Restoration of Relationships (Part 1 of 2) - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Restoration of Relationships (Part 1 of 2)

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“God grabbed me. God's Spirit took me up and sat me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them — a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain — dry bones, bleached by the sun. He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "Master God, only you know that." He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones: 'Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!'"

God, the Master, told the dry bones, "Watch this: I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God!" (Ezekiel 37:1-6, THE MESSAGE)

Yeshiva students in Hurve Synagogue

First of all, students of the Bible, including the men who attend yeshiva (Torah school) in Israel and beyond, know that these prophetic words, declared by the Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel around the 9^th century B.C. (Before Christ) were telling of the return of the scattered Jews long before the first return from Babylon and the second return beginning in 1948. They had been scattered from Judea and Samaria back then during the time of the kings of Israel, would return once, and then be scattered again, but all over the world this second time.

Dry bones - Gustave Dore' painting

In 70 A.D. (Anno Domini – “In the year of our Lord”) the Almighty God of Israel again had the Jews dispersed (known as the Diaspora), using the vicious, destructive hand of the Romans. Of course, He foreknew of His Chosen Ones return. This second time of return is what we are seeing right before our eyes, in our lifetime, as Ezekiel’s prophecy is being fulfilled. The Jews, from all the nations, are being brought back. This is amazing, prophetically demonstrating the God of Israel’s glory and power, and bringing fulfillment of His promise made to the Jews.

In that 20^th century year of Israel’s rebirth as a nation (though having actually begun 3000 years ago with King David establishing the Jewish capital of Jerusalem), David Ben Gurion declared Israel’s Independence for the state/nation of Israel on May 14, 1948.

It had long been a dream of the European Jew Theodore Herzl, to see the restoration of a Jewish homeland. Decades after his death in Europe, he is now honored in the Land, with his bones resting on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem. For he pressed long and hard for the Jews to have a land once again for their homeland. We all know now that that dream was fulfilled in the Land of Israel, Eretz Yisrael (Hebrew). This is long regarded as historical truth - Israel is for the Jews as their Promised Land.  

The bleached, completely dried bones so prophesied are coming back together. The Jews are making aliyah (the immigration of Jews from the Diaspora to the Land) by returning to Israel by the thousands, and soon to be millions.

Which brings me to this next major inspiration. As it is with Israel, being first in the natural, with dry bones coming back together, so it is being for the Body of Christ (believing Jews and Gentiles together, the olive tree and grafted-in branches, the One New Man), now seeing restoration in the spiritual.

“However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.” (1 Corinthians 15:46,

NASU)

The Jews have returned to their homeland.

As we watch the ongoing, unfolding prophetic fulfillment of the Jewish dry bones coming back together in Israel, at the same time are seeing the restoration of Christians in bonding fellowship and unity, as our formerly “dry bones of the scattered Church of Jesus Christ” are starting to come back together, as it was in the days of the early church.

My good wife Laurie and I can give a practical life testimony of this coming back together ourselves. Four years ago as of this writing in 2018, we left a good body of believers, Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA, under the leadership of Dr. Peter Wyns and Pastors Jesse and Elizabeth Enns. We were “dispersed” (of our own making), wandering around as if Jews ourselves, going from church to church. (As for “Jewishness” - maybe we are and don’t know it, as truly many are finding out of their Jewish ancestry and DNA in these days!)

Fort Mill, SC. Pastors Peter Wyns, Jesse & Liz Enns

After both Laurie and I, independently of each other, heard the Holy Spirit speak to us of the “return” to Antioch, we once again are back in full relationship, joint to joint, walking arm and arm, being planted in committed bonds of love with these, our friends and co-workers in the Lord’s Body. (And as of October 1, 2018, I was joined to the church staff team!)

Maybe you or some of your family members have been “out there”, just wandering around, or even quitting altogether, from being in life-giving joints. Your dry bones have become pretty dry.

If I was a betting man (thank God I am not), I would give all I have to see you and the so many others come back, get joined once again, and experience the joy of His restoration of relationships. He will breathe life back into your bones!

The Good Lord knows we all need Him and each other in these end times!  

