Episodes
-
We are half-alive because we are half-awake to Jesus. We are far more busy than we want because we have far less of Jesus than we need. Our love for Him now resembles the cooling coals of a long-dying fire.
Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
â Jesus
Something new is beginning to emerge on the other side. It's a new day of grace, a time of rebirth, a season of new strength. If you are ready to move forward in this appointed time as the person the Father has created you to be, make sure to check your oil. The true new thing of God cannot run apart from the fresh oil of intimacy and His presence. The oil that we have may seem small, but a whole other world and an unending Kingdom is ready to come alive from within it.
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
Hanaya can't stop thinking about her aunt's comments regarding Hiroto (previous clip). While they hang out in the school common room, Hanaya finally musters the courage to ask Hiroto if he is following Jesus because he likes her or if he truly wants to.
Worried that she might stop talking to him, Hiroto plays it safe and says he likes someone else. He then asks Hanaya how she would feel if a guy confessed his feelings to her.
As they continue to chat, Hanaya explains why a guy might hesitate to be with her, the purity boundaries she intends to keep during the courting phase, and why that matters to her.
When she starts sharing her specific plans for cross-cultural missions after finishing high school, Hiroto realizes that pursuing her might be more complicated than he had anticipated. He feels like time is slipping away. While Hanaya takes a short nap, he keeps looking at her and speaks to Jesus from his heart.
This is a must-listen as a lot is going on in the conversation. Perhaps God is prompting you to think outside the box of a conventional life.
Only one life, the still small voice
Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave
And to Godâs Holy will to cleave
Only one life, a few brief years
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears
Each with its days I must fulfil
Living for self or in His will
Give me Father, a purpose deep
Let me say, Thy will be done
And when at last Iâll hear the call
I know Iâll say it was worth it all
Only one life, it will soon be past
Only whatâs done for Christ will last
â C.T. Studd
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
Missing episodes?
-
Hanaya's aunt is very fond and protective of Hanaya. Before her aunt heads off on a long solo motorbike trip, she invites Hanaya to come and hang out with her.
While theyâre at the motorbike garage, they chat, and her aunt shares how frustrated she feels about not having clarity on what's God's next for her. Hanaya listens and shares her thoughts on the matter.
As they keep talking, her aunt asks if any boys at school are interested in Hanaya. She then talks about relationship boundaries and advises Hanaya to never let her guard down.
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
Hanaya's teacher calls her in for a chat because some parents of her classmates have complained that she's influencing their children toward Christianity.
Can Hanaya hold her ground under pressure? Will she play it safe and dim her light? Or will she continue to be a bright shining lamp for Jesus at school? And what does Jesus say to Hanaya at the end?
Context: What's Hanaya up against?
For many Japanese people, Shintoism and Buddhism are closely intertwined with their identity and culture. Leaving your family's religion can be like leaving your family. Also, due to negative experiences with religious cults in the past, many Japanese are skeptical and suspicious of new beliefs. Religion and religious events are considered separate things by the Japanese. Religious activities in Japan tend to be pragmatic, like praying for money, success in exams, naming ceremonies, removing bad luck, dressing up for fun, etc. They don't think deeply about their beliefs. Also, recent studies indicate that 30% to 39% of the population identify as convinced atheists.
We need the courage to declare and display the Gospel through our words, our work, and our character.
â Dr. Patrick Fung
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brushfires in peopleâs minds.
â Samuel Adams
Our battle is a battle of persuasion. Be a voice, be an advocate for the Kingdom of God. Share the wonder, beauty, and truth of God without hesitation. Sometimes we get locked down in a way that the enemy would want us to, to not talk, to not speak up, to not declare the truth of God, because the truth is what sets people free.
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
Hanaya has been picking up on something about Hiroto for a while. She feels it's about time to say it, and when she does, Hiroto opens up.
Could this be a God moment?
What about you?
Are you trying to fix your heart?
You might need to hear this, or you might want to pass it on to someone who really needs to listen to it.
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
As Hiroto spends more time with Hanaya, more of her world is bleeding into his. The more he listens to Hanaya, the more he wants to get to know God the way she does.
He's been reading the Bible that Hanaya gave him and asking questions. But is he into it because he's secretly crushing on Hanaya? Or is he genuinely coming through?
