On Your Walls O Jerusalem...

Monday, May 30, 2016

Jerusalem is a city of many walls, and we spent our first full day in the city walking on top of them, praying at them, and exploring beneath them.  We began the day by walking and praying along the Ramparts Walk, atop the wall the encircles the Old City.  This walk afforded a great view of many of the familiar sites of Jerusalem as well as many neighborhoods, shops, churches, and schools.  It is amazing how being "on site" helps you pray with insight!

We then went to the Western Wall, each of us carrying a linen bag filled with the prayers taken from the Riverside prayer wall, along with the other requests sent by friends and family.  We spent time in prayer individually at the Wall alongside people of all ages and many languages.  What a privilege and an honor to carry these prayers here and to intercede for our friends and family and for the people and the land of Israel in this ancient and beautiful place. 

We then went up to the top of Temple Mount, to walk along the ancient area of Mt. Moriah where the Second Temple once stood, now the site of the golden Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is amazing to think of the prayer and worship that took place there when the Temple stood in Jesus' time and to know as Christ followers that, because of Shavuot/Pentecost, we now carry the divine Presence wherever we go.

In the afternoon we went under the walls of Temple Mount with a tour of the Western Wall tunnels.  We learned that the Western Wall is so incredibly sturdy not just because of the incredible construction but because it is literally carved into the bedrock of Mt. Moriah, also known as the "Foundation Stone".  We were struck by the significance of this picture as a physical representation depicting God as our Rock who cannot be moved, who is a firm foundation upon which WE cannot be shaken! Which just happened to be one of the worship songs we began our morning with ("We Will Not Be Shaken"). That Glenn Green sure knows how to pick a worship theme for the day!

As Pastor Scott has taught us, God loves to speak in pictures and there are some things we can only learn with our feet.  How true that was for our team today.  So grateful to be in this place at this time with these prayerful, worshipful people.  Thank you for praying and sending us. We carry you in our hearts with each step we take. Shalom from Jerusalem!

"I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will be never be silent day or night.  You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her a praise in the earth." - Isaiah 62:6-7

~Debby Boggs