Chanukah Teaching | Jonathan Bernis & Ezra Benjamin
Summary
How Chanukah applies to Christians and is the perfect time for rededication
Image
URL
As I recently shared with you, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz announced late last week that he was unable to form a coalition government.
Gantz’s announcement informing President Reuven Rivlin that he had failed came four hours prior to his midnight deadline.
This announcement, preceded by months of failed negotiations and political deadlock, has cast Israel into uncharted, unprecedented territory.
For the first time in history, President Rivlin has issued the unity mandate to the 120-member Knesset. This means any member can attempt to obtain the support of the majority to form a government.
There’s still a chance a third round of elections can be avoided – prolonging the uncertainty for months. But most believe that chance is unlikely.
The next 3 weeks will be critical.
Do you want to know how to pray for Israel in greater detail and depth? Jewish Voice Ministries has put together this Intercessory Prayer Guide for Israel that provides focused, targeted requests to help you pray for the nation of God’s People. We hope this prayer guide can help both Messianic Jews and Christians pray their support for Israel.
And in the midst of the political upheaval and disunity caused by Gantz’s announcement last week, Israel’s Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, also informed Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office that Netanyahu is officially being indicted on three counts.
Netanyahu is the first sitting Prime Minister of Israel to be indicted. And he has vehemently denied the allegations of corruption, saying they are politically motivated by left wing politicians and media.
According to Israeli law, the Prime Minister isn’t required to step down because of the indictment. The indictment, however, has made negotiations far more difficult for Netanyahu who has been fighting unsuccessfully to establish a unified majority after two stalemated elections this year.
And all of this is happening at a time when Israel’s enemies continue to surround her.
As I write, the fragile ceasefire brokered with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad – that ended the barrage of rocket fire on Israel’s southern border – is still holding.
And we remain watchful of the actions of Iran, who continue to enmesh themselves in Syria.
The tension is palpable. Violence could be unleashed at any moment.
That’s why we need to remain standing in support of Israel and the Jewish people through our prayers…
Please join us as we pray for God to:
Joseph had lost his sight to mature cataracts. In fact, it’d been years since he’d been stripped of his vision. And now he lived in darkness.
Joseph could rarely leave home.
But when he heard about our Jewish Voice Medical Outreach, he suddenly felt a spark of hope.
Joseph is just one example of the kind of despair we encounter in our Medical Outreaches throughout Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.
So many Jewish people and their neighbors in these areas have no other help or hope to restore their eyesight, heal their bodies and transform their lives.
That’s why the work we do together is so critical. You and I are the vehicles of God’s miraculous work to those He calls us to serve.
Through your support, you’re providing opportunities for Jewish people and their neighbors — in greatest need — to receive critical eye care, exams, eye surgeries and much more.
But more than that, through these efforts to restore sight, you’re also a part of opening the “eyes of their hearts” to experience and encounter the presence and power of the living God.
All of this, including critical medical and dental care, costs just $30 for one person in need.
I’m writing to you today, because we’ve just received an extraordinary $25,000 Matching Gift that will DOUBLE the impact of your support when you give by November 30.
Here’s what that means for you — every $30 you give will reach TWO people in need with care and resources that will save their lives… and the hope of the Gospel that will transform their souls!
I thank God for this Matching Gift opportunity. It couldn’t have come at a better time.
When Joseph came to our Medical Outreach in Kechene, Ethiopia, he feared he’d never see again. But he’d heard about the miracles that have taken place before.
I don’t know how long he’d walked. Or how he managed without his sight… but I do know that after treatment, Joseph would never be the same.
Our Medical Outreach team performed an eye exam on Joseph’s eyes. The cataracts that had stolen his sight were very advanced. He immediately went into surgery to have the hardened film cut and removed.
After recovering, Joseph was overwhelmed by his sudden ability to see again — people’s faces, the light, the colors.
In tears, Joseph cried out: “Glory be to God!”
It was clear to Joseph that God was at work in this special moment. That His presence was there. That He hadn’t forgotten Joseph — and He was willing to meet his greatest need!
This is just one example of the power and potential of your generosity. Through your support, lives are being saved, touched and transformed.
That’s why your immediate gift — that will DOUBLE in impact when you give by November 30 — is so important!
So please give as generously as you can, knowing your gift will serve TWICE as many people.
And when you give, please know that you’ll not only bring physical healing to Jewish people, but also the Good News of Yeshua as Messiah and Redeemer.
Even as I write, we’re planning Medical Outreaches across Africa for next year.
In the coming months, our goal is to raise $1,343,636 to provide the vision exams, care and surgeries so many people are desperate for. And also, medical and dental care.
By working together, we can do so much good to support the Jewish people and their neighbors — individuals and families who are struggling right now to even survive!
That’s why I’m looking to you, and other partners, to join us in the work God is doing around the world…
And through this Matching Gift, your support will go even further to reach even more Jewish people who need our help!
So please send your most generous gift to provide physical and spiritual care to those who need them the most.
Please know I’m grateful for you. And thankful for your partnership in ministry.
“It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High” (Psalm 92:1 NKJV).
“I really should be thankful.”
How many times have you heard someone say that – or said it yourself? Why do we sometimes struggle to be thankful? Why is it so hard? And why is it so often reduced to a “should”?
Maybe, somewhere underneath our conscious level of thinking, we believe that being thankful for what we have flies in the face of what we still want.
And we do still want. We want all sorts of things – good things, neutral things and things we flat out know are not in our best interest.
Perhaps we feel that being thankful threatens the prospect of receiving more. “Hey, if I’m thankful for what I have, then it’s possible God won’t allow me the things I still want.”
Although we may recognize that we have much to be grateful for, pausing long enough to actually be thankful – and express it specifically – seems to require practice and discipline. Even gratitude expert Robert Emmons has to work at it. After studying the subject for 11 years, he admitted, “I still find that I have to put a lot of conscious effort into practicing gratitude.”
Let’s face it: thankfulness doesn’t come naturally.
So, what if we took a different look at the Bible’s commands to be thankful? What if, instead of saying, “I should be thankful,” we tell ourselves, “I get to be thankful”?
The word “get,” as used here, implies a privilege that we’re allowed, that gratitude is itself a gift. What if God tells us to give thanks not only because we owe Him gratitude – which we do – but also because giving thanks benefits us? What if this “should” of giving thanks is really a gift from God to us?
Emmons’ research on the topic reveals that thankfulness:
This list of benefits means that when I practice thankfulness:
Those are some pretty appealing gifts! The prospect of receiving them gives us even more motivation to develop a habit of thankfulness. Emmons has some suggestions for cultivating gratitude, which include:
What about you? What are some specific ways you practice giving thanks? Share your ideas, and let’s learn to develop the gift of thankfulness together.
This original design is unique to Jewish Voice Ministries with our Star of David with wheat stalk logo revealing our call to see a great harvest of many souls come to the Light of the World Yeshua.
