TO TRUST OR NOT TO TRUST, THAT IS THE QUESTION

Recently the Lord spoke to me and told me to guard my peace as my greatest treasure.  This is a peace that is not circumstantial but is the peace of God which can only be had through a relationship with Yeshua (Jesus), as many of you reading this already know. And with this peace comes a kind of freedom that can be had in no other way.  If you don't know the peace or freedom I'm speaking of, please keep reading. I have hope to share with you at the end of this article.  

Well, having said that about peace, I have had quite a challenge to my own peace recently. I am sharing this rather personal story with the hope that it will be an incentive to some of you reading this as I feel the issue is an important one. And besides, I believe it's the Lord who wants me to share it for the same reason and after all, it's really His story anyway. So here goes.  

I had to make a financial decision. I felt the Lord was telling me to sell an automobile that was of fairly substantial financial value as well as having emotional value to me because of the way I had obtained the car. But at this point, because of an accident I had which upped the insurance rate on the car it was putting a monthly burden on me. I have had no debt at all for over eleven years but lately I had a few expenses that meant I now had some debt.  Selling the car and purchasing a less expensive one would enable me to get out of debt plus reduce my monthly costs. 

But every voice in my life, family and friends, whomever I spoke with told me wisdom dictated that I keep the car and just pay off my debts over time like everyone else.

What to do?  Was I really hearing from God?  Isn’t there wisdom in the advice of many counselors, as the bible says?  Could the unity in the advice of EVERYONE in my immediate set of close friends and family really be God speaking to me rather than what I thought He was saying to me?  I spent  much time wrestling with this issue and the more I wrestled, the more my stomach hurt. That peace I was talking about – gone!  Or at least seriously misplaced. What a struggle. 

A few days ago I was told by yet one more of my “advisors” that I needed some counseling to deal with my emotions because I wasn’t seeing things clearly having a fear of being in debt and that debt was what everyone deals with. Well, I had once also been in debt and I know the difference between debt and no debt. Being in debt feels like a loss of freedom to me.  As I held this before the Lord, what came to me is that God doesn’t owe anyone anything. The Bible tells us that, “The heart of the borrower is in the hand of the lender.”  That’s how it felt, as if my heart was not entirely my own. Someone else had a hold of it. Though it wasn't what might be considered by some to be a great deal of money, I was surely not at peace about owing it. The Bible also says to “Owe no man anything but to love him.”  That's the only kind of owing I prefer.  

That sounds ridiculous in this day and age, but the debt of this nation and the debt of this culture we live in today is not normal or safe. I’ve heard more than a few prophetic preachers saying “Get out of debt as soon as you can.”  Some have stated that they see a financial crises coming – even this year.  Well, I’ve heard that before but I must admit I have the same inkling. Some concern has been linked perhaps to Passover (4/3-11) or Sukkot (9/27-10/4).  I was recently called “Chicken Little” and accused of fearing that the sky would fall, when I told someone my thoughts in this regard. I'm not fearful, but I guess time will tell whether it happens or not.

After being in this conflict much too long, I came to the Lord this week and made a decision.  I would rather put my trust in Him and what I believe He was saying to me than disregard what I felt was what He was telling me to do and choose everyone else’s advice instead. After all, everyone else was in debt themselves in some way.  Perhaps my wanting so badly to be free of debt made them uncomfortable with their own debt, though if the truth be told, I bet everyone who is in debt feels the stress of it in some way.  But the reason I made that decision is that I opted to obey God. I chose to trust in God. I would go with what I believed He had been telling me even though it meant going against what people thought.  Part of the struggle, I admit, was having to disregard what people I’m close to thought of me. I decided I cared more what God thought than what they did.

