Increase Immersion Level in Faith
Bible passage: Daniel 6:10
“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. ”
There is a saying: momentary popularity, momentary success. It refers to temporary success - popularity and success that quickly fades away and does not last long.
It is not true success but a fake success. In faith, there can also be momentary grace and momentary blessings. Many people say, "I have received grace, I have received answers, I have been blessed, I am filled," but their faith soon cools down, and you can see them losing that fervor. As a servant of the Lord, it is truly heartbreaking and painful to witness such things.
However, in today’s scripture, we see the story of someone who received not a momentary grace or a momentary blessing, but continuous grace and unending blessings. That person is Daniel. After being taken captive to Babylon as a teenager, by God's grace, he became an administrator in Babylon and lived up to the age of 90, serving as a prime minister for about 70 years through the Babylonian and Persian empires. Daniel 6:28 says, “So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.” What kind of faith did Daniel have that allowed him to receive continuous grace and uninterrupted blessings instead of momentary grace and momentary blessings?
There is a term called "immersion." The concept of "immersion" is a psychological theory developed by the psychologist Csikszentmihalyi. 1 He suggests that people experience greater happiness, fulfillment, and a sense of value in their lives when they experience a state of "flow" or immersion in their work or life, rather than when they spend leisurely and comfortable times. Terms like "job engagement" and "corporate engagement" suggest that companies can develop and grow when many employees immerse themselves in their work with satisfaction and a sense of achievement. This concept can also be applied to faith. Hence, today's sermon title is "Increasing Immersion Level in Faith." Now, everyone, immerse yourselves in the sermon and in worship! Great grace will come upon you. Great blessings will come upon you! To receive continuous grace and steady, uninterrupted blessings like Daniel, rather than momentary grace and momentary blessings, the first step is........
1. You Must Have Good Spiritual Habits Daniel 6:10 says, “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem.” What kind of situation was Daniel in? Wasn't it an extremely unfair and absurd situation? Due to slander and false accusations, his life was in danger. He had only prayed to God in his personal faith, yet he became a criminal against the state’s law, destined to die in a lion's den. In such circumstances, most people would go home and either despair, lie on the floor and wail, or stare blankly out the window in a daze. But Daniel, as if the situation did not bother him, went upstairs to his room, opened the windows, and knelt to pray as soon as he got home.
How could he do this? As the phrase “just as he had done before” in verse 10 testifies, it was because such a daily routine had become a deeply ingrained spiritual habit for Daniel.
Recently, I came across a book titled "Atomic Habits." The author was a promising baseball player from a young age, but unfortunately, in his sophomore year of high school, he was struck directly in the face by a baseball bat swung by a teammate during practice. As a result of the accident, his nose was broken, his facial bones shattered into 30 pieces, his skull cracked, and his left eye was pushed out, putting him at risk of blindness. Despite this severe injury, he did not give up on life. He decided to find something he could do immediately and start with small actions. He started practicing basic exercises like walking again, and within six months, he was able to walk, run, and exercise again. With such effort, he managed to return to baseball and became the top player at his university. While his peers played video games or watched TV late into the night, he developed the habit of going to bed early every night. Moreover, while college dorms are usually messy, he kept his room clean and tidy.
These things might seem trivial, but they helped him feel that he was managing his life. As he regained confidence, his attitude toward his studies also changed, and he earned all A grades in his freshman year. What does cleaning the room have to do with being a good baseball player? However, as the book's title suggests, creating habits starting from the "smallest and most trivial things" led to amazing results. Now, this person is a top expert at one of America's leading self-development companies, with a blog that receives 1 million visitors monthly. He also became a New York Times bestselling author. Life is the product of our habits.
A beautiful life is a life created by beautiful habits, beautiful actions, and beautiful behaviors. Conversely, a miserable life is a life marked by dirty habits, ugly thoughts, and ugly actions. Therefore, happiness comes from good and righteous habits. People with bad habits are bound to live unhappy lives. Imagine if evil habits like drug use, drinking, smoking, or lying continued for decades. Isn't it obvious that such a life would become unhappy? Conversely, those who live diligently, sincerely, honestly, and with forgiveness and love for others will live a happy life. Do you want your one and only life to be happy? Then, abandon the old self that followed bad habits. Cultivate happy habits. Ephesians 4:22 says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;” Here, the term “former way of life” is translated from the Greek word "anastrophe," which means "way of life" or "behavior." If you truly want to transform your life, you need to change even the small things - your "way of life" and "behavior." Start by cleaning your room. Fix things like staying up late unnecessarily at night, laziness, procrastination, distraction, lying - start by fixing the small things. Jesus lived with holy habits.
