No Easy Way to Pray

(Church Growth Manual No. 8)

David Yonggi Cho, was the Senior Pastor Yoido Full Gospel Church Seoul, Korea

(With permission from Church Growth International) (Not for sale)

 

 

It is very hard to get a big crowd to sit down and pray for one hour. If you don't know how to lead people, then after people pray for 15-20 minutes, they won't pray anymore. They become jittery and stand up and leave. To keep people praying for hours and hours, you must know how to lead them to pray for hours.

 

God has shown me many ways of prayer. For example: The Temple prayer, The Lord's Prayer, The Tabernacle prayer, The Praise Prayer, and Prayer at random. If you don't develop a real method of prayer, then you yourself are unable to pray more than 30 minutes. If you just pray causally, then after a little while you become tired and can't think of anything else to pray about.

 

Before I taught the prayer methods, I took the brethren who came from foreign countries to the C.G.I. Conference, to Prayer Mountain and said to them, "Let us pray for one hour beginning now."

 

After about 20 minutes of novelty praying, they would sit down on the ground and repeat the word "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" That was all. This is not real praying.

 

This is the reason I want to teach you how to pray more than one hour. We should pray at least one hour. On the mount of Gethsemane when Jesus came to His disciple, they were asleep. He said, "Can't you stay awake one hour and pray with Me? Pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

 

The least time of prayer that you need to pray in order to conquer the devil is to pray for one hour. Personally, when I pray for a while, then look at my watch, I see that I have been praying for one hour. When I have prayed for one hour, something "clicks", and I break the barrier and enter into the spiritual realm.

 

For one hour I am fighting in my spirit. I try to concentrate, but my flesh fights me. The devil fights me. So, I have to fight back. After one hour I feel something click and feel so feel and so powerful in my praying. This always happens after one hour of praying. I am now able to go beyond the barrier of the hindrances of satan. Every day we need to pray more than hour.

 

I will tell you how to pray at least one hour and how to lead your people to pray more than one hour. This is very important and meaningful.

 

Many people have asked me why I pray so much. Throughout every day I pray, but make definite times of prayer:

 

ONE HOUR IN THE MORNING

ONE HOUR IN THE AFTERNOON

ONE HOUR IN THE EVENING

 

I make it a point to pray three times a day. When I go out on evangelistic tours, then I always spend the afternoon in prayer. After lunch I do not have any engagement, I stay in my hotel and pray three to five hours. So, when people ask me why I pray so much, I respond in this way.

 

I PRAY BECAUSE GOD WANTS ME TO:

 

God has a great need in Himself. God is the Almighty God, but still God is love. Love has a desire to have fellowship. When you love your husband or wife, you should have fellowship together. You should like to talk will each other.

 

But when love cools off, then you don't want to talk with one another. That is the measure of your love. When you love your friend a lot, then you want to have fellowship with your friend.

 

My best friend in Korea is a Baptist minister named Billy Kim. He and I are very, very good friends. That is the reason we want to have fellowship. We call one another every day and discuss politics, churches, etc. We are always helping each other.

 

God is the Almighty God, the eternal God, so He has eternal love. That love is a bottomless desire to have fellowship. He only created you and me so that we could have fellowship with Him. God Himself does not need anything except fellowship. He has a great need to have fellowship with us.

 

Many times we Christians are so busy doing God's work that we have no time to have fellowship with him. Ministry unto the Lord must come before ministry unto the people. You must serve God first, and afterwards serve the people.

 

When I was a young married man, I was always arguing with my wife about this point, I would come home from evangelistic meetings really tired and would always want to talk with my wife to relieve my tension. But, she would be busy cleaning the kitchen, doing the laundry, or other household chores. I would say, "Honey, let's talk, Let's have fellowship." She answered, "You go on ahead and sleep. I have so many things to do in the kitchen that I must get done."

 

One day I really exploded. I said, "What is more important to you: ME OR YOUR WORK?" She became angry and said, "I am doing all of these things for you. This is Your work ….cleaning the house, taking care of the children. Why are you harassing me about it?"

