Tag: The Family Rescue Campaign

“What is your real commitment level to Me? How far will you go before you say, “Enough”? When will you set aside My requests to you and turn to disobedience? How long before the price I ask you to pay to be in My perfect will is considered too high?

"I prosper you and you pad your comfort areas. I challenge you to step out in faith and you walk in fear. I bring people to you, and you turn them away. What will it take to turn your heart around? Remember the price that Jesus paid for you? I ask you to give to Me with the same kind of heart. Will you do it, or will you say that the price is too high and remain on the sidelines of My will for your life?”

Matthew 5:13 AMP

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality) how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.

Matthew 6:19-21 NIV

19) “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

20) But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

We observe three separate heart positions functioning in the church body today, all called “Christianity.” There is the infant heart, the growing heart, and the mature heart - one that symbolizes the bridal heart, or more simply, the kind of heart that Jesus has. You will need to know and understand these three distinctive heart positions, so that you can function properly with the Lord’s help as you encounter them – either in yourself or others…

The mature heart is a wonder to behold. This is the passionate heart of Jesus. It is also the bridal heart, prepared and waiting for Christ, the one that will overcome and even prosper during the perilous times ahead. As Jesus is one with the Father, the mature or bridal heart beats in unison with Them both.

This heart sees only the Father’s will as important, only the Father’s plans as worth addressing throughout life. The world, the cold church, and all else in the physical realm hold no audience with this heart. There is no purpose but God’s purpose, no plan but God’s plan, no future but God’s future. This heart is untouchable in its alliance with God. It is in total freedom in its chosen “slavery” to only the Father’s will.

This heart has put aside most of its elementary sins against God, those choices of the flesh that have carried over into the Christian walk, the choices of doing good things vs. going deeper and deeper with the Lord. It has set aside fleshly temptations and ponders over the things that concern Jesus. Improper spiritual choices, such as moving ahead on anything without waiting for everything to develop properly in the spiritual realm, cause this heart to understand its dishonor of God and bring it to repentance for its disobedience.

Phil. 3:10b-11 AMP  …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].

Because this dedicated heart is growing in the character of Christ as a priority, functioning in the world holds no promise for it. Its only desire is to be in fellowship with its source for beating - Father God, its “Abba.”

No price is too high to pay to remain in intimate fellowship. Even moving on assigned and directed missions is done only because it pleases the Father. As soon as the task is completed, this heart only wants to move back to the posture of intimacy.

Any outward expression of this heart to the world comes directly from the throne room. It does nothing of itself, but only the Father’s will. It is the heart that will come out of the refiner’s fire and beat steadily in unison with the heart of Jesus as the bride of Christ. This kind of heart should be your goal.

Make Your heart my goal, Lord,

 Jim Corbett

“I grieve when We are separated for any reason. If you have sinned, I long to extend mercy to you. If you are too busy, I wait for your return. If you decide that Our relationship is not as important as other events in your life, I initiate ways for you to change your heart. Whenever you repent of any sin, I run to you.

"It is true that I hold the stars in place. The winds obey My command. All the functions of your world would cease to exist if I desired that they end. I am God and there is no other. With all that I am, I still hold you at the center of My heart. You need not understand why. Just believe it with your heart.”

Matthew 10:29-31 NIV

29) “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

30) And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31) So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Luke 15:19-20 AMP

19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; [just] make me like one of your hired servants.

20) So he got up and came to his [own] father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity and tenderness [for him]; and he ran and embraced him and kissed him [fervently].

 

A spirit of compassionate insight (mourning) is the spirit that “drove” Jesus from His kingly station in the heavens down to earth to take on the form of one of His own created beings. He placed Himself “in the shoes” of each one of us both in this life and for eternity.

Feeling our present and future pain of separation from the Father, there was nothing that He could do but spend His life for us. His focus was on our loss. He cared about what would happen to us if He didn’t intervene on our behalf.

Having no separation between His heart and the heart of His Father, He also took as His own the loss that the Father had because of the sin of mankind, which caused separation. Father longed for all those He loved to cherish His glory for their well-being. Because the Father felt that way, so did Jesus - not in an elementary form of human caring, but with all of the compassions of the Father. When He moved in compassion, our needs and pains were taken on by Him as His own.

Thank You for never giving up on me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Get up! Arise! Today is the day for you to step out of the prison of your old lives. It is your resurrection day! I have removed the gravestone of those past days. I will remove the grave clothes of your former lives. Out of the ashes of the refiner’s fires I have guided you through, I will build a fortress of love that will guide others to Me through you.

"It is time to step deep into the anointing I have placed on your lives. As you celebrate the brilliant life of My Son, I will celebrate the victories that We will walk through. You have been faithful with little; now I will give you the stewardship of much to be used for My kingdom. Walk only with those I have called to you. They will be the support of your hands and the energy of your feet. Be wise with what I place in your hand. Honor Me in all that you do. You are about to begin to flourish in the season for which you’ve been trained.

"Rejoice! I am about to overcome every challenge that comes your way. I am about to win every battle that you face. I am about to fulfill every plan I have ordained for you from the beginning of time. I am about to have you enjoy the fruit of your obedience. I love you!”  

