HomeARC ML 0952 16
HO'S CONFESSION TO HIS CHILDREN DO 952-16 17/12/80
--He's Really Making Progress! PTL!
WE'RE JUST READING THE DAILY MIGHT NO 17. It says, "Your service is nothing without your love." We got busy trying to do a lot of things for the Lord, we hoped to accomplish something for the Lord later on, but we really got away from just loving Jesus every day & putting our love for Jesus first. We got busy doing a whole lot of things. (In ML No.75.)
IT SAYS, "THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB YOU HAVE IS LISTENING TO THE KING." We got so busy listening to the World & the System & some of the things they had for us to do that we really didn't have time to listen to our King & didn't have time to do what He told us to do. We were trying to do a "good" thing, trying to do a project to earn some money so we could buy things for you kids' singing shows, so let's get this equipment & this & that, right? But that's not God's way to do it.
WHEN I WAS IN EUROPE I SAW HOW THE KIDS WOULD JUST GO OUT IN A SIMPLE SITUATION & sing & God blesses them & they support themselves that way. We don't have to start off like stars, we can be little nobodies that God can use, right? (Amen.) It's best to be little nobodies & if God uses us more & more, then fine.
THE LITTLE GIRL WHO TOOK HER FELLOWSHIP TIME WITH HER FATHER TO MAKE BEDROOM SLIPPERS NEARLY BROKE HIS HEART. That's what we were doing instead of really loving Grandpa & communicating with him & writing to him & fellowshipping with him in the Spirit & in our letters & making him a video tape about what we're doing. Instead we got busy making bedroom slippers & all kinds of other things. That's why we didn't hardly even write to Grandpa, we were so busy. So he didn't really know what we were doing or what we were doing for the Lord.
WHEN YOU START WORKING FOR THE WORLD LIKE I WAS DOING, first it's just a little bit, then it gets to be more & more & more, till just before I got ready to go to Europe I was working practically night & day trying to finish up some of those things before I went to Europe. The Lord was using that to get us totally sick & fed up with it so we wouldn't ever want to do that again.
SO WE JUST WANT TO SERVE JESUS! Even our working with you kids in just rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals for singing, that was another way of making bedroom slippers, because God didn't tell us to do that. But we wanted to do that so we could witness so that we could be famous & popular & reach a lot of people here.
BUT THE LORD WANTS US TO BE FAITHFUL IN A FEW THINGS, THEN HE'LL MAKE US RULER OVER MANY. If you don't start off being faithful in the little things, then He's not going to give us bigger opportunities, right? He didn't say be prepared, be prepared, be prepared, & then He'd make us ruler over many things, because you have to be faithful in the little things first.
THE LORD SAID, "BUT ONE THING IS NEEDFUL, TO SIT AT HIS FEET & LEARN OF HIM THE WORDS THAT HE GIVES & pass them on to the World." So that is the only thing that is needful for me to do. For us to listen to the Lord, to listen to God, hear from Him & pass those words on to the World, to you & to others.
GRANDPA GAVE ME BEFORE SOME THINGS HE WANTED ME TO DO, writing some stories about when I was a little boy & we were going around singing just like other families are doing now. A lot of other families in our big Worldwide Family now are in the same place as we were when we were little children going around singing everywhere.
SO WE NEED TO BE WRITING ABOUT THAT & WE NEED TO BE DOING IT OURSELVES. It's no good trying to advise other people how to do it if we're not doing it ourselves. The best kind of advice is to be a good sample right? It's better to show people a good sample of how to do it, than to just talk about it.
SO NOW GRANDPA WANTS ME TO SIT DOWN & TO BE WRITING OUT THESE WORDS, not to be running around busy with this & busy with that, & doing this for the World & Worldly people. We got busy & we were doing projects for Ted & we were doing one for the government, & we just had so many things to do we didn't hardly have time to see you guys, so that was not of the Lord. Daddy was wrong.
IT WAS WRONG FOR ME TO GET INVOLVED WITH ALL THOSE THINGS, & to get so busy that I didn't have time to do the Lord's work first. And part of the Lord's work is to take care of you & to teach you. Nene, stop spacing out, tune in, sit up straight. What I'm saying is important.
