2008. 6. 1 Rev. Kim, Young Bong

The Gospel According to John Sermon Series
“The Gospel of Life (99)”
We Live by Spiritual Breathing
--John 20:22, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

1.

Today, I will start the sermon with a short quiz. There are no prizes but I ask you to answer it for fun. After listening to the 13 treatment effects listed below, I want you to guess what treatment or drug they may be about. What things, what food, or what changes will bring you various treatment effects like these?

1. heart and lung functioning is strengthened. 2. digestive absorption is facilitated. 3. bowel movement becomes regular. 4. blood circulation becomes more active. 5. coldness of hands and feet is alleviated. 6. anemic condition in brain is alleviated. 7. blood supply to fetus is facilitated. 8. insecurity and anxiety is removed from improved voluntary nervous system. 9. immune system is heightened from increase of white blood cells. 10. memory power improves and brain fog disappears. 11. skin becomes beautiful because of better discharging of toxins in the body. 12. ability to concentrate is improved and mental power is strengthened. 13. blood pressure becomes normal.

What do you think? Isn't this almost like a cure-all? What do you think is the treatment that brings all these treatment benefits? Are you thinking of rare medicinal substances like wild ginseng or royal jelly? Wrong. Are you thinking of exercises like walking or running? Not that either. Some people call it an exercise. When asked, "what exercise do you do these days?” some answer, "only breathing exercises". The right answer is 'correct breathing'.

Some of you might ask back, "What is such a big deal about breathing that results in such treatment effect?" Or some may want to ask, "Breathing is something you have been doing since your birth, how could there be a secret healing?" However, breathing through throat is the foundation of bodily life and one of those that many people don’t do it correctly although they've been doing it naturally since birth or because of that. Since it's the most fundamental function in sustaining our lives, when it goes wrong, it creates many side effects. Because breathing is most fundamental to life, when corrected, you can gain many treatment effects such as the list above.

I don't mean that you should go to a training center to learn certain breathing techniques. You can experience a big difference even if you just make a habit of breathing deeply and evenly everyday. Often, if you sit back and take a deep breath for 10 minutes or more, you can experience half the effects listed above. No, it is good enough to go outside with refreshing wind to take a deep breath only a few times. Because you disregard it as ineffective, it doesn't seem to work but if you frequently examine your breathing during daytime to have a time of deep breathing. Either standing or sitting, and if you continue for a week, a month, or for a year, you can reap great treatment effects that you cannot get from any medicine.

2.

This is the same with our spiritual life. Developing spiritual life, what is most important and most fundamental is this spiritual breathing. Hearing today's sermon title, many of you would have thought of it strange. Living by spiritual breathing. What does that really mean? You may have heard 'ulsoo' but for the first time, the word, 'ulsoom'. This word is not in dictionary. This word was created by DahSug, Yoo Young Mo, who is considered as the person with the deepest understanding of our language among Koreans in the 20th century. It is the combination of 'soom' which is the second syllable in Korean word, MogSoom meaning life and 'ul', a Korean word meaning soul. The breathing you take with spirit, 'ulsoom' refers to praying. His disciple, Hahm Sug Hun also used this word often.

Perhaps, many of you have heard this phrase, "prayer is spiritual breathing". 'Ulsoom' is this spiritual breathing. Just like breathing in air through throat and providing oxygen throughout the body and letting CO2 out of your body by breathing out, spiritual breathing is where you breathe in the Holy Spirit through your spirit and provide spiritual oxygen to internal person and let out harmful toxins in your spirit by breathing out, this 'ulsoom' is prayer. Just as breathing is most fundamental to sustaining your bodily life, spiritual breathing, and prayer is most fundamental in sustaining your spiritual life.

