Your Attitude in Prayer

The most important thing in prayer is the attitude of the person who is praying. 

The most essential part is your commitment to go forward without any reservation.

If there is anything that is trying to block you from praying, you have to be decided that it will never stop you. Unless you have this kind of commitment to continue, God will not waste His time trying to help you.

God has trusted many people of faith in the past to accomplish His will and He has been disappointed and deceived.  He has been looking for proof of what you are made of and how strong your commitment is.

You may tell God that you are completely committed and will do whatever it takes and never quit.  But He would just shake His head and say that He will wait for at least three years to see.  If God sees that something isn't quite right within you, He will wait before sending His help.

God has to be absolutely sure.

If God was to just freely give out His help and at the end of several years the person is broken into pieces, it would make God foolish.


 If I were God I would also wait and see. Suppose you were God; what would you do? You may tell God, "You see I am living as a church member and I will die as one." Then God will notice and look more closely.


No matter how firm your prayer is, without this basic commitment nothing will happen and you will be wasting your time.  This is where the decisive attitude is the key.


Do you think I made a commitment to God that I would never change, not for fifty years or the rest of my life? I prayed first for the absolute faith which could say, "Even if not a single person in this world can believe, I will believe and follow in whatever incredible course You give me." Second, I asked for absolute knowledge and wisdom. Third, I asked for absolute love. I prayed for these three things throughout my life, and now in looking back I see that they have been fulfilled, even when I didn't know it was happening. 

There is no other power that could go beyond the boundary of race and nation. 

With this absolute wisdom, the Divine Principle and the truth about the world was the result of an arduous search.

The attitude of absoluteness is the basis for everything.

Nowadays, some worry that they are getting too old to marry and have children.  This kind of attitude shows that your absolute commitment is starting to shake.  Instead of shrinking under this challenge, you should have the thought that even if you are not married yet, it does not bother you or change your commitment.

When you are faced with great problems and agony, once these challenges are overcome, your faith will be iron hard.

When you are able to see the obstacles that are blocking you path, you are able to clear the field.

Since God could give me this absolute wisdom, I could search and find the Divine Principle and the truth about the world.

What if along this road, you were very much in love with your husband or wife, but they suddenly die.  Will heaven and earth crumble for you?

This could be the very moment that you would curse God for taking your loved one away.  But what if instead you were able to thank Him for giving you a situation that will strengthen your faith?   Then you faith will become stronger instead of weaker.

God is a parent who loves His children.  If He takes a loved one away, it is not because He hates you and wants to see you suffer, but it is for a greater reason.  If you are able to accept and digest this situation, and have faith in that purpose, then you are ready for another challenge.

In this movement the most beautiful word to our ears is 'indemnity'.

Through paying indemnity, we can pay for the debt of our sins and our ancestors.  Many mistakenly believe that because Jesus died on the cross for our sins that all sins here and in the future have been  eradicated through the cross.

This is incorrect.

If that was true, when Jesus died on the cross, every child born thereafter would have been born without sin and without need for redemption.  Yet, you and I were born with sin and continue this stained lineage.

Jesus paved a way for each person to come to God to be forgiven of their sins.  We still have a mountain of sin we inherit on the individual level, family,/ancestral love and so on that needs to be paid for.

We are living in the Completed Testament age where all the sins of the past are being completely erased through paying indemnity while humanity steps one foot closer to God's ideal world of Heaven on Earth.  God is asking you as His champion to pay indemnity because no one can stand such a burden..

Accept indemnity with a thankful heart. 

When you compare the time on earth that you are apart from you loved one with the millions of years your descendants will live,  your payment of indemnity is small compared to the huge blessing God will give your descendants.

If in fact, the death of your spouse was an accident, and was not a direct intervention of God, but you are still able to have a grateful attitude God will feel that you are an extraordinary child and His blessing will automatically be yours.

Your attitude will decide the amount of blessing. 

Are you ready?

If an extraordinary grief or tragedy hits you, are you ready to thank God and ask what is next?

When you understand the law of indemnity, you know that you cannot only accept the pleasant situations and then curse God during the most unpleasant events.  With this knowledge about indemnity, there should be nothing that you cannot bear.  This is the attitude of those who truly know God.

When you first join the church your eyes are filled with such fervor and hope, but as the years pass on they get a little duller.  What about in ten years?  It is easy to say that you have the same enthusiasm, but do you really have the confidence?

Prayer is an absolute necessity. 

It is important to first make an environment of serious commitment before praying.

If you do not have this basic attitude, no amount of prayer and tears will suffice.  Many in the Christian world pray everyday.  Do you think that they pray for the Christian churches to decline?  Of course they pray for the churches to prosper, but the churches are crumbling anyway.

