33. Counseling on Issues in Life with The Lord
34. “Do All Things as if You are Eating from a Splendid Table of Delicacies.”
35. A Prayer that is Done with The Lord
36. Sight
33. Counseling on Issues in Life with The Lord
When you are taking a test, if you cannot figure out an answer, you get a headache and you feel heavy in your heart. In this way, when human beings run into problems in the course of their lives, they seek answers. If you cannot find the answer, your head hurts, you feel burdened by worries, concerns, and anxieties, and your heart becomes sick. Also, when a trial arises while leading a life of faith, you seek answers. Until you find the answer, you are worried, anxious, and nervous. You have to find the answer to resolve the problem.
God has made the history of religion for six thousand years, and whenever the believers had problems and became worried and concerned, He gave words that resolved their problems in life. He said, “Why do you worry? Follow Me. Honor Me. Rely on Me. Love Me.
Believe in Me with all your heart and follow Me.” Or, He said, “Pray earnestly. Leave your worries to Me. Endure until the end and follow until the end.” These are the answers to everyone’s issues in life. All problems were created as people ran into them while living in this world, but all answers were [given] by God and the Lord who made people follow by Their Word and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Through [living by Their Word], people were ultimately able to avoid death, avoid judgment, have their physical problems resolved, and have their spiritual problems resolved as well.
- Abraham also had various problems. But he only believed in and loved God absolutely and obeyed His words. As a result, he lived an ideal life in the land of Canaan, and both his body and spirit prospered.
- Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph all had various problems in life. But by believing in and relying on God in their lives until the end, both their body and spirit thrived, and even their followers thrived and prospered.
- Moses had a problem also. It was that the people of his nation had been enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years, going through all kinds of sufferings. But by relying on and following God only, he led the Israelites out of Egypt. Through that, the problem was resolved.
- Joshua worried because a lot of problems occurred on the way to the blessed land of Canaan. However, through obeying and following only God and through praying, all of those numerous problems were resolved, and he ultimately conquered the blessed land of Canaan, the land of great hope.
- When David ruled over the nation as the king, he also faced hundreds of problems on a national scale. Whenever problems occurred, [the situation] seemed hopeless, but because he lived relying on God and loving Him even more, all of his problems in life were resolved.
- Solomon also faced problems after becoming the king. There were many incidents that occurred among the people. Whenever the people fought against one another, he had to hold a trial as king and render a final judgment for them, but he didn’t know [what to do.] Solomon relied on God and pleaded with God, and as a result, he received wisdom to discern and ruled his people by making correct judgments.
When Jesus came to the world two thousand years ago, also, people asked Him questions about issues of people being sick and diseased, issues about properties, different issues in life, and the various issues in daily life, and [in response] Jesus gave them the Word. And He told them, “Follow Me. Believe in Me. Do not doubt but do as I say.
If you act upon My Word, it will be alright.” In this way, Jesus always gave a spiritual answer to physical problems. His answer seemed to be vague, but when people took action according to His Word, their physical problems were resolved in their lifetime and the issue of their eternal salvation was resolved as well. He did the same with Peter, too. When Peter asked, “How can I catch a lot of fish?” Jesus said, “Become a fisher of men.” Then Peter actually left his nets behind and followed the Lord. When he followed the Lord, history took place–he was liberated and became a free person, and both his body and spirit prospered and thrived. In this way, those who abandoned everything they had and followed the Lord when
The biggest issue in life is the issue of the spiritual issue, which is an eternal issue. If the spiritual issue is not resolved, then even if the body lives, you are [only] living a vain life. If only the spiritual issue is resolved, the rest [of the issues in life] are only small problems like simply pruning the branches. As for the branches, you can just push them aside vigorously with your hands and you can move forward. Your big spiritual issue has been resolved. So I hope that you will not make those small, trivial things into issues. The rest of the issues in life are trivial problems. Those small issues will all be resolved if you take action within the Lord.
34. “Do All Things as if You are Eating from a Splendid Table of Delicacies.”
The Holy Son Lord said the following. “Do not make it your goal to only finish all the work and do not struggle in all kinds of manners to simply complete the goal. In the process of achieving the goal, there are hopes, dreams, and joy from doing it together with Me, the Holy Son. If you only try to achieve the goal and get rid of it, there is no joy or gratification during the process. It is only tiring and hard for you.Do all things as if you are eating from a splendid table of delicacies.”
