The Jerusalem Prayer List - December 29 2011

Happy New Year to all of you - Welcome 2012!

by Joseph Shulam

The end of 2011 is right at hand. The year is ending and 2012 is entering. This last year was very tumultuous in the whole Middle East and may be not only the Middle East but in so much of the World. As one who has studied Archaeology and History I can say that these events that are changing the Middle East and the new technologies that are conquering the world are going to bring major changes in the consciousness of humanity and major changes in the way that we do things in the industrialized world. If you can remember what your world was like before the 9/11 fall of the World Trade Center in New York you can see how one even in a faraway place changed the way our whole civilization is handling itself. What happened in New York on 9/11 has changed the way people travel, it has changed the what people can or cannot pack in their hand luggage, it has created new government agencies like the Office of Homeland Security, and the ripples of these changes are not yet fully finished. As Disciples of Yeshua the Messiah our lives are and ought to be anchored on the unchanging Rock of our Salvation. I say that our lives ought to be planted on the solid Rock of God's Word and Yeshua's mercy and love. However, what ought to be and what is are two different things and because we are approaching the new year of 2012, I don't want to be writing the last Jerusalem Prayer List on a negative note. I do want to look into the future in a very positive note and try to inspire you and yours to seek the Higher and Better, the Holier and Purer, things of God for this upcoming new year of 2012. What are the ingredients that you need, and we all need, in order to be more efficient in our faith, and happier with our lives and families, and more dedicated to our fellowships, churches, and synagogues?

1. We need a clear vision. Vision is two things, a direction that maps out the path for our future, and eyes sight that shows us in a very clear way where we are right now and where we want to be tomorrow.

2. We need determination to reach the goals of the vision that God has set before us in His Word. Determination is not the same as stubbornness. Determination is one of the main elements of true faith. It is the ability to take the failures and blows that life gives us and use them as catapults to push forward and keep going toward reaching the goals of God's program. Some Christians in the West have lost much of this very important ingredient of faith because their Christianity (and in Jewish circles their Judaism) has become a tool for self satisfaction and instant gratification. "Religion" has become a tool for satisfaction of their most selfish needs. To paraphrase what John Fitzgerald Kennedy said in his inaugural address, Don't ask what your church can do for you, ask what you can do for your church. We could put this in a different way, Don't ask what God can do for you, ask what you can do for God.

3. Find your happiness in obedience to God's commands. Doing good and doing right for your master ought to be the biggest source of Happiness and satisfaction for every servant of God. People today go the church in order to resolve their personal problems, financial problems, and the vision that many churches are presenting is banking on the lowest elements. Although God does reward all those who diligently seek Him, and follow Yeshua our Messiah, and He does bless all those who do good, and save those who believe, and the law of sowing and reaping is at work.

4. Solving our spiritual problems and fulfilling our desires can only happen when we help others fulfill their dreams and reach their goals. We are not islands entirely to ourselves, but a part of a whole. We are cells in a much larger body that has a vision and a purpose and a mission from God.

5. Without courage there can be no real discipleship. For some reason some of the Christians in the West have lost their courage to speak with boldness and divine authority laced with divine love and present the Good News. Christians are afraid that if they speak the truth with love they might offend someone and hurt someone's feeling. They are afraid that if they stand upon the Word of God they might be considered opinionated and harsh. God's Word is true and it can be presented courageously with love and inoffensively, but boldly.

6. Christians need to be encouraged and taught to sacrifice and give more of themselves and their time and their money and their talents. This giving does not have to be only through their church but it can be in every aspect of their lives. The normal teaching in most churches is that sacrifice has to be financial to the church. Sacrifice is something total and we are commanded in Romans 12:1-3 to offer our bodies not only our money as a sacrifice to the Lord, a living sacrifice and the texts says that this is our reasonable, logical, service to the Lord. We have received eternal life and we expect to live eternally with the Lord therefore this temporal body that He gave us ought to belong to Him, time, and energy, and resources, and all else must belong to God. Yes, we do need to work and support our families and pay our bills and use our resources for the Kingdom of God because we are commanded to put first the Kingdom of God (Matt 6:33) and He will supply all our needs. It does say all our needs, but it does not a say all our wants. We must remember this when we speak about sacrificing our lives for the Lord.

