Jerusalem Connections - Joined For His Purposes - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Jerusalem Connections

-          Joined For His Purposes

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

"At that time they will call Jerusalem 'The Throne of the Lord,' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord; nor will they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.” (Jeremiah 3:17-18, NASU)

The Word of the Lord is being fulfilled in our very midst. Watching the Jews being brought back to their homeland is an awesome sight. Truly prophecy, declared centuries ago by the Hebrew and Jewish prophets, recorded on scrolls for all to read, is being fulfilled. Being drawn back by the Holy Spirit of God, Ruach HaKodesh, Jews from every nation are making the aliyah landing onto their Promised Land.

Even as the Lord is bringing back His Jewish chosen ones in this hour, He also is connecting Christians (Gentiles, non-Jews) and Jews for His end-time purposes. From within nations, and around the world, the Lord, Adonai, is touching the hearts of men and women to come together, for several primary purposes - to bless and assist those who are returning to the Land; to stand in prayer, watching on the walls, for their safekeeping once established in Israel; and to proclaim among the nations, “We bless Israel and stand with His eternal plans of redemption.”

For these past 7 years of our existence, Love For His People has sought to bless the good people of Israel, with spiritual, physical and financial assistance. With open arms and hearts of friendship, we have also joined with like-spirited ministries here in the USA for that same purpose.

Beginning first in our own neighborhood, here in the North Carolina region, we are committed to this end along with others - Highway To Zion (Cathy Hargett in Charlotte), Beit Yeshua (Curtis Loftin in Lincolnton), Christian Friends of Israel (CFI-USA in Charlotte with Hannele Pardain), and Christians For Messiah Ministries (Peter Wyns in Fort Mill, SC).

Further beyond our borders we stand with those within Israel itself, with Christian Friends of Israel - Jerusalem (Ray and Sharon Sanders, and now the Howards), CBN News – Jerusalem (Chris Mitchell through the Virginia Beach, USA office), FIRM (Fellowship of Israel-Related Ministries, Wayne Hilsden in Jerusalem), and Vision For Israel & The Joseph Storehouse (Barry & Batya Segal, on the outskirts of Jerusalem). 

Also included in our support is Maoz-Israel (Ari and Shira Sorko-Ram in Tel Aviv) and One For Israel (in Netanya, Israel).

Through ongoing prayer and financial support, we have expressed both our love (ahava) and peace (shalom).

We have also joined hands and hearts with Hadassah and her husband Nissim, who regularly writes messages for the Love For His People website, from the Jerusalem area, and Richard and Carolyn Hyde in the Galilee region, whose reports we also share on our website.

And just this past week Love For His People became an affiliate of ISRAEL365/Breaking Israel News, with Rabbi Tuly Weisz, to report news from the state of Israel through their offices. We are most excited about that!

The Lord is doing an amazing work in these end times. He is making connections – in the USA, Jerusalem, and around the world – for His plans and purposes to come to fruition. Prophecy is being fulfilled. He is being glorified!

“And he'll raise that rallying banner high, visible to all nations, gather in all the scattered exiles of Israel, pull in all the dispersed refugees of Judah from the four winds and the seven seas.” (Isaiah 11:12, THE MESSAGE)

I hope you are part of it now or will be in the near future.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$50 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

 Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 11.08.17 - #329 – “Jerusalem Connections – For His Purposes” Wednesday, 5:37 pm  

Jerusalem - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Jerusalem

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“After He had said these things, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.” (Luke 19:28, NAS)

Jerusalem, my favorite city in the world. And I am not even a Jew. Imagine that.

I find it fascinating when American Jews ask me why I go to Jerusalem so much. I have made 15 trips from the USA since 1987 to the land of Israel. In these later years, I have tried to make it an annual event, as we are committed to doing this. Supporting Israel is especially the main objective for us, to keep a firm stand with them, through the work of Love For His People.

Why does a Gentile, goyim (Hebrew), former Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Charismatic Christian, white Caucasian, Southern 63-year-old male from Cedar Falls, Iowa, born in Minnesota (any more descriptions I need to include?) want to go to Jerusalem so much?

Because those who live there are continually in the Lord’s heart (Jesus, Yeshua), and thus being a disciple and believer in Him, Jerusalem, and His People are also in my heart.

It was in Jerusalem where He came to earth, having been sent there from His Father and Holy Spirit; where He lived, was crucified, buried and rose from the dead. And from Jerusalem He then instructed His apostles, messengers, to take His Gospel, the Good News, to the ends of the earth, before He returns for the second time.

And thus this capitol, eternal city of Israel since the days of King David, is very important to the King of all kings, Who is my King too.

“Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. "You are witnesses of these things.  "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." (Luke 24:44-49, NASU)

Having established Jewish friends now in the Land, it surely makes my prayer life and desire for protection over them even more fervent. When you have family, you care more. At least that is how I was raised by my good mother and father. Israel is like family to me. The Jews are my friends, and I stand with them at all times.

While in Jerusalem, walking in the footsteps of Jesus is a big deal, even if the actual street level is 15-20 feet down below the current level. Centuries of ruin and captivity have layered the city. Archeological digs all over have proven this city has been the city of the Jews.

In 1917, when the Balfour Declaration was written, the homeland for the Jews once again began to be re-establish. In 1948 the Jews once again proclaimed Israel as their rightful, biblical state; and in 1967 they once again recaptured Jerusalem, never to lose it ever again. Prophetic words, spoken by Messiah Himself, had come to pass. Jerusalem is now eternally in the hands of the Chosen People. His prophesied return is thus getting real close.

“Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"

And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthews 24:3-14, NKJV)

Jerusalem is the center of the world. It is the focus of all attention, whether some like that or not. It will continue to be in the headlines, news clips, social media sites, and all airwaves. The Living God of Israel has chosen to make Himself known among the nations, and Israel, especially Jerusalem, is His main concentration point. His Name will be held in high esteem, as He shows Himself strong on their behalf.

Watch the Jews. Watch Israel. And especially watch Jerusalem. That is where it all will happen in the end. This is where it will all be fulfilled, the completion of His work, the ingathering of the Jews to establish His purposes and ultimate plans.

His eternal destinies will be accomplished and established. No one or nothing will stop Him. Jerusalem – where the King will reside on His Holy Mountain.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

  

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

I recorded an Arms of Love video message on this. 
Click here to watch it now: Jerusalem & Friends

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$50 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 11.03.17 - #328 – “Jerusalem”, Friday, 4:10 pm

He Speaks In Many Ways - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

He Speaks In Many Ways

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my speech.” (Isaiah 28:23, NKJV) 

The Lord didn’t stop creating after the first seven days of creation. In fact, He likes being creative in how He speaks with us. He chooses to do that in many ways.

Each one of us hears differently. Each one receives from others in ways that may not be the same to the others.

There was a book written several years ago describing how each person receives love by unique methods, unlike what another may prefer. That is because we are all specially created. Each one of us has been put together and gifted with special receptions through our senses. Because of His amazing mind, and His continuing loving thoughts toward us, they come our way as such.

I can say that is how the Lord ministers to us as individuals, in His speaking to us. One of His delights in His relationship with us, as an individual, is through Him using creative ways. And each one of us will hear and respond accordingly.

Ever hear the story of the spider web in the corner of the red barn? (Having been raised in the center of America in the Midwest, in Iowa no less, I did!) When three different people looked at the insect hanging high above in the rafters, one person said immediately, “Kill the spider.” Another grabbed a camera and took different shots from different angles, noting the symmetry and beauty of the spun web. And yet another said to leave it alone, for it was catching bugs that we don’t want around anyway.

Each one perceived and responded differently to what they saw, because each of us have unique qualities about and within us. The Lord, the One who created these in us, has even chosen to share His thoughts to us in ways that we can relate to, based on our makeup.

For me, I like numbers. I guess I always have, even when I would go buy a candy bar as a little kid and base the choice purchase on the weight of the bar, getting more for the money, rather than if I really liked one better than another. I know, I know. But that’s the way I have been created.

Because of this numbers thing, here is a true story that occurred the day I retired from my Accountant’s job (surprised?!) on October 31, 2017. It reveals how the Lord loves to speak to me in a way that I fully comprehend.

As I drove that early Tuesday morning (6:00 am) north on I77 interstate in North Carolina, from my
home in Pineville to my job in center city Charlotte, I knew that my odometer would hit “8888” on the way. That in itself meant something to me. Here the Lord was going to have my car, a Hyundai Elantra, turn the mileage reading over to that specific number on my last day before my retirement. (I turn 63 on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2017.)

Knowing that the number “8” in the Judeo-Christian Bible represents “new beginnings”, I was so looking forward to this day, this month, this year in my life’s journey. He knows that numbers are a big thing in my life - clocks, spreadsheets, calendars – you get the point. And that is how He was speaking to me.

What made this extra special was the fact that at Exit 8, Remount Road to be exact on the interstate, was the one I came up to when the odometer turned over to “8888.” Now isn’t that something! I can’t make this stuff up!

The fact that my Lord Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, chose to speak to me in this way was even more extra special. With four eights, “8888”, in front of my eyes on the dashboard when the odometer turned over at Exit 8, now there were “5” eights. This said to me that this day marked a new season of my life, and that the five eights represented the extra grace (5 means grace) that would start me off in this new beginning. And not only to begin afreash, but complete, the full purpose and calling on my life.

I give thanks that the Lord speaks to us. I rejoice that each of us can hear, see and feel His presence in the way that we can best relate to Him.

