THE WAY OF KINGS!                 DO 2382          11/87

         1. MY TIME WORKING WITH FRED WAS A GOOD SAMPLE OF WORKING WITH KINGS. You pretty much just do what they say, try to please them, try to get along with them, as long as you're getting what you want. But you can't expect to always get EVERYTHING you want.--In fact, you can be thankful if you manage to get along with them at all! So don't expect everything to be rosy all the time. You've got to constantly be walking on your toes, hoping that you're not treading on THEIRS!
         2. DON'T BE TOO DISAPPOINTED IF THINGS DON'T ALWAYS WORK OUT THE WAY YOU'D LIKE THEM TO WITH YOUR KINGS. Look at it this way, if they agree with SOME things & they do ANY of the things you've asked them, you can be thankful. Be thankful if they do what you've asked at all, even if they eventually kick you out! At least you will have TRIED! Don't be too terribly disappointed or surprised even if that's what eventually happens! (Maria: Well, I'd say some of our people ought to try to make MORE friends & kings so they're not so dependent on just ONE.)
         3. I'M ALWAYS LEERY OF KINGS, THEY'RE ALMOST ALWAYS SENSITIVE & YOU'RE ALMOST ALWAYS TREADING ON THEIR TOES SOMEHOW. The best thing is to just go easy, don't push, let THEM get their ideas. And whatever you do, clearly give them the impression that THEY'RE the boss!--THAT you HAVE to do!
         4. THE MAIN THING IS, USE IT WHILE YOU'VE GOT IT, BECAUSE YOU MAY NOT HAVE IT FOR LONG! Even if you only have their backing & support for a YEAR, at least you will have done SOMETHING. Just chalk it up to experience! When the Lord gives you an obvious open door, you've got to go THROUGH it!-How WIDE it's going to open, how long it's going to STAY open, & how soon it's going to slam SHUT, that's up to the LORD! We can't control that. So just USE it while you've GOT it!
         5. JUST BE THANKFUL THAT WE GET AS FAR AS WE DO, & REMEMBER THAT IT'S ONLY THE LORD THAT'S DOING IT! So if He lets it stop or He lets something go haywire, well, that's up to HIM! We can't MAKE them be what we want them to be & do what we want them to do! When people are old & settled in their ways they don't change that easily.
         6. (MARIA: SOMETIMES THEY WANT TO BE A FAMILY MEMBER & BE CONSIDERED FULL-FLEDGED FAMILY MEMBERS, BUT A KING IS ALWAYS A KING!) That's for sure! They just don't want any of us to think that we're any further along than they are! Because that might mean there's something they can't have or can't be.
         7. SO DON'T EXPECT THEM TO ALWAYS GO THROUGH WITH EVERYTHING NECESSARILY. All you can do is make SUGGESTIONS, & if they don't go over, at least you tried. It's just like WITNESSING, & like I've always said, there's always success in witnessing! Even if you never win a soul, you're a success because you're OBEYING. No matter WHAT they do, that's THEIR choice, you can't MAKE them make a decision. Our job is to MAKE suggestions, & since they're kings & queens, they don't have to TAKE them.
         8. WE'RE LIKE THE PROPHETS OF GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. If you want to read an account of the relationship between Prophets & kings, just read the BIBLE! In most of their dealings with kings, the Prophets got more "no's" than "yes's"! They would tell the king what to do, but the king didn't always do it.--And he'd always get in TROUBLE for not doing it, but that was really too late. Once in a great while the king would get in such bad trouble, that he would be willing to humble himself & apologise to either God or the Prophet. However, that was very rarely that they'd ever admit that they'd made a mistake, even when the Prophet & the Lord told them.
         9. MY MOTHER LITERALLY GOT TO THE POINT WHERE IF SHE SAW A RICH PERSON COMING, SHE'D TURN AROUND & RUN THE OTHER DIRECTION! She said they are the WORST people in the World to ever try to work with because they always want to tell you how to do everything & boss you around! They're used to being bosses, used to telling people what to do, & they figure they're just HIRING you, that's all.
         10. THE KINGS JUST FIGURE IF THE BUILDING & THE PROPERTY IS THEIRS, YOU'RE THEIRS TOO! And if they clamp down on YOU, the leader, they'll often try to not only reclaim their PROPERTY, but steal your FLOCK as well! I saw this as late as with Fred, not to mention some of our own people, like Jeth, Deb & some of them. That's what ultimately infuriated them so much, that they didn't get the flock, they couldn't persuade enough people to go with them.
         11. SO I KNOW HOW UNDEPENDABLE KINGS & QUEENS ARE, & HOW THEY CAN TURN AT THE SLIGHTEST SHIFT IN THE WIND. But if they receive us & give us places to stay, how can we refuse when it's obviously the LORD opening the doors & providing us with marvellous opportunities? The kings may actually be something really very small, but they may be the START of something BIG.
         12. FRED WAS JUST A STEP IN MY LIFE. My time working for him was just a STAGE in my TRAINING to get me ready to go ALL the way. He was a STARTER, just like SAUL had his time in DAVID'S life. David started out under Saul's direction & got a lot of his training under him. He learned from Saul not only how to be a king, but largely how NOT to be a king as well!
         13. WHAT I'M DOING TODAY WAS FRED'S VISION, TO SEND OUT FAITH MISSIONARIES BY THE THOUSANDS TO EVANGELISE THE WORLD!--Just like DAVID fulfilled what SAUL was SUPPOSED to do for the KINGDOM! He did what Saul WANTED to do & what Saul FAILED to do because of his disobedience. David stepped into his shoes & went in & conquered the kingdom & conquered more land than they EVER had & made it a greater kingdom, a more powerful kingdom, a richer kingdom than ever!
         14. SO THAT'S THE WAY OF KINGS. YOU GO THEIR WAY, & THEY THINK THEY'RE USING YOU, BUT WHAT GOD IS DOING IS HE'S USING THEM. And you go their way as long as you can use them. How many times have I said that? (See ML #27, 212, 217, 218 etc.!) You go their way as long as you can use them. Of course, you always let them THINK they're using YOU. But when they get to where they think they can do ANYTHING they want & use you ANY way they want to, & not GOD'S way, there always comes a parting of ways.
         15. JUST LOOK AT THE BIBLE!--THE KINGS REALLY SQUIRMED & AGONISED UNDER THE THUMB OF THE PROPHETS! They didn't like to have to take what they said, they didn't even like GOD telling them what to do! So it seems almost impossible for kings to go all the way. Sooner or later they back down & back out if you won't go their way. Once one king said to the Prophet, "Bless me, bless me!" And he said, "HOW can I bless you if you won't obey the LORD?" But he tried to make him bless him, see, because the kings know they are blessed because of the Prophet, because HE is doing what GOD wants him to do.--1Sam.15:30.
         16. SO KINGS CAN BE A REAL PROBLEM! For awhile they're a blessing, but as far as I ever remember, eventually they always become a problem. But don't look at it negatively, you can just figure, "Well, praise God, we were here, we met this king & he carried us this far on the road to this stage, & now he thinks he left us, but WE'VE left HIM to go on with GOD!" That's the way you have to look at it! Don't worry about it.

