Heart of Courage

Heart of courage was the theme on last week’s summer camp for teenagers in the Negev. This summer camp is part of the ministry Streams in the Desert, a Messianic ministry for the widows and orphans in the Negev. When I say widows and orphans, I mean it in a biblical sense: those families, where there is no father who provides and takes care. In our time most of them are single parent families, where the parents are divorced. As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, I have been connected to this beautiful ministry since many years and have seen kids (often troublesome kids with an orphan spirit) grow into leaders and spiritual fathers and mothers. It is such a privilege for me to serve with this ministry. Marianna, the founder and director of the ministry, also has a strong vision for the One New Man, so we serve with Jews and people from the nations together. This year I was

again part of the prayer team (and back-up for the camp nurse 😉). With the prayer team we are on site, participate in the club times, are a praying presence at some of the team times and activities and we have our own prayer times. In these prayer times we worship and pray for difficult situations in the camp, for specific teenagers or leaders, and for the teachings given at club time.

Club time, what is that? I think this is the heart of camp. This is a time where everybody is in the club room, from teenagers and counselors, to the leadership and the prayer team. It starts with some fun activities: 5 minutes of Just Dance, Dance videos where you will follow the movements of one of the figurines on the screen. Then a time with games and skits follows. These are always hilarious and help the kids and all of us to relax, let go and just have fun. This is something important for all teenagers, I would say, but even more so here in Israel, where they live in continuous tension and since almost three years in a war situation. In the evening club times the different teams of teenagers with their counselors will present the name they choose for their team, their team jingle and something connected to the theme of the teachings. This is also done in a creative way, with skits, songs, dances, and a lot of energy! From here we enter a time of worship. The worship team that has been serving at summer camp now since several years is made up of a group of people from South Korea and international students, that live in Midreshet Ben Gurion, Israel. They give their time and resources to serve these Jewish teens and help them come into God’s presence through the worship. Most of them speak little or no Hebrew, but they learn all the worship songs in Hebrew! And they have a depth in worship, that is so important for the spiritual warfare that we are dealing with. I had the joy to be invited to join them on my flute 😊. After worship the teaching follows. It is not long, only 15 minutes, but to the point and in-depth. We were supposed to have one speaker for the whole week, a Messianic Jewish teacher here from the Land, but she had to cancel due to family circumstances. Plan B was put in place: 6 of the young adult counselors each gave 1 teaching. They all did an amazing job, sharing from their own lives and giving testimonies to which the teens could easily relate. And I think this plan B might have been God’s Plan A 😉. To end club time there is the part that I might like most: the Father’s blessing. The teens stand in the middle and the whole team (counselors, leadership, worship team, prayer team) stands around them and the teens can only leave club, if they have received a blessing from one of the team. They can chose someone themselves or a team member might walk up to them and ask them if they can pray. I think these are the moments, where most of the miracles of God touching hearts happen!

I would like to give testimony of something that happened to one of the teenagers. Y. was not very engaged on day one. She hang out with another girl, that is not a believer yet and this wasn’t necessarily a positive influence. On day 2 her friend was so sick, that she had to go home. So Y. lost her friend and seemed lost within the group. We saw that during team time, so we prayed specifically for her in our next prayer time. That evening the talk was on holiness. It was based on Rev 22:11. In different translations it is said in different ways, but the teaching was based on this:

those who are holy will continue on in greater holiness or let the saint be sanctified still. That means, that there is a status of holiness (because we belong to Yeshua), but there is also a process of being sanctified, which is an ongoing process for all of us. At the end of the teaching an invitation was given for the teenagers to choose to belong to Yeshua. Y. went during the Father’s blessing up to the youth counselor that had just given the talk and said to her, that she wanted to belong to Yeshua. From that moment on there was a smile on her face and her attitude at camp was totally different! Hallelujah! And this is just one of many testimonies that we can give.

The spiritual battle around the younger generation is terrible allover the world, but here in Israel even more intense, I would say. One of the international intercessors, who was connected to us in prayer

from home, felt strongly from the Lord, that this young generation is Israel is the most significant generation alive on earth in this time. Marianna writes this on the ministry’s website:

“We are engaged in a battle for these children, but I know they will stand, and that the Lord will build from them an exceedingly great army. I once had a vision of a tent in the desert filled with all kinds of weapons, and I saw the kids each coming inside to choose their weapons. The tent is the tabernacle in the wilderness, the abiding presence of the Lord. The work of Streams in the Desert is bringing these kids into encounters with the Lord and helping to prepare them to wield spiritual weapons and to do battle for their generation.”

So, if this resonates in your heart, I invite you to join in prayer for these teenagers and for this beautiful ministry, so they can equip these kids for the spiritual battle they are facing and will face in times to come.

Personally I have been encouraged and feel strengthened in my intercession for the younger generation. And I think it was a wonderful closure for this time in Israel. In a few days I am flying out to France. I really do not want to leave Israel again, but I am looking forward for what God has for me on my journey.

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