ENHANCE - 2nd Quarter 2023
The second quarter 2023 edition of our ‘Enhance’ magazine has articles on perseverance, Innovation: Africa, King Charles III, and bagels; as well as reports on our strategic prayer conference, a Jerusalem forum and the political crisis in Israel; and a Hebrew word study on ‘Emunah’ (faith).
The second quarter 2023 edition of our ‘Enhance’ magazine has articles on perseverance, Innovation: Africa, King Charles III, and bagels; as well as reports on our strategic prayer conference, a Jerusalem forum and the political crisis in Israel; and a Hebrew word study on ‘Emunah’ (faith).
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Special Report<br />
CFI UK PRAYER<br />
CONFERENCE<br />
Tuesday 21 st – Thursday 23 rd March<br />
By Julia Soakell<br />
Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,<br />
from everlasting to everlasting.<br />
Let all the people say “Amen”,<br />
Praise the Lord.<br />
(Psalm 106:48)<br />
The theme of this year’s CFI Annual Prayer<br />
Conference was Everlasting to Everlasting. In<br />
.(אֵ ל עֹולָ ֽם) Hebrew the Everlasting God is El Olam<br />
The word ‘olam’ occurs more than 400 times in the Hebrew<br />
scriptures and is often translated eternal, forever, lasting, ever<br />
and ancient. Drawing aside from the chaotic days we are living<br />
in, we felt blessed to pray and spend time with the Lord when<br />
so much in the world seems changeable and shaken.<br />
More than fifty supporters gathered at Kings Park Conference<br />
Centre in Northampton in mid-March, keen to pray for Israel,<br />
her people and for CFI. Many felt as they left, that the time<br />
was well spent in being rather than doing, and allowing the<br />
Lord to prepare and strengthen them for the seasons ahead.<br />
One of the CFI Jerusalem staff always ends her emails with,<br />
“Before we can do what God wants us to do, we must first<br />
be who God wants us to be – being always precedes doing”<br />
David and I were blessed to host the group, many of whom<br />
hadn’t been to a residential prayer conference before, and<br />
with a higher proportion of men than in previous prayer<br />
conferences. In our preparations we felt it would be vital to<br />
‘hold lightly’ the sessions and their focus, allowing the Holy<br />
Spirit to lead us into the Lord’s focus and priorities.<br />
A good amount of time was spent in worship, especially in<br />
the first session. Prayer topics included our post-Christian<br />
nation and the church in the UK, as well as our leaders and<br />
government, asking the Lord in grace and mercy to lead our<br />
nation to become a greater blessing to the land and people<br />
of Israel. We also prayed about Aliyah and its counterpart<br />
Yeridah – the phenomenon of Jewish people leaving Israel to<br />
return to their previous countries and lives. That happens for<br />
various reasons, but economic factors are a current concern.<br />
CFI Jerusalem projects were considered and thanks offered for<br />
breakthroughs where new visas and staff recruitment have<br />
drawn seven new project coordinators into their roles.<br />
Praying for the younger generations was a major focus,<br />
appealing for them to better understand Israel as they become<br />
pastors, teachers, politicians and intercessors in the years to<br />
come. We included those generations in Israel itself, and also<br />
in the Arab Palestinian areas where hatred is promoted in the<br />
education system. These children and their parents can ask<br />
God to intervene and bring about supernatural change and<br />
restoration for all. The young people of the region have known<br />
tensions and traumas in life, with high levels of hatred and<br />
media bias against the Jewish people.<br />
We also considered that the Bible mentions there will be an<br />
accumulation of knowledge in later times. As the late Derek<br />
Prince once said,<br />
“Cleverness and education are no substitute for the<br />
moral foundation and understanding which are the fear<br />
of the Lord and obedience to his precepts.”<br />
David Soakell and Jonathan Holbrook led morning<br />
meditations based around scriptures about the everlasting<br />
God and living in his presence. David led a session on<br />
‘Comfort and keep comforting’ (see Isaiah 40:1), sharing<br />
personally on the difficulty of standing with Israel in<br />
connection with CFI’s ‘Forsake Them Not’ project. We also<br />
heard from Jacob Vince, our Chief Executive, about attending<br />
the Global Coalition for Israel Conference and hearing of<br />
some surprising nations that now work closely with Israel.<br />
And he shed light on praying for the UK church about pivotal<br />
issues raised lately in the Church of England’s General Synod.<br />
Looking back on the theme and on our time together we<br />
give thanks to the everlasting God we serve and in whom<br />
we can put our trust, even when we see the nations shake<br />
and tremble. We can be confident in him. He is powerful<br />
and productive in all he does, producing fruit in his perfect<br />
6 <strong>ENHANCE</strong> • 2 nd <strong>Quarter</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
@christianfriendsofisrael_uk