Seoyeon asked me “Dad, I prayed very hard, but how come he/she is not changing?” [05/04/2025]

 

I gave her the following answer. “ Right…  Prayer is very important when we try to change someone while engaged in the ministry for God. However, we cannot  control someone's heart with our prayer. At the end, they have to decide for themselves their own hearts. Even God does not choose to override a person's heart. Instead, God convinces us to follow His will.  When we devote ourselves to God’s ministry and serve other people, we are just standing on the same side as God and be ‘together’ with Him during this process of persuasion.  

 

Therefore, no matter how hard we try,  there is no guarantee that we will end up changing someone's heart.  So if we are result focused, we may feel futile and think ‘what am I doing here?’. And you may also wonder why my Dad is involved in this effort.. The answer is ‘I just want to be with God’. If the goal of my ministry is God,  I know for sure that I won’t fail in any circumstances, and this is what I consider the most important in my ministry.

 

And there is another  important thing to remember when you are involved in the ministry of God. God is very interested in seeing us grow to be like Jesus in this process. We often neglect this point.  Let me give you an example, during our ministry it is easy to put ourselves above others.  But this does not help us at all because grace doesn't flow to a proud heart.  It is like thinking in your heart, ‘I know a lot more than you and I am better than you’. Of course, it could be that you actually know a lot more than someone. However, it does not make you a better person. We all are all equally precious in the eyes of God. You and I  are just path to flow the love of God to others. God wants us to be a path to flow through Jesus’s gentleness, humility, love and joy first.  Therefore, our first goal is not to change someone but learning how to love someone with the heart of Jesus.  ‘Living my life as a changed person’ itself  is probably the most powerful way of persuading others to change…” This was my reply to Seyeon and I etched it in my heart as well.

 

Following the shepherd…

JiWon Choi.