After God’s amazing help getting me to Israel yesterday, He also helped me to get to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the team. The info booth people at the Tel Aviv airport directed me to the airport’s train station and said to get off at the first stop to take a bus to my hotel. I had no idea which bus to take or where to get on it. As soon as I got off the train I was greeted by a small, friendly Israeli man who asked me if he could help me find my way. He gave me detailed directions to the bus stop and said to take bus 16 to my hotel. I got on sherut (mini-bus) #16 that dropped me off less than 2 blocks from the hotel. As it turns out the team ended up booking me a room on the end of the hotel that faced Tel Aviv’s beautiful beach. Thanks God! Here’s a view of the beach from my room. That’s Jaffa port in the distance.
This morning, we went to Independence Hall in Tel Aviv, where the modern State of Israel was signed into being in May 1948. We prayed there, in the place modern life began in Israel. Here is a huge picture there of the 66 families who founded Tel Aviv on the sand dunes north of Jaffa. We also met with Linda Olmert, sister in law of the former prime minister of Israel, and she spoke to us in the same room where the delegates signed the documents. She told us to "Hazaak!", in the words of God to Joshua, be strong and courageous! This afternoon, we drove up to the northern border of Israel and Lebanon on the Mediterranean. The place is called Rosh Hanikra (The Grotto Head). It's a series of caves dug out by the movement of the sea against cliff made of soft limestone. The caves are connected together by tunnels you can walk through to see spectacular views of the inside of the caves, full of turquoise water, opening to the deep blue sea. Spiritually, the region of Israel feels oppressed.
After prayer at the border, drove to Nazareth. Spiritually, things are also difficult here. We met & ministered to a small church and two ladies there who have a vision to bring revival to their city. They say the church in Nazareth is facing these challenges: the Church is divided by denominations who won't work together to pray for and evangelize the city, young believers are leaving Nazareth because there is no innovation/very little opportunity there, and there seems to be a lack of true spiritual authority in the church that the young believers can look up to. On top of this, Muslims have gained the majority there in recent years from having more children than the Christians. In our generation it's the first time Nazareth has NOT had a Christian majority in 2,000 years. It went from being roughly 75% Christian and 25% Muslim 10 years ago to over 60% Muslim and barely 40% Christian this year. The people of this small church are hungering for the Holy Spirit and also trying to unify the Church in Nazareth. We got to pray for them and they received refreshing from the Holy Spirit and prophetic words to strengthen them. Please pray the presence of God would be poured out in their midst to the city.
Tomorrow, we are praying through more of the Galilee and then going up to the Golan Heights region. The Galilee has become a predominantly Muslim region whose towns are growing rapidly. The Golan heights are mountains that border Lebanon and Syria. It’s Jewish communities were a battle zone a few years ago. There are still buried land mines there!
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