​A blessed Feast of Tabernacles to everyone!

OK, OK, so this does not look like a Succah (tabernacle), But it actually reflects the meaning of the feast, most beautifully.

God has meant for us to dwell with and in Him; He has desired that we come to Him and find Him to be our eternal dwelling place. 

The Feast of Tabernacles means that exactly. It is not only a celebration of God’s care as He covered in the desert when we dwelt in booths and He was in the midst of the camp. It is not only a celebration of His provision. The feast looks forward to the time when we will be gathered unto Him at His coming. 

Psa. 90:1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

How amazingly tender is God’s yearning for us, as expressed in Yeshua’s cry over Jerusalem.  

"how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Matt. 23:37

This is the heart of God, this is the motion of the Holy Spirit in our lives — He draws us to Himself, to dwell there. Will you let yourself be drawn today? Can you shut down the computers and smartphones, and TV’s and whatever it is that serves to mask this gentle pull? If you do that, you will surely experience the true meaning of the Feast. Did not Yeshua stand on the last day of the feast and call in that Spirit? “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” 

Two issues for prayer during this time

Israel’s redemption 
The key to Israel’s understanding of God and its own existence and destiny is the removal of the veil over their understanding of the Messiah. He is the cornerstone, He is the stone of stumbling. 2Cor. 3:14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ.

“The veil over the understanding of the old covenant is a lack of knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ. Paul had experienced that in virtually every city and synagogue, and he began his ministry in each synagogue by seeking to remove the veil.” 1

There can be no change without that. 

We cannot exaggerate the need for intercession on behalf of Israel in this matter. There is no going around it, there is no avoiding it, there is no diminishing of the centrality of the issue. 

Israel's security - Israel under pressure 
The most serious issue facing Israel today is the fact that Russia is on our borders. Additionally, the Russia-Syria-Iran axis, as some call it,  is extremely dangerous for israel. Although on the surface Israel is getting along fairly well with Russia, personally I am very uneasy about this and it looks to me as a perilous turn of events. 

World unstable
“UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday opened the world’s largest diplomatic gathering with a stark warning of growing chaos and confusion as the rules-based global order comes under threat of breaking down. 

"Addressing the opening session of the UN General Assembly, Guterres said trust in the rules-based global order and among states was “at a breaking point” and international cooperation becoming more difficult.

“Today, world order is increasingly chaotic. Power relations are less clear,” Guterres told the 193-nation assembly just minutes before President Donald Trump was to take the podium. “Universal values are being eroded. Democratic principles are under siege.”2

Prayer and the Word
How shall we pray? Firstly, we will look up! We will look to God, we will see Him in His word. There is no light to be had, looking at the world. Is. 8:22 Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.

But there is light and salvation in looking to Him who is Light! Our Savior
Is. 9:2  The people who walked in darkness  Have seen a great light;  Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,  Upon them a light has shined.

Our leading is to pray for Israel from two places (those of you who are using these bulletins as a guide for your prayers)

Pray for Israel from Joel 3. This is the external view of what God will do for Israel
Pray for Israel from Ezekiel 36 This is the internal view of what God will do in Israel

God Reigns! Let us pray with confidence and faith.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer. Be blessed!



_____________________

1. Nettles, Thomas J.. The Privilege, Promise, Power & Peril of Doctrinal Preaching. Free Grace Press. Kindle Edition.
2. https://punchng.com/breaking-un-chief-warns-of-chaotic-world-order-as-general-assembly-opens/

In His Days
Jeremiah 23:5-8“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;  A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. Jer. 23:6  In His days Judah will be saved,  And Israel will dwell safely;  Now this is His name by which He will be called:   THE Lord OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jer. 23:7 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ Jer. 23:8 but, “As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”

Jeremiah prophesied for forty years, up to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the house of God. Most of his days were filled with anguish, weeping, and great suffering. He was beaten, humiliated, thrown into prison, and accused of unfaithfulness to his people. There was a time he resolved to stop prophesying, but the Word burned in his bones, and he could not withhold. Thank God that he couldn't, for within the difficult and ominous prophesies lay some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful and loving words from God. 

