The Harvest and the Rains

Shalom!

I’m sorry it has been a bit longer in between updates this time; this past week was rather crazy! Thanks to the lovely dumpster cats that were coming into our courtyard, we had to have the house and courtyard sprayed for fleas.  So we were moving in and out of the house this week while they sprayed and got it under control.  It is so nice to be back in the house and have no fleas. We also got the courtyard fixed so the cats will just have to stay out now!

There are a few things I want to mention this time.  First of all, I hear that in the U.S. some of the news stations said there was a big standoff on the Temple Mount.  It was not nearly as big of a deal as the news in the States made it out to be.  The Arabs have really been trying to create another big uprising focused on the Temple Mount, but they have been unsuccessful.  We must keep covering it with prayer so that the Enemy’s plans will be thwarted.

Last time I was in Israel the Arabs were secretly excavating under the Temple Mount with bulldozers – archeologists were furious because many relics were completely destroyed; the area should have been excavated with fine tooth comb.  The goal of the Arabs was to remove all evidence that it had once been a Jewish holy site.  Their excavations caused part of the Wall to bulge and they have since had to do major repairs to it so it wouldn’t fall.  The area they excavated is now the largest underground mosque. They are trying to stay hidden, but God sees that which is done in secret, and He will shout it from the rooftops!  They also want to add a fifth minaret to the Mount to symbolize the Five Pillars of Islam.

It rained very briefly today, this is the first time it has rained since I arrived.  Please pray that the Former Rains would come!!! The rain in the Fall months is called the former rain and the rain in the Spring is the Latter Rain.  Right now we are in the midst of a water crisis. The Sea of Galilee is at an all time low, and if it gets too much lower they will no longer be able to use it as a source of water.  The aquifers here in Jerusalem are also basically empty. We NEED rain!  Interestingly enough, it did rain shortly before I arrived and it just happened to be right after a day of repentance!

I find it interesting that God has been making some major inroads into Turkey in recent years, and right now Turkey has an abundance of water!!!  God always gives physical signs of what He is doing in the Spirit. There is an excitement in my Spirit because we have the opportunity to see some amazing rain, if we will stand firm in our prayers for Israel.  God often uses Israel as an example of what He is wanting to do in the rest of the earth. Do you want to see God’s outpouring of rain where you are?  Then pray that He would pour it out here in Israel.  She is our sister, He has not cast her away but chased after her and if we cast her away it is out of jealousy and that is not the heart of God.

I love you all and hope this is encouraging to keep pushing forward!  I would also appreciate your continued prayer for my finances. I have close to two-thirds of the money needed to cover my bills while I am here. God has been so faithful to provide so far, I’m looking forward to seeing how He will complete it!
Many blessings to you all as you chase after Him!
Lydia


Pictures:

#1 - Me standing on the spot where they believe the holy of holies might have been.

#2 - Something interesting I found in the graffiti outside of the Temple Mount. The Black box symbol is used a lot as a symbol for the mosque or the Dome of the Rock (can’t remember which), but someone wrote over it! I love that they had red flowers all around it as well. Go read the chapter! Was so encouraging!

#3 - The sun rising over part of the City of David, view from where I pray in the morning! 

Simchat Torah

Shalom from Jerusalem!

Life is busy as always around here, so much happening sometimes it’s hard to keep up with it all.  I have finally been able to get my schedule set in place both in regards to helping my host family as well as time to prayer.  This has made life so much easier! It’s so nice to wake up and know what your day is basically going to look like. Thank you for praying that all of this would be worked out.
In my last email I didn’t really talk about the holidays we were in the middle of, so I would like to do that this time.

