Sharing Love For Sweden - Eva Haglund - "BLESS ISRAEL"

BLESS ISRAEL

by Eva Haglund, Sweden

I am thinking about what it means to bless Israel - to bless the state Israel and the Jewish people. Here are a few of my thoughts.

One way is to help ONE Holocaust survivor who is starving and to give food or to buy a present for a Holocaust survivor. 

To bless Israel can be to invite a lonely Messianic Jew for dinner or to have a cup of coffee together. It can be to give food also for the Messianic Jews who do not have much money for food. Jesus prayed in John 17:21 that love will be a testimony to the world in Body of Christ. He talks about love to each other in John 15:12, "This is My commandment that you love one another as I have loved you."

I do not think He means just in a church building. I believe the church is made up of Christians, with Jesus as the head. We all need each other in the Body. Friendship is not just in a building, but rather  the "hand" needs the "foot" and so on. All with the same value. In Gal.3:28 is written that we are all one in Christ.

I think when Messianic Jews are blessed in congregations this also blesses Israel. Relatives will notice if they are given food. It is a testimony to unsaved Jews.

To bless Israel is to comfort Jews in different ways.

It is written in Isaiah 40:1, "Comfort, comfort My people." It can mean to both comfort all people who are not saved, to comfort Christians ( both Messianic Jews and Gentiles) and to comfort the Jewish people.

To bless Israel and "comfort" My people - it is important to think about that many people suffer today. Many Jews suffer and we can comfort with words, show compassion and take time talking with people. Comfort is to know that somebody has time to listen, somebody has time in a world of much stress. Comfort can also be done by counseling people.

In the Body of Christ there needs today to be more fellowship and friendship. Now I believe it is a time of a restoration, as done in Acts.2:46; eating together and having fellowship as Jesus also had with the disciples in John 21, when they were eating breakfast at the sea.

Jesus wants to be a Friend, not just someone we work for. He and our heavenly Daddy has fellowship together, as it should be In the Body of Christ. We need to be more like a big family. As we become more like this, it will be a comfort for people, because care and love also heals.

To "comfort my people" I think is also to give the message about Jesus. He is the source of all comfort, as He is the Comforter. 

We need to open our hearts and also to give comfort to the Jews who encounter much antisemitism today. We need to bless Israel  - the Jewish people around the world and not just the state of Israel.

Give a cup of coffee or tea to one today. 

Blessing or Curse - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Blessing or Curse

- Now Think On This

Steve Martin

"Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.” Deut. 11:26-29 NKJV

The words you speak impact people more than we often realize. An encouraging word sown at the right time to a person wanting and needing some more hope, for their troubling heart or worrisome mind, can change a direction a person is going in, and effect their life beyond the immediate vision. Spoken with a prophetic impact that the Holy Spirit generates, a spoken word at the right time can even mean life or death for that person. It can be as a lifeline thrown out to one needing a pull out of the engulfing water.

A believing life “spoken” to a generation, one that is lived out of obedience to the voice of the Lord and following after Him, will have even more impact on many people; even a generation or more that follows behind. The lives of countless men and women, who heard the call of the Lord, and responded with, “Here I am Lord, Your servant is listening. Do unto me according to Your word,” have been so instrumental in changing nations by their simple obedience, day after decades of days.

In offering themselves in entrustment to His plans and purposes, their families, their communities, their nations were given the opportunity to be in the overflow of the Lord God’s blessing and provision that fell on them, and then flowed from and through them. Hearing and obeying the Father does that.

In our day, leaders in religion, business, media, entertainment, government, arts and education have a tremendous impact on their cultures – the communities, families and all the ones their waves of influence touch, for good or bad. Understanding that our actions will bring either blessing or curse upon those who look to us for guidance, knowingly or unknowingly, will have long lasting, even eternal, effects as a result of our actions. For those who hear and obey the Creator of all - blessings will flow downward. 

Ones who disregard and even despise the natural and spiritual laws put in place to guide and protect, those set forth by God Himself, the resulting just judgment will come forth, now or for sure later. What we sow we will reap. It is a natural and spiritual law that cannot be broken, except to result in bearing bad fruit.

