My husband and I (and some brethren from our church) went on ‘a trip of a lifetime’, as they say. We went to South Korea and Japan. These are countries in the far east with different cultures and attitudes to life than what we were used to. These are very beautiful and clean countries. They both suffered a lot in the past from terrible wars. Many people died! But after much pain they decided to rise again ‘from the ashes’ of sufferings. Most of their development is recent. Together as a people, they decided to leave the ugly past behind and to move on! This is a good story for any person, family or country!
(Just a note: I live in Nigeria. I love Nigeria! My husband and I are pastors in Nigeria. I am not saying that these countries are better than Nigeria. They are just different. As I do not compare people, I also do not compare countries. Each place on earth, each tribe, family and people are uniquely created by the same God. The political, religious and cultural systems may be different but people are people everywhere. Some are good and some are bad. That is the truth!)
After a long flight, we arrived in Seoul on a Saturday. The next day we attended the third service at the famous Yoido Full Gospel Church. (Each Sunday they have seven services.) This is a Pentecostal church affiliated with the Assemblies of God in Seoul, South Korea. With about 800,000 active members it is the largest Pentecostal Christian congregation in South Korea and one of the biggest in the world. Founded by David Yonggi Cho in 1958, the church is presently led by Young Hoon Lee. The building is large enough to seat 12,000 people, with overflow sent to the nearby buildings, where congregants watch events in the main church on telescreens.
We sat at the special place given to foreigners. The sermon was in Korean. They gave us earphones and we listened to the sermon translated in English. They were more old people in the congregation than young. Of course, this is very different than in Nigeria where I am a pastor. The praise session was good. There was a big choir who sang hymns in Korean. The worshippers sang with all their hearts. The presence of the Holy Spirit was evident. The sermon was also good. It was preached by Pastor Y. H. Lee with boldness and anointing. He has a very good tenor voice. From time to time he stopped the preaching to praise God with songs. I especially loved a chorus about our Salvation in Christ. “For I dream that at last I shall look on His face! Oh, this wonderful dream is a secret of grace!” Well said!
The sermon was inspired from the Book of Jeremiah 29. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer 29:11-13). Pastor Lee encouraged all people to seek God until He is found. He led the congregation in prayers for the peace and the prosperity of their country. We observed that the people in Seoul have quite a high level of anxiety concerning their future. Many are on antidepressants, the pastor said. This stress is mostly because of the threat coming from their neighbor, North Korea. Technically, the two Koreas are still at war. The pastor directed their attention to God who alone can protect them. At the end of the service we went with other ‘first timers’ to be greeted by their protocol staff. It was a good Sunday service!
Each time we travel we miss the church services at home. But we know that it is good to visit other assemblies in other parts of the world. The language, the way of dressing and the style of service may be different, but The Spirit and the Body of Christ is One! Praise the Lord!
May God bless the people of North and South Korea! May they come to know the Lord Jesus Christ! May there be peace and prosperity in that region of the world! May God bless the true brethren in these countries! In Jesus’ name! Amen!
(I took some pictures of the church and of the congregation during the service. One of the brethren took a picture of my husband and I as we listened to the sermon. These are memories we shall treasure for a lifetime)

The welfare state is a form of government in which the state protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of the citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for citizens unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life. It is part of democratic or capitalistic form of government. The duty of the Government is to protect and provide for its citizens. The Government builds schools, roads, pays police. This help is for the benefit of all and not for private citizens. Child of God, no government will help you dream and sponsor your dream for a better life. That personal dream is given to you by God! It must be fulfilled by you, working hard, and with the help of God! As salvation is personal so the blessings of God are personal. The Government of any nation does not invest in personal dreams. That is the work of God!

The effects of being on welfare:
*Poverty is a cycle. It must be broken. If not, it will continue!
*Being on welfare is a trap. It affects the spirit negatively. The earlier you go back to work, the better!
*There is a connection between welfare dependency and psychological distress. Even being a short time on welfare has a long-time effect upon the recipients. For many years they feel poor, anxious and guilty. They blame themselves for their poverty; they have inferiority complexes, low self-esteem. This feelings affect the women more than the men!
*Being on a welfare status affects the children. The children too have low self-esteem. They are afraid to dream for a better life; they have less desire to go to school; they want to experience sex early; they want to marry early, be pregnant early (even out of wedlock). When the children are small, they do not know the difference. But when they are in middle school, they start comparing themselves with other children from homes where the parents work and have money and time to take the children to school or after school activities. That is when the inferiority complexes start. The parents who work take interests in their children. They help them to dream imaging a better future. They encourage their children by sponsoring their dreams. But in welfare homes, the parents discourage the children to dream because they cannot afford the money to sponsor. Dreams for a better life seem like a luxury they cannot afford.

