The walls are falling down!

28 september 2010

The city of Tel Aviv has witnessed a very special event: young Jewish and Arab believers united to worship the Lord and study his Word together!
That has been possible only because God opened the doors and made the walls fall down. One of those walls was the check-point of Bethlehem.
It took a lot of paper work and patience, but we got the permit for the Arabs believers of Bethlehem: they could pass the wall to join their Jewish brothers and sisters.
It was something special, most of those young Palestinians never go out of Bethlehem, and they were suddenly in another world. As we arrived at the place of the conference in Tel Aviv, we couldn't believe it: we were right at the beach!  

This conference had been organized by succat hallel, a ministry of 24/7 prayer and worship in Jerusalem, it has been covered by prayer and intercession. They had a lot of opposition as they organized the conference. Many of the speakers who were scheduled cancelled, so they had to look for other ones at the last minute. But God had the last word: a group of men replaced other people at the last moment. The organizers didn't know a lot of details about them, they didn't know their background.
So on the evening, the group got on stage and shared the gospel with practical illustrations out of daily life. One of them built a wall of bricks and shared his testimony: he grew up in a village as Palestinian, and had been beaten by Jewish soldiers. He arrived in the States in his twenties, full of hatred toward Jewish people. One day during a meeting he had a special encounter with the Lord and his life changed. A few months later, the Lord asked him to forgive the Jews. He told to the Lord: 'No, I can't.' The Lord told him he would help him. He still refused. The Lord asked him a second time, and that time he indeed asked the Lord to help him to forgive the Jews. The Lord helped him and he totally forgave them.
Then he illustrated how the Lord destroys the walls that separate people. He was a very strong guy. With his hand he hit the wall of bricks he had made and they all fell into pieces. Then he jumped from the stage and hugged some Jewish soldiers that were there as participants of the conference!
During the teachings that followed, the young people were challenged to accept their identity as Jewish or Arab, and to understand and enter in the plans God had for them as part of their group. They were challenged to forgive, just as Jesus did on the cross. God did a deep work in the heart of many of them.  

The next day on the stage we could see Arab believers dancing at Hebrew worship and Jewish believers dancing at Arabic worship! We could see them holding each other as they let the music carry them in joy and unity.  

The wall is really destroyed in Yeshua. God is working in hearts. Not all the people who participated could experience this unity, but the walls of the fortress of the enemy are shaken and they start to fall apart. Let's pray for this work to continue in people's hearts!  

'For He is our peace. He has made us both, Jew and Gentile, one body, and has broken down the dividing wall between us.' Ephesians 2:14