Hope Deferred | Pregnant with Zion
by
Donna Diorio
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but
when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12
When
we live for a long time with our hopes deferred (postponed, delayed or held to
a future pointed date) in time our lives can become conditioned to low or no
expectation. Instead we begin to face our days waiting for the other shoe to
drop, because that is what "heart sick" means.
Before anyone gets on their faith high
horse, some of you have not lived in a situation where your hopes were
postponed, delayed or held to an appointed future date. You just haven't. We
ALL have our trials, but some of you have not endured long standing "deferred
hope" that drags on and on with a deferred hope that is big enough even in
a person of faith, to establish a "heart sickness" like Proverbs
13:12 is talking about. Be glad you have not, but don't gloat thinking your
faith is superior — just stronger and better, because it just hasn’t been
equally tested.
In Revelation 12 the apostle John sees a
dragon, a serpent that releases a “flood” like a “river” to “sweep away "a
woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve
stars on her head. She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of
giving birth."
Everyone pretty much realizes by now that
the flood of water is a flood of words - evil words, words meant to tear down,
steal from or destroy the target of the serpent’s words. A flood - a
relentless, powerful torrent sweeping away everything in its path, carrying
everything off to utter destruction. It sounds like the last 2,000 years of
Jewish history to me.
Some have interpreted the woman in
Revelation 12 as being the Church because she is clothed in the sun; others
believe the woman represents Israel, the Jewish people because she is wearing a
crown of twelve stars representing the 12 tribes. I believe the woman is both: the One New Man
in Messiah made up of a Church that is in one-unity with the body of MESSIANIC
BELIEVERS. The church is the mid-wife interceding
for Israel's salvation and actively helping their Israeli MESSIANIC brethren to
bring salvation to birth in Israel.
Israel is pregnant with God's
salvation. It is going to take the midwife of the Church helping the pregnant
Israeli believers in Israel to bring forth this only awaited salvation of
"all Israel," to bring forth Zion. It is God's end game as the apostle Paul said
in Ephesians 2, to make of two (Jewish and Gentiles BELIEVERS) one new man in
Him, Messiah, Jesus/Yeshua. This is Zion
in the making.
But the dragon, the serpent, has been
dragging on and on what is hoped for : Zion.
So the Church gets the message to love Israel, but continues to fail to
fulfill GOD's DESIRE to fully unite with the Israeli MESSIANIC body, so this pregnancy
can come to full term, and all Israel be birthed into the kingdom of Messiah.
Even many Messianic Jews have such
"hope deferred" over the Church failing to see what God wants from us
that they have become heart sick. The expectation of change, where the church
isn't focused on the wrong things, but on the spiritual pregnancy of Israel,
they have almost – not quite — lost hope about their Christian family. God will
not let them lose hope entirely because He will revive hope for His desire will
be fulfilled at the appointed time. We sure seem to be in the contractions
already.
When the spiritual birth comes in Israel it
will be a "tree of life" not only to those whose hopes have been so
deferred for so long, or to the newly saved, but it will be a tree of life to
peoples in all the nations. When Israel comes at long last to the spiritual
birthing that God has held back to these days in front of us - the appointed
time – the nations will see it and rejoice that in their own nations too they
are seeing so great a salvation.
I relate these things on a personal level
and also on the level of being an advocate for the Israeli Messianic community.
I believe God has shown me that He has a certain end game for Israel where
Israel comes to faith by Messiah Yeshua, and He has made me understand through
the things I have experienced in life, many aspects of what Israel has gone
through to get to this very pregnant stage of His plan.
Over the past couple of years, if there is anything that God has been
working on me about, it is to break me from my heart sickness of low to no
expectation because of hope deferred.
Repeatedly that has been His message to me as I experienced perils and
unexpected rescues. He has used the repetition to speak to my hope-deferred-heart,
because trust requires repetition. He
has been renewing my hope so I could exercise my faith, that it is indeed
as He promised: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will
call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you." Jeremiah
29:11-12
I say to the Messianic Jews of Israel who
have experienced the heart sickness of hope deferred in seeing the Church truly
come alongside you for your labors in God’s harvest field of Israel: Look up for
Israel's redemption draws near: "For
the vision awaits an APPOINTED time; it testifies of the end and does not lie.
Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not
delay." Habakkuk 2:3
We are very close.
Arrows from Zion
Summarized
from the Weekly Summary of Prayer
Requests Israeli Ministries
Chava Stein wrote Why have you abandoned the Israeli Messianic Jewish community?
