Read Insightful Words on Prayer by True Parents
A 21-day spirituality workshop is underway at our family education centre at Livingstone House. Last night, during a lecture on “One Heart Prayer”, Inpyo Moon (President, CheonBo EUME Branch) shared some deep words of True Parents about prayer. We re-translated them from the original Korean source with AI support for your benefit.
Let Three People Become Completely One
Sun Myung Moon · 17 May 1967 · Former Headquarters Church
You cannot walk the path of faith alone. You need companions in faith. Three or more people must become one. That is why a three-person foundation—a trinity—is necessary.
God, who is the subject partner of human character, also seeks these three points of reference. Even when someone makes a mistake, God cannot teach that person directly. Although He cannot teach them directly through the vertical relationship, when three people become one, and one makes a mistake while the other two do not, those two can point out the mistake. This is the reason Jesus and the Holy Spirit were sent.
Even when praying in the mountains, grace comes more quickly when three or more people pray together. Afterwards, they should discuss their experiences among themselves. But if they discuss them with others outside their group, Satan can intrude.
When three people establish a beautiful relationship in which they can truly rely on one another, those around them will see it and wish to have the same. In this way, God’s Will naturally spreads. Even without God’s help, when three people become one, new shoots will emerge.
Source: Sermons of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, Volume 18, pp. 43–44.
Translator’s note: The original is labelled “Summary of the message,” rather than a verbatim transcript. “Trinity” here refers to a three-person foundation of faith (삼위기대).
Let Us Repay Our Debt
The Greatness of Prayer
Sun Myung Moon · 10 March 1975 · Barrytown Training Centre
Have I come back here after only three days? [“Yes.”] It seems you have been gathering together during that time and praying for Teacher to come. (Applause)
While I was in Seoul… How far was it from Seoul? One of our churches was about an hour and a half away by car. This was one of our early churches.
Three people there became as one body, completely united. Day and night, they offered sincere devotion, praying for several years with the longing that Teacher would visit them every day.
Perhaps their devotion passed a certain threshold and began to move God’s heart, reaching a point where He could no longer leave their prayers unanswered. Whatever the reason, Teacher didn’t know. Without knowing why, I kept being drawn there.
Even on my way to Busan, the car would turn toward that church. When I was heading north, I would end up going there. When I was heading west, I would go there too. For about eight months, I visited every day.
When you consider this, you can see how great prayer is—how tremendous its power is.
Although I may be just one person praying here, through prayer I can mobilise the spirit world—that vast, multidimensional, infinite world—and set this three-way realm in motion. How great is the bond that makes such mobilisation possible!
Source: Sermons of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, Volume 76, p. 298.
The Time That Remains
A Foundation of Sincere Devotion Where God Can Be Present
Sun Myung Moon · 24 May 1970 · Former Headquarters Church
Therefore, my personal devotion does not end with me. It reaches the people who live within the surroundings connected to me.
Among them may be descendants of good ancestors who walked a more demanding course of indemnity than the one I am walking now. When such people look upon me with respect, bow their heads and speak well of me, God cannot help but remember me. A person remembered in this way by ten, a hundred or a thousand people cannot go unremembered by God.
If those for whom I have prayed for blessings, and for whose indemnity I have laboured, come in turn to pray for blessings upon me, then my own conditions of indemnity are automatically settled through their prayers and their efforts on my behalf.
A Foundation of Sincere Devotion Where God Can Be Present
Throughout history, God has guided countless people with such an environment as His standard. His purpose was to give each person the right to receive greater blessings than anyone else in their age. This was His loving strategy, rather than an effort to bring misfortune upon them. We must understand that this strategy calls us to sacrifice for the sake of the whole.
Therefore, the more people pray for someone and offer sincere devotion on their behalf, the more blessed that person is.
For many people to offer devotion for my sake, I must first share all the blessings I possess with many others. You must understand that, until I do so, many people will not pray for me to receive blessings.
When ten people offer sincere devotion for one person, God cannot help but remember that person.
The church is a community formed by bringing together such an environment of devotion, with the resolve: “Let us broaden the foundation on which we can inspire one another to reach a new stage.”
Therefore, a church leader must not offer devotion for their own sake. They must offer devotion for the sake of the many people in their care.
Source: Sermons of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, Volume 31, p. 157.
Reflections on Praying Together and Praying by Name
Korean Christianity has developed distinctive forms of communal prayer that unite personal expression with collective devotion.
The term 통성기도 (tongseong gido, also written tongsung kido) describes a form of prayer in which everyone prays aloud at the same time, each person expressing their own words to God. Although the individual prayers differ, the participants are united in heart and purpose. This tradition is common in Korean Christianity and is also practised in CheonBo settings. Timothy Isaiah Cho introduces it to Western Christians in “How and Why to Pray the Korean-Style Prayer of Tongsung Kido”.
A related practice is 호명기도 (homyeong gido), in which a person’s name is called aloud in prayer. When a group offers this prayer together, it may be called 합심호명기도 (hapsim homyeong gido), meaning “united name-invocation prayer.”
This practice can be understood within the wider Christian tradition of intercessory prayer: bringing another person and their needs before God. Christians are often encouraged to keep a prayer list and pray for people individually by name. Helpful introductions include “How to Pray: What Is Intercessory Prayer?” and “When Someone Asks, ‘Pray for Me…’”.
Intercessory prayer should always respect the sacred freedom and personal responsibility that God has given to each of His children. It becomes especially meaningful when someone has asked us to pray for them. We should not pray for God to force a person to act in a particular way or to change their mind according to our own understanding. Instead, we can ask God and the spirit world to remove fear, confusion and spiritual darkness so that the person’s original mind and conscience can respond freely to Heavenly Parent’s guidance. Such prayer is not an attempt to control another person. It expresses love: entrusting them to God and expressing care while respecting their freedom and responsibility.
When we pray for True Mother’s acquittal or release, we pray that the spiritual darkness surrounding and confusing and challenging us, our FFWPU leadership and the Korean elites in media and politics be released. So that we can see True Mother for who she is: True Mother, Holy Mother Han.