Succoth (most people have heard of this time referred to as the Feast of Tabernacles), is based on remembering the Lord’s faithfulness. It is a time of thanking the Lord for how He took care of them when they were wandering in the desert for 40 years, during which time they lived in temporary dwellings. So that is why during Succoth people construct temporary dwellings or Succahs in their yards (the really religious people literally move into them for the week, eat, sleep etc. in them).  If you can find the film Ushpizin I would highly recommend watching it. This film was made here in Jerusalem and gives you a good idea of what the holiday is like for the religious Jews as well as some fun things about the culture.  It is in Hebrew with English subtitles, I really don’t know if it’s very easy to find in the States. For them the holiday also involves being very hospitable to whatever guests God sends to them.

Anyway, this year Succoth ended at the beginning of Shabbat (Friday evening), and then at the end of Shabbat (Saturday evening) they had Simchat Torah. This celebration is about rejoicing over the Torah (Scriptures). They had a big celebration in the park, complete with cotton candy, hot dogs and popcorn! The rabbis and men from various Yeshivahs brought their Torah scrolls and took turns getting in groups on the stage and dancing around with them. The rest of the men and boys danced together on a lower stage while the women and older girls danced in the park. It was crowded and a ton of fun! It was really neat to see so many people grinning and dancing and singing about the Word of God. I wish more of us did this! So many times we take the Word for granted. It was a precious site to see and I had a blast dancing with the women! A friend gave me a ticket so I could get in the closer section for taking pictures. He said to turn my hat around, go to the front and pretend to be a photographer! I didn’t turn my hat around but I did go all the way to the front and ended up standing on the lower stage. It was so much fun. I will include a few pictures from the park (the lighting was not ideal for taking photos, even though I was really close!).

I hope all of this is interesting and encouraging! Thank you for your continued prayer and support, you are all such a blessing to me.  May the LORD bless you and keep you! I would love to hear the news from home, so please feel free to email me about the goings on in your neck of the woods! Much love to you all.

~Lydia

Picture #1 – me in my favorite tree, on the way #2 – men with their Torah scrolls #3 – cute grandfather and grandson

Succoth

Shalom my friends!

It’s update time, yay!!! I’m not sure where to start; hopefully I can get it all in without writing a book ;)

I have moved in with my host family. They have five children ages 6 and under (one set of twins).  Please pray that God give me wisdom in working out my schedule as I will be helping them with their children in exchange for room and board.

I have recently learned some interesting and important information that you won’t be hearing from the media!!! For several weeks the Arabs have been sneaking young men into the city and forming groups of about 100 each. These young men were brought in as preparation for what the leaders were calling the Al-Aqsa War (not sure how to spell that in English), which is the name of their mosque on the Temple Mount. These leaders were broadcasting in surrounding Arab nations that Israel was going to shut the Temple Mount down and take away the control of it, so they were trying to get all of their people in place.  Just in case you didn’t know, Israel technically owns the Temple Mount but they allow the Jordanians to run the Temple Mount and have their people on it as security.

 At the beginning of Succoth (Feast of the Tabernacles) these young men actually started a riot in which people were injured. Since then the police have found a number of wheel barrows full of stones hidden away on the Mount which the Muslims were going to throw down on the people praying at the Wailing Wall.  Right now the police have the Temple Mount shut down to all Muslims except men over 50 and women.    Please continue to pray for covering over Jerusalem and that the plans of the enemy would be thwarted before they can be acted upon. Praise the Lord they were stopped before they could stone those praying at the Wall! The relative calm in Israel and Jerusalem can be changed very quickly into a war zone, so it is important to pray regularly for God’s protection and covering.

