Are you watching?

Luke 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Today marks 14 days of war in Israel. Amidst the craziness, we've been very encouraged by the many of you around the world who've written to tell us you're interceding for us and standing with Israel. Thank you so much.

Christians have prayed and anticipated the physical and spiritual restoration of the Jewish people for hundreds of years. Among others, John Owens preached before the House of Commons in 1649, foretelling a time when "the bringing home of His ancient people to be one fold with the fullness of the Gentiles...in answer to millions of prayers put up at the throne of grace for this very glory, in all generations." We are part of those millions of prayers.

I've mentioned this before but I find it incredibly profound that the modern Hebrew word for Christian, is "Notzree," which actually means watchman. We as Christians are called to be watchmen, especially watching over Israel in prayer.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to pray for the Apple of God's Eye at this trying time. Let's make a point to pray for Israel daily, that God's will may be accomplished through these trials, and that the Jewish people would recognize their loving and merciful Messiah. There's so much work to be done!

Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.

How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.

[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]

If you keep a grain of wheat in your pocket, it will look exactly the same ten years from now. But place it in the right environment -- some good ground, enough water -- it will sprout into a living sheaf of grain!

This coming Sunday will mark the beginning of Pesach (Passover) Season on the Hebrew calendar. On Sunday morning, it will be the 10th of Nisan the very same day that Yeshua (Jesus) would have entered Jerusalem 2000 years ago. Every 10th of Nisan, four days before Pesach, the children of Israel would choose a lamb for the Passover sacrifice. Each man would take a lamb for his household. Four days were required to inspect the animal to make sure it was perfect and without blemish.

I'm not sure where I read it, but the idea has always been ingrained in my mind -- if you want to be a good teacher, be a good student. When Yeshua (Jesus) lived on the earth, his disciples were called "talmudim". The Hebrew literally means "students". "Talmudim" comes from the verb, "Lilmod", "to learn". In essence, talmudim are learners.

Psalms 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. ...

A survey asked mothers to keep track of how many times they made both negative and positive comments to their children. The surveyed mothers admitted that they criticized at least ten times for every one time they said something favorable. Another survey taken in one city's schools found that the teachers were negative seventy five per cent of the time. This study concluded that it takes four positive statements to a child from a parent or teacher to offset the effects of one negative statement. Wow, when I think about how many times I've said negative things to people in my lifetime, I have some positive paying back to do!

In today's society fast food is making billions. It's slogans are "have it your way" and "have it hot and and have it now". How easy it is for us to fall into this "fast food mentality". It has almost become who we are. But in God's kingdom there's no fast food. We can't always have it our way and now. When we are caught up in this fast food mentality, we lose the true meaning of patience. True patience is the ability to wait on the Lord through trials without complaining and worrying; it is to be tested and persevere through trial.

Have you ever noticed that most of our phone conversations go something like this? You call, say a word or two, they'll say a short thing or two in reply and then something like "Ok, in the middle of something, gotta run, talk to you later"! That's a good example of most of our telephone conversations with people when we were living in the United States.