THE SUMMIT '96 LETTERS!--Part 3 Maria #354 DO 3079 9/96
--By Maria
Table of Contents
Our Young People Are Time Bombs! 1
Honesty Is a Sign of Love and Faith 2
Comparing Battles and Mama's Weaknesses 3
Writing Your Mate When Apart 4
Taking Time with the Lord Despite the Pressures of Work 8
The Good Results of Sharing the Lord's Love with Others 8
Mama the Mother Hen! 9
More on Sharing the Lord's Love with Others 9
Jesus Bore the Burdens Too! 10
Mama's Priorities and the Octopus Prophecy! 11
Rolling with the Lord's Changes! 14
Praying for Gary's Health 14
Songs About Mama: Seeing Things in the Spirit! 14
Our Queen of Love! 16
Teaching Our Young Men to Be Gentlemen 16
Counseling the Young People on Their Conduct Upon Returning 18
Loving the Lord More! 19
Jesus Loving Others Through Us! 19
Our Young People's Lack of Faith in Prophecy 19
System Jobs 19
What Counts Is How Others Perceive Our Actions 20
Our Young People Are Time Bombs!
1. God bless you, Peter, Gary and Heather, I love you so much! You're my "away team!"--And everything I hear about what you're doing makes me so thankful for you and so proud of you. I'm up to date on listening to all the reactions that I've received from the young people attending the Summit, and, as I'm sure you'll agree, the Lord is getting through to them and changing them dramatically day by day! So much of this is due to your faithfulness and sacrifices and pouring out your hearts and lives to them, and letting them see Jesus move and work in you!
2. Following is a prophecy someone here got for one of our young people, in which the Lord talks about how powerful in the Spirit they are, and likens them to "time bombs!" This should be another big encouragement to all our Family young people to hang on, and to realize what the Lord is going to do with them!
3. {\b \i (Jesus speaking:)} My talented teens, My powerhouses, My sticks of dynamite! You are like time bombs ticking away--tick, tick, tick, tick. It's just a matter of time, and the moment you least expect it, you will explode! For I have made you in such a way that you yourself do not even know when you will explode. You only know you are ticking, you only know you are a bomb, you only know you are very high explosives!
4. I have made My children with the highest quality of gunpowder, the most explosive kind, and you'll go off with the biggest bang when your time comes! You are real booby traps to the Enemy. You are like mines in a mine field, hidden only for a time as you lie there. But wait till the Enemy walks through and triggers you and you blow up in his face!
5. I have designed you in such a way that, though some of your talents may be hidden, when the time comes you'll be able to do the most damage to the Devil by being God's explosives! That is the most dangerous kind of weapon--the one which cannot be seen, the one that is hidden. Not like the showy gun or cumbersome machine gun, because whoever is holding the gun makes himself a target, and you can tell where the gun is pointed and in what direction he will shoot. But you, My children, will be like My guerrillas of the Spirit, My sticks of dynamite who do the most damage, because you are unseen, planted. You'll go off when the Devil and his minions are least expecting it, terrorizing them! They live in fear, not knowing where you are or at what moment you may explode in the spirit.
6. Do not worry if you do not have all the education and scholastics or even the worldly training that you desire or hunger for. Do not be envious of these things. Many young people thirst for knowledge, education and intellect. This is a natural desire that I have placed within youth, but it must be channeled in the right direction. I have made them hungry to know more, hungry to learn, hungry to seek, hungry to fill their minds, hungry to absorb and to do things, hungry for input. The danger is in being tempted to fill this vacuum with worldly knowledge and to be envious of the knowledge of the world. For the Enemy will try to condemn and tell you that you are inferior to others.
7. The world of today worships the mind and intelligence, because it has power and represents superiority. Those who are intelligent make others feel inferior, and those who are the smartest are the most worshipped. This is one of the temptations of the Last Days--a god whom their fathers knew not. So be not as the world, which seeks after knowledge only for knowledge's sake, but seek after My Word and after souls, spreading My message, witnessing and loving Me. These are the true values, this is real wisdom, this is real knowledge.
8. Just be My time bombs, even if you are hidden and have no showy gifts or seemingly great talents. Just be what you were created to be. This is the greatest wisdom--to know what My will is for your life, and how to be content playing that role and fulfilling that part. This wisdom comes through yieldedness and obedience. For as you are yielded to Me, then I may use you in whatever way I want. Then I am able to fill you with My Spirit and knowledge, which is greater than anything the world has to offer! (End of prophecy.)
9. {\b \i (Mama:) }Isn't that a beautiful prophecy? You young people really are the Lord's time bombs!--And more and more of you are exploding in the power of the Spirit!
Honesty Is a Sign of Love and Faith
10. Thank you, my darling, for your honesty. If you are wondering what I'm talking about, it's just your honesty in general, not only with me but also with those there--your openness to show your weaknesses, and your openness with me about your trials and your afflictions, etc. I really appreciate that more than I can say. It's a sign of your love and your faith in me, as well as your faith in the Lord, as well as your obedience and yieldedness.
11. Gary, I'm sure you and Heather are doing much of the same, and I don't want to exclude you from my commendation. It's just that I don't hear that much from you, so forgive me if I don't say as much to you. But I do know, from the reactions I've been hearing, that people are very impressed by the wonderful sample that all three of you are being.
Comparing Battles and Mama's Weaknesses
12. Dad was talking to me the other night and he told me not to compare myself with Heather, which I had been doing a little of, I am afraid. He should have also told me not to compare myself with you, Peter, because if I give into it, I could have some pretty big trials! But I just don't worry about it, because I know I'm not supposed to. But if you think it would be a help to the young people to know that even I have comparing trials, you can tell them.
13. After all, Peter, you receive prophecies; I don't have the gift. You can write and edit a lot quicker than I can. What you do comes relatively quickly and easily, whereas it takes me so, so long! You have so much faith to go out and conquer the "giants," whereas to me, every little tiny thing is a huge obstacle, monumental, that I have a huge struggle over. You can go out and courageously meet academics, officials and lawyers, whereas if I thought I had to do that, I'd go through a monumental trial! You can speak so easily and your thoughts come relatively quickly, whereas it's so hard for me to get anything out.
14. Do you want me to go on? I'm not doing this to get into the poor-me's or to make you feel bad; I'm just doing it in case you ever want to read this to anybody, if you think it would help them. I hope it wouldn't stumble them! Ha!
15. Well, I could go on with quite a few more, like your not being shy, like I am. And if I really want to get into it, I could start thinking that you are a lot stronger, because you have gone through so many more severe battles, physically and spiritually, than I have. But I know we can't even compare our battles. He must know I couldn't go to a Summit meeting and handle it, because He's never had me do it, but instead you've gone! Ha!
16. As you can see, this starts getting pretty ridiculous!--And it really does, the more you continue to compare! If I were exactly like you, I wouldn't need you, and if you were exactly like me, you wouldn't need me. There wouldn't need to be two of us because you'd be able to do the job all by yourself!--Except you can't be in two places at once, so you couldn't stay here and do the work here and go to the Summit, too! Well, I guess that's one reason for me, because somebody is needed to stay here and keep working on the Letters, and you can't do both!
17. Please don't worry, Peter. I'm really not having battles. I don't have big trials over this, because I'm so glad you are what you are, and that you have the gifts and talents that you have! I'm so thankful that the Lord has greatly gifted you, and made you such a wonderful blessing to me and to His Kingdom. And I'm really not jealous of you--only maybe a little envious if I start getting into it, which I don't allow myself to do, as I say.
