"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 'May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces'....As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His People...." (Psalm 122:6,7; Psalm 124)
I just noticed this month in reading this Psalm that when we are told to, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," a suggested prayer is then given: "May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces." So there you have it; this is how we should pray for Jerusalem.
I will be preaching in the Covenant Church East service this coming Sunday, January 27. The problem with preaching so little these days is to "narrow down" all that is going on inside you. We are a small congregation of great people and a great pastor. May I serve them properly.
This coming Sunday is the 74th anniversary of the liberation of the German Death Camp in Oswiecim, Poland (Auschwitz). It is also "International Holocaust Remembrance Day." It is very real to me today that our text is applicable to the Jews of the world. There are only 200,000 Holocaust survivors still alive in Israel today, and an always sobering reminder to me is that some of them are my age. Haman attempted genocide of the Jews, the Germans attempted it, but not only are there millions of Jews alive today because of the prayer and declaration of our texts, but again, in my life time, we have the "Modern State of Israel." Jesus is, "Faithful and True."
"As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His People from this time forth and forever." This includes you, my friend. Just as our Lord Jesus Christ has kept a remnant of Jews to this day, so Jesus keeps you and me, a part of the remnant of His Followers throughout the centuries. I pray that you never forget, for one moment, that Jesus, "Immanuel, God with us," is round about you every moment of the day, 24/7/365(6). "Wherefore, comfort one another with these words."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I cannot thank You enough for being, "round about [me]." Amen.
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An article about what is going on in Europe also reveals what is going on in the United States of America at: jhs58.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
