Prayer | TFRC | The Faith Resource Community

7/01/24 How Far Would You Go?

I once saw a movie where a father’s daughter was kidnapped. Instead of following the rules set by the kidnappers, he used his very capable skills to find her, rescue her, and destroy the kidnappers. The movie was a story of his relentless pursuit of someone he loved even more than his own life.

As I look around at the families in the church today, I am amazed at how many are so fractured that they don’t resemble the family that God has in mind. After getting past all the rhetoric about how powerful and influential society and its dictates are, the bottom line is that the rescue of a man’s family is normally not a priority on his list.

I believe that most men have been sold a bill of goods, told that they are too weak or incapable of doing something about whatever worms have crept in to destroy their family. I am convinced that they have been lied to by the enemy, who is out to not only destroy the family, but bent on minimizing the limitless power of the office that the father has to reclaim and help restore the children God has given him.

The guidelines for God’s family are pretty clear. The husband is a spiritual covering, continually seeking the Lord on behalf of those he stewards. The wife is an equal in supporting and undergirding his mission of providing a safe spiritual place for their children to prosper in Christ. They are to nurture their children in the deep things of God, so that they become honorable legacies who are capable of passing on spiritual wealth to their own offspring.

If anything disrupts the flow of God’s love and power in that family, everything else is to take second place until Christ-like harmony is restored. Nothing or no one should get in the way of the war that the father and mother engage in to rescue any one of their children in harm’s way. They are to be relentless in seeking the Lord for wisdom and guidance, and then for doing whatever is necessary to bring His real life back to the ones they love. They are to persevere until the job is completed and the enemy is destroyed. Do you agree? If not, why not?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

PS A good example of this kind of warfare is in the first chapter of our book, The Father Factor.

6/29/24 Final Strongholds

“Difficult circumstances and situations do not cause problems between people. They only expose the sin that is already there. Remember this. I am intensifying the refiner’s fire. I am revealing final strongholds in My remnant. I am exposing the deepest, most hidden sins within those I am about to use.

"At times, you will look and feel as if you have learned nothing during My dealings with you. You will see who you really are not and understand how desperately you need Me for everything. That is how it should be. Remember these humbling times when pride begins to swell as you begin to see the fruit of Our labors ripen in your life. Recall these moments of understanding that there is little value in the work of your own hands. The full recognition of your spiritual bankruptcy without My hand upon you will protect you when I am using you mightily.”

Phil 4:12-13 AMP

12) I know how to be abased and live humbly in straitened circumstances, and I know also how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance. I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want.

13) I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].

Hebrews 5:8-9 AMP

8) Although He was a Son, He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered

9) And, [His completed experience] making Him perfectly [equipped], He became the Author and Source of eternal salvation to all those who give heed and obey Him.

Rev. 3:19 AMP

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

Someone with little understanding told me that many couples in ministry were getting divorced because they had such extreme financial problems during these difficult times. He went on to explain that he was helping them by providing his income-producing vehicle as a means to help the horrible statistics within the church.

There is no question that ministries all over the land are struggling because of a lack of finances, but this man’s reasoning was incredibly faulty. His solution was not helping in every case; in fact, he was probably hindering the work of the Lord in many because of his lack of understanding of God’s ways.

Difficult times, no matter what form they take, never cause relationships to fall apart, or people to fall away from their calling, or marriages to break up. They only expose the sin that was hidden deep within the participants all along. Finding and revealing that sin is, as a matter of fact, the purpose for the refiner’s fires. Removal from situations that the Lord is using to expose hidden sin temporarily hinders God’s plans and delays the release of His people into the work He has for them.

Those of you who come out of such fires—hungry for more of God, full of the understanding of your complete spiritual bankruptcy, and absolutely confident in the Lord’s competency, love, and reliability—have allowed the refining fires in your lives to do the necessary work. You have submitted to the Lord’s work in your life and can now move on, possibly even to the next fire. Those who are called by the Lord for greater things, who then “bail out” because of the pressure, will miss the best that the Lord has for them; and will probably find themselves in a similar refining situation in the near future. The Lord loves you too much to allow you to remain where you are.