In Jeremiah's prophecies, we find some of the most profound promises of redemption and restoration for our people. The one quoted above is one of them. Jeremiah did not live in "His Days," but we do! Yeshua came; He lived among us, was executed on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended to His Father, and is alive forevermore. We are living "in His Days," and the restoration of Israel to the land, and ultimately also to God, is being carried out under His authority, grace and direction. We are living in "His Days." When God fulfills these things, Israel will no longer remember the old exodus, having passed over into a new reality of living again in the presence of Her King and Savior and her Righteousness. 

"THE Lord OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" - Praying for Israel's salvation on the eve of the Day of Atonement.

• Father, we pray for the opening of the people's eyes to see their true and only atonement -- the blood of Messiah
• Father, we pray for a real and deep conviction that comes from the work of the Holy Spirit within the hearts of your people.
• Lord, we pray for all those who live in dread and fear and try to prove to you their goodness by their good deeds. Show and reveal the futility of such things
• Father we pray you will bring us to a spiritual desperation and in that desperation find you!
• Father, we pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit as in the day of Pentecost - and how He brought tremendous and deep conviction in the hearts of those who heard the Apostles preach on that day.
• Father, we cry to you to open the fountain for cleansing (Zech 13:1) that your people may find true rest in You.
• Lord remove all and every "covering" that is not of you!
• Lord heal us of our blindness as a people and let us see your face
• Send from thy Mercy Seat - grace for forgiveness, grace for the cleansing of hearts.
• We prayed into the promise of the New Covenant (Jer 31:31-34) "they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” 

“As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’  Prayer for Aliya

• We asked the Lord to gather His people from all corners of the earth by the Power and Authority of the Son of God! 
• Bring back the sons (and daughters) of Zion, to Zion and Her King. 

Praying  for the Body of Messiah in the Land before the Day of Atonement

• We realize that not everyone who has expressed faith in Yeshua, in the Body has had a deep experience of the cross or the cleansing blood. We thank God for the grace that many have tasted but pray for a deeper conviction and knowledge of the crucified one in the Body of Messiah

• We prayed for a greater and deeper reality of the presence of Yeshua Himself in the midst of the congregations.
• We prayed that the believers will see His face and desire Him and not experiences, or thrills or frills. 
• We prayed for an outpouring of the Spirit of Grace and Supplication to be poured out among the believers in the land. For recognition of the great mercy, God has had upon each one who has come to Him.
• We prayed for a deep humility to be given to us as Messianic believers
• We prayed for a return to the Word as the source of our faith and conduct
• We prayed for mighty "Christ and Him Crucified" preaching in the Body of Messiah

A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth -- Praying for the security of our nation
A 200-page report of the Army's Ombudsman sent to our minister of defense and to our chief of staff, warns that the IDF is not ready for war!  This, of course, is not good news, as our enemies: Hezbollah, Iran, etc., are singleminded in their purpose to destroy our nation. Even if they couldn't, just think of the consequences of 150,000 rockets unleashed at our population centers and cities (by Hezbollah). Tel Aviv could look like a heap of ruins! 

• We upheld this verse before the Lord as our declaration.
• We asked Him to execute Judgment and righteousness the earth
• We asked for providential intervention, for the protection of Israel
• We prayed that God will continue to make our intelligence as successful as they have been so far (Israel was successful in an operation to steal from Iran all of their sensitive data regarding their nuclear program, proving how deceitful they have been.)
• We prayed For God's supernatural protection of Israel (Zech 2:5)
• We prayed for the leadership of this country, whether political or military that they will not hesitate to preempt or do whatever is necessary to assure the survival of Israel. 
• We prayed for boldness, wisdom and selflessness that will cause them to do what is needed regardless of their popularity. (That's a tall order, but God can do it.)

1Sam. 14:6 Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the LORD will work for us. For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few.”

Thanks for standing with us for the full counsel of God, through prayer. 

Blessings from Jerusalem,

Anyone who prays for Israel regularly is bound to face the overwhelming needs and challenges that one comes up against in such praying. Daily, for instance, I am faced with the stark reality of Israel's spiritual condition. It is one thing to pray from afar for, say, the orthodox; it is another thing to be close up to it. Or, to pray for the youth of this nation, realizing that Israel has become one of the leading nations to embrace LGBT as entirely legitimate. Or, pray for Israel's security and facing the overwhelming array of the demonically energized nations around us who are obsessed with the destruction of Israel.

Don't worry; we are not depressed. But it is essential, to be honest about what we face when we pray for Israel's restoration.

