I CAN THINK OF ANOTHER WAY

February 28, 2025 / joseph elon lillie / 3 Comments

Lately I have been spending a lot of time thinking about the state of our world.

I see what appears to be a forest fire approaching our culture.

I also see part of the culture sitting back saying, “Nothing to see here.”

I see trouble ahead.

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I also believe that if we are in the time I think we are, then there is no avoiding that trouble. We are on a one lane road and there is no UTURN.

I hear people calling for action…uprising….even violence.

The world is polarized and divided and people are saying, “It’s us or them!”

I have people urging me to: PICK A SIDE…RIGHT OR LEFT; TAKE A STAND… LEFT OR RIGHT; VOTE THIS WAY AND BLAME THOSE WHO DON’T VOTE THE SAME; STOP TRYING TO MAKE NICE WITH THE OTHER SIDE. WE HAVE TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM THEM AT ANY COST.

BUT

I CAN THINK OF ANOTHER WAY.

It’s an ancient way. It is an eternal way.

It is the way of…“let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ” 1 John 4:7,8

It is the way of...”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^[c] ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22: 37-39

It is the way of… “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Matthew 5:44

This way is neither left nor right. It is straight ahead.

This way doesn’t choose the human way. It chooses God’s way. It leaves saving the world up to God and makes loving people its priority. It doesn’t choose riches or primacy. It doesn’t choose money or security. It chooses relationship. It chooses community. It chooses sharing, encouraging and sacrificing for others.

Most of all this way doesn’t view this life as the “be all and end all of existence.” It accepts all of life on this side…good, bad, and ugly

AND

It accepts that there is life even in death… and that life is light, love and laughter.

SO IN THE DAYS AHEAD…

I will choose another way.

I will choose the way of loving God and loving people.

I will choose the way of peace.

I will choose community.

I will choose relationship.

I will choose sharing.

I will choose encouraging

I will choose the way of sacrifice.

I will choose to pray for the Lord’s salvation to come quickly!

WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE?

HERE IT IS!

January 23, 2025 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

A few weeks ago, I told you I was beginning to put together THE CONGREGATIONAL SENTENCE FOR 2025 (AND AS IT TURNS OUT 2026).

Well I have worked through the process of: consolidating all the prophetic words from sabbatical 2024, boiling the down to seven major themes, writing the first draft of the congregational sentence, coaching around it, rewriting it, sending it to our staff and board for comment, and rewriting it again. Here for public release is what we at Cornerstone have come up with for our guiding congregational sentence for 2025 and 2026.

Cornerstone Congregational Sentence 2025- 2026.

SLOGAN: AWAKENED…EMPOWERED BY LOVE TO TRANSFORM…

SENTENCE: “Awakened by God’s love and empowered by that love, we will transform our communities.”

EXPLANATION: In 2025 we are going to foster an environment where our church is awakened to a deeper awareness of God’s love. This will lead us to spend more and more time with Him, whether through reading His Word, seeking Him in prayer, or helping those in need within the wider community by using the gifts that God has given us.

We will experience freedom, connection, support, and empowerment through our encounters with God. We will be a shining light in the region, radiating His supernatural power, healing and hope. As we reach those in need, we will spread the message of Jesus, and create a lasting, positive difference in the communities we serve.

CONNECTION

January 18, 2025 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

This week has been about two things: prayer and connection.

I guess it could be argued that this week was really about one thing, because prayer is really about connection with God…SO…. this week has been about one thing….CONNECTION.

I guess if I had to boil my job description down to one word, CONNECTION, could be one of the words that I would choose to describe the job of pastor or minister. There are other words of course: FAITH, LOVE, COMPASSION…but CONNECTION is a good strong doing word for this job. As a Pastor I connect. I Connect myself with God. I connect other people with God. I connect God with people. I connect people with other people….CONNECT….CONNECT…..CONNECT.

In this world of ever dividing priorities I sometimes feel like this work of connection is a dying art, maybe even a losing battle. As our society polarizes more and more with each passing day, I am becoming more clear that the work of pastors is to help our communities see that the need for connection, with God and each other, has not changed or lessened. The things that divide us must be moved out of the way.

With some of the issues that lie before us as communities, I don’t have any idea how to begin to move the division out of the way and bring connection back, but my not knowing how to do the work does not change the fact, that is the job. I suppose, if I could do it by myself I wouldn’t need faith or God.

As I sit in meetings with town officials trying to figure out how to alleviate poverty and pain and prejudice, as I sit in visitations with people struggling to work through relational disintegration or chronic pain and illness, I am very aware that the answers aren’t mine to bring. The answers for many of these things lie with God alone and come only through His redemptive power. We are not alone in our trouble, there is a God who loves us and who wants to be invited to the bargaining table of our lives to add His wisdom to the conversations we are having.

