Posted: 07/05/2008 at 1:02pm | IP Logged

Laurence Lilley

More than 50 Years of Searching After God Result in a Book

by Steve Eastman, OpenHeaven.com TOP News

Laurence Lilley is not a household name.  He’s one of God’s quiet people who has spent more time alone with Him than as part of large groups.  Quiet, except perhaps, for his frequent posts on the OpenHeaven.com forums. God has been dealing with the 80 year-old Australian about putting what he’s found in a book.  We asked him recently about his unique experiences and insights that led to the writing of “And God Said I Have A Dream.”  A link to the book review follows the interview.

You went from a lifetime of going to church to seven years of “solitude” walking the veranda of a house.  How did God speak to you during this time?

Those seven years were eight to eighteen hours a day of concentrated, very heavy intercession, so intense there were times I was unable to get up off the floor. I know God heard me. That was confirmed the day I saw the nation worshipping. But more than twenty-six years later, this country is in a mess hard to imagine. But I have never stopped holding up this nation and I know something is going to bust loose that will make changes in this nation.

The “speaking” was mainly an awareness. I just “knew” things. Several times it was in picture visions. A couple of times I was allowed to experience what God was feeling at that time. Weepy over the divided church, gut-wrenching grief over His ministers, furious fury over the wickedness of governments. Mostly when I get to “know” a thing, it will be confirmed within a week. But these days, I don’t look for confirmations. The situation is so settled that I know what I have been given is just part of the whole picture, and I know where it fits.

God really spoke to you in an unlikely way.  What does the star Betelgeuse have to do with appreciating Who God is?

I read an article about Betelgeuse more than forty-five years ago, and had been awed by the figures quoted. But when I saw it illustrated in that Perspective last year, and realised just how massive that thing is – then realised it was Jesus who built it – I was stunned at the humungous hugeness of what we have got ourselves mixed up with. I still feel myself treading lightly. What God is up to is so awesome it is scary. And He made us specifically to be involved in all that. I don’t have the words to get across what we humans are designed and intended to be part of. 

What are the implications of Christ in us?

In the book I have quoted from the first chapter of both Hebrews and Colossians what these writers had to say about who and what Jesus is. I have added the Betelgeuse material. Get a handle on all that – then get away by yourself and say – The Jesus who is all that and who has the capacity to have built all that – is the life I now live in this flesh. As He is, so am I in this world. Then dare to be the same tomorrow as you were yesterday. 

It almost seems like a contradiction, but really isn’t.  You believe we are in God’s class but you also acknowledge Him as Master. Could you clarify this for us?

It’s not so much we are in God’s class, it is that were/are made to be as He is. We are a union of life with Him. It is not so much that we acknowledge Him as Master – we call Him Daddy. We are His kids in the Family business. Father has the blueprints, He shows them to us, we do the job. After all – He IS God Almighty and we will never be God Almighty. But He has made us to be as He is, a union with Himself, He is the life in us. He has made us to be like He is. A duplicate is not the original.

How can we go about experiencing intimacy with God?

By smooching up to Him the same as we experience intimacy with anyone.

Could you explain the concept of neighborhood church?

The picture I have had for several decades is of a block between cross streets of about ten houses each side of a regular suburban street. I see two men who know each other attend church somewhere, who make it their business to get to know each other as a Christian. They agree to pray their wives will be born again. They keep at it until three weeks later, one of the ladies does receive Christ as Saviour.

The three of them pray for the other lady, and two days later, she also is saved. The four of them start to pray for the family in number six – and so it goes. They do not attempt to carry on with ANY of the traditions or formalities they knew about in church. They keep it as informal as a neighbourly chat and follow the promptings of Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit was able to run assemblies in the early church, and still does in countries where there are no religious resources. Holy Spirit has never lost His touch. He still knows how to do it.

Remember – the intended end product from any church - is men and women who have been transformed into being of the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and the completeness found in Him. These are the duplicates of Jesus who make up the Body of Christ. As the folk cooperate with Holy Spirit, and as the ministry abilities are developed and released in them - and they are all working together with each other and Holy Spirit – the various ministries and power gifts will become active.

In what ways can a neighborhood house church do outreach?

By gossiping – just like they did in Acts. No structured programs.

How can house church people effectively get together in larger groups?

What I am describing will be an act of God. He is going to do this. What is going on in this block will be happening in the next block. The two – or twenty – groups can arrange for a beach picnic next weekend – Kansas et al. may need another venue – but get together for fun and fellowship and trust Holy Spirit to be there. Don’t be in a hurry to leave. Give Holy Spirit room to move. He will move.

If you could go back in time and give yourself advice about your journey with God, what would you say?

When God told me things, I should have ignored the counsel of the wise men who convinced me God had no idea what He was talking about. Ultimately I had to do that, but I lost a lot of years listening to my elders. Also, there were things I wanted to do. I should have listened to God some more. Advice? Do nothing without a direct say-so from God Himself.

As we conclude this visit, is there any other burning issue you’d like to share with our readers?

Are there one hundred Christ-one men and women anywhere in the Western world, who would dare to abandon their agendas, and seek out another prepared Christ-one – and another – and another - until there is power generated that will bust open the devil’s strongholds, and turn the Kingdom of God loose in the affairs of life on this planet?

It is our job – and it has been from the beginning. That’s all it is going to take. Jesus said, two or three. He probably knew He would never be able to get more than two or three to agree about anything. As I say in the book somewhere – will somebody get off their big fat pew and start taking God seriously?  It’s that easy.