Tag: Prayer

“I wish that none should perish. That is the priority of My heart for your creation. It is the reason that I have set everything in motion since the fall of Adam and Eve. Their fall was no surprise. The need for redemption was no surprise. Every action by every individual born of woman was no surprise. All that has happened, is happening, and will happen is right on My timetable. There are no surprises when it comes to those who are to spend eternity with Me.

"Where each of you spends that eternity is My heart behind My Word. It is the central focus of all that I have created thus far. Consider this. Pause quietly and think on what I am about to say. Before any of My other creation processes will unfold, the redemption of your generation must be completed. That is how important each and every day of your existence is.

"With that in mind, I would have you consider your reasons for everything that you do compared to My reasons for your life. What is the purpose for your every action? I have a specific plan for your birth. Have you taken the time to really find out what it is and function in it with the same importance that I place on your days? Look at the life of Jesus. He is your example. For everything that He was, for all that has been said about Him, most people have not applied His zeal for the fulfillment of My plan to their lives. His every breath was dedicated to My desire that none should perish. That is the way I want you to live.

"Your specific task is part of the overall fulfillment of My plan. If you get in line with My heart from now on, everywhere you go and whatever you do will have that purpose in mind. Turn now from every other distraction. I need you. So does everyone around you.”

Genesis 1:27-28a AMP 

27) So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.

28) And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]…

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.”

John 4:34 NIV

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

John 5:19 AMP

So Jesus answered them by saying, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the Son is able to do nothing of Himself (of His own accord); but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does is what the Son does in the same way [in His turn].

 

Did you ever stop to think that everything from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 deals with the plan of God for you and me? He tells us of a single, former creation that He focused on before us and now uses for His greater plan. He also shows us that there is much more that will be happening after He is finished with our processing.

Now, some of you may have fully understood that long ago, but it has taken awhile for me to become acutely aware of it. Think this through with me. Could it be that you and I have become so involved with the day-to-day circumstances of our lives, that we really haven’t heard the very point that our God was making when He had His authors write down His Words? Could we be so busy discerning every jot and tittle of what they said that we have overlooked the essence of the heart of our Father?

A whole universe was set in motion and the planet that we call earth was created so that our feet would have a place to rest. A whole new world will be created after we have no more need for this one. That’s some pretty heavy information we have been given. To have set that all in motion tells me that our Father in heaven is pretty much involved with us.

For many years, the prominent phrase traveling through the church was, “It’s all about Jesus,” meaning that our life is not about us; but about Him and what is important to Him. What I hadn’t understood fully was the fact that God’s life has been focused on each one of us for this time in His history because His heart is that none should perish. The problem arises when we take the fact of God’s love for man and consume it upon ourselves, but don’t carry it further by allowing that love to flow to those around us and bring others to Him. In other words, it’s wonderful that He may be all about us – please keep that in the context of this message - but we can’t be all about us. If we really understood the fact that our God truly has our best interests in mind, it should generate a vibrant love within each of us that’s just waiting to be unleashed at every opportunity.

If it is true that God’s life has been centered around our best interests as part of this creation, and if some of our Lord’s incredibly precious time – the Lord of everything who left everything and came to earth to die for our benefit - was taken so that we might have a way to be delivered from the horrible prospect of being separated from God, then wouldn’t you think that each of us should place a little more importance on that purpose also? How do we do that? Once again, intimacy with the Lord is the key. If we truly know Him, how can we not burst forth with an eagerness to share Him with others, so that they might know Him, too!

Is it not time for us to get in line with God’s desires? Shouldn’t we care about what He cares about? Let’s truly get to know Him so that we can’t help but share Him, giving others the opportunity to come into His fullness as well! If it’s important to God, it should be important to us!

Turn me back to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“The fashion of this day for My true ambassadors is the completed character of Christ radiating through My provided armor. Although your armor has been tested and tried through the fiery trials presented to you, it has protected you and given you time to submit fully to Jesus. Now I ask you to prepare one more time. Stir up the gift that has been given you. Prepare your heart through communion with Me. Then stand and wait for Me to send you forth. There is work to do.

"Many in My church need to see how I have prepared you for proper representation of Me. Many in the world need to see Who Jesus is through you. When you have done all that I have asked of you, stand. I will soon call you forth to show them the proper attire of a bridal heart prepared by My hand.”

Proverbs 20:24 AMP

Man’s steps are ordered by the Lord….

Matthew 11:12 NIV 

“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”

Romans 5:3-5 AMP

3) Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.

4) And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.

5) Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.

2 Cor. 1:8-10 NIV

8) We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

9) Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

10) He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us…

2 Cor. 5:20a NIV

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

2:Cor. 10:3-5 NIV

3) For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

4) The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

5) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Rev 19:7 AMP 

Let us rejoice and shout for joy [exulting and triumphant]! Let us celebrate and ascribe to Him glory and honor, for the marriage of the Lamb [at last] has come, and His bride has prepared herself.

 

Many of us forget that our godly armor is proper attire until the day of our wedding. Up until the very moment we see Jesus face to face, we are at war against principalities in heavenly places that stand against the desires of God. As we mature in Christ, we take on battles on behalf of those too weak or too ignorant to win against the devil and His schemes; and our armor is always the full-dress uniform of the children of God.

We are never to let down our guard or fall asleep at our post until the last heart is rescued from perishing. That is the heart of our Father God. That is the heart of Jesus. That is the heart of the waiting bride as led by the Holy Spirit.

Teach me how to wear Your attire properly, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Beware of the distractions that are formed to hinder a work I have called you to do. They will come from many directions with many seemingly urgent needs. You need to discern what is important for you to do. You need to understand who is being used by the enemy to consume your time. Turn them over to me until they repent. Separate the urgent from the truly important or you will never accomplish what I have called you to do.

"Anything that robs you of your time with Me is not of Me. Anything that attacks you when you are weary is not My doing. I will always send you to a refreshing time with Me, so that you can continue with those things I call important. Always make Our time together your priority. From My presence, move with power.”

Matt. 14:22-23a NIV

22) Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.

23) After he had dismissed them, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.

Mark 6:30-32 NIV

30) The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.

31) Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

32) So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

John 7:6-8 NIV

6) Therefore Jesus told them, “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right.

7) The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.

8) You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come.”

 

Have you ever noticed that those who choose not to submit themselves fully to the Lord are often used to distract you with their needs when you are involved with doing what God has called you to do? Sometimes the urgency of their request makes it seem as if everything should be dropped to do whatever is necessary to physically meet their need. However, sometimes the answer is to stand back and pray for them and continue on with what you’re doing, letting God Himself intervene in their lives.

Christians in leadership must learn to separate the seemingly urgent from what is really important. There are many pastors who have been burned out by the all-consuming needs of their flock. It would not be very surprising to learn that the ones who were used to weary the pastor went on to do the same thing at another time and place, if they did not repent and turn to God.

Teach me to discern between the urgent and what is important to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett