From Gaza with Love

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

From Gaza with Love

This is an email from an evangelist Christian reader Jan met in Gaza. The anonymous writer is obviously a Muslim convert to Christianity.
Names removed for obvious reasons.

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Please pray for us. The situation is very bad in Gaza. As I shared yesterday, the nephew of one of the 'lambs" was killed. The brother of another believer was kidnapped. We feared he was killed but he was only beaten and released. He is badly bruised but praise God, he is fine.

But last night a part of a missile entered the home of a brother and injured him in the back. It was, Praise God, a very small wound. He is fine. But his house was damaged in the crossfire.

Today, I awoke to friends calling me telling me not to go to Gaza City as I often do but to stay in Khan Younis where I live because the situation in Gaza City is so bad. There was an attempted assasination of the prime minister which unleashed a huge backlash.

Some friends of mine tried to come to be with me in my upstairs apartment but were turned away by soldiers who don't want any civilians to be in high places where they fear they might spy on them.

I am in my apartment now and there is much shooting, guns, rifles and canons. I am writing this from the inner bathroom in my apartment as I want to get as far away from the windows as possible.

The home of another brother was breached in the Northern Gaza Strip. He climbed into the water tank on the ceiling and hid until the intruders left. But he asked me for a favor. He said that if he died, he wanted me to make sure he was given a Christian funeral since his family is not Christian. I told him the funeral makes no difference. If the Father choses to take us home than we will be with him regardless of which cemetary we're buried in.

The situation is very perilous. But we serve a God of miracles.

We need much prayer. No one dares go out of their homes.

For those of you who might want to continue reading, I just want to explain why I am still here in Gaza even though the situation is so bad. I could leave, after all and have been offered by the American consulate to be evacuated. But there are some believers here that can't leave. They can't leave. I could leave even though I might not be able to come back. That's one reason I haven't left. The other reason is that I don't want to leave the new lambs. If it came to the point where I had to leave, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, but for now, it's hard to leave when I know these other brothers can't leave.

If I felt God telling me to leave, I would. But I haven't. Many people have asked me to leave but I haven't.

Please pray for me to be wise and sensitive to the Holy Spirit about this.

Please pray for all the sons of our Father who are here that not one would be hurt. We need to see, as we have so many times, Psalm 91 in action.

As you watch the news and see the unbelievable things that are happening here such as soldiers throwing other soldiers off of high rise buildings, and the level of strife, please pray. The children of God are the answer to the world's ills. We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. None of us is perfect but we have the Spirit of God inside of us and we have access to the Throne of Grace to find help in time of need. Elijah was a man of like passions like us, and yet, at his word, there was no rain for three and a half years. At his word, rain began again. The effectual fervent prayers of the righteous avail much.

Please pray as the Spirit leads you. Here is another suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, the Gaza Strip and all of its inhabitants belong to You. You bought them with Your blood. We claim, by faith, the crown of souls, that You earned when You died on Calvary. You said if You were lifted up You would draw all men to yourself, Draw all the people of Gaza to yourself. You said, "Blessed are the poor their's is the kingdom of God," Lord, look on the poverty of Gaza, economically, socially, spiritually and pour our Your Holy Spirit. There is no other answer. As You said in Zechariah chapter 9, 'I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take away the blood from his mouth....But he who remains will be for our God. And shall be like the princes of Judah.