18. Of course I realize that you are strong in all these areas and I am much weaker, though I am strong in such areas as prayer and having faith and trust in the Lord. Of course, I know that the strength you have is what He has given you and doesn't come of yourself; it's His strength. And that's why I can lean on you, because in leaning on you, I'm leaning on Him! In depending on you, I'm not really depending on you, I'm depending on Him in you.
19. Well, enough about that! Oh, one more: You play the guitar, and I can't! Ha! I guess we could expand that to your using the computer, too, which I haven't done. And I could go into a lot of other things, right down to your beautiful teeth and your nice physical appearance in every way. Do you see how silly this gets? But this is just to show you that I have plenty of cause to have pretty big battles, if I would give into them. But I know that the Lord likes me the way I am and that I'm a good example of weakness and lack of talents, gifts and strengths. The Lord uses even my lack of everything to be a big encouragement to folks, and also to show that He can use someone who doesn't have much in the natural or in the flesh.
20. But maybe you need to tell people how weak and lacking I really am, so they will be able to see that if I've said or done anything that has helped them or encouraged them, it has only been Jesus. There's no other way that it could have helped. There is no other way that it could have been anything else. I don't have much in the natural, and I'm just a wreck physically! Sometimes it seems to me as though I hardly have any spiritual gifts either, because they're not so out in the open and obvious. All I have is Jesus! So if they have ever been helped or blessed by me in any way, they will have no trouble realizing that it couldn't possibly be anything of me. It has to be Jesus!
21. Anyway, I was telling you that Dad was telling me not to compare. Do you want to hear what he said? First, he was responding to something that I had just been saying to someone. I'd been telling them how so often now when I say something, it sounds so much like Dad. I can just hear him saying it. In other words, when I tell someone something, it sounds so familiar, just like the things Dad used to say, sometimes almost the same wording. I was telling them that I could feel how much Dad is influencing me. Here's what Dad said:
22. {\b \i (Dad speaking:)} You have become so much more like me, Honey! You're right! Ha! It's funny how it took my leaving to liberate you even more. But, Honey, you've always been sweet, and you've always been free in the Spirit, because you are so yielded to Jesus. You joke and you talk about comparing trials. Well, if you'll remember, I at times would lament and compare myself to you, thinking you were always so righteous, so right, so good, so pure, and so sweet! And I would consider myself so bad, so stubborn, so impure, so wicked and so naughty. So there! You see, everyone compares themselves with someone.
23. Comparing is not good in itself, in that it causes discontentment, murmuring, discouragement, doubts, etc. But sometimes some comparing is good! It's like a "provoking to Godly jealousy." Well, I just thought I'd throw that in since you've been saying so much about comparing lately. I love you, Honey! (End of prophecy.)
24. {\b \i (Mama:) }Now, Peter, in order to get this point across of how weak I really am, you've got to admit the truth, because you know it! You live with me day after day! The only problem is, you are terribly in love with me, and so much love covers the multitude of sins and failures and weaknesses! So I don't know if you can get the point across very well. Maybe Gary could do it a lot better! Ha! I think he sees my faults and my failures even better than you do sometimes, because of your "love covering." Well, maybe together you can get it across!
Writing Your Mate When Apart
25. Maybe you'll have to give the young people more explanation about why I hesitate to publish for the worldwide Family all these personal things that you are reading to them. It is mostly because we would have to get into a lot of explanation about some things if we were to give them to the worldwide Family, and even with an explanation, people would probably take some things to extremes.
26. Remember how at the last minute we decided to not publish the personal words of love that I wrote you in my letters during your trip to meet with the academics? When all was said and done, we decided that even though it would do some good for some people, the damage it could do to others might be greater.
27. For mated couples who have to be away from each other for long periods, it would have been good, in that it would have showed how reassurance in the form of loving words is very important, and taking the time to write at least a little bit along these lines is very important when you are away from one another.
28. However, we didn't want to give people the idea that we were just writing love letters to each other for the sake of writing love letters. Instead, the loving things we wrote to one another were in the course of our regular letters that we had to write each other in doing the Lord's business. These were letters that we needed to write anyway, and in that case, the little love words that we wrote during the course of passing on counsel about the Lord's business were extremely important, and each of us looked especially for those as one important indication of our care for each other.
29. If you have to write anyway, and then you don't even take the time to say anything endearing, this is more of an obvious and glaring omission than if you didn't even write at all! You don't have any excuse not to say something loving in a letter you are already writing, whereas you might have an excuse for not writing at all, because you were so terribly busy. Well, even being terribly busy is not exactly a good enough excuse for never writing when you are away, but I think you can see what I mean.
30. But the down side to our pubbing these excerpts of the loving words I wrote you, after we had thought about it and prayed about it and discussed it with others, was quite substantial. For one thing, if we promote writing each other in this way while apart, you almost have to have two people who are pretty much equally in love with each other, and who are both going to be responding similarly to each other. But two mates can be in love and yet not have the same degree of feeling for each other. If that's the case, it's going to be rather one-sided and the one mate will be more hurt by it than if they were carrying on as usual, as they always have, with maybe just an "I love you," "I'm praying for you," and "hope to be back soon." At least both of them can probably say this honestly. Keeping it at that may omit a lot of hurt on the part of one of them who is not being responded to so enthusiastically, and it will save a lot of time as well as a lot of complication. If they don't both feel that way about each other, they can just focus on the Lord and what He is doing in their lives, and that is always good, of course.
31. There's another problem with mates writing back and forth, and that is that unless they are extremely prayerful and very sensitive to each other's feelings, things can be said insensitively or inadvertently that, though well-meaning, can't be explained and might be very hurtful. Someone, in haste, might scribble a note which they may think very loving, but it may be said in such a way that it actually makes the recipient feel bad. Maybe the one receiving it was hoping to hear something more, or maybe something was left out that they felt their mate would say, if he or she really cared, etc. etc.!--Or maybe it wasn't as much as they wrote previously, so they think possibly their loved one is cooling off towards them because they've been apart for so long.
32. So there are all kinds of things that can be a problem in writing love letters to each other when you're apart, since you can't just sit down together and get things straightened out that have been misunderstood.
33. Then, we also have the problem that this takes a lot of time. You usually can't just whip off love letters, unless maybe you get them in prophecy, and sometimes even that isn't very quick. You may be extremely busy out on the road on a VS trip, and to sit down and write a lengthy love letter is maybe something that you are going to have to forego in favor of caring for those who desperately need your help. Of course, you are going to have to try to find the time to write once in a while, but we are not promoting lengthy love letters, unless the Lord lays a special burden on your heart.
34. Peter, you have written me one, what I would call, substantial love letter on each lengthy trip.--A letter that was just for that purpose: Telling me how much you loved me. Other than that, in the regular reports that you had to write, you would add a few words here and there saying how much you loved me, which was sufficient for me, and which I would imagine should be sufficient for most people. We just don't have time in our busy lives for the Lord to sit around writing lengthy love letters.
35. After having read some of what I've said to you over the past couple of weeks, the young people are probably going to all cry "double standard," because although I haven't written you any love letters per se, I certainly have poured on the "endearments" quite lavishly in the course of my regular letters. However, as you and I both very well understand, we are not doing this just to make each other feel good. Right now you probably feel the heaviest responsibility of your life, and you are fighting a tremendous spiritual battle as you pour out day and night, giving your life to teach and train those at the Summit.
36. You are one of the heads of the Family, and I consider it part of my ministry to the Lord and to you to support you in every way possible. Therefore I am making a special effort and consider it important to take the time to encourage you and give you the reassurances you need, in order to help you have as little distraction as possible from the business at hand, and in order to make it as easy as possible for you not to have trials and battles with things that you shouldn't be battling over. You have enough battles to fight there without fighting battles on other fronts, which certainly is cause enough for me to give you some pretty heavy reassurance, whereas it might not be nearly so necessary otherwise.
