Mount Moriah

 

Gen 22:2

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

God has for centuries had a plan regarding Jerusalem, a plan that will culminate in the return of the Lord to the Mount of Olives (Zech 14:4) and the thousand year long reign of Jesus here on earth from this very city. This plan started unfolding when God called Abraham to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son Isaac.

There He provided a substitute lamb to die in Isaac’s place. The Hebrew word for provide is yireh, and Abraham called this place The Lord will Provide, or Jahwe Yireh. This is the prophetic act which pointed to the Lamb of God being sacrificed as the substitute for us, for on Mount Moriah we find Golgotha where Jesus was crucified, where God offered His only Son to die in our place.

About a thousand years after this incident, King David - who had conquered the city from the Jebusites - halted the plague that had already killed 70 000 men of Israel, by buying the threshing floor (and oxen) of Araunah the Jebusite, building an altar to the Lord and offering the oxen as burnt offerings there (2 Sam 24:24). It is important to realize that David bought this piece of land fair and square, because on this site Solomon built the first temple in Jerusalem. (2 Chron 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David.) The title deed in heaven for this property is registered in the name of David, King of the Jews, to this day. Even though the Babylonians invaded the land, followed by the Medo-Persians, then the Greeks, and the Romans after that; even though the Jews were scattered over the earth and Jerusalem suffered multiple changeovers of rulers throughout the subsequent centuries.

Jerusalem has always belonged to God, no matter who laid siege to it, conquered it, and ruled over it during history. He Himself has said that His name will always be in Jerusalem (2 Chron 33:4 …… “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”)

Pearls to Ponder:

Jews face many accusations that they are only occupiers of the land called Israel. We need to delve into the Bible to search out the truth of the matter, not get side-tracked by arguments of men. Biblically, God promised the land to Abraham and his descendants forever. Historically, the League of Nations decided that Israel will be a Jewish state, and this was later backed up by the United Nations charter. We would do well to investigate the facts for ourselves and take our stand on this issue, for we need to stem the tide of lies thrown about by the enemy and keep praying for the peace of Jerusalem. For the Bride of Christ, this also involves praying for all innocent victims on both sides of the ongoing conflict.

Jerusalem

God's Tabernacle

 

Hebrew 8:5

The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

Christians who have the view that the Tabernacle that Moses erected in the desert (and the subsequent Temples built in Jerusalem) belong only to the Old Testament and to the Jewish religion, are generally surprised to learn that a Temple currently exists in heaven. In the book Revelation John was shown that God will reveal aspects of it during the Tribulation, one of which is found in Rev 11:19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. (In the final newly created heaven at the end of the age, no temple is needed, as God and the Lamb are its temple -Rev 21:22).

We know that illustrations from the Old Testament are there for us to use as examples in how to live a godly life, as Paul writes in 1 Cor 10:11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. We therefore are grateful to Dr David Cho from Korea who gave us this beautiful framework as an example of how to use the tabernacle as a basis for prayer. In your imagination, go to:

The Altar of Sacrifice: This brazen altar was where all offerings were made. This reminds us of Jesus, our perfect sacrifice (John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!) See the redeeming grace flow from Him, thank Him that His blood has declared you a righteous person, completely free from the guilt and condemnation of sin. Also thank Him that He has taken your infirmities and carried away your sickness; that He has blessed you; that you are no longer under the curse of the law; that you are redeemed from death and hell!

The Laver of Water: Priests had to wash their hands and feet and face here. It was made of polished bronze, reflecting like a mirror all who bent over it, serving as a prophetic washing and cleansing of sin. We are reminded of our own baptism here (Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’) Meditate on the 10 commandments – Do I worship another god? Do I love something more than You? Do I take His name in vain? Do I keep His day holy? Do I respect my parents? Am I killing (hating) anybody? Always forgive! Is there adultery, even in my imagination? Am I stealing in any way or form? Am I lying? Do I covet? This is a time for repentance!

The Holy Place: Open the dividing curtain and walk into the Holy Place. See the candlestick, which represents the 7-fold manifestations of the Holy Spirit (Is 11:2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD). Remember that Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8:12). Ask Holy Spirit to give you the fear of the Lord. He is a Person with will and emotions, He is your Guide and Teacher, do not “use” Him. Have fellowship, love Him, welcome Him, adore Him, worship Him! Thank Him for His anointing and follow His leading all day long. The shewbread is the Word of God, which is also Jesus (John 6:51). Thank Him for both the logos and rhema word, the knowledge that Holy Spirit turns into faith. At the altar of incense, start interceding. Commit everything to the Centre of the Universe, the Great Creator, the Ruler over history, send praise and stop worrying!

