Category Archives: Jerusalem

February 8, 2015 · 3:58 pm

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 …

As Shabat fades into the first night of the new week, (our days are counted from sundown to sundown) I greet you in The Name of Him Who has already walked this week and knows what lies ahead. May He hold us close to His heart as we walk hand in Hand with Him. What assurance to know that we don’t know what lies ahead, but HE DOES…and He can handle it.

Tu b’shvat (the 15^th of the month of Shvat) is upon us now. I sat before Him in His Word and He dealt faithfully with my heart and I thought how well it fit in with this celebration. The what , how, and why Tu b’shvat is celebrated can be checked out here. The “how” is easy on the surface: we eat fruit (for some reason, particularly dried fruit -probably because only winter fruits are readily available right now) and we plant trees, particularly fruit and nut bearing trees.

This morning, while reading in Haggai, I looked at a verse one way and He suddenly riveted my eyes to the opposite direction with His Light exposing an area of my heart. He pressed me to the floor with His Words: “A sanctified (holy) you is not a dead you…it is still flesh and stinks. It is a counterfeit.” In other words: DIE TO SELF is still the name of the game and my eyes were being lulled to sleep. I am SO thankful for the faithfulness of The Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin and for giving us the great gift of REPENTANCE. OH THANK YOU YESHUA. HE is faithful.

And so, what does this have to do with Tu b’shvat?

I thought about dried fruit and dried hearts. And I thought about trees and roots and plantings and wheat and tares and sweet fruit and disappointing fruit and then I suddenly remembered that it was Tu b’shvat. This is a Shmita year (a sabbatical year when we do not plant in the ground: every seventh year) and well, YOU tie it altogether.

And I have stored up some “only in Israel” stories to share when I had a moment. Deep breath!

I had to chuckle and think several times over the past few weeks as I wondered how to graciously share this story with you. In the midst of so many weighty events, this is a lighter one. I think that it falls under the category of “Peace between Jews and Arabs on the kindergarten level.”

I have often told you over the years about “my beggar”…Mohammed by name. He and I go back 17 years already and I have watched his children grow up. I had a hand in turning him from a being full fledged beggar into a salesman of sorts. When I first began to work at the doctor’s office, Mohammed would come around and beg for a hand out. Everyone else would flee the room and I was left holding the bag.

I soon found that the more that I gave him, the more he wanted. He was NEVER thankful. I prayed for him and thought about him a lot. I have shared many stories about him over the years: how I taught him to be thankful…how I encouraged his children to use their education toward a job…how I gave them Bibles in Arabic and prayed that their children might read them etc. Mohammed and I are the same age and after 17 years I look forward to seeing him every Friday. I worry when he doesn’t show up. He brings me vegetables now and although I’m not sure where he gets them, I’m always thankful and he smiles broadly.

So I worried about him and his family when the weather turned cold. I had reason. “Tachtunot…arbeem vay arba…” he said to me. This was an unusual request that took me aback: “Women’s underwear, size 44.”

I WOULD have been indignant, except I felt The Holy Spirit’s nudge and felt He said to me: “His wife is cold and he trusts you with this request.”

I told him that I would do my best. Since our sizes are different (small, med, large, etc), it took me a few tries. “These are too small,” he told me the first time.

He began coming back daily and I found myself seriously shopping for underwear for a lady whom I’d never met.

“These are too large,” he told me with some urgency the second time.

I was running out of funds now, but this lady was cold. I felt like Goldilocks.

The order then changed: “My wife needs 6 pairs.”

Gulp! I prayed some more. “Lord, please help me find the right size.”

Back downtown I went yet once again in search of size 44 and six of them.

Thursday I handed him the latest package. I saw him go outside and check them out. He smiled and took off. Friday he returned with the prettiest radishes I’d ever seen. They fit. Mission accomplished. Bridges between warring peoples were built. One lady was more comfortable in the cold weather, but they are not yet safe in Him.

I’m thankful that God cares about beggars. Perhaps you would want to pray for Mohammed and his family? I wonder if he will retire before me….

Speaking of not yet safe in Him, that is exactly how I felt as my husband and I went to a shiva on Monday night. I’ve explained before that a shiva is the seven day period of sitting in mourning for a loved one. Although the particulars differ between background cultures, the fundamentals are the same. Some sit on the floor, some on hard seats. Food is brought and set around for all who enter and for the mourners to remember to care for themselves. Most cut their shirt with a rip along the neckline. Soft shoes or slippers are worn. The people come and come and you are not left alone except to rest.

David Landau was famous. I knew that of course, but didn’t know the half of it. His family were patients at the doctor’s office where I work and soon my husband became his only barber. He was editor of the Hebrew ultra liberal newspaper, H’Aretz, and later became editor of their English edition. A rare combination of deeply religious, Zionist Jew while being an extreme liberal left wing zealot, he was a fiery intellectual giant bigger then life. He was a lawyer, author of many books including Ariel Sharon’s biography. His beautiful, gentle wife and I often laughed about what an odd couple her husband and mine made, lovingly raging against one another. My husband is a non-verbal man, being dyslexic, and David was a man of words and The Word. David and my husband adored one another.

Then David, a year younger then we are, got brain cancer. A few months back, the Queen of England knighted him for his life’s achievements, such a great honor for him. He came to my husband to have his hair cut before leaving for England.

The Prince asked him, “Who trimmed your massive beard?” He joyfully told him my husband’s story.

As we sat in his impressive apartment with his widow, surrounded by books, paintings, weighty achievements of life, the apartment filled up with important people. The movers and shapers of today’s paths. My heart wept. None of this is eternal. None of it counts for eternity or saves us from eternal darkness. All of that passion against the dying of this life, and yet no real Light from The Way, The Truth and The Light.

What can I do to share Him here in this day and season before another grave opens up? I am not afraid to share, but I AM afraid to share if it will only make me feel better, as if, “well, I did what I could.” And yet it hardens rather then softens a heart. And so I pray for fruit, I pray for harvest, I pray for a zealous heart full of The Holy Spirit that will prevail on high and with man.

I found a pivot point to prayer in an odd place. I was walking to work and saw two elderly women across the street walking in the opposite direction. One was rather bent over and had a tan shawl around her shoulders. I was startled by the odd way my eyes saw it, as if there was a large arm tenderly draped around her. It so startled me that I asked The Lord about it and found myself praying on Tuesday morning in a way that I NEVER have before: for a general group of the elderly lonely and uncomforted.

I don’t generally pray for amorphous groups, but this one took on the face of the woman in the shawl. How He leads us down different paths, but more and more my question before Him is: Where is the FRUIT Lord? Oh, I don’t want to beat the air. TEACH ME TO PRAY, AND PRAYING, TO REALLY PRAY!

Our election campaign gets nastier and nastier. Anti Semitism in Europe in particular is epidemic. Isis groups emerge on all of our borders and within. “Not by might, nor by power, but BY MY SPIRIT SAYS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY”…”shouting grace, grace, unto this mountain” (Zechariah) It will not be by human will that we survive, nor that we bare fruit.

You know, I write this letter boldly and bare-faced because I believe I’m writing to like minded sisters and brothers, also desperate for Him and to behold His glory. May we be made fit for The Master’s use in these days. I send you much love. God bless you and thank you for your prayers…particularly as our guests begin to arrive. May He be glorified and may we finish the work that He has for each of us.

Lovingly, your sis in Jerusalem,

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January 25, 2015 · 2:35 pm

Inside Israel

Greetings dear friends, brothers and sisters, in the precious Name of Yeshua. May He be blessed and glorified and may you be blessed and drawn daily closer to Him…all for His glory.

Life here has been growing more intense and picking up its pace. It has demanded all of my attention, which has left me little time to write or even check email. I know that it is not just that I’m slowing down, but that time itself is indeed speeding up. I am only thankful for His Peace that passes all understanding and keeps our hearts and minds on Him.

