God's Presence and Heaven In the Present: Practicing Breathing Prayer in God's Presence 70 Days

By Woong R Whang

This book is about the TRUTH, the WAY and the LIFE for all who are weary and heavily burdened needing rest. It tells the truth about who we are in Jesus Christ regardless of what we are. This new discovery of who we are brings new light on our past, present and future.

We all seek the truth about who we are, the world, suffering and happiness. We all seek to find the best way to live our lives to the fullest. Regardless of what we are, we are all seekers of the same things. We think there are different ways and answers to what we seek because we are different.

Jesus Christ says there is One Truth, One Way, One Life: Jesus Christ Himself. The Truth in Jesus Christ is we are dead in Christ, and Christ lives in us. The Way in Jesus Christ is for our souls to go in every breath to Jesus who dwells in us. The Life in Jesus Christ is to live as a new creation.

Being a new creation is to experience a new mind, emotion, and body. Being a new creation is to have an undivided heart. Being a new creation is to live in the eternal time of God.

To live in the eternal time of God is to be free from our past, present and future. To live in the eternal time of God is for our soul and our spirit to be in union with Christ; no longer confined to the body and to the visible things of this world.

But it is to live in heaven where there is perfect rest, here and now.
And we enjoy to the fullest this perfect rest as God's holy, blameless and righteous children in the present in the presence of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9798385019250

Woong R Whang

Woong R Whang is the founder and pastor of Korean Community of Philadelphia Church in Lansdale, Pennsylvania since 2003. He received his M.Div. and was ordained in Korea. He studied Spirituality and received STM at Boston University STH. His passion for Jesus Christ and vision for Christ’s church pleasing to Jesus became the foundation throughout his life and in his ministry. In the present, in the presence of God, his only desire is for one more soul to be redeemed into union with God: that is, to enjoy the forgiveness of sins and to find rest in the dwelling of the soul in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Book preview

Copyright © 2024 Woong R Whang.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version.

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1924-3 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1925-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024903478

WestBow Press rev. date: 3/6/2024

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Week 1How to do Breathing Prayer in God’s Presence

Week 2To recognize pain and discomfort as the messenger sent by Jesus to set you free

Week 3By faith we know God has given us the answer and we take hold of it

Week 4Recognizing the flesh and false self as the obstacles to enjoying the answer from God

Week 5‘Repentance-forgiveness-restoration’ in Christ’s presence

Week 6By the reality and evidence of faith, think, feel, speak, proclaim according to the Word.

Week 7A season of parchedness yet deeper intimacy with God in His presence

Week 8Fleshly thought, emotion, and anatomical body are neither the truth, reality, nor me

Week 9Enjoy the resurrection power through mind, emotion and anatomical body

Week 10Living life in the new heaven and the new earth as the reality of faith here and now

Conclusion

About the author

PREFACE

"For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for

God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but

Christ lives me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith

in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do

not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained

through the law, Christ died for nothing!" Galatians 2:19-21

The COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to the ministry founded seventeen years ago with only my family as members in the hopes of building a church pleasing to God. The pandemic naturally put a stop to the fleshly ministry as I was void of the hopes that I had of building a church pleasing to God. God took me into sabbath during the pandemic which I could not afford to have last seventeen years of ministry. During the first year of the pandemic, I led only a daily one-hour virtual prayer meeting with the members and did not have contact with people. God gave me rest.

I committed forty days of prayer to the Lord as I turned fully to the Lord and in the midst crying out to the Lord appeared Christ on the cross before my eyes. For over an hour my whole body felt like soaked cotton, heavy and extremely uncomfortable. I continued to cry out and Christ on the cross remained before my eyes. Later, I realized that it was then the unclean spirits that dwelled in my fleshly mindset of thinking that it is impossible for fleshly Christians to come in union with God in local church ministries.

A few days later, on a Sunday, as I was kneeled to pray before the worship started, God spoke to me in an audible voice. He asked me gently, What do you desire? Although I was a little startled at this unexpected question from the Lord in such a clear and gentle voice, and I had to begin the worship, I was able to tell him what I desired and what I was praying for during the forty days. He said, ‘My words are in you, you are in me. I heard your prayers, and I will carry them out.’

