於2010-07-17發佈
為以色列時事禱告˙2010年7月12日 

上週納坦雅胡總理與歐巴馬總統在華盛頓的會面,比之前的會面來得溫和友善。到了星期四,歐巴馬總統讓自己接受以色列電視台的訪問,直接向以色列人說話,個人確保對『以色與猶太人終生的承諾』;他對納坦雅胡的領導力有信心,堅信伊朗的核武必須停止,並相信媒體對以色列總理與他之間關係緊張的報導過於誇大。雖然我們有一點懷疑,總統為了年底的選舉,有修補彼此關係的壓力,然而我們感恩兩國領袖的關係目前是和睦的。
請為美國與以色列能維持結盟關係禱告,兩國的政府會以正直與敬畏主的態度來鞏固彼此。

1.  七月十二日星期一進入希伯來曆『埃波月』.
七月十二日星期一是希伯來聖經曆的第五個月─埃波月。在民數記卅三章38節明確提到,這一天正是大祭司亞倫死的日子,這是猶太人嚴肅以待的月份;從埃波月一日到九日有許多人不吃肉。正如我們先前所寫的:「從搭模斯月十七日到聖殿被毀的埃波月九日(今年在七月20日),這三週有時又被稱為『狹窄之地』(記載在耶利米哀歌一章3節:追逼她的都在狹窄之地將她追上。),因為在歷史上的這段時間,有許多災難發生在猶太人身上。」在埃波月期間有許多事情發生如下:

* 主前586年與主後70年,埃波月九日:位在耶路撒冷的第一與第二聖殿 都在這個月被摧毀。
* 主後1492年 , 埃波月七日:西班牙國王費迪南德與皇后伊莉莎白將所有拒絕改信的猶太人驅逐出境。
* 主後1929年,埃波月十七日:六十七位猶太成人與小孩在希伯崙遭到阿拉伯穆斯林屠殺。
* 主後1994年,埃波月十日:阿拉伯穆斯林炸毀位在阿根廷布宜諾斯艾利斯的猶太人社區中心,殺死86人,超過300人受傷─這是大屠殺以來,散居在外的猶太人所遭受到最嚴重的攻擊。
* 主後2005年,埃波月十日:數千位猶太人開始被迫從迦薩與北撒馬利亞二十五個城鎮與屯墾區驅逐,成為當時其中一部份的『撤離計畫』。

儘管這段時間的情勢導致一些迷信的傳說,但我們卻要看此為:歷史上黑暗設法趁機以邪惡來對抗盟約之土地與人民的季節。此呼召我們在列國中特別看守以色列與猶太人,把他們帶到『眾光之父』面前(雅各書1:17)。雖然埃波(Av)為巴比倫名字,是猶大在被擄期間所採用的,但Av這個字剛好與希伯來文的父親相同拼法與發音。

當我們在此新月份的一開始為我們的土地與人民禱告,讓我們來回想上週先知書閱讀的一節經文,記載在耶利米書三章4節:『從今以後,你豈不向我呼叫說:我父啊,祢是我幼年的恩主。』

請持續禱告:
* 禱告以色列在這三週與埃波月期間被保護,遠離一切尋找機會攻擊她的兇惡。
* 詩篇118:5:  『我在急難中求告耶和華,祂就應允我,把我安置在寬闊之地。』
* 為以色列的百姓禱告:能被帶到曠野,進入神為他們所預備的完全─要在窄地存活,她必須跨越。『引到永生,那門是窄的,路是小的,找著的人也少』(馬太福音7:14)。耶穌來是叫祂百姓的喜樂可以滿足(約翰福音15:11; 16:24)。
* 為以色列的土地禱告:能進入神所賜予的寬闊之地,目前地方太窄不夠照顧神從列國帶回的猶太人─她不斷在列國壓力下,要她的地更狹窄。『要擴張你帳幕之地,張大你居所的幔子,不要限止;要放長你的繩子,堅固你的橛子。因為你要向左向右開展。』 (以賽亞書54:2-3)。
* 宣告以色列的『時候』是在主的手中,這地百姓的靈魂是交在救贖她的主手中,邪惡無法在任何一段時間擁有主權(詩篇31:15, 5)。