Still, was it an emotionally weighted decision?  You bet. But the minute I made the choice to go with God my peace began to return.  I have the sense that my life would go differently if I chose to go the way of what now seemed worldly advice as I doubt any of them had prayed about what they were telling me, rather than go with what I felt the Lord had been telling me. Trust the Lord and He’ll give you more to trust Him with. Doubt He is trustworthy and you’ll miss the opportunities of increased blessings. The whole bible reads like that from Abraham forward: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Those are the words of King Solomon and he was supposed to be wise, right?  To this to I might add: ...and lean not on the understanding of others, even those who love you.  By not leaning on your own understanding it means not to make decisions only based on how you see things without input from or reliance upon God, but acting independently instead.  I made the decision that I would put my trust in God regardless of what the voices around me were saying.

So here’s what happened.  I put the car on Criaglist.com for a certain price. No calls. The second day I felt to reduce the price and continued to pray that God would send just the right buyer.  That evening I got a call from a gentleman asking about it.  It was pouring rain and about 9:30 at night. He wanted to come then to see it. Now?  Now.  Okay.  He liked it, but he’d have to talk to his wife about it. They both came back the next day and decided they would purchase it. 

We wound up spending a good bit of the day together and after he finally had to go off to work, the wife and I went and had lunch together. We had become immediate friends.  As it turned out, they had given – that is GIVEN – away a car of almost exactly like this one for the same amount of money to someone when God had told them to. Obviously they had been in a position to do it but still, it was quite an act of obedience. The woman to whom they had given it to said that she was feeling suicidal as she didn’t believe God even knew who she was anymore or cared what she was going through. This made such a difference in her life. It had given her hope. 

Now, here, sometime later, God had not only somewhat supernaturally provided the cash to purchase this car without financing it but here I was selling it for the same amount that they had paid for the car they had given away in obedience to the Lord. 

Add to this that the Lord had told this couple to get entirely out of debt by this winter. They had purposed to do so. They had obediently sold an even more expensive automobile. The tenant of a rental property they owned called and said he wanted to buy the house without their having advertised it. They sold their high end large home by the time winter had come, officially December 21st of this year, and had moved south to another city, to where they felt God was leading them, which happened to be my city. They had downsized to where they owed nothing including no mortgages and were now renting a nice home. The car they had purchased from me was not a frivolity but a necessity and they were able to pay cash for it. We were clear confirmation to one another that God had said the same thing to both of us - get out of debt to the best of your ability - now!

[Note: Everyone of us is in a different situation and we each need to know what God is saying specifically to us in regard to debt, or mortgages, or possibly downsizing.]

As the wife and I had lunch together, she turned out to have an interest in the Jewish roots of Christianity and the Feasts of Israel, all those kinds of things that my life is all about. So we felt that God had put us together as kindred souls. Plus they had prayed that the Lord would lead them to the right car to purchase just as I had prayed He would bring whom He wanted to have it.  This was more than a transaction for a car, the whole thing had the Lord all over it. There were so many confirmations that not only was I to have sold it but that it was this very couple who was to purchase it. The Lord had arranged the whole thing. I love when those kinds of things happen that prove how involved God is with our individual lives. My peace was entirely restored and so was my amazement once again at how “God works all things together for those who love Him.” If ever I had a set of lessons on always trusting the Lord, this was it.

So I leave you with these thoughts:  The Lord is worthy of your trust, even when logic and even your own emotions may say otherwise if that’s how you feel He’s leading you, or what you’ve heard Him say to you either directly or through His word.  Protect your God-given peace.  Value it beyond anything else, for in it is the wisdom from above – where God is, that He can see the down the road and knows what’s best for each of us.

Secondly, I share with you what I have heard from Him, to be careful what you put great value on, because many things that are considered of value today may cease to have the same value. That which is of the greatest value is peace with God.  He will take care of you and provide for you. That means put what you own in proper perspective. Let your treasure be in heaven, that is to say, value your relationship with Yeshua (Jesus) beyond whatever is in the here and now and over what people may think of you. What we have today will last only for a time, but what we have with Him lasts forever.  This life on earth will be ours for just so long but peace with God carries with it an eternal weight of glory!   