I will explain to you what this message means by using a parable. Several people were sitting around a table and eating from a splendid table of delicacies. Some people finished eating within 10 minutes struggling and breathing hard. Afterwards, they said to the others, “What are you doing? We should eat quickly and finish it up!” Some people ate up everything within 10 minutes and said, “Now, I’m going to rest” and they leaned against the wall and rested. They also said, “Eat quickly! We should eat quickly and go.” Others who ate the great array of tasty foods while savoring them deliciously saw them and talked, “They are not normal. They eat food only aiming to fill up their stomachs.” And they continued to eat, screaming in excitement, “Wow~ this food tastes like Heaven! It’s so delicious! It’s a killer!”
People who finished eating busily did not appreciate the taste because they ate it too hurriedly and quickly. They became full in an instant, so they were leaning against the wall and dozing off as they breathed with difficulty. And they thought, ‘I ate the same food, but it didn’t taste as good … that’s weird.’ People who ate food while enjoying it and savoring the taste asked those who ate hurriedly, “How did the food taste today?” They said, “I didn’t really taste anything particular… I’m full. That’s all that matters.”
You eat food for ‘the fun of eating.’ If you set eating everything up quickly as a purpose, there is no fun in eating the food. You should taste and feel the flavor of each and every kind, and feel the taste when biting it, chewing it, and swallowing it while enjoying the look of the food with your eyes also. Then when you eat food, you will become excited and strengthened, endorphins will be produced, and joy will spring up.
Just as you eat and relishing the flavor when you eat food, I am telling you that whenever each of you do the things that are entrusted to you, you should do them one by one while discussing, conversing, and talking with the Lord.
If you only try to finish the work struggling and saying, “When will all this work be finished? When will this studying be over? When will this responsibility and mission that I am entrusted with come to an end?” you will live a tiresome life. Your health will also decline. You will be burned out. You will be stressed out from trying to remove it from [the to-do list].
If you work aiming solely at finishing the work, you will feel tired and troubled as you do the work. It means that WORK, which is actually ‘joy’ and ‘glory,’ has become a burden instead. When eating food also, if you eat it with the goal of only filling your stomach, you will dislike eating food, and so you will avoid food later on.
If you only do the work, thinking, ‘I will hurry and quickly finish it up’ then your work will be done superficially, you will become tired and exhausted while you work, you will become sick of the work, you will work but not perfectly, and ultimately, you will crumble.
From the beginning until you complete all things that you set as a purpose,
it is ‘a period, a process, of dreams, joy, and hope.’ This period of time you work for a purpose is like ‘a meal time when you eat from a splendid table of delicacies.’ Therefore, the period of time you work for a purpose is ‘an exciting time of joy and hope.’ Carrying out each work and each mission is like a time of eating food and tasting the flavor. Just as you taste various kinds of flavors while eating food, you need to taste the unique individual flavor of various kinds of work while carrying them out and make endorphins spring up. Then while working, you will receive strength from the work, realize while doing the work, realize the Word through actions, receive benefits through actions, and receive grace through actions. As a result, you will be able to exist powerfully.
Whether it is prayer, evangelism, praise, preaching the Word, or learning the Word,
you should do it while ‘savoring’ it, just as you would eat one item at a time from a table of splendid delicacies. Just as you would eat different dishes at a feast enjoying the taste of each item, when you do all things, you should do it joyfully while calling upon the Lord, telling your stories, and reflecting on the past with each other.
35. A Prayer that is Done with the Lord
Even with prayer, there is a method and an art to it. Let’s say that a woman asks her beloved to do things for her, but at times, he does not do it for her even though he says that he loves her. If she gets angry and becomes sulky, resenting the fact that her lover didn’t give [something] to her even though she asked, this is how her lover will think:
“When will she fix her characteristics? Sheesh! She’s got bad character. She did that until I eventually granted her request. But this girl gets angry, gives me the silent treatment, and feels neglected and left out when I don’t do things for her. So I have to force myself to do it for her. Even though I don’t really want to do it for her. I have to do it for her because I have no other choice.”
The Lord is the same. [People usually] think that He will give things to them unconditionally if they pray to the Lord. So they just think about gaining something without fulfilling the responsibilities of their. Also, they feel neglected and left out when it is not given to them even though it was not given to them, in fact, because it was not the time yet. In those situations, they need to ask in a different way. When we pray to the Lord, we need to converse and talk with the Lord, and just as we would prepare a delicacy, we need to do various things for the Lord, sing to Him, reflect on the past and talk with Him being thankful for all the things He has done for us until now.
