FIRST LOVE!      DFO1380          Italy, 28/7/75

(Counsel & encouragement to Faithy during a time of testing years ago before she met Juan:)

         1. I DON'T WANT YOU TO LAPSE BACK INTO THAT FANTASY WORLD OF WHAT SOME PEOPLE COULD HAVE BEEN! If they could have been, they would have been!--They just obviously weren't! I'll never forget that session when I warned you!
         2. I SAID, "YOU HAVE A SPECIAL ANOINTING, A SPECIAL CALLING! God's going to do something great with you & we cannot take a chance on anybody who's not going to be a help to you or is going to hold you back or hold you down. Unless Josh is willing to be your flunky like my Father was for my Mother, unless he's able to be your porter, your baggage man, your bodyguard & just bathe in your reflected glory, forget it!"
         3. HONEY, IF I WERE TO DWELL ON YOUR MOTHER & LOOK BACK AT ALL THE SWEET TIMES & the lovely times & all that & live in the past, I might get sentimental enough to think I could somehow revamp her or something. But I have to be practical & look at the facts & look at the present & forget the past & think of the future.
         4. TIME SPENT CRYING OVER SPILT MILK & getting sentimental about the rosy past days--which you can do so easily especially when you're alone, as I know--is just time wasted! Forget the past! The Lord says to forget it! (Ph.3:13) It's water under the bridge & it'll never be back again.--Things will never be the same again.
         5. I SYMPATHISE WITH YOU IN YOUR LONELINESS & YOUR LACK & NEED OF COMPANIONSHIP. But don't look back, Honey, look forward! If God has someone for you, He'll bring him along in due time. But let the Lord be your First Love & always keep Him in that place!
         6. HELP HER, LORD! WE KNOW IT'S NOT EASY WHEN SHE SEES OTHERS WITH THEIR MATES & their companions & she still seems to be alone & belongs to nobody. Help her, Lord, to see that she belongs to Thee & to me & that if You want to give her someone who will belong to her, the time will come. But she's going through a testing time right now, Lord, to see if she'll put You first & love You most & be willing just to belong to You!
         7. YOU & I ARE FANATICS & THE ONLY KIND OF LOVE THAT WILL EVER SATISFY US IS GOD'S LOVE, Love that will not let us go, never fail us, the great Love of our lives! The Lord is your Lover & you can only belong to Him!--No one else can truly possess you. I'm sorry I can't give you everything you may need or want, but maybe you need a little time alone with the Lord more than you need these people who come between you & the Lord.
         8. YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, YOU BELONG TO THE LORD & YOU BELONG TO EVERYBODY, THEREFORE YOU COULD NEVER BELONG TO ANYBODY ALONE. They might belong to you, if you can find somebody who is willing to exist just for your benefit, for your sake & to help you in the Lord's Work for the Lord's Work sake, to be a real teammate & flunky & helper & all the things that you need.
         9. QUEEN ELISABETH THE GREAT WAS A TREMENDOUS QUEEN, THE GREATEST QUEEN THAT ENGLAND EVER HAD, who ruled England & brought it to its greatest power & gave it its greatest victories & peace, & do you know what one of her greatest powers was?--Sex! And she refused to marry any man!
         10. SHE WAS MARRIED TO THE THRONE!--SHE BELONGED TO THE CROWN & SHE REFUSED TO LET ANY MAN SHARE IT WITH HER. But she used her sex to appeal to great man after great general after great admiral after great leader, heads of countries & kingdoms who were practically grovelling at her feet & would have given her anything, some of them.
         11. BUT SHE WAS DISAPPOINTED, DISILLUSIONED & REALLY HEARTBROKEN BY SOME OF THE LOVERS WHOSE LOVE SHE THOUGHT WAS REALLY TRUE & SINCERE: "Well, I've given you myself, I've given you my bed, I've given you my love, what more could you want?" And do you know what some of them said?--"The crown!"--Which shows what they were really after all the time! And that's what you have to watch out for! If they really love you, they'll be willing to love you just for your sake & not necessarily want any power or any glory.
         12. SO THAT'S MY MESSAGE TO YOU, HONEY: YOU NEED TO GET YOUR MIND OFF SOME OF THESE MEN--which I know is hard to do--& put it in the Lord's hands! Get your mind on the Lord's Work! Be like Joan of Arc! Be like Queen Elisabeth! You may have your lovers, but they'll never share the power or the throne.
         13. IT'S LIKE THE OLD SAYING GOES, HONEY: YOU BELONG TO YOUR PUBLIC!--Therefore you don't dare belong to anybody but the Lord! In a sense I am the Lord to you, because I represent the Lord. So belonging to me is belonging to the Lord!
         14. YOU WILL NEVER BELONG TO ANYBODY ELSE BUT THE LORD, AND ME, IF YOU'RE GOING TO DO THE JOB YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DO! But if you're faithful & put God first & lay everything else on the altar, He can send you someone--if you need someone--who will be your servant & co-worker, virtually your slave!
         15. SO THANK YOU, LORD! IN JESUS' NAME, GIVE FAITH REAL VICTORY! We know this is a human need for companionship & love & even sex. We ask Thee, Lord, to help her to put Thee first! You said that if we delight ourselves in Thee, You will give us the desires of our hearts, everything we need, even everything we want. (Ps.37:4)
         16. IF WE'LL JUST PASS THE TEST & PUT YOU FIRST, delight ourselves in You & Yours most of all, then You can trust us with other things, Lord, because they will not come between us. They will not supersede nor overshadow nor distract, but they will supplement & be a help & merely augment the work that we're doing in our ministry.
         17. YOU BELONG TO ME, HONEY! I love you & you love me & it's because we love the Lord most! That's why I love you most of all, because you love the Lord most of all! And that's why you love me most of all, because I love the Lord most of all & you know it, we know it, & that's what counts!
         18. SO DON'T PUT YOUR HAND TO THE PLOW, MY PLOW, & LOOK BACK!--The Lord's plow, the job that God has for you. Don't look back, Honey, amen? He says, "Forgetting those things which are behind, press forward to the things that are before!" (Ph.3:13,14) That's a commandment from the Lord!--Forget the past!
         19. THINK OF THE GLORIOUS THINGS THAT GOD IS DOING RIGHT NOW & ABOUT TO DO!--You KNOW that God is going to use you in a greater way than ever before! PTL! (Amen!--And He HAS, amen? PTL!--GBH! She put HIM first & HE never failed!--Amen? GBY! Do YOU do the SAME?--I hope you do!--If so, He'll never fail you either! GBY!--IJNA!)

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