The Only Light

 

 

 

 

 

In light of the events in Connecticut and unspeakable loss and pain those families and community are feeling, I wanted to share a poem the Lord once gave me. I hope it will comfort us all.

 

 

Life can be so hard sometimes;

it can get so confusing

when deep down I know I've won,

but I still feel like I'm losing.

Oh, Lord, ain't it hard

hanging on a tree;

hanging on to knowing that

 it is a victory.

 

I hear talk of sunshine,

and I hear talk of rain.

I hear peals of laughter,

and I hear cries of pain.

I hear words of love rise up

above the sounds of war.

And, oh, Lord ain't it hard sometimes

remembering what it's for?

 

And I'd like to say I've got it straight,

but really, God, I don't.

 I'd like to find a peaceful place

in this world, but I won't.

And I'd just like to cry out to You

and tell you I can't see.

I'm walking blindly, God, by faith

that you are leading me.

 

And I don't know where I am going.

And I'm looking for whatever light is showing.

But, in this dear God, I thank You that I'm knowing...

 

You walked this earth.

You laughed and cried.

You felt the pain well up inside.

You lived, my God,

and then you died

hanging on a tree...

in victory.

 

You are the only light I can see.



The Fire of His Love

 

 

 

                                                                          



We have come through the High Holy Days--Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur and now we are in the midst of the Feast of Tabernacles, the "Season of our Joy". I'm convinced that it was during this Feast of Succot that Yeshua took up His "temporary tent", His earthly tabernacle and was born into this world that He might tabernacle with us. The angels announced to the shepherds "Tidings of Great Joy" during a Feast where the Jews were commanded to rejoice! There are many other reasons why the Scriptures point to this Feast as the time of Yeshua's birth, but what I want to focus on today is what it means to us that He came to "tabernacle" with us. (By the way, I'm getting that from  John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth." {Young's Literal Translation}).

Before I knew Yeshua I was so empty. I was like an abandoned dwelling, a broken down shack, with the windows boarded up and no light streaming in. When He came into my heart after I invited Him in, it was like someone had come in and swept my dwelling clean, shone light into it and opened all the windows to a fresh, fragrant breeze.

What I discovered was that Yeshua wanted to take over my tabernacle, my house, my temporary tent, my body, and fill it with the essence of who He is--His Spirit--that I might become a Tabernacle of His Presence. He wants it to be that everywhere I go, people will see His light and feel the refreshing wind of His Spirit blow into their lives.

But how does this happen? Certainly by faith in the finished work of Messiah. But it's also a process. One of my favorite verses is Hebrews 10:14 "because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy."  So we are already seen as perfect forever, even as we are being made holy!. It is during the time of Teshuvah, the 40 days between the first of Elul and Yom Kippur, and especially between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, the Ten Days of Awe as they are called, that the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, shines His light and brings His fire to bear on the things in our lives that are obstacles to our being one, at peace and in unity with God.  He is always at work in us, but it's during this time of year that this process seems to be intensified. I have seen believers who have no idea what time of year it is, during these days, exclaim, "I have been under so much conviction lately!" You see, God deals with His Body according to His appointed times, even when His body is oblivious to those times.
Well, this last season was especially "hot" for me, as I sought to draw near to God. So, being the loving and merciful God He is, He gave me a prophetic poem to encourage me to stay close in spite of the heat. He knew I needed that kind of encouragement because I was feeling the fire, and it was hot! The fire I experienced from His gaze, His jealous passion and determination to see those things that stood between Him and me consumed by the fiery love in His heart was enough to make me want to run and hide! It felt to my soul the way it feels to my skin when I stand too close to a big bonfire! But what follows is what He told me in the poem...and I want to share it with you to encourage you to draw close to His heart, even when it's very apparent our God is a Consuming Fire; because that Consuming Fire is His Love.

There is a fire that burns within My heart

That few will draw close to, for when they start

To let their hearts draw closer to My own,

They find that what is hidden becomes known,

Not only to Me, but now to their soul;

Those hidden things that show they are not whole.

