Tag: The Family Rescue Campaign

“This is a season in which I desire to deal with issues of your heart that, if left unaddressed, will cause you harm in your future walk with Me. It is time to move closer to the kind of life I desire for you. I desire that you truly walk in holiness. The perfection of My Son has been provided for you. His integrity with Me is a standard that you have access to if you so desire. His compassion for the lost, His loving obedience, and His dedication to My will are all yours should you choose them.

“You need to come to Me. Tell Me that you desire all that I have for you. Submit fully to His Lordship over your life. Renew your desire for first love. I will then bring forth My wealth in you. First you will see who you are not, so that we can eliminate those issues from your life. Then you will understand who you really can be; and, in time, you will walk as He walked. All that Jesus is can be yours. It’s time to go deeper with Me. Simply ask. I will accomplish it in you.”

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...”

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

5) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

6) in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

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.”

John 3:30 AMP 

He must increase, but I must decrease. [He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.]

1 John 2:6 AMP

Whoever says he abides in Him ought [as a personal debt] to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself.

 

When was the last time you became passionate about the Lord’s plans? For that matter, when was the last time the Lord’s plans for your life took priority over the other demands you face each day?

God is clearly requiring each of us to make Him our priority. Still, most of us agonize over the demands of simply living out each day - paying the rent, providing for food, etc. To stop, even for a day, and spend it entirely with the Lord should He ask us to do so would be beyond comprehension for some of us. We are convinced that the answer is heart commitment.

Merry and I believe that each and every one of us, who call ourselves Christians, must make a choice to live Christ’s life passionately throughout our very ordinary days. We are to approach the tasks and the people placed before us with His kind of zeal and unquestioning love, presenting every one of them as an offering to the Lord for His glory. We are convinced that this life is not so much about what we do as it is about the One for whom we are doing it.

If everything that we become involved in is truly offered to the Lord and placed under His Lordship, the fluff will fall away and the eternal purposes of God will become priorities to us. Living Christ’s passionate life unto the Lord will change us and those around us who are looking for answers.

Take my stuff and replace it with Your stuff, Lord,

Jim Corbett

"Do you see how important it is for you to be exactly where I tell you to be? There is no safety outside of My will for you. There is no purpose for you to be anywhere other than where I tell you to be. All of heaven is being poised for the closing minutes of My plan. The beginnings of that plan are being played out in your midst. What that means to you is either the fulfillment of your life’s work, or some secondary task that I can use, although it will have much less impact in My overall plan to bring souls into My kingdom.

“Take the time, over the next few weeks, to set aside the pressures of your normal routine and listen to My heart for you. Don’t stop pressing in until you are confident that you have heard from Me. Do not set aside the questions that come to your heart. Do not be afraid to move from where you are to where I want you to be. Most of you will realize that you have created carnal gods that you serve—obligations that make you comfortable, yet they actually hinder you from doing all that I have planned in your life. These gods have quieted My voice over the years. You can’t hear Me because they need to be fed. Do you really need them? If they weren’t in your life, would you be free to serve Me with all your heart? Would I be able to move you wherever I desire?

“You must remove the word “impossible” from your thoughts as you seek My will for you. Do not entertain foolish, fleshly thoughts. Seek wise counsel; counsel you trust. Do not move ahead of My plans. All must be in order before you move. Do not attempt to rely on those with money as a means for you to accomplish any of your plans. I am your source.”

1 Peter 1:13-19 AMP 

13) So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert); set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed.

14) [Live] as children of obedience [to God]; do not conform yourselves to the evil desires [that governed you] in your former ignorance [when you did not know the requirements of the Gospel].

15) But as the One Who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all your conduct and manner of living.

16) For it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy.

17) And if you call upon Him as [your] Father Who judges each one impartially according to what he does, [then] you should conduct yourselves with true reverence throughout the time of your temporary residence [on the earth, whether long or short].

18) You must know (recognize) that you were redeemed (ransomed) from the useless (fruitless) way of living inherited by tradition from [your] forefathers, not with corruptible things [such as] silver or gold,

19) But [you were purchased] with the precious blood of Christ (the Messiah), like that of a [sacrificial] lamb without blemish or spot.

 

I look at my life and the lives of others in the body of Christ. I am amazed at the gods we serve. In the spiritual realm, there are the usual attachments such as fear, lust, anger, hopelessness, pride, and so on. In the physical realm, some of the most prominent gods we serve are security, comfort, ownership of our time, ownership of our resources; and just plain spiritual blindness to the importance of doing God’s perfect will. In reality, most of us bow down before our personal gods before we bend our knees to the Lord and serve Him totally. Because of our surface personal seeking and prayerless days, more often than not we find ourselves serving the bills that are due every month, incapable of moving in God’s direction even if we wanted to do so. He and His work play second fiddle to our encumbered lives.

I believe that the Lord is challenging each of us to take stock in our lives and hold them up to the scrutiny of the Word and the Holy Spirit. Over the course of time, moved and directed by the Holy Spirit, we must be willing to bring things in proper order - His order. What does God really own in us and what are the gods that we faithfully serve above Him? He requires all our devotion. When we eliminate the smothering covers of this world, we will be able to discern much more readily the direction and focus that the Lord desires for us.

Rip the covers off my eyes, Lord! I want to see clearly and move easily with You,

Jim Corbett

“When you come to Me in prayer, do you really believe that I hear you? If you fully understood My Word, you would never question Me again.

“Because of the work of the cross, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. I did that! I was telling you that full access to My heart was now available to you. Jesus made the way for you to come to Me whenever you need to come. He is your High Priest. At that moment, the fellowship We once had in the garden, before sin came between Us, was restored. When you surrender your everything to Jesus, I covenant My everything to you in your time of need. That formula works well. You should try it. You should try it often.”

Luke 23:44-45 NIV

44)It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,

45) for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

John 11:41-42 NIV

41) So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

42) I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

 

One day Merry handed me a note in which she’d written down a saying—author unknown—taken from a wall plaque she’d seen. It read, “Work like you don’t need the money; Love like you’ve never been hurt; Dance like nobody’s watching.” I think that we, as children of God, should add to that little saying, “Pray like your Father is listening.”

What an incredible honor to know you, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“There are those in this world who can hate much deeper than you are able to love. That is very important to know, because your ability to love is the only antidote for their hate. I have planned it that way. Any war, conflict, or separation is caused by a lack of love. It may appear on the outside as a situation of attempting to prove who is right or wrong. It may seem necessary to protect rights or territory or separate the good from the bad; but the bottom line is always a lack of love displayed toward one another.

"You must grow in love—not the foolish, milquetoast emotion, but the kind of love displayed on the cross. Love enough to consider nothing as your own. Love with a passion. Consider the hatred of your enemy as weakness, not strength, for that is what it is. It is an absence of My strength and My presence when anyone hates, no matter how it is disguised. Most wars are implemented as just causes and presented as important, because they attach My Name to them. It is the foolish, blind heart that initiates conflict in My Name. I am never with them. They are simply using Me to cover up their real agenda of hatred and confusion. I am not at war with anyone; I have already won.

"In the coming times, you will see My plan for your world played out and implemented by those who do not understand what real love is. I am using their hatred to cause everything to fall in place. You will have choices to make because you are Mine. You can be part of the conflict, or you can be part of My solution for the hating heart. Your best weapon during the coming times is My kind of love. Study it. Practice it. Look to Jesus and His life. He showed you how to win any war.”

Exodus 33:13-16 NIV

13) “If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

14) The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

15) Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.

16) How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

Eph. 5:1-2 AMP 

1) THEREFORE BE imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father].

2) And walk in love, [esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.

I Peter 4:8 AMP 

Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].

 

So often, when we get caught up in the emotion of a situation, season, or cause, we become blind to God’s perspective and fail to practice His kind of love. Have you ever really questioned how the early followers of Christ could freely give away all their possessions, be at peace when imprisoned, and die in the arenas praising God? Have you ever compared their kind of strength to our puny kind of life, as we say that we are “in Christ”? The answer is simple. They understood what love really is; we do not!

We willingly hate our brothers or sisters in Christ if they offend our pride, our rights, or our established territory. We will throw away family or friends for the sake of our own gain, caring little that we have stepped far beyond the limits of the character of Christ in doing so. We will hate anyone who hates us, justifying our doing so by telling ourselves that our side is right, and thinking that God is with us when He is not with anyone who hoards or hates.

