ABIDING TO THE ANSWER

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

I have learned that prayer is not primarily about asking. I have learned that prayer is primarily about connecting.

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Prayer is the place where all the puzzle pieces of our relationship with God and His people come together and solidify into action.

I have learned that before asking I need to connect with God and His thoughts about the subjects that concern me. the Bible calls this connection “abiding”.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7

Abiding prayer, then, is the key to successful intercessory prayer (that type of prayer that involves lists of things we would like God to do in the name of Jesus).

Abiding prayer starts with listening…. Listening to the Word of God. Discovering the promises of God in the Bible and learning to stand on them. This requires us to read and memorize the Word of God. For most of us that requires a lot of going over. I generally read a book of the Bible over and over until I have it deep in my heart. My current method is to read through the Bible and in between each book I read one of the biblical books that I have chosen over and over. I have done this with the book of The Revelation, the book of Genesis, and now the book of Psalms. That means I have read through The Revelation 66 times and Genesis 66 times. When you read something that many times through, things start to stick. This is the beginning of abiding prayer.

I will write more soon, but tell me…

WHAT SECRETS HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT ABIDING IN PRAYER?

BRINGING HOME

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

I helped lead prayer at The Worship Room House of Prayer last night.

If I had to choose a theme for the evening it would be SHOW US HOME. At one point, during the devotional worship set, I began to sing a simple spontaneous chorus.

” OPEN OUR EYES TO SEE THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD. OPEN OUR EARS TO HEAR THE SONG GOD SINGS OVER US, THE SONG THAT CALLS US HOME.”

During our time of worship with the word we meditated on Song of Solomon 4:9 “You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes, with a single jewel of your necklace”

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The meditation again turned toward the idea of home as we repeated the line, “We are Your dwelling place and You are our home.”

Then, during our intercession set, I began to pray in the Spirit and I had this deep sense that I was calling the power of my heavenly home into this earthly realm to invade it and heal it. My prayer came from Isaiah 64 “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
    and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
    and cause the nations to quake before you!”

I have this sense that a. very important part of ministry now is to bring the essence of Heaven to Earth: The love, the joy, the peace, the patience, the kindness, the goodness, the faithfulness, the gentleness, and the self control. We may not be able to experience the fullness of these things until we get to Heaven, but what we can bring of those things now we must.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO BRING A PIECE OF HEAVEN TO EARTH TODAY?

DALE

/ joseph elon lillie / 6 Comments

I received word at 4:35 A.M. this morning that my mother-in-law, Dale Stevens, went home to be with Jesus.

I cannot say she passed away, because for Dale, while death was a moment of weakness,I know it was also the moment that led to her greatest strength. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body..’ Death has been swallowed up in victory.‘.” 1 Cor. 15:42-44, 54

I have to say, Dale was a wonderful mother-in-law. She cared for her family with an indefatigable passion and a living faith and she accepted me into her family and cared for me as a member of that family. Even after my wife and I divorced Dale never cut me out. She always left a door open for me and kept relationship with me even across the miles. I will always be thankful for her love and care. I am praying now for my ex wife, her sisters and all their husbands, their children and my children and all that extended family as they mourn this foundational loss.

Tina (my ex wife) called from South Carolina, the other day and asked if I would sing over Dale in her hospice bed. I had the opportunity to sing over her twice and each time I sang songs of our hope in Heaven. As I sang, I was reminded that we may be parted for some moments now, but soon we shall all be reunited around the throne of the Living God.