In this clip, Hiroto encounters another of Hanaya's unique ways of seeing things.
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
Are you living a self-absorbed life? Is there no anguish? Is there not a cause? Doesn't your heart cry out, âOh God, something has to be done"?
How do you plan to use your short years on this planet to do what God has entrusted you to do?
The clock is ticking, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock...
I hope this conversation between Hanaya and Yuri awakens a greater diligence to own your call like never before. I hope you will faithfully steward your gifting, time, money, and resources to be less about yourself and more about revealing Jesus to the world.
Come to the end of your lifeâyour one and only precious, God-given lifeâand let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: âLook, Lord. See my shells.â That is a tragedy.
â John Piper
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
I lost all my friends at school, now that Iâve begun to âwalk my talkâ, they make fun of me. I donât even know what I have done. I donât really have to say anything and they turn from me. But you know what, I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus. I am not going to justify my faith to them, and I am not going to hide the light that God has put into me. If I have to sacrifice everything I will. I will take it. If my friends have to become my enemies for me to be with my best friend Jesus, then that's fine with me.
â Rachel Joy Scott | From her diary, 1998
I dedicate this clip in memory of Rachel Joy Scott. Rachel was 17 years old and the main inspiration behind the character Hanaya Oki.
If you want to know about Rachel and what happened to her, you can read the post "Rachel Joy Scott: The teen who loved Jesus".
Is Jesus the most important person in our lives? When the trials of life arrive, and we suffer loss, is Jesus still worthy?
We can never glory in our capacity to love Him back. The spotlight isn't really on us or Rachel. Those who know they're loved best, love best.
If you have lost sight of Jesus, may your heart be awakened, recalibrated, and reset as you listen to this clip.
It's not the stretch of life that matters. It's the depth of life. It's not how long we live. It's how we live.
â Leonard Ravenhill
God canât do anything in your life unless you meet him halfway. You have to make room for him. A lot of room. Go after God. Whatever it takes, do it. And donât give the excuse, âI am just a teenagerâ or âIâll do that when I grow up,â because it doesnât work that way.
â Rachel Joy Scott | From her diary
I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.
â Apostle Paul
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
On their way back from Shichirigahama beach, Hanaya and her mom engage in a conversation about what causes the hardening of the heart and the falling away of believers.
Many are walking away from their faith. False prophets, false Christs, false Gospel, and a false church are proliferating among us.
How do believers get off track? What throws them into confusion and deception?
Hanaya's mom cites that the fundamental problem is not the ignorance of the truth. There's a basic reason why people do not own up to the truth.
As you listen to the words of caution and encouragement in this conversation, tend to the soil of your own heart.
The most ridiculous thing you can ever say is keep God first, keep God number one. Don't ever say that. Because you're assuming He's in the same category with everyone else. God's in a box all to Himself. There is no second. He's in a category completely separate and distinct from everything else that exists and He's there alone. I labor in my own heart to drive out other loves, competing loyalties. Let us get a greater vision of Him that He might be singular in our hearts.
â Paul Washer
Proverbs 4:18 tells us, âThe path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.â When we walk the path of the righteous or the right path, our walk will become continually brighter no matter how much darkness increases around us. If this is not the case, if we, too, are experiencing increasing darkness, depression, and disorientation, then we have gotten off the right path. If we ask the Lord, He will help us understand where we got off track, but we must make the choice to turn around and be decisive in doing so.
â Rick Joyner
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
God created time. He cut off a piece of eternity for you to live in. You're not here by accident. You are not just a random number in the vast sea of the human population. You have been created by God purposefully. He knows you intimately better than you know yourself.
He is all-knowing and everywhere. Because of who He is, you're never alone. He can whisper in your ear and your whole life can change. I'm not talking about hearing with your physical ears. Do you really know God in an out-of-the-box non-religious way?
I hope you will get outside your own bubble, and tune your heart to believe from the core of your being what you're about to hear. This is from the Bible and speaks of God's intimate knowledge of you. May it invoke curiosity in you to dig deeper and go farther.
Being known by God has deep transforming effects upon the human heart. Namely, it produces love for God.
â John Piper
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
What we see depends on what we look for. There's always more to every story. There is no arriving. Jesus is the goal.
