FAMILY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION 1996! DO 3034 1/96
A Letter to the JETTs, Our Prayer Warriors--By Mama Maria
Maria #315
(This GN contains the reprint of Mama's two personal Letters to the JETTs for the 1996 Birthday Celebration:)
1. God bless you, dear sweet JETTs! I love you so much! Each one of you is very special to me! Thank you for being such wonderful on-fire disciples for Jesus. There are so many ways in which you JETTs are a big blessing to the Family. I don't know what we'd do without you! You may not feel very important sometimes, but I want to tell you that you are! You're very important to Jesus, to the Family, to your Home and loved ones, and to me!
2. In fact, I would like to entrust into your care a very important responsibility. Would you JETTs like to be the official Family Birthday Feast Prayer Warriors again this year? Could I commission you to not only faithfully pray for the many different prayer requests for our Family, but also to inspire your younger brothers and sisters to pray as well? Those of you who were JETTs in years past already know about this exciting ministry, and I want to commend you for the wonderful job you did during past Family Birthday celebrations! There were many reports about how maturely you handled that big responsibility, how dedicated and hard-working you were, and how you did everything possible to make those three days of prayer a great success. Praise the Lord! God bless you! This will be a new experience for those of you who have just become JETTs this year, and you have a lot to look forward to! Let me explain a little bit more about what this special assignment entails.
3. During the three days of this year's Birthday Feast, the adults, YAs and teens will be reading three new GNs, which are more on the "Loving Jesus" series. You may have read portions or all of "Loving Jesus" Parts 1 and 2, which were sent to the Homes one or two months ago. The older members of the Family will now be reading Parts 3 through 6. In most Homes, because everyone is usually so busy with outreach or their other ministries, there is rarely a time when all the adults, YAs and teens can get together for a number of days and dedicate much of their time to reading and studying the Word. So that is why I have asked them to devote the three-day Birthday Feast this year to reading these important GNs.
4. I'll explain a bit more about these new "Loving Jesus" GNs later in this Letter to you, but right now I want to talk to you about the big and exciting mission the Lord has for you as our Family's prayer warriors. Because the adults, YAs and teens will be reading these GNs and therefore won't be able to devote much of their time to prayer during the Family Birthday Feast this year, we'll be depending on you! This is a very important job. It's not just a "make work" assignment for you. In other words, this isn't just something that I am asking you to do because I want to make sure you are occupied for those days. Your praying and inspiring the children to pray is one of the most important things that will be taking place in our Homes over the Feast days. You'll be seeking the Lord for the needs of the Family and the needs of the lost, which is the most important assignment that you could be given during this time. I trust you JETTs, and that's why I'm holding out my scepter and anointing you to be prayer warriors for our wonderful Family. I'm asking you to devote your time and attention to praying, inspiring the children to pray, giving them a vision for prayer, and feeding them the Lord's Words.
5. Maybe you don't quite realize what great trust and responsibility is being placed in your hands, but let me explain how awesome this task is and what long-lasting and far-reaching effects your labors will have. You have tremendous power at your fingertips as you come before the Lord in prayer and claim His Word, and fight in the Spirit for the needs of the Family, the goals of the future, and the people who don't know Jesus. These days of seeking the Lord's face and praying desperately, of feeding the children the Word and helping them turn their eyes toward Him, will be very fruitful. You and the children will see the results of your prayers, not only immediately, but also in the days to come. Some of your prayers will be answered quickly, and others will be answered later, but all of your prayers will be answered, and because of your faithfulness, the Lord will be able to bring forth great change and fruitfulness in the Family and supply all of our needs. Your prayers will work miracles!
6. Just think how much you can accomplish through your prayers! Do you prayer warriors understand that by praying you are rendering a great service to the whole Family? As you lay down your lives for others and give your time, strength and energy to pray, you will be serving the whole Family and the lost, because your prayers will reach the Lord's ears and His heart, and He will act! He can't turn away from the cries of His children. Your prayers will change things. Things will happen and things will be different, all because you prayed, because you had faith, because you were faithful to take up the challenge and give it your best, give it your all!
7. When praying about this year's Birthday Feast, we asked the Lord to speak in prophecy and confirm His will for you JETTs. He said that as a reward for your diligence and faithfulness and willingness to pray and to lead the younger children, He will pour His Spirit and blessing and anointing upon you, because you do that which is pleasing in His sight. The Lord promised that no good thing would He withhold from you if you bare your hearts before Him, and cry out to Him with your whole hearts for the needs of the Family, your brothers and sisters, and the lost sheep. The Lord said He will put tenderness, compassion and understanding for the needs of others in your hearts, and you will be able to pray with real sincerity, which is a beautiful thing in His eyes. Aren't those precious promises to you?!
8. You'll be thrilled to know that the Lord also gave a message in prophecy in which He is talking right to you! He too is very excited about this wonderful commission for you to be the Family's prayer warriors, and He is commending you in advance for being His faithful operators! Just listen to what He had to say as He spoke directly to you:
9. ({\ul \i Jesus speaking:) }I say unto you, My JETTs, My prayer warriors, be not discouraged nor disheartened, but rejoice! For unto you is given a precious privilege, for the queen has entrusted into your care a great responsibility. She sees and knows your hearts and your willingness and your dedication, and she knows that you will take up this torch with great enthusiasm and eagerness, longing to do your best for Me and for the Family and for her.
10. So do not feel left out or like you are not important, for you have your special calling and your special place, and you are very special to Me and to your queen, Mama Maria. She is counting on you, and she finds great peace in her heart knowing that you and the children will be praying desperately, because there is a great need for prayer. There are many, many needs and situations and people that need your prayers, and she knows that your prayers can do mighty things. She knows that your prayers can work wonders! So she finds great peace and great encouragement and inspiration knowing that you will be praying.
11. So take up this challenge with your whole heart and you will find great reward, for I will bless you with great joy and fulfillment and excitement--excitement in the Spirit, as you come before Me in prayer and claim My Word. Know that I will answer, for no good thing will I withhold from them that walk uprightly. I will answer your prayers. I will supply your needs and open doors. I will heal those who need healing, and encourage those who are discouraged, and strengthen those who are weakened. I will continue to pour forth My anointing upon the Family and prepare them in spirit for the days which are to come.
12. Your prayers, My young ones, can do mighty things! You can change the course of history through your prayers, so do not despise what seems to you to be the day of small things, for the prayers of these little ones [EDITED: "the children"] shall open great and mighty doors and bring down great and mighty blessings. So rejoice, My prayer warriors! Rejoice with this calling, this opportunity, this blessing and this challenge, which are being committed into your hands from your queen, Mama Maria, and know that this is a token of her love and a sign of her trust.
13. I love you, My young ones, and I need and appreciate and desire your prayers. They come unto Me as the scent of beautiful flowers, and they bring great rejoicing to My heart! So keep praying, keep fighting and keep doing your best for Me and for your Family. (End of prophecy.)
14. Wow, isn't that tremendous?! As you can see, you really have a big challenge ahead of you, and a very important, rewarding one at that! I hope and pray it will be a big encouragement to you to know that all the time and effort you put into praying will pay off in a big way! I know you're going to do it well and with all your hearts! And just like the prophecy says, I have peace of mind and heart, knowing that you'll be faithfully praying for all the needs of our Family and the great work we have to do for Jesus! Thank you so much! It means so much to me that you're willing to do that!
15. It would be very good if you would read the above prophecy to the children you care for during the Feast, as they too will be very encouraged to see how important their prayers are and how much they can accomplish for Jesus through their prayer power!
Becoming One with Jesus Through Prayer
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16. Now I'm going to tell you something really special that I had been planning to put in a GN at a later date. This is a very interesting bit of Heavenly news that we recently received, and as a reward to you JETTs, I've decided to tell you now in your own special GN. Since you're going to be our prayer warriors, I think you deserve to hear this very special message from Heaven that gives some wonderful insight into prayer.
