Lord, Let Us Not Forget
Has it been only two weeks since David Katz (from Sar El Tours) met Martha and me at the Ben Gurion airport and brought us to Jerusalem? Only two weeks ago tonight since we welcomed the other 13 prayer warriors who joined us for the next ten days?
"Kingdom anointing," we were repeatedly told, would accompany us.
"Proclaim His Word, His promises, in the Land, as we join fellow believers and as we pray at specific prophetic sites."
"Sow seeds for the coming harvest," we were instructed. "Symbolically anoint and re-consecrate the Land and the people."
It was a rather intense time together with our chosen prayer warriors-- from the time David and Micahela Lazarus started praying for us as we arrived until the last team de-briefing at the threshing floor at Yad Hashamona Moshav, on the way to the airport last Saturday night.
Now the team is gone and Martha and I remain in the Land, visiting, connecting and networking across all lines. I spent time in Bethlehem with some of the Palestinian brothers, and with a precious Arab pastor in the Old City. Now we are attending some of the UMJC (Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations from the US) family that has gathered here for their annual meeting. Tomorrow I speak briefly at the SorkoRam, Intrater, Santoro meeting in Tel Aviv, then at the King of Kings congregation in Jerusalem on Sunday night. (Also spoke to the youth at the Jamm Center on Monday night).
- "What were the highlights of the trip together?" we've asked ourselves.
- worshipping together with Avner and Rachel and their friends in Beersheva on that first afternoon?
- listening and praying with Eddie & Jackie Santoro, with Ari Sorko- Ram, and with Sean and Ayelet at the park in Jaffa?
- was it the precious time together with Eitan and Connie Shishkoff and their Ohalei Rachamim (Tents of Mercy) family, walking through their humanitarian aid center, into their small factory, eating together into the synagogue for worship and ministry--or the prayer time at the Acco beach in anticipation another congregation of believers being birthed in that ancient biblical town of Ptolemais?
- was it the heart connect with Anis and Nawal Barhoum as they shared their passionate desire to see their Muslim neighbors come to know the Messiah in their Arab community?
- or even young Ethan, the Iowa volunteer, as the Lord moved on him powerfully, even opening up a closed ear?
- did we not see the fire and feel the joy in Rachel's heart as she exposed her evangelistic zeal toward her fellow Jerusalemites at the house recently leased for outreach? --matched by the fervor of Asher and the supportive strength of Sheila?
- what about Ayal? Can we ever forget his description how the "Hound of Heaven" pursued and arrested him and has now given him a divine father heart toward the youth in the Land?
- and then there were the tears sown into the land as the Father’s heart was revealed and expressed at the worship/prayer watch in Jerusalem with Rick & Patty Ridings and friends…
- Perhaps for some of us the prayer/worship times at one of the biblical sites where our team joined to proclaim God's purposes, His plans and promises according to Scripture, was also at the top of the list.
- looking across the desert hills around Beersheva and knowing that it was here that Hagar and Ishmael wandered, where the angel appeared to them, after Abraham had sent them away (the background for today's Middle Eastern turmoil).
- there was also that moment of revelatory intercession as we stood on the very stone that once might have held Elijah.
- we don't want to forget standing on the Jaffa rooftop with the flags of the nations in front of us and Jonah's harbor in the background, recalling Peter's housetop experience that opened the door for all of us Gentiles.
- How about standing on Mt. Carmel, looking across the valley of Megiddo from the place or near the place where Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal? (It was that sky--there in the distance--that held no clouds, then a cloud the size of a hand, then darkening skies before the deluge came down on Ahab and Jezebel as they returned to their Jezreel palace).
- Can we ever forget the ride on the armored bus to Cadim to spend a few hours with Rick and Dafne Wienecke? How about the faces of those young soldiers who boarded our Egged bus? That was the infamous city of Jenin just a few hundred yards away.
- How much can we retain of Rick's explanations of his masterful sculpting?
- Some of us still have some of the spent bullets we picked up on our walk from the studio to the community room where Rick and Dafne served us lunch.
- Will we always breath a little more deeply as we ponder the peaceful Kibbutz Hotel Maagan on the southern shore of the Galilee? Will we thank God again and again for the extended waters of the Galilee -- waters that had become dangerously low just a year ago.
Where does that walk on the ramparts find a place amidst all the memories? After all, the psalmist did say, "Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation." (48:12-13)
What about the Garden Tomb? the Western Wall?
What were the highlights? There were many. Perhaps for me personally it was the joy of introducing my precious Israeli brothers and sisters in Messiah to my American believing family--watching eyes light up, faces become radiant, eyes brim with tears, connecting, sharing, loving together.
Lord, let us not forget. Keep the faces before us as we pray. Make us articulate as we share with our friends and families. Bring others to the Land. Let them capture your heart for Israel, for the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, both in the Land and in the Diaspora. Let them also not forget the sons of Ishmael. And the nations. Bring revival in our day.
Be praised Adonai Yeshua, our Messiah and Lord.
Don Finto