Forms of Prayer Concentration

(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)

 

There are many forms of prayer that we can concentrate upon. Here are a few.

 

Free-style prayer:

 

In this prayer form, we just come to the Lord and pray according to the desires of our heart, believing in the Holy Spirit. It is just like taking a walk in the part without having any direction. You can go any place you like.

 

This free-style prayer will bring wonderful fellowship with God, but does not accomplish anything else. You just pray to have fellowship, and fellowship is a wonderful thing. It deepens your spirituality and makes you very near to the Lord. Still, free-style prayer does not accomplish any definite goal.

 

Generally, when you pray in church, it will be a free-style type of prayer. Also, when we gather together and someone stands up to pray, usually it is a free-style prayer. But, if you want to accomplish something you must go beyond free- style praying.

 

Goal-minded prayer:

 

To accomplish something for God, you must have a definite goal in your prayer and attack that goal over and over again much like the Israelites when they marched around those walls of the city of Jericho. The Israelites were going round and round until the wall fell down, all because of a goal-minded prayer.

 

Jesus Christ told us several times about the goal-minded prayer. When the widow was in trouble, she went to the magistrate. He was not concerned about God and human beings. He was nonchalant. He was a very bad judge.

 

The widow went to him over and over again saying: "Avenge me against my enemy." She kept on saying these same words again and again. She just went around the walls of Jericho over and over again until the judge's obstinacy was broken.

 

Finally, the judge said, "I will avenge for her not because I like her, but I am being harassed by her so badly that I cannot stand it any longer." This type of prayer is goal-minded.

 

Jesus used this same expression in another parable. When a man came in the middle of the night and asked his friend for bread, the friend had nothing to give him.

 

So, he went to his neighbor and asked the neighbor to give him three loaves of bread. The neighbor said, “We are retired already. My Children and I are already in bed. Tomorrow morning I will give it to you."

 

But the man kept knocking on the door and would not receive the "no" answer. He persisted in knocking on the door saying, “Give me the bread" until the neighbor rose up out of his bed and gave him the bread.

 

By these teachings, Jesus Christ already asked us to make the goal very clear. Many people are praying in vague terms, but in vague terms, you cannot accomplish anything. When you pray in clear terms over and over again, then God can hear your prayer clearly.

 

For instance, if you need divine healing: such as, if you have cancer, you don't need to say flowery words to the Lord like, "Oh, dear wonderful God, beautiful God, come with Your mighty hand and touch me, heal me, etc."

 

God already knows your situation. God wants the defense line of satan to be broken. So just say, “Heal me, Oh, God, in the Name of Jesus Christ. By His stripes I am healed. So, according to your word, heal me, heal me, heal me, heal me." Say these words over and over a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times until you have victory in your heart.

 

When my second son was poisoned and dying; I was desperate. The doctors had given up hope for him. My son was breathing his last breath. He was covered with sticky death perspiration. What kind of prayer could I pray?

 

I just sat down beside him and prayed, "Revive him, Oh God, in the Name of Jesus Christ according to the promise of God in Mark 16. ‘Nothing shall hurt them that drink poison.' Revive him, revive him."

 

Over and over again for three solid hours I did not say other words because I did not need to. God knew the situation. I just insisted upon my position and said, "Revive him, revive him."

 

After three hours, the wall was broken and I had victory in my heart. Then when I said to my son, "Rise up in the Name of Jesus Christ," he rose up. He was healed and completely delivered from death because he had stopped breathing. He was now completely resurrected.

 

When you hit one goal, you must repeat it over and over again. This is a goal-minded prayer.

 

Many people are not practicing the goal-minded prayer. They pray a little bit, then become jittery and touch here and there. Their prayer becomes so broad that it has no cutting edge at all. To have a cutting edge, you must be clear and concentrate on that prayer. "Oh God, solve this problem" just like the Israelites going around the Jericho wall. They went round and round until the wall came down. That is a goal-minded prayer.

 

Ripple Prayer:

 

When you cast a stone into the water, ripples go out from the center as the stone hits the water. The ripples start in a small ring and the ripple becomes bigger and bigger. When you pray a long prayer, such as a one or two hour prayer, you must have a ripple prayer. This prayer would be much like the one we pray at the Olympic Stadium. You can never lead the people to pray one or two hours without using the ripple prayer system.

 

When you pray a ripple prayer, you must start with yourself. You are the center. The prayer must start from you. First, you pray for yourself. Repent of your sins and come to the Lord. Get right with the Lord. Ask the Lord to bless you.