17. The following is an excerpt of a message that came from a departed saint that Jesus sent to speak to us. Grandpa has taught us that all Heaven is at our beck and call, and there are many people who have gone to be with the Lord who want to give us messages. In this case, this person told us some fascinating things about prayer. First she talks about what happens when a person prays to receive Jesus, and then she talks about prayer in general. Her style of speaking in the following prophecy is a little "high" but I think you'll still be able to understand her, although you may need to read what she says a couple of times. Listen carefully to her Heavenly message:
18. ({\ul \i Message from departed saint:)} Much of the time [EDITED: "here in Heaven"] we spend in prayer. Yes, we pray; we have this same method of communication that you do. For it is a wondrous miracle how two spirits can be merged as one. And this is what happens when one prays. His spirit is merged with the loving Spirit of Jesus, and of God. The first time it happens is when one first prays to Jesus. It is a miraculous, supernatural joining of that person's spirit with the infinite. As one reaches out and opens up his heart to God, it is an opening to allow God's Spirit, in the form of His Son Jesus, to come in the entryway created by the openness of the heart, by the yielding of the will, by the yearning of the person's being.
19. The first time a person prays, he or she is inviting Jesus to come in, to be part of his or her spirit and heart and life, to be merged as one. And as many times as a person prays to Jesus, this is as many times as a person is one with Him.
20. It is a wondrous and miraculous occurrence, and it is the same for us Here. We are able to see and hear and visit with the Lord from time to time, or on special occasions, but at any moment, any instant, we have the wonderful privilege of being one with Him through prayer.
21. You on Earth have the same privilege, but you do not so often avail yourselves of it, because you do not realize the vast potential, the depth of the experience. For even the heathen, the unchurched, or the unsaved reach out to God instinctively. But you do not realize the vast storehouse of wisdom, the extent of strength, or the unfailing help that will be yours as you do so, because prayer is the link with the divine. It is union with the infinite. It is the delving into the unknown, uncharted, unseen world of the riches and majesty of God. Would you not like to avail yourself of these riches? I know you would like to. And God will not fail you. He will not fail you. (End of message from departed saint.)
22. Just think, each time we pray we are becoming one with Jesus. What a miracle! What a privilege! And isn't it good news that we're going to continue praying after we go to be with the Lord?! I can see why He is allowing us to learn so much about prayer in this life, so we'll have a head start in Heaven, and we'll be able to pick up There right where we've left off here on Earth. The above prophecy says that many of us don't pray as much as we should because we don't realize the potential, or wisdom, or strength, or unfailing help that we could receive by doing so. Like the Mop says, "Prayer digs the channels from the reservoir of God's boundless resources to the tiny pools of our lives" (Mop 97:23). It's true, we still have much to learn about tapping into the limitless riches and benefits of God through prayer. But we're learning more day by day, and I'm sure you dear JETTs and the children will grow a lot through this experience as the Family's prayer warriors.
23. Of course, you can pray any time! You don't have to have an official appointment from me before you can be a prayer warrior. You can make a personal commitment to be a faithful prayer warrior for the Family every day, so you can serve others through your prayers daily. The Lord always needs willing operators! (See "The Operator!" ML #700.) But the days of the Birthday Feast will be a special time of prayer because you'll be concentrating so much of your time and effort on praying. Praise the Lord!
Summary of the Main Points of the "Loving Jesus" GNs
24. Now I'd like to explain to you a little more about the new GNs that the adults, YAs and teens will be reading during this year's three-day Birthday Feast. I can't give you a real long explanation, but I will share with you a brief summary, okay?
25. To begin with, this last year has been a time of learning and growing and changing for each of us. The Love Charter has brought about lots of changes in the Family. You probably have noticed changes in your Home, or maybe you have even changed Homes or countries. Changes can be exciting, and we hope you have enjoyed those you've experienced this year. Sometimes changes are not easy, but they teach us lessons, help us grow, and keep us close to Jesus.
26. Grandpa going to Heaven was a very big change for me, but it made me want to listen more attentively to Jesus, abide more faithfully in His Word, and get closer to Him than ever before, because I couldn't depend on Grandpa as much as I had in the past. That renewed desperation with the Lord helped me learn lots of lessons. I know you want to grow closer to Jesus and depend on Him and His Word more too, so I'll share with you some of the lessons that I've been learning and the things the Lord has been teaching Peter and me about how we can love Him more, which is the main subject of the GNs that the adults, YAs and teens will be reading. Would you like that? I hope this will be a blessing to you.
27. At the beginning of last year, Peter and I began to earnestly ask the Lord to show us how we could draw closer to Him. Jesus was happy about this, and through prophecy, He began to show us new ways to love Him more and include Him more in every aspect of our daily lives. Throughout this last year, He has been teaching us so many wonderful things about Himself, about praying, loving Him, thanking and praising Him, and hearing from Him in prophecy. I have already shared quite a bit of this instruction with the Family in GNs like "Mama's Love Story," "Affection Time with Jesus," and "Loving Jesus!--Parts 1 and 2."