As you listen to Hanaya's contemplation about the world she sees and her pursuit, may it help you refocus and realign your walk with Jesus.
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
Paul Washer on temptation and ongoing sin and why you must kill it before it's too late.
Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.
â Charles Stanley -
Are some battles we're fighting so hard to win worth losing?
Noriko dreams of becoming a K-pop trainee. She has been submitting videos showcasing her talent for the past three years, hoping to get noticed by an agency. Despite her best efforts, she hasn't received any response. Lately, she is questioning her self-worth. One day Hanaya and Yuri happen to see Noriko sitting alone at the beach. As they start talking with her, Noriko shares her feelings about not getting through the K-pop trainee auditions.Noriko has heard the Gospel before. She has heard about Jesus and God's love. But what's holding her back? This is a conversation that you don't want to miss.
The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret. And surely, from this point of view, the promise of glory, in the sense described, becomes highly relevant to our deep desire. For glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgment, and welcome into the heart of things. The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.
â C.S. Lewis | The Weight of Glory
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
Feeling mixed emotions? Trust God's process. Embrace the season you are in. Time spent in preparation is never wasted. Listen to this short poetry and cheer up!
Don't surrender the symphony in your heart to the tyranny of delay. Trust God's timing. It is perfect. Your dream you cherish has a reality attached to it. Frustration is evidence that a greater purpose in you is yet to be fulfilled. You are actually a coiled spring being compressed. Soon that delay will give vent to a divine release and fruit will break forth in your life.
â Lance Wallnau
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
The story of the rich young ruler is one of the saddest stories in the Bible because he had so much upside potential. He could have leveraged his resources, his network, and his energy for Kingdom causes, but he spent it all on himself. He thought that was what would make him happy.
The moment Jesus said, âFollow meâ, it was the opportunity of a lifetime, but he didnât have the guts to go for it. What Jesus asked him to give up was nothing compared to what Jesus would have given him in return.
We want everything God has to offer without giving anything up. We want to buy in without selling out. The Gospel costs nothing. We cannot buy it or earn it, but it demands everything.
When did we start believing that God wants to send us to safe places to do easy things? That faithfulness is holding the fort? That playing it safe is safe? That radical is anything but normal? Jesus didnât die to keep us safe. The will of God is not an insurance plan. Itâs a daring plan. The complete surrender of your life to the cause of Christ isnât radical. Itâs normal. Itâs time to quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Itâs time to go all in.
â Mark Batterson
Scripture: Mark 10:17-31 -
Continuing their conversation, on their way back home from Shichirigahama beach, Hanaya and Yuri decide to trust God with childlike faith instead of overthinking the future. When God calls us to go in a certain direction, it can be exciting but also a little scary because we may only have the first step. But like Abraham, it's better to go even when we don't know where we're going.
If you're too cautious, doubting yourself, and overthinking the future, this message and the song are for you.
Better to do something imperfectly in obedience rather than to do nothing. Better to act today rather than wait for that imaginary tomorrow to arrive.
â Michael L. Brown
The unique ways God loves to move should not disturb us. If anything, it should keep our relationship with Him fresh and exciting. For those who love adventure, this is great, while to the timid and rigid, this is frightening, which brings us to this challenge every believer must faceâ will we live by faith in Him or by fear? Now, the faith and confidence needed to be decisive can easily drift into presumption at times. Still, it is better to err on the side of extreme faith than too little faith. God can correct presumption and premature action. The law of inertia states you cannot steer what is not moving. It is much easier for the Lord to steer us when we are moving. No one passes Godâs tests with a perfect score, but in Him, even our failures work for our good.
â Rick Joyner
Song lyrics:
They were young and unaware
A little scared, a little proud
Theyâd rather live with their questions
Than try to figure them out
They were friendly to all
But never had many friends
They didnât know where to go
They never made any plans
Just running right into the wind
Ooh they would rather say they didnât matter
Just so they donât have to try to be cool
But ooh they were buzzing, living like there wasnât
Drama going on every day in the news
But look at the way they go
Look at the way they go
Look at the way they go
Making it up as they go
Making it up as they go
Living their life on the run
Couple of kids on the run
Look at the way they go
Look at the way they go
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
As Hiroto hangs around at Shichirigahama beach, he happens to see Hanaya. As they talk, Hiroto opens up about the pressure he feels about his future. As Hanaya gives her perspective, she also challenges him to explore the big questions of life. Listen to their conversation and get stirred up!
