32 “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, 33 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name. 2 Chronicles 6:31-33
Okay! Jesus is coming!
Do you believe that? When will it happen? how will it happen?
Just before I get into the talk, I wanted to share that, as we were coming into the service (I was coming up to the service earlier this morning with Daniel who was also coming with his family) a lady came up walking down Bridge Lane and started talking to us. She said:
“I can’t tell you how moved I am by your poster which says you are praying for Israel. Every time I keep walking past this church and I see that poster, it just encourages me. You don’t know what it means to us Jewish people to know that there are people who are praying for us at this time.“
I just thought that it was quite moving to hear that, and that it does remind us that we do need to pray for Israel. I don’t know if you know the situation there, but this past week, Israel has been expecting the possibility of rockets coming over from Lebanon, from Iran which could have caused huge devastation.
It hasn’t done so yet. However, it could cause massive devastation not just to Israel but also to Lebanon and to Iran and there’s a real danger of war still in the horizon.
They’re saying that if Israel arrives at a agreement with Hamas – and America is doing what it can to try and work out some kind of a ceasefire and agreement – with Hamas then, they won’t fire any rockets.
If they don’t, the implication is they will the moment the ceasefire talks are not making much progress. Joe Biden says they are making progress but Israel and Hamas don’t seem to agree.
In any case, we should just pray for that situation before I get into the talk.
Lord, we just commit Israel to you and we do pray about this very serious situation which is there, not just for Israel but also for Lebanon, also for Iran and for their people. We pray Lord that you hold back the forces of destruction which will bring war and huge damage. We pray against these missiles and this horrible world in which we live, in which people are threatened with destruction from above, by missiles and war, and hatred.
Lord we just pray that you have mercy upon the people and particularly upon Israel which is so small and which is surrounded by so many enemies that want to destroy them. Lord, just help them Lord we pray.
And Lord, we do pray that you will have mercy and hold back the war and bring peace. That even if it is some kind of ‘not helpful’ peace to Israel, we pray that you will overrule what happens and that you’ll save lives, and save people and that, at this time, many people would call out to you and find their answer which is not in religion, not in hatred, or in war but is in Yeshua / Jesus the Messiah, the Prince of Peace.
We pray this in Jesus name, amen. Amen.