1st Assignment
1st ASSIGNMENT • HEALING OF THE LAND ► CITIES
It was such an extraordinary privilege that we should serve the Almighty Creator in fulfillment of prophetic Scriptures like Psalm 126[1] and Isaiah 35 and 51 to have part in the healing of the Land, which will have a mighty impact on His people, for the restoration of their spiritual heritage. And partnering with Him in the development of the Negev, which comprises 60% of Israel’s landmass but is home to just 8% of the country’s population. Already now the Negev farmers can raise up 12 crops in 1 year due to the underground sea known as the ‘waters of creation,’ 300 km long, 30 km wide, with the life expectancy of a thousand years.
For the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to succeed with their initiative called Blueprint Negev to revitalize Southern Israel, to improve quality of life for all residents of the region and encourage a population shift from crowded, expensive Israel to double the population of the South, the Negev’s development is essential.
Moreover, the government’s NEGEV 2020 PLAN to bring in 300,000 new immigrants to the Negev; ensuring employment for an additional 200,000 people, cries for a speedy development of the Negev. It has been a # 1 priority on Abba’s heart for which He gave us in 2019 the assignment but corona restrictions delayed it to April this year.
And this was the divine assignment of the LORD Yehova for the Negev, in spiritual and literal fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3, 5: Complete Jewish Bible
3 “Hark! One hears a VOICE calling: in the wilderness ‘Clear the Midbar/wilderness [of its demonic occupants cast there for centuries] and make ready the way of the LORD to restore the Negev and its streams; level a highway in the Aravah/desert, make it plain and smooth for our God to return His exiles; to prepare a home for them in the Negev.”
ג קוֹל קוֹרֵא–בַּמִּדְבָּר, פַּנּוּ דֶּרֶךְ יְהוָה; יַשְּׁרוּ, בָּעֲרָבָה, מְסִלָּה, לֵאלֹהֵינוּ.
5 “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.'”
וְנִגְלָה, כְּבוֹד יְהוָה; וְרָאוּ כָל-בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו, כִּי פִּי יְהוָה דִּבֵּר
Psalm 126:4 Complete Jewish Bible
4 “Return our people from exile, Adonai, as streams fill vadis in the Negev.”
שׁוּבָה יְהוָה, אֶת-שבותנו (שְׁבִיתֵנוּ) — כַּאֲפִיקִים בַּנֶּגֶב.
And this is what the Lord says regarding the Healing of His Land and people:
Jeremiah 30:12-17 The Voice & Complete Jewish Bible
12 “For here is what Adonai says: “Your wound is past healing, incurable, no healing for your most severe injury, no relief for your affliction. 13 no one thinks your wound can be bandaged; you have no medicines that can heal you. 15 Why cry that your wound and pain [of the Nazi Holocaust] are past healing? I have done these things to you because of your great wickedness, because of your many sins.”
17 “However…I will restore your health – I, the Eternal One, declare it to you – I will heal you of your wounds and make you well again,” says Adonai, “because they called you an outcast, Tziyon, with no one who cares about her.”
Isaiah 6:8 RSV Then I, Elinor heard Him say, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us… to plead the cause of My Land, to bring to it My remedy and speak healing over it?” And Elinor replied, ‘HINENI! Send me. I will go with Your remedy and apply it to the Land’s grievous sores, and pour Your healing balm into her deep wounds.” Then I shared God’s call and desire of His heart with as many in the Body of Messiah as I could, and several responded and committed to make up a team to serve God in these assignments.
This is what the LORD says: 17 “NOW [the appointed time has come that] I will restore you to health and will heal you of your wounds….because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares, slandered, lied about and falsely accused. Therefore all who seek to devour you will be devoured; and all your enemies will go into exile. Those who seek to plunder you, wanting to make of my nation Israel a Palestinian State and rob you of everything you have built with my help and blessing, will be plundered themselves; and all who make spoil of you I will despoil.”
God spoke this thousands of years ago. The many invaders, occupiers and plunderers had pillaged, raped and wounded God’s own Land for many centuries. Then came the grievous wounding and terrible, final punishment of the Holocaust, the pain of which afflicts His people and land until this day.