 

I said, "I don't need my work. Leave it. Leave the laundry piled up. Don't clean the kitchen. I want you to take care of me first, not my work. I need fellowship with you. I am tired and feel empty in my heart. I pour out my heart all day long to others. I need you now. I need your fellowship. I need prayer together with you, Bible study with you, but you are always so heavily involved in household chores and leave me alone. I will not come home any more. I would rather sleep in the church. Why should I come home if I can't have fellowship with you?"

 

Throughout our young married life, she could not understand this fact. Now that our children have all left home, and we are left alone, she is always the one who wants me to have fellowship with her, but I answer her, “Honey, I am very busy. I have to do this or that. You go ahead and sleep while I finish my work." She responded in this way, "Why do you leave me alone so much? Why did you marry me? When I tell her I am busy, she said, "Am I not first in your life?"

 

Situations are like that. Even in marriage, you must put your partner first. If you put your work first and your partner second, then the fellowship will be broken and things will happen in a bad way.

 

Likewise in God's work we are very busy. We have this prayer meeting, or that Bible study, or this teachers,' meeting, or that counseling meeting, and we should visit homes, Consequently, we are so busy that we have no time to pray to the lord, We just say, "Father, I am so busy because of Your work that I have no time to talk with you."

 

God is grieved at these kinds of situations. You must take the time to pray to the lord, even though you neglect the work of God. It is essential that you first serve God in prayer.

 

In 1964, when I had 3,000 members, people were requiring so much of my time. They wanted me to give even more time to counseling, more time to prayer and more time for visitation. Therefore I had no time to pray before the lord. I had no time to read the scripture, meditate upon it, and talk to God. I was at a crossroads. Should I serve the people ahead of God, or should I sacrifice the people and serve God first?

 

As I considered the situation very carefully, I decided to put God first. I would take time enough to serve God first?

 

As I considered the situation very carefully, I decided to put God first. I would take time enough to serve God first.

 

Many people questioned me saying, "If you don't take care of us and give us more time, we are going to leave your church." I said, "Go ahead and leave because I am called to serve God first, then you. I have never been called to serve people first. If you want to leave, go ahead."

 

So, I took enough time to study, pray and meditate. After satisfying God, then I would serve the people. What power I had in my life because of my decision to put God's need first.

 

Rather than leave my church, these people brought others to the church because I ministered to them with the power of God. I was not ministering to them with human power.

 

If you have power with God, naturally you will have power with the people. Take ample time to serve God.

 

In the Antioch church, Paul, Barnabas and others were fasting, praying and serving the lord, not serving the people. The Bible says so clearly that they were serving the lord. Then the Holy Spirit said, "Choose Paul and Barnabas for My work." When you really serve God, then you are going to hear God's words.

 

I PRAY TO DEVELOP MY MINISTRY:

 

All of my work has been developed through my prayer life, from moving my church to Yoido, to building Prayer Mountain, to establishing a Bible College, plus building a big social work complex and the newspaper. All of these things have resulted from my spending time in prayer.

 

God would say, "Cho, rise up and do this work, or do that work." Every time God said this, I had no money. All my life I have had financial difficulty, but when I hear God speak, I obey Him and by faith move ahead. God has always met my needs. God always supplies the need.

 

Listening to God is very, very important. You can't listen to God if you don't take the time to pray before the lord. Nowadays, as much as possible, I do not want my prayer life to be hindered by any person.

 

One morning a couple of years ago, I was praying in my prayer closet. The President of Korea had a very urgent problem to discuss with me. He tried to reach me through my secretary but she said, "You cannot talk with him as he is in prayer." He insisted, “Tell Dr. Cho the President of Korea is calling him. He is a good friend of mine so he will come out of the prayer room and receive my telephone call."

 

However, my secretary would not disturb my praying. She said, "I cannot do that. Dr. Cho told me that no one could talk with him during this time but Jesus Christ Himself." So, the President of Korea could not reach me.

 

When I had finished praying and emerged from my prayer room, the President's wife phoned and was very unhappy. She said, "Fine your secretary. My husband tried to reach you. He needed you very badly but your secretary refused to disturb you." She was very unhappy.

 

I told her, "Madam, I was talking with the Heavenly President. He has priority, and I could not give up my time with him to talk with the earthly President. You must understand this."

 

If you are going to be disturbed by other things, then you have no time for prayer. You must be determined to block out time to pray to the Lord.