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

  

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

You can read Part 2 here:
Restoration of Relationships (Part 2 of 2)

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Now Think On This #361 - in the year of our Lord 10.31.18 – “Restoration of Relationships (Part I)”, Wednesday, 9:00 am

Every tear. Every heartache. Every wrong committed against you. He was there. He still is.

Every tear. Every heartache. 

Every wrong committed against you. 

He was there. He still is.

The times when you felt alone, and no one was there to comfort you. Please remember that Jesus was there for you.

Remember when it was dark in your bedroom at night, as you lay trying to be really quiet, but hearing sounds kept you awake, making you a bit frightened. Jesus was there.

If you experienced sexual abuse as a child, at the hands of a "loved one" - someone in your home that was supposed to be the one caring for you, nurturing you, raising you the right way. But hurt you badly. You were not alone. Jesus was there.

Lost in the woods. Lost in the parking lot. Left alone in the huge store, scared that your parents had left you. You know what? Jesus was there.

You didn't know it then. You may not believe it now. But it is true, and He wants to reveal Himself to you. 

Jesus is the One you really long for. Jesus is the One who can really comfort you, wrap His big arms around you. Let you know that He will always be with you and never forsake you.

Many times we don't sense His presence, or hear His voice, but you can be certain, deep in your troubled heart, that you are really, sincerely, absolutely, certainly loved.

"Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

Jesus loves you. Ask Him now to show you that He is real. He will.

Steve Martin

Love For His People
Charlotte, NC. USA

Nov. 18, 2018  Sunday, 5:15 am

COMMENTARY: The Welsh Revival and Love for Israel, Part I - Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

COMMENTARY: The Welsh Revival and Love for Israel, Part I

Friday, August 10, 2018 |  Charles Gardner  ISRAEL TODAY

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Amid great expectancy of a renewed outpouring of the Spirit in the land of revivals, my wife and I were profoundly blessed and stirred by a recent visit to Wales.

We sat in the Moriah Chapel at Loughor, near Swansea, where the famous Welsh Revival broke out on October 31st 1904, and had a real taste of those momentous times as we were guided around the premises by a man whose uncle was a close friend of Evan Roberts, the human instrument used by God as the spark of that great movement affecting much of the world including Africa.

I also noted the significance of the chapel’s name as it was Mt Moriah where Abraham was prepared to offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice and where, close by, Jesus died for the sins of the world at Calvary.

And this was not the only connection with Israel – more of which later.

In recalling the total surrender of those young men (the initial outpouring effectively started with a youth meeting), one of our group prayed “Bend us, Lord!” as she echoed the heartfelt cry of the revival’s 25-year-old leader for God to break their resistance to the Holy Spirit’s power.

It was an awesome moment as we became aware of the great need of our nation (in the UK as a whole) for restoration and reformation. Then we sang Here is love, vast as the ocean, one of the revival’s key hymns – first in Welsh, then in English.

Our visit there was part of a weekend conference of the UK Fellowship of Full Gospel Churches, an international network of ministers dedicated to proclaiming Christ in all his fullness.

The event was hosted at the Bible College of Wales, which has itself been mightily used in world mission and was a product of the 1904/5 revival. We enjoyed glorious worship in the same room where legendary intercessor Rees Howells and his students prayed through to victory for Britain and the allies during World War II and later for Israel’s recognition at the United Nations.

Participants had flown in from throughout the United States as well as from Holland, while others came from across the south of England and Wales – we were the lone visitors from the north.

Although a relatively small gathering with no more than 50 taking part, most of them were men and women of great spiritual stature and faith – at least one had met with U.S. Presidents while others had walked with the likes of Billy Graham and had witnessed God’s miraculous guidance over many years.

Dick Funnell, from New Orleans, shared his extraordinary journey of how God had led him to come and live on the west coast of Wales where he and his Guatemalan wife Gladys now have keys to a small chapel where they have been praying daily for the past 13 years, convinced that revival is on its way.

