HomeARC ML 2998
SEEKING HIS VOICE OF COUNSEL!
--Prophecy regarding Armenia!--By Maria
Maria #280 DO 2998 5/95
1. (Mama:) Several weeks ago I received a brief report saying that our new pioneer team in Armenia had experienced some rather serious persecution when a gang of 8 to 10 thugs broke into their apartment, beat them up and threatened to kill them if they didn't leave town. After praying about it, our team decided to leave. Needless to say, we were sorry that our dear folks had had to suffer this treatment, but we were very thankful that it had not been worse--that they hadn't received serious injuries or been thrown into prison, and that they were able to escape.
2. Aside from our concern for our sweet folks and their welfare, we had another major concern. With the departure of our folks, our opportunity to reach these precious people with the Words of David had been snuffed out, or at least seriously limited, even if another team should go in later. And that brought up the question of other countries and if our pioneer teams could survive in them any better. I felt led to ask the Lord to give us some answers to my questions.
3. Below is my prayer and the things the Lord gave us when Peter and I prayed together. All we had was a very basic report; we didn't have any of the details and we were pretty much in the dark about the situation. However, we knew the Lord knew the whole story and could unravel the mystery and could explain why it happened and what we could do to prevent such situations in the future. Therefore, I prayed the following prayer after having our regular Sunday evening communion:
4. ({\ul \i Mama prays:)} Thank You, Lord, for this beautiful time of communion we had in commemoration of You and Your death on the cross, and Your resurrection, too! Thank You Jesus! Thank You for Your great love which constrained You to come to Earth and to live and to die when Your plan was fulfilled, and to rise again. Thank You Jesus!
5. Even though You were here on this Earth in human flesh, even though You had human feelings and were in all things tempted just like we are, You had to make this great decision and be willing to give Your life for the world. You were here on Earth like us and You were having to make the greatest sacrifice ever asked of someone in human flesh, yet You were willing. You said yes. So no matter how big a sacrifice You require of us, it's nothing compared to what You had to do. If God gave You the grace to suffer and die for us, then there's nothing that You can ask of us that we can't have the grace or victory for, because You've promised to give it to us.
6. Thank You for going before us and paving the way and setting an example that we should follow. You told us that as Your Father had sent You, so You send us.--To do the same things, to preach the good news, to set the captives free, to sacrifice, to give our lives for those whom You came to deliver.
7. We want to come to You with this question about Armenia and these other countries that You have told us to go into in order to reach those whom You love and care about and whom You died for. These are the countries which You have described as war-torn and very lost and "recently freed."
8. Lord, we want to ask You about these countries, and see if You have any counsel to give us about them. We don't know why our little team was unable to stay longer in Armenia (they were apparently there just a few months), and why they received such persecution.
9. If this is going to be the pattern in these countries, it doesn't seem like we are going to make much progress. We're not going to be able to stay very long. Maybe this is just an isolated case, but in all of these countries we have very great enemies just because the Devil hates the truth. And it's either going to be the established church, or some other church, or the Evangelicals who are jealous, or the hard-line, anti-Christian Muslims, or the media, or some element that is very powerful and doesn't want Your Word disseminated, and doesn't want Your truth to be heard.
10. So, Lord, we just wonder how we are going to survive in these countries just going in in little tiny teams of folks who don't know the country, don't know the situation, may have even come from other parts of the world, don't know the culture, and don't have any idea how to operate in such difficult and different surroundings. They're not going to be hand-picked, unless they are hand-picked by You. They are going to be our dear volunteers, anybody who answers the call. The only thing they will have is You and Your Word.
11. How are they going to survive in these countries? If they are going to be thrown out so quickly in country after country, what are they to do? Where are they supposed to go? Maybe this is an exceptional case which won't happen in other countries. But, Lord, we are concerned about it, not only concerned about our voice in these countries, but our poor people whose lives are at risk.
12. Did this team in Armenia do something wrong? Is that why they received this persecution? Lord, we don't know the answer. Maybe it is nothing to get concerned about, but since there are so many of the Family that are going to be heading that direction and spreading out into all of these countries, maybe we need to know a little more about what to do and what the situation is and how they should react, and whether there is anything they can do to stay there and to get the Word out.
13. We don't quite know exactly what to ask, but You know, Lord, and You can help us with anything we need to know. The poor people of these countries need You desperately. You've told us to go into these places, so there must be some way to stay there at least for awhile. Help us, Jesus, and show us and tell us what You want done for these poor, poor people. Many of them don't have anything to do with the church and don't like the church and are just so empty and hungry for You and would receive us and Your message with open arms!
