DIE DAILY!
GP 182
9/72
1. Do you really feel we're right without a shadow of a doubt about all of these things? Do you really think our message is the right message? Do you really think our method is the right method? Do you really feel it's God's Will--both our message & our method? And if so, what do you have a vision for? What do you have faith for? What do you really expect God to do THIS year, not NEXT year, through us? What can you see happening now & from now on? WHAT DO YOU PERSONALLY PLAN TO DO ABOUT IT? What do you personally hope to do about it & want to do about it?
2. We cannot go on "business as usual"! I have a feeling that we've reached a crisis--a turning point where you're going to go either one way or the other. The spirit I feel creeping in is the feeling that we've arrived--that WE'VE MADE IT!--AND WE'RE SATISFIED with what we've accomplished. Because THE MINUTE YOU GET THAT FEELING, THAT'S AS FAR AS YOU GET! You never get any further.
3. The most uncomfortable place for a Christian is a comfortable place. One of the greatest dangers you have right now is the feeling you've really accomplished something, & so much so that you no longer have that driving motivation which makes you feel like you cannot stop, that YOU'VE GOT TO KEEP GOING EVEN IF IT KILLS YOU!
4. How like death moving is! It's the ending of one life & the beginning of another. Moving is hard to do. I'm even having a real battle moving on to the next place. If I have to keep moving, I have to keep dying! You can understand why Paul said, "I die daily!"
5. If you have lost that compulsion--that feeling like you just have to get out there & make progress & KEEP MOVING OR YOU'LL DIE, & if you don't have that feeling any more that you'd rather get out there & DIE FOR SOMETHING RATHER THAN LIVE FOR NOTHING, then YOU'VE LOST THE REAL MARTYR SPIRIT!
6. This DAILY DYING IS THE HARDEST KIND because you do it a thousand times, whereas at the end of your life the final death is nothing in comparison. Your final death is your graduation! This SLOW DEATH OF DYING A LITTLE EACH DAY--THAT'S WHAT TAKES A LOT OF GUTS!
7. A young reporter asked the leader of a well-known Eastern religion about his young followers & if he thought they were old enough to understand what it was all about. He wisely answered, "WE'RE ALL OLD. YOU'RE OLD. YOU MAY DIE TOMORROW! They're old because their lives may be over tomorrow! So today we're all old." In other words, they've GOT to be old enough! Their lives may be over tomorrow!
8. Boast not thyself of tomorrow! It may not only be later than you think, but YOU MAY BE OLDER THAN YOU THINK! You're counting on doing the job some day soon, but we'd better do it quick & NOW!--Or we may never get it done!
9. Are we getting in a rut? Are we turning sour, losing our fire, our convictions, our vision, our faith, our courage?--And where is our initiative?
10. I know you guys are nearly working yourselves to death--YOU'RE REALLY KILLING YOURSELVES! God couldn't even trust them to STOP THEIR WORK ONE DAY A WEEK & TAKE THE REST they needed. He had to make it a commandment & say, "Just take it off because I said so!" You're going to burn out if you don't. Because there's also such a thing as trying to go TOO fast. You get out of touch with the Lord & Headquarters. I've said this so many times in "Stop, Look, & Listen!" & "Squeeze, don't Jerk!" & many other times.
11. I want to see you die daily, but I don't want to see you die completely right now! It's your business, for God's sake, to STAY ALIVE SO YOU CAN CARRY ON, & this hypocritical attitude of trying to kill yourself off quick instead of trying to live as long as possible is not what God wants. Because you're going to have to try to live a little longer to carry out what God wants, as YOU WON'T BE MUCH GOOD TO US DEAD!
12. We have reached the stage right now where you have SO MUCH TO DO & SO LITTLE TIME TO DO IT in--so many things to take care of--so many people to take care of, you've created a machine, a Frankenstein's monster which is nearly driving you wild & you're beginning to let it get out of control! SO YOU WORK YOURSELF TO A FRAZZLE & A FRENZY trying to get everything done & take care of everything & everybody you already have, that you're going to find that you may very well be NEGLECTING BOTH GOD & GOD'S WILL!
13. Our business is not trying to preserve these old bottles who've gotten old in just a few years or less! If they're not able by this time to stand on their own two feet, but collapse instead, it's time we walked off & left them to stew in their own juice! They've had mamas & papas taking care of them for one or more years & IF THEY CAN'T MAKE IT BY THIS TIME, FOR GOD'S SAKE LET THEM GO! If they can't stand by this time, we've failed! Let them go! It would be better to lose them. If you're still just counting the quantity, you may be highly disappointed when you find the numbers are going down instead of up. But if those numbers were INFLATED OLD BOTTLES & PEOPLE WHO JUST AREN'T ARMY MATERIAL, WHO HAVE LOST THE FIRE, the vision & the martyr spirit--they've forgotten what they joined the army for--it would be better to lose them!
