WEEKLY Arrows from Zion 1/1/2014

Arrows from Zion
Serving the Body of Messiah in Israel since August 2001 
& Strategically Aimed for the Lord’s Harvest in Israel

 Donations: PayPal acct is donna@israelprayer.com
or make check to Donna Diorio PO Box 111302 Carrollton TX 75006
I do not have tax exempt status. 

Priority Prayer Focus Jan 1, 2014

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”

Pray that we would all be in the places God has ordained for us as in 2014 we step into the increasing advance of the kingdom of Messiah in Israel.

Contact information for all the ministries is included inside the attached Weekly Summary.
Arrows from Zion
Strategically Aimed for the Lord’s Harvest in Israel

“These two concepts – the fullness of the Gentiles and the salvation of Israel - have enormous significance.”  Asher Intrater of Revive Israel explores the “dramatic turning point in the development of the kingdom of God” as the apostle Paul not only witnessed in his day, but also foresaw how it would rise again in reverse in the last days.  “The Apostle Paul did not just ‘invent’ such concepts.  Paul's writings on Israel and the nations are rooted in scriptures going back to Genesis and Deuteronomy. The plan of God is consistent and builds upon itself from beginning to end.”  Read his short teaching inside the attached Weekly Summary – and watch his video teaching When God Comes Cown part one  and part two about the realities of the New Jerusalem.

Anti-missionary posters warning against Messianic Jewish believers are being plastered in many neighborhoods of Jerusalem where many of the Ahavat Yeshua congregation and Revive Israel team members live.  Understand that these believers are not doing anything wrong – just like the opposition to believers that we read about in the Acts of Apostles.  Pray for the believers all across Israel who are targeted by those who oppose Jews believing in Jesus.  This is not a new thing, and not something that will fade away next year – it is the reality of Living Stones of Israel who are being built up by the LORD into a Living Temple.

Orna Greenman shares a message that has been on her heart from years of study in the Book of Ruth. She asks, “Have you been investing and sowing into Israel but not reaping the expected results?”  You can read excerpts from Orna’s prayer letter (write her for the full version) and she also shares some of the vision of how her ministry reaches the “Maras”- hurting people - become “Naomis” again is through teaching the Tabernacle.  Read more inside the attached Weekly Summary.

David and Leah Ortiz of the Ariel Fellowship give us an update on Ami who is seeing some improvement on his scars from the laser surgeries he has been getting in the U.S. (where he also attends college).  They also provide a report of the Jews for Jesus campaign that made news in November when a JFJ member from the U.K. was arrested in Israel. David and Leah were serving as chaplains for the group – but they say there were a lot of good things that you probably didn’t hear about.  Read all about it in the attached Weekly Summary.

Good news for the new year as the Hebrew congregation in Arad has found a meeting place where they are being welcomed.  The children of the Arad congregation took part in a country-wide Messianic musical production on December 5^th called, “The Coming Star” which featured original music, dance and costuming.  “Amazingly, the entire auditorium where it was held was completely full, sold out well in advance. Praise God for the growing number of believers in the land! The light is truly shining in the darkness.”

The growth of the Body of Messiah in Israel is also theme in the video about the Tiferet Yeshua congregation in Tel Aviv.  Ron Cantor notes that in 1948 when Israel became a nation there were only 29 Messianic Jews in Israel and zero congregations.  In 2014 there are between 15-18,000 Messianic Jews and over 180 congregations and smaller fellowships.  Powerful!  Watch this and read inside the many ways the congregation in Tel Aviv saw the kingdom of Messiah advancing in 2013.

Both the Arad and the Tel Aviv congregations mentioned above reported very encouraging healings that have taken place among their members.  Praise the Lord who is moving with healing in His wings.  Please remember to pray through our list of URGENT HEALING NEEDS each week.  These are believers who are often living under a death sentence of prognosis – but for the prayers of the saints to our Creator and Healer.