But NOW, says God, the appointed time has come to heal His beloved Land of its terrible sores and grievous, deep wounds. Of course, one does not actually “see” the wounds nor does one see Him going about in Person carrying out this healing for He uses people, His children.
Likewise, one did not see Him rebuilding the ruined cities and replanting the desolate Land (Ezek. 36:36) as He used people like construction companies, architects, farmers, etc.
The Lord gave me Word prayers for the Healing of the Land and the clearing and cleansing of the Negev of the spirits that were cast for many centuries into the Negev unto Azazel.
Each of us chose prayers which we VOICED into our shofars and then sent these Word prayers forth into every direction, knowing that they would not return void but accomplish that for which they were sent. Moreover, God’s mighty angels who do His will would go forth and perform those Words, hearkening2to the VOICE of His Word coming forth from our shofars, carried by the shofar’s unique and unstoppable vibrations and frequencies (Ps 103:20-21) (Isa. 55:11).
We were a team of 8, and a brother I know for several years, Howard, was to be our driver besides me and my 2 German sisters. In the end he did all the driving, occasionally leading to discords, which interfered with operating in a spirit of peace, love and being of one united heart, mind and purpose. But our resolve sustained us.
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The Lord had marked the towns for releasing the healing word prayers: Yafo, Caesarea, Haifa, Akko, Nazareth, Afula, Megiddo, Bethlehem, Hebron and Jerusalem wherein He marked 7 places. Then, Latrun and Beer Sheva. He had me research the history of each town. I learned a lot, unaware of such bloody history.
Yafo
We began at the Yafo clock tower where people loved our shofar blowing. Next was the Gate of Faith. Howard went ahead on his own but in the end we all found the place, high up on a hill, a long climb for me. Forth went the Word of God through our shofars, far and wide over Yafo, its port and the Sea, toward Tel-Aviv from that hill.
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Caesarea
Caesarea also involved a lot of walking for me but it had to be done. People inquired about our activities and I was happy to explain. We had 2 stops there – one near the sea where we sent the prayers across the shore and inland and one in a large, high room of a former crusader castle, sending the prayers in every direction.
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Haifa
In Haifa, a new road brought us high above the city, where we even found parking. The cable cars were thus unnecessary. Haifa and its port were “at our feet,” perfect for sending out our prayers. A couple sitting there inquired about what we were doing, and Elinor explained the shofar blowing to them.
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Akko
In Akko we went into the courtyard of the “Knights’ Hall” for an entrance fee, and divided up in the large courtyard to cover every entrance, exit and direction. Unfortunately, we did not have the time to see all there is to see of this Crusaders’ main fortress and headquarters. After completing our prayers there, we were going to one of Akko’s big walls built by the Crusaders and the Ottomans. Parking turned into a dispute with an Akko man.
Howard had been a good driver until now. But, after the dispute was settled, he rushed ahead of us without first consulting with me. We all ran after him, missing the free tables close to our parked 9-seater. Unable to eat in the restaurant Howard had found the lunch I had prepared, Samuel, my faithful helper and assistant and I went back to the free tables I had seen. With permission to sit there all of us finally enjoyed my tasty lunch.
With peace restored, Howard resumed the driving but took a wrong turn into a narrow alley with no possibility of turning around. The only way forward was a much too narrow passage with a sharp curve, impossible for the 9-seater to pass through safely. By the time we finally emerged with the help of a kind, local Arab, we had lost a lot of time.
We were to drive over Afula and Megiddo for two important stops and then off to Jerusalem. However Howard, without saying a word, decided to ignore those places and my reminders, and instead chose the longest but easiest way to Jerusalem. I was shocked when we passed by the Ben Gurion Airport.
Our spirit of peace, love and understanding was spoiled once more. Yet, this whole assignment was to be unto the praise, honor and glory of God, with much thanksgiving. Praise God, He passed over our human frailties and shortcomings, His angels going before and behind us to bring to a successful completion this awesome assignment, in which we ourselves received great blessings.
