God's Rice Field & Building Altars on the Threshing Floor

For sometime now, I've been studying and researching the Father's heart on our location and how it connects with the name of our HOP. The more I pursue this, the more firmly I believe our prophetic destiny as a house of prayer is written into our name and the locations where we met. Please see this link for the first writing. Please see this link for the second writing.

The first place of meeting was in a cafe. A place of eating and feasting called "The Decision." (At the time, it was still known as Art Cafe Decision by most)
That cafe is in an area of Tokyo that hosts the seat of government for the nation of Japan. The name of that area is called Chiyoda-ku.
The name of the area within Chiyoda-ku where The Decision is located is called Kanda.
The English literal translation of the chinese characters for Kanda is as follows:

神 = God

田 = Rice Field

In 1 Chronicles 21, David ended up at a threshing floor. A place where the harvest was brought in and prepared for distribution. In the context of the story, God speaks and instructs David to construct an altar in that place. David purchases the property and does as directed. In the process of making the sacrifice and carrying out the act of worship, fire falls from heaven and burns up the sacrifice in response to David's prayers.


>In 1 Chronicles 22, David makes a decision and determines that this will become the new location for the Temple of the Lord and the place of the altar for Israel's burnt offerings.

Moving forward to 2 Chronicles 7, Solomon has already become king. He has completed building the Temple of the Lord as instructed by his father, David and gone through the process of dedicating the newly completed temple. Before the Solomon and the people, fire again falls upon the altar which compels the people to worship Him all the more. Starting with verse 11, Solomon receives a response from the Lord to his prayers of dedication.


Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 

It is interesting that the altar which David built was one with a purpose of intercession. It is interesting that the altar was needed due to a decision David had made. It is interesting that the altar was built on a place where grain was separated from the chaff. It is interesting that God is the one who chose the location of the altar which later became the temple.

It is interesting that the story of The Altar IHOP, Tokyo so closely shadows some of the themes found in scripture.
And this is the word I believe Abba is continuing to speak to us about it:

I AM the LORD of the Harvest. The grain is mine. The kingdoms of the earth are mine. The governments of the nations are mine. The "field of japan" is mine and my kingdom will be made manifest in the earth.

More insight to come as it is made known. Connecting threads are on The Decision and Ecclesia Cafe as modern day threshing floors and further study on altars.
Grace,
jg

Interesting Timing?

This is the second time an earthquake has occurred while I was praying.

The first time was at home alone in the very early hours of the morning after a very, very intense night of prayer.

The second time was this evening (Sunday, August 9.2009) with the altar IHOP, tokyo tribe while in prayer over Japan. At the time the earthquake struck, 7:55pm Japan Time, we were praying for the government of Japan and declaring that the seat of heaven's government was THE seat of government over the nation.

This is significant in many ways though, one large one being due to our location. We meet in Kanda which, when translated literally means "God's field" or "The field of God." Kanda is in Tokyo and is part of the Chiyoda Ward. This area is the seat of government for the nation of Japan and contains all of the major national governmental offices and various departments.

So, the implied translation of "Kanda" can be "the field of God's government."

I find it no small irony that the earth shook at exactly the time we were declaring in unity with a small tribe of 10 that Kanda was indeed the field of God's heavenly government made manifest on the earth.

We were praying for the prime minister and the elections coming up at the end of the month. We were praying for God to prepare the hearts of a people who would be worshiping Him soon. We were praying for wisdom, understanding, righteousness, justice and many other things to be made manifest in the government of the nation. We were praying for Abba to prepare the hearts of the people for the day there will be prayer rooms established in the Diet building including the intercessors & musicians whose job's would be full time in those prayer rooms.

We were praying for nothing less than a reformation & transformation of a nation- we were asking for the Kingdom of Heaven to invade Japan....

...could it be that Abba sent us a sign to confirm our prayers have been heard? I would so very much like to say "yes."

CNNnews report Link: click here

興味深いタイミングでは？

これは私が祈っている間に地震が起こった2度目となります。

最初のときは、とても強烈な夜の祈りを終えた後、朝の大変早い時間に自宅に一人でいたときにおこりました。

2度目はこの夜、（２００９年8月9日、日曜日）The Altar IHOP東京の皆様と一緒に、日本のために祈っているときに起こりました。

地震が起こった日本時間7:55pmはちょうど、私たちが日本の政府のために祈り、天国を統治している神様の御座はこの民を統治している御座であると宣言していたときでした。

これはいろいろと意味のあることです。一つは大きく一つは私たちの集会場所に関連しています。

私たちは神田、文字通り訳すと“神の領域”あるいは“神の領土”で集会をしています。

神田は東京にあり、千代田区の一部です。この地域は日本国民の政治の中心であり、すべての主要な政治の事務所と様々な省が置かれています。

ですから、“神田”の訳が示しているのは、神の統治する領域と言うことができます。

私たち10人の小さな群れが一致して、神田は本当に神様の天における統治が地に現される場所であると宣言していた正にその時に地が震えたのは、小さな皮肉な出来事ではないと理解しています。

