This is my view from my bedroom window as I wake up for the next two weeks. The southwestern slope of Mt. Zion in Jerusalem.
As we were walking to the Old City today I took this shot. It never gets old.
Gary and I are presently in Israel re-connecting with Succat Hallel and deepening friendships that were formed in 2009. We have writing projects and other things we are working on, but mostly we are being refreshed. It sounds unusual that we would be refreshed in such a spiritual and political hotbed such as Jerusalem, but God’s presence is here in a very powerful way. You can’t help but be refreshed as you walk the streets, pray at the Wall, and visit the Temple Mount! As I sit in the prayer room overlooking Mt. Zion, I am reminded over and over again of God’s plan for this earth. He is sovereign. Nothing will thwart His purposes for this Land or the nations of the earth. Our job is to hasten His coming by interceding for the Jewish people so that all Israel will be saved. (more…)
Why twelve, you ask? I don’t know. I was looking at pictures of our year in Israel this morning and started thinking about how I love that place. For those of you who don’t know, we spent last year living in Israel and serving on the leadership team of Succat Hallel, a 24/7 house of prayer in Jerusalem. It was one of the best years of my life but also one of the hardest years of my life. I know that sounds strange, but it’s really true. The difficult times refined my walk with God in a way that nothing else could, so I treasure even the hardest days.
These twelve things are in no particular order. I couldn’t put them in order even if I had to. I love every one of them. Ok…here goes….
1. Looking out my living room window at the Jordanian mountains of Moab. The security fence that borders the West Bank is visible also.
2. Visiting my 2 favorite places on the Temple Mount. This was the location of Solomon’s temple & possible site of the third temple.
And this is the inside of the Eastern (Golden) Gate where Yeshua will enter the city when He returns. (Who is that handsome man standing there?!)
3. Worshiping with the community at Succat Hallel
4. Watching Bar Mitzvah ceremonies at the Western Wall on Thursday mornings
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This is a must-watch video if you think the flotilla issue is a בלגן (balagan). Balagan is Hebrew for “chaotic” or “complete mess”. Complete mess and ridiculous is my assessment of the flotilla situation. It is yet another attempt by the Arab nations to turn the rest of the world against Israel. Israel has not done one thing more than any other country would do in her exact situation.
This video is funny but oh, so true.
RECENT DEVELOPMENT: Youtube has pulled this video stating a copyright claim that’s in process. Jerusalem Post journalist, Carolyn Glick, explained the craziness of Youtube on her blog.
Charles Krauthammer, a Washington Post columnist, wrote an article today that totally sums up the double standard that Israel is being subjected to by the rest of the world. I love his post and wish everyone in the world would read it and believe it.
The one behind all the accusations and hatred is the one who has wanted the worship of man from before the foundation of the world. It all boils down to who will be worshiped on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. If you have read the book of Revelation, you know the end of the story. Yeshua will reign from that mountain. He will set up His government on this earth. The Temple Mount will be His earthly headquarters. Satan is doing everything in his power to keep that from happening, thus the flotilla balagan and many more balagans to come….
Reflection of Mt. Zion in the prayer room window
When my husband, son, and I moved to Brussels, Belgium four months ago from Jerusalem, it felt like I was leaving part of my soul there. Almost every day I think about Israel, specifically Jerusalem, and the amazing year we lived there. So many precious memories were made there. I am not saying I don’t love Belgium or don’t believe this is where my family is supposed to be. I do. We are definitely in the center of the will of God. I love what He is doing here in Belgium. This is His plan for us, and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but I really miss Israel! Not just what Israel stands for in my life, but the actual physical land and people.
Jerusalem is the only city mentioned in the Bible that God loves. Most of Biblical history happened there. Abraham, Joshua, Isaiah and Jeremiah walked on the dusty hillsides. Yeshua walked the Land for thirty-three years and especially loved the Galilee area. He died, was buried, and rose again in Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul was a Pharisee in Jerusalem and had a life-altering encounter with Yeshua on the road leading to Damascus, Syria.
Yeshua is Jewish. The disciples were Jewish. The church that Yeshua built was obviously Jewish for three hundred years until Constantine was “converted” and started removing all traces of Jewishness from it. Christianity should more accurately be called “Messianic Judaism”. Yeshua never meant for the church to be pulled away from her Jewish root. We, as Gentile believers in Yeshua, have been grafted in to the Jewish vine. God reconciled me to Himself by sacrificing His Son, a human baby who was born to Jewish parents in a small Jewish town. That’s how much He wanted a relationship with me. Wow. This is just too much for my little mind to comprehend. (more…)
I’ve been meditating recently on the two accounts in the Gospels where Yeshua ran the money-changers and animal sellers out of the temple complex. One is in John 2 right after He turned the water into wine at the wedding in Cana, and the other one is in Matthew 21 a few days before He let the people crucify Him.
The first time this happened He made a whip, drove them out of the temple complex along with the animals, knocked over the money-changers’ tables, and said, “Get these things out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market?” That day His disciples remembered a verse in Psa. 69:9 that said, “Zeal for Your house will devour me.”
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