When
God Answers
By Jacqui Shatto , OMS World Intercessors Director
Does taking a prayer team to the Middle East make a difference ? Are our prayers really changing Israel ? Having recently returned from there , I am humbled by God ’ s answers to our prayers and by what he has done and is doing through them .
When an OMS prayer team last visited Israel , we prayer-walked around the Karmiel municipality , and we specifically prayed that God would provide a government leader for Karmiel who would come to know Yeshua as the Messiah and for a government that would work with believers in the region .
Karmiel has a new mayor . When Moshe , the OMS field leader for Israel , met with the council of messianic leaders in the community , he suggested they invite the mayor to come to their time of worship so they could pray for him and his leadership . The leaders said this has never happened before in Karmiel ; it will never happen . But what they said would never happen did happen in answer to a prayer . The mayor came and allowed them to pray over him !
On that same visit , we also prayed that believers in Israel would serve the Lord and share the Gospel in other countries . God answered that prayer in an unexpected way . When the war in Ukraine started , OMS ’ ministry team from Israel was quick to go to Hungary to help refugees crossing the border . Those refugees included many
Jewish Ukrainians who would soon be living in Karmiel , Israel ! God often does more than we can imagine . When the mayor of Karmiel saw on Facebook that Moshe was in Ukraine , he contacted him , offering to help the refugees .
Every time we visit , we pray for ministry to grow . God is now equipping a young couple , who recently joined this ministry team , to lead discipleship bands , begin an English camp , and work with the youth . God is also providing supporters for new humanitarian projects .
During every visit , we pray for salvation for the lost in the Middle East . One recent humanitarian project brought a team member , an Arab Christian pastor , into the home of a Jewish woman who did not have food for her family . The woman asked him , “ Why are you doing this ? You are an Arab . I am a Jew . Why would you help us ?” Her questions opened the door for him to share the Gospel with her , and she accepted Jesus as her Savior !
A government official working with believers , a missionary team from Israel helping in Europe , a growing ministry in the Middle East , and an Arab pastor leading a Jewish woman to salvation in Christ … God is at work in the prayers of his people . Prayer is changing the Middle East and the lives of those who pray . Will you join us ?
photos , page 12 : This OMS prayer team visited Israel in November to pray for the country .
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