On November 12, NZ Friends of Israel held a farewell reception for H.E. Excellency Ambassador Yitzhak Gerberg. One of the speakers was Michael Thomas , Director of Prayer of Israel New Zealand. Here is the full text of his address:
Greetings your Excellency,
My name is Michael Thomas, and my wife Teresa are honoured to be here tonight with you. Although we have only lived in New Zealand for three years, approximately 18 months ago, we were invited to become the directors of a Christian ministry called Prayer for Israel New Zealand.
This ministry was formed in 1981 by a wonderful Kiwi man, named Murray Dixon. Under his leadership, this ministry spread rapidly all over New Zealand… With literally dozens of groups springing up across the entire country of New Zealand. Today, no matter where my wife and I travel in New Zealand we are greeted by groups of individuals gathered together to regularly and fervently pray to the God of Israel for the people of Israel. You’ll find meetings throughout New Zealand that meet weekly, fortnightly or monthly… Typically for anywhere from 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours.
These groups are quite diverse from place to place and home to home. One tiny group outside of Palmerston North asked us to come and meet them. It’s a small group and they meet every Wednesday morning at 10:30 at the kitchen table. An Indian woman, two Kiwis, several Pacific Islanders, a Jamaican, a Filipino… And while we were there, they even had two Yankees.
Three weeks after meeting with them, we met a group of 60+ people in the town hall of Opitiki. Among these only four of us were “Pakehas” (non-Maori), the rest, of course, were Maori. And among them, a surprisingly large number were of Jewish descent. We gathered together for two hours to pray for Israel to the God of Israel. From every tongue tribe and nation, it seems that prayer for Israel is being poured out.
During lockdown, my wife and I introduced Zoom to nearly 250 people that ranged in age… People in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s & 90s… Most of these folks were not very technologically literate… But we worked with them, and they worked with us. The reason, was so that even during lockdown they wanted to meet together to pray for Israel. While most of these meetings were typically held fortnightly or monthly… Through the lockdown people were meeting weekly and often attended more than one meeting.
As we read in Psalm 122:6 “Shalu Shalom Yeerushalaim, “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”
One of our joys in meeting and meeting some of these groups is encouraging them to close every meeting with the reading of the priestly blessing found in the sixth chapter of Bamidbar (or the book of Numbers).
So tonight, we would like to bless you as you and your family return to the Land.
Numbers 6:22-28
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
Evareccha ADONAI vayish marecha
The Lord bless you and keep you;
Yaer Adonai panavalecha v’hunecha
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
Isa adonai panavelecha, v’asemlecha shalom
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace
[and we never forget this last verse…]
“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
Go well, remember that there are always friends in New Zealand, and they are praying for you.
Thank you.
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