Tag: Prayer

“I have given you life and I want you to live that life abundantly. I have called you to live it passionately as Jesus did, not with minimal enthusiasm for it or mild involvement in My ways. Your days are full of choices; your years are numbered according to My will. You are on a tailor-made and very personal adventure planned by Me.

“Most of you miss the joy of your journey. You see challenges as threats rather than opportunities for Us to strategize together. You long for the highs and miss the wonder of learning to trust in Me when in the valley. You hope rather than know that My Word is true. You settle for morsels of what I have available. You struggle to maintain control, when absolute surrender to Me and My plans would bring you freedom. Your days are dull and mundane, rather than full of the exuberant life that Jesus lived. He understood how much His life and your life in Him meant to Me. He shared My desires rather than inventing His own to maintain His safety.

“I want you to shake off all of the foolish reasons you have for not becoming deeply involved in My plan for you, no matter what the cost might be to you. I want you to begin to live wondrously, full of the heart of My Holy Spirit. Stop settling for less than I have for you.”

Hos. 2:14-15a AMP 

14) Therefore, behold, I will allure her [Israel] and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly and to her heart.

15a) There I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor [troubling] to be for her a door of hope and expectation…

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].

 

Somehow we have believed the lie that things such as comfort, the world’s definition of success, and a life without challenges and heartaches are more important than an intimate relationship with our Lord. We seek the visible comforts rather than understanding that whatever causes us to need Him, to come to Him, to wait for Him or to rest in Him alone are what give us true wealth and an abundant life. We miss how God is working to fulfill our days and pattern our lives after the abundant life of Jesus when we look only for the mountain tops, ignoring the opportunities for growth and intimacy in the valleys. We miss the joy of the journey while waiting for the comforts of our flesh.

Let me find Your abundant life in every aspect of my days, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Have you noticed that a spirit of intolerance and flagrant independence has been loosed upon your land? It is the prelude to the apostasy that has been predicted in My Word. Few will take responsibility for their wrong doings. Almost no one will stand up for what is right anymore. The concept of right and wrong has migrated into a gray area of muddled legalisms. Few can be trusted, even within the walls of My church.

“If everyone is now conditioned to blame the other for that which they themselves should be responsible, they will not be familiar with and understand the concept of repentance. Because their hardened hearts will see sin as the offense of the other, rather than of themselves, they will see no need of a Savior. Even My church will go to court rather than live up to their responsibility when they are wrong. I need to break them and bring them back to responsibility. I must remove their comfort zones. I must destroy their flagrant rebellion and make them realize who they are following.

“My breaking them will change your lives. You will lose your comfort zones as I deal with them if you rely on the world for your safety. Determine in your heart now that your power is not in your own resources. I am waiting to renew your source for everything in your life. That is why My training course for you has intensified. That is why My warnings have become more clear. It is so that you will not be caught unaware. I am causing you to prepare your heart and trust Me to be your provision, your only source. When you rely on Me, you will walk above everything that attempts to hinder you from your appointed tasks or rob you of your peace. You become strong in the power of My might. I love it when that happens!”

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.”

2 Cor. 7:9-11a  AMP

9) Yet I am glad now, not because you were pained, but because you were pained into repentance [that turned you to God]; for you felt a grief such as God meant you to feel, so that in nothing you might suffer loss through us or harm for what we did.

10) For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct, produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death].

11) For [you can look back now and] observe what this same godly sorrow has done for you and has produced in you…

 

Do you realize how unique it is to hear the words, “Wow, I was wrong. It was my fault; please forgive me”? No doubt a majority of lawyers in this country would spend countless hours attempting to prove in court that those words were never said, so that someone could be declared only partially wrong or be completely vindicated from his or her responsibility. Almost everyone would go along with it, so that the impact of the transgression would be lessened. It would be the “wise” thing to do.

Because this attitude now permeates every layer of society, the concept of sin is no longer understood. Try something when people begin to talk about an offense that has happened, especially if their words make it apparent that they were at least partially in the wrong. Try it with both Christians and non-Christians.

