I'm Here & Headin North

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!

Old Yafo

On Shabbat, Saturday, I ventured to Old Yafo, Old Jaffa by the sea. This was the trade port on the Medittereanean for the Kingdom of Israel. It's also where Peter visited Simon the Tanner. I walked next to Tel Aviv's beach on the walk there. The beach was positively packed. There was barely room to fit another chair or blanket. They say this is a typical Shabbat in Tel Aviv! The people here seemed nothing like those in the other parts of Israel I'd seen. Everywhere were bare-chested men and ladies in bikinis, even on the sidewalks. I began to wonder if there were any conservative Jewish people at all in Tel Aviv!? Except for speaking Hebrew, everyone seemed culturally European-did I mention speedos- or American. It looked a lot like the beaches where I grew up in Long Island, and even less conservative. The lady at the service counter said the walk to Yafo takes about 30 minutes, in actuality it's almost an hour and a half. The beach in Tel Aviv is enormous.

Yafo is predominately Arabic and many Muslims live there. As I got closer to Yafo, I came to the last sandy stretch of beach before the rocky coastline that preceedes Old Yafo.

The Big City

I arrived in Tel Aviv Friday evening for the last leg of this trip. Out of all days I had to make my way there on the eve of Shabbat. On Shabbat, the Sabbath, most businesses (including the markets and fast food places) in the city are closed and the big buses stop running. I arrived at the central bus station and had to find a specific minibus called a Sherut to take me to the hostel. It was a sea of parking lots with many Sheruts in them. When I asked the driver of my Sherut where I could find Sherut #4, the girl sitting in the seat in front of me said "I'm going there. I'll show you the way." Yeah, I had my own personal guide. That rocked!

When I arrived at the hostel, I met my roomates for the next few days: Ela from Poland, Ela from England who was Polish-yes there were two of them- and Evelynn from Germany. Claudia from England arrived on Saturday. Since all the places that had normal priced food were closed, Ela from Poland gave me some of her Polish soup, which was quite tasty! God took care of me.

All of my roommates explained that they were there to have fun on the beach by day and in the clubs by night. Apparently, that's the thing to do for singles in their 20's and 30's in Tel Aviv. Needless to say, my roommates came home anytime between 3:00AM and 5:00AM each night. That was a little rough! Here is a picture of me early in the morning ;) on the rooftop of the hostel, and me back in the room after the Israeli breakfast.

Jerusalem, the City of Jesus the Messiah

Here are some photos from our walk through the Old City on our first day. In the Jewish Quarter, I met Moshe, an Orthodox Jew. He shared about his people: "Every Jew you meet is 3,000 years old." I've been coming to realize how true that is. They hold onto their history and believe they are linked to those who lived before them. When the ghetto work camps in Nazi Europe were excavated after WWII buried archives that contained the written history of the ghettos were found. They were historical records of every family of the ghetto written by the Jewish leadership and also contained piles of journals written by the oldest members of society down to 8 year old children. Also, many Jewish people I speak to here deeply identify with the history of their people, and know when each civilization has tried to annihilate them. Moshe reminded me of this when he said "We feel like abused children." He also said he believes that God is restoring relationships between Christians and Jewish people in Israel. He doesn't know why but believes God's hand is in it. He also said to me and my companions that God himself has invited each of the us to Israel and it's no accident that we are here. That was encouraging to see that God was beginning to bring revelation to Moshe. Please pray for him to come to faith in Jesus (Yeshua).

We started the second day in Jerusalem praying on the Mount of Olives, located just east of the Old City walls. This was one of Jesus favorite spots to pray and where he ascended into heaven. Many Christians believe that Jesus will return here and lead the final battle at the end of days in the valley below called the Valley of Decision. Orthodox Jews believe from the scriptures that the Messiah will come to Jerusalem from the east and lead a great battle to win Jerusalem and all of Israel. We saw olive trees here that date back to the days of Jesus. Afterwards we went to the Roman jail from the 1st century, that was confirmed by historical record and archaeological evidence. It was a cave on the edge of the city with dungeons in it. Next to the dungeons was a dark pit where the Romans held prisoners prior to crucifixion. See Psalm 88.

The City of David

After arriving Sat night in Jerusalem, we set off on foot Sunday morning for Old Jerusalem. We walked through the Jaffa gate and walked through the Muslim neighborhood to the City of David. The Muslim quarter was very oppresive, and I could feel hoplessness and dispair there. As we came to the City of David area, we got to see the remains of King David's palace, which archaeologists have uncovered just this year. It was confirmed by stones with the names of David and his enemies enscribed on them. I was interceding for the secular Jewish people here, that they would see and know God's plan for them through David to know Jesus the Messiah. Many deny that King David ever existed. After that, we went through the security points to go onto the Temple mount. Afterwards, we prayed at the Western Wall of the Temple of the Lord that the Romans destroyed. Prior to coming here I thought that only Jewish people could pray there. But they allow anyone to pray there. It remided me of the scripture "My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations". Afterwards we went to a new site where the rabbinical authorities excavated under the edge of the temple mount area. We saw more of the western wall and went through tunnels to where they have uncovered the corner stone to the Holy of Holies of the 2nd temple. This is the greatest treasure of the Jewish people. Next to the Holy of Holies, are lanterns with flames and women who pray there 24 hours a day.

From the Galilee to Jerusalem

We started off Saturday morning with a Baptismal service in the Jordan River, which is actually a large beautiful creek that is quite deep. One of the girls in the group I was traveling with had never been baptised and wanted to be baptised in the Jordan. There was an opportunity to lay hands on her and pray for her before her baptism and the Lord gave me a Word for her. I got to share it during the prayer time. It was such a blessing to be used to speak into her life on the day of her baptism! After the baptism time, we left for Jesus' home town, Nazareth. Sadly, today it's an Arab Muslim town with very few Christians. That was the first time in Israel I heard the Muslim calls to prayer on the loud speakers. On the way we passed through the town of Kana which is also Muslim. After that we drove up to Mt Carmel. From high up on this mountain from every direction your eye can see is is a spectacular view of the central part of Israel. God's presence was so thick there. I could feel the Holy Spirit brooding over Israel there, seeking to pour out life and peace to the people there. In this place, I have never felt so much peace. Here, there's a statue of Elijah killing the prophets of Ba'al after God's miraculous display of power.