That said He needs the invitation.

He says in Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

As I do my job I am listening constantly for God’s knock and I am watching continually to see who is answering the door.

OUR TOWN 2025: T W R HOUSE OF PRAYER

January 11, 2025 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Winchendon, this little town in North Central MA, has a lot going for it. I think it’s easy to overlook all the things we have going for us as a town.

Don’t get me wrong. We have plenty of challenges and things that set us back on the regular, but that is common life in every town everywhere. But I am taking a long look at the advantages of this little town, and they are pretty incredible.

One of the advantages we have is TWR House of Prayer located at 10 Pond St. In the heart of downtown Winchendon. In the words of Jonathan Bauver the prayer missionary appointed to TWR House of Prayer, “TWR House of Prayer is a missional ministry focused on prayer, worship and ministering to the Lord”.

On the regular TWR House of Prayer is open from Sunday to Friday from 5P.M. to 8 P.M for people to just come and sit and pray through their issues while the TWR team worships and prays from their altar area. The act of sitting for an hour in silent meditation and prayer is one of the healthiest things a person can do in life.

Right now through Jan. 26th TWR House of Prayer is open 7 days a week from 5 P.M. -8 P.M. in cooperation with Cornerstone Church and its annual 21 days of fasting and prayer. Thanks Jon and Angela Bauver for all you do for our town.

DOES YOUR TOWN HAVE A HOUSE OF PRAYER MINISTRY?

2025…WORDS TO LIVE BY

January 1, 2025 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I am sitting at the dining table eating left over Chinese food, thinking about the year past and the year ahead.

2024 was a hard year. I don’t think I have really stopped to meditate on just how hard it was. I certainly haven’t allowed myself to feel the hardness. It was a year of death and a year of sickness for our family. It was a year that brought earth shaking change to our lives, identities and ministries. We are not the same people we were at the end of 2023.

Last night we celebrated the New Year as a family at The Vicarage.

New Year’s Eve was our gift exchange this year. I got designer coffee! My son Joe got tools. The kids got play dough and toys. The ladies got winter clothing. James got a book he had been wanting to read. It was a good night topped off by our traditional meal…. Chinese food

It was also a game night.

To say I am not a good game player is an understatement, but other members of the family are. It was a quiet and comforting way to spend the last day of this very difficult year.

Today I am catching up on chores, and putting Christmas away. As I write this note between loads of laundry I am thinking about what the Lord has already told us about 2025.

My personal words for the year are: PRACTICE THE PRESENCE…

AND ENGAGE IN THE PROCESS

Here are some other things we have learned about 2025 from the last few months of 2024.

Amanda has heard- Focus and Watch. 1 Peter 5:8 State alert for your great enemy the Devil stalks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Focus on the right thing not similar distractions because there will be good things and God things. See the potential particularly in our children. Don’t overlook the small things in life or neglect the potential of small things. Watch is the word, Gregorio. Its definition is- Keeping your eyes on the truth.

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Melanie has heard-We are to be beacons of light. We have been preparing to maintain our light in the hour that is coming.

James has heard- We are children of THE KING. The time has come to act like it. We are an already not yet people. We have the victory but we now have to posses this in the Spirit. We need to use our spiritual authority.

Joe has heard-Go! Luke Chapter 10… “Pray the Lord of the harvest that he would send for the laborers into the vineyard…. Go I am sending you.”

Kristine has heard-Dwell! Dwell in the presence of the Lord and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Claim the victory. Psalm 139 teaches us that God is all knowing.He knows every detail of our lives and even when we don’t see it, He is working in our lives. We need to remember that He knows the end of our stories and the progress of the journey.

Yesterday my sister and I were on Messenger talking and this prophetic word came –

And this is what the Lord says, open your eyes, I am bringing you into a spacious place. This is the culmination of over a half a century of My work. I have hidden this from the enemy as I have hidden this from you, but this is about neither of you and both of you. The enemy can see the size and shape of this thing, but even he does not know what it is any more than you know what it is. you were chosen for this. your family was chosen for this. You each have your part to play. I have prepared you. I have called you by name. Now prepare yourselves. Gird yourselves and answer me like a human, where were you when I laid the foundations of the storehouses of the snow?

As I embrace this first day of 2025. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt….this is going to be a year for the memory books.

THE LONGEST NIGHT

December 12, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

It is definitely winter at the Vicarage now. I am feeding the birds everyday and just keeping ahead of their feeding frenzies. It tells me the last of the edibles in the forests are gone. The chickens are moving the hay I am providing for them, from one end of their enclosure to the other as they have need to keep the coop warm for their feet in the colder temperatures, and I am changing out their water twice a day now to keep it from freezing.

