We headed out from the hotel towards Mount Olive.
As we traveled, a woman from England shared an encouraging word with us to help us start our day. She told us our word of the day was "deposit". The Lord God has made a deposit of love into us. (This makes me think: we should be very well equipped with this deposit of love!)
As we traveled, Ophir shared more interesting tidbits with us.
One very interesting fact: the Israelites have a dedicated memorial erected to honor the victims of 9/11! Is that considerate or what?! As we passed by this memorial, I thought--these people, the Israelites, could have just viewed the events of 9/11 and then went about their own business. But they didn't! They saw what happened, then they took time out to build and erect a memorial for all those lost in the 9/11 tragedy. I was very much in awe of this action!
As we were driving, Ophir told us "all the buildings in Israel are made with limestone--this gives the city a unified look." I heard the word "unified" and I thought that was a great bit of information...
Our bus guide also told us an interesting story relating to the wars that occured right before Israel became independent. (Israel just celebrated it's 64th year of Independence just a couple of weeks ago.) He said that at the 67 borderline, a place where much shooting occured, there was a monastery that sat right on that borderline amidst the war shooting. During the mayhem, a nun accidentally dropped her teeth out of the window. A cease fire was called and a high-ranking Israeli official, a high-ranking Jordani official and a high-ranking Muslim official all went to meet near this borderline to help retrieve the teeth and give them back to the nun. She got her teeth back, then the officials split back up and the fighting resumed! Crazy but interesting! When you drive by this borderline area, you can see many buildings still riddled with bullet holes.
As we drove towards Mount Olive, Ophir told us that the Mormons have a college in Israel. He also stressed that the Mormons are under strict guidelines NOT to solicit door-to-door. Just an interesting fact...
Our bus guide also shared with us that real estate is very hotly contested in Israel. The land is not just land! Each real estate deal is very important and buying and selling land in Israel is a very emotional ordeal.
What I know about the land of Israel is that in Genesis 12, the Lord God told Abraham to go to a land He would show him. God said He would give the land to Abraham's seed. So, that particular land, Israel, is indeed the Israelites' land because GOD SAID SO! But power and land hungry men have come in and tried to claim the land of Israel for themselves. They have gone against the words from God's own mouth and in this day, the land of Israel is just about the size of Virginia...maybe even smaller. I'm no scholar on this, but I am sure in my spirit that more land belongs to the Israelites based on what God has said than what man has "deeded" unto them and I pray and I hope that all the land that God says is theirs will be returned unto them! May recompense be made and restoration of land be made in Jesus' name!
A few more interesting facts: Mount Moriah is where Abraham took Isaac to be sacrificed. Also, the REAL ancient Jerusalem is just an old hill near the modern Jerusalem of today.
We arrived at Mount Olive and gathered together on a viewpoint where we could look out and see a very large portion of the city of Jerusalem. As our Aglow group sat together, we listened to a veteran soldier. He told us about a battle that occurred not too long ago. Jerusalem was taken and the mission was to breakthrough the wall of Jerusalem and reclaim the city. The Israeli soldiers made it to the wall and waited for further instruction. The enemy had set up shop with guns in the temple area. When given the orders, they broke through to the place around the temple. A Chief Rabbi of the Israelites led them into the place surrounding the temple. The soldiers were instructed NOT to shoot at the temple mounts even though the enemy was shooting at them from their vantage points in the mounts. The Chief Rabbi came in with NO gun! And they entered into the temple area THROUGH THE LION GATE! The Rabbi came in only with a Torah in one hand and a shofar in the other! He blew the shofar and the Israelites regained control of the temple! On that day, they proclaimed it as Israelite territory again! (Woot! Go Lion of Judah--PRAISE!) This is an awesome historic victory for the Israelites!
In Zechariah 14:3-4, the Word of God says that the Lord will go forth and fight against nations and His feet shall stand on that day on the Mount of Olives. Just as the Mount of Olives was an important location as to where Jesus ascended to the right hand of the throne of God, the Mount of Olives is also a very strategic and prominent place where the Son of War will take care of some serious business when He comes back to earth! His feet will stand there again!
When the veteran soldier finished speaking, we broke out with a strategic, corporate shout right there on the viewpoint of the Mount of Olives. To victory!
More great fact tidbits: Ophir told us a very interesting bit of information about "the eye of the needle". You ever read that scripture in Matthew 19:24 where Jesus says "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God?" I've always read that scripture, and being the visual person that I am, I've actually tried to picture a very small silver threading needle and a giant camel--and I thought, Yep! DEFINATELY would NOT fit!
