LITTLE IS MUCH IF GOD IS IN IT! 2/79 DO 2355
1. I don't see any particular point in the dream really. PTL! TYJ! I don't have any idea what it means, I don't even know if I can remember it all. But when I dream so clearly, I think it woke me up. Anyhow, we were flying over this beautiful mountain valley in the hills of Arizona, 35 miles from Tucson. I don't know how I knew that, but I just knew.
2. It was night & we could see the lights of Tucson in the distance, & there was this beautiful valley up in the mountains that had been made into a campground, where they had conferences & religious camps & things like that. We landed at the airport near Tucson & I don't remember right now how we got back to the conference grounds, so I guess it's not important.
3. We were staying in a nice basement room that we were sharing with another couple. It seemed like a couple of our own folks because the girl was real concerned about my coat that had gotten wet. I don't know what in the World this has got to do with the story but somehow or another it had gotten laid someplace where it had gotten wet on the plane. It seemed like the sleeve had gotten wet with urine, maybe I dropped it in the toilet or something, I don't know!
4. She said she needed water to rinse it out before she could wash it out. Typical of a campground, there wasn't much water around, so I had to go down the basement hall to the restroom to get water out of the tap in this little bucket. I kept bringing it back & forth & we kept rinsing the sleeve off. She kept soaking the sleeve in the water & rinsing it out & wringing it out.
5. It seemed like it was real important because I had to wear the coat tomorrow to make my speech to the conference. I was thinking how little water they had & how precious it was & we had to use it to rinse out my coat. I haven't the faintest idea what that means or what it's got to do with it, but it was just part of the dream.
6. Anyhow, the next day we were walking around looking at the buildings & the conference halls, etc. The place where I was going to speak was a luncheon in this tent outdoors in the middle of the grounds on a wooden platform with a lot of tables inside for at least, oh, 100 people or more, I guess.
7. I remember one of the officials at the conference, this was sort of his project & he didn't like the set-up. He said it was sort of sloping & he was complaining about the way it was constructed. Whereas I thought they had done pretty good considering that slope they had to build it on. It was like a great big wooden platform & then they had the tent covering it like they do sometimes at those camp meetings.
8. Anyhow, it wasn't exactly the best conference hall by any means, but it was just for this businessmen's luncheon of some kind, Christian businessmen, part of the conference. We were just one program on the whole conference & I had been asked to speak at this luncheon to give an answer, a luncheon talk.
9. We were getting pretty famous, etc., & those businessmen's luncheons will hear almost anybody if they're just famous or interesting. I think they'd listen to the Devil himself if he was on or could be booked.--Any important speaker that's been on the news or had fame or notoriety or whatever, just so it's somebody interesting to entertain them.
10. So he booked me to speak at this luncheon, & he sat us, however, safely way down at one end, at the bottom as far from everybody as possible. I guess so we wouldn't contaminate'm.--Our party of four, there was you & me & another couple.
11. Well, I suppose you might have called it the foot of the table because the speaker's table was really at the other end & the guy who was the MC announced me from the other end. And we were way down at the foot of the table, definitely.
12. So I really let them have it! I knew they knew all about us & who I represented, the Family, & how I came from nothing, a little preacher in the Alliance. And there were several Alliance men there, typical big preachers, big shots. They looked at me with smirks & sneers, you know, "Well, we don't like him but it's interesting to hear his story since he's gotten so famous."
13. So I preached on, "Little Is Much if God Is in It." I think I've heard that title somewhere before. (Maria: It's a Gospel song. The chorus goes:
"Little is much if God is in it,
Labour not for earthly fame,
There's a crown & you can win it,
If you'll go in Jesus' name!")
I never heard the song but I remember hearing the title, I think. I must have heard my Mother preach the sermon or something. Anyhow, I really socked it to them!