To anyone to whom the peace of God is alien to you, or if you’ve never put your trust in the Lord before, or you find that you’re not sure about where the real value is in your life – talk to Him.  He will listen.  He will hear you. And He will let you know He does.  He cares not only about you, but for you – with a loving heart beyond what you can imagine.  Tell Him the things that are on your heart.  Those things you’re afraid of anyone knowing? He already knows them. He’s just waiting for you to open up your own heart and unburden yourself to Him so He can release you from the weightiness of misplaced values and trusting in your own understanding that turned out not to be wise after all. He is the God of forgiveness and of comfort.  Put your life and all you own in His hands. So is your forever! He can take better care of both much more than you can.

WHAT ONLY GOD CAN DO - A PROPHETIC WORD

"Those who hope in the Lord will...soar on wings like eagles" (Is.40:31). 

This is a prophetic word I received from the Lord. It has been judged as from the Lord from several seasoned believers, but as always, judge it for yourselves. May it bring rest to your soul and a view from on high.  LL

The church is mine. All mine. My idea, My expression in the earth, My restoration plan for all humanity.   Men have since the beginning almost always had an idea of what would be best and how to express what they thought the church should be, beginning with changing the whole foundational premise of it being a spiritual entity into one of the earth. 

If you take out that which defines what humans have done to try and advance the cause of My body of people, what have you left? Is it the book of Acts?  Is it what is found in the Epistles?  How many words and idea, precepts and actions, requirements and expectations, are there that are supposedly definitive of My church that have nothing to do with Me or My biblically defined Kingdom?

You ask what needs to be restored before she is the bride for which Yeshua returns. You wonder what needs restoring.  Does that mean adding or subtracting; putting in or taking out?   There is a transition that will, and that must take place that is both and neither.  It is not what must take place in the doing or saying but in the very fiber of being of each and every member of My body.  It is to become so one with Me that your every impulse surges with life from above and is so fully God’s that it isn’t even understandable without the Spirit of God. 

The change that must and will take place is not a replacement of worldliness with godliness but such a substantive[1] realignment with the heart and purposes of God that today’s present church vocabulary cannot adequately express it, much less define or envision it. 

It will not be intellectual, nor accomplished by the best of intents of men but will be a matter of my grace entirely and completely; a transforming of what is for what will be – the material to the spiritual, that which man is incapable of accomplishing. Only I can do it. Only I can bring it to pass. The intentions and energies of man cannot. I will have a people wholly given over to God, through whom only I can and through whom I will bring the Kingdom of God to full reality.

Note: A short while later the Lord said to me – “The only thing you can do is to fill yourself with the Word of God and let it do the transforming.”  

Lonnie Lane
August 14, 2014 
  

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[1] Substantive:  belonging to the real nature or essential part of a thing; essential; real or actual.

When It Looks Like Satan's In Control.

A River of Baptism

History, as we know, often repeats itself. To not know history, is to be vulnerable to making the same mistakes. According to a note in my NASB Chronological Bible, during the inter-testimental period, much of Israel came to belief that satan had managed to take control of the earth away from God. Today there might be some who would wonder if that's not true in certain places in the earth.  Either way, we can see how being blind to God’s goodness, presence and sovereignty  can become through sin and unbelief. 

Despite the well intentioned actions of a priest known as Judah Macabbee and his five sons to free Israel from Titus and his desecration of the temple and imposition of paganism in the Hanukkah story,  that same family only two generations later became as apostate as Israel had ever known before. They   perpetuated much of the same things Judah and his sons had fought again. 

Israel was divided between those who aligned with ungodliness and those who held to various forms of traditional Hebrew religion. Inner conflicts in the land were so bad that the leaders invited the Roman’s in to arbitrate. They came and never left, having taken over as rulers of the land.  Any Israeli leadership from then on operated under the auspices and permission of Rome.  That Israel would turn to pagan powers rather than to God to solve their problems gives indication of how far they were from Him. 

The lesson to be learned here is that for Israel to look elsewhere other than to their God 

to resolve any crises is to put themselves under subjection to those to whom they look or defer.  