The children who grow up in homes who depend on welfare are 3 times more likely to end on welfare themselves when they become adults. ‘Welfare attitude’ is addictive. Many of the children from homes depending of welfare end having low paid jobs, troubled by what is called ‘poverty mentality’. Living ‘from hand to mouth’ kills the creative spirit in the children. Even when they have money later, they still feel poor and ugly. May God help us!

My prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, we pray for mercy and wisdom from You. We ask for forgiveness for indulging in a poverty mentality, in a beggarly attitude. We ask for forgiveness for allowing doubt to dictate our destiny. We ask for the grace of a new beginning. We destroy the connection with the demonic negative mind sets! May we be free from demonic poverty and occult hopelessness. We break the comfort zone of just surviving. We ask for the blessing of living godly and abundantly! We bless our children. May their lives be better than ours! May their God given dreams come true! We plead the Blood of Jesus upon our lives, marriages and children! We shall not beg for bread! Our children shall not beg for bread to eat! God give us good business and the strength to work hard with our hands! Holy Spirit please come and take control! We vow to give You alone all the glory for the promised miraculous provision and prosperity! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen!

“I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed” (Ps 37:25, 26)

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul…” (Ps 23:1-3)

A sheep that has rolled over on its back is called a “cast sheep’. It can’t get up because its center of gravity is off, sometimes because it’s pregnant or simply because it has a full fleece. Once fallen, a cast sheep tries to restore itself back on its feet. But it is not easy. The sheep then panics, cries for fear and waste more energy. The gasses start to build up in the abdomen and it can die in a matter of hours. A wild animal can come and kill the defenseless sheep. Most of the times, the sheep is not be able to get up without assistance. That is why the shepherd must be very observant to know when a sheep is missing. It is the shepherd or his trained dogs that can turn a cast sheep back on its feet. The process seems rough, but it saves the sheep’s life. Once the sheep stands, she still needs to be supported for few minutes. The shepherd holds it between his legs until it stops shaking, until the fear is gone, and it is balanced again. After that, the sheep is free!

David was a shepherd. He knew the danger of staying downcast, spiritually ‘upside down’ for too long, just like a cast sheep… “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Ps 43:5). The word ‘downcast’ describes a cast sheep. His soul is upside down, helpless, depressed, anxious, sinking down in despair. The danger for a sheep to lose its balance and to overturn is higher when it is pregnant, or the fleece is too heavy. Spiritually speaking, our soul is in danger of backsliding when we become fruitful or too comfortable in our blessings. The devil attacks in both situations especially with an evil spirit of pride. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (PV 16:18). Never forget! Pride will make you fall! Pride will make you backslide! Pride is extremely difficult to detect. God allows us to fall a little, to stumble, so that He exposes the hidden pride. repent and become humble servants!

MY TESTIMONY
This is my testimony: when I become proud, I start falling spiritually. Suddenly, my life becomes ‘upside down’. Just like a cast sheep, I panic, trying to save myself. My soul becomes ‘disturbed within’. This word means trouble, war, noisy voices and arguments inside my soul. I lose my peace and spiritual balance. I feel hopeless and confused. The more I struggle to restore myself back on my feet, the worse things become, inside and outside. That is when I must exercise self-control. I must stop this crazy, frantic, lonely struggle. I pray! I must remind myself that I am not alone. I belong to Somebody! I have a Shepherd! Elohim, the Creator of the Heavens and the earth is my God! Jesus is my Shepherd! I shall not want…There is hope for me!!I I shall praise God again in the sanctuary…I cannot die as a backslider…God forbid! I claim God’s promise: God will “restore my soul”…I shall humble myself and wait on God…He knows all things…He knows that I am missing from the fold…He said that He will leave 99 sheep to look for me alone, even if I am lost in the ‘bush’…He shall find me and bring me back to His flock where I belong… I am not a wild animal. I am a domesticated sheep. I love my home, my family, my marriage and my church! I am not a ‘street woman’! encourage myself thru the Word of God! I call on Jesus! This encouragement has never failed me! Praise God!

My prayer: “I need You Lord Jesus…I trust in You, Savior…I humble myself…Forgive me for my foolish pride…Please come to help me…I cannot live alone…Nothing else can satisfy but You…No one else can restore my soul, except You…I love You more than any human on earth, more than my own life…I promise never to go astray…Holy Spirit fill me afresh…Thank You Jesus… Thank You my Lord…All the glory goes to You alone!”

In Christ I declare:
The Lord is my Shepherd! I shall not want! My soul is restored! My health is restored! My marriage is restored! My ministry is restored! My finances are restored! My peace, joy, strength and wisdom are restored! To the glory of God! In Jesus’ name!