Inside Israel

Once again, it’s time to hear from our sister in Jerusalem about what she is witnessing there as a believer in Yeshua. Put your prayer shawls on and pray for Israel and Sister J. Now here she is —‫

‫Blessings, grace and mercy to you in His Presence…The Presence of The Lord Yeshua, Jesus Christ, The Son, The Messiah, The fullness of The Glory of God.  May He be blessed and praised and worshipped. For He Alone is worthy.

‫  Thanksgiving is celebrated today in America, but the giving of Thanks, offered up to God, is not unique to America.  I do so thank my American upbringing for this most lovely of holidays, in the way it was intended and the message that established it.  THANK YOU LORD…FOR YOU ALONE ARE WORTHY AND YOUR MERCY ENDURES FOREVER!

‫     We in Israel have been given abundant commandments and opportunity to set aside special times to give thanks, yet Thanksgiving is one of the American holidays that we personally (and many others from America here) still observe.  The reactions of Israelis hasn’t changed much through the years and I always find it, well…forgive me…but ‘cute’.

‫     “You are ordering a WHOLE turkey??  WHOLE?  Do you know how BIG they are?”

‫ Yes, a WHOLE turkey has to be ordered a week ahead of time. 

“Is it THAT time of year again?  Hodyah’ (giving thanks to God) and you have a holiday, right?  And WHY IS IT ON A THURSDAY? Don’t you have to wait until Friday?” (Shabat)

‫    The turkey arrives and, of course, there is no room in my refrigerator, but the butcher wants to know how I have an oven big enough to COOK it.  Even after 22 years, the poor bird is … well… “butchered” in the most colorful meaning of the word.  Israelis are NOT used to eating a whole turkey so you can buy legs, or skinless boneless breast, or a neck, but no one seems to know how to – well – just pluck and clean a WHOLE one. So I get it with lots of extra feathers, patch worked skin on SOME places, and a bit of a torn leg, but I’m thankful to have it.  Even at THAT price!

“How can anyone EAT all of that meat?”  I am still asked at the checkout.  Another checker pipes up “Oh!  I know what that is.  It’s for an American holiday called THANKSGIVING!” She is really proud of herself and beams with knowledge.

‫    I love it!.

‫    But Thanksgiving of course, has not much to do with turkey, although my husband remembers the year that the closest we could come was a skinless breast and a chicken draped over it for the drippings).

‫  It has to do with our God’s mercy which endures forever…even in judgment.

‫

With fires raging across the entire country, I stop to wonder.  I know that some of you do not read the news so you may not know that countless fires are being fought with some 75,000 or more people evacuated. The tally changes constantly.  It is complicated.  After our first good rain, we have had no more.  Easterly winds have dried out the land and water sources to a troubling degree.

But then incredibly strong winds began to blow for a week already.  The first fire seemed to have been started by negligence, but it became an opportune time for arson attacks.  I believe that it was in the Haifa area (Haifa is now declared in a state of emergency) that there were over 40 fires set simultaneously beginning what became a wave of deliberately set fires across the country.  Fire fighting planes from Greece, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Italy were offered immediately.  The Palestinians sent in 4 fire fighting teams and there are negotiations under way to bring in a special US one of a kind firefighting plane.

‫      But to my heart, the questions include more then who, and how, but why?

‫    Many years ago now I was praying and I do believe that The Lord spoke to me.   He showed me that Allah is the “god of deserts and dry places,” whereas GOD…THE ALMIGHTY GOD…IS THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE…THE ONE WHO PRODUCES FRUIT AND LIFE.  It shocked me and I began to look.  Sure enough the Moslem nations were desert nations.  If you look at a satellite map of our region, you will see one green area and indeed, the line separating the Arab and Jewish areas is called “the green line.”  But this should not be strange to us.  After all, it WAS The Lord who said in Isaiah 35:1-4

‫“The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord ,The excellency of our God. Strengthen the weak hands ,and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear !Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.”

‫I had been reading in 2 Samuel 21 about when famine was in the land, and David, the man after God’s Own Heart, sought The Lord as to WHY?  The Lord showed him that there was a wrong done to the Gibeonites with whom (through presumption) Israel made a treaty in Joshua 9.

‫   So, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?  God FORBID that I too should be presumptuous because I don’t know.  Is it a warning to us from The One who sends the rain on the just and on the unjust?  Is it a strengthening of the demon-god Allah?  I DO NOT KNOW. But I know to ASK Him and to SEEK His Face AND to pray earnestly for discernment and not follow any vain imaginations of my heart.

‫Psalm 24:1,2 states:

‫ “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.

^‫ For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters.”

‫I DO know that the earth (ALL of it!) is The Lord’s and that He established it upon the waters, so I am praying that in spite of our clear [except for sand and smoke filled] skies, I am praying for the mercy of His water to rain down upon us and put out the fires.  I am also praying for Him to turn our hearts and eyes to HIM both for help but also with hearing ears and DOING HEARTS, to follow Him.  And to pour out the Living Water of His Spirit and His Fire.

WE are not worthy by any means, but the world basically knows of His promises to this land and this people, so I pray, “LORD!  For YOUR GREAT NAME’S SAKE save this people and reveal Yourself to the nations!”

HOW THE NATIONS NEED HIM IN THIS FEARSOME DAY IN WHICH WE LIVE.  WHAT OPPORTUNITY FOR HIM TO GLORIFY HIS NAME.  Today, Lord?  Pour out Your Spirit?

‫     On this generation…and on the next and next.

‫                Blessings from Jerusalem, with Love,

your sister J in Yeshua