So, when we read 1Samuel 17, we were greatly helped and encouraged. The chapter tells the story of the defiance of Goliath against the God of Israel, and God's reply. God sent a young man to slay him! Not a champion, not a battle-hardened adult, but a ruddy youth, albeit -- anointed by God! 

We read 1Sam 17:40-54 
We will not analyze this portion to any depth, but highlight the points that were encouraging to our praying.  

• The battle was decided between two middlemen. Goliath representing the Philistines, and David representing the Lord's people. So did Yeshua fight alone on the cross as our representative, in our stead.  
• David went to battle in the name of the Lord and for His Glory. Yeshua went to the cross to do His Father's will and glorify Him. Of course, in this, He loved us to the end. 
• The stone that hit the head of Goliath is a type. It is at the cross that the head of the serpent was crushed in fulfillment of God's promise to Adam and Eve (and thus us as well.) Genesis 3:15. 
• David brought the head of Goliath to Jerusalem. 1Sam 17:54 At that time, Jerusalem was still controlled by the Jebusites. So what can this mean? Someone said that in doing this (it was not an uncommon practice to hang the head or body of an opponent on city walls, see 1Chro 10:10, 1Sam 31:10) David was putting the Jebusites on notice, as if to say, "you are next!, I am coming to take this city," And so the cross is an ominous foretelling -- Jerusalem will become God's Holy City! He is coming back!! 

Are you facing some giant in your life? Be encouraged to believe and trust in this One, Yeshua, who won the battle at Calvary. As Martin Luther wrote, "One little word shall fell him." (A Mighty Fortress is Our God)

Messiah has won the victory at Calvary, and His blood ratifies every promise in the Word of God. I can pray with total assurance in the face of the most challenging things and impossible things, as they may seem to me.  

We prayed for Israel's salvation

• Break us free, dear Lord, from bondage to religion - at the cross
• Break us free from bondage to sin -- at the cross
• Bring our people back from the diaspora because of your victory at the cross
• Save Israel "wholesale" because of the cross
• Remove the veil and "heal" us of our blindness to our Savior - because you have won at Calvary.
• You will trumpet the gospel in this nation in the face of every opposition - because you have won the battle at Calvary
• Give us a new heart, not because we deserve it but because of your victory on the cross.
• There is nothing that the cross is not sufficient for, dear Lord, and It includes any and every need that Israel has, that the people have. Thank you Lord!
• We have lost the knowledge of God - You will restore it to us at the cross
• We have not known your presence in 2000 years - You will restore your presence at and because of the cross
• You have won the victory and are winning it now, whether we see it or not. You can not fail because you have already won at the cross
• Turn us, and we shall be turned, dear Lord
• Soften our hearts at the cross dear God
• Have mercy on these your people and send us the Spirit that we might turn to you
• Have mercy on us as a nation and apply that healing salve on our "seeing" that we might SEE you. 
• Lord make this new Jewish Year, the Year of the Son of God. May it be dear Lord may it be so.
• We long for your coming, and we long for your appearance, we long for you to reign and rule over us. 

We prayed for Israel's security
Psa. 56:1 Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me. Psa. 56:2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High. (See context Psalm 56) 

Psa. 56:5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
Psa. 56:6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.

How pertinent these words are regarding the nations who come against Israel physically, or in the political and media realms or the world's court of Justice. 

• O Lord, deliver us from our enemies
• Lord preserve your people from all those that have arisen to destroy them
• At the cross, you won the spiritual victory and physical victory to give us life eternal, apply it as it pertains to the present security situation in both our northern borders and southern borders 
• we especially committed to the Lord the situation in the north, not just Syria, but the very dangerous enemy - Hezbollah

We prayed for the Body of Messiah and the Church at large

• We prayed for the restoration of Yeshua and the cross as the central truth in the Body
• We prayed for a renewed understanding of the cross
• We prayed for a renewed appreciation and desire for Yeshua Himself
• We prayed for the power of the cross to sweep through the congregations - to cleanse, heal, save, bring back from backsliding, bring back from the love of the World. 
• We prayed for the mighty preaching of the cross in the congregations
• We prayed for a renewed hope and encouragement to every believer -- that our eyes will see again, the mighty awesome victory at the cross that Yeshua has won.

Thank you for standing with us. May the Lord bless you mightily -- because of His victory on the cross! 

Blessings from Jerusalem,