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August 10, 2015
The Lord's blessing is with us, Heartdwellers. It's been an interesting day. We've been living in this house for 12, 13 years out of the generosity of two very special people. Today that came up as a question, that they are possibly going to be moving back, and that would mean we would have to find another place to live.
Needless to say, I was a little bit distracted, dealing with that - all the in's and out's of that - is it really going to happen? How are we going to keep dealing with this, Lord? How are we going to keep doing what we are doing? All the things that take place if you're in a position where you are going to have to move. AND without compromising getting a message to you every night. Because the Lord has made it very clear - He wants me to be doing this every night.
So, He was VERY sweet during worship - it took me a long time to get my mind off of myself and my problems, and get really in a point where I was worshipping Him. He helped me with that, I know His Grace reached out to me.
He began speaking to me, and said, "You have nothing to fear, all is in My hands. It always has been, it always will be. I am your provider. Don't be taken up with worry, Clare. Pay attention to the work, let things go on around you, but you stay centered on My Will, on this channel, your flock. I will take care of all else, of everything that pertains to you. I have covered you, My Love."
'Of course you cover me, Lord. I understand that. But, I fear my attachments to things... like my cats.' We're so used to being here, and taking walks in the field behind the house. And, what will happen to them, and that kind of thing.
"They are your family and will be with you wherever you go...did I say 'go?"'
Yes, Lord, you did.
"Yet, I have never told you you are going anywhere but Heaven, have I?"
No, Lord. You haven't.
"Then, stop worrying. Everything is in My capable hands. You believe that, don't you?"
Of course I do.
"Then you can relax?"
Kinda sorta.
"Now, what I am saying is things are changing around you, But, I never change and as long as you rivet your attention on Me, what have you to worry about?"
Nothing, I guess.
"My Love, worry is useless. Prayer is what is needed."
'Lord, does it count as prayer when I just sit there grieving?' You know, those times your dealing with feelings and emotions and attachments and things...and you just sit there in front of the Lord, and you really can't do anything but deal with your feelings? And, I was wondering if that counts as prayer. You know, when you're crying out to the Lord to help you get things straight in your mind.
He replied and said, "As long as you are laying your petition down at My feet, yes. It does count as prayer. Prayer is so much more than speaking sentences of petition, whether verbal or non-verbal. Prayer is a sigh, a recognition of a need for things to be made right. Prayer is compassion for the human condition. Anytime your heart breaks for the least of these, anytime, I count that as prayer. I see your unbelief! Let me put it to you this way, so your Evangelical/Fundamentalist viewpoint is satisfied, okay? Consider the second chapter of John:
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples
had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him,
"They have no more wine."
"Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My hour has not yet come."
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so,
9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and
said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much
to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
"So you see, what I am telling you is Scriptural. My mother had the heart of an intercessor, which is also your heart. She saw the embarrassment of the bridal party and sighed deeply, knowing how embarrassed they would be. Her sigh became a prayer to Me, and not just any prayer, mind you. I stepped out of character in that moment and revealed Myself to the servants. It was not yet My hour, but the sigh of her heart resonated so deeply within Me, I stepped forward none-the-less.
"So you see, your sighs are powerful."
Wow, Lord. Thank you for making that so clear!
"I wish you'd get rid of that legalistic mindset and start trusting Me more. But, for the sake of your audience, which may have a few just as stubborn as you are, I explained it Scripturally. There is so much you don't see in Scripture. So much!! Men's rules have obscured many truths. For instance, that you have to be travailing in prayer on your knees for hours before I will do such a miracle. That is a lie. Of course, when that intercessor happens to be your own Jewish mother...well, that's altogether different." He said, rather tongue-in-cheek...!
He continued, "I hear the cries of a mother's heart for her children. That, too, is most powerful. Anyone who is willing to take on the responsibility of being a mother, whether it is to her own children or to another's child, gains a special grace to be honored for her concern, which is enough for her to lay down her life to support that child. You are a mother, not just to your own children but to these Heartdwellers, too. And so, your prayers carry a special anointing for their needs. Doesn't that make you feel better?"
It surely does, Lord! Thank You. Help me absorb and really believe this with all my heart! I wanted to share this story with you: I remember the story of a certain woman who began a Christian TV network. She was overwhelmed with a crisis that had arisen at the network and had to rush to an emergency meeting. But, before she made it out the door, a woman who had come from out of town for an appointment with her, came in crying and asking for prayers. Her husband was going to divorce her for another woman. Well, the owner of the station listened but had to quickly dismiss her with the promise to pray. Flustered by the distraction from the network crisis as she was running out the door, she blurted out, "Oh, God, just take care of it, please, will you? Take care of it!" And, that was the one and only prayer she said.
Several months later, she was approached by a well-dressed woman with a check written for $50,000 for her network. She said, "You don't remember me do you?" The TV owner said, "No. I'm sorry, I don't." The woman with the check said, "Six months ago I asked you to pray for my marriage. Within days, everything turned around. My husband and I are reconciled and now have a wonderful marriage, and I know it was because of your prayers." (chuckle) She must have chuckled to herself when she heard that!
I said to the Lord after this, 'Well, Lord, what was so powerful about her prayer that You answered it so quickly?'
