Wednesday, September 30, 2020

We Return | Arrows from Zion 9/30/2020

 

 

Franklin Graham and Jonathan Cahn praying together in D.C.
How does this relate to Israel? Completely!

We Return: The Remnant in America Repents & Seeks God
in Two Simultaneous Prayer Events in D.C.

by Donna Diorio

This week I am torn between two cover stories which are very much related, so I will share both. I am writing on Yom Kippur; in Israel is has already ended but it is not too late for us to consider what just took place. First is the pivotal prayer events in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, above the two spiritual leaders who led separate events met to pray together on that day — Franklin Graham and Jonathan Cahn. The second cover story focuses on a traditional Yom Kippur service. Every believer can find these points an invaluable guide as we consider what in their own lives we need to repent about before God.

Saturday the prayer events in Washington, D.C. were so amazing.  There was a LOT going on spiritually. One because the groups were seemingly leading different streams of believers in the United States to pray together for America. It was not competing streams, it was uniting streams that saw our need to cry out to the LORD for America. 

The two events represented essentially the non-charismatic American Christians in Franklin Graham's prayer gathering, and the charismatic & Messianic gathering in Jonathan Cahn's gathering. They were two major groups in one place who were more in agreement for our nation than in disagreement agreement.  Probably charismatics participated in Franklin Graham's prayer march, and non-charismatics likely participated in Jonathan Cahn's prayer event - those were issues laid aside for the greater cry of American believers for the soul of the nation.


In the end, both groups converged on the National Mall as one united crowd of American believers —and Christians and Messianic Jews all over the world were watching the streaming events online, taking solemn note of what was unfolding before our eyes and touching the deep places of our hearts. Saturday was also the eve of Yom Kippur, and the Messianic Jewish stream was more visible as part of the American spiritual body than ever before.

We saw Franklin Graham's group move through 7 different sites in Washington were prayers were made at each site and with a focus of what each historical-memorial site represented in different facets of America. (I do pray that President Trump will deliver the official Apology that was signed during the Obama Administration, but not declared to the American Indians by the President of the United States.  I believe it does carry a release and healing to the Land for all the broken promises that were given to the Indians. President Trump is a promise-keeper, I pray he does keep this one too.)  Speaking of being a promise keeper, there was a Supreme Court nomination that would be named as the two prayer events came to a close, as President Trump named a Constitutionalist as his nominee to the Supreme Court. Saturday was also the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower setting sail in 1620 for the voyage to Plymouth Rock where the nation traces its birth to. Indeed, before the pilgrims in the Mayflower disembarked, they spent the day in fasting and prayer.

In Jonathan Cahn's gathering the focus on repentance and personal testimony of God's deliverance was great. I tuned in just as the repentance for abortion was ending and there was a song about a baby growing in the womb, then aborted, and Jesus coming to the baby; it left my heart shattered.  There were many other intense and beautiful moments, like Mike Lindell's testimony of having a vision from God for My Pillow to be a platform for God. He had this vision even when he was terribly addicted, but God delivered. His testimony was so powerful to me. When he said he had not fully surrendered his life until 2017, I had to go roll the video back to see if I heard right. I could relate to that...I surrendered to God by degrees over my whole life. I'm sure everyone has special moments that touched them in both of the prayer events. Another moment came when prayer was made for all the sex trafficked women and children — the modern slavery.


It was powerful to see how boldly the Messianic members of the body were so upfront in this gathering. In the past, Messianic Jews have had a somewhat token role, but this was a very bold element of the Cahn gathering. I remembered thinking how it must have many American Jews' alarms raised high.

Yesterday on Twitter, because most of my feed is from news people, there was talk about the Franklin Graham gathering but not a word about the Jonathan Cahn gathering. Today in the Google images there are plenty of photos from the Franklin Graham march, but ZIP/Nada/nothing of the crowds at Jonathan Cahn's gathering, which was also massive. For the news media, even the conservative news media, they are acting like nothing else was happening but the Franklin Graham March. The Jonathan Cahn gathering, with its charismatic and Messianic Jewish believers is just too frightening to them to acknowledge still. But it doesn't matter, because big things were happening in the Spirit. Couldn't you feel it too?!


