Levites Carrying the Ark, a bas relief at the Auch
Cathedral in France
God struck Uzza dead when he reached out to steady the Ark. It is something
that has puzzled many over the years: Why would God do such a thing to someone
so well intentioned?
There is a Right Way & a Wrong Way
to Restore the Ark to Jerusalem
Uzza: A Cautionary Tale
by Donna Diorio
Let Uzza be a cautionary tale for our good intentions,
because God has His own way to restore the Ark to Jerusalem in order to restore
true worship back to Jerusalem, and we must not assume we can do it without
following His way.
The Ark is symbolic of Yeshua, our
covering of blood over the Mercy Seat, so we are talking about our attempts to
restore the true worship to Jerusalem, meaning restoring faith in Yeshua to
Jerusalem. God has a way to do that and we should not act in presumption we
Christians are His "sent ones" to do that.
1
Chronicles 13 and 2 Samuel 6 tells the story of how Uzza was struck - he had
good intentions to steady the cart that was carrying the Ark, but he reached
out and touched what God said could only be touched by Levites.
Can you hear me: I tell you the
Levites are symbolic for the Israeli Messianic Jews of our day. Restoring the
faith of Yeshua to Israel is already prescribed by God for them, not for the
non-Jewish from the nations. God has put the mandate for restoring faith in
Yeshua on the shoulders of Levites, the Jewish believers in Israel who are
carrying the true worship in the Land.
Christians can share their faith
with Jews anywhere in the world, but to hold the idea that restoring the faith
of Yeshua in Israel is a Christian call, this is not who God has given that
mandate. We Christians SHOULD be helpers, but we cannot be like UZZA reaching
out to touch the restoration in a way that God has not sanctioned, because it
could lead to death of the good intentioned, even as it led to death in Uzza's
case.
The Hebrew scriptures were written
for our example and we should heed what happened to Uzza when he did not follow
God's instructions that only the Levites could touch the Ark - restoring Yeshua
to Jerusalem. We can help them, but we cannot tell them to stand aside, as we
try to do it instead of them.
You
need to know how many Israeli congregations and ministries are severely
struggling financially right now after all the Covid restrictions in
Israel over the past year, the inability to travel to raise donations in the
nations and generally the lack of material support from the Christians who love
Israel. PLEASE if you can bless an Israeli ministry at this time, especially
the smaller ones who are really struggling, please donate what you can to their
relief. It is our duty, the apostle to the Gentiles said in
Romans 15:26-27 “For (the churches in) Macedonia and Achaia
were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in
Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them.
For if the Christians in the nations have shared in the Israeli Messianic Jews’
spiritual blessings, they are obligated to minister to them with material
blessings.”
Christians are not sharing in the spiritual
blessings of unsaved Jews in Israel,
we are sharing spiritual blessings with the SAVED remnant in Israel.
One of the callings of the Levites was leading the worship, see the timely announcement in the
first ministry letter about the restoration of the Israeli Levites
Arrows from
Zion
Summarized
from the Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests
Israeli Ministries
With the premier of a special concert on Shavuot/Pentecost, Kobi and
Shani Ferguson of Maoz are launching a new vision in the Friends of the Fellowship of Artists. What is the Fellowship of Artists? It is
their vision for the restoration of Israel’s Levitical worshippers
and the direct connection this would have with Israel’s salvation. As
Kobi and Shani point out, “Everything the world knows about worshiping the
one true God originated in Israel. With that kind of heritage, Israel is
surely a place believers around the world should yearn to explore the depths of
worship we all are longing for.” To be a
friend of the Fellowship of Artists would mean your donations could help, for “The
Levites of old had a call to worship; but only when the community around them
fulfilled their role in supporting the call, were the Levites able to carry out
their lifework.” Watch for details to come on how to access the concert.
Before I even read this ministry letter
this week, God also spoke to my heart about how the Israeli ministries, from
the worshippers to the pastors, the outreach ministers, the media ministers –
print and broadcast – they are all operating in the role of God’s Levites of
Israel today. And the need of the
international Christians to support them is exactly like the in the ancient
times when the other 11 tribes of Israel supported the Levities who were
dedicated to the ministry. This is
happening today, my friends, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Guy Cohen in Acco writes about his expectancy since he became a believer years
ago in his birthplace and where he now pastors the Harvest of Asher congregation, of a community like the first century we read about in
Acts 2. “A community where the tie is spiritual and not soulish; there is a
lifestyle of giving and investing in or building one another. A lifestyle of
being in partnership one with the other.” He writes, “We are the pioneers
that God wants to use to build His community on earth as it is in heaven.”
