—Maria No.20 DO 19263/85

1. WHEN EVERYBODY STARTS BEING HONEST & OPEN & FREE, IT BRINGS ABOUT A LOT OF BENEFITS, BUT IT ALSO CAN BE A LITTLE BIT DETRIMENTAL TOO. When everyone feels free to air all of their problems, often it promotes more problems, because some people like to have problems & like to be the centre of attention & like to talk about their problems! Of course‚ not everybody who has problems feels that way, but some do! You're going to get people with the wrong motivation, people who are going to take your time & attention & who are going to go on & on & on & are never going to get the victory! Promoting honesty & openness does bring up a number of problems, but just like Dad said, you have to be prepared for a little wildfire if you're going to have any fire at all, otherwise you'll just be dead! You've got to do the right thing regardless of whether it brings a few other problems in its wake.

2. IN THE PAST, THE FAMILY WAS TAUGHT BY SOME LEADERS THAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SUCH TOUGH SOLDIERS THAT THEY WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO HAVE PERSONAL PROBLEMS! Well, of course they did have them, but the fact that they had that attitude & frame of mind that they were supposed to be soldiers & were supposed to resist these problems kept them from being relaxed in their spiritual thinking & kept them fighting against the problems a lot more. They really tried hard not to have problems because they knew they would not be tolerated! It meant they were on guard against their problems a lot more, they definitely fought against their problems & got the victory over them—or at least kept them from becoming detrimental to the Work.

3. BUT NOW WE DEAL SO MERCIFULLY WITH PROBLEMS & WITH SO MUCH LOVE, & WE GIVE PEOPLE THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT, we talk to them & pay attention to them & really try to help them through their problems. However, logically thinking, this means that nowadays you don't mind having problems as much as in the early days of the Family. I think that the Family in general needs to be on their guard against this attitude.

4. PEOPLE NOW KNOW THAT THEY CAN AIR THEIR LEGITIMATE PROBLEMS & GET VICTORIES THAT THEY'VE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO GET BEFORE‚ because now they can freely share them & unitedly pray for deliverance, which is very good! However, other people are going to try to take advantage of this & their attitude is going to be, "Well, now I can have more problems, now I don't have to be such a soldier & be so strong, everybody else is having problems‚ everybody else is getting prayer, everybody else is getting attention, so why can't I be a problem child too?"

5. IT'S GOOD FOR THOSE WHO HAVE LEGITIMATE PROBLEMS & THAT ARE SINCERELY TRYING TO GET THE VICTORY & WANT DELIVERANCE TO TALK ABOUT THEM & TO ASK FOR PRAYER. But by the same token, along with it is going to come some people who shouldn't really be having major public problems because they could have fought against them & could've gotten the victory without any big fanfare! If they would have just fought, the victory would have been theirs, without getting everybody else involved & having to spend hours of time & energy talking to them & praying for them & babying them & trying to get them over the hump! But they like it! I think the Family needs to be on guard against that! Of course it is a little bit difficult to discern between those whose motivation is right & who really need help, & those who should be able to get the victory without a real major public spectacle. I don't really know the answer to that, except that it takes real discernment!

6. BUT ONE THING WE DO KNOW IS THAT WE CAN GIVE EVERYBODY A CHANCE TO GET DELIVERED! We can give everybody their prayer session & a chance to confess & to get their pats on the back & maybe their time in bed with whoever they need to help them, & then we'll see. If they don't get the victory in a reasonable length of time & if they continue to be problem cases, then you have to ask, "Who is at fault?" If everybody has done all they can & there's been united prayer for deliverance, then we know the Lord is not going to fail. If they don't get the victory in the time you have to give them, then forget it! They'd better go somewhere else‚ because you've got to get on with the Lord's Work! Their problems can't interfere with their work or your work‚ so they'd better get the victory!

7. WE GIVE EVERYBODY THE SAME OPPORTUNITY, THE SAME CHANCE‚ REGARDLESS OF WHAT THEIR MOTIVES ARE. The Lord knows their true motives & He is capable of helping them if they really want to be helped. On the other hand, if they just want to be a problem child & they don't really want to get the victory, it will show & pretty soon we'll know! We can't spend that much time on problem cases, because this is a war & we are still supposed to be soldiers regardless of how we might think that things have changed since the first years of the Family. Although we may be a more loving & concerned army, we are still an army & we have to get on with the battle!

8. WHENEVER WE HAVE TO JUDGE WHETHER SOMETHING IS GOOD OR NOT WE ALWAYS HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE RULE THAT DAD LAID DOWN: IS IT FRUITFUL? If something is bearing bad fruit then we'd better get rid of it‚ either the problem or the problem person! Of course, you usually don't know if something is bearing bad fruit until you give it a chance, you've got to wait a little bit to see the kind of fruit it brings forth, you can't make too hasty a decision. You've got to try to give people all the benefit of the doubt that you can & give them as much time as you can & help them all you can, but it can't be for too long! We've got a lot of people with a lot of problems & everybody wants their turn to get them taken care of, so you can't spend all your time on any one person. We'll do everything we can for them to try to help them through, we'll be loving & concerned about them & pray for them individually & unitedly, we'll talk with them & spend time with them‚ but we can't wait forever for them to get the victory!

9. IF PEOPLE CONTINUE TO BE PROBLEMS, THEN IT'S THEIR PROBLEM, IT'S NOT THE LORD'S PROBLEM! Certainly the prayers of the Saints have a great deal of efficacy, so it's not that those who prayed didn't have the faith, & it's not that the Lord failed to deliver them, so it must be the person's problem then! When it comes to the point where it seems nothing has helped, then we have to turn around & say that it is the person's fault, he's the problem & obviously he doesn't want the victory that much! Something is wrong with him & he doesn't belong in this outfit! I just don't know how a person with continual serious problems can have a place in the Family! We just don't need'm!

10. OF COURSE WE ALL CONTINUE TO HAVE PROBLEMS, BUT WITH MOST OF US THEY AREN'T THAT SERIOUS & THEY'RE USUALLY NOT THE SAME PROBLEM OVER & OVER AGAIN. With most of us when a serious problem does come up we get the victory over it, we trust the Lord & He gives us the victory! We may go on to some other problem after that, but at least we don't usually have too many big serious problems all at one time. If we have a serious problem, we get the victory over it & then we go on to fight other battles, we don't have to spend most of our time sitting around fighting big serious battles with ourselves.

11. OF COURSE WE ALL CONSTANTLY HAVE LITTLE PROBLEMS & LITTLE BATTLES THAT WE FIGHT AGAINST, BUT THEY SHOULDN'T BE SO BIG THAT THEY ARE GOING TO DISTRACT YOU FROM FIGHTING THE WAR, & KEEP YOU FROM GETTING DONE WHAT THE LORD WANTS YOU TO DO! Everybody has their little problems & we make leeway for that, we take it into consideration & we have mercy & understanding because they're not affecting or stopping the whole work or distracting others from getting the Lord's work done. You can even let people have a big serious problem once in a awhile & you can give them the benefit of the doubt & give them some consideration & take some time to help them to get the victory, but if they start having too many serious problems too close together or they have the same one continually over & over again, then I think there's something wrong! When someone's problems start to take up too much time, then you've got to get rid of the problem, one way or the other. The person either needs to get rid of the problem‚ or you have to rid yourself of them! We can't stop the whole work of the Lord just to keep constantly dealing with someone!

12. THE HONESTY REVOLUTION IS A GOOD THING, IT'S WONDERFUL & IT'S BRINGING ABOUT MANY VICTORIES, BUT OF COURSE THE ENEMY WILL TRY TO GET IN & MAKE IT BAD & TURN IT TO HIS ENDS INSTEAD OF THE LORD'S! The Honesty Revolution is tremendous, very necessary & very needed. We just need to be on guard against problems that can arise as a result—people who feel they can have more problems in order to get more attention. Also you can get people being honest with themselves to the point of getting too much into dwelling on their faults & the negative instead of really lifting up the Lord & sharing the victories. Besides that, you get those who tend to be a little free about telling the problems of others, which isn't their place to do at all!

13. WITH ALL OF OUR FREEDOMS, BOTH PHYSICAL & SPIRITUAL, WE HAVE TO BE ON GUARD AGAINST THE POTENTIAL EXCESSES OR MISUSE OR THE ENEMY'S TRICKS. For example, when you have a lot of freedom in the Spirit & everybody begins to prophesy, the Enemy often tries to get in through some weak person & get them off the track & distracted into some kind of false prophecy, but that doesn't mean we should all stop prophesying, it just means that you have to be watchful & mindful of it. Every good thing has an opposite, a negative bad thing that is bound to try to crop up somewhere along the line, but we can't help that. As leaders, we just have to keep going & keep our minds on the Lord & our motivations right & try to watch for people who are weak & those who want to try to cause problems or be problems themselves. We have to try to nip it in the bud & not let ourselves get so into these problem cases that we forget our job.

14. WE'VE BEEN GIVEN A LOT OF FREEDOM TO USE FOR THE LORD'S GLORY & TO HELP US GROW, BUT WE NEED TO KEEP ON OUR GUARD AGAINST THE ENEMY TRYING TO ENCROACH ON THE LORD'S TERRITORY. A lot of beautiful victories have been won because of the Honesty Revolution & because of people's openness & honesty to humbly confess their sins & problems & ask for prayer. But just watch out about those who want to waste your time on their problems when they don't get victories! Listen to them, love'm, help'm, pray for'm, but then if they don't get the victory‚ get rid of'm!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family