April 23, 2006

25 Nisan 5766

Dear Praying Friends,

Many of you are probably somewhat familiar with the traditional Passover Seder that is experienced in Jewish homes all over the world.  It is a combination of readings from the Scripture and numerous recitations from various ancient rabbis.  Each year we have looked for a service that fulfills the commandment in Scripture and expresses our heart in a relevant way, leaving aside that which is rote and dry.  This year we all went outside and threw our leaven into a roaring bonfire...ah, the joys of living in the country.  In the past, we thought it enough to gather the leaven and just get it out of our house for the duration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  But we came across a verse in Deuteronomy that said we should not have any leaven in our borders.  As our store of whole wheat bread was being burnt to a crisp, we prayed, “May it be with the leaven in our lives.  May your fire consume our flesh and prepare the way for the revelation of the Lamb through us.”   And so we pray for you as well, dear brethren in the faith...that we truly be one in Him.

* * *

We spent the last weekend ministering in a very precious congregation in St. Etienne, France.  We were the first Israelis to visit them and it was our first trip to France.  The spirit of these brethren touched our hearts.  As they worshiped, we could hear the sound of their revolution.  It was a combination of beauty, adoration, and the cry of the human soul for freedom.  It struck me (arni) as the expression of the very soul of France.    

Our hosts told an amazing story.  Years ago they were directed by the Lord to sell their beautiful home and purchase a ruined farm on a hilltop that was inhabited from the 1400’s to the time of the French Revolution.  It was real ruins.  What remained was little more than broken walls. The Lord told them to buy it and find the treasure that was hidden there.  During the process of building, they found a pottery flask filled with silver coins hidden in the wall.  It had been placed there by the last inhabitants, a noble family who lost their lives in the revolution.

How amazing.  In obedience to a word from God they bought a field, having no idea what manner of treasure was to be found.  They identified with the parable in Scripture and understood that their treasure, as it is in the parable, is also Israel.  How privileged we felt to bring a word from God’s heart to such a body.  

* * *

We shared with our hosts how, over the years, the Lord has opened for us some deep wells of financial provision.  In the course of events, in each case, something happened to break the flow of what appeared to have been released.  Our hosts felt led to pray with us against curses, generational and otherwise.   As a gesture of faith, declaring the release of our inheritance, they gave us one of the treasured coins symbolizing the provision for the work of the ministry, one for each of our two children and one for each of our two grandchildren.  Amazingly, without the coins ever leaving the room, the one for the ministry disappeared and could not be found.  Right before our eyes the thing we were praying about...the enemy stealing our inheritance... happened! 

For our whole time there I (arni) did not feel well.  I had a headache and a bad stomach.  Within minutes of our having finished our fourth and last meeting, we got a call from our son at home to tell us that while the rest of the team was in Jerusalem, at our normal bi-monthly worship watch at Succat Hallel, in broad daylight on a heavily trafficked street, our car was stolen.  Furthermore, our grandchildren were sick with stomach and intestinal explosions and our son had some similar symptoms.  Is this coincidence or is God confirming something?  As we prayed about the theft of what belonged to us and generational curses, the coin disappeared and our car was stolen and three generations of Klein men were suffering physical upsets.  It took me about a day to realize that the Lord was trying to encourage us to press in against the assignment of the enemy.  We were on the right track but the battle was not over.  There is more.

* * *

Our friends from TOS ministries in Tubingen Germany were here in the Land last week with their worship band.  The Lord opened up a number of doors for them to minister into the Israeli community, where they were received with open arms.  We joined together with them and the Carmel Assembly worship team for a joint time of ministry to the Lord in Haifa on Thursday evening.  The Lord blended us into one voice and we experienced six hours of continuous high intensity battling, combined with overflowing joy.  Being in such a dynamic for so long was a first. 

As we were expecting our 25+ friends for a picnic on Saturday afternoon, the Lord dropped something into my spirit.  The worship room on our roof is in the midst of construction.  The windows and doors are framed but not yet in.  The floor was covered with stones and rubble.  The picture in Haggai of the house of the Lord being in ruins came to mind.  I was impressed to ask our German friends to join with us to clean up the space and tell them that the Lord wanted us to worship there in the evening.  They loved the idea, and with everyone working it wasn’t half an hour and it was done.  God wanted them to be the first to worship with us in the new place.  It was a wonderful time.  Our Israeli landlords were there for all of it and were visibly touched. 

Here is the “more” that runs along with what we shared concerning the activities of the kingdom of darkness.  As we came to our house to get the instruments for worship, we found that the lock on our front door was jammed and we could do nothing to release it.  Fortunately, a window was open and we could still go in and out.  As I am writing this (Sunday morning), the locksmith just succeeded in getting the door open.  After some pounding on the door with his hand, the dead bolt responded to the turned key.

A vehicle was stolen; a coin was lost; and a door would not open.  We ask for the restoration of what was stolen, we seek to find what was lost and we knock that what is shut will be opened.  The question before us is, how does this physical imagery play out into spiritual action that will affect the natural situation to bring the manifestation of what God has already released?  What is our response to be to the events of this moment?  What form are our prayers to take?  We know that the enemy is active.  We sense that God has allowed him freedom to touch us in order to reveal his presence so we could then cast him out.   We believe that we are getting to a root source of opposition.  Please pray with us for the completion of the work on this section of the road.  When you prayed for me a while back, the Lord answered so wonderfully.

* * *

We are contending for the inheritance of the Lord.  A large part of the battle is over financial provision.  Our “regular” base of support still only runs about 60-75% of our monthly budget.  The difference has always been made up through one-time gifts.  If this is the way God wants us to walk, it is for Him to decide.  However, it is hard to know how far what we have needs to stretch.  We are particularly challenged right now with the need to outfit and furnish the ministry center apartments for the visiting worshipers and intercessors.  If you would like to know the specific needs to complete the work, you can go to http://www.emmausway.org/Needs.htm .  If you would like to be a regular partner with us to prepare a place for the Presence of the Lord in the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, we would be most grateful.

May God bless you from Zion!

Your servants…

For the Glory of His Name,  

   Arni and Yonit