They Will Know We Are Believers by Our Love

Any believer who lives here or who visits Israel will tell you that it’s impossible to walk in the holy city without divine appointments.

We met recently with an Israeli citizen who is a follower of Yeshua the Messiah. His daughter was killed in an horrific suicide bombing in Tel Aviv in 2005, yet this man is full of love and forgiveness. He is the antithesis of bitterness. His brand of love would bring peace in a moment.

Like any normal parent, there is a deep sorrow within this Jewish man’s soul that his daughter’s life was ended in such a tragic way. Yet he is filled with an anointing of love for Arabs that could only be described as supernatural.

Because of his loss, this Israeli man has an undeniable leverage and right to minister healing and reconciliation to Arabs. How can they argue with his love, when his own flesh and blood was murdered by Arab terrorists?

People are very angry because of tensions in the Mideast. Yet as this brother walks through Jerusalem, on errands to pay bills, etc., he takes time to sit with Arabs and to explain from a Biblical viewpoint why wars and tragedies are happening all around us.

[I’ve also had similar experiences with my Arab friends. After sharing my thoughts about prophetic events from a Biblical perspective, because Jesus will soon return, they say, “Now I feel better. I feel less angry.”]

We are eyewitnesses to the birth pains of Messiah.

“Pray for me,” my Israeli brother said. On the street in front of the Arabs inside Jaffa Gate, he asked me to pray like this, “Pray that the same Jesus that lives inside me will be Jesus to all the Arabs. Pray that I’ll have the same love of Jesus for them. Pray that I and my wife will love them more than any believer has ever loved them. Pray that the love of the Lord inside of me will be so great that they will melt with joy in his Presence. Pray for the entire Arab village near where I live to come to know Jesus.”

And he continued in that vein, asking for prayer, to be filled with more of the love of God, like John the Apostle, and so forth.

I noticed that this brother already walks in a great measure of this anointing, but he seeks more. He seems genuine revival with signs and wonders.

As we were talking, an Arab man who works inside Jaffa Gate approached us to ask us to go shopping. Times are tough because there are no tourists to shop right now. Immediately the Israeli brother began to build the confidence of this Arab man. He said, “You are a good man. You keep the gate here. You welcome the people like Abraham welcomed the people in the Bible.”

Love has its own power. When we recognise the good points in others and speak of their merits, they are strengthened and  enabled to believe in themselves. Words of encouragement always have a constructive purpose. People are thirsty for affirmation and encouragements.

So with the Arabs of Jaffa Gate surrounding us, I prayed the prayer that the Israeli brother was asking me to pray. And I didn’t fail, of course, to ask the Lord for the same anointing for myself.

As the worship song cited at the beginning continues,

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand… And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land. . . .