 

As the ripple becomes bigger, you begin praying for your wife and your children.

 

As the ripple grows larger, you pray for your parents, and your brothers and sisters.

 

The ripple goes further out as you pray for your pastor, for your church, and for your ministry in the church.

Next you pray for your neighbors, your lay people, and your cell members.

 

Then the ripple extends to your city and the leadership within the city.

 

The ripple then extends to praying for your nation, your President, and for the leadership in the government.

 

As the ripple keeps on growing, your prayer goes beyond Samaria. It goes from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria. Then, it goes to the ends of the world.

 

You must plan your praying. If you don't plan, you can't have concerted prayer together with many people. So plan and put a time limit on your praying.

 

Last Friday, I prayed together with our people for 70 minutes, I planned my whole prayer. I wrote down the order of the ripple, so as to keep the time frame; five minutes, ten minutes; five minutes, ten minutes, etc.

 

The leaders should stand up before the people and announce, "We will now pray for this point." So you pray five minutes and then stop their praying. Then you announce the next item to be prayed for. This is the ripples-type of prayer.

 

If you pray like this, then you can have an all-night prayer meeting easily.

 

Many churches, I visit tell me they have all-night prayer meetings, but it is only all-night chatting because they don't like to pray. The minister stands behind the pulpit and talks, and then prays just a little bit. The congregation sings some choruses or a hymn, then the minister talks some more. That is not prayer.

 

When you pray, you must solidly pray through. To do this, the minister should always prepare the ripple prayer. In this way, from step to step the people are able to pray in an orderly manner.

 

If you say, "Let us pray for our nation", people are not concerned too much. You must start from the bull's eye of their interest. First, you must find out what the people are most interested in at that time, and then focus on that as a starting point. From this apex, you can go wider and wider.

 

The Lord's prayer:

 

You know very well that Jesus Christ told us to pray according to The Lord's Prayer. Take phrase after phrase in The Lord's Prayer and pray according to that condition.

 

The Temple Prayer:

 

The prayer I use most is the temple prayer. Every day I use the temple prayer three or four times. Even this morning before I came to this service, I prayed according to the temple prayer. This prayer is so effective, so powerful, and so clear that it is a tremendous blessing.

 

When I was trying to find a way to pray longer, God clearly revealed this temple prayer to me.

 

The most important thing is to pray more than 30 minutes to one hour every day. First, you must get people to pray for at least 30 minutes, then one hour. I say 30 minutes by compromising with Westerners. In the Orient, I say one hour, no compromise. But with Westerners, I give some leniency.

 

In Gethsemane, Jesus commanded His disciples to pray one hour. "Can't you awake one hour with me together in prayer so that you may not fall into temptation?" Since the disciples could not pray for one hour, they fell into temptation. So, one hour is actually the basis for our prayer.

 

How can you pray one hour? If you pray the free-style prayer, you cannot pray for one hour. Usually, people do not have a definite and desperate goal to hit over and over again, and so that is another problem.

 

If you do not pray the ripple prayer every day, it is not very tasty. But the more you pray, the better you feel about the temple prayer.

 

One day, I was praying to the Lord saying, "Oh Lord, now I should know the wonderful forms of prayer so that I can pray over and over again without feeling any fatigue," Like lightning, God said, "Pray according to the temple prayer." Instantly, the whole plan of the temple prayer was revealed to me.

 

During the Old Testament when the Israelites came out of the wilderness, God showed Moses how to build the temple through which the Israelites would come and worship the Lord. God strictly told Moses to build the tabernacle according to the plan, which he saw on Mt. Sinai. So when Moses came down from the mountain, he built a tabernacle in the wilderness.

 

All the Israelites were commanded to come and worship God only at the tabernacle. They were not permitted to worship God outside of the tabernacle.

 

This tabernacle is a definite type of worship, which God wants. God said, "You are the temple of the Holy Ghost. You are the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. The tabernacle has disappeared but now you are the tabernacle. You are the temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells."

 

So when you pray in you temple, your physical being, in your imagination you must go through the tabernacle and worship God according to God's plan.

 

THE BRAZEN ALTAR

 

When you approach the tabernacle, you find the brazen altar where the priest killed the animals, sprinkled the blood, and burned the flesh to forgive the sins of the people. All the people who had committed sin had to bring animals to the tabernacle. As soon as they stepped into the courtyard of the tabernacle they saw the brazen altar where God judged sin by killing the animals. They laid their hand upon the animal and confessed their sins. Then in front of their eyes, the priest killed the animal, sprinkled the blood on the four corners of the altar and then poured out the blood and burned the flesh.