The Greek word for habit is "ethos," which also means religious customs or legal traditions. Luke 2:42 says, "When He [Jesus] was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom." keeping the festivals from an early age. Here, the word "custom" is "ethos," indicating that Jesus had the holy habit of 4 The Bible also records Jesus’ habit of praying when He went to the Mount of Olives before His crucifixion. For this, Luke 22:39-41 says, “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives…... knelt down and prayed.” If you live with holy habits, you will become a holy person. Habits determine the color of your life. One soldier, even in the midst of war, would read the Bible whenever he had a chance. It was a small New Testament Bible from the Gideons, small enough to fit in the top pocket of his uniform. One time, a gunfight broke out, and this soldier was shot by an enemy bullet in the chest, where his heart is. Thinking, “I’ve been shot in the chest, I’m going to die,” he prepared to die.
But there was no blood, and he wasn’t dying. Puzzled as to why he wasn’t bleeding or dying, he checked and found that his habit of reading the Bible and putting it in his top pocket had saved him - the enemy's bullet had lodged in the Bible. The bullet had flown toward his heart, but the Bible had blocked it. When you make it a habit to read the Bible daily, memorize a verse each day, pray at the end of each day, and record your gratitude, I believe you will experience spiritual revival. The reason Daniel's immersion in faith was so strong was that he had spiritual habits. If you haven't developed spiritual habits yet, it’s time to start. When you wake up in the morning, call upon the name of God first. Like Daniel opening the window in his upper room, open the door to prayer simply. Even if it’s brief, opening the window doesn’t take much time.
Then, read the memory verse of the day in the bulletin, ponder its meaning, and engrave it in your heart. In the evening, participate in the Daniel Night Prayer Meeting. Before going to bed, read one chapter of the Bible. When you structure your daily life with holy spiritual habits like this, surely your immersion in faith will increase, and you won’t just circle around momentary grace and blessings. Instead, like Daniel, you will receive continuous grace and uninterrupted blessings.
2. You must set the right standards for life and live accordingly The latter part of Daniel 6:10 says, “ ……..Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before…..... ” Daniel centered his life around God by seeking and meeting Him three times a day. Each day was lived with God at the center and proceeded based on God's standards. In Daniel Chapter 1, we see that as a young boy captured in Babylon, Daniel was given the opportunity to serve closely under King Nebuchadnezzar. For three years, he was given the privilege to learn Chaldean literature and language and eat the king's food and drink his wine. However, Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, even if it was provided by the king.
Daniel 1:8 says, “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.” He set his standard of life by keeping away from worldly and negative things that contradicted God's Word, solely pursuing holiness. Let me introduce another person related to baseball. This person is a Korean professional baseball manager named Hillman, who led his team to victory in the Korean Series. 6 Toward the end of the regular season, he announced that he would not renew his contract for the next year and would return to his hometown in the United States. His reason was quite unique: he needed to take care of his family back in the U.S. Despite leading the team to a Korean Series victory, which would have significantly raised his salary, he returned to his country without wavering. In an interview, Manager Hillman said, “The reason for my decision to resign is my family. My priority is, first, God; second, my family; and third, my job.
This is the order of priorities in my faith.” Because he had such a clear set of personal priorities, he did not make decisions based on things like whether he would get a salary increase for winning or a decrease for losing. Instead, he lived according to the life priorities he had set, which was quite admirable. If we consider that someone who has clear principles and standards for life can live a steady life, when we, as believers, live in the world for six days after Sunday, the temptations may vary for each person in content and direction, but Satan's objective is the same. It is to break down the order of priorities in our lives. Ephesians 2:2 says, “in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” What characterizes people who are without the cross and the Gospel? They are swayed by worldly trends and temptations. They lack God at the center and are wandering.
So, if we are confident that we have been transformed by Jesus Christ, our lives should not be shaken. To live a life that is not shaken, we need a clear standard of life: God first, and everything in our lives must be influenced by that God. If I were to summarize Daniel in one phrase, it would be "a life before God, a God- centered life." 7 Because he had this standard, he could live a God-centered life without wavering, from his teenage years, when he was taken captive, to his early 80s. Dear beloved believers who have been transformed by believing in Jesus, reflect on yourself through the Word in Ephesians 4:14. It says, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” How is it that so many people, even after believing in Jesus for so long and worshiping every Sunday, still haven't shed their childishness? How are childish behaviors described?
