LC: INTRODUCTION
The Love Charter!--God's Call to a Love Revolution!
[Maria #246
ML #2963
1/95]
--By Maria
1. Dear Family--each one of you who is so precious and means so much to me, to Dad and to the Lord--something wonderful is about to happen! You are about to receive a great treasure. The Lord has heard your desperate heartcries and He has answered. He has seen your tears of desire to be closer to your children and have a stronger bond of love with them. He has seen your frustrations at not being able to do what you felt He was showing you. He has known your great need for a loving touch and for someone to lie beside you with their arms around you and tell you they care.
2. He has felt your burning desire to throw off the chains of conformity and the heavy burdens of the blobs and be better able to follow Dad's vision and the Letters. He has heard your cries to have more time seeking His face and hearing from Him. He has heard your prayers for the opportunity to be yourself and exercise your individual gifts that He has given you. "He has seen your tears, He has heard your prayers, behold, He will heal you" (2Kings 20:5).
3. If you have done your best, but the restrictions of a large, institutionalized Home, or leadership, tradition or peer pressure have made it almost impossible for you to operate in full faith, the Charter will free you to manifest God's gifts and power in your life. For many of you who feel you have done all you can do, you have gone as far as you can go, the Charter will be God's healing touch for you and the entire Family.
4. The members of my earthly teamwork--wonderful, marvelous people, who, by the way, love the Lord and me and you very much--said to me, "Mama, we think you need to say something to the Family about the Charter. You need to tell them what you think about it. They're hearing from Dad, they're hearing from us via the Charter itself, but they need to hear what you, their queen, feel about such an important document that will have an explosive impact and such far-reaching repercussions and that will bring about monumental changes in the Family."
5. So I asked my Heavenly teamwork--my precious Jesus and my wonderful David--"What do You want me to tell the Family about the Charter?" "Tell them that it is our gift of love to them," came the reply. "It is the means by which they can be set free to truly love. It is My Word and the heart of David, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Tell My Family that this Charter is a set of loving rules to help them to be happy, and to set them free from rules, to give them the right to love, rules to give them the responsibility to love. Tell them that it is our love for them."
6. As you read and study this Charter, ask the Lord to help you to feel the spirit of it--to help you to see Dad's heart and life in its pages, the whole essence of what he and the Lord mean the Family to be. See it as a guide to direct us back to the basics--the basics of love.--To love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind; to love each other and bear each others' burdens; to love our children and train them in the way they should go; and to love the lost by sharing the love of Jesus with them. Our Charter is a guidebook to help us lovingly live the Words of David.
7. The Charter is the mechanism by which we can live the Law of Love. You are being offered a vehicle that can transport you into a wonderful life of love! It is a structure that can help us do a better job of loving. On the other hand, if you see it only as an "end" and not as a "means to an end," it could then seem only a humongous list of rules and regulations, that, even though they were in the Letters all the time, have finally caught up with you, and will now have to be conformed to!
8. As always, the letter of the law is dead and cold without the Spirit. For example, God's great love gift of salvation is used by some Christians to bless the world by sharing His love with the lost, while others use it to hinder the world through bondage to the legalism of the law, thus making His love of none effect.
9. Likewise, this Charter can be used as a vehicle to propel you to heights of love you've never known, or it can bring further bondage and unhappiness. The Lord said, "The Charter was made for the Family and not the Family for the Charter." We will never set the world free with love if we are bound by the law. The fulfillment of the law must be love.
10. When you read the Charter, when you study it, when you think of it, when you apply it, think of love. It is our Love Charter, given by the Lord and Dad in love, written by Peter and our teamworkers in love, then labored over by your leadership in love, and studied and prayed over by many other Family members in love.
11. It is a new day, and the Lord is calling for a Love Revolution. Our Family is dry and thirsty for the Spirit and needs a massive infusion of love. Some of our children are questioning and unfulfilled, and all need to feel our love. The world is dark and evil and needs to feel our healing touch, our warm concern, our tears and our compassion. Now is the time not to just read about love, nor talk about it, nor call ourselves by it, but to do it! This is our last chance to be the Family God wants us to be, and to love everyone in every circumstance. In order to do this we must have a great change in our personal lives, in our spirits, in our attitudes, in our schedules, in our Homes, in our leadership structure.
12. We believe that the Charter will help to bring this about. It will help you to have a truly happy Home, with loving and fulfilled mothers, fathers, young people and children who feel so happy and loved that their joy and peace and enthusiasm for life overflows on all they meet, as they go out with broken hearts to find Jesus' sheep, who they can heal with His love.
13. The implementation of the Charter will be a very big change for many of you. It will cause you to re-evaluate your entire life. It will give you the motivation to change many things. It will result in new pioneering efforts and exercising your faith. It may be scary launching out into unknown terrain both in the spirit and in the physical. It will cause you to be very desperate, and will certainly draw you much closer to Jesus and make you hang on very tightly, which in turn will cause you to love Him more, which in turn will cause you to love others more.
14. Dad has gone home to the marvelous, wonderful spirit world in order to help us to learn to love. As so many of you have testified, I'm sure that you feel a personal change in your life as a result of Dad's Homegoing. Remember that it is his greatest desire that you will learn to love more fully, both for your own happiness as well as the happiness of others.
