Note these words from Hebrews 11:
“These…confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland, and truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return, but now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11:13-16
Many of us have traveled out of our country of origin. One of the things that was necessary was that we convert some of our currency to the currency of the country where we would travel. A thought comes to mind concerning the fact that we who are believers and followers of Jesus, will soon be leaving the “country” where we originated, and will travel to another. While we do not know exactly when we will be leaving on this trip, we do know that it is not a temporary one but rather a permanent move that will last eternity!
What if you knew that on a certain day very soon you would be leaving and traveling to a place from which you would never return; that it would be impossible to take any of your possessions with you; that you would not need your bank account or other financial subsistence? If you truly knew all this, you would begin preparing yourself. You would gradually loosen your grip on anything and everything that has to do with the “old place.” Looking at it through an eternal perspective, you would begin to lose interest in the things that seem so important or even necessary in the present time.
This is us! We are about to enter eternity! We are all going on a journey from the country of our origin to another realm. The money we carry and the possessions we have here are of no value there and will be left behind, no matter how precious they have been to us. Whatever we own here or hold dear, we will abandon because they will have absolutely no value there.
If we are wise, we will begin making the exchange between the earthly currencies of time, talents and treasure, and the heavenly currency. You might wonder how this is done? It’s by using the blessings God has provided us in this realm to further the work of the Kingdom, as the Holy Spirit leads. Some teach that there will be great earthly reward and multiplication of our blessings and assets in this realm, but that is not always the case. The motivation for giving of any kind cannot be personal gain, but rather for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Since none of us knows the time of our departure, we make the most of what we have been blessed with and convert as much as we can into the heavenly currency. After all, any one of us could be called into the presence of the Lord an hour from now! So, who is wise? It is the one who exchanges what he can never keep to gain what he can never lose!
Now to the House of Blessing…
The House of Blessing missionaries have been working diligently to share the Good News of the Gospel about the soon to return Messiah, Jesus. As has been their most effective way of late, they have continued to move from tent to tent and from one refugee camp to another.
Word came in from Omar that two of the brothers, Falyih and Mahmoud, were caught and then severely beaten. Faliyh, among his other injuries, has a broken hand, and Mahmoud received a serious head injury with heavy bleeding. Omar took them both to a clinic for treatment. As a result, replacements had to be found for the two injured men, but God in His goodness, arranged for three men to immediately make themselves available. The names of the three men are Tahjer, Bassem, and Salim. Please pray for the two injured men and also for the three that immediately took their place in the line of fire.
Omar said that he moved from the location where they had stationed themselves to another site. He has been meeting with groups of 20-30 men at a time, reading to them from the Gospel of John and teaching them the true identity of Jesus, as described also by John the Baptist. Many have come to Jesus since the beginning of the month of Ramadan, and we pray that there will be many more.
Sisters Mufiedah, Feriel and Hafezah have also continued moving from tent to tent as most of the HOB missionaries have. They have shared the Gospel with many people and Mufiedah has reported that many have prayed the sinner’s prayer. Many have been healed of fever, diarrhea, influenza, and other illnesses.
Omar shared a bit more of what has been going on in the last few days. He said there is a great hatred for Americans and Europeans and anyone that is seen as supporting Israel in their war with Hamas. Christians understand that the Jewish nation is God’s chosen nation (because the Messiah was brought into the world through the Jews), and we need to be very careful not to fall for every news story that is put out to the public. This, however, does not deny that there is great suffering among the civilian population. The unfortunate thing is, Hamas is very good at putting all the blame on Israel. There are always tragic casualties whenever there is war, and one cannot make light of this. Hamas, however, sets their own people up for disaster and then use this for propaganda purposes. As an example, one of the latest reports in news and social media sites claimed that Israeli soldiers raped Palestinian civilian women at the Al-Shifa hospital. This was later acknowledged to be a false story.
Yet, as said above, there are many civilians in bad situations and there have unfortunately been many killed from the crossfire common in war. One example of this comes from Mufiedah’s sister who, along with other missionaries, is ministering in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip. After a tremendous storm had torn apart an untold number of tents, everything was either destroyed by water or totally blown away by the windstorm. These folks were left with nowhere to sleep until the missionary women found temporary shelter in a building to relocate the women and children. At least ten women were put into one building and another twelve women and all the children into a nearby house. This was near Deir ElBalah, which is near Rafah. After having stayed in their new locations for one night, Israeli war planes dropped bombs in their location and, among the damages, was the total destruction of both houses. We don’t know anything about the Israeli military objectives in this attack from the air, but the results were devastating. When Fatima and the other missionary sisters went to check on the women and children, no one had survived. The sisters then buried what they were able to recover.
The situation is becoming more difficult all across the Mideast. There are great threats of massive violence at the end of Ramadan. We pray that this doesn’t materialize, but these are the times we live in. War is not going to go away. Jesus warned us that the birth pangs would continue to get worse and worse the closer we are to the return of Jesus for His faithful ones.
Jesus left many encouragements. He said, “When you see all these things coming to pass, look up! For your redemption is at the door!” Praise God!
Thank you one and all that have prayed for the House of Blessing and also those who have been able to help support the work of ministry that God has called them to. We aren’t able to step into their shoes when they fall, but we can help meet their needs. Ramadan ends on April 10. Pray that the harvest of souls is great! God is good. In the American game of football, there is a 2-minute warning before the end of the game. I believe we are now within that 2-minute warning and we are going Home very soon! Prepare to make that permanent move from this reality to the heavenly one!
Forever in His Service,
Jake
Note: Thinking about the martyrs under the altar in Revelation, I wondered if being a martyr is not determined by the way one dies, but rather by the way one lives. That makes me think again of Pastor Rashid…..who lived with the character and overarching grace required for any martyr. We will meet again soon. Anne