37. You do this to some extent with me, but you just don't have the time in your situation. And, since I don't need it as much, and since it's not your main job right now to encourage me, it isn't as necessary for you to do so. One of my main jobs is to encourage you, and not only pass on spiritual instruction and practical reminders, but also to encourage you personally and make it as easy as possible for you; to reassure you of my love, so you can in turn be more confident about giving your love to others.
38. Even though I'm doing what the Lord wants me to do, I'm not just doing it because He wants me to do it. I want to do it, with all my heart, and I mean every word that I say to you. In fact, I have never said things I didn't mean. Words are real things, and as you know very well, I would never say things to you that would mislead you in any way. If I didn't mean them, I wouldn't say them.
39. If I didn't know how much it means to you to hear this reassurance, and how important it is to you right now, I might not be doing so much of it. In fact, I probably wouldn't, because it takes a lot of time and I have hundreds of other things that are waiting to be done! This would not mean, however, that I loved you any less. Just like I know you don't love me any less when you only have time to write me a sentence of loving reassurance, because you are so extremely busy with the most important meeting in the whole world right now, with 50 of our very important leaders to pour into and share your and the Lord's love with.
40. When a woman has a baby, she has to take some of her time and attention away from her husband for a while in order to care for the child, but this doesn't mean that she loves her husband any less just because she has less time to give him. In this case you have 50 "babies" that you are having to take care of, so certainly I shouldn't expect, nor demand, that you pay me special attention. If I was in desperate need of it, then you would feel more a burden to give it to me, but that would be sad because it would be taking some of your time and attention away from those who rarely get a chance to have it, and that would be quite selfish of me. (It's amazing, how with everything else you have to do, you do say those sweet little things that mean so much.)
41. When I say that I am not demanding your time, I'm not implying that you are demanding mine. But I'm giving it to you because I feel you need it, and because this is what the Lord has laid on my heart.
42. So again it's a case of what the need is, and where it is greater. Usually the one staying home has to realize that the one out there on the field in the midst of the intense battle, where the demands on their time from so many people are so great, may not be able to respond to their loved one at home as much as the loved one might like. The loved one at home, although very busy, can usually spread out their duties more, without having so many deadlines. While they may have just as much to do, some of it can often be put off until later down the line somewhere. Whereas the one who is out is usually restricted in their time, and only has set periods for accomplishing certain jobs, which they have to do right away.
43. I may have as many things to do as you do, Peter, and just as many projects piled up. However, I can spread them out and put some things off until another day; whereas you have to get a certain amount packed into each day regardless. You have a certain amount of time for an allotted number of subjects to be covered, so you have to keep going and can't just decide to put things off until later. You have to meet the demands of the day. You can't just decide to take an afternoon off every once in a while, and write me a long letter! I don't figure I can do that with you either, but I can see my doing it much easier than I can see your doing it, because our situations are different.
44. Anyway, all that to say that my candid observations or personal letters to you might require a lot of explanation to enable people to get the right interpretation and balance things out with wisdom. What we can do in our situation, with each other, is not always what everybody else should do. This, however, is something that is difficult to get across to people, and they may feel that if we are doing it, and we put it in a Letter, that's probably what they should try to do, when sometimes this is not the case at all.
45. There are some times when we just like to give the Family information so they can know us better, so they can know how their king and queen operate and the things they do and how they live, etc. But it doesn't always mean that everyone is supposed to try to do the same thing. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't, and that is what makes it difficult for people, because it is hard for them to know when to and when not to, and also hard to know to what degree they should apply these things, if they are supposed to apply them.
46. So if we don't want them all to automatically try to do exactly what we are doing, we almost can't say it--or at least we have to qualify it. Even if we try to tell them that this isn't what they should do, then the questions arise, "Why not?" And then you have to give some pretty good explanations, which can sometimes take a very long time, as you can see by all that I have had to write on just this one subject!
47. For the young people who are there with you, looking at you and seeing you operate, it becomes very clear that our love life, although it may seem to loom so large in some of the things we write, is actually a very small part of our life. Not only that, but it is also very subordinate to the wonderful relationship we have with Jesus, which we certainly endeavor to keep in first place, and I think we do. Praise the Lord!
48. Those at the Summit can see all of this in your personal sample, but the worldwide Family cannot. All they would see in reading those portions of my letters to you would be this lavish, abundant--mushy, if you will--stream of endearments poured out upon you, and yours upon me, and things could get a bit out of perspective. They haven't been around us personally, and they aren't able to see the balance we have in things. So if we all of a sudden start giving them my very personal private letters to you, where parts heavily accentuate my love for you, it could be misinterpreted by some, because they don't have the complete picture.
49. This is just a lesson on why the "whole story" is pretty important, and why your young people there can understand it better, because they have you in person, as well as what I am writing to you. If they just heard my admonishments to you on pride in a Letter that they received in their Home, it probably would come across a little bit differently than it does when you are sitting there reading it to them in person and commenting on it.
50. The young people there may think that the things you are reading to them now are making me seem so much closer and more personal, but I think if they'll look back in the Letters they'll see that we have been showing a lot of our personal life to them. For example, in "Mama's Love Story," as well as the "Loving Jesus" series, to cite only two examples.
51. So I don't think it's just the things that you are reading from me that are making me seem so close, because I don't think they are so much different than what I write in my Letters to the Family worldwide. I think the greatest difference is that you are there, and you're part of the story. You're reading those words, and they are seeing your sample, and they are getting to know you. So some of what they think is so different is because they are seeing you.
52. I love you, my sweet, wonderful teamworkers! You mean so much to me, each one of you. Please keep up the wonderful work and know that we are continuing to pray for you and are so thrilled at what the Lord is doing.--Much, much love, Mama
Taking Time with the Lord Despite the Pressures of Work
53. To Peter!--My wonderful, loving, sexy soul mate! It turns me on just thinking about you. I'm not kidding! I just can't help it! Now I want to cuddle up in your arms and just lie with you talking about things. I just love to do that!
54. With your communications and Gary's and Heather's and the reactions and meeting notes, there is an awful lot to respond on. As you saw in that little message that the Lord gave for me after my recent headache, He apparently wanted me to rest and sleep more. When I got the second headache, one of the girls, unsolicited, prayed to get something from the Lord for me, and the Lord gave another beautiful message! It wasn't so different than the first one--again telling me that I had to leave things in the Lord's hands and that He was taking care of the Family; that I needed to rest and take time to stop and reflect, instead of pushing so hard to do everything; that I was going to have to decide what I wasn't able to do, and just not do it.
55. The Lord seemed to indicate something similar to you, that even though you are in a very important meeting with many demands upon your time, even in that situation you must get away from things and spend substantial time with Him. You have to let other activities go that you think you might need to be there for, or at least that you would very much like to participate in, and instead sacrifice some of those things in favor of spending time in fellowship and love with Jesus.
The Good Results of Sharing the Lord's Love with Others
56. Sweetheart, that was an absolutely beautiful letter from R. in response to your time with her. We just couldn't have had better results from sharing the Lord's Love, or a more lucid expression of them! Wow! When you get that kind of overwhelmingly positive response and see what tremendous fruit it bears, it's pretty hard to not want to do it more and more! I'm so thankful you suggested that she write me. If she hadn't, look what we would have missed! It's good that you mention to the girls you share with to write me, as it teaches them that they need to thank the mate who shared their partner, and it's good training for them.
57. Sweetheart, you're such a precious manifestation of Jesus' Love that I wish you could do it more. (Well, you understand that this isn't my personal selfish nature speaking, but that's not important. What is important is that we are His channels and vessels, and that we become living samples of the Word to others. The Lord says there has been a famine in seeing samples of the Word, so it's very important that we be this to those there--not only in dates, of course, but in every way. We have come, like Jesus, not to be ministered unto, but to minister. We, like Him, have the mission of seeking and saving that which is lost and of being servants to all.)
