By: Callie Mitchell, SAVED News International Correspondent, Jerusalem Israel — Do you feel safe?
That is a question that I have answered countless times since moving to Israel nearly seven years ago. Recently, it has come up much more frequently in light of the terror attacks we’ve faced for going on four months.
Usually, the answer is “Yes!” and right now, I do feel safe. Last fall, however, presented the first time since moving to Israel that I honestly did not. I spend a great deal of time on the bus with two small children. Knowing that civilians have been targeted indiscriminately at bus stops has left me in an extremely vulnerable position for fear to grow.
Attacks persist outside of the city, but have decreased in Jerusalem due to some measures the government has taken to protect its citizens. It’s natural to feel a sense of physical safety again. Even so, I’m learning, daily, that my sense of safety has to come from confidence in the Lord, not from external circumstances.
God’s word tells us: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim 1:7). As I’ve pressed into this scripture to combat fear, I’ve learned that the Greek word for “power” is a sort of “power in numbers,” such as an army. I can testify that it has a great deal to do with the body of Messiah!
We are blessed to be part of a great Messianic Congregation, to live in a neighborhood filled with other believers, and to have our son attending the Messianic preschool where I am also volunteering as an art teacher. The preschool has been source for this “power” to be poured into my own life.
Unique in the Kingdom of God, the preschool has a Messianic Jewish teacher and an Arab Christian teacher in each class, as well as Christian volunteers from the nations to assist. Twice, I have been at the preschool while attacks were taking place only two blocks away. On both occasions, rather than a spirit of fear arising, I felt so blessed to be part of a great reconciliation work, seeing Jews and Arabs in unified fellowship through Messiah Yeshua.
My art lesson, on the same day as one of the attacks, was an illustration of the Lord providing Hagar and Ishmael with the well after they were forced to leave Abraham’s tent. I saw that well as a prophecy that the descendants of Ishmael would drink of the Living Water, and looking around, I could see a fulfillment! Fellowship with this diverse body of believers gave me tremendous hope that the Lord can move in the hearts of our Arab neighbors to know Him. That has encouraged me into bold intercession as I walk the streets of Jerusalem.
The “power in numbers” found through fellowship, can fan into flame the gifts that the Lord has placed in each of us for such a time as this (2 Tim 1:6, Esther 4:14)! Be active in your church and let that fire burn away all fear!
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