We are into the season of storms. Each day brings its own display of wind or precipitation and the sky is more often rheumy than not.

The day starts at 7 A.M., is gone y 4:30 P.M. and is bordered by several hours of wintry half light on each side. As we head towards the longest night of the year, I have to admit I am feeling affected by the darkness more than ever before.

To cope I am feeling led into still another deeper place of prayer. When not doing people work, I find myself bouncing back and forth between prayer and administrative work in about half hour increments.

I am feeling this necessary to keep my head on straight… and as a final work of preparation before the new year brings what I am sensing it will.

2024 has been a hard fought battle with many large changes. It began with my mother entering hospice care. Mom passed in April. Shortly after that my daughter was diagnosed with cancer and the summer was given to hospitalizations and treatments. My sister went back to her ministry in the Netherlands and my son and his family bought a condo and moved out. Lots of changes. I think part of the reason for this prayer rhythm is to help me grieve all the change and trouble. There is a piece of me that I think is just entering into the grieving process now. I feel like I have said that before. Maybe I am not just entering the process. Maybe I am just in a new phase, a phase that is going to require a lot more prayer.

BUT … these depths of prayer are not just about grieving the past. It is about preparing for the soon to come move of God. My daughter, Melanie, was telling me about a vivid dream she had the other night, and how she believed it was a word from God about how He was going to bring breakthrough in certain areas of our community. She also believes that we are being called, as a church, to partner with Him in these areas.

It reminded me of a conversation I recently had with another minister about the body of Christ needing to spend enough time in abiding prayer to bring heavenly realities into the earthly realm. I realize this is not just about me personally. God is beginning to call the church into deeper prayer because that is what it is going to take to bring forth the miracles we are going to need in the days ahead. We are heading toward the world’s longest night.In that space of darkness the church is going to need to bring its brightest light.

“Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever….The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness,a light will shine.” Isa. 9:1,2

THE PERILS OF PLANNING

November 23, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

It is easy in the work of ministry to become a box checker. Each day has its own list of things to get done. Sometimes that list gets long.

I admit box checking is something I fall into at times. I remember when I was a young minister and the idea of keeping a daily schedule and agenda was introduced to me. I said it was not a godly principle to live by man made lists. I was told by the person doing the training that if I did not learn to keep an agenda and live by a plan I would never be effective.

As I progressed in ministry the words of that particular teacher proved to be true. Life without a plan and without goals is chaos.

But what I said to the teacher also is true, at least in part. When the plan becomes all consuming, when the plan becomes god and takes God’s place, it becomes ungodly. Many of us become idolaters and slaves to our agendas. When the plan becomes the point or when my plans become more important than God’s plans then…Houston we have a problem.

So there is this tension. I can’t live effectively without making a plan, but in making the plan I face a temptation to make the plan more important than God. How do I avoid the trap?

Here are three things I do to avoid making an idol of my agenda:

Pray before you plan. Bring God into the planning process and ask Him for guidance as you lay outpour weekly agenda.

2. Be a God first people second planner projects third planner. Remember that ministry is about God and people not programs or plans. When ministry becomes just a list of projects to get done you no longer have ministry you just have busy work. Every ministry plan must include God’s prayer plan for the minister (and if you don’t have prayer plan from God you don’t have a godly plan), and it must have connection to the community as its goal.

3. Learn to laugh with God at your plans. There is an old saying, “Man plans and God laughs.”

Even when we have done our best to pray through our plans and to prioritize the right things in our planning, there will be times when we miss it in our planning badly. I have had to learn to let my plans go when God shows up “out of the blue” to change them. I have had to learn to make light of these changes and to go with the flow of God’s interruption of the agenda. In fact, I am convinced that sometimes God allows me to make a plan He is going to ruin, just to see if I am willing to sacrifice my plans at the altar of obedience to Him.

WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU DO TO KEEP YOUR PLANNING FROM BECOMING AN IDOL IN YOUR LIFE?

STRENGTHEN THE CONNECTION

November 20, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

As I was heading into church on Sunday, the Lord was speaking to me about effectiveness.

Here is what I am sensing in my spirit about effectiveness in the journey ahead:

Effectiveness will flow out of the strength of our connection to God in the days ahead. All of our natural ability, talent and giftedness will not be enough to meet the crises of the coming days. The mission God has for us will require His supernatural power and glory and that can only come through the health of our personal and community’s relationship with Him.

Salvation itself only requires the beginning of a connection with God through Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

This is entry level faith. But kingdom effectiveness will be determined by the strength of our connection to God.