As in Yeshua’s prayer of Matthew 6:10 (Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on
earth as it is in Heaven) he envisions this as “when each member of the
congregation stops looking at himself and instead looks to Yeshua and to the
father heart of God, we will achieve a unity that tears down all worldly
systems and builds a community of breakthrough.” He asks, “How is this
possible? The desire to invest in the lives of others will come from within.”
Israel Pochtar sends video messages on Shavuot:
the Power of Pentecost Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3. Also two devotional articles from Vicky Pochtar: Who Am I? Finding Your Identity | and Wisdom that Comes from Accountability and one from husband
Israel The Desert’s Silence. Also two videos: Preparing for Israel's Harvest | Shavuot: The Harvest Awaits: Learn how you can partner
with us in bringing the Gospel to the people of Israel and share in the harvest
and blessing of God
Tree of Life ministries’ Ariel Hyde is reporting a miracle breakthrough they had with
Big Tech censorship severely limiting their Israeli Pro-Life and Gospel
Campaign. Despite experts saying it was “impossible” the suppression of their
video on two social media platforms were removed and “the video has reached
over 1.6 million views in just one month! (There are only around 5 million
YouTube users per month in Israel in general.) We've had a massive increase of
visits to our evangelistic websites and social media pages. Thousands of
Israelis have contacted us. Of course, many are aggressively against us and our
message. But we were surprised to see how many positive responses there have
been.” They sent some beautiful individual testimonies of those who were
touched by God viewing the video, and the Tree of Life team is praising God for
answers to our prayer. “Please watch or read the story and help spread this news
of God’s incredible work by sharing this video from our Youtube, and on all the
new social media outlets!” This is such
an important spiritual breakthrough because abortion is completely acceptable
in Israeli society. These ministers of Yeshua are making a mighty difference
proclaiming the truth in a compassionate way.
Rachel Netanel is still mending from a broken ankle, saying the process is so
slow and painful. She writes of being in physiotherapy and says, “I have very
small bones and therefore, my ankles were weak even before the fall. I am
forcing myself to walk with a walker and sometimes with crutches but the
progress does seem slow. God is teaching me many things through this ordeal and
I am grateful that I am on the mend.” Along with husband Gilad they are still
rolling out wonderful hospitality to people in Ein Kerem at their home, and a
home in Zukim in the south where they were also led to minister their
hospitality and testimony of Yeshua to friends and neighbors there. Many, many
come and are blessed. BUT they were hit with another major challenge to
overcome when someone took a hacksaw to the exhaust system and catalytic
converter of their car. “Now the car is repaired but it is completely
unreliable and the damage seems severe. We will need to buy a new car so please
pray for God’s provision for this.” Theft of catalytic converters is rampant in
Texas too because it is a quick steal that brings big bucks. Rachel has been
known as one of the most anointed evangelists in Israel. It is important that
her ankle be healed and fortified, and that they are able to replace their
vehicle to minister in all the places God has sent them. Please consider making
a donation toward this ministry (directly at PayPal
to beitnetanel@gmail.com or thru Tikkun).
From the Glory of Yeshua
congregation in Tel Aviv (Tiferet Yeshua) Gil Afriat sends an article by Moti
Cohen, director of their Feed Tel Aviv outreach ministry Feed Tel Aviv: Surprising Encounters that Keep us Going and an
article Israel's Green Passport - Crossing a Red Line.
[DD: They did not include this in their email but I learned this
week, that like many congregations in Israel, the Tiferet Yeshua congregation
is currently under an extremely tight financial stress. This is the thing,
dear subscribers: Most of the
congregations and ministries barely ever mention this stuff, or when their
pastors have to work secular jobs to keep the ministries afloat.
That is the sacrificial level of
commitment and reality of ministry life in Israel that I discovered 20 years
ago when I started this mailing list. It improved somewhat over the years, but now the post-Covid world has brought the lack of resources back into
a number one priority prayer request for all of the Israeli ministries. It is not the way of Messianic Jews to
continually be ‘begging for donations’ like we are used to seeing in the US
from Christians ministries in far better financial situations. This is just the
reality of ministry life in Israel and it
is no dishonor to the Israeli ministries because WE in the churches are
supposed to be helping them materially, financially! The apostle Paul called it
our duty, our obligation to them. Please,
if you can give a donation today, please do. Help
this Hebrew-speaking congregation in Tel Aviv taking some of the financial
burden off their back.]
