DO 1798 3/84—Before Laying Hands on Her for Deliverance. Maria No.10

1. THANK YOU JESUS FOR THESE BATTLES WHICH ARE MAKING US STRONG. Thank You for the opportunities You have given us to get real close to You, Lord, to get desperate with You & to lean on You when we see that we can't do it. We're nothing without You, Lord! Even if we go along thinking we can do some things, the battles show us that we can't, that they're more difficult than we have the strength for, that we can't overcome & that You just have to do it, Lord. We just can't do it & we can't win these battles ourselves, Lord, it has to be You! It has to be a supernatural miraculous overcoming & victory, because the battles are greater than we are, Lord, but You are greater than they are!

2. WE THANK YOU THAT YOU DO BRING US THESE TESTS & TRIALS & BATTLES TO SHOW US THAT WE HAVE TO GET CLOSE TO YOU & we have to lean on You & depend on You & that we can't do it without You, Lord! Help us, Jesus! Help us all to realise that the thing You're trying to show us most of all is that we are weak & we are nothing without You & Your help, that it's good to be weak, Lord, & that You want us to be weak! It's one of the hardest things You have to teach us, to be happy to be weak & to be satisfied & content with being weak because then You can be seen, Lord. (2Cor.12:10)

3. THE WHOLE IDEA OF LIVING FOR YOU IS TO SHOW YOU TO OTHERS & HAVE THEM SEE YOUR POWER‚ LORD, NOT OUR OWN.—And we can't do that when we're strong & we're sufficient in ourselves & we're stronger than others & we feel that we can do anything on our own, Lord. Thank You for showing us this, thank You for helping us to realise that we need to be nothing & we need to be happy to be nothing! We shouldn't just bear it as some terrible burden, Lord, but we should thank You for it & praise You for it, because that's what You want, Lord, so You can be seen! We should just be diamonds of dust so that You can be seen through us!

4. JESUS, PLEASE HELP US TO REALISE THIS! It takes so much to get it through to us because we fight being weak & we fight being nothing & not having strength or talent or skill, Lord, but if we do have it, then it gets in our way so terribly! We know that You're trying to break those down who have so much in the natural & so much strength‚ until they're nothing, so people can just see You! And those of us who don't have much in the natural, You're trying to make us happy & make us praise You for it‚ Lord, so we'll realise that it's a wonderful thing to be nothing, because then You can be seen through us, Jesus.

5. HELP US NOT TO FIGHT WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING IN OUR LIVES, LORD. You deal with us all individually, but You deal with us all to bring about the same result, that through our weakness then You can be strong & people can see You & that You will get the credit & the glory for it & that we'll never take any of the credit or glory to ourselves, that it'll all be You, Jesus.—And Lord, please do whatever You have to do to make us that way. We want it because we know that's what You want & that's the goal, Lord, that people will see You in us & that we will be nothing & that You will be everything! You told us that You can use only broken people, Lord‚ so please break us as much as You have to so that we're only dust & we're nothing, & then You can remold us & use us in the way You best see fit.

6. NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES, LORD‚ WE WANT YOU TO DO IT! No matter what You have to strip us of, Lord, whatever You have to change, whatever You have to do in our lives, no matter how painful it'll be & no matter what we think we'll lose that we've tried to hold on to for so long, please do it, Lord! Please do it so we'll lean on You & depend on You. Even if You have to yank everything out from under us & take everything away from us so we can just trust You & just lean on You, Lord, then that's what we want! We know You're trying to do just that & You want to do it in all of us, but it's very painful, Lord, it's hard for us, but we know that's what we're here for & that's what we joined this Army for & that's why we said we wanted to live for You! Help us not to fight whatever it is that You want to use to break us.

7. WE KNOW MANY OF THY SAINTS HAVE GONE THROUGH SO MUCH MORE IN COMPARISON TO ...They've spent years in prison without anybody‚ without any Christians or anyone to depend on or lean on or to talk to but You. They've had tragedies in their lives where their whole families & all their friends were taken away & tortured, Lord, but they stood firm for You. These little trials & battles that seem so great to us are really small, Lord. Help us to keep in mind that what we have to suffer is nothing compared with what so many others have suffered, Lord.