SO WE REALLY GOT OFF THE TRACK. The Lord said, "That one thing in needful: To sit at His feet & learn of Him the Words He gives & pass them on to the World. Those that have chosen this good part it shall never be taken away from them." So what's the most important thing to do? To run around & do all kinds of big things for God? (Children: No, to listen to the Lord.) To listen to the Lord & pass on what He tells you to others. Instead I was busy running around, running around, you see?--And that was wrong.
SO GOD REALLY DEALT WITH ME ABOUT THAT WHEN I WAS IN EUROPE. The first thing that I had to do when I got over there when I got finished running around, running around, then I got a message from Grandpa that said, "Stop!" And it said that I was really in bad shape spiritually & that I needed to get straightened out with the Lord & I needed to really pray & seek the Lord.
SO I STOPPED RUNNING ALL AROUND, & I just got a little room in a little place where there was nobody there but me, & I fasted & I prayed & I read my MO Letters, my book I had with me, & I started really seeking the Lord about what I had been doing & where I had been getting tripped off, where I had been getting spaced out instead of doing what the Lord told me to do.--Just like you kids do sometimes when I tell you to do something & I come back & find you fooling around & spaced out & playing. Well, that's what I was doing, only in a bigger way, playing with the things of the World.
TO DO SOME THINGS IS NOT WRONG, PLAYING IS NOT WRONG, IF YOU'RE PLAYING WHEN IT'S TIME TO PLAY. But if you're fooling around when God's told you to do something else, then that's really bad, right? Then you really get in trouble. So I really got in trouble.
THERE ARE DIFFERENT LETTERS THAT THE LORD SPOKE TO ME ABOUT, about Seeking First the Kingdom of God, & putting His Word first, & showing me how I'd gotten so tripped off in doing the things of the World first, & I got so busy doing things for Worldly people for money, that I didn't have time to do things for the Lord. But He says the most important thing is to listen to the Lord & pass on His Words to the World, & if you do that part it won't be taken away from you.
"LIKE MARTHA IN THE SCRIPTURE, TOO MANY OF US HAVE BEEN CUMBERED"--cumbered, that means burdened down, things piled up on top of you more & more--"With too much serving & not enough listening. We feel we must serve to exist when we should live to listen." Like the Bible says, "A man cannot serve two masters," & I was trying to serve even more than two.
ONE MASTER IN MACAU WANTING ME TO DO THIS PRINTING PROJECT, one master in Hong Kong wanting me to do this other printing project, then also the master of my home, all the serving I had to do running around for the house & paying this & doing this for the house & getting this for the house, getting this for the children, organising this.
I GOT SO BUSY SERVING THE WORLD & SERVING MY OWN FAMILY, my own little family, that I really stopped serving the Lord! Do you see that? It happened little by little so it wasn't so obvious, but when I got in Europe & I started praying & seeking the Lord where I'd gotten off the track, the Lord started to show me that I had really gotten tripped off.
AND I HAD TO ASK MYSELF, "WHAT HAD I BEEN DOING FOR JESUS? Have I been singing for Jesus, witnessing for Jesus, telling other people about Jesus? Have I been teaching my children about Jesus?--Or have I been running around, running around, running around?" I had been running around, & God doesn't bless that.
I THOUGHT I MUST SERVE ALL THESE PEOPLE TO BE ABLE TO EXIST, when what should I have been doing?--Living to listen. Every day getting up in the morning, & not, "Oh, I've gotta do this for So-&-so today," but to get up in the morning & say, "Today I really need to listen to Jesus. Today I want to live my life for the Lord." Stand up Nene. I'm not asking you to stand up because I'm mad at you, I want you to pay attention.
"THEY THAT FOLLOW ME & THEY THAT HEAR MY VOICE & they that savour My fragrance"--where does it talk about savouring His fragrance? (Child: When you pray.) Where does it talk about that? (Child: In the temple.) When you're having what kind of time?--Temple Time! When you can smell the perfumes from Heaven, from the Lord & savour His fragrance.
SO TO BE ABLE TO SAVOUR THE FRAGRANCE OF THE LORD YOU'VE GOT TO BE ABLE TO STOP & LISTEN & HAVE TEMPLE TIME. But I've been so busy getting up in the morning & running off to work, busy, busy, busy, trying to do these things for all these other people that I wasn't having time to have Temple Time for the Lord. Faithy, are you going to listen? This is really important. Daddy's telling you something.