After they have explained their side of the story, suggest that they apologize to the other party for their part in the offense. Suggest that their actions were sin. Watch their eyes as you do so. Usually there is some sort of silence and a shuffling of feet before a response comes. When it does come, be prepared to have a much-shortened conversation with them.

We, who are Christ’s, must realize more than ever that words alone, even the most eloquent and persuasive words, cannot convict someone of his sin. Unless our witness and our words are anointed by the Holy Spirit and permeated with His presence, they are wasted on the hardened heart. We simply speak a foreign language to someone if they are not.

In the days ahead, any success that we have in helping to bring someone to the Lord or change the hardened heart of someone who is already a Christian will only come from the power of the throne room. It is, more than ever, a spiritual thing in need of a spiritual answer.

Needing to walk everywhere only in the Spirit,

Jim Corbett

“Do you understand how important your every word and your every action are? I don’t believe that you do. If you did, you would not be saying and doing some of the things that are part of your everyday life. I see you slander those who come against you. I see you gossip about your neighbors and your friends. Often you ridicule those who are called by My Name because they do not believe exactly as you do. Some of you have become the judge and the jury of those who have not been with Me long enough to look and dress or act in the manner that you see fit. You shun them from your fellowship because of your pride in your religion of Christianity. It is bad enough that you choose to condemn those who have not embraced Me, but when you come against anyone who is called by My Name, I am not pleased. You are coming against Me!

"Why do you place yourselves above anyone? Have I not called you to serve everyone? You represent My Son. People see Who He is by how you talk and act toward others, especially those who are called by the same Name as you are. You do not realize how harmful your wayward tongues and hardened hearts are to you, especially when you have come against My anointed ones. I have placed reciprocal judgments on your life because of them. Those judgments have My signature on them. I have always paid in kind for actions done.

"If you bless, I will bless you. If you are merciful, mercy will be given to you. When you do one of My children harm you have placed yourself in position for the same kind of harm to come to you for your training. Reflect on your past actions toward others, especially my greatly loved children. Then allow Me to show you how your actions have come back to you. You are called to function above the ways of the world. I ask you to do that because of your respect and love for Me. If that is not enough of a reason, I have sorrow for you. You will now clearly reap whatever you sow.

"Soon it will be paramount that you stand in your world in a manner that brings honor to My Name. It is more important than ever to do so in these closing hours. The days of shallow representation of Me are over. It is important to Me that others see a true representation of My Name. I will have little mercy toward those who tarnish the Name that is above all names. Remove yourself from that group or I will judge your actions with an iron fist.”

1 Chronicles 16:21-22 AMP

21) He allowed no man to do them wrong; yes, He reproved kings for their sakes.

22) Saying, Touch not My anointed, and do My prophets no harm.

Esther 7:10 AMP

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified.

Obadiah 1:15 AMP

For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your dealings will return upon your own head.

Luke 6:38 NIV

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

 

God’s signature judgments are sometimes horrible to watch. People involved usually reel under the weight of them. What is even more difficult to observe is when those under the judgments are oblivious to them and why they are happening.

A pastor friend of mine, who has given Merry and me wise counsel often, made this statement when we were seeking help for judgments that were coming against us. He said, “Confidence in God is how little you respond when falsely accused.”

After taking that advice and not responding in any way to the “done in love” accusations, we have seen those who had accused flounder visibly as they felt the weight of the hand of God on their lives. Because we chose not to defend ourselves, we had the opportunity to see our God defend us as each person experienced the tailor-made response to their words. Father God has a way of doing that for His children. Often, we have wept as we see some of them “shake off” the judgment, unable to understand why things are no longer going as well as before.

God’s Word is true and very real. I am convinced that, in these closing hours of time, we are going to realize that He means what He says. We will soon be held accountable much more readily for our words and actions. It’s time once again to become aware of Who we represent and how we are representing Him.

Make me accountable, Lord,

 Jim Corbett