Dear Brothers and Sisters, Praise God for offering godly wisdom to his people. This wisdom is not shown through P.H.D’s, intelligence, memorization or human knowledge, but it is revealed in a heart that fears to go against God’s will and the desire for a Christ-like character. The book of James tells us that godly wisdom is related to humility, purity, good deeds, mercy, integrity and a heart to please the Lord. Job tells us that godly wisdom can not be found on this earth and men do not understand its worth, but praise God that he opened the eyes of his people and is still offering that godly wisdom to all mankind. Praise God for blessing our men and ladies bible studies. Both groups have being studying the first book of 1 Peter and it is a blessing to hear that husbands and wives are comparing notes and insights that they have learned. Too, praise God for blessing us with many children and also helpers with a heart to teach them the bible.
Please pray so God leads all our parents and children bible teachers to nurture and joyfully build a new strong and faithful generation of believers in Japan. Japan has a lot of need for pastors, church planters and missionaries. But these days there are more churches closing and many foreign pastors going back home. Please help us praying for the churches in Japan that are in need of pastors and for the Lord to bless us sending more missionaries to plant solid and biblical churches.
Japan is in one of its biggest idolatrous seasons. Communities in every town or city organize festivals called “matsuri.” These festivals are pagan in their core; they carry demonic and immoral images and it is a feast for everybody to eat, dress nice and listen to their music. Our hearts get broken these days when we see even children being taught to carry idols and demon lookalike images to these empty and man-centered festivals. Please pray so God in His mercy transforms the hearts of this country so in the future people will gather together to celebrate and worship Him and not themselves.
Our children have been blessed studying the Old Testament thorough their “Desiring God” Sunday school material. We had a celebration and we gave diplomas to all our children for finishing the OT over this past year. We are now getting the materials ready to teach the New Testament. Please pray for the children of our church and all Japan that God will help us to raise up a faithful, passionate, and God-loving generation of new believers in Japan. Please brothers pray for perseverance in our church while we continue our doctrinal discipleship studies. Also, pray that many will grow in their faith and will be strengthened day by day and their faith and convictions about the precious word of God.
We organized an outreach event inviting the community to do crafts and share some coffee. God blessed us with the opportunity to share the gospel. Please pray that God will work in the hearts of all the guests and lead them to repentance and faith in Jesus. The country is superficially friendly but very closed to attend meaningful conversations of any kind. Please pray so God’s power will help us to create the opportunities to share and put in the seed of the gospel. Please pray so God continues being merciful towards a country that is know for its rejection of the gospel over the last hundred years. Thank you for taking the time in reading what the Lord is doing in Japan and for your prayers.
God bless you. P. Luis Ramirez.