C. Peter Wagner: To this day I feel humbled that God would choose to use me as an instrument for remitting the sins of a nation. But what really happened? What difference did it make?
For one thing, I do not believe Japanese-American political relationships crossed some kind of a threshold that day.
I think that for this to ever happen the participants will have to be those who have national authority, not a simple seminary professor.
Certainly more was done politically some seeks later when U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh knelt in humility before Mamuro Eto, a 107-year-old Japanese-American minister, in Washington, D.C., and in an official ceremony apologized for America's actions toward Japanese-Americans during World War II.
He presented checks of $20,000 to each of 9 elderly Japanese at the ceremony, and said the 65,000 others would soon receive similar redress payments.
President Bush wrote,
"We can never fully right the wrongs of the past, but we
can take a clear stand for justice and recognize that
serious injustices were done to Japanese-Americans
during World War II."
By mentioning this, I am not implying there was any cause-and- effect relationship between what we did in Tokyo and what happened in Washington. But I do think that in Tokyo something happened in the heavenlies.
To what degree I do not know, but I feel sure the territorial spirits over Japan received a significant setback.
The Los Angeles Times reports that in 1991 Japan commemorated the end of World War II "amid a rare flowering of contrition for its aggression in the war."
Much more repentance, confession, forgiveness and humility will be needed before we see the radical changes in Japanese receptivity to the gospel we are praying for.
Changes are not easy to measure. As we gain experience in warfare prayer we will hopefully learn to be more effective.
One of the things we need to recognize is the concept of the spiritual relationship between the visible and the invisible.
(Emphasis added)
Father,
I ask for guidance in my own confession
of sins, as I want to be clean before You.
May my heart be washed by the blood of Your
Son, to where I can begin to make the changes
You desire to see in me.
Help me to become effective in my praying,
to where Christ gains victory in my life,
in my church, and in my community.
I ask this in His name, amen.
I ask for guidance in my own confession
of sins, as I want to be clean before You.
May my heart be washed by the blood of Your
Son, to where I can begin to make the changes
You desire to see in me.
Help me to become effective in my praying,
to where Christ gains victory in my life,
in my church, and in my community.
I ask this in His name, amen.
Today’s Bible verse: Jer. 24:7 "And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart."
Today’s quote:
is not a one-time act. It's a process. While it begins with the
decision to forgive, it often takes time before the heart fully accepts what the will has set in motion. How long it takes may depend somewhat on the severity of the pain. Forgiveness takes time, and we must give ourselves the grace that our healing requires as we put forgiveness in motion." (Taken from her book, Broken Heart on Hold pg. 165, 166).
is not a one-time act. It's a process. While it begins with the
decision to forgive, it often takes time before the heart fully accepts what the will has set in motion. How long it takes may depend somewhat on the severity of the pain. Forgiveness takes time, and we must give ourselves the grace that our healing requires as we put forgiveness in motion." (Taken from her book, Broken Heart on Hold pg. 165, 166).
Some thoughts today: When God imputes Christ's saving Blood to us, we are covered with Christ's Righteousness. God looks at us, and sees His Son! He will deal with us in our transforming, to become more and more like Him.
- Don't be surprised at God's longsuffering with us and others, as He has a plan to make us into Christ's image, and it may take quite a while for some of us! We have a lot to learn through our daily living choices...
- Let's be determined to look to Him, and to expect His grace to be sufficient for our needs. Remember, He's working on others, too. They'll have their own lessons to learn.
- Don't be surprised at God's longsuffering with us and others, as He has a plan to make us into Christ's image, and it may take quite a while for some of us! We have a lot to learn through our daily living choices...
- Let's be determined to look to Him, and to expect His grace to be sufficient for our needs. Remember, He's working on others, too. They'll have their own lessons to learn.
~
I will be away from the 6th 'till the 9th, so am posting the next 2 posts early...
~
5th- Wednesday's post: #84 The Visible and the Invisible
C. Peter Wagner
6th- Thursday's post: It's Time For a Good Cleaning
Gwen Smith
9th- Sunday's post: When God Anointed Men of Old
Lee Forbes
11th- Tuesday's post: #85 Naming and Mapping the Powers
C. Peter Wagner
A popular post: Laying Hold of the Victory Dutch Sheets shares with us, “Intercession, according to our definition, involves two very different activities. One is a reconciling, the other is a separating. One is a tearing away—a disuniting, the other is joining to—a uniting.
(Google images have been used)
I will be away from the 6th 'till the 9th, so am posting the next 2 posts early...
~
5th- Wednesday's post: #84 The Visible and the Invisible
C. Peter Wagner
6th- Thursday's post: It's Time For a Good Cleaning
Gwen Smith
9th- Sunday's post: When God Anointed Men of Old
Lee Forbes
11th- Tuesday's post: #85 Naming and Mapping the Powers
C. Peter Wagner
(Google images have been used)
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