Reverend Sun Myung Moon
Through this work of restoring the world back to God's original ideal of heaven on earth, you will come to experience how much God has suffered in restoring mankind.
We must understand how much more difficulty God has experienced on this path than any man in history.
If it was up to you and you had the power of the Almighty God, you would have used your power to crush this evil world a long time ago.
We know we should be patient, no matter how long restoration takes.
Our weapon and tool is education. So, instead of destroying people, we will raise them up through teaching them God's divine plan in the Principle.
God saw and heard much wickedness over these thousands of years, yet He has been patient. By the same token, you have to be able to endure the criticism of the world. We must win the love of God; only that one thing matters.
God has been the king of patience in history and so we must be princes and princesses of endurance.
You must have infinite patience and endurance if you want to gain true love.
Just looking in history, we can feel the pain of God as He worked to bring humanity back from their fallen position. God gave His only son who carried His blood lineage and yet the world killed him.
Still, God was patient in that time.
Father has received overwhelming criticism as he brought the truth of the Completed Testament, but he does not want to remember any of it. Within thirty minutes, he wants to forget any accusation that comes to him.
God has endured even more heartbreaking situations and disappointments over the thousands of years of human history, but he has forgotten the evil things and remembers the good news only.
Even though walking this path of restoration is treacherous, we should always be thankful to God for the opportunity to participate in His hardship. We get to learn His endurance He had watching humanity after the fall with hope of recovering His children back.
Just with His power alone, we can understand God and be like Him.
How much has God trusted people?
Throughout the biblical times, God placed His trust in men to fulfill their missions. Even though many saints have failed God and were untrustworthy, God still trusted.
Without trust, there is no way God could continue the work of restoration.
How could man continue to try if God did not trust him?
Then we should learn from God this attribute. We must learn how to trust other people even though they may fail us a thousand times.
Hasn't God done the same for you and me who are just as unreliable? Even though they may still lie to you, trust them, even though they may cause you pain, still trust them.
We should thank God that we can participate in this dispensation with Him in trusting us unconditionally, even though we have been untrustworthy. When we come across a difficult person, we should be thankful for the opportunity to practice His trust.
God wants so much to love man that He gives everything unconditionally.
When God sees a person who practices this way of life of trusting while living in hard circumstances, He would want to give that person mercy. Then, you win God's heart and He will shower His mercy and grace onto you.
When you witness to your area, you will be persecuted many times. There will be a record of your persecutions you faced, but God will comfort you and be right there with you.
Persecution is a necessary ingredient.
After you receive a lot of persecution, you may return to the church center feeling down and depressed. Instead, you should feel jubilant and honored for what the people have given you in that day.
While you endure hostility, you are becoming a universal person. You will be able to go to any hot, cold, high and low places and be welcomed there. In this way you become a central point.
In home church you are persecuted many times.
Your roster will be your record of persecution, but God will comfort you and be right there with you. Persecution is a necessary ingredient. In many cases when your people are rude and curse you, you come back to the center feeling depressed. But instead you should be jubilant over what they have given you that day.
When I leave New York to go abroad, you feel America is empty because the focus of love is temporarily away. I am always trying to be the focus of your love and I always focus my love upon you. This is why I am generous with you and forgive you all the time, giving you another chance and trusting you.
The twelve months comprises of one circle of seasons.
There is always balance there, with six months up and six months down, six months left and six months right. One spot is hot and the other is cold. Each season reaches a peak before it changes. You shouldn't desire only spring, or only hot weather.
Of course, most people do not like winter, but you still have to live through that season whether you dislike it.
Judas Iscariot and at least three disciples helped him to betray Jesus; this betrayal is the equivalent to the three months of winter. In order to welcome spring, you must pass through winter. Winter is an essential time because nothing can be prepared fir the spring without it.
When water freezes it expands and through that process the hard shell of a seed bursts and is ready for spring.
God is truly a great scientist.
When you see isolated pictures of the creation, you don't understand the greatness of the whole picture. But by seeing the whole picture, you see the wisdom and necessity of a season like winter.
The church is completing its winter and is welcoming spring.
Then, we will bring in the blossoms in the summer and bring the harvest in autumn. When these seeds are harvested, we enter winter again and get ready to be tested as the cold will beat fiercely on us again. But the life in the seed will remain intact, waiting for the spring and summer to come along.
This is how new life will come.
You are persecuted and ill-treated but the life within you has been activated, hasn't it?
After a long winter, aren't you ready to come out in spring? Americans think that their nation will always prosper, but this is not so. We are building up the power to survive winter as the others enjoy spring, summer and autumn.
The Unification Church is full of hope for world peace.
We must be hardened and tested in order to become a great movement.
This way, we will be strong and able to prosper anywhere in the world. In order to stay healthy, you must be able to live in and enjoy all of the seasons.
You should also be able to serve all four different categories of people: spring, summer autumn and winter.
You need all four kinds of people, just as you need all four seasons.
This is why Jesus selected twelve disciples which were all very different. Jesus was able to focus his love among each person and they were able to become one united group. You as well should be able to focus on and serve 12 different people in harmony.
In one day, we can experience four seasons: morning is like spring, daytime is like summer, evening is like autumn and night time is like winter. In order to make a full circle, you should move both up and down.
You cannot just go one way.
We should have the ability to know both up and down position. God does both. Satan only knows how to go up, but he ultimately falls all the way down.
When you go through suffering, do not think that this is the end or that you will be destroyed. As much have you have fallen down, you can come up again that much higher. This is the method God teaches us.
Working together with those in spirit world, we will focus on the eternal love of God. In this movement, we possess the true love of God, therefore, we have a tremendous capacity. We are able to focus ourselves no matter where we are because of this love.
Those who see us in this movement as doing wrong will change their focus when they see we are headed in the right direction.
If you totally serve and sacrifice for others, you will become a central figure wherever you go.
By living this way, when you reach the spirit world, you will be elevated as the central figure in heaven. Your eyes should search for the place where people are in misery.
Your thinking should point toward a way to liberate people out of hell. Your ears should change the sad sounds of hell into good. Then your mouth should speak only glad words of salvation.
Look at everything in the world through God's parental eyes. If you are able to do that, you will become a victorious person who is approved by as God's true son or daughter.
This task is more urgent than anything else. You should get to the point that while doing this work, that you forget about time, the calendar or whether it is night or day.
Therefore, be proud of being persecuted.
When you have to do this work through a harsh wind and cold, wet rain, be proud of it. When you have to do it with your shoes broken, be proud of it. When you meet someone along the way who curses you, be proud of it.
Since you are like God and like Father, your worst worry is that people will ignore you.
If you can say that you will go this hard way without fail, pledge by raising your hands, please. Thank you, and God bless you.
Return for Tomorrow's Post: Does God Need True Love?
This post was rewritten and derived from the speech Heaven and Us.
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