When we came to share our faith with an Israeli pre-military preparatory program, every single person in the room was in awe of what God did – including us!
Our team member Roger, who is also the young adults’ leader at his local congregation, got a call from Zaim, an on-fire believer in his congregation, “The pre-military program I’m in asked me to organize a lecture from Christians about Christmas, and I thought of inviting you.”
As they talked and prayed, the idea came up for Roger, an Arab Christian, to come together with me, a Messianic Jew, and for us to share together as one new man in Messiah about our faith in Jesus, Yeshua, with these soldiers-in-training.
There are 33 Jewish students and 11 Arab Christian students (all nominal except Zaim) in the course. What an amazing opportunity to reach these young men and women with the Good News!
When the founder of the program heard about it, he was concerned that we would not just share a few cultural things but would actually present the Gospel, and tried to prevent that from happening. But God had a different plan! Miraculously, the event not only still happened – but there was greater openness to the Gospel than we’ve just about ever experienced before!
Roger and I were praying in the Spirit on the way there, and I saw a vision of a leg smashing down a metal door. About five seconds later, though I hadn’t said anything, Roger said, “I sense in the Spirit that we just smashed down a metal door with our legs.” God was confirming that not just because of our prayers but especially because of all your prayers over all these years – God had broken down the opposition and was opening a great door before us!
They received us well, gathered all the soldiers-in-training into a hall, and said, “The floor’s yours!” Roger began by sharing his personal testimony as an Arab Christian who had grown up with bitterness and anger in his heart toward Jewish people. He shared about his supernatural encounter with Yeshua, who healed him in his body and soul, and gave him a new heart and deep love for the Jewish people.
He expressed his heart, “I came to realize, ‘How can people say that they follow Jesus but at the same time hate His own people?’ He came as the Jewish Messiah, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, to fulfill the prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures. He came to save all of us and make us one family. And now my life is dedicated to blessing the people of this land, Yeshua’s people.”
Then I shared my personal testimony, including how Yeshua miraculously healed me from a serious injury, and the full Gospel. Because of the opposition beforehand, we had thought that maybe we’d need to tread carefully, but the Holy Spirit came upon us powerfully, we were filled with great boldness, and didn’t shrink back from sharing in depth about sin, hell, the Messianic prophecies, and the salvation that can be found only in Yeshua.
I declared, “This Yeshua not only took all our sins upon Himself out of great love for us, but He also rose from the dead – 500 people saw Him alive after He had died – so He can grant us everlasting life. And right now, He’s transforming hundreds of millions of lives around the world – of both Jew and Gentile. That’s why so many are celebrating that He was born – because He’s the divine Messiah who came in the flesh to save us, and He’s transformed all history!”
These guys thought they were going to hear a nice little presentation about Santa Claus and Christmas trees, but they were shocked to hear about the King of Glory and all that He did for them. Many of them were visibly moved. Quite a few were taking notes, even though they weren’t required to.
Then came the Q&A time. One Jewish person, who was writing notes almost non-stop the whole time, raised his hand, “I have a bunch of questions!” he announced. I thought he had been formulating strong objections and would throw out a bunch in a row at us. But instead, he said he wanted to understand exactly how to receive forgiveness from God – how do atonement, faith, and repentance all work? What a joy to go into more depth on those topics!
When Eliel and I have shared with different Israeli groups in the past, including with a different pre-military training course a few years ago, they usually interrupt quite often and bring up many intense objections. But here, not only did they listen intently as we shared, but there wasn’t a single negative question or objection. All their questions were out of real interest and wanting to know more about Yeshua!
I had said before the questions started that if we had time, we would love to pray for anyone who wants healing. But they had so many questions that the time was already up. But then, to our astonishment, the manager of the program, who had been taking notes herself, said, “Friends, we have to finish now, but we have 15 minutes before our next event. So anyone who wants can come ask them questions or come and receive prayer.”
Remember, for most of the last 2,000 years, most Jewish people have been so closed to the Gospel (especially because of rabbinic lies and anti-Semitism in the Church) that they usually didn’t want to hear anything about it. But now the manager of a pre-military program is inviting her students to come receive prayer in Yeshua’s name!
Then she herself came up to ask more questions, and the second-in-command came up to ask for prayer! So a huge portion of the students followed their lead!
The first person we prayed for felt the pain in his legs decrease, and then when we prayed again, it was completely gone. Then everyone’s eyes lit up and a bunch of people said, “Oh, pray for me, too!”
What happened next was taken straight out of a scene from the New Testament. Yeshua immediately healed every single person who came forward for prayer, no matter what the problem was or how long they had had it! They even went outside and told other people who were on the grounds to come in and receive healing, so they did!
We were so encouraged to be reliving Mark 16:20, “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.”
The manager of the program told us, “Wow, this was absolutely fascinating. I was especially touched to hear about Isaiah 53 [part of which we had read]. I’m going to research all this in more depth. Thank you so much for enlightening us!”
Several others said similar things. The one man who had asked about forgiveness also asked, “Do you believe in any oral law or that any other people are the final authority outside of the Scriptures?” When we told him we didn’t, he sighed in relief, “Oh good, I don’t either. I just want what God Himself said. Thank you and I’m definitely going to read more about this.”
They even told us that they were going to recommend us to another pre-military preparation program! Incredible!
The strongholds of opposition that have held our people captive for centuries are coming down! Your prayers and ours are being answered! God is moving in power! Now is the time of Israel’s salvation!
Please Pray with Us:
- For all those precious soldiers-in-training – that God would use the seeds sown, and they’d also watch our videos, read the New Testament, put their faith in the risen Lord Yeshua, and become soldiers in His army, bringing life to the world. And please pray for God’s anointing, wisdom, grace, faith, and boldness for Zaim who will be following up with them, including giving materials to them.
- For Israel –
– That every stronghold will crumble and fall before the Lord Almighty, until all Israel is saved!
– That God would fulfill His promise for all these people who are thirsty spiritually, “Fear not, O Jacob My servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring” (Isaiah 44:2b-3).
– See more promises of revival in Israel in our prayer guide. - For all the new believers (see more stories here), including:
– One Jewish lady we’ve been sharing with just came to faith, and then right afterwards two of her family members did as well! We hope to share more soon, but please pray for them and all the other new believers to grow in the Lord, to stay in fellowship, to overcome every attack and opposition, to be hungry for God’s Word, and be filled with His Spirit. - For our follow-up with thousands of Israeli seekers – including:
– Arik, a soldier serving in Gaza, contacted us asking to send him the Bible and other evangelistic books, and just wrote to us, thanking us for the opportunity to learn more about Jesus. He said, “I’m from a Jewish-religious family and I have never encountered the teachings of Yeshua for myself – only from people who were obviously very biased against Him. I'm sure it will be interesting.” He has some good questions about the faith, please pray he’ll stay in touch and that God will draw him to Himself. - For our Pro-Life and Gospel Campaign:
– Thank you for your prayers for our ads in general. The majority of them are running again, except for those in the Pro-Life and Gospel Campaign. Please join us in interceding that God would restore these ads so we can help many more women choose life!
– Please pray for Leila, 34-years-old, who got pregnant by a married man who already has a baby. She really wanted to keep the pregnancy but he sent men to threaten her life if she didn't abort. They took her to the hospital to have the abortion and now she is very depressed and had to flee the country because of his threats. Please pray that as we follow up with her, she’ll be open to Yeshua who alone can heal her heart and soul. And please pray for God to turn the hearts of fathers to their children – that they’d take responsibility for these precious children, no matter what mistakes they made or what the circumstances are.
