THE CHOICE IS YOURS!--Peter's Talk to Techi, & Prayer for Her.
Peter#61
5/90
"Know ye not, that to whom ye YIELD yourself servant to obey, his servant ye are to whom ye obey?"--Rom.6:16.
(For Adults, Teens & JETTs)
1. Thank You Lord! Please lead & guide us, in Jesus' name. Well, Honey, because we don't have a lot of time, I won't give you the three-hour lecture, I'll just give you the short one. But you need to take it just as seriously, even though it's short, okay?
2. As you know, our Family is witnessing to millions & millions of people every month, winning souls & freeing multitudes of hearts & minds from the Devil's clutches.--And the Devil can't stand it! So of course he tries to stop & hinder us in every way that he possibly can.--As Grandpa has said, "If you do it the right way, the Devil will fight you!"
3. MAMA POINTED OUT THE OTHER DAY THAT THERE SEEM TO BE THREE MAJOR AVENUES OR WAYS THROUGH WHICH THE ENEMY ATTACKS US IN ORDER TO TRY TO HINDER & HARM THE LORD'S WORK: One way is through ungodly System people who hate God's Work & try to persecute His workers--an OUTSIDE attack. A second method he uses is working through Family Members, usually in the form of PERSONAL PROBLEMS that they have--an INSIDE attack. The third avenue of attack is through so-called "natural" circumstances, both on the outside & the inside.--Such as "natural disasters" or even long periods of bad weather that disrupt our witnessing, economic crashes & financial instability such as are happening in Latin America right now, & even seemingly "natural" inside attacks such as sicknesses & physical afflictions that put us out of action.
4. Of these three means of attack by the Enemy, it seems that the one that most often hinders the Lord's Work & takes up the most time & holds us back from doing our very best for the Lord is our personal problems. When you are all weighed down & burdened by your personal problems, it keeps you from doing your best for Jesus. Therefore, your problems are not only a hindrance to you, but to the Lord's Work as well. And when your personal problems become so serious that a lot of other people's time & strength is spent in counselling or dealing with you, then your problems become an even greater hindrance to the Lord's Work!
5. Remember, the Lord loves you very much, & He is very concerned that you are personally & individually fulfilled & happy, fruitful & productive, growing & gaining the victories that you need. The Lord will always do His part to strengthen & deliver you from your problems & make you a blessing.--For your own sake & for His Work's sake as well!
6. BUT THE ENEMY IS JUST THE OPPOSITE: He wants to make you discouraged, dissatisfied, unhappy & defeated. What he'd REALLY like to do is to COMPLETELY defeat & DESTROY you, & take you OUT of God's Work ENTIRELY. But if he can't do THAT, then he will try to use you & your problems to hinder the Lord's Work by taking up a lot of OTHER people's time & attention. He'll also try to use you & your problems to negatively affect others, to bring out the same problems in THEM, if they're weak enough to be influenced & pulled down by you.
7. SO YOU REALLY NEED TO REALISE THAT IT'S SERIOUS BUSINESS TO YIELD TO THE ENEMY'S TEMPTATIONS & LIES, to listen to him & get on his NEGATIVE track instead of the Lord's POSITIVE channel. Because when you continue to listen to & yield to the Enemy, you not only become unhappy & discouraged & "out of it" YOURSELF, but pretty soon you become a problem for everyone ELSE around you as well, taking up THEIR time & attention in having to deal with you & your problems.--And time that is spent on us & our own personal problems is time that CANNOT be spent in reaching LOST SOULS & giving God's Word to a dying World!--Or in a Home like OURS where we're unable to do much PERSONAL witnessing, the Enemy tries to use people's personal problems to hinder Grandpa & Mama's work of ministering to & strengthening all of our witnessers & soul-winners throughout the World.
8. WHENEVER & WHEREVER THE LORD IS WORKING & MOVING, YOU CAN BE SURE THAT THE ENEMY WILL BE TRYING TO HINDER OR DISTRACT THE LORD'S WORKERS.--And if he can't personally or directly stop the leaders & pioneers of the Lord's Work, then he'll often attack or tempt someone ELSE who's a little bit weaker, knowing that if THAT person has serious enough problems, he can use THEM to distract & drag the OTHERS away from their work for the Lord as well!
9. THE ENEMY OFTEN TEMPTS PEOPLE TO YIELD TO THEIR PROBLEMS FOR THIS REASON. They usually don't even realise what's really going on or how the Enemy is trying to use them to hinder the Lord's Work. They just think, "Well, maybe I'm just being a little proud" or "I'm just being a little jealous" or whatever they're being, & they YIELD to the Enemy.
