DASH INTO THE DEPTH OF THE SPIRIT

Praying is a profound task of mystery.  It is superbly blessed for one to be able to step into the depth of the door, having spiritual communion with God. However, to enter the depth of the door, one must overcome the physical weariness and kneeling pain, thinking of the prayer as the source of strength, wisdom and joy.

Start From the Knees

In May 1985, all church members were joyful and excited in preparing for the church dedication occasion.  After the morning prayer on the Sabbath, the church announced to exercise the voluntary fasting prayer for that particular occasion. I joined the fasting prayer then.  After that occasion, I was wondering if I should go on fasting and praying on my own.  With the reflection of the weakness of the church, the believers’ infirmities, and the lost sheep of the fold, I told myself, “How can I do anything but hold the attitude of observing?” With tears in eyes, I decided to dedicate my fasting prayer to various items of the holy work.  At one night of June 1986, while all my children were sleeping, I pondered in solitude upon the questions: Have my prayers reached God?  Has Jesus heard my prayers?  … Wit all these questions lingering in my head, strangely enough, I picked up the Youth Communion of September 1980 and browsed through the articles.  Eventually, I obtained the best answer out of the book.  The content of the article that I read was as follow.

‘In the dream of a believer (the author) there were three sisters in Christ kneeling down and praying.  Meanwhile the believer saw Jesus was walking toward them.  As Jesus was coming near the first sister, He comforted and encouraged her with a gentle, kind and affectionate voice.  Then Jesus went on to the second sister, and laid His hand upon her head, nodded, and walked toward the third sister.  To the third sister, Jesus said and did nothing but walked past by her.  Thus the believer said to herself in the dream,  “The first sister has the highest spirituality so that the lord loves her profoundly; the second sister’s spirituality may not be as high as the first one.  As for the third sister, she must have sinned against the Lord and hurt Him so deeply.  While the believer kept guessing, Jesus came to her and said, “You ignorant woman, you misunderstood me.  The first one is so weak in spirituality that I have to show concern and affection to her in order to help her make progress in her faith.  The second one has stronger faith and immense love.  I have confidence in her that she can stand firm on my account under any circumstances.  The third one has the highest faith and unfailing love.  Now I am finding a way to train her for the utmost holy work for the future.  She understands me and relies on me without any help of touching, seeing and hearing.  She knows my will and considers it in nay situations.  So my love for her cannot be expressed in words.”‘  After reading this article, I was greatly exhorted and comforted.  I was delivered from all my previous doubts, and able to dash willingly toward the door of prayer.

More often we pray submissively for our needs as well as for further spiritual experience that can bring us to know God better and deeper.  On one Sabbath in September, 1986, after putting the baby to sleep, I knelt down and prayed.  Fifteen minutes later, one sister came in and asked me to help taking care of her baby.  So I stopped praying and started to study the Bible.  While I was so absorbed in reading the book of Isaiah, all of a sudden, I heard a beautiful, melodious wonderful voice singing in chorus coming from above.  Having never heard this before, I put down the Bible and listened quietly.  At first I thought this voice must have come form next prayer room, or from the chapel.  So when I went to the next room and when to the chapel, I found out that no one was in the prayer room, and some believers were in the chapel.  As I went back to study the Bible, I heard the wonderful voice again.  Eventually, I came to realize that it is the song of the angel.  Filled with joy, I praised the Lord.  Our heavenly Father knows the needs of His children.  With the song of the angel, He strengthens my faith and elevates my eagerness toward the prayer in spirit.  Thanks the Lord!

Healing of the True God

One morning of February 1987, I was not feeling so well, and thought that it was not so serious.  But in the evening, I felt so weak that I could not even get up from the bed.  Next day the church members visited me.  Afraid of worrying them, I forced myself to get up and went to attend the service.  In the prayer, I recalled that it was the first time I got sick since my marriage, and I thanked the Lord for His protection and care.  Thinking of the lord’s guidance and arrangement in my daily life, I couldn’t help having my eyes filled with grateful tears.  Since I had a serious flu, I took some medicine.  At that night my four year old daughter had a toothache and cried for three hours.  I just prayed to the Lord to soothe her suffering pain.  Being afflicted with the flu myself, I couldn’t help her until my husband came home and bought some medicine for her. Although still not feeling well, I attended the service the next day as usual, and visited the church members’ houses.  Before we set out, I prayed to the Lord to heal my headache.  Upon visiting the members’ houses, my heart was overflowing with joy.  On Friday night, still uncomfortable I went to bed early.  Awaken in the next morning, I remembered that I had to do some typing and to prepare the lesson for the religious education class.  To observe the Sabbath in peace, I hastened to undertake all the thing I should do. Finally, all was done by the time the service started to proceed.  In peace and rest, I observe the Sabbath.  By the time I knelt down and prayed in the chapel, I discovered all my suffering and illness were gone.  God healed me.  At that moment, I offered my thanks and praise to the Lord in my prayer.

Thanksgiving

Prayer is a long run battle, and one needs to be trained in it.  Upon entering the depth of our spirit, we will experience the taste of ‘kneeling with affliction’ and ‘getting up with joy’.  Such kind of feeling is hard to utter, but so wonderful.  Within this few years in my life of prayer, God has granted me uncountable grace.  Although at the very beginning of my praying life, it seemed as if I was fighting the battle alone.  Thanks the Lord, He added some praying partners subsequently into our praying group.

The grace of the Lord is endless and bountiful, but it will come to us only if we have the determining will to kneel and pray.  Let us dash toward the fountain of the living water.  Traveling starts wit our feet, and our knees are the source of grace.  May all the members of True Jesus Church bring up their hands of prayer with willingness, and a pair of willing-to-be-trained knees.