Tag: Jesus

“In My house, the cost of the gift is what counts. I gave everything when I gave Jesus. He gave everything when He died for you. Now I judge your gifts to Me with the same standard. If I give you much and you give little, it means little. Think of the widow’s mite. She gave all. The rich gave little in comparison, even though the amount was greater. She gave everything she had. What they gave really cost them nothing. Their gifts meant nothing to Me because they owned My treasures in their hearts and would not give them back to Me. Remember, I look at your heart. It is deceitfully wicked until I am allowed to change it through Jesus. It is the test of who you really are. Don’t minimize the gift that Jesus gave. Surrender fully to Me. I will bring your heart priorities in order.”

Isa.30:18 TLB 

“Yet the Lord still waits for you to come to him, so he can show you his love; he will conquer you to bless you, just as he said. For the Lord is faithful to his promises. Blessed are all those who wait for him to help them.”

Luke 21:1-4 NIV

1) As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.

2) He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.

3) “I tell you the truth,” he said, “This poor widow has put in more than all the others.

4) All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Hebrews 10:14 NIV 

because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

 

When we read the story of the widow’s mite, we usually think of money. In fact, many times we make it a money issue to bring home some money point. I am convinced that the Lord was expressing a heart issue. How people act is simply an expression of their true heart priorities, as it always is.

God is in the business of bringing our priorities in order. He knows that we can’t do anything to be right in His eyes, so He first makes us right through Jesus and then keeps making our priorities right as we keep coming to Him.

As the Father reveals all aspects of His heart, sometimes I reel with the overwhelming challenge that I am called to face. I begin to condemn myself for who I am not, cower at the prospects ahead of me as a Christian in the coming times, stagger at the weight of my responsibility to represent Jesus properly; and become discouraged as I attempt to prepare for His return. It is then that I remember that none of this was my idea in the first place. My Father has ordained my life and has promised to fulfill His plan for it and in it. My job is simply to need Him desperately.

In the above verse in Hebrews 10, I am so encouraged by the statement “those who are being made holy.” The wonderful part of “have [already] been made perfect” [in God’s eyes] is pretty incredible and difficult for me to understand fully, but “being made holy” soothes my heart.

At this very moment - and every moment until we are with our Father in Heaven - the process of making us holy is being accomplished, because we have surrendered our lives to Jesus and His completed work on the cross. When God is in the process of breaking us, He’s not trying so much to get us to say “uncle” as He is trying to get us to say “Abba.”

Give me the power to surrender fully to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“You can never take back anything that you do. You can be forgiven. You can repent of your actions and “make good” the harm that you have done; but every action that you take, every word that you say, is important for you to notice. It is the benchmark of the depth of your association with Me. Who you are - how deeply you care and what your priorities are - is proclaimed to others by your words and by what you do when you are under extreme pressure, faced with grave danger, or have loss of control.

"In the season ahead, I am stripping away false faces from My children. I am exposing dishonest hearts and improper motives. I am allowing base, carnal emotions to rise to the surface, so that they can be seen for what they are. It is My cleansing process before I move in power through My people. Great opportunities to repent will be available to those who will be My leaders and ministers. My truth is about to prevail.”

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?

 

The Lord is requiring His church to actually be who we have said we are all along. Many “self-imposed” leaders have guided sheep right into a ditch with their false teachings and fake spirituality. Because of our blindness to truth and our unwillingness to seek God’s truth for ourselves, we dumb sheep have often followed them, emulating actions and mouthing lying words with the same wrong spirit.

I believe that the Lord is welding His church together. To do so, wolves in sheep’s clothing must be exposed for who they really are first, so that His sheep will know His sheep.  It is a bridal call to holiness in every area of our lives.

Thrown away friends, shots fired at wounded soldiers, and destructive, malicious behavior - one to another - is not representative of Jesus. His true ambassadors will begin to function as He would, say only what He wants to say, all in union with His heart.

Cleanse me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“The time is coming when serving Me will cost you everything. The time is coming when even your movement will be observed. Freedom to praise Me will be non-existent. It will be a time when you will need to mention the Name of Jesus with a whisper or you will be in peril. What is of utmost value to you now will fall pale, as your quality of life decreases and others rob you of your freedoms. Who will you turn to if you are not in the habit of turning to Me now? How will you find the strength to endure then, when you are immobilized now if someone yells at you with his or her face?

"In that day you will wish that you had redeemed the time to grow in Me, while you had the opportunity to do so. You will regret the foolish ways that you spent your time, squandered your money, and trivialized My availability to teach you how to survive, even prosper. You need to take stock in your life now. What are your priorities? What are you learning? Who are you really serving? What are you doing with My resources of time, freedom, and wisdom? I have warned you; do not cast aside My counsel. Suddenly you will wish that you had heeded My Words.”

Isaiah 28:9-11 NLB  They say,

9) “Who does the Lord  think we are? Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, barely old enough to talk?

10) He tells us everything over and over again, a line at a time, in very simple words!”

11) Since they refuse to listen, God will speak to them through foreign oppressors who speak an unknown language!