2.  以色列青年特會ELAV/KATZIR.
看哪,我與耶和華所給我的兒女,就是從住在錫安山萬軍之耶和華來的,在以色列中作為預兆和奇蹟。(以賽亞書8:18).
我們很高興你為上週在特拉維夫的Elav(歸於祂)青年特會禱告,主在這特會釋放大能的祝福,包括在屬靈方面(更新與裝備這些年輕人),在後勤方面(在一個全新、全然不同的地方安排一切事物),在財務方面(對場地安排與想要參與者的巨大花費都夠用)。約有八百人參加,其中六百人是以色列人,包括猶太人與阿拉伯人,還有一些巴勒斯坦年輕人得著巴勒斯坦當局允許,可以從巴勒斯坦自治區進入以色列。整個特會的紀律大致良好,從年輕人與其牧者的最初回報看來非常正面。許多在以色列境內與外地的人在特會前幾週就開始禁食禱告,我們讚美主在這二天半的特會裡,許多人的生命真實被神觸摸與改變─我們一收到更多的回報,會繼續告訴大家!
同個時候,請持續為一年一次本土的十天青年營會Katzir (收割)禱告,這營會是由地方牧者與一百位青少年和二十位青年領袖共同策劃、監督與支持的營會。主題是 K’Lapid Ev’ar (以賽亞書62:1─我會如明燈發亮!)。

請禱告:
* 聖靈在這兩場特會所撒的種不會被偷走或死去,乃是發芽並帶出生命!
* 神在領袖身上的特別時候、保護與指引。
* 在青年領袖、年長監督者與所有講員、帶領敬拜與活動者之間有著在聖靈裡合一的恩典。
* 天使保護與服事所有這些『承受救恩的人』─以致黑暗會被驅逐、不能進到營中。
* 禱告他們能覺醒信靠神、定意尋求祂的面、跟隨聖靈並照亮黑暗。禱告一些火把還沒點亮的,能被聖潔的火點燃,燃燒在他們同儕之間!

3.  暴力、宗教與不法充斥在平安之城的街道上.
haredim 是極端正統猶太人,可由這些人身上所穿著的十九世紀黑西裝與帽子認出。haredim這名字是出於以賽亞書66:2,意思是『戰兢的人』。儘管他們認為自己是從其他猶太人中被分別為聖,但在他們裡面還是有許多不同的宗派,通常與特定族群所尊崇的拉比(還活著或已去世)有關。他們通常會集體住在如特拉維夫的B’nei Brach社區與耶路撒冷的Mea Shearim社區。這些社區實際上與世隔絕,他們喜愛自己的『法律』,通常將外面的法律執行視作令人厭惡的干涉。
在安息日開車被視為『點火』(火星塞),因此是受咒詛的。他們會在街道上立起柵欄,任何人在安息日開車經過他們的地方就會被丟石頭。雖然他們住在以色列,這些haredim並不承認國家當權者,他們不服兵役,寧可花時間研讀猶太法典Talmud,因此受許多以色列人輕視。在八零年代他們佔總人口的百分之四,目前已經升到百分之十,倘若他們的出生率持續不變,再過二十年有百分之四十的以色列在學學子,不會承認國旗或鼓勵從軍。
剛好在一年前,我們寫到『在耶路撒冷的haredi社區示威運動不斷上升,常與市政當局爆發暴力衝突,造成市中心關閉─沒有公車、商家關閉。示威是從小群開始,他們因種族原因拒絕他們的女兒與其他猶太教派別的孩子上同一所宗教學校。當市政當局介入,裁決那些拒絕送孩子上學的父母必須坐牢,所有haredim不同派別的猶太人決定先將他們之間的不同放一邊,團結一致來對抗政府的權柄。感謝主,這次的示威和平結束,但令人困擾的問題也油然而生,未來的示威若發生暴力,政府當局能做什麼。

請禱告:
* 抵擋宗教、暴力與不法的靈,其設法從內部動搖耶路撒冷─使她變得更脆弱,更易受到城市外面仇敵的攻擊。
* 為耶路撒冷市長尼爾‧巴卡特(Nir Barkat)與警察局長亞哈倫‧佛朗哥(Aharon Franco)禱告─他們領受智慧與勇氣,知道如何在城市中管理與執法(羅馬書13:1-7)。
* 真光(約翰福音1:1-9))照亮在以色列的haredi 社區。因著他們在許多方面與世隔絕,他們若一出社區,通常沒有任何技巧或知識在外面的世界生存。因為他們『看起來很不一樣』,不時熱心地企圖將他們的信仰強加在別人身上,他們很容易成為其他以色列人嘲弄與輕視的焦點,甚至是這地的信徒。當我們站立抵擋他們的錯誤、以及在他們裡面運行的反彌賽亞的宗教力量時,然而很重要的是,我們要記得他們也是雅各的兒女,是神『以永遠的愛、以慈愛吸引的人』(耶利米書31:3)。

