I never thought I would ever visit Israel. All previous attempts came to nothing. It was amazing to hear the Lord Jesus whisper, “I want to show you where I lived!” My immediate response was to say that I couldn’t go because I had to be at fortnightly meetings of the prophetic school where I was a presenter. Jesus’s reply (probably laughing at such a flimsy excuse) was, “Look at the calendar!” I went and checked it out. There was one day between one session and the tour departure and one day at the end of the tour, between returning home and the school being on again. My next excuse was my passport is out of date. Jesus’s reply was, “check your passport!” so I did and found it had the mandatory six months required when I would return plus one month’s grace.
I was going!! The scripture I received was: Hebrews 12: 22-24
“But you have come to Mt Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the first born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word then the blood of Abel.”
The tour of Israel was to be an encounter with the physical domain and the spiritual domain and a revelation of how they are one. We are spirit within a physical body, Israel (in particular, Jerusalem) is a dwelling place of God in spiritual realms and a nation in the physical sense. Each traveller carried the spirit of God within them thus there was a unity before the journey began. We are one with Jesus just as He is one with the Father.
The Lord Jesus has such a sense of humour. Before boarding the El Al flight to Tel Aviv, I was questioned by Israeli security. The questioning was probably more intense as I was travelling alone. When asked who packed your bag, the Lord whispers to me, “you don’t have any baggage, you left it in the desert.” I really battled to keep a straight face as He kept making a heavy situation quite humorous. When I was asked if I was carrying any guns or explosives, the Lord whispers again, “you don’t need those weapons, you have an abundance of spiritual weapons for spiritual warfare.” I was then asked if I knew anyone in Israel or anyone from Elijah’s List who I had said I was meeting at the airport. The Lord whispers, you don’t need to know anyone for you know me and this is my land.” The officials took my hand luggage, searched it, tested it for explosives and I was then Israel bound.
About half way into the flight, the plane began to shudder, enough to cause people to express a fear of what was happening. It was definitely not turbulence. I immediately saw it was a spiritual attack on the plane. I said, “I can see you and I know what you are trying to do. Leave now, you have no authority here.” The passengers clapped and clapped again when we landed. I thought it was affirmation for the skill of the pilot but was later told that it means ‘WELCOME HOME’. That was very special.
Desert and water! Your land is all desert and so very dry but like our lives, you bring water. Your Jewish people have divine insight into managing water. They took their skills and knowledge to China to present to that nation better ways of managing water but the Chinese people could not leave their traditional ways so continued to flood their rice crops with precious water. That is so like us with spiritual things. Stuck in traditional mind sets we don’t like to change. You desire to flood our lives with so much living water that we could not contain it. We would be like a sponge with the waters of the Holy Spirit soaking into every part of our spirit so it could take no more and would simply flow on to others, filling them to saturation. This is what you want to do, to fill us with Your Spirit.
The Sea of Galilee, so very beautiful, a place where you spent so much of your time while here on earth. My hotel room overlooked the sea and was to behold your creative masterpieces each morning as you painted magnificent sunrises through the haze. To sail to the centre of the sea was a very special time. It was, indeed a place of miracles. I was especially reminded of the time you called me out of the boat of comfort and told me I could walk on water. Eyes only on you, not looking down or back but the real shock was when you said that I would never return to the boat. No one tried to walk on water in the physical sense but as we worshipped from the boats, in the centre of the sea, many stepped out again in faith to embrace a life of total dependence on you.
As we travelled we saw the desert turned into the beautiful freshness of the crops. Water was used to have maximum impact. Great is your faithfulness to your people. The desert is so dry, so incredibly hot. So many ancient treasures still lie beneath the desert sands at Masada and Shiloh. You were led into the desert by the Holy Spirit. It was both a physical place and a spiritual testing ground. Your identity was questioned by satan. It was a time of preparation for your ministry. You call us into the desert, usually in a spiritual sense where we lay down all the baggage We carry and we are then cleansed by the waters of the Spirit and sustained by your love to rise and soar out of that place, just like the eagle. You triumphed out of the desert and gave to us your victory.
