"There is none that calls upon your name, that stirs up himself to take hold of you!" Isaiah 64:7)
O’ what an anguished cry of the Holy Spirit through the prophet! Where are God’s people? Why are they not taking hold of God and calling upon His name to fulfill His covenant promises?

So often we act as if we are the ones who have to chase God do what is needed! How skewed and untrue is that! Rather, God has given us the Word, His Word; His covenant promises and has sealed them with the Blood of His Son and has assured us time and again, that he would stand by His Word and do what He has promised. All we have to do is seek Him, and stir ourselves up to take hold of Him! How wonderful is that! The word ‘stir’ means to awaken oneself!  Do you put on an alarm clock to wake you up if you have an important engagement? Let your spiritual alarm clock ring loudly, and awaken you to get a hold of God for His Kingdom, for the Church, for Israel!  

We are called upon to seek His face and call upon His name
Psa. 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, 
Psa. 24:2  for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
Psa. 24:6  Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.  Selah

Psalm 24 reminds us of the greatness of God and of His ownership of all creation; it calls us to seek His face. We are called upon to seek His face and call upon Him to fulfill His covenant promises, specifically His covenant promises to Israel.

Psa. 99:6  Moses and Aaron were among His priests,  And Samuel was among those who called upon His name;  They called upon the LORD, and He answered them.

Two dangers to our praying effectively
One of the dangers we face is that we might take the call of the Spirit to seek the Lord, in a self-centered way. The spirit of the age encourages and promotes self-seeking and self-centeredness, and the church is deeply affected by this. Thus we are tempted to seek the Lord only for ourselves, for our needs, our wants, our fears. 

While there is nothing wrong with bringing our needs to the Lord, there is a danger in making that, the center of our spiritual life; of making it our primary motive for seeking God.

Instead, we are taught in scripture to seek the Kingdom of God first, or to be about our Father’s business, i.e., to center on His will and desire as revealed in the Word. 

Moses, Aaron, and Samuel called upon the Lord in times of great crises and won forgiveness and grace for Israel, in times of great need. 

We are called to do the same. 

We are meant to seek the face of God, and call upon His name to fulfill His covenant promises. This ought to be our primary vocation as far as prayer is concerned. And He has promised to add everything else to us. 

The second danger has to do with our attitude towards Israel. We are in danger of approaching Israel’s restoration in the last days, in a romantic, emotional way. What I mean is that if we are not careful, we might take Israel’s condition lightly. We could fall into thinking that because we are living in days of fulfillment and favor upon Israel that God has “winked” at Israel’s rejection of her Messiah, and at her sinful condition. 

Nothing is further from the truth in this matter. After all, it has taken the blood of His Son, to reconcile us to God. This lax kind of attitude will, no doubt, lead to weak and superficial praying, which will cause our prayers to be totally ineffective; a waste of time (His and ours). 
 
Instead we are called upon to give Him nor rest (Isaiah 62:7), to get a hold of 
God (Isaiah 64:7), and to go through in prayer (Isaiah 62:10)

With this in mind we read Ezekiel 36:23-29 This wonderful prayer list is of a quite complete scope.  Rather than write out our own praying, I am listing here the main verses we used in our praying, hoping you will be inspired by the Word and Spirit to stand with us for the fulfillment of these amazing promises.  

Some of you have been praying these verses for quite a while, and perhaps you feel they are ‘old hat.’ Not so! The Word has an unfathomable depth to it. One can pray over the same scriptures and be so moved and impassioned to such intensity that is beyond the realm of the natural. May the Holy Spirit ‘breathe’ on you as you pray these verses and may you experience the answers to them, not only for Israel but in your own life.

We prayed into the following verse:

• The great motive of God in restoring Israel - Ezek. 36:23 And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; 
• The great result of Israel’s restoration - "and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes."
• The great regathering of Israel - Ezek. 36:24 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.
• The great cleansing of Israel - Ezek. 36:25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
• The great heart-change of Israel - Ezek. 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
• The great outpouring of the Spirit - Ezek. 36:27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
• The great outcome - Ezek. 36:28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
• The great blessing - Ezek. 36:29 I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you.

Thank You for standing with us and more importantly, with the Lord, for His end-time, Kingdom purposes. Surely those who pray for 'rain', will be soaked by it too, if they go outside (of the Church's conventional replacement theology box).

Blessings from Jerusalem,

​

Shalom,
We did not hold our regular Wednesday prayer meeting because of a weather alert in Jerusalem (high winds and snow). Nevertheless, we send the following as an inspiration to continue to stand before the Lord and give Him no rest till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth! 

Israel, rocked again, by scandal and corruption
Not only is Israel heading towards elections, some of because of alleged corruption in the highest levels of government. But a new scandal has hit the papers. A massive investigation of some of the top people in the Judiciary has hit Israel like a bomb. 

