Throughout my spiritual journey, I have met many fabulous preachers and magnificent praise teams. Meeting each one of them was such a blessed experience for me. However, the worships that changed my life were far from such splendors. I realized that regardless of anything else, the most important thing during worship was the heart of worshipers.
During high school, I met a preacher who changed my life. At the time, I was at a prayer house (a place where Christians gather to pray in Korea) and was fatigued from fasting at the place. The preacher was just one of the many other preachers who had come to visit; he was not a well-known, famous preacher, but rather an assistant preacher (Jundosa-nim) who stuttered a lot when he spoke. Moreover, the Bible verse he was to preach about was one I had already known by heart, and thus my expectations were pretty low. In fact, due to my exhaustion, I was planning to skip this worship service and just attend the evening one. However, as I sat lying down on my bed in the dorm downstairs, I heard God speaking softly to me three times. “Go upstairs to the (sanctuary)”, “Go to the front of the (sanctuary)”, and “Kneel down”. I submitted to God’s calling. I knelt down in front of the sanctuary and listened to the sermon of the assistant preacher. As I started to pray after the sermon, the Holy Spirit deeply touched my heart, and I experienced God’s amazing grace.
In another episode, I visited the Jesus abbey (a Chrisitian community in Korea) and met a well-known priest whose name was Reuben Archer Torrey ш (His Korean name is DaChunDuk). There, I listened to his sermon for the very first time. Although he had been living in Korea for many years, his Korean still had awkwardness to it. However, the very first line of his sermon, which was influenced by an English accent and ‘L’ pronunciation, was engraved deeply into my soul.“Don’t follow the ways of this world.” I needed no explanation. The Holy Spirit planted that first line into my soul.
I also remember the time when I joined the “Youth With a Mission Group” retreat in Korea. The preacher there was Floyd McClung, and his English sermons were translated into Korean live. I still clearly remember each of his words and gestures. From early morning quiet time(QT) till bedtime, I was able to feel God taking hold of me and leading me all day long. It was a retreat that changed my life.
From these series of experiences, I was able to clearly learn one thing: a worship happens between just God and I. God surpasses language and circumstances, and what matters most is the heart of the worshiper.
Thinking back, the prayer house where I stayed fasting for a few of days in my highschool years; the Jesus Abbey I visited in my busy college years traveling deep into the mountain (GangWon-Do); and the “Youth With a Mission Group” retreat I prepared for with many hours of prayer— in all these places, my sincere heart for God was there. So God came to see me in these places. For this, He used an assistant preacher who stuttered, He used a foreign preacher who spoke awkward Korean, and He used an English preacher when I could not speak English well. Worship is a personal encounter with God. And worships like these where my heart met with the heart of God changed my life.
Following the shepherd…
Pastor JiWon Choi.