We’re praying that God will provide everything that we need to be able to depart for Japan on March 27th of 2013, and by faith we’re preparing toward that end. That’s nine weeks and two days from today! The reality that we will soon be ministering in Japan (if the Lord wills), is beginning to sink in, and with that is the realization of the daunting task to which God is calling us. More and more I am convinced of the great need for Christians to pray for Japan, and ask that God work a miracle in bringing hearts to Himself.
Here is the reality of what we are facing. Japan is less than 1% Christian. Over the last 150 years protestant missionaries have been ministering in Japan, and the number of Christians has not risen significantly. When I was in Japan over the summer, I talked to a number of missionaries who told me that the last 30 years of ministry has been particularly difficult, and they had seen very little progress. Over and over I am cautioned by godly people, who know the culture, not to expect too much. Some have gone so far as to refer to Japan as the graveyard of missionaries, because so often missionaries are discouraged and lose hope of ever reaching the Japanese for Christ.
I believe that God is Sovereign, and that He has allowed this hardness to exist in Japan for His own mysterious purposes. I believe that somehow, at the end of time we will look back at God’s plan for Japan and marvel, and be amazed at His wisdom and greatness. For a 150 years He has been sending His people to go to Japan, to struggle, to turn up hard ground, to persevere. They have given their lives in obedience to God’s calling, to give the Japanese an opportunity to hear and believe the message of Salvation. My Japanese grandmother was brought to Christ through the work of foreign missionaries. My wife’s parents also were led to Christ by missionaries. Their work has not been in vain. But it will not be any human work that will bring about a great harvest in Japan, that can only happen when God, in His Sovereign will, begins to work. When He does, we, His people, must rise up in prayer, in sending and in going, participating in His work that He calls us to be a part of.
It is my hope and prayer that God is about to do this in Iwate.
If He does not, we will joyfully go, give our lives, and continue to till the ground, and prepare the soil for whenever God does decide to bring the harvest. But as I sit here, and see all that God has done in Iwate in the last 2 years, I amazed and encouraged. We need people who will be praying fervently and faithfully for God to work in Iwate. We need people to pray for barriers to be broken down, relationships to be built, boldness in sharing the gospel to be given, hearts to be opened, salvation to be accomplished, disciples to be made, churches to be planted, and then for all that to happen again and again and again until praises to our Great, Merciful, Loving God are heard in every city town and village in Japan. We need people to pray that God will use such limited, inadequate, helpless followers as Tomo and I to spark such a fire in Japan.
Thank you for your prayers! Please continue to pray!