Building Faith through Prayer - Pastor Cho

​"One of the greatest lies of Satan is that we don't have enough time to pray.  However, all of us have enough time to sleep, eat, and breathe.  As soon as we realize that praying is as important as sleeping, eating, and breathing, we will be amazed at how much time will be available to us for prayer." (p. xix)  This is a quote from David Yonggi Cho's book, Prayer That Brings Revival.  I could not let the passing of this man of prayer go by without looking at his life and extracting some of the gems he left to guide us in our walk with the Lord.  Cho died on September 14, 2021, at the age of 85, after spending since July 2020, in the hospital because he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.
 
Raised a Buddhist in South Korea in a poverty-stricken family, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of 19 and given four months to live.  It seems God had other plans and sent a high school girl to visit him daily while he was sick so that she could tell him about Jesus.  Cho watched as she prayed for him and saw tears streaming down her cheeks.  Her act of compassion touched him so much that he agreed to read the Bible.  Jesus met him during his sickness, and he rose from his deathbed within six months. Convinced that Jesus is the only true God, Cho attended the Assemblies of God Bible School and graduated in 1958.  
 
It was Pastor Cho's desire to build the largest church in Korea.  He started small with just a few people.  With no building, he obtained an old American service tent, pitched it next to a dump, and began to pray.  As he specifically verbalized his needs to God, what he described began to come to him.  By 1980 there was a physical building, 150,000 church members, and 10,000 home groups.  His church eventually became the largest church in the world.  On page 113 of his book he writes, "Everyone who is willing to wait upon the Lord can be qualified to carry out the great task before them because the source of their strength is not natural but spiritual."  Indeed, prayer was the foundation of his ministry.  He devoted hours of each day in prayer to the Lord.
 
Since the foundation of his church was prayer, Pastor Cho felt the need to develop a place near the church strictly for prayer and fasting.  Established in 1973, it became known as Prayer Mountain and can accommodate up to 10,000 people.  The site is close to the border of North Korea.  Each year about 100,000 Christians visit Prayer Mountain to pray and fast.  There are 214 individual prayer grottos carved out of the mountainside.  Each grotto is meant for one person and contains only bare essentials—a light and fan.  In addition to the grottos, there are outdoor spaces on the hilltops and chapels where groups of people can pray inside. The constant sound of prayer can be heard all around Prayer Mountain.  Pastor Cho, when asked about the secret to the success of his church exclaimed, "I pray, and I obey.”  Amen! My husband is one of the thousands of Christians who spent time in prayer in one of the grottos.  Not only this, but he also had a personal visit with Pastor Cho who prayed for him.  This humble man has inspired millions of people to devote themselves to prayer.
 
As I read Pastor Cho's story about starting his church in a tent, I thought about Moses, who used to pitch a tent outside the Israelite camp.  (Exodus 33:7)  It was called "The Tent of Meeting" because the Lord met Moses there "face-to-face."  Then, I remembered how Jesus went up on a mountainside to pray and meet with Father God at the end of the day or before ministering. (Matthew 14:23)  Perhaps Pastor Cho was inspired by these stories in the Bible.  He certainly has drawn the multitudes to Jesus.  Another quote from his book, Prayer That Brings Revival, gives Cho's perspective on prayer.  "Prayer creates a personal change in your life.  Nothing you can do will benefit you more than prayer.  Through prayer you create an account balance in your favor in God's spiritual bank.  Through prayer, you will benefit spiritually,  mentally, and physically." (p. 34)  Pastor Cho wrote from experience!
 
We should take heed of Pastor Cho's words of wisdom.  He says, "As air is the breath of life, so prayer is the breath of faith."  We must build our faith through our dedication to prayer.  It is life changing!