Prayer | TFRC | The Faith Resource Community

7/31/23 Eternal Changes in the Heart

“The world will always attempt to draw you into contentions that distract you from the real purpose of your life with Me. It will goad you to focus on issues and circumstances that affect your surroundings and bait you to submit to its priorities. Do you understand that you have never been called to place moral restraints on the society in which you live? They will never be able to understand the need for them. You are called to show dead people a life opportunity through Jesus. Watch how He lived in the world and follow His example. Issues of the day were never part of His heart.

"He knew that they only afforded temporary change. Involvement only caused distraction from the real issue of proclaiming eternal change in the hearts of people. Make sure that you know that your steps are ordained by Me and not by seemingly important issues. As Jesus enters a life, it is changed for eternity. That is the most important issue of all time and any generation. As you become involved in the eternal issues that surrounded the life of Jesus, you will see My purpose for your life.”

Psalm 127:1 AMP

Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.

Amos 5:14 NIV

Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you just as you say he is.

John 4:34 NIV

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

Acts 8:1&4 NIV

1) On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria…

4) Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

Jesus walked on the streets of cities every bit as evil as any generation. Herod called for the mass murder of children because of his fear. Innumerable crucifixions lined the roads into cities. Rampant sin shrouded every corner of every neighborhood. With all of the decadence, never once did He encourage those who followed Him to do anything about the society in which they lived. He taught them to consider eternal values, rather than important-looking daily challenges.

Jesus was after the heart of sinners. It was His Father’s quest. He showed everyone that tax collectors became honest and prostitutes were cleansed, when their hearts were made new. His life and the eternal promise of His mission carried people above the effects of the society in which they lived, when they embraced the love of His Father. He showed those who had ears to hear a new way to live, one that was not encumbered with the dictates of their days, but one of freedom from earthly restraints. He had a better plan; so should we.

Direct my steps, Lord,

Jim Corbett

7/31/23 Why Are You Married?

Most of us would answer that question in some way that has hopefully grown past the "I really love her, man" kind of statement. Let's forgo the stupidity of the "I really can't keep my hands off of her" answer and get on with why our Father in heaven has given us permission to be married.

In a nutshell, God has had us men covenant with Him to marry the one He has chosen for us, for His honor and for her best interests. I know that kind of thought has rarely passed through our world-trained, pea-brain ability to understand His ways about marriage; but it is, none-the-less, true. We are to join together with one of His precious children so that she has fertile soil to become all that she can be in Him. That honors Him!

In Ephesians 5, we husbands are called to lay our lives down for our wives in the way that Jesus laid His life down for the church. He died so that we could live. That is how the Lord can use marriage as an example of the relationship of Christ and His church.

When two people are joined together, they are given the privilege of knowing the most intimate details of the other person. They get to see whatever is undone in the other. Most of the time, especially after many years together, those cute little habits or actions become a source of irritation, sometimes even separation, instead of looking at them with Christ's heart. Jesus would hold them before His Father so that we and our wives could be healed. So should we.

God sees our job in marriage as laying down our needs, our desires, and our comforts, and living for the best interests of our wife and our children. The best interests of our circle of influence violates every area of our fleshly comfort zone. It demands that we live in the spiritual zone where Jesus lived for us. That is why He has given us someone to go through our lives with. They are to be given an atmosphere to learn how to love Him with all of their hearts. We are to provide that atmosphere by the power of the Holy Spirit. How's that working for you?

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett

7/29/23 Prepared for Everything That Comes

“Will you know how to walk in My light when there is only darkness all around you? If you are hearing My call to press in with Me, the answer is yes! I will protect you. I will be with you. More than that, you will be prepared for everything that comes your way. You see, I am making you into proper warriors who will flood this land with My presence. You will be places of safety for those who are too frightened to think straight. Because of your training now, your thoughts will be My thoughts then. We will move in concert, so you will be unavailable to the terrors that stalk the land. Remember My warriors in My Word.

“Remember how I fought the battles for them. Nothing has changed. I am available to you now and in the future. Now, somehow, you feel that I am not needed every moment of the day. When everything falls away, you will need Me all the time. I will be there for you. I am your covenant Lord. I will never leave you. I promise.”

Luke 10:19 KJV

“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Being a Christian is so wonderful, that sometimes all I can do is stop and praise. Think about this. We have the answer to life and death. We have been given all we need to make every proper decision in life. We are friends with our Lord. We have been given freedom, absolute freedom. Should I go on?

Do you know that most people spend more time picking out a new car than they spend determining for sure what happens after they close their eyes for the last time? Isn’t that an astounding truth? The most important decision in everyone’s life - what really is eternal truth - and few understand the impact of that decision well enough to go and find real truth. Pretty incredible.

What is even more incredible is that you and I have found the answer if we believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That belief, and the acceptance of His Lordship, is the answer that the confused world needs. Few are really aware of their need; but none-the-less, they need the answer.