The whole world was tuned in and watching yesterday — millions and millions of Christians and Messianic Jews from around the world were watching the prayer events and agreeing in prayer. I believe that speaks to God drawing us together as the one body of the Lord and regardless of the opposition - where it comes from, which groups oppose it - the body of Messiah is beginning to come together, to connect as is the will of God for us. The charismatic, with the non-charismatic, the different races - Yes! We are one race: the human race of the One New Man in Messiah - the Christians and the Messianic Jews!  We saw a glimpse of what God is doing NOW in the earth. It is for us to hold onto, because it will not come without resistance. There will be opposition, sometimes raging.

America is not over and be glad it isn't. War in the Spirit for us like you do for Israel. The pastor, I believe his name was Jessip, who prayed toward the end on behalf of the Church while Jonathan Cahn prayed on behalf of the Jews and Israel said a very profound thing:

He said in essence that America had been birthed by the vision and conviction  of its founders that the Word of God, the laws and justice God proclaimed in that book, should be the basis of the new American nation. He said, America's umbilical cord which is attached to Israel, and is not to be severed.

I believe that is true and why peoples from all the nations of the world come here to live and breathe the freedoms established by our founders. Freedoms  worth fighting for. A hill worth dying on to save. I say this is a spiritual statement, not merely nationalistic or patriotic impulses.

At 5 pm yesterday came another spiritual sign as President Trump announced that a tongues-speaking Charismatic Catholic was his nominee for the Supreme Court of the USA. My Italian Roman Catholic father-in-law was a charismatic Catholic - so yes, they do exist!  It's not the "dogma" that speaks loud in Amy Coney Barrett's life, it is the Holy Spirit, which is even scarier to those who are in opposition to God!

Heaven came down and touched the earth in Washington yesterday bringing the will of God for not only the United States, but for the uniting of the Body as we are aptly fit together - hand to arm, toe to foot, leg to torso, eye and mouth to Head - we are to come together like we saw yesterday connecting with our immediately related member parts...which will continue until we all see eye-to-eye with the Head. As Isaiah 52:8 says, Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.

Arrows from Zion
Summarized from the Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests Israeli Ministries by subscription only donna@israelprayer.com

Last week we reported on the incredible car crashes that Carolyn Hyde experience being hit twice, having a stroke, then being hit in transport by ambulance to the hospital. Days earlier her son Avi was also in the ER with a back injury, now their daughter Deborah has been hospitalized unconscious and unresponsive with blood sugar over 800. Carolyn came home to find her daughter who has juvenile diabetes on the floor on 9/26. The first day at the hospital, Carolyn had another mini stroke, but quickly recovered. She has been posting updates on Facebook via video (watch here Facebook video and just today - a good report from the doctors, Carolyn's Facebook video report! Please pray for Deborah, Carolyn and the whole family as they face what surely seems to me to be an attack on the lives of the Hydes (probably because of the pro-life video campaign they just launched!). Also, because Deborah is a teen, Carolyn says that they are going to have to deal with police and courts as "criminal negligence" is apparently being investigated. Please pray that no weapon formed against them shall prosper, that God heals Deborah, she awakens on fire for the LORD and is a testimony to all.

Tomorrow! Revive Israel & David Demian's Watchmen bring Preparing A Dwelling Place Online Global Gathering Part 1, Part 2 and on Oct 1 is Part 3 (5am Vancouver time/3pm Jerusalem time/7am Dallas). While watching the replays, you can subscribe so as not to miss any of these anointed gathering.
Also, please read
Preparing A Dwelling Place Online Global Gathering | by Dan Juster, Restoration from Zion as Dan explains how this gathering together via Zoom with churches and leaders of many nations has come about.  The meetings are led by the Spirit, not rigidly planned out and all the nations involved in these online global gatherings are connected and committed to the destiny of Israel. That is worth joining in to be a part of!
 