"She was a mother. A mother to this women and those who watched her network. She was a woman of prayer, leading a life of obedience, sacrifice and total commitment to Me. She was well disposed to get her prayers answered. The woman who came to her was humbled in her marriage, she was also a soul who made it a point to look out for others financially and to pray for them. By her disposition of soul and her faithfulness to Me, she also was well disposed to have her prayers answered. Both souls, giving and receiving, were in a state of grace with Me. I don't always say 'yes' but in this case it was merited.
"Do you remember the story of Tobit?"
'Oh, yes, that's one of my personal favorites' By the way, for some of you who aren't familiar with Tobit, it's part of the Septuagint and the Apocrypha, so you won't find it in many Bibles. I think the New Jerusalem Bible has it, the American Standard has it and the Latin Vulgate has it.
"It was because Tobit lived a righteous and exemplary life that I sent the angel Rafael to assist him in the recovery of his money which he desperately needed, as well as providing him with a holy daughter-in-law.Tobit was also a father to many, a man that cared selflessly for others, burying the dead - even strangers - at the most inconvenient times. So many times My Love, I answer prayer because of the kindness of the one petitioning Me. A selfless life of Charity has great virtue before Me and I long to distinguish that person with gifts extraordinary, especially answers to prayer."
So, after that, there was kind of a long pause. And, finally I said, 'Lord was there something else you wanted to say tonight?'
"Yes, there is more."
"Do not allow yourself to be alarmed by things changing around you. I am speaking to all My Brides right now. This is most often the tactic of the enemy to cause insecurity: the tangible things in your life undergoing change.
"When your heart is centered on Me, and not your family, your housing, your food and clothing, no matter what goes on around you, your heart will not be moved. In order to have this disposition of heart, one must put their absolute, first priority in their relationship with Me, because I never change.
"When you begin to set your heart on other things, you are slowly being drawn off into a trap."
Boy, I have felt that. I have really felt that!
"At first it seems innocent enough, an affection for something or someone. When you begin to set your heart on other things, you are slowly being off into a trap... At first it seems innocent enough, an affection for something or someone. Then you become accustomed to it and it becomes 'important' to your happiness. May I say, no one, no thing should capture your heart or become important, other than Me? If your basic needs are met each day, rejoice that you have sufficient substance for that day. But if you begin to long for more, and see your attention in life shifting to things, you are slowly being drawn into a painful trap. This is the reason I said, 'If riches increase, set not your heart on them.' Your heart should only belong to Me.
"A man or woman who sets priorities on things that are not necessities, soon is willing to compromise to maintain them. For a minister of the Gospel that is extremely dangerous. Your congregation begins to grow, your income expands, you invest in a more expensive house, more luxuries at table and these things begin to dominate your life, becoming a source of pleasure. The result? If this lifestyle is threatened there are painful choices to be made: sacrifice everything? or yield to compromise?
"I want you to be free, Children. I want you to have not a care in the world but making Me happy, putting Me in the center of your life, Your one and only Joy, your King, sitting on the throne of your heart. Paul was a man after My own heart. It mattered not to him whether he was well fed, well clothed and well housed, or if he lived in the corner of a tent factory. His joy was in Me, all the rest was simply supporting His joy.
Phillippians 4:11 I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things
through Him who strengthens me....
Matt 6:31"Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' 32"For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all
these things....
"Not only do I know you need these things, I supply them to you as well. Do not think that because you have earned a substantial living by the work of your hands, that you are responsible for increasing your wealth. The truth is, I provided you with the ability and opportunity to earn a living, and were I to withdraw it, in that moment you would be homeless.
"Oh, how wise is the one who has learned to be happy with very little, indeed, happy with nothing at times. Such a one as this is free as the sparrows and hasn't a care in the world. Contrast that to those who seek prosperity and live a life completely taken up with what they will eat, where they will live, what they will wear, and the pleasures and disappointments that come with that territory. The shopping, the maintenance of, the protection of so many things. Oh, what a trap you can fall into when living in affluence.
"This vessel has learned the hard way how bitter and binding a materialistic lifestyle can be. Many times I have heard her cry out for a less complicated life. And, as she gets her heart more and more on Me, I help her to realize that dream.
"All of you now. Pay very close attention to your affections and consider what would you be willing to compromise to maintain your pleasures? Are you ready to relinquish it all for My Kingdom? If it were taken tomorrow, would you be crestfallen, suicidal, humiliated? Or, would you heart remain firm, trusting only in Me?
"I propose these things to you because what is coming to this nation. Many who sought fame and affluence will be penniless overnight. I don't want that for you. No, I want the treasure of Your Heart to be Me, for I never will be taken from you. And, the more abased you are, the more I will approve of you. Think on these things. Settle in your heart now what is most important. And, it isn't just the things that are threatened...some can live quite well without them. It's the people who meant something to you in your life, who suddenly can live without you. Who suddenly don't hold you in respect anymore, to whom you've become unimportant and even a liability.
One never knows just who his friends are until he loses everything of influence and is under ridicule and contempt from the world. Then you will know who your friends are.
"I will always cherish and treasure you, keep in your heart a memory of Me on the cross. Naked, bruised, filthy from sweat and blood, disfigured beyond recognition. In that moment, I was the most despised and hated of all men, and certainly the poorest. Yes, that is who I became as an example to you not to set your heart on riches and worldly accomplishments. Happy you will be if you follow this example.
"Enter into that single-mindedness, that disposition of a single heart. I am offering this Grace to you now as you are hearing this invitation."