Gaining Inspiration From His Journey of Personal Encounter With The Lord

For a time in my spiritual journey, I was fascinated by Dr. David Yonggi Cho’s ministry.  The prayer life that he received was gigantic.  Coming from a Buddhist family he was particularly influenced by his mother’s prayer life and learned to pray from an early age.  He was afflicted by Polio while in his teens and when nothing seemed to work he gained the power to pray deep and long until the Lord completely cured him.  He had a personal encounter with Lord Jesus and accepted him as his personal Savior.  He was completely convinced that Jesus could do absolutely everything for him including giving him money. 

As he started growing intimacy with the Lord in his prayer life, he started gaining compassion for those who were needy and suffering.  He never felt that it was his duty to help others.  Jesus never demands that we must go and help others for he is a loving and gentle God.  His desire is first for us to get completely whole.  He never wants us to preach the gospel out of our lack.  He does not demand that we must go to extremes and suffer on his behalf.  When I myself consecrated and gave myself all for him, it was his power working in me.  I never ever felt poor during that time, for Jesus was my wealth.  He provided me miraculously for every need of my ministry and often used my skills for earning the money that I required for a particular moment in my ministry. 

Going back to Dr. David Yonggi Cho – he was very purposeful in his prayer with the Lord, particularly in the morning.  He would have personal conversations with the Lord and the Lord filled him with compassion for others.  As a result, whenever Pastor Yonggi Cho visited homes, their lives were instantly transformed in every area starting from health.  He did not have to coerce others to give him money neither did he have to look around for money using his mind as he was always mingled with the Spirit of the Lord.  When we are mingled with the Spirit of the Lord one of his traits will appear in us: peace, joy, calmness, courage, faith, patience, forbearance, inner power- all this appears when we are in mingled spirit.  Above all when we enjoy the all-inclusive Christ we are able to love others taking in their all.  This became increasingly evident in Dr. Yonggi Cho.  I believe, he was particularly blessed with an inner spiritual strength that gave him robust health to withstand the demands of a ministry as well as a very clear mind.

Above all Dr. Yonggi Cho was obedient to the directives given by the Holy Spirit for he knew how to wait on the Holy Spirit and be guided by it.  Simply a high level of anointing was not enough for him, he wanted to be obedient to the Holy Spirit.  Instead of his own wisdom and ability he surrendered all his natural strengths and was prepared to be directed by the Holy Spirit.  He learned to wait patiently to hear the guidance of the Holy Spirit and only then He took major decisions related to all areas of His life.

As a result, he was able to grow in different areas of his life on the physical plane.  From small family gatherings, he was able to develop them into complex administrative structures where he was guided and controlled by various bodies with administrative heads.  All this emerged from his prayer life for he was willing to take on more and more responsibilities for His glory.

Dr. Yonggi Cho in particular had a heart for the youths and he even brought people off the streets.  His organization literally gave showers to street dwellers, provided shelter, and conducted job-related skill training and of course study of the Bible.

Dr Yonggi Cho’s ministry is a great witness of the move of the Holy Spirit and how precise as well as organized the leading of the Holy Spirit can be.  For this to take place all the other pastors and staff under him were ardent prayer warriors.

I have been blessed to attend his main church in Seoul, visit the Prayer Mountain, and also was honored with an invitation for lunch by a group of women from his ministry.  These women were very special.  They were prayerful and managed between home and business activities. 

The crying, complaining, and judging of one another that are among us in our Bengali Christian community was not evident.  This is because their prayers are precise and straightforward forward reaching the Heavens through His Son in a straight forward and precise manner.  There seemed to be a general awareness of physical, emotional, and mental health that can be all brought together with a proper spiritual diet even to this date in any region across the globe.  This requires a precise and intentional frame of mind.

India is now in extraordinary times.  The whole country is now in an upward movement of development baffling the rest of the world and so the times demand of us, that we all consciously participate in this momentum and for this, we have to live at a much greater level of self and social awareness.  It’s high time we didn’t take the media and newspapers in complete seriousness.  We simply need to take a cursory glance over them but in actual fact, we must focus on our own development and those He has given us for stewardship. This is required for our own survival and to leave behind a legacy instead of dead works.

Last but not least Dr. David Yonggi Cho realized the importance of money for life and living.  However, when he started getting attached to money, trouble started in his life and that of his family.  This happened much later in his life and in his ministry. This simply is a pointer to the fact that understanding money is not to be taken lightly at any stage of our lives. We need a much greater understanding of the role that money plays in our lives.  My own money journey has been long and it has been a journey of being indifferent to it, learning about it, and encouraging my children to learn about it.  Long story short, I feel that all pastors must learn about money and its stewardship.

This personal writing would be incomplete without the mention of the Tabernacle Prayer which is found on YouTube in which Dr. David Yonggi Cho shares how he used to meet with the Lord during his prayer time every morning, bringing ALL his burden at the feet of Jesus.  Out of this sprouted his miraculous life and he learned to live miraculously.

So, if anyone wants to gain a miraculous life full of blessings and abundance, don’t look at others or on Social Media for confirmation all the time as they can be mere illusions.  Learn to enjoy a miraculous life in your daily living.  Make this your priority and live out your own extraordinary life out of humility and surrender to the Almighty through washing and cleansing by the blood of His Son.