I am the Lord, so pay attention. ^21-24 If you value your lives, don’t do any work on the Sabbath. Don’t carry anything through the city gates or through the door of your house, or anywhere else. Keep the Sabbath day sacred!

God’s Possession and Our Possession

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
November 9, 1958

Matthew 6: 16-34

Matthew 6:16-34 Revised Standard Version (RSV)

¹⁶ “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust^[a] consume and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust^[b]consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; ²³ but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.^[c]

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?^[d] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.

³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.

Prayer

Father, the time is approaching when we must direct our steps toward Heaven and run. We have begun to know the great hardships the Father has suffered and learned about His Will. We have also come to know how difficult is the children’s responsibility, which the Father wishes us to fulfill.

A person who understands the Father’s Will, a person who is to live in the garden the Father grants, understands that he will have to shed tears ceaselessly before the Father. He understands that he will not be able to avoid sustaining an injury as he attempts to go toward the Father. He understands that he will have to go in company with the Father. That person’s body will have to bear the marks of all this. He will have deep regret and endless, bitter grief in his heart. He must appeal to Heaven in preparation for the day of the Father’s judgment. We know that we must make eternal ties with the Father who seeks such sons and daughters. Please guide us not to stand in a position where we feel we already belong to the Father. Let us not forget that we are too ashamed to speak, too ashamed to act, and too ashamed to even lift our faces.

If there is a person among us who has opened up his mind to the heavenly anxiety and who has experienced the Shim Jung of the Father in his heart, he will become a friend who cannot help weeping bitterly in sorrow, representing the Father and the people of this nation. We know that he will mourn bitterly in sorrow, representing humankind and will share in the grief that pierced the depth of Heaven and earth and all of the spiritual world.

As we ponder whether we ourselves are in such a position today, Father, please let us become people who at least feel greatly indebted, if we are unable to face the Father who toiled, the Father who was concerned for us, the Father who walked the path of tribulation. My Father, I pray this from the bottom of my heart.

Father, what great sorrow You went through to command and lead the chosen people into the holy castle, the gates of Jerusalem. How great Your suffering has been as You have tried to take care of us and lead us into goodness! Nevertheless, we have forgotten the Father’s toilsome effort; we have forgotten the Father’s concern. We have forgotten to follow in the Father’s footprints as He guides us. Now, since Heaven’s elite soldiers are taking action, please allow those actions to follow in the Father’s footprints. Allow them to be actions of dignity.

Humankind is unwilling to walk this path. We know that many people today and tomorrow may wish to go this path mentally, but they are not able to put their thoughts into action. Please awaken us to the fact that the responsibility to solve this is not only the Father’s responsibility or some leader’s responsibility, it is ours.

However, since we have realized that there is an extremely small number of people willing to be responsible for this stark reality, please let the Father’s ardent passion overflow our idle minds. Let the Father’s sorrowful Shim Jung overflow in us, thereby allowing us to be righteous people who can step forth seeking the path of Heaven’s Will. Father, I ardently wish and desire this.

There are many people who wish for Heaven’s blessing, and many people are exerting themselves to the utmost to become the Father’s children. However, we know that today, after 6,000 years of history have elapsed, it is still difficult to find the Father’s true sons and daughters: devoted people who are willing to be sacrificial offerings before the Father.

We are extremely fearful of becoming a pitiful throng of people who disrupt the Father’s providential course. Please allow us to be concerned about the fact that we cannot guarantee that will not happen any more than the ancient Israelites could. Father, I sincerely wish and desire You to guide us to become sons and daughters who, feeling concern about our inadequacies, make exhaustive efforts not to be shameful, anxiety-causing children in the presence of the Father.

Now, when the bitter resentment of our ancestors is blocking our way, when billions of satans of distrust are leading us into temptation, Father, I sincerely wish and desire that You will allow us to be found to be persons of value who can be fully proud in the presence of the Father.

Since we came forth on this day to bow respectfully before You, please allow us to stand in such a position where, by reflecting upon our minds and bodies, we can set up the condition of being able to unite into one, the condition of goodness.

Father, who are these people who pray with concern for You this day? Who are these people who shed tears? Who are these people who grieve on behalf of Heaven and earth? Please bless them and allow the day of glory to come upon them as quickly as possible.

Father, please allow Your sons and daughters gathered here to be responsible, on their own, for what many other people have not fulfilled. Father, I pray from the bottom of my heart that You will allow us to be the sons and daughters who are truthful before the mission that has been left to us, honest and trustworthy before the Will, who can fight on, giving their all for the sake of the one Will of the Father.

Please allow us to analyze, of our accord, how far our paths and positions are from the original ideal garden. I sincerely wish You will guide us to be able to win victory in the fight to dash past that concern.

Please materialize everything this day according to Your Will. If there is a person who is equipped with the heart that can receive the grace of happiness, please work through him and manifest Yourself as he relates to You. I sincerely implore and desire that You bless him according to the devoted efforts he makes for the Father.

Since we entrusted everything to You, Father, please take charge of it all. Ardently soliciting that You will not allow this hour to be one of which Satan takes advantage, we pray all these words in the name of the Lord. Amen.