14. Help us to know how to get past these forces of evil that are so strong, that are trying to fight and trying to destroy and trying to keep out the truth, keep out the light! Help us, Lord, in Jesus' name! Tell us what You want us to know. Lord, You died for these people. You said each one of them is precious to You and You want to reach them even more than we do. So You are going to have to help us and show us how to do it, in Jesus' name. Thank You Lord!
15. ({\ul \i Prophecy:)} "When they persecute you in one city, flee ye to another. For ye will not have gone over all the cities of the world before I return. And there are My sheep everywhere, in every city on the face of the Earth.
16. "There is a time to flee, there is a time to hide, and there is a time to stand up and fight back. Each time is different for each place and each situation, and ye must seek Me to know if it is the time to flee or the time to hide or the time to fight back. For if every time one riseth up against you, ye flee, ye shall not accomplish My will. But in times when ye do not flee, when it is My will for you to flee, neither will My will be accomplished. For sometimes I have said stand up and fight back, and I have brought forth great victories out of seeming defeats. I have spread My message abroad, I have turned the tide and I have caused you to shine forth with the truth, that My message might be preached and that My sheep might hear My voice, and that My sheep might follow Me.
17. There are times that I have let you be arrested and put behind bars, that My will may be accomplished, and in My time I set you free. Even as My Apostle Paul was put in jail that My will would be accomplished, that he could reach and minister to the top, so have I done this with you." (Mama: Even though some of you have been called to suffer for Jesus and the Words of David in prison, it has been the Lord's plan to accomplish His will of reaching not only one nation but many. With times waxing worse and worse and also with you going into the far reaches of many new countries, incarceration under very difficult conditions continues to be a possibility that you need to be prepared for. "All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" [EDITED: "2Tim.3:12"].)
18. "So ye must seek Me to know what is My will.--Whether it is My will to go, or whether it is My will to stay. For sometimes going is that which I would show. And sometimes staying is that which I would say. Sometimes going would bear more fruit, and sometimes staying would bear more fruit.
19. Sometimes the field is not properly prepared and I send you away for a short time, then ye can return and find that I have prepared the hearts of the people. Sometimes I expect you to plow and to prepare the hearts.
20. "For even I, when I walked upon this Earth, had to make choices. When My enemies came upon Me, sometimes I had to flee, sometimes I had to pass through them, sometimes I stood up and exposed them. Sometimes I would not go to some areas. Sometimes I would go up hidden, cloaked.
21. "For have I not said that each of these countries is different? That which ye can do in one, ye cannot do in another. They that go forth into these countries must seek Me and must be prayerful and must follow My leadings, and must go through the doors that I open. They must seek My face to know that which I would have them to do. For without Me and without My guidance they will only do that which they are accustomed to doing. That which they did there, they may not be able to do here. In some I would take them to the top and make them very open. In some I would have them more hidden, more personal, more one-on-one. But it is My will that these countries be reached with My Gospel. Seek Me to know that which ye must do.
22. "I could have warned these and shown them what they were doing that they should not have been doing, had they been more open and receptive unto My voice and unto My Spirit." (Mama: Here's a very important and key part of this prophecy! In fact, this is the whole heart of the matter! The Lord says that He could have warned this team in Armenia and showed them the things they were doing that they should not be doing, had they been more open to receiving the checks He was trying to give them. In such a situation, they should have taken time to seriously pray and hear from the Lord in prophecy.) "But they were young and knew not, and now they know. This is a valuable lesson unto these, the lesson of seeking My voice, the lesson of following My checks."
23. (Mama: The Lord says here that "they were young and knew not, but now they know." He is not only teaching these this valuable lesson, but through this He is teaching us all a priceless lesson that hopefully we will not have to relearn by experience. So there will be no more excuse for being young and not knowing--because now you know! And whether you are young or old, inexperienced or experienced, one major way the Lord can reveal His will and help you to better heed the checks of the Spirit is if you will take the time to seek Him and hear from Him in prophecy, in addition to the other ways the Lord might choose to speak to you. If the Lord could take new babes off the street, who immediately began prophesying {\b \i [EDITED: "see ML #74:15"],} to start this Family, then there's really no excuse for any of us not taking the time to stop and seek His voice when we don't know what to do! If you don't personally have the gift of prophecy, others around you will. We're all one body, and the Lord has given these gifts not just for the individual but for the edification of all.)
