On the second day after arriving in Israel, we transferred from the airport hotel to the Dan Jerusalem Hotel. The journey took about 45 minutes and cost $25 per person. The driver was an Orthodox Jewish believer. He was very warm to us and could speak Chinese – "I love you." He said he loves his country very much. He traveled to Los Angeles last year but has never been to China – he really wants to go. The hotel is quite nice, with high occupancy. You can see tourists from all over the world. On the lobby screen there was a blessing for China.

Hotel lobby – Chinese 🇨🇳 and Israeli 🇮🇱 flags

Dazzling Middle Eastern cuisine

The breakfast and dinner inside the hotel were both good.

Dining environment at the hotel

Happy after eating – let's take a group photo 😋

The bus we rode had phone charging ports and WiFi – that’s so important, more important than food. I was secretly delighted: the Holy Land is truly good!

The President’s Shield group – mostly Americans, plus about thirty Chinese, totaling fewer than eighty people.

Today is the first day of the tour. Frank, the chairman of President’s Shield, stood with the Old City of Jerusalem behind him – the golden Dome of the Rock – and the Mount of Olives beneath his feet. He led everyone in prayer. It was very powerful. I really liked the way he spoke – authoritative, able to bring down the power of the Holy Spirit. He said: In this special place, the holy city of Jerusalem, a pilgrimage destination for people from all over the world – the place where the Lord Jesus was born and will come again – relying on the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, we declare that at this moment, generational curses are broken. Let the words of the prophet Zechariah be fulfilled, prophesying over the nations. People from different countries, ethnic groups, and languages worship together in the holy land – this is a sign of God’s sovereignty over all the earth. Christians from 120 countries, including the house churches of China, responded to the call of Isaiah 62, praying for Israel: "I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth." (Isaiah 62:6-7)

Responding to Isaiah 19: "In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, 'Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.'"

Prayer in the presence of the Holy Spirit brings down God’s power. As Frank proclaimed, the Holy Spirit descended. Facing the ancient city of a thousand years, tears streamed down my face.

 

Forwarding Mina’s message:

1. What is the calling of the Isaiah 19 ministry? To bless Egypt, Israel, and Assyria together, and to bless the peoples of the earth. This must happen before Jesus returns. We are the tools He uses.

 

Isaiah 19:23-25 – In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."

2. Why does blessing Egypt, Israel, and Assyria bring blessing to the peoples of the earth?

Because the borders of these three nations are the boundaries of the land that God originally promised to Abram. Genesis 15:18 – On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates." Within these borders, everything belongs to God. Micah 7:12 – In that day people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, from Egypt to the Euphrates, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. Isaiah 27:12 – In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, Israel, will be gathered up one by one.

3. Why is it so important to God that all the people within these borders belong to Him?

Because the return of the people within these borders is the living fossil that proves God is the true God. Isaiah 43:6-8 – I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth – everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.

Group photo with Mina (the Chinese national coordinator of President’s Shield), Mark (chairman of the Isaiah 19 ministry), the pastor from Bread of Life Church in Los Angeles, and Pastor Deborah (director of the 24-hour prayer tower ministry in New York). I am the one in the red coat at the back.

On the Mount of Olives – the cemetery of the prophets from 400 years ago, waiting for the Lord Jesus to return.

Olive trees in Gethsemane from 2,000 years ago.

Lavender in the Garden of Gethsemane.

This tree trunk is dead.

An olive tree sprouting new shoots and branches.

 

The picture above is Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Before going to the cross, Jesus went there to pray with his disciples after the Last Supper. Luke 22:43-44 – Jesus was in such anguish there that "his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." This is also the place where Jesus was betrayed by his disciple Judas. Many of the olive tree roots here have died. If new branches grow from the old trunk, the tree can survive. Do these new branches symbolize us Gentiles?

The above is a model of the ancient city of Jerusalem. King David was an earthly king greatly used by God.

A model of the city gates of the ancient city.

This white building is the Israel Museum (Israel’s national museum), built in 1965. Two-thirds of it is underground. The white dome reflects light in the surrounding pool. Inside are stored biblical archaeology artifacts, Jewish antiquities, ethnography, fine art masterpieces, and rare manuscripts from Africa, North and South America, Oceania, and the Far East.

On the museum grounds stands a uniquely shaped building called the "Shrine of the Book," which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at Masada. As I stood before these ancient manuscripts, the reality of history made my tears flow without stopping...

A beautiful young girl playing an ancient instrument in the Old City. I wonder what instrument this is? The sound was extremely beautiful.

Merchants inside the archway of the Old City gate.

At lunchtime – this flavorful restaurant.

A shop next to the restaurant.

 

Due to space constraints, I can’t write more. I’ll stop here.

 

Night of February 22, 2018

 

Deborah Blessings, Jerusalem, Israel