58. So, my dear love, I'm so proud of you and I love you and I want you. Your being what Jesus wants you to be makes me love you even more.
59. Thank you for letting me know about your dates with some of the female attendees [EDITED: "those 21 and over"]. It helps me to feel included also, and to feel that I am part of your love to them. And, even though I don't share about mine with you, because of the difference in circumstances, please be assured, my dearest love, that you are very much a part of the love I share, and there is no question that I'm yours first, after Jesus and Dad, and that you are sharing me.
60. Maybe it's more on my part than yours that I want to know every single thought in your head, because I'm the "mother hen" wanting to know everything you do, as expressed in the following cute prophecy one of the girls received. In this prophecy, the Lord or some spirit helper expressed the sentiments of my heart towards you, as coming from me:
Mama the Mother Hen!
61. {\b \i (Prophecy showing Mama's heart towards Peter:)} I am like the mother hen, cocking my head with watchful eye, for you are my chick. And mothers will be mothers, possessive of their young, and jealous with motherly jealousy, wanting to know everything you do. Oh, if I could only pluck every thought from your head, I would! If I could protect you from every danger, and guard every intrusion, and put every bite of food into your mouth myself, I would!
62. For I watch the chicken yard as you work and as you play, with watchful eye, to see who you play with and what you play.--Ever with protective eye and watchfulness, because I love you so. Not because I want to restrict you, but because you are my greatest love, and because I need you so.
63. So do not mind my clucking and my fussing. It is only because of my great concern, my great love. For I miss you and I long to be with you. I long to assure you of my love, how much I want you, how much I need you, how much I care for you. And this is my need--to care for you, to protect you, to love you with not only love and passion and emotion, but in protectiveness and in details and in every physical aspect also, as a mother hen would protect her chick and even give her life defending it.
64. In reassuring you of my love, it helps me to feel better, for I am doing what I must, what comes natural, as a lover and as a mother. It is my desire, it is my duty, and it is my love for you. Mothers are prone to smother. So please do not mind me if I cover you with my feathers and with all sorts of fluff! If I seem to smother you, that's just me, my dearest one. Just squawk if it gets too much to let me know if I'm squishing you, my little chickadee. Love, your indulging Mother Hen. (End of prophecy.)
65. {\b \i (Mama:) }I can't tell you how much I need you and appreciate you and feel one with you! Inseparably yours forever, M.
More on Sharing the Lord's Love with Others
66. Dear Peter, Gary and Heather, I love you so much! And as usual, I have been so fed and inspired by what you share with us. Peter, I was impressed that you used so many of the things from my letters. Hearing them read even caused me to squirm a little bit! Talk about frank and candid!--And sexy! Sometimes I ask myself, "Is that you, Mama?!"
67. Didn't you like what Dad said about my being "newly liberated"? Nobody likes "women's liberation" more than the Lord! What He means by it, however, is a good deal different than what most people mean by it! For Him it means humility and yieldedness, which is the only thing that will give us the freedom of the Spirit that we seek.
68. Thank you for sharing with me what dear sweet M. told you about her past experiences. God bless her! Some of our folks have been courageous soldiers, haven't they? I'm so glad that the Lord led you to share with her, Peter, and that He was able to give her so much love through you. It's just so wonderful when we can be channels that the Lord can use to get through to people and to let them see the amazing things of the Spirit, and the great, great love that He has for them.
69. Thank you for praying about your dates and asking the Lord to lead you to the one He wants to love at that particular time. As you follow His leading, you are seeing what tremendous fruit it's been bearing.
70. Thank you for loving M. for Jesus. I'm so glad that the Lord is able to show her His Love through you, and through being at the meetings. I know she's gone through a lot, and I really prayed that the Lord would reward her by allowing her to attend. He did quite a few miracles to get her there, and I think this is partly in answer to my prayer. Well, I'm sure the Lord wanted her to be there more than I did. What wonderful, wonderful love!
71. I love you, each of my Summit team troopers! Thank you for being willing to fight the Lord's battles and to not faint in the day of adversity, when you are so weak and weary. Keep drawing on the Lord's strength, which is made perfect in your weakness.--Much, much love, Mama.
Jesus Bore the Burdens Too!
72. Dear Peter, Gary and Heather!--My wonderful team, so dear to my heart! As I'm just trying to force myself to wake up to start this letter to you, it's making me pray really big for you, knowing that you have to go through this every morning, every nap time--so tired, so weary, feeling that you can hardly face another day, another meeting. It's agony to have to wake up and to drag yourselves out of bed. It really does make me pray desperately for you. I admire you so much, and I can feel just a tiny token of how greatly, how immeasurably our Lord must love you because of your sacrifices, your willingness, in a very real way, to lay down your lives morning, noon and night for our sweet ones there.
73. If it makes me cry as I think of you so tenderly and with such love, just think of how it must make Him feel as He sees you fight to carry on--one more meeting, one more talk, one more reaction, one more report, one more personal time--when you think you can't do it another time, and you are completely drained of everything you could give, and there isn't any more, and you have to pray desperately for the strength to do the job!
74. But He knows, He understands, He cares. And as He told you so sweetly, He felt the same when He was here on Earth. He is not allowing you to go through anything that He didn't have to go through. He didn't have any more strength than you have. It wasn't any easier for Him than it is for you. He suffered just as much, and He knows what it's like. So He knows what you need, and He gives it to you. He doesn't let your "barrel of meal" and your "cruse of oil" fail, but whenever you go to them, there is always something there to nourish and refresh and give you the strength to carry on.
75. How very, very proud He is of you! How He takes you in His arms so lovingly, soothing away the pain and the exhaustion, and whispering in your ears, "Thank you for giving your life for Me. Thank you for suffering that these may live, and that many others may know My Love." As He said to you, Peter, when you prayed about this the other day when you were so tired:
76. {\b \i (Jesus speaking:)} I too was weary and worn as I ministered unto the needy, for I had great love and compassion upon them. I saw their needs--the need for love, the need to be healed, the need to be saved. So I poured forth My Spirit upon them and I gave of My Body. I gave of Myself to fill that need, and virtue in great measure went out from Me. So is it with you. You see the need and you give, and virtue goes out from you. I, too, had a job to do, and I did it unto the death.
77. So be not weary in well doing, for the fruits of your labors will be great in the lives of these that sit at your feet to learn of Me and of My David, of My Maria and of My Word and of the power of My Spirit, My Voice. For the virtue that goes out of you goes into the hearts of these little ones who learn, who grow because of the virtue they receive within their hearts.
78. So set your affections now on things above. Keep your eyes, your heart, your mind and your spirit on that which you must do, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left. You must minister love, grace, spirit and My Word unto these that hunger, these that thirst, these that know they face a big task and who hunger for all that you have to give.
79. I know you are weary, My son. I know the feeling of tiredness, of weakness, of discouragement. I know the feeling of being drained and feeling that there is no more virtue in you to pour out. But I am the supplier of virtue, I am the supplier of love, I am the supplier of wisdom, and I will pour forth these things through you as you have need of them.
80. You will know it is Me doing these things, for you know that you are drained, that you are exhausted. You know that you feel you have nothing left to give. But when the time comes, it pours forth through you as a fountain, and thus do you know that it is My Spirit that does these things. It is My Spirit that pours forth through you. It is My Love and My wisdom and My strength that is doing it. For you know you have none of these things on your own.