They are swayed by all kinds of worldly trends. They are shaken by one word and then another, thinking this is right or that is right. Why is this? It is because there is no standard. What kind of blessing does a person who lives with God inside them and before God, like Daniel, receive? Psalm 23:4 says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” The “valley of the shadow of death” in the original language means “deep darkness.” How often do we encounter dark paths on our life journey? There are many times we go through tunnels. Passing through a tunnel is very difficult, especially when we don’t know when it will end. If we knew in advance, we might endure it. Five years left, four years left…… What makes deep darkness in life difficult is that we do not know when it will end.
However, for those with a well-set standard of life, when the tunnel of darkness comes, it rarely takes more than a day to get through it. Recovery happens after a day. Why is that? Psalm 23:4 continues, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” This is God's blessing for those who have well-established life priorities and standards.
3. Gratitude must be fundamentally embedded in our lives Latter part of Daniel 6:10 says that ‘he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God.’ Daniel’s prayer was a prayer of gratitude in a situation where it was almost impossible to give thanks. Since the content of his prayer is not recorded in the Bible, we do not know exactly what he prayed for in gratitude, but if you were to give thanks in such a situation, what would you be thankful for? He was in a dire situation where no one stood by him, he only prayed to God, yet he was falsely accused of breaking the laws of the country and the king, and faced a situation where he had to die.
Perhaps he prayed a prayer of gratitude similar to that of Habakkuk, who is considered a model of gratitude in the Bible. Habakkuk 3:16-18 says; [16] I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. [17] Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 9 [18] yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. If one can express this level of gratitude in such circumstances, it means that gratitude has become a natural part of their life. To receive continuous grace and unending blessings like Daniel, gratitude must be fundamentally embedded in one's life.
There is a book titled ‘Jimmy's Story of Becoming Happy with 100 Gratitudes.’ The author describes herself as a small newspaper journalist with a prickly personality and many personal issues. She couldn’t adapt well to her job, found her work difficult, clashed constantly with her colleagues, and had so many conflicts with her mother that she couldn’t enjoy a happy family life. One day, she happened to see her mother's phone, and instead of her name, her mother had saved the number as “rude brat.” How frustrated must her mother have been to write that instead of her name? This is how problematic she admits she was, but then a turning point came in his life.
A pastor came to her company to give a special lecture, and during the lecture, he said that writing down 100 things to be thankful for each day would make gratitude a habit, and living with a habit of gratitude would bring tremendous blessings. She was greatly inspired by this. So, this prickly young woman decided to write down 100 things to be thankful for each day for 100 days. She was truly remarkable. Writing down 100 things to be thankful for each day is almost impossible. But she managed to do it for 100 days. Why did she take on this difficult task? It wasn't just about wanting to be a bit more thankful; she had resolved to fundamentally change her nature through gratitude.10 Amazingly, after consistently writing down 100 things to be thankful for every day for 100 days, her life really changed. Her personal life changed completely, and her interpersonal relationships at work also changed. Through the gratitude journal, she revisited forgotten blessings and learned to be thankful for the small, everyday things. People began to recognize her and praise her.
One day, she looked at her mother’s phone again and saw that her number, which had previously been saved as "rude brat," had been changed to "First Lady." Simply listing a few things to be thankful for is not the practice of “giving thanks in all circumstances.” Gratitude must be deeply ingrained so that it is fundamentally present in all aspects of your life. Your personality, your thoughts, your words, your actions, and your entire life should be fully infused with gratitude. Her dream is to become a speaker and author who shares dreams and hope with many people. She aims to be selected as one of the “100 Most Influential Women in the World” and continues to live happily today by writing her “100 Gratitudes.” Gratitude is the path to happiness and the key to opening the door to change. The author suggests that if you want a happy home and work life, practice gratitude.
The story of Jimmy, a reporter who gained happiness and change through gratitude, could soon become our story. She was a young journalist in her late 20s with no experience or special qualifications, not from a prestigious school or family background, and neither particularly pretty nor smart - a very ordinary journalist. How did she end up giving special lectures at universities, big companies, and government offices?
The only thing she worked on to achieve her dreams was “gratitude.” Before it had even been 100 days of writing her "100 Gratitudes," good things started happening to her. The more she practiced gratitude, the more she was given, and more opportunities to be grateful kept coming. It was as if she had found the key to opening the door to life's blessings. Each day was filled with gratitude, overflowing joy, and happiness. As she started being thankful for what she had, a sense of contentment with today emerged. What used to trouble her and make her feel miserable yesterday no longer seemed to be a problem. Realizing that she already had enough, her confidence began to build, and her days became more enjoyable.
