Here or There: Long Time No See

Thank you for your patience regarding our update. We have had an eventful couple of months since you last head from us. Let’s start with the Elav conference.

ELAV Opening Ceremony

As you are well aware we had the Elav conference in August. We can legitimately say that God kissed this three day gathering, no question about it. Being now fully involved with Succat Hallel makes us also fully involved with Elav. As you know we were located in Haifa, home of the falling fire. The land mark on which the Prophet Elijah prayed and the fire came, in which event, the false Gods were exposed and the people were once again drawn to the Lord. With that in mind we had some understanding of what God wanted for this year. It was a time filled with surprises from Heaven. Apart from just playing with bands, I (Stefan) also had the opportunity to share about the breaking off of the victim spirit off of Isaac and Ishmael. I shared after an Arab brother from Bethlehem had the opportunity to share. At the end of that session, a sister from Iran who had been with us at Succat Hallel joined us on stage and a wave of joy broke out as God began to bind Arabs and Jews together. This was emphasized every year, but this year God seemed to highlight this point a lot more than before. The entire conference came to a crescendo on the last evening after a time of Arab and Hebrew worship, when some leaders from Haifa stood up to cry out for their city. That even as in the days of Elijah, the fire that brought the people back to God would fall again and bring a generation to Him. We stayed an extra night in Haifa, realizing how much strain it would put on us if we were to travel with two kids back to Jerusalem the evening the conference ended. That gave us more time to be able to wind down and a little before traveling back home. The Tuesday we got home something happened that took us all by surprise.

Stefan sharing.

Late in the evening we received an emergency email for prayer. A beloved brother named Steve, who served in Jericho, fell ill that evening earlier and was rushed to the hospital with a ruptured aorta. Before we could take the moment to actually intercede, another email came across informing us of his passing into eternity. Not an hour after the time of death, we got a call from our friend Jon and the event that started with a dying friend turned into something much bigger. They were arranging a team to go to the hospital and resurrect Steve. It was simple; in the last three days at the conference did we not ask for the Spirit of Elijah to fall on us? Is healing not the children’s bread? Did He not command us among the instructions He gave us when He left earth to raise the dead? Do we absolutely have to know what will happen at the end in order to obey Him? Needles to say, I (Stefan) joined the group that night and, surprise, surprise, the doors were opened for us non family members to go all the way down to the morgue where Steve’s body was laid. We knew instantly that God was opening the doors for us because unless you are family of the deceased you do not get to go down there. Not only that, the orderly, on learning what we came for got excited and said we absolutely should press in for this! By the way, the orderly is not a believer. So we went in to the small cold room, they brought Steve’s body out and, yes, we laid our bare hands on him and commanded him to come back. The astonishing thing is that there was nothing creepy about this. We were for once doing what was ordered before Jesus left the earth. Whether we would see him rise or not did not matter. We were there because He said this is what we were to do after He left. Nothing happened that evening, but it was not over. We came back the next morning bringing his clothes with us, so he would have what to wear when he woke up. Again, all doors were open to us. This grace with the hospital lasted for a week. At the end Steve stayed where he was and we praise the Lord for His final decision on whether He would send him back or not. What was left with us at the end of this was a passion to see this happen in our life time. We did not see Steve come back, but this doesn't mean we’re quitting. The Lord had made it very clear to us the direction we are moving in. With every opportunity we have if this should occur again in any place or time, whether we are close to the scenario or not, we know without a shadow of a doubt that calling Lazarus forth is our first priority. So we are pressing by laying hands on the sick to see them healed and laying hands on the dead to see them raised.

Praying for Steve to come back, and for the hearts of the father's to return to their sons and the heart's of the sons to return to their fathers.

Then came the Feast of Tabernacles, know in Hebrew as Succot. I (Stefan) was involved with a team of musicians for a conference that took place in the Hinnom Valley to release a sound of worship. The valley is located right below Succat Hallel. It was a blessing to release a sound of worship and life in the valley where so many babies were burnt to the false god Molech over 2000 years ago, to declare in the valley that where innocent blood was shed in the name of false gods, His blood speaks life. Succat Hallel had cried out over this valley for years, and it is so interesting that this year, right before we move to our new location, Succat Hallel staff would be involved in the yearly Succot worship time in the valley.

Shireli worshiping with banners

And now to the big move; we are now in the middle of the moving spree, dismantling the old room and moving things over to the new place. We have no doubt God is moving us to a new place for a new assignment. The new location has a similar view of the city walls, only this time we have a clear view of the Temple Mount. It is ever so clear that God is saying to us that as Succat Hallel has witnessed a garbage dump of a valley turn into a flourishing valley that is green and healthy as a result of worship and prayer being released in that geographical region, that now He is calling us to be witnesses with our eyes towards the Temple Mount, to witness the things He is about to do in that geographical location towards His return as we labor together with Him in prayer, fasting and a deep place of worship.

Finally came the Day of Intercession against Abortion. We had heard about it and wanted to go. We found out I (Stefan) was wanted on the worship team. Originally we were going to go just to be there with our family but once Jon was asked to put together a worship team for the day it was obvious that I would be involved with helping with that. Despite the fact that we did not get much time to practice, our team flowed well and worship was sweet. It as well ended up being in Haifa. It was amazing to see leaders from all over Israel join together to repent for the sin of abortion that started with child sacrifice to the god Molech in the Hinnom Valley. We repented and then prayed for specific areas, men to have integrity, doctors and nurses to stop performing abortions, women to choose life, ect. Probably the most amazing thing that day was that God revealed to us the plans of the enemy and handed us our assignment. That morning an article came out in the news paper with the announcement that the government would pay for any woman at any term of pregnancy to have an abortion if she so desired it, since the costs for an abortion are so high that not all of them can afford it. So God had made it very clear to us what we were coming up against, and the enemy He wanted defeated through our prayers joined in with heaven. It was a good day and God even provided help for us with the kids. That was a good unexpected surprise.

So as you see it has been a productive two and a half months. We are still in the process of planning our trip to the USA in spring 2014. Please pray that we hear God clearly on the dates to travel and the time to purchase the tickets so we can get the best price. We are looking at flying in to MN sometime in April and coming back home sometime June. We want and need to visit CA and are planning on going to TX. God seems to be very clear with us about touching new areas in Texas. If you are interested in having us visit and share with your church or congregation, small group or home group, or friends please let us know. And please keep the trip covered in prayer.