The Lord drew me into the Father with a greater strength, and every time I cried out with all my heart, I was in a deeper presence of God. ‘Bible Reading 2022’ which would continue for 17 weeks with the members started and during that time He led me to read the Bible about twenty times. God’s words drew me into a deep continuous repentance, and then led me to the throne of the Father where there was perfect rest. He gave me an incessant desire for the glory of the throne of the Father. And then He made me conscious of myself standing in front of the throne with the victorious crowd.

God caused me to stop and renounce myself. I followed His guidance. The Spirit continued to place me in the presence of the Father’s throne where Jesus Christ reigns. Joined together in one body by the Spirit with the victorious hosts on the sea of glass mingled with fire, He caused me to continuously turn to the Father in praise and worship. Holy, holy, holy! Jehovah, The Lord of hosts! You are the same yesterday, today and forever! You are worthy of all praise, honor, and glory! For by the Word, the Lord created, and He preserves the entire universe, and He is coming to establish the everlasting kingdom of Christ in the new heaven and the new earth. God caused me to praise and worship Him without ceasing in the present in the presence of God.

INTRODUCTION

Breathing in the presence of God is the entirety of everything. He made me aware of my breaths that were breaths of adoration seeking the Lord my God with all my life. In God’s presence I came to realize that the breaths were not empty and vain sighs of this world. In each breath I took, I was worshipping God. He caused me to proclaim this truth: My spirit is already one with the Spirit of God, so my soul simply needs to follow the Spirit in Christ and be in union with the true self that is the spirit already in union with God. In other words, this is the UNION WITH GOD, commonly spoken of in Christian spiritualities. This is the goal of our faith, the salvation of our souls (1 Peter 1:9).

During the pandemic, God gave me and our church the opportunity to reset: Only by grace, only by faith, and only by the Word. Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura. Christ in us desired to receive our faith of obedience and to anoint us so that He Himself would accomplish this work. In response to Christ’s desire to bring us in union with Him, I did Breathing Prayer in God’s Presence for 70 days at the church I serve during the fall of 2023. I have compiled the daily messages of the 70 days into this book.

Here is how to practice God’s presence: First, read this book in its entirety. Then, commit 10 weeks/70 days to the Lord. Do Breathing Prayer in God’s Presence twice a day for 70 days, 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening and read the daily message. In this prayer, you are consciously placing yourself in God’s presence as the way you are. In the present, in the presence of God.

In week one, there is a guide to Breathing Prayer in God’s Presence. In week two, we practice recognizing all pain and discomfort as the messenger sent by Jesus to set us free. During the third week, we come to know by faith that God has given us the answer and we take hold of it. Then, we come to recognize during the fourth week that the flesh and a false self are obstacles to enjoying the answer already given. With this realization, in week five, we are ready to face any unresolved inner discomfort experienced throughout life, and to continuously experience ‘repentance-forgiveness-restoration’ while being conscious of Christ’s presence. Only by faith we know that it was only by God’s grace that we have crossed the Jordan River where the subject changed from ‘I’ to the Lord Jesus Christ. During the sixth week, we learn that life in the Father’s house is about thinking, feeling, speaking, and proclaiming according to the Word and living by the reality and evidence of faith. By this time of Breathing Prayer in God’s Presence, we will be able to ‘unconditionally’ feel the discomfort and pain that rise within us that are associated with repressed emotions. In week seven of practicing God’s presence, we learn that during our time of parchedness we also at the same time become more intimate with our Lord. Jericho is a place where those who have received God’s grace experience dryness. We declare during week eight that the fleshly thoughts, emotions, and anatomical body we experience due to the unknown discomfort within us are not the truth, reality, nor me. And as we cross the river, we move toward the shalom of the integrated order of God, that is, the inner sound that rises within us.

Finally in week nine, we acknowledge that we have become a new creation in Christ. Our soul enjoys in the Spirit of Christ being a new creation and also the double portion of the resurrection power through our mind, emotions, and anatomical body. In week ten, we are able to confess that we are grateful for the way we are now, and we live in the presence of God in the life of the eschatological new creation that has already begun. Life in the new heaven and the new earth held by God’s children as the reality of faith, is connected to the life of God here and now, so we live by speaking and living only according to the Word only by faith and only through His grace.

