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דרשות

Subject 16 : The Gospel According to JOHN

[Chapter 14-3] We Renew Our Strength Through Prayer (John 14:6-14)

We Renew Our Strength Through Prayer
(John 14:6-14)
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.’”
 
 
Warm greetings to everyone! This summer has been so hot that I can’t recall any previous summer that was as hot and difficult to cope with. I’ve also gained some weight, and so perhaps this made it more difficult for me to cope with the heat. The climate is getting increasingly hotter due to global warming, and putting on additional weight just made things worse for me. But even so, I am happy that the summer has gone by without too much trouble, and I thank God for watching over us to ensure our safety. Over this summer discipleship training camp, I noticed a few things that we should have done to better serve the Lord, and so we need to be more prepared for next year’s summer discipleship camp. But I am still very happy to see everyone here safe and sound.
I know that you, all the servants and the saints, have struggled a lot to serve the Lord’s gospel. This year’s discipleship training camp has not been easy, either, as the weather has been unusually hot. In particular, our ministers’ wives labored very hard in the kitchen even under this intense heat, and I am very grateful to them for preparing delightful meals for us. While they probably have lost a few pounds, it seems that the rest of us have gained several pounds thanks to them. So let me take this opportunity thank each and every one of them for all they’ve done for us.
In every revival meeting that I’ve been to, there always were some ministers snoring at night. As I don’t snore, I find it very difficult to cope with this. On some nights I couldn’t fall asleep until 3 in the morning because of all the snoring coming from our ministers sharing the room with me. It was very stressful as sometimes I even got a headache from the snoring and found it impossible to get any sleep at all. So I’ve had my fair share of difficulties over this summer, but I’m glad that it has gone by without too much trouble.
The weather was so hot that it even distracted me from God’s work, and sometimes all that I could think about was finding a way to cool myself instead of serving the righteousness of Jesus. I even cordoned off an area, filled a large basin with cold water, and dipped myself several times a day. It was so icy that I got goose bumps all over my body. And it was so refreshing and fun that I didn’t want to get out of the tub. At least there is some wind here; in my hometown Chuncheon, there is hardly any wind. But I came here because I missed you. I came here to comfort you with the Word of God. So I hope and pray that you would all be comforted and encouraged by my sermons. And I also hope that you would find new strength and live out your faith with a renewed heart.
Sometimes, when we go through such a hot summer, we worry about how we can lead our lives of faith in such hard times. And sometimes our minds are preoccupied with our own prosperity rather than our lives of faith. There are times when we think of only finding a way to cool ourselves and worry about ensuring our fleshly prosperity rather than spiritual prosperity, but even so we must live out our faith while adjusting ourselves to our given circumstances.
 
 

