Tag: From Our Father’s Heart

“Many people are waiting for you to become all that you can be in Christ Jesus. To some, you are the only Jesus they will ever see. To others, you will be just one more weak, religious hypocrite who cares little about them or others. Whether you want it or not, your life is placed in full view of everyone in your whole world as soon as you take on the Name of My Son, Jesus. You stand out because you are different. I have designed it that way.

“Understand this! Whether they know it or not, every heart that exists has a need for Jesus. It is a part of the life process that I have created. Embracing Him is the only answer to life, the very reason for living. Every man, woman, and child is in search of this answer. Whether you like it or not, you are representing the life of Jesus before them. When you consume His life on yourself, they see it and turn away. When you spend His life for others, they see it and desire more. When His life in you is selflessly devoted to My will, they see it and embrace Him.”

Isa. 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.”

Hos.  4:6  AMP 

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge…

Matt. 5:13 AMP

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.

John 4:34 NIV

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

Eph. 3:16 AMP

May He grant you out of the rich treasure of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].

 

Have you noticed that as soon as you acknowledge in some way that you are a Christian, people look at you in a different way? Have you ever wondered why? I have a theory! I believe that all people are looking for the answer to life. I know that Jesus is that answer. Deep down in the inner being of each and every person, I believe that they know it and hunger for it.

When you and I somehow make it known that we represent Jesus, the inner being of those around you is immediately at attention. The inner being that is in search of life becomes alert to everything you and I do and say with spiritual vigor, because we have said that we represent the truth for which it is seeking. How well we represent that truth from that moment on determines how free the Holy Spirit is to move that person closer to embracing that truth. I believe that the clarity with which we represent Jesus to every person in our little world is very important to them and to Father God. Just a theory!

Needing to understand the importance of my actions everywhere I go,

Jim Corbett

“Times are changing. What happened in the heavenlies times ago is oozing upon the earth with increasing speed. Evil is gathering momentum while good desires to remain comfortable. When you wake up, it will be too late to present Jesus to those who hate you. You will have missed the time of training unless you choose to invest in My heart now. The world and My unprepared church will respond to evil with carnal weapons because they choose to live with a carnal heart.

 “I am after your heart so that We can walk together spiritually against the warfare at hand. Learn of My spiritual weapons. Learn to love those who hate you. Learn to use My mighty power against those who cannot fight My kind of warfare. It’s time to use wisdom before it’s too late and you have no power to overcome. Turn your priorities around. Become a study of My ways.”

Ps. 56:1-4 AMP

1) Be merciful and gracious to me, O God, for man would trample me or devour me; all the day long the adversary oppresses me.

2) They that lie in wait for me would swallow me up or trample me all day long, for they are many who fight against me, O Most High!

3) What time I am afraid, I will have confidence in and put my trust and reliance in You.

4) By [the help of] God I will praise His word; on God I lean, rely, and confidently put my trust; I will not fear. What can man, who is flesh, do to me?

Isa. 59:19b AMP

…When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight…

Jer. 15:19-20 AMP

19) 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. [But do not yield to them.] Let them return to you – not you to [the people].

20) And I will make you to this people a fortified, bronze wall; they will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save and deliver you, says the Lord.

Phil. 3:10 AMP

…and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness…

 

We don’t like to hear it; but it is, nonetheless, true.  To become like Christ, it will cost you everything that you desire in the flesh. To finally renounce everything that hinders you from becoming like Him, you will experience the death of those things one-by-one. The trials that come allow us to choose the sufferings of Christ in order to deny those hindrances any place in our lives.

Let’s talk about two kinds of suffering - suffering for Christ and suffering with Christ. To care only about what Jesus cares about means you willingly die to what you value. (Did you really hear that with your heart?) God’s trials and purging in our lives bring about this heart in us. It’s His heart with all of its characteristics, passions, and zeal.  It is the only way to be transformed into His likeness.

Paul knew it and accepted it fully. It then became a lifelong joy.  He joined God in killing his “flesh” man to become like Jesus. His joining with God against everything that denied Christ in his life, instead of fighting God over those issues (sin,) allowed the Lord to flow unhindered through him.

