No Meaning

“‘For the heart of this people has become dull, And with their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes Lest they should see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I should heal them.’” Matthew 13:15, NASB.

Unless God opens the eyes of the Japanese people they will remain blind to what has clearly been presented to them for generations. That is why we regularly take volunteers to prayerwalk. On-sight intercession is one of the ways that we can join God in opening the eyes of our beloved Japanese people. We took one team to Kitakyushu to prayerwalk and to encourage two members of our house church.

The prayerwalking team toured a company where one church member worked, then we prayerwalked the neighborhood where another church member lived. That evening we met one of the church members for dinner before returning to Fukuoka.

M-san* was one of our student friends from our college ministry in Fukuoka. She had always been polite but disinterested in any discussion of God, but for some reason she decided to go with our prayerwalking team to Kitakyushu.

I noticed that M-san was wearing a cross necklace. I asked if the necklace had any meaning to her. She said, “No, it doesn't mean anything to me, it is just a decoration. But I wore it today because I know that you all are Christians."

M san is so typical of her people. She is bright and polite, but when it comes to God she is completely unaware. Oh that she should see with her eyes, hear with her ears and understand with her heart, and then God would heal her. Then the cross would have meaning.

*Excerpt from the newsletter of a Pacific Rim worker in Japan. Names changed for the privacy of the local person.

Pray that:

Japanese people will have their eyes and ears opened to spiritual truth.

God will lead prayerwalking teams in Japan to see and hear what is going on around them with spiritual sensitivity so they can pray with power and insight.

M-san will understand with her heart what the cross can mean in her life.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.