 

This is a type of the cross Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, They all started to worship God at the place of the brazen altar.

 

Likewise, when we pray, we must start from the cross of Calvary. This is a very, very powerful prayer. I always pray according to this tabernacle prayer more than three times a day. This prayer gives me power so that I can easily carry out my ministry among 700,000 people, as well as my foreign mission evangelism.

 

1. Every day you must come to the cross of Jesus Christ as many times as possible. There you worship the Lord. There you see God judging your sin through Jesus Christ. Just as God judged the sin of Israel through the animals, Jesus judges your sin through Jesus Christ. This is a very serious thing.

 

I come to the cross and worship Jesus Christ saying, “Dear Jesus Christ, I worship Your blood. I thank You because Your blood forgave all of my sins. All of the sins that I have committed, and all of the sins which I am going to commit in the future, you have forgiven me eternally."

 

2. Pray this prayer: “Jesus, I worship You because through the blood You have delivered me from the power of satan and the world. You move me to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Now I am living in Your Son's Kingdom through the blood of Jesus Christ."

 

Only the blood can set you free from the chains of satan and the world. Now I have cast out all the influences of satan and worldliness from my life and the Holy Spirit has taken it all out of me. I am living in the kingdom of the beloved Son by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. I am in the Kingdom of the Son of God and the Holy Spirit leads and guides me. Jesus Christ moves me and takes care of me. I praise Him because of the blood.

 

3. I praise the blood of Jesus Christ because that blood declares to me that I was completely freed from all kinds of sickness and infirmity.

 

I pray, "Jesus through the stripes which You received at the courtyard of Pilate, my sickness and diseases have been taken away since 2,000 years ago. By Your stripes, by Your shed blood I am healed. I am healed completely, spirit, soul, and body. I have been healed since 2,000 years ago. I declare that because of the blood of Jesus Christ that Christ's blood speaks better than the blood of Abraham, and so I praise You. I praise You for divine healing through the blood of Jesus Christ."

 

4. Then I pray, “Dear Jesus, through Your blood I have been redeemed from the Adamic curse. Because of Adam the earth was cursed. The earth was to bring forth thistles and thorns. That is the symbol of all the failure in life.

 

Oh God, You took our curse on the cross. Because the Bible says that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law making a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangs upon a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles.

 

So through Your blood I am completely delivered from the curse. I am delivered from failure and poverty. I am free from the curse. I have the blessing of Abraham. I am a blessed person."

 

I very strongly confess the point about being a blessed person because many people are living in failure consciousness. They live in poverty consciousness. Before they get rid of that consciousness, they can never, never move on to Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus was rich but He became poor for you so that you might be rich in Jesus Christ. So you must really saturate your mind with the redemptive blessing of Christ. We should worship Jesus about that point and must declare that point powerfully. You must say: "By His stripes I am healed. By His cross I am delivered from the curse."

 

When you really have the blessing of God in your heart, many times God will perform tremendous miracles in your life. From an unknown source, blessing will flow to you. So you must claim that blessing because you are a blessed people. You are not a cursed people. You are a blessed people so only the blessing will come and dwell with you. The curse will not dwell with you anymore.

 

5. Next I pray, "Dear Jesus, through Your blood I am delivered from death and hell. Jesus, You died and You were resurrected. You conquered death and hell. You brought glory of the kingdom of heaven. By the blood of Jesus Christ I am completely delivered from death and hell and am now living in the glory of Jesus Christ. I am a member of the kingdom of God. I have the eternal kingdom in me so praise God because of the blood. I worship Jesus and praise Him because of the blood."

 

For me, it usually takes five to ten minutes to praise God for the blood. When you really praise the blood of Jesus Christ, you feel so free because the devils all leave. The devil is afraid of the blood of Jesus Christ. So when you really worship the blood of Jesus Christ point by point, the devil leaves and you feel the refreshing presence of the Holy Spirit powerfully in your life.

 

When you worship the blood, you see the devil flee. When you worship the blood, you see the Holy Spirit come and dwell within you. So it is very necessary to start your worship through the blood of Jesus Christ.

 

If you are worshipping without the blood, then that worship is not very powerful. Only the blood opens the door for you to come near to the Lord with boldness. That is the reason in tabernacle worship; God always wanted the people to come to the brazen altar.

