Prophetic Words & Scripture Readings at Live Stream August 21, 2024

The following are words given by participants at the streamed meeting.  1 Corinthians 14:29 says that "Two or three prophets should speak, and the others weigh carefully what is said."  1 Thess 5:19-21 tells us not to despise prophecies, but to test everything and retain what is good.

At beginning of meeting Psalm 150 - "Praise the Lord in his sanctuary, praise him in the firmament of his strength.  Praise him for his mighty deeds, praise him for his sovereign majesty.  Praise him with the blast of the trumpet, praise him with lyre and harp.  Praise him with timbrel and dance, praise him with strings and pipe.  Praise him with sounding cymbals, praise him with clanging cymbals.  Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!" 

Scripture Reading Daniel 2:20-23 - Daniel said:  "Blessed be the name of God from age to age, for wisdom and power are his.  He changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.  He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him.  To you, O God of my ancestors, I,  give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and power, and have now revealed to me what we asked of you, for you have revealed to us what the king ordered." 

From My Daily Bread, Chapter 53, The Value of Adversity - "My child, a man's true greatness is seen in adversity:  hard work, disappointments, failures, criticisms, misinterpretations, opposition, sorrow and boldly suffering and body suffering, other tests which show you what you really are.  Your virtues are fruit and your faults are revealed during these adversities.  Prosperity and success are not always good for you.  Your greatest achievement on earth is be united with me in all things.  You can achieve this union best in times of adversity.  When all goes well, you can deceive yourself and not so when matters go badly.  Faith, hope, humility, patience and the other supernatural virtues can be measured only by their testing in real life.  In adversity you cannot deceive yourself and you see yourself as you really are.  I want you to become truly holy.  I desire you to offer yourself to me without reservations or exceptions.  Such an offering is best made in trials and sufferings."

Scripture Reading Psalm 113:3 - "From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised."

Scripture Reading 1 Chronicles 29:10-13 - "Blessed may you be, O Lord, God of Israel our Father, from eternity to eternity.  Yours, O Lord, are grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and glory.  For all in heaven and on earth is yours; yours, O Lord, is the sovereignty; you are exalted as head over all.  Riches and honor are from you, and you have dominion over all.  In your hand are power and might; it is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.  Therefore, our God, we give you thanks and we praise the majesty of your holy name."

Scripture Reading Psalm 98:4-9 - Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.  Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody.  With trumpets and the sound of the horn shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.  Let the sea roar and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it.  Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth; he will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.

People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.  1 Samuel 16:7

Prophecy - "Come, my children, I still love you so much.  I still want to embrace you so much.  I want to speak to your hearts again and again and again.  So, make a daily time for me because I love you.  And in the quiet moments of the day, I can speak to you ever so clearly, my dear, dear, dear loved ones.  Never forget that I'm never very far from you.  I am only a whisper of breath away.  So, remember how close I am, because I want to work in your lives.  I ask and pray every day that you see with my eyes, to love people that are around you, to see me working in your situations.  My dear, dear, dear, dear, dear loved ones, always remember only a breath away, a whisper, and I am beside you, in and around you working out to glory and leading you by the hand, my dear, dear, dear ones.  Come, always make time, always make time because I am your lover, your God."

Teaching

Fr. Mike Schmitz - Persecution can happen anywhere.  It's important to understand what we should do in the midst of persecution. 

During the French Revolution, 16 Carmelite nus were prohibited from gathering.  The Order was disbanded.  For 2 years, they lived underground.  In June 1794, they were discovered, put in prison for 26 days and then taken to the guillotine.  It took 2 hours to get there because the crowd impeded their progress by shouting, spitting at them, throwing things at them.  When they got to the guillotine, something completely unexpected, something remarkable happened.  The youngest of the 16 started singing.  It was a song of praise to God.  Quickly the other sisters joined in.  Everyone of them praised God with their last breath.  The eldest one was the first one to be beheaded.  Before she mounted the scaffolding, she went before the Prioress and asked her for permission to die for Jesus.  She died with a song on her lips.  Each one did this.  The Prioress was the last; and at the very moment she wasn't able to praise God, the crowd fell silent.  Ten days after they were executed, July 17, 1794, the "reign of terror" ended. 

In the OT, there were the 12 tribes of Israel, 12 sons of Israel.  The fourth son was named Judah.  Whenever the people of Israel would travel or go into battle, there was a phrase they would use, "Let Judah go up first." 

Judah in Hebrew is Yadah, which in English means praise.  The people of Israel were told when you are going into the dangerous unknown, going into battle, Judah goes up first.  Praise goes up first.  So, especially when we're going into the unknown, when we're going into something that scares us, when we're going into something that actually could destroy us, praise goes up first.

Psalm 34 - "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall ever be on my lips."  Praise doesn't just go up first, praise continues.  We praise God for who he is and we thank God for what he's done.

Praise is the life of the church.  Clergy, religious brothers and sisters, etc., start their day off by giving up praise: Psalms and Canticles.  One reason:  If you have praise at the beginning of the day, it means before things are certain, we praise Him.  Before we go into the unknown of the day, we can stop and say, "It doesn't matter.  I will bless the Lord at all times.  His praise shall ever be on my lips.

Ephesians 5:18-20 - St. Paul says, "Don't be drunk on wine, but be drunk on the Holy Spirit, addressing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  Singing and making music to the Lord in your heart, giving thanks always and everywhere in the name of the Lord Jesus to God the Father." 

Giving thanks always, even when things don't go our way.  Story of Job.  When everything is taken away from him, he questions God but he doesn't curse him.  He says, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21)  Praising God in the midst of loss; and sometimes things don't get better.

Excerpts from Psalm 71 - "In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame.  In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me; turn your ear to me and save me.  Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked and the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.  You have been my hope, my sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.  From my birth I relied upon you.  You brought me forth from my mother's womb and I will ever praise you.  My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all the day long.  Do not cast me away when I'm old.  Do not forsake me when my strength is gone.  For my enemies speak against me, and those who wait to kill me conspire together.    They say, "God has forsaken him, pursue and seize him for no one will rescue him."  As for me, I will always have hope.  I'll praise you more and more.  My mouth will be filled of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all the day long.  I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, my sovereign Lord.  I'll proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone." 

Even if things don't get better, I'll still praise you without conditions.    Story of Leah.  Judah is fourth child of Leah.  Jacob falls in love with Rachel.  Rachel's sister is Leah.  Jacob does not love Leah but was deceived into marrying Leah.  He later was allowed to also marry Rachel.  Leah knew that Jacob did not love her.  She thought she would win his love when Reuben was born, then Simeon and Levi were born.  Jacob doesn't love her until she has Judah.  She said, "Now, I will praise the Lord, without conditions, whether he loves me or not."

We have to praise God when we're winning and we have to praise God when we're losing because we know he is still God and he is still in this moment.  The pain we are going through has not knocked him off his throne.  We praise him not because this moment is amazing, but because he is amazing.  Praise goes up first and praise has to last until the end.

What we are called to do:  With our first breath to give God praise.  With our last breath to give God praise.