Excerpt from "Mama's Message of Understanding and Encouragement for Feast 2006"

By Maria FD/MM/FM 3571c 10/05

Feast 2006 devotional

1. Hi‚ everyone! It's me again. I just couldn't stay away. I didn't want the Feast to end, and so here's a devotions that I want you to have‚ and in fact‚ this is something that, because I felt so bad that the Feast talk was so long, this is another excerpt that I pulled from the Feast talk, and the Lord led me to give it to you so you could use it in a devotions instead, a devotions that you could have after the Feast.

2. And it's not only because the talk was so long at the Feast‚ but this is a very, very important message, and I wanted to pull it out and put it on its own so you would be able to concentrate solely on this at one of your devotions, so it wouldn't get lost or overridden in all of the other things we were talking about during that talk.

3. And this, as you may guess, when I say how very important it is, if you guess that we're going to talk about the Word, you will have guessed correctly. So I'm going to talk to you about this, about the importance of the Word, and I want you to really take it seriously, not just think, "Oh, it's the same old thing over and over." But if you're like me, you have to have constant reminders, you have to continually realize how important the Word is in your life, and you have to continually fight to get your Word time, to give the Lord His due, and put Him first, and give Him priority.

4. So that's what we want to do. That's what we're doing by giving you this little talk right here. Thank You Jesus!

5. We love You, darling, wonderful Love. We need You, and we need Your Word. It's our lifeline, and if we don't have it, we're not going to be able to function, we're not going to be able to operate, we're not going to be able to serve You; our lives are not going to be worth anything unless we're filled with Your Word. So thank You, and make this little talk and words from You a great blessing in our lives.

6. Perhaps you've tried and tried to make the Word revolution a reality in your life, but it just doesn't seem to have "taken" or "gelled," and you feel like it's always a struggle to get your Word time, and that it always will be. It is a battle to keep the things of the spirit first when you live in a body of flesh—but the spirit is more powerful than the flesh, and the keys have power to change your very nature. Let me repeat that again: The keys have power to change your very nature. The Word is your lifeline, and the Lord will always make a way for you to have enough of what your spiritual life depends on.

7. As you may have already heard in the prayer I prayed, that I also excerpted for one of your devotions, and I don't know if you've had it yet or not, I also struggle getting sufficient personal quality Word time. I think it's a struggle all of us have, because that's the thing that the Devil fights the most. Why wouldn't he? Since it's our lifeline, if he can cut it off, we're dead!

8. At the time of my last birthday, someone got some important counsel from the Lord that I'd like to share with you here:

9. (Jesus:) It is in your waiting on Me that you will win. It is in the quiet chamber of prayer and feeding on My Word that you will accomplish great forward movement in leading My Family.

10. (Mama: ) The Lord was talking to me right there‚ and then He continues to talk to all of us:

11. (Jesus continues:) They must continue to further hone their habits of waiting upon Me, of doing My bidding and following Me closely. And the fine–tuning of these qualities comes in giving Me honor over all else in their lives. And the way they give Me honor is by spending sufficient time giving Me their undivided attention.

12. Continue to lead them, My darling queen, for they must learn this lesson in full, in order to have the power to perfect that which concerns them in the future. The time that you spend with Me will bring about the consolidating of your gains.

13. All of My children must fight to obliterate Obstacon from their lives. As Rommel, the Desert Fox of WW2‚ set about to defeat General Patton and his forces, so does Obstacon and his band of foxes set about to defeat My queen and king and their Endtime army.

14. My army is built upon My Word. It is supplied, sustained, and maintained by My Word. Therefore, the defeat of My army can only be brought about by making My Word of none effect. That is the objective of Obstacon and his forces. Anything that even minutely accomplishes this objective is the mandate of Obstacon and his fiendish fox force. This is a major battle he wages against you and the Family.

15. This is not a battle that will be fought and won by just one or two or even a series of GNs, nor is it something that you can fight and win the victory for all My children. This is an offensive movement that each of My children need to wage in their hearts and lives and habits at all costs. The Word must have complete dominance in the lives of each one in My Endtime Family, whether yours is the job of a leader or any other job.

16. Obstacon and his forces must be specifically attacked and defeated. His charms are many, and they need to be exposed and defeated in the lives of all My children if you as a Family are to succeed in the commission I have given you, to go into all the world and preach My Gospel to every creature.

17. It is an ongoing battle, not one that is won and then finished. It is an ongoing battle that must be fought and won and fought and won repeatedly. For Obstacon continues to take on more faces of deceit and illusion to defeat My Word. Yet underneath he is always the same, no matter what tactic he uses. His commission is to prevent the Word from entering into the spirits of My children.

