Maria #283 DO 3001 3/95

—Putting the Lord First in Relationships!—By Maria

(Mama and Peter walk in singing the song, "Faith in God can move a mighty mountain, faith can calm the troubled sea."—And everyone joins in.)

1. I know you get tired, but you can't blame it on me! You'll have to blame it on the Lord, because these meetings are His idea!—Ha! Anyway‚ I hope you'll find this time exciting and enjoyable.

2. (To David:) Thank you for all the verses you gave me today! David went through the whole "Word Basics" book and got out lots more verses as a follow-up to the ones you all thought of at dinner one night. Remember that?—You compiled all those verses that we could read to Peter when he was sick. (Peter: Yes‚ and it's a real blessing!) Then I decided, "Well, let's make it complete!"—Ha! That's one of my characteristics, wanting to make everything complete. I guess the Lord feels a little that way, too, and that's why we're having all these meetings!—So you're not just left hanging with a few bits and pieces of a story, but you have the whole picture and all the details. "We have called you not servants, but friends" (John 15:15), and we've shared everything with you.

3. I was talking about how David went through the whole "Word Basics" book and got out all the appropriate verses and put them on tape—and it's about four or five tapes worth! Thank you, everyone‚ for your prayers, because Peter is feeling a lot better, thank the Lord!—And we hope that having those four or five tapes isn't any predictor that we're going to need them. However, it's good that we have to go through some of these experiences ourselves, because then we can see what other people need.

4. I have an entire little book of quotes and verses that I put together years ago to read to Dad when he was sick, his favorite Psalms and victory quotes and comfort quotes and all of those, and this is much the same. But this time we have an extensive list of complete verses that are very feeding and helpful and comforting when someone is sick. I suppose they'd be good for a lot of other things too, but we were primarily focusing on physical afflictions.

5. The "Word Basics" is great, it's tremendous! But what happens, for example, if our dear secretary here wakes up with a humongous headache in the night, which she does a lot, and her room mate tries to read her Scriptures from the "Word Basics"? The verses there are abbreviated, so unless he knows all the verses by heart he'll have to say, "Well, wait a minute, I've got to look it up." And he has to look up every verse in the Bible, verse by verse.

6. I know it would be a little lengthy, but if we could print a compilation of all these verses for the Family, then they would have something that they could just pull out and read to people when they're sick. You don't always have a great deal of advance notice if someone is getting sick. The Devil really likes to attack in the night time, and people can get ill quite suddenly in the night and you need something that you can help them with.

7. Of course, we do have the Mop, which has the full verses at the end of each section and is very helpful, and we've got lots and lots of material, wonderful things, but it's sort of piecemeal—which I found out when I was trying to figure out what to read. And when I say "read," I mean repeat from my tapes to Peter. We have the Victory quotes and the Comfort quotes, and they are tremendous, and we have the Faith and Healing verses and what else? (Fam: "Power in Persecution.") Yes, and when you're sick you're getting persecuted by the Devil a lot of the time.

8. But I thought this compilation of verses would be really helpful, and that's why I wanted to follow through on it and do it in as complete a manner as possible so we can print it for the Family some day, because I figured it would be a real blessing to them. Just like those praise verses have been a blessing to us—those 392 verses we put together a few years back. (GN 468, "A Prayer of Praise to God!") They've been a real blessing lately when we've wanted to praise the Lord. The Lord told Peter in this affliction that the main thing he's supposed to do is praise Him, so those praise verses are wonderful to use during times of affliction, along with these other verses. It's just wonderful the wealth of Word and material we have available to claim and to fight our way through to victory.

A Fair Trade: We Praise and the Lord Speaks!

9. Okay‚ praise the Lord! If anybody is tired and wants to go to sleep, you can either go to your room or you can just fall asleep here. You can either just nod off for a few moments or you can keep sleeping. Just be comfortable‚ okay? Peter and I were tired tonight too. Of course, we're tired all the time! I've been tired most of my life. Now I have a companion in weariness. I used to say‚ "I'm just tired all the time." Now I can say‚ "We are tired all the time." I don't know, maybe living with me is making him tired. Maybe it's rubbing off! Ha!

10. We lay down for a nap but were awakened by some kind of noise. It was about 7:30 and we were really tired and the meeting was going to be at 9. But when we were awakened I thought‚ "Lord, I think this is supposed to mean something. I think it means that we're not supposed to sleep, but we're supposed to pray and praise You and thank You and take the time to spend a little time with You." Because the Lord has told us that when we take the time to praise and to love Him—doing more than just requesting or asking, but really taking the time to thank Him and praise Him—that as a result He will give us the Words that we need and the power that we need at the time that we need it.

11. So I thought, "That's a pretty fair trade: We praise the Lord now, and in return the Lord's going to help us in the meeting." So we decided to praise the Lord and thank the Lord‚ and it was really precious. We were speaking in tongues and thanking the Lord, and the Lord started to speak to us right then too.

12. Before we started to pray‚ Peter asked, "Did you want to pray about anything special?" I'd had in mind just to praise the Lord, but I said, "I'm always open to hearing from the Lord, whatever He wants to say. Maybe He'll tell us something more about the meeting." Peter had a burden on his heart to ask the Lord some counsel about our academic friends‚ so I said, "Whatever the Lord wants to say, we'll just leave it up to Him. What He doesn't say tonight we can ask Him about later."

13. When the Lord speaks, it's like a treasure chest of secrets—you just don't know what He's going to say!—Unless you have asked Him some very specific questions. Wasn't all that variety in the prophecies at our last meeting tremendous? The Lord spoke about all kinds of different things. You never know what's coming next, so you sort of wait with bated breath. Not that we worry, though, because everything the Lord says is so wonderful!

14. So the Lord spoke, and He did speak about our academic friends—and not just about them, but also about all our close outside friends who don't live with us but who have stood up for us and helped us and protected us and gone out of their way to fight for us when we needed it so much. The Lord said they turned the tide for us, and He's real proud of them. He said He loves them very much and they're very precious to Him, that they are one with us. And even though they may go to a different church and have their own careers, and even though they may be a little too proud to come out and say they are part of us, they really are in spirit, and they've risked their lives and reputations for us. The Lord was commending them and giving them a great deal of honor for that. And He told us that we need to keep feeding them the Word and we need to honor them. (See, "Prophecies for Our Academic, Legal and Other Friends!" ML #2984, GN 626.) It was beautiful!—Very sweet, thank You Jesus. And we still made it to the meeting on time! Thank You Jesus!

Prayer for the Meeting

15. Bless us now, Lord, and give us a good time together and good fellowship. Help us to all love each other together and love You together and hear from You. Keep these dear folks from being too tired, and keep them happy and inspired and yielded to Your will. And Lord, if they are too tired and need to take a nap, help them to feel free to do that, and they can listen to this talk later on tape, or read it just like the rest of the Family does in the GN. But we do appreciate their participation, those that can and that feel well enough to, and we thank You when they can be here and be involved, and that we can have a little audience at least. Thank You Jesus!

16. Bless them, Lord, each one and their labors today, what they've done for You. Thank You for the way they've wholeheartedly given their life today for Your service. Continue to strengthen them and give them Your anointing for their particular job‚ as well as all our dear folks around the world. Keep them in Thy care‚ Lord, and close to Thee, in Jesus' name.

Remembering Lots of Old Hymns!

17. Okay, David, what do you have for us to sing tonight? (David: "The Longer I Serve You" and "Your Name is Wonderful.") Can we sing it "The longer I love You‚ the sweeter You grow"? Have you sung it that way before? (Fam: No.) Well, if you forget and say "serve" that's fine, don't be embarrassed. If you're loving Him you're serving Him, so don't worry if you make a mistake. And don't be distracted when Peter whispers in my ear—he's just telling me the lines. Sometimes I just listen to him as he's singing and try to follow him, but when he gives me the lines it's a little easier. I'm supposed to know these songs, as many times as I've heard them, but probably even as many times as you've looked at them you don't know them either. (Fam: That's right!)

18. I sang those songs in church 30 years ago or longer, when I was going to church week after week‚ and it's amazing to me that as bad as my memory is, I remember a lot of those songs. I'm even starting to recall some of the ones that I haven't thought of for all those years. Once you get in that groove, then the Lord starts bringing them back.