I mentioned to you in my last letter that I was about to celebrate my 40^th year since meeting Him face to Face. That was so meaningful and at the same time, so humbling. I set a large space of time aside to wonder about it and to assess the time. I lay my stewardship before Him and ask Him to judge it. How I have used the time? How I have handled what He has entrusted me with?

Oh, it was NOT a pretty picture from my side, but we have a kaporah (atoning sacrifice), atonement, the Atoning One and Intercessor. A Holy God Who forgives and cleanses. I did ask Him to somehow confirm me and He did just that.

At my fellowship there is a monthly women’s prayer meeting. Although they did not know yet that it was a special day for me, the leader called me on my birthday and asked if I would share at the meeting this Tuesday. What a humbling gift.

Yet, all plans seem to have a way of being disrupted, don’t they? I have no doubt that this is to teach us how to stand steady when things shake, but SOMETIMES it is the enemy.

You know that I have been actively involved in IFI (Intercessors for Israel) since we arrived. I attend at least the beginning of the weekly Friday morning prayer meetings in the center of town. Their yearly conference is one that I try to attend. The ONE meeting of the conference that is mine (meaning…yay! I can be there!) is Tuesday morning.

Last year, armed with my Bible in my backpack, ready to go to the prayer meeting, my husband needed to go to the emergency room with severe pain. Thankfully it was nothing, but for the first time in years I was not able to gather with those from the nations to prayer in this manner. I was so disappointed.

This year, I had my day planned out. IFI prayer in the morning, kehila women’s prayer meeting at night, where I also would be sharing. At 12:20 a.m. Tuesday, the mysterious pounding on the ceiling happened again. This is the pounding that we have been blamed for by our upstairs neighbor. It woke us suddenly.

Soon after, my husband felt sever chest pain. When it looked like a heart attack, we checked his blood pressure. Seeing it very high, I called the ambulance. Within a few minutes there was a loud knocking on the door. I opened it and said, “Please, please come in! My husband is right here.”

At which point the POLICE informed me that our upstairs neighbor had called them to complain about us for the fifth time. It was now 2 a.m. I said, “Well…in any case, I’m glad that you are here. My husband is having a heart attack.”

They were most helpful, especially when the ambulance got lost. Once again I stuffed my Bible (ever hopeful) in my backpack and spent the night in a cold chair beside my husband. Thankfully he was fine for the SECOND year in a row.

In answer to prayer, God’s anointing was present for me to speak that evening, despite no sleep. And today, I made it to the 11-1:00 prayer meeting. Halleluiah! My floor may not be washed, but I’m asking for The Lord’s grace to cover that too.

This is only one example of why I haven’t written. It’s been INTENSE.

While we were in the emergency room (from around 2:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.), the ARMY was called in to help with the overload. Our army doctors and medics showed up to help with the heavy load of patients. Being that our hospitals are all public hospitals, we can do that. And I must admit, I find myself on the other side of the coin having become so very thankful for our form of socialized medicine here. Our system has a heart and a moral mandate to save lives.

The protocol states that if my husband were hospitalized, the entire issue would have been covered. Armed with the large bill from the ambulance and the hospital, I trekked off to face the bureaucracy. Thankfully, I was covered with prayer. At least now I could hold my own in Hebrew. I made my case: “See? He almost died 4 years ago and this looked and felt just the same…”

The secretary tapped on the computer and shook her head, up and down, sided to side. I prayed. My heart was pounding. I waited. She smiled. I relaxed. “Ok, instead of 2,000 shekels, it will be 400 shekels.”

PHEW! THANK YOU LORD! Back into the street and it only took 3 hours.

Back on the train, a noisy man got on, looking a bit bedraggled, he began to sing loudly. I watched him. Was he crazy or was he drunk? He sang with passion. I began to listen to his songs. Usually people like that cause some discomfort, but not this man, everyone watched him. His voice was sad. His words ironic and deep. He was probably in his 60s and belted out song after song, making up the words as he went. A commentary on life here. The search for peace. The hope so deep. The sweat and blood.

A young religious woman sat beside me and also watched him. “He seems crazy but his words are so deep,” she said to me, and I agreed. Tears began to roll down his face. The whole train watched and listened. “It is like he is a Rabbi, preaching to us,” she said again. Again I agreed. It was true. A sermon was being sung on a train. A Jeremiah in the flesh again weeping for the children of God yet wandering on the long path.

Our Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has been invited to speak to the US Congress, by the speaker of the House without the knowledge of the US President. You likely know what a row this has caused around the world, but believe me, that flack is minor compared with the blasting that he is receiving through our own media and the other political parties that are currently involved in a mud slinging campaign against him. He has been silent about it until today when he explained that he has one main calling, and that is to defend the people and land of Israel at all costs. He has promised to speak out concerning the Iranian threat, whenever and wherever the door opened and he would do just that. Things, forces, so much bigger then us loom on every horizon.

I ask for prayer for this man whom I believe that God has called for such a time as this to be a clear trumpet of truth. He is standing boldly before incredible opposition. If you are one who prays for this nation and people, please be particularly vigilant at this time. I am sorry for not having kept up sending out the IFI prayer notes. Will begin again once they are back online. It is a very dangerous season, but The Lord’s pathway is THROUGH the whirlwind and the storm. We know that we are all safe in Him when we are on that path.

God bless you dear sisters and brothers. I love you,

Your sis in Jerusalem, J

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January 18, 2015 · 4:53 pm

Inside Israel

Blessings multiplied to you dear brothers and sisters, where in Him we abound!

All glory and honor to The King of kings and The Lord of lords…Wh knows all of our griefs and even bore them for us that we might rejoice in hope with Him. He does all things well.

Although SOMETIMES we may not feel that way.

At noon today, a car slowly went down the boulevard in front of our apartment. Over a loud speaker a Rabbi was chanting the mourner’s prayer and encouraging everyone to come to the cemetery not too far away from here where the 4 victims of the French kosher market attack were all being buried. Their coffins had arrived from France early this morning. Mercifully, it was a sunny day, with freezing rain forecasted for tomorrow. The sun gave an illusion of some warmth, although in actuality it held little.

For the remaining Holocaust survivors, the times that have been leading up to these events are taking place regularly, and often, are not reported. My husband, a hairdresser, cut the hair of a Holocaust survivor today who shared her feelings and her story with him. Her father sent her family to America from Germany during the war. He told them: “Don’t worry so much. I am more German the Jewish. Nothing will happen to me.”

That was the last that they saw of him before he went to the gas chambers. She said that so many deluded themselves in the same way. She then said that she hears the very same things now from Jews in America, France, England etc. “Why can’t they see what is happening?” she asked my husband.

“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. (Jeremiah 16:16)

When we were in Alaska, the fishers showed up and found us. They did not tell us to go to Israel, but they confirmed what we already knew, what He had been preparing our hearts for YEARS, and what His Word had confirmed to us over and over again.

We resisted: ‘Us?? Why Us? Is this what You mean or are we understanding it wrongly?”

In two days, on the 15^th of this month, it will be 40 years since I fully intended to end my life and instead found LIFE by meeting The Lord of LIFE. It was not long after, only a couple of months or so, that He told me that He had made me Jewish for a reason and that someday I would be living in Jerusalem. This was the LAST thing that I wanted to hear.

I had spent YEARS running away from being Jewish. I didn’t WANT to live in Jerusalem. I had a native Alaskan husband and there was NO way that I was going to tell HIM what to do. I didn’t argue. I just said, “Oh no! Well, if that is You, You will have to do it.”

He had confirmed it to me in His Word when I was alone in the back of a pick-up truck. I hid it in my heart. SEVENTEEN YEARS LATER, He told my husband, instead of me.

In the meantime, He brought fishers and planted seeds. My husband listened to them, but I listened less. I figured if He parted the Red Sea (actually it is the Sea of REEDS or Reed Sea in Hebrew), He would just do it in His good time. And it would be a long time in the future. Ha!

But now He is sending the hunters and it’s neither funny nor relaxed. Our girls are not home anymore. My sister and niece and other relatives, though few, are also not stirring. Instead of seeing the waters heating up, they are defending Islam – the religion of peace.