From Revive Israel’s Asher Intrater, some honest words about the
terrible disaster last week at Meron that left 44 ultraOrthodox dead and dozens
wounded. This may shock some, but Asher writes, “On a spiritual level, the event was
promoting a false Messiah, with a promise of false salvation, both temporally
and eternally. Those involved in the
disaster were part of an extremist cult.. . . So, yes, the disaster demands
deep-felt, heart-wrenching prayer, both in compassion for the victims, but also
in abhorrence of the cultic deception surrounding the event.” Revive also sends
his article The Second
Coming Battle, last week’s worship & message by Asher in the Global Broadcast, and an
appeal to Partner With Us from this
ministry which is preparing not only for a spiritual harvest in Israel, but for
the unifying “one new man” connections among international Christians.
City of Life in Sderot has come under a new barrage of rocket fire from Gaza, but they continue
to reach out with much need practical and emotional help to the citizens there.
Reaching
Families in Difficulties with the Love of Messiah. These are needy,
poor families and Michael and Dina Beener are dedicated to ministering to them.
They send a”new video you can learn more about our
calling”
From Chuck Cohen at Intercessors for Israel in Jerusalem, Friday Prayer Points 4/30/2021 and Friday Prayer Points 5/7/2021 and Watchmen from Jerusalem teaching: God Challenges the Church Part 2. The goal of the teaching is to challenge believers in that they cannot really say they believe in the New Testament if they do not also believe in what the New Testament says about the Old Testament - which is that it is still the Word of God today. May your trust in God's complete Word grow even more as you read this.
Messiah’s Mandate’s Ron Cantor writes about his week of taping for Shelanu and GOD TV
before headed back to Israel which he sends news on Hamas and their surrogates have stepped up the rocket
attacks against Israel. The government is bordering on crazyland! ). And now we
learn that John Kerry has been sharing secrets about Israel with Iran! But the good news is “Shelanu TV
is now getting 20,000 and 30,000 views, with 50% coming from inside of Israel!...
These are Hebrew testimonies, music videos and our new travel show. You are
doing this through your support. Thank you! Israelis are hearing the gospel!”
To donate
Chaim Malespin who is the director of the Aliyah Return Center, ARC for
short, sends a testimony of a family with young kids. “Watch as they tell their story of how your generosity in
these times, helped them get settled in Israel and make it through the
great struggles which have intensified, during this pandemic.” Chaim also
writes, Don't forget to mark your calendars for the next upcoming
"VIRTUAL" event: Shavuot (Pentecost)! We invite you to Join Us for this exclusive online event as we enter into
worship and prayer on the sea of Galilee. The event will take place May 16th, 2021 at 7pm Israel time on
Facebook Live.
Gilad Rosinger of Radiant Israel invites you to join along in the Yeshua Fast
leading up to Shavuot / Pentecost, and for their our weekly fellowship, Global
Shabbat, as we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal truth and provide peace for us
all together.
Join us this Saturday, May 1 at
10:30am PST / 12:30pm CST / 1:30pm EST / 8:30pm Israel time. It will be
streamed LIVE on both our Facebook and Youtube pages. We will also be sharing
more information about the newly announced, Galilee Awakening V : Come to the
Table - The Invitation Broadcast that will be taking place on May 16 at 19:19
(7:19pm Israel Time). More details to follow. Click Here to hear Gilad share about this special event
and how you can become involved.
My friend in the Carmel area, Ronit Bender, is an Israeli who spreads Sonshine whever she goes and this is how she looks at the commission of her life: to spread the love of Yeshua to each one she meets and let them see what having him in your life can look like. It is a way of being towards strangers and even people she has known since her youth in Israel that attract them to her even if they say they are not interested in hearing about Yeshua. There is no separating the Yeshua out of Ronit, little do they know! This month Ronit sent several stories of people she has ministered to as she went about her daily affairs. This is not like in the US where you just invite someone to your church, the believers in Israel are taking their own lives to the streets and it is producing fruit. To learn more, write me for Ronit’s email address. You can also listen to this interview done in 2009 in the UK with Ronit’s husband who went on to the Lord a few years ago. She writes that a friend sent her the link and “My heart rejoiced to hear Tom’s voice again. I pray it will minister to you. “
Rania Sayegh, the Christian Arab prophetic intercessor who heads the Nazareth House of Prayer and Exploits is also doing a 21-days Days of Prayer & Fasting for the release of
an outpouring on the Holy Spirit during Pentecost (May4-24). One the eve of Passover she had a
vision of many angels over the nations including a huge Angel of
Awakening over Israel. “I saw a huge angel over Israel who was holding a big
trumpet. As he began to blow the trumpet, the sound of the trumpet began to
release the winds of the spirit from the 4 corners of the land and a thick
layer of dust was removed from the land and the nations. The Lord explained to
me that this angel is an angel of awakening. The dust was to remove the spirit
of death that is trying to cover the nations and set His people free in this
Passover season. It is God’s decree over His people, “Let my people go!”
