The Jerusalem Prayer List – October 29th, 2009
By Joseph Shulam, from Tokyo, Japan

Ten days passed very quickly since I have arrived in Japan.  Every day was full of wonderful experiences that will bring Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel and honor to the Lord Yeshua our savior.  It is always a good experience to teach people who want to learn and people to whom God has given a special love for Israel and the Jewish people.  The main event for which three of us from Israel have come to Japan was two sessions of Asia Messianic Forum 2009.  Each of these sessions was two full days, full Japanese style from about 9:00 a.m. to about 9:00 p.m.  I say “about” because essentially who had time to look at the watch and see what time it is.  One of these forums was held in Osaka and the other one in Tokyo.   The one in Tokyo was held in the largest church building in Tokyo, the Yodabashi church.  For other countries the numbers would not be impressive, but for Japan to have 600 or 700 people in one location worshiping and learning from God’s Word is a formidable event.  The most exciting thing about this forum was that leaders from many different Christian denominations gathered together to hear and to speak and sing and to fellowship and all this around Israel and the Jewish Disciples of Yeshua.  I ask you all to pray for the momentum that was built in these forums to be used by God for His glory and to continue to promote unity and cooperation and working together for the Kingdom of God and for the salvation of the Jewish people and for blessing Israel.  The objective of this forum as it is defined by the organizers is to promote support for Israel, the Jewish Disciples of Yeshua in Israel, and to inform the Christians in Japan of the Restoration that God is doing to both the Church and Israel.  Besides participating in this forum in Japan I have spoken to several groups in several cities and all about the restoration of the Lord’s Body and the Kingdom of God.  I am amazed at the reception of the people because the concept of restoration is essentially a concept that requires some major giving up of old “stuff” and remodeling of positions and theological strongholds that in the first place created these manmade denominations.  I see that people in Japan like in other places have mostly realized that Christianity was not started in Germany by Martin Luther or in Holland by Calvin or in Hollywood, California and that in essence it is an Asian product made in the West coast of Asia and they are in the East coast of Asia.  People are willing to read the Bible see what they can see from it, but the traditional churches have not allowed people to look for themselves and see what they can see.  The traditional churches have actually told the people in Asia and in other places that what they see in the text is not really what they ought to hold and believe.  What they need to believe is what is not written in the text of God’s Word but what the creed of the church has said and the Holy Spirit actually misunderstood the real truth, but Calvin and Luther and Campbell and who knows who understood God’s will and the truth better than the Word of God.  You may think that Joseph is being sarcastic!  Well, am I telling the truth even if it is a little sarcastic?  I praise God for the opportunity to be a part of this movement that is seeing these denominational lines melting and people from all different places and backgrounds coming together to search and learn and fellowship around Yeshua the Messiah and only around Him and His Word.  There is still a long way to go, but there are brothers and sisters in Japan who are committed to keep going until the goal is reached and the Church and Israel are both Restored into the will and the heart of God Himself.  God wills it and God wants it and we ought to want it too!
Please pray for me.  Tomorrow I fly to Korea and there I shall be ten days also teaching and preaching with some wonderful people who have the same spirit and the same intentions as those wonderful friends of God and Israel in Japan. 

Marcia is in Tennessee with Barry and Beth and Joseph.  Danah and Noaam are contending with their difficulties in California.  My family all needs prayer for health and for strength.  Please pray for my family. 

Please pray for Jerusalem.  There are some very big and strong developments in Jerusalem that show us against whom we are really contending and the forces that are intending to harm us and damage the State of Israel’s reputation as a democratic country that recognizes the civil rights of all its citizens.  Pray for Netivyah because we are as always in the eye of the storm.  Pray for the Roeh Israel congregation and for the leadership and those who are doing the Work of The Lord in that congregation.  They are all under no little stress and they all need your blessings and your prayers. 

Pray for Ludmila, Miriam, Nancy, and Yuda who are doing the work of the humanitarian aid for the poor and hungry of Jerusalem.  They too are under great stress having to decide who will and who will not be able to receive food from Netivyah. 

Pray for Udi and Shaul and Adam and Danny and Ammikam who are working on producing wonderful rich radio programs and other materials that present a sane biblical view of our faith in Yeshua as our Messiah and the Savior of the World. 

Pray for Hannah, Elizabeth, who are working in the office and producing wonderful material and correspondence and mailing and manning the office together with Yuda and Udi and Shaul? 

You see, I have to be far from the office and remember to express my gratitude and compliment the wonderful staff that Netivyah has working.  The same is true for all of us who work in the Congregation and for the Congregation of Roeh Israel on strictly volunteer basis and are doing a great job.  We have David who is leading the worship on Shabbat and doing such a fine job that brings an inspirational dimension that all the teaching in the world could not bring in without worship.  We have all the wonderful ladies (there are too many to bring them all by name and the danger is that I might forget someone and then O boy what will I get on my head) of the congregation that prepare the food and teach the younger children and take care of so many other things that are absolutely necessary for a healthy congregation of God’s people.  We also have a whole cadre of translators who make our guests welcome and provide a very hard but very important service to visitors from all around the world.  Moran, Lydia and Marcia are the coordinators of the translation team, but they do much of the translation themselves.  I must mention the wonderful youth that we have that is the best of the best and that is true about every single one of them.  You must keep all of the above in your prayers, but the youth is very special because a few of them are going into the Israeli army soon and they are going in some of the top unites and they will need your prayers just like those who are already serving in the army and are excelling in every way.  Please keep us all in your prayer and pray that we might be able to do all the good things that the Lord has put into our hands and do it with a smile and a happy heart.

I pray for all of you all around the world who keep us in your prayers and support what we are doing and I wish it were possible for me to tell you all about the battles that we are fighting for Israel’s sake and for Jerusalem’s sake.  All I can say to you now is that “for Jerusalem’s sake I shall not be silent.  .  . Until her salvation is like a torch” burning bright enough to be seen to the ends of the Earth.  (See Isaiah 62 and please read the whole chapter.)

We have all the ill and those who need a touch of the Lord’s healing hand.  I ask you to pray for those in Jerusalem who are mostly already over 80 years old and need strength and healing:  Ahuva, Lea, Ilana, Sara and Zvi, Sarit, and Miriam.  There is also the younger set, Marcia, Tatiana, and Ludmila.   We have around the world Tim Tucker, and Tellervo in Finland, and Paulo in Brazil, and Ruby in Oklahoma, and Kemi San, and Ishiida San in Japan.  Please don’t forget that praying for people whom you don’t know and knocking on Heaven’s door for people that you might not even meet in this life, but will, the Lord willing, meet for eternity will bring you and God a great joy one day.

Well, it looks like I better close this letter and go to bed soon.  It is late here in Tokyo, but early in Israel and the United States.

Be blessed by God my dear brothers and sisters,

Joseph Shulam