Praying without ceasing for the Middle East

Text and photos: Alfred Muller

Five young people are sitting in a hall that has a view onto Mount Zion. Every now and then somebody enters or leaves. A brother is playing the piano and singing worship songs. There are shofars on the window sill.Five young people are sitting in a hall that has a view onto Mount Zion. Every now and then somebody enters or leaves. A brother is playing the piano and singing worship songs. There are shofars on the window sill.

Succat Hallel is Hebrew for 'Tabernacle of Praise'. Rick Ridings and his wife Patti came to Jerusalem in 1999 to establish a ministry of worship and intercession. At the beginning believers came together in his home and in several other locations in the city. In November 2004 the organization relocated to a building just outside the Old City walls.

Succat Hallel started a 24/7 prayer watch in this building. This means that believers worship and pray for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. " We felt that God said that we had to be within walking distance of the original Tabernacle of David", Ridings says in a room next to the worship hall. "We believe that all over the world God is restoring worship and prayer to a very strong place in the church."

Five continents
Until the present day, there have been sufficient people for the 24/7 prayer. Many stayed for 2 or 3 months to participate in the watch. The participants came from five continents and many countries, including Great Britain and Egypt. "We even had people on Christmas Eve. It has to be the grace of God. Every time we think: it is getting too thin, what is going to happen, God sends more people. Recently the night watch was getting very low. For a few weeks there were only two people from midnight to 6am. When they were leaving, new ones came and said: 'God told us to do the night watch here.'

One of their main goals is to establish houses of prayer in the Arab nations, Ridings says. "We believe that this is very key to a breakthrough in these nations. We also feel it is very important that those who go out, go out from Jerusalem with a heart for the Jewish people as well as for the Arabs. The whole concept of the Isaiah 19 passage is essential to us."

Youth
Another thing that is very important to Succat Hallel is youth. "We have several watches every week that are led by youth or young adults and that are geared to ministering to youth and young adults. We have had a training camp to train young Israeli musicians in the Messianic congregations."

Ridings hopes to open a studio where youth from Israel and other nations can record new songs. In June about 600 Jewish and Arab Israelis and 400 from other nations come together for a 3-day 'One Thing Jerusalem' conference for youth and young adults. Several hundred adults also attended the sessions.

The intercessors mostly pray for Israel and secondly for the countries mentioned in Isaiah 19, Ridings says. They often pray according to Scripture promises about Israel and Jerusalem. They also pray as the Holy Spirit leads. Occasionally they pray for other countries, for example recently they prayed for China.

When intercessors pray for the Arab world, they often pray according Isaiah 30 : 12-14. Isaiah speaks about a high wall that collapses. "We have prayed that hundreds of times in different places all over the Middle East, as well as here. We pray that the wall of Islam will fall down. And that the captives will be set free to know the Lord and that there will be a highway of worship established between these countries."