©June 14, 2013 Revive Israel Ministries

Is God Pleased with You?

By Asher Intrater

God not only loves us, He likes us. Understanding that He likes us, that we find favor in His eyes, and that He enjoys being with us can demand more faith than believing that He loves us.  We think, "God is love, so He must love me. But that doesn't mean that He is pleased with me or enjoys me."

The Father twice declared publicly that He loved Yeshua and was “well pleased” with Him: once at Yeshua's immersion in water, and once at the Mount of Transfiguration.

Matthew 3:17
This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
Matthew 17:5
This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

The first example takes place at the very beginning of Yeshua's "ministry," before He did any miracles or preached any sermons. The second takes place at the height of Yeshua's ministry, when He was filled with glory, powe, and authority. These two incidents serve as examples for us, as we follow in His footsteps.  

God loves the whole world (John 3:16). But He is not "pleased" with the whole world. Every person has the potential to be pleasing to God, but only becomes pleasing to God when he turns to Him.

We are pleasing to God as His little children, and also pleasing to God as mature partners and co-workers. For example, I take great joy in my little granddaughter and grandson. I also delight in my wife with whom I have shared over thirty years of serving the Lord together. The sense of delight is similar, but of a different quality and depth. 

Yeshua was pleasing to God in a "normal" physical state after having been immersed.  He was also pleasing to God in a "glorified" state.  So it is true with us.  God can enjoy fellowship with us in the normal times of family, friends, and fun.  He can also enjoy fellowship with us in times of intense ministry with anointing, fire, and power. We can enjoy Him as well in both "states of matter." 

By James Ameer

There are an estimated 10 million Syrians in desperate need because of the civil war: approximately 6 million within Syria and 4 million as refugees that have fled to other nations.   There are Arab Christians, including Palestinians, both inside and outside of Syria that are serving in humanitarian relief, education, and gospel ministry to these families.  Some of the issues can only be solved by large scale institutions.  However, we are doing what we can to bring God's Kingdom to them - life out of death.

About half a million refugees ended up in Jordan alone, with 150,000 in Mafraq, mainly in a refugee camp, but also around 40,000 within the city -- some in tents, some in rented houses, with 15-20 people in each house!  Our church in Mafraq has been working with these refugees, to supply basic needs, such as food, mattresses, carpets, air fans, etc.

We visit with the families, hear their heart-wrenching stories, share our love with them and if possible pray for them. God has done amazing things. 

We are receiving donations for this mission over the next 60 days: please click here. NOTE: On this page, please click the SECOND Donation button that says, "Click here to give to Syrian Refugees."

By Michael Kerem

Prime Minister Erdogan has cracked down on protests in Taksim Square in Istanbul. Taksim Square has been a symbol of democracy and freedom of expression since the beginning of the modern republic.  

Founded in 1923 after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and following WWI by Mustafa Kemal, or Ataturk (the father of the Turks) as he is known today, Turkey has long been a secular republic even though it is comprised of a population that is 99% Muslim. Ataturk adopted European laws, instituted a secular constitution, and changed the Turkish alphabet from an Arabic to a Latin script in his desire to point the nation towards the West. He even changed the day of rest from Friday to Sunday in order to more fully align the modern state with Europe.

While tensions about the role of religion in both public and private life have persisted in Turkey since its inception, only recently has the situation begun to spin out of control again. Since taking office in 2002, Recep Tayip Erdogan has overseen a transformation in the balance of power in Turkey: whereas for the first nearly 80 years the military served as the guardians of the secular state, Erdogan effectively ended their role with a series of judicial and political initiatives that removed many generals from power, replacing them with those who support the AK Party that he leads. There has been a steady erosion of personal and press freedoms. Recent foreign policy decisions have increasingly aligned Turkey with Muslim extremists.

It also has meant basically the end of a 500 year, positive relationship with the Jewish people -- who were first given refuge in the Ottoman Empire in 1492 as they fled from the Spanish Inquisition. (This relationship has deteriorated for the last 5 years, but officially ended with the Mamara Flotilla incident of 2010 in which 9 Turkish Islamic 'Activists' were killed by IDF soldiers.)   

What began as a peaceful protest to the uprooting of trees in Gezi Park has turned into a violent confrontation between young liberal minded Turks from all walks of life and the Police forces.  Three people have been killed, over a thousand injured, and another thousand arrested.  Let us pray for protection for Turkey's local Jewish and Christian communities.