In Kehila News Israel following the recent outburst by Mike Evans
over Israelis electing someone other than Netanyahu. Evans made the comment that Israelis were
ruining everything that Christian Zionists hard worked so hard to build. It was
almost the exact sentiment expressed last year by another high profile
Christian Zionist, Laurie Cardoza-Moore when she condemned GOD-TV for helping
the Israeli Messianic ministries to launch a cable TV network (ShelanuTV) that
delivered the Gospel in Hebrew for a secular Israeli cable network. She also
said they were destroying all the good will Christian Zionists had established
in Israel. But who are we trying to please here, God or the unsaved
nationalist-religious rabbis and the Israeli government?
The Israeli Messianic ministries
have long kept their mouths shut as so many Christians got focused on
everything in Israel EXCEPT the Gospel. It is time that stopped being the rule
of Christians helping Israel. It is time Christians got focused on God’s real
plan for establishing Zion, because that’s what the Israeli Ministries are
pregnant with: Zion. Are we going to mid-wife that delivery to birth, or what?!
FYI: I name names because all these things were very public. . . .and the
apostle Paul named names too in such cases.
Also from Kehila via its sister publication, All Israel News, Messianic Jews, Arab Christian leaders pray for unity in wake of
Arab-Jewish unrest, violence. Many people do not realize, but there
is unity between Israeli Messianic ministries and Christian Arab ministries –
at least some of them. For Arrows from
Zion, I steer clear of the Christian Arab leaders who do not comprehend that
our unity is based on our blood-relation through Yeshua, not our
ethnic-nationalistic relations.
Donna: I have a cover story on the Jul/Aug 2021 Messianic Times profiling the ministry of Myles and Katharine Weiss in Napa, California. Many of you probably recognize them from their six years as hosts of the Zola Levitt Presents broadcast. I am spotlighting this profile because Myles and Katharine’s ministry serves as a model for how Christian churches can relate to and connect with the Israeli Messianic body of believers. In fact, their own congregation in Napa is based on the model they were exposed to at the HaCarmel congregation in Haifa. How they have set themselves to teach Christians about sharing faith with Jews in their own communities and also connecting with the body of believers in Israel, is something I would love to see catch fire among Christians and Messianic congregations in the nations. Myles and Katharine are a great example of what “one new man” unity looks like …it was also about the most fun interview I believe I have ever done. I would love it if you would read this article. Find it online at MessianicTimes.com for a modest subscription price.
Gil Afrait, the lead pastor of Tiferet Yeshua in Tel Aviv, also writes about unity – between Israeli Jews and Arabs, in Israeli Society, divisions over the Covid vaccine & politics. But the most serious division is one that has been going on under the eye of most believers internationally and that is the severe division between the non-charismatic and the charismatic Israeli ministries, instigated and perpetuated by the non-charismatic leaders over several years now. Gil writes, “Like everywhere, there are denominational \ theological differences in the Body of Messiah in Israel which, for the most part in the past, did not keep us from participating in different ministry events or conferences together. That is until several years ago when a group of non-charismatic leaders began to take issue with a fellowship of charismatic congregations (of which Tiferet Yeshua is a part) because they felt our platform was becoming too public and influential, and therefore our "errant" theology, in their opinion, was now a danger. The issues raised by the non-charismatic leaders were brought to multiple meetings of the National Committee of Messianic believers here in Israel with the intent to bring to a vote on whether or not the theology of the charismatic fellowship is "dangerous" to the Body of believers. The conflict raised over these issues has bled deeply into the Body of believers, and congregations and ministries have been black-listed, causing much hurt and division. The National Committee of Messianics here in Israel, largely led by non-charismatic leaders, is bringing this issue to a vote in October this year. We ask that you please pray.”
I have asked
you many times in this mailing list to pray over this injustice going on in
Israel. The vote in October is greatly
alarming because if the Israeli body of Messiah splits into two groups –
non-charismatic and charismatic, I believe it will be a division and separation
that ultimately breaks out internationally. In all the patterns I have
witnessed over the years, what happens in Israel does eventually happen in the
nations too. Perhaps because most Israel supporters are non-charismatic, the
non-charismatic leaders in Israel believe they are able to control the
donations to charismatic ministries by publicly blacklisting the charismatic
ministries. I know with great certainty
that GOD does not desire nor condone such a division between non-charismatic
and charismatic Israeli believers. If
the October vote goes against the Israeli charismatic ministries, then I for
one demand the individual votes be made public. If conviction against
charismatic teaching is so great, then let each voter be held publicly
accountable for their vote. I do not want to support in anyway going forward
those who will divide the body of believers in Israel so blatantly in disregard
of God’s will.
Lastly from Tiferet Yeshua, they are still trying to
raise the 2021 budget for the congregational rent after a major donor’s support
was lost. They have commitments of $75,000 on the $100,000 rent budget, so are
still in need of $25,000 for the year. Please pray and see if you are one
called to contribute.