As we prayed and lifted our hands in worship, we were aware of the crucial part played by Howells and his students who interceded day and night for a nation facing disaster at the time of Dunkirk. Their God-ordained prayers brought us back from the brink of destruction. They also prayed through to victory at the UN for Israel’s recognition in November 1947, having also made provision for Jewish children escaping the Nazi net.

Jewish Connection

A love for Israel was due not only to a proper understanding of the Bible, but also to the part they had played in the founder’s conversion. Howells actually committed his life to Christ in America, where he had gone to seek his fortune, and it had come about through a Jewish evangelist, Maurice Reuben, who had paid a huge price for following Jesus, being disowned by his wealthy family and denied his part-ownership of a Pittsburgh store.

Maurice himself had found the Lord through the witness of a man he had asked – because he always seemed cheerful – if he had been ‘born happy’, to which the man had replied that his happiness only dated from his ‘second birth’.

Rees, who was the same age as Evan Roberts, returned to Wales to help with the revival.

Following a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit, he lived a radical life of faith as he reached out to drunkards and tramps – cutting down his meals in order to identify with them. And he took on formidable challenges such as praying for – and witnessing to – a village untouched by the revival and healing for sick people doctors had written off.

Evan, meanwhile, was unschooled as, when his father was injured down the mine, he took his place, aged 11, in order to provide an income for his family.

Later, feeling called to pastoral ministry, he left home to acquire the necessary academic qualifications but before long had a deep experience of the Holy Spirit after hearing a speaker from the Welsh equivalent of the Keswick Convention.

He returned to his home village and asked if he could hold a youth meeting to which 16 youngsters turned up. Revival broke out, and services lasted virtually through the night. Miners coming off their shift would join the queues for the chapels; as soon as one was filled they’d tramp off to find the next. Lights would be burning through the night as tens of thousands throughout the principality were convicted of sin by the presence of God and the preaching of the gospel. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 were swept into the kingdom over a four-month period as people couldn’t get enough of being in God’s presence.

It wasn’t the first time Wales had seen revival – Howell Harris and others had led a similar movement in the late 18th century, and even John Wesley had preached at Loughor in those days. Another revival broke out in 1859 – also touching many other parts of the world.

In fact, it was in the midst of the earlier movement that a hugely significant event took place that was to lead to the foundation of the Bible Society through which the Word of God was translated into hundreds of languages and distributed throughout the world.

The event in question was a 26-mile walk over the mountains of North Wales by 15-year-old Mary Jones in order to purchase a copy of the Welsh Bible for which she had saved up for six years. Her extraordinary feat awakened the need for God’s Word to become available to everyone in their mother tongue.

One of the effects of the 1904 awakening of dynamic Christianity was that the police and magistrates had nothing to do except help control the crowds queuing up for the gospel meetings.

The revival spread across the globe, even touching Asia, Africa and St Petersburg in Russia, and it inspired others praying for a similar move in their own localities. This was particularly the case in California, where news of what was happening in Wales galvanised the prayers of American saints and led directly to the Azusa Street, Los Angeles, revival of 1906, the beginnings of the modern-day Pentecostal movement, with a similar outpouring taking place in Sunderland, England, in 1907 led by Church of England vicar Alexander Boddy, who had earlier come to witness the work of Evan Roberts in Wales.

The revival produced outstanding leaders including George and Stephen Jeffries and, of course, Rees Howells who helped spread the blessing to South Africa when he and his wife Elizabeth went out as missionaries under the auspices of the South African General Mission founded by Rev Andrew Murray.

He later founded his world-changing Bible College in 1928. One student, a young German called Reinhard Bonnke, graduated in 1960 and subsequently won millions of people to the Lord through his huge missions across Africa and other parts of the world.

A young Billy Graham also visited the Loughor chapel back in 1946 when he is understood to have had a profound experience of the Holy Spirit. Millions the world over benefited from that!

Part II next week.

