Prayer for Japan: Sins of Saul (Feb. 2011)

Dear prayer family,

Thank you for your continued prayer support and concern regarding my calling to Japan! Not only am I blessed by your care, but it's a critical part of the spiritual battle for the glory of God there in the souls of Japanese--the "air war," as my pastor once called it.

In keeping with the pattern of providing topical prayer needs, this month we'll focus on perhaps the two greatest obstacles in the Japanese heart to true repentance & faith. Both are exemplified in the pitiful life of Israel's first king Saul.

The first sin is pride, which is linked to the second: witchcraft/demonic involvement.

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...Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel? Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”

And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”

So Samuel said:

"Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.

"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He also has rejected you from being king." (1 Samuel 15:17-23)

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So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. But he did not inquire of the LORD; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. (1 Chronicles 10:13-14)

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1. Please pray that the Lord would break down the national pride of the Japanese. Not only must every material import, from McDonald's to electronics, be adapted to their tastes, but outside ideas and beliefs must also 'fit' with what already exists rather than be accepted on their own merits. In addition, there has been no apologizing for the war crimes and imperialism of the 20th century. May Japanese believers lead their country and people in humility, especially in seeking to bless other Asian people groups.

2. Please pray that individual pride would be brought low. There is considerable personal cost to truly follow Christ in this society; believers are often alone in their families and religion that goes beyond annual rituals is frowned upon as abnormal. May the gospel be preached and listeners humbled to repent & believe!

3. Please pray that fleshly pride would be confessed and repented of in the church. Japan is in desperate need of bold, holy and pure groups of believers...but the few congregations are more known for division and legalism than heart transformation by the Holy Spirit and submission to the Lord's revealed will in Scripture. May love and unity in the truth prevail.

4. Please pray against the rampant spiritual deception. Fortune-tellers and palm-readers at street stands near train stations in the evening are perhaps the most obvious indicator, but the enemy of souls is having a real field day deluding this land. From Western cults (Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons) to a slew of so-called "new religions" mixing a bit of 'Christianity' into Buddhist and New Age techniques, there are thousands of counterfeits. Pray that those bound by these lies would be freed by the truth of the true Jesus--just as in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6.

5. Please pray for Christians to renounce all ways of darkness. In a land where most can still think "To be Japanese is to go to a [Buddhist] temple on New Year's Day," compromise is a daily temptation. This--not marriage, as commonly supposed--is the actual context for 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, good verses to pray for the Body here as well.

6. Please pray for Jesus's victory over all demonic powers in the cross (Colossians 2:15) to be powerfully displayed.

7. Please pray for me to give up my attempts to earn God's or man's approval and rest in the grace given through Christ's life, death and resurrection--that as I do so, He would open up doors in the Nagoya area for ministry soon.


Your brother in Jesus ("humble in heart"--Matthew 11:29 NIV),

Kylan

Prayer for Japan #2: Children (January 2011)

Dear sinners made sons of the Most High in His only Son,

May a deeper sense of His mercy (Exodus 33:15-19) stir your heart to think of and praise our Lord today.

Thank you for your prayers! God has been showing answers in many ways, and one which some have heard is that while at a friend's wedding in the country town of Turlock, I made the acquaintance of a minister involved in training church planters. I told him that I was passionate about raising up new churches, was asked where and replied "Japan."

"Where in Japan?"

"Nagoya," I said, preparing to explain its location.

He then told me that he is training several pastors there already! Our God is so faithful to bring about His will before we even know what's going on.

Now as to my prayer requests:

1. The greater Nagoya area has over 8.7 million people (denser than 3500/square mile) and, as I mentioned last letter, the highest concentration of cities & large towns without churches in all Japan. Please continue to pray for not only more believers but holy and bold believers to be multiplied in this area, then gathered into worshipping congregations that are taught the rightly-divided Word of truth.