The Holy of Holies: In the original Tabernacle, this is where God met with Moses personally (Ex 25:22 There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.). Open the curtain to the Holy of Holies, for we received the right to do this through the blood of Jesus. See the disarmament of the devil, he is a defeated enemy! And commune with Abba, our Father. Thank Him for your redemption, the freedom from fear. Just worship and adore Him, He is worthy of all praise! And receive His everlasting love flowing through you.

Tabernacle

Summertime

Matthew 9:37-38

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

In the natural, we are currently in the grip of a very cold spell here in the Western Cape, with very low temperatures and heavy rain combining to keep us indoors as much as possible! But spiritually, the entire world is finding itself in summertime, the time of year in Israel when the Feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot, has just been celebrated.

What happened next in ancient Israel was that the Hebrews went out from their cities into their fields to gather the harvest. They laboured at this throughout the summertime until the Feast of Trumpets, a date in autumn, when they would finish their harvest and gather before their Lord in Jerusalem.

This is exactly what happened spiritually two thousand years ago, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles on the Feast of Pentecost and they were sent out to bring in the harvest of souls into the Kingdom of God. This is what Jesus meant when He said to them in John 4:35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” He showed that the fields are the world, and the harvest is the ingathering of lost souls. It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word for harvest is kayitz, which also means summertime.

This then is the season we are living in now. Jesus fulfilled all the Feasts of the Lord up until Pentecost, and we find ourselves eagerly anticipating the fulfilment of the next Feast, which will include the Rapture of the bride of Christ, gathering us to appear before our Lord. Until then, we are meant to be workers in the fields of the world, bringing in the harvest of new believers in Jesus. We are also meant to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send even more workers to work alongside us.

Pearls to ponder:

We are living at the end of the age. Harvest time is limited; there is not a lot of time left to gather people to Jesus. We have to go about our work in the fields with a sense of urgency! What does that mean?

It means that we have to actively look for opportunities to spread the Gospel. It means that we have to be ready to obey the voice of the Lord when He sends us out, even if it is to places that make us feel uncomfortable. It means speaking when we need to speak because Holy Spirit guided us to, not keeping quiet to ‘keep the peace’. It means maintaining an uncompromisingly holy lifestyle, so that what other workers of Christ have built up in people’s lives, we do not break down again.

Ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you what He wants you to know about your own particular situation, and where your own field of harvest is.

Bringing in the sheaves 

God's promises

 

1 Kings 18:1

After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”

We find the vivid account of the spiritual showdown between 850 pagan priests and one true prophet of God, Elijah, in 1 Kings 18. The background to this event is that God was punishing Israel with a very severe drought brought upon them because of their idolatry. By the time these dramatic events unfolded, the country had been without rain for three years, and every brook and river had run completely dry.

The reigning king Ahab, who can be described as the most wicked king in all of Israel’s history, then summoned the governor of his house Obadiah, and commanded that he go through the land to search for any remaining source of water and seize it for the king’s use. Unbeknown to Ahab, Obadiah feared the Lord and had hidden a hundred prophets in a cave, feeding them secretly. On his travels Obadiah met Elijah, who then told him that he needed to see Ahab immediately and would Obadiah go and inform the king of his intent - an instruction that Obadiah quite understandably did not appreciate, fearing that king Ahab would certainly have him killed for delivering this unwanted message!

This brings us to the quoted verse above. Mostly, when we think about this part of Scripture, we immediately remember that Elijah prayed to God to bring down fire from heaven to supernaturally burn up his (soaking wet) altar and bull offering. Certainly God had instructed him to do so (1 King 18:36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.)

But what we easily overlook is that God promised rain if Elijah obeyed his command. This is why Elijah, immediately after dealing with the pagan prophets by killing them at the brook Kishon, instructed Ahab to go back up the mountain to eat and drink, as he already was hearing the rain fall in the spirit. He then sent his servant seven times to look for clouds bringing rain. Even when the servant reported only a cloud the size of a man’s hand in the sky, Elijah reacted by sending a warning to Ahab on top of the mountain to come down immediately before the rain made it impossible for him to do so.

Pearls to ponder:

Elijah spoke God’s promise of rain out loud nine times in total. With not a cloud in sight, he spoke the promise from God repeatedly, until the rain manifested. He had no natural indications that rain would come, only God’s word to him that it would indeed be so. Every time he spoke rain, he was enabling the Holy Spirit to start creating this miracle! What are you doing with the personal promises God made to you? Are you idly waiting for God to bring it about, or are you actively proclaiming it until it manifests? Make very sure, however, that it is a promise from God, and not your own fleshly desires that you call for!