14. I went all the way through like I usually do, start at Genesis & go to Revelation!--How Abel only had a little lamb but God accepted it as his offering, & how Noah just had a little family of eight people, yet saved Mankind because everybody else was wiped out. And Moses just had the old wooden rod, you know, "what is that in thine hand?", but it helped him conquer the magicians & the Pharaoh of Egypt, etc.
15. I went on through the Bible giving these examples of littleness that God used to do something big!--How Shamgar just had an ox goad in his hand, & the Philistines attacked them, but he got sick of running & he just stood his ground & battled with the ox goad & encouraged the children of Israel to fight, & they won!--Judges 3:31. And David just had a little sling & just a little rock that he used to kill the giant & win the whole battle over the Philistines. The Bible is just full of little things like that!
16. The widow just had two sticks & a little tiny cruse of oil, & a little tiny bit of meal, flour, & in the famine she was going to cook a little cake for herself & her son & then die of starvation. But she gave it to the Prophet instead, & the barrel of meal never failed them & the cruse of oil never ran dry for three years of famine!--1Kings 17. Just little things that God took & made very important & did big things with.
17. I went through the Bible & talked about little things that God used to do big things, because God was in it. "Little is much if God is in it!" There are so many stories in the Bible like that, you know?--Where God used something little, insignificant & unimportant. The little maid told Naaman's wife about the Prophet in Israel, & great General Naaman who commanded all the Syrian armies, the right-hand man of the King, went down there & got healed of leprosy. The dear sweet little girl tipped'm off that the Prophet could heal!--2Kings 5:3.
18. There are just so many stories in the Bible about little people or little things that God used to do great & mighty things by His power to show He could use little things & nobodies to accomplish a lot of things! I was really inspired & I was ranting & raving up & down the aisle, shaking my fist in those preachers' faces & walking up & down, & I remember that some of them looked downright scared of me!
19. I didn't stay in one place like they expected preachers to do at those conferences, you know, stand behind the table & preach his little sermon. Instead of that I paced from one end of that tent to the other, walking up & down the aisle & looking the preachers right in the eye & shaking my fist right in their faces!
20. I was yelling & screaming & really on-fire & they looked half-scared, half-embarrassed & half ashamed, because here were all these great big shots, you know, who were considering themselves anything but little! They weren't accomplishing much either.
21. I even told them something about their own history. I said, "Just think, years ago the Alliance was nothing, just one little Presbyterian preacher got the vision to try to evangelise the World, & his own denomination wouldn't help him. He wanted to send missionaries to the field by faith with very little education & his denomination didn't approve of it, so he had to go to outsiders for help!
22. "He just rounded up anybody who'd believe him & follow him to help support the work & get missionary volunteers. He started off with just giving them one year's training at his little Bible School in New York, & then sent them to the field by faith!
23. "Within the first ten years of his ministry they sent over 200 missionaries to the field by faith, & in the 100 years of their history following they never equalled that record again of sending 200 missionaries to the field in ten years, because they got bogged down in too much education & too little faith & a lot of other things like that. They got too big & too powerful & therefore didn't accomplish near as much." The whole idea is that "little is much when God is in it," & big is very little when God's not in it, you know?
24. So I was yelling & thundering & storming & I was really inspired & on-fire! I said, "Look at this campground, even this was nothing but a little barren desert out here in the hills in Arizona, but some people in the early days with vision & faith & foresight came in here & watered it & built it up & now it's got trees & water & all these buildings & a beautiful view, you can see Tucson in the distance & now it's really something.--Because somebody had faith & started with nothing, or very little, but apparently God was in it."
25. I was preaching away like that & then I talked about how we were nothing in the beginning, with just a little Alliance preacher & not much of one at that, I only had one church, really. Then I finally went out to California & took to the hippies & with the power of God molded them into a real Army for the Lord!--Got them saved & healed of drugs & disease & everything & got them on-fire, then we swept across the nation & got all kinds of big publicity & finally got the Message out to the whole World!
26. I said, "Look, we started out with nothing but a handful of despised, dirty hippies--at least people thought they were dirty, some of them were--& now we've swept across the whole World & we have literally preached the Gospel to billions! There are thousands of us now in literally over 100 countries & we have hundreds of little churches, we call Homes, in countries all over the World! Look what God can do with nobody, nothing--little is much when God is in it!" I was really inspired, preaching away, yelling at the top of my voice & it woke me up!
27. Just before that I remember I was passing by this one great big tough-looking preacher. I remembered him when I looked at him; he looked like that big Baptist preacher that got up & stomped out of my meeting with the Full Gospel Businessmen in Miami when I was preaching against Evolution. He got up & said, "Well, I don't agree with him, I believe in Evolution," & stomped out.
28. I passed by him & shook my finger in his face & said, "You remember, you were there, I was nobody then! All I was then was one little preacher in town with a little tiny school in my house & I was fighting the whole City & the School Board & everyone on Evolution!" He sneered & kind of nodded his head "Yeah." It was like I'd come back the conquering hero now & I was really somebody & he was nobody. In those days he was the somebody--he had a church of 2,000 members --now I've got a church of five to 6,000 missionaries! (1989: 16,000!)
29. I shook my finger at him & said, "You remember, I was nobody!"--And he groaned & nodded his head & said, "Yeah, I remember," you know, like they hate to concede that you really have made it, but he had to admit that he remembered me when I was nothing, at least, & it was obvious that I was somebody now or they wouldn't have invited me to speak! Ha!--Typical of those outfits.
30. Anyhow, I was just preaching away at the top of my voice & pacing back & forth from one end of the table to the other & sticking my nose right in their faces & yelling at them & telling them, "That's so, isn't it? Isn't that right? Isn't that what happened?" And how could they deny it?--It was all right in the Bible! And they knew my history too. I think in spite of the fact that I was no longer in the Alliance they decided to pick me because I was one of their former boys, former boy makes good! And I was just preaching away when I woke up.
31. But it really encouraged me, it really inspired me! I was really excited to think how great, praise God, we really have accomplished something for the Lord out of nothing! PTL! And in a way, I guess our Letters have gone out to the whole World. I'm sure plenty of those preachers have got'm & they know the history & the background of what I used to be when I was nobody or nothing & how the Lord has now used me to really do a great work for the Lord throughout the whole World. So that's why they invited me to speak, that was their acknowledgement that I was somebody or they would not have invited me.
32. There is a little to something if God is in it, & big is nothing if God isn't! Because just little old us, we're nobodies, but we've accomplished a great work for the Lord. Whereas some of those big ones with big groups & big denominations have lost their faith & left the Lord & His Will & disobeyed & gotten in a rut & they're not accomplishing anything, or very little.
33. So anyhow, I woke up really excited & thrilled & inspired that the Lord was really blessing us, because I've been kind of discouraged lately with all the defeats & persecutions & defections & whatnot. It seemed like we've got more problems than anything else. I guess the Lord was trying to remind me & show me that things are not as bad as they seemed & really we have accomplished a lot, & we've done a great job for the Lord out of nothing from the beginning, because we're sure a lot further ahead than we were then.
34. So we shouldn't complain about a few backsliders & defectors & disobedient members, etc. If we hadn't accomplished something & obeyed, we wouldn't have any backsliders & defectors. So, PTL! We have such a big group & so many soldiers that we can stand to have a few backsliders & defectors, it's still not going to stop us!
35. Little is something when God is in it! PTL! Just be sure that we don't get to be something big & forget the Lord, or we will become nothing! So PTL, that was my dream, that little is something when God is in it. It sure encouraged me, anyhow! PTL! It reminded me that we have accomplished something! God bless you all!
36. I'm still sleepy because I just woke up, but I was sure thrilled, that dream sure inspired & encouraged me & I was really socking it to them! Hallelujah! Well, I guess we must be somebody or the Devil & his crowd wouldn't be so afraid of us now & fight us so much!--And scare off some of our weak-hearted weak-kneed brothers & sisters who can't take it!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family