'Mogsoom' is about breathing in air while 'ulsoom' is on breathing in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person with characters and how can you breathe it in? Being engaged in a personal fellowship with Him is breathing in the Holy Spirit. Last Sunday, through the sermon, "who is afraid of the Holy Spirit?” I talked about opening up ourselves wide to the presence of the Holy Spirit residing in and embracing us. To reach the relationship of believing in Jesus and calling God, abba the Father, you have to be touched by the Holy Spirit. For existence to be filled with the Holy Spirit fully and always and for us to live everyday in the leading of the Holy Spirit, we have to breathe in the Holy Spirit through 'ulsoom'. Breathing in the Holy Spirit means being in fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

The John 20:22 verse we reread today shows how proper it is to call prayer, 'ulsoom'. The resurrected Lord tells the disciples "Receive the Holy Spirit" breathing on them. In the movie, The Gospel of John, produced in 2003, when Jesus says, "Receive the Holy Spirit" breathing on them, the disciples who were gathered in fear and dark mood become brighter filled with a renewed spirit throughout their bodies. That is what happened. The breath the resurrected Lord let out was not his life but 'ulsoom', the breath of spirit, the Holy Spirit. The disciples did not breathe in the breath Jesus let out through their noses but their spirits. From that, their hearts gained renewed power and hope.

3.

Most people think they know everything about breathing but there are some who cannot breathe properly and pant or sigh frequently to barely sustain their lives. The same with 'ulsoom' prayer. Many have misunderstanding of prayer and they don't even realize they have misunderstanding. They think you pray as your mind dictates when necessary. If we pray just what is on our mind, when a trouble comes suddenly, you pray only to be out of that trouble. Being a little bit more advanced, you pray for 3 meals a day. Many people think that is sufficient.

Fortunately there are some who go further. They think prayer life is important and strive to pray always. Even these people, however, seldom think there is a problem in the way they pray. They fill up the entire prayer time with their request items coming from their own needs. These people pray according to the thinking that 'prayer is seeking'. Praying for what they want without giving up until they get it, they think is good faith. They think getting an answer to a prayer is to grab what they asked for in their hands.

Long ago, this is when my children were in elementary school. In our house on a wall, a frame with 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 written was hung -- Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. One day, one of my children asked me after having looked at it intently. "Dad, what does it mean to pray continually?" I asked back, "what do you think it means?" The child answered. "Does it mean not to stop in the middle when you pray?"

The child made the best guess as one could. Applying what they learned about praying, it was obvious to them that it didn't mean to pray all day long. How can you pray with your eyes closed all day long? Even to a child's mind, the commandment made no sense. Then there was only one interpretation. Once you start praying, do not stop until you finish. Is it not very smart?

The guess, however, missed the target. Because the child misunderstood about praying. If prayer is to close your eyes and ask God for something, praying continually is an impossible commandment. Not only it is infeasible, but also it is not normal. Of course, praying for a set time period, setting aside all other matters, is a good thing. But if you do it all the time like that, that is a misguided faith. Therefore, the word to pray continually cannot be interpreted in any other way than to pray without stopping or getting distracted once you start, as the child guessed.

However, closing your eyes and asking for what you need is merely one element of prayer. The essence of prayer is to be in spiritual fellowship with God. Through ulsoom, it is breathing in the spirit of God. Just as our Mogsoom breathes while we are alive, for our spirit and soul to live, we should breathe ulsoom without stopping. The prayer of asking God for one's needs, if we were to compare it to breathing, is like panting with your heart and frequent sighing to make up for that short breathing. Even in prayer, ulsoom, there is a deep breathing with lower stomach and shallow breathing you take at the heart level. Giving God your requests and crying out loud continuously until you get it is shallow ulsoom. With such breathing, it is hard to sufficiently provide the oxygen of the Holy Spirit to our spiritual being. That's why you have to take a frequent sigh. What is the reason why you are sometimes thirsty for praying through the night? It was because our ulsoom was a shallow one like panting kind. Although we told God of what we want, such phenomenon occurs because you didn't breathe in the Holy Spirit of God.

