WAR EDITION Arrows from Zion 7/9/2014

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

Priority Prayer Focus July 9, 2014

“Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD; let your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.  For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; Therefore my heart fails me. 

“Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me!  Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who seek to destroy my life; Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor who wish me evil.  Let them be confounded because of their shame, who say to me, “Aha, aha!”(Psalm 40:11—15).

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

To understand exactly what has taken place in Israel, this report from Martin Sarvis in Jerusalem
A SPIRIT OF VIOLENCE RELEASED IN THE LAND by Martin Sarvis in Jerusalem  |  To get the full textual, spiritual understanding of the news you are hearing out of Israel, I encourage each of you to read the reports of the Israeli ministries inside the (SUBSCRIPTION ONLY) PDF Weekly Summary.  Here are some brief insights and/or prayer requests gleaned from them.

Sarvis sets the stage for how events unfolded – from the stunned dismay on the streets as news broke of the three kidnapped teens and the shared anxious distress of every Israeli parent; to the shame of learning Jews were responsible for the retaliation murder of a Palestinian teen.  Then the snowball effect as funeral for the Palestinian teen began the escalation of violence by Palestinians. 

Sarvis draws our attention to the fact that the funeral for the Palestinian teen was held on the first Muslim day of worship since the start of Ramadan on June 28.  Let me break that down for you further: that means Palestinians heard messages in their mosques, where often the marching orders of Islamists are given in fiery sermons.   

Martin writes, “Israel is presently in great danger.  There is fear in some that we could be on the brink of another Intifada (uprising).  If the missiles continue to rain from Gaza, we may soon be forced into send in ground troops.  Nerves and emotions are exceedingly on edge.  Muslims have entered their holy month of Ramadan (28 June), during which they neither eat nor drink throughout the days.  Ramadan comes from a root which means ‘a scorching heat or dryness’—meant to assist in purging one of sins. There are powerful spirits at work during these days of fasting.”  

“It is a time of concentration by many on passages in the Koran—and of course one of the tenets of that book and its successors is the despising of the Jews.  The violence is stirring emotions and awakening racist feelings also in Israeli Jews.  There have been isolated instances of attacks against Arabs. . . . This does not typify all Israelis—but the fact that it exists in the fabric of a large and growing sector of far-right Jews cannot be dismissed.  In such times, without the aid of a different Holy spirit, Jew and Arab alike find themselves at the mercy of forces of violence from without and the emotions of fear, anger and despair within.” 

(Sarvis goes on to tell about “A Different Spirit” which was going on this past weekend between believer Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians at the Elav conference in Haifa, which we will hold until we are done with these war reports.)

Eddie Santoro who pastors the Ahavat (Love of) Yeshua congregation in Jerusalem adds this layer of insight:  “And just to cap off a truly incredibly difficult week; Liberman's Israel Beytenu Party, which had formed a partnership with Netanyahu's Likud party for the last elections, announced today that they are discontinuing their partnership, thus leaving the ruling Likud party in a very weak place. This split was brought about and is symptomatic of the dramatic lack of unity that is present in the current government as they seek to respond to the provocations and threats in this time of volatility and danger.”

Santoro writes about the statistics of rocket launches (240+) from Gaza which have greatly increased over the past 24 hours, saying “Miraculously, there have been almost no injuries, even though each of these attacks has the potential to kill large numbers of people.”  Just in the past half hour of compiling this Arrows, a report has come in over Twitter that one IDF soldier has been slightly wounded in and exchange of fire with terrorists attempting in to infiltrate Israel in Zikim.

Santoro makes this point we need to remember when we hear the spin so often put on the conflicts by the capitals around the world:  “It is important to remember that the warfare we are in at this time does have a beginning point. Usually as these Middle East scenarios unfold, most people lose sight of this.  What Israel is suffering is not a “cycle of violence” (as was written on the front page of the NY Times this morning) as if all of these events were a circle with no beginning.”

What makes Israel hold the high ground besides that?  Santoro draws our attention to several points:  “From the beginning of this round of fighting, Israel made it clear that the IDF was exercising restraint in their response to the more than 200 attacks against southern Israel in order to give Hamas the opportunity to end the confrontation.” 