She writes: Please pray with us
| Pray for the salvation of all of Israel! For the Holy Spirit to be poured out
on all the people groups of Israel: Jews, Arabs, Druze, Internationals. | For
the Angel of Awakening to be sent throughout the four corners of the land and
for the covering of the dust of death to
be removed | Pray for the release of the sounds of Arabic worship from the
mountains of Israel | Pray for the Arab Deborahs to anchor their hearts and
stay secure in God throughout these troubled times.
We give thanks for the gifts
that have come in for the new building project and the regular monthly support
for HOPE's activities. Continue to pray with us for the finances to cover the
final stage of renovation of HOPE's guest and prayer houses.” To donate at PayPal
There is a lot of great news from the Kerem-El, God’s Vineyard
congregation, a plant of the HaCarmel congregation (also where Ronit Bender
also attends), from being able to get to meet together again In person, to a
special Zoom call they just did with people interested in their ministry. This
was an innovative way to connect with supporters since travel has been off the
table for so long. The Israeli ministries really depend on the donations of
believers around the world – they sure cannot possibly raise enough to do all
the ministry that God has put in their hearts in Israel. Come on! Think about
it!
But my favorite thing is the truly
innovative thing they are doing to provide the kind of fathering that every boy
needs in their Fatherless Boys Bar Mitzva Trip. “Fathers play
a central role in such initiation (as a Bar Mitzva), yet there are three young
men In Kerem-El who do not have fathers in their lives to exemplify and teach
them what it means to be a man, and specifically a Godly man. Pastor Jonathan
took these three young men under his wing to be a father figure to them. As
part of this vision, he planned special initiation assignments that the young
men needed to accomplish, each led by men from Kerem-El. The assignments
included changing a wheel on a car, changing lightbulbs, handling and firing a
gun (airsoft), making a bbq and cooking meat, giving CPR and first aid and
more. Upon completion of these assignments they all went for a Bar Mitzva trip
to Israel's most southern resort city, Eilat, where they snorkeled, did water
sports, hiked and much more.
Out of this need and initiative the
Lord is birthing a national vision for fatherless children who come of age.
We've begun dialoguing with several other ministries in Israel to provide an
initiation program for fatherless children and we hope to see this develop
further in the coming months. Please keep this initiative in your prayer.” For
more news from Kerem-El, you can get monthly prayer letters from the direct by emailing.
Fatherless boys is a crisis issue in the US too. What would happen if this
vision for stepping up took off in a big way?
Urgent HEALING Needs: Life and Death is in the power
of the tongue
Please keep in prayer
the Israeli believers who are fighting for their lives or other urgent health
needs:
Pray for the Silvers:
David's knees and Josie's
back pain | Rachel Netanel is still recovering from a broken ankle. She asks for healing & for the pain
to subside. Her ankles were weak already, so the process is slow and painful| A
prayer request for Naomi, for a dear family that is a part of Israel Pochtar's pastoral team, who
was diagnosed 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 wrote, I am feeling pretty good, but do have trouble climbing stairs and walking is getting tougher for me because of my heart situation. My cardiologist was changed by my health provider. He is very
unpleasant and I want a new one. |Please
continue to pray for Jacob Damkani for the
LORD's mercies over Jacob and his dear wife, Elisheva | Olga Bikas is slowly recovering from a broken ankle (after her back
surgery!) The recovery process is slow, but, praise the Lord, she is getting
better and stronger, can already walk for 20 minutes and do some physical The
recovery process is slow, but, praise the Lord, she is getting better and
stronger, can already walk for 20 minutes and do some physical exercises.
Please keep praying for Olga
donna@israelprayer.com or donna@d10r10.com
THANK YOU to those who support this ministry with donations. ♥
Donations appreciated | on PayPal donna@israelprayer.com
Or by postal mail make donations payable to the order of Donna Diorio
P O Box 111302 Carrollton, Texas 75006 | I do not have tax exempt status.
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