But the hunters are here now, and it really is time to pray and to obey.

I, for one, can tell you that it is NOT EASY. I understand why my sisters and brothers after the flesh struggle with the idea of leaving everything behind and making aliyah (moving to Israel). EVEN those who are younger then we were when we came, EVEN those who may know some Hebrew, or have family or friends here. The West is comfortable. Israel is not.

Giving up everything that you know, your foundations, your language, to go into the unknown seems scary to some and downright foolhardy to others. When we made aliyah, I had never been here before and my husband, (Alaska Native, and not Jewish) only as a tourist for 3 weeks. We were nearly 50, had no security, didn’t know the language, were lightly acquainted with one person here. None of my relatives were here and our youngest was just about to turn 13. BUT THE LORD REALLY HAD SPOKEN.

We sold everything and bought tickets. VERY few people understood. Some were nasty. Several suggested that if we came as missionaries, they might consider helping with some support. One missionary, who was a friend of mine, a sister whose kids were friends with mine, chastened me sore and told me that we were NOT in HIS will, that we DIDN’T know what we were doing and that our family would be destroyed. Most people, not knowing that it was fully my Husband’s decision, blamed me for telling him what to do.

No, it wasn’t easy nor has it been easy, but we have NO DOUBT that we are in His will and we cry out to others to follow. The hunters are here and the time is shorter then it was 20 years ago. I do not mean to be dramatic, but it is necessary to say.

Our Prime Minister has been bold to the disdain of many, making us the mockery of the nations while he speaks out truth without shame, with boldness, consistently. But the world is not listening.

But you are listening. You are HIS children and as I meditated in His Word this morning I felt urged in my heart to say how MUCH The Lord LOVES you.

That is not a platitude but I had a glimpse into that love this morning. The battle that rages in the hearts of His children and I felt urged: ‘Tell them I LOVE them.”

Yes, I am NOT a prophet but I know Him as you do and He really wants you to know that IN YOUR STRUGGLES, HE REALLY LOVES YOU!

Argh! It is time to get dinner on the table and I must stop writing.

It is cold, cold, cold here. The rocks are radiating cold. We are told that it is the coldest winter on record. Hot water bottles, hats and gloves accompany us to bed. It is hard to get up in the morning and face the air. I went downtown to try to find a warmer hat as the ones that I made, ddidn’t LOOK good. (vanity!) Most of the women’s shops that sell hats are run by olim from France.

I was struck by the deep sense of mourning. “Tsurot tovot,” each one said to me as I left. This means: may your troubles be good ones.

With the announcement that the 4 young men killed in Paris would all be buried here, the community began to prepare to attend. Special public transportation would bring people to the cemetery, no private vehicles. Yes, it is one big family. While the citizens of France and the world march against intolerance, and while 3 million copies of the “Charlie” magazine are going on the market instead of the usual 60,000, I am struck that no one here wants a souvenir of the attack. They have seen it too many times before and they see the writing on the wall…

May you be found in His Peace. May your first love be rekindled and may you seek His Face always. May He be glorified in His children and may we fight the good fight of faith. For HE is worthy.

God bless and encourage you,

Your sis J

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January 11, 2015 · 8:21 am

Inside Israel

May ALL glory and honor and attention and blessing go to Him and may you be encouraged and blessed!

I woke as usual onJanuary 1 to prepare for work, as it is a regular work day here. Since I get up at 4:30 a.m. to dress and then spend time with The Lord before leaving at 6:15, I opened the shutter at sunrise and was stilled by the sight of very dramatic black billowing clouds streaking across the sky.

On and off, the clouds opened up and dumped rain, like rounds from an automatic weapon, and then stopped. When I got to work at around 7 a.m., there was a HUGE clap of thunder and lightning and that was that. Suddenly, it was over.

“Huh. What is this about, Lord?” I thought.

By 7:30 there was no sign of the early drama and when I spoke to my husband about it he said, “What rain and thunder? There was nothing like that here.” (meaning after he woke up).

I’m not much into signs and omens unless really tweaked by The Lord, but it perked my interest. Surely, Israel is in deep water. In fact, since we have moved here, dramatic events have often been matched with dramatic weather.

Immediately coming to mind is a vivid memory of sitting around a Passover Seder table with neighbors and their families, perhaps 20 people. The weather that particular evening had been very dramatic with pouring rain, wind, hail and finally snow with thunder and lightening. It was springtime and very unusual.

One young man was in army and had his cell phone turned on. In the midst of the Seder, he got a phone call. We all knew that it couldn’t be good as phones, even if they are turned on, don’t ring on Holydays. The Passover massacre had just occurred in Netanya, blowing up a hotel where many had gathered for large Seders. The intifada had become a war.

Likewise, today I am home as the result of an intense, large winter storm. Following the difficulties resulting from last year’s massive snowfall, the country took this forecast seriously and has prepared itself. Perhaps, over-prepared might better describe the sometimes humorous panic.

Better than a repeat of last year when we were without electricity for 5-10 days and roadways impassible for as long. Trees were broken in half all over the city and the army came door to door with hot soup, bread and blankets to check on the emergency needs of cold, vulnerable people.

Now, I grew up in NYC and remember winters when the water froze in the toilet. Then I spent some 15 years raising our children in a remote part of Alaska, having before that lived in rural Washington state, rural northern California and various other northern places, but each of these areas were prepared for cold weather. The locals knew how to deal with it wisely. That is not the case here.

With all of our buildings made of stone to withstand the desert blasts of heat for most of the year, they hold the cool air well. Actually, very well. Stones radiate cold and heat as well as the summer draws to an end. I remember one particularly cold winter in Alaska where we sealed off all of the bedrooms and camped out in the living room around the wood stove drinking hot chocolate and reading books aloud. That winter even blankets on the walls did not keep them from forming ice inside. It was cold, but we were prepared and were also young.

Last year, I wasn’t prepared for the electric oven not to work. That meant no bread baking to add heat the heat-less apartment. We ran out of kerosene for our kerosene heater, but we were far better off then the many who relied totally upon electricity for heat and light. The sheer COST of heating when it is this cold is an added problem. All communication was down as even battery run items couldn’t be re-charged.

I taught many people to cover their heads, hands, necks and feet in the house. Why? We lose most of our body heat through these extremities. Plus, it’s good to stock up on hot water bottles. The deep expression of community touched me as the whole country constantly checked on neighbors. Troops of young volunteers fanned themselves out through neighborhoods.

The main roads leading to Jerusalem were shut down today with the first brief flakes of snow in an overreaction to last year’s mad dash to the capital to see the snow when it began. Many thousands or cars were stranded and abandoned across the frozen roads making them inaccessible to both emergency vehicles and snowplows. The plan is to keep them free of vehicles, clear them, and only THEN re-open them.

The roads had to be re-opened after a couple of hours as the storm waited outside of the city, promising to hit later in the day. The USA actually issued a travel warning, not to go to Israel unless absolutely necessary because of the snow.

Life has its humor…and sometimes it is cold.

I am thankful for the humor because life here can be awfully intense and stressful. Our filthy election campaigns are in full swing and the accusations hurt my ears and heart, but they DO spur me to pray. Several ISIS cells have been uncovered here in Israel and not just on our borders.

The battle with the Palestinians has intensified in the world arena. The media ignorance, opinions, arrogance and out and out lies could have us in tears constantly if we looked at them…and God forbid believed them! It is growing nastier and more dangerous all the time. Harper Collins, a huge world-renowned English publishing house, just published their new world atlas eliminating the State of Israel from their maps. Too offensive to the Arab nations with which they do business. The BDS Movement (boycott, divestment, sanction) against Israel has mushroomed on college campuses around the world with the help of social media and is spreading at epidemic rate.

I have been reading the Minor Prophets. My knees at the beginning of each book, knowing that the causes for judgment upon Israel are here again now, Then the ending of each book brings awesome praise to my heart because of the vision of restoration. On the 15^th of January, it will be FORTY YEARS since He reached down and plucked me from the flames of Hell at almost the last minute.