Israel was restrained in response to Gaza missiles – this is not merely for the hope of winning international media favor but this is by the will of the LORD for Israel.  In showing restraint, this is spiritually the same as Moses going before Pharaoh repeatedly to say, Let My people go!  Because every time the world hardens its heart against Israel, God is demonstrating His righteous judgment that is surely coming on Israel’s behalf. 

Another point of contrast Santoro notes:  “Unlike Gaza, Judea and Samaria where the citizens handed out sweets and celebrated the murder of the Jewish teens, the nation of Israel has truly hung its head in shame. The people of this nation are appalled and deeply troubled that such a heinous act could have been carried out by Israeli Jews….” The Prime Minister and entire Knesset condemned the act and expressed condolences to the victim’s parents.  Also “the full power of the Israeli police force went after the murderers and in a couple of days, the perpetrators were captured. How different this response was from our Palestinian neighbors.”

In Jerusalem, Beer Sheva and no doubt in other cities and congregations, the Messianic spiritual leaders are calling for prayer among the spiritual leaders, and believers for against the violence.  Santoro asks, “Pray that the violence would not spiral out of control but calm would be restored. Pray for supernatural protection on the land and no rockets from Gaza would find their mark. Pray especially for PM Netanyahu as he leads this nation through these turbulent times. The pressure on him must be unimaginable.”

David Davis of the HaCarmel congregations reports, “We heard the news [the 3 teens were found dead] in the midst of our Monday night prayer meeting when we were crying out for the youth of Israel.  We were plunged from shouts of joy to the depths of anguish.”  He asks, “Please pray for the families of the murdered teenagers.  … wisdom for our government in the midst of the heightened tensions…. 

Howard Bass at the Yeshua’s Inheritance congregation writes of the prayer meeting held Sunday night for the situation.  Their invitation to pray together went out to other city pastors in the region.  Howard also notes, “This is a trying time for the Arab Israeli believers, who are being spiritually challenged, I know; they are caught between a rock and a hard place, and the cost of being a disciple of Yasu is weighing in on them.  But this is not less so for the Jewish Israeli believer vis a vis our own primary allegiance.”

Howard’s prayer request: “For the gospel to go out with power in the midst of the growing tension and war-drums beating in our country and region. For the faith, hope, and love of the believers to grow through the present trials, tribulations, and increasing lawlessness”

Pastor Najeeb Atteih, a Christian Arab in Haifa, writes about his son Tino who has joined the IDF and paid a price for his stand – but not without touching the hearts of fellow Israeli soldiers.  Tino recently attended a conference for believing soldiers where he was the only Arab believer among 120 Israeli Jewish IDF.  There was a Divine appointment that paved the way for Tino to give his own testimony after an officer was telling about a young soldier who had come to faith in an Arab congregation in Haifa – which just happened to be Tino’s dad’s congregation Immanuel Church!   The fellow soldiers were deeply touched by Tino’s testimony and prayed for him, some with tears in their eyes.  I hope you will read the excerpt inside the attached PDF Weekly Summary. 

Pray for the believers who are serving – some 40,000 reserves were activated to service today. We know of many believers who are taking part right now in the hostilities.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to be with them strongly in every way.

As promised in the beginning, we want to come back to let you know that even as the riots became war over the weekend, God had predestined that the Messianic Jewish and Palestinian Christian teens would be meeting to worship Him together at the Elav conference in Haifa.  This was the little island of peace which only comes from the Prince of Peace Himself – 900 youth (300 Arab, 500 Jewish and 100 internationals demonstrated that “Different Spirit” Martin Sarvis talked about.

Sarvis writes about the first night, “The first evening one of the praise groups was an Arabic worship team from Jerusalem’s Old City.  … The leader cried out (in Arabic translated into Hebrew) for the hundreds in the hall to call on God to send His Fire, to release His Spirit!  They then began playing and singing in a powerfully anointed Eastern style, which soon had the audience caught up and lost in joyous and earnest praise and worship--some standing with hands raised, others dancing—all with an intensity which was awakening something into the heavenlies over the place as they released themselves to God’s Spirit.”

Please read inside the attached Weekly Summary, as there is much more you will want to know about the conference – space does not permit here.  But Sarvis added this prayer requests:  *That the flame lit in Haifa these three days will be nurtured, grow and stay connected throughout Israel, Judea, Samaria and Jordan.  *That there will be a rear-guard over all who took part in preparing and administering the Elav conference—and all the young who participated.  *That God’s mercies will cool the flames that have erupted throughout the Land of Israel.  *Against spirits assigned to provoke violence and racial hatred in Jew and Arab.”