With a joyful heart, she became grateful for "today," grew to love her life, and started looking forward to "tomorrow." Gradually, the words “I’m happy” began to emerge from her lips. We’ve all heard countless times that maintaining a thankful heart can make us happy. However, most of us have not made an effort to internalize this attitude of gratitude in everything. Reading this story helped me, as a pastor, resolve a concern I had. My concern was how to help my congregation live a joyful and fulfilling spiritual life. Two Sundays ago, I preached a sermon titled "God Who Makes Us Finally Laugh," and last Sunday, "Joy as the Barometer of Faith." However, I was still wondering how to make my congregation truly rejoice and be happy in their spiritual lives all the time. I found the answer and am preaching today under the title "Increasing Immersion Level in Faith." Point 1 was about having good spiritual habits, and point 2 was about setting the right standards for life.
By living this way, you increase your immersion in faith and, like Daniel, you receive continuous grace and unending blessings. And now, I firmly believe that if you practice gratitude in a concrete way - writing down 100 things to be thankful for every day for 100 days - this practical act will form a habit of gratitude that will enable you to live a life full of constant joy, continuous grace, and unceasing blessings. Some of you may think, “How could I possibly find 100 things to be thankful for every day, not just 5? That’s too hard; it’s impossible.” But the author who internalized “100 Gratitudes” says this: “Gratitude is something you squeeze out.
If you force yourself to think of 100 things to be thankful for each day, eventually, gratitude will change your life and become ingrained in you.” Since gratitude is not ingrained in us, after listing a few things to be thankful for, we may run out of things to be thankful for. Even after a few days, finding things to be thankful for might become really difficult. That is why she advises, based on her experience, that gratitude is something you squeeze out. If you spend all day thinking of things to be thankful for - squeezing out thoughts like wringing laundry or wracking your brain - gratitude will come. So today, from this pulpit, I propose something to you. Whoever you are, start writing a gratitude journal daily. However, I think it might be too much for a beginner to write 100 things to be thankful for every day, so like Daniel's 21-day prayer, I suggest you write down 21 things to be thankful for each day in a notebook. You could call it “Daniel’s 21 Gratitudes.” Prepare a notebook and start this month. You must write without skipping a day. If you skip a day or write only occasionally, it won't be effective, and gratitude won't become ingrained.
If you successfully write it for 100 days, you can submit your notebook, and we will hold a draw. The winner will receive a flight ticket to participate in the summer retreat at the Korean main church next year. You must write 21 things each day. If several people write 21 things for 100 days, those who wrote the most will receive a prize. For example, if someone writes 30 things daily, that person will get the prize. If there are several people who wrote exactly 21 things, we will hold a draw among them. Writing less than 21 things will disqualify you. Previously, I promised to give a Korean ticket to anyone who evangelizes and successfully settles more than 50 people in the second half of the year.
This is an additional prize. I will need to save a lot to prepare two Korean tickets from my salary. Why do I do this? Because I love you. At the last evangelism competition, I saw that all the first, second, and third prizes went to the servants of the Lord. I felt that it would be nice if some of the congregation also won and joined us for the Korean retreat. That's why I’m giving you a chance to excel in writing the “21 Gratitude Notes.” Everyone has a "good self" and a "bad self" within them. When we speak good words and act kindly, we can gather our good hearts in one place. Gratitude gathers our good hearts together, helps us become good people, allows us to do good deeds, and leads to good results. Romans 8:28 says, "God works all things together for good." To make this Word of God a reality in your life, I hope you will gather all the goodness in your heart through gratitude, work together, and accomplish good deeds. Conclusion 14 The story of Daniel, the main character of today’s scripture, ends with a happy ending.
This was because Daniel had good spiritual habits, always adhered to the right standards in his life, and had gratitude fundamentally ingrained in his life, allowing him to always give thanks even in situations where it seemed impossible to be thankful. If Daniel had not had good spiritual habits, a proper standard for life, and ingrained gratitude, he might have temporarily avoided the crisis by resorting to worldly methods. However, like the waves continuously crashing onto the shore, waves of crisis would have kept coming into Daniel’s life. However, Daniel, who had a high level of spiritual immersion, possessed these three things - spiritual habits, standards for life, and ingrained gratitude. Because of these, the waves of crisis and adversity disappeared, and instead, his life became one where grace continued and blessings did not cease but repeated endlessly.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you, too, will meet God, who will make you smile finally, be filled with the joy that is the barometer of faith, cultivate spiritual habits that increase your immersion level in faith, firmly establish the standards of your life, and internalize gratitude. In this way, may you receive continuous grace and unwavering blessings, rather than momentary grace and momentary blessings. - END -