Ronit Bender in northern Israel writes about the 2nd lockdown in Israel, that has been tightened even more as the High Holy Days started. She sends this beautiful rendition of "Avinu Malkenu" (Our Father, Our King), in a video sung by Messianic Jewish artists. "It asks for mercy and forgiveness. I hope you can feel the weight of the prayer as they sing,' she writes. I could! Ronit, who is being a witness and giving testimony in her daily life, shares many beautiful instances that have happened recently, including discovering a coffee shop owner who is an Arab believer - they rejoiced to discover each other. Ronit writes, "You might ask what is the big deal? Well, there are not so many of us YET in Israel and when we meet a brother or sister in the Lord it is very exciting!" Our sister just turned 70 and we must say Happy birthday Ronit! Enjoy this video a friend made for her to celebrate her life. 

Maoz Ministries' Shani Ferguson writes about Yom Kippur and says "the significance of an entire nation stopping its daily routine to recognize its need to be in right standing with God should not be downplayed." She writes concerning what repentance means in Hebrew: "The short answer is that repentance in Hebrew means simply “to return.” To return to the path "where God and goodness wait at one end" but "death and destruction wait at the other end" if you choose not to return to God. She writes concerning the seeds we plant in our lives with destructive patterns of behavior which "in a 'perfect storm' of circumstances we realize that we have been overgrown by this sin on the inside, and we cannot help but fall into its trap." And she writes of the speck in our own eyes before you try to correct the speck in other's eyes: "Yeshua didn’t say not to help your brother get his speck out—he simply said to deal with yourself first." Most excellent commentaries and points in this prayer letter, also request to pray for the salvation of Israel: "What is Yom Kippur, if not a day to fully restore Israel to her God?" 

Maoz has a double your donation going on that a couple of donors have given them to provide for needy families over the holidays. Watch the video and get it on doubling your donation in the DOUBLE DONATION CHALLENGE 

Ron Cantor's new e-book Birth Pangs is downloadable now! He writes about arriving in the US just as the uptick of Coronavirus is announced in Israel and he writes about the Three-week lockdown begins – with talks of tightening restrictions already 

Chuck Cohen of Intercessors for Israel in Jerusalem writes about Covid, and also the security situtaions Israel is facing right now: Friday Prayer Points   9/25/20 

Orna Grinman of A Sign & Example has a new blog post, Good Sealing, Imprint and a Scarlet Thread: “Chatima Tova (may you have a good final sealing)”, said someone passing under my window to another passerby. “Tikatevu Ve'Techatemu (may you and yours be inscribed in the Book of Life and sealed in it forever)”, came the reply. These blessings are common sayings among Jews in this season. You hear them everywhere...."

Ariel Hyde (before his sister's health crisis) sent an amazing good report on their evangelism through media and on the streets, giving two testimonies — one Israeli Jewish woman receives Yeshua on the Feast of Trumpets, and a Muslim Egyptian lady who received Yeshua even knowing her own family would kill her if they found out. Pray for both of these women to be under the protective wings of the LORD and find a place to grow in Him. (The Egyptian woman even wanted to flee to Israel!) The social media giants — Facebook, Twitter, Google, Youtube and Instagram —are opposing their Saving Lives in Israel from Abortion VIDEO, making wild false accusations against them (like they are advertising about cryptocurrencies like bitcoin). Please pray for their pro-life and Gospel campaigns! You can read more about it at the video link. 

Watch Israel Pochtar's short VIDEO Yom Kippur message, The Day When the Heart of Israel Turns to God in Unison and read the article at the same link

The Arad Hebrew speaking believers at Hasdey Yeshua write that because of the lockdown they are not able to meet together at all, even outside. They are sending their messages to congregants out via WhatsApp —not ideal but  they are thankful for the technology to do it. The husband of their Bedouin worker, Sara, has been healed of Covid so their quarantine is ended, although the lockdown has that ministry outreach frozen. Please pray for the Bedouin because of the economic struggle and depression. Also for "Hussain" who had a severe stroke, he is able to walk by himself again after rehab. Pray for complete healing and spiritual growth in the LORD. 