God will make a way

Fifty

Acts 1:3

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

In the wider church community, we have just celebrated Ascension Day, commemorating the day that Jesus ascended into heaven. He had been crucified and buried forty-three days earlier, and upon His resurrection visited His disciples over a period of forty days before ascending to heaven before their very eyes.

They then withdrew into the upper room to wait another ten days before the Holy Spirit came upon them, making the length of time between His resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, fifty days. Why is this significant?

It is important because it shows that Jesus fulfilled the Feast of Pentecost down to the very last detail! Just as He had fulfilled the previous three Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits) in their entirety and in all details.

The word ‘Pentecost’ means fifty - the Lord instructed the Israelites to count seven weeks after the Feast of First Fruits and then celebrate this Feast on the next day, and this adds up to fifty days (Lev 23:16). The Jews also call this Feast Shavuot, which means weeks. The seven sevens referred to here (seven weeks of seven days) is a picture of the pattern given in the Bible of seven sevens of years with the year thereafter being a Jubilee year – an indication of God’s ultimate period of rest and restitution. This is why Holy Spirit was poured out on that fiftieth day. It marked a reset of creation, proclaimed rest in the Lord and restitution of the relationship between us and Him, and between us as human beings. The leavened bread baked for this Feast shows that the Holy Spirit is now inside the followers of Jesus, making the Bride of Christ holy (Rom 11:16 If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.)

This brings us back to the book of Acts, and to Acts 2:1 On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. They were celebrating the Jewish Feast of Pentecost when God poured the Holy Spirit out upon them, as He had promised He would. The very event we as Christians also celebrate when we gather for Pentecost, even though on a different date from their celebrations.

And I am wondering: is it not time for us as Christians to unite with our Jewish brothers and sisters by celebrating our common heritage on the historically real dates, i.e. as given on the Jewish calendar? Not according to Jewish religious and cultural customs, but in a uniquely Christian way?

Pearls to ponder:

Jesus fulfilled the first four Feasts of God, showing us that they really are all about commemorating Him. (He will also fulfil the next three!) Meditate on this – what is referred to as the Jewish Feasts actually are Jesus Messiah pointers – why do we hesitate to celebrate them alongside our fellow Jewish believers in Christ? Why do we criticize those who do take part and label them as being under the Law? Rather think about what these celebrations could look like, how we can remove Jewish cultural elements from them and celebrate Jesus only. And then quietly start observing them in our own homes, without fanfare or finger-pointing.

Pentecost 

My God-given identity

 

Judges 6:11-12

Then the angel of the LORD came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

We are all well acquainted with the story of Gideon. We find him here, hiding away from the Midianites, threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress so that they will not find him and steal the crop from him. Imagine his surprise when the Angel of the Lord (whom many ancient interpretations identify as the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ) addressed him as “mighty warrior” when he was acting in totally the opposite manner!

This is such a good illustration of the way God gives us our identity. He does not see us as we are in the present, but as He purposed us to be. He bases His identity of us not on our past, but on our future, on that which we are to become.

There are more examples of this. Think about Abram, whose wife Sarai could not conceive, and yet God named him Abraham which means father of the multitudes. This only started to come into fulfilment twenty-five years later when Isaac was born. Joseph means to increase, and yet he had to face rejection from his family, false accusations and years in prison before living in the increase God had planned for Him all along. Peter means the rock, and before Jesus’ resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit, Simon (whom Jesus renamed Peter) was a passionate believer but not a very stable man. Yet he became the strong anchor and rock for the fledgling church, just as Jesus called him to be by changing his name years before.

Unlike God, we form our identity based on who other people say we are, and upon our life experiences up to now. This process starts at a very young age, and our enemy skilfully uses these adverse experiences to keep us from walking in our true God-given identity. Why? Because if we did, we would be the greatest threat to the kingdom of darkness, basically unstoppable!

Start proclaiming your identity in Christ today. Believe that you have a new identity and act as if it were so – it is not enough to just say it - fix your mind and focus on this new person you already have become. Keep exchanging your old habits/traits/beliefs for the new ones God has given you, even if it takes a few years for you to see them fully developing!

Pearls to ponder:

Read your Bible and start writing down what God says about you. Meditate on these truths and start proclaiming them over your life. Here are a few examples:  I am faithful. I am God’s child, adopted into His family. I have been established, sealed and anointed by God. I am holy and blameless. I am forgiven. I am raised up with Christ. I have peace. I have access to the Father. I am sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. I have been justified. I belong to God.