Prayer is very powerful, thus there is a disconnect between their prayers and God.

We should pray for the big things: the nation, the world and the liberation of God.

This way you are praying for an even bigger cross than your own church.

If you only pray for smaller things than the church, God will not answer because He is not interested in listening to such boring prayers.  When you pray for the nation and the world, God takes notice and will want to help.

This way of prayer is training for how to love greater things.  If you live this way of life, then God will still back you up even if you do not have time to pray.

In churches today, people pray for their denominations, their Social Security check or their family problems and their pet. God's ears hurt when He hears those prayers and He will plug His ears. It would be the equivalent of a child begging their parents every moment for some candy.

When you only talk about yourself in your prayer, God is thoroughly bored and nothing will happen. But if you pray for His righteousness and His kingdom, He will be caught up in your passion.

In order to fulfill bigger things you need an adventurous mind and be willing to take risks.

When you work for larger goals, you will not have to worry because God will be right behind you.  If you work hard to overcome the stonewalls and persecution standing in your way, God will take up your battle for you.

God is able to distinguish who is just and who is unjust.

God would wait and give you a chance to knock down your opponent with your own might before He rushes in to help.  This is the same thing a father and mother would do for their children.

If you were to run to your parents first before confronting your enemy, God, like any parent would be ashamed to hear your complaints and will send you back out again.

Create a good problem: be a heavenly troublemaker instead.

I came to America and became a good troublemaker, and that's why America doesn't like me. America has built a prosperous society, but I came to shake this nation and Americans resent my disturbing their peace.  But I did not come to destroy America, only to warn this nation that there is danger ahead. 


Someone has to warn the people of America and bring them out of disaster.  We must prepare ourselves for this big battle.  After you go first, then you can ask God to come and help you with any area you lack.

Then God will say, "Go ahead, I am right behind you."

In those circumstances, if you sit down and pray with seriousness, then God will encourage you.  When God finally has proof of your commitment, an avalanche will come to you.


I have had the experience of thinking about some problem and not even praying about it, but already God knew my thoughts and went one step ahead of me. When I discovered that my thinking had been fulfilled, He smiled and said, "See what I did?"

You need the basic attitude of sincerity as a foundation of prayer. 

If you do not exhibit this basic attitude, then no prayer will work.  To create this atmosphere, you should serve one more person, knock on one more door, receive more persecution for restoration.

That would be more valuable than sitting in a dark room for hours praying.

Praying is only needed only after you have exerted all of your energy into a cause and it was still not enough.  Then at that time you can ask God to come help.  When you can do the mission on your own, then you don't have to ask God for help, and you can tell Him to relax.

The prayer for all seasons is the prayer for God's kingdom and His righteousness.

Does God pray sometimes?

When a parent, without thinking, will whisper to themselves that they wish their son would do this or that.  That is God's prayer also.  He prays about you and me because we are living in a time of emergency and He is engrossed in His concern.

That is God's prayer.

You do not even have to sit down and pray.  You can just murmur as you go.  That is prayer.  In our case, praying and doing is the way of life and praying and waiting is not life.

If you pray unconsciously throughout your daily life, then you undoubtedly are becoming sons and daughters of prayer.

If you give your last ounce of energy but it is not enough, then ask God for assistance and your prayer will be answered.

If this was not the case, how could we have the ability to subjugate Satan?

Satan has caused unending anguish and heartbreak to God for over six thousand years.  If there was no way to finally subjugate Satan, then there would be no end to this hell.

But God has made a way for us to overcome this evil world of darkness.

The power of prayer works wonders.  But when you pray, you must be serious and pray with one united hear, not a heart divided.

How serious is it to pick your own spouse?

It is dead serious, but prayer is even more serious than that.  At the moment your parents are on your death bed is a serious moment, and the words  you speak then are urgent. You will not doze at that time.  Your prayer has to be even more serious this moment in picking your spouse.

Prayer is like a covenant between you and God, a promise. 

Once you make this contract through prayer you follow through and without a doubt, God will fulfill it.

This is the attitude you should have through prayer.

You should not be disappointed that your prayer is not answered immediately.  Some answers come late.  As well, as you should not be overjoyed when your prayer is answered quickly.  That is not necessarily the best thing either.

The answer to prayer does not come from you, but down from heaven and it takes time to reach you.

You are surrounded by the world where there are many stages to go through horizontally and vertically.  There were many foolish people who received answers to their prayers up to a certain point, but who didn't go to the final inch.  They gave up when they were not satisfied and betrayed God.

When you pray for the world you may not see things changing immediately around you, but far away the communist world starts to crumble. 

Your prayer may be felt in a far-away place.  You must think that your prayer might not reach you today or be fulfilled for thousands of years from now.