Have you ever thought of what might be one of God’s major requests if He had the need to make one? That may sound like a pretty stupid statement, but have you? Over the years, I’ve tried to find out what it would be. I believe that our Father would desire that everyone who embraces His Son would fully grasp what has been provided for him or her because of the cross, and then walk in it. I think it would be that simple and that complex. Tell me if you’ve come up with something better.

Think of it. If everyone really did that, He would have warriors fully completed in His power and available for His plans. He wouldn’t have to spend the time convincing us that He means what He says. We could all get on with the business of bringing others into the kingdom, and then we could all go home.

Boy! Home sounds really great!

Jim Corbett

7/29/23 Comfort Zone Gifts

After broadcasting a person's need for a couch over the air at our radio station, we found ourselves staring at something that once resembled furniture in the living room of someone who answered the request. When we refused the explosion of stuffing that was home for her cat, the woman said, "Well, what am I supposed to do with it now?"

Her "gift" to someone in need may be the extreme example of wrong motives, but her attitude resembles the attitude of the church throughout history. Although heartfelt generosity propels the gospel of Jesus, there is an underlying plague of corrupt thinking originally confronted by Jesus. As gifts were being given, He asked a question that rings through the centuries right up to each of us. "Who gives more, those guys over there who give out of their abundance, or the widow who gives a small amount, but it is all that she has?"

As a covering for our families, we as men are to teach those in our midst about the heart of Jesus by our actions. When referring to gifts and giving, we are stewards, not owners of everything we have. We are to teach others about the cross of Jesus by sacrifice, not by giving away our surplus. If a person has untold wealth and gives a seemingly large amount away, God looks upon the gift as far less than one who gives very little, but it is all they have.

Be assured that people who don't know Christ - and for that matter our children, - are watching us as fathers, and how we function. Without knowing it, how we act in every area of our lives is speaking much louder than our words. The freedom in which we give to others, especially sacrificial giving, broadcasts volumes to those who may not understand the cross and its work. People see Jesus in every cup of cold water given by us, especially if the water given means that we go thirsty. Are you ready to be uncomfortable?

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett

7/28/23 God Directs Your Steps

“Would you like to understand some of the reasons that I do not desire for you to attempt to plan your own future, but rely on Me to plan your steps? There is purpose in My asking you to focus on this day, and not look to tomorrow for your need, or happiness, or fulfillment of My plan for you. You know nothing of tomorrow. With your limited sight, you have no idea what tomorrow may bring; and, for that matter, even if I have a tomorrow planned for you. I have given you a task to pursue; I ask you to surrender to the life of Jesus. What are you waiting for? I have called you to a mission. I want you to bear My message of reconciliation.

"When will you make My desire your goal, instead of presuming upon a tomorrow that you may not have, or a tomorrow that the one who needs to hear may not have? How can you be so arrogant? In your foolish pride, you have put off all My callings, saying that you will serve Me with all of your heart another day. So many days have gone by that you have set aside the importance of My calling in your life. It has been dulled within you, all because you have thought that you have many tomorrows to do what I ask you to do today. You must change now. Today is the only day that I have in My hand for you. Today, you must respond to My will for you. Tomorrow may change everything.”

Proverbs 27:1 NIV

Do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

James 4:13-15 NIV

13) Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’

14) Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

15) Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.

One day, a very bright, much loved young man was killed while trying to break up a fight between two members of his high school. He died almost instantly. One of the comments in the local paper read like this.

“He just stepped in and tried to break up a fight. He was an innocent bystander in all of this. He was a quiet, good kid. He mentioned last week to his grandmother he wanted to get saved and get back to church. He was heading in the right direction…”

This young man’s tomorrow never came. Instantly, his life was gone. I wonder if anyone thought that he or she had another day to talk to him about the Lord the day he was killed. Last week he mentioned that he wanted to “get saved” in a week that never came for him.

What has the Lord given you to do? I don’t mean, how long is your laundry list? What is your reason for breathing today, according to your Lord? Are you anointed to talk to someone about the Lord, ask someone for forgiveness, or simply tell others that you love them? Is it time for you to lay aside your pet sins or your critical spirit so that someone gets a better picture of Jesus? What has the Holy Spirit been talking to you about? Are you going to be obedient to do it?

Each of us needs to repent of what we have not done the many yesterdays in our lives, and be obedient to our life in Christ today. Every one of us is very much needed in our personal world. We need to begin to count every encounter, every word spoken to others, every action of every moment, very important. It is to God. He has given every one of us a defined number of moments that are designated as our lives. How are we going to use them and make them count? Will each of them glorify the Lord and fulfill His plan? What an eternal shame if they don’t.

Today, the first thing that I need to do is tell you that Jesus loves you and that you are valuable!

Jim Corbett

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