Mike and I just traveled to Asia to teach in Korea and Hong Kong. We were scheduled to go to Korea two years ago to minister, but I cancelled to stay at my sister’s side the weeks before she went to Heaven.
Asia is special to us, perhaps because we have been going since the early ’90s. It is said that old friends are good friends, and while that is true, when one is in Christ, the bond goes much deeper; we begin to experience something the Bible reveals to us as believers, and we become family.
Our first stop on the journey was Seoul, South Korea. It is hard to describe this nation without intertwining the impact of the Gospel on the land; it has literally gone from what was known as the “Hermit Kingdom” to one of the most booming economies in the world. Korea is right up at the top with the leaders in the tech and automotive industries. One only has to drive down a street to realize the reformation principles placed in the nation through the education systems started by early missionaries have caused the nation to thrive.
Spirit of Mourning
As we landed at Inchon International Airport, my thoughts were on this amazing nation and their recent deep sorrow—a ferryboat sank with school children and resulted in around three hundred deaths. There are testimonies of text messages sent from young Christian students who gave up their life vests to other classmates. No doubt these stories will live for generations and keep their memories alive in the collective heart of the nation. Later in the trip, we were told this incident was the “Korean 9/11.”
The spirit of mourning was palpable as we sat with our brothers and sisters in the Lord. We knew we needed to bring comfort and hope, not only for their sakes, but also so the missions movement that is a huge part of the nation’s destiny would not be slowed down. I knew that would actually dishonor those whose lives were tragically cut short.
Pastor Hye Ja Kim and Young Dong of First Church worked tirelessly to prepare. They also spent hours in prayer. In fact, they have had 24 hours of prayer continually since I gave them a word about it in 1997.
Their youth had all-night prayer meetings to prepare and prayed around the building at Sejong, the university where we would meet. The campus is lovely with beautiful statues of Christ in different Biblical scenes.
Over four thousand attended the conference. The power of God was evident from the first night. The other speakers were Pastor Takimoto from Japan (he is 86 years old, the head of All Revival Koshien Mission, and an old friend), Jerome Ocampo of the JREV in the Philippines (a next generation leader who has mobilized more than 100,000 youth to pray for his nation), and Dutch Sheets.
Powerful times of reconciliation and repentance took place. Pastor Takimoto repented on behalf of the Japanese Church leaders who came to Korea during the Japanese Occupation and told the Korean Church leaders that it was okay to bow down to the Emperor of Japan and Amaterasu in the Shinto Shrines. The Japanese built them all over the country in order to spiritually control the nation. He also asked forgiveness from those whose ancestors were killed by the occupiers. There were many tears, especially from the older generation.
How Korea Fits In
I preached prophetically on the role of Korea in God’s end-time move. The conference theme was Prepare the Way. I gave what I see as three previous awakenings of the nation and spoke of another awakening still to come.
1. The 1907 Revival in Phong Yang: the start of the early morning prayer meetings
2. The Evangelism Movement sparked by Billy Graham’s visit and Expo
3. The Charismatic Movement in the ’60s
4. A fourth movement still to come that will be like a tsunami wave of people changing both Korea, with a Jesus People-style movement, and the world, with a missions movement
On the last night, Dutch preached on the heart of David and the identity of Korea; it was like a spiritual eruption took place as people threw off shackles of hopelessness and despair. A leader named Joshua, proclaiming the role of the Korean Church and its role as David to fight Goliath and as the tribe of Judah, declared, “We are not kittens; we are lions!”
Indeed, the sleeping Church awakened.
We caught an early morning flight to Hong Kong in order to have lunch with a good friend before the Empowered 21 Asia conference. Going to the meeting was like old home week for us. They had asked us to minister to the people, not on simple inspiration themes, but on that which would heal the generations.
I spoke on the theme of the spirit of Elijah and the Father’s heart; the text was from Luke 1:17, and I spoke into the healing of orphan hearts among Asians. The power to heal broken hearts was manifested, and one could hear open weeping all over the center packed with 4,000 leaders from the continent of Asia and island nations such as Japan. I would say the majority of the participants had never heard their own fathers say, “I love you,” in their entire lives, such tender, but powerful words.
My friend, Billy Wilson, the President of Oral Roberts University and the founder of Empowered 21, tag-teamed the message with his own message on the Father’s heart, including his own personal testimony. We ministered together afterwards, and God’s power and tender loving kindness swept the center from the top to the bottom. I really believe many of the problems we have with fighting in the Church and competition between businesses and nations are symptoms of unhealed hearts from a lack of spiritual parenting.
Surely God was smiling from Heaven as He was able to wrap His loving arms around His children from the beautiful harbor city of Hong Kong. The Spirit of Elijah was released to heal generations from Asia that will have an impact to the ends of the earth.
Cindy Jacobs is a respected prophet who travels the world ministering not only to crowds of people but to heads of nations. Her first calling is and always will be prophetic intercession. Each year, she travels and has spoken on nearly every inhabited continent to tens of thousands. Yet in her heart is the memory that Jesus left the ninety-and-nine to go to the one. Generals International is an international church movement, reforming the nations of the world back to a biblical worldview. It achieves societal transformation through intercession and the prophetic. Jacobs has authored seven books and loves to travel and speak, but one of her favorite pastimes is spending time with her husband, Mike, and their children, Daniel and Mary Madison, along with her five adorable grandchildren.
Joyce Meyer 
Stephen Strang 
Charisma Media Staff 
