Impact Report January 2026
Encountering God in Israel
Do you remember hearing me share the story of how I met a modern-day prophet in a Jerusalem suburb in May 2022? I was walking in Ein Kerem (the town of John the Baptist), when I suddenly saw this man with wild looking long hair and an equally untamed beard, walking towards me. This man looked like what you would imagine the prophet Elijah or John the Baptist would look like; except he was wearing faded blue jeans. I instinctively sensed he was a man of God before he even approached me. He stopped right in front of me and said, “Yeshua (Jesus) told me I would find you here.”
He began telling me facts about my life that he, a total Jewish stranger, wouldn't know except by God’s revelation. My tears began to flow. He proceeded to tell me that God was calling me into full time ministry. When he was done prophesying, he walked off.
When someone reads your mail like that, it’s hard to forget them. For the next few years, I tried to find this prophet but to no avail. Last year in August, a friend in Israel finally gave me his contact information. I reached out to him multiple times, but he never responded. In the first week of January 2026, the Lord led me to go to Israel for prayer and some ministry related meetings. I asked the Lord for a chance to meet the prophet again. My family and friends were praying for this. On my first night in Jerusalem, I had three dreams in which the Lord was telling me that the prophet would come find me, and bring two women with him. In the morning when I woke up, I called him, and he picked up the phone right away. He said, “God told me to see you. Let me know time and place, I come.” I was blown away by the faithfulness of God!
Israel the prophet showed up, and indeed he brought two women with him, just like I had seen in my dream. For the next six hours, he alternated between talking to us about the Bible and praying. Time seemed to stand still. God doesn’t waste an opportunity. It turned out that the women needed deliverance prayers and I was able to pray for them the next day. The next time I saw Israel the prophet, we prayed and talked about the Bible for eight hours straight. Time seemed to stand still. In that time, I asked him how he came to give his life to Yeshua.
He told me that when he was serving his country and fighting in the wars in Israel, he had intense hatred in his heart for the Arabs because of the history of wars and bloodshed between the Jews and Arabs. One day he was patrolling by the Eastern Gate in Jerusalem when something dramatic happened to him. (The Old City of Jerusalem is surrounded by a wall containing eight major gates. Moving counter-clockwise from the northern-most gate are Herod’s Gate, the Damascus Gate, the New Gate, Jaffa Gate, Zion Gate, the Dung Gate, the Eastern Gate, and the Lions’ Gate. The Eastern Gate, facing the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley, is unique in that it is completely sealed shut. The Eastern Gate of Jerusalem is also called the Golden Gate or the Beautiful Gate (Acts 3:2). In Hebrew, it is Sha'ar Harahamim, the “Gate of Mercy.” It is currently the oldest gate in the Old City, having been constructed in the 6th or 7th century AD. Also, it is the gate that gives the most direct access to the temple mount—if a person could pass through the arches of the Eastern Gate, he would be very close to where the Jewish temple used to stand.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives in Matthew 21, He used a gate in the same location as the current Eastern or Golden Gate. The Eastern Gate was subsequently sealed shut in AD 1540–41 by order of Suleiman the Magnificent, a sultan of the Ottoman Empire. It’s believed that the reason for the closing of the Eastern Gate was to thwart Biblical prophecies that point to the Messiah gaining entrance to Jerusalem via the Eastern gate). Learn more about the Eastern Gate.
As Israel was patrolling along the Eastern Gate, he suddenly saw a very beautiful, dazzling man clothed in the most searing white light. The man said to him: “I am Yeshua. Repent of your sins and repent of the hatred you have in your heart towards the Arab people. I will forgive you, save you, and fill you with My love and My Holy Spirit.” He was overcome by the presence of God and immediately began to repent. He felt the love and presence of Jesus penetrate his body. He felt it in his nose, his eyes, and every pore of his being. God did not waste any time with Israel; He immediately began to send him to the Arab people to be a witness. Jesus did everything to ensure that He drove all hatred out of Israel’s heart. Even when the Arab terrorists persecuted him, and slaughtered his daughter before his very eyes, he continued to show them the love of Christ. It wasn’t easy to love the people who killed his only daughter. They killed her two weeks before her wedding. She was only 28 years old. The Lord told the grieving father, “Love your enemies, do good to those that hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Jesus gave him the grace to love.
In the time I spent with Israel, I saw the powerful love of Jesus in action. Wherever we were, Israel stopped to love on total strangers and pray with/for them. I have known a lot of people that love Jesus, but I have never met anyone that is so filled with the tangible love and presence of God that you can see it in their eyes and literally feel it. He was absolutely in love with Jesus, and dead to the world; and it showed.
During my time in Israel, I encountered God in a deeply transformational way. In the seven days I was there, I met, talked, and prayed with/for a good number of people. All these encounters affected me deeply, but none impressed upon me the incredible love and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ like my time with Israel the prophet. The war in Israel has brought pain and deeper fractures between the Jews and Arabs in Israel. In the midst of much prayer for them, God sent me a blazing example of how hatred, resentment, mistrust, and bitterness in the hearts of men can only be truly removed by the love and presence of Yeshua HaMashiach Sar Shalom (Jesus the Messiah, Prince of Peace). Please continue to pray that the light and love of Jesus will penetrate the hearts of men, women, and children all over the world. Jesus is coming soon; we must be ready for Him!
Resources
Download this quarter’s eBook “Developing a Powerful Prayer Life” and check out our latest prayers for special celebrations and everyday life on our new “Prayers” page.
Watch this powerful message from Jahan Berns at our Made for More Conference ⬇️
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