You break the natural and spiritual laws in the universe and they will ultimately break you. (Any argument on that? Just have a reality check look in the nation you abide in.)

This truth has been proven out again and again in history, both in the written Scriptural documentation of the people of Israel, and in every nation which either followed the Lord’s way or opposed His purposes. Blessing or curse is our choice.

Having been a parent myself for over 35 years now, at the time of this writing, and also having served in several top leadership roles in ministry and secular business for over 40 years, I have seen that the actions leadership take will have even more of a lasting effect in a child’s life, or a company’s future, than just words spoken. The ripple of those actions taken at each point show up years later down the road.

It is true that actions do speak louder than words, for what is really in your heart will truly come out, especially in those times when a decisive response is needed in a critical situation. Then it really shows what you have, or don’t have, in your character. Blessing will follow, or a response as a curse will result.

To say it again - how you respond and deal with situations that come your way will be shown, as that which you really are will come out from that which is within. You can’t give out what you don’t have within you. From a pure spring flows pure water. From a cesspool flows accumulated filth.

“The good person produces good things from the store of good in his heart, while the evil person produces evil things from the store of evil in his heart. For his mouth speaks what overflows from his heart.” Luke 6:45 Complete Jewish Bible

“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” Mark 7:21-23 NKJV

Speaking to my generation, we have the responsibility, the daily choice to walk in the righteous path we know is the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is black and white. It is already firmly stated in the Lord’s Word. By choosing to follow Him daily, we are impacting the life the next generation will see and then also have the choice to walk in or not. We must do our part if we expect them to do theirs.

We have the option to daily live a righteous and holy life, set apart for the Lord’s purposes. We can choose to “do our own thing, in seeking our own pleasure”, which ultimately will bring a curse on us and the generation that follows, or we can heed the Lord’s word and follow Him.

“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

"As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ' Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?' "And they will say, 'Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.'" 
2 Chronicles 7:19-22 NASB

As it was for Israel, so choices taken will bring the same results in any nation. We must choose the blessing, and not allow the curse to come upon our land. Today, we must choose the Lord.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People. Inc.

  

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

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Now Think On This #146 “Blessing or Curse” by Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (04.24.14) Thursday at 5:00 am in Charlotte, NC.

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on our newest website: Now Think On This

Congratulations from Sweden & Others - on the Celebration of our 4th Year Anniversary of Love for His People

Shalom Steve and Laurie!

I want to congratulate you, your wife and also other people involved in the ministry "Love For His People"! Thank you so much to you and your wife for starting this ministry and that you are moving forward with Yeshua in strong passion for Him!

Thank you for blessing many people and that you bless Israel and the Jewish people strong in a time of increasing anti-semitism!

Thank you for following Yeshua in working in this ministry. Thank you to your wife and you for being so mature leaders in a time when several are not and for your love to Yeshua! God will give you back for what you have sown into the Kingdom of God and your reward is big in heaven!

Maybe I have a word for you. Please check all words! I think it is a new time for you! God will show you new things! Isaiah 43:18-19. I am thinking about that God is rejoicing so much over you! I also think Yeshua is celebrating today!

I send many blessings to you, your wife, family and to people involved in this ministry! Thank you so much, Steve and this greeting to your wife, too, for starting this ministry!

Shalom!

Eva Haglund

Sweden

MANY CONGRATULATIONS AND 

BLESSINGS FROM SWEDEN!

From Others Who Sent In Blessings 

Curtis Loftin, Beit Yeshua Lincolnton, NC

Steve,

Congratulations!  In some ways it's hard to believe it's been four years - my how time flies!  Your accomplishments in four years have been astounding and very impressive.  Way to Go!  We're so pleased to call you "friend".  Adonai's continued blessings upon all that you do. B'Shem Yeshua.
Shalom,
Curtis

Cathy Hargett, Highway To Zion, Charlotte, NC

Bless you, Brother! I will be reading all of this in detail later but wanted to immediately say Mazel Tov and to tell you and Laurie how blessed I am to have you in my life and to be on this journey together.  You have persevered and He has given you much fruit for your labors.  Bless you all day long!  Love you!  Cathy. 