Due to the lockdown, the be live-streaming our 2pm Tuesday worship watch at the Carmel congregation has had to be cancelled for Sept. 29 and Oct 6th but they hope to return soon. They write, "We deeply appreciate your participation in these weekly watches, as we join our hearts together in intercession for Israel. Please pray for: The salvation of Israelis - both Jews and Arabs | Security on Israel's borders | Wisdom for our country's leaders | Protection and strength for our young men and women serving in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)."

Aleksey Raikhstadt at Beit Immanuel in Jaffa writes an encouraging word on “Why do bad things happen to good people and believers?” He says, "Fourteen years ago, my wife and I learned this lesson in a very practical way. During her pregnancy with our second child, we received the hard news that my wife had contracted a virus which very likely could harm our unborn baby." The Lord pointed them to John 9:1-2. "Today we have received the news that our son was infected with COVID19 in the shuttle bus to his special needs school. Our whole family has to sit in complete isolation from the world around us but our hearts are filled with the peace of God. Why did this happen? Perhaps so I could find the time to write to you. In order to lead a life where we complete trust in God, we must always remember that our strength does not come from ourselves but from Him." 

Chaim Malespin of the Aliyah Return Center invites you to the Galilee Sukkot 2020, this Friday 10/2 at 6pm Israel time there is another online global celebration: Join us LIVE for the divine appointment of Tabernacles/ Sukkot together as we discover the multifaceted purposes God intended in the building of these temporary "Aliyah Dwellings". On the ARC YouTube channel or Facebook Live.

And, Rick Ridings writes about a need that has arisen for them because of the lockdowns that have kept visitors from the nations bringing physical offerings to Succat Hallel, which he reports has been able to continue the 24/7 worship and prayer in the Succat Hallel house of prayer in Jerusalem with by local staff and volunteers. But "right now we need another miracle to take care of Israeli staff and the rent for our volunteer and intern apartments." Rick writes, "Would you prayerfully consider giving an offering toward Jerusalem during this Feast of Tabernacles?"

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

Please keep in prayer these Israeli ministry leaders and believers with urgent health needs

Most urgent prayer for Deborah Hyde, daughter of Carolyn and Richard Hyde, who was found unconscious with a super blood sugar spike from her juvenile diabetes. She is in the hospital in an induced coma, on dialysis, with doctors unsure of her extent of brain damages. Carolyn says there is now "criminal negligence involved" which may mean they are being investigated, or something else. Please pray over all this - the Hyde's have been under a particular attack (Carolyn suffered 2 strokes in a week; their son Avi was in ER with a back injury 2 wks ago). Deborah also strayed from relationship with the Lord, which is high priority for prayer. | Also Aleksey Raikhstadt's special needs son tested positive Covid and the whole family is now in extreme quarantine | A prayer request for
Naomi, for a dear family that is a part of Israel Pochtar's pastoral team, who was diagnosed recently with colon cancer. "Despite what this battle entails, we are confident in God’s unfailing Word and promises." Read in her own words| Ronit Bender whose cardiologist told her that her irregular heartbeat is SEVERE, and is suggesting further tests. Please intercede for Ronit: No weapon formed against her shall prosper! | Olga Bikas severe back pain has kept her in "quarantine" for the past 4 years or so! Olga’s health. She went through several checkups that showed new findings and the doctors believe that an operation should improve her condition. Different doctors, however, propose different kinds of operations, and we need God’s guidance and wisdom to make the decision. | | Please continue to pray for Jacob Damkani for the LORD's mercies over Jacob and his dear wife, Elisheva 

Beauty found in the traditional Yom Kippur service
By Donna Diorio

I must share this beautiful sunset in Jerusalem (below) taken on the evening as Yom Kippur begins. Jim Schutz sent it to me saying this photograph was taken by Rick Ridings at Succat Hallel.