 

First offers the sacrifice, then the approach to the Lord. Without sacrifice, you cannot approach the Lord. Jesus Christ offered the eternal sacrifice for us so we don't need to bring any animals. Jesus is our sacrifice, our eternal sacrifice. We worship Him over and over again. By our worship, we are offering sacrifice to Jesus Christ, to our heavenly Father.

 

The Laver

 

In the courtyard, you move from the brazen altar to the laver. The laver is full of water. Before the high priest entered the Holy Place, he washed his hands and feet. He was cleansed and sanctified.

 

After the blood, comes purity and sanctification, so, in my worship as I stand before the laver, I can see water in it.

 

The laver is made of glass. The women had bronze looking glasses, which had been gathered together and melted down to make the laver. This symbolizes that God looks into your consciousness. When you stand before the laver, you see yourself reflected in glass. You are a true being, so confess your sins and wash yourself clean.

 

(1) As I stand before the laver, I pray for God to make me a righteous person because righteousness builds me up. Righteousness builds my church; righteousness builds our society; righteousness builds a nation. If we lose righteousness in our heart, we lose everything. As a minister, when we lose righteousness, we lose our ministry.

 

In a home, if you lose righteousness, the home is broken. In society, if you don't have righteousness, then all kinds of sin and iniquity arises, so society is broken. In the nation, if the leader loses righteousness, and if the leader does immoral kinds of polluted acts, then the whole nation is in disarray.

 

So, I pray, "Oh God, make me righteous through Your grace. Heavenly Father, make me truthful. Please help me not to live in lies. Let me not tell lies. Let me be a truthful person before You and before other people."

 

(2) Then I pray, " Heavenly Father, make me a faithful person; loyal to God. Make me very faithful and loyal to God."

 

When I read in the scriptures about David, I wondered for long time about God saying that David is after My own heart. I said to myself: In the world, I think I am better than David. He committed adultery, and then to hide the adultery, he killed. He committed a most ugly sin. Still, God said, David is after My own heart, and I will fulfill My desire through him. I said, "How come?" Of course, David committed a very, very serious sin, but that is an ethical problem between human beings, but David was definitely faithful to His heavenly Father.

 

Look at the Ten Commandments. Four Commandments are concerning the relationship between God and human beings. Then the other six commandments are moral and ethical commandments. When you commit a moral or ethical sin, God can forgive, but if you sin against God, you are finished. No hope.

 

David committed an ethical sin and confessed, and God forgave him, but David never, never, never committed those sins against God. He kept the first four commandments very seriously. Do not have any other gods before you. Do not bow down to idols. Do not call God's name in vain. Keep the Sabbath day holy. That is a contract between God and human beings. David kept this contract absolutely, without any compromise. That is the reason God loved David.

 

But in ethical and moral things David failed many times. He confessed and God forgave him.

 

So, I pray: "God, let me not break God's Law, so that I will be loved by You. Make me very faithful and loyal, especially as far as the Ten commandments are concerned."

 

(3) Then I go to me personal sanctification. "Father, make me holy and sanctified." If I lose holiness in my life, then I lose respect.

 

Whether you have a big or small church, the church has no policeman or military police, which say, “If you don't obey me, I am going to shoot you with a missile, or I am going to run you over with a tank." No, in church you don't have that kind of thing.

 

You can only rule people at the risk of the people. If people respect you, love you, and then your word has power. Once the people lose respect for you, then you have no power.

 

In my church, I can do tremendous things and our people accept me because they respect me. But if I would ever lose the respect of the people then I would be unable to control my church. This big church would then be in great confusion.

 

If you lose holiness and sanctification in your life, you can never, never receive respect; especially in the kingdom of God. You may be very talented. You may have accomplished tremendous things in the past, but once you lose sanctification, you are finished. This is a very, very serious thing.

 

So, the devil tries his best to tempt ministers and Christians so that they will lose their sanctification. We must pray before the Lord every day because in our own strength, we can never, never live a victorious life. So, we must receive the grace of God every day and pray: "Father, sanctify me. Father, sanctify me in Your power." So, I pray this point every day.

 

Jesus asks us to pray to God, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Every day we must pray this prayer. If you don't pray every day, you are exposed to temptation and an attack of the devil.

 

(4) Then I pray, “Father, give me grace to forgive and love." Sometimes you can forgive, but you can't love. Loving is very difficult. To love you must put yourself on the cross many times.

 

There are many places in the Bible, which say to forgive. When you pray, if you have anything against anyone, forgive.

