Isaiah 62:6-7 6 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
Over the weekend, riots broke out throughout Jerusalem as well as rockets fired from Gaza leading into a pivotal week in Israel. On Monday, Israel will observe Jerusalem Day which celebrates the reunification of the city that occurred during the 1967 Six-Day War. This occurs as Muslims throughout the world will be closing their celebration of Ramadan as the feast comes to its conclusion on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Israel is launching its largest-ever military drill simulating war on all fronts over the next 30 days code-named, "Chariots of Fire."
If this wasn't enough, at the end of the week, Palestinians will recall "Nabka Day". This will occur on May 14-15th which is intended to coincide with the Israeli Declaration of Independence of 1948. Nabka literally means the "day of catastrophe" and is held each year remembering the time Israel became a nation.
On May 16th, believers will celebrate the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, in Hebrew. Most Christians recognize this holiday as the Feast of Pentecost -- the time when the Holy Spirit descended and empowered His saints to accomplish the mission of global witness to Yeshua (Jesus).
Throughout the world, there has been a call to prayer and fasting in anticipation of Shavuot and its prophetic significance for believers in Israel and throughout the world, as we long for a fresh outpouring of God's Spirit.
The "coincidence" of these two "calls", one to prayer, the other to war, seems significant.
We believers in Yeshua (Jesus) are called to stand as watchmen. Interestingly, one of the ancient Hebrew words for 'watchmen' is the word 'notzrim' -- which coincidentally, is the modern Hebrew word for 'Christians'. Watchmen are called to vigilance and attentive awareness of the situation. Our present situation is a boiling pot threatening to overflow. Please keep watch with us; "do not keep silence, and give Him no rest, till He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise throughout the earth." This can not happen if Jerusalem is divided and overrun with those who hate the very existence of Israel. The Lord will use this pressure for His own purposes, to test nations and hearts, and to draw Israel back to Himself. Our heart cry is for another outpouring of His Holy Spirit on all flesh. Whatever peace we can hope for in this age will come from Him, and this Divine outpouring...then, finally, Yeshua will return to establish His Kingdom -- and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God.
But for now, please stand as a watchman with us at this pivotal time..watch and pray fervently for a minimum of conflict....and for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit – the Lord will be faithful to answer our cries to Him.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Why is it that some believers seem to go much deeper in their walk with God than others? I believe it has to do with a desire to pursue God and not to stop until they feel His very presence in their lives. These believers decide not to settle for anything less than a growing, vibrant relationship with God, and God honors that desire for those who seek it.
This pivotal passage of scripture, Isaiah 52 and continuing into Isaiah 53, profiles a suffering servant whom the nation of Israel would not recognize. The spiritual leaders of Yeshua’s (Jesus) day were blinded to the messianic passages which pointed to the messiah’s role as a humble servant and bearer of sins.
A recent study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and University of California Los Angeles wanted to find out, “if you had to choose between more time and more money, what would it be?” While they found most respondents answered, “more money”, they also found that those who preferred “more time” were generally happier! When I read this article, it reminded me of a story, that I’d like to share.
The Lord spoke to Moses, who led the children of Israel out of Egypt to be desperately cornered with the Red sea before them and Pharaoh’s chariots advancing upon them from behind. Overwhelmed with terror they cry out to Moses, “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” Having just miraculously escaped from the miserable life of slavery, and only beginning their new life of freedom, the children of Israel were faced with the most dire threat to their existence.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve begun a series of devotions based on the Exodus wanderings of the Children of Israel, and their tragic mistakes which we can learn from and avoid. One powerful influence common to their failures was fear.
For the past two weeks we have examined lessons from the OT account of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt in hope of avoiding the errors and attitudes of the children of Israel. This week we will draw connections between the Exodus and the prophecies in the book of Revelation.
For the past two weeks we’ve been building life lessons derived from the Exodus wanderings and from Paul’s exhortations to the church in Corinth. Notice carefully that Paul says, “these were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come”…
…that is, written for us today! – admonitions from Paul to learn lessons from the history of the children of Israel.