I'VE BEEN GONE FOR TWO MONTHS & THE LORD'S BEEN TEACHING ME SOME IMPORTANT LESSONS & I'm telling you one of them right now & you need to really pay attention, OK? Because the Lord had to take me away from here & from all these things that kept me so busy & made me do so many things, so I wouldn't have anything to do. I was in a room, just like that one room there about that big, & I'd get up in the morning & start reading the MO Letters & writing down some of the lessons the Lord was showing me all day.
AFTER I GOT THAT MESSAGE FROM GRANDPA & I STOPPED & FASTED & PRAYED FOR THREE DAYS & just read the Word & the Lord started opening up the MO Letters to me & teaching me the lessons I needed to learn out of it & showing me where I had been tripped off, then it was like it took me that long to tune in, to get my antenna pointed in the right direction.
IF YOUR ANTENNA IS POINTING DOWNWARD, WHAT KIND OF SIGNALS ARE YOU GOING TO GET? (Child: Bad signals.) But if you wake up & your antenna is pointing straight up to the Lord then you're going to get good signals. So it took me quite a few days for me to get my antenna turned in the right direction & start tuning in on the good signals. The Lord's always broadcasting, right? And if you'll start tuning in & listening He'll start speaking to you. But I wasn't getting the signal because I wasn't tuning in & listening, I was really tripped off.
SO I STAYED IN THAT LITTLE ROOM & I would just go out & get my lunch or I'd just stay there & make a little sandwich & just go out & have dinner then come back to my little room again & read some more, read the Letters, read & pray & read & pray.
AND SO THEN THE LORD STARTED SPEAKING TO ME & started playing back to me all the signals I'd been missing, all the direction that I should have been doing that I wasn't doing about putting the Lord first. Doing what God wants us doing, not getting so entangled with the World.
IT WAS SOMEWHAT LIKE WHEN YOU KIDS WERE GOING TO SCHOOL. When you were going to school you were so busy with schoolwork, schoolwork, schoolwork & you'd get on such a System train of thought & a System spirit. You'd wake up in the morning & the first thing you had to think about was your schoolwork & you've got to run off to school & you hardly have time for a little devotions & you run out the door to school.
THEN YOU COME BACK HOME & YOU'VE GOT HOMEWORK, HOMEWORK, HOMEWORK after you've been with the System people all day, right? And pretty soon you start being just like a System person. (Child: And you get in a System rut.) That's right, & that's just what happened to me, just like you. Then we're all just like System people & they can't see that Jesus has made any difference in our lives, & what can we witness to them about?
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SO THE LORD HAD TO REALLY DEAL WITH ME ABOUT ALL THAT. The Bible says, "The cares & the riches & the pleasures of this life," they grow up like what? They choke out the Word, what are they like? (Children: Weeds & thorns.) Thorny vines like we found in the woods. Thorny vines, & they choke out all the good things. That's what happened to us. The cares & riches & the pleasures of this life grew up & choked out the good opportunities to do things for Jesus. Are you tuning in?
SO IF YOU DON'T STOP & LISTEN TO THE LORD & HAVE TEMPLE TIME, then you don't hear anything & then you just run around with your antenna pointed downwards, busy, busy, busy like you guys when you went to school. You can't be a good witness if you're not getting in the Word & living for Jesus, right?
DO YOU FIND IT EASIER NOW TO WITNESS & TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT JESUS than when you were going to school & busy busy busy with the System things? (Hobo: It was really hard to lead someone to Jesus in school. All we were always busy with was school, school, school.) (Ruthie: They didn't have hardly a chance to even memorise a verse.) Now you see what that experience is like. You don't want to be a Systemite do you? Do you want to go to school, & then after that go to university? That's what all my relatives did. (Children: No.)
I HAD A GUY ASK ME THE OTHER DAY, "HOW COME YOU HAVE SO MANY CHILDREN? What are you going to do when they all get grown up? How are you going to pay to send them all to university? It's going to be so difficult, so expensive." I didn't tell him that I never went to university, I never finished high school. I didn't even finish the 8th grade because after that I was just busy serving Jesus. I quit at 14.
MOST PEOPLE GO TO SCHOOL FOR ANOTHER TEN YEARS! Some of my relatives were like that, but I'd been witnessing & preaching the Gospel for ten years & some of my relatives were still going to school. Even Debby Boone (note: We had just seen Pat & Debby Boone's concert in Hong Kong the day before), she started singing & singing when she was a girl instead.
THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE STILL GOING TO UNIVERSITY WHEN THEY'RE 24 & they've never done a real day's work in their life. They don't know how to do anything except go to school. Is that the way you want to turn out to be? (Child: When they get out, their life is almost finished! Ours is just starting.) That's right. Then they're just a complete Systemite. And then on Sunday they sleep all day because they're so tired. But anyway, that's the way we were doing, & the System got us on such a treadmill & we were so busy, busy, busy.
AND NOW WE WANT TO STOP DOING THAT. So the Lord had to first of all take me away from all these things & put me in a little room all by myself with just my MO Books. Could you stay in a room for ten days with just your MO Book? Thank You Lord. "So they that follow Me and hear My voice and they that savour My fragrance & see the things that I show them, they are the Children of David. They that love me most follow closest."
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT DAD SAID IN HIS LETTER TO ME, he said, "You seem to follow afar off." That's what some of the people did to Jesus. Some of Jesus' followers were so involved with the World they followed afar off. So I don't want to follow afar off. I want to follow closest. "They that love me follow closest." So we need to follow closer & closer, & seek the Lord & yield to Him.
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FOLLOW CLOSE IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHICH WAY THE LORD IS GOING? To know which way the Lord is going you have to listen to the Lord, you have to tune in. Fold your hands, Maria. Good girl. I'm trying to teach you the same lessons the Lord was trying to teach me.
SO AFTER I'D BEEN IN THAT ROOM ABOUT THREE DAYS FASTING & PRAYING WITHOUT GOING OUT, just seeking the Lord, then I went out Sunday morning. It was really cloudy & rainy. I hadn't been out for those three days. So I went out by Aaron's grave, where he was buried. That was about a mile walk from where I was staying.
I WENT OUT THERE & I REALLY PRAYED & I REALLY SOUGHT THE LORD & CRIED OUT TO THE LORD with all my heart to really speak to me. I asked the Lord to give me the burden for souls & love for souls that I used to have when I used to be more concerned about winning souls & telling people about Jesus than I was just working for the System. So I really prayed & really asked the Lord to help me & get me back on the track again, putting the Lord first & putting winning souls first & putting telling people about Jesus first.
SO THANK YOU JESUS, HE DID, HE REALLY BROKE THROUGH. It was the first time I'd really wept & cried & really spoken in tongues in a long time. But I did. I really wept & really sought the Lord & really cried out to the Lord.
IT SAYS IN "DESPERATE PRAYER," WHEN WE REALLY GET DESPERATE TO CALL ON THE LORD WITH OUR WHOLE HEART, then what is He going to do? (Nene: Hear us.) If we pray & we're half-hearted is He going to listen to us? It says, "In the day you call upon Me with your whole heart, I'll answer." So if you pray a prayer & don't really mean it, God doesn't even listen.
IT HAD BEEN CLOUDY & RAINY FOR THREE DAYS, THEN MAYBE TO ENCOURAGE ME THE SUN CAME SHINING THROUGH THE CLOUDS & there was a little hole in the clouds so the sun could shine through & it really encouraged me that the Lord was beginning to break through the clouds of my life, & all of the dark clouds that had kept me out of the sunshine of God's love & His blessing & His service!
SO THE LORD BEGAN TO TEACH ME SOME HEAVY LESSONS THERE. But mainly it was lessons the Lord was reminding me of that I had learned a long time ago that I should have remembered. But I got so busy with the things of the World, the things of the System, that I forgot those lessons the Lord had taught me.
AFTER THAT I GOT TO VISIT THE HOME THERE, THE FAMILY, & went over for dinner at their house. And then the Lord gave me a chance to go down to Greece & be with the Music with Meaning Family. There I got to live in a tent & camp out with them & watch them make a recording of their tape of Christmas music. I really sought the Lord and began to get in tune, then the Lord gave me a chance to see some of the other families who were busy serving Jesus & really on the ball every day, & living for the Lord day by day & trusting the Lord.
I GOT A CHANCE TO GO DOWN THERE WITH THOSE FAMILIES, & I got a chance to see their children & went out singing & litnessing & it was really a good sample to me, really encouraging, seeing God supply their needs by faith, & seeing them busy everyday just serving Jesus & not worrying about the System or doing anything for the System at all.
THIS WAS ANOTHER LESSON THE LORD WAS TEACHING ME THERE, "The only way we're going to win this war is to fight it together. Our spiritual enemy is always looking for a weakness, a way to enter our defenses, & is casting fiery darts into the city of our fellowship trying to sow dissension, jealousy, covetousness, bickering & internal discord." (No.263.)