81. So keep giving, keep pouring forth. Know that as the time comes when you need to have the wisdom, the love, the understanding, and the power, I will pour forth through you. For you are My conduit of these things unto these who hunger and thirst.
82. When I send the current of My Love through you, you become alive and energized, and those that you touch are electrified! When I send not the current in the times that you do not need to pour forth, then are you as a dead and lifeless cable. You only come alive and become vibrant when I send the current of My Spirit through you. Thus do you know it is only Me doing these things. So always be ready for the times when I send forth My current through you. Be not dismayed nor discouraged, despair not, and do not feel low when the current is not there. For those are the times when I give you rest. (End of prophecy.)
83. {\b \i (Mama:) }The results are already well worth it! The lives being changed before our eyes are such a wonderful reward. As I listen to reaction after reaction from those attending the meetings, I know that our labors are already reaping great dividends.
Mama's Priorities and the Octopus Prophecy!
84. I thought I was going to have to stop listening to all these wonderful responses to the powerful working of the Spirit [EDITED: "the attendees' reactions"], but I kept trying to find time for the hours of reactions that have been pouring in. I so much wanted to understand the great things the Lord is doing in the Spirit, and feel the excitement of the changes that are taking place in this greatest meeting of both Earth and Heaven!
85. So finally, as I wasn't getting any closer to hearing these, I just put everything else aside, all the GN work that I wasn't getting to, all the deadlines that I'm not making, all the personal letters I'm not approving, all the prophecies I'm not going over, all the time I'm not tuning into Juan [EDITED: "who is visiting"], etc., and I just determined I was going to hear these reactions!
86. I wondered if my persistence in wanting to see what was in each one's heart and see the fruits of your labors was rather foolish. After all, you're already taking such wonderful care of things there, and it is my responsibility to feed the world. I got quite burdened about this, and I decided I'd better make sure my priorities were straight. If I was going to neglect everything else for the Summit meeting, I wanted to know for sure if I was doing the right thing so I could do it in full faith. I already spend a lot of time just writing you, so it meant that I was getting pretty fully absorbed in what you are doing there, not to even mention my desire to listen to the meeting notes, which I haven't been able to get to, although I hear the summaries of the meetings that come in.
87. So I asked someone here to ask the Lord what I was supposed to be doing. While they were doing it, I prayed that if the Lord wanted me to forsake being so involved, He would help me to be yielded. Even though it is a big job, which requires everything else to be put in the background, I still had a very strong desire to do it.
88. One thing about it, when I ask the Lord anything, I have to be willing to do whatever He says! If we ask for His counsel, we have to be willing to yield to whatever He tells us. Otherwise, what good is it for Him to give us His counsel if we won't obey it? Sometimes I'm tempted not to ask, for fear I won't like the answer and won't want to do it! However, if we really want to do His will, then we are going to want to know it, no matter what it is.
89. The Lord is always faithful. He never fails to answer when we call to Him. He sent Dad to give the answer, who said:
90. {\b \i (Dad speaking:) }Honey, you're an octopus! You can do a lot of things at once. It always amazed me, and still amazes me, how you can manage so many things at one time, and keep on top of everything and know where everything is at, and keep so many people busy! It's like you've got eight arms and they're all busy at once. There's nothing wrong with that--that's the way the Lord made you, like an octopus! But an octopus only has eight arms, not 12 or 15 or two dozen! So only do what you can manage with those eight, and anything past that will have to wait.
91. You can list your priorities, and if you have more than you can handle, you'll have to figure out which ones are the tops and do those first. Then when one of those is done, something else can move up. Just ask the Lord what your very top priorities are and He'll show you. That way if you have the Lord's Word on it you'll have more confidence and reassurance you're doing the right thing, and if He doesn't want you doing something, then you won't feel guilty or pressured if you're not doing it. You can ask Him what is most important and He'll show you what He wants done, what He wants you to do, what He wants pubbed, or what is most important for somebody else to do.
92. Ask Him about your deadlines. The deadlines are the things that cause pressure because you think you have to make it by a certain time, and just thinking you have to make it adds a strain, especially when it looks like you're going to run out of time. So if you're feeling under pressure about certain deadlines, you can always change the ones that can be changed. Deadlines don't have to stay deadlines, especially if they're not realistic! You don't always have to keep them just because you have them, especially if no one else is waiting on you for them.
93. {\b \i (Note from Mama:) }In this case, Dad was referring to the deadlines that I had set to get out certain pubs and get certain projects done. These were self-imposed deadlines, and if I didn't make them, they weren't going to upset things or cause people to be sitting around waiting on me. If you have a deadline for a project that other people are waiting on you for, then you'd better do all you can to make the deadline, or work it out with those involved to have it rescheduled.
94. Dad's counsel here does not apply to commitments you have to outsiders you may deal with in your witnessing, tool distribution, business, etc. If you have made a commitment with an outside friend or contact--or even another Home or Family member--to have something done within a certain time frame, and they are counting on you, you'd better get it done on time and not just blow it off, or it could be a terrible sample and reproach to the work, or make your brethren feel unloved!
95. {\b \i (Prophecy continues, Dad speaking:) }If anything causes overwork and overburden, that's not the Lord. If a deadline becomes unrealistic and you become a slave to the deadline and you're serving the deadline rather than the deadline serving you, then ask the Lord again about it, when He would like that pub or project to go out or what He wants done with it.
96. Things change, priorities change. Everything could change tomorrow! Everything that you have planned could all change and be dropped--unless you're not willing to change because you set yourself a deadline. That's the problem with deadlines. They're really good and they really help, but sometimes if you feel locked into them, you could keep on going when the Lord wants to change things and has new plans. You can never tell what the Lord might do.
97. And as far as listening to all these reactions, well, the Summit is the hottest thing going! It's the most important event in the world right now, more important than these worldly summits where they have presidents and world leaders meeting and deciding things. It's our future leadership and our CRO generals of the Lord's army and of the Family and the Lord's Kingdom meeting together! It will have a lot more impact than these worldly meetings, because we're the leaders of Heaven and Earth, and it has top billing!
98. It's real important for you to get to know these future leaders--who they are, what they're like, how they think, how they're doing, their potential, their abilities, their weaknesses. You need to know who you're working with, who's trustworthy, who's reliable, where they stand and how dedicated they are. You have to get to know them personally.
99. Every president of every company has to know his executives, and know them well, and these are some of your executives. You have to know your vice president, your managers and your executive officers just like any company president would. They have to know you and you have to know them, so they can trust you and you can trust them. So your time invested in getting to know them and work with them, and the CROs getting to know them and work with them, is not time wasted, and you need to make time for that.
100. This time will be over pretty quickly; we only have a Summit once a year. So if there's anything else that you need to put aside to make room, well, just put it off till later. You can take care of the Summit first. Just put first things first, and then what you don't get to, don't worry about it!
101. You can have Juan help on any of these projects, and just working with you is a great learning experience. The Lord will make time to talk with him too, little moments on the beeper (intercom) throughout the day, as well as him reading your correspondence with Peter. It'll all add up. The thing about Juan is that he catches the spirit, so even if you don't get to spend as much time with him as you would like, if he can read what you have to say and benefit from that, it will be very feeding for him and a blessing, and he'll catch the spirit. Then of course you can also spend personal time with him. But if you can spend scattered time with him throughout the day, even on the beeper, he'll absorb a lot. Some people could spend day and night with you and not pick up as much from you as he would just in a short talk. And if some of your deadlines were moved back, then you could spend more time with Juan and not feel pressured, and I think that would work out just fine.