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Jerusalem
The Jaffa Gate underground parking lot was unexpectedly filled to capacity. Being a week day, there should have been plenty of free spaces. Later, we learned that Moslems from across the country were in Jerusalem to support their fellow Moslems in the Al Aqsa incidentwhere Israeli police had entered the Mosque to drive out youths barricaded inside. The youths intended to throw rocks down on the Jews praying at the wall during the Passover holiday. It was Ramadan, the highest Moslem holiday, when staying overnight on the Temple Mount was forbidden. As the incident was filmed, showing a violent policeman, Moslem supporters turned out in reinforcement, filling up the underground parking garages.
We circled around and around until we finally decided to leave the van and walk with our luggage to the Lutheran Guesthouse on St.Mark Street in the Old City. What’s more, the parking lot elevator failed to work with four Arabs inside, mocking us. Having no choice, we left the elevator and climbed up the stairs hauling our luggage.
It was after 10:00 pm when we arrived at the Guesthouse. It was locked with no-one around. After beating on the door incessantly a guest heard us and brought the manager who let us in and showed us to our rooms. I called Howard who finally found a parking in the German Colony and was on a bus to the Jaffa Gate. The manager offered to pick him up at the Jaffa Gate, but Howard waited at the police station instead. They eventually found each other. Everyone was too tired to join together in prayer as I had planned.
After an early breakfast, we met in the Guesthouse’s lovely garden where we prayed and then voiced our healing prayers into our shofars, sending them out all across the Old City up to the Mt. of Olives. Howard went to get our 9-seater to meet us later at the Dung Gate. We stored our luggage at the Guesthouse for safe keeping and we women and Samuel went to the places God had marked in Jerusalem.
First was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and its bloody history. Nobody stopped us from carrying out our assignment, even though an Arab policeman said we were not allowed; but we had already finished our prayers. Wherever we went, nobody would or could stop us, not at Davids’ Citadel (witness of Mameluk and Ottoman atrocities), nor at the Hurva Synagogue (burned down several times), nor at the Kotel, known as Western Wall or Wailing Wall, God’s favor being with us so clearly at every turn that it filled us with bold, confident faith.
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After completion of the Jerusalem stops (we could not do 2 gates because of Ramadan and terror), Howard picked us up from the Dung Gate. Once again he did the “Howard thing,” choosing his favorite and much longer way rather than taking the short way to Latrun.
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Latrun
We needed to pay entrance, but it was a very important place of warfare, bloodshed and the deaths of Jewish fighters after five attempts to wrest the control of the Arab Legion over the only road linking the Yishuv-controlled area of Jerusalemto Israel, giving Latrun strategic importance in the battle for Jerusalem. The British had handed this vitally important spot to the Jordanian Arab Legion rather than to the Jews.
Latrun became an exceptional experience for us eight, especially emotional to me, bringing me to tears. The manager showed our little team a 3-d film running to the left and right of us in life-size that placed us in the middle of an assault by tanks. This was quite awesome, as were all the large photos. The manager appreciated our assignment and was pleased with our praying over the entire area, including the outdoor amphitheater, which is the venue for many military celebrations, especially graduating ceremonies of young soldiers, our sons and daughters having completed boot camp as combat soldiers. Israel’s army is a “people’s army.” After a big lunch at the Latrun restaurant, we continued on to Beer Sheva.
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Our first stop was the “Antarta,” the Negev Brigade Monument, a unique and symbolic architectural memorial to the fallen Jewish soldiers in the battle against Egytian forces to free Beer Sheva from occupation during the War of Independence in 1948-49. The formerly free access was fenced off but the military in charge gave us permission after he heard our purpose for going up there. The inside of the rotunda of the Memorial Dome has an incredible accoustic [video with Howard “singing”?]which carried the sounding of our shofars far and wide across Beer Sheva and into the Negev. It was awesome!
Our last stop was the AustralianLight-Horse Park, which was created in honor of the Australian Light-Horse Brigade who, together with the British, drove the Ottomans out of Beer Sheva and freed the whole region from the Ottoman rule. Their fighting on horseback, with bayonets and guns strapped over their back [see picture], is a story that is told over and over again, and also repeated in a performance at its anniversary every five or so years.
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We concluded the healing assignment there, as we had unfortunately no more time to go and send out our prayers at the British WW1 War Cemetery.
We returned to Eilat.
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