Prayer Journal: August 14, 2026
15. Aug. 2025 World Young Adult Retreat
Theme: 『 Be the Leader of Three Ages! 』 (Genesis 45:1-5)
Lecture 2
Introduction
In order to become a leader of the three eras, you yourselves must first become leaders. To become a leader, you need to know what prayer is. I will introduce three Bible passages. An unbeliever saw this and said, “he is a man full of the Spirit of the Lord” — that’s how it was expressed. It meant, “you really have something, you are truly a servant of God.” From that day on, he was greatly moved by the Spirit of the Lord — it’s the same statement. Jesus Christ completed and concluded this. In a sense, this can be described as being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Bartizan (Leader) — So from now on, for your whole life, you must always enjoy this. What is it? The bartizan. Only when you become a true bartizan can you become a leader. So those who keep the bartizan are leaders who are always watching. They are leaders who warn you if there is danger. And if someone is being swept away, if someone is dying, they are the ones who go quickly and save them.
1) Bartizan, journey, guidepost (what must be prepared first)
To do this, this bartizan must have a watchtower. If this watchtower is Satan’s watchtower, then it becomes Satan’s watchman. You go on the journey carrying this watchtower. We are not just a watchtower, but a moving watchtower. Monuments are set up along the way, one after another. This is a guidepost. This is the very first thing to be equipped with. It’s best to do it always. But it’s also fine to set aside a special concentrated time. If a genuine prayer team forms, it’s also good to hold a forum. You must keep in mind that Jewish people hold forums the most. Even now, in advanced countries, elites hold forums.
2) Imprint, root, constitution (essential condition)
So now, what has been imprinted must be changed. It must be uprooted. It’s the same statement. They happen together like this. This is something to be equipped with first, but it is also an essential condition. If this is not accomplished, you will suffer for the rest of your life from now on. Not receiving an answer to prayer is one thing, but you’ll only realize it after it has passed. You’ll always realize, “Oh, that’s why God did that” — after it has passed…
3) The only way, uniqueness, re-creation (the absolute method)
So this is our “only way.” Once you discover this, everything becomes easy. Wherever you go, you must discover the only way. Then there is no need to rush. There’s also no need to try hard. Rest and play whenever you have time — do that. But you must not lose sight of the only way. If you work hard but lose sight of the only way, you have lost everything. From the moment you go, you go carrying uniqueness. So our important goal still has a challenge remaining, doesn’t it? This is re-creation. Something said to be absolutely impossible becomes possible. Re-creation — you must be equipped with this. If you keep trying to do things without this, you keep ending up living like unbelievers. So it’s not that you do it because you want to — it’s because it isn’t working; if you don’t see the answer, you end up having no choice but to live somewhat like an unbeliever. You cannot understand the most important thing in the Bible. “My own thoughts aren’t needed” — you don’t understand that. “My thoughts are everything to me — why do you say they’re not needed?” Isn’t that so? Why do people fight? Because they think their own argument is right, that’s why they fight. So when you truly see the work of God, your own argument, your own thoughts, become unnecessary. Actually, while David was on the run, he received so much grace that he said he lacked nothing. You must keep this in mind. This is your absolute method. In my case, perhaps because I’m not so bright, if I can’t see the only way, I don’t go. If you’re not going to go, don’t — why go when it’s not the only way? You go when it is the only way. Sermon preparation is nothing else. What must be explained? The only way — you must carry that with you; when you go, that becomes uniqueness. Once it’s over, our life moves toward re-creation.
4) Beginning, process, end (24/25/eternity)
This is always our beginning. Because you keep starting wrong, you keep suffering. Even now, don’t think impatiently. When things aren’t working out, why does a person become impatient? A person needs money too, and when there’s far too little, don’t they become impatient? So people keep making the wrong choices. It’s not because they lack faith — it just happens that way. As you go along like this, God’s will along the path you walk is certain, so there’s no reason for you to worry, is there? This now is our process. Those who understand this don’t easily say things like, “this is a problem” or “this is an answer.” Why? Because it’s a process. Joseph was sold as a slave. Did he lose? No, right? He was falsely accused and thrown into prison. Was he ruined? No, right? You would surely say he was ruined. He became prime minister — was that success? No. Joseph said the same thing — God was with him, God was with the king, God was working to save Egypt; the goal lay elsewhere. World evangelization — everything is a process. What is our end? Our conclusion is re-creation. You must always keep this in mind. This is what is called 24/25/eternity.
