40 Days Inside God's Heart: Father of Lights in Florentine Hostel

Mediterranean Ocean/Tel Aviv beach at sunset

I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness...For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. ~Isaiah 61:10-11

This past week in Tel Aviv has been a blessed experience, I was challenged and saddened, but also encouraged and uplifted. The people I met at the Florentine Hostel were a young, happy bunch--loving life to the utmost--spending the day at the beach and partying the night away. The young Israelis that work and volunteer there were some of the most loving people I've ever met. They doted on travelers like brothers and sisters and by doing so, succeeded in creating a home away from home. While I was there, God revealed to me His heart for this place and His children here.

He showed me broken and suffering souls behind the veil of bright smiles and carefree personalities. I met a woman in her forties from Ohio that have poured most of her life into academic studies and that have come to Israel to find herself and fulfill her dreams. She invited me to watch the sunset at the beach, and there shared with me a piece of her life story. I found out that she had grown up in a Christian family but have never been baptized. She had dreamed for the day of getting baptized in the Jordan River. However, now that she is here in Israel, she doesn't want to do it anymore. I was heartbroken when I heard this, not necessarily because she no longer desired to be baptized, but because she has never truly felt the love of the Father. She told me of the wounds within her family and the painful experiences she went through with her former husband. When I told her about the love of God as from a loving father or the love of Jesus as from a passionate bridegroom, she looked at me with blank, confused eyes. She had difficulty understanding and receiving God's love because she has not experienced the same love from the people around her.

Through this lovely woman, the Lord revealed to me a soul broken by religion and a heart hungering after true love. She is one of the many in the hostel, and in the city, that Abba desires to embrace. He roused in my heart an urgency to intercede, heal, and love--all His children, especially those that don't yet know the promise of salvation through His Son Jesus--even though at first I wrestled with the fear of stepping out of my comfort zone to talk to people. But the Lord spoke to my heart that He has a purpose for me to be in Florentine Hostel. In fact, it was not by chance that I was put in a room with the most Jewish travelers. When I first arrived, the room had no Jewish person that I knew of. However, by the end of the week, almost the entire room was filled with Jewish brothers and sisters--some from US, others from Australia and Tel Aviv. Many were visiting friends and family in Israel. Praise God, I had the opportunity to chat with them and bless them before I left for Jerusalem yesterday. On the last night I was there, God gave me strength to venture out onto the rooftop terrace where there is usually alcohol and loud music, and went around inviting people to watch the Father of Lights film I was planning to screen on my laptop downstairs. When I got to two Jewish brothers, also my roommates, I told them that as a Christian, I love them and see them as family, that it has been my honor to room with them. As I said those words, I felt the love of a Father's heart overwhelm me and flow out of me. One of them cried, and his friend held him and comforted him. I realized, at that moment, that there is a place in every child's heart that longs to meet his/her Father.

I didn't end up showing the film, it was mainly bad timing on my part. I regretted at not having approached people earlier about the wonderful, spirit-stirring film. However, I am touched that God still used the film as a platform of faith for me to step onto for reaching out to His beloved ones in the hostel, and that He still used me--someone who would rather not step out of my safety bubble (I tried reasoning with God for the whole week that I'd only have to pray for them in faith, and not have to actually bless them directly, but He reminded me every time James 2:14-26 and Romans 10:14-15.)--to comfort His people.

I am sure that my presence shifted the spiritual atmosphere there, just as Ravi and the film crew in the Father of Lights were at the witch's hut--the crown of salvation at our heads and the light within all those who believe drive the darkness away. I pray that the Father's love and His light continue to invade Florentine Hostel, the place set apart as holy unto Him and to be raised up as a home away from home where people meet their Creator and Husband face to face.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins...You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!" See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. ~Isaiah 40:1-2, 9-10