Forgiveness; February 5, 2019

Posted on February 12, 2019 by jgarrott

Luke 5:20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

Forgiveness is one of the major themes of the whole Bible. Right after including forgiveness in teaching His disciples to pray, Jesus said what has got to be one of the most severe things recorded as coming from His mouth: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15) On top of that, after He was resurrected He said, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (John 20:23) At the time of this story, the Pharisees and teachers of the law very reasonably thought only God could forgive sins. (verse 21) However, Jesus proceeded to demonstrate the reality of the forgiveness He had proclaimed by healing the man physically as well. We are obviously called to radical forgiveness, but we really struggle with it. We relish in revenge, when even in the Old Testament God proclaimed, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay.” (Deuteronomy 32:35) This is quoted both in Romans 12:19 and Hebrews 10:30. Failing to forgive others is a clear indication we don’t understand how much we ourselves have done, against God and against other people. It also shows we don’t understand the holiness and purity of God, so that anything unholy disqualifies us from even drawing near to Him. When we do understand all of this, in light of what Jesus said right after teaching the Lord’s Prayer, we will fall all over ourselves in our haste to forgive others. All of this is an extremely difficult thing to teach in Japan. Not only is there the simple linguistic difficulty of most people using strictly a character that means “permission,” rather than the homophone that actually means Biblical forgiveness, there is also the factor that revenge has long been highly honored in Japanese culture. One of the best-loved historical tales is of the 47 samurai whose lord was forced to commit suicide in dishonor, and they sacrificed their own families and their own lives to avenge him. The Japanese title for that story is The Storehouse of Faithfulness. That makes the Gospel radical indeed in Japan, but to be honest, I’m not sure people in other countries do that much better at forgiveness.

This is extremely close to home right now. I have recently found out that a man who was my assistant pastor but who left the church abruptly over a year ago has been spreading lies about me in that interval. What complicates things is that he has just come back to attending this church. The response that most Japanese who know about the situation expect is for me to exclude him from our fellowship, but I haven’t done that. Several years ago one of the members of this church said to me, “You keep talking about forgiveness, and the difference between the two characters. People can’t understand it that way. You’ve got to demonstrate radical forgiveness yourself before people will be able to grasp it.” He was quite right, and now the Lord has given me an opportunity to do exactly that. The marvelous thing is, I’m not finding it very difficult! God’s grace is indeed sufficient. (2 Corinthians 12:9) That’s not at all to say that what my former assistant pastor did was OK, or that he doesn’t need to repent. Repentance is between him and God, but it will certainly be manifested in his actions once he follows through. (Matthew 3:8) Meanwhile, my failing to forgive would benefit no one and would certainly harm me. The most radical forgiveness of all was when Jesus went to the cross for all our sins, and I must never forget it.

Father, thank You for this clear Word. I had wondered how to confront this brother, and had been intending to do it privately, but what he has done has been very public, and it needs to be brought out into the open. I pray that I would do and say only and exactly what You want me to, so that Your love may be paramount and the works of the devil be destroyed, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Ministry; February 4, 2019

Posted on February 11, 2019 by jgarrott

Luke 4:14-15 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

This immediately followed two important events of Jesus’ ministry: His baptism, and His temptation in the wilderness. Both of those were essential to what is described here. At His baptism, the Holy Spirit came on and remained on Him. Far too often we get an idea, or even a genuine calling, and rush off to try to do it in our own strength. That never works! We forget that we can do nothing on our own, as Jesus said explicitly. (John 15:5) Even Jesus lived a very ordinary life until He was filled and anointed with the Spirit. However, even that wasn’t enough by itself. The second prerequisite was that He was tested. That’s certainly not something we can schedule, nor would we want to. However, it is the major reason for the “qualifying experience” requirement of most mission agencies before they appoint anyone to serve. (That requirement is sometimes misused for strictly human reasons, but that’s a different story.) 40 days of fasting and encountering the devil directly isn’t something we would aim for or desire, but Jesus needed to be sure in Himself of who He was and what the Father was doing in and through Him. With all that taken care of, He indeed could operate “in the power of the Spirit.” When He did that, it records that “everyone praised Him.” That is in direct contrast to what happened immediately after this, when He went to where people knew Him best. There, as Jesus Himself pointed out in verse 24, He was not accepted. We are not to assume that just because we’ve done everything right, everything will go smoothly for us. If it didn’t for Jesus, why should we expect it? Opposition doesn’t necessarily mean we are wrong in any way, but we should be humble enough to listen to our critics, because it’s possible God wants to use them to show us our blind spots. Still, not being accepted doesn’t necessarily mean we are missing God ourselves.