5) Remnant, pilgrim, conqueror (300%)
Then one important thing emerges. You are the Remnant left in that place. If you know this, you become one who remains. And because you have power, you become one who remains to conquer culture. It’s the same word. You become one who remains to raise up the next generation. And though this is a harsh path, we walk this path. So we walk the path of pilgrims. A pilgrim accepts everything, transcends it, and gives the answer. A conqueror. In the end, you must conquer darkness. This is what 300% means. Just remember this for the rest of your life. Enjoying this is what is called prayer.
6) Acts 1:1, Acts 1:3, Acts 1:8 (Conclusion)
Then what conclusion comes out? Christ — the conclusion just comes out. The kingdom of God, only the Holy Spirit — this conclusion comes out exactly like that. You must keep this in mind for your whole life, and this was the WRC message. What came before was the leaders’ retreat message. This — the only way, uniqueness, re-creation, and beginning, process, end — was the WRC conference message. And now this is the conclusion of it.
Now then, with this in hand, let’s move on to lecture two. When this becomes real in you, you become “a leader of the three eras.” And when that other thing becomes real, just as David actually prepared, you become ready for “the future.” Preparing for the future means becoming ready to be a church leader. I will conclude the lecture this way. You must always hold onto this.
Main — To help you understand this most easily, I will explain using David. First. What was the first thing David did? ① He built the City of David. And ② he set up a thousand bartizans. Remarkable. ③ He prepared for the Temple. This is a leader. This is a leader of the three eras.
1. The City of David → “the holy meditation age”
Speaking of the City of David, he actually opened the holy meditation age. We need to look at a few things regarding the holy meditation age.
1) 2 Samuel 1:1-2:7 (mourning)
Looking at 2 Samuel 1:1-2:7, something important appears — Saul and Jonathan died. David grieved deeply. He mourned and grieved intensely. This is David.
2) Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:7)
And then he built the city. He moves the City of David to Jerusalem. This is 2 Samuel 5:7.
3) The Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6:1-23)
And what does he do next? He brings back the Ark of the Covenant, the dream he had held onto since childhood. This is 2 Samuel 6:1-23. What an incredible event. This is David’s answer that opens the holy meditation age that saves the whole nation. If something like this happened where you went, what would happen? This is the holy meditation age. It heals everything.
There’s an important event here too, isn’t there? A soldier reports the news that King Saul has died. He comes bringing the news with a very joyful heart. Simply put, you know how it goes — the meaning is, “the one who tormented you has finally died.” David was a person full of love, yet he had that man’s neck cut off with a sword. That is the kind of incident that happened. Isn’t that terrifying? He cut off his neck with a sword. Why would that be a joyful thing, that’s the question. Are we joyful when someone who is our enemy dies — the king died like that on the battlefield, and that’s supposed to be joyful? And as you know, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back, David danced with all his might, didn’t he? He was so overjoyed — we can understand David’s heart.
2. The thousand bartizans → “the three-day weekend age”
At last, he set up a thousand bartizans. This is the three-day weekend age.
1) Watchmen
He set up a thousand bartizans, and in each place he also set up other watchmen. Of course he would, right? A watchtower needs a watchman — how secure would the nation be?
2) Place of prayer
And they didn’t only keep watch. They were transformed into places of prayer. David did something tremendous.
3) Meeting
And what is this place? This is where young people began to gather. It’s said that both small and large sacrifices of every kind were held here. Small and large meetings were also held there. David prepared this so that when something happened, word could spread immediately.
3. Preparation for the Temple → “the 3 courtyards”
The preparation for the Temple was completed. This is the 3 courtyards. David received revelation and fully prepared for the Temple, and this is exactly the three courtyards.
1) The courtyard of the Gentiles
From this point, the door began to open for the Gentiles. It became such a sensation that kings from every nation dreamed of visiting Jerusalem. God blessed Solomon, giving him greater wisdom than the combined wisdom of all the kings of every nation.
2) The courtyard of prayer
Here, as you know, is now the healing courtyard of prayer…
3) The courtyard of children
The courtyard of children — God revealed all of this. But the church did not know it. Now we must restore this, and without this answer, things are hard to go well.
Conclusion: Key
So among these roughly 15, 18 keys regarding the bartizan, isn’t there a Key that comes out? What Key comes out?
1) The absolute plan — the absolute impossible
You are seeing God’s absolute plan. The 5,000 unreached people groups are the absolute plan. Going forward, more people will die from epidemics than from war. Going forward, if things go wrong, an age may come where you must keep wearing masks continuously until you die. This has been predicted by most leading scholars. Then where does the real epidemic all come from, that’s the question. From the abandoned places — the places abandoned because we didn’t help — it all comes from the 5,000 unreached people groups. We must go and save them. For example, our country, when we were young, lived just like the 5,000 unreached people groups. At that time missionaries came and made these facts known to the whole world. But do you know what they had in common? Of the missionaries who came, many of them died. Because of germs and diseases that occurred in our country, since it hit them suddenly, they couldn’t handle it. Right now, if you go to the 5,000 unreached people groups, you’ll become a corpse within three days. So we must call people from the 5,000 unreached people groups. In order to do that, what was the very first answer we received? It was the island nations of Oceania. Those people are the ones who can open tremendous doors, even reaching Africa. So you need to have eyes for this. Because we couldn’t open our eyes to this, three organizations far ahead of us began investing. People like Bill Gates — because he is someone who succeeded 300%, he invests tens of trillions of won into Africa. How can we see the absolute plan? It is seen from the absolute impossible.
2) The absolute method — the future
Then an extremely important absolute method emerges for us. The absolute method is nothing other than this. The people of Israel were all about to die. It was absolutely impossible. But to save them required nothing less than God’s absolute method — what is it? God’s will was for the men of Israel, the Remnant, to go out alive. Isn’t that right? This is what was seen.
3) The absolute goal — the absolute possible
So from this, the absolute goal comes out. Seeing this, it becomes the absolute possible.
This might seem like too much, but truly, for you to succeed, you must have this perspective. Don’t worry, because everything done up until now is just the foundation, and in some ways it’s all imperfect — you must live with what you’ve learned so far, but world evangelization cannot be achieved that way. You must acknowledge this without fail. You will go on living with what you’ve learned so far, but you cannot achieve world evangelization with that alone. I have a close friend who simply will not receive the gospel, no matter what. He’s truly a fine person — we studied together, he studied very well, and easily got into Seoul National University. He’s very kind. He doesn’t understand why he should believe in Jesus. His studies go so well too. He doesn’t even know what he should pray for. He graduated from Seoul National University Law School and became a judge. One day, great suffering came upon him. Someone told me about it — that this judge had run into serious difficulty, and so on, they told me the story. They asked if I knew Pastor Kwang-Soo Ryu — he said he did. I passed the message along. I called him once. We greeted each other, and since we were close, I casually asked something I probably shouldn’t have — I asked how much his salary was. At that time it was around five million-something won — for me, that wasn’t even enough for bus fare.
How could he achieve world evangelization? He can’t. He’ll barely manage to eat and then die. We can’t live like that, can we? Right? We must achieve world evangelization — from now on, you must set your mind firmly on this. When you set your mind on this in your young adult years, that’s what comes back as the answer. Look at Jim Rogers. “I retire at 46” — he truly did retire at 46. Why retire at 46? Is it enough to just work? He said you have to go around and serve, and spend money too — is it right to just work your whole life every day? You have to go around evangelizing too, doing missions too — that’s right. Once you succeed, that’s how it turns out. This is a leader of the three eras.
Lecture 3
Now then, what is left? Just as David prepared, you must prepare for the future as a church leader. You must do as Joseph did. What is the characteristic? He grasped it firmly while still young. This is something both of them have in common. While young — but this begins to be fulfilled once you reach your current age. Knowing this, Paul dug straight into the synagogues. You must remember this without fail.
