I had an opportunity to return to the site of The Daily Lily Retreat ’09 for a couple of days this week. As I was out moving around the grounds and doing one of the things I like to do best, some landscape work, my eye was drawn to a new landscape feature, a garden bench, that was newly purchased by MG, one of our faithful intercessors. Situated under a small open wooden structure upon which grows wisteria, I knew it was an outdoor altar and I felt the Lord say to me come and pray awhile. I couldn’t even sit on it at first, I just wanted to kneel on the rawness of the ground and lean in the ‘arms’ of its curved form. On the top of it is written an inscription, “Be Still and Know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
I caressed each word as the tears flowed and I cried out to the Lord for urgent troubles and needs of some persons that I know that need healing. I clung to that bench like onto the horns of the altar, believing one of the many promises we had searched out in Sara’s book, “Dressing for His Glory, Lesson 6 Clouds of Rain Bring Showers of Blessing” when we examined Psalm 34. (pg 34) This poor man cried out and the Lord heard him and delivered him out of all his troubles (vs 6 & 17).
I then sat on the bench, waiting and felt enclosed in God’s room. I started to sing some of one of Sara’s songs, “My Waiting Room”…
“There’s a waiting in My room, there’s a waiting in My room, there’s a waiting, waiting in My room. As I wait I see His face shining as a glory of grace, as I wait as I wait in His room.
In His room there’s fire and power for cleansing of my soul as I wait, as I wait in His room. In His room there’s no fear, doubt or strife or unbelief that is why I must wait in His room.
There is praise and much worship as I wait in His room, as I wait, as I wait in His room. It has set the captives free opened eyes of many to see; now I know the power of waiting in His room.
I can see I can see in the world as I go as His light has broken forth in my soul. Oh I waited in His room and the victory has been won, that is why I must wait in His room.” © Sara
As I sat talking to the Lord, a gentle breeze blowing, this scripture came to mind and the song that contains it, “As the mountains are around Jerusalem, so the Lord is all around His people. As the mountains are around Jerusalem so the Lord is all around His people. From this time (day) forth and forevermore…so the Lord is all around His people.” (Psalm 125:2
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Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
thedailylily.com 
Thanks for your prayers and singing my song unto the Lord.
You are welcome. I am so thankful for the Retreat ’09 site, for God’s grace and help to pray, and for the many songs that you have written. I believe they are timeless prophetic songs of intercession that God uses for different seasons, situations, persons and reasons.
Thank you, Debi, for that ephiphany of intercession that you reached in behalf of our loved ones. I know a tremendous break-through occurred as a result of that time of intercessory prayer by you and the other lilies who have been storming Heaven in others’ behalf.
That bench is a point of reference for me for when I had asked the Lord for a Word of counsel from Him concerning whether I should rush to my gravely ill brother’s side. He said to be “be still” hush, don’t rush. That was confirmed by my pastor/counselor, later, Sara who had received the same message from the Holy Spirit. He had told me, “you take care of your mission and I will take care of your brother.” He did indeed and my brother is rehabilitating by leaps and bounds after being paralyzed for almost two weeks. When he had a minor set back, the prayers of the saints went into motion with ferocity. They have taken the Kingdom of Healing by force and the Lord has wrought great things in our ken.
I will be eternally grateful to the Lord and ask Blessings and healing and prosperity and spiritual promotion for those who selflessly pray that others may live and prosper and enter God’s Kingdom.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Debi,
God’s Word tells us that He hears our prayers and He answers them. A couple of scriptures are in the book of Psalms. Ps 6:9 and Ps 34:4. I encourage us all to read scriptures, where Jesus certainly answered prayers. He is still answering prayers today.
Read with me in Jonah 2:1-2 “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. He said, ‘I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me.’ I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!”
Read with me the footnotes for verse 1: “This is a prayer of thanksgiving, not a prayer for deliverance. Jonah was simply thankful that he had not drowned. He was delivered in a most spectacular way and was overwhelmed that he had escaped certain death. Even from inside the fish, Jonah’s prayer was heard by God. We can pray anywhere and at any time, and God will hear us. Your sin is never too great, your predicament never too difficult, for God.”
I looked up the above scripture “Be still and know that I am God”, so I could read the footnotes. Read with me: “War and destruction are inevitable, but so is God’s final victory. At that time, all will stand quietly before the all-powerful Lord. How proper, then, for us to be still now, reverently honoring him and his power and majesty. Take time each day to be still and to honor God.”
In lesson 2, from our workbooks retreat (’09),”Dressing for His Glory”, Sara has a quote from A.W.Tozer. Read with me this quote: “We must practice the art of long and loving meditation upon the majesty of God. This will take some effort, for the concept of majesty has all but disappeared from the human race.”