 

Usually, every day I pray a total of three hours. Of course, I am praying constantly while I walk, drive or rest. So prayer is the only way to please God. It is the only way you can satisfy God. God needs fellowship. God has this great need that cannot be satisfied by angles. Only you can satisfy this need in God. You were created in the form and likeness of God. You are the only one that can really touch God through prayer.

 

In this age, what we need is real prayer. Yoido Full Gospel Church was born by prayer. Our church is growing because of intense prayer.

 

When you please God through prayer, then God is ready to do His work through you. The work is not yours; it belongs to God. Originally work is God's privilege. We were not supposed to work. We were only supposed to obey and believe.

 

If God had wanted you to do a work, then He would have created man on the first day instead of the sixth day. He would have said, "Roll up your sleeves. You and I are going to create the heaven, light, earth, moon, sun, stars, birds, fish, and animals. Come quickly. We are busy creating."

 

Then you would have worked together with God, but God worked alone in creation. Read Genesis chapter one again. God Himself created heaven and earth.

 

Finally, when God had finished creating everything, there was nothing more left to create. God created human beings.

 

Suppose Adam and Eve came to God and said, "Father, this is our first day of life. Do I have anything to do?" God would have responded, "No. I have done everything. You have nothing to do. You are starting your life on my Rest Day. I have prepared everything for you. Your job is to just trust and obey Me."

 

However, Adam and Eve violated this commandment and said, "We want to have our own work." They rebelled against God and tried to solve their own problem, and failed. So, they began to sweat. They had no ability, no power to provide for themselves. This caused the world to be in chaos.

 

Even in salvation, some people, like the Buddhists and others, try to work out their own salvation. They are working hard to keep the regulations, keep the law and justify themselves, but their fail. No amount of work could ever make you completely justified before God.

 

You can't work out your own salvation. God worked it alone. He sent His only begotten son. He took all of our sins and died on the cross. He shed His blood. He completed salvation. He was resurrected.

 

Now, if we come to God and say, "Father, what can I do for my salvation?" God would answer you "Keep the law." If you say, "I have kept the law, like the young man in the Bible." Then God would ask you to do a more difficult thing. He would say, "Go home and sell everything, then come and follow me."

 

If you try to work out your own salvation, then God will ask you to do impossible things.

 

Now we can come to God and say, "God, how can I be saved?" You will have nothing to do because God has finished salvation. You have nothing to add or detract. All you have to do is "believe" and “obey", and you will be saved. It is so simple. The work belongs to God.

 

Actually, you should not try to work for God. God does not need your help. God is the Almighty God. If you please God, then God works His own work through you by His own power. You are not going to help God, because He does not need your help. Always remember that He is the Almighty God.

 

Throughout my life, I failed many times because I tried to help God. I finally found out that I could not help Him at all. So, now I do not even try; I just believe and obey Him. I pray and have fellowship with Him, and turn over all my burdens to Him. I enjoy Him, and He works His own works through me. I don't swear because He works His works through me, and He supplies all the power to do His own work through me. I am just a servant.

 

In this large church, when I see the thousands of people come to every service I enjoy being God's servant. My flesh says, "There will not be any people left for the next service. “Still after the first service another 50,000 comes for the following service. That is God's work. It is not my work. I just enjoy seeing how God works.

 

Don't underestimate our God. He is so mighty, so powerful, and so abundant. The work belongs to Him. The rest belongs to us, and you can only have rest by faith. Don't struggle. If you are struggling, then you have not arrived, and are still trying to help God. Don't try to help God.

 

Through prayer, you please God and have very good fellowship with Him. God is so pleased that He takes your hands and says, "Let's go. You follow me, and I will do the work." That is fantastic experience. This is the reason I pray. To be totally dependent upon God so that I may always see His glory, and I may keep my eyes upon Him throughout the day.

 

I PRAY TO KEEP THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:

 

Many people say "I was baptized by the Holy Spirit ten years ago." That does not mean too much. You must keep the fullness of the Holy Spirit every day. That is my experience. If I don't pray enough every day, I can't maintain the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

 

I once was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues. Still, if I don't pray every day; my tongues can be of the flesh. Many times without having deep devotions, I speak in tongues and recognize myself that it is from the flesh. It is not inspired by the Holy Spirit.

