GOD WANTS YOUR HEART, AND PRAYER IS THE MEANS by which your heart is offered to Him. "When you pray, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words be without heart" (John Bunyan). Set your affections upward, lift up your soul, and inwardly bow in awe before the Presence of the King who sits upon the Throne of Grace. Pour out your concerns before Him, since He cares for you. Our prayers are answered when we are able to let go and trust God's heart for us (Phil. 4:6-7).

Nationhood and Jerusalem
Israel became a nation in 1312 BCE - 2,000 years before the rise of Islam.

Calendar of Jewish Persecution
70 A.D.     Destruction of Jerusalem 1,100,000 Jews were killed and 97,000 taken into slavery and captivity.

“For the Lord hath chosen Zion... I will bless her with abundant provision.” Ps. 132: 13, 15. God’s idea of abundance must be different than our typical ideas of abundance. Normally, when I think of abundance, I think of a heap of something stored up. A heap of money in the bank. An abundant supply of chips for the Superbowl party so I can crunch all the way through the fourth quarter. We are encouraged to store an abundant supply water for emergencies. My husband would call my collection of shoes “abundant.”

On June 15, 1970, a group of Soviet dissidents gathered at Smolny Airport outside Leningrad.  They had bought all the seats on a 12-passenger aircraft headed 240 miles northwest to Priozersk, near the Finnish border.  Upon landing, they intended to hijack the plane, deposit the crew in a nearby forest, and fly to Sweden, where they would hold a press conference to call attention to the plight of Soviet Jewry.  They would then

Only God knows the future, the past too ugly to repeat.
I live here in the present to wander earth on believer’s feet.

Does some tragic scene await, should I smile, or should I dread?
With Holy Force I ask in prayer, “Father, give me my daily bread.”