Without prayer I am nothing

I would never have come to Japan were it not for the Lord’s promise and gracious intervention. A deaconess introduced me to a booklet about getting a job in Japan, but it was praying with two Japanese servant leaders that turned out to be pivotal in me coming to Japan. Doors opened to things I’d never dreamt of and a career I never imagined I’d have—teaching and serving at a university and establishing university partnerships founded on Christ’s blood. In addition to my call to Japan, I could mention many other amazing encounters with the Lord—his staggering grace makes me blush.

The power of prayer and his grace are sufficient for anyone serving the Lord in Japan—especially those who feel like giving up because they’re not seeing much fruit. Because God already knows our needs (Matthew 6:32), we should change our mindset from one that focuses primarily on intercession to one that offers more love prayers of praise, thanks, and worship. Only then will transformation happen and God’s kingdom become a reality in Japan by his amazing grace.

The dynamite-like power of prayer permeates my story and those of many other Christian brothers and sisters. These stories are centred on a wonderful, amazing love relationship, provided we don’t get too caught up in the busy Japanese mindset and become too busy to pray. And I might add that we should be careful about becoming too lethargic to pray. These warnings should resonate in the heart of every Christian in Japan—whether missionary, pastor, or layperson. To live life to the full, we need to strive to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17, ESV)—and sooner rather than later.

Below, I give three challenges based on my own experience.

Three challenges for change

1. Becoming compassionate for the whole of Japan

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36).

One afternoon in 2002, after about nine ‘lost’ years of ministry in Japan, the Lord guided me to my knees, saying, “Intercede for all the prefectures of Japan using Operation Japan!” Sometime later, while prayer-walking around the Emperor’s Palace in Tokyo, I prayed again for each of Japan’s prefectures. Through prayer the Lord prepared me for ministry in Toyonaka, Osaka where we now live. Though academically qualified, I didn’t expect to become ordained as the pastor of the then Christ of All Nations Church (Now Minoh International Church). My ordination thesis, A Vision for Mission in Japan in the 21st Century, looked at the challenges and opportunities which lie ahead of us in Japan and this became the heartbeat of my life.

My hope is that a huge crowd of harvesters will be filled with the Lord’s holy compassion for this needy country, where about 3,500 people pass away daily without believing in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.¹ This need causes me to wonder why we are so lukewarm in taking up the cross of Christ daily.

2. Loving the Lord of the Japanese harvest

As a participant at a day of prayer in 2003, I was asked whether I had any urgent prayer requests. Instead of asking to be healed of my “thorn in the flesh,” I asked for intercession that I might love the Lord more. (Nowadays, I would ask for love that can be given only from above—holy, absolute love that springs from the bottom of a Christ-like heart). My mediocre request had an awesome and life-transforming outcome—the triune God intervened. The Father powerfully outpoured his majestic presence, which I could feel around my arms; the crucified Christ approached me as the resurrected one; and the Holy Spirit came upon me in waves, causing me to fall back. At that time, one desire came suddenly to my mind—that each Japanese may have the same sort of gracious encounter with the living God.

From then on, the Holy Spirit graciously worked through me in ways I’d never experienced before. These included receiving an anointing to become one of the servant leaders of the Western Japan Prayer Summit in 2005, promoting the Global Day of Prayer movement in Japan since 2007, and igniting and networking with Christian servants in various fields like the T4T training (Training for Trainers),² Father’s Heart Japan, and campus and networking ministries.

3. Praying, going out, and never giving up (Luke 10:3ff. and Luke 18:1–8)

In focusing on the Lord of the harvest, we focus on the Lord’s heart, and the Lord in turn focuses on our hearts. Since participating in worship seminars run by Christian Artists Network, the following three steps for effective prayer permeate my prayers:

1. Bow down: approach the loving Lord and Saviour of mankind with a humble heart and a broken spirit (Psalm 51:12).
2. Listen to the Lord’s voice more than talking to him. Since we don’t really know the best way to pray, we should revel in the Lord’s presence and let the Holy Spirit pray through us (Romans 8:26–28). Such Spirit-filled revelling can easily lead to the awesome Lord revealing himself and the wonderful plans he has for each of us who serve the Japanese—not by our own strength, but by his divine purpose.
3. Stand up: no praying without obeying. This is usually the most challenging and yet most rewarding step of a healthy prayer life. Touching the lives of others and becoming a contagious Christian is exciting, but it may cause opposition in various ways. However, revival will not come without opposition or persecution, as Christians in Korea and China can testify.

Where to from here?

Let us not expect the ultimate answer from people, but from the living and loving Lord. He graciously led me to Amos 8:11–12: “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord God, ‘when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.’”. The shepherd Amos would certainly sympathize with the compassionate Jesus if he saw the Japanese people of 2016 hungering and thirsting for the Lord’s Word! However, most Christians, including lukewarm missionaries like me, withhold Jesus’ life-giving water from their Japanese neighbours. Judgment will happen, but in 9:11, Amos announces the restoration of Judah’s ruins along with prophecy for harvest and transformation: “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old.” I read in The Japan News (by the Yomiuri Shimbun) about six months ago that about 15% of Japanese between the ages of 15 and 30 are sympathetic towards Christianity. But they could end up as Jehovah’s Witnesses if we are not ready to reach them first.

Are we ready to be filled with Christ’s compassion, to love the Lord of the harvest and our Japanese neighbours, and to fulfill our prayer-driven mission? As mature Christian servants, we don’t need many action plans or programs. On the contrary, we just need to pursue four big steps in our relationship with God: becoming still, listening, following joyfully, and loving God and our neighbours. Finally, my challenge to you is to intercede for all the lost in Japan and step into the harvest field. And the Lord will intervene, usually without warning.

1. “Live Births, Deaths, Foetal Deaths, Marriages and Divorces”(Excel:36KB), http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/nenkan/1431-02.htm, accessed Oct 12, 2016.
2. http://t4tonline.org/