WHAT'S DISCORD? It's like when you go over to the piano & just bang on all the keys, right? But if you touch each one of the keys one by one in proper time & place it makes a beautiful melody, a good chord in harmony. But if you just bang away, that's discord.
SO INTERNAL DISCORD IS WHEN EVERYBODY IS JUST BANGING AWAY WITHOUT HARMONY. Without harmony, without any order or direction. "So we'll get so busy fighting amongst ourselves"--is that what happens sometimes in our house?--"So we don't even notice that our walls of spiritual strength from the Lord are crumbling, & the Enemy is getting the victory.
"DIVIDE & CONQUER IS THE DEVIL'S OWN SLOGAN." Is that what he was doing? Getting us so busy fighting amongst ourselves that we couldn't even fight the battles of the Lord?--So out of tune & upset with each other we just miss everything God's trying to show us.
"ONLY IN THE FOLLY OF THIS WORLD DO MEN FIGHT EACH OTHER FOR FICKLE FAME & FORTUNE. We love the Lord & we're trying to work together for the best of His Kingdom. Not in competition with each other but yoked together in love, pulling the load together. We're all in a Holy War together, Let's win it together, so we can shout the victory together & greet God together in the End." (Nos. 31, 337B, 335A, 263.) (Children: Amen!)
IS THAT WHAT WE DO ALL THE TIME? Sometimes are some of you resentful that you have to put up with your brothers & you all have to be in the same place & So-&-so didn't do this or that? You fight amongst each other. So we're not supposed to be in competition with each other, who can get out of the work & who doesn't have to do this or that, but yoked together in love.
DO WE ALWAYS PULL THE LOAD TOGETHER? Sometimes one person doesn't want to do his part, & someone else has to do it, & they murmur if they have to do it because the other person didn't do it, etc. What's going to happen to the load? What's going to happen to the whole family?
IF WE'RE NOT PULLING THE WAGON UP THE HILL & all of us get so busy arguing with each other, what's going to happen to the wagon? It's going to roll down the hill & crash & be broken. That's what's been happening to our family, because we've all been so busy, each one of us pulling in our own direction & fighting with each other, & so we all stopped pulling the wagon up the hill, & the wagon of our family starts rolling down the hill.
SO IF WE DO IT TOGETHER, IS GOD GOING TO BLESS IT? Work together & pull together & fight together? (Aaron: And win souls together!) And win souls together! Hallelujah! "Only the Letters & the Lord can keep us unified & united in ideals, actions, spirit & goals. Only the cool winds & rains of God's purifying chastisements & the water of His Word can smother the flames of disunity. ... So we can unite against the foe, save His own & fill the Earth with God's light." (Nos. 156A, 70.)
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE READ THE WORD TOGETHER LIKE THIS? (Aaron: We get all in tune & the wagon starts pulling up the hill, & the Devil stops leading us astray.) That's right. Now we've been reading the Word together & starting the day together & praying. Don't we feel more united in the Spirit? So do we want to work together?--Or are we all going to start fussing & fighting again? (Kids: Work together!)
SO WHEN WE HAVE CHASTISEMENT & HAVE A LESSON FROM THE WORD IT SMOTHERS THE FLAMES OF THE DISUNITY that the Devil is trying to start like shooting his fiery dart in & starting a fire. And finally we're all on fire & the whole family is destroyed. So now first we take time for the Word & the Lord & we let His love flow over all of our hearts so we're all in the Spirit & in His love.
SO WHAT KEEPS US UNITED IN IDEALS, SPIRIT, ACTION & GOALS? What two things keep us united? The Letters, because they tell us what we need to do, & then the Lord. Thank You Lord. The Lord's trying to teach us all to be prayerful about everything we do. That's not a joke, that's very serious.
I WANT TO TELL YOU, GOD IS DEALING WITH US IN OUR HOUSE & THE ENEMY IS FIGHTING US, & the Enemy is going to use every little fiery dart he can to distract us, to get our mind off what the Lord is trying to teach us. Look me straight in the eye & don't take your eyes away. Now the Enemy is going to try to use everything he can to distract us, like trying to use (little) Faithy this morning with her fussing & murmuring, & some of you talking about foolish things.