If we focus on our programs and methodology, our talents and our human abilities all we will accomplish is a striving after wind and burnout. We will never accomplish God’s great plan for our personal lives, our family lives, our church or community.

If we focus on the strength of our relationship with God, though, then all of God’s plans will flow through that relationship into our programs, plans, talents and abilities and then out through those supernaturally empowered conduits to accomplish His divine purpose.

WHERE WE PUT OUR FOCUS IS UP TO US.

SABBATICAL’S END: FOUR BODY THINGS

November 2, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Sabbatical 2024 is over. I went back in to the office yesterday and began setting in motion some of things that are to begin in 2025 and 2026.

I learned many things during this sabbatical. Many of them were for me and my own personal spiritual growth, but here are four things I learned for the body of Christ.

ETERNAL DEFINITIONS: Our church needs to begin living by God’s definitions of things rather than the world’s definitions of things. We need to bring the definitions of words from eternity into the here and now. We need to begin living by those eternal definitions in the here and now.

CORPORATE SELF-REVELATION: The church needs to have a revelation of itself, a revelation of who we are to Christ, who we are to ourselves and who we are to our communities.

THE NEED TO SEE: We need to see what is coming down the road. It feels like threads are coming together and we are beginning to see the tapestry, streams are blending in a divine confluence. We need to understand our own small part of the stream, much depends on it.

A SEASON OF DELIVERANCE: from OCT. 8….. “The next season will be about deliverance. Like repentance, deliverance is more about what you are moving toward than what you are moving away from. In fact you will never be delivered until you have a firm vision of what you are getting in place of what you are giving up and until you believe that what you are getting is better than what you are leaving behind.”…

From Oct. 28…….”The days ahead are days of supernatural deliverance! The power of the Spirit is going to begin flowing and moving in even more miraculous ways. Generational and ancient strongholds are about to be overthrown, but the ground is going to be hard won. Only the power of the Spirit will avail, no mortal weapons will do in these battles. Yet I counsel you do not look for the dramatic , bombastic, instantaneous deliverances that have characterized the places of so many flashy dreams. Look for the move of small stones. Let there be an embracing of steps that bring compounding glory and progressive deliverance. Expect and do not despise the day of small things. Rejoice in each advance and encourage each other in every setback. Pray the power over each other continually and without ceasing and walk in the Spirit until all that is to be done is done! INch by inch the ground will be won. Do not be afraid!The center will hold until I call you forth.”

I AM VERY EXCITED TO SEE HOW THESE THINGS ARE TO BE BROUGHT ABOUT IN OUR CHURCH.

SABBATICAL DAY 15: THIS SABBATICAL’S MENTORS

October 15, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Yesterday was a day of relationship. I talked with my sister in The Netherlands for about an hour and a half. We talked about the calling and how it moves and shifts in our lives creating a never-ending journey that we sometimes flow with and other times struggle with.

Then I went to breakfast with my son-in-law James Franklin, who has helped me out during this sabbatical by preaching for me.

We talked about the word of prophecy for our church Cornerstone.

After that, My son and I took a walk around the greater block of the Vicarage. I told him the history I knew of the schools in town: Old Murdock, Streeter, Poland, Wheeler. As we walked I talked to him about the people I knew in each house: Jack Bowler, the Sweeney’s, the Knocks, The Blacks, Mr. Otto. We noted the dates on many of the historic homes: 1840, 1791. How different was life back then? How different from my life was the life of Capt. Murdock or Morton Converse?

I said before that I had trouble finding mentors to speak into my life for this sabbatical. Maybe I didn’t have trouble. Perhaps I was resisted by God because He had already chosen those individuals who would speak into my life and they were much closer to home than I was willing to look.

The conversations I am having are much more organic than traditional mentorship conversations, but perhaps this time around they are the more resonant for their organic nature. In these conversations I am hearing the echoes of my deepest thoughts, even some of those hidden from me by myself. There are things being called to the surface I was unaware of.

Things like: I am an escapist at heart always trying to distract myself with petty entertainments when questions of legacy and leadership arise; I procrastinate because I have been infected by the spirit of lack that is epidemic in our land; The call is not convenient and it is not comfortable, but it is good for me in my truest self; There is a price to pay for a deeper walk with God and I need to pay that price.

I entered this season a little disappointed, maybe even a little concerned, because I had not been able to find my mentor(s). I know now that God is the One who always had charge of the arrangements for this season and He has chosen His best for me.

HAS GOD EVER SURPRISED YOU WITH A BETTER BEST THAN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS BEST?

Notes From the Vicarage

A minister's family living in a micro forest garden

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