15. I have felt Dad's influence very strongly in the past few weeks, as has our CRO leadership who recently participated in Summit '95. I have felt him moving us in the direction of being more loving. We have been found wanting--lacking in enough love for the Lord and enough love for our brothers and sisters.
16. Just like you, we, the leadership of the Family, are also having a major revolution in our lives. In my case, the Lord showed me that I had to stop almost completely my regular routine of dictating messages and answering questions and proofreading pubs in order to show more love to the people around me. He said, "You must be a sample, not only a sermon. There are folks right here beside you who need your love. You can't preach to the Family about love unless you live it. The love which you have so freely received, you must also freely give."
17. The Lord had to help me to see that loving people is not time wasted, no matter how many other important things I need to do. It benefits everyone. It gives happiness, joy, comfort and security to those involved personally, and to those whom their lives touch, in print or in person; likewise, it results in lessons that I can share with you. Similarly, your investment in loving others will reap great dividends and will touch and change many.
18. You may think that what you can do is so meager, but "little is much if God is in it," and He will multiply your love in ways that will amaze you. I had to relearn the lesson that by loving people I am practicing what I preach, and my preaching will therefore be much more powerful, and you will be able to see and feel the difference. If we can say, "Today, I took time to love," how happy Jesus and Dad will be. How happy we will be!
19. Today I did take time to love, and it was a good day! I felt like I really accomplished something, something that will last forever and something that the Lord is well pleased with. Today I took time to love!--And I was loved in return! This evening I spent an hour with my precious children, one on either side of me. I held their hands and Techi laid her head on my shoulder, and David put his head against mine and we had sweet prayer and fellowship, talking about the events of the day and things the Lord is doing in our lives.
20. Today I took time to love.--And I was loved in return! I lay on my bed with Peter with his arms around me and we fellowshipped and prayed for the Lord to lead me in my dictation of this Letter to you. Today I took time to love.--And I received love in return! My faithful secretary came into the room to get a tape to transcribe and I invited her to lie down with me and I put my arms around her, and we had a sweet loving talk about situations in our Home and prayer for the dear people that we live and work with. It was a sweet cuddle time that made us feel very close to each other and helped us to feel the Lord's love.
21. Today I took time to love!--And received love in return! I called one of my other teamworkers on the intercom and prayed and chatted with him and heard some more of the events in his life before his salvation and joining the Family. I was getting to know him better and appreciating him more, and it was very rewarding.
22. Today I took time to love!--One of the dear shepherds of our Home came in to see me for some fellowship and prayer. He's not just the shepherd of our Home; he's a real friend who helps me sometimes, too!--Such a wise, loving, caring man.
23. Today I took time to love!--And I received love in return. I prayed for you, our precious Family, for your healing and your comfort, for your faith and your love!--And I was blessed! And at the end of the day, I feel strengthened in spirit. During the course of my day, the Lord even provided time for me to listen to phone messages, to dictate answers.--Not as much time as before, but enough to do what was necessary. One thing is needful, and that is to love . In love lies our strength!
24. Before his Homegoing, our beloved David read the draft of our Charter and conveyed his thoughts and ideas about it. As he explains in his foreword to the Charter, he saw the need for it, though he commented it seemed "tough and strict." The Lord took him home to Heaven before the Charter was completely finalized, and from the spirit world Dad was able to help us to more fully understand the Lord's purpose for the Charter--to help us to love.
25. Here is some of what the Lord said in prophecy through leadership regarding our Love Charter, Dad's role in helping to finalize it, and God's will for us to be filled with His love, in order to pour it forth to all:
26. For My Spirit will be more unto you and closer to your ear and your bosom than ever before, through the spirit of your Father David who has now come closer to Me to help Me. I have called him for such a time as this. For as you are now at the onset of formulating the boundaries of My Family, should not I have called him who has willed and wished to gather My children unto Me, the one who cared for each one of the souls that he has called unto Me? I have called him unto Me to help define those laws of the Spirit that he has taught you over the years. For he it is that has loved so many into My Kingdom, and his love will be greatly instrumental in this day of formulating what this Family should be.
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27. Behold, your Aquarius stands before Me and pleads for My people, and pleads that you may be replenished and you may be refreshed, and that you may be renewed in the spirit of the Holy Ghost and in the spirit of power.
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28. Therefore, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for I do give unto you a fresh and new approach. ... For your Family is My Family, and it has been weary, and it has tired, and it has been worn. But I have called My David and do pour through him to give a refreshing. For behold, the time of the latter rain is at hand, and I do pour upon you showers of blessing that flow from the fountain of David, My cheerful giver, My anointed one, the one who has given in pain and in sorrow, yet with a smile and a tear.--A tear of joy that he has cried unto Me for the ecstasies which I have given to him, and which he does bestow upon you.
29. Therefore, rejoice, for you shall put on newness of life, and I will give unto you energy, and I will give unto you strength. ... And as I did pour upon My disciples a mighty anointing to reap the harvest after I had gone, I shall pour forth My Spirit without measure. ... Therefore, be you exceeding glad! Rejoice with Me, for I will give unto you joy unspeakable and full of glory, and I will bestow upon you such love!