Bonus note:
Kevin Zadai shares a supernatural encounter with Jesus in 1992 when he had an out-of-body experience during a routine surgery:
When I met Jesus, He said I want to work with you. He said we are going to rule and reign together, shoulder-to-shoulder for Eternity. He said this life down here is to develop you for your next position. He said you're qualifying down on the earth in this very short amount of time. Then at that point, He took His thumbnail and sliced down through a big long timeline that was in light. And He said that's 10,000 years on the timeline of Eternity. It was just this little slit. He said it was the extension of man. And to me, my life on Earth in that extension with respect to Eternity seemed really insignificant.
However, He said you're qualifying for your next position. So whatever you do down here, with your talents and everything you were given, whatever you did with that, was then placed in your account in heaven, not in a monetary way. But that's where you entered into the Kingdom to work at your next position. And it was interesting because you would think well we're all equal you know, we all get the same thing, we all get eternal life, we all have the same position in Christ and all that.
But what it is, it has to do with that parable of talents. It had to do with the fact that you were given a certain amount and then there was a congruent reward based on each individual on what they had done. But the wood, hay, and stubble were burned up. So what was not of the Spirit, what was not of the Lord, was burnt up. Paul said that some people will go through the fire and there'll be nothing. There'll be no rewards. There'll be nothing left. But they will escape through the fire. They will make it to Heaven but with no rewards.
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
As we see the darkness and confusion of the nations increasing, we should behold the Lord. To be the light, we must have our focus on the Light. This does not mean that we will not be aware of the darkness and even have an understanding of the schemes of the devil. Godâs Holiness is His awesome strength and His unique beauty, His unwavering dependability and His reigning power. Only a Holy God like this can ensure the safety of His people. Only a Holy God can promise that all things will be put in order. Only a Holy God can assure us every evil and sadness will be defeated.
-
Two high school girls, Hanaya and Yuri, roll out a short message for those feeling discouraged and disillusioned.
Never give up! Listen and get fired up!
Additional notes:
Satan tries to create an altered reality by cloaking himself in information projection to engineer insecurity and anxiety in you. He wants to fragment you. He knows your trigger points to put you into a tailspin. His minions have studied you. You have become predictable.
The strategy is to trick your mind to convince you of something and give a narrative that diminishes who you really are. Thatâs the warfare. He wants to discourage and wear you out so that you will not be effective. He is trying to get you to opt out by presenting lies and observed facts as reality.
Every trigger point succeeds when you donât feel loved and validated. The temptation is to back off and self-medicate your trauma, rejection, or frustration by running to an addiction. We get disillusioned because we do not perceive the truth in its pure form. We donât see ourselves in the mirror of Godâs Word.
To live by the Spirit of God takes readjusting and overriding of your mental and emotional realm. Donât settle for being a low-watt light. Jesus said a disciple who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. We lose the edge to improve when we just want to maintain, but maintaining is of the devil.
Walk in harmony with the Holy Spirit. He reveals the truth (true reality). He shows prophetic glimpses concerning your call and assignment. If things take time, stay in there. Some things have to do with the convergence of times and seasons of God in your life. Donât drown six feet from your destination.
We miss the supernatural because we are looking for the spectacular. If you frame your mind right and listen to the Holy Spirit no matter whatâs going on in your everyday life, you will come out fine. Donât fret. Donât allow anything to fragment you.
â Kevin Zadai | Warrior Notes
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
â 1 Corinthians 16:13
Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
â 1 Corinthians 15:58
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya -
Classmates Akio and Noriko corner Hiroto to reveal his secret crush. Seeing that they already suspect who it is, Hiroto gives in and then goes on to talk about why it's an uphill task to get Hanaya to notice him.
Is there a chance for Hiroto?
How will Hanaya mentored from a young age to walk with the Lord navigate this slice of life?
Well, listen to this clip and stay tuned for upcoming clips to see where this high school love drama will go.
Hanaya Oki Series: https://superdifferent.com/hanaya - Show more
