Pray for Japan

Photo by Samaritan's Purse

Every week, I attend a group of mainly Japanese students that come together to pray for Japan. Presently, our focus is on the recent earthquake and tsunami disaster that had devastated the nation nearly a month ago.

Here are some of the prayer requests that we prayed for in last night’s session. I hope that you will read them and inherit a burden to also pray for Japan.

Pray for the nation as it undergoes its presidential elections. Pray for smooth transfers of leadership and more importantly for godly wisdom and leadership in government.

Pray for the immediate end to the present nuclear crisis as its now at very severe levels.

Pray for relief of needed aid for the 200,000 people who have become homeless because of the quake and are presently living in shelters.

Pray for the almost 15,000 people that are still declared missing. Pray for a miracle.

Praise God for the many people who have turned to receive the hope of Jesus Christ during this crisis. Pray for many more to turn their eyes upon Jesus in this time of brokeness in the country and for the Church of Japan to seize the opportunity to bring help and hope to their nation.

Thank you for your prayerful concern.

Jesus Gave His Life

“…I lay down my life…” -John 10:17

Do you know that Jesus wasn’t killed but that He gave up His life?

Yes, He was crucified on the sentence of death, but when they hanged Him on the cross they did not kill Him.

He died on the cross on His call. We can know this by referring to Luke 23:46: “And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” By the words of His mouth, He let Himself die.

Listen to Jesus again. “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” (John 10:17-18).

Although crucified in weakness as a man, Christ on the cross was still God Almighty. He still possess power of His deity even at His death. “No one takes it from Me” – no took Jesus’ life from Him, but He lay it down of Himself to give His life to save us.

Mark 10:45 says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” He came to give His life to ransom us from sin.

Jesus was both God and man. He lived His entire life on Earth in this manifestation, especially on the cross. He suffered and died as a man did dying on a cross, but He also experienced death as Jesus -The God Who Saves.

He lay down His life on the cross and took it up again when He rose again on the third day.

Our Jesus is both power and love. He authored life even at death when He lay it down by His will. That’s the God whom you worship – Jesus whom you love.

How Great Is Our God…Seriously

A favorite worship song of mine is “How Great Is Our God” by Chris Tomlin. It is like an anthem, echoing the power and majesty of our King Jesus; and the chorus just arrests your heart to reflect on how great is our God.

I recall watching a Youtube video of Newsong Cafe from worshiptogether.com where they had interviewed Chris Tomlin on the story behind the song. He admitted that he had apologized to God because he felt the chorus was too simple. He confessed that our English language is just too shallow in describing how great God is.

I agree it’s too shallow. To ignite your heart for God, I have attached below Isaiah 40 where Isaiah jots down God exhorting comfort to Israel.

Read it. I dare you not to think about what good things God has done for you, but rather let theses verses seep into your heart to where you can literally leap to shout how great is our God we love:

Isaiah 40

God’s People Are Comforted

1 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
2 “ Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the LORD’s hand
Double for all her sins.”
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“ Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make straight in the desert[a]
A highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
5 The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
6 The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he[b] said, “What shall I cry?”

“ All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”
9 O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.
12 Who has measured the waters[c] in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?
14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
18 To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
19 The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
20 Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
To prepare a carved image that will not totter.
21 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
23 He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.
24 Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.
25 “ To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:

“ My way is hidden from the LORD,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Japan and the God Who Sees

Last night, I was invited to pray with some of the Japanese students here on campus at their weekly prayer group. Their prayers are centered on the recent earthquake catastrophe that struck the nation a month ago.

It was hard to pray when you can’t find answers to why these things happen. When it was my turn to pray, I felt God moved me to call on one of His other special names.

El Roi – The God Who Sees.

Hagar, the servant to Abraham’s wife, gave Him this name. She had fled from her master and now in the wilderness felt succumbed to face evident doom.

When she was so hopeless, so confused, so lost, she met El Roi.

He called to her and blessed her and gave her promise. (Although Genesis 16 refers to Him as an angel of the Lord, we know its Jesus because in verse 10 He says, “I will multiply your descendants.”)

At this word, Hagar responds: “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are- the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, ‘Have I also here seen Him who sees me?’ (Genesis 16:13).

I don’t know why this disaster happened, but I do know God sees all and He sees Japan. Nothing goes past His sight and even in confusion and chaos, He is love and He is sovereign. We know He works all things -even the ugly ones- together for good for His purpose (Romans 8:28).

Trust Him even you don’t see Him because El Roi sees you.