102. Okay, Sweetheart? You're so sweet. Such a good administrator and shepherdess. And Peter's doing a great job of carrying the crown as he visits. But, Sweetheart, you're carrying the Kingdom with Jesus' help, and you're doing a beautiful job! Didn't I tell you that you'd do a better job than me, and "greater things than these ye shall do"? How the sheep would look to you even more than me? It's coming to pass. And, Honey, I don't feel bad about it at all. I'm so happy they have such a tender shepherdess, because the Lord is fulfilling His plan, and you're fulfilling it moment by moment, day by day, step by step and victory by victory. It's so beautiful it makes me cry!
103. You're my sweetheart, you're my love, and I'm so happy you and Peter can tell the kids and the world of your great love. I don't feel left out. It's just a foretaste of Heaven, how we'll all love each other. The more you love each other and tell and show each other, the better. Even if others there fall in love and marry our earthly mates while we're Here, the happier it makes us. To see love in action brings us great joy.
104. To see you loving Peter and Peter loving you brings me great happiness, and brings you greater blessings and anointing as you love each other. Because love, like praising, brings greater anointing and brings the Lord's Spirit down on you. So the more you love each other and manifest it, the more joy and rejoicing it brings me and us Here as we watch you, because it's bringing you closer to us, closer to Heaven and closer to Jesus. You and Peter loving each other is a vehicle that brings you even closer to me, and we can love as we never loved before. I love you, my sweetheart, my bride, my forever love!--Your David. (End of prophecy.)
105. {\b \i (Mama:) }Isn't that absolutely beautiful? What love and what understanding! I just can't ever get over it! It's marvelous! These deep things of the Spirit that the Lord is continuing to teach us through Dad are just out of this world!--They really are!
106. It's pretty clear about the importance of the Summit meeting, and my need to continue tuning in. It's so wonderful how He loves us so much and makes things so plain for us--how He sends Dad so often to talk so personally to us and sort things out for us! What wonderful love!
107. Maybe this will make you feel better, too, knowing that I'm not just "meddling." Well, maybe I am, but at least you'll realize that if I'm not getting some other things done, I am doing what I'm supposed to be doing!
Rolling with the Lord's Changes!
108. I know how hard it was a lot of times when we never knew what Dad was going to come up with next, and what he was going to ask us to do or change. I'm sure you probably wonder the same about me, and what is going to come in the next letter that is going to upset your plans and make it more difficult for you. I'm so sorry. I know the feeling!
109. But I've got to hand it to you three --you're yielded, you're revolutionary, you're ready to make necessary changes, and even though it's a sacrifice, you're open to changing when the Lord says change. You don't have your own agenda, but instead you are waiting on Him day by day, meeting by meeting. It's so much easier when we're yielded, isn't it? I had enough of being unyielded to changes, so I can so clearly see the difference now. Changes can still be difficult, but nothing like they are when you're unyielded and you've made up your mind already and you know what you want, and you just know the other wouldn't work. It's pretty painful then, to have to be forced to do something different than what you "know" is best. God helping me, I am going to continue to be yielded! It's so much easier than not being yielded! It brings so much more peace and happiness.
110. I'm so proud of you that you are wanting the same, and you haven't firmly set your own program, but you are completely open to His. Of course, it's easier for you when He gives it to you directly, which He usually does. But when He sometimes uses me to give you a little instruction or guidance, you've been taking that so well. It's much harder to have to do what the Lord says when it comes through someone else than it is when He speaks to you directly, but that's one of the tests that He puts us through. I think you have done, and are doing, beautifully along these lines. God bless you! I know it's difficult, and I admire each of you very much for it. I try not to ask you to do anything unless I feel it's really something He wants and that is needed. I really don't want to do anything that will make it difficult for you.
111. I hope you're not nervously trying to figure out what bomb I'm going to drop now, since I've gotten you all prepared! I don't think I have anything very earth-shaking. I was merely trying to tell you that I'm proud of you for being yielded!
Praying for Gary's Sickness
112. Dear Gary, I'm so sorry you are sick. We're praying that the Lord will hold you in His arms and heal you with His loving touch. When you are weak in the flesh, the Lord makes you very strong in the Spirit, because you have to hang on to Him for every breath, every activity. It was sweet of you to dictate that little note to Heather for me explaining why you haven't been reporting. It almost made me cry. Please don't worry about anything. We just want you to get better and be able to do what you absolutely have to do. Please don't feel bad if you can't do anything else.
Songs About Mama: Seeing Things in the Spirit!
113. I just received the song words to the "Queen of Love" song to approve. Well, I have to pray to see things in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. When I start looking at things in the flesh, I just can't even think of putting out songs about me, because they seem to be portraying me as being so much better than I am, and more than I am. But I know it's the Devil that wants to make me look at it in the natural and make me feel so hypocritical, feeling that the songs portray something different than I really am. I know I'm nothing, and these songs highlight me in such a favorable way, to say the least, that it makes me very uncomfortable.
114. But you see, that's because I'm looking at it in the natural. When I'm looking at it in the Spirit, I see it differently. I don't even see me any more! I see the tool of the Lord, the channel, the representative, the mouthpiece--His power, His anointing, His Words. It's no longer me that I see, but Christ that lives and works in me.
115. But the Devil tries his best to get me to look at myself in the natural. He tries to tell me I'm not being honest, that I'm letting people think something that isn't true about me, and therefore I shouldn't let people write and sing these songs. He tells me that it's promoting too much adulation and adoration of an individual. Certainly some of the songs I've heard the words to do go overboard, and when they do, I hesitate--not because I'm not seeing things in the Spirit, but because I am seeing things in the Spirit, and I know it's too much!
116. Dad always had a battle about this: Whether to completely cut off all praise of him in songs and poems and art, etc., or to let the people enjoy the human representative that the Lord had given them. But he realized, as I do, that what they're writing and singing about is the Jesus that they see in us. People need a human sample, someone who shows them the way and helps them to relate more to Him, by bridging the gap between the physical realm and the spiritual one. Having someone just a little ahead leading the way is important for people. It gives them some tangible reference point, somebody that they can follow and feel that they can emulate. Like Paul said, "Follow me, as I follow Christ" (1Cor.11:1).
117. When the Lord called Dad a king and me a queen, and now Peter a king, He didn't do that so we would never be talked about or never be looked up to. That's one of the purposes of royalty--to give the people a sense of security, stability, and pride, if you will, at being citizens of the kingdom. To give them someone they can look to for care and for help, and even pageantry. A king and a queen and a kingdom symbolize power and authority. We, as the Lord's human royal family, are symbols of our great King of kings and His Heavenly Kingdom.
118. So when I know that some of these songs that have been written about Dad have been such a blessing to so many and have been a focus by which people can more easily understand the Lord, I have to be very careful that I continually yield to what the Lord wants to do and how He wants to lead this Family--and not try to restrict Him just because I don't feel that I live up to what He says about me. I don't, but He's made it very clear over and over that we have this wonderful treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of Him and not of us. And if He chooses to set that symbol of His power up where people can see it, hear about it and sing about it, that's His business, because it's just a symbol, a figurehead, if you will.
119. So I can't deprive people of the joy that they receive from knowing that the Lord has a mouthpiece on this Earth that loves them with His Love, and who is trying to point them to Him. In my flesh dwelleth no good thing, but Jesus is in me, and He is my hope of glory. It's the position that He has given us and the anointing that He has placed upon us that they are singing about, and the thing that has brought them much joy and blessing. If the Lord hadn't wanted it to be this way, He wouldn't have made such a big deal for so long about Dad as our king and me as their queen, and now Peter. So Lord help me to be yielded and surrendered and constantly looking at things the way He sees them.