BUT WE ARE NOT GOING TO LET THE ENEMY GET THE VICTORY! We are going to fight, & we're going to stick to the Letters & stick to seeking the Lord & asking the Lord to help us & guide & direct us, so that we stay united in the Spirit so we know what we're doing & why we're doing it. And no fooling around, right?
NOW WE REALISE THAT WHAT'S HAPPENING IN OUR FAMILY, it's not just because one of you is out of the mood & you're not feeling happy today & so you're in a murmuring spirit--it's the Enemy! The Enemy is fighting in our family. Do you believe the Enemy can use you to bring dissension? Discord? Huh?
THE ENEMY WANTS TO BRING DISCORD & CONFUSION. Can he do it unless he has an instrument to play his discordant note on? Can the Devil shout in our house? Can the Devil murmur & complain all by himself? Can he? No. So how does he do it? (Children: Through people.)
SO IF THE BIG PEOPLE ARE PRAYING & SEEKING THE LORD & ASKING THE LORD WHAT TO DO & trying to serve the Lord, trying to get direction from the Lord, but you kids are not in the Spirit & you're not seeking the Lord & you're not concerned about obeying the Lord & pleasing the Lord, & you're just tripped off & in the flesh, yielding to the Devil, what is going to happen?
ARE THE BIG PEOPLE GOING TO STAY IN THE SPIRIT IF YOU GUYS ARE FUSSING & FIGHTING & murmuring & not helping with the house & running everything? Do you think the big people are going to be able to do it by themselves, keep everything in the victory? No, they're not.
SO IF THE ENEMY CAN USE YOU, CAN PUT A FIERY DART IN YOU, getting you on fire for him causing division & dissension & discord, then pretty soon he's going to spread that fire to somebody else & somebody else, & then our whole day is gone up in flames & everybody's out of the victory. Is that what you want? (Children: No.) Then the Lord can't use us at all.
SO THE ONLY THING THAT'S GOING TO KEEP US UNITED & IN THE SPIRIT IS THE LETTERS & THE LORD, really seeking the Lord. The only way we're going to win this war is to fight it together. Can we all say that together? (Everyone repeats.) Thank You Lord. This other Daily Might has another good lesson in it for us. Daily Might No.3 for today, the 17th. TYL.
"NOTHING HAPPENS BY ACCIDENT. God has a purpose in everything. All the powers that be are of God, whether a blessing or a curse. They are sent by God to do His will & accomplish His purpose, all the forces which He has allowed to be set in motion or has directly set in motion Himself.
"IT'S ALL IN HIS HANDS & HE'S IN CONTROL. Everything that is going to happen is under the control of God, perfect control. Grandmother said it was as though she saw the Lord in a great control center from which everything was being controlled in Heaven & on Earth. God's behind the scene labours are almost totally invisible, the work of creation that produced the Universe & keeps it running."
SO IS GOD BEHIND THE SCENES CONTROLLING ALL THESE THINGS? He lets the Enemy attack us & test us. "His constant care for His creations from the realm of the Spirit. What's happening on the surface is nothing but a little physical manifestation of the real action in the Spirit World & it is in full control."
SO WHEN WE GET TO FIGHTING EACH OTHER IN THE FAMILY, is that just fighting each other in the family? Is that just a little fight? No! It's a spiritual battle, letting yourselves be used of the Enemy to destroy the Lord's work. So you need to yield to the Lord's control so He can use you to win the battles of the Lord, right? "If you keep your mind stayed on the Lord you'll have perfect peace." So if we keep our minds stayed on the Lord, are we going to have peace in our family? (Aaron: Yes!) Are we going to have harmony? (Ho reads on in the Daily Might:)
DO YOU BELIEVE GOD'S GOING TO TAKE CARE OF EVERY LITTLE DETAIL? So we don't know where we're going to be or what we're going to do or what's going to happen to some of these things. What do we need to do? Follow the Lord day by day, moment by moment & endeavour to obey the Lord & the Lord is going to use us. The Lord's going to bless us, the Lord's going to show us how He wants to use us.
SO HOW DO WE GO IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? We yield to the Lord's control in the Letters & His direction & His control. Amen? Is that what you want to do Faithy? Yield to the Lord today & be a little diamond of dust? (Faithy: Yes.) Is that what you kids want to do? (Children: Yes!) Thank You Lord. So if you're really in the Spirit & in the victory then He'll make singing & working on your singing a real blessing & a good sample, because the Lord's giving us some good opportunities to sing like last year.