Introduction — If you miss this blessing of the church leader, this blessing of the future, five things happen.
1) Slave — you go as a slave. It is a lesson.
2) Captive — you become a captive.
3) Vassal state — you become a vassal state.
4) Wandering people — you go as a wandering people.
5) Scattered ones — you also end up living scattered here and there. This is a lesson of Scripture, and a lesson of history. We do not need to go this way. Because we now know this.
Main — If you hold onto this covenant, then you, and especially David from now on, must begin. You don’t need the answer to come quickly. ① He began a lifetime of preparation. This is a true church leader. You must grasp a lifetime’s worth of this. ② You must always be prepared. While preparing for a lifetime, you must always be prepared. This is a true life. You always prepare for this — there are also sudden things, but that’s not it. Since there is clearly a timetable, ③ you prepare according to the timetable. This is the meeting.
1. Lifelong preparation (a true church leader) → “the hidden mission”
Now then, when David was preparing for a lifetime, he had a hidden mission.
1) Psalm 78:70-72 (king)
Already in Psalm 78:70-72, he had grasped the ability to become the future king. It is recorded that way. While young, God had already imprinted within you the power called world evangelization. It comes out.
2) 1 Samuel 16:13 (oil)
In 1 Samuel 16:13, he was anointed with oil, and at this time he heard what he would need to prepare for a lifetime.
3) 1 Chronicles 29:10-14 (3 courtyards)
As mentioned earlier, 1 Chronicles 29:10-14 is about the three courtyards. This is where lifelong preparation began.
2. Always prepared (a true life) → “the thousand bartizans”
And look at this. What does it mean that he simultaneously set up a thousand bartizans while preparing for the Temple? It means he was always prepared.
1) 237 2) 5,000
This is different from a person who always keeps 237 in mind while preparing, and a person who keeps the 5,000 unreached people groups in mind. When I think of someone like Columbus, long ago, setting out on that expedition, I think it’s remarkable. When I look at the people who traveled the Silk Road from China all the way to Rome, I think it’s remarkable. In the end, those people changed history. Even if we can’t go that far, within prayer…
3) TCK, CCK, NCK
This must be accomplished. This is the thousand bartizans, and preparation for the Temple.
3. Preparation according to the timetable (meeting) — “Samuel, Jonathan”
There were two important meetings in David’s life. What were they? For you, the most important meeting should be your own church pastor. Understand? Of course, listening to my message — I go along with pastors from around the world, so you listen out of respect, and I encourage you to go along with that — but truly, the most important thing is that David’s greatest meeting was Samuel. And who else? Jonathan. This man was completely different from his father. He gave David his robe, his sword, everything, and stepped aside for him, didn’t he? He is a remarkable figure. These two meetings were the timetable of all timetables for David. Your meeting with your pastor must become like this. Whether it’s through his sermons or however it happens, it’s good to have many friends around you, but if you have even one true friend who understands the gospel and is engaged in gospel movement, you will receive a great blessing, and you already have.
1) Groups of five
So if necessary, once you become a church leader, you must at least be connected with the Remnant. You must at least be connected with your pastor. Right? You must at least be connected with a mission field. If you’re not connected with that, then everything Jesus said becomes meaningless nonsense, doesn’t it? That is why Paul began with groups of five.
2) One region, one nation
And you must be able to communicate like this with one region, one nation.
3) Talent movement
And then, while you must not discriminate, you must discern. Right? We must not discriminate against people racially. But you must be able to discern. Begin a talent movement. Earlier, when the young adults came to greet me, I said this. Begin a talent movement — and where should the center of this talent movement be? Of course, the church session could do it too. But actually, looking toward the future, it should be the young adults who do it. You young adults must listen closely to your pastor’s ministry message and become his hands and feet. Just as David listened to Samuel’s words, you must become like that. This isn’t some childish idea like “if you’re good to the pastor, you’ll be blessed.” This is — isn’t that right? — you must be able to grasp the covenant of an era.
