Dear Family and Friends,
Warm Greetings of Shalom from Kfar Saba, Israel,
In these very sad and heartbreaking circumstances of war, hopelessness, and loss of life engulfing our nation, we are greatly encouraged by the verses of Psalm 8, especially verse 2:
“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”
The strength that our God in heaven has established on this earth is through the children and babies. The giving of life silences His enemies. In Hebrew, the word used is “lehashbit,” which means to bring our enemies to a complete stop. Through our children, God is expressing His character and witnessing to the whole world that life is more powerful than death, and the victory of the Kingdom of God will be revealed through the testimonies of children and babies. Our Lord has conquered death, and we can all partake of Eternal Life.
Satan hates the children. He knows that to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we must become like them. Satan is working to destroy the “imago Dei” (the image of God in our entire being) by stealing their innocence and exposing them to the tree of evil, staining them with fear, guilt, shame, rejection, self-hatred, and bitterness.
Summer Camp
Being in the midst of war is extremely difficult physically, mentally, and emotionally, especially for our children. Even hours before our summer camp was scheduled to start, Israel was engaged in a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah, resulting in many lives being saved, as well as our airport closing and many businesses operating with a reduced staff. But through prayer, God prevailed! Instead of cancelling, the families started coming, parents dropping off their kids for our camp that would eventually change their lives forever.
We were 130 people in total. Satan tried to close our camp, but God gave us the best camp ever! It was such a joy and encouragement to see them all drinking from the Water of Life through the worship, teachings, testimonies, sports activities, games, bird watching, and wood carving.
The theme this year was from Revelation 1:8: “Who was and Who is and is to come.” We built a time machine and “invited” characters from the Bible to come speak to us, both from the past and the future. Through these skits and other daily activities, many children and young adults received a revelation from the Lord and shared with us how God touched them deeply. Please pray for them, for a complete work of God in their hearts that began during this camp.
Remembering God’s Word Project
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Romans 10:8b). As this new school year begins, our congregation starts a new project as well. Our challenge is for our children and families to study and memorize 100 scriptures. Our teachers, parents, and the entire community are encouraged to learn the Word of God by heart. How exciting it will be as we all grow in sowing and planting God’s Word in our hearts, ready to be used “in season and out of season.”
Prayer Requests
- For the Son of Righteousness with healing in His wings to heal us all from shock and trauma, and to comfort our hearts from the mourning we are all experiencing.
- For our government to stand united, caring for all the people of Israel affected by the war, and to put politics second to the needs of the people.
- For protection for our soldiers, who are away for a long time, in extreme harm’s way, and for their wives, children, and families.
- For God to rescue our hostages (both dead and alive) quickly, and to deal with our enemies.
- For wisdom for our leadership staff and elders to direct our congregation in these days.
- For more teachers and helpers for our children’s Shabbat school.
- For protection for our children, who have just started a new school year, from deceptive and demonic influences that they are exposed to daily.
- For the parents to instruct their children to live godly lives. Many of our families have only one believing parent; please pray for the salvation of the fathers.
- For the war between Russia and Ukraine, which is still dear to our hearts, as some of our members from both Russia and Ukraine have close family members involved. Please pray for our brothers and sisters here who are dealing with two wars at once, for the safety of their relatives, and for finances to restore their damaged homes.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Hamaayan Team
