Aglow's Immoveable Stand With Israel
This is a very timely conference. God has gathered us together for such a time as this – as one. We have known His call upon our lives and upon this ministry really from its inception but it has evolved over these 48 years. As we see the times change and we see the rise of the anti-Christ spirit in the earth, we realize in a more intentional-focused way how timely the call was.
Aglow was birthed in 1967, the same year Jerusalem was reunified as a city. With the progression of events in our own ministry and in the world, you realize, God has had His hand in our back the whole time. It makes me think of the scripture in Habakkuk, Chapter 1, where it says, Look among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded for I will work a work in your day that you would not believe though it were told you.
The Crises of Two Civilizations
I think we can say we are seeing things today that are astounding to us, a shock to us. We are living in intense and turbulent times. Times of historical change. Just think of the migration crises enveloping Europe and the Middle East. It is one of the worst humanitarian disasters since the 1940’s. You are witnessing the crises of two civilizations: the Middle East and Europe.
Both are facing deep cultural, political, spiritual issues, not easily solved. There are instabilities around the world with the threat of terrorism; Iran continually voicing their demonically inspired threats against Israel and against the United States. They recently said, Israel will be gone in 25 years. The Islamic state has said, Soon there won’t be even one Jew left in Jerusalem. We are advancing toward you from every place; from the north, from the south, we are going to annihilate you.
A Divine Mandate
Somebody needs to tell them, they (Israel) live under a divine mandate to survive. They continue to live with ongoing threats. They, from all sides, were very aware of the current, recent stabbings and the kind of terror that they live with on an ongoing basis. Can you imagine just thinking about something simple as going to the store to buy food, and taking your children to day school, and not knowing when someone will appear before you with a knife? Incredible times.
It makes me think of the scripture in Hebrews where He said, I will shake everything that can be shaken so that what that which cannot be shaken will remain. He is shaking His people everywhere, and it is coming to the time where we are being pressed from all sides to decide where we stand.
Aglow's Immoveable Stand
If there is one thing I want to impart, or say, or leave you with at this conference, it is the fact that, Aglow is immoveable in its stand and its position with Israel.
In the year 2000, a strong prophetic word came. I was attending a conference in Florida, a Tom Hess Conference. I forget the title of it, but he has a House of Prayer in Jerusalem. James Goll was there, Don Finto. It was not a large group, but I had this new stirring related to Israel and if you have heard me before, you know I was raised in a pastor’s home, I had some awareness of Israel, but not to the degree that God was about to unfold it, and continues to unfold it in my own life and understanding.
I was kind of that “new kid on the block”. I went to this Conference to gain more understanding. I was sitting in the back row, just kind of hiding out and taking notes – all ears. Several international leaders were gathered for a prayer session. Judy Ball was there. Don Finto and others – Bobbie Byerly and others that you would know were there on the platform about to pray. Don Finto came back and said, You need to come up here. I thought, Oh great. I do not even know what I am doing.
Pivotal Point for Jane and Aglow
But that was a very pivotal point. A prophetic word came forth from James Goll and Don Finto about the fact that I was an Esther called “for such a time as this”. James went on to say, and all of those under your charge. He repeated this about three times, all of those under your charge. All of those…when I think of the nations of the world…all of those under your charge will follow you in this Esther calling because Aglow has been called “for such a time as this”.
We already had two mandates in the ministry and this new stirring began to focus us, or refocus us, in a way that we had not considered. You know how it is with the Lord when He focuses on something, He kind of spotlights it. Then as something comes along, it is not that that goes away, but it recedes a little, and the new thing comes forward. That had happened twice with the male-female reconciliation word, which was a word of revelation and purpose that God unfolded in our ministry through my conference message in 1981.
Then there is the call to Islam in 1991 where we began to move out with praying and reaching out to the Muslims. Then in 2001, came this very strong call, very passionate call to Israel. I feel that it has been in our thinking, our prayers, and our world that as women and men leave this place, we are going to leave with an awareness and a deeper sense of the calling on Aglow than we have had thus far.
Being Made Known in the Earth
I think of Esther. She had found favor in the sight of all around her, in particular the king. But it goes on to say she had not yet revealed her family or her people. In fact, the crown had now been put on her head, and she still had not revealed her family or her people. And though we have walked with this call to Israel, I believe that when we leave this place, we will have revealed our family and our people.
