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The Jerusalem Prayer List – September 23, 2010
The first day of Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles)
By Joseph Shulam
Last week I did not write the prayer list because Thursday was Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). We were all the day long in our congregation in prayer and fasting so I could not write the prayer list. Elhanan Ben-Avraham wrote a short report of Yom Kippur and I would like to include it in this prayer list:
THE SABBATH OF YOM KIPPUR 2010
Imagine a city completely silent, void of the swoosh of automobiles and honk of horn, without music playing, and every shop, restaurant, and department store closed. Jerusalem, along with the rest of the Jewish cities of the Holy Land, is unique on the planet in utterly ceasing before Heaven on the Biblical Holy Day of Atonement.
The majority of Jews here stop to fast and pray in introspection, and confess our sins to our Creator, and one to another. Forgiveness is asked for many types of sin and transgression, for inappropriate word or deed against G-d, and against our fellow men. These are confessed in our synagogues collectively and individually, out loud, together. Though this is also commanded in the New Testament, how many churches and Christians actually take the time to practice this?
The eve of the holy day begins with ancient prayer of Kol Nidre which cancels false oaths enforced upon Jews during the Inquisitions when our fathers and mothers were forced to convert to Catholicism on pain of expulsion or death. With this prayer we honor their memory. And we sing together the Hebrew prayer of King David in psalm 51, “Create in me a pure heart, o L-rd…”, and many other prayers of our people uttered during many generations in the ancient holy tongue. There is none righteous who have not sinned.
After those evening prayers some of us made a small pilgrimage to the Western Wall, the remnant of the second Temple, whose stones radiate the warmth of thousands of years of prayers of the Jewish people. We walked down the empty and silent streets of Jerusalem with our children and grandchildren to the gates of the Old City, with a sense that Isaiah and Ezekiel and Micah and Amos and Jeremiah and David and Abraham and Paul and Peter were all walking with us. My purpose was to dedicate to the Eternal my new granddaughter Liah at the same place that I first arrived alone 31 years before, the same stone where I later dedicated my wife Julie, then our infant son David, then our little daughter Tamar, then our first granddaughter Danielle- all born to us in Jerusalem. I prayed over her the 87th psalm. I thank our faithful King to have been favored to live to have seen all this.
Around this ancient wall were Jews of every flavor and tone and tongue under Heaven, in fervent prayer. And there were people of the nations with us from the Philipines, Japan, Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Finland, Switzerland, Romania, Russia, England, the USA, Africa, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, and the Arab too, all called together here by the Jew Yeshua.
Those of us who have found the mercies and forgiveness of the Messiah spent the next day standing in the gap that He has made for us close before the Eternal, and there intercede for our people and nation and land, and even for our enemies who wish to annihilate us, in Him who layed down His life for this nation, according the words of the gospel of Yohanan (John 11:47-52), the prophesy of the High Priest Caipha, who said, “’…it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish’, now this he did not say on his own, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Yeshua was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but that He might gather together into one the children of G-d scattered abroad.”
May our prayers and intercession be heard and answered speedily in our days. Now we begin preparations for the final Biblical festival of Succot, the Feast of Tabernacles.
Elhanan ben-Avraham
9-18-2010
Well, Today actually is the first day of Succot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Last night we had 18 people in our Succah at home. It was a mainly a latin evening with some of the immigrants from latin countries who are members of our congregation. The fellowship was wonderful and we talked a lot about Abraham. It is a custom in the Succah to have one of the Patriarchs as “Ushepezin” - which is the ancient Aramaic word for guest. The European languages get many words from this Aramaic word, Hospital and Hospitality, Hospice, House, Hotel, Hostel, are all taken from this ancient language that was spoken together with Hebrew and Greek in the land of Israel in the First Century. Abraham is the first guest and after him the subsequent nights we have Isaac, and Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, King David, and the Messiah. It is our custom to talk and tell the stories of these “Ushpezin” in the Succah. So, last night we had a nice conversation about Abraham and the children all participated and told us what they know about Abraham and his hospitality.
At the same time that we were seated in the Succah talking about Abraham in New York City the United Nation was condemning Israel for defending it's boarders against terrorists and preventing terrorist countries from smuggling rockets and weapons to the Hamas Organization in Gaza. There is no end to the cynicism and hypocrisy of the United Nations when it comes to being bias and anti-Semitic. Countries like Russia and China and North Korea and some of the countries of Western Europe who serve as basis for international Islamic terrorists are happy to find any occasion for condemning Israel. As Disciples of Yeshua we should be totally aware of the fact that the WORLD has not changed even one little bit. The WORLD today is just as much “The WORLD” that was in the time of Yeshua. Here are just a few things that the New Testament says about the WORLD. There are too many passages talking about the world, so I took just a few from the Gospel of John.