14. I would rather see our little Gideon's Band on the march & DOING SOMETHING & GETTING SOMEWHERE & still making news invading the Enemy's territory--even if it's nothing but a caravan in somebody's park living in tents--THAN WEIGHED DOWN WITH A BUNCH OF DAMNED HOMES DRAGGING US DOWN!
15. By the time we've had a new disciple in our ranks for three months, he ought to be able to stand on his own & if he's not, he's not worth the trouble! If he hasn't gotten the point by that time, he'll never get it. He may not yet be a leader & able to lead others, but HE OUGHT TO AT LEAST BE ABLE TO FOLLOW OR AT LEAST GET OUT WITNESSING on his own. We have nursemaided him for three months & AT SIX MONTHS HE OUGHT TO BE A LEADER. In our school in Miami we took the three months' graduates & turned them around to the incoming class & said, "Here, you teach them what you learned!"
16. If we've gotten the idea like the churches that the main job is to pile up Homes, keep disciples & grow in numbers, we have lost our whole goal! YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT YOU JOINED THE ARMY FOR! IF YOU THINK THAT JUST KEEPING HOMES & DISCIPLES IS OUR MAIN OBJECTIVE, YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT! OUR JOB IS TO REACH THE ENDS OF THE EARTH WITH THE GOSPEL--TO GET THE MESSAGE ACROSS!
17. You know what happened to the Church? She got so interested in accumulating properties & members that she forgot what her job was! If we have gotten to the point where we cannot continue to march ahead because our Homes & disciples are holding us back, we'd better cut the apron strings & GET RID OF THEM RATHER THAN LET THEM HOLD US back & prevent us from doing the job! More Homes & more disciples are more burdens to carry!
18. I'd rather see a few real soldiers again who really like to fight & like the battle & cannot stand to be tied down but want to HIT THE ROAD & REACH THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, & all they want is the TOOLS to do the job & a little ORGANISATION to tell them how to do it most effectively! God helping us, I want to see us not fail & I want to see us GIVE THEM THE AMMUNITION--THE LITERATURE to do the job. One thing we can do for them is print their literature!
19. If what we have taught these kids is right & Scriptural, we can KICK EVERY ONE OF THEM OUT OF THE NEST & some of them are BOUND TO MAKE IT! If you really believe our message & have faith in the Lord, it's time you GET ALL OF THEM ON THEIR WAY REAPING & gathering the Harvest! Our LIVING IN HOMES IS NOT THE END, it's just the MEANS to an end! A lot of those HOMES HAVE BECOME DEAD-END STREETS! They study a little, witness a little, praise a little & eke out enough to eat & live on. But THESE KIDS ARE NEVER GOING TO BE HAPPY STAYING IN ONE HOME FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES! They're going to get restless even after a few weeks or months. They want to go & see the World & travel! THAT'S WHAT THEY HATED ABOUT HOME--too many restrictions, monotony!
20. You had better remind your kids that NO HOME IS EVER PERMANENT! WE ARE ONLY THERE TO SOW THE SEED & REAP THE HARVEST & THEN BE ON OUR WAY! We're just a-passing through! We never intend to stay anywhere for very long & we intend to send that harvest we reap on its way to reap OTHER fields.--NO POINT IN SITTING AROUND IN A HARVESTED FIELD! We're not sitting around--we're on our way somewhere! OUR GOAL IS NOT ACCUMULATING HOMES & DISCIPLES! It's passing, like an army, with the RICH FIELDS IN FRONT & THE SCORCHED EARTH BEHIND & in a sense devouring the land as we go--reaping the harvest & the fields, GETTING THE SOULS, BILKING THE SYSTEM & WE'RE ON OUR WAY! You've got to keep that point & that strategy & procedure in mind.
21. Organising Homes & getting kids into those Homes is not our main job, but getting the Message to all the World IS our main job! The day to organise old Homes is past! We are in a worldwide emergency! We have declared war & we've been summoned to the front & we've sent out the army & we're not prepared! THE BEST WE CAN HOPE TO DO NOW IS TO GIVE THEM THE TOOLS & THE AMMUNITION TO DO THE JOB!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family