And so they hide in shame and run from Me,

Not knowing staying close would make them free

Of those things that in My fire are exposed;

For only in my Fire are they deposed.

For if a person stays close and decides

That they will remain where My Fire abides,

Allowing it to refine what is dross,

And being willing to count all as loss

Compared to the profit of knowing Me,

They’ll find that what they’d always hoped would be

Becomes what’s real, and they walk in the Light,

Now unafraid that what’s in them’s not right.

For they’ll have given up that which was broken,

And traded it for what My Mouth has spoken:

That apart from Me they can do no good;

That only with Me they’ll do what they should.

For they have traded their own hearts for Mine,

And so partake in the Nature Divine,

Til it’s no longer them living, but Me.

It is THIS Fire that sets the captive free.

Not trying to take a scalpel to the cancer.

Cutting away a part is not the answer;

But killing the old man til there’s no trace

Of anything that’s not empowered by grace.

For grace is that by which the new one stands,

And only by that grace heeds My commands.

It is My grace poured out from heaven’s stores

That frees a man from guilt, regret, remorse,

And lets him see he’s nothing on his own,

And that by grace He stands, and grace alone.

It is my fire that does this work in man.

Nothing else will perfect him; nothing can.

 

So may we all be given the courage to draw close to the fire.

Til next time,

Shalom!

 

 

How Can We Rest?

I am encouraged when I see Gentile believers embracing and
rejoicing in the Jewish roots of their faith in the Jewish Messiah.
I was reading about Benjamin Disraeli, the Messianic Jewish Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom during the years 1874-1880, and how he
argued for a bill that would allow a Jew to take a seat in the
Parliament.  The following is from wikipedia.com: "In 1847 a small
political crisis occurred which removed Bentinck from the leadership
and highlighted Disraeli's differences with his own party. In the
preceding general election, Lionel de Rothschild had been returned for
the City of London. Ever since Catholic Emancipation, members of
parliament were required to swear the oath "on the true faith of a
Christian." Rothschild, an unconverted Jew, could not do so and
therefore could not take his seat. Lord John Russell, the Whig leader
who had succeeded Peel as Prime Minister and like Rothschild a member
for the City of London, introduced a Jewish Disabilities Bill to amend
the oath and permit Jews to enter Parliament. Disraeli spoke in favour
of the measure, arguing that Christianity was "completed Judaism," and
asking of the House of Commons "Where is your Christianity if you do
not believe in their Judaism?"'
Isn't that the perfect question to ask those who profess faith in the
Jewish Messiah today? Christianity truly is "completed Judaism"!

So, as I was saying, I rejoice over non-Jewish believers who discover
their Jewish Roots. In a sense, they have found their inheritance. And
that reminds me of the Torah Portion we studied last week. Israel was
about to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. The tribes of Gad,
Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh found the land east of the Jordan
perfect for their herds and went to Moses with the following request in
the book of Numbers 32:5:"If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said,
“let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us
cross the Jordan. ”

Moses was infuriated with them and we see his response in verse 6: Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Shall your countrymen go to war while you sit here?

These tribes were quick to adamantly refute this accusation. In verses 16 & 17 we read:  Then they came up to him and said, “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children.  But we are ready to arm ourselves and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place."

When I see Gentile believers who have come into their inheritance before their Israelite brothers wearing Jewish prayer shawls, reciting the Shema, dancing to Jewish music, lighting the Shabbat candles, reading from the Torah scrolls and rejoicing in the depth of their faith in Yeshua as they have discovered him as the Jewish Messiah, I can't help but wish more of them had the same zeal as these tribes did, refusing to rest and be content until their brothers also found rest. For it is these same
Jewish people who through their wanderings, their toil, their slavery, their faithfulness, their suffering, and their prayers brought forth these blessings to the world.  And the greatest blessing was Messiah Himself.

Once it was time to cross the Jordan, Joshua reminded these tribes of their responsiblity to their brothers. In Joshua 1:14 & 15 he says:  "You are to help your brothers until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

How can any of us who have entered into our inheritance rest and be content while our Israelite brothers have not yet entered the Promised Land with us? Rav Shaul said he had great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart over the Jewish people and their need to know their Messiah. He was burdened with the Lord's burden. He was expressing what the Ruach inside of him felt.

You may ask, "What can I do?"  Well, you can start by doing what the Gadites, Reubenites and half-tribe of Manasseh did. They "took up arms" and went before their brothers to fight for them! What does that look like for us? Rav Shaul said in 2 Corinthians 10:  "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God..."

These are  the weapons we use to fight a spiritual war in the life and death struggle of our brothers, the Israelites. These weapons are prayer, praise, intercession, wielding the Word of God and proclaiming the promises God has spoken over his people. Doing spiritual warfare against the darkness that would claim Jewish souls Yeshua died for. Asking God for divine strategies against the enemy. Crying out and asking God to impart His heart for the Jewish people to us, and, as Isaiah 62 says, giving ourselves no rest and giving Him no rest til He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth!

We have received our inheritance. It is sure and incorruptible, kept in heaven for us. Now is the time to fight to make sure that the rest of our Israelite brothers receive their inheritance as well. For, as we have discovered, to know Yeshua and His love and salvation is to enter the Promised Land. May our Israelite brothers glory and rejoice in the inheritance that has been bought for them by the blood of their Messiah, as we are faithful to go before them and fight for them to come into that inheritance. May we not feel settled or content, may we give ourselves no rest until this happens.

Make us faithful, O God.

Til next time,

Shalom

THE LORD IS MY SHIELD

When I was in my 20's I would journal my prayers. One day, as I was writing my praises and requests in my notebook, I heard a voice in my mind. It sounded somewhat like my thoughts, but was different somehow. The voice said, "I will bring forth streams in the desert and water in the wilderness." I got up, startled and a little concerned that I would think I could hear God talking to me in my mind like that. So I called my Bible Study leader and said, "Could you please pray for me? I'm going through something right now." That's all I said. I didn't go into any more detail. He quickly agreed to pray for me and this is what he prayed. "Dear Lord, I thank You for Nancy. I thank You for what You are doing in her life. I thank You that You are going to bring forth streams in the desert and water in the wilderness." 

Well, that's all I needed to hear to start me on an exciting journey of two-way conversations with the Lord as I journaled my prayers!. If I asked a question, He was there to answer me! One of my favorite conversations with Him was one where I was bemoaning the fact that I kept making the same mistakes over and over again. And this is what I heard Him say to me:  "Do not feel that the growing you have left to do can in any way impair our relationship. For Me, it was finished on the cross. I only look at your desire to grow closer to Me...and I rejoice!"

I say all this as a preface to what I am about to share. Because what has recently changed my life, what I have learned and desire to share with you, came about as a result of one of these conversations with God.

And here is that conversation: 

Shalom, my Yeshua, my Lord. I heard you say to come straight home. Here I am, my Lord. What is it You would say to me?

I AM Your Focus, Nancy.  Know this.

What does that mean, my Lord? That You are my Focus?

If you will keep Me in mind; keep Me in view, you will be far less distracted by what other people are doing, saying and how they are treating you.  You will not be looking to others, but to Me.

But, Lord. This world demands, requires that I interact with people. And in those interactions so much can take place. Fiery darts are shot without warning, and my heart is affected. Then I respond, or I guess I should say, react. How does Your being my Focus keep me from that?

For one thing, if I AM your Focus, I will fight for you. Because you won’t be running out ahead of me and becoming an easy target for the enemy’s arrows.  You will allow ME to go ahead of you and be Your Shield. Have you ever seen a soldier portrayed on TV or in a movie hold his shield behind his back as he moves forward? No? There’s a reason for that! I AM your Shield…when you focus on ME.  I told satan to get behind Me, didn’t I? That’s where he belongs. But I BELONG out in front, NOT behind you, do you see?

Sort of. I just don’t quite understand how to stay focused on You continuously while I’m talking to other people, working, doing phone calls, studying for my business, listening to other people talk. It seems to me I have to concentrate on those things in order to do a good job at them. How can You be my Focus at those times?

