Israel | The Land of Milk and Honey

Israel is a place that has a special place in Gods heart and is rich in biblical history. As a country blessed by God, Israel is a beautiful testimony of His faithfulness and love towards His people. God keeps His promises and as time goes on, more of them are being fulfilled.

Over the past ten days, we became more and more aware of the fact that God has a plan for everything and that obedience aligns us with that plan. The Negev desert, Jerusalem and Tiberius were breathtaking- 3 places in the same country, but all are unique.

The land is filled with sites where significant spiritual events took place and we had the privilege to experience it for ourselves. The Mount of Olives, the Western Wall, the city of David, the Sea of Galilee and so much more.

In the midst of truth seeking people, God’s presence can and is still felt strongly, and this is part of what makes Israel so remarkable. It is a place where you can feel a deep connection with God and experience His love and grace in a profound way.

Ronen expressed:

“Being in such a spiritually intense country, I not only saw how so many are rejecting Jesus as their saviour, but also how many are searching for Him or at least, searching for something more.
Scripture from Romans 11 revealed to me that my aim in ministry was to instill a jealousy in the hearts of Jews for the knowledge I have about their God. Practically, this meant that my conversations in public were now focused on opening the Old Testament and showing how Jesus is the fulfillment of the law.
His death was the perfect sacrifice.”

Mari shared her experience of Israel:

“The Lord has done a lot here, in His people, in Israel, and is still busy with His nation. He has added flesh, tendons and breath to the dry bones, but quite evidently, there are still people who lack His spirit. That is where we as gentiles come in, being raised with Christ, made part of the Body, through salvation and the Holy Spirit/breath and drive the Jews to jealousy. A good jealousy that is part of God’s plan.
Our ministry started by claiming back the land in towns, through the Spirit, through prayer. This entailed physically walking on the roads of the promised land, interceding for God’s people and worshiping in public spaces.”

The Lord set up divine appointments for our team with believers and non-believers. It was such a blessing to learn from the believers and have fellowship with them, but also very painful to see non-believers reject Yeshua over and over again.

But… we have to keep persistent in prayer for the non-believers, even though we might not see the change now. Gods heart for the unbelievers is to accept Yeshua and be in a loving, living relationship with Him. The Lord has not forgotten Israel and is working there. May we never stop loving and praying for His people.

Maurice said:

“We had two very different experiences in how we lived in Israel. We went from a very comfortable place in Jerusalem, where you get breakfast in the morning, sleep in comfortable beds and have clean and very nice rest rooms, to living in tents on rocky ground, in very hot weather, having to use the public restrooms next to the Sea of Galilee. We should always try to stay positive in the hard times during life on earth, knowing that God is in control of everything and trusting Him to reveal to us what he want to prune in us, to bear more fruit for Him.”

Israel remains a beacon of hope and faith in a world that often seems dark and uncertain, because of what we know is to come. It truly is a testimony of God’s grace and once again, reveals the power of faith, to overcome even the most difficult obstacles.

Elzke said:

“Walking where the Israelite’s walked, being where Jesus taught and imagining the life of our God on earth – what a privilege. It was a privilege to see and hear the history, but that only made me, once again, realize the real privilege. I am privileged to be called a child of the Most High.
I get to have the King of Kings inside me.
I got to see history, where people walked with Jesus, and I get to understand this:
That same God is inside of me!
And I’m thankful and longing to see God return to us. Knowing how good it is to be part of the body of Christ, my heart aches for others to be a part of that too. That they may accept Jesus as their Savior and experience the fullness of Him, because they’re all searching for the One they are denying.
May that give us an urgency to lift them up in prayer. Pray for the blind to see and the deaf to hear. His Kingdom to come. Lay ourselves down, for Him to use us in any way He wants. 
May He be glorified!”

An honourable mention of “significant events in Israel”

Next to the Sea of Galilee, 4 different teams met and worshiped Jesus together.

Our team started walking from our camping site (next to the Sea of Galilee) to meet up with a team from YWAM to pray and worship together and before we knew it, 2 other teams showed up and joined us.

As the evening progressed, more people joined and the Holy Spirit lifted the name of Jesus high through us. We worshiped into the night and met again to do the same the next evening. I truly believe that those two nights were special to every single person that was there.

Henco said:

“Jesse, from one of the teams, played piano, sang and helped me with the chords for the songs that people requested spontaneously. For quite some time now, I have been trusting the Lord to help me worship without chord sheets, but I progressed really slowly, until this night. Jesse, the Lord used you and those two worship nights to help me grow in my Worship journey with the Lord.
Since, I started working on two worship songs and find it much easier to lead people in worship spontaneously.”

From Jesse’s perspective:

“The story started when we came upon a group praying by the water. Turns out the group was two groups, one from South Africa and the other from YWAM Orlando and they had just run into each other.
There happened to be a piano sitting there, so when they started to sing, I jumped on the piano to join in. One song turned into many and one meeting turned into “let’s meet back tomorrow same time.”

It truly was beautiful to see how worship draws people together. As the worshiping and praising continued, people kept coming and coming and could listen to the sound of this divine appointment that God setup. What a blessing it is to be in the body of Christ.

Looking back, the step of faith of coming to Israel was worth it. God’s plan is always worth it, we just need to be obedient and willing to surrender fully. Continuing in faith to Jordan!