PS Which of your books is the one that has the large amount of photos? (Book - "Now Think On This - The Inspiration Continues" has over 165 photos.)

Peter Wyns, Christians For Messiah Ministries, Antioch Intl. Church - Fort Mill, SC

Well Done Steve,

Keep up the good work for Israel.

Thank you for your support for Antioch’s first Sunday.

Many Blessings,

Peter

Mary L. Smith, Charleston, SC
VERY NICE Steve!! Great work!! Love you!!
Have a blessed day,
Mary

Karla Shrake, Mantles of Glory Ministries, Fort Worth, TX

Hello Steve,

Congrats on the four-year mark, that is awesome. It is amazing all the publishing and all the media sites and development you are doing ....and doing so well...glory to God!

 

Your four books being published and all the other made me remember how God spoke of you as Jacob/Israel while he had to serve Laban...and then was tricked into serving Laban again.   But how God gave him that supernatural strategy of putting the rods in front of the sheep, etc. so they would reproduce, etc to Jacob's benefit.   When you first sent me the finishing of the fourth book, the photo of all four together, that’s what instantly came back to my  spirit /mind...about how the flocks and herds had supernaturally reproduced and increased, I do think that was definitely a Holy Ghost thought.

 

And the awesome tours to Israel, and your ministry "Love for His People". Good-good-good!  Rejoicing with you and believing for more and more doors of teaching, mentoring, touring and traveling to open for you and Laurie. 

 

Blessings to you and Laurie --

Karla

Moses Jilius, Shalom today Worldwide Ministries, Pakistan (Lehore)

Dear Brother Steve!

Well done, Brother and your coworker! I can't express how much I appreciate your efforts. It's great to have someone as special as you to work for His People. I am proud to be a part of your organization.

Yes the same thing was happened to me since 2011 when God spoke to me to Work for His people here in Pakistan.

Congratulation with depth of my heart,

Love and Blessing  

Sharing Love From Sweden - WE NEED EACH OTHER by Eva Haglund

March 26, 2014

Shalom Steve!

Many greetings from Stockholm!

Thank you for serving God with "Love For His People"! Thank you for all good things you write and also for your support for Israel and the Jewish people!

Just now I have read what Rick Joyner wrote about that we need each other. I totally agree with him! I  have been thinking and share some of my thoughts about the subject:

WE NEED EACH OTHER

Sometimes Christians are so stressed and do not think they need each other. Some will just seek the Lord and some just want to evangelize without friendship. We need seek the Lord and we need intercession in a world who really need intercession but we also need each other. God is not impersonal and want us not to just do things for Him but to have a relation with Him -  to have Him as your friend. Our heavenly Daddy and Jesus have much fellowship. In John.21 we can see for instance that Jesus had fellowship with the disciples. We as Christians need each other, too. 

The church is not a building as many people think.

The church is the Body of Christ with Jesus as head, not any strong  leader but Jesus.

As usual, our body needs each other's part ,1 Cor.12, so we need sisters and brothers not just in a church building but much in friendship. Even if you cannot know all, still how love and have some contact with people you also cannot know well. 

It is not good for us to stand alone. We need each other. We need each other in friendship to pray together.  For instance, you can worship together but also do other things. Take a walk and look at the nature with friends.

We also need meetings together. It can be in a house as Mary had meetings in hers, as in Acts, or in a building. If three friends meet in  a home seeking God  - that can also be a meeting. We need more of house of prayers today. We need to pray together and worship.

We do not need clubs but fellowship. In the Bible it talks about hospitality and in Acts 2:46 they broke bread from house to house and had fellowship. Jesus also prayed in John.17:21 that love will be a testimony to the world. 

He tells us to love one another in John. 15:12-13. He does not just mean to see each other in a church building but to have real fellowship among Christians. When Jesus tells us to wash each other`s feet I also think He talks about to take care about each other - show care to our sisters and brothers. I also believe in forgiveness - not to be bitter to anyone. 