Additional material sourced from Rees Howells, Intercessor by Norman Grubb published by Lutterworth Press

PHOTO: Evan Roberts. Picture by Linda Gardner

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Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon; Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com; and A Nation Reborn, available from Christian Publications International

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Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta) The Gates of Jerusalem Then and Now (Part I) - Zion Gate

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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The Gates of Jerusalem Then and Now, Part I Zion Gate Posted: 22 Jul 2018 09:30 PM PDT Updating first posting in Israel Daily Picture in preparation for Book 3, Jews and Holy Sites in the Holy Land, Revealed in Early Photographs. The walls of Jerusalem's Old City that we see today were built in 1540 during the days of the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent.   The location and name "Zion Gate" appear on maps dating back to the 12th century.  It is one of eight gates in the Old City Wall.   Zion Gate, picture by Bergheim, circa 1867.  Today, the walls are pock-marked from bullets and artillery shells fired during the1948 war in the Jews' attempt to resupply and  relieve the Jewish Quarter besieged by the Jordanian Legion. Zion Gate (circa 1898)  The photo was captioned "Jerusalem"  with no further detail. While the American Colony photographic  department was established in 1898, its founder, Elijah  Meyer, was an active photographer prior to that date. Zion Gate circa 1900  Camels leaving "David's Portal" (circa 1910) Expulsion of Jews from the Jewish Quarter in the 1948 War through the Zion Gate (John Philips for Life Magazine) Located between Mt. Zion and the Jewish and Armenian Quarters, the gate was the setting for fierce fighting during the 1948 war.  A small Palmach force, commanded by David "Dado" Elazar (later IDF chief of staff in 1973), attempted to break through the gate on May 1948 to relieve the besieged Jewish Quarter.  They were met with stiff resistance by the Jordanian Legion and were forced to withdraw. On May 28, 1948 the Jewish Quarter surrendered.  Jews were expelled through Zion Gate and didn't return until the city of Jerusalem was reunited 19 years later in the June 1967 war.

Tisha B'Av, the Day of Jewish Mourning Posted: 22 Jul 2018 05:37 AM PDT Jewish men sitting on the ground at the "Wailing Wall" (circa  1935). From the Library of Congress collection.  Tisha B'Av is commemorated today (on the 10th of Av), Sunday July 22, 2018. The ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av -- Tisha B'Av -- is the day in the Hebrew calendar when great calamities befell the Jewish people, including the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem, the fall of the fortress Beitar in the Jewish rebellion against Rome in 136 CE, and the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492.  The day is commemorated with fasting, prayers and the reading of Lamentations.  In Jerusalem, thousands pray at the Kotel, the Western Wall.   "Devout Jewish women" at the Wall (circa 1900). View another photo of devout women here  The American Colony photographers frequently focused their cameras on the worshipers at the "Wailing Place of the Jews."  The Colony founders who came to Jerusalem in 1881 were devout Christians who saw the return of the Jews to the Holy Land as a sign of messianic times.  Of the dozens of pictures at the Kotel there are several of elderly men and women sitting on the ground or on low stools, customs of mourning practiced on Tisha B'Av.  "A Jewish beggar reading at the Wailing Wall" (circa 1920). Note others sitting on the ground. The day is almost certainly Tisha B'Av and he is probably reading the book of Lamentations.  Jews straining to see the Western Wall (circa 1929)  Other pictures presented here show the very narrow and confined area of the Kotel over the ages until Israel's army captured the Old City in 1967 and enlarged the Kotel plaza.  The tragedies that occurred to the Jewish nation are also evident in the pictures of the deserted plaza after Arab pogroms in 1929.  The area was deserted, of course, during the 19 years of Jordanian rule of the Old City when Jews were forbidden to pray at the site. A story is told of Napoleon passing a synagogue and hearing congregants inside mourning.  To his question who they are mourning, he was told they were weeping over the destruction of the Jewish Temple 1,800 years earlier.  Napoleon responded, according to the legend, "If the Jews are still crying after so many hundreds of years, then I am certain the Temple will one day be rebuilt." Western Wall deserted in 1929. View looking south. "Jews' wailing place without mourners. Deserted during 1929 riots." View looking north. A Jordanian soldier (and policeman in the background) at the Western Wall one month after Jews were expelled from the Old City's Jewish Quarter in May 1948. Dedicated in memory of  Chaim Menachem ben Levi