Again in the desert there can be much deception. As you look out from Qumran, site of the Dead Sea Scroll discovery, where Essenes Jews tried to live pure Biblical lives, you see the beautiful blue haze of the Deed Sea. In the heat of the desert you could believe it to be cooling, refreshing water to drink. Alas, no life dwells here. It is dead without the colour of death. In the spirit we need to be careful of deception. If we don’t discern correctly we can spend much time crossing the burning sands of life only to find that what we thought was water of life was in fact the waters of death. Of such great value is the gift of discernment.
I think of your feet as you walked along those hot stone pathways. My feet were burnt by the sun and the rising heat. Did you find relief in the waters of the Jordan? I found it so refreshing to walk in the river, to know how you honoured Father by having the waters wash over your in baptism. He so loved you and from the heavens came that declaration. I could almost hear those words while standing on the shore of the Jordan, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” As sons and daughters many were baptised there and you proclaimed your great pleasure over them that day.
As your body, on the earth, there are many parts, all honoured and valued the same. The feet so often are covered in dirt, tired and swollen from walking the pathways the body is directed to go along but the feet have such an important job. They bear the full weight of the body of Christ. So important is that job for they also take new ground for the body. Not a glamourous job but so important. Few would honour this part of the body for they are rarely seen but are the ones that break through hard ground. These are those with the breaker anointing and require no accolades of man. All honour goes to You.
You washed the feet of your disciples and ask of them if they understood what you where doing. It was far from just cleaning them after the long journey of the day. You were cleansing them, in the physical but also in the spiritual sense for you knew what they were to face. For those baptised in the Jordan it was a time of purifying, leaving behind all that hindered their walk with you and with joyful hearts embracing what was to come.
We entered Jerusalem. I wept. This was the city of our God. So many emotions were to arise here. Prayers for the peace of Jerusalem rise from the nations and there is a sense of peace and safety but peace doesn’t always mean absence from fighting or war. The peace of Jerusalem is for her people. Peace in their souls and spirits so that the turmoil of religion will abate and they will hear the still, small voice of Yeshua calling to them and bringing revelation of Spirit and Truth.
Looking over the city from the Mount of Olives your feet came to mind once again. This is the very place you would set your feet on your return. So far from my home! You also spent much time in prayer here, consumed by the agony of what was to come. As I walked through the Holocaust museum, I too felt some of that agony you must have felt for your first born as the enemy tried to destroy them. Some survived to this day, what would you have them to do? Your heart would be that they know that you have come and that they are free and greatly love. You have placed in each one a dream that has not yet been realised, my prayer is that they will see the treasure you have placed within them and delight in it. I pray that they will delight in you and receive the desires of their hearts.
The highlight, Lord, beyond all doubt, was the encounter we all had in the church on the site, at Bethesda, where you healed the man who had no one to help him be first to the waters touched by the angel, so he could be healed. The acoustics in this church are among the best in the world and groups of pilgrims are invited to enter and sing there. As the purple bus people entered they began to sing several beautiful songs of praise to you. The Holy Spirit fell on the singers, causing those who had never spoken in tongues to sing in their heavenly language. Voices rose in a harmony so pure and heavenly. Voices were like the gentleness of a wave, rising and falling as the Spirit moved upon each voice. They were voices rising with the voices of angels to the glory of our King. Time stood still, nothing else seemed to matter only that we were all caught up in this glorious happening. Thankyou Lord that I was part of it for I had never seen or experienced anything like it before but I do believe it will happen throughout the nations as God’s children become one with Him and will worship in His Glory. Even Miki saw the beauty of the occasion, expressing the thought that we had sung with angels and even recorded it on his phone. Few words could ever express what really happened that day, it was truly the leaving of the physical realm to touch heaven.
