April 24, 2022
Young Woman On a Mission in
Hiroshima
It was new
to me, years ago – an observation by John Piper – that worship is the goal of
missions. I began to see missions in a new light. The meaning is obvious. Our
purpose for spreading the good news of the gospel is to motivate people to
worship God. This was the basic theme of Piper’s book, Let the Nations Be
Glad!
When my
friend Rebecca Jackson announced that she was going to Hiroshima “to worship
over Japan,” I was surprised to find that Piper’s idea is interwoven with her
calling to return to Asia as a “missionary.” Her response to God’s call to go
to Japan is undergirded by these inspiring words from Piper’s book: “Missions
is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because
worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate,
not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall
on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more … Worship is
the fuel and goal of missions.”
I have
known Rebecca since she was a little girl since her parents, Jim and Melinda
Jackson, are dear friends of mine. I was one of their pastors while Rebecca was
growing up in Opelika, Alabama. It was my privilege to pray for Rebecca when she
answered God’s call to go to China and love people into the Kingdom while
teaching English. Her focus there was reaching college-age students interested
in the gospel and encouraging students who were already believers.
Now, with another degree from Auburn University, Rebecca
has moved to Japan to love Japanese students into a vital walk with Christ. A
daring young woman, only 32 years old, on a mission for Christ! Brave enough to
travel alone from Alabama to Japan in obedience to God. A sterling example of
God at work in a world focused daily on the indescribable brutality of Vladimir
Putin and the suffering of millions of innocent people in Ukraine! Her story
invites us to do more than wring our hands and complain; we can unite with
people like Rebecca in worshipping God and loving people into the Kingdom!
When I invited Rebecca to share her motivation for
moving alone to faraway Hiroshima, her response revealed her secret weapon: Worship!
As you read her message, I hope you will be inspired, as I have been, to make
time in these days “to worship over Japan”! Feel free to accept Rebecca’s
invitation to pray for God to release a “tidal wave of love” over Japan. Read
now Rebecca’s words:
God inhabits and is “enthroned on the praises” of
His people (Psalm 22: 3)! Our worship can usher in His presence to any place on
earth! During the first week in April I moved to Hiroshima, Japan. This is the
fulfillment of a four-year calling. In early 2018 I woke up at 3am with a clear
dream and directions from God that it was time for me to return a second time
to Asia for missions, but this time to Japan, and that I was to reach students
in higher education. I serve at the Hiroshima YMCA Language School, and many of
my English classes take place on one of our city's college campuses. I also am
serving alongside Lifehouse Church in any way I can.
Lifehouse Church is an extraordinary movement across Japan that was
birthed in prayer. The Lord directed Australian missionaries Rod and Viv
Plummer to Japan in a prayer meeting, where the Lord showed Pastor Viv a
glimpse of a tsunami of the Holy Spirit crashing over Japan, a tidal wave of
the love of the Father poured out across the nation. The Plummers
led a small team to plant the first Lifehouse campus
in Tokyo. Lifehouse has since seen unprecedented
revival in the nation, especially among Japan's youth and student generation.
Japan is the largest unreached population in the
world with borders still completely open to missionaries. Less than 2 percent
of the population have embraced the Christian faith. In an unreached nation
many missionaries have given up on, this Australian couple has seen God pour
out revival. Lifehouse now has campuses in all major
cities across Japan, including Hiroshima.
One thing God has placed on my heart is to invite
friends and family each week to “worship” over the nation of Japan. A close
sister in missions, Tara, shared that while serving in a particularly unreached
nation, she felt a significant part of her role there was to worship, for His
worship was absent across that nation. We may also read with excitement how God
crashed in during Paul’s and Silas’ midnight prison praise party: chains fell
off the other listening prisoners (Acts 16: 25-34). Our worship sets others
free!
My supervisor explained to me that Hiroshima sits on
the mouth of a river delta, with seven rivers flowing through Japan’s “City of
Water.” Let’s pray that God will unleash a supernatural outpouring of God’s
living water as we worship. Pray God will draw worshippers to know Him; He is
right now actively seeking out worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and
truth (John 4:23).
Take a few minutes this week and worship over the
people of Japan, over all those the Father is longing to reach. Worship over
all the Father wants to do. Remember that our praise poured forth is
intercession.
If anyone reading this feels led to share in this
worship journey, they may contact me at rebeccajackson0404@gmail.com. May the amazing grace of the Master, the extravagant love of
God, and the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit be with you (from 2 Cor.
13:14 MSG). --Rebecca
I invite you to pray with me for Rebecca. And to
worship over the nation of Japan. And to thank God that in a world plagued by
hatred and violence, He is still quite able to use our prayers, and our
worship, to set people free. + + +