馬汀和娜瑪‧賽維士(Martin & Norma Sarvis)
於耶路撒冷


PRAYER UPDATE FROM ISRAEL  (July 12, 2010) 
The meeting this past week between Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and President Barak Obama in Washington was much more cordial and friendly than previous meetings.  On Thursday, Mr Obama then allowed himself to be interviewed by Israel’s Channel 2, and spoke directly to the Israeli people, assuring them of a personal “lifelong commitment to Israel and the Jewish people”; of his confidence in Netanyahu’s leadership; of his conviction that the Iran nuclear weapons program must be stopped; and of his belief that media reports of tensions between himself and the Israel Prime Minister have been greatly exaggerated. (In a Washington news conference, he did attribute a warming of the relationship to encouraging measures recently taken by Mr Netanyahu—no mention, however, of any taken by himself.)  Although there can be little doubt that there were pressures on the President to ‘mend fences’ ahead of elections later in the year, we are nevertheless grateful that relations between our two heads of state presently appear to be amicable. 

Please pray for these two nations to remain allies and that leaders in both governments will move in integrity and the fear of the LORD to strengthen the things which remain.  

1.  MONDAY JULY 12TH  BEGINS THE HEBREW MONTH OF “AV”.
Today, Monday July 12th, is the first day of the Fifth Month in the Hebrew Biblical calendar, Av. This date is specifically mentioned in Numbers 33:38 as the day on which Aharon (Aaron) the High Priest died.  It is a month which is looked on with sobriety by Jews; from the first to the ninth, many abstain from eating meat.  As we wrote in a recent Update, “The three-week period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av (20 July this year) when the First Temple was destroyed has come to sometimes be called “Bein haMetzarim”—“Between the straits” (Lamentations 1:3 “All her persecutors overtake her between the dire straits.”), because of many calamities purported to have occurred to Jews through history during or surrounding this period.”  Among those verifiable as having taken place within the month of Av itself:

* 586 B.C. & 70 C.E.:  Both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed during this month.
* 1492 , 7th of Av:  King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled all Jews who refused conversion from Spain.
* 1929, 17th of Av:  67 Jewish adults and children were massacred by Muslim Arabs in Hebron.
* 1994, 10th of Av, 1994:  Muslim Arabs bombed the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 86 and wounding more than 300—the deadliest attack in the Diaspora since the Holocaust;
* 2005, 10th of Av: thousands of Jews began to be forcibly expelled from 25 towns and settlements in the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria, as part of the “Disengagement Plan.”

Although such circumstances have contributed to this period being regarded with a certain amount of superstition by some, we see, nevertheless, this to be a season when Darkness has historically sought particularly to take occasion for evil against the covenant land and people.  This calls for special watchfulness over Israel and Jews in the nations, holding them up before the “Father of Lights” (James 1:17).  Although the name Av is actually a Babylonian name, adopted during Judah’s captivity, it happens to bear the same spelling and pronunciation as the Hebrew word for “Father”. 

As we pray over our land and people at the beginning of this new month, we recall a verse from last week’s Haftarah portion, Jeremiah 3:4: “Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth?’

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY:
* That Israel be protected from evil seeking occasion to be released against her during these three weeks and throughout this Fifth Month.
* Psalm 118:5:  “Out of the strait (metzar) I called to Ya (the LORD).  Ya answered me in a wide-open place.” 
* For Israel—The People: to be brought into the wideness, the fullness that God has for them—and to survive the narrows which must be traversed along the way—“Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life”(Matthew 7:14). Yeshua came that His people might come into fullness of joy (John 15:11; 16:24).
* For Israel—The Land:  to come into the wideness which God has ordained.  At present it is too narrow to adequately nurture the Jews God has already brought from the nations—and she is under constant pressure from the nations to become narrower still.  “Enlarge the place of your tent; stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs.  For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left” (Isaiah 54:2-3).
* Declare that Israel’s “times” are in the LORD’s hands—evil cannot maintain sovereignty over any segment of time—entrust the spirit of this land and people into the Lord’s hands, who has redeemed her (Psalm 31:15, 5).

2.  ELAV/KATZIR.
“Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me!  We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion” (Isaiah 8:18).
We are grateful for your prayers over the Elav (“Unto Him”) youth and young-adult retreat in Tel Aviv last weekend.  The Lord released a powerful blessing on this conference, both spiritually (in the refreshing and equipping of these young people), logistically (in the set-up and bringing together in a new and radically different venue), and financially (in the formidable expenses being covered for set-up and allowing all who desired to attend).  Some 800 attended, 600 of which were Israelis, both Jewish and Arab.  A number of Palestinian youth were granted permission by the Palestinian Authority to gain entrance from the contested territories.  There were virtually no discipline issues, and initial reports from youth, young adults and their pastors have been extremely positive.  Many both within and outside of Israel had been praying and fasting for weeks prior to the conference.  We praise God that many lives were truly touched and changed during this 2 ½ day event—we will continue to update you as we receive further reports! 

