048 - The Lost Sheep of Israel

Letter from the Editor:

 Those of you who joined in the Jesus Fast that started March 1st, will need no reminder that today is the last day of our 40. Bon appetit! For those who would like to jump on board now, our Briefing team is ending one fast and beginning another. Today, April 9th, is election day in Israel. It is possibly the most critical election in their history as a nation. We have a team en route to Israel right now for 40 days of focused intercession in the land. Below, Lou Engle shares some biblical and prophetic backdrop for this strategic initiative. Please join us in carrying God’s heart for His people in this climactic hour of history.

-- Cheryl Amabile

The Lost Sheep of Israel

By Lou Engle

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Matthew 10:5-6

 Scripture recounts how Daniel fasted in the 70-year window for the great jailbreak of the Jewish people out of Babylon and back to their homeland. We sense that we are in another 70+ year period since Israel became a nation and the great evangelistic outpouring of the Spirit began in 1948. I believe that I, along with the Body of Christ, am in a major transitional prayer shift and divine assignment to understand, like Daniel, if we fast and pray we will see an outbreak of God’s wondrous grace on the Jewish people worldwide.

 During this 40-day fast, I have been apprehended with God’s heart for his own people. As we have been praying “ekballo”, I have been deeply moved by what it will  mean to Jesus when the worldwide church begins to pray ekballo for His own people, the ones he first directed his disciples to pray for and go to.

When Jesus said, “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers,” He then directed those very disciples not to go to the Gentiles, but rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He groaned over His own people. 2,000+ years later, what do you think his groan is now? I want to comfort the heart of Jesus. I have this deep prophetic feeling that as this massive worldwide Jesus movement breaks out, it’s going to break out among the Jewish people as well - maybe first and foremost. 70 years are up. Could it be time for the beginnings of the fulfillment of Romans 11:15 concerning the Jews receiving Christ?

 “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will  their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” Romans 11:15

 Just the other day a young Jewish woman, who has launched a movement of 40 days of fasting in Israel, called me with a dream in which I was told, “You cannot see a revival in America unless you, Lou, begin praying for the Jewish people.” I am weighing the dream very heavily. Today, as we end this fast and begin another focus, would you join us in praying that all over the world the Lord of the Harvest would thrust forth laborers into the Jewish harvest field, both in the land of Israel and in the diaspora worldwide?

 Prayer: Jesus, once again we know you are looking to your own people, harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. We know your heart is broken because there are few laborers. So, we take up your groan and your prayer. We seek to align with your broken heart. We beg you to do what you have been longing to do since you first commanded your disciples to pray this prayer, “Hurl forth laborers to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”