Questions that might arise in practicing Breathing Prayer in God’s Presence are answered in a Q&A format on the seventh day of each week. The short-term goal of Breathing Prayer in God’s Presence is to release pent-up emotions so that our mind and anatomical body are integrated by God and experiencing God through that body (mind-emotion-anatomical body). The long-term goal is for our soul to return to its rightful place and unite with God. The UNION WITH GOD. The Bible translation used is NIV. The word ‘body’ used in this book refers to ‘mind, emotion, anatomical body’ as one.

Week 1: Guide to Breathing Prayer in God’s Presence

1. 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening

2. Do it in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed.

• Sit on the floor in a comfortable position with back straight.

• You can also do it on the bed or on the couch if you are not disturbed by others.

3. Inhale through your nose for 3-4 seconds and exhale through your nose for 3-4 seconds without pausing and feeling the rhythm of your breaths.

• God breathed life into the nose, and it became a living, breathing soul.

• We, too, breathe through our nose and God nourishes us with His life and energy.

• When we focus on our breathing without pausing, God frees us from the domination of our thoughts.

• The Lord Holy Spirit subdues our soul and body (mind-emotion-anatomical body)

4. Minimum 15 minutes

• Those who are new to this, 15 minutes may seem like a long time.

• For those who are already familiar with it, you can do more under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

5. At the end of the 10 weeks/70 days,

• you will receive the blessing of having the 15-minute Breathing Prayer in God’s Presence extend into your daily life.

• the weight of the flesh lessens, and the presence of God increases and will sustain.

• in the present, in the presence of God, you have entered God’s rest.

6. In this rest, we do not dwell on things that are visible or on our thoughts and emotions.

• I see life not as inadequacies resulting from the dichotomy of good and evil, but as all things working together for good.

• By faith, we are co-workers of God and manifest God.

38632.png

– WEEK 1 –

HOW TO DO BREATHING

PRAYER IN GOD’S PRESENCE

"Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come" (1Timothy 4:7-8). Godliness is the life and character of God that we inherit in Christ. As commanded by God, training ourselves to the godliness means we are practicing the presence of God. There are essential benefits of practicing the presence of God.

First, the Lord leads us to the discovery of our true self. Our true self already exists in Christ as a holy being even before our thought. When our soul returns to where it belongs, abiding in Christ, it becomes conscious of its true self. The Lord Holy Spirit makes the soul aware of it in each breath. The true self is already whole, righteous, and glorious.

When our soul is well, all is well. We live by the reality of faith and not by sight, and so we are thankful and joyful as the way we are. We respect families and neighbors unconditionally as the way they are. God heals our heart and body. What Isaiah prophesied and Jesus fulfilled, and Peter and the church testified to, is at work among us now. He was beaten, he was wounded, and by his wounds you were healed (Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 8:17; 1 Peter 2:24). God blesses us a hundredfold now, and God blesses us with the everlasting life in the eternal kingdom of Christ when the Lord Jesus returns. There is a promise in practicing God’s Presence 70 days in both this life and the next.

God created in six days, walked in the garden on the seventh, preserved all things by His Word, and rested. He fulfilled these promises on the cross, and soon our Lord Jesus will come to establish the eternal kingdom of Christ in the new heaven and the new earth. This is the seventh day sabbath in completion. God is unfolding that rest here and now in Christ. In Christ, the new creation has already begun.

How can one enter this rest? By practicing God’s presence for 70 days, the Spirit will guide our soul to return to where it belongs in union with God. When our soul is united with God, that’s rest. The practice of God’s presence is a devotional training in which we give our gaze to the Lord with all our heart, and become conscious of the Lord in our breaths, and dwell in the presence of God (Mark 12:30).

STOP. By turning inward to the Lord who dwells within me, all thoughts and feelings that arise in response to the visible world must come to a stop because these thoughts and feelings are neither me nor the truth nor reality. RENOUNCE. I renounced the false self, created by these thoughts and feelings of the flesh.