 

There is a difference between the Holy Spirit inspiring tongues and tongues being spoken out of the strength of the flesh. When I speak in tongues inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is very refreshing. There is a power that comes from the innermost begin, from my stomach. But when I just pray in tongues in the flesh, only my lips move, and there is no change in me. To maintain the level of the fullness of the Holy Spirit we must pray.

 

In my own experience, when I pray at least one hour every day. I can keep the level of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, then I can meet the daily challenges of satan.

 

In our church, so many people are coming to be healed. People come to Korea from foreign countries with sicknesses like cancer, arthritis, heart trouble. Multitudes come to be touched by God through me. This is a great responsibility for me. If I don't pray enough so that I may become an open channel for God to reach these people, then what a sin I commit.

 

But when I pray more than one hour, then I become an open channel for the Holy Spirit to flow through. So when these sick people come, I can become very bold and happy. I know that when I touch them, the power of the Holy Spirit will flow through me.

 

However, sometimes I do not pray enough, and when the needy people come and I touch them, I know there is no power flowing. What a guilty feeling I have then.

 

The other day I was very happy. A leading scientist in Korea, working in the Atomic Energy Program, came to testify. He had been stricken with brain cancer and lung cancer. He had double cancer and was dying. He had been exposed to a radioactive substance for a long time so he had developed these cancers. His wife is a marvelous Christian, so she brought him to my office. At that time his eyes were closed and he could hardly walk because of his sickness.

 

That day I was full of the Holy Spirit. That day I knew that the power of the Holy Spirit that was in me could reach out and destroy the cancer. I spoke to him, "brother, you have cancer? I have the power of the Holy Spirit. Your cancer will be destroyed today." I laid my hands on him and boldly prayed, "By power of the Holy Spirit, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you dirty brain cancer and lung cancer, I bind you in the Name of Jesus Christ. I cast you out." He was a normal person again.

 

He said "Pastor, now I am going to my office to work." I said, "How come?" He said "I am healed." I said, "I did not do anything, and you were healed so quickly?" He told me, "That day I went home and felt completely all right, so I went to the hospital for a check-up. They could not find any trace of cancer." When you see that kind of thing, then you feel that being a pastor is worth it.

 

But this kind of incident cannot happen if you do not pray a lot every day. Some days I feel as dry as dry sand because I have no time to pray. Then when people come to me with great need, I feel like dying. I tell them, "Please come back tomorrow because I am not ready." They cannot understand this. They say, "You don't love us so don't try to help us." They don't understand that I am unprepared. They think I am a man of God 24 hours a day, but I am not a man of God 24 hours. I am only a man of God when I am full of the Holy Spirit.

 

As a young married man, one day I had a big argument with my wife. She was crying and saying "I am going to pack up and go on the platform and live there. When you stand on the platform you always act like an angel but when you come back home you are like a devil."

 

Many people think that ministers are the angels of Gods, but in reality they are also human beings. When God uses them, then they are the messengers of God, but when they are come home, many times they are human begins.

 

To keep up the levels of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, I must pray. That is my responsibility.

 

I PRAY TO DEFEAT THE POWER OF THE DEVIL CONSTANTY:

 

Ministers may think, "I am born-again I am a minister. I have nothing to do with the devil." That is a lie. The devil can depress ministers.

 

One day I had a wonderful meeting, and prayed for many people but in the course, the devil, which had been cast out of the people, began to hang upon me. Much like the experience of Philip when he went to Samaria to preach, so many devils which had been hanging upon the people went out shrieking. The devils were hanging upon me, and I did not know what to do. I came back home and was so depressed. After eating a meal, I could not have family devotions, because I disliked to. But I just barely had family devotions, and then said "Let's all retire." So everyone went to their own room and I went to sleep.

 

My wife always falls asleep very quickly, and at the time we were married; she began to snore. I have been hearing her snore for almost 30 years now, and enjoy it. When I don't hear this snoring sound, then I feel uneasy. But when I hear that sound, then I know that my wife is still alive and beside me.

 

I invented a way to stop the snoring. If the snoring becomes too noisy, I just touch her on the chin and turn her just a little bit. That is my invention.