Meanwhile, please continue to pray for the annual indigenous 10-day youth camp Katzir (Harvest) which began in the Galilee this week.  It is a co-operative effort overseen and supported by a number of local pastors with some 100 teens and over 20 young adult leaders.  The theme is K’Lapid Ev’ar (Isaiah 62:1: “I will Burn like a Torch!”).

PLEASE PRAY:
* That the seed sown by the Holy Spirit in both of these events will not be stolen away or die, but germinate and bring forth life!
* God’s timing, protection and guidance through all of the leaders.
* Grace for unity in the Spirit over the young adult leaders, the senior overseers, and all who take part in speaking, leading in worship and activities.
* Angels to protect and minister to all these “who will inherit Salvation”—that Darkness be driven out and stay out of the camp.
* For an awakened trust in God and resolve to seek His Face, to follow His Spirit, to shine brightly in the deepening darkness.  Pray for some whose torches are not yet lit, to be ignited by the holy fire burning in their fellows!

3.  VIOLENCE, RELIGION, LAWLESSNESS ON THE STREETS OF THE CITY OF PEACE.
The haredim are ultra-Orthodox Jews recognizable by the black 19th Century suits and hats worn by the men. 
Their name is taken from Isaiah 66:2, meaning “those who tremble”. 
Although they consider themselves set apart in holiness from other Jews, they also have many different sects among themselves, usually related to a rabbi (living or deceased) venerated by that particular group. 
They generally live en masse in communities such as B’nei Brach in Tel Aviv and Mea Shearim in Jerusalem. 
These communities are virtually closed off to the rest of the world. 
Although technically part of the greater community, they prefer their own ‘laws’, and generally consider any attempts at law enforcement from outside as gross interference. 
Driving cars on the Sabbath is considered “lighting a fire” (spark-plugs), and therefore anathema. 
Barricades are set up on the streets—and anyone driving through those areas on Shabbat will be stoned if not worse. 
Although living in Israel, haredim do not recognize the authority of the State and for the most part do not serve in the military—rather devoting their lives to studying Talmud (a vast compilation of commentaries). 
They are therefore held in contempt by many Israelis. 
In the 1980’s, they constituted 4 % of the population. 
Today it has risen to 10%--and if their birthrate is sustained, some estimate that 20 years from now, 40% of Israeli children will be attending schools which do not recognizing the national flag, or encourage service in the military.

Exactly a year ago we wrote of “a growing manifestation of unrest in the haredi community of Jerusalem, frequently bursting into violence against the municipality.” 
This has continued to grow, on one day last month over 10,000 haredim demonstrated in central Jerusalem, causing the entire city center to be closed down—no busses, shops closed. 
The demonstration was begun by a small sect’s racially motivated refusal for their daughters to attend a religious school attended by members of a different stream of Judaism. 
When the civil authorities stepped in and ruled that parents who refused to send their children to school for such reasons must go to jail, the various streams of haredim decided to put aside their differences so as to show solidarity against the civil authority.
Thankfully, this time the demonstration was a peaceful—but it awakened disturbing questions of just what the civil authorities would be able to do were future demonstrations to erupt into violence. 

PLEASE PRAY:
* Against spirits of religion, violence and lawlessness which are seeking to destabilize Jerusalem from within—making her all the more vulnerable from enemies outside the city.
* For Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and Police Chief Aharon Franco—that they receive wisdom and courage in how to fulfill their charge to govern and enforce law in this city (Romans 13:1-7).
* For the Light of the Truth (John 1:1-9) to shine into the haredi communities in Israel.  They live out their lives studying the commentaries of men on the Torah. And since they are in many ways cut off from the rest of the world, if they come out of their community, they often have no skill or knowledge to ‘make it’ in the outside world.  Because they ‘look different’ and, at times, attempt zealously to force their beliefs on others, they are an easy target for ridicule and contempt by other Israelis—and even Believers in the Land. While standing against their error and the religious anti-Messiah power which works through them, it is nevertheless essential that we remember that they too are Children of Jacob…whom God has “loved with an everlasting love and drawn in lovingkindness” (Jeremiah 31:3).