This feels very applicable to me. My ministry, in the almost 45 years since I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, has certainly been spotty when viewed from a human perspective. I’ve been rejected by a mission board and forced to resign from a church, and the harvest since I’ve been in Omura could hardly be called abundant. However, all of that has shaped me in various ways, and I don’t know how God wants to use me from this point. I keep getting little hints, but nothing is obvious. My point is certainly not to force things, but rather to make myself available for whatever God has in mind, so that all of His plans may be fulfilled on His schedule for His glory.

Father, thank You for being totally trustworthy. Thank You that I know I don’t need to be anxious about anything at all. Today has opportunities for impactful ministry, and from tomorrow I’ll be going to a major Pastors conference. May I be Your agent in all that I say and do, whether anyone notices or not, and if they do notice, regardless of their response. May indeed, Christ alone be glorified. Thank You. Praise God!

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Serving God; February 3, 2019

Posted on February 11, 2019 by jgarrott

Luke 1:74-75 “…to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”

It seems to me that Zechariah was one of the many that expected the Messiah to bring them military victory over Rome, but from this point he moves into what God’s plans were really all about. Jesus came to enable us to serve God during our physical lives, preparing us for eternity with Him. Two things about the Japanese translation of this catch my attention. The first is that for grammatical reasons the two verses are blended, so it lists this as “verse 7475.” The second is that this is one of the few places the Japanese Bible uses the character that most Japanese use for “forgive,” illustrating that it doesn’t mean forgiveness at all. It sounds exactly the same, but as it is used here, it means “allow” or “permit.” (The NIV says “enable.”) All of this makes me very aware that our grasp of reality is tenuous at best, whatever we think. If the father of John the Baptist was confused, how confused are we? If the whole Japanese language makes the Gospel opaque, what hope do we have in evangelism? Actually, Francis Xavier said that Japanese was “a language invented by the devil to hinder the spread of the Gospel.” However, those early Catholic missionaries had amazing success, to the point that the Edo government understandably felt threatened. Many of those “conversions” were doubtless political, but many were genuine enough that people chose martyrdom rather than deny Christ. John the Baptist fulfilled his ministry despite his father’s spiritual blindness, and Japanese people are being born again into the family of God despite the obstacles of language and culture.

This makes me consider how I may be misinterpreting what God is doing in and through me. It was less than 20 years ago when it finally got through to me, on a fundamental level, that God’s smart and I’m not. I had always thought that God was smarter than I was, but I somehow thought we were somewhere on the same scale. NOT. I am to receive the understanding He gives me with gratitude and joy, but I am not to presume that I know more than that, much less try to dictate to Him about anything. At least the Bible shows me that many before me have tried to dictate to God, so I’m not alone in my foolishness! I am to rejoice that God desires fellowship with me and live so that nothing interferes with that fellowship. I am to rejoice that God desires to use me, and seek to make full use of every opportunity He gives me to do so. I am to submit my will to His, so that the authority He has given me on this earth as a descendant of Adam and Eve would be exercised to do His will alone, and nothing less.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the various situations in which I am involved right now. I pray that I would be Your agent in each one, indeed serving You in righteousness and holiness without fear or anxiety, so that Your will may be done in and through me for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Sharing God’s Blessings; February 2, 2019