The Importance of Prayer

 
Today, I would like to preach about the importance of prayer. In my life of faith, from time to time I feel that it’s impossible to follow the Lord by relying on my own will or strength. Whenever I look at such limits of my flesh, I can’t help but pray to the Almighty Lord. When the weather is hot, my heart is also stifled, and when my body is in pain, my heart is also discouraged; and in times like these, my eyes are blinded by the struggle of the flesh that I find it difficult to live out my faith spiritually and properly. No matter how strong your determination is, if your circumstances turn adverse enough, it’s difficult to live out your faith spiritually as your struggle against your hardship.
What should we do then? What should we do when we can no longer live out our faith on our own strength? The issue facing us here is how we can live the rest of our lives spiritually by faith even under such difficult circumstances. To find the answer to this question, to find out how we can be strengthened and by what kind of faith we ought to live, we must turn to the Word of God. And when we turn to the Word of God, there is only one conclusion to reach: The only way to lead a spiritual life of faith before God is by praying to the Almighty God. From the Word of Truth, we realize that we must pray to God and seek His help in our lives, for it is impossible for us to live out our faith just by relying on our own strength or faculty. Because it’s God the Father who strengthens us and blesses us in all things, it’s when we rely on God that we can serve the gospel of salvation and follow Him. That is why prayers are so important in our lives, and why we must always pray to God the Father to sustain our lives of faith.
Jesus said in today’s Scripture passage, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Philip then asked Him, “Lord, show us the Father” (John 14:8), and Jesus said to him, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). He went on to say: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:10-14).
Jesus was telling His disciples here to believe that He was God Himself. Jesus told them if His Word wasn’t enough for them to believe that He Himself was God, they should believe so by looking at the many wondrous things that He had done. He also spoke to them about how to pray to God properly. Our Lord said here that if we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, He would answer all our requests. Jesus Himself promised this to us.
I have given many sermons on prayer recently. That’s because I’ve seen many Christians using all kinds of names to call upon God when praying. They switch back and forth between different names so often that it’s confusing, sometimes calling upon God the Father, other times the Lord, still other times Jehovah God, and then switching back to Jesus. They are not only to be blamed, as we have also offered such confusing prayers quite often. We, too, have wavered back and forth, sometimes praying to Jesus, other times to God the Father, and still other times to the Holy Spirit. However, even though it seems somewhat confused, it’s not a mistake to switch back and forth because God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the same Triune God. That’s because what’s important is not the name of God that we call upon when we pray, but that we pray ceaselessly to the true God.
As we continue to carry on with our lives, there are many times when we fall into despair because of our weak flesh. In such times, only God the Father can help us, and the only way to get this help is by praying, as it’s written in Psalm 121:1-2,
“I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.”
This is why it’s so imperative for all of us pray constantly in our lives.
When we pray, we often call upon God the Father, but this is the same as calling upon the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit at the same time. That’s because God is Triune. When praying, however, it’s most appropriate to pray to God the Father or Jesus.
We should ask God the Father to help us in all things as the following: “Father, we have to live in this harsh world, we have to work at a job or run a business to make money, and we also have to support our families. And amid all these burdens, we must work to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit all over the world, the most important work that saves the soul. Father, we ask You to help us in all these things. Protect us from this harsh world, Father. Keep us from our fleshly weaknesses and help us. Bless us in both body and spirit. Bless all our saints so that they and their businesses may prosper. Give us health, so that we may lack nothing to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Help us to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit all over the world, both in Korea and abroad. And bless us to live by faith. Make us follow Your righteousness.” We have to pray like this because we need God’s help in our lives.
 
 
What Is Prayer?
 
Prayer is all about asking God for His help. How should we pray then? We should begin our prayer with the name of God the Father, and end with the name of Jesus Christ. That’s because God the Father has saved us in Jesus Christ. When Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father, Jesus said to him, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? And He went on to say, “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:10).
God the Father and Jesus are the same God, and the Father dwells in Jesus. Therefore, Jesus does not just speak His own thoughts, but the Lord speaks and works according to the will of God the Father. That’s why we pray to God the Father to help us as we carry on with our lives in this world. It’s then that we can carry on with our lives and also preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to all the souls that have not yet been born again through this gospel of salvation. When we thus ask God the Father to help us, we are able to truly follow His righteousness, carry on with our lives in this harsh world, and receive the God-given blessings in our lives. The only answer for us to live in this desert-like world is faith and prayer.
Jesus said in John 16:23-24: “Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Jesus Christ is our Mediator who, when we had drifted away from God because of our sins, reconciled us to God the Father and built a bridge for us to once again share fellowship with Him. Man’s relationship with God could be restored because Jesus accepted all the sins of the world through the baptism He received from John the Baptist and bore all the condemnation of sin on the Cross. As a result, we have been justified freely by faith through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the God-given Truth of salvation, and we have received the right to come confidently before the presence of God in person. That we are now able to approach God the Father and ask for His help is also because Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, died on the Cross, and rose from the dead again. This is why we begin our prayer by calling upon God the Father and end our prayer with the name of Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Why is love the greatest? It’s because we could only be saved from all our sins thanks to the love of God the Father and the love of Jesus Christ, which is fully manifested in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. That is why the Bible calls the gospel of the water and the Spirit as “the love of the Truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we have received the remission of sins by faith and attained everlasting life to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Out of His unbound love for us, God has given us true salvation through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and He is asking us to pray to Him always. So much emphasis is put on prayer that God spoke of it in over 700 passages in the Bible. That is just how important prayer is. As such, all of us must realize and remember always that as those who have been saved by the love of God, what we need the most is prayer.
Faith in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit is the foundation of our hearts and lives, and therefore prayer is always necessary in our lives. It’s when we pray that our strength is renewed, we receive new blessings and find the strength to save other souls, and all our needs are met. It’s because God helps us and works in our lives that we are able to carry on with our lives. That’s why prayer is so indispensable to our lives of faith. The more we struggle, the more urgent it is for us to pray to God. King David prayed to God and sought His help constantly, even in times of crises when his life was at risk. He prayed so ceaselessly and earnestly that his prayers and supplications were collected to form the Book of Psalm. Browse through David’s psalms, and you’ll feel just how earnest his prayers were.
 
