Japan has a population of 126 million people, but less than 1 percent of them actually attend church.
And with the Olympics capturing the attention of many people around the world – two Christian organizations are joining together to challenge every believer to intercede for the people of Japan.
In fact – they are inviting you personally to be part of their 1 million hours of prayer initiative – and here’s how you can get involved from the comfort of your own home.
To start, did you know that Japan has the second largest unreached people group in the entire world?
Christians in Japan are heartbroken for all those who don’t know Christ, and they’re determined to use the current focused attention on their country to have the nations PRAY for their beloved country and its people.
Japan international Sports Partnership (JiSP) and Japan Evangelical Missionary Association (JEMA) are heading up the Japan 1 Million Initiative, encouraging Christians and churches all over the world to pray for the people in Japan.
The goal is 1 million hours of prayer!
Wow!
Pastor Keishi Ikeda is the leader of JiSP and he hopes prayer will cause the Japanese Church to grow to a whopping ten million people…
… in just the next three years!
While it seems impossible, he believes having ten million Christians in Japan could truly change the world.
Christianity Today reported:
“Imagine ten million Christians in Japan…This would change Japan,” he said.
“And not just Japan, we could send teams from Japan into other countries that many can’t get into as our passport is the strongest in the world.
“Working towards that vision, we had hoped to reach a million Japanese people during our Olympic outreach year. Covid closed those doors, but one door remained open; the door to prayer.”
Amen!
We often try and fight spiritual problems with worldly tools – instead of remembering that the real battle is on our knees in prayer.
All throughout the Bible, Jesus demonstrated the necessity to pray to His Father, and take time away from the crowd to pray.
And while many folks enjoy watching the Olympics, as Christians we must consider taking the time to pray for the people of Japan first and foremost.
There’s nothing more beautiful than Christians around the world uniting together in prayer for those who are lost without the Gospel.
We can be tempted to dismiss prayer thinking it doesn’t work – and instead focus our time and energy on programs and tactics to “win souls for Christ,” but nothing beats the intimacy of crying out to our Heavenly Father and interceding for the people of Japan.
If you’d like to sign up to cover the people of Japan in prayer – you can do so here.
May God use our prayers to open the eyes and hearts of the people in Japan who do not know of His saving grace.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” – John 3:16-17
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