Posted on February 10, 2019 by jgarrott

Luke 1:58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

God’s blessings are to be shared in various ways, and one of those is simply to let others know about them. Sometimes we feel conflicted about that because others aren’t as blessed as we are, and the devil – and sometimes other people – try to lay guilt trips on us about it. However, the Bible is loaded with admonitions to give God glory, and talking about the good things He has done is a major way to do that. We do certainly need to be careful not to be boastful, but fear of being seen that way should not keep us from praising God for His grace and mercy. The biggest danger is in forgetting that it is all grace, thinking that we somehow deserve God’s blessings. That will get us into trouble faster than we can think about it. Elizabeth herself was thrilled when she became pregnant, but pregnancies aren’t guaranteed to end successfully, as many women can testify. In those days, childbirth itself was a leading cause of death in women, and even today we recognize that a first pregnancy/birth is increasingly risky after age 30, and Elizabeth was certainly past that. Under those circumstances the safe delivery of a healthy baby was reason for rejoicing indeed. When we share news of what God has done for us, it is good to understand all the things that could have been different, and praise Him for every step of the way.

I have a very checkered track record in this area. In the first place, too often I have felt like I indeed deserved God’s blessings, and that is a guaranteed way not to get the best out of them. Even with that out of the way, so many things are completely out of my control. I am reminded frequently of what a blessing it is that I was born to the parents and in the family that I was, but I certainly didn’t choose that, much less earn it. God showered me with abilities from birth, but again I didn’t choose them, and frankly haven’t been that good a steward of them. The situation is further complicated in Japan, where children are taught never to put themselves forward, and even parents rarely praise their children. Thankfully that is changing, but the expectation of that is still high. In parenting seminars I have to tell people to discipline firmly and praise sincerely, rejoicing in their children rather than seeing them as a burden. That seems to me that it should go without saying, but many people have to be taught, because that’s not how they were raised. I need to help people understand that whatever they accomplish, God helped them do it. I likewise must never forget that “Nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.” (Romans 7:18) Everything good is by God’s grace. I am to be grateful and rejoice, and give Him glory by allowing others to rejoice with me.

Father, thank You for this reminder. All the recent stuff about my father has really brought this home to me. I am incredibly blessed! May I be the steward that You want me to be of all that You have placed in my hands, in one way and another, so that Your purpose for each thing may be fulfilled, for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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The Impossible; February 1, 2019

Posted on February 10, 2019 by jgarrott

Luke 1:37-38 “For nothing is impossible with God.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

These are two very famous verses, but we don’t connect them as much as we should. Gabriel’s statement to Mary is important for every believer to remember, and not just at Christmas. We speak glibly of God’s omnipotence, but in practical reality we often choke on it. We are hung up on imagining Him in our image, instead of really understanding that He created us in His. (Genesis 1:27) Because we are certainly not omnipotent, we can’t grasp what it means that He is. That said, God often modulates His power in relation to us. That is, He does the seemingly impossible only as we are prepared to receive it. Here, God already knew how Mary would answer, so Gabriel had stated the birth of the Messiah as settled fact, but Mary still had to accept her part in what God was doing for it to transpire. However, she indeed accepted here role, and as her relative Elizabeth said, “Blessed is she who has believed what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.” (Luke 1:45) If we want God to do the impossible in our lives, we’d better believe and obey Him!

This is something I deal with constantly. God has given me a vision of Omura again being the foremost Christian city in this nation, actively advancing the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth, but that is no more humanly possible than I could personally morph into a butterfly. However, just as Gabriel said, nothing is impossible with God, so I am to keep myself available to be useful to God in however He wants to do this. Over the years various scenarios have come to my mind as to how He might do it, but none of those have come about. That’s just more evidence that He’s smart and I’m not. Yesterday was spent talking about my father with someone who will be writing his biography. My father, too, encountered the impossible many times, and discovered that God could use him to get it done. The hardest nut to crack was, and still is, the salvation of the Japanese people. The earliest Protestant missionaries to arrive in Nagasaki wrote that if the Japanese people were to turn onto Christ, they would change not only the nation but the world. That is still true, and that explains why the devil has dug his heels in so hard in this place. However, we are back to Gabriel’s statement, and I’ve got to keep believing it. My father’s many accomplishments are indeed impressive, but they weren’t all enjoyable to him at the time. I need to remember that and submit myself fully to whatever part God has for me to play, just as Mary did, for His glory alone.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the day yesterday and all it held. I ask Your clear guidance for the biographer as she writes, that the organization and the content will be exactly as You intend, fulfilling the part that You have for that book in Your plan to accomplish the humanly impossible in Japan, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Fathers; January 31, 2019