19. I've even thought of some songs recently that Dad and I didn't sing together, although he probably knew them. I can usually remember the tune reasonably well and at least one of the verses and the chorus‚ and some of them are very beautiful, really feeding. Thank You Jesus! I sang those songs for years, so that's one thing that does seem to stick with me. Thank You Lord! (Fam: It's that way with our children as well. They remember the words to all of the songs they have ever learned. They don't forget anything. It's really nice!) I know! David and Techi have such a repertoire. It's amazing! Thank You Lord! (David leads in the singing:)

The Longer I Love You

Since I started for the Kingdom,

Since my life You control,

Since I gave my heart to You, Lord‚

The longer I love You,

The sweeter You grow.

(Chorus: )

The longer I love You,

The sweeter You grow.

The more that I love You,

More love You bestow.

Each day is like Heaven,

My heart overflows.

The longer I love You,

The sweeter You grow.

Every need You are supplying,

Plenteous grace You bestow.

Every day my sky gets brighter.

The longer I love You,

The sweeter You grow.

(Repeat chorus 2 times)

Your Name Is Wonderful

Your Name is wonderful‚

Your Name is wonderful,

Your Name is wonderful,

Jesus, my Lord.

You are the mighty King,

Master of everything,

Your Name is wonderful,

Jesus, my Lord.

You're the Great Shepherd,

The Rock of all ages.

Almighty God are You!

I bow down before You,

I love and adore You,

Your Name is wonderful,

Jesus, my Lord.

(Repeat entire song)

20. Thank you, Sweetheart. I love you! David's getting to be such a good inspirationalist! He's always willing to step out and sing when we need a song or two, and to "say yes to Jesus!" Thank You Lord! And we were wondering if maybe our little composing team could do some songs from the praise verses. That would be very nice! You could use the GN with the 392 verses in it and get us some songs, okay? You can help them do it, Lord. It doesn't have to be anything too complicated, but just set the words to music a little bit so we don't end up singing them like a Catholic chant, ha! Remember the first time I sang these verses I could only chant them? (See "Mama's Love Story!—Part 2," GN 636, ML #2993:13-20.)

21. I hope you're having fun! (Fam: Yes‚ we are!) I'm sorry I'm dragging these meetings out so long, but it just seems like we can't get everything done in the time we need to. I guess we'll have to "blame" it on the Lord—or rather, give Him the credit‚ depending on what your perspective is—because the Lord is speaking so much and telling us so many things, and it takes a lot of time to share them all. We do try to cut a lot of the prophecies down and just give you excerpts of them so you don't have to sit through too much. Lord help everyone not to get too tired.

Our Relationship with the Lord Comes First!

22. Last night we talked about not only our relationship, but relationships in general, and how the Lord isn't averse to relationships if‚ number one, they're His will, and number two, we put Him first in the relationship. There are some whom the Lord wants to keep as His special lovers and He seems to have that calling for them‚ and it's not His will that they get together with another person in a full-time relationship. For others, a relationship is His will. Sometimes it's His will at a certain time in our lives, and then for another particular time, it isn't. The Lord's will differs from individual to individual‚ so each one must seek Him for what His will is in their lives at the particular time.

23. Let me make something very clear: More than anything else, we are promoting a relationship with the Lord!—First and foremost. The most important thing is that whether we are single or whether we are married, our relationship with the Lord comes first and it is the strongest tie that binds us. We had a prophecy last night that said something about the three-fold cord—and how the cord to the Lord needs to be the strongest one. In whatever state we are, single or married, we should be content, and strive to strengthen our cords to the Lord and our relationship with Him.

24. I want to share with you another confirmation the Lord gave us about how He wants our relationship with Him to be first and foremost, and if we do that, if we're willing to put Him first, then He's very often willing to give us a relationship with each other. And whether we're single or whether we're married, it still is His will for us to have loving interactions with each other. So whether you're in love with someone‚ or whether you're not in love with anyone, you will probably be loving others frequently‚ and you can make those times of interaction focus on the Lord and make your relationship with the Lord the strongest, and thereby make these times a beautiful experience.—Which is not only for your own personal fulfillment, but for the sake of those who need our love. Since we are moving in obedience to the Lord, He says He will bless us richly. So I'd like to give you a few little excerpts of this prophecy that the Lord gave us that express these things so well.

It's Not in Us—It's Only In Him!

25. It's a little awkward for Peter and me to have the Lord use us as examples like this. I should be used to it by now, because it's been quite a few years that I've been used as an example, but now Peter is experiencing it and he feels very awkward. Because when you first start hearing the Lord saying such wonderful things about you, you know you're nothing and you have nothing to do with it, so it's awkward, humbling and embarrassing.

26. Someone reminded us how in the Letter "David" (ML#77) it was really hard for Dad to get used to the anointing and the place the Lord had given him‚ and he struggled with it for a long time. You just feel like, "Who, me, Lord? What are You doing with me? I'm nothing and I'm just like everybody else, so what are You doing?" And it's difficult to accept it.

27. So Peter was saying how uncomfortable he felt about the Lord lifting him up to be an example. I said, "I know, I feel the same way, but it's a little easier for me now because I've had to go through it for years and years." For Peter it's been quite a bomb and was quite a surprise. So pray for him, because it's difficult. I said, "Well look, it's really no different than prophesying." The Lord gives you the gift of prophecy and you're just a channel. The Lord said to him, "You're nothing, you don't even have to worry about it. You're just a channel. Just open your mouth and speak My Words."—Which is what the rest of you do too, so you know what a channel is.

28. When the Lord said to me in that prophecy last night that, "Even as I (the Lord) was a Flame to the children of Israel in the desert, showing them where to go and leading them and guiding them, so art thou the flame of this children of Israel, showing them where they should go, where they should camp, when they should sleep‚ when they should play. And thou doest this through My Words‚ the Words that I give unto thee and the Words that thou must feed unto the children."—I said, "Lord‚ wait a minute now! Wait, wait, wait!" Then I thought‚ "Well, the Lord can call me anything He wants to call me. It's His Words. It was His manifestation back in those days and it's His manifestation now through His Word. I'm just a channel, I'm just a tool, so what's the big deal?"

29. So why should I be so amazed at it? The Lord said, "It's nothing you're doing, it's just Me." So if the Lord wants to use that symbolism, and if He wants to call me whatever He wants to call me‚ or whatever He wants to call Peter, it's up to Him. Like He said about Peter, "I could call you a dog‚ I could call you a sewer pipe, I could call you whatever I want, it doesn't really matter." He called him a faucet, which certainly is a good illustration of being nothing except a channel that the Lord uses for His water to flow through.

30. So we just have to accept what the Lord's doing. Just like you accept the gift of prophecy and you prophesy, we have to do the same and say what we think the Lord wants us to say and not worry about it. We don't have anything to do with it, except we all just have to be yielded and say "yes" to the Lord. So maybe you could pray for us that we will continue to focus on that point and not get worried and begin wondering, "How are we possibly going to live up to all of this?"

31. We can't live up to it, the Lord just has to do it. It's nothing in us, and whatever He wants to say about us‚ He can say it. We can't stop that if that's what He wants to do, so we just have to flow with it. But it is very, very humbling. You might say, "How can it be humbling?—It's so exalted!" Well, you would know if the Lord starts saying it to you. I don't exactly know why it's humbling, but it's just awesome and it's nothing that we could ever do or have any part in ourselves, or live up to or do anything to bring it about, and we know that only the Lord can do it, it's so great.

32. And you need to have that attitude too, because what the Lord said He's going to do with us, He's going to do with the whole Family. He's going to do great and mighty things with us all. So when you hear what He says He's going to do with you, you'll just have to say the same thing: "We'll just say yes and let You carry us along. We can't really live up to what You're saying, we can't accomplish these great and mighty things. They're too great for us. We can hardly even comprehend them, but we'll just go along for the ride." That's what the Lord said, didn't He? He said, "Get in and leave the driving to Me!" He said it's really easy if we just get on board and ride and let Him do the driving. So that's what we have to do‚ because we're all certainly nothing at all!

33. Like the song goes, "We can't even walk without You holding our hand." Our secretary had a great vision, which kind of goes along with that. It was so good! It's just like what the Lord requires of all of us. Tell them what your little picture was about how the Lord was giving you your crown but you had to crawl under it.

