Chambumo Gyeong - 080. Investment and acts of devotion After he was released from Seodaemun Prison, True Father lived at the original Cheongpa-dong Headquarters Church. The years that followed, until early 1957, were a period when he made preparations to advance to a new stage. During this time True Father devoted all his energy to educating members. He focused on outreach activities, with Eu Hyo-won, the first church president, giving lectures and teaching the Divine Principle. In addition, True Father often took members on recreational outings in nature to cultivate their physical discipline and their relationship to the creation.
The life of faith of the members was more intense at that time than at any other time in the history of our church. They attended church services, participated in outreach activities, and studied the Divine Principle. True Father himself led the church services. Although he wore a humble work jacket and the church hall was small, it was always filled with members day and night. In the congregation were many women, many young people, and intellectuals, including university professors. Everyone participated in outreach activities as volunteers, each with his or her own method of witnessing. 1 During the time of pioneering in 1957 I slept only two hours a day. In those days I would pray together with the members all night. It was in the midst of a seven-year period during which I prepared and trained myself so that in the 1960s, when we would move into a new world, I would not be ashamed before heaven and would be victorious in my 21-year course. (114-232, 1981/10/20) 2 After I founded the Unification Church, I offered prayers and conditions of devotion every day for seven years, staying up in my bedroom until 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. My heart was determined, "I will pour out all my sincerity and devotion. No matter how tired and exhausted I am, I will continue. Even when I am hungry, I will pour out my whole self. I will not let sleep overcome me. I will continue until I build a foundation that meets with heaven's official approval."
My devotion with this kind of heart sowed seeds that were connected to God's heart. They will bring forth growth throughout the world. Even if the members of the Unification Church today cannot inherit those seeds, some day without fail their fruits will be harvested, if not in Korea then somewhere else in the world. This is what I think. (082-324, 1976/02/01) 3 In the early days of the Unification Church, I prayed so intensely that my nose bled. I thought, "Even though I am bleeding like this for the sake of human history, if that blood moves people to feel indebted to me and so ashamed that they cry bitterly that they cannot repay it, that would be a glorious thing." I also thought, "It is an honor to be whipped on behalf of the people of the world." This is true.
Who is the patriot among all patriots? If two people suffer a whipping for the sake of the nation, one receiving 10 lashes and the other 100 lashes, the latter is a greater patriot. A person who receives 1,000 lashes is an even greater patriot, and if someone appears who is whipped with 10,000 lashes, he will be greater still; all the nation's fortune will adhere to him. Then, what if another man comes and is whipped with 100,000 lashes? Even if this person tries not to take it, all the nation's fortune will be given to him. Don't seek fortune in any other way. This is the way to receive it. (047-334, 1971/08/30) 4 You have to inherit what I prepared when I sacrificed myself in my youth. By so doing, you should advance to a victorious position where all nations praise you. If you live for the sake of all nations, loving them, you will surely attain victory. It is my earnest desire for you to advance to a position even higher and more glorious than mine. But do you want to receive that fortune by just sitting around doing nothing? It is time for you to stand on the front line.
During the early years of the church, I trained members day and night so that they would not be swept away into the evil world. For example, one day when we climbed up Mt. Gwanak, it was raining hard. The path was very slippery, but despite the difficulties we climbed all the way to the top. This is how I trained the members to fight on the battlefield against the nation and the world, so that they would not become remnants of a defeated army. I trained them like this despite all the accusations that came against me. (143-331, 1986/03/21) 5 In 1957 when I was educating the church members in Korea, I used what I call the one-on-one strategy. It is a strategy that will last until the end. I gave my lecture in front of one person as if I were giving it to hundreds and thousands of people, thinking that upon that person would depend hundreds and thousands of people. In order to raise that person as an authentic disciple, I had to pray for him and do sufficient conditions of devotion on his behalf to motivate him to become such a disciple.
In such a case, three levels of relationships are created: me, you and the local members. First, there must be unity between you and me; then you should bring unity among the local members and yourself. Why three levels? It is because originally God and Adam should have been united and then Adam and his sons should have been united. That is a principle. Without reaching perfection through three stages, the realm of perfection of the four-position foundation cannot appear. That is why you have to create others like yourself. (096-285, 1978/02/13) 6 If someone says even one word that touches my heart, I might burst into tears. I have such a heart. There is something in my heart that makes me choke up whenever I think of God. I cannot help this. Since I have such a quality within myself, my life itself is prayer even when I do not pray in a formal way. That is why I always feel God's sorrowful and suffering heart, and why I sometimes fall down, choked with emotion, or grab hold of a tree or a telephone pole while my tears flow uncontrollably. At those times I feel God’s heart so intensely that I can no longer stand upright.
