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

The Blue Flame IS a Pilot Light

Leviticus 6.12 states, "The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out..."

The fire.
On the altar.
Must be.
Kept burning.
It must.
NOT go out.

This was before access to such deep underground treasures as natural gas and oil. This was before oil pipelines, refineries and gas mains. This was before furnaces and boilers. This was before basements to keep the furnaces and boilers in.

The fire.
On the altar.
Must be.
Kept burning.
It must.
NOT go out.

This sounds like a pilot light. And being from a place like Alaska, pilot lights are essential to life. In winter, if the pilot light goes out- the whole house freezes. Water pipes turn to ice. Showers, toilets, washing machines stop working. There is no heat. Stone cold.

The fire.
On the altar.
Must be.
Kept burning.
It must.
NOT go out.

If the water is frozen... if there is no heat source... in winter, in Alaska and places like it- you die. It's a non-negotiable truth in this realm. And if that is a non-negotiable truth in this realm, why would it be different in the next?

If we look at the fire on the altar as it really is- the sacrifice of our praise and worship. The sacrifice from our lips, our hearts... our minds set after Him and IF those sacrifices are not placed upon His altar, the fire will stop burning. It will go out.

The pilot light will be snuffed out because the source of its burning is cut off.

So, what has this to do with anything? Especially a House of Prayer? Well, a picture Abba's been painting the past few years is of "the church" as one building. With the prayer rooms in the basement.

The prayer rooms, the Houses of Prayer- they are the furnace... they are THE pilot light of the building called "church." If there are no prayer rooms, the building goes cold. The activities of the building cease because the water of the Spirit stops flowing. It freezes.

This is on every level. A multi-tired operation which, when brought together, equals the whole.
It is personal.
It is by family. Bible study group. Church fellowship on the corner. It is denominational and ministerial. It is national and it is universal.

The old testament describes the groupings in such terms as families, clans, tribes, etc.

I feel God speaking in this hour with an urgency for His people to understand the absolute necessity of prayer & worship. We have mistakenly understood the function and purpose of both.

Looking at prayer & worship in comparison to a simple pilot light found in one's basement offers insight into a much needed paradigm shift for many of us.

We literally become the pilot light burning as we pray & worship. We burn BLUE! Though small, and most often kept in a hidden part of the building structure, this is the hottest part of a flame. As we burn, we are literally tapped into THE source of OIL rather than A source of oil.
Because we are tapped into THE source of oil, we BURN hot enough to heat the WHOLE house as we interceede.

"For the Lord your God is a consuming fire..." Deuteronomy 4.24
"... consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it." 2 Samuel 22.9 & Psalm 18.8
"See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, ... and his tongue is a consuming fire." Isaiah 30.27
"...for our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12.29

A characteristic unique to the HOP, Tokyo is our location. I believe it is a prophetic illustration of this truth. Cafe' Decision which currently hosts the HOP, Tokyo is located in the basement of a building called "Big Vision." And inside of Cafe' Decision is a downstairs and an upstairs.

We usually meet for prayer meetings and fellowship gatherings in the upper room underground. To elaborate on the symbolism, the fire of the Spirt fell upon those who were present in the upper room on the day of pentecost. This was THE prayer meeting if that century! (Acts ch 1.12-14 & 2.1-4)

It seems to me, God is making a statement. There is a Big Vision for the upper room which is underground. If that's the case, fire will fall from above and burn up from below. There is high potential for a pretty hot furnace. May we be a people who live daily in the middle of it.

December 4, 2008
Additonal Note:
An interesting bit of Pilot Light trivia.
A sign that the gas being burned is pure and without mixture is the blue color of the flame. When it contains orange or yellow flames, there is a source other than pure gas being burned.