forgive me Lord for the judgments and condemnations that fill my heart and mind toward your church, your people, and you.
Psalms 24:3-5
Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.
He will receive blessing from the LORD.
it was over a year since i visited new hope osaka and i didnt know what to expect. with everything going on there, i was imagining maybe 10 to 20 people at most gathering together for a somber message huddled around each other in quiet and solitude.
yet the reality was far from my imaginations!
as soon as i walked in to the dawn center, worship filled the lobby, raised hands filled the floor and there was a feeling of freedom, of lightness, of joy in the air and after the service too, there were smiling faces to greet me and welcome me...it was home away from home...it was the first time in many, many months that i felt a love for the church once again...a love i had lost...a love that had been replaced by hatred, bitterness, cynicism, doubt, rebellion, every word you can think of to mean disobedience to what God intends for his church i felt in my heart...until today.
the interesting thing was that as i discussed w/ my professor about the possibility of enrolling in seminary in april, as a pre-requisite, he told me that i needed to be a regular attendee of a Sunday service! NOT what i wanted to hear...and the interesting thing about that was that when i had gone to visit tokyo, God was impressing upon my heart to visit osaka...i also had a talk w/ p.talo in passing that he would be in osaka speaking and whether i would be there...i told him yes, but...well, i had other plans...so it was this past weekend that i went and...im going to go again this weekend but i am right now 95% sure that i want to make that my home church to commit to and help out.
i had also planned to visit kbf b/c i go to their wednesday nite bible study, sort of their mid-week service and i really like it and it would've been my alternate church if osaka hadnt impressed upon me so heavily as it did.
so we'll see what happens.
please continue to pray for me and other fellow followers of Jesus who are committed to make an impact here for him.
please also pray for the churches here as there is a common sense among people that God is starting something...we just dont know what and when...and maybe its not important to know that except that we just be obedient to him...
Nehemiah 5:13 - May God shake out of his house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. So may such a man be shaken out and emptied!
Haggai 2:6-7 - This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory.
-WHOA-
(as i was doing a search on biblegateway on the word "shake", there was an earth tremor here in Kobe...)
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