10. EVEN THOUGH YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE SPIRIT, THE DEVIL KNOWS, & he's out to cause trouble. You may think, "Well, I've been rebellious BEFORE, & it wasn't really such a big deal. I'll just yield to the Enemy a little bit, but tomorrow I'll be OK, I won't yield tomorrow." But what you don't realise is that the Devil has come in looking around for someone who is already weakened through even a little yielding to his lies. He knows that this time he may be able to cause really BIG trouble. Maybe you think, "Oh, this is just a normal `business-as-usual' situation & I'll just be a LITTLE rebellious." So you start to yield to the Enemy, & all of a sudden, "wham!", the Devil hits you really HARD!
11. I KNOW, BECAUSE IT HAS HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE. There was a time when I was the one who was a little out of the Spirit & could have caused a major problem. I started to get REALLY out of it, but, thank the Lord, the Lord checked me & caught me on it. But I had to make a definite DECISION to snap out of it then, & thank the Lord I made the right decision & I got the victory over the particular thing that was plaguing me, & I've had the victory over it ever since.
12. IN A SITUATION LIKE THAT, YOU HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION that you want to really GET the victory & be happy & used by the Lord, & not unhappy & used by the Devil. That is now YOUR choice.
13. THOSE WHO MAKE THE WRONG CHOICE FIND TO THEIR SURPRISE THAT WHEN THEY CONTINUE TO YIELD TO THE ENEMY, HE STARTS PLAYING HARD BALL with them instead of soft ball, he starts playing a lot rougher. They didn't really INTEND to get into such a bad state, & when they had PREVIOUSLY yielded to the Enemy they probably DIDN'T get into such a bad state. But when people keep yielding to the Enemy like that, he can get quite a grip on them.--And then it can be very difficult for them to pull out of it.
14. OTHER PEOPLE THEN DO HAVE TO SPEND SOME TIME ON THEM, & IT DOES SLOW DOWN THE WORK A LITTLE. But then the leadership usually has to decide, "Look, we've got to go on with the Lord's Work!"--And those people who thought it would be okay to be just a "little" rebellious or unyielded, wind up totally unhappy, miserable & in a terrible state of rebellion & confusion--stewing in all their problems & very weakened. When the Enemy sees that he wasn't able to really stop or do much damage to the Lord's Work with them, he just chews'm up & spits'm out, leaving them in a terribly weakened spiritual state! And it sometimes takes them YEARS to get over it, IF they get over it at all. In other words, it's SERIOUS business to wilfully rebel and refuse to yield to the Lord!
15. If you don't get the victory & you persist in being a little rebellious & sassy or murmuring or whatever, in the long run, do you know who gets hurt the most?--You! I'll use Mene as an example, because you were there & you know her. In the long run, who really got hurt? Did the Enemy stop the Work of God by using her?--No. Are a lot of us not doing our job today because of her?--No. Is she happy & free like she used to be?--No. Is she now really sorry for everything she did?--Yes. Can she undo the damage?--No. And is she ever going to have all of her faculties back?--Is she ever going to get over all her quirks & oddities & not be a little coo-coo?--Probably not.--All because she played around so long with the Enemy!
16. So in the long run, as much as we tried to help her--& we really tried to help her for a long time--we had to just let her go somewhere else. She only hurt herself. And now she's really sorry.
17. AMY & GABE'S WHOLE PURPOSE & JOB HERE, THE DESIRE OF THEIR HEART, IS TO HELP YOU, because they LOVE you! They correct you because they love you. So it's sort of sad when you refuse to yield, I know it hurts them. They're not trying to push you around, they're just trying to HELP you. Do you understand that?
THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF 11-13 YEAR OLDS!
18. THE TEEN SHEPHERDS IN JAPAN SAID IN THEIR REPORT THAT SOMETHING VERY FASCINATING HAPPENS WITH MOST OF YOU KIDS WHEN YOU HIT 11 & 12, SOME OF YOU EVEN EARLIER. They said BEFORE that age you sort of toddle along & you make your mistakes, maybe you complain sometimes or are a little rebellious or you murmur or whatever. Then you get a swat or you get corrected, & you get the victory, & it's all quite simple. You know how it is when you're little, if you're out of line, you get a swat & then you're back in line again!
19. But they say that all of a sudden, when you kids get to be about 11 or 12, it's not like that any more! At the age of 11 or perhaps 12, you become very accountable to the Lord & you step into the real spiritual battles that are going on. No longer can your Shepherds just point out your problem, discipline you for it & always expect an instantaneous victory. There's suddenly more to it. And you have to start making your own choices to yield to the Lord or rebel against Him.