120. Of course, some of the songs that I've heard in the past I considered too extreme, as they didn't seem to lift up the Lord enough, and didn't make it clear enough that we are only His tools. This new "Queen of Love" song has struck a good balance, I think, with a little help from its friends, the WS music department, including Francis and me. However, I must say that they got it pretty good to begin with. And guess who did it?--The MCs and John Listen at the HCS during the time of the Feast. The MCs apparently gave John all of the ideas and he helped to put it into words.
121. I'm giving you the words here so you can see what I consider a good, not too exaggerated or lavish, portrayal of my position as your queen. This will be done mostly in rap, so I figure that in itself keeps it from being too "worshipful"!--Ha!
Our Queen of Love!
Chorus
Now our Queen of Love stands
on the cornerstone,
Sending Words of Love
to our Heavenly Homes.
Though her job is awesome,
she is never alone;
She's got a hotline to Jesus,
He tells her how to feed us;
And on through the End
she'll care for her own.
Verse 1 (rap)
Now Maria served her king,
and she served him well
Till the Lord saw she was ready
and He rang the schoolbell.
She graduated from being a secretary,
Now she's at the top
and it could be quite scary
If she didn't have the Man
who carries the load.
Yes, He knows the way
'cause He made the road.
Meek like a lamb, gentle like a dove--
We're talkin' 'bout our Queen of Love!
Repeat Chorus
Verse 2 (rap).
Now Maria's a new bottle,
she pours the New Wine--
The woman that God brought
and sought for the Endtime.
She teaches us about
the value of humility--
That saying "yes" to Jesus is the best ability.
One day we're going to meet her,
in Heaven we will greet her.
Existence will be sweeter,
our joy will be completer,
With King David and King Peter
and all of us together.
We're talkin' about our Queen of Love!
Repeat Chorus
She's got a hotline to Jesus,
He tells her how to feed us;
And on through the End she'll care for her own.
She'll care for her own.
She'll care for her own.
Teaching Our Young Men to Be Gentlemen
122. {\b \i (Mama:) }Is there anything we can do to teach our young men to be sweeter, kinder, more considerate, and better lovers? Apparently many of them have a poor reputation when it comes to these qualities and manifesting them with our dear young women. We've heard this time after time in the letters that young women have written us, and it's not just confined to one area of the world, but covers all areas.
123. Perhaps since sex has been so "hush-hush" in the Family for quite a few years now, and sex education classes have been sorely lacking, and System movies and videos have been the prime source of influence about attitudes towards sex, our young men have gotten a rather distorted idea of what Godly sex should be like. It might be good to discuss what kind of concept movies portray of sex, and how it is contrary to the way the Lord wants us to look at sex and male-female relations. What is Godly sex like? And what needs to accompany it, such as good manners, gentleness, tenderness, consideration and patience--not only in bed, but out of it as well.
124. No wonder some of our young women look toward the System for love and companionship and gentlemanly behavior. A gentleman is more concerned with the woman's needs than he is with his own. He wants to know what will please her, and he tries to carry that out, both in bed and out of it.
125. Juan mentioned that our young women in South America often have occasion to witness to upper-class young men. These young men are, for the most part, well-mannered, considerate and charming. They have been taught to be gentlemanly. Often they seem to have more love for our young women than our boys in the Family do. Therefore, of course, it's a very big temptation for our girls' emotions to run away with them, to the point where some of them have actually been drawn out of the Family. They are not finding the love and concern and supply of their emotional and physical needs in the Family, so they are tempted to look elsewhere for it.
126. This pull becomes doubly strong as they witness and share the Lord's Love. The young men are charming, and not only that, they are very much attracted to our girls because they shine with so much of Jesus' Love. Not only are the men attracted to the women because they see a love like they've never seen before--which is Jesus' Love--but the women are attracted to the men. This happens not only because they are not getting the love they need from our Family young men, but because when they witness, they are sharing Jesus' Love, and they naturally feel drawn to the one they are witnessing to; they see the need and they want to fill it. In giving them Jesus' Love, their heart and emotions get involved.
127. So it takes a great deal of spiritual strength to resist the temptation of a full-blown love relationship. The more you witness one-on-one, and the more you feel a responsibility for someone, the more attached emotionally you can become. And if you don't have anyone at home to help keep you from drifting away, to help you stay connected and attached, it can become a serious situation.
128. Since we don't want to lose our young women, either by having them leave of their own free will because they go off to marry the men, or because we have to excommunicate them because of their getting sexually involved with outsiders, it seems like we've got to not only pray desperately for them, but we've got to do something to help our own young men be more attractive and desirable, and learn to manifest real love toward our Family girls. Our Family girls are so sweet and loving, and the boys need to appreciate that more and not take it for granted. Young men in the System don't find such sweet girls as we have in the Family, and they therefore value their contact with our girls much more. Our young men need to value it too!
129. While you have all those young people there, it might be good to have some pow-wows on the subject and get some confirmations of some of this from the girls. If I would just lecture the Family young men on this, they might not accept it so well. However, having their own peers confirm that these things are so, and that our young men really do have a long way to go and a lot to learn, might open their eyes and help them to start working on becoming more loving.
130. A lot of them think they know much more than they do, and because the girls aren't usually willing to tell them anything to the contrary, it perpetuates their idea that they are doing pretty well. But it is very, very sad when our young women start looking outside the Family for love and companionship. Of course, when witnessing, this is always a danger, even if you have a loving boyfriend or mate at home. But if you don't have any attachment at home, anyone to fill your emotional and physical needs, it's an even greater danger. These System boys can seem to offer so much--not only in the way of personal charm, but in everything the System has to offer--so our young people have to be very, very strong to resist that pull. At least if they know they can find love in the Family, it can help them in fighting to keep their place and not give up their crown.
131. Then there is another general weakness in our young men that probably contributes even more greatly to the problem, and that is that so many of them lack spiritual depth. Of course some are spiritually deep, but many aren't as spiritually mature as the girls their own age. A lot of these other outward things could maybe be overlooked by the girls, if the young men were at least serious with the Lord and committed to the Family and loving the Lord and His Word. This would help our girls, more than anything else, to admire them and love them, even if they weren't perfect in other areas. Besides, if they really love the Lord it would be manifested in their relations with others, in kinder, gentler, sweeter actions. And if they were lacking in the mechanics of things, they could easily be trained and taught.
132. So really, the main thing is the spiritual attitude. If someone really loves Jesus and the Family, they are going to want to love others, too, and put others' needs above their own. They are going to be easily "entreated" and taught, because they are going to want to make others happy.
133. Peter and Gary, there may be a lot of other factors that I am missing here, so I certainly can't give the whole story. However, I do think that if there are any major points we want to get across to the Family young people, it would be well worth discussing them with the young people there and having them give their prayerful opinions, give testimonies, write reactions, get things on video, have classes, so we would have a springboard or a starting place for what we want to tell the Family as a whole. To hear these young people say it through their own mouths, and tell their peers how they think they need to change, is much more powerful than us preaching them a sermon about it. (Editor's note: This topic was covered in two classes at the Summit, titled "He Said[DELETED]" and "She Said[DELETED]" These classes were videod, and the CROs and VSs are now showing them to the Homes or at teen meetings, along with other Summit classes.)
134. I want all three of you to know that when I start out writing you on a certain subject, I'm usually not writing it for anybody but you three, but often it turns out that it can be shared with the folks there. I guess this is obvious, but I just wanted you to know that I hadn't originally intended to have the letter I wrote you this morning, which was supposed to be the opening to this letter, go to anybody but you. In other words, I wasn't writing it for any "audience," but just because I felt burdened for you, knowing the big responsibility you are carrying and how very exhausted and even sick you feel much of the time. But after I got into writing it, I realized that maybe the Lord wanted it to be said to the others, too, so they would understand better. That's why I included portions of that prophecy that you got, Peter. I didn't know if you had shared it with Gary and Heather yet, so I wanted to make sure they saw it. But not only that, I wanted to have the young people hear it.
