© 14 October 2016 Revive Israel Ministries

Lord of Forgiveness

By Asher Intrater

The 40 days from the beginning of the month of Elul through Yom Kippur on the 10th day of Tishrei are known in Jewish tradition as a time for repentance and forgiveness.  

There are special prayers during this time called סליחות "selichot" meaning forgiveness.  One well-known prayer is called אדון הסליחות "Adon HaSelichot" meaning The Lord of Forgiveness. Each line of this prayer-poem starts with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.   The first four lines are:

"Lord of Forgiveness, Tester of Hearts, Revealer of Deep Things, Speaker of Righteousness…"

The refrain after each stanza is:

"We have sinned before You; have mercy upon us…"

This prayer poem is usually sung, and its melody has become quite popular among modern Israelis, both secular and religious, Sephardic and Ashkenazi.

It is the glory of the Gospel that any person can repent, forgive, and know that he or she is forgiven by God - on any day at any moment!  These responses form a basis for all prayer and faith.  Since we have all sinned and been sinned against, we must all repent and forgive.  Repentance and forgiveness are the two "feet" of our spiritual journey.  It's where our faith “hits the ground.”

Yeshua taught it this way: "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" - Matthew 6:12.  We repent of our sins and forgive those who have sinned against us.  How basic! How simple! How obvious!

God is the inventor of forgiveness. He is the Lord of Forgiveness.  So let's not forget to put into practice these two most basic steps of faith: repent and forgive.  And let’s remember to intercede for the Jewish people during this season that many more will come to know the total forgiveness, peace and assurance that we have with God through Yeshua’s perfect atonement!

This year's celebration of the Day of Trumpets (Yom HaTeruah) in Jerusalem turned out to be quite a success, and almost everyone mentioned that they felt we had experienced a truly historic breakthrough.  The attendance on Saturday night, October 1, included representatives from some 6-7 Arab congregations and 9-10 Jewish congregations.  The main auditorium at the Pavilion was filled.

The event was cooperatively led by Arab Christians and Messianic Jews, entirely in Arabic and Hebrew from the stage, with translation in headphones for internationals. This cooperation in leadership as well as the local language was a breakthrough in and of itself.

We praised the Lord together for almost an hour in blended Arabic and Hebrew songs.  Then the Arabic and Jewish pastors came on to the stage, held hands in unity, and began to pray spontaneously for half an hour.  There was a brief message in Arabic, and a brief message in Hebrew. Then we sounded the trumpet together, with shouts of "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:39).

We felt that three special spiritual goals had been advanced:

1. Unity: with the cooperation of Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem, there was a new standard of alignment set which provides for reconciliation throughout the Body of Messiah worldwide (John 17). 
2. Kingdom: by proclaiming "Blessed is He" and "The Kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord…" (Revelation 11:15), a new level of spiritual authority was proclaimed to welcome the Lord's return.
3. Revelation: as we met on the biblically-ordained holy day, and blew the trumpet, a new dimension of prophetic revelation concerning the end times was released.  As we prayed and sounded the trumpet on earth, we believe there was a reaction in heaven as well.

It seemed more than a coincidence, that we met on the day after world leaders had assembled in Jerusalem to honor the passing away of Israeli former president Shimon Peres. Peres was certainly a great historic figure for modern Israel.  Yet we came to honor the King of Kings, Messiah Yeshua, who will rule eternally from the same capital city.

Winter Discipleship Intensive

This winter from December 1, 2016 – January 25, 2017, there will be an 8-week discipleship intensive hosted by our friends at the Jerusalem Hills Inn for English-speaking believers of all ages. Participants will spend time with the Revive Israel team in the Jerusalem area and Return Ministries in northern Israel for regular times of worship, prayer, and teaching. Participants will serve the local body in hands-on practical ways and each week there will be an excursion to locations around Israel.

The $2000 cost includes accommodations in dorm-style rooms, all meals, transportation within Israel, and entrance fees for the weekly excursions. The start of the program is coming quickly, and there are a limited number of spaces available. For more information or to request an application, please contact: info@jerusalemhillsinn.com

Watch the invitation video HERE.

To reach Israelis with the Gospel of Yeshua, we began Yeshua Chai, a 24/7 Internet TV channel broadcasting material produced by various Messianic ministries in Israel.

In order to continue promoting the channel we are in need of a much greater number of "likes" on our Facebook page. Please visit and like our Facebook page, and invite your friends to do so as well! Our goal is to reach 2,000 likes in the coming month.

Thank you for your partnership and prayers for us!

Registration for the bi-annual Baruch Haba intercessory Conference and tour (May 9-18, 2017) has begun. It fills up fast, so sign up soon! This unique itinerary has been arranged with the goal of personally connecting you with the ministries of Tents of Mercy, Revive Israel & Tikkun International as you tour Israel. In addition to professional guides, members of our ministry teams will be with you on the buses and at the sites to teach and fellowship.

For more info and to Register, click HERE!

Asher shares from the book of Deuteronomy where Moses summaries and interprets the 5 the entire Torah as well as giving a prophecy which shows the entire plan of God.

Listen here.