From Sderot, Michael and Dina Beener’s City of Life
congregation did a recent Gospel tour with many non-believers visiting places where many important episodes
in biblical history took place, giving us room to introduce the Messiah. There
was a call to repent and pray for salvation where many prayed and testified of
something supernatural during the prayer. They also continue to minister to the
needs of their poor city, one way is with clothing. Read more online
Beit Hallel’s air conditioning system is now beyond
repair and must be replaced as Israel Pochtar writes in Like a
Snow-Cooled Drink at Harvest Time. Can you help? He also writes
about their passion: Evangelism, Discipleship and Building the kingdom of God in Israel.
After a powerful response to an evangelism outreach event, they launched a new 6-week discipleship course
for those that have met the Lord at the outreach event, and those that are on
the way. This is another reason why ‘Vacation Evangelism’ will never be as
effective as ministry from the believers in the Land who can go on to make
disciples as Yeshua commanded. (Click title for VIDEO). Plus Hebrew Worship from Israel
Rick Ridings of Succat Hallel writes, One of our worship teams of Israeli young
adults are now touring in the USA! Led
by Shilo Ben Hod, the team has on their heart to bring worship and the fresh
word of the Lord out of Zion, to the USA! We want to welcome you to join them
as they will be traveling all the way from NYC to LA, visiting different
churches and congregations! Visit Shilo’s website for the full schedule
and locations, and support if you would like.
Another excellent report from Ariel Hyde and the team at
Tree of Life: “we’re
experiencing a whirlwind of God’s Spirit moving in people’s hearts and bringing
breakthroughs, healing, and salvation. There are so many stories we couldn’t
share them all, so…” Read more online
From HaCarmel
congregation’s Karen
Davis, Co-Founder/Worship Director, Piercing the Darkness with Prophetic Praise: “[My] life was utterly transformed by
a revelation of the depth of God’s love toward me. Alongside this new unspeakable joy filling
my heart, I was awakened as never before to the deep pain and comfortless grief
of my own Jewish people. Centuries of anti-Semitism perpetrated by so-called
"Christians" have created thick walls of resistance in Jewish people
to even hearing the name of Jesus. Most Jews today remain blind to their
own Jewish Messiah and stand outside the gates of His healing love, unable to
enter into His goodness. After the atrocities of the Holocaust, many Jews
arrived in Israel with their essential belief in God shattered. As the Lord
began to lead me into the depths of His heart in intercession and travail for
the Jewish people, I received His promise that one day I would live in the land
of my inheritance... Read more online
Also from HaCarmel are prayer requests for the new Israeli government – pray for their good, not against them; pray for the authorities and military wisdom against the enemies plots in Gaza, Hezballah and Iran. Now that Covid restrictions are lifted “the Lord has been sending us groups of Israeli tour guides who are open to hear about what we believe as Messianic Jews, experience our live worship, and learn of our humanitarian work. Many have taken Bibles and free gospel literature in Hebrew. Please pray that the seeds planted will find good soil and many will come to faith in Yeshua.” Also pray for much needed maintenance equipment needed for repairs and renovations so they don’t have to hire outside contractors. Click for details list
Chaim Malespin is
currently in the US touring for the Aliyah Return Center. Back home they are
announcing the Lone Soldiers House Dedication: | Join us on
July 7th, 2021 at 7 PM IST online. Join us in putting this multi dwelling
"home" and garden together for the lone soldiers by watching the
video here: Lone Soldiers House – Garden Renovation. This whole Upper Room, is going to be a place of
refuge right in the hearts the city of Tiberias, near the beach, where shabbat
dinners will be served; comedy nights, and live music will recharge the
batteries, and refresh the weary defenders of Zion. Soon we will have 9
dwellings ready, and a magnificent "City Garden" Expenses are about
$1K per soldier, per month. Click to donate from the drop down menu choose
"Lone Soldier's House." ALSO
watch the VIDEO Virtual Tour of Israel
*******FREE STILL******* *** All FUTURE proceeds go to the work of
blessing new immigrants to Israel and poverty stricken families across the
country.
Revive Israel’s Asher Intrater writes about Yeshua: Fire in His Eyes. PLUS Their #IAMWITHISRAEL is helping much needed victims after the recent
Hamas attacks on Israel. “We created the “I am with
Israel” program for times just like these. There are many needs in Israel
right now. And by God's grace, in the name of Yeshua the Messiah, we're going
to do our part with you to help the people of Israel.