24. "For I have called forth those who would come and preach My Gospel to these lands, but they must be men and women of faith, of courage, of prayerfulness, of willingness to stop and to look and to listen and to hear My voice. For these are different countries, and these are dangerous countries, and these are wild countries. But they are countries hungry for Me and for My Word. They are as wild lovers, ardent and passionate, and they do not always respond to the same stimuli as the lovers that ye are used to.
25. "So come and learn to love them in the way that they need to be loved, so that you can win them and overcome them and ravish them with the love of David and with the love of God! How do you ravish them? How do you love them? How do you give them that which they need?--By looking unto Me, by seeking Me so that I can show you the mysteries and the secrets. For I know the hearts of these people and of these lands, and I will reveal these secrets unto you as you seek Me.
26. "So come, let us ravish them together! Let us give them the seeds, the Words of David, and let us win them, that they can become My brides, full of My love, and full of love for Me." (End of prophecy.)
27. (Mama:) At the time of this prophecy we had only heard the brief report mentioned above. Several days after the prayer and prophecy, we received further details from the Armenia team about what had happened: A new patriarch had been elected as the head of the Armenian Orthodox Church due to the death of the previous one. This new one was quite an extremist, bent on actively fighting all missionaries, and before the incident with our team, they had heard reports of several other groups, including Baptist missionaries, getting surprise vigilante visits. Our friends had also warned them to be careful. However, others had told them there was nothing to fear, as these attacks were only taking place on registered groups that held public meetings. They had also, previous to this raid, had a visit from the police, taking down all their passport information. When the gang broke into their apartment, they said that they had been sent to defend the interests of the Armenian Church! They beat up the male members of the team, which included kicking one of our 17-year-olds in the head, knocking him unconscious! They confiscated money, personal property and literature.
28. The Lord had given them many checks which had apparently gone unheeded. He had given advance warning, and they could have stopped and sought Him for direction. He says in the above prophecy that if they had stopped and asked Him, He would have shown them what to do. We know now that the team did try to seek counsel from their friends, but when seeking counsel we need to be sure to ask the right people--and how will we know who are the right people unless we ask the Lord, and ask Him to sift through the different counsel and advice we get so we know what to act upon. God bless you, dear faithful missionaries to Armenia! Please don't feel condemned about this lesson, but rejoice that your experience has helped the whole Family learn this valuable lesson!
29. Thank You Jesus for Your wonderful Words, Your wonderful answers! So clear, so simple! Thank You for giving us the key to our work in these pioneer countries!--In fact, to our work everywhere! Thank You for showing us that we've got to hear from You! That's the secret, that's the key, that's our salvation, that's our survival, that's our success. You've explained how differently You work in each situation. In some You want us to flee when persecution comes, in others You want us to hide, and in yet others You want us to stand up and fight. But there is no way to know unless we ask You.
30. You warned us that we will fail if we just go blindly according to what we've done before. We all, whether young or old, can seek the Lord and hear from Him. Even in the Letters "Faith" (ML #73) and "Stop, Look, Listen" (ML #74), Dad explained in detail how to clearly hear from the Lord in prophecy. Dad knew that along with the written Word, there were many times when the Lord's detailed direction for a specific situation was needed. So you can see that the Lord has been faithful to try to prepare us from the very beginning by His Word through Dad.
31. When the Lord gives you this gift of prophecy, it's for a purpose! He expects you to use it, to get His direction when it's not in the Word. You must be willing to do things His way, because it's His work, and because only He knows what to do. He says that the pioneers in these fields must be men and women of faith, courage, and prayerfulness, and be willing to stop, look, listen and hear His voice. He says you can't do it the way you've done it before, and in the way you're used to.
32. The Lord is very much in love with the peoples of these lands and He wants you to help Him make love to them with the wonder working Words of David. Will you do it? Will you let Him direct you daily with the voice of His Word to show you what to do to woo them? You must get His direction, or you will fail. It's yours for the asking! It's not a heavy burden to ask Him for answers and for direction. To the contrary, it's wonderful, liberating, life-changing, marvelous, and amazing that He speaks to us directly and personally, answering our questions and giving us His counsel and encouragement and comfort, opening up to us the secrets of hearts and lands and situations. Hear from Him today. You'll love it! You'll be thrilled! You'll be so happy!--And He will too!
P.S. God bless this dear team whom the Lord highlighted to share these lessons. They have safely evacuated Armenia.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