Exodus 17:12 AMP

But Moses’ hands were heavy and grew weary. So [the other men] took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Deut. 1:6 NIV 

The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain.”

2 Chr. 16:9 NIV

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him...”

Psalm 127:1 AMP

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

 

The Lord often takes His loved ones through intense refiner’s fires. Sometimes these fires are seemingly so consuming that we feel as if we are going to perish. Sometimes we wish we would somehow be relieved of them. Even our death would be a relief, or so we think.

There comes a time, however, when the Lord breaks His fast for our lives and says that it is time to get up and get going. The fire is past. It’s time to move forward in the new life that He has established for us. At that time, we are to get up, shake off all the residue and ashes from the fire, and move in His newfound power and freedom. We are to look only to the future and forget the perils from the past.

It is time to retain a rock-solid belief that Jesus is Lord, you are His, and He loves you and has given you His presence so that you can move forward. If this is your time, do it now. Walk in freedom.

Tell me when to get up, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Difficult circumstances and situations do not cause problems between people. They only expose the sin that is already there. Remember this. I am intensifying the refiner’s fire. I am revealing final strongholds in My remnant. I am exposing the deepest, most hidden sins within those I am about to use.

"At times, you will look and feel as if you have learned nothing during My dealings with you. You will see who you really are not and understand how desperately you need Me for everything. That is how it should be. Remember these humbling times when pride begins to swell as you begin to see the fruit of Our labors ripen in your life. Recall these moments of understanding that there is little value in the work of your own hands. The full recognition of your spiritual bankruptcy without My hand upon you will protect you when I am using you mightily.”

Phil 4:12-13 AMP

12) I know how to be abased and live humbly in straitened circumstances, and I know also how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance. I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want.

13) 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].

Hebrews 5:8-9 AMP

8) Although He was a Son, He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered

9) And, [His completed experience] making Him perfectly [equipped], He became the Author and Source of eternal salvation to all those who give heed and obey Him.

Rev. 3:19 AMP 

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

 

Someone with little understanding told me that many couples in ministry were getting divorced because they had such extreme financial problems during these difficult times. He went on to explain that he was helping them by providing his income-producing vehicle as a means to help the horrible statistics within the church.

There is no question that ministries all over the land are struggling because of a lack of finances, but this man’s reasoning was incredibly faulty. His solution was not helping in every case; in fact, he was probably hindering the work of the Lord in many because of his lack of understanding of God’s ways.

Difficult times, no matter what form they take, never cause relationships to fall apart, or people to fall away from their calling, or marriages to break up. They only expose the sin that was hidden deep within the participants all along. Finding and revealing that sin is, as a matter of fact, the purpose for the refiner’s fires. Removal from situations that the Lord is using to expose hidden sin temporarily hinders God’s plans and delays the release of His people into the work He has for them.

Those of you who come out of such fires—hungry for more of God, full of the understanding of your complete spiritual bankruptcy, and absolutely confident in the Lord’s competency, love, and reliability—have allowed the refining fires in your lives to do the necessary work. You have submitted to the Lord’s work in your life and can now move on, possibly even to the next fire. Those who are called by the Lord for greater things, who then “bail out” because of the pressure, will miss the best that the Lord has for them; and will probably find themselves in a similar refining situation in the near future. The Lord loves you too much to allow you to remain where you are.

Give me Your strength to stand wherever You ask me to stand, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Most of you, My children, have become thin-skinned and easily offended. You can receive nothing because you run from correction. You immediately take offense when you are challenged to rise to a higher standard in Me. You will separate yourself from those who call you to places you need to go so that you can mature. What will you do when those who hate you enough to kill you are in your face? What will you do when those who thrive on hatred are in your world? Will you hate them back? Will you despise who they are and harbor unforgiveness and murder in your own heart?

"You are missing the very essence of My Word and what I am doing in those who are My remnant. I am moving those who love Me to be able to love even their enemies. It is the way Jesus loved. I call you to love as He does.”

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?

Amos 3:3 KJV 

Can two walk together except they be agreed?

Luke 23:34 NIV 

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

Rev. 3:19 AMP 

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

 

The Lord is developing the character of Jesus in His remnant/bridal believer. We must be like Him in our hearts, if we are to intimately walk with Him. Can you imagine Jesus coming for a bride who is selfish, self-centered, and harbors murder in her heart? Can you imagine Him enjoining Himself to one who looks to delicacies around her that please her more than He pleases her? Does it seem possible that Jesus would function in a relationship where His bride would not have the same desires, the same motives, and the same purposes in all that They do together? To think so is ludicrous!

How, then, is Jesus going to form us, who need His character developed in us during these end days before He comes?  He is going to allow us to see who we really are. He will allow us to face ourselves so that we can come to repentance. He will do what it takes to expose our sin. Each time we repent, He will change us to be more like Him. It is an act of astounding love on His part. It is also our choice to respond or reject His efforts.

There is so much to be done in me, Lord,

Jim Corbett