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6/22/21 The Unaware Plague

As I do research for our books and other ministry outreaches, I am pretty astounded by how unaware most people are of the war they are in. They don’t see overwhelming business demands as a tool of the enemy to nullify their real effectiveness. They don’t understand that hours before the television set help erode family unity. Cell phones are divisional devices used to separate families.

Take a look around. Watch how the enemy of everything that God desires is steadily at work to distract, divide, and destroy everything God holds dear in the family unit. He will use anything he can, any way he can, to take the family members’ eyes off of the important and place them on the urgent or the entertaining.

If you think that I’m being a little melodramatic, do this experiment. Pick any device - cell phone, television, business pressure, school, or social engagements and compare the time consumed by them with the time a family spends together communicating and investing in each other. See how long most families spend quality time together before each member runs off to do something more important. I think you will be amazed at how few people consider their family more important than whatever personal god they serve first. What do you see in your family?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

6/21/21 Your Greatest Asset

“What will be your legacy to future generations should the Lord tarry? For that matter, what kind of gift are you giving to those around you at present? What kind of person do people see when they observe your life? You are very fortunate. I have shown you the kind of character that truly pleases Me. Of course, there is Jesus. He is the One that each of you should emulate. His life was perfect. Throughout the years, however, I have been pleased with many of My children. Their greatest asset was the understanding that their lives really meant something, and they sought to find that meaning by seeking My heart; and then they followed what they learned from Me.

"I observe the lives of you and your generation. It appears to Me that most of you have given little thought to the fact that you are building a legacy. You seem to go about your days focused on your personal, earthly portfolio and have little concern about the impact it has on those who will follow you. I am not impressed at how much you have in the bank, how big your house is; or for that matter, how big your church is. It all came from Me anyway. I am impressed with how much you honor My reputation, how much you value what was done for you on Calvary; and how much you love others. Everything else matters little to Me.

"When was the last time that you began your day with the intent to honor Me in all that you did that day as your priority? When was the last time you determined in your heart to show everyone you met how valuable Jesus is to you? Have you ever begun your day with the goal of caring only for the needs of others, setting your own desires aside completely? That is the stuff I care about. I ask you this. After I call you home, what will people remember most about you? In the same way, what will you have in your portfolio to give to Me?”

Exodus 33:13 NIV

“If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.”

2 Cor. 3:2-3 NIV

2) You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.

3) You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Heb. 12:1 NIV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

One of the realizations that came to me some time ago is the fact that I can do nothing about what I have already done. It’s true. I can mend some broken fences, heal some soiled relationships, and rethink some of the mistakes; but I can’t undo what has already been established as my life. It is what will be presented to the Lord as my legacy when I face Him.

That frightened me enough to push the pause button. In my pondering, the Lord showed me that every action I take, every move I make, every situation I face, every interaction I have, and every word I say are creating my legacy. The moment they occur, they are unchangeable, cut in stone for eternity. I wanted to stop time, move the clock back, erase the board, and hide away until I could come up with a better game plan than I had so far. It was a very rude awakening.

After I pushed away a feeling of panic, wanting to try to stop my life from infecting more people adversely, I realized two things. First, the Lord showed me that His abundant mercy more than covered my abundant foolishness. He had it covered! Whew!!

Second, now that I was aware of the fact that my life really mattered to the plan of God, I had a responsibility to do something about it. The bottom line was I called myself a Christian, so I represented Jesus in everything I did or said whether I wanted to or not. I am the letter that He sends to those in my determined circle of influence. I am what He looks like to the grocer, the baker, and the candlestick maker. What I say and do to them is, in their eyes and in the eyes of My Father, my representation of Jesus. They see who He is by who I am!

One day I will see how well I did. I’m sure that my legacy will be covered in abundant mercy, but will it look like a crown?

Needing to really understand the impact of my life,

Jim Corbett

6/21/21 More Than Your Own Skills

To be able to fulfill your offices of husband and father with power and skill, you’re going to need much more than you can do in your own strength. You’re going to need the power of the Holy Spirit continually working in and for you.

The enemy of your family is hard at work attempting to nullify your marriage and destroy the legacy that God intends for your children. If you think that you’re going to be able to fend off the onslaught that is programmed against you, you’re badly mistaken. If you think that there is no war, you are already beaten and just don’t know it.

Visible evidence of his aggression against your family - such as constant strife between you and your wife, children who don’t want to discuss the things of God with you or have little interest in Jesus and the cross - means you have a spiritual battle on your hands. Head knowledge won’t do the trick, so your preaching at them will fall on deaf ears. Your youth pastor is not going to be able to help continually. Your pastor is not the one.

The power to bring vibrancy to your marriage or to win your children back to God lies with you seeking the Lord on their behalf. It’s in your spiritual job description. They are incapable of winning the fight themselves. They need you as a daddy, fighting for their best interest on your knees. It’s time to bend down and hit the carpet, friend. It’s time to call for help from the winner of all battles. His name is Jesus and He’s waiting for you! It’s you He’s chosen for their sake.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

6/19/21 Serving from a Place of Challenge

“When I put you in a place where you cannot move and have hemmed you in all around so that you must make difficult choices, I am allowing you to see who your god really is. In most cases, your god is your need at the time. It is all that you can think about. It is what you focus all of your attention on. It is what you serve with all your heart. You must take your eyes off of your need and find what I am doing in your situation. Begin to focus on the need of others. Begin to find My purpose in the situation that you are in. Fools serve Me only from their comfort areas. My power flows through you when you serve Me from a place of challenge.”

Matthew 26:53-54 NIV

53) “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

54) But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

Luke 23:34 NIV

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

Phil 4:13 AMP

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].

Jesus cared more for the souls of those who drove the nails in His hands than He cared for the pain He was going through. Paul ministered to those in need from a prison cell. Those who lost their homes proclaimed the gospel from their place of need.

Throughout the Word of God, we see the true heart of many individuals emerge when they are faced with much need themselves. We see the rich young ruler choosing to cast aside his own salvation rather than loosen his grip on his god of money. In contrast, we see Paul choose obedience to his Lord over his own comfort and safety. Each instance was an exposure of heart motive. One failed miserably; the other glorified the Lord.

At this very moment in time, I believe that God is again exposing the true heart motives of the church. From difficult places, extreme circumstances, unusual challenges, and God- orchestrated opportunities, whether we know it or not, we are once again proclaiming out loud by our words and actions, who or what holds our hearts and is the true lord of our lives. Our mask of religion is being taken from us by everyday occurrences, revealing an honest image of who we really are and what god controls our lives.

Bring me to repentance if I serve anyone or anything but you, Lord,

Jim Corbett

6/19/21 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.

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