(From journal: November 20, 200 19:42 PM)
This indeed has become the beginning. ItÅfs now been about a week since I wondered if my then glimpses of hunger for more of God would come to the fruition of a more disciplined lifestyle. And it has, over the course of the week, IÅfve been very disciplined in reading His Word, studying it, and meditating upon it. In addition, my prayer life has been rekindled. IÅfm still not where IÅfd like to be right now, but at least IÅfm climbing! And what good timing! Last night, during the Bible study with Dr. Koseki, we finished up our study on who God is. The week before we studied the Word showing that God is an immensely powerful God. I know I wrote something to the effect that the study went ok a week ago, but looking at it in hindsight, I think it stunk! I mean how can someone whoÅfs personal relationship with God is failing, show someone else how amazing God is? ItÅfs simply impossible. But well, itÅfs a good thing that during that meeting, the Word of God spoke with such authority! Anyway, last night, we talked about God as the holy God and God who identifies Himself as love, to give a more complete picture of God. And man, whatever I said about Dr. Koseki thinking about the material we covered last week can simply go out the window! YesterdayÅfs study apparently rang deep within his heart as he showed that he wanted to know a love like GodÅfs. The quote of the day was something to the effect of, ÅgIÅfve never experienced love like that. I never knew that about the Christian God.Åh It almost saddens me to know that the next topic that weÅfre going to cover is the issue of sin. But it must be done. Ito-sensei thanked me after everything was over saying that he too saw that the message touched Dr. KosekiÅfs heart very deeply. Could this have been done if I was continuing to have a poor devotional life with God? PossiblyÅc after all, everythingÅfs possible with God. Something about the Word of God has the power to be able to speak to us directly. But would I have been able to discern what God wanted me to say to Dr. Koseki to tie in all the points of GodÅfs Word? More than likelyÅc no! God could instead use some other meansÅc but it wouldnÅft be through my direct words.
So then that brings me to today. A few days back, when I was preparing for the English Bible study for the Yamadai students, I was surprised to see that the next item on the study guide was an opportunity to share the Gospel. Although, the study itself was sufficient to present the Gospel: itÅfs need and it as the solutionÅc IÅfve never really been all too big a fan of the cut-and-dry presentations of the Gospel whether it be through the Four Spiritual Laws or the Romans RoadÅc etc.. And so, inspired but what Mark Bello did about a year ago, I did a Powerpoint presentation of the things mentioned in the study along with some background. The study was still centered around the provided materials, I simply jazzed it up a bit and added some relevant material. Both Tadaho and Morio were there. They listened, heard, and asked questions about the whole thing. Equally exciting was that the existing Christians liked it and said that they learned from it. It was amazing. Tadaho apparently never heard the Gospel in its entirety. And simply came away from the meeting thinking that he had learned a lot of new information and that heÅfd have to think about the whole thing. Regardless, it was very apparent that Tadaho was thinking very hard about its relavancy and whether or not he found it all to be true. Towards the end, he asked, what he had to do to accept GodÅfs gift of salvation. After it was all done, he didnÅft say all too muchÅc instead thinking to himself about all the information he had gathered and the decision at hand. Morio came away realizing that Christianity is not simply a hobby but more a matter of life and death. No conversion stories yet, but man, this is about as close as you can get without having one. At least I know for sure that they have the Gospel in its entirety! A seed has definitely been planted.
Oh, and after being very convicted after reading Jerry BridgesÅf book The Pursuit of Holiness, and Richard FosterÅfs Celebration of Discipline, in addition to my standard devotional life IÅfve pursued the discipline of regular fastingÅc for the sake of not depending upon food but upon God, and also to help me to hear GodÅfs voice. ItÅfs been incredibly hard so far to keep it up, but itÅfs helped me keep my focus.