Dov Bikas, who is an evangelist to drug addicts and the homeless in Tel Aviv, as well as pasturing a Russian-speaking congregation in Beer Sheva, leaves up with an accounting of the development and challenges their ministry experienced in 2013.  Russian Jews are a huge demographic in Israel and the men and women whose ministries are focused on their needs are a powerful blessing in the land.  Pray for these ministries who are breathing the life of Yeshua into Russian-Israeli lives.

Messianic Avi Mizrachi of Adonai Roi congregation in Tel Aviv joined forces with Arab pastor Edward Tannous of the Assemblies of God in Haifa for a month long outreach in Haifa throughout the month of December.    Pray for all those Arab and Jews who were touched by the powerful witness of Israeli Jews and Arabs working side by side in sharing the good news of Messiah Yeshua.

Continue to pray for Father Gabriel Nadaf, an Orthodox priest in Israel who has made a bold stand among Arab Christians in supporting integration into Israeli society at every level.  It has cause Israel to embrace him, and many fellow Arabs to threaten him.  His son who was about to be drafted into the IDF was recently attacked and beaten.  Pray for this family and their courageous stand.  There is much pressure on Christian Arabs not to take such a stand with Israelis in the Land.

If you missed other references to this in Israelprayer, it is worthy to note once again the project that Evan Levine of HaTikva Project is proposing for a dental clinic.  He writes, “As you are now aware, the Lord has laid on my heart to direct our efforts towards the opening of a dental clinic that will meet the serious dental needs of the Israeli public – at an extreme discount, and in the name of Yeshua. I believe that it will be an unbelievable breakthrough that will open the doors for evangelism on a day to day basis. This month I have put out a vision casting video that explains the project. Please take 2 minutes to view it and send it on to others.”         

Kobi and Shani Ferguson of Yeshua’s Israel relate the story of an elderly man met one day in the midst of the bitter cold winter storm that hit Jerusalem.  The man was lost and didn’t know how to get back home.  Though it took an hour of searching the neighborhood they were finally able to locate the man’s apartment – which was almost as cold inside as it was outside.  Their appeal to help this man whom God put in their path is related inside the attached Weekly Summary. 

Calev Myers and the Jerusalem Institute of Justice also gives a great report of all the things they were able to accomplish in 2013.  We didn’t have room to feature all those items so we concentrated on the ones dealing with the believers – but we encourage you to get on the mailing list and ask for this email to be sent to you.  These young believers are doing fantastic work carving out a place for Messianic believers in circles of power in Israeli justice and politics.

The ministries of Israel Pochtar are pressing forward to build the kingdom of the Lord.  Inside the attached Weekly Summary you can read the testimony of a young, former Muslim Bedouin who married an Israeli Russian girl who returned to her faith in Yeshua after giving birth to their first son.  This is the testimony of what God is doing to save lives among many people groups in Israel.  This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our sight!

Pochtar also shares their need to release a new evangelist in 2014.  If you can read his report and are moved to respond to this need, contact information for each ministry in Arrows from Zion are disclosed in the attached Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests from Israeli Ministries.

The Netanya ministry of Brian Slater is one that has seen many encouraging  signs of the Holy Spirit moving on the people who come to them each week or each month to receive a good meal, or food and clothing – including many Holocaust survivors.  In Israel there can be no strings attached to humanitarian aid, but when Messianic believers are able to be the conduit of blessing the people come to them for prayer.  This is a major reason why our humanitarian aid should always be channeled through the believers and not distributed by those who are hostile to the gospel.  Come on!  Why would you want people who hate Jesus to be distributing your financial blessings to Israelis?  Think about it!

Please continue to pray for Tom Bender to be healed.  They are preparing for him to be moved at some point into hospice, but believing God for the tumors to shrink and die.  Ronit shared that their son from Australia was able to come to spend time with them. Please lift this family up who have done much ministry in their area of northern Israel.

Urgent HEALING Needs: Life and Death is in the power of the tongue

Please keep in prayer the Israeli believers who are fighting for their lives or other urgent health needs: 

• Tom Bender Tom’s wife, Ronit:  The Pet-CT scan report is not good. Tumors have gone to the lungs, stomach, pancreas, intestines and the spine, some as big as 6cm. The tumor under Tom left arm has grown to 11cm.  Shall we continue to pray? OF COURSE! We trust the Lord of the 11th hour! 
• Four elder ministry leaders in Israel, I learned this week, are dealing with Parkinson’s which is a neurological syndrome.  Since they have not shared this information, I will just ask for you to please pray for them each to be able to continue to live normal lives, and for the hand of the LORD to bless them with healing.
• Harvest of Asher   Update on Elena! Her last blood tests were good and the doctors says it is a big clinical improvement. Praise God. She is walking both with and without a walker. Pray for full recovery of body, soul and spirit. Continued prayer for M's health and to hear from God and receive His direction. Please pray for the wife of Ariel Ben David, who leads an Eilat Congregation, and also for his worship leader, both of whom were recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
• Pray for Ami Ortiz for ongoing issues from the 2008 bomb blast – and that he would win the appeal for government recognition that he is a terror victim.  It would mean benefits for the continuing surgeries and legal expenses.  See Leah’s report on their website of the latest round of laser surgeries on Ami’s scarring in this issue.

Praying the Headlines

Caspari Media Review Jerusalem Caspari Center for Biblical and Jewish Studies 
subscriptions@caspari.com http://caspari.com

The Caspari Media Review is a valuable resource that tracks and summarizes news items in Israel that appear in Hebrew only which are related to Messianic Jews and/or Christians. 

“Messianic Jews” as reported in Shaa Tova, December 5; HaMevaser, December 6, 2013

Two papers ran the same article about Yad L’Achim’s latest success in bringing an end to missionary activity that was taking place among lone soldiers in Jerusalem. According to Yad L’Achim, a Messianic Jewish missionary organization was frequenting the home (or hostel) for lone soldiers in Jerusalem every Friday, inviting the soldiers into Messianic homes for dessert following their Shabbat meal. Furthermore, these missionaries were handing out New Testaments and other Christian reading material, which led to the conversion of one of the soldiers. Yad L’Achim decided to take matters into their own hands, and after acquiring all the evidence they needed, they wrote to the Ministry of Defense and asked that it put an end to this activity. The Ministry of Defense wrote back saying that it has stopped the missionary activity and has informed the Messianic Jewish organization that if they wish to interact with the soldiers, they must first present their plans to the Ministry for approval. Yad L’Achim reports that they will continue to do all that they can to “save Jews” and “keep them away from this danger.”

Teaching Articles

When God Comes Down

Video teaching by the apostolic ministry of Asher Inrater of Revive Israel

Click HERE to watch part one  and part two from a recent teaching from Asher where he talks about the unique realities of the New Jerusalem, the time when it will descend from heaven to the earth and how God will dwell with man forever..

Israeli Ministries on Tours

BOOKING meetings now (See open dates)  Inside the attached Weekly Summary are itineraries and open dates for  Sally Shiff of HaMaayan Congregation and Brian Slater of Chosen People Ministries.

Donna Diorio 
 arrowsfromzion@gmail.com or donna@d10r10.com
 
  Israel Watcher – A Second Opinion   Mostly political or current events commentary
| Fruit of the Fig Tree   Spiritual insights 

If you appreciate the efforts of this ministry to share both the  challenges and the great things God is doing among the Israeli indigenous ministries, please pray about making a financial gift donation.  Make donations payable to the order of Donna Diorio and mail to:
Israel Prayer  P O Box 111302 Carrollton, Texas 75006
Or click on the PayPal account:  donna@israelprayer.com
I do not have tax exempt status.