Posted on February 1, 2019 by jgarrott

Luke 1:17 “And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

This declaration by Gabriel about John the Baptist is a direct reference to the last two verses of the Old Testament. “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6) That’s one of several reasons we need to pay close attention to what it says. In Malachi it says fathers to children and children to fathers, but here it says fathers to children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous. To me, that says that God wants righteous fathers! In any case, it points out the vital importance of the father/child relationship. For one thing, it’s an unavoidable fact that our physical fathers greatly influence our image of Father God. That doesn’t mean that we can’t have a good relationship with God if we didn’t have a good father, but it does become more difficult. However, I know someone who is a very strong, vibrant believer with beautiful fellowship with Father God, and she has said that she knew that God couldn’t be anything like her physical father! God is gracious indeed. That said, this explains why the devil seems so set on destroying families, and especially fathers. Some people who bemoan the crime and incarceration statistics for minorities in the US refuse to connect that to the breakdown of the family in those minorities, but statistics show that an intact, functional family is perhaps the best protection against poverty, crime, and a host of other evils. All those evils would seem to correlate closely with the “curse” mentioned in Malachi! Today, even “strong Christians” seem to take marriage very lightly, removing what God intended as “marital intimacy” from the context of marriage entirely. That is clearly a work of the devil, who wants to destroy one of God’s most beautiful creations, the family.

As I am frequently reminded, I was hugely blessed to be raised in a strong family that was dedicated to serving God. This verse coming up today seems extremely timely, because someone is coming today to interview me in relation to a biography they are writing about my father, W. Maxfield Garrott. I will be eternally grateful that my father was indeed a fountainhead of “the wisdom of the righteous,” and I am pleased that others want to make that wisdom more accessible. I must certainly remember that today’s activities aren’t about me, but I am to be fully involved, out of gratitude and submission to both my physical father and my heavenly Father.

Father, words fail me to express how blessed I know I am to have been born and raised in the family I was. I pray that I would be an open and effective channel for those blessings to be poured out on all whom You intend them to reach, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Time and Schedules; January 30, 2019

Posted on February 1, 2019 by jgarrott

Mark 11:11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

It just struck me, reading this, that Jesus wasn’t in a rush. He did things very deliberately, and not just on impulse. Here, He was seeing how the merchants had taken over the Court of the Gentiles in the temple, but He didn’t immediately jump into driving them out. Rather, He saved that for the next day. We have great difficulty keeping in mind the reality that God is outside of time and so is aware of everything at once. To Him, the moment of Creation and the end of the world are equally, now. That’s why Peter could very rightly say, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8) I’ve always thought it was remarkable that an uneducated fisherman like Peter would have such depth of insight into an issue that scientists struggle with even now. Time and our perception of it are very much objects of research, because there is much we do not know. The thing for us to remember is that God has the precise right time for everything, as the Bible points out repeatedly. Our frustration comes when God’s time doesn’t agree with ours. We decide how things “ought to be,” and then get upset when they don’t follow that schedule. That’s not at all to say that we aren’t to plan, but it is very much to say that we are to hold all plans loosely, recognizing that God is sovereign and He always has a better idea than we do. Our best plans always come from listening to Him!