Jeremiah 12:5  AMP

….. If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions] in the swelling and flooding of the Jordan?

John 12:35 NIV 

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while there is light, before darkness overtakes you.”

 

We have been so blessed in this land that we firmly believe that nothing can really change to the point of bondage and desperation, even when there have been so many warnings to the contrary. Throughout the Bible nations rise and fall, some because they were so decadent that God would no longer tolerate their sin.

In the last years, our Lord has warned those who would hear to be ready for anything at any time. The world is creaking and moaning, straining for the return of Jesus, and at the same time an unusual stillness has permeated our land. Business as usual is the order of the day while things are all heading in the direction of prophecy fulfilled. We as Christians should be working while there is light to work; instead, we are sleeping our way through them, consuming His grace and mercy on our lives. Our spiritual muscles have atrophied to the point that we can no longer stand, much less be a readied army. I believe that the Lord is heralding a wakeup call over and over again, and we are not hearing Him. We have been lulled to sleep.

Teach me to really hear what You are saying, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Would you like to be given the same mercy that you are giving others? How would you fare? Would you be under the weight of intolerance, judgment, and condemnation? Would you always fall short of someone’s expectation? You need to learn mercy! Give it away freely. Jesus died so that you might be free. I now expect you to flood others with the same mercy you have been given.”

Matthew 5:7 NIV

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

Matthew 5:7 AMP

Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous - with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!

 

A heart of mercy always wants to forgive, even when forgiveness is not asked for, nor deserved. Mercy is our means to salvation. Without it, none of us would have the possibility of spending eternity with God. It was mercy that initiated Father God’s sending His Son (Himself) for us. To continue to receive mercy, we must give mercy. A heart of mercy will never focus on itself. As soon as it desires something for itself, it will lose the ability to be merciful.

The merciful heart always esteems others more valuable than itself. Those with mercy understand bankruptcy and place themselves at the center of the need. Mercy drove Jesus to the cross. Neglecting mercy cuts off the lifeline with God, because He always operates where mercy is demonstrated. God’s judgment, the separation of good from evil, is always an act of mercy. In His mercy, God reveals our sin for the single purpose of providing freedom for us. Truth with mercy always brings life. Truth without mercy brings bondage, death, and a religious spirit. The heart of mercy always desires to treat others as God would treat them…

Thank You for Your mercy, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Can I help you? In these times, I am calling you to continually head toward a deeper relationship with Me. I am asking you to pursue in earnest the death of your flesh, so that you can take on the character of My Son, Jesus. I am telling you that soon your world will be turned around and will become almost unrecognizable as My Word is fulfilled in your lifetime. Everything that I am saying, you must realize that it is very important. You must take heed. With all of this coming your way, I sense your feelings of helplessness to change, probably because you see little change in you so far, even though you feel that you have been trying for many years.

"Sometimes I see you heading toward hopelessness. You are missing the point of My message. Your job is not to change; your job is to submit. If you really understood the concept of Lordship, you would realize that it is totally foreign to your normal way of thinking and acting. You could struggle all you want; but after all of the fussing and struggling is over, your heart would still choose rebellion - doing things your own way - rather than being in total submission to Me. I am not asking you to change; you can’t. Only I can accomplish the changes that are needed. I am asking you to acknowledge who you are not, so that I am free to make you into who I know you can be. I must keep encouraging you to be like My Son.

"The world needs to see Him in you. I must continually make you aware of the times and seasons that are upon you. I must make you aware of your shortcomings, so that you know that change is necessary. But I never said that you should do it in your own strength. That is foolishness. You can no more modify your heart now than you could change it by yourself in the first place. You just keep coming to Me. Let’s talk. I will bring forth the changes.”

Galatians 3:3 AMP 

Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh?

I Th. 5:23-24 NIV 

23) May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24) The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

 

Do you realize that a good number of people you identify with in the church are former reprobates? Included in the group of your best friends are murderers, con men, street fighters, gang members, prostitutes, liars, cheaters, and so on and so on. Whether or not we want to accept it, we are a group of the forgiven - not the elite. We are chosen, not for what we were - for not one of us was capable of being anything good in the sight of God - but for what our gracious Lord saw that we could be.

The only qualification for entering this sorry group of now lovable people was to have realized - at one time or another - our bankruptcy as we cried out to the Lord in hopelessness. When that happened, all the past covenant promises of God invaded our sin-driven lives and implanted a new spirit. He changed us from within.

Now, He has taken it upon Himself to bring everything else in line with the new heart that has been placed within each of us. Moment by moment, we are continually being changed to reflect all that He is and all that He wants us to be. The Word is at work, the Holy Spirit is at work; and all the promises of God are at work to bring everything together in proper order.

In the same way that we all cried out to the Lord for help to change us, it is necessary to cry out for all that we need to become like Jesus. He calls, notifies, and woos us.  We respond by understanding that who He is asking us to become is an impossible task for us to accomplish and that He must do the changing.

Needing Him to even train me to submit, cry out, and surrender,

Jim Corbett