I could go on with this list, but it is enough to start the New Year of 2012, and it is enough for all of us to think about starting to work on some of these issues and at least there is room for improvement in all of us.

As we close 2011 and enter 2012 here are some of the needs of Netivyah to pray for. We have just today made a courageous decision to reprint the commentary on the Jewish Roots of book of Acts. It is a project of 20,000 U.S. dollars. We have received many inquiries from people all around the world for this book and we are starting the pre-publication sale for this two volume over 1600 page commentary on the book of Acts. It can be ordered through our web page (www.netivyah.org). The sale will include the shipping and the sale price is $ 100 U.S. dollars. Normally the shipping is $ 20 US dollars so Netivyah will cover the shipping as a part of the Pre-publication sale.

My book, "Planted in the house of the Lord: God, Israel, and the Church" has been already translated to several languages and the latest is Dutch. We now have it in Hebrew, English, Portuguese, Italian, Korean, Dutch, and soon to come out in Japanese. This book is a basic 21st Century call for the Restoration of the New Testament church and Israel.

We have just had a review of the Food Distribution Ministry that Netivyah has together with the Social Services of the City of Jerusalem and we received the highest possible marks, but we will have to also cut some of the very generous amounts of fresh food that we are giving to the needy of Jerusalem because the budget is growing far too fast and becoming a major challenge. Last year we receive some $ 70,000 U.S. dollars in contributions for the Food Distribution Ministry i.e. the Soup-Kitchen, and we spent double just for produce, fruit and vegetables and meat and poultry. We are letting the Social Services of the City help us with these decisions so as to make it least painful to those people who receive this help. Please pray for the Soup-Kitchen needs and bless the poor people of Jerusalem. We are praying for the funds for the building project. We need to raise the funds for the building and if any of you have any connections with churches or ministries that might want to help build the first Synagogue for Jewish Disciples of Yeshua in the City of Jerusalem please put them in contact with us. Please raise your voice to God for this very important and pioneering building project in Jerusalem. Please think of the great implications of such a Synagogue in Jerusalem.

We continue to praise God for His goodness and His healing power and therefore we pray for all those who are sick whom we know about. We ask you to join us in prayer for those whom we lift before the Lord every week, and we add some new people for whom we pray for healing: Ahuva, Leah, Ilana, Sara and Zvi, Sarit, Marcia, Liz, Ruby, Ishiida San, Sadako San, Tim Tucker, and our dear sister Grace who was driving last week and a Palestinian cast a big rock and it went through the windshield of the car and he her in her face. Grace lost five teeth, and was damaged in her face. Also we add Amit a young two year old daughter of one of our dear brothers who has developed some serious rash all over her body and is now in the hospital E.R. We also pray for Merav, and for David S., and David, and Zvi D., and for all those who don't want their names mentioned in this prayer list. May the Good Lord bring healing and restoration to the bodies and spirits and souls of our brothers and sisters who are suffering from bodily ailments and pain.

We ask you all to pray for the situation of Christians all around the world, in Nigeria, churches are being burned and Christians persecuted, the same is true in Egypt, and Pakistan, and parts of India. The world is almost silent when Christian blood is being spilled in vain and out of hate and racism. We must pray for God to intervene in behalf of His faithful children and those who call upon the name of the Lord all around the world. Justice must be done by God since we can't do it ourselves, but we can show our love for all people, even those who hate us, by presenting them with the Good News in love and tolerance and good deeds.

We pray for Syrian Christians and for the Syrian people during this time of oppression, tyranny, and murderous leaders that care more for their seat of power than for their nation. May the Lord God of Israel bring down the dictatorship and tyranny and give freedom and good government to the Arab nations.

We pray for the conference for the Marrano Jews that we will hold in December 2012 in Israel. We ask you to join us in this prayer and help us in every way you can help us make the voice of those who have been suffering for more than 500 years under the shadow of the Cross of Catholicism, persecution, and death, heard and attended to for their liberation and return home.

Well, we bless you all with a wonderful good year in 2012 and good health and prosperity in both the Spirit of God and in the material world success and blessings.

Shalom from Jerusalem to 2011 and welcome to 2012,

Joseph Shulam