Case in point:  America has played a significant part in what was originally and ironically called “Peace Accords” to try and resolve the crises between Israel and her unfriendly neighbors. In doing so Israel was put under great pressure by America and other nations who are in alignment with America to refrain from defending themselves, only resulting in making matters worse. Would America refrain from retaliating if our cities were being bombed daily? But there is another point I'm trying to make here. 

With such sin in their hearts and such disregard for God’s word, it is easy to see how a prevailing thought would have emerged that God was no longer sovereign in the world but that satan had won over Him and now had charge of the earth and the affairs of men. Perhaps people think even today that God has been found to be ineffective and weak and of no real influence for good among men. If that is the case in people's minds, then there is nothing to keep them from acting like the devil, even if they don't believe in the devil. Where there is no fear of God in this life or the afterlife to maintain godly order there will be no motivation for righteousness among men.

  

How we see God will influence how we live our lives!  

But there is always a voice of reason, of hope, of truth., There is always the Voice of God for those who will listen and hear.  It is into this that Yohanan ha-mahtbeel, John the immerser (Baptist), arrives, preaching a baptism of repentance for sins. Finally, there was a way back to God!  It is no wonder that so many came out to this strange man with the message of salvation and a word that God was still there for them. Let's face it, everyone knows they sin. Even if they don't believe in God, they know they've lied, lusted, hated, stolen....  They may not label it sin, but we all know we're not without violation somewhere.

God always has a remnant that remains faithful to Him - or at least wants to but isn't aware that it's God they want.  I became an athiest at the age of eleven, yet within me I had a deep quest to know truth. I just hoped I'd recognize it if I ever found it.  To me, beyond all else Yeshua is, He is truth!  It may have been a truth-seeking remnant that came out to Yohanan at the Jordan River.  Mikveh required living water, that is to say moving water for immersion in order to be made clean for God.  The Jordan would have provided that moving water and the people apparently welcomed the chance to find God again, to repent of their sins and to re-align themselves with Him. 

When Yeshua (Jesus) came to Yohanan at the waters of mikveh (baptism) His first recorded words are, “We must fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). What a statement! What man had ever fulfilled all righteousness? Not even David. Not even Samuel whose sons did not follow God as he did. And surely not Shlomo (Solomon).  Yeshua fully intended that He would fulfill all righteousness, not one jot or yod of the word of God left out.  He uses the pronoun “we” in speaking to Yohanan, but that “we” can be extended to all who would follow Him.  To those people who would hear those words of His, what He was saying was that righteousness can still be fulfilled. All is not lost. Satan has not won and righteousness not only can still be attained, here was a Man who would prove to embody all righteousness.  

When voices speak to the contrary, and when circumstances appear as if God has lost control of the world, even your own world, Yeshua was, is and always will be the Voice of God, the Savior of not just the world but every situation we find ourselves in. He will never, no never forsake anyone who looks to Him, who trust Him and who desires to fulfill all righteouness - that is to say, be in right standing with God. He still is the only one to whom we can look for all hope and goodness. 

Once we have been baptized as a new believer to profess your faith in Yeshua, we need not enter the waters of mikveh again to be made clean before God (though if someone feels to do so, say in starting anew with God after a difficult time or time of uncleanness, go right ahead. I've done it.)  Repentance, and turning away from whatever unrighteousness has troubled you, is available just by going to Yeshua and confessing your sin and receiving the forgiveness He offers to us all.  It is that easy. He already did the hard part.You may not need this message today, but I pray God tucks it somewhere in your spirit to bring it back to mind should you ever need to be reminded that He is still the One to fulfill all righteousness on our behalf.

The End of Life ~ The Beginning of Glory

About two months ago, I had someone on my mind I hadn't seen for years. He was a boyfriend of many long years ago. The romance lasted for quite a while but in time I realized he was not someone I wanted to build a life with. On occasion, throughout the years, we would reconnect for a brief, "How are you" or a "What's happening in your life?" But he, being Jewish, was not the least bit interested or receptive in hearing about my Yeshua on any level. I suspect it was his lifestyle more than his Jewishness, but his attitude made it difficult to talk at all. We lived in two very different worlds. Still I continued to pray for him, asking God to rescue him and save him throughout the years. I had known he wasn't entirely well when we last connected several years ago. Nothing life threatening, but still....


