Tag: The Family Rescue Campaign

“So many of you are seeking after answers that have no real purpose. So many foolish hearts are turning to find reason for your lives in areas that allow you to remain in charge. If only you would listen to the truth. If only you would understand that My Word is the answer for you.

"There is a heavy price for rebellion. The time for preparation will soon be over. I will implement My Word and create hard choices, life and death kinds of choices. Pride, arrogance, and deceit will abound to stumble those who have chosen to go the route of selfishness. At that time, many can still turn from such foolishness, but that turning will soon cost you everything.”

Ja. 4:7-10 AMP

7) So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.

8) Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].

9) [As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins].

10) Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].

 

When I was in the service, there was one guy - a member of our squad in basic training – who thought he was above the system. In his foolishness, he believed that he could fly through the process and not have to go through the rigors that were part of that training. He decided to fake a bad back, and boldly told some of his friends about his plan, even pointing to them as fools if they did not do something similar.

I remember one particularly hot day, while our squad was doing some of the countless push-ups that were our plight; he came up to the fence with a grin on his face, basically to gloat over his freedom. He had been made a courier. His job was to deliver messages all over the base. When he wasn’t doing that, he sat in an air-conditioned office waiting for his next assignment. To those of us who would have given anything to get out of the hot Texas sun, it looked like we were the fools; and even though his life was a ploy, it looked pretty plush compared to ours.

Upon graduation from basic training, while we were getting ready for the ceremony - donning our dress Blues and feeling quite complete because of the training that we had endured - we heard that the courier had been told that his basic training would start in six weeks. Obviously, he was not the first to pull that “bad back” stunt. Because of his foolishness, he now had to wait six weeks after we graduated to begin his eight week training course. I remember standing in rank, ready to move on and seeing him walk by our squad with a message for someone. He had lost his bravado. In fact, he was down-right sullen.

Our training in Christ is very important to God. He wants each of us to be able to represent Him properly, so that the world can see the love of Jesus and embrace that love. We are to be the example of God’s standard and Christ’s freedom to everyone.

Sometimes, when we are in the throes of rigorous training, others look like they really have it made. Therein lies the deception. Satan would love for us to envy those who look like they are prospering, especially when our toil seems fruitless to us. We need to flee from those thoughts and dig in with the Lord. We know what is right to do. To do anything other than submit to our Lord is foolishness, no matter how hard the training to be like Jesus is. He submitted to the ultimate sacrifice for us. We have the privilege of sacrificing our lives for the good of others.

Time to quit faking the “bad back” in any area in which the Lord wants me to be trained,

Jim Corbett

“Live the life that I have given you out loud. Take the highest road that you can in full view of others. You can be sure that they are watching you as soon as you call yourself by My Name. Observe the life of Jesus. His life was broadcast to every corner of His world. Everywhere He went, people had to make choices. They had to examine their own lives and then decide who they were going to follow.

"You are ordained to do the same in your world. That does not mean that you call attention to yourself or become visible. It may mean that your strong voice may resonate from your secret prayer closet. Make the most of the call I have on your life. Become bold about Who you believe in. Rejoice that you have been given a real purpose for living.”

1 Cor. 11:1 NIV 

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

Eph. 5:8-11 AMP

8) For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light [lead the lives of those native-born to the Light].

9) For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light or the Spirit [consists] in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life.

10) And try to learn [in your experience] what is pleasing to the Lord [let your lives be constant proofs of what is most acceptable to Him].

11) Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead [let your lives be so in contrast as to] expose and reprove and convict them.

 

I once knew a person who continually testified of himself. Most of his conversation heralded his humility, proclaimed his faith, and testified of his spiritual wealth. As loudly as he could, he proclaimed how spiritual he was to anyone and everyone who would hear. What was so amazing was that nobody ever listened. In fact, because of the bankruptcy he exhibited, no one listened to anything else that he said.

I once knew a person who spent countless hours in the Word and in fellowship with her Lord. At any gathering, she would position herself in a quiet corner of the room, interacting lovingly with all that were present. She radiated the love and presence of the One who was most important in her life - Jesus Christ. Holding no formal position, having little worldly education, pastors and prominent leaders would wait their turn to spend moments with her to receive quiet words carried for them from the lap of the Lord. Churches, major corporations, and countless lives were changed and enhanced from the quiet interaction that heralded the presence of Jesus with an astounding spiritual volume through this humble saint.

Help me to choose Your way, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“What are you doing about the extremely difficult times that are on the crest of your horizon? Why have you not heeded My warnings and prepared properly? You act as if your world could never change. You pray that it won’t because you desire to remain comfortable and fear losing those things that are safety handles for you. Your security remains in the things you have and the walls you have built to fortify your lifestyle. They all could be gone in a heartbeat. What will you do then?