I have read the Bible from beginning to end for 40 years now. And finally, it is becoming clearer for me to understand how great is His mercy and how His mercy is revealed through His unique dealings with Israel. My heart literally pounds as I see it and is so incredibly beautiful! And best of all, it is true. We will yet see the fulfillment of His great and precious promises.

Has He not been faithful to each of us? And in His dealings with Israel? More then 5,000 years of faithfulness to Israel. He has chastened yes, but patiently waited for what will happen… just as He patiently waits for each of us to get it.

May each of us be drawn nearer to His heartbeat for His glory. Blessings!

Love,

your sis J

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December 8, 2014 · 9:15 am

Inside Israel

Dear Brothers and Sisters, beloved in Yeshua,

I greet you so lovingly, so thankful for each of you and for HIM Who is the same in tumultuous times as He is in peaceful times. May HE be glorified and blessed and may you be blessed…and dare I say…feel some of the love that I have for you, His body.

I will try to share carefully what is on my heart and not take too much of your time.

Crisis upon crisis, crisis upon crisis, this land, His land, is in turmoil but He has the answer. It is Himself. It has always been Him, but how often have you and I run this way and that until we fall at His feet? How much more for the nations who don’t yet know Him?

I am sure that you know that our government has collapsed and called for new elections. I have often tried to explain our form of coalition government, which is less than desirable, always fiery and messy, and now, at this time, unworkable. It literally flew apart at the seams, culminating with our Prime Minister firing the finance minister and justice minister. Then, other ministers, from their respective parties, stepped down and the government was dissolved. New elections will be March 17 with Prime Minister Netanyahu remaining at the helm until then. Given the unstable situations within and without, a LOT can happen between now and then.

My uneducated assessment: I do NOT know how Prime Minister Netanyahu has stood under all of the criticism, slander, betrayal, and hatred up to this point. I pray it has been − as is rumored − that he is looking to God. Surely there is considerable world-wide prayer for him.

It has seemed that from the time that Mubarak of Egypt was overthrown, effectively beginning the now festering “Arab Spring,” that outside forces, such as other governments, have been very active to bring about a similar situation here. It is subtle, but not so subtle as to go undetected. There has been a undermining by the media to support opposition politicians and thus strengthening these politicians to undermine the existing government. It is alarming to watch, but GOD IS WATCHING. It hasn’t taken Him by surprise.

Because Israeli elections are particularly disgusting with their gross and indecent mudslinging, anything goes. The public soon becomes depressed and discouraged and it is easy to understand why. No one can hear this much negative talk about anyone and still remain unaffected. May God have mercy on us!

Predictably, the expression of anger among the Arabs has increased. Not that their anger has increased, but that they now perceive weakness and division and a sympathetic ear from the world. So we are also hearing ever-increasing diatribes daily. Such lies as that we should go back to where we belong, that there was never a Jew in the middle east, that there was never a temple on Temple Mount, that there was never such a people. We are made up and a conspiracy is what we are. Get out…you are hated…go back to where you belong. Your Bible is a myth and a counterfeit.

“And The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John 1:3 NKJV

IN THE MIDST OF THE UPSIDE DOWN, STRESSFUL, BATTLE FILLED LIFE, strings of lights begin to appear. First I saw the Chanukiahs, the eight branched Chanukah with the ninth branch in the center, strung up along the road. “LOOK!” I yelled to my husband “the Chanukiahs are up.”

Sure enough, it is almost Chanukah. It is easy to forget Chanukah if your children and grandchildren aren’t around. We old folks can forget to become excited, but, sure enough, the diet busting sovganioat is here. This traditional Chanukah gut-buster used to be a sort of deep fried jelly donut covered with powdered sugar and filled only with a dab of raspberry jam, but over the past few years it has evolved. It is now a virtual wedding cake affair, with each bakery vying for 1st place in the local newspaper as best sovganioat available in Jerusalem. Iced in all colors and elaborately designed they are now filled with chocolate, caramel, vanilla, etc.

How could I have missed seeing them in the shuk? And then, there are the dreidles, the four-sided tops with Hebrew letters on the sides saying: “Nes gadol hayah shin.” This is unique to Israel and means: “A great miracle took place here.” The tops in the other parts of the world say: “Nes gadol hayah sham,” or “A great miracle happened there.” What a blessing to live in Jerusalem!

And this great miracle, which is still being celebrated, was celebrated by Jesus or Yeshua:

“Now it was the Feast of the Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And JESUS walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.” Jn. 10:22-23.

It was the miracle of the multiplication of the oil for the menorah in the temple, the LIGHT in the center of the temple. There was no Light due to occupation by the Greeks. BUT GOD, WHO IS THE LIGHT, did what only HE could do and multiplied the Light. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (YESHUA) WHO WALKED IN THE TEMPLE DURING CHANUKAH, and who multiplied food for the thousands in the same way that the oil was multiplied, IS STILL THE LIGHT BEING MULTIPLIED, JUST AS QUIETLY, JUST AS MYSTERIOUSLY, IN DARKENED HEARTS, FLOODING THEM WITH LIGHT, DAY BY DAY.

Did you know that Israel provides free Christmas trees for Christian citizens? AND there are Christmas lights strung up as well in areas where there are more Christians, not that these symbols are anything, but a reminder that The Light of the world CAME into this dark world. While in the west people are fighting for the right to MENTION Christmas or have a manger scene or singing carols in a public place, it is TOTALLY different here. We sort of celebrate religion here in that there is a great curiosity about Christmas. So rather then being a battle about materialism, pagan traditions and the like, the holiday becomes a wonderful opportunity to share the LIGHT with hungry hearts. And OH HOW WE NEED HIM NOW!

This election and the chaos that it brings with it has truly plunged the people into a despair of need. We are surrounded by enemies that HATE our very existence. The world consensus is that we are the source of all of the turmoil, and in the midst of all that, our LEADERSHIP battles for the authority to lead our nation. How GOOD God is that He wedges us into a place where we can only look up.

Iran seems to be pulling the wool over the world’s eyes while their stated goal is: 1) destroy Israel, and 2) establish Islam on earth. The UN has a list of cases against us and is poised to declare a Palestinian state, as the Palestinians prepare to take us to the world court for war crimes. Europe is ablaze with fresh anti-Semitism. The scuffle to keep food on the table and roofs over heads becomes more difficult each day. These are all signposts and the good news is that they are signposts to HIM.

I love it that every time we get into a deeper mess. God then turns us toward Him with another holiday, as if He were saying, “Come children and I will tell you a story and it will bring you to Me.” And I LOVE that it is time to look at The Light.

First and Second Peter speaks SO CLEARLY to the times that we are all living in. My heart pounds as I read them because we are NOT being told to KNOW AND UNDERSTAND everything, such as the seasons, the signs, or the answers. We are told clearly HOW TO WALK.

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you…Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope FULLY upon the grace that is to brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ…Coming to Him as a living stone…proclaim the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…Finally all of you be of one mind…be serious and watchful in your prayers…fervent love one for another…if anyone speaks let him speak as the oracles of God…all of you be submissive to one another AND BE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY…humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God…casting all of your cares upon Him…

This could be farfetched but is this perhaps Israel’s ultimate purpose? Is this HOW we are to ultimately be the Light to a chaotic world when it sees HIS great FAITHFULNESS to His covenants and His Word and His people and His land and glorifies His Name just as He said He would when all else is impossible?

So perhaps it is NOT a matter of having a store of food and water on hand, or of knowing the times and the seasons or of being wise but:

“Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness…”…Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace without spot and blameless…” (2 Peter 3:11,14)

Welcome to the season of LIGHT. In His Light may we see Light. I hope in the coming days to describe to you the scenes around Jerusalem. I wish you were all here and thank you for your prayers and gracious love.

