Linga News
The Global Day of prayer 2011 was held on June 12 in the city of Nazareth at the Golden Crown Hotel under the auspices of the Evangelical Convention of Israel and HOPE - House Of Prayer & Exploits. Arab and Jewish believers as well as foreigners from all over the Holy Land came to attend the day.The meeting was opened by brother Saleem Hanna who welcomed the crowd then called the Lord is my Banner team led by the Rev. Khalid Dalleh to the lead the worship.
Brother Rajai Samawi, pastor of the Nazareth Illite Baptist Church, shared from the word God beginning to read from the Book of Joel chapter 2: "12 “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity And also read verse "16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. 17 let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the portico and the altar ...”
Pastor Rajai shared on the topic of "The believer's heart" and that the Bible links between consecration and the heart pointing out that many of the believers thinks that sanctification and consecration is acquired after long years of walking with the Lord, or because they know the word of God well! But he said, although the two things mentioned are important, consecration is not measured so, but consecration begins in the heart and we must have our hearts open for the Holy Spirit to change and works in us, because "People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" and because the heart is the core of our existence which is the inner part that contains all of our feelings, dreams and ambitions, and connects the believer with God. When ministers and believers lose the heart, they would be easy prey for the devil, which will make them lose their spiritual sense in their walk with God.
Pastor Rajai focused on four points that will be changed in the life of the believer when the heart is changed and they are:
1. Relationships: your relationship and fellowship with the Lord. Is it a healthy one? How is your walk with Christ? Is your relationship with the Lord brings pleasure and satisfaction to His heart and yours? He spoke of the relationships in the homes, families, couples and with children and also about walking in the light. For it is written that “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another." If the fellowship is weak among us it because we do not walk in the light. "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness." Christians should love each other even if the believer was an Arab or a Jew, because Christ is the one who unites hearts other wise we are still in darkness.
2. Tongue: Change the tongue is the biggest challenge to believers, which is the cause of many problems. It is one of the smallest organs yet most dangerous. If the minister uses his tongue in a wrong way, it would be a reason to burn a lot of believers around him.
3. Stewardship: Are you a good steward for your time, gifts and money that God gave you? For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also
4. Kingdom: many believers like watching the work of God's kingdom and clapping for it when they hear encouraging news but the workers are few. The Lord does not ask us to pray for the harvest because the harvest is plentiful and has turned white, but to pray for laborers for the harvest. The Lord calls us not to watch His work only, but to be involved in the work of His kingdom.
After that, pastor Rajai led God's people in prayer of repentance and return to the Lord with all their hearts and asked the audience to kneel before the LORD to cry out to Him and to repent for their sins. During this period. The Lord is my Banner worship led some worship songs while God's people raised their voices to the Lord, asking him to intervene in the lives of young people to dedicate their hearts to the Lord, and for the families, to consecrate their homes and for the children so they grow up in His will and to consecrate their life to Him when they grow up. After that, Arab and Jewish believers gathered in small groups to pray and seek God's face in a wonderful scene revealed the spirit of Christ, the One who unites believers, whether they are Arabs or Jews. Pastor Hani Sayegh and pastor Avi Mizrahi concluded the present period of the prayers where they repented on behalf of the people of Nazareth who rejected the Lord Jesus Christ in the city and prayed for the Lord to return to Nazareth and to do signs and miracles there and also in the rest of the country.
The worship team from the Lord is my shepherd congregation in Tel Aviv, led a time of worship in Hebrew and then pastor Israel Harel, shared a short message and spoke from Galatians 3 that In Christ there is no difference between man and women, Jew or Gentile, Arab and Jew - in the Lord, when it comes to our value, and the fact that we are all sinners saved by grace. Pastor Israel Israel: But I am glad that there are differences between me and my wife. Those differences enable us to multiply. We have different roles and we need one another in our differences.
God did not make a mistake when He put us together in this land. He is in control of history and nations. We need one another to grow and multiply in the land. Our hope is not in the past or in politics but in our common future, which we have to desire and therefore change our way of life accordingly.
Many times it is easier for an Arab brother to witness to a Jew and for a Jewish brother to witness to an Arab about the love of the Lord. The first Jew to receive the Lord in the street during an evangelistic campaign in Tel-Aviv was led to the Lord by an Arab. When an Arab tells a Jew: "I love you because Yeshua loves you", it melts the heart. When a Jew tells an Arab: "I love you because Yeshua loves you". It does the same.
We hold the key for healing for one another's heart and when we try to lock out the other, we actually lock out ourselves. We hold the keys for healing to the middle east. When the Arab sinners and the Jewish sinners repent and receive the Lord, the world should watch out.We can bring the change, not by trying to be like one another, but to be one in our differences and appreciating them. Just like when a husband and wife learn to appreciate the differences between them.We should evangelize together, eat together, fellowship in one another's home. This way we will multiply and grow.We have the answer to the Middle East. Let's be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.
After the short word from pastor Israel, Pastor Boutros Ghrayeb and pastor Howard Pass, served the Lord's Supper and everyone took the communion in one spirit
At the end of the meeting everyone stood united holding hands together and shouted to the Lord to pour out His Spirit on all flesh and then sister Rania Sayegh and Rev. Asher Antraiter led the people of the Lord in prayer and then concluded the meeting with prayers offered blessings on everyone with Rev. Khalid Dalleh and the Lord is Banner worship team.
The translation from Arabic into Hebrew was conducted by Brother Ziad Faraj and from Arabic to English, by Sister Eman S. Hanna, both from the Baptist Church in Tur'an.
Special thanks to Walid Kamar for video recording and providing pictures for Linga.
Click on the global day of prayer 2011 photo album to view images