"In times past, those who did not heed My warnings joined the plight of the uninformed and fearful. They suffered the fate of those who only knew of Me rather than those who had intimacy with Me. That is not what I desire for you. I need you to know Me intimately so that you can point others to Jesus when their world falls apart, instead of falling apart with them. That doesn’t seem to matter enough to you to do whatever it takes to walk in wisdom now instead of remaining asleep. I need for you to wake up. You can respond to My call voluntarily, or I will change your heart through hardship for your benefit.”

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.”

Proverbs. 29:1 AMP

HE WHO, being often reproved, hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed—–and that without remedy.

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.”

Jeremiah 12:5 AMP

[But the Lord rebukes Jeremiah’s impatience, saying] If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take to flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions] in the swelling and flooding of the Jordan?

John 19:11 NIV

Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above…”

Phil. 3:10-11 AMP

10) [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

11) That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

 

Most of us get angry at God when He shakes up our little world, or we blame the devil for difficult times when they enter our lives and remain long enough for us to think that God has forgotten us. Few of us take the time in our panic to deliver ourselves from whatever has disturbed us to consider that our plight may be the hand of God conforming us into someone He can use to bring others to Christ. We would rather fight against a perceived enemy than submit to His desired change in us.

Even minimal observation of the world around us points to loud voices – connected to evil hearts that desire their own way with no consideration of those they hurt - becoming more prevalent. Good is now interpreted as evil and evil is heralded as good. Reason falls way behind anger. Lust has replaced honest love. Might, when powerful enough, impacts the lives of everyone involved.

God will always have a people who will not be caught unaware. His people will be prepared for anything and stronger than everything that stands in His way, because they have made their God the only priority in their lives. With eyes and hearts that look only to Him, no power on earth or in the heavens will defeat children of God who are intimate with their Father God, any more than it could defeat Jesus. Read the above verses in Philippians 3 to see the formula for overcoming.

I choose You as my priority, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“You need to destroy all the idols that remain in your life, tear down every altar used to worship other gods; and walk away from every temptation that allows you to harbor sin. Once this is finished, I will be able to move mightily through you. Until it is accomplished, you will have little strength to stand, and little desire to overcome those things that stand in the way of Our fellowship.

"The idols that you have overlooked have forced you to squander precious moments of the life that I have given you. They stand in the way of My allowing you to receive hidden manna. They hinder you from seeing My Word clearly. You need to be finished with them. Look away from them. Turn toward Me in everything you do. I will show you where they are. I will give you the strength to destroy them. I will hold you until you are strong enough to stand without them in your life. Together We will rejoice as they are nullified. You will be free. I will be able to use you.”

Joshua 7:13 AMP

Up, sanctify (set apart for a holy purpose) the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: There are accursed things in the midst of you, O Israel. You can not stand before your enemies until you take away from among you the things devoted [to destruction].

Isaiah 30:21 NIV

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

 

Does it not make sense that the weaknesses in our land are due in part to the weaknesses in the church? Since each of us joined together comprise the church, I believe it is fair to say that we each contribute to the weakness that is in our land through our own weaknesses.

I realize that we are to do everything by the power of our Lord and not in our own strength. I also realize that when I harbor any sin in my life, I am incapable of coming close to the Lord until it is removed. Our Father is asking each of us to look for those strongholds that we may still be holding close, the ones that have become so familiar that we do not even recognize them as strongholds anymore. He wants them out of our lives, so that we can take that next step to holiness.

There is a move of the Lord at hand. He is planting the desire for holiness in His people. That desire stirs up the willingness to join with our Lord against anything that would hinder our relationship with Him. The maturity of aggressively joining Him in the search is vastly different than when we were young in Him. Then we were tight fisted with our sin until He did what was necessary to pry open our hands to release that sin. Now we are to join Him in finding it.

Help me find them fast, Lord,

Jim Corbett

 

“There is no limit to My love for you. There is no price too high for your companionship. I have already proven that. Soon, you will see how important your life has been. Soon, you will understand fully why I chose to do things in the way I did. Remove the limits of your love. Open your heart completely to My ways. I have given you My all. Now you do the same for a little while longer. You will be amazed at how much impact you can still have.”

Isaiah 9:6-7 NIV 

6) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7) Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Isaiah 38:17 NIV

Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

Isaiah 46:9-10 AMP 

9) [Earnestly] remember the former things [which I did] of old; for I am God, and there is no one else; I am God and there is none like Me.

10) Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all My pleasure and purpose.

 

Yep! It’s about a whole bunch of stuff - much, much bigger than our cravings and infinitesimal desires. Plans far beyond our comprehension are being implemented every moment of time. All we are asked to do is our part and that, only by the power of God.

For some unknown reason, you and I have been included in the magnificent plans of the Creator of all things. To Him, our lives mean something. Our days are important. His investment in us is way beyond our comprehension. We really need to take our eyes off our small, daily world and get involved in what Jesus is doing around us. Just because!

Change my focus, Lord,

Jim Corbett