Your sis in Jerusalem,

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November 30, 2014 · 12:29 pm

Inside Israel

May you be blessed and encouraged and may The Lord be glorified and blessed and hear our heartfelt praise. For HE ALONE IS WORTHY. Yeshua − The Lamb of God.

As the huge winter storm dumps a year’s worth of rain on our dry thirsty ground in 2 days, effectively ending the drought that has been with us for the past 7-10 years, I remember the words to an old song: “It’s a happy day, and I thank God for the weather. It’s a happy day, and I’m living it for my Lord, Halleluiah…”

Some of you may remember a lesson that I learned during my first days in our homeland during ulpan (language class). That year, 1994, was also an extraordinarily rainy winter. Monsoon floods made the daily wet trek to class uncomfortable and learning while shivering in wet clothing for 5 hours in the unheated stone rooms made it difficult to be thankful.

One day there was more then the usual murmuring along with the chattering teeth in the classroom. The teacher, who was a religious lady, taught us, with an inner authority. “THANK YOU, LORD, FOR THE RAIN. THANK YOU FOR THE WATER FROM HEAVEN AND YOUR MERCY TO US. ALWAYS BE THANKFUL FOR THE RAIN AND NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT IT LIKE YOUR ANCESTORS DID. REMEMBER: WE LIVE IN A DESERT AND THE RAIN IS A GIFT.” I have not forgotten that particular lesson.

I was able to repeat that lesson MANY times today at work. I must admit that I dressed like a snowman this morning to swim to work against the wind. Many others forgot to dress warmly. Nonetheless, each time a patient grumbled their way into the clinic this morning, they got to hear the lesson I learned twenty years earlier. They didn’t get to leave until they were thanking God for the gift of His blessing of rain. And THAT, my friends, is from a people who don’t celebrate American Thanksgiving.

BLESSED Thanksgiving to all of my dear American friends. I miss this wonderful day set apart to be thankful, but I have learned the lesson and have chosen to be thankful with every breath. HE IS WORTHY.

HE IS WORTHY and we must be thankful in the storms of life. It is incredibly stormy here both within AND without, that is for sure. As the record storm outside rages, and the basement of our building fills with water, which reminds me of the wise man building his house upon the rock. I then wonder how this nation can stand so much and not blow apart as a stick house built on the sand in a tornado. It FEELS as if we are inside a whirlwind.

Is there one country in this world that is not frothing at the mouth against us, more and more openly each day? Yes, I DO know that there are many believers who stand with us, so please don’t feel as if you have to apologize. I understand and it DOES have to be this way for it is written, but it is astonishing to see the rapidity with which antagonism is turning into deep hatred. Or is it just that the hatred has been hidden and is finally coming to the surface?

But it is not only from outside of our borders, and I am not even referring to the riots, murders, attacks, uprisings and the increasing battle for Jerusalem. The government is in crisis as the frustration and constant attacks from outside strengthen the opposition within. Our Knesset meetings look more like a boxing arena with members of Knesset (Parliament) being ushered out for causing disruptions, even fist fights. I do not know how our Prime Minister is able to withstand this magnitude of criticism being hurled in his face.

My constant question to The Lord is: “How do YOU want me to walk in the midst of these troubles to bring You glory?”

I MUST trust Him with the progression of events too large for me, but HE has called me to walk in the midst of this. And we are told to Glorify HIM in the midst of the fires and ALSO the flood and the whirlwind.

Well, I KNOW that we are called to “Look away unto Him” and to “Worship Him” and to “Know Him” and to “Walk with Him in His Spirit.” This brings me to the topic that has been very much on my heart to speak about: the Jewish Roots and or the Hebraic Roots movements.

FIRST of all: I need you to KNOW that I KNOW NOTHING OF THESE MOVEMENTS PER SAY. I am NOT an expert for sure. But I have a front row center seat to observe some of the storms that appear to be raging about them, and even then I would not have commented. Oh boy! Lord, please help me choose the words so carefully. It is a two edged sword that comes out of the mouth of The Lord in the Revelation to John. That two edged sword divides asunder between soul and spirit, bone and marrow and is a divider of the thoughts and intents of the heart. He tells us to contend for the Truth that was once given…

I never had any teaching about Jewish roots etc. I never went to a Messianic congregation. I am Jewish. I was born Jewish and raised in traditional, but not Orthodox Judaism. I was taught the basic Bible stories and knew that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Job, and Jonah were ours, but Jesus was NOT. Yet, at the darkest moment of my life, I met Him − this forbidden Jesus − face to face. And I was drawn up out of the miry clay pit into His wonderful Light and davka (wouldn’t you know it?) There was Jesus and He was Jewish. Now THAT changed my life.

Yes, I thought I was the only one that this had ever happened to. I didn’t know where to turn. So I turned to Him and He told me to read The Bible. So I did, from beginning to end. Well, actually, I started with Job because that was the only book name I recognized, but what a place to start! In His wisdom, it was the right place for me.

THEN from beginning to end, again and again. All along the way I asked Him how to proceed and He led me in tender faithfulness. My DEAR first Pastor, Jim Hill, taught me a great and precious Truth: that our Lord IS Perfect Balance. “Balance is extraordinary. It is NOT something that comes naturally to me. My nature and my flesh can be extreme and emotional, but He is BALANCED. YES LORD, I WANT THAT in my life.

And so I prayed (and still do) that He would balance me. And I found out that The Holy Spirit IS Balanced, so when I am filled with His Spirit I am also filled with His Balance.

So what does His Balance have to do with Jewish Roots? A lot! You see, now I was a Jew, but I believed in Jesus. How can this be? How do I walk? I went to a wonderful Church and each time we moved to a different area He led me to the Church for me to continue to grow. Yet, I was ALSO a Jew. Balance? Where Lord? I found that as I kept reading His Word from beginning to end, and as His Spirit grew within me, I UNDERSTOOD things that I hadn’t understood.

As I followed Jewish observances (holidays for example) when I was with my family growing up, they were a shadow, not just to us children but to the adults as well. I know because I asked later on. But suddenly the meanings for them were GROWING in me. So I could partake of them, not because I HAD to, but because I LONGED to in my heart. It was wonderful and brought me joy. I felt that I was worshipping Him and bringing HIM joy, too. When I shared these things with my Gentile brothers and sisters, it wasn’t for them to BECOME Jews, but to share because that is what His Light does. It spreads and shares. His light, just like plants, causes us to grow.

I had MANY identity crises as I grew up, and it didn’t quite end when I became a believer. Identity crises are part of our fleshly lives perhaps, but NOT a part of the kingdom of God. There HE is our identity and, in this kingdom, His identity is neither Jew nor Gentile, man nor woman etc. Now we KNOW that in the flesh there are many crises. It is foolish to say that there aren’t because we are men and women, Jews or Gentiles, in the flesh, and yes, we live in the flesh. But as I see it, the key to walking in BALANCE is found in 1 Corinthians 7:17-24:

“¹⁷But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches. ¹⁸Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. ¹⁹Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. ²⁰Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. ²¹Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. ²²For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. ²³You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. ²⁴Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.

And 1 Corinthians 9:19-23:

¹⁹For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; ²⁰and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; ²¹to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; ²²to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. ²³Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

When it comes down to it, it is not who we are that matters, but it is Who HE is and to be found IN HIM, we need to be looking at Him. Yes, I believe with all of my heart that ALL of His Word reveals who HE is, so as I see it, it seems sad that some would miss or even REJECT learning about what He has to reveal of Himself through His holidays and directions (laws) when He gave them to us to lead us to Himself. But it is also sad to see some try to shed the gift of who they were made to be, to try to become someone else. This could be through pride or even to embrace man’s traditions that have kept those men from finding Him as He is. And that in doing so without balance, some even sow discord and rebellion in the body, unintentionally I’m sure. BALANCE. Oh, blessed BALANCE.