I pray such prayers. I am not praying just for this world today; I am praying for 1,000 and 2,000 years from now. If that prayer makes a bridge between that time and now, then the Unification Church will continue to flourish even a long time after I am gone from the earth. That kind of prayer is needed.


What if everyone was to pray that kind of prayer?

That kind of eternal prayer would shake the world and the impact would be far reaching.  Prayer, sweat and tears would be the root of that prayer, and out of it beautiful flowers will blossom. When Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, he was deadly serious.

All day long, you should be in prayer mindset, not just one hour, but 24 hours.

What prayer position do you prefer?

The best position is to kneel and bow your head  Restrict your body's freedom as though it were bound.

You will feel pain, but overcome it because you must be serious in your prayer.  This is necessary for prayer. Then God will know your serious attitude.

If Jesus and other saints did not pray, they would not have been able to carry out the great things that has impacted the world.  When you resort to the power of prayer, you can have hope because you never know when the fulfillment will come.



Return for Tomorrow's Post: The Power of Prayer

This post was rewritten and derived from the speech The Importance of Prayer

How to Be Grateful for the Little Things

Now summer is here and all of nature is ready. When you come to Belvedere you might look at that one big tree outside here and remark at how big a tree it is.

When you go outside, you will see that some trees will have a special characteristic that will catch your attention, Especially if one is tall and has colorful leaves.  Even in nature, it is hard to find an object that is perfectly beautiful.  It takes a lot of catering and arrangement to create and present beauty.

There is manmade beauty and natural beauty, but beauty created in the natural way is more difficult. 

Even though an oak tree is big, it started from a small acorn.

Over the years that it grew, it had to absorb many elements.  In its growth it took many sacrifices and contributions.

There is an absolute necessary element that the tree needs to do before it can command respect as a great tree.

I must realize that there were several circumstances and elements combined to make its success possible.

It is a heartistic necessity to recognize and bow down to these elements which made it great.  Both internal and external elements made great sacrifices to make just that one tree.

When the tree is grateful and humble before the elements which made him great, those elements would have respect for him knowing his position and then will gladly give more of themselves.

The small blades of grass that reside in the tree's shade would not be able to complain that the tree receives all of the sun light, but would decide to live with the inconvenience because the tree was grateful.

What if the sun decided to stop shining on the tree?

Would the tree still be in the position to be proud and great or would he become worried and anxious how he would survive without the sun?

What if the air stopped existing or any more water?  How would the tree react?

This situation is just an analogy for man's relationships.

Should you walk pridefully and think that you don't need anybody and you exist independently?  Or would you be meek enough to thank the sun and the air for sustaining your existence?

You eat food with your mouth and at the same time your skin is "breathing" sunlight; which is more delicious?

Let us think in a different way.  You may think that you taste with your mouth but without the sun, your eyes would not even be necessary.

Without the air, you would no longer need your nose.  Therefore, without the air, how would soundwaves travel?  Without soundwaves, your ears would not be necessary.

Your mouth sacrifices many things from the outside for your survival.

Can you then be proud?  Where did your arms and legs come from?  They come from your parents and belong to them in reality.  When each of you was in your mother's womb, you stole energy from her as you grew.

When you go to the store, whatever you buy, you receive a receipt, but did you get a small receipt from all of the energy your mother gave you?  This is why you are thieves!

Can you truly say your body belongs to you?

Day and night you kicked and poked your mother, but you never apologized.  Did you complain or did you have gratitude while you were in your mother's womb?  After nine months of acting up in your mother, you were born.

But you still took nourishment and energy as she fed you.

When you were a little older, you were then fed complete meals by others.  Can we still proclaim our bodies truly belong to us and owe no one?  You never earned it.

Americans are prompt to say thank you, but how much more do you owe thanks to your parents who gave birth to you and attended to you while you grew?

If you were a restless or cranky baby and cried all of the time and demanded attention, you parents didn't demand you to stop, they would immediately comfort you.

Then when you became of age, you attended school for education.  Your parents in totality take care of you for 18 years.

When you think deeply about these things, then you know that you are indebted to your parents for your well-being.  Have you ever told your parents how much they served you or gave and terms of dollars.

The debt is so great, you would never be able to pay them back.

American teenagers act sometimes as if their parents magically appeared out of the heavens.  They speak about the gap between the generations, and that they came into being without causing any trouble to anyone.

Many times young people think their parents just bother them and they place them in retirement homes with an attitude that no one needs the elderly.

The universe does not work in this way.

The world must harmonize.

A person never parallels the universal way when they claim things for his own selfish benefit and demand his rights.  

It is a law of nature that while you are growing up, you are deeply indebted to your parents, and after you are grown and responsible then you repay that debt by taking care of your parents.

When you take a look into the past, what is it that you can be proud of?