 

The Lord Answers Our Prayer

 
Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do” (John 14:13). Our Lord will surely answer all our prayers. Because you and I are powerless, because we cannot overcome the desires of our flesh on our own, and because we can neither follow the Lord nor live in this world by relying on ourselves, it is by the strength gained by praying to God the Father, by His help, that we are able to carry on with our lives. Whoever prays to God can find new strength and live every day full of energy, for he will be strengthened and helped by God through his prayer. That’s why whoever prays to God is blessed in both body and spirit.
The reason why we should pray is now made clear then. It’s because we are weak that we pray; and it’s to receive God’s help that we pray. The Lord told us to pray ceaselessly and be vigilant in our prayer with thanksgiving. This means that we should pray constantly at every opportunity. We should ask the Lord for our daily bread and all other needs through prayers. In short, we should pray as often as we breathe, every day and every moment.
So long as we are living in this world, we will always have difficulties. But even amid all these difficulties, we can still carry on with our lives when we pray to God the Father asking for His help and this prayer is answered. We are doing the work God has entrusted to us, and we are living by faith in obedience to Him. Therefore, even though our flesh on this earth is full of shortcomings, we can still renew our strength every day and soar on wings like eagles.
Whoever asks for God’s help will find deliverance in both body and spirit. Put differently, everyone who prays will live by faith and be blessed in both body and spirit. No matter how harsh this world is, the prayerful will live in peace, and no matter how full of shortcomings they are, they will see all their needs met. Those who pray faithfully will find deliverance even if they are in poor health, destitute, and under difficult circumstances. That is why it’s so imperative for us to pray incessantly. We must seek God’s help by praying. None other than praying is what all of us must do ceaselessly in these end times.
“Father, we are doing the best we can, but our own strength is finite. When we face an immovable obstacle, we don’t have the strength to overcome it. We can’t go on anymore. In times like this, whenever our own strength is not enough, please help us, Father!” When we pray to God earnestly like this, He will help us for sure, and we can overcome every obstacle and carry on with our spiritual lives thanks to the power and strength of God the Father and His blessings. It’s through prayer that we can receive God’s help to continue on with our lives. And it’s by praying like this that we are blessed to find God’s help and put on His power. Do you believe this?
Prayer is indispensable because it’s a constant struggle to live in this world. There is nothing you can do on your own without praying. Neither can I live on my own without God’s help. Even when it comes to serving the Lord, I can do this only if God the Father helps me. I, too, pray to God the Father all the time, and what sustains my life is the help that I get from the Father through my prayer. To be honest, there have been times when I neglected to pray and tried to accomplish something on my own strength. But every time I did this, I found out that nothing could be accomplished. That’s because I had relied on my own cleverness and wisdom rather than relying on God. In contrast, everything that I ever did by praying to God and relying on His help was achieved flawlessly.
I believe that the greatest of all blessings is prayer, for it is through prayer that every blessing is received. Although faith is indispensable to be saved through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and sacrifices and devotion are necessary to spread the gospel all over the world, prayer is a blessing that you can receive without any cost. That’s because you can receive whatever you ask in your prayer.
 