I am afraid that I may not be sharing in a way that is clear, and this is such an important topic because it IS touching the apple of His eye and the very heart of what He is doing now in this time and this age with the Jews, with Israel, with the world and the Church. We have got to find HIS heart. There appears to be not much time left to be neutral or “on the fence.” AND LORD KNOWS THAT ISRAEL AND THE JEWS NEEDS THE TRUE CHURCH TO STAND WITH US. FINE-TUNED AND MATURE AT THIS VERY TIME. THIS IS THE TIME! THIS IS THE HOUR!

You have no idea how thankful I am for each of you.

Lovingly, and for His glory,

your sis J in Jerusalem, where the battle has begun.

Click on to see MyGFA site.

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November 23, 2014 · 8:36 am

Inside Israel

Blessings, dear brothers and sisters, and all glory to Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come and Who has triumphed and will triumph! May HE be glorified and blessed and may you be encouraged.

Tensions were HIGH at the shuk (market) today. It felt like being inside of a pressure cooker even though there were very few people there for a Wednesday. The train ride from my house to the shuk was heavy as well. The Har Nof (meaning: mountain view) neighborhood where yesterday’s terror attack claimed 5 lives, is just a neighborhood or two over from the one in which we live. So, many Har Nof residents ride the same train. You could see and feel the weight of their grief.

Although CNN’s original report read: “Deadly attack on Jerusalem Mosque.” Four rabbis and one Druze policeman were axed, stabbed and shot to death during 7 a.m. morning prayers at a quiet synagogue in West Jerusalem. One of the murderers worked at the super market on the same street, another cleaned the synagogue.

As I have said and will KEEP on saying: “the battle was ALWAYS about Jerusalem, the place where God chose to put His Name.”

On the train, many eyes were red from weeping. The book of Psalms was more evident then the free newspaper this morning.

At the shuk, where the stalls are about evenly divided between Jewish and Arab merchants, the air was quite tense. Four female soldiers stood at one of the entrances, but I saw no others in spite of the announcement that there would be a large presence of police and soldiers at all public gathering places. Yesterday, Hamas called for anyone with a car, gun, a stone, a tractor, an axe, or kitchen knife to take them up and kill Jews.

I must admit, although not afraid, I kept that in mind as I passed in front of trucks and forklifts unloading produce. Greeting the Arab and Jewish vendors that I trade with regularly, I prayed for His Hand to restrain emotions that might be ready to ignite, for their own good, not for mine.

The shuk is a unique place, where people simply work hard, trying to make a living, working together year after year. Yet even here, one spark has often been enough…too often.

I overheard one vendor comment to a customer, “Where are the police? Where are the soldiers? I don’t see ANY!” He sounded more then a bit nervous.

I looked around and discovered he was right. None. Perhaps they were undercover? But then again, we were told that their presence would be evident.

I stopped for cucumbers. One Arab vendor has the crispest and freshest I have tasted outside of a garden so I am willing to pay a bit more for them. I walked over to his stand and again felt the tension.

“How is it that you ALWAYS have THE best cucumbers in the entire shuk?” I asked the proprietor as he relaxed and beamed at me proudly and smiled.

“I search them out,” he answered.

Another customer lowered the tension even further when she said, “He is also the best man here!”

I smiled at him and said, “I am usually here much later and there are others working.”

We laughed as he said, “Oh, you mean the YOUNGER ones!”

It was good to be able to leave someone with a smile. It was different at a stand further on. The young hawker there is known for his loud yelling that his prices are the best. As others and I picked out fruit, he began his usual call: “Clementine’s. Only 4 shekels a kilo.”

The woman beside me started to yell at him to stop his yelling. “I have ears that you are hurting and I have eyes to see with. Stop that.”

He said, “No. I have to tell others that my prices are better.”

She became unglued. “I have been shopping here since before you were born and we know your prices. You cannot yell in people’s ears. Stop it right now! Have you no respect for what we are suffering here?”

I was surprised at her passion, and so was he. Obviously her nerves were fraught. I was also surprised at his uncharacteristic display of sensitivity when he said, “I’m sorry,” and stopped yelling. He is a rough young Arab man and I was thankful to see him respond so gently. I will shop there more often.

Heading toward the train again, I thought about the wonderful Bible study that we had the previous night at women’s prayer meeting. A dear sister had on her heart 1 John 4:7-the end of the chapter.

How wonderfully appropriate, I thought. God is just so good to feed us with what we need. We had initially arrived at the meeting with much talk about the events of the day and two sisters in particular expressed fear concerning the rapidly escalating situation. As we turned our eyes on Yeshua again, focusing on the word, which is His Essence, our sister said that she had spent years asking just WHAT LOVE IS?

As she unfolded like a delicate flower the Truths that He showed her, in the midst of them was the reminder that – “Perfect Love casts out all fear.”

There is such peace in knowing that He has numbered our days, the hairs on our heads, hedged our paths, trained our feet, and made our ears able to hear: “This is the way, walk ye in it.” And if that way leads to a fiery furnace, what in the world do we have to fear if we know Him and are seeking to walk in His will.

There is such a great Peace in knowing that He Who made us and draws us to Himself is indeed”LOVE.” Sometimes all that we can do and be here is a vessel for His Presence in the midst of the pressure cooker.

Recently my Pastor spoke about something that my heart has been majoring in for a long time, but he said it so much better then I do. We read Matthew 24, where Yeshua speaks with the disciples about the last days. But when the disciples asked Him when it would happen and what would be the signs, His answer was very clear: “Take heed that you are not deceived.”

Living here, many people become caught up in prophecy, eschatology (whatever that is), times and seasons, signs and wonders etc.

One day a brother was speaking about these things to me and what came out of my mouth surprised me, but I listened because it was true: I said to him, “Oh my! I am still trying to learn to come, hear and obey and to love one another. Once I learn that, perhaps I’ll move on, but right now I will just trust that HE KNOWS these things and will do it all perfectly and will even be able to move me into the right place at the right time.”

So Jesus’ answer to the disciples question about when and how was: “See that you are not deceived.”

Lately I have been getting a lot of questions and comments about the way the Church is or is not embracing the things concerning the Jews and Israel. I see divisions and hear some amazing things. I feel that it’s important to address them, and yet who am I to do that? I am no authority, but I am concerned. I do have opinions that have been formed through much reading of scripture, prayer and walking, but what I want to ask is for YOU to do something. I will pray about addressing this a bit the next time that I write, but if you feel that this is at all an issue on God’s heart, will YOU pray about it too? I have told you many times that I am neither a teacher nor a prophet – just a sheep. But I am here…set in the heart of Jerusalem and I do see this as an issue close to God’s heart and therefore one that the enemy hates. I don’t want to touch the subject without prayer preparation. What do you think?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE AND PRAYERS AND PRAYERS FOR THIS NATION – FOR HIM TO BE GLORIFIED. I send you MUCH love.

Blessings,

from your sis J

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November 16, 2014 · 8:33 am

Inside Israel

May THE LORD be glorified, magnified and blessed …and may you be blessed and encouraged.

We live here in the midst of the struggle between Isaac and Ishmael, between Jacob and Esau, and between The God of Israel and His enemies. This struggle has re-surfaced with five being rammed by cars and two more stabbed to death. Riots are increasing in number and intensity. Our level of alert has been raised once again. The presence of soldiers and police is both comforting and alarming. Alarming because we know that the need is great, comforting because they are there to protect us.

I pray for all of them. For their salvation first, but also for their safety and for them to have wisdom and gentleness WITH discernment. It IS a tense time!

But this was what I expected.

If you have read my letters for any length of time, you will remember me saying often: “It is all about Jerusalem.” It is NOT about the settlements (a very poor translation of a word that would better be interpreted village then the word settlement). It is NOT about occupation. It is NOT about rights or jobs or finances, although all of these issues have been exploited as steppingstones to get to this point. It has ALWAYS been about JERUSALEM. The burdensome stone. The place where God chose to put HIS Name. The city which HE chose in ISRAEL to plant Himself and establish His seat for His purposes. And it is precisely because HE chose it that the battle has always been over it.

Years ago when the peace negotiations were far younger, the west laid out their strategy of dealing with the easy issues first and ease into the thorny ones: Judea and Samaria (called the west bank by the west), the so called “right of return” and JERUSALEM.

