Cheon Seong Gyeong Ⅱ - 391. Offering devotions for the members
24 The person who offers the most devotion becomes the center. God's blessing will manifest through that person. The higher a broadcast antenna is, the farther it can transmit radio waves throughout the world. Even if it is only a few inches higher than others, it can transmit beyond all other radio waves and reach the whole world. We can apply exactly the same logic to the offering of devotion. That is why you have to offer a lot of devotion, investing yourself and forgetting about it. Because this is Gods Principle of Creation, the person who invests more than others, and forgets having done so, becomes the eternal leader.( 287-299,19971006)
25 You have to pray. You can offer two types of devotion: for the people and for God. As a spiritual leader, you are in the position of a mediator who links God's life force with the people. Hence, the results depend on how much devotion you offer. If you are completely focused on the cause, placing God at the center of all you do, then the complete result that God desires can be manifested through you. The church members will unite with you according to the degree of your oneness with God. The members will unite with you to the degree you have become one with me. For this reason, you cannot help but think of me as your lifeline. God may be somewhat difficult for you to grasp, but you can think of me even when you are asleep or walking on the street. Try to keep me in mind at all times, day and night. Then the door of the spirit world will open to you. Forget about your own situation. Offering devotion is the fastest way to do this. If you offer devotion, your members will have spiritual experiences involving you. The result will reflect the cause.( 070-165,19740209)
26 A minister should pray for each member of his congregation at least once every three days. I spent nearly three years in Hungnam prison, yet even in that situation there was not a moment, from when I ate breakfast in the morning until I went to sleep at night, that I was not praying for members. Even if members left the church I continued to pray for them. Then those people came to me spiritually and, weeping sorrowfully, told me the reasons they left the church. I could not help feeling sorry for them, especially those who confessed that they left me because they were too weak in the flesh. Even though they left me that way I continued to pray for them.( 042-162,19710304)
27 When I pray for a church district, I do not pray for the leader. Instead I pray for the members who are dedicated to that leader, who serve as a support base for the leader and are working hard. I do this so that the Will can advance further. I do not praise a district leader when he or she fulfills a responsibility; rather, I praise the family members who enabled that leader to be praised. Leaders, you should pray for the members who are cooperating with you. Do not become indebted to your members in heart. When your members are suffering on the frontline, as their leader, you need to think of them even when you are eating. You should think of them even as you put your spoon in your mouth, and swallow your food with tears in your eyes. The words, "Heavenly Father, please look after them," should automatically emerge as a prayer in your heart. If you lack this kind of heart, you cannot advance.( 013-301,19640412)
28 You leaders need to be single-minded, but for what? Is it to eat? No. It is for your mission and your responsibility to resurrect lost lives, one by one, as God's sons and daughters. It is to bring them out of the evil world and into the kingdom of heaven. Try living with that sense of mission more seriously each year; then nothing will be impossible. If you are an absolute subject partner, absolute object partners will appear. Therefore, as the subject partner, you need to pray for your object partners. If a person you are praying for gets up early, you have to get up even earlier and offer devotions. Then that person will immediately notice that someone is praying for him or her.( 042-164,19710304)
29 A leader's position is one of offering devotion. In the morning, you have to pray for at least twenty people. During the day, you have to think about and pray for more than seventy people. You have to eat and live with the members. People are most focused when they eat and when they go to sleep. This is because when you eat out of hunger and go to sleep out of fatigue, all your nerves are focused. On the other hand, when you wake up your nerves are in a state of relaxation, and you are less focused. Thus you should pray for the Will with as much presence as when you eat and when you go to sleep. One prayer with such mindfulness is better than several prayers at other times of the day.( 042-164,19710304)
30 You leaders should always keep your members close to your heart, as though you were eating and sleeping with them. Then you will come to intuitively understand each person. When your perception becomes keener, you will be able to read clearly both those who are near you and those who are far away. Once you look at them you will instantly know their inner situations. As a spiritual leader, if you are so dull that you do not have this kind of ability, how will you be able to guide people? The question is, how much devotion have you offered for each individual? You need to understand what Jesus meant when he said, "For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?" (Matt. 16:26) He meant that each human life is more precious than the whole universe, and he dropped the anchor of his heart in each person. When you arrive at the state of Jesus' heart, you will forget about the world and fight for each individual life on a one-to-one basis. You will search the deep valleys for that life, with its unparalleled value. Then you will finally recover that new life and gain a new member.( 042-164,19710304)
31 You need to know the greatness and power of prayer. You may think that you are just one person praying here on earth, but incredibly, your prayer can mobilize the spirit world in the other dimension, the limitless world, and establish new bonds. Prayer acts like a magnet. When you become a leader in the future, your prayer can be so powerful that if you pray twenty-four hours a day for the members with the unshakable belief that your prayer will work, you will see it happen. Prayer really has that kind of power. That is why Jesus is quoted in the Bible as saying, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them" (Matt. 18:20) Hence, if three people join together in prayer, they have great power.( 076-298,19750310) |