However I believe it is good to have mature leader/leaders in a local church who care for people and do not have a hard heart but has been touched by the heart of the Father. I think all in the Body has the same value but with different gifts. We need to be one in Christ Gal.3:28. I think it is a new time when also God wants to work, to do more things in teams and that it is a new time when He wants to restore more of the love in Body of Christ.The enemy has stolen much of it among us. 

The enemy wants us to be bitter to each other, so he can bring more division to the Body. But we need forgiveness and love among each other. I believe also that when guided by God, Christian friends can live close to each other as in Ps.133. It is written about blessings with it. Sometimes Christians live so far away from each. I think that it is not good. If we live so far from each other, it is hard to be together. It is easier to pray together, have a meeting and other things together also in friendship if we do not live so far away from each other.

Jesus is the head as the body. He is a real Friend. We need Him first. This Friend gave His life for us in love. Friendship with God ought to go hand in hand with friendship with each other. 

If you do not have friendships now - He want us to get them back!

TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER

Wash the feet - showing care. 
Like a servant - giving out...

Love is to give... Wash the feet -

"ask anybody how it is - how are you" ?

Giving bread to a friend who do not have

...Write that letter...

Call that person who is alone... 

Invite anybody for a dinner...

Wash your friends dishes... 

We are cleansed by your water,

but reaching out is

showing love.

Wash each others feet.

Eva Haglund.

We need to come together!

Blessings!

Time to Call It In - Won’t somebody help me by standing up to testify & say Amen? Jim Croft

Time to Call It In - Won’t somebody help me by standing up to testify & say Amen?  
Jim Croft  

I have travelled the globe in ministry for over 40 years and have been in well over 40 nations.  The trips were financed by $s from the sacrificial giving of tenderhearted and generous American Christians.  The wonderful saints who have given to ministries like mine have significant untapped funds available to them.

For many, it’s high time to call in funds from that which they have stored in the heavenly accounts over the nations where they sowed for the sake of the furthering the Kingdom.  This is especially so in regard to those who have added to the billions of $s given through the years to impoverished and developing nations.

Curiously, it is apparent that the indigenous ministers and ministries that have been sown into for continuous decades by American ministries have not learned the principles of sowing into those who have blessed them spiritually. (1Cor 9:7-11)  It’s rare for indigenous clergy and churches to reciprocate by giving American ministers offerings.  This is rude protocol that needs correction.

Many claim that the churches of other nations are too poor to give.  That is an unbiblical notion.  No one is too poor to give.  In addition, countless clergymen from many countries regularly fly to the USA to speak at conferences and churches in order to reap humongous offerings from soft-touch American believers.  I have ministered at some of those visitors’ home turf fellowships in afar-off lands.  I have observed at firsthand, that many don’t have the slightest hint of unmet needs.

Without exaggeration, I can say that as often as not, the foreigners have more elaborate homes and well equipped offices than the USA pastors who invite them to speak in the USA.  In many African nations, any pastor that does not have a luxury car and a fulltime chauffer is not considered by his indigenous peers to have achieved full-stride success in ministry.  

It might be said that the people who comprise the US funding base for global missions are as naïve and gullible as they are sweet and generous.  I think they would be quickly sobered if some of the more famous foreign revivalists that minister in their churches were scrutinized by the American News Media.

US Christiana don’t take kindly to learning that funds they gave to bless the poor and neglected in faraway places were primarily used to boost the lifestyles of some clergymen to gaudy levels of extravagance.  Stateside pastors who have been exposed as manipulators for personal gain by the media usually repent and return to their original desire to serve Christ as humble servants.

I am a giver and will continue to give with discretionary cheerfulness to missions, but I am not happy about seeing my countrymen played.  The ability of  US citizens to have been so generous for the purposes of the Kingdom and for disaster victims worldwide for centuries is a blessed privilege more so than a burden.   Nevertheless, the Bible endorses the concept of reciprocal giving.

Churches, ministries and ministers of supposed needy nations that have received from the believers of affluent nations are to have a mindset to give back when their benefactors are going through trials.  This is so that there might be equality. (2Cor 8:13-14)  This principle is a preventative against the believers of one nation endlessly financing the churches of developing nations that have had plenty of time to start exercising faith to be self-supportive and to sow seeds elsewhere.

I cannot believe the hindrance has been poverty and societal idolatry.  We must remember that the Church was launched in a period of harsh religious-political persecution, slavery, widespread poverty, food shortages, high taxation, and cultures satiated with occultism.  Yet, the churches of that day in every nation quickly became self- supporting and sowed into traveling ministries of foreigners.  

We need to ask ourselves why we continually have to support churches in nations that are not directly under political and religious persecution and have a rapidly expanding middleclass.  There are many believers in other nations that are far more dependent on America for their livelihood than they are on faith in God.  This should not be so.

Spiritual slothfulness is rampant in many countries where believers ought to be making faith confessions about what they have sown in order to reap harvests to overcome their circumstance. Shoe now on other Foot Many generous US believers have been going through tough times over the past number of years.  I believe that they have an untapped source from their faithful sowing during times of plenty.

It is the manifold return of all they have sown into foreign missions and ministers throughout the years.  Most conscientious Christians have a huge harvest waiting on them.  All they need do is to wake-up and call it in. Start naming the foreign works and workers that you have sowed into and call in your harvests from them with great expectation.

Please remember that God laid it on your heart to give to them.  It is reasonable and biblical to anticipate that he will lay it on their hearts to bless you.  It is just as possible for God to put your name, your ministry on the heart of someone in a foreign land as it has historically been for him to put their names on your heart.

I’m not speaking from theological theory.  I’ve experienced what I’m speaking about on numerous occasions.  My wife and I had a $5,000 need and we don’t make our needs known to others.  That week a brother from a former political and religious oppressed nation was on a flight to the USA.  The Lord spoke to him about Prudence and me during his journey here.  Upon arrival, he invited us to dinner as I had him countless times when ministering in his nation.  During the meal he told us what the Lord had said and gave us an envelope that contained $5,000 in cash.

On other occasions, my bank has called to say $1,000 or more had been wired into my account.  I recently spoke on this theme to those in my house church.  I led them in a session of “calling it from foreign heavenly bank accounts.”  Within the following week, we received $3,000 from unexpected sources.  I instantly gave $3,400 to a stateside ministry couple who have been struggling for several years.

Am I rich?  No!  There was a day when I piled up thousands in credit card debt to fly to distant ports to minister faith to needy people.  God completely revolutionized my perspective.  I’ve learned that when I’m outrageously generous towards my wife and toward others, God is outrageously generous towards me.

Call It In 

Don’t you think that it is about time for you to call in the treasures you have laid-up in foreign heavenly bank accounts?  The Lord is well able to bring you funds from where you’ve sown abroad.  Or, it might be that he’ll have the funds transferred into someone else’s stateside heavenly storage account who has been predisposed by God’s whisper to share with you.

One way or the other, it will come. Faith demands simplified boldness.

The simplicity is to say, God send money.  The boldness is to not be shy about the amount.  Your Heavenly Father is not staggered by monetary figures.  He is your friend and you have already proven through years of sacrificial giving that you are not greedy.  (Heb 6:10)

Remember, Father God is glorified when the prayers of Jesus’ people are answered. (Jn 15:7-8)  It is one of numerous signs that you are spiritually-minded and are abiding in the Vine.

Call it in!

Jim Croft

jcm888@comcast.net

Editor's Note: 

I wholeheartedly agree with Jim's words, "He is your friend and you have already proven through years of sacrificial giving that you are not greedy.  (Heb 6:10) Remember, Father God is glorified when the prayers of Jesus’ people are answered. (Jn 15:7-8)  It is one of numerous signs that you are spiritually-minded and are abiding in the Vine."

The photo below was added by me (just because I like photos and color!) 

Also, as for the support we provide to our friends in other countries, we have been to their homes. Our good pastor friend in India lives in a three room apartment and sleeps on a cot in Hyderabad. One family in Jerusalem, with four kids, soon to be five, live in a 700 square foot (if that) four room apartment. Another couple in Jerusalemwhom we support monthly live in an apartment provided by the ministry they volunteer with, while having little earthly goods of their own. 

You need to know those whom you are supporting. If you don't, then find ones you do.

Steve Martin

Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. And as for our ministry, we do not take funds from the ministry for salaries or office rent. My full time accounting job, and my wife's daycare job provide for our living.

Thank you Lord!

With Thanksgiving Day coming, 

why not start today; 

and tomorrow; 

and each day thereafter 

to thank the Lord Jesus (Yeshua!)

Blessings Await Christians Who Bless the Jews

Blessings Await Christians Who Bless the Jews
Part 4 of a 4 Part Series

Jim Croft

Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the     families of the earth shall be blessed."

Almighty God closely monitors the attitudes and actions of individual and nations toward his Chosen people, the Jews.  Individuals and nations that bless Israel and the Jewish people can anticipate temporal and eternal blessing for kindness demonstrated toward the Jews.  There are spiritual and tangible material blessings connected to cultivating an attitude of respect toward Israel and for exercising compassion toward Jews in adverse situations.

Identifying the Lord’s Brothers

When Christians read Jesus’ words in Matt 25:31-46, most don’t consider the full implications of what he said.  Throughout the centuries believers have read the Lord’s statements and have been inspired to launch ministries to prison inmates; the impoverished and to those struck by national disasters.  That is well and good.  However, more often than not those ministries only target people who qualify as the Lord’s kinsmen in the sense that God created them and cares for them. 

The Lord has another group of people who are his ethnic kinsmen in the natural.  It is the Jews.  Normally speaking, the Jews scattered throughout the earth are left out of the mercy ministry equation and so is the nation of Israel.  Few Christian outreaches specifically target Jews imprisoned in ghettos and those reduced to poverty by the many nations that have anti-Semitic political policies.   How many nations are first responders to aid Israeli’s whose limbs and homes are blasted to smithereens by the rockets and homicide bombs of Islamic terrorist groups?   I don’t know of any.
 
The Lord warned of judgment against the churches of the Book of Revelations that were only partially obedient to his commands.  Nations that neglect the plight of the Jews will not have placement in the Millennial Kingdom.  Those that bless Israel and the Jews can expect the manifold blessings of life in the Kingdom.

Prophet’s Reward

Jesus was a Jewish prophet.  Many Christians envision their ministries as an aspect of the prophesied restoration of the ministry of the Jewish prophet, Elijah.  Jesus proclaimed that anyone who gives so much as a sip of water in the name of a prophet would receive a prophet’s reward. 

What is a prophet’s reward?  It is extraordinary supernatural help in times of trouble.  The widow of Zarephath shared her last bits of food with Elijah.  For the duration of the famine, her flour bin was supernaturally replenished and her oil jar never lacked sufficient supply.  Her son died of a sudden illness and Elijah raised him from the dead. (1 Kg 17:9-23)

Material $ Spiritual Blessings

Psa 122:6-9 dictates that all believers who love Jerusalem and pray for her will be rewarded with prosperity. 

When the Jewish elders of Jesus' day wanted him to come and heal a Gentile centurion's servant they knew that they would have to give him a good reason.  When Jesus heard that the man loved the Jewish people and had built them a synagogue, he sent a deposit of healing power to the man's home and the servant was healed. (Luke 7:2-10)

The first incident of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Gentiles for salvation and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit was prompted by the righteous acts of one Gentile Centurion toward the Jewish people.  The angel of the Lord told Cornelius that his habit of giving alms to Jews had been noticed in heaven.  God labeled the Gentile’s acts of kindness as a memorial that qualified him for divine favor.  As a result, the Spirit graced all of the Centurion’s friends and relatives with the gift of eternal life.  (Act 10:1-5, 24, 34-48)

Christians who honor the Jewish people can anticipate that relatives and friends whom they want to see saved and immersed in the Spirit to have supernatural encounters with God.

