I had been back from my first Israel trip for about two months, when I woke up in the middle of the night feeling very homesick for the nation of Israel. I had never before traveled anywhere where I actually felt homesick for the place I had left.
I’m not sure what time it was that night, but more clearly than I ever had before, I heard the voice of God speak to me. It wasn’t an audible voice I could hear with my ears, instead I heard the Lord speak to me in my heart.
“I’ve called you to Lift up Zion.”
That was all I heard. Then I wept for a while before drifting back to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up with an idea. I remembered the Messianic congregation of believers I had met in Israel. I thought I should do something to connect the believers around the world with the believers in Israel in order to support them financially.
I shared the idea with a couple of trusted friends, but other than that, I didn’t do anything with this idea except pray about it.
More than two years later, I found myself sitting alone on a pew in a church sanctuary. I sat down and prayed, “Lord, will you show me myself in the Scriptures?” And then I happened to open my Bible to Romans 15.
Even though they’re spelled differently, my name Akaya, and Achaia are pronounced the same way, so my attention was piqued at the sight of that word in this passage:
At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.
Romans 15:25-27
As I read these verses I realized that the idea I had more than two years earlier of rallying Christians to bless the saints in Israel was right there in the Scriptures!
I began to look through the Bible to see if I could find any more information about the Gentile believers giving financially to the saints in Israel, and I found many more places where the Bible records giving to the believers in Israel.
I received this ministry from the Lord before I ever knew it existed in Scripture. Yet, it existed in Scripture nearly 2,000 years ago and was performed by the early church.
Lifting up Zion is not a new ministry, rather it is a very old one that is being revived for such a time as this, and the Lord knows why.
May the Church once again perform its duty of blessing the saints of Israel financially. We have most certainly shared in the spiritual blessings of the Jewish people, we ought to be of service of them in material blessings.