私たちは日本の首相と、月末に予定されている選挙のために祈っていました。

神様が、まもなく主を崇めるようになるだろう人々の心を整えてくださるように祈っていました。

知恵、理解、正義、公正とその他多くの事が、この民の政府に現されるように祈っていました。

私たちはアバ父に、フルタイムで働くとりなし手とミュージシャンたちがいる祈りの部屋が国会議事堂の中に設立されるその日のために、人々の心を整えてくださるように祈っていました。

私たちは民の改革と変革となることに他ならない、天の御国が日本を侵略するように祈り求めていました。

この地震は、アバ父が私たちの祈りが聞かれているということを確証するために送ってくださったサインであると言えるのではないでしょうか？

私は、“はい、その通りです”と本当に言いたいのです。

日本の地震に関するＣＮＮニュースリポートのリンク： click here

UPDATE: Cafe' Decision & The HOP

Hi again tribe!

This past few weeks at the HOP have been amazing. We've had 3 sessions in 2009 so far (one impromptu session last Thursday) and Abba's presence has really been so strong in each of them.

It's been such a sweet time of prayer & fellowship it's been hard to stop and go home in the evenings- we've all just wanted to linger a few minutes longer before heading back to "life." Oh, how great it will be the day we go 24/7! I just cannot wait for that season to arrive! What a huge celebration we will have and what an amazing victory it will be.

In our sessions, we've had times of personal prophecy and prayers for physical as well as emotional healings. A few of us have even started to notice the overflow of this time in prayer impacting our house church groups. In fact, just this last Saturday, we were able to move in a powerful time of visitation. Abba touched a number of members and set them free from fear. Fear of man specifically but, there was a new freedom from fear in general. It was, as always, such an honor to be involved and have a front row view of the transformation individuals experience when they step into new realms of freedom.

Come to think of it, in the prayer room before our fellowship, we started prophesying, "never the same, after today, never the same." Towards the end of ministry time, the group leader actually said, "after today, we'll never be the same again..." How much more of a confirmation of God's word for the hour can you get than that? Especially when the person who spoke that phrase was not present in the prayer session?

Since December, God has also been doing amazing things at Cafe' Decision.

He's brought a core team of individuals together to really dig in and build up the business through a wide variety of new and very creative avenues. Some of which I am a part of.

This team coming together truly is an amazing miracle. Especially since there was contemplation and much prayer the later part of 2008 over whether or not it was time to close down and do something else. Instead, Monday & Wednesday evenings have been dedicated to the HOP. Tuesday is going to be an English Village event. Thursday will continue as a bible study lead by Mr. John LaDue of YWAM. (Youth With a Mission) Friday & Saturday evenings will be very event focused with special emphasis on hosting "live-house" style performances. And Sunday will maintain itself as a church for those who have met Jesus while at the cafe'.

This church, I'm told, is about 30 individuals and nearly ALL of them Japanese! The cafe' has only been opened for about 3 years! In Japan, this number if new believers is pretty amazing especially considering most churches often average 30 members with only one or two new believers added to their community annually. Yay for God. He truly is building His church through some unusual and unconventional means.

I've written a bit on the cafe' before. Specifically, about the HOP being located in "the upper room underground." I'd love to share with you some additional interesting insights regarding its location.

The district in which Art Cafe' Decision is located happens to be the same district in which much of the government of Japan functions and is housed. This area is known as "Chiyoda-ku" and is one of the 23 ward areas which compile the city of "Tokyo."

Not only that but, twice to date (in 2007 & 2008) teams from Bethel Church in Redding, CA; USA visited the cafe' as part of their mission trip. On one of those trips, a picture was sketched of the cafe building with a tree growing up through the center of it.

The prophecy attached to the picture was of a seed being planted deep and growing into an amazing tree.

I believe we are in the process of seeing this prophecy come to pass- at the very least, the tree is starting to break ground and be a tree rather than a tiny seed.

As has been mentioned in at least one earlier writing, the sign on the front of the building is "Big Vision." Haha! Abba is so good to us. He has indeed given us a BIG Vision for this Cafe' Decision, the HOP and also Japan.

We ARE the upper room underground and we are indeed PLANTED in the field of government for the nation of Japan. In fact, to my best knowledge, the Kanji Characters used for the name of the area literally mean, "God's Field." Or something very close.　神田 is spoken, "Kanda." The first character meaning "God" with the second character meaning "field."

Taking that to the prophetic, The Altar IHOP, Tokyo & Art Cafe' Decision are planted in Abba's field of Government. Hee hee! Can't really get much better than that hey?

"of the increase of His GOVERNMENT, there shall be NO end."

Interesting statement I think- that Abba would plant a cafe dedicated to the "arts" and promiting artists in the center of His field so that it would grow up a fruitful tree. Haha! What a good God. I so love the way He hides His treasures for us to find.

In closing, please do be in prayer for the cafe'. This is one of our 10 main prayer points for the HOP and we could use all the prayers we can get. Both for the HOP team that meets there weekly and also, for the cafe' operations & administrative teams who are working very hard to ensure there is income coming in to pay the bills and keep the cafe' operational.

That's about all for now.
Grace-
JG