Eddie Santoro adds: “At times like this, we need to clearly see Yeshua seated on his throne in Heaven. He is not worried or fearful, nor is he threatened by the waves of Jihadist terror that are sweeping the earth. His love and confidence are ours to partake of and his peace steadies our hearts in these times of shaking. All that He promised will surely come to pass.  We thank you for your love and support.”

One For Israel has a superb report from the Elav conference inside the attached Weekly Summary, plus a picture from Joel Jelski of Succat Hallel, the event organizers.  One For Israel wrote, “True peace can only come when Jewish and Arab people come to know the Prince of Peace, Yeshua. “Only through the cross, through his blood, can the wall of hatred be broken down”, they declared, and read Ephesians 2:14 - “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility”.

In other news Revive Israel brings a report on Homo-Lesbian Attacks on Yad Yashmonah from Ayellet Ronen; also from Jordanian-American Terrorism Expert Brigitte Gabriel at a recent Heritage Foundation panel on Benghazi, a video that went viral when Brigitte responded to a Muslim question from the audience.  On Radical Muslims

Finally, from our friend in Carmel, Ronit Bender who continues to minister as she did before her husband recently went on to be with the LORD.  Ronit writes, “While Israel is mourning the brutal death of these 3 young boys, it brings home more than ever how important it is to share the Good News with the Israelis to bring life and hope.”  You can read of her labor of love in being a witness in Israel inside the attached Weekly Summary.  She also writes, My group from Faroe Islands will arrive Friday the 11th of July. They will be here for the rest of the month and are such a blessing every year. Most of the group are here for the first time.”

Even if you do not always open the attached Weekly Summary, I hope you do from time to time – print it out and place it next to a place you like to read and relax.  If you read a newspaper or magazine, you can treat this the same way and increase your understanding of the Body of Messiah in Israel. 

Inside the attachment of the
Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests from Israeli Ministries
Arrows from Zion can be shared freely.  Just copy and paste this email into a Word document to make it easy to print.  However, we ask the Weekly Summaries not be forwarded or information republished without consent of the specific ministries. The Weekly Summary is by subscription only, write arrowsfromzion@gmail.com or donna@d10r10.com

Teaching Articles

The Israel Land Question by Asher Intrater:  There is great controversy in the Body of Messiah worldwide concerning the place of the Jewish people and the land of Israel. However, the issue is not inherently about politics or racial identity but about the very nature of the kingdom of God.

Praying the Headlines

There are many Israeli Messianic ministries keeping believers up to date with the developments that we do not get much information of in our own national news sources.  By far the best source of Israeli news is from Israeli ministries because you not only get the unfolding facts, but you also get a spiritual perspective and counsel on how best to pray for the situation.  We pass along urgent updates of news from Israeli Ministries as necessitated in the Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests from Israeli Ministries and Arrows from Zion.  

You can choose to get on mailing list of specific ministries for their direct reports – we supply you that contact information every week in the Weekly Summary.   

You can also follow the ministries on Facebook.  Ron Cantor is great at posting informative news on his blog, Facebook and Twitter, and he also records a weekly podcast with news.  The fastest news sharing is happening on Twitter – as long as you follow the right people, Israeli news organizations and ministries that are activist in passing along information pertaining to Israel.  We can also recommend the news aggregate of Kehila.com which distributes a weekly aggregate of items from 100+ Israeli ministries, websites, etc. and also updates on Twitter.  Here is another long time news source in Israeli ministries: Barry & Batya Segal
JNN  -  Jerusalem News Network jnnnews.com

The Israeli Messianic Marketplace  Feature of the Week

Humanitarian Aid via A Messianic Jew in S’derot
Ye’shi Reinhardt  Jerusalem and S’derot
Hands of Mercy (humanitarian aid by believers to  terror victims) 
Tents of Victory  (ministry to bombarded Sderot)
mercy777@netvision.net.il    www.israel-handsofmercy.org

Donna Diorio 
 arrowsfromzion@gmail.com or donna@d10r10.com
 
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