Nancy, when a teenage girl has a boyfriend that she has “fallen in love with”, how often does she think about him?  How often does she write or whisper his name? How often does she daydream about him? How impatient is she for her school day to be done so that she can properly “focus” on him, be with him and tell him all of her secrets?

Lord, I understand what you are saying. It’s just that my heart gets filled with a longing to see You that turns into an ache. Sometimes it’s hard to keep my heart engaged because of the pain of wanting to just be with You!

I have said you are to love Me with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, ALL your mind, ALL your strength. That is full and constant engagement with Me, Nancy.  Do not think I won’t reward you for this. For I will…with more of a sense of My Presence; with greater revelation of who I am; with a knowledge of how I feel about you that surpasses any “knowing” you have ever known. I promise you this if you will engage with Me. I promise you this if you will expose your heart  to My love for you and allow the sweetness of how I feel about you enter into your heart.  And yes, there is longing. But it doesn’t have to be a painful and frustrated longing. It can be an ache that is softened by My touch.

Yes, Lord. I say yes. But I need You to help me do this. I need You to help me see You and focus on You. Grant me grace, strength, perseverance and the aptitude to do this. Thank You, Lord. Here is my heart. Make it go where You want it to, I pray. In Your Name. Amen.

There is a wonderful scripture that confirms all He said to me. It is David stating this in Psalm 16:8 :
I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

So that is what I have been attempting to do this week. Whenever something distracts me or my mind wanders I do my best to remember He is right in front of me. I picture Yeshua being with me and going before me. I turn my thoughts on what He has done for me, and how He feels about me and how I feel about Him. I whisper to Him that I love Him and I worship Him in my heart. And He is so right!  Because I have been working at doing this, I have not been shaken by circumstances as much this week. Because I have set the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand I am not shaken.  He is the Shield that always goes before me.  HE is the One who, as the scriptures say, makes my rough places smooth and my crooked ways straight.  Before me…before you…that is where the Lord always wants to be. And that’s where we want Him to be because He is our Shield.  I always thought the Lord would be my shield without me doing anything, and I would be surprised and dismayed when fiery darts would hit me. But now I understand it is up to me to SET the Lord always before me. It is up to me to put Him out in front of everything else in my life!  The definition of the word shield is: a broad piece of armor, varying widely in form and size, carried apart from the body, usually on the left arm, as a defense against swords, lances, arrows, etc. or a person or thing that protects.

God is the best Shield a person could ever have. There are things that I've held up myself as “shields” that don’t ever seem to work. I've put up a shield of how I want people to see me so they will accept me. I've hardened my heart and turned away from certain people so they can’t hurt me.  I have shielded myself with my own words as I've attempted to explain myself to people to try to get them to understand me. These are all common devices I've used to protect myself. But the only one that really works is to put the Lord always before me and let HIM be my shield and do the fighting for me.  And I'm finding He's way better at that than I could ever be!

Here are some verses that speak of God being our shield:

Genesis 15:1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. ”

Psalm 3:3
But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.

Psalm 5:12
For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

Psalm 7:10
My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart.

Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 18:30
As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 18:35
You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Psalm 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Psalm 91:4
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

Psalm 119:114
You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.

Psalm 140:7
O Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle—

Psalm 144:2
He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

Proverbs 30:5
Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

So I hope this inspires you to do this thing, this conscious, constant act of thinking about Him and envisioning Him right in front of you. And if you forget for a few hours and then remember, that is not a bad thing! He doesn’t want you laden with guilt over this. He wants you to rejoice, as He does, over the fact that you suddenly remembered and turned to Him again!

We all need a shield in this world. What better Shield than God Himself.

Til next time,

Shalom!

