Tsuda, Japan
The beach outside my hotel room
Worship at the One Vision Mission Church
Worship music at the OVMC
Judy and I are now in Tsuda, Japan on the shore of the Harima-Nada Sea. To tell you the truth, I am not sure of the name of this town. It might be Tsuda, Tsudamachi, or Sanuki-Tsuda, which is the name at the train station.
On Thursday, October 11 we took the bus from Kumamoto back to Fukuoka in southern Japan. Fukuoka is the closest big Japanese city to South Korea and it is about midway between Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
After spending the night in Fukuoka, we flew on Friday to Tokushima in Kagawa prefecture where we were met by Kei, Seumean’s fiance. She drove us to Tsuda, with a lunch stop to eat Udon noodles. The Kagawa prefecture is famous for these noodles.
We are staying in a hotel on the shore of the sea. We are with Seumean and Shigeru (our translator and logistics coordinator) teaching at the OVMC – the One Vision Mission Church.
We worshiped at the OVMC on Sunday with a congregation of about 100 people and participated in an engagement ceremony for Kei and Seumean.
On Monday we began the training at the church on Discipleship; and Spiritual Gifts and Evangelism, including how to receive the Holy Spirit (according to Scripture, there are 5 ways: obedience, preaching, laying on of hands, praying, and asking).
The church we are in was started about 40 years ago by an American missionary named Margaret Marks from California, who came to Japan in 1958 to plant a church in a nearby town. One of the men attending this training came to Christ through her work. He spoke fondly of her and told me that because of her he has a very warm place in his heart for America. How many missionaries have gone out from America to, what was for them far-flung places, planted churches, and are only known today by the local villages where their churches are located and God?
Today is Tuesday, October 16, 2018. We began the training this morning with a song that, for me, symbolizes the heart of the Japanese Christians in OVMC:
“God will make a way, He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me, He will be my guide
Hold me closely by His side with love and strength for each new day.
He will make a way, He will make a way
By a roadway in a wilderness, He’ll lead me
And rivers in the desert I will see
Heaven and earth will fade, but His word still remains
He will do something new today” (Don Moen)
We are continually seeing in these training sessions that carrying negative emotions in our hearts makes it much harder to grow as a Christian – not impossible, but more difficult. If we release the anger, sin, disappointment, hurt, or frustration in our hearts (especially if we have been carrying these negative emotions for years) it is much easier to grow in Christ, obey Jesus, hear the Father’s voice, receive the Father’s love, and release the Kingdom of God into the world.
I believe that making disciples should begin with emotional healing and spiritual deliverance. We have seen again and again that a person who is delivered and set free will hear more from God and have a greater passion and love for Jesus. As our passion for Jesus grows we will grow in love for the Body of Christ, grow in power, and grow in a desire to use our spiritual gifts to release His Kingdom and bring Him glory.
Last night I prayed for a pastor who carried guilt, shame, and anger in her heart for 40 years toward herself and those who hurt her. As a result, she was unable to hear the Father’s voice and feel the Father’s love. After Judy and I prayed with her, Jesus released her from hurt, pain, shame and guilt. Now she feels completely free and sees herself as a true bride of Jesus, clothed in white. She heard Jesus speak to her – “You are my beloved daughter, come, stand before my throne spotless and free. I love you”. God did something new for her. Now she will be able to more completely release the power of God, growing the church in Japan and beyond.
I know that negative emotions and the problems they cause are not just in the hearts of the Japanese Christians.
For my Japanese brothers and sisters here are the phonetic words of a Japenese song we sang (sorry, I don’t have a Japanese keyboard):
“Ten no sanbi ga konotini hibiku
Ten no tami to tomoni oki koe de sakebu
Hareruya sukui eiko tikarawa
Warerano kamino mono waterano kamino mono”
Two more days of training and then the long trip home.
Amazed at what God is doing in Japan,
John
Ok. For the rest of us, here is the translation:
Praise of heaven resonates on earth
We cry out with loud voice together with the people of heaven
“Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God.
They belong to our God!”