Up to Jerusalem

Our last planned day was in the City of Jerusalem.  It is always a wonderful time of exploration and introspection.  On our way to the city, we stopped in the area where Philip met the Ethiopian Eunuch.  It says Philip met him in the "desert" and we visualize rolling sand dunes...wrong picture.  When the Bible says desert, the word means an area where sheep and goats can graze much like the land pictured in the this photograph.

Desert

The word wilderness in the Bible is closer to the picture of rolling sand dunes that comes to our mind like when we are told that David was in the wilderness.  He was often down in the Judean wilderness which is much more desert like.  The wilderness is truly a dry and thirsty land pictured just below.                             
                                                                     
                                                                        Wilderness

The Lord uses both desert times and wilderness times in our lives.  There is a time to stop and feed on the nourishment He provides us.  There are other times that are dry to say the least.  His character and ours are revealed in these seasons. Rejoice!


We stopped at the House of Caiaphus which is where the Jewish trial of Jesus took place.  From the balconey of the facility, you can look over at the temple mount area.  Jesus and His disciples covered a lot of area that fateful night.  But, it was all in the plan of God.  They went from Passover to prayer to persecution to death.  Communion (Passover) with God is such a necessary part of our relationship with Him.  We are told to have our Passover with Him often for a reason.  It keeps us connected to the tremendous gift of life through our Lord.  Prayer is the natural result of communion with our Lord.  Prayer changes things....mostly us. :-)  Communion and prayer lead us to a godly life in Jesus.  He said, "Those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution."  That is not one of the promises we often embrace, but it is a reality.  Rejoice when you go through difficult times for the Lord's sake.  There are many of our brothers and sisters that have suffered to the point of death for Him.  Pray for many that are suffering real physical persecution.   Our suffering is often limited to emotional and spiritual persecution, but these are every bit as real as physical persecution.  Pray for one another.  The Lord's grace be upon you during difficult times

You see one of the blessings we had in the city of  Jerusalem....pizza!!!!!!!!! Yea....well I know its not spiritual, but it was a blessing.  And, we were able to do worship in the restaurant while at the same time gobbling down peperroni pizza....it was an Arab restaurant so we could have cheese and meat together.  It was really, really, really good.  It was also glorious to sing Blessed be the Name and fill the streets of Jerusalem with praise.  It made my heart happy. :-)   The owner was very gracious and was glad to serve up seventeen pizzas and soft drinks.  It made his day,literally .

We left through the Jaffa Gate which you see pictured below.  It was a grand and glorious time in Israel and the city of Jerusalem.  I pray that all who have a heart for God's people and plan will have the opportunity to visit at least once.  As the Jewish people say at the end of Passover, "NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM!".

Be blessed today in the name of Yeshua Ha Mashiach!