My Heart is Aching Tonight

My heart is aching tonight. I did have a beautiful Shabbat. The Lord was very present. We had a special speaker at my congregation from Tel Aviv, Israel. He used to live in Minnesota and is now a  ministry leader in Israel. He spoke of the need to pray for Israel. He spoke of the crisis with Iran and how 40 rockets were shot into Israel, some supplied by Iran, because the Egyptian border has been compromised and they more easily smuggle weapons in. He spoke of just how lost the Lost Sheep of Israel are in Tel Aviv. He spoke of his ministry to the poor, including Holocaust survivors. And, again and again, he spoke of the need to pray for the peace, safety and security of Jerusalem and every city in Israel.

My heart is to pray for Israel. And we did pray for Israel today, as we always do, after the service. Eight of us prayed upstairs in what we call "The Upper Room".  The Lord gave a word to us that He is building a wall around Jerusalem and that we are to take our place IN it. Not "on it" or "at it" but IN it. He said we are to ask him for more advanced weaponry, and that we had to face the enemy, not turn our backs on them. He said if we took our places in the wall, those places would be impenetrable. He told us we WERE the wall! It was a very encouraging word...and a challenging one.

So why is my heart aching tonight, Lord?  Is it because when You showed me the wall with my spiritual eyes, there were still so many gaps in it?  Yet, I heard Israel calling to us through this man who was living in Tel Aviv with his wife and two small children...and another on the way. This man and his family who are living under the threat of a nuclear holocaust, or, at the very least, war. I heard Israel, through this man, plead for and cry out for prayer. 

You know, God gave us prayer requests in His Word.

One is in Psalm 122:6-9--Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:  “May those who love you be secure.  May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.”  For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.

And He states in Isaiah 62: 6&7--I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD,  give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.

Those are PRAYER REQUESTS from God!

And we are told something that most people don't notice when they read Romans 11.In verse 30 we are told that the Gentiles, who were once disobedient, received mercy because of Israel's disobedience. But the reason they have been shown mercy is stated in verse 31: "so they too ["they" being the Jewish people] have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you." (brackets mine)
So, the RESULT of God's mercy being shown to the Gentiles is so that Israel may ALSO be shown mercy!
Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case, as we see the history of centuries of anti-semitism so much at the forefront in the church.. But, one way the body of Messiah can show mercy to Israel is to pray for her safety, security and prosperity.

"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved," Paul said. I believe he was expressing the burden of God's heart, not just his own.
I know what it is like to feel that desire and carry that burden. Paul describes it as "great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart".
Yet, I know that this burden the Lord has given me for Israel and my people is one that He lightens whenever someone takes their place in the wall.

One more thing...

This ministry leader told us something I find it hard to believe I only heard for the first time today. He said if we were to come to his house for dinner in Israel today he would greet us at the door  with the following words: "Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai". The translation is "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Or he would just say "Baruch Haba", "Blessed is he". It's what Israelis' say, even today, when they welcome a guest into their home! So, when Yeshua said they would not see him again until they say, "Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai" -- "Blessed is He is comes in the name of the Lord," He was saying they wouldn't see Him again until they WELCOME Him into Jerusalem!

Just THAT would be enough reason to pray for the salvation of Israel, don't you think?

Til next time...Shalom.

I've had a wonderful weekend of studying and discovering hidden treasures in the Word of God, as I've attended Torah studies. To see how God has woven his pictures of Messiah throughout His Word is like eating a many-layered dessert bar and finding out what's hidden inside...and tasting and seeing it's good! This week's Torah portion covered the parting of the Red Sea. We spoke about the pillar of fire that went before the Israelites as they crossed the Red Sea that the Lord had divided. Someone said it's like a torch the Lord was holding before His people. And in a flash I saw the torch that travelled between the divided pieces of a heifer, a goat and a ram that Abraham had placed before the Lord when God spoke to him in a deep sleep about the captivity of his descendants in Egypt, and God's plan to rescue them from their captor's hand. No doubt there was a "red sea" of blood between them, and that is where the torch travelled as God spoke of His future deliverance of His people. He had painted a picture for Abraham of the Pillar of Fire that travelled before the Israelites as they crossed the divided Red Sea! That just amazed me!  Another parallel I saw was how it was through the blood on the doorposts of the Hebrew peoples' houses that they were saved from the angel of death, and it was through the water of immersion, or baptism into the Red Sea that they were truly set free from their enemies. And so it was blood and water that flowed from Yeshua's side when he was pierced. We need them both to be cleansed from our sin and delivered from our old way of life.
I feel sorry for the many people who love the Lord, but have been told to throw the Old Testament out as if it's obsolete and no longer applicable to their lives. Yeshua said in Matthew 5:17-20 that He did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them...that is fill them up with meaning.  The Old Testament is part of the "root" that supports our faith that is spoken of in Romans 11:18. I would encourage anyone who wants to discover and uncover the treasures of His Word and revelation of the Messiah, to study the portions of the Old Testament that are given weekly as Torah readings. They truly are treasure troves worth digging into to find the hidden things inside! 
The Lord once gave me a poem that was an invitation to uncover and discover Him. This is it:

