Walk Toward the Light

What is it about a love song that just seems to go to the heart?  It can bring a smile to your face or tears to your eyes.  Some of the great opera and theatre productions of our time are centered on the grief and triumphs of love.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love…

In the mid 1960’s, there was a pop song that shot to the top of the charts and stayed there for a long time.  Both the melody and the lyrics were simple.

What the world needs now is love sweet love, it’s the only thing there is just too little of…

What the world needs now is love sweet love, no not just for some, but for everyone…

Whether the words of love are sung in the grandeur of the theater or in the simplicity of a pop song, the message is clear…… the heart of the world cries out for love.

The words of scripture also make it clear that the world needs love.  Love is the foundation of God’s plan.  When Adam sinned, the plan remained unchanged at its core.  God made a way to draw mankind back to Himself and it was in the context of love, sacrificial love.   His love is not an earthly kind of love that can wax and wane at the slightest infraction.  It is a love that is non-negotiable.  God is not merely loving… He IS love.

Everywhere Jesus went, He found hearts that were hungering for love.  He reached out to the Samaritan woman letting her know that there was a source of life and love that went beyond what she had been able to gather together for herself in the form of human love.  Mary Magdalene was transformed by His gracious, freeing love and forgiveness.  Impulsive and self seeking Peter found forgiveness and restoration from the very one he had denied, Jesus.

We, too, have come to know this kind of love and restoration.  As followers of Jesus we have been called to share this amazing, transforming love with the world.  He has not asked us to do something for which He has not also provided the power to do it.  Think of the empowering words of Paul in Romans 5:5 and again in Ephesians 5:2:

The love of God HAS BEEN poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Walk in love as Christ also has loved us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

What does His love look like through us?

• It stands in the face of rejection, wrong attitudes, opinions, and hurtful words.
• It gives back a quiet spirit, a gentle response and a feeling of acceptance.
• It extends a heart of compassion to those lashing out in pain.
• It is a giving of yourself to others without demanding a giving in return.

Are you aware that you communicate even without words?  You either bring an atmosphere of love and acceptance or of fear and withholding.  The more you become anchored in God’s deep love, the more freely you will be able to trust yourself to others and be able to freely give the love He has shed abroad in your heart.

Love covers.  Love embraces.  Love understands.  Love speaks honestly.  Love forgives. Love cares.  Love gives.

Now abides faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
I Cor 13:13

Let love triumph!

As a believer, you are the beneficiary of great riches.  Not only have you received the promise of eternal life, but you have received an incredible promise for this present life, as well.

I Peter 1: 3-5 speaks of your inheritance as being incorruptible and undefiled…one that does not fade away, and is reserved in heaven for you.

Peter then goes on to exhort and encourage you with these words:

YOU ARE KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD…..

THROUGH FAITH FOR SALVATION READY TO BE REVEALED IN THE LAST TIME.

The word kept in this verse is a military term and evokes the image of a sentry standing guard as protection against the enemy.  Being kept implies both protection from dangers, but also deliverance.  While you may experience various trials in this life, the promise is that you shall not be overcome by any of them.  You are kept under the continuous, watchful care of our Father.

As His children and His heirs…you are being guarded, defended, delivered and kept  by the power of God…the mighty and miracle working power of God!  You are being moved daily towards your destiny.  As an heir, you have the DNA of a king inside of you.  You are royalty.  You are rich beyond measure.  It is by His power that you are kept.  It is not of yourself.  Yours is to believe.  His is to keep.

Whatever you are facing today, know this…He is guarding you!

Whatever is trying to turn your heart and mind towards anxiety, know this…He is keeping you.

Whatever comes to lie against His character, know this…you have the delivering power of God within you.

The Father has never been overwhelmed.  Jesus is undefeated and the Holy Spirit can only lead us in triumph! ~Graham Cooke~

The tenth Aglow trip to Israel has been completed with the majority of the group returning home on May 4. Those in the group who traveled to Petra in Jordan, returned on May 6 and 7 after being delayed due to jet fuel contamination. All flights within the nation were delayed for two days while more fuel was brought in.

Every trip we have taken to Israel has been purposeful and packed with prophetic meaning. I am convinced that our presence there is more significant than we can possibly ever see this side of heaven.

With, The Struggle for Jerusalem as the theme many significant things took place during this journey and we believe that we fulfilled our prophetic purpose in being there.

Our trip began in the Galilee area with a fun boat ride on the sea, a visit to the Mount of Beatitudes and a meaningful baptismal service at the Jordan River, led by Billy Fleming. Even those who were not being baptized stepped into the Jordan signifying a stepping into the new season and asking God for a fresh outpouring of His Holy Spirit upon us as individuals and as a ministry.

As we departed the Galilee and traveled south to Jerusalem we stopped to visit Cana, the place of Jesus’ first miracle. While there, we witnessed the renewal of vows between Glenda and Billy Fleming’s daughter Jamie and her husband Jay Holland. It was a beautiful time for all of us as we renewed our covenant relationship with Jesus, our bridegroom, as well as renewed our commitment to Aglow. Tony and I blessed the couple and we ended by singing love songs to Jesus.

