Faith Is

 

Faith is the substance
of things hoped for

the evidence
of what’s not seen

by which those
who’ve gone before

obtained good
testimonies.

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“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

“For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.”

Hebrews 11:1,2 NKJV

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Share In The Sufferings

 

We’ve been saved and called
with a holy calling

by His own purpose
and grace

to share in the sufferings
for the gospel

bringing forth His power
and praise.

**********

I can suffer for the gospel according to Your power, for You are with me.

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“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,”

“who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began . . .”

2 Timothy 1:8,9. NKJV

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No Need

 

I don’t need
the testimony

of men
for other men

but when you come
to know Me

you will witness of
Me then.

You establish testimonies.

“But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in men.” John 2:24,25 NKJV

For Signs And Wonders

 

Bind up
the testimony

seal My word
within your heart

wait on Me
and see My wonders

how My hope
will not depart.

Jesus establishes signs and wonders.

“Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples and I will wait on the LORD; who hides His face from the house of Jacob ; and I will hope in Him. Here I am and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells in Mount Zion. ” Isaiah 8:16,17,18 NKJV

Cast Down

 

The accuser is
overcome
by the blood
of the Lamb

and by the word of
our testimonies
this Rock on which
we stand.

Jesus establishes my testimony.

“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren , who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony , and they did not love their lives to the death.’ ” Revelation 12:10,11 NKJV

Eternal

 

You were
born of Me
when you
believed

given
eternal life
My witness
received.

A laid down life is eternal.

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. This is He who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ . . .and it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. . .And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” 1 John 5:1,6,10,11 NKJV

A Good Testimony

“Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”  1 Timothy 3:7

I want to be One-sided . . .Jesus-sided.

Lord, we desire to live out our testimony and witness of Who You are, wherever we are.  And here’s a simple poem . . .

Bearing Witness

Inside Outside Upside Down by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Inside, outside
upside down

may our testimonies
be found

oh so good and
all about You

what You have done
and are yet to do.

Owning It

“And many more believed because of His own word.” John 4:41
“Then they said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of what you said for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world’.” John 4:42

We’ve seen giraffes on t.v. and know they are tall. Seeing them close up at the zoo makes that fact more personally real.

Lord, we thank You for the testimony of others and for giving us each a testimony of our own. And here’s a simple poem . . .

Testimonies

We hear and believe
by their testimony
and our faith
takes wing.
Then Jesus comes
to us personally
and our faith
now sings.

Inside Israel – A Witness and a Testimony

Hello! Hope you are all up for another look inside Israel. J of Jerusalem shares her experiences inside a hospital room with her husband, who is still recovering from being hit by a motorcycle. Thank you for reading and for your prayers!

The Lord is SO good and deserves all of my praise, as small as it is! Glory to The Name of Yeshua! Jesus, the Messiah!

I should be leaving for the hospital right now, but felt an urgency to send out this testimony:

Since there is no room in the orthopedic ward, E. is still in the cardiothoracic surgery ward. It has its benefits. There is more room around each bed (for cardiac equipment) and it is a quiet ward. In his room there are 3 beds. When we arrived, the first bed was taken by a Christian Arab man named Elia, the middle bed was by a 20 year old yeshiva student, and E. has the third. As I mentioned, we are reading the book ‘Anointed for Burial’, a powerful testimony book, and although I read ‘quietly’, I am sure that words are heard.

I noticed that the young yeshiva man (a yeshiva is a place where people study scripture, much like a ‘seminary’, but based on discussion) was reading the book ‘Son of Hamas’ in Hebrew and I said to him ‘Oh! I see you are reading ‘Son of Hamas’! I hear it is wonderful!’ He answered ‘Yes! It is an amazing book!’

His friends would come and pray for and with him, in all of the traditional ways, Elia and his wife would also pray together in their way, and E. and I were reading and I would pray. Interesting room!

