A Passion Renewed

...and so does Jesus!!

I went to Passion Tokyo on Monday as a conclusion to my Tokyo-long-weekend, and was utterly blown away. Passion Tokyo, part of the Passion World Tour 2008, was a concert/conference event where young adults got together and worshiped God and heard the Word of God at the CC Lemon Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo. I had been waiting for this event for weeks, and it was nothing short of what I expected. It was a thousand times better. Because God was there.

At 5pm sharp (because this is Japan), it started. And one minute in, tears were already gathering on the corners of my eyes. The event opened with a powerful slide show, of sentence after sentence about the Glory of God in Japan, about Jesus loving Tokyo, about lifting up His Name in this country...and it was all in Japanese. And even though I only understood some of it, I was overwhelmed and in awe, just looking at the words such as grace (恵み) and glory and forgiveness and love and Jesus is alive flashing on the huge screen on stage, with the crowd erupting as thousands of young adults cheered and agreed and woshipped and got excited about the same God, the same Jesus.....it was incredibly moving. It was incredibly touching. The Holy Spirit's presence was so strong from the start it was immense. I haven't experienced it for a long time, yet it was so familiar, so refreshing, so divine.

And then Chris Tomlin & band led worship with a load of songs I haven't heard for ages and again tears were still rolling down, as I raise my voice and hands to praise the one true God, along with 2000 others pouring their hearts and lives out to the risen Saviour.

Matt Redman & band and the David Crowder Band also led in more amazing worship.

I was just incredibly blown away by the fact that I was with a family of 2000 in a jam-packed auditorium IN JAPAN, all individuals melted into one heart, one mind, one goal, living and singing for Jesus. The Passion of Christ and the Passion for Christ isn't just an idea or theory or 'something nice' anymore - it became so real, so powerful. Such a powerful reality.

And not just in Japan - during the night we were shown a video of all the people in SEOUL praying for Passion Tokyo - watch this ------>
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=y1IxCG9wzgA

And I think by this time half the auditorium was in tears.

The whole thing was simply amazing. It was a full 4 hours of continuous amazingness. I was so encouraged. I was given so much that night. And now its my turn to give. To work to not let this renewed fire dim. To be steadfast in holding on to the faith and courage, to shine His light and let the whole world see. It's so easy to be fired up in one event and then forget about it within a week. But in God's strength, with prayer and feeding on God's Word, I'm gonna let this fire burn all the more brighter and louder and bigger.

Hong Kong, we're praying for you!