John 3:19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
John 14:17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the worldcannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the worldgives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 15:18 “ ¶ If the worldhates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the worldwould love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the worldhates you.
John 16:8 “And when He has come, He will convict the worldof sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
John 16:20 “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the worldwill rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.
John 15:18 “If the worldhates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19“If you were of the world, the worldwould love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the worldhates you.
John 16:8 “And when He has come, He will convict the worldof sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
John 16:20 “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the worldwill rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the worldyou will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
John 17:14 “I have given them Your word; and the worldhas hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Please pray for Israel and for the WORLD. I see that the main problem of the WORLD is that it does not appreciate truth and it does not love truth. The bigger the lie the more credible it is to the WORLD and we have to really begin to pray in intercession for the World because our Lord has a better future than the sordid past of our Planet. On the other hand we should not allow the world to dictate to us, the Body of the Messiah, either our morals, or our viewpoints, or our theology and values. We should fight it and change it and call it to order according to God's Word, not according to the United Nations dictates that are controled by the Arab block and China, and Russia.
The Holiday Season in Jerusalem is always full of guests and at Netivyah we have guests from all over the world during the holidays. We have guests from Brazil, France, Belgium, United States, Japan, Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Holland, and South Africa. Our congregation and Netivyah are like an Aquarium in the Heart of Jerusalem. At times it does bother our regular schedule of prayer and worship, and especially when you have translation in more than one language, but on the other hand these good people come to see and visit a congregation that is dedicated to the Restoration of a first century church in Jerusalem. Please pray for us and for the many different ministries that we are doing in Jerusalem.
Please also pray very fervently for the conference in Portugal in December. Time is running fast and people are registering for the conference. If you are coming to the conference and you have registered and you did not get a response from Euromar please call them or write them again. Here below is the information for the web page, and the e-mail and the phone numbers of Euromar travel agency in Porgutal. Euromar is the company that is handling the conference arrangements.
Web Page: http://www.anussimconference.com/
E-mail: Sandra Teixeira - Euromar Travel Agency <incoming6@euromar-travel.com>
Address: EuroMar Travel Agency, Avenida do Infante, 58 | 9004-526 Funchal – Madeira
Tel.: +351 291 200 766 | Fax: +351 291 229 220
www.euromar-travel.com
On Yom Kippur we had a small tragedy. Our dear sister Sara fell down in the hotel room and fractured a vertebra in her spinal cord. Sara is already past 80 years old and she had fallen from the balcony of her house a few years ago and it is a miracle that she is alive and able to walk, but this fall did not do her a whole lot of good. She is in the hospital and I am asking you to pray for her and for Zvi her husband who is very anxious.
I have another special prayer request for a dear sister. Grace is a young sister who is going through medical tests for serious illness. It is so very important that you call upon the name of the Lord for Grace and ask for a total healing.
Please continue to lift us our chronically ill brothers and sisters: Ruby, Tim Tucker, Paulo, Sarit, Leah, Liora, Ilana, and Ahuva.
Our dear sister Tellervo has gone to be with the Lord. She was one of the pioneers of the prayer for Israel and for the Restoration idea in Finland. She served God all the days of her adult life in the best way she understood and has contributed to the salvation hundreds of people in Finland who received the Lord in biblical baptism. We have nothing but praise for our dear sister Tellervo and we look forward to eternity to be with our dear sister Tellervo. All of you who have prayed for Tellervo have for sure received a blessing.
Remember that our lives here in Earth are nothing more than a Succah (a tabernacle) that is open to all of the atmosphere and weather, rain, wind, snow, and the heat of the sun. We are all looking and hoping and working toward spending eternity in a better place. We are all waiting for the resurrection from the dead and the justice that can only come from the judgment seat of God Himself.
Please also keep my own family in your prayers, Danah, and Noaam in California, Barry, Beth, and Joseph and June my mother-in-law in Tennessee and of course Marcia and I in Jerusalem. We need God's protection and provision in all areas of our lives.
May the Lord visit again the Tabernacle of David that is being Restored soon!
Joseph Shulam
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