Joel of Jerusalem Jun/Jul 1977
It has been more than a month since I began working in Tel Aviv because there is no work here in Jerusalem, but I am with the same company. Every day I travel by bus, and find it to be very interesting. The Lord gives me the opportunity to talk with different people from all over the world.
One day I met on the bus a group of new immigrants from Poland. They talked among themselves of what they would now do, trying to forget the past. When they finished planning their futures I said to them, “I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation and your plans for the future. But I did not hear one of you mention God’s will or His help in your conversation. How can you think so far ahead without remembering God? Are you so sure that you will have life until tomorrow?”
One responded by asking, “Are you sure?”
“No,” I replied, “I am not, but if I wanted to make plans like you, I would ask the Lord if it was His will.”
“What! Can you talk to God, and how do you receive an answer?” He quickly asked.
“When you ask something from your Father, He may or may not give it to you, but He will always give you an answer,” I replied. “The same is with me. I pray to our Father in Heaven, and I tell Him what is on my heart. If it is His will, He will help me; if not, so be it, and I accept His answer because it is His will.”
They wanted to know all about me. Their questions seemed never to end, but Iam grateful that I was able to share my testimony of how I came to know the Lord. They were surprised to hear that I came to believe in Jesus in the land of Israel — “What, in Israel?!”
“Yes,” I replied, “in the Holy Land, because it is written in Isaiah 2, ‘ . . For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord ‘from Jerusalem.
It was here in Jerusalem that I received the Lord.”
They asked, “Are you trying to tell us that there are Jews who believe in Jesus?”
“Yes,” was my reply, “there are many. They have a house of prayer, where they meet to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
“What does the government have to say about this?” they asked.
“They say nothing now, but there will come a time very soon when the nation will say ‘hallelujah’. My prayer for each of you is that you will believe in the Lord, as He is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and serve Him in His promised land.”
“We have only been in Israel one week, and for us to hear this from you is a big surprise. Are you a Jew?”
“Yes, I am a Jew, but one who believes that Jesus is the promised Messiah. I have served in the Israeli army from the War of Independence in 1948 until now.” After hearing this, they seemed to speak more freely with me. |
I thank God for this opportunity to share Him with needy and hungry souls who had never before heard the Gospel.