 

As soon as my wife's head hits the pillow, she begins snoring. I really disliked hearing that noise. I said to myself, "How can I stand such snoring in the rest of my life?" Suddenly, I was very angry and depressed. So, I was trying to touch her chin so that she would stop the snoring, and when I looked at her, she looked so ugly. I said, "How in the world did I marry such an ugly girl?" I was shocked at my reaction. I realized then that something was wrong with me.

 

I walked out to the living room, shook my head and said to myself, "I am experiencing a burn-out. I have been working all these years without having any vacation."

 

To build a big church, you must really sacrifice your wife and children. That is one thing that is very hurtful. All three of my boys grew up without knowing me. Now they have left me, but they still say they have no good memory of their Daddy. They say, "Legally you are our father, but we don't really have any affection for you."

 

You must spend time with your children, such as fishing, mountain climbing, skiing, and make some history in their memory. They will always remember you through their memory. If you don't have experiences with them, then when they leave you, they have nothing to remember you by. There won't be any warn affection for you. So, as a father, I failed them. I succeeded in building a big church, but failed as a father to my boys.

 

To build a big church in Korea, I always got up at 4:30 in the morning to go to the early morning prayer meeting, then on Friday there is an all-night prayer meeting. So I would only return home on Saturday. From Monday to Saturday I would sleep at my office because the work had piled up. With this kind of work schedule, I had no time to fellowship with my children. Of course, my wife understood my situation, but the children could not understand me.

 

In church growth, I succeeded but in home-making; I failed. You can't have both. This hurts my heart very deeply. Again and again I say to my wife nowadays, "To become a totally devoted pastor, one should not have a family. “That is what the Apostle Paul said, "To devoted 100 percent to the church; one should not have a family."

 

All through the years, my struggle was because of my family. On one hand I should devote my time to God; on the other hand I should take care of my wife and children. I was divided. That became troublesome to me. My wife was always crying; my children would always ask me to go on vacation with them. It was not until last year that my family and I had our first vacation, after 35years of marriage. At that time my wife was attending summer school in London, England, so she asked me to come, I asked my elders and their wives to come with me to France, so we gathered together there and had a one-week vacation. It was the first time in my life.

 

In any event, on that particular day, I was totally in despair about the ugliness of my wife. I tried to pray but was unable to do so. I hated myself; I hated the church; I hated the Bible. I said to myself, "I may as well go to church tomorrow morning and resign. I don't like the ministry. I am completely burned out. It will take years now for me to recover."

 

A voice spoke to my heart, "Still you should pray." I tried again to pray, but it was very heavy work. I could not do it. So, I forced myself to pray, "Oh, God, in the Name of Jesus through the blood of Jesus, help me, help me." After praying like this for about 30 minutes, suddenly something really shook me and a great power like wind began to leave me. It took the window pane. That wind was very powerful. The spirit is the wind, isn't it? When that wind left me, instantly I was free. I was full of joy, happiness, I loved my Bible; I love my ministry; I loved my church; I loved my family. Instantly, I was changed whereas before I was almost demonized. Now I was almost demonized. Now I was almost sanctified. I cried, and I praised the lord.

 

I returned the bedroom and my wife was still snoring. This time that snoring sounded like music to my ears. Then when I looked at my wife, she was beautiful. I said to myself, "What a change! How could I be changed so differently?"

 

Then I had a great understanding. Many people have broken homes because of this demon oppression. Once a person is demon oppressed, they become a different person.

 

Fortunately, I knew the lord, so I could fight the demon power, and was set free. Otherwise, I think I would have resigned my church because I could not stand the ministry and longer. I hated it. So we can easily become oppressed, depressed, and obsessed by the devil. Only by keeping our prayer life active can we have a free life. If ministers can be oppressed like that, think of the common people living in the world with great competition, surely they will be oppressed by satan. So when they come to church, they can be set free by the prayers of the pastor.

 

Many of my Christian say to me that they come to church with a heavy mind, great sorrow but after hearing my message, and receiving my prayer, they feel so light. They have such joy in their heart, and feel so buoyant.

 

The church must not be a ritualistic place. Week by week as people come to church they should be set free.

 

So, to evict the power of satan from you and from others, you must pray. Satan is not affected by your Bible reading, but he said, "Don't pray." In my own experience, the devil would not move while I am preaching. When I preach, the devil listens. When we have Bible study, the devil passively has Bible study with us, but when I begin to pray, then the devil begins to resist. Prayer is the thing that satan is most afraid of. Satan says, "Yes, go to church; listen to the sermon, but don't pray." So every service, we have great healings because of the mighty prayer. Many great things are happening at our church because of prayer. So you must keep on praying so that you will be equipped to fight satan in your life and your ministry.