 

One lady, with facial paralysis, came to me. I had prayed for her many times but nothing happed. She had received medical treatment, but could not be cured. In desperation, she came to me crying, so I prayed with her once more.

 

The Spirit spoke to my heart. I said, "Sister, do you have anything against anybody?" She Said, "Yes, I hate my in-laws; my Father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law. We are all living together as a family, and I serve them like a slave, but they mistreat me. I have deep-seated animosity against them."

 

I said, “You must forgive them." She cried saying, “I can never love any of them. They treat me like a slave. I have done everything for them, but they show me no appreciation. I can't love them."

 

I was shocked. I was at a loss to know what to do. So I prayed “Lord, if I were in her shoes; I would not love the in-laws either. What can I do to help her?"

 

The Spirit spoke to my heart. "Look in the Bible again. I ask you to forgive." I was enlightened. That is right! That is true! So I told Her, “You don't need to love your in-laws, but you should forgive them. After forgiving, if you have any strength left over, then try to love." She wiped the tears from her eyes and smilingly said, "Pastor, I can at least forgive, but I can't love them." "O.K., that is fine, just forgive them."

 

So she prayed, “Father, in the Name of Jesus Christ I forgive my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, I forgive them, so forgive me."

 

As she prayed this prayed, I was looking at her. Suddenly her face was healed. I was shocked to see that forgiveness had such power. Humanly speaking I cannot easily forgive and forget, and so every day I forgive all those who have wronged me in the Name of Jesus Christ.

 

So, every day I pray: “Father, if you give me any more strength, then I will love them." I pray every day for the Father to help me forgive, then help me to love them.

 

(5) Next I pray: "Father, make me a very humble and meek person." Humbleness and meekness are very, very important. When you have a harsh heart:

 

God is not pleased. Many homes are broken because the husband or wife has a harsh heart, and say harsh words.

 

I counsel with young people. I tell them, "Girls, when you marry have a relationship with your date lasting more than six months. Find out if your husband-to-be has a lenient, sweet heart, or a narrow, harsh heart."

 

To the males I say: When you find a wife, don't look at facial beauty. That won't last too long. If that girl has a sweet, soft heart, then the inside beauty increases every day. But if that girl has a harsh heart and attacks her husband every chance, and responds with harsh words, then you are going to live in hell during your marriage."

 

A soft and beautiful heart is very important. I pray: "God, let me be very soft and loving in my heart to my Christians." Many pastors are failing because they are pounding upon their people. They condemn the people and break their spirit. In that way you cannot have a good ministry.

 

I have always been very tender and careful with my people, even if they have been very bad. Some of them really tried to destroy me, but I have been very tenderhearted toward them, loving them. It is not easy. Many times I would have liked to call upon God to send lightning and destroy that person immediately. I say, "God, You store up so much lightning without using it." I feel that kind of spirit in my stomach, but still I must control myself and be tenderhearted and speak kindly.

 

Through that kind of attitude, I can keep the 700,000 people content. We have never had any division at all. We have around 700 elders and 50,000 deacons. You can just imagine how much of a headache I have. I have no time to rest because I have problems coming to me from every direction, but I still should not answer them with harshness in my heart. I should be very sweet, tender and loving.

 

So, I pray every day for God to give me this kind of spirit. If I don't pray, I can't have this kind of heart-attitude. My nature is not sweet. My nature is very judgmental, but God changed my heart through this prayer.

 

(6) Then I pray, "Oh God, help me to live according to the measure of faith that You gave me. Don't make me proud. Make me live according to the measure of faith You gave me."

 

God has given each person a measure of faith. We should know the measure of faith and live according to that measure. We should not go beyond the means we have.

 

Many, many people are discontent because they go beyond the earnings of their salary. They purchase so many things without considering the money they have. In that sense, credit cards are a curse. In using credit cards, payments must ultimately be made. Credit card is very handy to use, but payday comes all too soon. Let me always say, "Let me not use a heavenly credit card." Many people are using a heavenly credit card, beyond their faith.

 

For example, they build a church beyond their financial strength. They become bankrupt. Even in purchasing church facilities, they buy very expensive organs, pianos, PA systems, and used heavenly credit card. Then when they are unable to pay, many of them come to me saying, "Please help me to pay this heavenly credit card." That is my trouble all over Korea.

 

I always say, "Oh God, let me live according to the measure of faith You gave me." Something God gives me a tremendous measure of faith.