The Old City of Jerusalem, surrounded by a wall with holes impregnated in it from battles past. Within its walls, narrow streets with many a market stall along each side could be found like shadows of centuries passed. It is here that all the senses are challenged at the same time resulting in the inability to discern clearly and assimilate what is coming to the mind. The collection of foreign aromas, of dirty drains and spices, of oils and perfumes, of sweaty bodies and foods of every kind impact the sense of smell. The noises entering the ear gate are foreign to the senses. The noise of the crowd passing by, the sound of feet pounding the old stone paths, traders calling to passers bye, distant voices calling, the occasional motor bike pushing through the crowd. Through the eye gate comes much to try to make sense of. The colours, the foreign objects, the huge choice of souvenirs, the shock of things entering through the eyes, of the traders who made crowns of thorns, of foods being cooked so unfamiliar to the eyes, religious paraphernalia of the kind never seen before, the lights, the people in traditional dress, images and faces as far as the eye could see. To touch the thousands of textures, the stones where centuries of footsteps had smoothed over their sharpness, the huge rolls of fabric of every texture imaginable, the coolness of the gold and silver woven in all types of souvenirs, the clothes so different, the dates, the nuts, the coins all crying out to run your hand through them and sift them through your fingers. To taste the foods so unknown when the oppressive heat cries out ‘an icecream will do. Its all you know. Its safe.’ This is over-load in the physical world. So hard to hear His voice in all the chaos. This shows us the need for peace in Jerusalem so each one can hear His voice and know that He is very near. We can experience spiritual over load too and when we do, it is time to draw aside and like a small child sit on Father’s knee, listen to His gentle words and fall asleep in His loving presence. This is spirit to spirit, leaving the chaos of the world behind. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
The Western Wall. So many prayers offered up there, so many prayers written out and placed in the crevices of the wall, so many prayers buried. My prayer would be that you will reveal yourself to these prayers, that they may know that you live and that all the prayers of the saints are gathered in a bowl in heaven and are as a sweet fragrance in the nostrils of our Father. Prayer is never buried and forgotten.
Being here in Jerusalem reminds me once again of water in the desert. 70 years ago 800 Light Horseman charged Bethsheba, taking it with great courage, freeing Jerusalem from occupation and ushering in Jerusalem as the Holy City once more. The horses could smell the water in Bethsheba and would not stop until they reached it. The Lord Jesus promises us living water just as He did with the woman at the well. Living water so that we would never thirst again. These 800 horsemen came from the Great South Land. Much favour has been shown to this land, as the 800 Horsemen brought peace to Jerusalem, so the Lord God ensured peace to the Great South land. No foreign country would ever take the land, no civil war would divide the nation, mineral richness abounds, many nations have found refuge there and her citizens abound in freedom. The gospel has been preached to the utmost part of the earth and now prayer and prophecy leave her shores. They are prayers for the nations of the world. They reach out like lines or long fingers, touching each nation, like a flower opening its petals to reveal its full beauty. Lord, I hear your voice so clearly proclaim, ‘The islands are mine,” and I fully know that each island no matter how small or seemingly how unimportant, is vital to you. You love the forgotten, the hidden ones, the rejected ones, for they are yours and their people are yours.
So where does this journey end? I seem to wake each morning at about 3.30 and enter into that peace where Father God meets with me and brings revelation of His heart for Israel and for all nations. He still draws out things He wants to teach me from the journey through the Holy Lands. What an honour it has been to journey with you and pray as an international group for the peace of Jerusalem and the Nations of the world. I thank Him for the special ones He brought to Israel at this time, for He has a plan to unite us with one accord according to his purposes. I finish with the prayer He had me pray from North Cape (Norway) when He asked me to pray over His nations. My question was, ‘How do I pray over the nations. What do I say?” His answer was simple, “The Father’s prayer,” so in the biting, wind driven snow I prayed:
“Our Father who dwells in the heavenlies,
Holy be your name.
Your Kingdom come,
YOUR WILL BE DONE ON THE EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.”
Margaret (Maggie) Wright