8. HELP US TO BE WILLING TO BE HUMBLED & TO BE STRIPPED OF EVERYTHING IF NECESSARY! Help us to just be nothing so that You can remake us & remold us so only You will be seen in our lives! Help us, Lord! Do it, Jesus! We know it's the thing that we fight the most, the humbling, the forsaking & the changing, the just believing that what You say is true‚ no matter what!—No matter whether we understand it or not, Lord! Sometimes You just require us to do things or You require things of us for which there isn't any logical explanation. You just want to see if we're willing to do it because You say so, if we're willing to trust that You do have some purpose behind it. You know what's best, even if it doesn't seem best for us‚ Lord! You just want to see if we're willing to trust You & believe You & believe You through Thy leadership, Lord, & Thy prophet, by faith, believing You that "All things do work together for good to them that love Thee"! (Rom.8:28)

9. JESUS, WE WANT TO BE WILLING & YIELDED, BECAUSE YOU CAN ONLY FILL EMPTY VESSELS THAT ARE DESIROUS OF THE WATER OF LIFE & THE SPIRIT. Help us to be empty with no will of our own & no thoughts or ideas of our own, but just willing to receive whatever You have for us, to be broken & remade & have done whatever You want to do with us, Lord‚ whatever it is. Help us all, Jesus!

10. WE WANT YOU TO DO THIS IN ALL OF OUR LIVES, TO BE MADE NOTHING SO YOU CAN HAVE FULL SWAY & OTHERS CAN SEE YOU IN US, LORD! Help us not to be rebellious & not to fight it, not to be proud, but to be humble & willing to be nothing, in Jesus' name, help us all! TYJ! PYL! Help us to praise You for it Lord, not look on it as something terrible that we have to go through! Help us to smile through our tears & know that it's working out Thy good pleasure‚ Lord, & Thy Will for us & Thy work‚ to be conformed to Thy image, Lord, in Jesus' name.

11. THANK YOU FOR IT, LORD! THANK YOU FOR THE CHASTISEMENTS & THE HUMBLINGS & THE BREAKINGS. Thank You even for the things that we don't understand‚ Lord. Thank You that we can know, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are for our good & that they're going to work together for good & that they're going to make us into the kind of vessel that You want us to be, even though we sometimes don't see how we can bear it or what's going to happen. But Lord, just help us to believe & thank You for it, no matter what. TYJ! PYL! Hallelujah! TYJ! PYL! TYL! Amen, TYJ!

12. SUCH GREAT LOVE YOU'VE GIVEN US, LORD, SUCH GREAT MERCY YOU'VE SHOWN US, HOW LOVINGLY YOU DEAL WITH US! Perhaps sometimes it doesn't seem lovingly to us, & we chafe against it & we think it's severe & harsh, but even that is loving‚ Lord.—Because if that's the only way that You can get through to us & if that's the only way You can show us, You're loving us enough to do it, even though You know it hurts. We know You don't give us anything more than You have to or any more than we can take. You only give us what will work in us Thy good pleasure, Lord. Even if it sometimes seems harsh to us, we know it's only because You have to do it‚ Lord, & we know it's done in love! You don't want to hurt us‚ but sometimes that's the only way that we can be broken & remade. Breaking always hurts, Lord, & You know it has to be done that way‚ so help us to thank You for it, not to be offended, not to have our feelings hurt, not be proud, but to just accept it‚ Lord.

13. HELP US ALL, JESUS! WE ALL NEED THIS! We all know that things will be a lot easier if we just accept what You're trying to do in our lives, if we accept the breakings & the chastisements & the lessons & all of these things, if we don't fight against them‚ if we just yield, Lord. Help us to believe Thy Word & know that it's right & that it's true & that it's going to accomplish in us what You want if we yield to it, obey it & do it. Help us to submit, to yield, to let You have Your way, no matter how hard it is, no matter how much it hurts, to just say, "Thank You, Jesus!" for it. We know it's necessary because we know You wouldn't give us anything that was bad for us or that we couldn't take, so it must be what's needed, even if we don't understand it. Help us to be willing, Lord, willing to go through these breakings so we can be made anew. Help us to yield‚ to be humbled & broken, to be nothing, so that You can work & live in us, so that others will see You in us. Help us to want to be weak‚ Lord, to be happy to be weak, that Your glory can be seen in us, in Jesus' name, TYL! PYL! TYJ! (AMEN! GBAK us humble & yielded!—In Jesus' name‚ amen!)

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family