Just yesterday, it was reported that the Head of Israel Bar Association suspected of trading influence for sexual favors. The sub-headline read, “Effi Naveh, who represents the Israel Bar Association on the Judicial Selection Committee, allegedly promoted judicial appointments for sexual favors.” (Read here )

Scandal after scandal has exploded into the consciousness of Israeli society this year and is rocking Israel to its core; we are all wondering where it is all going to end?  A corrupt country becomes a weak country, both within and without. 

Living in a pre-election time, we are flooded with slogans, promises, and planks that enumerate each party’s vision for Israel and her future. Everyone is sighing and hoping that the next leader will really do wonders, fix everything, clean house and set Israel on a promising course towards a bright, safe and prosperous future. 

I don’t think this will happen. My hope lays somewhere else; in God. And He is not up for election or reelection.  

We don’t get to vote for Him; we get to believe. Period. He chose us and has revealed that our future as a nation is to be ruled by Him forever! Halleluia! He is the leader I am looking for to come and reign over us! 

Jer. 33:15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
Jer. 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

This is well expressed in Mary's song:  
Luke 1:51  He has shown strength with His arm;  He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
Luke 1:52  He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly.
Luke 1:53  He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.
Luke 1:54  He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy,
Luke 1:55  As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

She expected, as her generation and all generations of Jews since then, that the Messiah would reign in Justice. 

But that generation did not expect the cross! They did not expect that the Messiah would first reveal God’s judgment on sin in man before He would bring justice on the earth between man. 

And this is where we very much are at the moment, in this land. We hope in man or in a man, who would bring the longed for justice in the land, and on the earth. How dangerous that is! One day an imposter will come and claim to be the Messiah. But his justice and rule will be a great delusion and illusion. For only the real Messiah, Yeshua can offer true liberty and justice. It starts in our hearts, through the word of redemption on the cross, and expands to our society. Any other hope is vain and delusive. 

So I will stand before Him, who is our King and continue to believe for my people that, He that is the true and only Messiah, Yeshua, will come and rule over us.  

Isaiah 42:4He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
 
The victory of the cross will one day fill the land, and indeed the world:

Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

This is where we stand crying out for salvation for our nation. We have come back to the land and are finding out that our enemies are not only without but that we need to be saved from ourselves and not just our enemies. 

• O cry with us for Israel’s salvation, 
• Cry with us for His Light and Truth to invade our land. 
• Cry with us for mercy on this nation. 
• Cry with us intensely as Israel did until he hears  Ex. 2:24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Ex. 2:25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

Blessings from Jerusalem,

​

Shalom from Jerusalem, 
Our regular intercessory prayer meeting meets on Wednesdays. Bi-monthly, I also attend a  Jewish-Arab pastors prayer meeting, and this week we met on Thursday, a day after our regular prayer meeting. 

I was surprised and blessed to find a dear brother, who pastors in a neighboring Arab country also attending. He filled me in on what is happening in the Arab world and mainly what is happening in Syria regarding the gospel. It is exciting to learn how much the Lord is working there, but also of the challenges facing the work of God there. I share it here for your encouragement and for prayer, of course.

Pray for God’s work among Syrian Kurds
X shared with me that the work of God among the Muslims in many Arab countries is exploding. In Syria, there is a move of God among the Kurds. Hundreds of them have come to the Lord in the last few years. Many are coming to the workers to inquire of this Yeshua; there is a hunger and a longing for light. Still, others come, as they have experienced a visitation of some sort, whether in a dream or what.  Hundreds of House churches have sprung up as a result of this move. 

But there is a dark side to all of this delicate and beautiful work. The US plan to pull out of Syria is casting a dark shadow on the future of these churches and believers. Once American troops vacate, Turkey is planning to move in. Wherever the Turkish forces have come, they have persecuted and shut down any Christian activity. Two regions have suffered the most; Efrin and Kobane. There, the Turkish troops have abused and cruelly suppressed these new Christians.  

Please join us in prayer for the work of God among the Kurds in Syria. 

• Pray for some entity to fill the void that the US will leave behind, a body that would be conducive to the work God is doing
• Pray that the Lord would delay or time the US pullout to fit His Own Plans and Purposes
• Pray for the MBB’s in those areas (MBB stands for Muslim Background Believers)
• Pray for the house churches that they will be able to continue to meet by some miracle
• Pray for the leaders of this movement, pastors and workers who are risking their lives to reach their own countrymen with the gospel
• Pray this Arab pastor and all the Arab organizations that were working in Arab lands — that they may be highly successful in reaching out to Muslims throughout the Arab world. 

The fantastic thing about this pastor is that he totally believes in the restoration of Israel and the preaching of the gospel that his people do, includes this truth and conviction. That’s the best peace plan I have ever heard of! 

The rains have come - We rejoice in the blessing, but continue to pray for the fullness
Water water everywhere! Israel has experienced some excellent rainy weather in the last few weeks. The last few days have seen unusually heavy rains in the north; where it counts the most. The river and the springs are coming to life again, and everyone is delighted. The Sea of Galilee which has suffered terribly in the last 5 years for lack of rain, has come up 21 cm in the previous week alone. ​