Called for This Time
We will have revealed that we are not just here for them, and we pray for you over there, we pray that all is well with and God protects you. No, we have come into a new understanding that we do not just stand for them, but we stand as them. We have been grafted in. We do not take away anything that God purposes to do with that nation and that people. It is much more; it is up close and personal. It is something you are stepping into that is deep and intentional and powerful and beautiful and awesome. You have been called for this time to walk in the purposes of God related to Israel and the Jewish people.
When that call first came to us, as it was with the other two mandates, you would think what does this mean, and what am I to do? We think that at a leadership level and how it will flesh out in our ministry in over a hundred and seventy nations of the world and beyond. As Graham told us yesterday, you just begin – you get some movement going. We did what we knew to do.
Annual Trips to Israel Since 2000
We had our first trip into Israel in 2,000. There were 500 people – men and women – that went with us. We continue to go year after year after year, through the intifadas, and through the war with Lebanon. Aglow has been there in the land, walking the land, praying the land. We had a prayer focus; it was very intentional.
Weekly Prayer Calls
Diane Moder and Sandy Wezowicz have led a Monday night prayer call for the last eight years focused on current world issues mostly which relate to the Middle East and things happening there and praying protection for Israel. Eight years. There are people from many nations that call in for that particular call. Have you ever been on it?
Global Prayer Calls
This last year, with some of the crises that have happened in the Middle East, I have sent out what we call an urgent global prayer call. We have had as many as 800 or 1,000 on those calls. When you multiply the one phone line by those that are in the room listening to the speaker phone and praying into the issue at hand, the number greatly increases.
Aglow is a prayer machine.
Anti-Semitism Since the Garden
Anti-Semitism is the longest, deepest hatred in human history. Its animosity began in the Garden of Eden where we see the enemy’s first attempt to attack the plan of God. Because it was in Eden that God spoke the word to Eve that one of her descendants would crush the head of the enemy - the first Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. It happened in the Garden of Eden.
Woman Exposes the Deceiver
These words were spoken following Eve’s exposure of the enemy. You have heard me say this, that when God questioned Adam and Eve, it was the woman who said, he deceived me and I ate. She nailed it. She called him the deceiver.
So God spoke a powerful, prophetic word into Eve’s response in Genesis 3:15, which I believe is a pivotal point for all women. In essence, He said, now, for ever and ever, Satan, she will be used again and again and again to expose you. The scripture actually says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed and there will come a Seed from the woman that will be to your utter destruction.
That word “enmity” actually means a deep-seeded, mutual hatred.
We know that Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of that word bringing a death blow to the head of the enemy. But the ongoing multiplication of that word is, as we have filled the earth with His Presence - with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as carriers of His Presence in the nations of the world - there is an ongoing fulfillment to the word that was spoken to Eve in the garden, that as we fill the earth, and subdue it, we will have dominion over it.
Hatred Against Women
There has been a long standing hatred – that is a strong word – a long standing hatred against women ever since. You think of the incredible attitude, abuse of, the dishonoring of women in the nations of the world. We think why? Rape is used as a weapon of warfare. Women are used as human shields.
I believe Genesis 3:15 is the reason the enemy stirs such opposition to women and such hatred against them.
Hatred Against Jews
Think of the wave of hatred – strong word again – the wave of hatred that later centered in Abraham and continues today in the Jewish people. In Genesis 22, He said in your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. In Abraham was a seed, a seed of a family, a people and a nation who would multiply and fill the earth and God’s purpose for them was that they would be a priestly nation to the other nations of the world. That they would carry the Majesty of God.
There was something in that seed that was a great threat to the enemy because the seed of the Messiah, the ultimate Destroyer, the destroyer of Satan, was in Abraham. And, yet, his wife was barren. So unless God touched the barrenness in Sarah, that prophetic word over Abraham’s life, the prophetic purposes of God would hang in the atmosphere unfulfilled.
An Awakening in Women
Aglow is in a hundred and seventy nations. There has been barrenness in women. If you look back to 1967, you begin to realize that the fulfillment of God’s word as He purposed it in Genesis 3:15 would be through the seed of the woman.
Down through the ages and down through the centuries, He purposed to use women in a very powerful way. In order for that purpose to come forth in its fullness, and in order for the church to step into its fullness – male and female – that God purposed from the beginning – taking dominion in the earth together, there must come an awakening in women – the other part of the Body of Christ.