Prayer is to meet Jesus Christ and the Holy Father through the Holy Spirit and to be in fellowship with Him. To have such fellowship is to breathe in the Holy Spirit. This kind of prayer falls into a category of deep ulsoom. It is like multi level breathing, which is like the deep breathing of prayer. If you drink the Holy Spirit through this deep ulsoom like this, our spirit and soul are governed by the Holy Spirit. As a person maintains clear mind and actively energized health due to a well trained breathing technique, a person who takes a deep ulsoom breath, who is in a deep spiritual fellowship with God, can live filled with the Holy Spirit always.

4.

I want to introduce a fable on praying. In a monastery, there was training about various prayer methods. A disciple asked the teacher. "What can I do to attain God?" The teacher asks the disciple. "What can you do to make the sun rise?" Then the disciple got angry with the teacher. They why are you giving us all these methods of prayer? The teacher answered. "To make sure you are awake when the sun rises."

Many pray with the purpose of obtaining something from God. Of course, that is an important element of prayer. The essence of prayer, however, is to meet Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit which is with us, to be accepted as children of the Holy Father God, to be in fellowship with the trinity God, and to live in that fellowship. It is like opening yourself up wide to the sun light during the day when the sun is shining. Praying is to wake me up, look at the sunlight, and to work under that light. God, through the Holy Spirit, is always shining down on us. The problem is in that we are not fully alert to that fact. Prayer should awake us to the presence of God. To be in fellowship with God like that is spiritual breathing and ulsoom.

Without having fellowship with God, if one asks for one's needs only, that person is like sleeping inside the house during the broad daylight and getting up at pitch dark night, asking the light to be shone on them. Such people may think their prayers were answered looking at the moon and the stars, and may be even thankful. However, they will ask back, "why can't I see God? Why is it so dark?" Complaining like this, they fall asleep again in the morning as the sun rises. When others are active and working, they fall into a deep sleep. Then as the dusk sets in, they get up and look for the light in the darkness.

Jesus Christ is like the sun light that rises above us and shines. The father of John the Baptist, Zechariah sang like this, foretelling the birth of Jesus Christ. "by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven, to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the path of peace." (Luke 1:78-79) Jesus Christ is shining above us as the everlasting sun. Prayer is the process by which we are awakened to go under that sunlight, to enjoy the light, and to live in that light.

Prayer is like this, we are able to pray always, without ceasing, and continually and we must do it. Whatever we do, if we do it in relationship with God, all the work becomes prayer. John Wesley, the founder of Methodist church has said this. "All that a Christian does, even eating and sleeping is prayer when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it by his own choice." Right, It is not that something is a prayer and something is not. Anything can be prayer. All work done awake under the sunlight of Jesus Christ are prayers.

5.

Believers live by ulsoom, As the physical life is sustained by throat breathing, spiritual life is sustained by ulsoom. Dear beloved fellow believers, do you want to grow and grow being born again as spiritual person? Do you want to live being touched by the Holy Spirit, governed by the Holy Spirit, experiencing the revelation of the Holy Spirit? You should take an ulsoom breath. Through prayer, you should continually drink in the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, you should be in fellowship with God always.

There is a big difference between mogsoom, throat breathing and ulsoom, spiritual breathing. Mogsoom just happens automatically but ulsoom, you have to make effort intentionally. Do you think you can stop your life by not breathing? No one on this earth has ever been that strong to stop breathing by their own force to kill themselves in the history of mankind and there never will be. Not possible with the strength of Hercules and with the power of Samson. Because God created them that way. Until the God appointed time comes for the breath to stop, throat breathing will continue automatically. Only you need to train yourself to take even and deep breath.

