The Power and Glory - A Letter from Israel

By Eddie Santoro
Special to ASSIST News Service

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (ANS) --The power and glory of God like a pillar of fire in the midst of his people in the land of Israel. The anointing of the Holy Spirit so manifest in his body that Israelis would enter the gathering of the saints, behold the living glory of Yeshua and come running back to him and their God. This is the hope and the vision that we hold in our hearts for these days. With joy, we can report that we have been touching some of this glory. It is beginning! The fruitfulness is abounding, the harvest is being brought in and the kingdom of God is being advanced!   In the past few weeks, we have seen salvations at Tifferet Yeshua in Tel Aviv like we have never experienced in all the years that we have been laboring here in Israel (or for that matter in the 25 years that we have walked with the Lord). Last weekend in a two-day period, seven Israelis came to faith. In the past month, we have seen no less than ten men and women profess faith in Yeshua!

"PRAISE AND PIZZA"
Last night, we had our young adults meeting. As we have reported in previous updates, the numbers in this group are exploding. We billed last night as a special event; "Praise and Pizza". The combination worked and over forty young adults came out. The good news is that they did not come first for pizza. No, their hunger was first and foremost for the presence of God. They do not want to just hear about the God of Israel, they want to meet with him. We were scheduled to begin at 7:30 but by 7:00 there were already many people present. With great excitement and anticipation, we prayed and prepared the way for the coming of the Lord. At 7:30, Daniel, our faithful and anointed worship leader started the praise and it continued uninterrupted for nearly 2 1/2 hours. The powerful presence of the Holy Spirit fell on the gathering, the gifts of the Spirit flowed through many of the young adults and all of us encountered the Holy One of Israel.

"THE RIVER MEETING"
God has spoken to us that the time has come to change the identity of the Wednesday meeting. Once just a small cell group, it has now become one of the central weekly meetings in the congregation. In keeping with the changing reality of this meeting, the young adults¹ cell has now become, "The River Meeting". The model that God has given us is Ezekiel 47. During prayer, he gave me the specific promise that "Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows" (Ezekiel 47:9). Our goal is to lose our footing in the natural and that all of us together would learn the joy, power and fruitfulness of being carried along by the power of the Spirit. And we believe that many will come as the river flows.

This meeting is fertile ground for the growth of young believers. They are learning the reality of the presence of God. They are growing in their knowledge and ability to flow in the gifts of the Spirit and are being raised up to be the mighty men and women of God that are needed to shake this nation.

 Of the forty that were in attendance probably half have been in the Lord less than a year. One very new believer who gave his life to the Lord only four days ago said, "During the Shabbat meeting I thought that I was dreaming when I saw the power of God but after tonight I know that it is real." As a spiritual father and mother, we are thrilled that these young men and women can be born into such an environment. Israel needs men and women who know their God and this meeting is one way in which God is making his reality known to them.

We are thrilled to be able to share such a wonderful report with you. We ask you to continue praying faithfully for all that God is doing here. We know that the fire of God is fed through prayer. The enemy is enraged to see such life coming forth but we declare that; "Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world!" Please join us in the ongoing battle for the souls of these people. Bless him for his mercy and grace for all that we are seeing and yet join us in crying out for more. We know that this is only the beginning.

Please pray for the seven new believers that received Yeshua this week. New Israeli believers desperately need prayer covering if they are going to overcome all the obstacles and warfare that surround them.

Pray for Ofir who is being immersed this week. He is a handicapped man who lost the use of his legs in a motorcycle accident five years ago. He asked the Lord into his life two months ago and his strong and passionate faith is an inspiration to all of us. He is very active in the handicapped community and there are many who will be drawn by his testimony of God¹s love. Pray for the new cell group we started on Monday nights. This group is designed to be smaller and more intimate than the Wednesday night meeting. It is already up to eight people and three of them are brand new believers! A forth has told us that he will come this week. Pray for God¹s leading and grace as we disciple these "babes" and help them move towards maturity and fruitfulness.

We are putting together a "newly married couples night" for eight couples in July. We are working with one of the new couples in planning this event. Please pray for the evening. Our goal is to establish deeper relationships between these young couples and impart some Godly wisdom that will strengthen their marriages. Pray also for the partnership between us and this other couple. Working together and sharing responsibility is a significant part of discipleship and it is always our hope that others will follow in our example and rise up to become servants in the Lord.