But come to find out, "the eye of a needle" was actually a one-man size crack in the wall nearby the gate to the city. When one or very few people would come up to the gate of the city to find it closed, instead of the gatekeepers opening the giant gate to let the few people in, they could slip into the city through "the eye of the needle"--the crack in the wall near the gate! I'm so glad I've got a corrected visual here! With tidbits of important information like this, I feel like I've been working on a HUGE puzzle for a loooooooong time and in discovering information like this--makes me feel like I've finally found a piece of the puzzle that I've been looking for forever! Details like these are soooooo exciting! I wonder how many more details like these there are to discover... :D
Let me backtrack a bit here: As we stood on the Mount of Olives, we could see across the rather good-sized valley/hill between the Mount of Olives and the city of Jerusalem. Zabrina noted that the distance from the Lady of the Ark church, where the ark had rested, all the way to the temple--that distance is a very LOOOOONG distance! And David praised and danced his way all the way from where the ark rested and all the way into the city of Jerusalem to the temple! This was a serious distance and some serious expended energy! It wasn't no jump-three-times then David was done. This was a MAJOR ordeal in getting the ark from it's resting place and back into the temple in Jerusalem where it belonged. Zabrina pondered the kind of stamina and endurance that was needed for this endeavour. This feat definately had to have been carried out via the Spirit of the Lord God Almighty!
After these festivities, we hopped on the bus and traveled to Old Jerusalem.
We ate lunch there. Then we traveled to the beautiful Garden of Bethsaida. We held prayer groups in that garden.
It was not an insignificant moment. God knows. (Just a little note to any future Jerusalem sojouners, this location has a wonderful little gift shop! We just didn't have time to stop there.)
After the garden, we went to the Western Wall. We got to pray at the Western Wall.
There were many locals there, praying at the wall. Many had their scriptures with them. They were reading them. The men and the women are seperated at the wall. The men go to one side of the wall to pray; the women go to the other. Do you wonder why the Western Wall is so special to the Israelites/Jews? Compared to how and where the temple was located, the Western Wall is the wall that was closest to the Holy of Holies! The Holy of Holies, or the "most Holy place", is where the Lord God Almighty came down and dwelled among the people in His temple. Zabrina and I approached the Wall together. We prayed for various prayer requests and we prayed personal prayers.
It is hard to describe the experience there. All I can say is: Wow! Very powerful, amplified and profound. This is definately something one should experience for oneself. The Holy Spirit was so very present. It was VERY exciting!
We then returned to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We had a special shabbat dinner on this evening. Asher and Betty Intrater, conservative Jews and directors of Revive Israel Ministries, led us in the shabbat dinner ceremony and spoke with us more on the Jewish perspective of Christian and Biblical information.
The shabbat dinner was very special. We all sat at round tables which helped us have a sense of "family" as we partook Shabbat dinner's are done every Friday, right before the evening starts. Genesis 2 is read to discuss and remember God's creation. Psalm 92 is read--this Psalm is specifically for shabbat. Proverbs 31 is read to bless the women! Jews consider women the center of the home and they greatly celebrate women and the whole family! Then, they bless the children. Then, they bless any guests they have with them at their dinner. Then, they partake of communion...the break is broken first and then the wine is received. Asher's son-in-law reminded us that when we set aside a day of rest, it honors God as the Creator. We greatly enjoyed celebrating shabbat right there in Israel!
After this, Asher spoke to us about some awesome and timely things! He also shared a bit of his testimony. About 35 years ago, Asher asked Jesus to come into his life. Jesus said, "No. I'm not just an object to be put in your pocket. It's all or nothing." It took Asher a year and a half to come to terms with that very important truth. Wow. The Lord needs willing, sincere, serious, committed people to help get things done for the kingdom of God!
Asher's sharing and speaking to us was VERY encouraging. I felt very strengthened and more grounded and sure about some of the things I've been walking in than I ever have before! Thank the Lord God for His Orchestration and Provision!
It was after this bit of revelation and sharing, while alone, that the Lord met me face-to-face---spirit-to-spirit. He spoke ever so clearly to me as like person-to-person. His presence was closer than I'd ever felt before. His voice was strong, VERY clear, gentle and full of authority! He simply spoke some of the words of Isaiah 43:1 to me, through me, over me, around me..."You are mine. I have chosen you. I have called you by name!" He spoke these words to me right there in Israel--in Jerusalem! Significant words. Significant location. He wasn't just speaking these words to me, He was speaking them over "Jacob"--over Israel! It all still resonates! The impact is HUGE--do we rightly know the great power of the Almighty God?!
Wow!
I will post the next day soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment