Transcript [00:00] I remember me and my wife were just [00:01] crying for two whole days. I still love [00:03] them. I don't know how to explain it, [00:05] but I just couldn't. Shalom, dear [00:08] friends. I want to tell you a personal [00:10] testimony of how God worked in my heart [00:14] throughout this war, especially in the [00:16] beginning uh the war that started in [00:18] Israel on the 7th of October. I grew up [00:21] in Maladum, which is a it's a city now, [00:24] but it started as a settlement in Judean [00:27] Samaria, the West Bank. [00:30] And uh we we are 100% Jewish settlement. [00:34] So the only connections we have with [00:37] Arabs is they come to work in our city. [00:40] As I was growing up, I was never taught [00:43] to hate Arabs or to I don't know to to [00:47] dislike them, but I was taught to be [00:51] careful from them. And every time I [00:54] would see an Arab person passing nearby, [00:57] I would immediately be more conscious, [00:59] more looking, more cautious. And um for [01:03] that reason, I never had an Arab [01:07] friend growing up because you cannot [01:10] build a relationship with someone whom [01:13] you are afraid of, you are careful from. [01:17] So that all started to change when I [01:20] became 15. And when I become 15, I met [01:24] for the first time an Arab believer in [01:28] Yeshua. And uh when we were starting to [01:32] get to know each other, we used to fight [01:35] a lot. We used to fight a because I had [01:37] my own views, world views, whether it's [01:41] of my people, the Jewish people or or [01:44] even political things. And he had his [01:47] own and we will fight a lot actually [01:49] argue a lot. uh but with time we found [01:53] that we are drawing closer to each [01:56] other. We are becoming better friends [01:58] not when we argue but when we worship [02:01] God together when we pray together when [02:03] we read his word together and slowly [02:07] slowly we became very very good friends [02:10] to the point that one of my best friends [02:12] right now he's actually originally an [02:14] Arab guy that comes from Gaza Strip. So [02:18] God has been working in my heart for the [02:21] reconciliation between Jews and Arabs [02:24] from the age 15 and uh that that has [02:27] been a long process. I will not get into [02:29] the details [02:31] but we were doing a lot of ministry in [02:35] the past years with worship and prayer [02:37] and gathering and building bridges [02:40] between Jewish believers and Arab [02:42] believers, ministering to both of them [02:44] because in Israel you have both Jews and [02:46] Arabs. Now all of this was put to a test [02:49] on the 7th of October. On the 7th of [02:52] October when the war [02:54] began, we were all in shock. I remember [02:56] me and my wife were just crying for two [02:58] whole days. And it was a terrible shock [03:01] for all of us. Very scary. And honestly [03:06] with that came a lot of anger, a lot of [03:08] anger in my heart toward towards Arab [03:11] people. And to be honest, I could not [03:15] even hear someone speaking in Arabic [03:18] next to me. It will it will I will feel [03:21] anger. I will feel bad. And I knew it's [03:23] not from God. I even my friends, my Arab [03:26] friends will try to call me. And I I [03:28] just couldn't even bring myself to pick [03:31] up the phone. I still love them. I don't [03:33] know how to explain it, but I just [03:36] couldn't. And and I needed the space. [03:39] But with that during that time I was [03:40] praying God will you will you work on my [03:43] heart? Will you help me to even love my [03:46] enemies as you call me to? And then [03:49] after a few days something happened [03:52] something supernatural [03:54] uh that changed this whole thing in my [03:56] heart. And that was a phone call. A [03:59] phone call from a friend who called me [04:02] and he says chill do you remember what I [04:05] told you a month before the war? do you [04:08] remember what I shared with you? And I [04:11] said to him, "No, I don't remember." And [04:14] then he reminded me what happened one [04:16] month before the war. One month before [04:19] the war, we were filming a worship song [04:22] of ours that we written. This song is [04:25] called It Begins, Zamatri. And it's a [04:28] song that we are crying out to God, will [04:30] you bring revival to our land? But the [04:33] special thing about this song is that we [04:37] felt from the Lord that we must [04:39] translate the song from Hebrew into [04:42] Arabic and we must sing this song [04:44] together with our Arab brothers. And the [04:47] the heart behind it was Yeshua is coming [04:50] back to Israel. And when he's coming to [04:53] Israel, he's not coming for two brides. [04:55] He's not coming for two bodies. There's [04:57] only one bride. There is only one body [04:59] of Messiah. and his Jews and Arabs [05:02] together who I believe we believe will [05:05] be here in the land when he comes. So we [05:07] felt this is an important declaration we [05:10] have to make and again I want to remind [05:13] you this is happening one month before [05:15] the war. So we gather in this uh room [05:18] and we started worshiping and it was [05:21] like heaven on earth. It was so powerful [05:23] one of the most powerful worship times I [05:26] have been to. At a certain point in the [05:28] evening, that friend who called me a few [05:31] days after the war, right? So that's one [05:34] month before the war. Hope it's not [05:35] confusing. He's telling me, Sheila, I [05:37] feel the Lord has spoken to my heart. [05:39] And I asked him, okay, what what what is [05:41] it? And he said, while we were [05:44] worshiping, the Lord told me that [05:47] something very difficult is going to [05:50] happen very soon. something that will [05:53] try to destroy all that was built of [05:57] reconciliation between Jews and Arabs. [06:00] It will shock all of us and we have to [06:03] get through this and the way to get [06:06] through this is to remember what is [06:09] happening right now in the room. So we [06:13] were looking around the room and we saw [06:15] people on the floor. There was no Jew [06:18] and Arab. There was obviously, but [06:20] everyone was united together crying out [06:23] for revival, crying out for the Lord, [06:25] for our country, our country Israel. And [06:29] we were all worshiping, praying. Some of [06:33] us were crying and it was powerful [06:35] moment. And what the Lord told this this [06:38] friend is that we have to remember [06:40] what's going on in the room and that [06:42] will help us to get over the attack that [06:44] is going to come from the enemy. Now [06:46] fast forward to few days after the war. [06:50] My heart is is very heavy. It's very [06:54] hard. It's full of anger. It's full of [06:58] sadness. And I can't even bring myself [07:01] to talk with my Arab friends. So this [07:05] friend calls me and he tells me, "Do you [07:06] remember what I told you?" And I said, [07:08] "No." And he reminded me. He reminded me [07:12] that the Lord has spoke to him one month [07:15] before the war. One month before the war [07:17] because he knew what was going to [07:19] happen. Obviously, I don't believe that [07:21] God wanted all this death to happen. But [07:24] he is sovereign and he knew that this [07:25] will happen. And I believe that the Lord [07:28] has prepared my heart already one month [07:31] before. And immediately when I was [07:33] thinking about it, I started having [07:35] tears in my eyes. What kind of a good [07:37] father we have that he he was not angry [07:41] at me. Oh, you have to go up. What? Why [07:44] is your heart like this? I thought you [07:45] were more uh you know holy than that. [07:49] No, with his patience. He was preparing [07:52] my heart one month before the war so [07:55] that I can get over this because the [07:57] enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy. [07:59] But God came to give life. Yeshua came [08:01] to give life in abundance. and he wants [08:03] us to build his kingdom and not let the [08:05] enemy destroy what God is doing in our [08:09] land. So from that moment from that [08:12] moment God took took my heart of stone [08:16] and I began to call my friends my Arab [08:18] believer friends and to just share with [08:20] them and pray with them and seek his [08:23] face together. And ever since [08:25] then, even more intentional, we have [08:28] been gathering Jews and Arabs together [08:30] to pray for the situation, to pray for [08:32] peace in Israel, to pray for peace in [08:34] Gaza, in Lebanon, and we have seen [08:37] people coming to the Lord. We have seen [08:39] Jewish people coming to the Lord. We [08:40] have seen Muslim people coming to the [08:43] Lord. And this is all h it's not all [08:45] happening from solo. It's it's happening [08:47] all across all across Israel. And I want [08:50] to tell you that God many times we look [08:53] at the situation through the media lens [08:57] and from what is circulated there. But [09:00] we have to be people of the kingdom of [09:02] God who pray not according to our [09:04] political ideas but to pray according to [09:06] God's word to declare his promises and [09:09] his purposes and to seek his face. God, [09:11] what are you doing in the land? So I [09:14] want to encourage you friends to [09:15] continue to pray for Israel, to continue [09:18] to stand with us, but not only for us. [09:21] Stand for your own communities, stand [09:23] for your own cities. Don't look, don't [09:26] focus on what the enemy is doing. Focus [09:28] on what the Lord is doing. And I want to [09:31] tell you that the Lord is so [09:32] compassionate. He's so slow to anger. He [09:35] prepares us for these situations. He's [09:38] preparing us for difficult trials. And [09:41] actually I was remembering a verse. I [09:42] wasn't planning to share it but it's [09:44] from the the book of Egger from James 1 [09:49] and it's verse two. It says consider it [09:52] pure joy my brothers and sister whenever [09:55] you face trials of many kinds of many [09:58] kinds because you know that the testing [10:00] of your faith produces perseverance. Let [10:04] perseverance finish its work so that you [10:07] may be mature and complete, not lacking [10:10] in anything. God doesn't tempt us or [10:14] test us in in bad, but he does know when [10:17] we are going through trials. And [10:19] sometimes he brings us to to these [10:21] situations in order that we become more [10:24] mature, in order that our faith rise. [10:27] So, I want to invite you to rejoice and [10:29] to give thanks to the Lord in the middle [10:31] of the storm and to know that he's [10:34] working on you and he's working on your [10:36] family and your ministry and and and [10:39] your community. So Aba, I thank you for [10:41] what you did in my heart and I thank you [10:43] God for your patience and I thank you [10:45] for knowing and preparing me and I know [10:48] that you are doing the same to every [10:51] child, every son, every daughter of [10:52] yours and I ask you Lord that you will [10:55] give us faith and when we are going [10:57] through these trials Aba that you will [10:59] give us the perseverance aba and that we [11:01] will go to the other side of the trial [11:04] and we will be able to declare your [11:06] goodness and to strengthen our brothers [11:08] and sisters. I thank you for what you're [11:10] doing in Israel. I thank you that your [11:12] kingdom is advancing throughout all the [11:14] earth in the name of Yeshua Hamashiach. [11:16] Amen. [11:18] [Music]
