Tag: Prayer

“Are you doing your part in your community, knowing that you are the only ones who understand the spiritual war you are in? I ask you, do you consider yourself a spiritual citizen? Are you beginning to realize that your world is spiraling out of control at an alarming rate, and that it is a spiritual problem? Allow Me to share something with you. I have always asked My people to make a difference wherever they are placed by Me. Few of you have chosen to seek Me enough to understand what that really means. World calamities were never near enough to your door for you to need to call upon My power. Have you noticed how that is changing rapidly? Evil abounds and is becoming more blatant, even on your very doorstep at any given moment. It is going to continue, so you had better begin to realize your position as My spiritual warriors in your physical world.

"Start by praying for wisdom for the authorities to find those who harm others. Seek Me to confuse harmful people so that others are protected. It is all training, for you learn how to do battle when it directly affects your immediate world. Often in the past, I have blinded the eyes of the enemy during perilous times because of the prayers of the righteous. I have caused confusion to prevail in those seeking to do harm so that My children are protected. I have even allowed some of My children to walk in miracles on a daily basis so that My will is accomplished - all for the purpose of having My plans implemented through My people, who are winning the war on their knees.

"I am not asking you to simply transfer your selfish prayers to do warfare on your behalf. I am training you to see the needs of others and intercede on their behalf. Then I am asking others to do the same for you when you are in need. It is how the spiritual war is won on a world-wide basis, and also at a very personal level. Begin to prepare now. Soon you will need to be very familiar with My kind of warfare.”

Esther 4:14b AMP

…And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion.

Acts 21:13 AMP

Then Paul replied, What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart like this? For I hold myself in readiness not only to be arrested and bound and imprisoned at Jerusalem, but also [even] to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.

 

There is no question in my mind that our world is changing at an alarming rate. The “Leave it to Beaver” life no longer exists, no matter how much we long to reside there.

We have some real, immediate choices to make as the children of God. We can bury our heads in the sand, ignoring our responsibility to seek the Lord for our role in all of this; or we can submit to the changes, understand the seasons, and accept our place in the Lord’s timetable.

For many, many years the church of Jesus Christ in this land has been looking inward. We have consumed all the provisions of the Lord to heal our own wounds, pad our comfortable nests, delight ourselves in miracles; and for the most part, call upon God to be our personal servant, ad nauseum. Most of us have ignored the call to a crucified life of service for the sake of the Lord’s plan and for the benefit of others. It has always been the Lord’s priority, but we have gravitated to the teachings of wealth and prosperity.

That was never our portion as children of God. Now, on the brink of drastic changes, few of us even know what to do when there are no answers to be found - when things may never be better than they are at this very moment. We have thought only of ourselves for so long that our ability to enter into the real war, the spiritual one, is horribly hindered. Our spiritual muscles have atrophied. Our spiritual mind has dimmed.

God is shaking us awake to the season at hand. It may be the season that ushers in the coming of our Lord. Are we willing to prepare ourselves properly so that we fulfill our part in His plan during these times?

Needing to first cast off a spirit of complacency before I become totally blind and completely ineffective,

Jim Corbett

“Future believers are in need of you. Do you know that I am counting on you to grow up, so that I can trust you with those who will be coming to Jesus in the great harvest that is beginning? You need to take your eyes off of yourself and your own needs and begin to learn of Me for the sake of others. In your self-absorption, even arrogance, your life in Christ has become about you, rather than about Jesus and those who will embrace Him. Stop that selfish attitude. Turn your hearts now. I need you to grow up! Help get My Word to those who need to hear it. When they do hear, hold them close for Me. Lead them to a deeper, more loving walk. You need to go there first!”

Isaiah 28:9-10 TLB  

9) “Who does Isaiah think he is,” the people say, “to speak to us like this! Are we little children, barely old enough to talk?

10) “He tells us everything over and over again, a line at a time and in such simple words!”

Isaiah 43:21 NIV

…the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

Hosea 13:6 NIV

“When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.”

1 Cor. 13:11 AMP

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.

2 Cor. 12:15 AMP

But I will most gladly spend [myself] and be utterly spent for your souls.

Hebrews 12:12-13 NLB

12) So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs.

13) Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong.

 

In Isaiah 28, Isaiah is talking to the drunken prophets and priests who lay in their own vomit, the people who were supposed to hear from God and teach others how to follow Him. Can’t you just smell the pompous arrogance and disdain that they had for this real prophet of God, who exposed the stench of their sin by expressing truth?

They thought that they knew how to follow God and had no clue that they couldn’t follow truth even when God gave it to them in the simplest of terms. In fact, they were offended that it was presented in a way that was beneath their station in life. His humble obedience exposed their arrogance. What a contrast to Paul’s heart to willingly exhaust his life for the sake of others.

Create in me a clean heart, Lord. Keep me teachable and “exhaustible,”

Jim Corbett

“Forever is an extremely long time. We are going to have an unlimited number of times together. I have been patient, but My patience has served its purpose. All things are about to come into My planned order. Everything is unfolding as I have told you it would. Stand for just a little while longer. The refining fires must do their work. They are necessary to accomplish the foundations of future plans and other ordained movements. You may see these times as the end of the end times; I perceive them as the beginning of future eternities. Oh, We will have so much wonderful time together! Wait until you see what I have planned for you!”

Psalm 51:10 AMP

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering and steadfast spirit within me.

Isaiah 48:3  NIV 

“I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.”

 

Most of us are so focused on our own little problems and our own personal worlds that we have forgotten how much more of real life there is. If I understand the Bible, we have eternities upon eternities to spend with the Lord. Our present life is simply a wisp of time compared to what is left.

What concerns me, however, is that those who do not pass the tests of these times - particularly the main one of accepting Jesus as their Savior so that they do have a bright future - are soon going to be in a world of hurt. Maybe we should get our eyes off ourselves and our own puny needs and begin to think about those who need to see Jesus before it’s too late. What do you think? Is that a “DUH,” or what?

Help me to focus on what is important to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett