3/31/15

“Few of My children really remember who they are when they are in need. If they did, they would never be in fear, never turn to the world’s systems; and never use their own resources to overcome challenges that come their way. I am, however, raising you up as an honorable representation of My Word. I am refining and perfecting you to look nothing like those around you and care nothing for the empty and shallow promises the world has to offer.

You, My lovely mirrors of Jesus, will have borne the brunt of scorn and ridicule, received the scars of chastisement and rejection; and labored under the weight of judgment from your peers before you come home to Me. You will have learned to find solace only from Me as you toil in the gardens of those who either refuse to or are unable to toil for themselves. You will be familiar with the pains of the wounded, the fears of the children, and the savage treatment of the martyr because of your heart of integrity that weeps for the needy.

Walking the road of life alone except for My presence, your most familiar direction will be towards Me as you carry afflictions on behalf of those too weak and frail to carry them for themselves. You may not be pretty by the world’s standards but in My eyes you are a wonder to behold. I call you beautiful. I call you glorious. I call you Mine.”

John 26:33 AMP

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

2 Cor. 2:14-16a AMP

¹⁴But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere.

¹⁵For we are the sweet fragrances of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:

^16aTo the latter it is an aroma [wafted] from death to death [a fatal odor, the smell of doom]; to the former it is an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh].

Gal. 4:19a NIV

My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…

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In every generation throughout history, there has always been a small core group that followed hard after God. Most of their names are unrecognizable by the world. Few of them have done anything of note to be remembered in history books or the chronicles of nations.

The patterns of their lives run in a different direction than the well-worn path toward success, heading 90 degrees from notoriety and 180 degrees from sin. In some circles, they are called foolish, ridiculous, and stupid, having no earthly good. In God’s circles, they are called holy, and esteemed as a prepared bride.

You and I would do well to study the life patterns of those people who have patterned themselves after Jesus. We would do well to find the kind of moxie that it takes to set aside all of our longings for comfort and wake up to the fact that Jesus doesn’t reside there. He never has and He never will. He will never be found with the weak but pretty church, the heralded entrepreneur, or the highly-praised world system. He will be found working with the hopeless and needy, the broken failure, the desperate, and those with no real answers for their lives, telling them of a better way.

Jesus is our example of living. His life has been birthed in each of us who have called out to Him. His heart is our guiding light to success as God sees success. What will never be found in the world will easily be found in the quiet embrace of His love.

Help me follow only You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/30/15

“You’ve sought wise counsel, you’ve waited for My heart, you’ve made your decision - now stand. Wait for My plan to unfold in your trial. Rest in Me. There is nothing that you can do but get in the way of My perfect plan, if you keep trying to control your situation. Move when I tell you to move. Rest when I call you to Me. Trust those I have sent your way to help you. I will work through them. You come to Me. You spend the time with Me while I win the battle for you. No matter how dark it may look from your perspective, your time with Me will reveal My perspective to you. Take this time to really know My heart. One day, you will see how I have delivered you.”

II Chr. 20:15b AMP

The Lord says this to you: Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

Phil. 4:1 AMP

THEREFORE, My brethren, whom I love and yearn to see, my delight and crown (wreath of victory), thus stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.

Hebrews 13:5b AMP

…for He (God) Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]

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].

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The refining fires of the Lord have begun in earnest for the remnant believer. I am convinced that they will get hotter and hotter to remove everything from us that does not serve the Lord. If you are going through times that are requiring you to need the Lord as much as you ever have, or maybe as never before, you are in company with many, many people all across the land. Everywhere, good, honest believers - those who have committed everything to the Lord - have been placed in positions they cannot control. They need God! Merry and I often hear the phrase, “If God doesn’t deliver me, I am not going to make it.”

Take heart. God is getting any desire for the world and all of its trappings out of you and me. Temptations that once could have allowed compromise in our hearts are being burned from us. False idols are being shown for their worthlessness. Angels of light are falling under the intense light of the Holy Spirit and are being exposed for who they really are. Fair weather friends are being revealed. We are being taken back to first love. The fire must burn away all of those things that have hidden the truth of the cross from us for so long. It is a much needed work. Embrace it and hunker down with the Lord. He is in this with you.

I need You now, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/28/15

“Storm clouds are gathering and you are not ready. You go about your business as if things will remain comfortable for you forever. They will not! You will need to be stronger in Me than you are. I will need to call upon you in times when only My Word will make sense. Blind obedience to Me will be your only place of safety. Most of you are planning for a war in the flesh. I want you to plan for intimacy. I want you to plan for a wedding with My Son. Then the same heart that took Him to the cross will be in you. I will be able to trust you. I will be able to use you. You will be ready for anything, even a wedding.”

Gal.2:20 AMP

I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Phil.2:12b-13 AMP

^12b…work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).

¹³[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.

Hebrews 10:14 NIV

because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

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We are so short-sighted that we separate God’s way as if He had many agendas. He has one plan - that none should perish. If we follow that, we will pursue His heart. If we pursue His heart, we will gain the heart of Jesus. If we gain the heart of Jesus, He will be able to use us in His plans. We also will be ready for Jesus when He comes. We will be looking for Him and looking like Him.

The Holy Spirit is wooing the church of Jesus Christ to prepare as a bride would prepare for a coming wedding of hearts. Through trials, tribulations, and extreme challenges, He is posturing each of us to get our priorities straight.

By leading us to the end of ourselves, and placing a new hope in those who will listen, He is calling us to set aside all of the ways of the world and embrace the ways of Jesus as our only reason for living. In doing so, we will be prepared for His coming and able to overcome the hazards that are soon to come our way.

Help me to remember Your priorities, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/27/15

“Do you really understand that when I say that My ways are far above your ways, it is for your good? When you function in the ways that you understand as powerful, you are on your enemies’ turf and you can never win. That is why the world is losing. It thinks that it is powerful, but it has already been defeated just like its father has.

I am your Father. Jesus is your Lord. My Holy Spirit moves in absolute truth. We function in eternal truth. Our ways win. Why do you continue to function in lower ways than Ours? Move from the carnal into the spiritual. That is where you are being trained to function. That is where you will win forever from now on, if you submit to My ways. They are high above your ways.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

⁸“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

⁹“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

John 8:42-47 NIV

⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own: but he sent me.

⁴³Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.

⁴⁴You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

⁴⁵Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!

⁴⁶Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?

⁴⁷He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

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Satan loves to keep us functioning on his terms and in his ways. Our loving Father, on the other hand, has rescued us from that hopeless fate through Jesus. Jesus has overcome the world and has provided a way for us to rise above all that is untrue because of what he has done.

Why, then, are we so block-headed? What is it that we don’t understand about the truth that says we no longer need to function where we always lose and have no hope of ever winning? God has provided a better way. You would think we would get it! Duh!

Help me to really get it, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/26/15

“When I call you to birth a needed work for Me, you are at war. You are pushing aside the kingdom of darkness and making room for My light to cause havoc in the spiritual realm. You are setting the stage for imbedded bondages to be broken in others. You are building platforms for others to walk closer to Me. Until you understand the intensity of what is being accomplished, you will wonder what kind of trial has beset you. Those around you will not understand the weight of what you are going through. At times, it will seem as if even I have left you. It may seem that I do not hear your prayers. That is not so.

Making way for My kingdom is violent warfare in the heavenlies. Much is being accomplished that cannot be seen by you or by others. Few of the real desires of My heart are being carried out, because My people are unwilling to pay what it costs them to overcome, especially paying the price for others. Do not give up. Wait on Me. I am with you. Many will be set free to follow Me with all of their hearts because of your willingness to remain steadfast when there seems to be no end to the season you are in. Once your task is given My life, you will rejoice. I will be able to say, “Well done.” Do it for Me. Do it for others. It is what Jesus has done and would do. It is the way of the cross!”

Haggai 1:7-10 AMP

⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways (your previous and present conduct) and how you have fared.

⁸Go up to the hill country, and bring lumber and rebuild [My] house, and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, says the Lord [by accepting it as done for My glory and by displaying My glory in it].

⁹You looked for much [harvest], and behold, it came to little; and even when you brought that home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of My house, which lies waste while you yourselves run each man to his own house [eager to build and adorn it].

¹⁰Therefore the heavens above you [for your sake] withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its produce.

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.”

Matt.16:19 AMP

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful ) on earth, must be whatever is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful ) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.

Gal. 4:19 NIV

My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you...

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One of the most misunderstood and yet one of the most foundational forms of prayer is waiting on God. The simplest definition of waiting on God would be a continual life devotion to God and an immovable expectation and awareness that He will intervene in your life.

There was no separation between the life of Jesus and the life of His Father in heaven. He did nothing of Himself, and more importantly, He wanted to do nothing of Himself. He had placed His life as an offering before His Father, so the Father could do with it as He pleased.

With that heart position, His life became a continual prayer. The perfect will of His Father in the heavenly (spiritual) realm became manifested in the physical realm unhindered. As the perfect vessel, Jesus imparted the very nature of His Father to the world.

Today, “waiting on God” is our portion of that kind of life, whether for our own needs or on behalf of someone else. As we devote ourselves to our heavenly Father, wanting only His will as our life’s purpose, we become the same kind of vessel to accomplish His will to be “done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Waiting for the will of the Father to be revealed to us and then waiting for it to be accomplished through us is truly the blessed life. Think of it! In our everyday, ordinary occurrences that we call “life,” we are actually conduits for the will of God to be accomplished through us. All we need do is listen and follow as our only purpose for living.

I am willing to pay the price, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/25/15

“I ask you to recall the many times that I have been faithful to you in the past. Apply My faithfulness to your present situation. Then be assured that I will never fail you in the future. I am your faithful God. More than that, I am your loyal Friend and Sovereign Lord. I know the beginning from the end of your life. I know who you are, where you are going, and what is to become of you. Rest from your concerns. I am for you and never against you. You are Mine and I love you.”

Psalm 46:1 AMP

God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.

Psalm 46:10 NIV

“Be still, and know that I am God...”

Psalm 150:1-6 AMP

¹Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power!

²Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!

³Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!

⁴Praise Him with tambourine and [single or group] dance; praise Him with stringed and wind instruments or flutes!

⁵Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!

⁶Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

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

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

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A friend of mine once said that there has never been an emergency meeting of the Trinity concerning my life. I forget if that originated with him or if it is a saying that’s been around for some time. Nevertheless, it really helped me to remember my Father’s faithfulness. It gave me confidence to search His Word and then rest in His promises, which resulted in a peace to continue on no matter what my outward circumstances might be. It is time to remember one more time that our God is a faithful God. Jesus is alive and remains our advocate. The Holy Spirit is our comforter.

Thank You for everything, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/24/15

“I would like to use you as a mirror to others. I would like to place My presence in you, so that those who come in contact with you must examine their ways. In knowing you, they will need to make choices in their lives. They will see who they are or see who they need to be, just as those who met Jesus did. I want you to reflect Him with your life. You must understand, however, that the cost to you is high. The price for a true reflection of Jesus is the total elimination of you. Your heart must be so sold out to Him that you no longer exist as you once were.

Do not be surprised at how alone you are when I place My presence with you. Few of those who come to you will understand what is happening to them because of My worth that is at work through you. You will be rejected often for no apparent reason and you will no longer fit with many people or belong many places. The only place you will be truly at peace will be with Me. I have planned it that way.”

Mark 6:30-32 NIV

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.

³¹Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

³²So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

Matt. 14:22-23 NIV

²²Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.

²³After he had dismissed them, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.

Luke 8:43,44&46 NIV

⁴³And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.

⁴⁴She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped……

⁴⁶But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

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Have you ever wondered why Jesus continually desired to go away and be with His Father? I believe that with His Father was the only place He really belonged. It was also where He could be restored and refreshed.

Anyone who has ever functioned under a heavy anointing knows the price that is paid for doing so. It is exhausting to be so deeply in tune and acutely involved for a few minutes - or possibly several hours - focused only on being obedient to the will of the Father. Think of functioning and flowing that way every moment of every day. Jesus did that in human form, so He felt the incredible weight of who He was. People, such as the woman with the issue of blood, took something from Him simply by being in His presence or touching Him. His power was continually being released to meet the many needs continually present wherever He went.

If the Lord places an anointing on your life - not just on some special times, but on every moment of every day - you will be exhausted unless you make it your priority to go to the Father for restoration and refreshing. You will soon realize that being with Him is the most important place for you to be. You will find yourself making excuses to those around you to steal away to be with the One you love most and the only One who fills your being. As was said above, that is the way He planned it for those He loves and who love Him.

Make me a reflection of You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/23/15

“Do you know that part of your life with Me must include suffering? I know that in your need you will cry out to Me. I know that when you have no answers, your independence of Me will be nullified and you will listen to My direction. There are times when your rebellious heart will be turned to Me because you’ve come to a dead end in your life. So many times you squirm and complain when your life seems out of order or you are uncomfortable. In those times, you need to surrender to Me. Find out why you are in the place in which you are. What is being done deep within you? What kind of training are you in?

Accept the fact that your life is out of order when I show you the error of your ways. Repent of your sin, not to be removed from your trial, but because sin is an offense to Me. Get your heart right. I need obedient, trustworthy servants for My work. Submit to My hand of love upon you. Submit to the changes that need to be accomplished in you. Your life has been purchased and I am teaching you to represent Jesus. I can use you if you submit to My work in you.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

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

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

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

⁸“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

⁹“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

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]

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

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Peace enters our lives when we fully understand what this walk with Jesus is all about from God’s perspective. We have been formed to represent Jesus. God promises to change us into His image to represent Him properly.

So many of us desire to have all of the good stuff without going through the suffering that conforms us into the image of the Lord. We also miss the suffering that Jesus feels for those who will be separated from Him for eternity. We don’t really care about the souls of those who are going to hell for eternity. Consequently, we take our head knowledge to those around us. The further consequence of that is that few, if any, people are changed by head knowledge.

God is right this moment calling for a holy generation - a resurrection generation, one that has embraced the cross, waited as if dead to our own abilities to push the gravestone aside; and allowed the Spirit of God to completely eliminate our flesh and renew our spirits. We are a remnant, waiting as if a bride for the Lord to complete His work in us.

There are no shortcuts to completing the work that needs to be accomplished in each of us. Our Lord is very good at placing us in situations and circumstances that are intended to change us. He wants all of us. That’s how much He loves us.

Do what it takes for me to submit to Your hand, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/21/15

“How much do you really trust Me? How far will you go to place everything that you are and all that you own, even your very life, in My hands? Would you purposely move in harm’s way if I asked you to do so, knowing that you are needed there? Would you forsake your livelihood and all of your possessions to be endued with My power to do My work? Would you embrace the thought of bringing My life to those who hate you, even if it meant your life? These are difficult questions, I know. They are, however, questions that require answers if you say that you serve Me.

I look at My church and I see weak, shallow relationships that signify a weak, shallow relationship with Me. I see people who call themselves followers of Jesus who have no clue what that really means. They think that I am pleased with their commitment to Me if they give a teeny portion of their money to My workers, go to a cold fellowship regularly, and do little harm to others. That is a religious system that I detest. I have never required anything less than everything from those who follow Me. I have never said that your comfort and safety is My goal for you. I have never given you the freedom to take what is Mine and use it for your comfort areas.

When will you hear My call to holiness? When will you truly observe the life of Jesus and understand that I expect you to live the way He did? When will My will become your will? I have shown you in My Word, I have warned you, I have sent messengers with exhortations to seek Me and live a Christ-like life. Soon, you will need what you can only find in My presence. Begin to practice My presence now. Begin to seek Me with all your heart. Call upon Me with all your heart, so that you can learn of My heart and My desires for the life that I have given you. Learn to live My kind of life before it is too late. I am waiting for you.”

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.”

Acts 4:29-31 NIV

²⁹“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

³⁰Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

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.

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I love the prayer that the apostles prayed in that room together. Knowing that they were under scrutiny - Peter and John having just been chastised and warned to no longer do anything in the name of Jesus - their prayer was empty of any selfish motive. They prayed for boldness, not safety for themselves. They prayed for the will of the Lord to be done, not to find a way to avoid any trouble. Look what happened. The place was shaken, and then the world was shaken./p>

Immediately after that, the Word goes on to tell of a life that is unheard of in these days. In fact, the actions of sharing everything one with another, selling possessions so no one has need, is rarely talked about or preached. To do so would empty most churches.

What is noticeable, however, is the connection between walking in the power of the Lord and absolute unselfishness. Rarely are the qualities of total dedication, unconditional surrender of personal well-being, and full surrender of the ownership of everything equated with the ability to boldly speak the Word with true signs and wonders following. We do wonder, however, why the power of God to proclaim His Word with boldness, followed by authentic signs and wonders, is not readily available in our churches today. Hmmm!

Needing to lay it all down,

Jim Corbett

3/20/15

“For so long, I have not been able to trust My church. For much longer, My church has been unable to trust each other. Because of pride, selfishness, and simple immaturity, trust is a word that does not apply to you, My church. I can’t empower you with the deeper things of My Word, because you will use them to proclaim your “spirituality,” or testify to others of your position in Me.

So often in the past, when I have placed My mantle of anointing on one of My children, it has been used to draw attention to that person rather than to My Son, Jesus. In doing so, what I have intended to be a witness to those who have not seen Him in action has often become a laughable side-show. Obviously there have been exceptions; but in most cases, it is true. I can’t trust you until you die to any desire to be seen, so that you can show others My Son.

In the same manner, you can’t trust each other. You have become foolish in your lack of integrity. Think on this. If it is important that inner needs be shared with someone so that person can hold them before Me until I heal those needs, why have you stopped being honest and vulnerable with each other? It is because you know that your personal need will be exposed before everyone at the very next phone conversation or prayer meeting. Sure, it will be masked as a prayer need, but the violation of a trust still happens.

There have been so many violations of your intimate needs, one to another, that you now find it impossible to be honest with each other - and rightfully so. Isn’t it time that you realize that being untrustworthy has brought you to a position of surface relationships with Me and with each other? I want to be able to trust you; so do your friends and so does the world. Determine to come to Me and be changed. I need you to represent My Son to the world. People need you to help them present their needs to Me. Repent today. Much is to be done.”

Prov. 18:2 AMP

A [self-confident] fool has no delight in understanding but only in revealing his personal opinions and himself.

Hosea 4:6 AMP

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge. I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me…

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I have been given a Bible study on marriage. One of the healing elements of the teaching is when we understand the “violation of a trust.” The violation occurs in many ways, but the result is always the same - separation - first heart separation, then physical separation.

Many times partners don’t understand why their marriage does not have the fullness that they feel it should or why it has completely fallen apart. The root is often that they cannot trust the other with their most intimate needs, because those intimacies have been violated over the years.

Little words, mindless jesting, blatant ridicule, all eliminate the intimate “gifting” of one person to the other. I am convinced that one of the biggest hazards to intimacy (the ability to confide in your spouse and know that your needs are safe with your spouse) in a marriage is the best friend. If every word, every failure, every wound is automatically sent to that friend - or to anyone else, even in the form of a prayer need - communication between husband and wife shuts off and separation ensues.

It is the same in the church. Confidences almost surely will turn up as prayer needs or badges of knowledge. God calls it gossip and He hates it. He also despises the misuse of His gifts. They are not given to promote a person or ministry. They are given so that the world can see Jesus. Is it any wonder why they are rarely functioning anymore? To whom can the Lord entrust them?

Needing to close my mouth and open my heart to God and His ways,

Jim Corbett

3/19/15

“Do you see how different things look when you focus on someone else as you go through a trial of your own? There is great power in the way that Jesus functioned. He was focused on My plans and your welfare, even during His darkest hour. Because of that, every attempt to destroy the work at hand was foiled. It is the secret to your success, because it allows Me to accomplish what needs to be done without you hindering My work in any way.

Listen to this. Whenever you are facing a trial of any kind, learn to divert your attention from the trial and focus on Me or on someone else, rather than the trial. I know that sounds simplistic, but it is the basis for perfect faith. I don’t mean that you are to avoid the trial, nor do I mean that you are to ignore it completely or make believe that it isn’t real. That would be denial and really quite foolish. Get the job done by lifting your needs to Me, but then turn your prayers and offerings toward Me in praise or on behalf of someone else.

Love as My Son loved. You will be amazed at the strength you receive to make the trial endurable. You will rejoice, even in your darkest hour, as I am allowed to place My forces against your trial with My mighty power. The battle is really Mine. The direction of your concentration exhibits and enacts faith that pleases Me and moves in My spiritual laws. Your actions, where you place your trust, either inhibit or enable that faith to accomplish its work.

Never have faith in your faith. Your faith should be in Me. When you have faith to quietly trust Me enough to allow Me to work on your behalf, as you look to the best interests of others during your trial, no power can hinder My actions. Your trial is in My hands completely. That is where it should be.”

Luke 23:33b-34 AMP

^33b…they crucified Him, and [along with] the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.

³⁴And Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Hebrews 12:2 NIV

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross…

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I’m convinced that Jesus was thinking of us on the way to the cross. In fact, the whole reason that He left heaven and allowed Himself to be killed by those whom He had created was for the benefit of helpless mankind.

Through it all, He was showing us how to accomplish anything of eternal value. The formula is so simple, that we continually miss it. We are called to first, find out what the will of our Father in heaven is; and then trust Him to accomplish it for us while we continually walk with Him. Being hidden from the world in that truth is how to do it.

As we study the life of Jesus, we see that His focus was on His Father’s power and on our well-being. He endured everything for the joy of knowing that His actions would set us free. Even on the cross, He was concerned for those who had driven the nails in His hands and those whose actions caused the crucifixion of the Son of God.

Luke’s account of Jesus’ time on the cross depicts three statements. The first is for those who crucified Him. The second is for the thief next to Him. The third is a statement of completion to His Father. What astounding faith in what His Father was doing, and what an astounding lesson for us! He cared more for others than He cared for Himself. In His darkest hour, Jesus had the best interests of others on His mind. He loved so deeply that His passion for us overcame His pain.

Needing to focus on everyone but me,

Jim Corbett

3/18/15

“Do not become complacent! You must be diligent in your pursuit of Me, so that you will have sufficient tools for the times in your path. Your world is reeling in hatred of My ways. It is exploding from within. Soon many things will not resemble the way they are now. You must learn to sit in My presence, so that you become familiar with My ways. Learn to hear My heart and move immediately. Learn My wisdom. Learn of My love for you. It will fortify you when others spew their hatred. Adjust your priorities. Make time with Me the most important tool you have to overcome your world. Make it your most important resource. Make it your most fervent desire.”

Matthew 10:38-39 AMP

And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conforming wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also] is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his [lower] life will lose it [the higher life], and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find it [the higher life].

Matthew 19:29 AMP

And anyone and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for My name’s sake will receive many [even a hundred] times more and will inherit eternal life.

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The earth, in response to the Lord’s command, groaned and strained as if in childbirth, as a warning to those who had eyes to see or ears to hear. Natural disasters such as unparalleled storms, earthquakes, and flooding would leave many helpless and without hope. Manmade disasters such as fires, riots, rampant terrorism and unbridled crime made citizens demand something be done for the safety of the majority. Although all was, in His mercy, a fulfillment of God’s promises to reveal to mankind its helplessness without Him, and to allow those who would hear the opportunity to repent, many would scoff at the thought that He had a hand in it at all. More police, more organization, more law, more money, would become the cry. Instead of turning to God, most would turn their backs on Him all the more, with ever hardening hearts.

Those who would respond to the call to holiness and to full submission would walk in intimate fellowship with their Savior. If they chose to move selflessly and reverently with crucifixion power, they would see the wonder of God in their daily activities. An irresistible wooing, except to the most hardened heart, would become visible to the church first, and then to the ripe fields ready to produce their crop in abundance.

Open my eyes, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/17/15

“At times, it will seem as if I am nowhere to be found. You will seem hemmed up in every direction and find that you have nowhere to go even if you could move. I have done this. I have you right where I want you. Sit still now, and allow Me to talk to you. You are not out of My will. I am not finished with you. In fact, I am about to move you to a deeper walk and a more trustworthy position. Be still and know that I am your God. Tuck away with Me and I will impart Myself to you. Stop everything that you are doing if necessary, so that you can hear Me clearly. As you wait on Me, I will be found by you.”

Psalm 46:10 NIV

“Be still, and know that I am God…”

Psalm 62:5 AMP

My soul, wait only upon God and silently submit to Him; for my hope and expectation are from Him.

Psalm 139:5-10 NIV

⁵You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

⁷Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

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Rarely do we understand the intense love that the Lord has for us. Jesus died so that we could meet with God. To not do so is truly foolish. The relationship that He has provided should be the very first concern that we address as we plan our lives. It should be monitored every moment to see if anything has usurped its priority position. Nothing should be allowed to intrude on this wondrous gift.

Make it my priority, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/16/15

“Are you being conformed to My ways or the ways of the world? To whom are you listening and what is their message? Are they calling you to holiness or is peace, prosperity, and safety their main theme? You need to know My heart. Any gospel that allows you to remain in your comfort zone - looking to your personal needs only and caring for the things of the world - is another gospel, not Mine.

In this crucial end-time season, you are to be setting yourself apart for My glory. You are to be learning to act like Jesus would act for when the horrors of the world come to pass. You are to be learning how to be salt and light to a world that has no bearing on truth. You are to show a world that has forgotten how to love the love of Jesus. I never said that your life was supposed to be easy. I called you to crucify your flesh and its needs and desires.

Soon, I will call you to account. Soon, what you have studied and what position you have taken in Me will bear its kind of fruit. If you have lived only for yourself, you will have no tools to defend My honor. If you have heeded My Word and truly lived under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, learning of His ways as your priority, many will see Who He is because of you. Your life will have been well spent in My eyes.”

Psalm 51:10 AMP

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

Psalm 106:12-15 AMP

¹²Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them] ; they sang His praise.

¹³But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them,

¹⁴But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert.

¹⁵And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death.

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 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?

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In my quiet times, I feel an urgency I’ve only felt a few times before. I am convinced that something big is on the horizon. That is not a gloom and doom prediction, but a call to diligence. For many years now, the Lord has been calling His people to a depth of commitment and subsequent service so that their lives will be of consequence to Him. The intensity of the call is increasing as time grows short.

There are two phases I have observed that honor God. The first is a commitment to become intimate with the Lord - to draw close so that He can reveal who we really are or are not, so that we can repent and become who He desires us to be. The second phase is to go forth in the new life and calling that each of us has - to implement whatever task for which the Lord has formed us once we are completely His.

I am convinced that we will stand before the Lord one day and answer for this time, whether it be a time of preparation or implementation. How diligent were we with either phase? How important was the work that the Lord had for us compared to the things of the day that clouded our real purpose for being born?

Help me to be more diligent with my appointed mission for each day, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/14/15

“The enemy is attempting to destroy relationships during these closing times. That is because I am building strong, powerful, holy alliances to accomplish My work. This could be a confusing time for most of you, if you do not seek Me with all your heart. At present, most of you are familiar with the throw-away relationships that have permeated My church and hindered My work. You are used to those who walk away from you when you have failed, or when you do not live up to the prevailing standard of a particular body of believers. You have become accustomed to gossip, back-stabbing, and false judgments against your character, if you choose to follow Me with all of your heart.

The confusion may come in when I am giving you the opportunity to separate yourself from long-time friendships, because they are not able to be trusted. I will do this by exposing their true character to you. You will see who they really are, and how much they can be trusted.

In the coming times, you will need to know whom you can trust. You will need advocate friendships, those who will consider your interests before their own. That is the character of Jesus. It should be your standard, one to another. Your life will depend on it. In most cases, friendships that you have established over the years will turn on you to save themselves. They will drop years of investment on your part to save their fickle reputations, or so they do not have to face their sin when I am convicting them. Do not overlook their actions or dismiss their inability to be the kind of friend that you will need soon.

Yes, you must love them, forgive them when they offend you, and seek reconciliation when they do harm to you; but do not be foolish enough to think that they can be trusted the next time their trust is needed. Only after they have submitted to My hand of healing should they regain your trust. To do so before they are healed could plague you with distractions, confusion, and time-consuming rhetoric. Be wise in My counsel. Be careful in your friendships. If your heart is honest toward My Word, I will separate you from those who do not have the same heart; and find holy alliances for you that will replace them.”

Acts 15:36-40 AMP

³⁶And after some time Paul said to Barnabas, Come, let us go back and again visit and help and minister to the brethren in every town where we made known the message of the Lord, and see how they are getting along.

³⁷Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark [his near relative].

³⁸But Paul did not think it best to have along with them the one who had quit and deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

³⁹And there followed a sharp disagreement between them, so that they separated from each other, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.

⁴⁰But Paul selected Silas and set out, being commended by the brethren to the grace (the favor and mercy) of the Lord.

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].

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This issue of relationships seems to keep coming up as the Lord grows us up, and as the times require integrity one to another. So many of us are so short-sighted about this issue that the Lord has to break us from our comfort area and teach us His standards, so that we will be able to accomplish His work.

God is building an army of believers who have been trained to walk in the integrity of Jesus before a world that needs to see His character in action. He is aligning those of like mind and like heart to implement His plans.

We need to face these facts. There are some people within the body of Christ who cannot be trusted. They simply do not have the ability to be a true friend. It may be brokenness, immaturity, or simple rebellion from the teachings of the Word. The fact remains, they do not have the ability to remain focused and faithful when they are needed. To rely on them would be foolish.

Over the years, Merry and I have waded through and observed a quagmire of fickle friendships, broken promises, false interpretations, and downright lies among so-called Christians. We have spent countless hours in prayer waiting for the Lord to bring forth His truth from the immature, controlling spirits that have side-tracked the work of the Lord, attempting to implement their own agendas.

We have seen good, honest hearts hamstrung by false friendships. We have observed hundreds of hours wasted because of the need to detangle webs of self-consuming relationships and warring Christians who once were friends. Often things have appeared so foolish, we thought it impossible to be happening among those who claim to love Jesus. The time has exhausted us. The Lord has shown us that this is His church at present. It is wasting His time and their energy warring one with another, confused and distracted, unable to address the needs of bringing others to Jesus.

I am convinced that our Father has had enough. I believe that He is about to set aside those who choose their own agenda over His, and bring like-minded allies forward. From the hidden prayer closets, refiner’s fires, and the quiet retreats will come honest hearts ready to serve as Jesus served. He will bring advocate friends together who have been repelled by the bad representation of their Savior and have no time and no desire to be hamstrung by dishonest associations. He will join together those who have learned absolute obedience to Him, and are godly friends one to another. All others who continue to play their selfish games will be nullified concerning the work of the Lord.

Wanting an honest heart,

Jim Corbett

3/13/15

“I would like to thank you for the impact you are having on the rest of My family. I am talking to those of you who are daily laying your lives down for others and not living for yourselves. You need to know that every time you say a kind word, give mercy, or do a good turn to someone in need, you are bringing glory to My Name. Each time you choose to not repay an injustice, or forgive someone who has hurt you, you are implementing the same Holy Spirit that took Jesus to the cross. Every time you repent to Me, or to someone you have harmed, you prove that the work of the cross is functioning in your life.

These may seem like simple things to you, and they are basic tenets of My expectations; but they are very important. You need to know that I notice them. I hover over them to bless their impact. I am pleased as I see you function in My kind of love.”

Prov. 16:7 AMP

When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Rom. 15:2-3 AMP

²Let each one of us make it a practice to please (make happy) his neighbor for his good and for his true welfare, to edify him [to strengthen him and build him up spiritually]

³For Christ did not please Himself [gave no thought to His own interests]; but, as it is written, The reproaches and abuses of those who reproached and abused you fell on Me.

Eph. 4:32 NIV

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

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Few of us realize how important a kind word, a good gesture, a loving smile, and a steadying hand of support are to some people. The world seems to be better at functioning like this than the church. God, however, considers the reason for doing something more important than the act itself. When we, as believers, live Christ’s life before someone, it is a cup of cold water in the Name of Jesus. It lifts up His Name. Kind acts in the Name of Jesus, for the sake of Jesus, resound in the heavenlies and have eternal impact. We need to make a habit of flowing in God’s love, so that He is pleased.

Show me whom I can bless with my actions, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/12/15

“What if I told you that I care little about anything that distracts you from Our time together, no matter how good it may appear? What if I showed you My perspective about your purpose for breathing, and you found that nothing is more important to Me than who you are becoming in Me?

When I observe your life, I see that you often forget that I desire to order your days to accomplish My plans in and around you. You have gone about your own business for so long that you can no longer even hear Me when I call you to change your ways. I remind you that I have also numbered your days. Stop wasting them on padding your comfort areas and going about your own business.

You are My ambassador. You are the only way that people will see Jesus and come to Him. What are you doing about it? What has become more important to you than that? One day I will show you.”

Matthew 21:28-31 NIV

²⁸“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

²⁹“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will sir,’ but he did not go.

³¹“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

James 4:4-5 AMP

⁴You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God.

⁵Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?

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Throughout most of our lives, the enticements that the world offers us, not the passions of the Lord, have proven to be the focus of our attention. They are the basis for our selfish pleadings to our Father and really are the gods that we serve.

Because of our lack of desire to focus on our life in Christ as the only reason that we breathe, when the world grows darker as predicted by the Bible, most of us will be so consumed with fear that we will be unable to represent Jesus to those who desperately need Him. We will walk around the same as those in the world, wide-eyed and drooling rather than being able to rise above all of the clamor as Jesus did.

We forget that we are in training. We forget that our training has a reason and an eternal purpose. So many of us come to the Lord and begin to use our new found hope and our new nature to build our lives around the promises of God that are good for us, rather than really finding His plan for our lives and the reasons for our salvation.

Give me Your heart, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/11/15

“Passion and zeal are two elements that I choose for you to put back into your life with Me. I want you to set aside all distractions and focus on the specific calling that I have given you. Determine in your heart to follow My instructions carefully as I lead you through these final steps, leading to the coming of My Son. Build on what I have taught you, hone your defenses, polish your spiritual weapons, and rethink your commitment.

Ten percent OF you is not enough to accomplish what I have planned FOR you. I am giving you new commands that will require you to step out of the well-worn patterns that have held My people in bondage for too long. If I prosper you, it is not so that you can build bigger and serve yourself more. It will be for you to place vast amounts of wealth into the hands of those who will reach people in powerful ways designed by Me.

The old ways are limited and some are hindered by self-serving interests. I am about to reach large amounts of people in a small amount of time. If I call you to minister, sell out to Me in a way that is beyond your ability. Cry out to Me for My ability. It is the only way to accomplish spiritual callings. If I call you to prayer, pray empowered by My Spirit and move in My presence. The times of tolerating My complacent church are over. Anyone who chooses to stay there will find himself walking in the flesh in an attempt to appear spiritual.

To My real church, these efforts will appear comical and you will separate yourself from them. To the world, they will appear as the foolishness they are. You who have ears to hear, join Me where I am now! Continue with Me where I am going. Move with Me or be left behind with the cold and the dead.”

Rev. 2:3-5 AMP

³I know you are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name’s sake, and you have not fainted or become exhausted or grown weary.

⁴But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love].

⁵Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God’s will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent.

Rev. 3:15 AMP

I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!

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I don’t believe that many of us really understand our responsibility as Christians. We have lived under God’s grace for so long that complacency has set in and spiritual zeal is nowhere to be seen. Holiness is thought of as an unreachable goal, designed for the past saints of God, those who lived during Jesus’ time.

In most areas, our ignorance of God’s ways has gone beyond immaturity, past selfishness, and deep into dead-cold religion. We have the audacity of believing that only ten percent of anything we earn is God’s, but claim that He is the One who has prospered us. We claim to praise Him in our services, but fail to spend time with Him when we are alone. Love is one of the main elements of what we believe, but the simplicity of loving one another evades us. Most foolish of all, we submit to traditions and beliefs designed by empty preachers and cold denominations that have little to do with the heart of God. Holiness is not even a consideration for most of us.

I’m convinced that our Lord is just about through using and including those of us who have responded irresponsibly to being entrusted with His work. We - as stewards, leaders, preachers, and teachers - have failed to respond to the heart of God; and He is about to replace us with responsible servants if we don’t change. Time is too short, and the wooing is too clear for Him to wait much longer.

Needing to set aside what does not matter and embrace what is important to my Lord,

Jim Corbett

 

3/10/15

“I have allowed this specific mountain to be placed in front of you so that you would need Me. You are attempting to finish in the flesh what I have begun in the Spirit. That will not do! I am investing in you. I am training you to need Me. You cannot survive what is ahead for your world without Me. You will be harmed if you attempt to continue on your own. Need Me desperately and you will prosper through trials, especially through trials. Look around! Remember! I have held you in the past when you were too weak to stand. I will do the same now. I am right here with you. Turn over everything to Me. Trust Me! I love you.”

Jer. 2:13 AMP

For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, and they have hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns which cannot hold water.

Gal.2:20 AMP

I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Phil.2:12b-13 AMP

^12b…work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).

¹³[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.

Hebrews 10:14 NIV

because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

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One more time the Father is calling on all of us to understand our rightful place in His world. We are to accept our complete bankruptcy and submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives because we are on our way to holiness. Jesus showed us the way; now we must submit to our Father’s will as He did.

Jesus was brought into a world so perilous that children were killed at the whimsical edict of an evil king, crucifixions were as commonplace as morning walks, and people were held in slavery to ignorant teachers and foolish guides, yet He was absolutely fearless. His passionate love, His intimacy with His Father, and His zeal for imparting truth made Him “Teflon” in a world seething with infectious evil and eternal danger. His presence in any society was a gift of love from His Father God. We are in training to be the same kind of gift to those around us wherever our Father sends us.

Jesus could be fearless because He loved perfectly. He cared only for others and desired nothing for Himself. Even though He had all power, He was under full submission to the will of His Father. In His heart, He had given away everything, so He had no fear of someone robbing Him, even of His life. He held Himself in lower esteem than everyone, even the lowly leper, so no one could destroy His reputation. Jesus’ love was so pure that He was absolutely free from any peril that the world would attempt to place on Him.

I choose to need only You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/09/15

“Practice My presence. Learn how to comfortably be with Me. Make Our time together a priority of your days. It is a formula for an intimacy that will be needed in the time to come. Those who really know Me will be the extension of My love in times when love is absent in the world. You will have answers when truth is rare. Come close to Me and hear My heart. Come close to Me and see My love. I will share Who I am with you and who I desire you to become. Jesus paved the way for you. Come to Me now!”

Ex. 33:14 NIV

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

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...”

Ps. 46:10 AMP

Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!

Ja. 4:8a AMP

Come close to God and He will come close to you.

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Becoming comfortable in the presence of the Lord is a concept that is not often talked about, because few people are really comfortable being with Him. Most of us understand the concept of His place as God. Most of us understand that we have access to Him because of the blood of Jesus.

Few of us understand, however, that the blood of Jesus allows us to come to Him as part of our heritage. We have inherited the same access to Him that Jesus has because we come in His Name. In covenant, we can do that! Never will He deny us access to His heart. We are always welcome.

Maybe it’s time that we go to Him just because we can, rather than go to Him for things. Maybe just being with our Abba is the most important reason we should desire to be with Him. Maybe everything else will fall in place in our lives when we cherish our time with Him more than anything else we desire.

Make my heart Yours, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/07/15

“When I decided to give you breath, I had a plan for your life in mind. My plan was for you to affect your world for Jesus. I allowed the events in your life to take place for the single purpose of eventually making you like Him in every way. I knew what it would take to bring you to Jesus, and I know what it is going to take to have you serve Him with all your heart.

For your information, you representing Him and your fellowship with Me are very important to Me. They are why you have been born. Everything else is secondary. Do you consider Our relationship and your representation the priorities of your life? Do they take precedence over everything else that occurs? Maybe it’s time for you to get completely in step with My plans.”

Esther 4:14 AMP

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise for the Jews from elsewhere, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion?

Jer. 29:11 AMP

For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.

II Cor. 5:20a NIV

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

I John 1:3 AMP

What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

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Whether there seem to be few challenges in our lives or whether our lives are full of challenges that seem never-ending and impossible to overcome, you can be absolutely certain that God is with us. He is fulfilling His plan in us.

My place is to get in step with You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/06/15

“Do you see the signs? Can you hear the rumbles? Storm clouds are forming. A tempest is brewing. What do you have that will not withstand the imminent peril? What is false shelter in your life? The world is becoming wide-eyed with fear. All the safety nets in their lives are being destroyed. All their secure places are eroding. Their wisdom is proving to be false. The loves of their hearts are fickle at best.

You, however, have a strong tower. You have a proven ally, an unbeatable advocate. His Name is Jesus! No weapon formed against Him can prosper. He is your place of safety. He is your proven friend. You can be assured that the wind is coming. The storms are on their way. Return to Him now with your whole heart. He is the reliable shelter from the imminent peril.”

Psalm 46:1 AMP

God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.

Matt. 5:11-12 NIV

¹¹“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

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All of mankind has a tendency to run and hide from storms. We find shelter to wait out any inconvenience. The kind of covering that is in Christ, however, is a shield that is designed to face the storm head on. It is a search and rescue power that seeks out the cowering masses and brings them to safety.

There is no question that many changes are taking place around us. Only those who have closed their eyes and ears out of ignorance or fear have missed the signs declaring the imminent peril on the horizon. By the same token, those who see what is coming and have chosen to hunker down for their own safety are equally as blind to the ways of God.

You and I are called to see and hear, so that we can prepare to put to use all for which we have been trained. When we see a time of peril, we should understand that we are entering into the finest hour of the work of the cross. It is the time when the cross takes on an eternal brilliance, when the character and integrity of Christ become shining examples to those wild with fear.

Those of us who are in Christ must run to Him when we see the storms forming. We must rest in His safety. We must prepare to weather the storm in His power. We must call upon Him for wisdom. We then must go in His Name and rescue those who are cowering in their vulnerable places. It is a time when what we have been taught will be proven to be true. It is a time when who we have been will no longer be seen and Who He is will come forth through us.

Teach me to walk under Your shield through the storm, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/05/15

“I love you. I know that you have heard that before as one of those trite encouragements; but when I say that I love you, it means more than you could possibly realize. My love is not limited by your understanding. Think about this so that you might grasp a small corner of understanding. I have created your planet so that you might have a place to live while My salvation plan is being worked out. Air is made so that you might be able to survive. That is just the very beginning.

My thoughts are always toward you. There is never a time when you are not in my heart. There is never a moment when I am not focusing on your needs. My attention is continuously toward you for your good. The kind of love that you can perceive does not resemble the all-encompassing, never tiring devotion that I have for you. If you ever would like to experience what My love really is, just ask Me. I will pour My love toward you in a season that you need it most. You must be ready to receive it or else you would be overcome. I would love to show a little more of My love to you each time you ask for it. Ask Me and you will never be the same.”

Eph. 3:17-21 AMP

¹⁷May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,

¹⁸That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];

¹⁹[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself!

²⁰Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—

²¹To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen (so be it).

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So often we are told, “This walk with the Lord is not about us, it’s about Jesus and the plans of God.” That is very true. Every one of us should get our eyes off ourselves and focus on what God is doing. We should not misuse His mercy and grace. He is not a push button God to be used for our every whim. Salvation is about His plans and not ours.

Something wonderful, however, is also true. This life with the Lord is about us. Father God formed us. He breathed His own life into us. His mercy never gives up on us. Jesus embraced agony for us. We are the focus of every Word in the Bible.

You are so valuable to God that everything stated in His Word is about His noticing you and me and our need of Him. Everything we read about has been done and is being done, so that we can have freedom in Him. Everything is about a loving Father releasing Himself to us so that we can prosper.

To understand that we are at the center of His attention is almost too much to comprehend. To grasp that nothing we could ever do could stop Him from loving us with His God kind of love – the kind that never gives up on us, never condemns us, always is for us - is enough to boggle our minds.

During one of those times that I was overwhelmed with this “trying to be good, becoming like Jesus stuff,” He impressed on my mind a small glimpse of His love and mercy. He showed me that in His plans, He goads us to the perfection of Jesus; but it is not our job to even attempt to get there. It is His job to take us there. He desires to do it all. The only thing we can do is submit to His working, and even that is done by His power. In the process, He said that all He wanted is to be with us. Everything that Jesus did was so that we could once again be with Him, available to and capable of receiving His love and attention.

The thought of the Creator of everything noticing us, caring for us, embracing us, having mercy on us, perfecting us; and, above all, loving us forever is quite overwhelming. That love, however, is the very core of the gospel. It is the essence of the character of our God. It is motivation for the cross, and we are the privileged recipients. What an astounding, glorious Lord! What a wonderful freedom!

Needing to remember to bask in His love and embrace His favor along the journey,

Jim Corbett

3/04/15

“Have you forgotten that your life is a legacy? It really has purpose! Each day is ordained to have you fulfill My plan in your midst. Each moment has been given to you by My hand. Use them wisely. One day you will be held accountable for what you have been given.

How have you used what was Mine? How have you given it back to Me? Was whatever I gave you returned to Me full of eternal purpose? Do you ask Me to bring My wealth to whatever you do so that your plans line up with My Word? You should, you know. Your life will line up with My Word if you do. That brings eternal purpose to your days. That becomes a worthwhile legacy!”

Proverbs 16:9 AMP

A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure.

Proverbs 20:24 AMP

Man’s steps are ordered by the Lord…

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.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

⁸“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

⁹“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Colossians 3:1-3 NIV

¹Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

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So often the cares of this life and our focus on our old sin nature obscure what our real life is and who we really are. We have been bought by God. We represent Him. His days have real purpose; so should ours. Keith Green summed everything up when he sang, “Make my life a prayer to you…”

Make every moment of my life a prayer to You, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/03/15

“Do you find pleasure in serving Me? Do you delight in being with Me or do you come to Me only when you have need or because you feel obligated to do so? If so, you are missing so much! You have misunderstood why I have called you to Me. I have designed you to need Me as much as you need air to breathe. I have created Our relationship so that you can be fulfilled. I delight in being with you.

Because of the cross and the life and work of Jesus, you are welcome to come to Me any time, all the time. I want you to enjoy Our time together. I want you to miss these times and hurry to get back to Me when you find yourself busy with the things of your world.

Isn’t it time that you had some real joy in your life, no matter what challenges you are facing? True joy comes from Our time together. Stop being robbed of the incredible life I have for you. Come to Me, knowing that I am eagerly anticipating Our time together.”

Gen. 1:31 AMP

And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good (suitable, pleasant) and He approved it completely….

Proverbs 18:10 NIV

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Matthew 19:14 NIV

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Mark 6:30-32 NIV

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.

³¹Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

³²So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

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The Holy Spirit is wooing the church of Jesus Christ to prepare as a bride would prepare for a coming wedding of hearts. Through trials, tribulations, and extreme challenges, He is posturing each of us to get our priorities straight. By leading us to the end of ourselves, and placing a new hope in those who will listen, He is calling us to set aside all of the ways of the world and embrace the ways of Jesus as our only reason for living. In doing so, we will be prepared for His coming and able to overcome the hazards that are soon to come our way.

This call is a call to holiness - a pursuit oftentimes not considered attainable or even a necessary part of every Christian’s heart - which will initiate a bridal heart desire that will allow the Lord to live His passionate life through devoted, surrendered vessels. It can be one of the most exciting adventures of your life if your heart’s desire is to increasingly make room for more of the most priceless treasure ever given to anyone – Jesus Christ. As you respond to the heart of God and increasingly develop a posture of waiting for Jesus’ timely return, you will then guide others to His heart as more hear the same call.

Call me over and over until I understand, Lord,

Jim Corbett

3/02/15

“You have been given access to Me in the Name of Jesus. It is the only name that is powerful enough to accomplish that access. I send you to others in the Name of Jesus. It is the only name powerful enough to break down all the barriers that would hinder your representation of truth to them.

Jesus! The single name that spans all time, the Name from eternity past to all of eternity future. Your world was changed by it. You even count down the time waiting for His return to you by events that He has established. Jesus - the Name that is above every name ever given. Jesus: whisper it, speak it, shout it from the rooftops, and weep in praise when it passes your lips. Jesus! Your Very Soon Coming King!”

Mark 9:41 AMP

For I tell you truly, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to and bear the name of Christ will by no means fail to get his reward.

John 16:23 AMP

And when that time comes, you will ask nothing of Me [you will need to ask Me no questions]. I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that My Father will grant you whatever you ask in My Name [as presenting all that I AM].

Eph. 1:21 AMP

…Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.

Phil. 2:9 AMP

Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name.

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Our whole Bible is focused on one very precious Name and the single most important event in the history of all mankind. Jesus is the promised Messiah and Redeemer of all mankind from Genesis to Revelation. He is the highest Name above all names and the Eternal Lord. No other name is as important in all of eternity past and through all of eternity future. He is Jesus.

How privileged we are to be called by His Name, allowed to function in His Name, receive mercy and grace at the throne of the Father because of His blood and His Name; and be able to call upon His Name whenever needed. Think about it. The One who is far above every other name still knows us by name.

Thank You, Lord,

Jim Corbett