34. (Fam: In the prophecy you received for me there was something about having the jewels of kindness, love and humility. And as I was going to sleep I was thinking to myself, "I really want that crown with those jewels of kindness, gentleness, love, meekness" and all those things. Then I got a vision of Jesus holding the crown with these jewels in it, and I was walking towards Him to receive it and He was going to give it to me. But instead of reaching out at the level of my head to place it on my head, He stooped down and He put it way, way down, just above the ground, and I had to crawl on my stomach to get low enough to get my head under it to get the crown.)

35. That applies to all of us, folks! To get that crown we need to go down, down, down, and we need to know we're nothing, and that's the way the Lord helps us if we're willing to say "yes" to Him. He helps us to get down there and see how nothing we are before He can give us the crown. We feel like nothing, and that vision was such a good illustration of that. So if you ever feel like anything, just remember that beautiful vision of how, if the Lord's going to give you a crown in a spiritual sense, you're going to have to get down on your belly and crawl. Amen. Thank You Lord!

36. Well, so much for weakness and meekness. The Lord's helping us to get real weak and feel like nothing to help us to know that it's only Him and we can't do a thing without Him. Thank You Jesus! Thank You Lord!

Prophecy for the Couples and the Singles!

37. Back to relationships: He wants us to know that we can't even have a relationship without putting Him at the center, and that He's going to blow on it and it's going to come to naught unless we put Him first. That's probably why a number of our young people's relationships have fallen apart. It's been sad and we've been burdened about it, that they get together and then the marriage or the relationship falls apart. But the Lord says beautifully in prophecy that "I can't bless relationships unless they have Me at the center and keep Me at the center; if not, then they're going to collapse." And of course it hasn't just happened with our young people, but with a lot of our adults as well.

38. But this is a new call from the Lord in this new day! He's giving the whole Family another opportunity, and the bus is coming around again. He's giving those who have failed in their marriages and in their relationships another opportunity and another chance to put Him first and see what He's going to do, and He's promised to do beautiful things.

39. And likewise with His Word. He's been telling us for years how important the Word is and how vital our connection with it is, but now in this new day He's saying it again and issuing yet another call. He's telling us that it's now more important than ever before that we have a strong connection with Him and His Word. The forces of darkness and evil are stronger than ever, so our spiritual power has to be stronger than ever!

40. He's making it clear that we have to be connected to the Word and have a real strong relationship with Him, stronger than ever before in this new day. But He's making it easier than ever for us and He's explaining more to us and helping us and loving us along in a greater way than ever, so that we can do these things that He's requiring of us. In other words, He's giving us more power and more anointing and more love to do these things that He's requesting of us, to fulfill the things He knows we need to do. Thank You Lord!

41. So here's what He said. Lord bless this, in Jesus' name. These are just excerpts, and hopefully we can read the whole prophecy to you sometime later. (Mama repeats from the tape: )

42. (Prophecy:) "And ye who are married one to another, if ye will but follow the example of love of your king and queen and the way that they love Me together‚ and the way that they sing unto Me and praise Me and worship Me, the way that they make love to Me, and the way they put Me first and seek My face together and seek to hear My voice and seek to praise Me‚ and seek to lift one another up in praise unto Me, and the way they pray one for another, ye shall have a new marriage and a new strengthening‚ and a new spirit of love. The fires that have dwindled can be rekindled as you worship Me together and seek Me for a renewal. And I will return unto you the love that you once had, that fresh new love. For ye will be focusing on Me, your eyes turned unto Me. And, yea‚ I am love.

43. "Focus on Me together. Love Me together. Praise Me together. Sing unto Me together. Worship Me together. Adore Me together. Seek My face together. Cry out to Me together. And I will fill you together, and I will be one with you together, and we shall be a three–fold cord together.

44. "Come unto Me together. Set that foundation, for no other foundation can be laid than that which is laid on Me. For if ye build on any other foundation‚ the marriage will crumble, for I will not bless it and I will not allow it. For that love to remain, ye must focus on Me. For I am the supply of oil that keepeth the warmth of the fire burning, and ye must tap into My source together lest the fire die. Ye must look at these relationships as an amplification of the relationship that I wish for you to have with Me."

45. (Mama comments:) Isn't that amazing? Isn't that encouraging? It's wonderful how the Lord says that He's going to renew so many of the marriages that have gotten familiar and stale in the Family‚ these couples who might have considered breaking up, but don't for one reason or another, maybe for the sake of the kids. But the Lord is promising a miracle! He's promising if they'll really start putting Him at the center of their relationship and doing all these things He said—praising Him together and loving Him together and calling out to Him together—that He's going to rekindle that love, and you know that's a miracle! It's just wonderful! Thank You Jesus!

46. (Prophecy continues:) "Thou who hast no loved one, I say unto thee, I am thy lover. I am thy husband. It is I who love thee. For I have given thee a special calling, that thou wouldst be married to Me and that thou wouldst love Me and be single-minded unto Me. And in thy loneliness I will be with thee, and I will wrap My arms around thee, and I will kiss thee, and I will caress thee, and I will fill thee. Make love to Me, love Me, and I will fulfill thy every need and be the love that thou needest, so that thou wilt not need another.

47. "So whether ye are single, or whether ye are married, or whether ye are considering being married, I will bless all of you if ye will give your love unto Me. If ye are together, worship Me. And if ye are alone, worship Me. And as ye love Me, it unclogs the wellsprings of My love and it allows My blessings and My love to pour forth unto you in such great measure and such great anointing, in a flood of My love upon you. I will fill you and fill you and fill you to overflowing, and ye will overflow and overflow and overflow upon others." (End of prophecy.)

48. (Mama:) Isn't that absolutely beautiful? Thank You Lord! The Lord is saying He's not leaving anybody out. We can all have a wonderful relationship with Him. That's where He wants the focus. Whether single or married, the thing that's important to Him is our relationship with Him. He has a different calling for each one, or at least different callings at different times in our lives, and we need to find His will. And then we need to work on strengthening our relationship with Him—that's the main point, the most important point—because if we do that, then everything else will fall into place and will be taken care of. It's beautiful!

49. If those couples whose love has grown cold and have grown familiar with each other and have lost that fire they had for each other will seek the Lord together and love Him together, the Lord will rekindle that fire. And then as a result, their children will see it and their children will say, "This is a miracle!" And the children will be drawn to the Lord in a closer way than ever before. They'll feel secure and they'll feel loved and they'll know the Lord loves them. They'll feel secure in their parents' love and it will draw everyone closer to the Lord. Thank You Lord! So the Lord's wanting to do wonderful things in our lives if we'll just yield to His will.

Single or Married, the Important Thing Is Our Relationship with the Lord!

50. While in these talks we are seeming to promote human relationships between a man and a woman—because we're talking about how the Lord has put Peter and me together—we don't want to exclude all of our folks who the Lord has called to be single, for most of the time anyway, and this is just as important a calling for them. This is His will for them just as much as it is His will for some of the rest of us to be together. So we don't want to just focus on the relationship that we have and the reasons why the Lord has put us together without explaining that the Lord has a different plan for many others.

51. The Lord has made provision for all of us to love Him, to find our love in Him, and find our strength and our security and our companionship and our needs in Him, because without Him we won't be happy, and like He said, the marriage will collapse. So we might as well forget our own physical, earthly relationships unless they focus on the Lord.—Not just in name only, but really focusing on the Lord and making Him the center of our relationships.

52. So I wanted Peter to tell you about his calling for the last few years, which is different than what it is now. (Peter: For the last five or six years I haven't lived with anyone. Before that, I lived with someone part-time, but when she transferred to another unit for awhile‚ it really changed my outlook on my relationship with the Lord, and I was happy to be alone. [To the girl he lived with:] No offense‚ honey! I'm sure you were happy to be alone too, ha!

53. (I was happy to have that time with the Lord. And because that was the way the Lord wanted it for those six years, I was very happy and very content and pretty satisfied with my relationship with the Lord. Of course‚ you can always grow and you always feel like you need to love the Lord more. I experienced loneliness, but I preferred not having somebody because I always felt that having somebody would distract me from my time with the Lord.