Then here he was, on my mind again. I decided to send him a copy of my book, Heaven is Beyond Your Wildest Expectations, hoping he would at least be curious enough to read it and consider his own eternity. One of the last things I did the day before I left for Israel was see that the book was in the mail. Then I forgot about it and about him. Back home again six weeks later I sat at my dining room table and confronted the stack of mail that awaited me. I began sorting through the pile when there was the envelope I had sent to him. What? Didn't it get there? Did he refuse it? Then I saw the words someone had written above the address: "DECEASED".

I sat there and stared at those words. They seemed so final, so absolute. He was now dead, and he had never gotten the book. To my knowledge, he had never come to know the forever-hope there is in Yeshua. He never knew the freedom of forgiveness and the cleanliness of soul that comes from exchanging our pride for acknowledging our need for the Lord. And now, where was he? I was afraid I knew. How sad. How very sad. I'm sure he would have let me know if he had come to Yeshua. But he never did. I don't know why we pray and pray for someone and there seems to be no answer, at least to what we are asking for. Should I have prayed differently? Should I have prayed for him to realize the peril of his self-sufficiency or self-aggrandizement that he rejected any thought of needing God? Should I have asked God to bring him to a place of fear of his own pride and arrogance and to somehow be made aware of what it would be to stand before a holy God? I had simply prayed, "Lord, save him; rescue him; help him know he needs You." No long prayer, not a really empathetic prayer,just a sort of perfunctory concern for his eternal well-being. I am not taking on any kind of guilt here. I had committed him to the Lord long ago, and who knows but God, what his last moments on earth consisted of? I may yet find him greeting me at the gates in heaven. Hope springs eternal, as the saying goes. I must leave his destiny to God and move on.


In the here and now, though, I have another friend who possibly faces death -- wait, no! That word does not apply. Death is such a dark and sinister word, so wrapped in a shroud of emptiness and desolation. Tthe end of life here on earth is not at all death for those who are "in Messiah Yeshua" or "in Christ," as many would prefer to say. There is no death in Yeshua, only life. "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord," Paul said, who himself had been to heaven and brought back a report, that there is no sting in death for those of us whose sins have been washed away by the blood of Yeshua. For that we are grateful beyond expression.


My friend may well be dying nonetheless, at least her body may be coming to an end. She has cancer and unless the Lord heals her miraculously, she may not have long to live, though if you looked at her today, you would not think that is the case. Her faith is high, she is trusting God to heal her. She has been given many "words of knowledge" or supposed "prophesies" of God's healing hand upon her life. But so far, though she has been doing well and has beaten the doctor's predictions of the expected duration of her life, the prognosis now isn't matching the "words" and the "prophesies." Were they truly "words" from the Lord, or were they uttered with wishful thinking or declarations of hope without having heard specifically from the Lord about her situation? Now she questions why God would have spoken those words to her if He wasn't going to heal her. I do wish that before we say, "Thus saith the Lord..," we be sure it is really what He is saying in that specific circumstance. Even believers do die. It is a reality in this life that our bodies do give out sooner or later. That may just be a reality that we all need to accept.


My dear friend Igal Hoffman, an Israeli, died of cancer a number of years ago after a bold attempt at alternative medical resources to keep him alive. But in the end he succumbed anyway. But through it all, Igal was yielded to God, that whatever proved to be His will, Igal would trust Him and love Him and rely on His goodness to get him through. He saw himself as a lamb in the arms of the Lord. I once asked Igal how he relates to God through all he was suffering, and suffer he did. I remember his words clearly. He said, "Underneath the pain and the confusion (of why God allowed this to happen), there exists a joy. I know He is with me and I know there is an even greater eternal joy to be had in His presence." Igal was entirely secure in the Lord that God's goodness was with Him and toward Him and that His goodness would be fully manifested to him either in this life or the one to come. He gave no place for the devil in his trust in God and in that he had the Lord's peace. The day after he died, having had my own experience of heaven I told God I wished I could see Igal when he entered heaven and experienced the joy he so anticipated. Suddenly I had an experience I cannot give you chapter and verse for, but I sensed Igal's presence with me, so real, and so there! I "felt" as if he was beside me, even to "feeling" his Israeli accent though I heard nothing. The more amazing thing was that I sensed he was more alive than I had ever known him or anyone to ever be. It was as if God allowed him to come to me to assure me of how real life after death is and that once we are free from these limited bodies in this fallen world, we are indeed fully and completely alive!!