As we arrived in Jerusalem we met on Mt. Scopus for a Watchmen on the Wall commissioning. As we stood there it began to rain, softly as first and then with more intensity. We began singing, It’s Beginning to Rain, calling for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit over the Jewish people. That night there was loud thunder and lightning mixed with hard rain. It continued to rain off and on through the next day.

Ezra, our tour guide, told us that Aglow is the only group he knows of that causes rain to come out of season to a parched Israel.

Another unique Aglow timing connection was May 1st.  It was Aglow’s first time on the Temple Mount as an entire group. It was also the same morning that Bin Laden’s death was announced; and it was Israel’s National Holocaust Memorial Day and the 66th anniversary of the announcement of Hitler’s death.

We had a meaningful time in the Garden of Gethsemane, took communion together at the Garden Tomb, visited the Rabbinical Tunnels that wind under the Western Wall, had a beautiful prayer time in the Jerusalem Prayer Tower (which is a part of King of Kings church,) and met with Asher Intrater’s team at the Revive Israel Training Center. Some of the group traveled to Eilat on the Red Sea and took a side trip to Petra in Jordan.

Every trip we have taken to Israel has been purposeful and packed with prophetic meaning. I am convinced that our presence there is more significant than we can possibly ever see this side of heaven. It has been a journey of faith and a journey of obedience to travel to Israel these past 10 years. It has been a time filled with great turmoil, unrest, intifadas, threats and growing hatred focused on the Jewish people. But, we have heard clearly that, we have been called for such a time as this.

We remain obedient and focused on that which God has called us to in standing with His people for His purposes. Zechariah 12:3 states, I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. Ultimately, the stone, the rock that has become the issue is not just Jerusalem and the Jewish people.  It’s Jesus, the One the world will either accept or reject. It is His authority that is the final issue.

Even as Jesus asked the disciples to watch and pray with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, He is asking of us the same thing today. Will you watch and pray with Him in this time of great distress as the world closes in on the tiny, but powerful nation of Israel?

April 25^th is the departure date for Aglow’s 10^th trip into Israel. There will be women and men from 7 nations represented and we too will be, …standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!   Praying for the peace of Jerusalem…. and that Peace be within your walls….

I have a great sense of urgency about this trip.  Each trip we have taken to Israel has been purposeful and prophetic, but perhaps none as significant as this year’s time in the land.

Israel is God’s Prophetic Time Clock

I think we can all sense the changing of the times and the increase of the signs of the times, from ever changing weather patterns to changes in societal thinking.  With the rise of abortions, homosexuality, drug abuse, pornography, human trafficking, violence on our streets and in our schools, and an erosion of Judeo-Christian values, society is experiencing a downward spiral.

At the same time, we are witnessing an escalation of the world’s focus on the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.  It causes us to pay close attention to the unfolding series of events and the increase of anti-Semitism, with its expressions of hatred and violence against the Jewish people.

Historical church movements, which are generally against Christian Zionism and hold to replacement theology or fulfillment theology (the Church is the fulfillment of the meaning of Israel and ethnic Israel has no great significance), are calling for disinvestment in companies doing business with Israel.  Those who continue to stand with Israel and who support the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, are being viewed as misguided.

Israel today is facing greater and greater isolation from the world, as well as a targeted campaign to delegitimize her.

The Struggle for Jerusalem

The theme chosen for this journey to Israel is, The Struggle for Jerusalem. The final showdown will be related to this capital city.  God has spoken a great deal about the city of Jerusalem.  It is His eternal city.  He promises, I…will be a wall of fire around her and…the glory in her midst. Zechariah 2:4-5 NKJV

The struggle is ultimately a governmental issue, with God’s authority being the final issue of the times. GOD chose the city and the nation that would be the reference point of His authority. Israel and its capital city,  Jerusalem will be the place that constitutes a test for all mankind. God will make her an immoveable rock for all nations.  The struggle to submit to God’s authority is inevitable!

…I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.  And it shall happen in the day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples;  all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. Zechariah 12:2-3 NKJV

For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation:  ‘This is My resting place forever:  Here I will dwell for I have desired it.’ Psalm 132:13-14 NKJV

With the increase of Jews returning to Israel from the four corners of the earth, God has been fulfilling the prophetic word spoken in Isaiah 11:11.  Through the  recognition of Israel as a nation in 1948, we have seen the fulfillment of Isaiah 66:7-8.  And then, through the re-occupation of the city of Jerusalem, the fulfillment of Zechariah 8:4-8.

Yes, truly, the restoration of modern day Israel is not a political coincidence, but rather, evidence of God’s faithfulness to His word.  We are seeing God’s prophetic time table move forward in our day in amazing ways.

The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.  Glorious things are spoken of you, O City of God. Psalm 87:2-3 NKJV

Aglow will be standing within the gates of Zion, proclaiming the heart of God for His people and crying out…

PEACE, PEACE, PEACE, WITHIN YOUR WALLS!