You can be proud that you are indebted to your father and mother recognizing that you are also indebted to nature.  You would show appreciation for the water, sun and air, because without these elements you could not even survive for five minutes.

We must be thankful for the world of plants and the animal kingdom.

When you pass a pasture, what is the first thing you think when you see a cow?  That she is fat and that she would make good steaks?  You would probably think of food first instead of thanking the cow.

Which person would the cow welcome: the person who thought of him as a potential steak, or the one who shows gratitude toward him?

Even a cow would rather be eaten by a gracious person instead of a greedy person.

God looks down at this self-centered kind of thinking and knows that He did not create this world for man's self-serving needs.

Do you think that your clothes belong to you?  What about the jewelry you wear?

When a person is proud and thinks that they are independent from others and their environment, nature would laugh at such a person.  Nature knows that you could never exist by yourself.

The universe would never show any gratitude toward the person does not observe any thankfulness.  Everyone has something to be thankful for in their life from the moment of their birth.

If there is a person that understands how much they are indebted to nature, parents, the world and knows his position the world gladly harmonizes with him.

What if you lived in the desert and all the sudden woke up to find that a tropical environment was being created before you in your presence.  How much gratitude would you feel then?

Wouldn't you shout for happiness if all of this appeared out of nowhere one day?  Would you take the world of nature for granted after experiencing the wasteland just beforehand?

Have you ever thought that there was a day where nothing was in existence, that time before God brought anything into existence?  God said that everything was good when creation was complete, but what if you as His child took more pleasure and enjoyment in each thing that He did?

Would He gladly appreciate your expression or not?

God has existed from the beginning, so He would remember and appreciate you based on the historical perspective of millions of years.  Would God say with your kind of heart that it was just good, or would He remember and appreciate you within His heart?

He would think that you were better than anyone in all of history for having so much gratitude for His work.

What if this type of person was not so valued in the looks department or was crippled?  Would God appreciate them less?

No, this person would be remembered first in God's heart.

What about you, what is you first impression when you look in the mirror every morning?

Many women will shun looking in the mirror or have their picture taken.  But no matter how you look, you should view yourself in the broader perspective in which God sees us.

Each of us sends out waves or vibrations to the universe and the world can communicate with you through them. 

What kind of vibes would a person who appreciate everything send?

What about people who always complain and use people for their own advantage?  This kind of person would repel everything in the universe because of that vibration.

The person who is always negative and dissatisfied with everything in site, bites everything including friends and family.

A dissatisfied personality always has long nails everywhere around their body to bite or scratch the universe.  Doesn't it feel that way when you are around such a person?

Today there are definitely a great many people that live in such an unhappy state.

What about your heart?

On the other hand, when you realize your position toward your neighbors and relatives, you feel gratitude.  Then instead of biting and scratching others, you only reach out to embrace them all.

This way, you are sending out infinite waves of gratitude out to all corners of the earth.

The ocean is wide, but it could not be greater than your mind of gratitude. 

Your mind can be strong if you make it small, but if you make it large then it is larger than any ocean on earth!

In that case, the entire universe embraces you also with that quality of mind.    

We each have millions of individual cells in our bodies that are similar to employees in a corporation.  Each of these cells send out their own waves which all of nature responds.

Whatever vibe you send out, is how nature will echo you.

What kind of person do you want to be like: the kind that has infinite appreciation, or one that always has infinite disappointment and complaint?

This is why the Bible teaches to always have gratitude, as well as humbleness and meekness.

Can you count how many words you have used in your life up to this point?  Can you measure what portion has been dedicated to speaking gratitude or for complaint?

We have a general tendency to complain, so most people would receive the sign, "I am a complainer."  Don't you think this is the life most people lead?

But when you complain then everything in the universe is repelled by you. 

Even your parents and friends wouldn't want to be around you if you complain all the time.

Would God be happy to hear it?  Are your eyes, nose and ears complaining about the information that comes to them or are they appreciative in what they see, hear and smell?

If your body and mind are always full of complaint, who will welcome you?  Not even your husband or fiancee, there is no exception.  No one likes to be around such negativity.

If you were to place bags holding your complaint or appreciation, which outweighs the other?

Are complainers usually good or bad people?  You don't like to hear this kind of judgement do you?:

But don't you think that evil-minded people also want to hear kind words from others?

Wouldn't nature also want to hear words of kindness and love, or would they tell you to stop?  Even your pet loves to have loving reinforcement when they do something good. Even the simple words, "Good boy" brings such excitement.

Does your balance tilt more on the complaint or gratitude side?

If you are below zero, then nothing will treat you like a human being because you would be substandard, at the animal level of interaction.



Return for Tomorrow's Post: Recreate the Ideal World

This post was rewritten and derived form the speech Reflection Upon Life