This has been an issue for me all my life. I’m not big on planning and preparing, but at the same time I hate to be late for anything, and get uptight about schedules. Both of those are weaknesses! I need to be diligent in planning, but at the same time relaxed about when things happen. That’s very difficult for me! There are indeed things that must happen at a specific time, but I need discernment and peace about what things fit that category and what don’t. It is perhaps fitting that I live in Japan, where you can set your watch by the trains, but people might show up for a meeting half an hour late. (Incidentally, formal functions are very much on the “trains” end of the scale. I have been irritated by public meetings being plotted out by the second, literally.) The whole issue of time is important because that’s how our lives on earth are measured. However, it should make a huge difference to me personally that I have eternity ahead of me, so I have no reason to be uptight. My focus must be on listening to my Lord and doing what He says, when He says to do it.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I have a number of things to be done today, but no set schedule for any of it. Help me recognize and follow Your schedule, being neither lazy nor anxious. As You have told me, help me indeed rest, relax, and rejoice in You, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Change; February 29, 2019

Posted on January 31, 2019 by jgarrott

Mark 6:4 Jesus said to them, “Only in his home town, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”

Jesus here states a fairly universal phenomenon, another expression of “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Human beings are funny that way. However, it all comes from our expectation of things continuing as they have been, however that is. When things don’t go as we expect, we get frustrated. Change is stressful. However, change is part of the definition of life itself, so we had better accept and get used to it. Over the past century the rate of change has accelerated greatly, particularly in terms of knowledge and technology, and we have a very hard time keeping up. That has led to a sharp rise in both mental illness and a dependence on distractions, either chemical or behavioral – which is another way of saying the same thing. When things around us don’t go as we expect or want them to, we try to retreat in some way. When Jesus, the home town boy, started speaking and acting in unexpected ways, those who thought they knew Him best shut Him out, and Luke records that they even tried to kill him. (Luke 4:28-30) That same reaction dogged Jesus throughout His ministry. Being a vassal state of Rome was hardly ideal, but it was what they were used to, and the prospect of changing things was upsetting, particularly to those who profited from the situation. (John 11:48) Change is a major part of the definition of repentance, so we had better be willing to accept it! It is often most difficult to accept change in people, just as people were having trouble accepting Jesus here. (Actually, He hadn’t changed, but people’s perception of Him changed.) However, the possibility of change is one of the most glorious things about being in Christ. As Paul said, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) We don’t have to stay as we have been, and neither does anyone else. However, for that change to be good, we have to submit to God and allow the Holy Spirit to work in us. That is indeed what repentance is all about.

Well! I have really opened a huge topic! I need to consider it prayerfully and allow the Holy Spirit to show me what I am to do and what and how I am to share with others. Former students seem to find it comforting that “I don’t change,” making me a point of stability for them, but I really need to keep changing, keep growing as well, because stagnation is never desirable. Also, I tend to dismiss people as “that’s just the way they are.” I need to pray for them that they too may grow and change as God desires. As I have told people for years, I am not to expect good things of people, but I am always to expect good things of God, even using people. God has not left me alone as I have been, and I’m not to abandon people either. Sometimes circumstances require physical and/or emotional distance, but I am to remember that nothing is too difficult for God, as last year’s Verse for the Year proclaimed. (Jeremiah 32:27)

Father, thank You for this reminder. Many things are going on, and the rate of change indeed makes me want to retreat at times. Help me look at people and at situations with Your eyes, trusting You to work with things as they are to change them to how they should be – and that includes changing me, too. May I not resist what You are doing in any way, but rather act as Your useful agent, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Faith; January 28, 2019

Posted on January 31, 2019 by jgarrott

Mark 5:34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

There is no question that the power that healed the woman came through Jesus, because He Himself was aware of it happening, as it says in verse 30. However, it was this woman’s faith that allowed her to lay hold of that power, so Jesus’ statement was not inaccurate. We get all tied in knots sometimes when it comes to faith, often enough devolving into faith in faith, rather than faith in God. I was talking to someone just yesterday about the incredible things we are capable of at times, if doubt doesn’t get in the way. That’s the whole principle behind hypnosis, and some amazing things can be done with that. However, the object of our faith actually makes a huge difference. There is a Japanese proverb that says that even a sardine head can be an object of worship. That is meant to say that it doesn’t matter what you believe, so long as you believe something. Many people would like that to be true, and effectively proclaim it to be so, but it is a lie from the pit of hell. We are designed for faith, but if we believe the wrong things we just get into trouble and end up destroyed. That’s a big reason why fathers are so important, because our image of Father God is greatly shaped by our experience of our human fathers. That’s why the devil is so viciously attacking the whole idea of fatherhood in society today, telling women they don’t need a father for their children and telling men they have no responsibility to the children they have sired. Paul stated clearly, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) When we have faith in faith, we misinterpret what Jesus said to the woman and take pride in our faith. We need to realize that God alone is the source of all power, and place our faith firmly in Him.

