If you say to those who are lying down after a long period of fasting, “Take food to build up your strength”, no-one will get angry saying, “Why are you waking me up?” If you think that you can eat food after fasting for a few days or dozens of days, you can’t sleep. Would people nod off during the service if they truly longed to listen to the sermon? Some people are criticizing those who are devoted to the life of faith and work hard for the Lord, saying “They are fanatical.” When they see a hungry man eating food in haste, they don’t speak ill of him. They rather say “You must be very hungry. You like it.” People in the world who don’t know about the reality of their souls think that Christians are very strange when they see them living their faith life ardently. On the contrary, those who know about the reality of souls try to fill themselves with the righteousness of God and quench their thirst with the righteousness of God because they know their soul’s situation, which is hungry and thirsty.
When I was little, a new pastor who was full of the Holy Spirit came to our church. A few days later, he held a revival meeting and delivered a powerful sermon. Then all the church members had a fresh revelation about the word of God and experienced the Holy Spirit. The church was filled with the Holy Spirit and church members prayed for each other when they were sick. They also drove out demons from those who were demon possessed so God’s work increased rapidly. Every early morning service, all the church members were excited to please God and prayed together in the church.
They listened to the word of God with power and found out about their spiritual situation, which was hungry. So they tried hard to eat and drink heavenly food and our church increased and grew. I believe that a secret to prevent corruption of church members is that I make them realize they are hungry and thirsty for righteousness and revive their spirits. It’s because they try to eat their fill and quench their thirst naturally by realizing their spirits are hungry and thirsty after their spirits have revived.
Pastor Seok-Jeon Yoon
Extracted from Yonsei Newspaper #629