I said at the time, “Uh oh. This means giving up land, arming the Palestinians, tying our hands, and THEN plundering the rest of the land.”

But you see, it isn’t our land to give.

GOD SAID that this is HIS land and we do not have the RIGHT to touch it and to divide it. On Yom Yerushalaym (Jerusalem Day) each year, I speak of the promise made before God by this nation – when Jerusalem was restored to Israel for the first time in 2,000 years – that we would guard her and that she would never again be divided.

But there is a different kind of tension right now because there is also rioting among the Israeli Arabs and not just the Palestinians. Palestinians, you might remember, are NOT Israelis by their own choice. They did not accept Israeli citizenship. They are the ones who want half of Israel (actually, all of it). But there are a good number of Arabs who DID take Israeli citizenship at the formation of the state, who stayed on the land, who became full citizens, who live and work and play here and some of whom serve in the armed forces or other branches of service. They vote and have full medical and educational rights etc. They have every right that all Jewish citizens have, but in an incident last week with a riot, an Arab Israeli boy was killed.

I was in the shuk (market) on the following day. During the Gaza War, good relations existed between Arabs and the Jews. It was always business as usual.

There are two Arab vendors in the shuk that I trade with on a weekly basis. They are always kind, but not that day. There was tension, which took me by surprise. “Guard your heart and keep it soft,” I said to one young man in particular. He didn’t answer, which was unusual for him.

The Moslem mufti’s are calling for a Jerusalem intifada, and indeed, the Hamas leader said in his first statement after the Gaza war: “We have won in Gaza. ON TO JERUSALEM!”

That call was echoed across the Moslem populations world wide. THEY KNOW THAT IF THEY WERE TO DIVIDE JERUSALEM, or worse, to take her, THEY WOULD BE STABBING THE JEWS IN THE HEART.

BUT GOD, WHO IS RICH IN MERCY AND KNOWS HOW TO GLORIFY HIS NAME, IS NOT TAKEN BY SURPRISE. He is not sleeping and His purposes will not be thwarted. His great Name WILL BE GLORIFIED!

I read both 2 Chronicles 20 and Ezekiel 16 in the same day and was touched by the fact that it is all so simple – the way to Him and the way away from Him. This message is foundationally the same from Genesis through Revelation: turn FROM Me and I will turn from you. Turn TO Me and I will turn to you. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He has made the way straight, and narrow and also simple. How great is our God.

While riding the lite rail, my attention turned from my thoughts as the doors opened and a family boarded. A carriage with a tiny baby, pushed by an older brother, a small Mother carrying another little one with 4 small boys of graduated height following closely at her skirt as she said clearly and persistently, ”Shhhh! Shhhh!”

That admonition, heard by the whole train, was repeated gently but firmly, as if she were breathing it, through the entire trip. An older sister authoritatively held the hand of a smaller one as the thin father brought up the rear. All heads turned with the regular rise and fall of the “shhhh! Shhhh,” which, by the way, was obeyed. I began to count and learned there were nine small noses in all and two parents.

Eleven train tickets is a price not easy to come up with, explaining the children’s delight about being on the train. They were all neatly dressed in homemade clothes, a bit worn, but still clean. The girls had their hair modestly braided. The parents were also neat, and although very thin and tired looking and obviously poor, they looked strong and functioned as a peaceful unit. I watched as the excited children remained well behaved and heeded the constant reminder of “shhhhh! Shhhhh.”

It was interesting to notice the responses of the other passengers. Although Haradi families, and even full and large ones are a common sight, you don’t often see a family much larger then 7 on the train, if for no other reason then the cost. There was obvious disdain and disgust on some faces. This is the liberal, left wing reaction to religious families. Period. They simply do not believe in large families. It is an ideological issue.

Other parents on the train looked on with awe and admiration. Some of the rambunctious young people watched and became less rowdy and a bit more aware of their own behavior. Religious families ARE in fact usually larger then secular ones because they take seriously the Biblical injunction to be fruitful and multiply and believe that children ARE the blessing of The Lord. In fact, they have turned it into a command. At any rate, it is fun to see this type of Biblical battle lived out on the streets daily.

Thank you for your prayers both personally and for this nation. May His kingdom come and His will be done both in our small private lives as well as in our nations,…His purposes for His glory.

Your sis,

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November 9, 2014 · 9:40 am

Inside Israel

Greetings, dear body of Messiah, friends, sisters and brothers, greetings with love and prayer for blessing. May you be encouraged and blessed and may THE LORD be glorified and find pleasure in His body.

The intense and long holiday season has come to an abrupt end and we have been plunged into the pressure cooker again. It is an odd feeling to be standing with a tiny country alone against all of the other governments in the world. The lines seem to be drawn more deeply as the days draw short. There are those who do NOT believe in God but in (the god of) humanism. There are those who fight for other gods, (alla being the most obvious right now). And there are those who believe The One True God, who know and walk with His Son, The Lamb. It seems to me that the fact that it is a religious battle has become obvious even to skeptics. Where do we stand in this and HOW do we stand and walk?

My cell phone rang today while I was in prayer. It was a number that might have been important so I answered it. It turned out to be a most strange call.

“Shalom, Shula?’” the voice said.

“No. You must have a wrong number,” I answered.

“Who is this?” she asked.

I don’t know why I answered but I did.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked.

“I’m really busy now, I’m sorry,” I answered, but when she wanted to call back the following day I asked where she was calling from.

“I am from a yeshiva (learning school) that studies kabala,” she said.

Kabala is Jewish mystical studies. Jewish witchcraft in my understanding of witchcraft. (Feel free to look it up on google. I don’t want to go into it here)

“I fear God and study Torah (The Old Testament) and Neve’em (Prophets). I am not interested in kabala,” I said.

“Oh! We ALSO study Torah,” she continued.

‘Thank you but no, I am not interested.”

I thought the conversation was over, but she asked, “Can I put your name in the cave of the grave of Rabbi Shlomo?”

“No! Do NOT put my name in any grave! I stand before The Living God and I do not want my name in any grave or before any Rabbi.”

I had wished that I could tell her more, but I couldn’t for security reasons as she had my name and phone number. I wanted to tell her that I know The One who WAS dead and in the grave but Who is now ALIVE and owns the keys to death and hell. As usual I could kick myself when these times pass. Why didn’t I say more? But then I realized I was still on my knees and could pray for her. God could also prepare me for such opportunities and teach me HOW to MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN LIVES FOR HIM IN THIS TIME AND AGE.

People are discouraged and many have no hope. The pressure that comes from hearing constant criticism takes a toll. The pressure that comes from trying to explain again and again what should be evident settles like a yoke around the neck. When a 3-month old baby and a 21-year old woman were killed last week by a young Palestinian man who purposefully turned into a crowd standing at a train station, a collective pain went through the nation. The USA termed it “a tragic accident.”

But none of this takes God by surprise and that is so comforting!

The tree in front of our merapeset, with which He comforted me, covering me in His sukka just a short time ago, drops more leaves with every shake of the wind. The deep green is rapidly turning to yellow and brown and I can again see my husband’s shop across the road, no longer obscured by the rich foliage. My flowers are looking old and shivery. Today, as I walked from work to the bus today I took a deep look at the grapevines, fruit trees and abundance of flowering shrubs and they all seemed to be shaking off their summer splendor at once. It happens subtly and yet it seems to happen suddenly.

How the changing seasons reflect His faithfulness AND His character.

Rolling clouds block the sun and chill the air as helicopters circle above, adding sounds and tension to the heightened police presence through out the “city of peace.” The heart of the conflict.

Humorous articles appeared in the press today depicting the difficulty that Hebrew reporters have had finding the translation of the curse words that were spoken by a US administrative official concerning our Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, which was quoted in a respected American magazine. Curse words are NOT replete in Hebrew so how DO you translate that?

