Letter from the Messianic body in Israel

Greetings Fellow Intercessors and Watchmen,

I pray and trust that you are well. 

I would like to thank you for all the prayers and support towards God’s first born nation, Israel. The war is still on and we are thankful to God that He has shown us the end from the beginning.

There is a team of Israeli Jewish and Arab pastors who have been meeting once a month over the years and they are inviting the Body of Messiah all over the world to join them in a season of prayer and fasting for Israel. Below is their message to us. 

Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I may weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.

For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewn themselves, cisterns – broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:1, 2:13, 17:5,7)

Our nation is passing through, what could be, the most critical hour that we have faced in our history since our establishment as a modern State in 1948. We are confronted with war on multiple fronts, within and without the present borders of Israel. We have been fighting a war in Gaza for months and have suffered great losses and casualties, whether it be the deaths and severe wounding of many of our civilians and soldiers or the deaths and inhuman humiliations of many of our hostages. The unexpected invasion of Hamas on Shemini Atzeret and the invasion of our unprotected security barrier by thousands of terrorists resulted in the first nightmarish holocaust on the soil of Israel. This happened, not by coincidence, one day after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, which also took Israel by surprise. The unprotected southern border of Israel was a reflection of an ominous spiritual reality that our spiritual gates were open and unprotected so that Satan could bitterly attack us because of sin in our Land.

We are facing a desperate situation that challenges us as never before in our modern history. All human solutions are feeble in the face of the multiple dilemmas and quandaries that face us concerning internal and external battles that threaten our existence as a nation. The sinister pressures and demands of the US and other nations that are weighing upon Israel, if conceded to, are sure guarantees of future disaster. If we do not submit to this outside pressure, we could well find ourselves fully isolated from the world community of nations. Before us, remain the unresolved questions of war with Hezbollah in Lebanon and an ever-increasing possible future atomic war with Iran and her proxies in the nations that surround us.

If ever there was a time when we, the indigenous Body of Messiah in Israel, needed to take our place as a priesthood before the throne of God on behalf of our nation, it is now! There have been several calls to prayer in Israel by the religious establishment, but we as a Body have not yet gathered together to humble ourselves before heaven on behalf of our nation, beseeching God that His mercy, forgiveness, protection, and divine intervention be extended to us. There has been prayer in the individual congregations, but we have failed as a Body to be united as one Voice before heaven, in fasting and prayer as a priesthood on behalf of our people. There was one joint Zoom prayer meeting at the beginning of the war and another meeting of approximately 100 leaders, Jews, and Arabs, who prayed and repented before the Lord.

The sin in the Land has opened spiritual gates for this present disaster to come upon our land and people. The divisions and enmity within the nation and its leadership, the hatred without cause, the shedding of innocent blood through abortions, the advocacy of immorality and sexual perversion, the idolatry and pride, and the great sin of rejecting the sovereignty of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob over this land and its people – have all worked to remove God’s covering of blessing and a great measure of His protection from upon us. The Nova party, at which our youth were dancing around a large statue of Shiva, was reminiscent of the sin of the Golden Calf and a clear warning of its consequences. We do mourn with all those who have suffered and lost their loved ones at this event.

We have indeed failed as a Body to beseech the Lord in unity and unison for His mercy for Israel and to stand in the gap before Him in asking Him to forgive us of our many sins against Him and each other. But before we can effectively stand in confession and the humbling of our hearts before God for Israel, we must first begin with ourselves. We, the undersigned, in deep agreement and conviction of heart, believe that it is time to seek the Lord and to call the Body of Messiah in the Land to three days of fasting and prayer with a main emphasis upon Repentance.

The following is our understanding of how we are to seek the Lord during these three days, from the 25-27 February:

1. The first day of the 25th is to be a day of personal repentance of each individual believer, for sins against the Lord and one another. Repentance must first begin with each individual human heart before God.
2. The second day of the 26th is to be a day of repentance and prayer for the Body of Messiah in the Land. We have been delinquent in our priesthood as was clearly revealed during the period of the coronavirus pandemic when we could not meet together as a Body in prayer and repentance before God for our sins and the sins of our people. There is hardness of heart within the Body, and unresolved and unrepented issues between brethren which include unforgiveness, divisions, a lack of confession of sin, and a poverty of grace and love. This refers to unresolved issues within the various congregations, unresolved issues between different congregations, and unresolved matters between the leadership of different congregations. Judgment begins in the House of God and so we must humble ourselves for these matters and other serious issues within the Body.
3. The third day of the 27th is to be a day that we stand before God together for the many sins of our nation as mentioned above, according to the call of Joel 2:12-19. We beseech God to have mercy and to forgive our people of our sins, of our turning to the arm of flesh rather than to Him, the living God of Israel. We will bring the sins of our nation before Him and remind Him of His covenantal promises to Israel and pray that His Name would be honored and His glory revealed amongst us.

It is our understanding that the leadership of each congregation that agrees to commit itself to this Call, should lead their people during these three days as the Lord would direct them. Rather than calling for joint meetings on Zoom, it would be better for the leadership of each congregation to gather its people together and help their congregations to relate to these specific issues together. Congregational leaders should orient their preaching of the Word before these days, to prepare the hearts of their congregants for this time of repentance, fasting, and prayer.

The Lord has long waited for us to come before Him together and He is faithful to do a deep work in our hearts as we humble ourselves before Him. If we come to Him in an attitude of mourning and sincere faith, He will surely hear our prayers for Israel and respond to our cry for mercy on behalf of our people. Our only true hope, legitimacy, and destiny as a nation is in the Lord Yeshua and His Word. Our only confidence is that as we honor, exalt, and enthrone our King through our lives as His Kehilah in His land, in faith and in lowliness of heart, the Lord will have pity on His people, will answer us and will be zealous for His Land (Joel 2:18).

In the true bond of His fellowship, love, and faith, your brothers.