When I looked into it, I realized that something happened to God that made Him extremely sad. When I prayed about it, He let me know what happened and where. Since I have the mission of the person with the central responsibility on earth to make a foundation of heart, and to deal with both spiritual and physical issues required to make this foundation, God always lets me know His actual situation. (060-219, 1972/08/17) 7 There was a time when even beggars told each other that they should not go to the Unification Church because the food we offered them was so meager. Yet, we moved up from the bottom step by step.
In the early days I did not even celebrate my birthday. I thought, how many people have died never able to celebrate their birthday while on earth? That is why I fasted on my birthday for three years, to sympathize with them and to connect with them when I meet them in the spirit world.
Also, in the early days I did not wear a suit and tie when I spoke from the pulpit on Sundays. I began my ministry wearing laborer's clothes. Whenever I spoke, whether a sermon or lecture, I invested my sweat and tears, offering my utmost sincerity, even if only one person was listening. I did not treat people as guests who were just passing by. I now miss those early days. (141-056, 1986/02/16) 8 Throughout my life, I invested everything I had to witness to people. When a patient comes to see a doctor at the hospital, the doctor has the responsibility and obligation to invest his life for that patient, even forgetting to sleep. Likewise, in raising the church members I forgot about whether it was day or night. I often ate breakfast thinking I was eating dinner. There is such a tradition in the history of our church.
When you are witnessing, create an environment in which even nature desires to praise you, in which the water in the river wants to stop flowing to praise you and the fish in the river want to be on your table so you can eat them. Then the people who eat those fish will start responding to you. This is the kind of foundation you should leave behind.
Go around the area you are responsible for 10 or even 100 times. Visit every single house without exception. God goes around the world 1,000 or even 10,000 times searching for His children. How can you become God's sons and daughters and inherit from Him unless you do the same? So in every town you visit, you should want to go around to all the houses in the area 100 and even 1,000 times, and when you are unable to do so, you should repent in tears. As a leader responsible for the heart and spirit of others, you need to do that. That is the way of a representative of the vertical True Parent and the horizontal True Parents. Continue in this way, and your members will take the proper direction without any deviation, find their position, and follow your example. (220-305, 1991/10/20) 9 In 1957, I prayed individually for about 400 members every day. These days I no longer pray like that. However, in those days I needed to pray for them in order to help them transcend a certain level. When I prayed, I could understand their individual spiritual situations. When I prayed, God would teach me because the members were connected to me like branches.
You too should pray for your members, offering your utmost devotion. When you pray for them, if any of them is spiritually injured, God will show you glimpses of their spiritual situations in all kinds of forms: they might be downcast, or have their face covered with a cloth, and so on. When good things are happening to them, you will see them smiling; when they are sad, you will see them with a sad appearance. (070-181, 1974/02/09) 10 Always take the time to offer sincere devotions, prayers and other conditions. Offer them when you get up at dawn, when you are on the borderline between the spiritual world and the physical world and your optic nerves are just starting to function after a restful night. The spirit world will show you something spiritual. Through such experiences, you will be given foreknowledge. Then you will be able to predict, "Today this or that will happen in the church," or "today such and such a person will come."
A capable doctor can tell what kind of illness their patients have just by looking at their complexion, or by seeing how their patients walk. Likewise, your spiritual antenna must be long and have the sensitivity to appraise things. For this to happen, you need to offer conditions of devotion.
Prayer is truly powerful. Prayer allows you to be in complete control of your environment without having to say a single word. Before I go somewhere, I always pray for 24 hours focused on my goal. I pray even while I am eating and resting. I do not pray for my own sake; I pray for the sake of humanity and for God.
Once after I offered such prayers with a single resolve, I visited all our churches throughout the nation. By doing so I brought the churches into a sphere of equilibrium. My prayers elevated the churches into a realm under heaven’s sovereignty, where conscientious people could be pulled to them. That is why when they met you, they were drawn to you without knowing the reason. That is why I say that you always need to offer conditions of devotion. |