This is the most solemn 24 hours in all of Judaism and how can it not be? It symbolizes when in the fullness of time in God's plan, Jews will repent, recognizing the identity of the sacrificial Lamb who paid every debt of sin. They will mourn, as one mourns for an only son, in recognizing at long last, the love of God that was shed abroad for the sins of mankind, both  Jew and Gentile.

Do you not feel it? We are coming to that day.

I found a beautiful Kol Nidrei service online from the Central Synagogue in New York. It is, of course, non-Messianic, but it speaks to me, and hopefully you will see why. I must admit as a non-Jew but Messianic supporter, I have participated in many of the Yom Kippur services admittedly lost in sea of Hebrew canting. But my heart was touched by the confessions of sins that were recited because the ground covered are sins that are common to us all, and often not thought of when we think of repentance. However, the rote saying of these sins do not help us if we are not sincere in our desire to be truly clean and clear with God. The Jews are not the only ones to recite rote prayers, we may all do that even in the most independent, non-denominational stream of Christianity. But the beauty of the recitation of sins in the Yom Kippur service is that out of the blue a type of sin is covered that causes a memory to surface, something we have never confessed and repented of before the Lord, but suddenly the memory shows us now it the time.

There is not enough space here to cover the whole Kol Nidrei and Morning Service of Yom Kippur, but you can find it in this link. Try to focus on the English portions of the sins rather than the liturgy. Even though we know that in the LORD we are forgiven, there may be some things float up to the surface that will make us that much cleaner and clearer before the LORD.

I was especially taken by the prose that introduced each canted portion, We Remember, We Bare Our Souls, and We Return. It very much touches my heart in a human, not religious way, and I believe it communicates the deep longing of the Jewish people to reconnect with our God. It may help us to consider our mutual humanity better. So here are the two prose portions, We Remember and We Bare Our Souls. I will not include the portion We Return, because I do believe that is expressed in a completely different way when a Jew returns to God through faith in Yeshua. Zechariah 12:10 “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son."

WE REMEMBER | Like no other prayer, Kol Nidrei compels our presence, And not just us alone, But the memorized outline, too, of younger years, The gentle feel of those who tucked us in, who blessed our days, consoled our nights; And came as we do, on this eve, with memories of their own. We, tonight, are memories in the making, Warming seats for others who will remember us In some Kol Nidrei they shall hear when we are gone. .Present too among us are memories more recent, Of what we did, or said, or were, or weren’t, Since last year at this time. Of what we learned or lost; Of kisses that we gave or got; The laugh that lovers recognize. The days of empty wandering, And wondering Where God was. Or knowing with compelling certainty That God was with us Even in despair. Kol Nidrei harbors memory of all this. Its melody persists, insists, Commands; And summons our acknowledgment of time. What we recall of others past, And what we vow to leave behind For others still to come, who will remember us.

WE BARE OUR SOULS | Tonight we face our nakedness Mirrored contemplations of concealed selves Laid bare of artifice. Backdrop To a cavernous silence broken only by the quiet chant Of Kol Nidrei. This is the time When consciousness colludes with conscience, To shatter the delusions with which we cloak our souls. Tonight God asks us where and what we are. We creatures fashioned in God’s goodness Are capable of cruelty. We vessels of God’s holiness Litter others’ lives With profanities of speech and deed and will. The nakedness of Kol Nidrei’s call Can pierce our mettle, Unsettling us with echoes of the chaos we have caused, The brokenness of loved ones, at whose lives we chipped away. Give us pause to recognize how every year We choose again To grow more worn and withered, dry inside, Or stronger, older, far more resolute, Awake to what should matter most: Which shall it be? Kol Nidrei sounds especially pure To souls who have lost their way Or find themselves enmeshed in webs of hopelessness. God, disentangle us, we pray. Where we have sinned, Remove the shame of self, And make us worthy of Kol Nidrei’s melody.

WE RETURN | Isaiah 54:17b  "This is the inheritance of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,' Says the LORD."




Donna Diorio  donna@israelprayer.com or donna@d10r10.com
THANK YOU to those who support this ministry with donations.
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P O Box 111302 Carrollton, Texas 75006  |  I do not have tax exempt status. 

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