20. When you're little, your choices in the Spirit don't seem to matter as much. But when you get to be 11 or 12, you're much more knowledgeable of the Word & you become more accountable. Your own decision becomes much more important. When you were little & you'd get defiant, you'd get a swat & you'd repent & get the victory; whereas once you're 11 or 12, if you say, "I'm not going to yield," it's more serious.
21. In most cases, before that age there seemed to be a certain protection that didn't allow that so much, but once you get to the age where you're accountable & where it's your decision, & the Lord knows that you know what you're doing, then you have to start playing the game a little bit more by the same rules as the adults.--And one of the rules or principles that the adults are aware of is that if you open the door to the Enemy, his poisonous gas is going to seep in, & it's going to weaken you, & you'll have to struggle & fight to overcome it.
22. (ADDITIONAL NOTE FROM MAMA: IF A YOUNG CHILD, SUCH AS A 6-YEAR-OLD, CONTINUES TO MAKE WRONG DECISIONS, HE COULD BE IN JUST AS BAD SHAPE AS AN OLDER CHILD WHO CONTINUES TO MAKE WRONG DECISIONS. But there should, of course, be a responsible adult who is taking care of that young child.--In which case, the ADULT is responsible for seeing that that 6-year-old does not CONTINUE making the wrong decisions & going the wrong way.
23. (Whereas when you're 11 or 12 years old, even though there should still be an adult responsible for guiding & correcting you, the amount of blame that will fall on that adult if you make the wrong decisions will be much less than the blame they would receive were they caring for a delinquent 6-year-old. By the time you are 11 or 12 years old, the responsibility for your behaviour shifts, with much more of that responsibility being directly on you.
24. (The adult has the heavy responsibility of doing all he can to help you, whether you are 6 years old or 12 years old. However, after he's done all he can with a 6-year-old, that 6-year-old is almost certain to have gotten back on the right track. But after he's done all he can with a 12-year-old, that 12-year-old may or may not be back on the right track, depending on the 12-year-old's decision to yield to the Lord or to resist & rebel.
25. (Any time a child disobeys, it opens the door for the Enemy to get in & it's serious, but with a 6-year-old it's primarily the adult's responsibility to correct it & stop it. But by the time you're 11 or 12 years old, the adult can't always stop it, & much more of the responsibility falls on you, because you are then largely accountable to the Lord for yourself.
26. (When anyone is disobedient & unyielded, a chink is opened up in their spiritual armour & the Enemy's poisonous gas begins to seep in. In the case of the 6-year-old, the Enemy's gases & influences can be more easily eliminated or put to flight by the adult. In your case, if you're a young Teen, you must make up your own mind that you want to go the right way, & you must decide to actively fight for the victory. At this age, Godly counsel & discipline by adults is important & very necessary [& they'll be delinquent if they don't give it], but it is not enough. When you've reached that age, you have a lot more responsibility & are a lot more accountable to the Lord.--So you have to make your own decisions & put up more of a fight against the Enemy yourself personally.
27. (Disobedience & unyieldedness & rebellion open the door for the Devil's poisonous gas to seep in with a younger child as well as with an older child. But in the case of the older child, it's definitely more serious. When you're 11 or 12 years old, though the adults should do everything they can to help you, if you don't cooperate & yield to the Lord, if you refuse to make the right decision, then they can't do much for you. They can't over-ride or change your will. You are directly accountable to the Lord, & the choice is yours!)
28. When you start playing by the big people rules--& I would say you're now entering that age--you can't say, "Well, all the 11-year-olds have this problem, so it's totally acceptable. It's okay, that's just the way it is when you're 11." The fact is that you've now got to make your own choices.--To yield or not to yield to the Lord & your Shepherds.
29. You have a lot more choice now. You can now say, "I don't want to yield." But now when you make that choice, the Lord allows the Enemy to have a little more control than he would have had two years ago if you'd made that same choice then. The Lord protects you more when you are little because you're less accountable, whereas now you need to really cry out for the Lord's protection & you need to understand that you're playing in the Big League in the Spirit!
30. Did you read those quotes I compiled for you from the Daily Might? Those quotes show that all of this is pretty serious business, especially that one about how people who want help have to really be sincerely wanting it, yielding to it & desiring it themselves. In other words, we can pray that the Lord will help you to be more the way you're supposed to be & not do the things that you're not supposed to do. But you have to really want that. Your choice makes a lot more difference now.
31. WE ALL FEEL THAT IT WOULD BE GOOD TO HAVE UNITED PRAYER FOR YOU. But again, the prayer really depends on YOU. Like Grandpa's explained, it's a three-part deal between God, the Shepherds, & the person involved. We know GOD won't fail & He'll do HIS part, & WE won't fail because we'll do OUR part. But YOU have to do YOUR part & really WANT & sincerely seek the Lord's help.