GO GOD'S WAY!

         17. IF YOU FOLLOW THE LORD YOU CAN NEVER LOSE! And you can only go the way of a KING & follow HIS way as long as it's GOD'S way & you can USE the king!--Even if he thinks HE'S using YOU! Always give them the impression THEY'RE using YOU, but all the time you know that GOD is using HIM.--And as long as he's going GOD'S way, STICK with him. If he starts going OFF the track, just keep right on going with the LORD & you'll not lose anything!--Except maybe a HANDICAP!-Your KING!
         18. KINGS USUALLY FIGURE THAT THEY'VE GOT NOTHING TO LOSE--BUT US--& THEY DON'T REALLY KNOW HOW IMPORTANT WE ARE. They love the Lord & they want to serve the Lord, a little bit like church people, & they'll figure that with or without us they'll still be serving the Lord. Fred's still rocking along with his little ministry without us. (And NOW he's gone to be with the Lord!) But of course it doesn't amount to much. It only served God's purpose to get us started, & we've gone on from there far beyond his wildest dreams, but fulfilling the LORD'S dreams, PTL! Amen?
         19. JUST ROCK ALONG & GO WITH THEM AS FAR AS YOU CAN, AS FAR AS THEY'LL CARRY YOU, & then when it gets to the point where you CAN'T, you'll GRADUATE from the school of kings, the way of kings, & YOU'LL become kings YOURSELVES! PTL! You had your training. You've seen what a king is like & what he's NOT supposed to be like, & you've LEARNED, so YOU'LL be ready to be kings & priests unto GOD!--Rev.1:6; 5:10; 20:6. You learn a LOT from kings! I learned a lot from Fred. I give him the credit for a lot that I learned.
         20. SO THE MORAL OF THE WHOLE THING IS GO THEIR WAY AS LONG AS THEY'RE GOING GOD'S WAY!-And when they DON'T, YOU just keep going GOD'S way, & you'll never lose! You know that! Just go on with GOD! You can't lose if you obey the LORD & go HIS way!--Amen?

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