When you look back in history, I have not known of another move of God’s Spirit amongst women worldwide such as we have experienced in the last 48 years. God is up to something. God is raising a corporate woman to walk in the fullness of His purpose according to Genesis 3:17 to take their stand against the enemy and to call into being the fullness of His plan in the nations of the world.
You think of women today and how God has healed the barrenness, the hurts, and the wounds. I think of the teachings that we have been focused on these last several years with the GameChanger material, identity, and having the mind of Christ and knowing what it means to walk in the Fruit of the Spirit. Those various teachings have been building us up in a deeper more intentional way to strengthen us for the hour in which we stand because the call of God on this ministry is profound.
I think of other women in the Bible who knew what to do.
Dominion Restored: Male and Female
Deborah who recognized when war was at the gates and being a wise woman arose to the moment – arose to the occasion – and Barak said, we are going together. That is something God is doing in a very powerful way in this hour - joining together, men and women to be His Body, His Presence in the earth in a different way than we have ever seen in the past.
The enemy was after the seed of the woman and it was after the seed of Abraham. He focused on the seed to destroy it before the seed could destroy him, and he could destroy the plan of God. We are those who possess the gates of our enemies.
Possessing the Gates "As One"
The theme of our Conference is "As One – for such a time as this".
When you look at all the things and all the ways God is restoring - it says in Acts the heavens will retain Him until all things have been restored – He is restoring womanhood back to what He purposed it to be from the beginning and He is restoring the strength of her place. He is restoring manhood into the vital warrior-like spirit that He purposed from the beginning for men and He is bringing together a people in the earth as one that can rule in the earth taking dominion.
Relationship Restored
Another place where God is at work is between the Arab and the Jew. It is one of the reasons we have Asher and Betty Intrater with us this weekend. Asher is from Jerusalem, an Apostle from Jerusalem, to bring to us that Jewish perspective. And Harun Ibrahim is an Arab. You will see the love between them. You will see how God is restoring and healing.
One of the world rulers being confronted by the Lord is the spirit of Islam, which dominates the Middle East and is infiltrating the West. It is a world religion that is vehemently anti-Christ and is a chief enemy of God’s purposes in the Middle East. That spirit is being exposed.
God’s plan is to bring every world system to its knees. He is liberating the masses that have been held under that system as the consummation of the age draws near. He has purposed to bring a great harvest from every tribe, every tongue, every people, and every nation.
There is no world system that can withstand what the Holy Spirit is doing in this hour.
It is a Time of Reformation
I believe that one of the greatest reformations that is about to take place is a reformation within the church related to Israel. There is going to come a moment of understanding and revelation and people have to choose. We have made our choice.
This reformation in the church and this awakening related to Israel is so needed because there has been a “Gentilization” of the church. There has been this mindset that when the Jews get saved, they will come over to us. They will come to the church.
But we have it mixed up. Our roots are with them. Our roots are in them. Our heritage, our future, our fullness is bound up with them. Romans 11 says, we were grafted in with them and we became a partaker of the root and the fatness of the olive tree. Remember, you do not support the root; the root supports you.
I told you that when the call to Israel came to us, we just began by taking groups into The Land every year. There were a few years in there where we would have the opening gathering or a little mini-conference at Wayne Hilsden’s church - actually he let us use the facility. We would gather there. One year Dan Juster spoke to us and another time, Asher Intrater.
We have continued to meet with Asher every year. He comes to our group and some of us then, also, go to Revive Israel, his ministry there just outside of Jerusalem. We enjoy fellowshipping with his team and hearing what the Lord is doing amongst them. Asher will, I am sure, say something about that later.
I remember in one of the little mini-conferences that we had - it is our first day in The Land and we always have first-timers with us. There are people who are repeaters, but there are always a considerable number of first-timers.
Tender Shoot Arising
So, of course, everyone is full of anticipation and you are going to visit the sites and tour the land. This time, Asher’s opening line to us was, what did you come here to see?
It was one of those moments when it is like a zinger. He began to speak to us about the prophetic times in which we live. He spoke to us about Matthew 23. He spoke to us about the re-gathering of the Jews to the homeland and the fact that there is a Messianic body of people arising, and growing in Jerusalem and in Israel.
According to Matthew 23, when Jesus spoke to them He said you will see Me no more until you say ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD.’
So you think about the fact that there is a gathering of His people to The Land, and in that populace there is a growing number (I think Asher said something like 20,000 at this point), a growing number of believers in Jesus. God is up to something.
