for sure that the Lord had sent us to a specific task, and that He had assured us that He was with us there. Nothing could sway us. We could remain for as long as the Lord asked us to be there without wavering, no matter what the circumstances might look like.

Teach me to listen first, and then wait until You have gone before me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“I have always asked you to invest in those things that are eternal, so that your life is of eternal consequence. Most of you, however, are struggling to find what has eternal weight and what does not. The answer is really quite simple. Any way that you spend your time, knowing for sure that what you are doing comes from My heart, has eternal consequences. All of it is called ministry as far as I am concerned.

 “You run into problems when you take on anything that is not directly from Me. When you have not spent enough time with Me to really know My heart, all of the passions, fears, and concerns of the world become big in your eyes and cloud your vision. They are earplugs and eye coverings to My will and My Word for your life. Investing in the eternal is what really matters to Me. Investing in our intimate communion is how you know what that is.”

Psalm 111:2 NIV

Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.

I Cor. 4:17-18 AMP

17) For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!],

18) Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.

 

God has a proper time and place for everything He does. If we choose to delight in His ways and find what they are for us every day, we will walk in complete, ordered unity. Not only will we be able to discern between what is carnal and what is of eternal consequence, we will also find answers for every need at the proper time and in the proper place, because we have chosen to lay down our will and discover what the Father has in mind for us.

I picture those of us, who desire to follow the heart of God and are spending the necessary time to know our personal directive of our Father, moving at the proper speed - which has been established by the Father specifically for our life plan - with a beat that is perfect for our personality. Walking within these parameters makes us capable of walking in His perfect will, our actions having eternal impact. We will always arrive in His timing for whatever the Lord has established for our lives and our portion in His eternal plan.

Keep me in step, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“When I remove My hand from something, only darkness is left. When I bring judgment upon something, it must reel under the weight of My purposes. It must eventually surrender to My will or it will simply cease to exist.

“People have become used to My grace upon this land for so long that it has been taken for granted. As My judgments flow, many will curse Me; others will see that I am doing what I have promised all along, allowing everyone a final opportunity to turn to Me.

“Even judgment is really My mercy and grace for it brings you, My people, to Me. You really come to Me only because you have need, but you do come.”

Rom. 8:28-31 AMP

28) We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.

29) For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.

30) And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being].

31) What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?]

 

To say that we are blessed is an incredible understatement. I think of my life; when I realize what I really deserve, all I can do is fall in a heap at the feet of Jesus, thankful for His mercy toward me. He accepts me when I don’t deserve acceptance. He loves me even when I have no idea how to love Him back. He is with me even when I choose to be far from Him because of my choices and failures. I will be with Him forever because He loved me enough to die for me.

The mercy of God is beyond understanding. First, there’s Jesus, the epitome of mercy toward a creation that had no hope of any kind of deliverance from its sin. He came even when we didn’t want salvation; but in God’s mercy, He came to us.

Now, in the closing moments, the incredible patience and mercy of God is the only power holding back the close of all things and the final damnation of all those who scorn God. God wishes that none should perish, so he is giving more time to those who need to repent before He closes the door. Even the tribulation period - with its judgments, horrors, and overwhelming dismay - is God’s mercy. It is a final chance to repent. Those who wouldn’t bend their knee in good times are put under so much pressure that they either bend and repent or walk away cursing.

What an incredible God! What mercy! Thank You, Lord.

Walking with a grateful heart,

Jim Corbett

“Throughout My Word, I require that you trust Me. You must trust Me to be the God that I say I am. Trust Me when I say that Jesus is Lord and that He has done and is doing what My Word proclaims aloud. You must believe in My covenant and all of its provisions, and trust that what has been provided for you after you close your eyes for the last time will come to pass. I require you to trust Me with your every moment of life; that I will direct your steps and that you will prosper if you do so.

“Because I require you to have an unlimited amount of trust in Me, I place Myself in a position of being trustworthy. If that were not so, then all that I have said and all that has been done would be a lie. You can be confident of My promises because I am in covenant with you. You can be assured of My ability to direct your steps and fulfill My promises for your life. You can rest in the fact that I am your God, worthy to be honored. You may walk in some dark places surrounded by thorns but rest assured that I am with you. I will never leave your side, nor will I ever forsake you. I promise. You can trust Me.”

Eze 2:6-8 NIV

6) “And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house.

7) You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.

8) But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

Ac 20:22-24 NIV

22) “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.

23) I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.

24) However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me. – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace...”

Ac 21:11-13 NIV

11) Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

12) When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

13) Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

 

If we look at this relationship with God through Jesus as a means for us to become “healthy, wealthy and wise” in this life, we will be sorely disappointed and deeply discouraged. We will make ourselves vulnerable to any attack of our enemies, and eventually distrust God completely. Should we expect and demand only a bed of roses, our life with the Lord will be one miserable experience. Few, if any, will see reason through us to embrace Jesus as Lord.

Whatever difficulties we may encounter have little or nothing to do with the trustworthiness of God. He never said that our life would be easy. In fact, He has often said that to follow Jesus would involve hardships, trials, and even death.

The Word says that if we say that we abide in Him, Jesus, we should walk and conduct ourselves in the same manner in which He walked and conducted Himself. He walked and conducted Himself in a world that mostly hated everything He said and did. The visible outcome of His actions was a miserable death on a slivered cross.

Paul - one of God’s most used messengers - was imprisoned, beaten often, and lived a good part of his life in squalor. In his eyes, however, none of that mattered. His God was not only worthy of trust, He was worthy of all praise and worship because of the honor of serving in that capacity.

We need to grow up and shake off all of the old teachings that proclaim that we call the shots with God, that He owes us wealth and success in some way. That kind of teaching is man-made foolishness and directly opposed to the Word of God, no matter how many times the Word of God is manipulated to try to prove that premise.

We have been bought with a price and have entered into God’s plan for the redemption of anyone who will hear. We are to carry God’s message of reconciliation to a dark and dying world that hates us and our message. It is a war won every day in the heavenlies and played out in each of our lives.  We are God’s vessels, designed to implement His will, no matter what the cost might be to us.

His promises to us are that He will be with us every step of the way, guiding us and protecting us from faltering; and above all else, loving us. He can be trusted every moment of every day to do that. Praise Him for the privilege of serving a trustworthy Lord.

Turning my heart toward home,

Jim Corbett