 

THE HAND OF GOD IS MOVED THROUGH PRAYER

 

When you move the hand of God, then God moves in your life and in your circumstances.

 

In 1987, Korea had a national presidential election. Before the election, there was a great turmoil in Korea. There was labor unrest, student riots and demonstrations.

 

One day the Prime Minister asked me to have dinner with him. He was trembling as he said, "Pastor, I cannot handle these riots. The whole country is in an uproar. The unrest of the labor, the students, the Communists from North Korea are instigating the people constantly. Now we are unable to have a peaceful election. I cannot even use the army because if they come out, then that will be the sign for the communistic people to rise up and agitate people all the more. I do not know how to solve this problem."

 

I said, "Mr. Prime Minister, I will do my best to help the situation. We will see how God helps."

 

I announced to my people that we would have a great prayer meeting at Yoido Plaza. I will gather together at least 800,000 people totally mobilizing all our Christian plus more to have a prayer meeting for the peaceful election of the President of Korea. We had one month to prepare for this Prayer Rally. I announced to my people that the communist-inspired people were very angry at me and said, "We will kill you and your family." They were so ugly that I moved my wife and children to America, and I could not go home. I stayed in the church. My Christians were surrounding me. I was living in the church day and night. The telephones were constantly ringing and intimidating me.

 

The time arrived for this big prayer rally. On Yoido Plaza, all the people would be exposed to the snipers. From my office, I called my parents saying, "Daddy, today I will go to heaven before you because the snipers are going to shoot at me, and there is on defense. If I die ahead of you, think that I have died for God and for my nation." I wrote my last will to my family, and the people gathered together on the plaza, all 800,000 people. Surrounded by people, I moved to the platform on the plaza. It was a very eerie feeling. I asked the people to pray for our nation. They responded beautifully. Three thousand communistic student demonstrators were positioned to disturb us, but they were stopped. They could not approach us because of the vast crowd and the fervent prayer.

 

After the prayer, the Spirit spoke to my heart saying, "Make a demonstration throughout the city. “Usually you can't have that kind of a parade without getting permission from the government. But I said to myself, permission or no permission, we are going to do it because I had received permission from the Lord.

 

I announced my decision to the people. My elders said, "Pastor, please do not do this because from the top of the buildings, the snipers can shoot at us." But I told them that I had prayed and that they did not know that we were prepared for this. If the snipers had of known our plans ahead of time, they could have arranged to be in strategic place, but they had no knowledge of what we were going to do.

 

So, with all kinds of slogans and flags, we marched through the city. When the marchers arrived at Seoul City Hall, still there were people on the Plaza. It was such a long line. The parade was televised all over the country, the newspaper wrote about it. The next day, all the riots stopped. God's power came down and a very peaceful Presidential election was held. The new President was so happy. He really treated me nicely.

 

In 1988, Korea was scheduled to hold the Summer Olympic Games. One again the nation was in trouble. North Korea was very angry. North Korea said, "There is internal division in the country." So every day they spoke against the Olympics through the radio and propagandized South Korea. They sent hundreds of spies to South Korea to agitate the students saying, "There is internal division in the country. This is the plan of the American imperialists. This is the plan of the European imperialists. So you should destroy this idea."

 

This time is was even worse than at the Presidential election. Every day there were burnings. Finally, Mr. Samaranch, president of the Olympic Committee came to Korea and said that should move the games from Korea to another place because it was too dangerous for the athletes and the spectators.

 

The President of Korea asked to come to his palace. He said, "Nobody can handle this situation, but when I was ready to be elected President, you helped me, so please help our country now."

 

Once again, I announced a mass rally. I said, "We will pray for peace at the Olympic Games," This time 600,000 people gathered together at Yoido Plaza and prayed. Through our fervent prayers, all the riots suddenly stopped. As you remember, we had wonderful Olympic games in 1988. There was no shooting, no trouble at all. It was amazing.