54. (So I considered it quite advantageous to be alone and to be able to have that time in the Word. In the morning when I woke up I didn't have somebody there to talk to, so I could talk to the Lord, and the same at night. For all those years‚ I think I probably only had somebody sleep with me the whole night maybe 20 or 30 times.—Not more than that for sure‚ and I preferred being alone.

55. (I think that's what the Lord wanted for me, and had I tried to pursue a relationship—and I could have, and there were times when I thought it would have been nice—I don't think the Lord would've blessed it. I think in that case it probably wouldn't have been the Lord's will. I feel it would've been a distraction and it would have drawn me away from the Lord.

56. (I used to tell Gary, "I don't think I could ever live with anybody or be married." Because first of all, I didn't think anybody could stand to live with me!—Ha! The Lord gives Mama great grace. [Everybody laughs!] And secondly, I felt it would be a distraction. I figured‚ "If I have a personal relationship with somebody and I have to be concerned about that, it would distract me from my work‚ which is my calling, and it also would distract me from the Lord." So I was happy being single—very happy, in fact.

57. (But now it's different! Now it's the Lord's will that I'm not single any more, and I'm very happy about this also!) (Mama:) Surprise! It was a surprise!—Ha! (Peter: Just a little while ago I was pretty content that I could go and see Mama in her room, but I also had my own room and in the morning I could wake up and have quiet time, kind of having the best of both worlds.) (Mama:) You were having some very precious times with the Lord, but you found out that they didn't have to stop just because you moved in with me! Ha! Now we're both quiet in the morning together and we both have our individual quiet times talking to the Lord when we first wake up, before we even talk to each other, and before we read or pray together.

58. (Peter: At first I was even a little concerned about our living in the same room together. I thought, "Oh man, here we are. We're together, we're married, and as wonderful as Mama is and as dearly as I love her, now I am going to lose that connection I had with the Lord, because being with another person is kind of distracting." No offense‚ Mama, but that's a little bit how I felt at first. Had I entered into a relationship before, it probably wouldn't have been the Lord and it probably would have been distracting. But because now this is the Lord's will, it's completely different!

59. (Everything that I ever thought about being married or having a relationship and having somebody wake up right next to me and all the distractions that go along with it, all that is out the window, because it's not that way at all! I'd say if anything, in my case—because now this is the Lord's will for me—being married has enhanced my prayer life and it's shot way up in comparison to how it was before. My attitude towards prayer and praise has completely changed, and living together with Mama has completely revoluted my spiritual life. So I'm real thankful for that.

60. (But the point isn't that you have to be married in order to have that, because I was quite happy with my relationship with the Lord before that too. So when I was single and it was the Lord's will to be single, I could love the Lord very much and it was fine. And now that I'm married and it's the Lord's will, it's also fine. Either way it's okay. The point is, you don't have to be married.)

61. (Mama:) That's right. The Lord is trying to say that He can be a wonderful lover and friend and filler of all our needs in whatever state we are in. If the Lord has a job for you to do that He wants you to do together, then you have to do it together. If He wants you to do it singly, then you need to do it singly. And the Lord says we shouldn't compare. We shouldn't say, "Well, couples are better off." There are a lot of married couples that look at the singles and think, "Wow! We wish we were single! We wouldn't be so distracted and we wouldn't have all these demands on our time. We wouldn't have to worry about each other and talk to each other, and we could have more time to love the Lord!"

62. But then the singles say, "Boy, we're so lonely! We wish we could be mated!" So that's normal human nature—each one looks at the other and wishes they could be in a different state than the one they're in. But the Lord says you don't have to do that, and you shouldn't do that, because He says, "I can be whatever you need in whatever state I've placed you, and whatever kind of relationship you're in—or no relationship. You just all need to have a relationship with Me." And the Lord is showing us more and more and helping us to be able to do that more than ever before, because it's a new day and He knows how important our connection with Him is. So He's teaching us step by step how to be closer to Him and how to love Him more, because He needs us to have that closeness to Him.

63. Just like He's been telling us how important it is that we learn to hear from Him through the gift of prophecy and not just the printed Word, He's also talking about us having a real close, loving, intimate relationship with Him. And this is for all of us, not just for the married couples‚ because it doesn't really matter whether you're married or not. Our primary relationship is supposed to be with the Lord, and that's what it's all about. That's why the Lord put Peter and me together‚ so that we could follow the Lord better. The question is, how can you do the best for Jesus? If I could've followed the Lord and heard from the Lord better and obeyed the Lord better on my own, then He would have left me on my own.

64. So the main point is: How are we going to do the best job for the Lord, each one of us? The Lord knows what's best for each of us, and what's best for our ministry and calling. And if we'll just seek Him, He'll give us the kind of situation that He knows we need, that will be best for His work and best for Him, and best for us.

65. He said a beautiful thing to our dear secretary last night, that He wanted her to be His lover and His wife‚ and He didn't want her to have any permanent relationships with others. He said some very precious things. So if that's your calling and if the Lord is calling you just to love Him and not be distracted or involved in your heart with someone else, then that's the place you want to be.

66. Of course, at the same time the Lord's saying don't be selfish, there's still your Family to love and you still need to love each other. But in some cases it's not like a permanent‚ full–time, in-love relationship. He still wants us to love each other and realize that the love we give others is His love to them, and their love for us is His love to us. So praise the Lord! He wants us to all love more: to love Him more and love each other more with His love. Thank You Lord!

Our Wedding Night!

67. A while back the Lord gave what we call the "Sweetheart Prophecy." Remember that prophecy about my calling Peter "sweetheart" and Dad had given that little marriage ceremony, saying, "I take your hand and I take his hand and I put them together and wrap my hands around them, and I look at you and I say `love one another‚’ for this love is of God"? (See "Mama's Love Story!—Part 3," ML# 2994:90.) It was really late at night when we got that, and the next night Peter was going to write his pledge to me that you heard, and I was going to write mine to him.

68. So we decided the next night would be the first night we'd sleep together, and it was the first full night we'd slept together in these 16 years that we've lived and worked together. Isn't that amazing? (Peter: Yes, it was a long wait, ha!) (Everybody laughs!) So that was our wedding night. You know me and ceremonialism. I don't like to label things so much, but "wedding night" is a good label.

69. When we started the evening we wanted to make it real special. We wanted to make it what the Lord wanted it to be, and we thought the best way to do so was to praise the Lord and to take some time really loving Him and putting Him first. So we got out the praise verses.—And I'm so glad the Lord led me to put those verses together quite a few years ago. I just love those verses! (Peter: Yes‚ they're great for praising the Lord!) Because when you're going to praise the Lord, what better way can you do it than with the things the Lord's already said in His Word?

70. So we got the praise verses out and Peter started to read. I think I told you before that he'd read the verses phrase by phrase, and I'd repeat the phrase after him. There were 392 verses and we went through the whole thing. I hadn't really intended for Peter to read the whole thing, but he just kept going and going. (Peter: It was very inspiring!) Yes, it certainly was!

71. It was beautiful and we were really having a great time praising the Lord. I didn't start repeating the phrases from the very beginning, but I finally got the point that I was going to get more out of it if I was saying the words myself. So pretty soon after we started, I decided I'd better start repeating them, and it was much more enriching and satisfying to praise the Lord that way. Since I repeated most of the verses, it amounted to us reading at least six or seven hundred verses, and this took us about an hour and a half—really a precious time of praising the Lord! If you want to praise the Lord, that's a wonderful way to do it, because those are the words the Lord already said about Himself. What better way do we have to praise Him than that?

72. Dad praised the Lord a lot, but I don't think we ever did a praise compilation from the Letters, and we don't have that right at our fingertips. So these praise verses are something you can use when you're praising the Lord and thanking Him for His wonderful works to the children of men and the wonderful blessings that He's bestowed upon us.

73. After we got through that, then we prayed and we asked the Lord if there was anything He wanted to say about this night and anything that He wanted to tell us. We were praying that the Lord would put His seal on the evening and tell us whatever we needed to know, and here's what He said. I'm telling you all this as an illustration of what we've been talking about in putting the Lord first in our relationships. (Peter: In your prayer you said, "Speak to us‚ Lord. Give us Your guidance and Your instruction, Your approval on this night, whatever You want to say to us.")