Who I am

Discernment

 

Rev 22:18-19

And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.

In the broader Christian community, this verse is often wrongly applied to mean that no one is allowed to either add or remove anything from the books in the whole Bible.

But verse 18 of our quoted section above refers to “in this book” and “what is written here”, clearly limiting the warning to the actual prophecy given in Revelation, and verse 19 further defines this limit with “words from this book of prophecy”.

If we were to interpret it as applicable to the total Bible, then John himself would be in trouble, because he wrote his other two books in the New Testament after he wrote Revelation, therefore adding to Scripture! Apart from the scrolls on which the Old Testament were preserved, most of the New Testament was still being written, and no complete book of the whole Bible existed yet.

Even a similar warning from Moses in Deut 12:32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it refers only to “Whatever I command you” and not to the Bible as a whole.

We definitely do not want to be guilty of either distorting, erasing or altering the text as given in the Bible. But the misapplication of the quoted verse to the whole of Scripture sometimes generates many misleading assumptions. For instance, people we know who studied Apocryphal books (a collection of biblical or related writings that were not included in the officially recognized canon of the Bible) were told that they were wrong to do that, as they were “adding” to the Bible. This of course is not true.

Another totally wrong deduction would be that you cannot make notes in your Bible. In answer to that I can only stress that Jesus Himself and Holy Spirit are the revealers of the basis of our faith, and the text itself is a tool that leads us to more understanding of Him – so go ahead and make notes, highlight verses, jot down all new revelations Holy Spirit gives you!

Pearls to ponder:

We are living in times where deception is increasing at an alarming rate. The sad part is that the church itself sometimes brings deception across our path. We have to start grounding our basic beliefs in truth and practise our discernment. Make sure that what you are told about the Bible is actually what is written there – do not take anybody’s word for it, read it for yourself – Holy Spirit promises to teach you (John 14:26). Make time, you will be greatly rewarded!

Discernment

Hedges

 

Ecclesiastics 10:8

He that digs a pit shall fall into it; and him that breaks down a hedge a serpent shall bite.

We build hedges around gardens and properties in order to protect them, to keep enemy forces who wish to harm us and our loved ones, outside. In biblical times, hedges were built around vineyards to keep insects, bugs, rodents, thieves and birds outside and prevent them from stealing the harvest. They mostly built these hedges in layers:

A stone wall was first erected, and beyond that, a thick layer of thorns. Right before the harvest, a wall of fire was created to keep the insects and birds away. What a beautiful picture of our Lord’s protection! Our Father is our Rock of Ages, firm, stable, unchanging. This is our source of peace and security. The ring of thorns on the head of Jesus caused bleeding, and His blood bought the everlasting protection of our spirits and souls. The wall of fire at harvest time was necessary because the lovely aroma of the ripe grapes would attract all who wished to devour it. So too, just as we are positioned to reap great blessings in our lives, every demon and foul bird is clamouring to get through the hedge and destroy it. But Holy Spirit brings His fire to surround us!

As in the natural, so it is also in the supernatural. We know that the serpent represents evil, and that in order to keep our enemy at bay, we need to build spiritual hedges around everything pertaining to us.

How is this accomplished? We have to firstly believe that God’s hedge of protection is already promised to us who diligently follow Him and trust in His name, and then act on those promises by declaring and praying this truth. Here are a few examples:

Ps 34:7 For the angel of the LORD is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him. I prefer to interpret this ‘angel of the LORD’ as Jesus Christ Himself, as it is found throughout the Old Testament, and as He is the commander of the Host of Heaven, He can summon any number of angels to intervene in every situation I face. It is in keeping with the promise He made to His followers upon ascending to heaven, written in Matth 28:20 ... And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Being in a church with leadership who stand up for the truth of the Word and are Spirit-led, brings protection, because God’s blessings rest upon such a gathering. People praying in unity also build hedges, remember that God would have changed the destiny of Sodom if Abraham could find only ten men living righteously – we have to join hands and start praying for our governments to make righteous decisions!

Pearls to ponder:

The above verse also refers to the outcome if we break down those hedges. Then the serpent can enter in and kill, steal and destroy. Carefully walk around the perimeters of your spiritual territory and look for two things:  Is there a gap in that fence; and, am I walking on the right side of it? Am I doing what I like, or what I ought?