18. The Word is the lifeline of My army, so My children must always remember that they have to do whatever is necessary to ensure that that lifeline is not broken and permanently severed.

19. (Mama:) That's a very sobering message, isn't it? It makes you really think. And what I'd like you each to do, at your next quiet time or your next private time that you have with the Lord, is that you'll meditate on these words‚ you'll think about them, you'll promise the Lord that you're going to do whatever it takes to defeat Obstacon in your life.

20. Now you might wonder, "How can I defeat Obstacon in my life?" The Lord said that you need to wage war against him in your heart, and in your life, and in your habits. What are the specifics? How can you know how he's going to fight you, so that you will be able to fight him back effectively?

21. The Lord says, "Obstacon continues to take on more faces of deceit and illusion." What are those faces? That may be your question. And granted, it's always easier to know how to fight an enemy who is out there in the open and who you know what he's doing and what his devices are.

22. So here's the answer to that, from Jesus:

23. (Jesus:) There are many ways that Obstacon fights to make the Word of none effect, and it is up to each of My children to personally come to Me and ask Me how Obstacon is fighting them in making the Word of none effect in their lives. This is something that each one should do on a regular basis—check in with Me and see how you are faring and what current things you need to watch out for in your personal life regarding your Word time and how to get the most out of it.

24. (Mama: ) In addition to that, in addition to coming to the Lord personally, the Lord is making it easy for us in explaining that there are three main areas where Obstacon tries to enter overall with all of His brides:

25. Number one is entering with familiarity towards the Word. The Lord has blessed us with great volumes of the Word, old and new, via the GNs, and other pubs as well. In addition, we have the gift of prophecy and we can hear from Him as much as is necessary every day. We're blessed with such great abundance of the Word. Compared to the world, we're glutted with the Lord's Words!

26. Whenever you have an abundance of anything, it's easy to grow familiar, and in this case, familiar with the Word, if you're not on guard. The best safeguard against familiarity with the Word is … do you know what it is? Anyone have the answer? It's to continue to use the new weapons of praise‚ humility‚ desperation, and prayer.

27. We need to pray that the Lord will open our eyes to how we're being familiar with the Word. Pray and ask our Husband how you can safeguard yourselves and each other against growing familiar with the Word. And then, when He's given you the answer‚ follow through on what He shows you to do.

28. Now, the second area in which Obstacon seeks to render the Word of none effect is by putting distractions in our way, to where we're not giving the Word our undivided attention. He's not necessarily stopping us from having Word time—that would be too obvious—but he seeks to divide our attention. And this is particularly dangerous, because in getting in the actual hours in the Word, it's easy to walk away thinking that we've had sufficient Word time. But if our attention is being divided, then we haven't had sufficient Word time.

29. Many are getting the required minimum time in the Word, but if we're not truly "entering our closets" and getting away to a quiet place for Word and prayer, and if we're not truly leaving all the cares of our daily living aside when we enter our Word time, to where we're giving the Word our undivided attention‚ then the Word can't have the desired effect that it needs to have.

30. Now, the third way … let me repeat that this is the third overall way‚ the major way that Obstacon works with [against] us collectively. But to get the personal ways in which he fights you, you're going to have to come to the Lord personally yourself.

31. All right, the third way, the third general way that he fights us‚ is by trying to get us to not take sufficient time to fully delve into the Word. He tries to keep us from really studying the Word. He doesn't mind if we just read the Word‚ but he doesn't want us to study it.

32. The Word says‚ "Study to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth." The Lord wants us to really study the Word, cross-reference the Word, be lawyers of the Lord's Word, know it forwards and backwards and inside out, for this is how we'll learn to "rightly divide the Word of truth." If Obstacon can hinder us from really studying the Word, he knows that we're less likely to fully stand on it and put it to the test, live it fully, and obey it explicitly. If the Word doesn't move us to action, it's of none effect.

33. So now that you know some of Obstacon's main devices, which our Husband has so wonderfully revealed to us, do all that you can to fight him in every way that you can to keep him from creeping into your life in any way. You've got to keep your lifeline from being endangered.

34. The Word is like your bungee cord, and when you're firmly attached to it, you can jump off into thin air and it will hold you secure! So don't let your lifeline be hurt, don't let it be cut, but try to protect it at all costs. Do that personally, do it collectively as a Home, try to help each other, and realize the importance of this. It's crucial, it's vital, it's serious. So stay on guard. God bless you! I love you!