 

God Helps Us Whenever We Pray for His Help

 
God will always help us if we pray, but if we don’t, He will not give us any help. Although God knows all about our needs, He does not help us until we actually ask Him for His help. This is something that’s shared by all parents. All parents would feed their newly born baby and change the diaper even when the baby can’t speak a word, but once the child reaches a certain level of maturity, they wouldn’t help him until he asks for something. The child would try his best to go on his way without the help of his parents, but in the end, he would return to his parents. The parents would then embrace him warmly and help him, rather than rebuking him, and at that time the child would realize how grateful he should be for his parents, and he would want to do everything with his parents from then on. God also want us to do everything with Him. He wants us to rely on the Lord even when it comes to small things. That’s why we must always pray and never neglect it.
There is no need for us to test our willpower and determination or try to train them. That’s because what we must be trained in is faith, not our willpower and determination. It’s by faith that we pray to God for His help. The greatest blessing that we can receive at the least cost is none other than prayer. Do your grasp this? You don’t need much; all that you have to do is just ask God sincerely to help you. And if you believe that God will give you what you ask, then you will surely receive it. That is what prayer is all about. The surest and shortest way to receive blessing from the Lord is none other than prayer. So we must know how to pray and pray constantly. This is the proper faith that we are seeking, and it is the way by which our faith progresses. Rather than trying to live by our own fleshly strength, all of us should pray to God as His saints and servants.
When the weather is too hot, it’s hard to pray as it’s difficult to focus and we just want to find a way to escape from the heat. Even worse, I know someone who has the urge to go the bathroom whenever he tries to pray. When he comes back, almost always the phone rings or he has a visitor, making it impossible for him to pray. The only quiet time he can find is early in the morning, and after this, it’s hard for him to set aside another time to pray.
But all of us must realize clearly here that prayer is the solution to all our problems, the means by which we can obtain the most assured help at the least cost. So it’s absolutely imperative for you to pray. Are you too busy to pray? That’s just an excuse. God is everywhere we are. You can pray in the bathroom, and you can pray even while walking. Does God somehow not hear your prayer because you are in the bathroom or out in the streets? No, that is never the case. If we just have the will to pray, then we can pray at anytime and anywhere, and we can receive God’s help coming through our prayers.
So let us all pray to God in our everyday affairs. Is there anyone who doesn’t have any problem? No, everyone has his share of problems. After all, who doesn’t face any struggles in life? Everyone is struggling. All of us therefore must pray to God. If you have not been born again of water and the Spirit yet, then pray to God to enable you to be born again. If you have already been born again of water and the Spirit, then pray to God to help you solve the problems you are facing in your life of faith.
How often and how earnestly do you pray? “Father, please help me. I am facing many problems, and so I need Your help, Father. Give me health and bless me, Lord. Give me a job, bless my business to prosper, give me faith, and allow me to serve You.” Do you really pray with all earnest like this? Those who pray to God can follow the Lord by faith and serve Him even more. You will be blessed greatly like this if you pray.
Again, I ask you to pray in your everyday life. Everyone struggles with life. But if you bring your problems to God, they will all be solved no matter how difficult they are. “Father, please save these lost souls. Make our circumstances ideal and send us good coworkers to spread the gospel. Bless us, Father, and help us and protect us.” If we pray like this, by the time the prayer is over, we will feel that all the blessings had already come to us. So let us all pray like this all the time. Although we all need understanding, faith, love, and the truth in our everyday lives, the first priority is prayer. Jesus Himself also prayed all the time in His public life. Even the Son of God prayed like this, and so how much more urgent is it for us to pray? I admonish you all to pray constantly.
Today, I am preaching about prayer. Are you struggling with your life? Is your hardship too much to bear? That’s why you should pray. When you pray, are you still unsure to whom you should pray? Do you switch back and forth from God the Father to Jesus and the Holy Spirit? It would cause you a lot of headache to think, “When I pray to the Son, I feel sorry for the Father, and when I pray to the Father, I feel sorry for the Son. Our Lord is God, and so maybe I should just pray to the Lord.” Sometimes we waste time like this needlessly worrying about how to address God. Of course, this doesn’t apply to all of us, but it does show that we all need to have a clear understanding of this issue.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the same God. The Holy Spirit is our God, just as Jesus Christ is our God, and the Father is also our God. However, the Trinity is a very difficult concept for those who have not been born again through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Even in the field of theology, no one has yet been able to provide a clear explanation of this concept. Even as theologians do not understand the Trinity, they don’t admit their ignorance but write about it drawing from someone else’s writings, but they are still agonized by their inability to reach a definitive conclusion. So in the end, they just say, “The Trinity is an extremely mysterious and difficult concept to understand, and we so need to study it more.”