30. Have I not already given unto you the kisses of My servant? Has he not forgiven you for your many sins? Has he not looked upon you with eyes of sure and tender mercies? And has he not held you in his arms with a gentle embrace and caressed you with his soft and tender hands? I seek to love My sheep with gentleness. I seek to feed My sheep with love. I seek to pour the sure mercies of David upon all that thirst for life and love and joy. Therefore, receive My Spirit, receive My joy, and your David shall be with you even until the end.
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31. Behold the heart of the law. The spirit of the Charter is for you, My people, to know Me and to love Me through the laws of David which I, the Lord your God, have spoken unto you. It is My will for you to exercise your own faith, which I have given you, and for you to be happy and fruitful. The spirit of the Charter is the will of your Father David. The law was given unto Moses, but mercy, understanding and grace were given through My Son Jesus. Think not that I have come to abolish the law, but I have come to fulfill every precept of the law.
32. You have to understand the spirit of the Charter. ... As the body without the spirit is dead, the Charter without the spirit, without understanding of the weakness of My people, is of no avail. Therefore study and know how to advise the world so that My people shall have peace throughout the land.
33. Consider the timing with which I have taken your father unto Me, and you shall be very much aware that the dark days are ahead. My people have to stand upon their own faith, their own initiative. Earthly communication might be cut off, but heavenly communication is always there. And if you can teach them how to abide by the spirit of the Charter by teaching them how to connect with the Source of My Charter, then even though the days ahead are going to be dark and confused, My people shall be blessed with peace and plenty because they abide in My Word.
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34. For it is a new day and it is a new age and it is a new era. ... And it shall be a refreshment unto you, and it shall be a great change, and it shall be a great inspiration as you allow My Spirit to flow through you freely, without burden, without strain. It shall be a great blessing unto you to learn the love of the brethren, and to learn the joy of acting in unity together.
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35. You are in need of retooling ... to be refitted to the new will of My new revolution. ... This shall be a day to let the Queen of Love come forth in your own heart and lead the way in love. Be not led by your own impulses, your own ways of looking at things. It is a day for the Queen of Love, My Holy Spirit, to pour forth out of every man's heart.
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36. I have seen you and have admired your faithfulness. But I have longed to give you this gift of love as well, that your hearts might flow more freely in love, in the beauty and the joy of My Spirit.
37. Open up your box and let the refreshing waters of My Word and of My life and love and liberty roll through. For I would fill you to overflowing. I would give you the Spirit of My loving life much more freely. This I desire for you, for I love you for your love for Me and your faithful, diligent laboring in My field. ... I would that you might experience the fullness of My joy, the fullness of My fellowship and the love of your brethren in greater measure. For I would that you might be fulfilled, and I desire to minister to you this special love, these new gifts of love.
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38. As you give forth I will pour into you, and you shall be channels without obstruction. You shall hold hands together as a circle and you shall be a circuit of My Spirit. Each one of you is needed--each talent, each insight, each mouth--for each one of you is a variation of My love, each one of you is an example of My love. But you shall be unified hand upon hand, spirit upon spirit, experience upon experience, understanding upon understanding. And in one body will I use you.
39. Hold fast to each other that I may use you to the full. For you will look unto Me and you will also look unto each other, for in unity there will be strength. There is a need for this closeness. There is a need for meeting and for praying together, for relying upon each other, for honesty, for laying your heads upon each other's shoulders, for comforting each other, for strengthening each other, for holding each other up.
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40. I have given unto you sweet love and tenderness and an affectionate heart. Let it be used as a tool in My hand to give love and tenderness to those who hunger, to those who are wounded and infirm and in need of cheer and comfort and a gentle hand.
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41. It is a new time of greater power and greater anointing. Therefore lift up your heart and your hands to Me, receive of Me all that I have to give you. For I would pour My love into you with great abundance, that you might pour out unto others. I would pour My Spirit upon you with great abundance, that you might shine forth upon others.
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42. Open up. ... Give, give, and give and give and give, for I will pour out My Spirit in such measure that it will cause a mighty awakening in the land. ... It is a time of feeding, a time of pouring, a time of thundering, of the heavens opening up. It is a time of the flooding of My Spirit; a time of the feeding of My Words; a time of the Birthday Warning being fulfilled, where I will publish My Words in double measure; a time of Pandita Ramabai; a time of giving and giving and giving and pouring forth. And yet as you give, you shall come to life in great measure. It will be a time of enlightenment, a time of refreshing.
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43. My little children of Kingdom Come, have I not said before that I have set you in My school? Why do you fear now to graduate, to take the step that I have placed before you, into a school of greater freedom and greater responsibility? This is nothing to fear, but it is a time to rejoice! For the gold and precious stones shall shine as never before, and you shall see a Family and a building and a house for Me which you shall marvel at! For the foundation of God stands sure, and that which has been of Me shall stand, and it shall be a thing of marvel and a thing of strength, and a thing that I can use and work through as never before in the days to come.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family