The night before last I heard that the young man was going home and found him in the ‘general room’ (a big room where there is coffee and tea and chairs and a tv) engaged in a heated discussion with two Moslem men. He had his book in his hands. I overheard him say ‘Well I am Jewish so I can’t!’ ‘Hum’ I thought…you can’t ‘what?’. It became apparent to me that he was WITNESSING to the two Moslems! Back in the room I told him ‘I saw you talking with the two Moslem men last night about the book.’ He quickly answered ‘Oh! They HATE this book! They really HATE him!’ I asked ‘But what did YOU think about the book?’ He smiled “It was wonderful. It was mostly a Christian story, but he can’t come back here to live anymore.’ I said ‘You know that I am Jewish, but I also had an experience like Him and now I am also a follower of Yeshua. I am still Jewish but I love Him and He lives in me and has changed my whole life. We can also follow Him.’ To my surprise, he didn’t flinch at all but smiled and said ‘Yes. I understand that anyone can ask Him!’

Although that was all we had time for speaking, he brought us all of his left over treats and I have no doubt that he heard much of what I was reading. I am sure that this young man was in that particular bed for a reason. Although I don’t know his name, we can still pray for him. J

As he and Elia left, there has been a major change and I do ask for prayer. The first bed now contains a devout, charismatic Moslem man with 3 (at least) wives. Having not seen it ‘up close’ before, a deep chill came over me when his ‘first wife’ floated in like a black death in a full body ‘burka’. I did not realize that even their hands are clothed in black gloves. This man must be a very powerful man. He is handsome, wealthy, popular, speaks AT LEAST Arabic, Hebrew and English fluently, and has flashing black eyes and a powerful smile. There has been a change in the room since he entered and E. is now depressed and not as happy to read the book.

We were told that we can expect him not to work for 3 months, and to be in much pain at least that long. He is also having an ultrasound of the bladder repeated today as it looks as if he sustained possible injury there as well. He is supposed to be moved to a rehabilitation center in a week, and those are rather depressing I am told. Today, we have old, unsaved ‘friends’ arriving to spend 2 weeks with us from NYC. She was a friend of mine in Jr. High School (ancient times!) I have been thankful at how The Lord has used this time drawing E back to Himself, but these friends will have the opposite influence unless He intervenes. I KNOW He is not taken by surprise. Please continue to pray for E’s healing but mostly for the spiritual battle going on around him/us. Thank you…your very tired sis

Inside Israel – A Personal Prayer Request

Hi and welcome to Inside Israel today! J of Jerusalem had e-mailed earlier to ask for prayer for her husband, who’d been hit by a motorcycle. Here is her follow-up e-mail about his condition. Thank you all so much for praying!

I was really overwhelmed by the email response to my prayer request! I couldn’t BEGIN to answer them all! It was by far the most emails I have ever gotten and I am touched. Thank you for such love and for the prayers, which is most important!

I am VERY tired, but want to fill you in briefly:
(I purposely don’t use our names in emails as I explained before, since we need some prudence concerning our identity)

E. is MUCH better then he was when I wrote just following the accident, Praise God! The injury appears to be confined to a fractured left pelvis (illium) so we are hoping that soon he can use a walker with the help of the right leg, which is still having problems holding weight (very sore). He is still in a fair amount of pain and the doctors told him to be prepared for about 2 months of this. An area of concern is that he still has not been transferred down to the orthopedic ward as it is full. He is on the cardiothoracic surgery ward and they are NOT equipped to handle an orthopedic patient, so he is not receiving optimal care. Since he also does not speak much Hebrew nor does he hear well, I must stay with him most of the time (as I described before concerning our hospitals… ‘services’ are NOT provided) – the nursing staff is very small and over worked.

During this whole thing, his spirit has been much more tender and he has been open to prayer. We used to read together and he has suggested that I read a book to him and I am reading a wonderful testimony to him and ask for prayer that his spirit be open once again to a full, deep, enduring and complete working of The Lord. That The Holy Spirit would grab hold of his heart again as he is forced to let his body heal. Thank you for your prayers!

I am also thankful for GREAT grace enabling my weakness with His strength, but I admit to being tired. I am at hospital at most hours that I am not at work. I am NOT on the computer except rarely (like now for a brief update – or during a not so busy time at work). I go to hospital at around 5am before work and return there after work until about 8:30.

Thank you for your prayers. This did not take The Lord by surprise, so I know that He is in control and will glorify His Name!

lovingly, your sis