We just completed the teaching on Spiritual Warfare at the Takasago Church near Osaka, Japan.
I joined the team that had been going these last four years. This was my first time back to Japan in six years.
It was wonderful to see how the team of Cindy Strickler, John Chang, Steve Thayer and Peyton Johnson (Peyton was not on this trip) had all crossed over into Japanese culture and had been so greatly used by God to nurture the movement of the Holy Spirit there.
They had obviously entered the hearts of the Japanese people who lavished on us extraordinary hospitality .
We had one feast after another.
To watch the women of the church put on their aprons and prepare a meal in the church kitchen that would rival any upscale Japanese restaurant we could find in the USA was truly amazing.
Eating Japanese food even at a church gathering is a feast for all the senses including the eyes.
More important than the aesthetics and culinary excellence was the love with which it all was served.
The conference was attended by members of the Takasago Church as well as pastors of the Unified Church Christ of Japan from all over Japan. Several things really stood out.
First, was the incredible job that Steve Thaeyer did equipping and mobilizing the intercessors for the event.
We were well covered during all the teaching and ministry times. This strong work of prayer accounted for the way the event was protected from disruptive manifestations of evil.
Actually there were several attempts!
On Tuesday afternoon as I was teaching on how Christians can be demonized, there was a terrible accident just two blocks away from the church: a commuter train hit a truck and crashed into the train station.
For hours there were sirens wailing and about a dozen helicopters buzzing overhead.
The Holy Spirit just led us throughout the afternoon to incorporate the event into the prayer work. Amazingly no one was killed and we all got the opportunity to do the work of prayer for the community.
The second disruption occurred when we moved into a time of practicing the six steps of deliverance prayer.
Five prayer teams gathered around the sanctuary.
Within a short time two of the women receiving prayer began to manifest very loudly.
As all this started I felt waves of attacks coming against me and needed more intercessory prayer support. So stepped out to call for additional prayer support.
When I went back into the sanctuary the groups had quieted down and there was a peaceful awareness of Jesus’ authority.
The teaching about not just casting out the demons when they showed up but rather discerning and removing the ground they were holding onto had taken root and was being put into practice.
I was called in to help the team who was working with a church member who had been prayed for numerous times in the past year and was still harassed by evil spirits.
We got to the ground which was some deep hurt and rejection and Jesus’ manifested His love for this distraught woman. It was wonderful to watch Jesus just love her.
Afterwards the Japanese team came out rejoicing that the very powerful demon that had been in her for over 30 years had left.
The woman just set free was radiantly beautiful, completely peaceful, and giving praise for Jesus for setting her free.
In the debriefing that followed everyone affirmed that this was the first time that they had heard of the need to discern and remove the ground of entry for the demons.
They observed how easy it was to to remove the evil spirits in the authority of Jesus Christ once the ground was removed.
Another very important learning was in the area of high level spiritual warfare, especially in the area of the formation of demonic strongholds. This was new to them.
It was confirmed over and over again that this teaching on spiritual warfare was of utmost importance for seeing the Church growing in Japan.
I had a vision of a great wave of the Holy Spirit that God was going to send like a tsunami over Japan so that the Church of Japan could be empowered to bring the whole nation to Christ, with the result that the whole nation of Japan could take its part in advancing the Kingdom of God worldwide.
But this wave was being blocked by complex demonic strongholds woven into the Japanese family structure as well as the culture.
It was confirmed that the teaching of the Dunamis Project is an essential key to equipping the Church for this task of engaging the strongholds in the power of the Holy Spirit.
We look forward to continuing to take part in this great move of the Holy Spirit that is taking place in Japan and pray that the vision of revival will be fulfilled.
Each Wednesday night at Takasago Church there is a prayer meeting in which they pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all of Japan.
Please join them in their faithful work of prayer.
Wow! Thank you for this! It’s July 2022, but I found your experience amazing, for our powerful mighty God, to be with you always.
Great move of God