MOTIVATION TO PRAY
By W. G. Guy
This article is a personal testimony of what I observed concerning prayer when I was ministering in South Korea in the late 1970’s. After arriving in the city of Teajon, which is about 70 miles south of the capital Seoul, we held our first meeting at a Methodist Church that evening. We were sitting on the platform while the pastor did the welcoming and introduction, and I noticed on the podium a chrome bell. This is the kind that sits on a desk that can be rung to get someone’s attention by hitting the little button stem on top. Curious, why was there a bell on the podium? I soon found out!
After the welcome and introductions the pastor called the church to pray. I have never experienced such prayer in any church. Everybody prayed; and very loud; it was a roar of prayers from the entire congregation. Then after several minutes of great prayer, the pastor raises his hand and brings it down hard on the little chrome bell. “DING” went the bell and everyone stopped praying; and it got so quiet.
Without going into any detail of the marvelous success we had while ministering throughout that region of South Korea, I do want to point out that I saw a similar bell on the podium of every church I ministered in: Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Four Square, etc. And they all prayed with such fervor. I was impressed!
Then the next thing that stood out was that every morning at 4:00AM the church bells began ringing throughout the city. I asked our crusade coordinator, who was the director of Youth For Christ, why do the church bells ring at 4:00AM every morning? He proceeded to the story behind the bells, a story that goes back before World War II.
Most of us are unaware how horrible things were for Korea in the 1930’s when the Japanese Empire set out to conquer most of Asia. The Japs took over Korea and subjugated their citizens with brutal force, just like they did in China. Before arriving in South Korea I looked into some of the history of the persecution of the Christians in Korea back then. There was a strong Christian influence in Korea due the tireless work of evangelizing missionaries years previously; particularly by the Four Square Church.
One account I read about was how the Japs worked to destroy the church and I was really impressed at what I discovered. The Jap soldiers would assemble all the members of a church and instructed them to denounce Jesus. They lined them up and then went down the line, one by one, with a large framed picture of Jesus Christ. Each Christian was told to spit on the picture of Jesus showing their denial of Him. Failure to do so would result in that person being executed by being shot in the head.
Matthew 10:22, 28 – And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. ….And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:32-34 – Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Unfortunately, fear prevailed on many of the church members, and they did as they were told, and spit on the image of Christ. Then the soldiers came to a teenage girl and put the picture in front of her instructing her to spit on Christ. Instead of spiting on the picture, she used her long black hair to wipe off the accumulated sputum from the picture; then she put the picture of Jesus to her face and gave it a big kiss. Moments later she had the blessed opportunity to give a big kiss to the King of Kings in person as her captors shot her in the head.
The Korean Christians were forbidden to attend church or have any kind of gatherings. Eventually, Japan assigned an army General as Provost Marshall over Korea to govern that nation. He did not appear to have a huge concern about the Korean church. Eventually a group of pastors approached him asking for permission open their churches for prayer. He told them He did not care if they did; however, he said that neither he nor any of his soldiers were to observe them in or going to church.
These pastors asked what time the soldiers got up every day, and they were told the Jap army arose at 5:00AM. So the pastors set 4:00AM for the believers to come to church for prayer, they earnestly needed God’s help to endure and overcome the affliction that Japan had laid upon them. The 4:00 AM call to prayer has continued daily since before WWII.
As a result of such earnest prayer, South Korea was well blessed with the gospel message and the church became strong in that nation. In fact, during the 1970’s, the world’s largest church was located in Seoul, South Korean; I know as I got to be in it.
The lesson that needs to be learned here is the importance, and lasting influence of earnest prayer. The Korean people were MOTIVATED by dire circumstances. It is those kinds of possible circumstances we may soon face that need to get the church in America to pray like that? How about your prayer life? Would you be motivated to pray earnestly if you found yourself in such an adverse situation? Can you pray earnestly without being in dire circumstances?
Please engage in earnest prayer without the need to be so severely motivated – before you may have to!
By W. G. Guy
This article is a personal testimony of what I observed concerning prayer when I was ministering in South Korea in the late 1970’s. After arriving in the city of Teajon, which is about 70 miles south of the capital Seoul, we held our first meeting at a Methodist Church that evening. We were sitting on the platform while the pastor did the welcoming and introduction, and I noticed on the podium a chrome bell. This is the kind that sits on a desk that can be rung to get someone’s attention by hitting the little button stem on top. Curious, why was there a bell on the podium? I soon found out!
After the welcome and introductions the pastor called the church to pray. I have never experienced such prayer in any church. Everybody prayed; and very loud; it was a roar of prayers from the entire congregation. Then after several minutes of great prayer, the pastor raises his hand and brings it down hard on the little chrome bell. “DING” went the bell and everyone stopped praying; and it got so quiet.
Without going into any detail of the marvelous success we had while ministering throughout that region of South Korea, I do want to point out that I saw a similar bell on the podium of every church I ministered in: Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Four Square, etc. And they all prayed with such fervor. I was impressed!
Then the next thing that stood out was that every morning at 4:00AM the church bells began ringing throughout the city. I asked our crusade coordinator, who was the director of Youth For Christ, why do the church bells ring at 4:00AM every morning? He proceeded to the story behind the bells, a story that goes back before World War II.
Most of us are unaware how horrible things were for Korea in the 1930’s when the Japanese Empire set out to conquer most of Asia. The Japs took over Korea and subjugated their citizens with brutal force, just like they did in China. Before arriving in South Korea I looked into some of the history of the persecution of the Christians in Korea back then. There was a strong Christian influence in Korea due the tireless work of evangelizing missionaries years previously; particularly by the Four Square Church.
One account I read about was how the Japs worked to destroy the church and I was really impressed at what I discovered. The Jap soldiers would assemble all the members of a church and instructed them to denounce Jesus. They lined them up and then went down the line, one by one, with a large framed picture of Jesus Christ. Each Christian was told to spit on the picture of Jesus showing their denial of Him. Failure to do so would result in that person being executed by being shot in the head.
Matthew 10:22, 28 – And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. ….And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:32-34 – Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Unfortunately, fear prevailed on many of the church members, and they did as they were told, and spit on the image of Christ. Then the soldiers came to a teenage girl and put the picture in front of her instructing her to spit on Christ. Instead of spiting on the picture, she used her long black hair to wipe off the accumulated sputum from the picture; then she put the picture of Jesus to her face and gave it a big kiss. Moments later she had the blessed opportunity to give a big kiss to the King of Kings in person as her captors shot her in the head.
The Korean Christians were forbidden to attend church or have any kind of gatherings. Eventually, Japan assigned an army General as Provost Marshall over Korea to govern that nation. He did not appear to have a huge concern about the Korean church. Eventually a group of pastors approached him asking for permission open their churches for prayer. He told them He did not care if they did; however, he said that neither he nor any of his soldiers were to observe them in or going to church.
These pastors asked what time the soldiers got up every day, and they were told the Jap army arose at 5:00AM. So the pastors set 4:00AM for the believers to come to church for prayer, they earnestly needed God’s help to endure and overcome the affliction that Japan had laid upon them. The 4:00 AM call to prayer has continued daily since before WWII.
As a result of such earnest prayer, South Korea was well blessed with the gospel message and the church became strong in that nation. In fact, during the 1970’s, the world’s largest church was located in Seoul, South Korean; I know as I got to be in it.
The lesson that needs to be learned here is the importance, and lasting influence of earnest prayer. The Korean people were MOTIVATED by dire circumstances. It is those kinds of possible circumstances we may soon face that need to get the church in America to pray like that? How about your prayer life? Would you be motivated to pray earnestly if you found yourself in such an adverse situation? Can you pray earnestly without being in dire circumstances?
Please engage in earnest prayer without the need to be so severely motivated – before you may have to!