United In Christ

We must come to understand that the Lord never intended that there be ongoing animosity between Christians and Jews.  One of the primary reasons for Jesus' death on the cross was to break down the wall of enmity between Gentile believers and Jews.  We are to be reconciled to create one new man from the two.  As we allow the Lord to cleanse the anti-Semitism from our hearts, we qualify to become the completed habitation of God in the Spirit.  This is the clear teaching of the following passage from the book of Ephesians.

Ephes.2:11-22:   Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands--  [12] that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope  and without God in the world.  [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  [14] For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,  [15] having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,  [16] and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.  [17] And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.  [18] For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.  [19] Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,  [20] having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone,  [21] in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,  [22] in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Please note the words two, both and together.  They refer to Gentiles who were afar off from God’s covenant with the Israel prior to salvation and the words also refer to born-again Jews.  Through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus, both groups have access through the Holy Spirit into the fullness of the Father's blessings.  We are to recognize that we are joined as one as the unified dwelling place of the Godhead.

If we repent of our ignorant neglect of this vital truth the Scriptures give ample precedent that the Father's blessings of everything from household salvation to financial prosperity will surely follow.  Gentiles Christians need those attestations if they are to fulfill their Godly mission to the Jews.
 Part of our commission as the people of God is to provoke the Jews, to jealousy.  (Romans 10:19, 11:11)  The provocation is activated as Jews see the covenant blessings that belong to them coming upon Gentile Christians.  It must be stated that Jews seldom have reason to be envious of Christians.  On the whole, Jews are creative, industrious people who are well known for their achievements in every area of life beneficial to mankind.

Unfortunately, it is not commonplace for Christians of fervent testimony to have the same measure of distinction.   Though many Gentile believers speak of the abundant life that Jesus promised, there are not significant numbers demonstrating it in a manner impressive to Jews.

Christians often boast, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philip.  4:13)  A pragmatic Jews response might be: “Just what have you done through Christ that is more notable than what we have accomplished without Christ”?

The Church that helps pave the way for the end-time harvest of the Jews will need to cultivate apprehending faith that bears evidence that God’s blessings reside on its Gentile membership.  Miraculous signs, wonders and marketplace achievements must become commonplace among us. 
The Jewish disciples who attracted 3,000 to the Lord on the Day of Pentecost were prophesying about the glorious works that God would do among his people in the end-times.  Clever sermons will not convince the Jewish people of the Lordship of Christ.  They will not be moved to investigate Christ’s authenticity as their Messiah unless they see objective proof that he is alive and is performing miraculous healings and improving the lives of Gentiles whom they have historically shunned.  The visible evidence of the Holy Spirit’s anointing on our lives will prepare them to accept their coming revelation that Jesus is indeed Jewish and their King.

Faith’s Response

Father, I ask forgiveness for any degree of prejudice and anti-Semitism that I have held in my heart.  Lord, I thank you for all the blessings that you have afforded me through the many contributions which your chosen people have made to enhance my life.  Lord Jesus, the Jews are your kinsmen in the flesh and I embrace them as my brothers in the Spirit.  I praise you for allowing me to see the full restoration of Israel in my lifetime.  Lord, I ask you to begin your move on Jewish hearts.  Send your Holy Spirit to visit them with revelations of their Messiah.

Christians who want to bless Jewish immigrants to Israel can do so through the ministry of Joseph’s Storehouse/Vision for Israel.  I have known the founders for decades.  They are among my most reliable friends.

 http://www.visionforisrael.com/

Sources

The historical data contained in this book was derived from research of the following:
The Long Way Home, 1997 HBO documentary.
The Last Word On The Middle East, Derek Prince, Chosen Books Pub.
The Anguish Of The Jews, Edward H. Flannery, Macmillan Pub.
The Jewish Connection, M. Hirsh Goldberg, Bantam Books Pub.
Israel America’s Key To Survival, Mike Evans, Logos International Pub.
The Christian History Institute’s website http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/

All Scripture references are quoted from the New King James Version.

Be blessed and be a blessing,

Jim Croft

jcm888@comcast.net