Many years later, the day after my mother went to be with the Lord, I was awakened that morning hearing the Lord say to me, "She's been before Me." At that very moment I had a mini-vision of my mom, who seemed to be about age thirty or so. She was beautiful, the fullness of joy radiating on her face and once again, I sensed she was more alive than I had ever seen her. I kept thinking of God's words to me: "She's been before Me." My mom had been before Yeshua!! What made it even more precious to me was that I had led her to the Lord. I believe God allowed me those experiences to prepare me to write the book about heaven in order to assure people of eternal salvation and that whatever we experience here on earth, it is a momentary light affliction compared to the glory that God has prepared for us who are Yeshua's in life eternal.


I'm not facing cancer and an early death as my friend may be. What I do know is that being yielded, submitted and utterly trusting of the Lord in whatever situations we may find ourselves, can never be wrong. God is good and in Him there is nothing that is not good. There is no darkness, no abandonment, no hopelessness. There is only glory ultimately ahead for any who are His. My brief experiences of life in the eternal realm changed me, it changed my whole view of life here on earth and eternally, and gave me an assurance of the goodness of the Lord in all situations. He is, after all, Lord of all there is! I have felt the joy of heaven's atmosphere until I thought I would explode, the power of it is entirely overwhelming to these earthly bodies we presently live in. And I "felt" the joy, the overarching joy - the indescribable joy - of the oneness, the unity, the love between fellow believers and the safety which is the normal atmosphere of heaven.


Should we not be sharing this reality with others, to make real to them as we are able - and that they allow us to - that we must all come to realize that there is a choice in the here and now that will affect our forever. Would it not be good to ask the Holy Spirit to lead us in how to pray specifically for the people we care about. Romans 8:26 says that when we don't know how to pray the Spirit will lead us. And may we each come to the place, even today, of entire surrender to the Lord, confident of His goodness and His faithfulness to lead you where He will keep you in His love and goodness always. Amen.

Inside Israel's Heart

The Bible reads differently when you're in Israel. Today I read about David hiding from Saul in the mountains, in the forest, in a field with Jonathan, or clamoring down a mountain with his men intending to do Nabal in until Abigail, coming down the other side of the mountain, caught up with him and saved his life and his destiny in God with her wisdom. Israel has lots of mountains, and great vistas to be seen from them or of them. Today Jody and I took another hike on portions of the trail that goes all through Israel. It would take 2 months to hike it all.

Some areas are sort of steep - going down is, needless to say, much easier than going up. I can feel myself growing stronger with each hike. After reading the portions of Scripture mentioned above, I felt like I was walking where David might have. At least I could "feel" what it must have been like on the trails for him. It's beautiful territory but the fact that this is where it all took place, makes the stories different. They don't feel so much like stories of way back when and over there when you're here. I know what it sounds like now to tramp down rock strewn mountain paths.

There's a constant welcoming of people. Hospitality is a way of life here. Last night 17 people came to 'our' home from a visiting group from all over America. They are a group called Hands to the Land, who come to be of help to Israel. They came last night for a concert of Alyosha's music followed by a time of refreshments and mingling. Somehow they all fit into the living room, plus the grand piano,though it's not a very large home. They welcomed the opportunity to be in the home of Israelis. What sweet people they were.