 

When you pray, you can move the hand of God, If you don't pray, God will not intervene. God is only intervening in human affairs through your prayers. Whether your problem is big or small, you must pray. By an eternal miracle, God will intervene and solve the problem.

 

Many people instead of resorting to prayer try to solve problems by their own human effort. They get hurt become a hindrance to God's program.

 

THROUGH PRAYER YOU CAN TOUCH ONE ANOTHER:

 

When you want to win a soul to Jesus Christ; first you must have time to pray for that person so that the power of God may have already worked in that heart. God makes no distinction between time and space. Through prayer, you direct God's power to that person or to that area.

 

Many people try to win others at random. You don't have much success in winning souls in this way. Thought the cell system, the cell leaders always should point out one family, and concentrate their prayers on that particular family.

 

I tell my cell groups. You only need to win one family in six months. So take about three months to pray for them. Every time you gather together, pinpoint that family. Call their names out in prayer and direct God's power to that family.

 

Usually, our cell leaders go to that particular home and lay hands on the outside wall of the house, and pray, calling out the names of the persons in that household. After three months of praying, when they visit that home, they have already been broken by the Holy Spirit, and easily accept Christ in to their hearts. So through prayer, you bring the power of God down to a specific person or to a specific area.

 

You break the power of satan. Before you bind the strong man, you are unable to steal his possessions. The devil is a strong man and can hold the people. So, if you, through prayer, bind the strong man, then you can go and deliver the people from his clutch. Prayer is very necessary for evangelism.

 

Many people try to program evangelism. They try to make it successful through their programs. That is a very foolish thing to do. We are not fighting against blood and flesh. We are fighting against spirits.

 

So, if you pray a vague prayer you will have no power. You should have a pin-pointed prayer.

 

When we have prayer in the Olympic Stadium, I always give the subject of prayer: Let us pray for yourself, your family, your church, your nation, your President, reunification, etc. All of these are specific goals. Then God's power will come down and destroy satan and deliver. But if you just say, "Oh, God, bless us," vaguely, how can God bless you? There are 7,000 promises in the Bible. Which one do you want Him to use?

 

Many people have vague faith because they do not have clear-cut goals. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the substance of things. If you don't say clear things, then faith cannot have clear-cut substance. Many people pray very vague prayers. So, they receive a vague answer.

 

If you pray for a clear goal, you will have a clear answer. You cannot have powerful cutting faith without having a clear goal.

 

For a long time I prayed a vague prayer. "Oh, God, bless our nation." What kind of blessing? It is so vague. "Oh God, bless my life." How do you want Him to bless you? Healing, spiritual blessing? You must make your goal very clear. "Father, bless this, this, this.” That is the reason that Jesus always asked a sharp question when the people came to Him.

 

"Son of David, help me." Jesus asked, "What do you want me to do for you?" Blind Bartimaeus came to Jesus. Jesus knew that he was blind. Still, Jesus wanted to make it very clear. "What do you want me to do?" "Sir I want to see." May it be according to your faith." Jesus always wanted people to be clear about their goal so that they would have clear faith.

 

So when you pray, make it very clear what you want. You must make your goal very clear, very definite, so that God's power may be directed toward that goal. God's power can be like a magnifying glass. Concentrate on one point and you can burn that point. But if you just pray all over the world, nothing to be burned.

 

You can bring God's power down through prayer to the specific goal. Make it very specific when you pray. Keep on pounding on that point.

 

Many people try to use beautiful language in their prayers. You don't need to have beautiful language. Just keep praying on one point. Think of the man whose friends came to his house in the middle of the night and he had no bread to give them. He went to his neighbor and said, "Please give me some bread, three loaves of bread so that I may feed my friends who came in the evening. The friend said, "Oh, I and my children are already retired. Come tomorrow. I am not ready to rise up and give you bread." What did his friend say? Did he use all kinds of flowery words? No, the friend only spoke in one shrieking voice, "Give me bread! Give me bread! Give me bread! He did not need any flowery words. He was knocking and pounding upon the door saying the same words over and over.

 

His friend in bed was so harassed that he said, "I would never give you bread because you are my friend, but you are harassing me so much that I will give you some bread to get rid of you."

 

When you pray effectively, you just pound on one point with one phrase over and over again. If you just repeat, then you will lose power. Concentrate with one simple sentence on that point, then you can break the power of satan.