IT'S YOUR CHOICE!
32. When people are faced with a choice like this, & when you 11 & 12 & 13-year-olds have to make this choice, many of you, if not most of you, choose the right way, TTL! You decide, "I really do want to go on for the Lord, I want to do my best, I want to be yielded." You then find life is a lot easier & more fulfilling.
33. BUT THERE ARE SOME WHO DECIDE, "I'M NOT GOING TO YIELD, I'm NOT going to bow my head & say, `yes, I need help,' I'm just going to keep going on my OWN way!" Well, even most of them, somewhere down the line, eventually yield & get back in line too. But do you know WHY?--Because of all the things the Lord has to DO to them to CHASTEN them! He can make their lives pretty difficult with sickness & trouble after trouble. It's not because the Lord hates them, He LOVES them & wants to HELP them.
34. It's like if you were facing a fork in the road, & somebody said, "If you take the road on the right, you'll find that the weather is beautiful, the road is gentle, & you'll even catch a ride or two on some very nice buses. But if you go on this other road, it's going to be really rough going & it's going to be stormy weather, lots of big potholes & there are all kinds of dangerous animals & wild beasts & you'll catch no rides!" You would then have to make a choice.
35. And if you're smart, you would choose the easy way, the safe way, the road that goes to the right. But if you want to be dumb, you can choose the other one. Maybe both roads end up at the same place, but on the one, you'll come out of it all battered & torn & worn out, whereas if you take the other road, you'll come out inspired & refreshed.
36. (Gabe: Like Peter says, it gets a little bit harder once you open the door & the Enemy's poisonous gas seeps in. Last night you made the decision, "I'm going to yield, I'm not going to be so stubborn any more." But when you got tested on it again today, you failed. Because you've given in to the Enemy so much, he has been allowed more control, & you therefore have less control, so it's more difficult to get the victory.
37. (EVEN AFTER WE PRAY TONIGHT, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO SAY, "I'M ALL BETTER NOW," because it's going to be a FIGHT for quite awhile. Every day you're going to have to really fight & attack the Enemy. Prayer is just the beginning, it's just a preparation. The Lord's going to help you, He WILL deliver you, but you've got to continue to FIGHT. And no one can do it FOR you, YOU'VE got to do it on your own.)
38. But the good thing about it is, the Lord will answer prayer & help you to do it! In other words, you can have the victory if you want it. It will be a fight, but you can win. Do you know how I know that's true? Because I've had big problems before too, & the Lord delivered me!
39. WHEN YOU'RE NOT QUITE SO ACCOUNTABLE, & YOU BEGIN TO YIELD TO YOUR WEAKNESSES OR PROBLEMS, it's sort of like you're on a slant like this: (Demonstrates with a slightly tilted ruler). You're here on the high side of the ruler, & your problems are downhill, on the low side. At first, your problems may not seem so bad, & you might be able to walk down into the problem a little bit, & then you walk right back out pretty easily. It's not a very steep slant. So you might be used to walking back & forth, in & out of your problems, & think, "Oh, I'll go down here & be just a LITTLE bit rebellious today, but then I'll come back up here again, it's no big deal."
40. But as you grow up & begin to enter the Big Leagues a little more, the gradual slant may suddenly become very very steep! But if you're going along with a "business-as-usual" attitude thinking everything's the same as it always has been, & you decide to get into your problems a little bit, you may be shocked to discover that all of a sudden--whoosh!--you slide all the way down! Then it's very very difficult to get back up again, it's a much bigger struggle than it ever was when the slant was so gradual & slight.
41. IF YOU'RE USED TO YIELDING TO YOUR PROBLEMS, OR YIELDING TO THE ENEMY, the uphill climb will become steeper & steeper, & more & more difficult. That's how it used to be with me & my battles with jealousy. The Enemy used to really knock me way down with that, and it was quite a struggle to get back up to a place of victory and usefulness to the Lord.--But I got back, TTL! I have the victory over it now, but every once in awhile the Enemy is diligent to come around & whisper a little in my ear & tempt me with it.
42. I know that if I take just one little baby step in the wrong direction--not a big yielding, just a little yielding to the Enemy--I could be right back down at the bottom again!--Which would mean I'd have to fight & struggle all the way back up a very steep slope, & that really makes me not want to yield to the Enemy at all, because it would be such a big waste of time & strength. I'd much rather just not yield to the Enemy at all, & stay up here & have a great time.--And I'd say this same principle holds true for you!
WE'RE NOT FIGHTING AGAINST YOU!
43. (AMY: IN ONE OF YOUR REACTIONS YOU SAID THAT WHEN YOU TRY TO FIGHT THE LORD & THE ENEMY ON BOTH FRONTS, THEN IT GETS REALLY HARD. But the thing to remember, like Peter said, is that WE'RE not fighting against you! I know you get tempted to think that sometimes. What you said about how you took a stand against the adults in deciding that you were going to be more independent & stubborn, it's at THAT point that you started fighting the Enemy & the Lord, & it got really really hard, right? When WE fight, we're fighting FOR you & WITH you AGAINST the DEVIL!--We're on YOUR side! That's always a good thing to tell the Devil & to remind him if he tempts you along those lines.) Amen, that's right, PTL. Shall we pray now?
TECHI'S PRAYER
44. (TECHI: THANK YOU JESUS! [CRYING] I REALLY PRAY THAT YOU'LL HELP ME, JESUS, WITH THIS FIGHT, that You'll really help me & give me the strength to be able to fight the Enemy, Jesus! I know that YOU'RE stronger than the Enemy, so I know You CAN help me, Jesus. I really pray that You'll please help me not to yield to the Enemy at all, and not to fight You either, but to YIELD to You, Lord, & to the adults. Please help me to get the victory over this, Lord!
45. (I know it's going to be a fight, Jesus, but I know with You helping me, I can make it. I really pray that You'll help me, Jesus, because I know that I can do all things through Christ Who strengtheneth me, in Jesus' name. Please help me not to be rebellious, Lord, but to yield to You! Please do whatever You want to with me, Jesus, just as long as I can get the victory, in Jesus' name. TYL! PYJ!)
PETER PRAYS FOR TECHI
46. THANK YOU JESUS! TYL! YOU KNOW TECHI'S HEART, LORD. She's cried out to You now, Lord, & we know that You promised that You WOULD perfect that which concerneth us. (Psa. 138:8.) If we call unto You, You promised You WILL answer us, Jesus. And You said if we agree on Earth as touching anything that we shall ask of the Father, it SHALL be done!--Mat.18:19.
47. SO WE AGREE TOGETHER RIGHT NOW, LORD, THAT YOU WILL WORK IN TECHI'S HEART & LIFE, THAT YOU WILL REALLY RAISE UP A STANDARD AGAINST THE ENEMY FOR HER! She's yielding herself to YOU, Lord, so we just pray that YOU step in now, Jesus, that You REBUKE the Enemy, in Jesus' name, & that You rebuke any rebelliousness or those lies that he comes to whisper in her ear against others, Lord, against the adults or against anyone. Just help her to SLAM the door in the Enemy's face, Lord, to just rebuke him right then & not to give ANY place to him!
48. You said, "Resist the Devil & he will flee from you!" You also promised, Lord, that You gave Your disciples power over all the works of the Enemy. (Lk.10:19.) So we rebuke the Devil, Lord, & any hold that he has in any way on Techi, & we expect You to deliver her now, Lord, in Jesus' name! You do it, Lord! Raise up a standard against the Evil One! You said this is why You were manifested, to destroy the works of the Devil! (1Jn.3:8.) So we pray that You will destroy all his works, in Jesus' name.
49. Strengthen Techi, Lord. Help her to know how much we really really love her, Lord, & that we really want to fight with her against the Enemy & do all we can to help. Really help her now, Lord, & help her above all to keep her mind & heart on Thee, looking to You, Lord, & fighting against those voices of the Enemy that come to speak his evil words & thoughts that he puts in her head. We just rebuke it in Jesus' name! Hallelujah! PYL! TYJ!--In Jesus' name, amen! PTL!
DON'T FEEL BAD IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS, JUST DON'T HANG ON TO THEM!
50. IF YOU KEEP HAVING PROBLEMS BUT YOU KEEP GETTING VICTORIES, WELL, THAT'S NOT SO BAD.--ESPECIALLY IF IT'S NOT THE SAME PROBLEM OVER AND OVER. We ALL go through battles and have our problems and NWOs. But as long as we stay yielded and are asking the Lord to help us win the victory, it's natural to have problems. It's when we DON'T want to get the victory or we just REFUSE to yield, that's when we become a serious problem.
51. So don't feel bad that you have problems, just don't hang on to them! "Lay aside all the weights and the sins that do so easily beset you!" Sins easily beset us all, we just have to "lay them aside and run with patience, looking unto Jesus!"--Heb.12:1,2.--Amen? (Techi: Amen!) I love you! (Techi: I love you, too!)
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family