You will hear, I am sure from Asher, his heart and his passion for us as one to be about calling back Jesus to the earth for His second return. But in that process, the growing number of Messianic believers in the land is increasing and increasing. Our connection with them is vital. Our understanding of what they are called to – it is like the tender shoot arising in the land.
A High Call
When he asked us that question, what have you come here to see, it is like a mind-shift. You know it is going to be wonderful to walk the land, to see the land, but when you realize you are there to connect with this tender shoot that is arising, there is in my mind for those trips, there is no higher calling. To connect with the believers in The Land, to pray for believers in The Land, to give financially to believers in The Land, to help them rise up and be strengthened in everything God purposed for them - it is a high calling.
I believe that the Gentile church is the womb that carries the plan and the purpose of God – that unfolding purpose in the earth that includes His people coming fully alive to and awakened to Jesus as Messiah. I believe we carry that in the womb of our spirit and we will give birth to what He has called them to be. In fact, in an email that Asher sent a month or so ago, he spoke about Aglow being, or recognizing, the alignment of apostolic authority in Jerusalem as a first-receiving for the body of Christ universally. Are you getting that? That is a weighty word.
Aglow International recognizing the alignment with apostolic authority in Jerusalem. Here he – Asher - sits. To be aligned with the Messianic remnant of Israel is very key.
As we approach the events of the end times, Asher said in the email, even as I write this, I sense the anointing of the Holy Spirit saying it is like the need for the baby to be lined up in right position in the birth canal in order for the baby to be born. He went on to say let’s pray for the right alignment for the church in Israel to give birth to the second coming of Messiah.
God is raising up apostolic leadership in the body of Messiah. We will be led by a Jewish Messiah and Jewish apostles. Our call to Israel, and yes the Middle East, but I feel as we prepared for this conference, I just felt like the Lord said, leave no question in anyone’s mind what is at the forefront of Aglow International. So I am saying it: Our call is to Israel.
Spurgeon said, I think we do not attach enough importance to the restoration of the Jews, but certainly, if there is anything promised in the Bible, it is this: that the day will come when the Jews, who were the first apostles to the Gentiles, they were the first missionaries to us who were afar off, they will be gathered in again.
We are living in that time. Until that shall be, the fullness of the church’s glory can never come. Matchless benefits to the world are bound up with the restoration of Israel and their gathering will be as life from the dead.
I have already said it, but our stand is with them. We are with them, we are for them, and we stand as them. We are committed to stand forever no matter what – no matter what.
In Esther, I will close with this thought. I mentioned earlier, she had gained favor, and Aglow has gained favor. We have men like Graham Cooke and Asher Intrater and different ones who have eyes to see what God has been raising up in the earth.
As Graham said, we are not just a family, we are an army. We have an army mindset. We are relationally based, but we have an army mindset. As you consider the times in which we live, you understand every day in a greater way why you have been called and why we have been called as a ministry for such a time as this.
Esther was favored but she remained hidden. She did not reveal her family or her people until Mordecai spoke into that.
Remember the King saying to Esther, what is your petition? What is it you want? What is it you need? Just tell me because it is yours. God had positioned her and crowned her and given her favor for His intention.
It says in Esther 8, verse 1, as she exposed the enemy she was given the house of Haman.
Gaining the House of Islam
What does it mean to be given the house of Haman?
As I was just thinking about that, I thought of something that occurred in Tony and our lives just a couple of months ago. We bought a new home. We bought it from an Arab who lives in one of the major countries in the Middle East. We signed the final papers during Ramadan and he was in Mecca. I was given the keys to the house.
What does it mean to gain the house of Haman? Do not let your hair stand on end, but I am going to say, to gain the house of Islam. He has given us the keys. He told us several years ago through Dutch Sheets, 2004, Isaiah 22:22 (that’s our number – 22), I will give you the key that will open doors that no man can shut and you will shut doors that no man can open. Dutch went on to say, I give you the key; I give you the key; I give you the key; I give you the key.
Aglow, you have been given the keys to the house. You are the owner of the house. You can speak into the house. You have authority to speak into the house of the enemy. God has positioned us for such a time as this. And we will take our stand against the enemies of Israel.
It is bold, but when He said take dominion, He did not say, just take a little bit, or just take what you are comfortable with. You begin to walk in the authority and the dominion that I am in you. Begin to move forward in the earth and speak forth My word because I have given you the key.
What is Your Petition?