Jesus be a fence all around me

Not a hoof left behind

 

Ex 10:24-26

Finally, Pharaoh called for Moses. “Go and worship the LORD,” he said. “But leave your flocks and herds here. You may even take your little ones with you.”  “No,” Moses said, “you must provide us with animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings to the LORD our God. Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind….

In the natural, this was control concealed as concession. In the spirit, this means only partial deliverance, with pieces of the soul still in chains - you can honour your God but leave something behind in Egypt. Moses understood this immediately, therefore he responded with: “not a hoof will be left behind!”

We are called to die to self and surrender everything to our God. If we leave one hoof in the enemy’s grip, we are not totally free – do not leave your worship in the world’s grip, do not withhold any part of your devotion, do not let the enemy dictate your obedience, do not tolerate any idolatry in your life.

Idolatry? But I do not worship idols? Beloved, putting anything in a higher place than God in your life is exactly that – idolatry. And the sad fact is that we mostly do not recognize that we are doing this. Take the cell phone as an example.

How do most of us interact with that handy little device? We jump up and run to it when it rings – it could, after all, be an important call? Our attention is immediately drawn to it when we receive WhatsApp/email/SMS/Twitter/X/YouTube/Instagram alerts, even if it intrudes on precious time spent with loved ones. We carry it close to us at all times, some even holding it in their hands everywhere they go. Literally everywhere. We sometimes wear it as devices on our wrists or in our ears. We pick it up upon awakening. We scroll late into the night. When we need advice, we run to Google/AI/etc. We play games on it when we are bored.

Can you see that slowly, over time, the cell phone has started stealing our time spent with God? Imagine the deepening your relationship with Him would undergo if you did all the above-mentioned things with our Abba, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and with Holy Spirit?

Pearls to ponder:

Start being intentional with how you use your cell phone. Decide to make time daily/weekly/monthly to be without it, completely. This can be at worship times; at the dinner table; during family time 5-7p.m.; whenever you are visiting someone. Get out in nature or read a book, phone on silent. Decide on the time at night after which you will not be looking at your phone any longer and keep yourself to it. Put a timer on your phone when you play games so that you do not play longer than you intended to. Decide to not reach for your phone first thing in the morning, but to read your Bible first. The ideas here are given as examples, figure out what works best for you – but be intentional, decide and DO.

Credit given to Steve Porter

Idols fall

Comfort My people

 

Is 40:1-2

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her twice over for all her sins.

The book of Ruth is a prophetic revelation of the relationship between Jew and Gentile – what it was, what it is, and what it is supposed to be. It is a love story, telling of a love between a Jew and a Gentile. But when we understand the prophetic application of who the characters represent, it becomes a telling of epic proportions, involving God, the nation of Israel, and all believers in Jesus Christ.

The story begins with a Jewish woman, called Naomi, who follows her husband, Elimelech, to live as a stranger in a foreign land. Naomi represents the nation of Israel, Elimelech means my God is King, therefore their union shows that Israel is in a covenant of marriage with God. Naomi’s husband dies there, and she has to live in this country of strangers in great sadness and tribulation, which is the picture of Israel as a nation living without their God because of their idolatry and having to live in foreign countries in great pain and sorrow. Enter Ruth! A Gentile woman who marries Naomi’s son, thereby being accepted and spiritually joined to the nation of Israel. She becomes the adopted daughter of Naomi – prophetically representing the church of Jesus Christ becoming the daughter of Israel, adopted into the family of God. Fast forward to the end of the story – through Naomi, Ruth meets her Jewish kinsman redeemer Boaz, and after their marriage a child is born, who is a huge blessing to Naomi. So also, our Redeemer was Jewish here on earth, and through Jesus we as Gentiles were brought near to God, forming one new man with our fellow Jewish believers. What great spiritual blessings are being shared with us! We are now positioned to return blessings back to the Jewish people, just as Ruth blessed Naomi with a grandson.

And this is why we need to heed the above quotation from Isaiah. It is time to comfort the Jewish nation and speak tenderly to her. Paul counsels us in Rom 15:26-27 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.

Pearls to ponder:

We are called to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps 122:6), but we have an obligation to go one step further – to bless those who live there in tangible ways! Let us ask Holy Spirit in what practical ways we can be a blessing to our Jewish brothers and sisters – we could contribute financially to the various organizations in Israel who distribute food and clothing to those in need? Or take one Jewish family living in our area under our wing, showing them love and consideration, protecting them against antisemitism? We could be a voice protesting the same in our media? We could go to those special services where a local synagogue occasionally invites Gentiles to attend, and build relationships there?

A blessing for Israel