About
us
What we are
in word by letters
such persons we are also in deed.
2
Cor 10:11 |
Donna Diorio |
This web site began, in a sense, as a revelation of the indebtedness
of the Church to minister materially to the Body of Messiah
in Israel. In 1991 I first began to perceive what Romans 15:27
was instructing me: “For if the Gentiles have been partakers
of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to
them in material things.”
We have a duty, a spiritual obligation that has never been erased
or expunged or eliminated from need in the first generation
of Israeli Messianic believers in Yeshua to the growing believing
indigenous community in Israel today. As I studied the scriptures,
over the years, I began to see more and more what focus especially
the apostle Paul put on the material support that the Gentile
Church was to bless the Body of Messiah with. I even saw in
Acts 12 why Paul understood this Church support was going to
be a necessity.
As the love God stirred in my heart toward Israel grew, I was
drawn into fellowship with the Messianic Jewish community in
Dallas which opened me to a tremendous learning curve about
what it means to be a Jewish believer in Yeshua, Jesus. In time,
and very much through the directions I read in the letters of
the apostle Paul, I became especially stirred toward the Messianic
Jewish community in Israel. Once I began to delve into what
their lives and ministries were about, I could see that the
same circumstances exist for believers today in Israel that
existed for the first generation of believers in Israel written
about in the book of Acts. I knew that was significant and it
was also something most of us in the Church were missing the
significance of.
Many of us, having been drawn by the heart of God to a love
for Israel, have just plain not seen how the New Testament writers
have directed us to express our love toward Israel by
first fulfilling our duty toward the Israeli household
of faith—those of like precious faith, brothers and sisters
in the Lord. There is good reason for that.
Many Christians think it does not matter who they bless in Israel
as long as they bless Israel. But it does matter. (Since when
does it not matter where we sow, as long as we sow?) This is
no minor point. It matters to God because He is the Lord of
the harvest in Israel. If we continue to ignore the protocol
of blessing Israel, making our brothers in the faith the very
last people we bless in Israel, then we will continue to limit
and hinder them as the laborers in the Lord’s harvest
in Israel.
This is an understanding both simple and profound, yet the majority
in the Israel-supporting Christian community has little to zero
knowledge or contact with the thriving community of indigenous
believers in Israel now estimated at 10 to 15,000 souls. It
is time we in the Church awaken to what God is doing among our
brothers and sisters in the faith in Israel, because the fields
are white unto the harvest…and they are the laborers He
has called to those fields.
Many Christians believe that by blessing the non-believers in
Israel they are providing a witness of Christian love to unbelieving
Jews in Israel. Here is a hard question that demands we be honest
with ourselves in answering: Is there any fruit coming forth?
And,
by fruit, I want to be perfectly clear about what I mean:
Are salvations the fruit of financial seed planting by Christians
into un-believing Israeli organizations?
Jesus said, “Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes
and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already
he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for
life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice
together.” Are we investing in Jewish friendships in
Israel or are we investing the Lord’s harvest?
So far, most who choose to bless Israel by seeding resources
into unbelieving organizations can only say they have scattered
their seed, but they know not where! The indigenous Israeli
believers are planting seed into good soil that is yielding
the fruit that the Lord of the harvest seeks. They are planting
in good soil because they know where the good soil is and
that is their purpose: to see their own families, friends,
neighbors, co-workers and countrymen come to know the real
best friend Israel ever had, Yeshua.
If we will focus our giving in Israel to those who are bearing
the fruit of salvation, honestly assessing what is not bearing
the fruit of salvations, then we will understand why the New
Testament writers—especially Paul, the apostle to the
Gentiles—focused Gentile Christians on materially blessing
the Body of Messiah in Israel. In order for all Israel to
be saved, as Gentile Christians we must begin to discern that
there really is something to the phrases “enemies of
the gospel” and the “household of faith.”
That doesn’t mean we love only our believing brothers
in Israel, but it does mean we bless our brothers so they
can reach the rest of their own nation.
IsraelPrayer.com seeks
to serve as a bridge between the Church and the household
of faith in Israel. Our focus is not political, nor is it
to teach the Hebraic roots of the Christian faith, but rather
we exist to make known the vibrant, growing Israeli community
of believers.
With deep conviction we believe that the New Testament writings
of the Apostle Paul are filled with instruction to Christians
to take their Israeli brothers and sisters in the faith of
Yeshua into our hearts—with compassion, care, brotherly
love, and yes! Material support of their ministries! Indeed,
Paul wrote this is our spiritual "duty."
It
is from the seed of praying for Israeli ministries in my own
congregation that the Israel Prayer mailing list and web site
vision began to develop. It has been five years in the making
from our first prayer team meetings just the month before
September 11th to this writing in October 2006. We continue
to develop the site seeking to do everything within our ability
to aid in the connection of the Gentile Body of Christ to
the Jewish Body of Messiah in Israel. A profound blessing
awaits us both when we truly move into this biblically prescribed
and prophesied relationship.
Making
introductions and publishing spiritual insights into the relationship
of Israel and the Church is what we hope to accomplish with
this site. We hope you will be blessed as you explore www.israelprayer.com
In
addition to developing and editing IsraelPrayer.com
Donna D'Iorio has led an Israel Prayer Team
since August 2001at Baruch
HaShem Messianic Synagogue of Dallas where she and her
husband Anthony have been members since 1993. Marty Waldman
is the spiritual leader of the congregation which functions
in the “one new man” vision of Messianic Jews
and Christians embracing the unity of the body of Messiah.
Perhaps
the largest Messianic Jewish synagogue in the world, we understand
that God intends to sum up all things in His Messiah as expressed
in Ephesians 2:15: "to create in Himself one new man
from the two, thus making peace." The Israel Prayer Team
meets weekly to come into agreement with the prayer requests
of indigenous Israeli ministries for the needs of their congregations
and ministry outreaches.
Donna is also a member of Advancing
Church Ministries Association, an association under the
leadership of Francis Frangipane, of pastors, leaders and
intercessors who have recognized that the highest goal in
the life of every believer is to know Yeshua and, in knowing
Him, to be conformed to His likeness.
While we support Israel in general, it is the household of
faith in Israel that we support specifically . In order to
fulfill their calling as laborers in the Lord’s harvest
fields of Israel, our believing brothers and sisters need
our help in terms of material support.
And we also need them, “For if their rejection is the
reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be
but life from the dead?”
The responsibility for opinions expressed on www.israelprayer.com
rests solely with the individual authors, and publication
does not constitute an endorsement of the opinion expressed
in them by any of the organizations and ministries associated
with Donna Diorio or www.israelprayer.com. That includes
the opinions expressed by Donna Diorio, which should not be
construed as representing the opinion of any organization
or individual other than me. There
is a well known saying among Jews that is equally applicable
here, “Two Jews, three opinions.”
Thank you to those who support this ministry
spiritually and materially.
Free will donations to help support this full-time ministry
serving the Body of Messiah in Israel
can be made by sending check or money order to
Donna Diorio, Israel Prayer Ministry
P O Box 111302
Carrollton, Texas 75006 USA
Or by clicking on the PayPal icon at the website
www.israelprayer.com
I do not have tax exempt status.
IsraelPrayer.com
is housed on a secure server of Global Resource Ministries
International, a group of dedicated individuals with a Joseph
vision who are committed to using the Internet and associated
technology to encourage, build up and bless the emerging global
church. GMRI is a non profit corporation with the technology
and vision to support the body of Messiah in the highest levels
of communication security.
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