Soon, every one of us will be tested for who we really are. Those of us who have been playing games with God to suit our own needs will be exposed. How will we fare? Will we look like Jesus during those tests, or just like those who hate us, while using His Name to justify the hatred in our own hearts?

Help me, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Jesus is Lord! That is an unbreakable, immovable law, established in the heavenlies forever. It is a pivotal truth that is counted on by all the systems I have established. Nothing moves anywhere without relying upon that promise and the implementation of that established fact.

"In your world, the word “Lord” has been diluted to the extent that few really understand its meaning. It has almost become a phrase used flippantly within My church, casting aside the immense power associated within its meaning. One simple demonstration. I ask you to say out loud that “Jesus is Lord” when you first come to Me. All heaven is poised to welcome you—someone who is completely transformed from one who is unable to come near Me because of your fallen nature into the perfect character of Jesus—the moment you say the words from your heart. Think of it. Your eternal well-being is dependent upon the power of the truth of His Lordship and is implemented simply by saying heartfelt words.

"That is only the beginning. The truth of His Lordship implements order and establishes truth for everything that exists. Allow Me to reveal the Lordship of Jesus into every fiber of your being. Allow Me to show you the fullness of that truth. Allow Me to bring you into a working knowledge of the impact that such wisdom has. You will enter into the realm of heavenly truth that is greater than you have ever imagined as you move in it. You will see who you really are, and the immeasurable wealth of really knowing the wonder of Who you are following.”

Romans 10:9-10  NIV

9) That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

10) For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

 

I tremble as I attempt to comment upon the truth of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I’m sure that I have not begun to understand the depth of this topic. I can, however, pass on to you my firsthand knowledge of what I’m sure is an infinitesimal portion of its immeasurable wealth and power. (Please don’t flood me with personal doctrinal issues. That is not the point of this demonstration.)

Over the many years that I have been in ministry, I have been called upon to give counsel to many hurting Christians. In the beginning of this journey, I would find myself addressing the myriad of problems presented, a direction that seemed logical and proper. I found out, however, that few lasting changes occurred—no matter how much I talked, used scripture, and prayed. There may have been temporary changes because the Word was implemented, but lasting changes eluded me over and over again.

In one of these sessions with someone, who had been a Christian for many years but had little or no fruit to show for it, the Lord prompted me to ask the question, “Is Jesus your Lord?” The question seemed ridiculous at the time, as this person traveled to almost every church service, stood in every prayer line, and attended almost every available Bible study. She even took offense when I asked. Her response, however, made me dig deeper. She said, almost defiantly, “I’ve been following Him for many years.”

I didn’t understand the importance of that question until the Holy Spirit had me begin to pray for her. In subsequent meetings, He had me reveal the truth of the meaning of Lordship to her through the Word, and the need for her to submit to the Lordship of Jesus in her life. One eventful day, as the Holy Spirit graciously moved on her, she tearfully surrendered, and made Jesus Lord over every fiber of her being. From that moment on, she was completely changed. Her problems faded, and her life became an example of the testimony of the wonderful work of the cross and its power. She eventually became a spiritual leader, full of the hope in the Word and a demonstration of the fullness of the life available to all believers.

Over the years, I have seen this same demonstration countless times. Our enemy has had the church, in general, invite people to “altar calls” that allow them to be forgiven for their sins. People delightfully respond to these calls to be forgiven, but never address the issue of Lordship. The idea of forgiveness is incredibly inviting, but the issue of full submission—making another the Lord over your life—takes a depth of commitment that few new believers are made aware of.

When the emotional high of being forgiven wears off, the “saved” person usually flounders around the perimeter of some church until they fall through the cracks, confused and hurting. A worse scenario is when they meld into a cold, dead, religious environment, making little eternal difference, and helping to reproduce their frozen spiritual lives in their “converts.”

In days past, a “tarrying” bench was placed in front of some churches. When the conviction of the Holy Spirit came upon people, they moved to that bench to deal with the issue of Lordship once and for all. Sometimes it would take hours or even days, but when the individuals moved from that place of commitment, they understood that they had given every aspect of their lives to the One Who is Lord. They were no longer their own. From the single moment of full submission, it showed through them to everyone that crossed their paths.

You are my Lord, Lord,

Jim Corbett