On Friday night, for Shabbat, we have 24 people from Germany coming for Shabbat dinner who are in the Land on some mercy mission. This week we will be accompanying them while visiting Holocaust survivors to bring gifts, love and joy and to let them know they're still cared about and haven't been forgotten. That from German believers, as I said in a previous email, who are intent on making up for what pain and sorrow Germany brought upon Jews. Every year a group comes from Germany for that purpose. It would seem a spirit of reconciliation is upon them - to which I say, Amen.

I had one really genuine Israel experience a few days ago. I went to a funeral, well actually a memorial service taking place a few months after this man died, when they put the stone on the grave. The man died of a physical condition but really of a broken heart. Why? Because his daughter was murdered by 2 Palestinian men while out walking one evening. The daughter was an adult and had her own daughter who was of course there with her grandmother.  Many others gathered around the grave. When I first entered the cemetery I felt a sense of grief that was almost palpable. But when we got to the grave site a different feeling impressed me, one of a people bound together to survive, to be strong in the midst of sorrow.  Death is not new to them.

The daughter of the murdered woman is around 16-18 years old. She is also the granddaughter of the deceased. She was wrapped in the arms by another woman but it wasn't clear who was holding who up, as both seemed to need support. I was told that K, the older of the two, was the survivor of another Palestinian attack in which she and a friend were grabbed and stabbed numerous times. K has a small knife which she was able to pull out and used to slice into one of the Palestinians. K's friend died but despite 19 knife wounds, K lived and was able to give the knife to the police who were able to obtain a DNA specimen that somehow enabled them to capture the Palestinians who are now in jail for murder.  It was at the trial that K met the mother and father of the first mentioned murdered woman. They adopted each other and K became like the daughter they lost to the parents and quite close to that woman's daughter whom she was now holding on to.

The experience of being there, hearing them say the prayers in Hebrew that are always said at Jewish funerals was both familiar and foreign to me. The prayers are a praise to God, but in America most Jews don't understand enough Hebrew to know what it says, though Hebrew is used for prayers. But here in Israel, they know the words give glory to God even in the shadow of death. While most Christians would tend to think that without Yeshua these people wouldn't sense God's strength, His presence, or even His joy. But for those who have faith in God, they give him praise and sing His praises, often with great fervor and/or joy, and they speak of trusting in Him, sometimes more than Christians do as their need for Him is great. But then, after all, the whole Tenakh (O.T.) is filled with Jews giving praise to God. Why would then not now?

After the memorial service, we all went back to the home of the wife and in typical Jewish fashion, there was a lot of food. I have to add that the house was filled with Israeli art which was inspiring to me. All Biblical. Israel is about the Bible, no matter what level of faith one has.

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WHAT IF THESE REALLY ARE THE LAST DAYS?

Lord, hear our prayers!

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Kingdom of God is right and true. It is invincible. It's not shaking, it's not teetering, and it's not diminished by what is happening now or will take place in the world. And neither should the people who make up the Kingdom of God!  

The Lord told me 25 years ago that the Bride He returns for will have eyes for no one and nothing (read no thing) other than Him.  Those words have stayed with me for all these years as His standard for His bride.  We are far from that; we are distracted by more things than I can number. Don't let the immediacy of the moment continue to distract you from issues of eternity.  

I'm motivated to write in response to several emails I've received lately from people being frightened or disheartened by the turn of events going on in the world. Despite being people who are exhorted by the Lord that though we are "in" the world, we are not to be "of" the world, I'm hearing some believers sounding a bit too much like their trust is in the world's system, not in King Jesus and His Kingdom.   

Do you believe we might actually be in the last days of the age?  Then why are we surprised, or frightened, or outraged when ungodly and evil things happen when Jesus told us they would?  Many Believers are taken by surprise at the way some thing appear to be going. The presidential election for some, seemed as if God wasn't answering prayer - or at least prayer the way they expected things to go. On a larger scale, most of us did not expect the spirit of anti-Christ to come from Islam but it sure does look that way. During the "cold war" years we were sure the anti-Christ would come out of Russia, because that's where our concerns were, but now we see that Biblically, the end time scenario is all about a mid-east conflict and Israel  having to deal with the same enemies she did in times past. 