Jesus said that we should pray to God the Father. Who did He say will answer this prayer then? Jesus said that He Himself will answer it. Because the Father and the Son are the same God, and because God dwells in Jesus, it’s to the Father that we pray and it’s Jesus who answers our prayer. So we begin our prayer by calling God the Father and end it with the name of Jesus Christ, calling on them both and asking them both for help.
To pray is to ask God for His help. Do you not have difficulties? Do you not have anything to pray about? If you are struggling with hardship, then pray to God. God said in James 5:13, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.” This passage means that we should pray whenever we are visited by hardship. Pray if you can’t cope with your hardship on your own. Pray if you find yourself struggling to lead your life of faith and follow the Lord. Pray if your body isn’t well. Pray if you have a wish. Pray if there is something you want. If your heart is discouraged, pray. If you are afraid, pray. If you want to be healthy, pray. If you want to be blessed, pray. Then God the Father will help you. He will help you and answer all your prayers. God will surely help you if you pray.
When I say that you should pray to God, however, I don’t mean that you should make a fuss. Crying and wailing for everyone to hear is not the way true prayer is offered. God did not teach us to pray like that anywhere in the Bible. On the contrary, our Lord said in Matthew 6:6, “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” God knows everything, and so why should you wail and scream and make such a fuss? Real prayer is offered like a conversation, as though you were asking your own father for a favor.
“Father, I don’t have any money; please give me some money. Father, I am sick; please make me healthy again. Father, You know that I am prone to disobey Your Word; please give me the strength to follow Your Word faithfully. Empower me and bless me. My circumstances are difficult; please help me overcome them and protect me.” Like this, asking God for His help in a normal conversation is what prayer is all about. When you pray, you are actually talking with God through your prayer.
Do you cry and make a commotion every time you talk to your parents? Can you carry any meaningful conversation if you cry and wail like this every time you talk to your parents? The same is true when it comes to prayer as well. If you wail and scream when you pray, God the Father will just get annoyed and not answer you. Far from answering your prayer, He might just say, “Calm down! I can’t help you if you wail and scream. If I help you, it will just cloud your mind even more. You should pray for the clarity of the mind and ask Me for an upright heart. And when you pray, don’t use such an embellished and pretentious language. Don’t try to sound so holy and pious before Me. Be upfront and just ask. Don’t be so noisy.”
The Lord instructed us on the proper prayer also in Matthew 6:7, where He said, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” The heathen here refer to the Christian sinners who have not been born again through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, rather than the Gentiles. Most Christians mumble endlessly when they pray, as though God would hear them only if they repeat themselves countless times. They don’t even realize what they are saying, but they still gabble on endlessly. But our God is not deaf. God knows all about us just by looking into our eyes and hearts. We don’t have to be so loud and repeat ourselves endlessly for God to hear us.
Ask God for your needs like you are having a normal conversation. God has always answered our prayers whenever we asked Him. Not even once has God refused to grant us our request. Whatever we need urgently, God will always give us without fail if we ask Him. So let us all pray to God constantly in our lives and ask Him for all our needs. When we thus pray ceaselessly, we will receive great blessings in every aspect of our lives.
There was a man named George Muller in Britain, a man of faith and a man of prayer. Said to have had his prayers answered no less than 50,000 times, Muller is famous for having had the most prayers answered in Christian history. Through his orphanage ministry, he sought to get nearer to the Lord, and he wanted to glorify Him by demonstrating to everyone’s eyes that God was forever the same and willingly helped all who relied on Him to abundance. Perhaps this explains why his orphanage ministry was so miraculous so many times. One day, the orphanage ran out of food and there was nothing to give to the children. When Muller realized that there was no bread to share, the very first thing he did was praying: “Father, the children are all starving. We have no food left at all. Father, please provide food to these children. Give them bread, Father. I believe with all my heart that You will answer my prayer. I prayed in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
When Muller finished praying, the manager of the orphanage came to him and asked him, “Pastor, we have no food left; what should we do?” Neither worrying far less panicking about the lack of food, George Muller quietly told the manager to pour water into the pot and build the fire. The manager was puzzled to hear this, as there was no food to prepare. But Muller calmly told him to do so again, and the manager told the workers to build the fire as he was instructed by him. The water began to boil soon. As no food was given to the orphans even when it was past the lunch hour, they got hungry. George Muller just kept on praying calmly, saying to God, “Father, please give us some food. I believe that You will give it to us. I know that You will.”
