Blessing Israeli Believers May 2019

Brother Daniel and his wife Elisabeth from the Galilee
My family story of how the Lord work's in the life of His Jewish people, Part 5:

After months of fighting against the Palestinians in the Land (from November 29, 1947) and from May 14, 1948, the Arab League Armies joined the war against the young Jewish State, a cease-fire was declared in January 1949, by the UN, when the Israel Defense Forces gained the upper hand.

The war ended with a great victory for the people of Israel in the mercy of Adonai, the 'Lord of the Armies of ISRAEL', who fought for them and won the battle after 2,000 years of exile and destruction. It is important also to mention that 1948 was marked as a year of a big move of the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ.

The price of victory in the War of Independence was high for the young Jewish state about 6,000 men and women were killed in battle, of which 2,400 were civilians, out of a Jewish population of 650,000. The second high price which my grandmother, Miriam, remembered and mourned over, like many other Israelis and mainly religious Jews, was the loss of the historical birth places of the Jewish Nation: Judea, Samaria and east Jerusalem (the city was divided by barbed wire fences and mines), those places were ruled by the Jordanians until June 1967, without access for the Jewish people to their holy sites.

From the stories of my father, Abraham, a mass immigration of Jews from all over the world took place immediately after the war; especially from Europe, the Displaced Persons camps of Holocaust survivors and Jews from Arab countries, who began to suffer persecution by the Muslim regime. In 2 years the Jewish population doubled to 1.3 million (1951). Those days were glorious, for my grandmother and her family, seeing the Bible prophecies fulfilled in front of their own eyes, but it was also a time of economical distress.

The majority of the immigrants came with nothing (all their possessions were taken or were left behind). They lived in the new land on food stamps and had to 'make do' with little. For many years they have lived in tents and tin shacks and were laboring in hard physical works such as paving roads, planting trees and drying swamps. My mother's family was among those who came in this big wave of immigration to ISRAEL (1956).
For them it was a worthy calling, paying high prices because they felt privileged coming back home after a long exile, coming back to the Land of their forefather's.

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and horse, The army and the power (They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick): "Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. The beast of the field will honor Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I give waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My people, My chosen. This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise."
Isaiah 43:16-21

Glory be given to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

Update from Ariel & Shayla
He heard about Yeshua in all the wrong places

A few months ago a man we'll call Ido started coming to our congregation, but the story of how he arrived was quite unusual! Ido was a history teacher in a public school for 15 years, then recently became a mechanic. He was often depressed and turned to marijuana to soothe his soul. Once a drug dealer asked him about his spiritual beliefs and he responded that he didn't really have any. The dealer said, "I find comfort in Yeshua." Not exactly the traditional source for hearing about Yeshua!

He then heard more from some Russian-background Messianic Jews in Oregon on a visit.

Then he visited someone involved in the occult to help him get out of depression and all sorts of negative things happening in his life. After a while, the mystic said he spoke with others in the occult and they all concluded he was beyond their help because he had a generational curse on him from three generations ago. Ido researched generational curses and discovered that Yeshua was the only One who could set people free from them.

So then his friend was invited to Kerem-El, our congregation, and told Ido he didn't want to go. But Ido said, "Give me the information - I want to go!" He came and our pastor Stefan met with him and helped him significantly in understanding more about Yeshua and the faith.

After that, he met with me and we talked about Yeshua's mission to set captives free (Isaiah 61) and the price He paid for it at the cross. He decided to pray to repent of his sins and give his life to Yeshua! We also prayed to break off every curse in Yeshua's name and he said he could actually physically feel a difference, like something had lifted off of him.

Eliel and I met with him to pray again and he shared about many of the spiritual practices he had been involved in, and about all the items in his house related to them. We encouraged him to gather all of them and burn or throw them away, just as the believers in Ephesus did (Acts 19:18-19). Amazingly, the next day our pastor Dani shared in quite a bit of depth exactly about this passage. Ido knew this was a confirmation from the Lord to really do this, so he went back home and threw out all those items, including some that were very expensive - a beautiful sign of true repentance!

Ido's begun discipleship and was just baptized this month. It was a wonderful celebration of new life in Messiah!