 

Recently, a golden opportunity came my way, and I turned it down. The amazing thing was that I could hardly imagine it in my mind but when I was praying, I would have jumped into this situation and accepted this money, but I would have been in deep trouble because I do not know how to use this money. I would have been so swamped by the work that this entailed that I would have no time to carry out my worldwide evangelism. I should build a university. I should build a big hospital. I should build an old-folks home. I should build some special facility.

 

For 20 years, I have been involved in building. All through my life, I have been building: church, prayer mountain, etc. These items take a tremendous amount of strength out of you. You can't have peace because nowadays people are cheating so much in the technical world, in construction. If you don't pay close attention every moment, people will cheat you and it becomes costly, so you are living in the present tense and you have constant indigestion. You should carry "Tums" every place. (Tums is a medication for an upset stomach.)

 

Think of this. In my prime time, I am carrying out world evangelization. If I have that much money, I should spend it. I can't put that money in the bank. To spend that money, I would be bound in Korea, carrying out the tremendous work this project would involve. I would just waste the rest of my life on the construction site.

 

So, God gives me wisdom to turn down propositions. If I could share that money with others; I would accept it, but they would not agree to this: "You, and alone must use this money," they told me.

 

So, I finish my prayer of sanctification at the laver in this way.

 

GOLDEN CANDLESTICK

 

After the sanctification process, I march into the Holy Place. As soon as I enter the Holy Place, on the left side is a seven-branched golden candlestick, As I stand before the golden candlestick, it is shining in the Holy Place. In the Holy Place, there is no other light shining expect this one.

 

As we step into God's Holy Place, we should never let any light come in except the light of the Holy Place. In knowing the Bible, you can't have any light of archaeology, philosophy or history, etc. In the Holy Place, never let any sunlight comes in. Only the golden candlestick shines in the Holy Place.

 

As far as God's work is concerned, we must only depend upon the Holy Spirit. You should not depend upon your education, theology, philosophy or history. That kind of thing destroys the revelation of God.

 

So I stand before the candlestick and pray this way: "Dear Holy Spirit, I recognize You. I welcome You. I adore You. Thank you for being in my life. You are my Senior Partner. You are the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. You are Spirit of wisdom. You are Spirit of understanding. You are Spirit of counseling. You are Spirit of power. You are Spirit of revelation of the Word of God. You are the Spirit of reverence, which give me power to reveal God. So help me now. I cannot do anything without Your anointing. I depend upon You. I worship You. I thank You."

 

One Baptist minister strongly protested to me saying, “When I listen to your lecture I feel red light appear in my heart." I responded, “I have a full green light in my heart." "No," he said, "I have a red light." I asked, "How come?" He said, "Throughout my theological training, I have never been taught to pray to the Holy Spirit. I was only taught to pay to God and to His Son, Jesus Christ, But I was never taught to pray to the Holy Spirit." I said, "You are foolish because in your case, God is not the Triune God: God is the Father, God is the Son, and God is the Holy Spirit. They are all God."

 

Moreover, Jesus asked us to pray to the Holy Spirit. In the Bible, you will read that Jesus Christ asked His disciples to pray to the lord of the Harvest to send more laborers. Clearly, Jesus was not the Lord of the harvest. He would have chosen the laborers Himself, but Jesus prayed to the Lord of Harvest so that He would send more laborers. Jesus was not the lord of the Harvest, and the heavenly Father was clearly not the Lord of the Harvest.

 

Then in Arts 14, you read that the Antioch Church with Paul and Barnabas was gathered together fasting and praying. The Spirit spoke, "Choose Paul and Barnabas for My work." Ministry is the work of the Holy Spirit.

 

So, the laborers to work in the harvest were chosen by the Holy Spirit: “Choose Paul and Barnabas for my work." The work of the harvest belongs to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Lord of the Harvest. So Jesus prayed to the Lord of the Harvest, the Holy Spirit, so that He may thrust in more laborers.

 

Moreover, when you read first Corinthians 12:13, you see where you can have fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Without talking to one another, it is impossible to have fellowship. Fellowship is very important.

 

I am trying to learn French because I want to have fellowship with the French people. I don't think that I would ever fluently preach in French. However, when I go to France and preach, afterwards all the old gentlemen, ladies and sick people come up and want to personally talk with me. If I don't talk back to them, we have no fellowship.

