Last Friday, my granddaughter, Chip and Candace’s daughter, graduated from the University. As I looked down from my seat in the arena, upon the capped and gowned graduates, many thoughts filled my mind. I knew the hard work and sacrifice she and her parents put into this accomplishment. Gratefulness and thanksgiving filled my heart and mind. And one of those thanksgiving thoughts was, How blessed she is to have a good job in her field.
That job, however, is one of responsibility and quite a lot of stress. It involves daily on-your-toes alertness, attention to detail, time restraints, and that word I really detest, “deadlines.”
So, I told her I would send her some scriptures. And in particular, I was thinking of how Kenneth E. Hagin taught us to engage in a sort of “chess” match with God.
This encounter has rules:
1. You have a turn, and then God has a turn, etc.
2. God will never move out of turn.
3. God will never fail to move when it is His turn.
Here is the Scripture:
Phil. 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Phil. 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Phil. 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Verse 6 is your move.
Verse 7 is God’s move.
Verse 8 is your move again.
Brother Hagin emphasized that the first move is your move. And you can do it.
God would never tell you to do something you cannot do.
He liked to use the Amplified translation’s instruction for your first move.
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
(Phil. 4:6 AMP)
You can do it. You can refuse to fret and have anxiety about anything.
Bring your thoughts captive. Talk to yourself.
“Worry, fretting, anxiety, I rebuke you. I refuse to worry. I refuse to fret. God told me I can do it and I can.”
Then you pray. With thanksgiving. You let your requests be known to God.
When you have done step one, and moved in your turn, you can be assured God will move in His turn.
The Peace of God that passes all understanding will come upon you, it will move into you it will move into the situation. Your heart and your mind will be kept through your Lord Jesus Christ.
The Peace of God will guard your heart and your mind.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
(Phil. 4:7)
Now it’s your turn again. Verse 8 is your turn. You have to do something with your mind. You have to control your thoughts. You have to make your mind stay on whatever meets these criteria:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Phil. 4:8)
I learned to practice this in my late 20s, and I have known much peace where I could have known torment.
A relative who loved to gossip would always try to fill me in on the latest when I went back to our hometown to visit her. Even though she was my elder, I often had to tell her that I did not want to hear it.
“But it’s true!” she would retort.
“Yes,” I would say, “but it isn’t lovely.”
One thing that meets all the criteria (true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report) is the Word of God.
Since so many are entering a new job, a new way of life, a new marriage, in these months, I decided to share it in a blog, rather than just with my beloved and talented granddaughter.
Billye Brim's Christian heritage is rich. She sensed the call of God in early childhood. However, it was only after an encounter with the Holy Spirit in 1967, that she as a young wife and mother of four began to follow Him to walk out her call. For almost ten years she served as Editor of Publications for Kenneth E. Hagin Ministries where she also taught at Rhema Bible Training Center.
Immediately after ordination in 1980, she traveled to Soviet Russia in what proved to be ongoing ministry there. Since then she has literally ministered around the world several times over.
Kent and Billye Brim with Lee and Jan Morgans founded a local church in Collinsville, Oklahoma. A Glorious Church Fellowship is the foundation of Billye Brim Ministries and Prayer Mountain in the Ozarks in Branson, Missouri, and the soon-to-be-built Migdal Arbel Prayer and Study Center in Israel.
When Kent passed away in 1986, Billye was led to "study Hebrew in the Land." Studying at Ulpan Akiva in Israel led to the unique Seminar Tours she has guided in the Land from 1986 to now. It also provided a pattern for the Prayer and Study Center in Israel.
"Helping Pray-ers" is a God-given directive in her life. One place this happens is at Prayer Mountain in the Ozarks near Branson, Missouri. On 200 plus acres log cabins provide places for individual prayer or small prayer groups. Corporate prayer meetings are held twice a week in the chapel.
On Wednesdays at 12 Noon Central Time, the meeting is streamed live. Pray-ers (who have named themselves World-Wide Pray-ers) join in united prayer via thousands of computers in more than 60 nations. This prayer is focused primarily on an Awakening to God. For in a corporate prayer meeting in June 2008, Billye Brim and the pray-ers were impressed with these words: One thing will save America…an Awakening to God. One thing will avail for Israel and the nations, An Awakening to God. Several thousand pray-ers from around the world gather in Branson for an Autumn Assembly of Prayer she hosts.
Billye Brim is blessed to work with others across the Body of Christ. She strongly believes in walking out what Scripture teaches that we are one Body, with one Head, one Spirit, one Lord.
First Corinthians 10:32 is foundational in Billye Brim's ministry. The "good works that He has ordained that she should walk in" involve activity among the Jews, the Nations, and the Church-all to the Glory of God.