74. (Peter reads prophecy: "For behold‚ a three-fold cord is not easily broken. And I have made thee a three-fold cord with Me this night. For thou hast sung thy praises unto Me and I am well pleased that thou hast loved Me, that thou hast kissed Me, that thou hast worshipped Me. I seek the love of My children‚ and yea‚ for this thou shalt be greatly blessed. For I seek those that will love Me above all things, that will have praise upon their lips, praise of Me and honor of Me and glory of Me‚ and that will have praise in their hearts and praise on their tongues and praise in their spirit and praise in their mind and praise in their actions. For I seek those that love Me and that hold Me in high esteem, that choose to love Me above all things.

75. ("For these are the children of David, these are they which I will exalt and strengthen in the days to come: Those that look unto Me for their strength, that look unto Me for their wisdom, that look unto Me for My power‚ that look unto Me for guidance and direction and counsel‚ who seek Me daily to find that which I would have for them.

76. ("Lo, I am well pleased with thy praises and with thy love, and I will honor thee for this, and I will love thee for this. For thou hast praised Me and worshipped Me, and thou hast set aside time on this night for Me. This is symbolic of how all love should be and how all of those who love one another should be, that they would make Me the focal point of their love and that they would love Me together. Those that do this shall have great love one for another, and their love shall be enveloped in My Love. For they will be looking unto Me and loving Me, and thus I can bless them and I can honor them and I can give them great love.

77. ("For only in loving Me and in seeking Me and in fellowshipping with Me together can those who love one another truly find the love that I have for them, the love that I wish to bestow upon them, that they may revel in My love. For as they spend time with Me, loving Me, I will empower their love one for another and their touches and their kisses and their caresses, and these shall become new. They shall be refreshed and renewed and strengthened, and their love shall grow. But they must keep their eyes fixed upon Me and seek Me in spirit and love Me together, that we may all be one. For two are good, but three are better.") (End of prophecy.)

Please Him by Praising Him!

78. (Mama:) We didn't know what the Lord was going to say, but what would be your impression after hearing that, if you'd been us? (Fam: That you did the right thing.) Yes, but what further expansion of that thought? (Fam: That He was pleased with you praising Him.) (Fam: And blessing you because of it.)

79. (Mama:) Yes, that's right! I was a little surprised! I thought, "Wow, Lord, that was such a small thing." Praising the Lord didn't cost us much, and we wanted to praise the Lord, but look how important that was to the Lord, and how significant that was! I guess I shouldn't have been surprised‚ but I was surprised because I thought, "Wow, thank You Jesus that we didn't miss it! We could have so easily missed it."

80. What was so important to the Lord and He desired so much, we could have easily missed, because I wasn't that in tune with what He thought was so significant, Lord forgive me. Boy, I hope I've gotten more in tune lately. We know we need to praise the Lord, but it's like Jesus our lover was waiting for this praise—this appreciation—and He was needing it and wanting it. I was saying, "Yes, I think we should praise the Lord," but I really didn't realize how significant it was and how desirous the Lord was of it, how very very important it was to Him and how much He was going to bless us because of it. He said, "Because you've done this upon this night, I'm going to greatly bless you."—And that was the most impressive thing to me from what He said in this whole prophecy!

81. I finally started to get the point that I should've gotten for 25 years! Dad sure tried his best to help us get the point. He certainly praised the Lord constantly. But it finally started to sink in how really desirous the Lord is of our praise and how important it is to Him and how much it means to Him; how important it is that we do it, and how He'll bless us for it!

82. In this prophecy He also says that He'll rekindle the love of those who have cooled off. (Peter: "They shall be refreshed and renewed and strengthened. Their love shall grow.") So there it is again, the miracle the Lord has promised for the couples who have been married for years, and were once so in love but who have lost that spark and have become familiar with each other. They know what a miracle it is for a love to be rekindled, and the Lord's saying we're going to see quite a few miracles. It's just so exciting to anticipate that!

83. Dad was always full of praise and full of thanks to the Lord. He was always praying and praising the Lord‚ every moment. Even during the times when he was so sick that he felt like he was dying, he would quote the verse, "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord" (Psa.150:6). And we praised and prayed a lot together.

84. I'm not like Dad and I wasn't like Dad and I'm not the same special instrument that he was. I'm just like all of you, and I'm not anything unusual or any different than you are. I'm just trying my best to praise the Lord more. And now that I realize how much the Lord appreciates praise‚ I want to do all I can. I hope you'll all try to praise more, and do the best you can in this area. I hope you'll feel that, "If Mama can make it‚ then I can make it too." And certainly with Peter.... (Peter: Yes‚ right! If you can't attain to Mama, you can easily attain to me!) (Everybody laughs!)

85. Well‚ not that any of us are anything, but because Peter hasn't had a title like I have, you feel more like he's one of you. The titles really scare some people off, don't they? (Fam: Yes.) But don't you feel like Peter is one of you even more than I am? So whatever he can do, you guys can do it too! When I say "you guys," I mean you and the worldwide Family. I'm talking to all of you. Because this is what we all are striving for. No matter who we are, or what our ministry is‚ this is our goal, and if we can do it‚ then you should be able to. Yes, I've got a special anointing for my job, but you have a special anointing for yours. You can't do mine, but I can't do yours.

86. So that is the reason I think the Lord wants us to go into detail about Peter's and my relationship, because even though our circumstances here are perhaps different than yours, hopefully you can relate to us as far as thinking you can attain some of whatever we're trying to show you, and the sample we're supposed to set, and the things we're supposed to do.

87. Somebody's got to lead, somebody's got to be the first one to do it. Well, I don't mean the first, because Dad did it already, but I mean right now in this new day, somebody's got to show the way and somebody's got to do it first, so that others can follow. That's why He's getting us to do it‚ and He's showing us step by step what we're supposed to do. Then He's saying that we need to tell you so you can follow. That's why we're explaining what the Lord's showing us, as far as how to put Him first and how to make Him the center of our union.

88. As much as you're able, I want to encourage you to follow our example of praising and praying together and calling out to Him, loving Him and raising your arms to praise Him and speaking in tongues, and singing to Him, and stopping to hear from Him together. That's another wonderful thing that you can do with another person that can be very satisfying and enriching and draw you very close to Jesus, as well as give you wonderful guidance and encouragement.

89. You can hear the voice of His Word in direct prophecy together. The Lord's saying we need to do that, we need to practice it, and it's wonderful to be able to do all these things with others. It doesn't have to be someone you're married to, or that you live with full-time. It can even be someone you don't feel particularly close to, because as you love Jesus together and talk to Him and hear from Him, this will draw you closer.

Sing Unto the Lord!

90. (Peter: Something that I haven't done much before which I've done now with Mama is to sing praises to the Lord. That's why we try to change the words of the songs we sing from being about the Lord to being to the Lord, and to try to use the songs the Lord has given, both our Family songs and the old hymns, and really sing them to the Lord. Mama and I will do that often—I'll play the guitar and we'll sing songs to the Lord as prayers.—But often we don't even use the guitar, we just lie in bed together and sing, which is just as good.)

91. (Mama:) So even if you can't play the guitar, you can just open your songbook and sing them. (Peter: Yes‚ that's right. We do a lot of that too, and it's really inspiring. I'm amazed at all the old hymns Mama remembers. Plus, there are so many beautiful songs in the Family, and songs of praise and songs of prayer, and singing them together is very strengthening. It's a great blessing.)

92. (Mama:) Having the words to the songs is a lot like having the praise verses. I'm all for scripts because I'm not very expressive and I don't get the words very easily. And when you can use someone else's words, the Lord's Words or inspired words of songs, it really helps you to express yourself. Because if you don't have the verses or the songs‚ what do you say? You can say‚ "We love You, Jesus. We praise You, Jesus. We really want to tell You how much we appreciate You." But unless you're very poetic and creative and you really are expressive, you have a hard time finding more words.

93. So that's why I like to use the Word that the Lord's put there, or the inspired words of songs, either one. You're praising the Lord just as much or better than you can with your own words—at least than I can with my own words. Maybe you can with your own words‚ but I have a hard time and I need scripts, and I love what other people have written. I like to use what people have said to the Lord and what He's inspired them to say. I think it's wonderful!