The last thing I want to share is in regards to Isaiah 19:18-25. I have been praying specifically for Egypt and Assyria (Iraq, parts of Turkey, Syria, Jordan, parts of Iran as well as a few other areas I’m not sure about). God is beginning to do a major work in Egypt in particular. He is drawing them to Israel! One of the main things that has hindered the relationship between believers in Egypt and their brothers in Israel is the belief in replacement theology (basically states that Israel is no longer relevant and that those who believe in Jesus replace Israel completely and that the promises God made to Israel which have yet to be fulfilled were really made to Believers, and Israel has no part in it). This theology is completely against the teachings of the New Testament! In Romans 9-11 we are told that Israel has everything to do with it! We become “Joint Heirs”, one not better than the other, but together a mighty force.  I have been praying over this issue and speaking into it. There are a number of believers in Egypt who are finding that this theology is not the truth, but since it is so heavily rooted in their congregations, along with a hate for Israel, it has been difficult for them to overcome it.  But they WILL overcome it!!! Pray for God to remove it by the root!  The youth of Egypt are the ones beginning to see this truth, and it is difficult for them since the older leaders have not had this revelation yet.

Thank you for standing with me and supporting Israel!  Well, I think this email is long enough! I love you all and miss you, please continue to pray for me, that I will be right where He wants me at all times and also for His continued provision for the costs of being here.

Pictures - #1 Me in front of one of the waterfalls at En Gedi (oasis in the desert where David hid from Saul).
#2 Me standing in front of the Succah we built for Succoth

~Lydia

The Arrival in Jerusalem

Shalom!

I arrived safely in Jerusalem on Monday in the late afternoon, thank you all for your prayers. So far this week I have mostly been resting and doing some running around town. Jet lag hasn't been a problem; I've been sleeping quite well every night! On the 29th I will be moving into my permanent housing. I will be staying with a family that has five children, the oldest of which just turned 6! Needless to say they are happy for more help with the children and household duties. I will also be spending at least 15 hours a week in prayer and worship.  I will try to attach some pictures of places I go and give some explanation as to what you are looking at!

One place I visited this week was the Temple Mount where I saw the Eastern Gate – the gate the Messiah will return through. I find the methods the Muslims have used to close it off rather interesting. They know of the prophecy that the Jewish Messiah will one day return and come through the Eastern Gate. So, they completely blocked it and filled it with stones (you can see the stones on the outside of the wall, not the side visible from the mountain top). Then, just in case that wasn't enough they put a cemetery on the outside entrance because they know that any holy rabbi or Jewish leader would NOT come near the gate since they would be defiled by the dead bodies. They have no idea what type of power they are dealing with!!!

I want to particularly remind all of you to be praying starting now. Tomorrow, for those of you who don't know, they Muslims in the U.S. have planned to march in DC and have a day of prayer in front of the capital. Pray, pray, pray!!!! We have been crying out for God to show His mighty arm and disrupt this march with bad weather. LOTS of rain, but the storm would need to be a rather severe one to keep the marchers away, possibly even hail. There are scriptures in which God used or speaks of using hail as a judgment on his enemies. This is not an event to ignore, the Muslims are perfectly aware of what kind of affect such an event could have on our nation. We must cry out for mercy on this country.  God is not too small to intervene, but He will not do it unless He sees the repentance in our country that He is looking for. When God begins to call a nation back to Himself, He does it as gently as possible. Perhaps He will start with some bad weather, if that doesn't work then maybe some severe weather, such as prolonged droughts or flooding or earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes. Then if the people still refuse to repent He will chose something more severe, such as turning them over to someone who will put them into captivity.  We have waited far too long to repent as a nation, we are on the verge of running out of time before we are placed into complete captivity and left there for a long time. America! Don't be too proud! It has happened to many other nations, it CAN happen to you! It is time for us to cry out for the church to wake up out of its deep slumber and repent. So I urge each one of you to stand with us and pray that God would cause this Muslim day of prayer to be thwarted, that the weather would make it impossible and that there would be no available building for them to use at the last minute.

Ok, so my update ended up being long anyway! I love you all and please continue to pray for Israel as well as our country.  Oh, I almost forgot. I have been asked to include this information in my update. If any of you are interested in helping me financially during this faith walk in Israel you can contact me for more information at:

Thank you soooo much for all of your support already, both financially and in prayer. I am truly blessed!

Hugs to you all!
~Lydia