Give me Your strength to stand wherever You ask me to stand, Lord,

Jim Corbett

6/29/24 Motivated by Love

Everything that God does for mankind is motivated by love. His creation process brought companionship. His patience with fallen man, the redemption process, and His plans for our future have an astounding, unbelievable love as their foundation.

As a father, everything we do is to be done because of the love we have for Jesus and the privilege of overseeing those He loves. Above everything else, we are to love others as He first loved us. The idea that our stewardship is an obligation or something to dread is foolish worldly thinking. We have the privilege of loving.

The next time the cares of the world seem a little overwhelming, it might be good to go back to the understanding that your Father in heaven is hovering over you with His boundless love. He is pleased as He sees your submission to His plans.

Think of how you feel as a father when you see your son or daughter do well in any given situation, then multiply that feeling to an unlimited degree. That’s how your Father sees you as you go about your days. Bask in that thought and then pass it on to those who need it.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

6/28/24 A Higher Standard

“Most of you, My children, have become thin-skinned and easily offended. You can receive nothing because you run from correction. You immediately take offense when you are challenged to rise to a higher standard in Me. You will separate yourself from those who call you to places you need to go so that you can mature. What will you do when those who hate you enough to kill you are in your face? What will you do when those who thrive on hatred are in your world? Will you hate them back? Will you despise who they are and harbor unforgiveness and murder in your own heart?

"You are missing the very essence of My Word and what I am doing in those who are My remnant. I am moving those who love Me to be able to love even their enemies. It is the way Jesus loved. I call you to love as He does.”

Jeremiah 12:5 AMP

[But the Lord rebukes Jeremiah’s impatience, saying] 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 to 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?

Amos 3:3 KJV

Can two walk together except they be agreed?

Luke 23:34 NIV

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Rev. 3:19 AMP

The Lord is developing the character of Jesus in His remnant/bridal believer. We must be like Him in our hearts, if we are to intimately walk with Him. Can you imagine Jesus coming for a bride who is selfish, self-centered, and harbors murder in her heart? Can you imagine Him enjoining Himself to one who looks to delicacies around her that please her more than He pleases her? Does it seem possible that Jesus would function in a relationship where His bride would not have the same desires, the same motives, and the same purposes in all that They do together? To think so is ludicrous!

How, then, is Jesus going to form us, who need His character developed in us during these end days before He comes? He is going to allow us to see who we really are. He will allow us to face ourselves so that we can come to repentance. He will do what it takes to expose our sin. Each time we repent, He will change us to be more like Him. It is an act of astounding love on His part. It is also our choice to respond or reject His efforts.

There is so much to be done in me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

6/28/24 Power for Service

I was reading about David’s mighty men the other day and one thing struck me as never before. The “mighty” part of these men was used for service. I know that sounds a little obvious, but when you think about it, what else should a powerful ability to do anything be used for? It would only justify itself if it were used to help someone less powerful, or even helpless. On the other hand, power misused is so very detrimental to those on whom it’s applied.

Let’s talk about the power we, as men of God, have been given. Holding the highest offices of husband and father - offices dear to our Father’s heart, we, in the clearest sense of the word, have God’s ear. He is for us. His power is available to us. His compassion bears witness to our needs in supplying whatever is useful for the proper stewardship of our families. That’s some pretty powerful stuff!

Men, the next time your marriage hits a bump in the road, think about how important its restoration is to God and then move as He directs to heal it. The next time you see that one of your children could use some help in making decisions, or help out of a harmful place they’ve gotten into, what better assistance could they have than a father on his face before God - the One who cares more for the child than even the father does. Think about the power available to overcome these situations. Then think about the way you may have ignored, misused, or simply not applied it to help those you love. If you are convinced of its availability, how are you going to use that power now?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

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