Thanks Needles for the footnotes and reminders of taking time to meditate on the majesty of God. It is hard to remember how Great God is when sufferings of all sorts knocks on your door if you have NOT been in the practice of meditating on God and how all powerful He is.
When we take time each day to reverently honor God and His power it becomes power in our being. Paul’s words to the Galatians remind me of us when we don’t spend time with God each day, Galatians 3: 1O Ampl. “YOU poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched or cast a spell over you, unto whom–right before your very eyes–Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified?”
Yes, Sara, it sure is “hard to remember how Great God is when sufferings of all sorts knocks on your door if you have NOT been in the practice of meditating on God and how all powerful He is.” I think of Job, when I read this. I wonder just how often he was “still and meditated” on his Lord?
He certainly had the “power in his being”, didn’t he?
Thanks Needles for the ecouraging scriptures from Ps 6:9 and Ps 34:4. When we have fears or need mercy and cry out to Him, He hears.
Needles, do you have footnotes for this scripture, Psalm 125:2? This is the one used in the blog.
MG, we are so happy and want to give God praise for the continuous healing taking place in your brother’s life.
No, my Bible does not have the footnotes for verse 2, but it does for verses 1 and 3.
My Bible referenced Ps 121:8 for this scripture, in Ps 125:2, but there were no footnotes, for this verse either. I read Ps 121:1, and it has footnotes. The verse says: “I look up to the mountains–does my help come from there? (verse 2) My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!” The footnotes for verse 1 says: “This song expresses assurance and hope in God’s protection day and night. He not only made the hills but heaven and earth as well. We should never trust a lesser power than God himself. But not only is he all-powerful, he also watches over us. Nothing diverts or deters him. We are safe. We never outgrow our need for God’s untiring watch over our life.”
Thanks Needles…So comforting to know that we are sheltered in the protection of Almighty God. How we need to know and understand and believe and have faith in God. It all takes us back to ‘practice the art of long and loving meditation upon the majesty of God.”
It takes child like faith to appreciate the need of this comfort in all circumstances of life. With child like faith one can believe that God can do anything.
Thanks again Debi for the reminder of how important intercessor prayer is. And, thanks for your prayers on our behalf. A special gift to give to another.
Be still and know that I am God has played over and over in my mind. One meaning from the Latin said “be weak”. At the time we knell before the Lord as Debi did before the bench we recognize that we are weak but God is ‘all-powerful’ and reverently honoring him and his power and majesty as Needles quotes we pour out our request. Looking to the Father expectantly with quietness, humbeness of mind and focus of purpose – asking for another with love for God’s help – God in LOVE comforts and reaches down from Heaven. When we rise from such a outpouring of ourselves before the Lord we know He will do what He tells us He’ll do. We WAIT expecting and see the Victory through our God. We give him the praise for now and everymore.
In the song written by Katharina A. von Schlegel in 1752 the verses read:
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.
Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.
In the day to day uncertainties and the pressures from without and within, it is a treasure to be able to say and know with calm assurance that as Needles wrote, “We are safe”. This and the child like faith Sara spoke of seems reflected in Psalm 131:2: “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother; Like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
Stopping, pausing, yearning, waiting in hope…that God will soon fulfill the promise of His word for each need.
“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.” Psalm 130:5-7
“I felt the Lord say to me come and pray awhile. I couldn’t even sit on it at first, I just wanted to kneel on the rawness of the ground and lean in the ‘arms’ of its cuved formed.” Debi, you heard God speak to you and you immediatly did what he told you to do. You were willing and obedient. You did not pause and think it through trying to reason it out. The Lord said come and pray awhile and you immediately got on your knees. ROMANS 12:12 “Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.” 1THESSALONIANS 5:17 ” Never stop praying.” Debi thank you for being willing and obedient to God’s words.
As I was reading these comments this phrase came up from Ps. 23, “He will lead me in paths of righteousness, upsrightness and right-standing with Him…not for my ever earning it but for His Name’s sake”. He can only do it because of Who He is.
We have been praying about the right PATH to take in our ministering, this Autumn. There are several roads and “paths” we could certainly follow….all good, all moral…all commendable. But the Path of righteousness for us has already been ordained by the Lord and WE WANT TO TAKE THAT PATH. For in the Scripture it says “PATHS…so there are many. And we may be led in more than one as we minister this year but we want the PATH(S) that God has for us.
And that is true for all born-again believers who yearn to serve the Lord in the capacity in which He has created us to do. He has given us the skills and the talents and even the willingjess to do is enhanced by the Holy Spirit.
Lead us not into temptation Oh Lord but Lead us in the Path(s) of righteousness.