94. We're one body, the body of Christ‚ and we need each other‚ and I need what other people have said to the Lord too, and I want to use that. They've said it not only for their benefit, but they've said it for our benefit. It's wonderful to be able to praise the Lord through the songs that our Family writers have sung and written‚ and which the wonderful precious saints of the church have also written—most of them quite a long time ago. Praise the Lord!

95. (Peter: And even if we don't sing, sometimes we just put on a tape. You can play tapes like "Fear Not" while you're praying, or as each verse comes up you can pray out loud with them. There's also "My Heart ... Your Home," which is a tape of love songs to the Lord, and you can sing those to the Lord from your heart and use them in prayer. Some of the songs on "When You Need Him Most" you can also sing directly to the Lord, or you can use them as prayer for other things.) (Mama:) "Onward and Upward" also. (Peter: Yes, that's a real good one. And even on the Christmas tapes there are some glorious songs for praising, such as "Thy Kingdom Come."

96. (There are all kinds of Bible verses about singing unto the Lord. "Sing unto the Lord a new song!" And if you're one of those people who can't sing that well, you can put on tapes and sing them in your heart and pray. To me it's a whole new way of being able to praise the Lord. I haven't done that before, and it's quite refreshing, because as Mama said, it does get a little bit repetitious to just keep saying, "Praise You Lord! Thank You Lord!" Whereas this gives you whole new vistas of things that you can say and speak and pray. It's really a blessing.)

97. (Mama:) Sometimes I just put the "Fear Not" tape on, because it's so conducive to praying about whatever I want to pray about. I know I've said you can't concentrate on two things at once—and that's true—but thinking about those verses and the Word sort of leads into praying about things, and it's very conducive to a spirit of prayer. This is a little bit off the subject of praise, but if you just want to pray, the beautiful spirit of the Lord coming through those songs helps you to pray.

Safeguards!—Two Are Better Than One!

98. Coming back to the subject of being together and singing to the Lord together, like Peter said‚ sometimes at the end of the day he'll pick up his guitar—or if you don't have a guitar you can pick up your songbook—and he'll say, "Do you think I could play some songs for you and we could sing to the Lord?" He does that frequently, and it's good because it stops me—otherwise I'd probably go on, because I don't know when to quit. And sometimes when we're in bed about to get up or about to go to sleep, one or the other of us will say, "Could we take a few minutes to praise the Lord?"

99. And it's good, because when you have two people you're able to safeguard each other and ensure that you're going to take time with the Lord. Of course you don't have to have two people, because you can do it on your own, but you might have to make more of a special effort to do it. The Lord has to make sure I'm safeguarded because it's really important that I don't get off the track, so He had to give me somebody to help make sure I stay on the track. Not everybody is going to have somebody to help them like that, but I've got to and I really need the help—just like the Lord said in that "giddy-up" prophecy last night! That was cute! (See GN 639, "Mama's Love Story!—Part 5," ML #2996:77-80.)

100. If there are two of you, then you can safeguard each other, and when one falls, or starts to fall, the other can lift him up. (Peter: Like tonight when that disturbance happened during our nap. We were lying in bed trying to nap for about 15 minutes or so, and then there was this noise. Neither one of us had fallen asleep, we were just kind of lying there praying and thinking. So Mama said, "That must mean something. What do you think it means?" And I said, "I think it means I'm supposed to eat dinner!" [Everybody laughs.] And she said, "I was thinking maybe it means we should praise the Lord." Then I said, "I think you're right. I think that's what it means too.")

101. (Peter: This morning too, we woke up early and we were going to go back to sleep, and I said to Mama, "Maybe we could just praise the Lord for a few minutes before we go to sleep.") (Mama:) Otherwise we would have just rolled over and gone to sleep. (Peter: And when we did that, the Lord gave us that prophecy, part of which we read just now. So two are better than one, because if one forgets or has their mind on something else‚ the other will often remember and help them both to stop and take time with the Lord.)

102. (Mama:) —Like when we've been asleep at night and Peter has waked up with a headache. It's hard enough when you're tired to get up in the middle of the night, but when you're sick too, to get up and praise the Lord is really difficult! But that's what the Lord said Peter and I are supposed to be doing, and that's why He's giving these "touches of love," as He called them, these afflictions to Peter, so that we do take time with the Lord and praise the Lord. So even if Peter can't wake up very easily, if I'm not sick I can wake up more easily, and that motivates him to get up‚ and then we can praise the Lord together.

103. Often by the time we're done praising the Lord, his headache is gone, because the Lord used it as a motivator to get us up and to get us praising Him and praying and thanking Him. And when we did, He blessed us with healing. The main thing the Lord says He wants us to do in all of this is to praise Him in the midst of them, and if we do anything, seek to praise Him and accept these things as from His hand cheerfully and gracefully.

104. In the case of this particular sickness of Peter's, the Lord said in prophecy that it is from His own hand and He has "brought it." This sickness is not caused by the Enemy's attacks‚ but the Lord says it is His "touches of love." If you are experiencing an illness it would be wise for you to ask the Lord what the spiritual source is and the purpose of it.—Whether it is an attack of the Enemy which you have to rebuke and resist, or whether it is something that you need to accept from Him‚ but at the same time fight to praise Him and fight to learn the lessons that He is trying to teach you through it. So it's a lot easier when you have two there, one helping the other to get up and to praise the Lord together in the middle of the night when you're sick.

105. (Peter: I've been sick before‚ not like this or not as much, but getting up in the middle of the night and praising was not generally on my agenda! If I woke up when I was sick, I usually tried to go right back to sleep. So having Mama's help has revolutionized my spiritual life and prayer life. Before being with Mama I would have never done it. She's so cheerful about it. I feel kind of guilty that I'm waking Mama up while I'm sitting there groaning and trying to get up, and she just pops up and she's so cheerful! She puts her earphone in and she says, "What do you want me to repeat to you from my tape? Do you want praise verses or victory verses or healing verses or comfort verses?" She's like a doctor, she comes with her little black bag and opens it up and says, "Okay, let's see, we've got all these spiritual medicines!")

106. (Mama:) Or I say, "Shall we sing?" And Peter is so cheerful! Some of you here know what it's like to have a bad headache, but Peter will sit up and sing songs and quote the verses after me. When I have a headache‚ even a little headache, I can hardly say anything! It hurts my brain to do anything at all. But he'll get up and go in the bathroom and I'll hear him in there whistling‚ and I'll say, "Peter, were you whistling?" Even though he's got this pounder of a headache, he's in the bathroom singing songs like, "How Great Thou Art," and whistling! Whoa! Boy‚ I hope I'll be half as victorious when I have something like that! (Peter: Thank the Lord my headaches aren't migraines, or I don't know that I'd be whistling!) (Mama:) But they've been really bad and pounding.

107. (Peter: Mama has really helped me in that, and she's so cheerful about it. And having all the verses on hand is so helpful.—All the verses that you guys have gotten together for us. Gabe put together a verse book with big print, so even if it's kind of dark in the room [because of Mama's eyes] you can still read it. So everybody's really helped and it's made a big difference.)

108. (Mama:) And as much as Peter loves to make love...I want to tell you what he sincerely said to me! (Peter: Mama married another man who likes sex!—Ha!) (Everybody laughs!) (Mama:) Well, Mama loves to make love too, you know! But I'm just using Peter as an example. Tell them what you said to me, Peter. This is very, very precious. (Peter: I told Mama, "If it came to a choice—like if for some reason it had to come to a choice—I'd rather have the times of prayer and praise with you than the sex.")

109. (Mama:) And for Peter to say that, that's really saying a lot! (Everybody laughs!) But that shows how much our prayer times mean to us, and how we really want to put the Lord first. And that's the only thing that's going to keep us on the right track too, and keep us in the center of the Lord's will, and keep His blessing on us and our leadership of the Family. We're supposed to stay on track with the Lord, and He wants us to help keep you on track. So you'd better pray for us, because we have to stay on track. It's very important. We have to keep the Lord in first place and we have to do all we can to love Him and praise Him and cry out to Him, and in the process He allows us to have a sweet relationship. But that's why we have it—He gives it because we put Him first.