 

The same thing was true of Japan. When I first went to Japan, I could not speak any Japanese. When I preached in English, all the Japanese grandmothers, grandfathers and sick people would come up and talk in Japanese to me. I just stood there. There was no fellowship. I was treated as a foreigner. I was not one of them.

 

I started studying the Japanese language very hard. Then I was given the ability to speak Japanese fluently. What a time of fellowship I have now. I could talk with the Japanese. I could cry with them. I could touch them. I could pray with them in the Japanese language. We could have deep fellowship together. I was loved very much. The Japanese treated me as one of their own.

 

Learning a language is very important. You must know how to communicate with people. If you don't talk to the Holy Spirit, you will be a stranger to Him. The Holy Spirit with be a stranger to you. The Bible very clearly commands us to have fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

 

When I stand before the golden candlestick, I pray to Holy Spirit. "I love You. I admire You. I depend upon You. I can't handle this situation. You are the One who has all the power. Let's go together. Let's go, dear Holy Spirit."

 

Even today before I came here, I said to the Holy Spirit, "Let's go, dear Holy Spirit. I am going to lecture to these brethren who came from foreign countries. Let's go together."

 

THE SHEWEREAD

 

When I finish my worship in front of the golden candlestick, I turn to the right side where the showbread is. Every morning, steaming hot showbread is spread before God. Fresh showbread is placed on this table every day.

 

Showbread is a symbol of the Word of God. You can't live with yesterday's Word of God. You may say, "Yesterday I studied so much that today I can live on that study." No, every day fresh new streaming showbread must be spread. Every day you must have a new revelation of God in your heart. You must read the Word of God every day. I say to the Lord "Lord, I envy the Word of God. I admire and love the Word of God. I long after the Word of God. I read, I study, I believe, I act, I thank you and I want to teach this Word of God. So, Lord, give me a new, fresh revelation in my heart. My heart is panting for the Word of God. Please give me a new revelation."

 

When I pray this way, God always give me a revelation. I have been in my ministry for 38 years but even now. I struggle for the next Sunday's message. My wife did not understand my heart. She says, "You have been ministering for 38 years. When you open your mouth, the Word of the God just flows out of your mouth, so why do you worry?" I answered, "You don't really understand me."

 

I am dying every week for a new message. For 38 years I have been dying for the message. God would not give two or three messages at one time. God only gives me daily bread—weekly messages. So I am forced to pray every week for the message. Every week I cry, and then God gives me the message from the Word of God.

 

It is not easy to receive the Word of God. Many people are failing in their ministry because they are presenting a stale message and so people cannot eat. But, if the pastor really prays and brings a steaming, fresh, delicious, juicy message from the word of God, then people would come to his church.

 

So, don't live upon old bread. Always ask God to give you new bread daily.

 

INCENSE ALTAR

 

When I come to the center, there is the incense altar. They burned incense here 24 hours a day. The sanctuary was filled with incense. The incense is praise and prayer to the Heavenly Father.

 

I come to this place and pray, “I really appreciate You. You delivered me from sin. You delivered me from worldliness. You delivered me from sickness. You delivered me from the curse. You delivered me from death. You are the God who is the foundation of my life. You are the purpose of my life. You are the value of my life. You are the hope of my life. You are the joy of my life. I worship you, the God who created the heaven and the earth and all things in them. I worship You. I thank You."

 

I sing praises to the Lord, then I speak in tongues for a long time. When you can't express yourself in your known language, the best way is to revert to tongues. When I come to the Heavenly Father at the incense altar, I speak in tongues for about 20 or 30 minutes. That helps me.

 

ARK OF THE COVENANT

 

Now, I see the curtains part. When Jesus Christ said, "It is finished", the veil between the Holy of Holies and the Holy place was torn apart. God opened up the Holy of Holies and invited people to come in. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, we can now enter the Holy of Holies where God's throne is.

 

I walk into the Holy of Holies and see the Shekinah glory. I see the throne of God, I see the ark of the covenant.

 

In the Old Testament, God gave the ark of the covenant. Once a year the high priest brought the blood and sprinkled it on top of the golden plates of the ark of the covenant. That purchased Israel one whole year as God's chosen people. Notice one point very clearly. The high priest would come and make a yearly covenant with God. Through the sprinkled blood, God chose Israel as a chosen nation for one more year, but that blood only covered one year.

 

When the Israelites personally committed any sin, then they should come to the brazen alter and offer the element of blood every time. That was a personal relationship between them and God.

 

But as a nation, the high priest would come and make a covenant with the blood.