Going forward, it seems the three eras will surely come. No doubt the Global Finance age will come, right? So rather than banks, blockchain will likely take the lead. Fields like biotechnology, science, and brain science will likely take the lead as well. What we thought of as virtual will connect with reality — a metaverse age like this will come. It’s enough to know roughly that and prepare accordingly. So what you don’t need to worry about is that even without such technology in hand, it will come up to you regardless, so it’s fine. The real issue is content. It’s content — nothing else matters as much.
Conclusion: “Daily prayer schedule”
Now then, once this gathering ends, from now on you must carry this with you, and you must be sure to check on this at least once. Try doing this gently starting today. It’s the daily prayer schedule. You must check it. You must check what your daily prayer schedule is like. This must be very comfortable. If the daily prayer schedule is comfortable, you must make it comfortable. It must naturally become 24, 25. So this is the conclusion reached this time.
1) Daily
Every day, because you are a young adult, you must confirm this schedule and carry it out.
So to share a bit about my own, when I open my eyes in the morning, I restore everything. I need to sleep too, but that doesn’t matter. Yesterday, for instance, I had so many complicated things going on that I only slept about an hour, but it’s fine. From the morning, I keep praying to restore everything. During the day, it’s a prayer of confirmation. You must confirm. At night, it’s a prayer of finding answers — do this every day. Do it at the most comfortable time for you. So you don’t have to copy me exactly. I don’t set a fixed time. Why? Because if you set a fixed time, it becomes hard to actually carry out. Only, for the sake of health, two things I keep as a reference are exercise and breathing — these I do regularly, every day. In the morning, be sure to spend a long time. Long enough for prayer to happen, long enough for the body to fully recover. Doctors say it’s good to sleep a lot. But if you open your mouth like that and sleep wrong, the more you sleep the more you lose. When you open your eyes, you must recover. You must do this without fail. During the day, if you truly want to be healthy and to pray, you’ll probably just be sitting there right now. Just think of this as a hint. You must sit centered on your dan-jeon and breathe. I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense to you, but for men over 55, urination doesn’t come easily. For women, problems tend to come to the lower abdomen. Ask a doctor about this sometime. You must do this. During the day, always do it this way — then even if you sit all day, tremendous power comes out. That is important. At night, quietly, deeply…
2) Every hour
And then, each time, you confirm the answer. Every hour — as part of this confirmation, I also exercise, for instance. Going somewhere to exercise, doing it occasionally, doesn’t work. You must do it right where you are. While praying, continuously — and in that way, every hour, you do a confirmation check. The blessing — how important is this very hour right now? This is a young adults’ retreat that must save the world, right? You must check this.
3) In everything
In everything, you must make it 300%. You don’t have to make it all at once.
(1) Editing — editing until the word is fulfilled…
(2) Design — designing until the prayer is fulfilled, this is it.
(3) Design — designing until the field becomes visible. The field must become visible. This now is what moving toward 300% means.
In the time remaining, as you go, you will also gain tremendous strength and come to pray. Praying even while driving, and holding the core of Saturday, holding onto the three-day weekend age — you gain strength intensively through that. And so all of you, using computers and such, you all sit there slumped with no strength in your lower dan-jeon. You are always short of oxygen. And not once have your intestines ever truly been exercised. This must be done through breathing, but because it’s never been done even once, problems will naturally come. And that’s not all. The brain deteriorates. If you don’t know this (the conclusion), the brain deteriorates. When the brain deteriorates, spiritual problems come even while you are young. Depression arises, and sometimes obsessive-compulsive symptoms suddenly appear — it happens, doesn’t it? Just yesterday, looking at the data, I saw that within just a few years, even in Korea alone, the number of people suffering from this kind of difficulty has risen by nearly 46%. Of course it would. Naturally — the brain loses its function. The prayer you offer from now on becomes imprinted on the brain. It becomes imprinted in the soul. It becomes imprinted before the throne. I will pray now.
Prayer
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, and the boundless love of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit, surely be upon the heads of our young adults who will save the church, the future, and the next generation, always, from now until eternity. Amen.