Going back to Esther: a house of Esthers. What is your petition? Then he said, I want you to write a decree. That decree is going to go throughout the land.
But here we are today representing the world and He is saying to us, what is your petition? What is the decree that you want written that will go throughout the world?
Every one of you, as you write your petition, I am challenging you to take that petition and hide it somewhere under a rock, in the dirt, in a bush, somewhere like they do in Israel, they put their petitions in the wall. We are going to take our decree and our petitions to the nations of the world. We are going to make our statements about the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. That word is going to be multiplied across the nations of the world as God’s people arise in strength, in authority, in dominion, on behalf of and standing as our Jewish brothers and sisters. We have been called for such a time as this.
If you are in agreement, will you stand to your feet?
Judy Ball: Everyone cannot leave here without a call. We were there when Jane was called…..all you have to do is to say “yes” to God. Say it loud and clear.
Lord, we are in awe. We come feeling like that little orphan girl that somehow found herself with the King and a crown on her head, living in the palace. You think, “How did I get here?” But, we are here. You have said to us, “Write a decree and make it known. No longer will you hide your family or your people. You will identify with them and you will let the word resound from your mouth and your ministry where you stand.”
So, today, we, men and women alike, we stand before the King of kings. We stand with the crown on our heads that He has so graciously placed for His own purposes. We say, “Jesus, our Jewish Messiah, we will go where You want us to go. We will say what You want us to say, decree what You want us to decree. We are one with You. Because we are one with You, we are one!”
God, expand the ministry! Expand the revelation! Expand the understanding! Expand the finances that we can pour into ministries in Israel. Give into our hand what they need so we can pass it on to them.
God, we see that Your return to earth is coming quickly and the hour at which we live is so strategic. We will not miss Your heartbeat in this moment. We will not miss Your direction or the guidance of Your eye.
We declare before You today, “We are Yours!” Say it together, “We are Yours!”
Asher: As you and Judy were praying about what Dutch Sheets said about you having the keys and everyone responded, “Yes!” and shouted that, I could feel the Heavens start to open over us. I was thinking that what Jesus taught – He said, “I give you the keys that what you bind and loose on earth will be bound and loosed in Heaven,” but, I want to use the word ‘open’. That what you open on earth will be opened in Heaven.
I was thinking about when Jesus comes back, it says in Revelation 19:11, “Heavens will be opened and all the armies of Heaven will descend with Him.” And you know what, they cannot do that if there isn’t someone here opening it up for them.
I think that we have the key over Jerusalem, but this has to be the key over the earth and that is what this is about. I want to thank you for your kindness in words, but I just want to remind us, this is not about Israel, this is not about the Jewish people, this is about Jesus who is the King of Israel and the Son of David and is coming back to rule and reign over this earth.
What this is about is all this Aglow movement together with the glorified Church of Jesus Christ, taking their authority to open the Heavens to invite Jesus to come down. Obviously, since His is going to come back to Jerusalem, you cannot open the Heavens if you do not see that piece – that is where the key is.
I just want to make this clear that there is nothing special about Jewish people. There is nothing special about Israel as a nation but the key there is that God has made a covenant and the key is with the house of David – it is about Yeshua and it is about His coming.
I want to ask us, just one more time, to cry that out. I want you for just a moment – we want to open the Heavens for Jesus to come back. One day soon He will come back. I think we need to practice opening the Heavens.
I want everyone to raise one hand. You have a key in your hand right now and like there are a million locks in Heaven, and every one of us has a key to open it. Let us begin to open the locks right now. Open the doors of Heaven and the gates of Heaven. Lift up our heads! Lift up our hands and open up the gates of Heaven! Open up the gates of Jerusalem!
Just cry again, “YES! YES! Open the Heavens! Open the Heavens!”
Because the Lord said that you will not see Me again until you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” We believe in the positive part of that – You WILL see Me when you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”
That is what we are here to do, to gather people all over the world to invite Jesus to come back, to invite His Kingdom to come, to invite His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Let us just invite Him to come.
Come on! Yeshua, come! Come Lord Jesus! Come Lord Jesus! Come!
When you, Jane, quoted what the king said to Esther, you can have everything you want to half my kingdom. And Jesus is giving us, giving you, giving Aglow, giving us, half of His Kingdom and we are here to invite Him to put it together.
Ruthie: It is like a lightning bolt coming to earth. Something has to draw it like a magnet to come, that power. Lord, we give ourselves to be that magnet.