With God all things are possible

 

June 4, 2019 Knock and Talk.

 

We were two teams that evening, visiting a large apartment building where many Jewish people reside. The first team had the time to complete 2 floors. At the first door was a French speaking Moroccan woman about 80 years old. She said she was just released from the hospital and was bent over saying she could not stand very long as she was weak. One of the team members suggested she go sit down and that they could come in to explain the reason they were at the door. An English set was offered to her but she said that unfortunately she does not speak English and that she does not know how to read, even if it was in French because in her younger years, it was only the men who were instructed, the women cared for the family. But she said her children however are fluent and read well in English and Hebrew. She accepted a set for them. As soon as she took the set, the phone rang and it was her daughter to find out how she was doing, so the team left.

 

At another door, a woman of around 70 years of age was interested and took the set. After the team finished presenting the set to her, another woman of about 40 years old came up behind her and the team presumed it was the daughter. She asked what this was all about and when they explained it to her, she refused the set and said it was not the real Tanach without even looking at it. She went on further to say we were proselytizing, and she did not want to discuss anything and closed the door on us.

 

Further along, we were answered at another door by a French woman who said she has already received a set. The team asked if she reads it; she said yes and even went to get it to show us. She said she enjoys reading it at night because it makes her feel good. We suggested that she read Isaiah 53 that very night and ask herself who this could be? Could it be the Messiah? She agreed to read.

 

After this, the woman who had earlier on angrily closed the door on us, came over, almost yelling that we had no right to do what we are doing and demanding that we should leave the building. When we tried to speak to her to explain ourselves, she became even angrier… almost like a roaring lion. She had actually called ahead to complain to the caretaker of the building, and finding us, he asked us to leave the building. As the caretaker walked with us towards the exit door, we explained why we were here. A smile grew on his face as he told us that Jesus is his life. While outside, we started to pray for the team still in the building. Our prayers were in particular for the angry woman who had yelled at us, that the Lord would give her calm and remove the veil from her eyes. We also prayed for seeds to be planted through the other team’s labors.

 

Report from the second team:

 

After refusals at three consecutive doors, we met a young man, with a kippah, who, with a smile, gratefully received a whole set.

 

At another apartment, a man spoke to us through a closed door and asked us to leave the set at his doorstep. Another couple received a whole set, also with joy and gratitude. The woman said it was very nice of us to offer this gift for books are so expensive these days. She asked us why we do this. We explained that it was a gift in gratitude for the Jewish people, in how they guarded and protected the written word over many centuries. We blessed her warmly as she did us. Please pray for this sweet woman.

 

Then while knocking on another door, a woman came up to us to ask us what we were doing. She insisted that we were forbidden to do this proselyting, that it made no sense that people go door to door to give books to Jews about their own religion… that we should keep this faith of ours to ourselves. She said the nations had refused the Word of God so He gave it to the Jews.

 

We asked her if she knew that the Jews were to be a light to all the nations, in that they were to share the Word of God with them.  She answered that if someone wants to come and get teachings from a rabbi, he/she can. We spoke for almost half hour at the door. We touched on some very important points such as:

– her need to read Isaiah 53

– that fact that the prophets were killed by the religious leadership

– that works and deeds do not save

– that we all need Messiah

– that God is calling us to a personal relationship

– that the rabbi will not be there when we have to face God…

 

And here is the beautiful thing that happened through it all: She was first aggressive towards us but as the conversation continued, we believe a good camaraderie developed between us. We believe this happened because of how we expressed our love for the Jewish people and the Word of God. What makes this even more interesting is that when both teams put their stories together afterwards, we realized that this woman who warmed up to us was most likely the same one who had initially showed great anger and had called the caretaker. How beautiful that the other team had opportunity to pray for her, for the veil to be lifted and for calmness to reign in her heart and how blessed we were to be able to experience the result of those prayers.  We believe this woman was truly seeking God, deep inside and we could see that God He was seeding something in her heart! Beautiful Abba, sweet loving Father. May You bless her!!!

 

At the last door a lovely woman of about 80 years old received the whole set with so much joy, gratefulness and tenderness! We blessed her and her smile was so amazing! We did not really want to leave this door… it was a precious moment.

 

A total of five sets were given out that evening.

 

Report from Calgary,

 

Last week God opened a door for Donald who had the blessing of giving the gift of the Scriptures to a young Jewish woman in a shop.  Along with another person who joined our team that evening, we braved the cold only to discover that everyone was away except two home owners who declined our gift.  We had the opportunity to teach a new member while we went from door to door.  So, we still have two members who will hold down the fort over the summer while one of those in leadership will be away.  We also have a third participant in mind who can join us for the Calgary outreach. Please keep our team in prayer.

 

May God’s protection shield us  from the rise of so many anti-God activities on our streets.