Since February 2014, my wife and I have worked with a relief organization among Holocaust survivors in Israel. Our daily life here is very different from how we grew up in Germany.Also, we quickly found that it makes a difference whether one is getting fueled in Israel for 2-3 weeks to release that fire at home, or whether one lives constantly under this spiritual and physical fire and has to be careful to not be consumed! My wife compares Israel with a furnace of fire, where gold is refined. This certainly applies to different levels!
The pulse beats faster in this country. The dynamics on the streets demand more concentration than on German roads, and sometimes it seems as if everyone here lived with a permanent “Take heed!” attitude. Almost like a guard on a fortress wall who is aware that there is war around him and that the enemy at any moment might appear on the horizon.
Every second counts, because every moment life can change dramatically here. And this is no fantasy story. What this country reflects in the physical with regard to conflicts and wars only shows the spiritual dynamics behind it. Light and darkness are provoked at this spot 24/7 in an uninhibited struggle. And we believers also play a role in it – if we are ready.
We know that the most powerful weapon in spiritual warfare is worship. But for that it needs space and time – and to manage and be successful in that, is already fight enough! So this worship tour was exactly what I needed and I expected nothing – except being alone with God together with my best friends from Germany.
I was ripe for collective hours before the throne. Without agenda. Without project management. Without appointments and without driving.
Since I’ve been friends with Arni for many years and we have “wasted” several hours for God together, I knew that a time was awaiting me that my soul had panted for like a deer for streams of water!
My wife and I set apart this time for God and the community in our schedules, took our leave and knew and believed in our hearts that this time was another milestone and seed in our work and walk with God.
It was a great treat for me to meet the other brethren I did not know, to study the Bible together by the fireside, to explore the heart of God and His plan for His Jewish people and the nations, from an attitude of worship in order to discover more about the secret of Israel.
It was really a time like I partially expect it to be in the New Jerusalem. The lamb as a light in the center of all things and life in real form: eating, singing, laughing, being with closest friends, talking about and with God, having encounters at heart level, and filling, shaping and changing the world around us with light and salt.
And night shall be no more, and they need no light of a lamp and light of the sun; for the Lord God will shine upon them, and they shall reign for ever and ever. Revelation 22.5