 

Jesus Christ shed His blood and sprinkled His blood on that Golden plate in the Holy and Holies. The blood of Jesus is eternal, and His covenant is eternal. So when you cast the blood of Christ Jesus, your salvation is eternal. You are eternally forgiven. You are eternally declared righteous. You are eternally saved. You are eternally blessed. That is the different between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

 

In the Old Testament, through the blood covenant the people were beloved by God for one year. Every year, freshly, the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies and renew the covenant with the blood of animals. We don't need to do that now.

 

Jesus Christ went once, and His covenant is eternal; His sacrifice is an eternal sacrifice; His blood is eternal blood. So Jesus went in to the Holy of Holies for us. He made a new covenant with God, and that covenant covers eternity; from eternity to eternity.

 

Whosoever trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ is covenanted with God eternally. The covenant is forgiving your sins without setting any conditions. That makes you righteous without any conditions. That gives you salvation without any conditions. All you have to do is believe in God.

 

When you sin, then every day you must confess your sins. That is your permanent relationship between God and you. Through Christ's sacrifice in the Holy of Holies through the blood, you are eternally saved. If you don't renew your fellowship with God, every day confessing your sins, then you will not have intimate fellowship with God. This is very, very serious.

 

When I was born into my family, I was born and named Cho. That is all. I can't become Kim again. I was born in Cho's family so I am Cho. That cannot change. Still I must obey my parents to have fellowship with them. If I don't have fellowship with them, even though I am Cho, they won't give me any other thing. They feed me, but they won't answer my other requests. When I have good fellowship with them, then they give me everything, but if I don't have fellowship, then they won't always help me.

 

Through Jesus we are saved, but every day we must confess our sins and keep in good fellowship with Jesus Christ.

 

When I come to the Holy of Holies and see the blood on the ark of the covenant, I am in the presence of God. I am right in front of the throne of God. There I pray all the things I want to receive from the Lord and thank Him for them. I pray, "I am eternally forgiven. I am eternally declared righteous. I am eternally saved. I am eternally blessed by His blood covenant. I thank you dear Heavenly Father. I am now Your family member with my Father. I am His child and I have joy in the triune God. I am living in the Holy of Holies. Father, now I have many requests. I want You to hear them and help me."

 

So you come all the way through to the presence of God. There you can spend many hours if you would like to offer your heart to the Lord. Many people, when they come into the presence of God, just want ask Him to do things of them. But it takes a long procession through: The brazen altar, the laver, the golden candlestick, though the showbread, through the incense altar, then into the Holy of Holies. This is the process to approach the Heavenly Father. To approach the Heavenly Father, you must take the time to go through this procession step by step.

 

Every morning it takes me one hour to pray according to this Tabernacle Prayer. When I have finished this prayer, I feel the fullness of the Holy Spirit. During the Daytime, after lunch, I pray according to the Tabernacle Prayer In the evening before I retire, I again pray according to the Tabernacle Prayer.

 

This prayer is according to God's plan, and God clearly accepts the prayer offered through this Tabernacle Prayer. So, I am convinced in my heart this prayer gets results. I don't worry about regular prayer.

 

Generally, we who live in the middle class don't have very many things to ask of God. We have clothing. We have food. We have a home. We have a family.

 

So, when you want to pray more than one hour, you don't have any words to say. My people say, "Pastor, when I pray for ten minutes, then I have nothing left to speak." I ask them, "what do you do then?" "I only say, hallelujah, hallelujah." That is not prayer. That is praise. Praise is good, but still you must pray to release your spirit.

 

You must learn a definite way to approach God and repeat that prayer form again and again. I call this prayer the jogging course. We invent many prayers along the jogging course: (1) Free Prayer, (2) Goal-minded Prayer, (3) Ripple Prayer, (4) The Lord's Prayer, (5) The Tabernacle Prayer.

 

When you jog, you must know the course ahead, and then you can jog properly for 30 minutes, one hour, two hours or three hours, etc. So when I pray, this Tabernacle Prayer becomes the center. Then I run through this Tabernacle Course in prayer, and it takes one hour. If I want to pray another hour, I add The Lord's Prayer. Then, when I want to pray another hour, I pray Relationship Prayer, but this takes too long to explain at this time

 

So, I just add many forms of prayer and can pray one hour, two hours, three hours, four or five hours. However, if you don't have these definite prayer forms, you are confused and can't pray well. By understanding all the forms of prayer, you can add one prayer form to another.

 

DAVIDJOR77@GMAIL.COM

David Jor