Meanwhile, in another corner of the city, someone had prepared for a party but was forced to cancel it, as the guests couldn’t come due to heavy rain. Since there was no guest, all the food that had been prepared was going to be wasted. But the host of the party remembered George Muller’s orphanage, and so he filled his carriage with food and took it to the orphanage. Around the same time, the workers at the orphanage were pouring water into the pot and building the fire. And on that day, the children at the orphanage had all the delicious food they wanted. Like this, Muller prayed to God the Father and asked for His help whenever he faced hardship, and it’s said that his prayers were always answered.
It’s not just George Muller who was helped by God. I, too, have been helped by God many times in my life once I received salvation and the remission of sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Do you remember what happened a few years ago when we were holding summer discipleship training camp? There was heavy rain at that time. Not only was there heavy rain, but there was also strong wind, as a category-A typhoon was approaching. Alerted into emergency mode, the public servants evacuated every camper from the valley and advised everyone to be fully prepared for the impending typhoon, repeatedly underscoring that the approaching typhoon was no ordinary typhoon. But by then the discipleship training camp had already begun, and so when we heard about the approaching typhoon, we couldn’t move anywhere. Not knowing what to do, and fearful of the massive typhoon approaching us, we gathered together and began to pray: “Father, Your children are gathered here to hold a discipleship training camp. But there is a typhoon approaching. Father, please direct this typhoon to somewhere else. Turn it around and send it far away from here where the righteous are gathered.”
I’m sure that some of you remember how we had all prayed together so earnestly like this. Do you also remember what happened then? There was a surprising turn of events that shocked even the meteorologists. The typhoon that was so threatening suddenly changed its direction when it reached Jeju Island, and once it changed its direction, it weakened rapidly and disintegrated into the atmosphere. Usually, typhoons are so strong that they don’t weaken rapidly but only gradually, and it takes a long time before they dissipate. But this category-A typhoon dissipated suddenly. It was all because of our prayer. That’s the kind of faith that we had when we held that year’s discipleship training camp. And such faith is still with us.
Because we were facing a critically dangerous situation, we had no choice but to pray. We had no other recourse but to hang onto God and pray, “Father, we are righteous people. We are Your servants. All the brothers and the sisters gathered here are Your people. Your children are gathered here; what will happen to us if such a massive typhoon reaches here? Father, please protect us all.” And according to this prayer, we were protected. Our prayer was answered by God. When it comes to spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit as well, our prayers for needed financial resources are also being answered in abundance. That’s why we have been able to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to every corner of the world.
There has never been a time, not even once, when my request for God’s help was not answered. When I first tried to found God’s Church, I had no money or building to start with. But thanks to God’s help, I was able to find a suitable house for our church. I came across this house while passing by the street. It had a very large room that was big enough for all the church members to gather together and share fellowship. Every time I passed by this house, I prayed to God to give it to us so that we could make it our church. God the Father then gave us this house. This is a living testimony. When I prayed to the Father to draw righteous saints to me and send me workers, all these requests were answered as well.
Jesus Christ is our God and our Savior. God the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Everything is possible if we pray by faith. If we just trust in God the Father and ask for His help, He will indeed help us. It’s not so difficult.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you are struggling to live out your faith, pray to the Lord. Do not give up your life of faith just because it’s hard, but instead, pray to God. Then through your prayers you will be blessed to receive God’s help and strength. If you are worried about your business or job, just pray. If you want to lead a healthy life of faith, then ask for this also, and you will surely receive it.
Prayer is like a savings account. The requests you make to God are saved as future blessings. Why do you worry when you can pray? Why do you fall into despair when you can pray? Why are you frustrated when you can pray? If you are frustrated, all you need to do is just pray. If you are weak, you only need to pray.
The key to receiving blessings in our lives is prayer. This prayer does wonders and brings all blessings. It is the solution to all your problems. Prayer is the master key that unlocks every lock. Just as the Bible says, “He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, And shall not despise their prayer” (Psalm 102:17), the Lord always listens to our prayers closely and answers us without fail. So let us all pray ceaselessly in our everyday lives.
 
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