 

The Lord God Almighty, Creator of the Universe, choses to show Himself to us, individually and also collectively (see those signs in the heavens lately???) in ways that we can know for certain that He is living, He is active, and He wants us to know Him personally, being the Father that He is.

Need a word from the Lord? Ask Him even now. And be prepared to receive His unique way of speaking to your heart, your spirit, even your body, in a way that you can know for certain of His love for you. Trust me, He will.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 11.02.17 - #327 – “He Speaks In Many Ways”

Thursday, 5:30 pm 

Milestones - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Milestones

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.” (Genesis 31:45, NASU) 

We all have milestones in our lives. Those special days that come and we note them in special ways. We commemorate what has happened, who has done a tremendous thing, or an accomplishment has come about that we want to remember. These have touched our hearts with joy, and we want to remember the good that we have experienced. And sometimes they were a time of sadness, that our minds will recall years later, lest we ever forget.

On many occasions the good Lord of Israel spoke to His children, instructing them to set up stones, build an altar in fact, on a specific spot. This location would be marked, for themselves, their children, and the grands that followed behind. They would have a place to come back to, in order to remember that which had been done, most often miraculously, on their behalf.

This would be a place where a life moment, a unique notch on the timeline of their lives, etched in stone, and left behind to always note the crossing they had just come through. He wanted them to leave a memorial, a marker on that exact location, so they could look back upon it years later, and again rejoice in His faithfulness in getting them to that point.

(Photo: My hand in the creek bed where David most likely collected stones and killed his enemy, Goliath. Israel May 2008).

After seeking, searching, going after the reward set before us, and then having reached that point, we too must place a stone for memory’s sake. We must note that an achievement has taken place. We will want to recall later exactly what the Lord did in our life then - enabling us to get through it all, to finish that portion of the race, and then enabled to receive the hard-earned reward awaiting each of us who have pressed on to the finish line.

Through it all, by never giving up, never quitting, defeating those days of discouragement that come to all, all the time determined to do what it takes to get through that hour, that month, those years. And when it is accomplished, we set down the milestone right there. Later on, we will be able to look back and say, “Yes, the Lord brought me through that. He was there, all the times, holding my hand, carrying me often, encouraging me along the path. I got to finish line in the race He had set before me.”

Today, look back and think of the milestones you have laid down, knowingly or knowingly, and give thanks to the Lord Jesus for what He has done in your life.

Remember those times when you thought you just couldn’t get through another day, and yet you did. He brought you through.

Remember what you said, when you stood before that mountain, and spoke out loud, “I just can’t cross this one!” And then you found yourself on the other side, carried on the wings of the angels He sent specifically to you, to get you there on the other side.

Recall the people He sent your way, who gave an encouraging word at just the time you really needed one; who wrote a heart-touching note or simply sent a text, that helped you do it one more time, when before you had told yourself you couldn’t do it one more time. But now you did. You made it, and now you can leave that stone of remembrance.

“I am trusting You My God. I am trusting You my God,” sings Jason Upton in my earphones right now. Yes, the ultimate act of worship – trusting the One Who enables, Who gets us through, Who instructs us to leave a milestone, helping to recall what He has done. He knows there will be times when we will need to look back at that time, that place, and say once again, “Yes, He is my Savoir. He brought me through it again.”

“For Adonai is good, his grace continues forever, and his faithfulness lasts through all generations.” (Psalm 100:5, Complete Jewish Bible)

Trust in the Lord. Call on His name. Trust and believe in Him today, tomorrow, until the very end. And then lay down that milestone and say with all your heart, “We did it, Lord. You brought me through. You helped me finish this race.”

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. I mark this day as the one when I retire from my accounting job, the last leg of this race, completing 52 years of serving in organizations, companies, and Christian ministries. I have finished this race, and am now ready to start the new one set before me! Yeah God!!! 

The following letter is from my good friend at work, Meir Jones. Thank you, Meir, for your very encouraging word! Ahava my friend!

                    Cheshvan 11, 5778

Steve –                                       

May this new journey you’re taking, lead you to amazing heights of Shalom!

From the first day, I walked into this new role of work and met you, I knew we would be great friends; one might say kindred spirits.

It’s not often, one meets a kind soul that encourages and befriends within the business world. You, my friend, did both!

May the laughter we shared, continue to fill the days and hours, while you do His work.

Keep smiling and know all is well.

                                       Shalom, Meir

Meir Jones, Steve Martin - Charlotte Center City Partners Oct. 26, 2017

Gift from my Greek lady boss, Eleni Saunders - Charlotte Center City Partner

Oct. 31, 2017  Charlotte, North Carolina USA

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 10.31.17 - #326 – “Milestones”

Tuesday, 5:00 am  My retirement day!