But we need the humor break now and then, as the events of the day/week/month/year have not been funny at all. Following the Gaza war this summer the Hamas leader called upon all Palestinians to take Jerusalem. Since then there have been daily riots, throwing of rocks and Molotov cocktails, as well as several murders and attacks.

Last night after speaking at a conference concerning Jews praying on the Temple Mount, which is forbidden for Jews to pray there, the speaker was shot and critically wounded by an Arab gunman who was later killed by police. Simmering tensions boiled over. Today Temple Mount is closed to all.

Temple Mount: (har h’bayit in Hebrew) Mount Moriah − the place where Abraham took Isaac in wonderful obedience to God and then God provided the lamb. The place where the first and second temples were built, where God chose to put His Name, where Jesus, Yeshua, walked, stood, taught, prayed, healed, delivered. So much more can be said about this tiny spot.

Two older men sat near me on the bus, one sat across from me and the other beside me; “Ah! What a mess!” the first one said. “He’s a nudnik! I voted for him and he’s a nudnik!”

He was speaking about our Prime Minister. The heated world rhetoric has grieved, embarrassed and discouraged many Israelis.

“Ah, but look…just a few weeks ago during the war the US was behind us,” the other man replied.

“I don’t know. It’s bad…bad.”

The first one began referring to the prescribed scriptures. “Remember our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham had Isaac AND Ishmael…they were brothers and then Isaac had Jacob and Esau.”

“Yes, they were twins and they struggled and fought in the womb and that is still happening today. We are still fighting with Esau through the Palestinians.”

The other one almost brought me into the conversation when he said “No. Esau is the father of the Christians.”

My eyes flew wide open and I turned to stare at him. Wow! I thought. He sure missed THAT one.

It was time for me to get up and run from the train.

The seasons change. It is in the air, in the colors, in the way people are dressing and walking. As I stood at the train station, an elderly street musician who made aliyah from Siberia began playing our national anthem, ha’tikvah, The Hope. It is a haunting melody and commands my heart and attention and speaks the words of a prayer.

I looked around and wondered if would any stop? Are they thinking as they hear this? Are they praying? It is not often heard in the streets. Some paces slowed a bit, some faces deepened. I have never heard him play it before. It arrested me as I tried to embrace the bigger picture swirling around me. May the hope and the VISION, not die, at least not the part that has been planted by God. May HE water it and dung it and give it the increase 100 fold. Here are the words translated:

English translation of Hatikvah

As long as deep within the heart

A Jewish soul yearns

And toward the edges of the east

An eye to Zion looks

Our hope is not yet lost

The hope of two thousand years

To be a free people in our Land

The Land of Zion and Jerusalem.

It is time to close this letter and get off to bed. I am so thankful for His body and thank you for praying His Heart for this season. God bless and keep you.

Lovingly,

your sister in Jerusalem

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Filed under Christians, Church, Israel, Jerusalem, Prayer, Prophecy, spiritual warfare

Tagged as Christianity, Church, Israel, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, Spiritual warfare

October 26, 2014 · 8:14 am

Inside Israel

Greetings dear sisters and brothers,

May you be blessed and may The King of kings and Lord of lords be blessed and glorified.

My husband coined a word years ago: “looksee.” I love it. I was thinking of that as I completed my time in The Word this morning with waiting on Him in the portion of scripture that was for me today:

¹⁰I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, ¹¹saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

¹²Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lamp stands (Revelation 1:10-120

Yes Lord, may these letters be − “hear and looksee to us.”

So I thought about what I have been seeing and hearing.

The holidays are past and life has poured on us again, fast and furious. Just before it did, however, we saw a most wonderful thing.

I have described simchat torah to you before (literally joy of the Torah or Word). It is the very last day of the fall feasts and marks the end of the yearly cycle of scripture reading for the Jews. The scriptures are read by Jews everywhere, according to a prescribed schedule. It is announced in the newspapers and on bulletin boards and expounded upon there as well as in synagogues, on the radio etc. Simchat torah marks the time to begin once again in Genesis 1:1… “IN THE BEGINNING…GOD…”

As my husband and I sat and read, I suddenly heard singing and said, “Listen! There is singing. Come…let’s go and see.”

I opened the doors to our merapeset and there across the street from us, under my husband’s hair dressing shop, in the square below, were many people dressed in white. As we watched, 3 beautiful Torah scrolls appeared in their elaborate casing and were lifted high above the heads of the people. Three very elderly leaders held them up and people began to dance joyfully around them. Songs of thanksgiving to God for His Word rose with a reverent, worshipful joy. More and more people joined in. Soon several fellowships were at the core and many individuals from the neighborhood emerged from apartments and joined in. The women danced in a circle to my right and the men danced around the scrolls to my left. It went on for a full 1 and a half hours non-stop.

The very elderly men did not slow down and their worshipful joy was contagious. I stood on my merapeset, with my hands lifted to The Lord and worshipped and prayed for the full revelation of Yeshua The Living Word, to come to them. It was evident that many of them truly love The Word. May they meet HIM Who IS The Word and embrace Him with such delight.

What a wonderful end to the holiday.

In the past, at our other apartment, small groups of worshippers would pass by our window singing and dancing, but they were small groups. Only at the wall had I seen this many outside…and even at the wall they were smaller groups. I felt as if The Lord had given me a special gift. I share it with you.

And at sundown the train rang it’s now familiar bell, putting us back on schedule. It was all over for another year: The days of preparation, Rosh h’shana (trumpets), the 10 days of awe leading to Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) and finally the 7/8 days of Sukkot (feast of tabernacles) ending with Simchat torah. Whew! By this time everyone local is holidayed out.

As if to make it clear that we need to get on with it now, there have been intermittent heavy rains and winter weather. The city, filled with Christian visitors from around the world, emptied once again while the empty grocery shelves are filling up. There is a different feeling in the air.

Have we gained His strength from being renewed in His eternal promises? It gets put to the test immediately.

Ebola drills having started are stopped as 3 young Israelis die in an avalanche at Katmandu, Nepal, and many others are injured. Israel loves her young people and this turns into national mourning, particularly as one of the fatalities was the first religious woman air force pilot with whom we all celebrated such a short time ago.

America’s John Kerry again makes statements, which we actually saw him say it on film. It was NOT misread as the government spokeswoman said. His words are terribly damaging to Israel, basically accusing our stubborn stance about the land as the reason that people from around the world are joining ISIS. And speaking of ISIS, an Israeli Bedouin medical student was killed in Syria fighting against that group.

Thankfully his family was horrified and asked forgiveness of the nation and said that he had lost his way. So much grief, as awful wars rage around us, and as world pressure intensifies on every level. God is the only answer and so few want Him.

One thing has become very plain during this season: it is no longer speculation but the world HAS indeed turned the corner into the path of God’s divine judgment… or so it seems to me. We have the cry-prayer of Habakkuk’s heart, “Lord, in judgment remember mercy.” But we also have the very clear understanding through Scripture that judgment does indeed include the suffering of innocents. From the very beginning of scripture, this is evident all the way through to the end. How do we walk in the Day of Judgment? How do we stand? I believe it is time to know. It is time to hear…to look…and to see.’

A friend of mine, a pastor’s wife, called the other day and told me that she was awakened in the night by a loud knock. She got up and went to the door and there was no one there. She asked her husband if he was knocking on something and he said no. It happened again the next night and she realized that The Lord was waking her. “I don’t know what He is saying to me. I get up and wait but nothing…what do I do?”

I said, “You do just what Samuel did. You say, ‘Here I am Lord, speak for your servant hears.’ It isn’t OUR job to do anything but to present ourselves. Moses turned aside at the bush. It was THE LORD Who initiated the talking. He was to turn to The Lord and wait. It is not up to us to work up a word (usually from our flesh…) but to stand before Him, turn to Him and trust Him.”

May we learn God’s ways in judgment that we may become the body He called us out to be.

It is time to sleep and begin another week on the bus and train…back to normal in the midst of Jerusalem. I thank you so much for your gracious prayers and loving care. God be with you dear sisters and brothers.

Your sister J