28. By regularly listening to the Lord's loving messages through prophecy, Peter and I began to understand more about how Jesus desires to love us more intimately and know us more personally. He wants to be closer to us--not as Someone Who is far away, but Someone Who is always with us and knows our every thought and need and desire. We learned that Jesus loves each of us so much that He even misses us, and gets lonely for us, and very much wants and needs us to get close to Him and to spend time with Him, and tell Him how much we love and need Him and want to be one with Him. Just like a husband wants to be as close as possible to his wife, Jesus wants to be that close to each one of us. We learned that we can make Him happy and supply His need for love by telling Him how much we need and desire Him.
29. The Lord showed us that our previous relationship with Him was not intimate enough, because now He desires a new relationship with us. He wants us to be in love with Him, as He is with us. He needs us and desires us as His Bride, His wife. He wishes to be loved in a new, more intimate way, and He showed us that this is possible, because there is "no male nor female in Christ Jesus" (Gal.3:28). We are all His Bride, and He loves each one of us passionately and intimately.
30. Throughout last year, He revealed many things we can do to love Him more intimately and more ardently, such as: singing, praising, praying, putting Him first, hearing from Him, seeking Him, saying sweet words of love to Him, and loving Him as a bride loves her husband. If we do these things, the Lord has promised to richly bless us.
31. We now see that we can be better prepared for the future, for the great battles and struggles in the dark days to come, by having a closer relationship with Jesus, by seeing Him as the wonderful Husband that He is and ourselves as His Bride. We can bear more fruit by being filled to overflowing with His Love, which will result in our loving our Family more, feeding our sheep and contacts more, following up more, winning more souls, and witnessing more to the needy world. As we draw closer to the Lord in a more intimate way, we will become much more powerful and more effective witnesses, as Jesus' beacons of love and light for the whole world!
32. That is a little summary of some of the main points in the new "Loving Jesus" GNs. I'm sorry that you JETTs will not be able to read the GNs that the adults, YAs and senior teens will read, but in those GNs the Lord and I talk about subjects that are related to sex, such as how we adults can draw closer to Him by saying words of love to Him, how we adults can feel His Love more through our sexual experiences, and be His Love for one another in our sexual sharing. I understand that you JETTs know something about sex, as you've probably had some sex education classes, but you're not yet of age to experience sex with others, so the subject of these GNs is not suitable for you. I realize this may be a disappointment to you, but I hope that by at least explaining this, you will understand and have the grace to accept it.
33. Even the junior teens are not going to read the full version of these GNs. They are only reading the parts that are appropriate for their age. They are not reading the sections in which the Lord talks about sexual sharing. The reason for this is that, according to the Charter, the junior teens are not yet allowed to participate in sexual sharing, so it's not necessary or wise for them to read those portions.
34. Maybe you can relate this to how movies are rated. Some movies are very good and edifying for adults, but they're not good for children or preteens because they can raise questions or expose them to ideas or pictures that are only for adults or a more mature audience. Even the System understands that some things just aren't necessary or suitable for children or preteens.
35. Well, of course, there's nothing at all in these GNs that is bad, but they are rather complicated as far as theology goes, and in some cases they are sexually explicit, so Peter and I didn't think that they were suitable for you. We felt this decision was the Lord's will, but we wanted to ask Him for a confirmation, so we asked the Lord if you JETTs could read the same GNs that the junior teens will read, and He had Grandpa speak in prophecy. Grandpa made it clear that it is not the Lord's will for you to read the same GNs that the junior teens are reading. He explained that young people your age have such a variety of feelings, experiences and desires that it would be better if you waited to read those GNs until you're older. I was sure glad to have Grandpa's counsel on that, because, you see, it's Peter's and my responsibility before the Lord to make sure I am wise and loving in the way I give His Words to the Family. I want to be sure to give you Word that you'll be able to understand and grow by.
36. Also, of course, we don't want to be guilty of giving you JETTs reading material that would be offensive or illegal from the System's point of view. We're trying to give you as much Word as we can, without going too far or causing any legal problems for the Family. We need to try to stay within the law.