I got involved in hypnotism in high school and continued through college, but not really after that. I know from experience some of the remarkable things that can be done with it, but I now wouldn’t go near it because I realize that it makes a plaything of human will, and our free will has got to be one of the most valuable things in the universe, because Jesus died to preserve it. God could have ordered us to obedience, but instead He arranged it so that we choose to obey or not. If human free will is that important, I must not play with it! Since being involved in the Charismatic Movement I have been exposed to all sorts of teaching on faith, some of it good and some of it, as I said, encouraging faith in faith. As Paul said, we are to walk by faith and not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7) However, I’ve got to be careful that my focus is on Christ and not on myself, or any human instrument. There is quite literally no limit to what God can do, but it is all too easy for me to try to dictate what He does, and dress it up with claims of “faith.” If I am to walk in all that God has planned for me, my focus has got to be on Him and not on what my imagination comes up with.

Father, I’m still learning about faith. Thank You for teaching me! Thank You for all that You are doing in and around and through us in these days. May I not interfere with any of that through unbelief, but trust You totally, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Seeing Jesus; January 27, 2019

Posted on January 29, 2019 by jgarrott

Matthew 23:39 “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”

At first glance you might think Jesus was referring to Palm Sunday, but this is recorded has having taken place after that, which is described in Matthew 21. I personally feel that no one is going to see Jesus until they welcome Him as the Messiah. Jesus is present today by His Spirit, but only those who have the humility to repent of their sins can recognize that on a personal level. Of course, even then we don’t see Him with our physical eyes, but countless people have been strongly aware of His presence at various times. In this verse Jesus is quoting Psalm 118:26, which has other Messianic references as well. Both Jesus and Peter quoted Psalm 118:22-23 as referring to Him. (Matthew 21:42, 1 Peter 2:7) It is only when we recognize that He is God’s provision for our salvation that we can see Him for who He is. The whole matter of salvation is both simple and complicated. It is simple because the transaction involved is very straightforward: repent and believe. (Mark 1:15) It is complicated because both our repentance and our faith tend to be very deficient. We confuse repentance with simple regret. The Japanese expression for repentance is very helpful here: “regret and start over.” If we don’t make the clear choice to start over, we haven’t really repented, but of course we aren’t going to make that choice in truth until we regret how we have been or what we have done in the past. For too many people “repentance” is simply regret that they got caught, or that they have to face the consequences of their actions. Our faith likewise is often deficient, more like believing in Santa than in a Creator who is both totally holy and love itself. Our faith is never perfect on this earth, but it should continue to grow as we exercise it. It is by faith that we can indeed see Jesus, and rejoice in Him indeed.

I have never been granted a vision of Jesus, as some have, but I have had moments of being more sure that He was real than that I was. With that assurance, my task becomes helping others acknowledge Him as Messiah as well. Japanese seem pretty willing to accept Him as a historical figure, as I think the majority of cultures world-wide do, but there’s a great difference between that and submitting to Him as your Lord, and that is the definition of salvation. (Romans 10:9-10) The biggest problem for Japanese seems to be in grasping His connection with them. Not only did He walk the earth 2000 years ago, He wasn’t ethnically Japanese, and they have an extreme sense of racial identity. Only genuine Christians are really comfortable with Paul’s statement that “Our citizenship is in heaven.” (Philippians 3:20) I am not to be discouraged, but keep acting as “Jesus with skin on” for those who see me, speaking the truth in love so that the Holy Spirit will have maximum opportunity to get through the lies of the enemy with His truth that will set people free.

Father, thank You for Your salvation. Thank You for my being aware of Jesus by faith. Thank You for the Holy Spirit to live in me. May I be totally yielded to You, so that others may indeed see Jesus in me and be drawn to repentance and faith for their salvation. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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