2. For the low number of Japanese children. The nation is at a crisis point given that its birthrate is one of the world's lowest, some factors being the prevalence of abortion (no Godly understanding of life's worth), the rising age of marriage (lack of family cohesion) and the tendency to see kids as a burden on time and finances (materialism and selfishness). Please pray that these spiritual barriers, so contrary to Genesis 1:25-31, would be broken down and the hearts of parents turned toward their children.

3. For the great opportunity afforded by children's ministry. Many of us know about the "10/40 window" of unreached people groups, but a new buzzword is the "10-14 window": the age range in which most believers either first believed or truly believed with understanding (myself included). Salvation is of the Lord and His grace alone, so please beg Him to have mercy on the current generation of Japanese kids: that they would be in contact with believers and hear the gospel; that many, hearing, would believe; that the enemy's strongholds of worldly pleasures, peer approval and despair (suicides by middle-schoolers sadden but no longer shock) would be broken; that new young believers would be effectively discipled.

4. For the kids of missionaries and believers. Many pastor's kids are more influenced by the school clubs where they spend the majority of their time and cultural values than the Word. Pray for them to repent and have their own faith in Jesus, as well as for their witness to and example among their peers. Pray for their parents to be filled with His love, wisdom and Godly counsel, and for many kids to spend their lives serving the Lord in Japan.

5. For orphans and kids from broken families. There is a near-total lack of cultural altruism, as the people you help belong to your club or social circle, and as a result adoption and care of neglected children is rare. There is apparently only one orphanage in the entire country with entirely Christian staff, as the others don't have enough believers (or those with the desired qualifications) to fill positions. Cults and social groups have stepped into the void, so please pray for the salvation of these kids as well as the church to truly serve the orphan & widow (James 1:27).

6. For my further preparation in repentance and faith, deepening in real love of the Lord and mortification of the flesh daily.

Your brother in Jesus,

Kylan

Prayer for Japan #1 (December 2010)

Dear spiritual family,

Greetings from east Oakland! I pray that you are growing in obedient separation to Jesus and wonder at our Triune God.

It’s been over 3 months since I finished my church internship at ReGeneration, during which the Lord confirmed my calling as a missionary to Japan. It grieves me to know that over 400,000 Japanese live in 20 towns in or around the city of Nagoya—none of which has believers gathering in it! (Last I heard, there were more Jehovah's Witnesses--a mission field!--nationwide than professing evangelical Christians.)

Through the Perspectives course on world missions, I caught the vision for local church planting: trusting God to save [Japanese] people, training them in simple and reproducible Christian living, then appointing elders and departing in order to let them be sustained by the Holy Spirit. My heart is to become part of a mostly national team devoted to such work in this least-churched region of Japan in or shortly after July 2011.

What will it take? Being broken of my own pride and cowardice in personal witness—how else can I minister to a people who have yet to apologize for their actions in greater Asia during World War II and do not see themselves as needing to repent & find forgiveness? Being placed in a team—how else can the fullness of Christ’s body be seen and the Biblical model for sowing together ( ) be replicated?

And, most germane to you, dear reader: it will take being lifted up in prayer—only God can do these things, and when He answers it will be clear that His is the glory for accomplishing them!

1) Please pray for me to be broken in humility at my own sinfulness and totally dependent on the will & grace of the Lord—which will as a side effect produce boldness, I think

2) Please ask that God would be glorified in and Christ preached to the greater Nagoya area’s 400,000+ people in towns & cities without a church body

3) Please ask God to provide laborers, especially from within Japan, for this region and task

4) Please ask the Lord to give me wisdom for obtaining necessary or helpful personal things: a visa, contact with church planting mentor(s), experience in evangelism and other ministries, understanding of the Japanese language & culture

If you have any Scripture, advice, or questions, please let me know! I am so grateful I can send this to you and appreciate in advance your faithful prayers. Feel free to forward it to others who will also pray.


Your brother in Him Who was broken for us,

Kylan