—MOOctober 28, 1975DFO—NO.384

Copyrighted Feb. 1976 by The Children of God

1. WHEN DO YOU REALLY PRAY?—I mean when you really pour out your heart to the Lord and speak in tongues! There should be some time when you really get "in the Spirit." When do you really get in the Spirit? When do you really pour out your heart to the Lord, when do you really get through in the Spirit?

2. WHEN I REALLY GET IN THE SPIRIT I USUALLY GET PRETTY DEEPLY MOVED, as Maria knows, and I weep and I pray and I speak in tongues and I feel like I really have a connection, really in the Spirit. It's very important‚ it's very good for your soul, it's good for your spirit.

3. IT'S GOOD FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL CONDITION to know that you have really poured out your heart to the Lord with a whole soul, with all your heart, with all your might.—Maria knows I do this!

4. AT NIGHT IS USUALLY WHEN I GET IN THE SPIRIT OVER SOMETHING, or some problem, or somebody, or some event, and sometimes I'll cry and pray for an hour or two. I'm not bragging about my prayer life, but I'm just telling you what your prayer life ought to be like.

5. YOU OUGHT TO REALLY GET DOWN TO BUSINESS WITH GOD! There must be times when you really cry out to the Lord and really pray and seek the Lord and really pray in the Spirit with strong crying and tongues and tears and really call upon the Lord with a whole heart!—He says then He'll answer you.

6. ALL OF OUR LITTLE PRAYERS ARE WELL AND GOOD, and I'm sure the Lord hears them and He knows they're sincere and we mean them‚ and He answers accordingly, but there are times when you should really really get desperate with the Lord in prayer about certain things and certain people.

7. I HAVE WEPT FOR DICTATORS, I'VE WEPT FOR KINGS, I've wept for this Family, I've wept for other people and other things. I'm just telling you this because I'm telling you something that you need to do. When was the last time you really poured out your heart in prayer with strong crying and tongues and tears to the Lord?

8. DOES THE LORD HAVE TO ALLOW SOME TROUBLE TO HAPPEN IN ORDER TO GET YOU TO REALLY PRAY?—To get you to really get serious with Him? The Lord wants us to be happy‚ and we usually are. But there should be times when you are not satisfied with just the usual run of things, when you really really seek the Lord for a needed change and really pray, pouring out your heart to the Lord. When do you do that? What's the last time you did that? What was it about? How long's it been since you prayed like that?—Do you ever pray like that?

9. WELL I'LL TELL YOU, BRETHREN, THIS REVOLUTION WAS BORN IN PRAYER, crying out to God, weeping in tongues and prophecy. What's the last time you had a prophecy? What's the last time you had a message in tongues with interpretation? With all this praying the Spirit ought to be answering!

10. YOU OUGHT TO BE GETTING ANSWERS IN THE SPIRIT NOW! I'm no longer personally with you in that capacity, and I shouldn't have to be because you now have the Letters and you can know the Truth. You know the Word and you can read them now on your own. I shouldn't have to lead you in that kind of a session.

11. IN THE DAYS WHEN I WAS IN DIRECT PERSONAL LEADERSHIP with you young people in classes and in group meetings and at the Club in Huntington Beach, let me tell you, we had sessions with the Lord every time! We had our entertainment, songs, singing, music‚ refreshments‚ class and all the rest, but we always wound up with a real prayer meeting! I mean real prayer and a real outpouring of our spirits to the Lord where we really cried out to the Lord!

12. WE STOOD AROUND AND HELD HANDS IN A CIRCLE AND WE REALLY CRIED OUT TO THE LORD! We poured out our spirits to the Lord and He gave us an outpouring of His Spirit‚ and people spoke in tongues and were baptised with the Spirit and were thrilled with marvellous messages‚ interpretations, prophecies and all!

13. NOW I'M STILL GETTING THAT SORT OF THING WHEN THE LORD HAS SOMETHING FOR ME, but it's privately now with Maria, usually in bed, and you get the final results of it in the Letters. You don't get to personally experience the electric moments of the actual event because you're no longer there with me.—Even if you were you'd probably be a distraction.

14. BUT WHEN DO YOU GET REALLY CONCERNED AND REALLY PRAY?—Really concerned about your children‚ about your friends and contacts‚ and you really pray in the Spirit? The Scripture says that the Lord says, "No man moveth himself to call upon Me." (Is. 64:7) If you're not really moved when you pray, I wonder sometimes how far it gets?

15. HE SAYS, "IN THE DAY THAT YOU CALL UPON ME WITH A WHOLE HEART I WILL ANSWER THEE." (Jer.29:13) I believe our little prayers are sincere and we mean them, but we also need to really get desperate in prayer about a serious situation or anything that needs it.

16. I'LL TELL YOU, WHOLE HEARTED TO ME MEANS GETTING IN THE SPIRIT speaking and praying in tongues and crying out to the Lord with strong crying and tears‚ and I weep and I agonise in prayer. Sometimes, as Maria knows, it costs two or three hours of sleep, but out of those sessions we have gotten some wonderful things from the Lord, things which you have read and benefitted from and perhaps some you've even forgotten.

17. THERE'S NO REASON WHY YOU CAN'T BE HAVING SUCH FELLOWSHIP YOURSELVES IN THE SPIRIT and with the Lord, and getting things from the Lord yourselves.—And you should and you'd better!—Or God may have to let something happen that will make you get desperate and really pray!

18. I DON'T KNOW WHETHER YOU REALISE THE SITUATION WHICH IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. As usual, people seldom ever see impending doom or things that can happen, until too late. So I really do think you need to really really remember to really get desperate with the Lord in prayer when you pray.

19. WHAT DOES GOD HAVE TO DO TO MAKE YOU GET DESPERATE?

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family