Today we continue to lift up Japan. Please review pages 488-494. Japan is in many ways opposite of the US, despite similar financial levels. Japan as a culture tends toward conformity, and so the ancient ties to Shintoism are particularly challenging to break. It's important to recognize that the Japanese church will not look like the U.S. church. Let's pray that God will use their cultural tendency to conform to draw them to be conformed into the image of Christ!
My prayer for today: Lord, we want to lift up Japan to You today. We thank You for the spiritual soul-searching that is going on after the earthquake and the ongoing economic and cultural decline. We pray for an awakening to the Gospel and for ongoing creative ministry. Thank You for the new approaches that take into account Japanese culture; we pray for success with these and wisdom for them to never cross any lines to become unbiblical. Lord, we grieve that Japan has no moral compass but we thank You that its leaders recognize the problem. We pray they will see the solution cannot be secular ethics or Shintoism but instead must be rooted in the truths of Your Word. We pray against the spiritual darkness that has such a stronghold on Japan; raise awareness in the church of the realities of spiritual warfare. We pray for Christians to stand against Shintoism and have wisdom in ministering to those caught in its deceptions. We pray for the church in Japan to be firmly rooted in Your Word and that You will raise up Japanese believers who can teach Scripture in a way the people will understand. In Jesus' name, amen.
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