Ulsoom, however, is not automatically taken. At first, you have to try hard yourself. Of course, once you get used to taking ulsoom, you realize that you are not satisfied with mogsoom only. After that, without taking ulsoom, you are so desperate and thirsty for ulsoom. However, training is needed in the beginning. Jesus said, breathing out ulsoom, "Receive the Holy Spirit." and now it's our responsibility to breathe in the ulsoom. Not just drink it once and stop but to drink it every day moment to moment. Believing that true life is in breathing in the Holy Spirit, you have to strive to do it. Even if it is hard to get a feel for being in a fellowship with the Holy Spirit of God, you have to keep trying and learn. The beginning is not easy.

Some time ago, an email came from a person who read my book, Prayer of Fellowship. A student studying at a seminary school and he agreed on many of the points in my book. So he tried prayer of fellowship, not the prayer of request. Having tried for a few days, he has no idea on how to do it and asked for help in the mail. If seated to share the fellowship with the Spirit of God for a while, doesn't take even 3 minutes before being distracted by all kinds of thoughts and finally giving up. So after a few days, he is at the brink of quitting.

I told the student that abandoning the method you have been used to and getting familiarized with a new prayer method will take at least 6 months or more and encouraged him to give it more time. From what he said -- he has tried for 3 minutes and didn't work out and gave up -- I could see why he failed. In order to do the prayer of fellowship with God, you have to invest in at least more than 30 minutes everyday. Try putting down a jar of muddy water after shaking it up and down. It takes almost 1 minute for the dirty particles whirling in the water to calm down. If then, wouldn't it take longer for all kinds of distractions filled in our hearts to settle down? To practice ulsoom, sufficient time has to be invested in. As you have to practice multi level breathing, you have to train yourself to be in spiritual exchanges with God, sitting before Him.

6.

In the beginning, we have seen with correction of breathing, we can get at least the 13 treatment effects. Because breathing is so basic to physical health. When the basics are corrected, its benefits are manifested in many ways. On the other hand, when there are problems with the foundations, its harmful effects are shown in many ways.

This is the same with ulsoom. Through prayer, you can ask for the successful business. God can answer the prayer and give a success in the business. However, the success stops at business only. But through prayer, being in a deep fellowship with God, breathing in the Holy Spirit deeply and sufficiently to be filled with the Holy Spirit, its effects appear in a variety of ways. Their benefits are more numerous than the 13 listed in the beginning related to correct breathing and more helpful. Here is the list.

1. peace of mind. 2. healing of hidden wounds and pain 3. ordering of life 4. restoration of broken relationship 5. priority in life straightened out 6. physical health 7. mental health 8.no more scrambling around for unnecessary matter 9. work at job as worship 10. treatment of others as Jesus 11. bearing good fruits in church serving 12. getting your hands off from unethical and immoral matters 13. caring for the neighbors with God's heart 14. knowing and devoting to God's purpose for your life 15. acknowledging that your life is not yours but God's and live according to that 16. offer your possessions as not yours but God's 17. because such living is so good, you share your life with others who do not know about ulsoom and eternal life.

How is it? Hard to believe? True. Although it's still not mature and not to brag about, I can testify from my experience. There are more than a few who can be a witness to this kind of experience. Living by spiritual breathing, ulsoom, is like this the best medicine of best medicine that transform our entire lives.

Let us live by spiritual breathing, ulsoom, Let’s continually pray. Let us always live with God who is the original source of true love, the foundation of true life, and the truth itself. Living like that is prayer. That is breathing in the Holy Spirit. That is not for others but for ourselves.

Beloved believers, how grateful would it be if we can all live by spiritual breathing to be fully restored as spiritual beings and to live by living spirit, not as a lump of cells so as to become eternal life, not just life, and if our lives are used for God's holy will while living on this earth. I pray that such blessing and grace will be with me and you always.

Rising beyond our existence
Shining like the sun light, Lord
Awake us
Let us reside in the Lord's light
Let our prayers
become spiritual breathing
With prayer
Lead us to be filled with the Holy Spirit
Overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit
let us live the life of truth, holiness, and beauty
Through that life, let us get to eternal life.
Amen