Oh, my Love, I am longing, I am longing for my Bride.
Do you, can you know how I long to have her by My side?
If an ache could be a river, and a longing be a tree,
Then there are roots within Me that go down into the sea.
I long to bare My heart to you, to show you what is there.
There are treasures, hidden treasures;
Will you find them? Will you dare?
Forgiven, you are holy, sanctified and cleansed from sin.
There's no need to wipe your feet before you enter in.

May we all be blessed in our treasure hunting! Till next time...Shalom.

King David

I had an amazing opportunity this last week to share God's love and plan for Israel and the Jewish people with over 200 K-5th graders. I wanted it to be memorable, so I showed up at their AWANA meeting as King David. I asked the worship leader to ask them questions about King David, then I walked on stage behind her. They were excitedly pointing at me to try to let her know the one she was talking about had just shown up! King David spoke to them about why he had fought Goliath. It was because Goliath had insulted the God of Israel. He told them how he had been a shepherd before he had been a king, and how concerned he had been whenever one of his sheep got lost.  He shared how Yeshua, another King of Israel, had said He had come for the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel, and how concerned He must be over His lost sheep as well. I reminded them that Yeshua was coming back to take up his throne and I asked where? Many called out the answer "Jerusalem!" I was glad so many knew that! David told them Yeshua is the King of Israel and God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I asked them if they were happy they had Him in their hearts and knew they would see Him in heaven someday. They all nodded happily. Then I reminded them that there were Jewish children all over the world who didn't know their Messiah. I asked them to bow their heads and pray with me (David) and they did...for the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel, for the peace of Jerusalem (which is one of God's prayer requests), and for Israel. Then David blew His Shofar. They loved that! It was such an honor to introduce kids that age to a concept that it's likely they would rarely have the chance to hear of otherwise. David made sure to tell them that no matter how many people might say God is finished with the Jews and with Israel, it wasn't true. He reminded them that there are promises given in Scripture over and over again about the wonderful plans God has for Israel. May we all be as little children as we look in hope for the day that Jerusalem's Peace, the Messiah of Israel, sits on His throne in her midst.

Hi! My name is Nancy Santiago. I'm a Messianic Jew, a Jewish Believer, a lover and follower of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua ha Mashiach.
I have been running into so many non-Jewish believers who are curious about the Jewish roots of their faith. They ask questions about what it means to be grafted into the root of Israel, and about the Biblical Feasts that point to the Messiah.  I often refer  them to  Romans 11:17-20 and specifically to the verse that states to non-Jewish believers "You do not support the root, but the root supports you."
I have found, even in my own walk, that to know the Jewish roots of my faith in the Jewish Messiah strengthens and supports what I believe. I think that one of the reasons the church at large is so blown about by every wind and doctrine is because it has forsaken the Root that supports the faith.
Everything from anti-semitic teaching to replacement theology to a refusal to share the gospel with the Jews is responsible for this loss of a strong root undergirding the body of Messiah.
So, my plan for this blog is to share some of what the Lord has shown me in regards to His heart for Israel and the Jewish people, and His heart to see His body at large come into its fullness through accepting being part of the Commonwealth of Israel by being grafted into the olive tree of Israel and sharing, with the Jews, the "nourishing sap of the olive tree".  Til next time...shalom!