135. Probably by the time they get a good taste of the great sacrifices of leadership, they are going to want to turn around and run the other way! I guess a lot of them already do feel that way, but God bless them, if they survive all of this, they've really got what it takes!--A fervent love for Jesus that makes them willing to do anything for Him! They deserve all the love we can give them, and all we can pour into them, because, like the Lord said, they face a big job!
Counseling the Young People on Their Conduct Upon Returning Home
136. Have you been able to give the young people any counsel on how to conduct themselves when they return to their Homes? They'll just be bursting with all they've experienced, and of course they'll probably make others feel bad. I don't see any way around it, because people are simply going to be envious. They are going to be jealous. They are going to feel like they haven't received anything in comparison to what these young people have received.
137. So if the young people there are going to do any good at all, they are going to have to pray desperately that they don't turn everybody off before they can even start turning them on! They are already going back with several strikes against them, just because people are going to be so envious. But then, if they start acting like an "information dispenser" and reeling off all the wonderful things that they have seen and heard as fast as possible to "wow" everyone with their wonderful experiences--or even if they have pure motives, and are trying to get it out there to be a help to people--it may backfire, and people will dig their heels in more than ever and not want to be "helped!"
138. We have had folks from WS go to the field with the best of intentions. These folks saw so many things that they could have helped to correct and helped to improve. But in some cases, because they didn't go about it the right way--the slow, patient, loving way of winning people's confidence first and taking the low seat--they were unable to help much of anything, and, in fact, they did a lot of damage. They already were going in with a count against them because other people felt inferior and felt that they were going to be criticized for not having a high enough standard. So when the newcomer did anything at all to show his desire to change things, it was looked upon as criticism and self-righteousness.
139. There may be some folks there amongst the CROs who experienced some of this. Or maybe after leaving Summit Meetings, the CROs themselves have run into some of the same problems. So maybe they could give some testimonies. Your young people will have even greater problems, because these are some young "upstarts" and if they begin "counseling" the folks in their Homes and acting like they know more than the shepherds, it is going to appear quite divisive.
140. So I imagine it is going to take quite a bit of prayer and guidance to teach them how to handle things when they get home. At the very best, this kind of situation is always very sensitive, so it is going to take a lot of prayer and a lot of wisdom and love. This is a pretty important subject, because you can pour a lot into these kids, but then if they don't know how to get out there and use it successfully, you've wasted a lot of time, in some respects at least.
Loving the Lord More!
141. We've told the young people upon several occasions that "you can love each other as much as you want, just as long as you love the Lord more!" I think it might be nice to repeat this, and then ask them the question, "What does that mean?" In other words, what does loving the Lord more mean in this context?
142. I'm a little concerned that unless we make it real clear, they are going to zero in on the part, "You can love each other as much as you want," but not really get the meaning of the "if you love the Lord more!" All three of you certainly understand what this means, so I don't have to go into a long discourse on it, but please make sure that this is very clear.
Jesus Loving Others Through Us!
143. Peter, R.'s reaction to your time with her was just beautiful! What a reward for all our labors and our sacrifices! She, too, got the point of the whole thing, that our loving her is Jesus loving her, and it made her love Him more!--Us, too, of course, but if we can transfer the affections to Him, we've accomplished our purpose.
Our Young People's Lack of Faith in Prophecy
144. In one of the girls' reactions, she went into detail on how a lot of the young people she knows actually do think that we in WS make up the prophecies that go into the GNs! Of course, this is shocking, but what's worse is that it is only a symptom of a much greater, deeper problem!--Young people who are so lacking in faith and lacking in the Word that they could allow themselves to be so duped by the Devil into thinking this! It would almost be worth having a prophecy session just over this particular point, to see what the Lord says about it and to see the reasons He gives for the young people getting so far off track that they could even think this, as well as spreading it around and actually talking about it!
145. Of course this is just one little outcropping that comes from an absolutely carnal way of looking at things, and I'm sure there are hundreds more. Boy, the Devil is doing everything he possibly can to destroy people's faith in prophecy, which just shows how vitally important prophecy is! The Devil's pulling out all of his big and little guns, his logical and illogical ones, even the very ridiculous ones. But apparently a lot of these kids are swallowing those lies, because they are already so weakened.
System Jobs
146. I've been thinking a little more about how some of our people want to get System jobs. I wonder if one downside to this, amongst others, of course, is that the Devil, knowing how important it is for us to get out the Word, both in the form of our present tools as well as the upcoming GP books or booklets we'll be working on, is trying to get people tied up in System jobs so they can't be the salesmen of the Word that the Lord wants them to be, and will need them to be. We're going to need "pushers" for these books, and I believe the Lord is going to very greatly bless those who take up the challenge. But if they are already tied down with all kinds of System jobs, they are not going to be much help.
147. When you talk about System jobs versus the job of distributing the Word that the Lord has commissioned us to do, be sure to mention the point that Juan, and one of the other CROs, I think, brought out in their respective reactions--that in most cases, hour for hour, our young people could raise more money getting out our tools than they can at a System job. And, in the process, they can be winning souls, friends, and even disciples.
148. Apparently some of the young people there are very good distributors as well as being good soul winners. There may be cases when the Lord might approve someone getting a job, but it seems like we're having a rash of this just before the Lord's blessings come down.
149. A lot of people are saying that they don't want to live hand-to-mouth any more, so they are going to seek a System solution. But the Lord has told us over and over that He is going to bring in the finances. In one prophecy He said that He is the One that we should woo and love, because He will supply all of our needs (Phil.4:19).
150. In that "Investment" prophecy, He talked about our being "virgins unto Him" (ML #3049:94), and I would take this to mean more than just not getting involved in the System's financial deals. I would say that that would also mean not getting too involved in System jobs. Some System jobs may be okay if they're very fruitful financially or provide good witnessing opportunities, or are necessary for visa purposes, etc., and if the Lord gives them a clear go-ahead and confirms it through the various ways to know His will. But I just don't see how we can have a lot of our people getting tied down with System jobs and still do the main job that the Lord has commissioned us to do.
What Counts Is How Others Perceive Our Actions
151. We've often talked about how it doesn't matter how we perceive things, it's how others react to us that counts. I can think I'm saying something to someone very sweetly and sincerely and be convinced that I am being very loving and kind, but if he (or she) perceives it in a different way, then I've failed in my presentation. Of course, maybe the person just has a chip on their shoulder, and no matter what I say they could still take it the wrong way. But if that happens with person after person, then I can be pretty sure that something is wrong with me.
152. I'm just so proud of you three! You're doing beautifully! I love it! And what's more, I'm so glad that I don't have to do it! I couldn't do it nearly as well as you all are! When I hear how well you handle those meetings and how wise and loving you are in your interactions with the folks there, I can't help but be so thankful for you and so happy that you are yielded to Him and being guided by His voice.
153. Much love in our wonderful Lover and Husband, Jesus.--Mama.
154. P.S. to Peter: Sweetheart, I love you so much. We really are connected; we are one in heart and body and spirit--one with our Jesus and our David. Thank you, Sweetheart, for that encouragement that you like to hear what the Lord says through me. It does encourage me, because it makes me know that you continue to be very sensitive to the Spirit and see past my human frailties and weaknesses. I love you, my darling, most of all because you love Jesus so much and know you need Him so much. And that's why we need each other, so we can do this big job of helping Him to love His children.
155. Thank you for having the humility to express your love for me. I know you love me, but it does help to hear it. You're so precious, my love. I need you constantly, in every way. I love you for being Jesus' bride with me. And I love you for being Jesus to me, and to all those there!--With unending love, M.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family