My Heart's Desire and Prayer...

For as long as I can remember I have been drawn to the Jewish people group. God's chosen people. I had the privilege to work at a Jewish hospital as a volunteer throughout my Jr High and Sr High years. I look back on those years with fond memories.

How much the Jewish nation has endured through the years. So much of their history is told to us through the Bible. I have known of them since I was a child; and in my heart I have loved them for almost as long. I have read of their wanderings through the wilderness. I have read of the miracles they witnessed as they claimed their promised land. I have cheered for them when Esther the Queen took it upon herself to fulfill her purpose in life and save her people. I have wondered how a man could hate a group of people so much, that his goal in life was complete inhalation of those he hated.

Later in life I have studied Jewish history. I have read in horror of the sufferings of this people group, as years later, Hitler, filled with hate from the devil himself, did his best to destroy this people group. I again, have wondered how someone can hate that much; and to this day complete answers evade me. The chronicles of such suffering and pain have caused my heart to cry out for them - to whisper through my tears, my apologies for all they had to endure.

Through reading of their diaries, journals and news reports my love for the Jewish nation has grown. I have wept in sorrow as free country's borders were closed to Jews so desperately in need. I have cheered from deep within me, as Israel was made a nation again - many years even, before I was born.

I have sat with Jewish people who have recounted for me their sufferings. How much I did not understand. How much I learned. How greatly time spent with them impacted my heart with a love for the Jewish people. I have watched as they participated in Passover. I have been instructed and understood, in a small way, of their ways. I have desired to know more. More of their culture, their foods, their traditions, their faith.

I am watching them now again as this people - God's people - are engaged in war. I watch, and I pray for peace in Israel. I watch - and wonder, how much of Biblical prophecy this could be fulfilling. I think how we are in the end of the end times; and I pray more fervently for the peace of Israel. I think of their physical safety and I pray. Yet I find my heart dwelling upon their spiritual need and I pray - for peace of Israel. Not the peace that can been seen with the eye, or written in pen by the signing of yet another peace treaty. I pray for the peace of Christ - their Messiah to be written upon their hearts. This is the peace of Israel so desperately needed in every Jewish heart.

Tonight my heart in drawn towards Jerusalem. I pray for peace. Eternal peace.

"For He shall save His people from their sins..."