37. You can be encouraged, however, that Grandpa also explained in prophecy that I could pull some portions of the GNs for you to read, especially some of the important word pictures from the prophecies contained therein. So you'll be happy to know that I have prepared for you your own special JETT version of the Loving Jesus series. I have compiled some of the key prophecies and my commentary from the adult version for you to read. I think you'll really be fed from reading these very beautiful Words from the Lord, and they will help you to understand more about how to draw closer to the Lord.
38. I don't know exactly when you will have a chance to read your version of the Loving Jesus series, as your Home hasn't received it yet, but will, shortly after the Birthday Feast. Even if it were to get to you in time, you wouldn't have time to read it until after the Feast anyway since everyone will be very busy during this time.--The adults, YAs and teens will be busy reading the new GNs, and you and the children will be busy praying. I don't see how you could possibly fit much more into your schedule than that for those three days. But shortly after the Birthday Feast you will be able to read it, God willing.
39. Another very big blessing is that the Family Care pubs workers have prepared many wonderful new pubs for you to read and use to feed the children during the upcoming Birthday Feast. There are 10 new pubs for you and your younger brothers and sisters! Jesus wants to make this Birthday Feast a very special and personal time for everyone, as you enjoy this new Word and spend time with Him. It should be lots of fun and very fulfilling.
Past Counsel to Our JETT Prayer Warriors
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40. I'll close this little Letter with some comments I told the JETTs who were prayer warriors previously: Our Family worldwide really depends on desperate prayers, and we are depending on you! I am excited about this, and I think you can do a great job! After all, if you JETTs and children sincerely pray with your whole hearts, your prayers are just as powerful and just as important and effective as the adults' prayers. Age doesn't make any difference when it comes to prayer! In fact, often you kids have more faith than we adults do. I think you can "carry the ball" for the Feast this year by being the bellwethers for all the younger children, and perhaps you can get them even more stirred up to pray than the adults would be able to do.
41. I am counting on you to make this a real special time and to take this responsibility very seriously and put your whole hearts into these days of prayer with the children. We're trusting you to do all you can to make these prayer days just as interesting and fun as you possibly can, so that the children will all want to pray with their whole hearts. I can see now why the Lord has allowed the Feast to work out this way.--Because I believe you JETTs can handle the responsibility of helping to lead and shepherd and inspire your younger brothers and sisters, and we can depend on you! Through this you will learn a lot about the effectiveness and the appeal of prayer, and the Family will benefit from a lot of tremendous prayer power! And your prayer power will increase as you get the children involved and turned on too.
42. Prayer is not the least you can do, it is the very most you can do! The Lord will greatly bless and inspire you, if you show your enthusiasm and eagerness to take this assignment seriously, understanding that the Lord is holding you responsible to pray. I believe you will be very diligent and faithful to pray, knowing that if you don't pray, then the Lord may not be able to work on our behalf concerning these important prayer requests.
43. I know you JETTs have what it takes to do this! You have the Word and you have the initiative, and we're also giving you lots of good new Feast-related pubs that were produced especially for this year's Feast, so you should have a power-packed time presenting this new Word to the younger ones. An adult will be available to help, of course, and we hope it will be lots of fun for everybody! But we'd like to see you JETTs carry the main responsibility of inspiring the children to pray during the Feast. I can hardly think of anything better you could do for your younger brothers and sisters than to instill in them a desire to pray and to have an intimate relationship with Jesus through their communication with Him.
44. Of course, you will need the adults to help you with the organization and oversight of the children--but I would hope that you JETTs would be able to do most of the planning and preparation, preparing of materials, and carrying out the activities with the children yourselves. I believe this can be the most fun and inspiring Feast you've ever had, as well as the happiest and most fruitful one for the children!
45. We are so thankful that you have been learning so much about prayer and that we can now count on you to carry this responsibility maturely and wholeheartedly! We know you'll be strong, vigilant, fervent prayer warriors, and that you'll be good samples and leaders for your younger brothers and sisters! (End of points of counsel given to first JETT Prayer Warriors in 1994.)
46. Thank you, dear JETTs, for being such a blessing! I love each one of you so much. We need you and are depending on you! God bless you!
Love,
Mama Maria
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family