The Mere Hands of Man—The Impossibility of Japan Missions
- Andy Lam
- Sep 27
- 6 min read
Written by Andy Lam
I was last in Japan in November of 2024, and the following article is one that was written for June of 2025. Needless to say, I was surprised that the Lord had plans to send me back so soon—yet He spoke very clearly to me. As a result, a lot of what the Lord spoke to me in 2025 stems from much of what I heard and was shown in November of 2024, which I also wrote an article for. It’s kind of like… Shrek and Shrek 2 or… Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Yeah, you can enjoy them both individually, but you’ll be rewarded for having watched both in chronological order. I’d recommend that you give it a read if you can!
In the fall of last year, I made a friend who was downcast in his faith, and as a result, we had a pretty personal, transparent, and emotional conversation. He said two things that really stuck out to me:
1. “My walk with God needs to be better. I know all I have to do is pray,” and 2. “No one has ever spoken with me like this before.” These words left a deep impact on me. I had partial belief in the truth he spoke but also felt that the core issue lay in one fundamental area—he lacked a church community he felt he could be transparent with. What plagued him for his entire life up until this point had become a personal burden that I took home with me. When I left, I couldn’t stop praying for him, nor the other Japanese brothers and sisters.
Upon being reunited with him on this trip, something was dramatically different. He was quicker to initiate conversations with everyone. He was more transparent than before. However, the most striking thing was that in conversations of faith, his excitement made him into a completely different person! What replaced his previous downcast look were huge smiles, filled with gratitude for things God was doing in his life. Truly, the friend I reunited with, for what seemed like the first time in his life, was experiencing God for the first time. As he told testimony after testimony, I could see God’s very fingerprints all over not just his demeanor but his very life and being! What was in front of me was something every Japanese pastor and missionary had been waiting to see for years, but the Lord was gracious enough to let me see His own two hands reforming and spinning clay into the shape He pleased.
Despite this high note, there was something distinctly different for me on this mission trip in comparison to the one in the fall. It felt like the Lord was hiding His presence from me a few days leading up to the trip and even throughout my time in Japan.
It felt like the Lord was hiding His presence from me a few days leading up to the trip and even throughout my time in Japan.
I asked the Lord to speak, and what I received was a silence louder than any words—and this wasn’t due to any ongoing sin. I asked, “Lord, why do you hide your face?” and heard only that loud silence. If I had to say, I believed the Lord was saying that I’d find out soon enough.
On the trip, I was able to be further acquainted with Japanese believers who were not in international churches and spent a good amount of time with young Japanese men, one of the harder demographics to find in a Japanese church. If that wasn’t enough, there were multiple young men who were willingly opening up and being transparent. What I found were young men who were starving for the Gospel and knew that Christ had the power to satisfy—and yet, I also saw another problem that plagued the Christian in pursuit of Christ: a lack of resources for biblical and theological fellowship and discipleship.
I also saw another problem that plagued the Christian in pursuit of Christ: a lack of resources for biblical and theological fellowship and discipleship.
While in Tokyo, I asked a missionary what his greatest struggle on the mission field was. He told me that he wished he had more workers. He felt like he could do much more if he wasn’t held down by financial limitations, time limitations, and energy limitations. Those things would all come more naturally if he had more workers to maintain the ministry and to help him with building relationships so others would come to be told the Gospel and believe. However, with biblically trained and Christ-aspiring workers, we have more disciples, more relationships, more time, more work that is completed, more natural evangelism, and an environment that would make any Christian want to pursue Christ more diligently and personally—and yet, the opposite is also true. Without workers, we lack time, finances, relationships, reaching power for evangelism, and even have less prayer.
Without workers, we lack time, finances, relationships, reaching power for evangelism, and even have less prayer.
Japan’s culture is one that, just as stated in my last article, is one that is so suffocating that we can see exactly why it holds the title of “The Missionary Graveyard.” What lay before my eyes was a gorge so deep that there was no bottom that could be seen.
I then asked, "Lord, what kind of man could bring a revival?" As I prayed and asked, what came to mind was all of my work on this trip and the last. I wondered to myself which actions had the greatest noticeable impact. Then, I noticed a trend in my answer. The greatest work I did for the trip was not in the November 2024 trip nor the June 2025 trip. It wasn’t helping to volunteer my hands at a camp, tell my testimony to a group of mothers, or speak life into some of the young men I was with. The greatest thing I ever did for both mission trips was being at home and bowing on my knees to the Lord in prayer. It sounds cheesy, I know. However, what man can bring the dead to life? Just as Paul Washer says, “There are no great men of God... Only weak, little men of a great and merciful God.”
Just as Paul Washer says: “There are no great men of God... Only weak, little men of a great and merciful God.”
Look into the scriptures:In Numbers, God used a donkey to speak His word. In 2 Samuel, Israel loses the Ark of the Covenant, and God sends no man to bring it back—He simply brings it back Himself, and the Philistines can only cower. In Isaiah, our efforts are not just like filthy rags, but the Hebrew language indicates that they are like rags used for cleaning menstruation. Yet Psalm 127 shows that the work done by the Lord keeps watch, gives rest, protects, provides, grows us, and creates people who will go and be used to exponentially recreate these new environments. And Matthew 5 says the meek will inherit the earth. Why? Because those who rely on God’s strength in battle will go significantly further than those who work with their own mere, feeble hands.
God’s silence to me was clearly an answer. Yes, resources are needed just as workers are, but what good is anything if the sovereign hand of God does not bring it? Just like before, more than anything, I once again will ask for this: that you would please pray that God’s hand would move for our brothers and sisters in Japan. We need Him to bring workers, finances, energy, time, relationships, and so much more, but what Japanese ministries need is simply God.
We need Him to bring workers, finances, energy, time, relationships, and so much more, but what Japanese ministries need is simply God.
For there is no man, strategy, or resource that can bring Japan from the dead to life—but there is a God who can.
About Andy Lam:
Andy Lam currently serves as the Prayer and Interim Youth Coordinator for Glow International. He is an IT professional with a heart for Christ and is hoping to become a full-time missionary in Japan in the near future. He lives in the metro Atlanta area and loves to serve at his local church!