110. In the mornings when we wake up‚ we try not to disturb each other for awhile until we've had our quiet time with the Lord individually. When you're together as a couple you can do a lot together—loving the Lord together, praying together‚ and singing together and most things you can do together—but you still have to have that personal‚ individual relationship with the Lord, and that's very important. Most things we pray about together, but we do need to take a little time with the Lord personally where it's just Him and us. So we try not to disturb each other and try to wait until we've had our prayer time individually first before we jump on each other.—Ha! (Peter: I knew you were going to say that. It's more like, "Before Peter jumps on me!"—Ha!)

Prayer Reminders!

111. (Peter: Also‚ for me it's quite new to pray and praise out loud. I'm mostly used to praying silently because I haven't roomed with anyone for so long‚ which has been fine and there's nothing wrong with that. But it's nice to praise and to pray out loud a lot now. And the nice thing about Mama is I never ever feel embarrassed or like, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't say this praise out loud." I feel completely free just to praise the Lord whenever I want‚ or sing a song whenever I want‚ and it's not like she says, "What are you trying to do? What are you trying to be? Or what are you trying to prove?")

112. (Mama:) Oh, let me tell you, I need it! I'm happy, I'm so thankful when he takes the initiative and goes ahead and prays, because we need the push to pray! So if one or the other starts praying, you can say, "Thank You Lord, I'm being reminded I need to pray!" We usually don't pray enough on our own, none of us do, so to have the benefit of two people together who can initiate the prayer, then you're reminded more often that you should pray. I'm so thankful when Peter starts praying out loud, and he's thankful when I start praying out loud too, or singing or whatever‚ because we need those reminders constantly. If I forget to pray for my food, he's praying for it; or if he forgets to pray for our exercise, I'm supposed to. Well, we both forgot last night, and when that happens, uh-oh!—And he strained his back. But we repented really big and then this morning it was better, wasn't it? (Peter: Yes, it was all fine.)

113. (Mama:) The Lord allowed that to happen because we didn't pray before we exercised.—And it wasn't much exercise, either, it was very gentle. So it wasn't like he overdid, but the Lord was just trying to teach us a lesson. He's trying to get us to pray over everything. And if you have two people and the one will do it when the other doesn't, then you've got more of a chance of remembering and you can be more prayerful that way. (Peter: And you can do that as teamworkers or as partners in anything.) (Mama:) Yes, during the daytime or anytime.

Sing Your Praises!

114. Anything else? Any questions? (Fam: I thought what you said about the singing was beautiful. Don't we have an expression that singing is the highest form of praise?) (Mama:) Well, the Lord certainly says a lot about it, and lately He's even said in prophecy to sing our new song together. So singing is very important to the Lord. I wouldn't be surprised if it is the highest form of praise. When you're praising the Lord verbally, you often feel more like breaking out into song and singing it. The Lord certainly has made us to be able to sing. And that beautiful prophecy the Lord gave last night about the singers and what He's opening up now to the Family and the new songs He wants to be sung sounds pretty great!—Great things ahead with music and the message in music. (See "Mama's Love Story!—Part 5," ML# 2996:81.)

115. (Fam: The last few Psalms exhort us to sing and play musical instruments to the Lord.) (Peter: Yes, "Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet: praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance: praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals: praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord!" (Psalm 150). (Fam: And there is a verse which actually says, "I will sing unto the Lord a new song.") (Mama: ) "O sing unto the Lord a new song; for He hath done marvelous things: His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory" (Psa.98:1). (Fam: There are so many verses about singing. "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever" [Psa. 89:1].) (Fam: "He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God" [Psa 40:3].)

116. (Mama:) So let's sing! Sing unto the Lord! Thank You Jesus! And some people even sing in tongues. Before I joined the Family I was in a prayer group, and sometimes they'd break out singing in tongues. It was beautiful. You might try it sometime. Thank the Lord! Okay‚ is that all?

Asking the Lord to Speak!

117. The theme of this meeting has been putting the Lord first in any relationship‚ and that the Lord will really bless it. I guess we can have another meeting to go over all the other reasons the Lord has put Peter and me together‚ but the reason we're focusing on now is that He's put us together so we can draw closer to Him and that our relationship with Him can be strengthened, and so that we can be a sample for you to follow. Somebody's got to be a sample. We're pretty poor samples sometimes, we're a little awkward and don't always get everything right‚ but it's better than nothing. At least we can tell you what we're doing and you can hopefully do some of the same things. Thank You Jesus! Thank You Lord! Hallelujah!

118. Well, I think we should ask the Lord to speak. However, I don't want anybody to feel under pressure. Please don't feel under pressure. Of course, the Lord did say He wanted us to promote prophecy and He wants us to practice and He wants you to be humble. But I feel bad for any of you who feel shy or awkward or who dread the prophecy session coming. I don't want you to be on the spot. So if you're too shy or embarrassed to give something in front of others, after the meeting you can ask the Lord for something in private which you can write down and turn in later.

119. Lord, please help no one to feel pressured. If You give them something, then You might want to pressure them to give it. But I don't want to put the pressure on them, making them feel as if they have to get and give something. We don't want to make them feel on the spot. But of course if You pressure them to speak out what You give them, then that's up to You‚ and I can't do anything about that. Thank You for all of them who have been so willing to give what You've given. Help them to have a peace and to just trust You and give what You give them. Or if You don't give them anything, help them to know that we're not criticizing them or looking down on them at all. You haven't given everyone the gift of prophecy. You haven't given me the gift of prophecy‚ so those who don't have it shouldn't feel bad and no one should criticize or look down on them.—But they should at least ask You for the gift, to see if You want to give it to them. We just want Your will, whatever it is, in Jesus' name.

Confirming Prophecies

120. (Fam:) "For as your father David has spoken My Words in times past, so would I have you give them. For he did not worry whether ye would receive them or how they would come out‚ he just gave. He gave, for he knew I was giving through him and he poured it forth. He was Aquarius, the water bearer, pouring forth unto you for your benefit, for your edification, for your learning and your teaching. I would that ye would pour out as he did, that ye would give and not worry. For I am giving you these things, so pour them forth."

121. (Fam:) "Have I not said that I dwell in the praises of My people? I am well pleased with your praises. I would that ye would lift up your hands and your hearts unto Me in praise, and I will pour out My love and My Spirit upon you. Therefore hold not back, but pour forth your love unto Me through your praises, and I will pour My love and My Spirit upon you. I am very well pleased with these two that I have made a sample unto you. I am pleased with their praises and their love and how they have opened up their hearts, their lives and their love unto you. I would that ye would follow in their steps, and by so doing, this love of Mine will spread and grow throughout My new nation."

122. (Fam:) (Prophecy as if from a long-time married couple:) "Come unto me, my new wife, sweeter than ever before. Let me hold you and take you into my heart as I have longed to for years. Come unto me now. Let us partake completely and fully and wholly of this fresh new wine. Let us lie in the bed of love the Lord is preparing for us. Let us give our hearts and our minds and our bodies unto Him. Let us make this the first day, the new day.

123. "Come unto me, my new husband that I have yearned for and longed for, but we have been estranged, we have been separated, grown apart, a little cold and weary. Let us set the past behind us and take unto us this new blessing and claim it for our very own. It belongs to no other, it is yours and mine, my darling and my love dove. We can keep this treasure in our bed and it will shine for us and help us in every time of need. This is the blessing we have prayed for, this is the very desire of our hearts that we are being blessed with."

124. (Fam:) "Have I not said that love is the greatest? The greatest of these is love. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength. Have I not said it over and over again? And as ye love Me and as ye praise Me and as ye sing to Me, I shall grant you the desires of your heart.

125. "Do you wish to be more loving? Then love Me. Do you wish to be more thankful? Then thank Me. Do you wish to have a more praiseful attitude? Spend time praising Me. Do you wish to overcome the vices that grip you? Spend time in the bed of love with Me. For My love and My humility shall overcome all these things. You cannot overcome them on your own or in your own strength. But by loving Me and praising Me and worshipping Me, I will grant you the desires of your heart which I have put there.

126. "And together we will conquer all! We will conquer every foe and every enemy. And you need not worry or fear or fret, for as you love Me, I will abolish all worries. As you praise Me, I will chase away every fear. As you spend time with Me in the bed of love, the darkness shall flee. For I dwell in the praises of My people, and I love the love and praises of My children. I thirst for them. I hunger for them, and I love that quality time. It will not be easy. That's why I said, `Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.' But as ye do it, it will become easier, and as ye obey, it will become natural. Only let My love and humility flow through you‚ and shed the darkness of pride and self and let us love together forever."