All this lines up with God's warnings of the last days. Read Matthew 24 and 25, for instance. We are having to adjust to the fact that we might actually be the people who go through the last days birth pains. Many believers, especially North Americans, have expected to be "raptured" out of harms way and can't imagine they'd still be here if society as we have known it ceased to be as "comfortable" as it has been for the most part. On a number of levels - let's take morally for instance - our society has radically changed in the past decade or two. And we can't blame things on our president(s) though there are concerns. We've been frogs in a pot of increasingly heated immoral water for quite a while. 

What if we are still here, even if just for a part of the days of woe the Bible speaks of? What if you are still here? What prayers would we pray then that we so much would want God to hear and respond to? What government will you pray to be made right then? The government of the Kingdom of God, or that of the world?

What would cause each individual who is of His true church, to do away with our distractions so that we are ready for His coming?  What would it take for you to give up your distractions? The mercies of God come in very strange packages sometimes. And sometimes it's persecution that sorts out one's priorities. Perhaps, by His grace, He is giving us the opportunity now to come to Him and learn to receive His love in a greater measure so that we know how to find all we need in Him.  As we give Him our focus and trust our distractions will fall away as we come to know His great love, His care and His commitment to us in greater measure.  It doesn't take much coming to Him and being with Him for His love to capture our hearts!  it's the "gettin' about it" that's the challenge.What are you distracted by?

Jesus told someone who had been to heaven and returned with messages from Him, that His people are more interested in their security in the world and their comfort than in Him coming and so we pray against the things that must happen before He returns. Now I can understand that. We are to pray for the peace of our cities, and for peace for Jerusalem, and we all want peace for ourselves and our loved ones. But even the Comcast TV guy who came to fix something today, a believer, said to me as we discussed these things, "Jesus told us these kinds of things would have to happen."  

Jesus must let sin play out its hand just as He let the sin of the Ammorites, whatever that was, play out when the children of Israel were enslaved by Egypt.  But in the midst of the darkness over Egypt, there was sunlight in Goshen. When the plagues came to Egypt, they didn't come to Goshen until the day when God brought them out of Egypt with a strong Hand.  I see prophetic pictures in that. Both as pharaoh being a type of anti-Christ and in God's provision for His people in the midst of judgment.  Since we're born again, unlike the infant nation of Israel, we will not be slaves because He has already set us free. We will never be spiritually enslaved to anyone, no matter what happens in the natural because we are free in Him.  

Our anger then must be righteous anger and our fear must be that we would offend God by fearing the enemy which would mean that our faith is more in what the enemy could do than in what God is doing or for that matter, who He is!  I understand the feelings in the natural. I would like to flee as well from what could possibly take placet. But God responds to the prayers of His people even if they are out numbered. He may not answer in the way we requested or expected, but He will answer. Is it just possible that He is in fact answering our prayers for revival by having the election go as it did, so that we continue to look to Him for revival in our nation(s) rather than to sink into being comfortable with things in the natural?  (Selah).

While we are waiting for God's answer to our heartfelt prayers, we must give consideration to how we affect those around us, especially the young ones and those weak of spirit.  We need not to be shouting doom from the housetops but instead declaring what God is whispering to us through His word and by His Spirit.  He says to us, "Fear not, little flock. I have overcome the world." That is either true or it's not. If it is true, then we can fully depend upon it manifesting in our lives.

We MUST not loose faith in the Lord, no matter what.  Christians have been suffering for 2000 years in one place or another.  We are somewhat alarmed because we are now concerned that changes might possibly happen to us that we might be still here for. He is equal to keeping those who are His. He always has been!  We must live as those who will stand before Him one day blameless with great joy and let nothing derail us from that.   

So let us each be leaders in our own sphere of influence, holding high the standard of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, as we know. Let's none of us be that weak link that breaks or diminishes the chain of faith in God. but instead be those who strengthen the faith of others, looking to our first century brothers and sisters as models of Believers trusting God in times of difficulty and affecting the world with their faith in God.Our greatest hour is before us.