Psalm 122:6-9 (NLT) A Song for Pilgrims Ascending to Jerusalem. A Psalm of David.
6 Pray for peace in Jerusalem.
May all who love this city prosper. 7 O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces. 8 For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “May you have peace.” 9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.
Long before He chose us, the Lord chose another group of people… When He chose them, they were not yet a nation… As a matter of fact, when the Lord chose them, they were not even a tribe. Long, long ago, the Lord chose a man, named Abram…
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
The Lord loved Israel… He loved them with an undying love, even though Israel went astray again and again, and acted like a harlot, His love for her never ceased. Though Israel was unfaithful, He remained faithful; and though Israel forgot her first love, He never stopped loving her, even though she committed adultery, chasing after other gods and making them her lovers.
Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, My people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself.”
Israel’s repeated harlotry earned God’s wrath, forcing Him to punish her over and over again, but His love for Israel never died, as He used every circumstance to set into motion the plan for the redemption of Israel, and all of mankind, that He had formulated before the foundations of the world…
Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.
You see, even though we humans were created in the image of God, when we (all of mankind) chose sin over Him, there was an enormous difference between Him and us. For now, our ways were no longer His ways. And our thoughts were different than His too. When mankind chose to eat of the forbidden fruit, we sold our souls to the devil. God was no longer our Father. Instead, we had become children of the devil — the father of lies!
For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
In spite of Israel’s harlotry, the Lord continued to love her. Even when she was unfaithful to Him, He remembered His promises to Israel, and He remained faithful to her…
God is not a man, so He does not lie.
He is not human, so He does not change His mind.
Has He ever spoken and failed to act?
Has He ever promised and not carried it through?
Though the nation of Israel cheated on God, He still remembered His promise to Abram (whose name God later changed to Abraham)… He had promised Abram that He would make him a great nation if he would leave his native country, his relatives and his father’s family, and go to the land that God showed him. Abram believed God, and he obeyed Him, even though he didn’t even have any children of his own yet, and he was an old man…
The Lord also promised Abram that He would bless him and make Abram famous and a blessing to others… God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and Abraham became the father of Israel, which, though it was small in size, was and is a great and mighty nation. Abraham is very famous, not only among the Jews, but also among the Arab nations, as well as among Christians.
Image Credit: Hablemos De Religion
Best of all, Abraham has indeed become a blessing to many, many others. For the nation of Israel was conceived through Abraham’s bloodline, and it was through this magnificent heritage that Jesus Christ, Yeshua, our Messiah, was born, thereby blessing people of every tribe and tongue and nation in Jesus’ name. All the families on earth have been blessed by the birth of Messiah, the offspring of Abraham.
The Lord also promised to bless those who bless Abraham, (the nation of Israel comes from Abraham’s loins, so this blessing extends to them), and He promised to curse those who treat Israel with contempt. It is extremely important that all Christians pray for Israel, asking the Lord to protect Israel and bless them, because as we bless Israel, the Lord also blesses us.
King David understood this, and that’s why he encouraged the people to pray for peace in Jerusalem, and to pray for the prosperity of all who love Jerusalem. God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is not like we are. Even though He made these promises thousands of years ago, He remembers them, and He still honors them yesterday, today and tomorrow as well.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
My beloved readers, I want to encourage each one of you to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, the blessed city that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be returning to one day. I also want to encourage you to pray for the entire nation of Israel, for they are indeed God’s chosen people, and time has not changed that.
Those of you who followed Deb Feller’s blog,SIMPLE POEMS, SIMPLE FAITH BY DEB FELLER, remember that almost every Sunday, she would bless us by sharing a letter from a sister in the Lord, who lives in Israel. I always looked forward to reading these letters, for it made the Lord’s command to pray for the peace of Jerusalem much easier for me, as I came to know this beloved sister through her letters. Since Sister Deb has decided to step away from blogging for awhile, she gave me the email address of our Messianic Jewish sister, and I will be receiving her updates from now on. Hopefully, I will be able to post them weekly, but if I don’t receive weekly updates, I will post them as I get them, on Saturdays, beginning Saturday, May 25, 2013.
Burning Fire Shut Up In My Bones 