Before I planted this church, I prayed a great deal, in a way that few people can imagine. Perhaps there will be few churches, like our church, which are built by the prayer of tears. After pioneering the church, I devoted myself in prayer with my church members every day and night. I prayed like this at that time.
"God, if you plan to build the largest church in the world in the next 100 years, please use me."
I prayed to the Lord to let me build the biggest church that He was going to build in the world in the next 100 years. Maybe other pastors prayed to let them build the biggest church in this age. But I prayed to build the biggest church in the next 100 years. At that time, as the pastor of a church in a basement, this seemed impossible.
However, if the seed of prayer that was sown through faith is not rotten, one day it will grow and bear fruit.
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches." (Matthew 13:31~32)
Then Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches." (Luke 13:18~19)
I prayed because I had such a faith, and that prayer response made our church as it is today.
A faith life without prayer is dead. Faithfulness without prayer is dead, offerings without prayer are dead, and any act without prayer is dead. Those who pray work by the help of God, but those who do not pray work by their own strength. In our own power, the righteousness of the individual is revealed, but in the help of God only the righteousness of God appears. God makes us pray for the righteousness of God to be revealed.
Pastor Seok-Jeon Yoon
Extracted from the church newspaper 570 (April 7, 2018)
