The Words of Won Pil Kim
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The Words of Won Pil Kim |
Translated from the German Unification Church newsletter by Angelika Selle
During a meeting with the German family, President Kim asked for testimonies of the day's witnessing experiences. One Japanese sister shared:
"I just finished a 40-day fundraising campaign and witnessed for the first time today. I met a nice young man who lives near our video center. He is going on vacation for a month in Spain, but he promised when he came back he would contact me."
President Kim responded with the following guidance.
This young man did not expect to meet our sister today, and she had no idea she was going to meet him either. In other words, their meeting didn't occur because of his or her conscious intention. Something beyond them brought them together.
Suppose you intend to do something and you accomplish it. The results are determined by your own motivation and effort. In this case, you are the beginning point of the accomplishment, for you had a certain desire and you carried it out. This sister, however, didn't have any idea whom she would be meeting today. This means she was not the beginning point.
Everyone wants to be happy. But sometimes you feel unhappy, seemingly without any particular reason. You may have a good relationship with a certain person, and so you invest yourself into him or her. Sometimes, however, the result doesn't coincide with your expectation, even though you desire it strongly. On the other hand, sometimes wonderful things happen to you without your expecting it. That means that the motivation or the point of origin of your happiness is not you. Something else or someone else made you happy. The question arises: "If I am not the cause of this result, then what is the cause? If I am not the point of origin, there has to be something else behind me that causes these phenomena to occur."
We usually try to analyze and understand everything that happens to us on the basis of things we can see, but that doesn't always work. Philosophers, for example, are limited because they deal with the external visible realm and can't go beyond it. But the cause can only be found outside of ourselves, outside our physical world, in the invisible forces.
When we think of the invisible realm, two beings come to mind: God and Satan. We are spiritually influenced from both God's side and Satan's side. When a person stands between God and Satan, does Satan accuse him constantly? No, only if there is a foundation for it. If the person creates a foundation by which he can be accused, Satan will say to God: "God, I have the right to claim this person and he will pull that person to his side. But if that person creates good conditions, God will say to Satan: "Satan, this man has done well, therefore, he is mine." There is always a contract between God and Satan that both sides must abide by.
As long as we stand between God and Satan, there is no foundation for God to claim us completely, and Satan has no base to claim us completely either. It is up to us whether we go to God's side or Satan's side.
One very important point to remember is that God is always with us, no matter what happens to us, good or bad. You should try to see God behind every event. You might think that God, because He is a God of goodness, wants to give us only good things. Of course God would always like to bring us blessings, but He cannot bless us because of certain bad conditions we laid. In this case, indemnity is necessary, and only after we fulfill the proper indemnity conditions can God bless us abundantly. Sometimes to help us pay indemnity God has to put us through difficult circumstances.
You may think that bad experiences have nothing do with God. But God sometimes has to give us the opportunity to overcome a bad experience and thus reach a higher level and become happier. This is God's motivation for letting us go through difficult times.
If you are suffering or if something unfortunate happens to you, think about God and use that situation to your advantage. It is only a test to challenge you so that you will become stronger. Sooner or later God's blessings will come.
This Japanese sister met a young man today. Instead of thinking, "I met this person," she should think, "God gave me the opportunity to meet him." She should also consider, "God has sent a young lady to this man." What is the purpose of their meeting? Ultimately, God brought the two together for the sake of their happiness. That is always His intention.
This sister must have hoped that the young man would give up his trip in order to attend the lectures at the video center. But contrary to her expectations, he left. She may think this is bad. Now she must wait for one whole month. What should each of them do in order to fulfill God's will during this time?
In the Bible we read the story of a man who unexpectedly met an angel. We can also think that this young man unexpectedly met an angel from God today. Since the young man promised to call our sister in one month, there must be something that appealed to him, either the truth, the love, or the ideal. It must have been his desire to meet someone like her. Based on his desire, God responded and sent him this sister. During this month, the man has the responsibility to understand what he heard, digest it, and above all make the decision to return.
Of course, the power of Satan is also working to stop the young man from meeting our sister again, and God, from His side, is trying to prevent Satan from intervening. He has the responsibility to keep his promise and come back after one month. When he goes to the spirit world, he will not be able to say he was never guided by God. He cannot accuse God for not having given him an opportunity to find the truth and the true way of life. God will tell him: "I sent you a Japanese sister once, do you remember?" Then he has no grounds for any complaint.
So what should our sister be doing? God heard her prayer and sent her a good person. What is her responsibility now? It is not enough for her to just wait. She could pray for him once or even three times a day. But most importantly, during this time it is her responsibility to inherit God's heart. Our sister has to understand that she is going the same course that God went throughout history.
In the history of restoration, God always makes an incredible amount of effort to find one person from Satan's world who can work for His providence. When God chooses a central person, He makes a promise to help that person fulfill his given task. But God must wait for a certain period of time for that person to fulfill his portion of responsibility.
When God looks at us, He waits anxiously for us, His children, to fulfill the task. How happy God is when the person He chooses fulfills his or her responsibility! But when that person doesn't, God feels so sad. Then He has to put out a great deal more effort to find another.
We are all fallen people. God has to prepare many people, because any person may fail to live up to His goals.
God cannot rely on one person alone.
The content of this one month, during which our sister is expecting the young man's call, can be very fruitful if she is always thinking of God's situation and His heart. If she is able to focus deeply on God's intention and longing, it may be that she doesn't even have to wait for one month. The man may consider to return after two weeks of vacation instead of four weeks. These things can happen.
We should learn from our True Father's life in the early pioneer days of our church. Father prayed for each brother and sister at least three times a day. Even when he was thrown into prison, he continued his prayers without exception. Sometimes Father heard rumors that someone had left the church, but he still kept praying for that person until he was released and could find out definitely whether he or she had left. One time it also happened that a woman who had gone to the market to buy something suddenly came to stand in front of our church and didn't know why.
This happened because of Father's intense prayer life.
Situations like this can happen, not only in witnessing but also in other areas of our daily lives. If we are waiting for someone to call, we should think of the longing heart of God and True Parents. During this month, our sister will be busy with many other different activities and meet many other people, but I want to ask her to try to concentrate on God's heart. What kind of result will she gain from that?
Suppose you plant a seed in the ground. You water it and nurture it carefully, waiting anxiously for the seedling to appear. Because of your investment, how happy you are when the seed sprouts and later when the plant blossoms! Each time you take care of the plant, it will be a precious moment for you. On the other hand, if you plant a seed but don't take care about it anymore, then even if it sprouts, there will be a marked difference in the quality of your relationship with the plant.
You are always meeting many people and trying to lift them up. If the person you witness to doesn't respond, in spite of your investment, maybe the second or the third person will respond. Your effort will bear fruit in time. Whatever you invest will never be in vain. When you give yourself completely and still there is no result, then you might think that there is no God. However, it's only a matter of time before great things will happen. The main thing is to offer your whole heart. Then you will probably meet a better person than you ever expected to meet.