Because Paul did not cling to fleshly desires, he could take on the desires of his Lord. He felt the pain of those who would be separated from his Father for eternity. He understood the desperate needs of those around him. He had compassion on those who were in desperate need. After putting aside his flesh through the power of the Holy Spirit, he could take on the heart of Jesus that his heavenly Father willingly offered while they were in communion.

Teach me Your ways, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“When will you come to the end of yourself, so that Jesus can be Lord of your life? What areas are still under your control? When We talk on that final day, how important will it have been to have controlled what was not given over to Him?

 “You need to submit fully to His Lordship. Get your hands off of what owns you. Your submission will bring the freedom for which you have been looking. More importantly, you will then be walking in the obedience that I require.”

Matthew 6:19-21 NIV

19) “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

20) But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

So many of us really need to reexamine what God means by Lordship. Our social freedoms have trained us to strive to have our own way to the point that we often apply them to our relationship with Jesus. That is a big mistake. I wonder how much we really are doing in our own wisdom, strength, and abilities and calling them “God” things. How much of our lives are really under the Lordship of Jesus?

Help me submit fully, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Redeem the time that I give you. You have no idea how long this present season may last. If you are in a refiner’s fire, press in to what I am doing, so that I may receive a completed work from you. If you are in a waiting period, wait with Me. Rest with Me. I cherish Our time together. If it is a time of expanding your tent pegs, be diligent and cautious to hear My words and My direction. If your waiting season is over and I am asking you to move in faith with Me, trust Me to be with you each step of the way.

“Every moment you are allotted is a precious moment to Me. Each one is valuable because every one of them is designed to form you into who I am making you. You are My personal project! I am not only accomplishing much through you, I am accomplishing much more in you.

“Make every moment I give you count. Waste none of them. They may seem as if they pass quickly and are gone, but each is important to your eternity.”

Psalm 106:12-15 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 and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death.

 

Living moment by moment with God is one of the highest honors any one of us has been given. Most of us, however, are so busy anticipating the next moment that we don’t enjoy the one we are in. God has designed every moment of our lives for our benefit. Every one of them adds to who we are becoming, so each and every one of them has an eternal impact.

When was the last time you really rested in the present moment with God? When was the last time you savored the situation you were in, even a challenging one, knowing that God was using it to build you into being more like Jesus? When was the last time you were satisfied to wait until the Lord moved on your behalf, instead of trying to push against the goad of your situation in an attempt to make things happen? Maybe it’s time to repent of all the moments you’ve wasted. Maybe it’s time to begin to learn how to cherish your present and future moments with God.

Teach me to see what is important to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Have you noticed that few people are really concerned about being reconciled with Me anymore? Have you noticed that those who are supposedly wise in your world have done little research as to what happens to them after they close their eyes for the last time? Do you see the inroads that the enemy has made into the minds of fools?

“People are joyously rushing to the gates of hell. My concern is that few of you are attempting to stop them! People are flaunting their foolish doctrines and My preachers are raising money for their ministry institutions. They are dragging the Name of My Son in the mud, and few are responding as His advocates.

“The enemy is insidious in his efforts to deceive and most of you feel you are doing enough. What if you, with a little more effort, could bring one more soul to see? Don’t you really care if that person perishes?  Jesus did - enough to die for him! I care!”

Romans 1:28 NIV

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

Romans 7:21-23 NIV

21) So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

22) For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;

23) but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

 

The verses above convict me of how alive my flesh really is. Most of us really do think of ourselves more than we think of Him. It’s time for each of us to look around and discover, possibly for the very first time since we gave our lives to the Lord, what our priorities really are and do something about them. We need to make some changes.

God hasn’t lost His edge. He is still passionate for souls. Jesus hasn’t let up. His blood is still fresh.

What has happened to us? Where is the weeping for souls? Where is the passion for the work of God? How far behind our own needs and works have we placed the work of God?

Forgive my selfishness, Lord,

Jim Corbett