Beloved Intercessors,
Loving greetings from Jerusalem! The Jerusalem Summons Tour has ended, and Philip and I have stayed over with Pastor Mark Bristow, Eva Dooley, Claren McQueen and a support team of six others.
It feels as though we have stepped into a new era of breakthrough! The tour group itself was remarkable in unity and attentiveness. We thoroughly enjoyed the marvelous series of sights! Our first morning out was Shabbat, and we were able to attend a special service with Alyosha Ryabinov. He is a classically trained pianist from the former Soviet Union. We had a glorious time of worship together in the Presence of the Lord and he opened our understanding of the Scriptures in a very interesting way. He and his wife shared their testimony and told how they bring a gift of music to holocaust survivors and others who sometimes experience the Presence of the Lord for the first time as Alyosha plays for them. What a blessing! They are planting seeds and watching God bring in His harvest!
In our journeys around the country, we saw many biblical sites where the Word of God came into deeper reality for us.
In honor of Israel‘s 70th year as a nation, we added a number of unique sites that most Christian tourists never see. We were able to visit the very first kibbutz and learned the story of the perseverant settlers who had to start over and over to develop agriculture in soil that hadn’t been farmed for centuries. Most of it had been eroded by the wind when all of the trees were cut down during the Ottoman rule.
We also visited Rishon LeZion (“First of Zion”), one of the earliest communities from the first wave of immigrants in 1882. This was where the flag that became Israel’s national standard was created. We sat in the first classroom in which children were taught in Hebrew for the first time in nearly 2000 years. The language had to be resurrected. For centuries it had only been used for prayers and study, but hadn’t been used as the language of daily life. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and a team of scholars worked together to develop words for objects and actions that were not present in the biblical text. Then they would bring, for instance, three possible words to identify an item or concept and present them to the children in the classroom. The word that the children could best relate to was the word that was chosen to put in the new dictionary of conversational Hebrew. The museum showed the development of fashions through a number of decades. We saw the first pharmacy and many of the objects they used for their daily work. It’s fascinating how these dreamers who had come from administrative positions or other professions came back to the Land of their forefathers and began to farm with no previous farming experience. Their hearts were filled with “tikvah,” the Hebrew word for hope.
We stayed in the heart of Jerusalem at the Lev Yerushalayim hotel. It is right next door to the building where we held our Jerusalem Summons in the Israel Prayer Tower which is operated by Jesus Calls Ministry from India. Each meeting was unique and delightful with anointed worship, inspiring testimonies of local believers, intercession, and the Word of God through our anointed ministers. In one evening meeting, there were representatives of 21 nations! It was a small picture of Micah 4:2, “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” Even as God scattered His people among the nations, now that His people have returned to Zion, the nations are coming up as well!
We understand that God’s motive for this annual event is in large part to encourage the local believers and hold up their hands as they live in this Land. Living here is sometimes a great struggle, so please add these precious saints to your prayer list.
It was so encouraging to hear the testimonies of our tour group members as they shared the highlights of their time here. We did not come as ordinary tourists for an ordinary tour. We came as intercessors, and seekers after the heart of God, and God met us all overwhelmingly! We will never be the same! Pray about joining us for our next Jerusalem Summons Tour. We are listening to the heart of the Lord for His Plan. We don’t automatically assume that He will have us do the next time what we have been doing in recent years. We want to follow the leading of the Lord in every detail.
Since the group left, the ministry team has been in meetings with Sukkat Hallel and the King of Kings Prayer Tower (two of the 24/7 houses of prayer here in the Land). We will be splitting up this weekend to minister in one of the local congregations here in Jerusalem and also in and an Arab service in Nazareth. Then will have a glory time at the Galilee House.
We have been hearing wonderful, amazing testimonies of how the Spirit of God is moving among all the peoples of this Land. The most exciting stories have to do with Jesus appearing in visions and dreams, and revealing Himself as the Messiah.
We also heard of a small family who were completely alone as believers in their community. They had been praying for years for a move of God. One day a few months ago, they were praying together and God manifested in such a powerful way that the man began to shake and tremble. After it subsided, he went out on the street and greeted one of his friends, shaking his hand. The friend began to shake and tremble, and cried out, “What have you done to me?” Everyone he came in contact with began to have this experience of the power of God. More recently, the man received a phone call from a lady in a nearby community. She said, “I’m very sick. I heard that you pray for people. Would you please come and pray for me?” The man said, “Sure, we will come right away.” They prayed as they drove to this lady’s house, and when they got there, she greeted them with excitement, declaring that she had already been healed! Now there are 60 new believers, hallelujah!
As I said at the beginning of this letter, I feel that we have come into a new season of breakthrough! I trust that you are also experiencing it. May the mighty power of God shift you into the next level of His plan for your life!
Nightwatch: Our turn for the Nightwatch is coming up on Sunday night, midnight November 18th through 6 AM on December 4th. Perhaps you may recall that the Capitol Hill Prayer Partners, who place intercessors in the galleries of congress and other key locations to pray in Washington, DC, have been mustering prayer warriors for over a decade now to pray through the hours of the night for specific prayer assignments to cover our government, Israel, Native Americans, etc. This is the time when the most demonic activity is generated, while most of us are sleeping. This is the time for the “watchmen on the walls” to step up and do their duty to shine the Light of Jesus Christ on the darkness to make it flee! Would you consider taking a two-hour night-time prayer assignment during those nights? Perhaps you would even feel called by God to cover a watch during each of those nights, or at least more than one. We will be grateful for all who feel the call of the Lord to arise in the night and pray!
We have the details for specific subjects for prayer on each watch that can be sent to you. Intercessors may call into a conference call line and pray together from all across the country, or they may just pray at home and connect in the heavens at the Throne of Grace. If you are willing to participate, please contact our Prayer Coordinator, Sherry Grubelnik by email at nightwatch@eth-s.org or call her at (806) 928-2723. She will give you the specific information and conference line number.
Thank you so much for standing with us in your prayers and giving. We are so grateful! Have a lovely and blessed Thanksgiving!
Your handmaiden and servant,
Sharon and Philip