127. (Fam:) "Sing a song of joy unto Me. Sing unto Me praise, sing unto Me for My glory. Sing! Sing unto Me‚ whatever your song. However you say it, however you sing it, you can't go wrong. Sing! Sing unto Me. Sing a song of joy, sing a song of praise, sing a song of Psalms, sing a new song.

128. "You wonder, `What will I sing? How can I sing?' Sing a song from My Psalms‚ sing a song from the songs of old‚ sing a new song. Ye are My children, ye sing the song of Moses, and in Heaven ye will sing the song of Moses and ye will sing a new song. I'll put a new song in your hearts. But even now ye can sing a new song. Just sing unto Me by giving Me praise. Sing unto Me, for I love to hear each one of you, whatever your voice‚ whatever your words, whatever your thoughts‚ however ye love Me. I love you so! I love to hear your praises‚ I love to hear your songs. And as humbling as it is to sing unto Me, especially with another, I say give it a go! Sing unto Me and ye will be free!"

129. (Fam:) "What are the cries that I hear coming up? What are the prayers I hear coming up? What are the bleats of My children? What are these? For at the birthday they pray unto Me for something new. They lay their hearts before Me in renewed dedication and prayers of deliverance. This is why I am giving the story. David is still writing the story. You know how he loved to write stories, you know how he loved to talk. And My children love stories! They can see things better through stories.

130. "For he has been your Visiting Servant, he has heard your cries: You there who have yearned for a better relationship with Me. That sweet teen there, who doubts My love, who wonders if I'm real. And you, precious old-timer, who wonders, `Does the Lord still hear me? Are You there? Does the Lord still do miracles? Are we really in the Endtime?’ Yes, he has heard all of these. He has heard your yearning to repair your marriage, to be able to break your bonds and be able to love each other. He has heard your desire to learn how to put Me first.

131. "But the question was, how to go about getting the answers and the point across? How could he reach you? Of course, a story! Our love story!—My love story to you, and Mama's love story to you, and Peter's love story to you. These are all samples, and we really worked hard to bring the story about. We've engineered so many things. We've poured out a special anointing upon your hearts to receive and change.

132. "You've wondered, `How can I be humble?' Well, just read Peter's story about his affliction and weakness. Come read all about it! You've wanted to be yielded—read Mama's story about how to just say yes. Come read all about it! You want to learn to love your mate better, more tenderly? You want a better relationship with Me? Come read all about it! But most of all, rather than your just reading about it, I would like to write it upon your hearts.

133. "Come to Me, listen to My love story! I'll whisper in your ear. I'll tell you the greatest love story—to you personally—Me and you, as if there was just one of you. Oh, this is the greatest love story—you and Me—and how I laid down My life for you and how I love you every day in every way.

134. "And then after you come and love Me first, go love someone else! Start your own love story. Love somebody today. Tell them that you love them, stroke their hair, hold their hand, show them some tenderness, call them sweetheart. And this is the greatest love story, loving Me and passing My love on. The love story doesn't just start with Peter and Mama, it starts with you and Me. But their love story will help you because they have examples to help you learn, it's in black and white. It's so hard to know how to be humble without a picture. There it is for you, their love story, our love story, David's love story, and a love story for the world."

135. (Fam:) "Lift up your voice in love and praise to Me, for I need your love. I need to hear your love expressed in words, just as ye speak words of love to your lover. I need to hear your voice of love, for I am your lover. And as your words of love endear you to your loved one, so your words of love and praise to Me endear you to Me. And even as ye continue to speak words of love and whisper sweet words of love in your lover's ear, as ye stroke and caress and love one another in the many different ways in your lovemaking, so I wish that ye would continue to speak your words of love and praise to Me."

136. (Mama:) Thank You, Jesus, for those beautiful, wonderful Words! What a feast! We're so rich! We're so blessed! Thank You for speaking! Thank You for all this wonderful food that gives us such pleasure and such joy and such instruction, this wonderful counsel. Thank You Jesus! Thank You Lord for such miracles of Your love straight from Heaven to us. We love You. Amen. Praise the Lord! Did anybody get any verses or have any pictures or anything else you want to say?

Visions and Verses

137. (Fam:) I got the song, "Praise Him‚ praise Him, all ye little children‚ God is love‚ God is love." (Mama: ) Oh yes, we were singing that today! (Fam: Then it says‚ "Love Him, love Him, all ye little children, God is love." And I also got the song, "In my heart there is a melody.") (Mama continues singing: ) "...There rings a melody with Heaven's harmony. In my heart there rings a melody, there rings a melody of love!" And then it goes, "There is a song that Jesus gave me‚ it was sent from Heaven above. There never was a sweeter melody, it's a melody of love!" (Everyone sings together:) "In my heart there rings a melody, there rings a melody with Heaven's harmony. In my heart there is a melody, there rings a melody, there rings a melody of love!" I haven't thought of that song for so long! That's a beautiful song, "A Melody of Love."

138. (Fam:) I had a fun picture of a special music room somewhere in the spirit world, I guess it was Heaven, with all these neat-sounding instruments we never even imagined. It was a special room that had unique acoustics. You know how we use egg cartons in our makeshift studios? Well, in this room there were these fun poofy kind of clouds that made really good acoustics!

139. (Techi:) I got the verse‚ "Because you have set your love upon Me, therefore will I deliver you: I will set you on high" (Psa.91:14). (Mama:) Oh, that's a good one, that's one I was trying to think of the other day. (Techi:) I also got the quote, "The Lord loves to smell our prayers like we love to smell flowers." The impression was that the Lord's so happy with our praising Him and all that we're doing.

140. I also got that cute little poem that Grandpa got:

So let's sing a song for Quixote!

Let's sing a song for the free!

Let's sing a song though we're dotey,

For we're bound for Eternity!

141. (David:) I got this story from the "Good Thots": "There is a legend about two angels who were sent to earth to gather up the prayers of men. One was to fill his basket with the petitions of mankind. The other was to gather their prayers of thanksgiving. Some time later they went back to the Father's house. One had a basket heaped high, and running over, with the innumerable petitions of men. The other returned with a sad and heavy heart, for his basket was almost empty. The thanks of men were heard but rarely on earth, even though the angel had searched diligently. Do not let us forget the thanksgiving side of our prayers." (Mama: That's included in the praise, that we've been talking about tonight, that the Lord is so desirous that we give Him!) (—From "Good Thots" 1, pg. 661, No.384.)

142. (Fam:) I had a little picture that went along with the prophecy I got (para.135), and it was very simple. It was a man loving a woman, and first he was just telling her he loved her, but then as they began to make love, regardless of everything else that he was doing to her, any of his caressing or any other movement, his mouth remained next to her ear and he continued to say words of love and appreciation. (Mama:) Showing how important that is. (Fam:) Yes, he continued to do that, no matter what else he did. (Mama:) Showing the way we should be with the Lord—and each other.

Closing Prayer

143. (Everyone praises the Lord!) (Mama: ) Thank You Jesus! We love You, Lord! You've loved us up so good and made us feel Your Love so beautifully! Thank You for this wonderful time tonight. Thank You Lord! Now bless all these dear ones who have given what You've given them and have shared it for the blessing of the entire Family. We know it will bless them and edify them and encourage them and comfort them and give them new hope.

144. Lord, we thank You for each one‚ and we thank You most of all for You and Your love for us, and Your continued love for us daily in every little way‚ every little thing—it was Your love for us. Help us to be conscious of it constantly in all that comes about in our life, all those sweet things You do. The good things we have that we are able to benefit from are all blessings from Your loving hand because You love us so much. Thank You Jesus!

145. Keep us all tonight, Lord, as we go to our nice beds that You've given us and our nice bedrooms. Thank You for this wonderful place to live and for quietness and peace and security and Thy protection. Thank You that we're so well cared for and well fed and well clothed and for all the things that we have. We praise You for those and thank You for all Your blessings to us‚ and that we can live with such wonderful, sweet, precious loved ones. Thank You for all these wonderful things from Your hand, Lord. We love You and are so thankful for all You do for us. Keep us all safe in Your care and with continued strength to do Your work tomorrow‚ in Jesus' name. Thank You Jesus!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family