Title : The Fourth Dimension Volume 1
Author : Dr David Yonggi Cho
Review : Dr David Yonggi Cho speaks of another dimension in our lives, so termed the 4th dimension because it is a realm that we can neither see nor hear, or perceive by any of our senses. It is in this intangible place, this realm of faith, where our dreams and visions can be birthed, called forth and come to pass into the perceptual reality as we know it. Before you dismiss this book as some mystical and occult philosophy, it is here that you can find very simple, practical steps on how we can bring our visions or any prayer through a process, starting from the moment of conception of our dreams and visions in our mind and imagination, to the power of confessing them in our prayers. He also gives his own personal stories about how with this 4-D model of prayer life that he adopts everyday, he was able to build the biggest church ever seen on planet earth with an unrivalled membership of 750,000.
The underlying biblical basis of his book is from Romans 4:17-18
16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”*) in the presence of Him whom he believed–God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”
As we begin to visualize the outcomes of our prayers such as healing, or prosperity in our finances or the multiplication and growth of our ministries, we begin to regard those things that have not come into existence yet as though they are happening right before our very eyes. Dr Cho also shared in one story about his church constructing a building that can seat 10,000 people. Even before the foundations have been laid, he saw it clearly in his imagination. In his mind, he has walked through the building hundreds of times, feeling the presence of God in that place. He saw it so vividly in his imagination that it brought a great sense of excitement and joy in his heart. By exercising the law of faith in this manner, the feelings and attitude that accompany faith fills you up. When we pray and confess these dreams out loud, the imagery is like that of a hen incubating her eggs. The incubation period takes time while the hen needs to sit on her eggs until they are hatched; similarly we need to pray and confess until we see our prayers becoming a tangible reality. It is in Genesis Chapter one that we see the Holy Spirit doing the same.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
When the Holy Spirit hovers on the waters, He is incubating the formless and empty earth, using his creative powers to form the earth into existence as ordered by God.
Dr Cho also shares many testimonies of his church members whose lives are being transformed simply by following this pattern of prayer. Not only is this a must read for every Christian who is feeling stuck with his prayer life and wishing to see his prayers answered, it is also for the Christian who aspires to do the impossible for the kingdom of God!
Pastor Yonggi Cho was born on February 14, 1936 in Korea. During his childhood he was greatly influenced and trained in Buddhism, Confucianism, and eastern studies.
When he was 17 and a sophomore in high school, Yonggi Cho contracted tuberculosis, which put him at death’s door. Then his sister’s Christian friend visited him, and he accepted Christ as his personal Savior.
As the disease continued to plague him, Yonggi Cho went to his hometown to continue receiving treatment for the disease.
One day he attended a crusade in Pusan led by missionary Ken Tize, and he received the blessing of God.
After that he began helping missionary Tize with interpretation as well as reading various Christian books, which helped him understand the Christian truth in greater depths.
However, since he lacked firm conviction, Yonggi Cho struggled inwardly and began to fast and pray.
Then one night while fasting and praying he met Christ through a vision of light.
Through the vision, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. The night he met Christ, Yonggi Cho was called by God to study theology. He came to Seoul in 1956 and entered Full Gospel Bible College on a scholarship.
It was here that he met his future partner in ministry and his future mother-in-law, Pastor Choi Ja-shil.
After graduating from the theology school, Pastor Yonggi Cho along with Pastor Ja-shil Choi and her three children held the first worship service at her home.
The home church began to grow more and more and had a membership of fifty.
Then a tent was pitched out in the yard. At night, even in winter, church members prayed all night and then went out to witness all around the Daejo area during the day.
Amid the chaos and destruction of the war’s aftermath which brought great hardship and poverty to the people of Korea, Pastor Cho proclaimed the message of the Three-fold Blessing: the well-being of the spirit, body, and circumstances.
With the fullness and the miracles of the Holy Spirit, many suffering from various illnesses were healed and Christians who came to church were filled with hope.
The church had grown to a membership of 400 within three years of its founding and had just purchased a plot of land to build a church.
By November of 1961, a church was constructed to accommodate 1,500 people and on February 18th the following year, the dedication was held to commemorate the church sanctuary as the Full Gospel Revival Hall.
On April 26th of the same year, Pastor Cho became an ordained minister, and the church became officially registered as the Full Gospel Central Church.
Pastor Cho had been working without proper rest and without regard for his health, and he finally succumbed to overwork and fainted as he was leading a baptismal service for several hundred church members.
During his second stay in the hospital, he began to realize the physical limitations in his ministry.
He further realized, “The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone” (Exodus 18:18).
He began to understand the necessity of delegating work to others as Moses had delegated work to various appointed persons among the Israelites to lead them through the desert.
The Holy Spirit gave him the understanding of how the members of the early church, especially the women of the church came to work and have fellowship together (Romans 16).
Home cell groups became the launching pads for the explosive growth of the church.
A week later after his discharge, Pastor Cho informed the leaders of the church about his vision and began formulating cell groups.
He divided the city of Seoul into 20 areas and encouraged the members of the church in given areas to come together in the homes of the members for worship and fellowship during the week.
Today the cell leaders in various organizations, (women, men, young men, young women, children and so on), number 32,500. In 1968, three years after the formulation of home cell groups, church membership stood at 8,000, and there were three worship services on Sunday.
Even with three Sunday services, it became harder to accommodate all the members of the church.
This led to the purchase of land at Yoido for a new church building.
Consequently, the construction resumed in spurts and finally resulted in a completed sanctuary; this accommodated 10,000 people.
The first tear-filled worship service was held on September 23, 1973.
Following the church’s relocation to Yoido Island, church growth skyrocketed. By 1979 the membership numbered 100,000, and by 1981 the membership had doubled again to 200,000.
In 1984 the official registration of the church name was Yoido Full Gospel Church.
The church membership stood at 400,000, and by 1992 the membership had reached 700,000.
For those living great distances from YFGC, satellite sanctuaries were built. Many independent churches were established and supported for reaching greater areas throughout Korea.
In his 42 years of ministry, the church grew to the present 780,000 registered members of the church today.
The goal for the new millenium is to establish 500 to 5,000 satellite churches and 500 prayer houses throughout the peninsula within the next 10 years, to expand the evangelical reach to the world through the support of the internet, and finally to expand evangelical missions work to the third world- including North Korea.