Prayer is ‘conversation.’ Rather than just praying deeply by yourself, praying as you converse with the Lord is ‘a more substantial prayer.’
Prayer is ‘love.’ One time, while I was praying, I went to the spiritual world to see what prayer was like, and [I saw] that a man and a woman were hugging and loving each other.
I understood clearly, ‘Ah, prayer is to make love with the Lord like this. Ah, prayer is the history of love with the Lord.’ Not all prayers are like this but only the prayers in which we give and take sincere love with the Lord and the prayers that converse with the Lord are like this.
Another time, when I was praying deeply for about four hours, I saw a vision. A woman had climbed to the peak of a mountain all by herself and she was coming down from it all alone with difficulty. If you pray by yourself without sharing a sincere conversation with the Lord, it is like climbing up and down the mountain all by yourself while keeping the Lord, who is your counterpart of prayer, standing next to you.
When we pray, we need to pray ‘a prayer that is done with the Lord.’ This is like climbing up a mountain excitedly with your beloved, hand in hand, and coming down together.
I also receive the Word while conversing with the Lord. While conversing and [receiving] the Word, a sharing of sincere love between the Lord and me takes place. The Lord is before us, so we should confess our love to the Lord; and since prayers are to be taken to God, we need to pray as if we are actually going before God.
36. Sight
It was the predawn [of one day] in early November. While preparing the Sunday message, I noticed a bag of peanuts that had not been opened for a few months.
I wanted to eat some peanuts before the predawn prayer, so I opened the bag of peanuts for the first time in two months and I ate a single peanut. But once I was finished eating that one peanut, I was left with the shell and crumbs. When I saw that, I pointed a finger at it saying, “I can’t stand to look at you.” Even eating a single peanut created ‘a scene.’ In fact, cleaning that up took even more time.
During prayer I told the Lord, “Lord, even eating a single peanut creates a situation unavoidably.” In response, the Lord said, “I made you eat the peanut so that I can enlighten you today. Even to eat a single peanut you definitely have to go through a situation. All things in all situations are like this.”
He then spoke again. “However unable to put up with one another, people criticize, turn away, turn their backs, hate, envy, get jealous, don’t forgive, fight repeatedly, even cause problems, even kill, and even wage wars. You have seen this until now, haven’t you? If you cannot tolerate anything, nothing will work out.”
The Lord again spoke, “If a person cannot deal with a baby’s diapers, how can she raise a child? The same is true with evangelizing. If a person cannot deal with situations that arise during evangelism like the peanut shell and crumbs, if they cannot deal with this situation or that situation, that is, this problem or that problem, this issue or that issue, and things that cause burning anxiety, how can they move young lives from death to life? A person who endures and overcomes this situation and that situation and tolerates, experiences, and remains faithful to the end will eat and drink with Me.” He said this so that [I ] would realize.
‘꼴(ggol)’ is a word used to speak lowly of a person’s looks, actions, or positions. ‘꼴(ggol)’ refers to the look or behavior of a person. It refers to their ‘characteristics and contradictions,’ their ‘shortcomings and weaknesses,’ and ‘the things that you don’t like.’ All of you should have often heard things like, ‘I cannot stand this(꼴) and that(꼴). I don’t even want to see the sight of them(꼴).’ People live without being able to tolerate other people’s ‘condition(꼴),’ which is their ‘weaknesses and shortcomings.’
Even when you eat one peanut or one apple, ‘an unpleasant sight(꼴)’ called ‘a shell’ is produced. If you cannot stand that sight(꼴) then you can’t eat it. You can eat it only if you can stand that sight(꼴). Going about wearing clothes, if you cannot stand that(꼴) they get dirty, you will end up going around without clothes on.
If you cannot stand ‘difficult situations(꼴)’ such as agonies, hardships, persecution, tribulations, oppositions, etc., it is hard [for you] to exist, you cannot walk the path of salvation you should walk and you cannot achieve success. You need to put up with those situations(꼴) that you encounter and keep going, thinking of them as joy and putting [up with them] with hope in the days to come. [Now] is a time when you should put up with such situations(꼴) that you encounter and be in harmony even if they make you angry. You should be patient and put up with the behaviors(꼴) of one another, and understand and teach one another. Then you will gain things through that and the Holy Son Lord will be pleased also.