THEY WANT US TO SING FOR ALL THE POLICEMEN & THEIR FAMILIES & THE GOVERNOR. (Children: Yippee!) We're supposed to do that after singing for the lighting of the Christmas tree in Hong Kong. We don't know how many opportunities the Lord's going to give us to sing because we're just leaving it up to Him day by day. We know we have some battles coming up & we need to be prepared to fight, amen? (All: Amen!) Let's pray now.
THANK YOU LORD. PREPARE OUR HEARTS, LORD, HELP US TO REALLY BE IN THE VICTORY & IN THE SPIRIT. Help us to really unite in the Spirit & fight in the Spirit, work in the Spirit. Help us to fight the Enemy & not with each other. Guard our lips that we'll not let one fiery dart of the Enemy be used in us to start a fire, that we'll not let one bad remark, one unloving word come out of our lips. Guard us, Lord, that no little fire will start in our hearts that are going to bring a fire to our whole family. Protect us Lord Jesus. Now close your eyes. Are you praying with us or fooling around?
PROTECT US FROM THE ENEMY SO HE'LL NOT BE ABLE TO FIND ANY LITTLE WEAK PLACE TO SHOOT A FIERY DART IN. Strengthen us, Lord, protect us so the Enemy won't find any holes in our armour to shoot a fiery dart in & get us out of the victory & out of the Spirit. Help us, Lord, to really get in the Spirit in the beginning of the day, & be in the Spirit the next hour & the hour after that & all day.
HELP US NOT TO JUST START OUT IN THE SPIRIT BUT STAY IN THE SPIRIT ALL DAY. Help us Lord. TYJ! TYJ! Let's all praise the Lord. TYJ! Thank You for the victory! Hallelujah! (All praise) Anoint us, Lord, today in the Spirit. TYL! Hallelujah! Amen, praise You Jesus! Speak to us Lord, show us the way, Lord, step by step through Your Word. Hallelujah!
(RUTHIE: "THERE IS A WAS THAT SEEMETH RIGHT UNTO A MAN, BUT THE END THEREOF IS THE WAYS OF DEATH." Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth & the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me. If ye love Me, keep My commandments.") Amen, thank You, Lord. (Ruthie: What's the Scripture about being rooted & grounded?) "As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in Him, rooted & built up & stablished in the faith as ye have been taught. Beware lest any man beguile you with the traditions of men, the rudiments of the World & not after Christ." (Col.2:6-8.)
SO WATCH OUT, THE ENEMY'S GOING TO TRY EVERY KIND TO LITTLE TRICK TO GET US OUT OF THE SPIRIT. (Ruthie: You've got to get on the attack yourselves too, & resist the Enemy yourselves too.) We can't do it all for you.
SO NOW WE HAVE SOME OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO SING COMING UP, but Daddy has some other important things to do, & I'm not going to be able to be there & make you practice every time & make you sing. I'm going to have to do some of the listening to the Lord He wants me to do & some of the writing He wants me to do, & if you kids are going to sing, then you're going to have to prepare & work at it.
DO YOU THINK THE LORD'S WILL IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN MY LIFE IF I DON'T WORK AT IT? It says, "Work out your own salvation with fear & trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will & to do of His good pleasure." (Phil.2:12,13.) But you can't work at it in the flesh, you have to work at it in the Spirit. But if you don't work at it, it won't happen.
AMEN, THANK YOU JESUS, THANK YOU FOR SPEAKING TO US, LORD. "So as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted built up & stablished in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanks giving. And beware lest any man spoil you through vain deceit, through the traditions of men, the things of the World & not after Christ." Beware! The Enemy's always trying to spoil you.
(RUTHIE: THE OTHER VERSE I GOT WAS THE ONE ABOUT "AS THE SERPENT BEGUILED EVE...") In his subtilty. Don't let him beguile your soul. So now Hannah's come over here to help us work on a Chinese Christmas song. So we'll all have a glass of juice & work with Hannah on the song, while Ruthie's just getting the cereal ready. We were supposed to have eaten already, but we started the day with the most important food, right? So I want everybody to stay in the Spirit. We've been fasting & praying, right?
1. (Dad: Amen, Son! You're going the right direction now! GBY! Keep it up! We're praying for you! TTL He's already answering prayer! WLY!--Dad.)
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