• We want to invest in mobile bomb shelters. • We want to provide assistance for poorer Israelis who have been suffering. • We want to go into cities that have been hit the hardest, with toys for the children and encouragement for the adults. • We want them to know that they have not been forgotten! I'm going to be bold and ask you right now to make a generous donation to #IamwithIsrael. | Also consider becoming a Partner with Revive Israel
Out of Zion Ministries in Haifa/Mt Carmel | Join David Silver for his Friday Update Video - June 25th | Click to Watch |Also 6/29 Midweek Update | Read David’s Comment “Teach Your Children Well” on Kehila News | Plus join the Out of Zion Prayer for Israel Zoom meeting every Tuesday 9 pm Israel time - 7 pm UK - 2 pm EST - 6 am NZ | Go to https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82351582826 (Passcode: 146188)
Hasdey Yeshua wishing one of their robust Joshua 14:11-12 elders a happy 80th
birthday. The congregation is trying to
conquer a mountain of an obstacle that has kept them from enjoying a permanent
congregational building for years now – they’ve wandered from houses of
friends, to parks, and are still searching for a place that can be theirs
without being subject to persecution in Arad (pressuring landlords to put them
out.) Please pray for this. They also
have great reports about their ministry in the Bedouin villages,
especially among the women and children, also sharing pictures of the “hovels”
than many live. It is heartbreaking to
see…but the women are so receptive. Thank you for praying for their outreaches.
Eric Benson of the House of Victory rehab has a great report about the positive
things that have happened as they have added bicycle sporting activities. It
has deepened the fellowship bonds, even as their priority remains discipling
the men in the LORD. One of their men, a 70 year old man was presented a trophy
by a a cycling figure in a major bicycle race in Israel. The man was quite
eager to hear more about their story and vision of House of Victory: “As we sat
together some of the riders had a chance to share their testimony. Harel was
amazed to hear that former homeless men bound by alcohol or substance abuse can
be transformed by the power of God. He was in awe that our beautiful abode was
able to freely open our doors at no cost. He was stunned to hear that financial
support and donations from the international community enable us to provide our
ministry for free. . . . Our participation in this event has opened a door for
us to be a witness to a wider spectrum of the Israeli public. Our time of
training for our desert road race has propelled us to train for a more
demanding challenge in the city of Jerusalem. It is our hope to travel up to
the Gran Fondo Jerusalem/New York competition on October 1.” Eric shared much
more, like the successful graduation of 4 of the men from their 2-year old
Halfway House and many other personal testimonies and requests for prayers over
individual men. It is a hard work ministering to addicts, but there are many who
are snatched from the fire to be set on the Rock of salvation. You can get the
prayer letters sent directly to you if this is the type of ministry that God
moves your heart to support. | Also Eric preached Carmel Congregation's
mid-week message on June 16, 2021.
Tony and Orna Sperandeo
have their latest prayer & ministry online at the HaMaayan blog
Ronit Bender is like many who are living testimonies as they go about their
daily life, running errands, shopping, stopping for coffee. She blesses many –
it is just part of her daily routine.
Imagine her surprise to learn a neighbor is the new Israeli Prime
Minister’s mom! Not only that, but she
used to live in the same apartment around the corner that Ronit lived in as a
child with her mom. Pray for God to
bless this relationship in all the ways He sees fit! Ronit also relates a sad story of a Druze man
she has known for many years who recently took his own life in despair of his
problems. She writes, “His death really hit me. We had many talks
about God and shared our testimonies with him, but he never committed…. Two
weeks before Samir's death, I took some friends to eat at his restaurant, they
met him for the first time, and were touched when they heard about the history
between him and I. I remember hugging him and asking if all is well, as I
sensed something was wrong. He assured me that all was well. Why do I share
this story with you? Maybe you have people in your life that are going through
a tough time, but do not share, and the burden might be too much for them to
carry. Let's be sensitive to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and
thereby, maybe prevent another tragedy from happening.
From Tikkun Ministries is an exhortation from Asher Intrater to love. “When everything looks hopeless, we
have an opportunity to share real Hope. The evangel message is more relevant
than ever before…. We may have nothing other than that; but that is everything.
It is the only essential thing. Maybe we don't have explanations for every
situation; but we can be living examples of the love of God in any situation.”
He also writes about the Joint
Destiny of...Arab Christians Messianic Jews ?! and Hannah Tekle
wrties about Sons and
Daughters of the Covenant.
Lastly, Dan Juster clarifies What
Messianic Judaism is and is Not.
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 Ronit
Bender whose heart arrhythmia
sent her to ER! She is home now with new meds but still needs our
prayers | Pray for Carolyn Hyde
whose left hand is so pained she can no longer play guitar and it is also
sometimes painful to play piano | 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| Please continue to pray for Jacob Damkani for the LORD's mercies over Jacob and
his dear wife, Elisheva | Dov Bikas – I have been very tired these days: probably as a
result of a combination of factors: my age, stress of the days of running to
the bomb shelter, work load in the ministry, etc. Olga is getting better slowly, but
still has a long way before her, so please keep praying.
Thank you for donating to my ministry if it is a blessing to you.
I am trusting God for His favor in my finances.
I believe it is a holy work I do.
PayPalMe/DonnaDiorio or search PayPal for: donna@israelprayer.com
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.
