Stand where it happened.
Twenty one short devotions from Israel.
Two or three minutes each, filmed at the places themselves. Free to watch, in your own time, as often as you like.
Twenty devotions, starting in Jerusalem.
We start in Jerusalem, where all of it comes to a point, then go north to the Galilee and out to the coast. Watch them straight through, or open whichever one you need today.
Mount of Olives
Perspective
The whole city lies out in front of you from this hillside. Jesus came down it to cheering crowds, and stopped partway to weep over what he could see.
Gethsemane
Surrender
Olive trees still grow on this slope, some of them old enough that the roots go back to that night. It is a green, ordinary garden. It is where he said yes.
Jerusalem Walls
Belonging
You can walk the ramparts right around the Old City and look down into the neighborhoods. Do it once and Jerusalem stops being a headline and becomes a place you know.
Southern Steps
Step Up
The original stairs up to the Temple, cut deliberately uneven so nobody could run them. Jesus climbed these exact stones. You can put your feet on them too.
Temple Mount
Peace for Israel
Even in its broken state it is still the center of everything. Stand up there and you understand why people have been praying for the peace of this place for three thousand years.
Western Wall
Prayer
One surviving stretch of the Temple Jesus knew, still standing. People come from everywhere, write their prayer down, and leave it in the cracks between the stones.
Jewish Quarter
Rest on Shabbat
Friday afternoon, the shops pull their shutters, the traffic thins out, and the whole city exhales at once. Shabbat here is not a rule. It is a relief.
Upper Room
Encounter God
The last supper happened in a room like this one, and so did Pentecost. Same four walls, two different beginnings, fifty days apart.
Elah Valley
Courage
A shepherd boy picked five stones out of this creek bed. You can still bend down and pick up your own. The giant was real, and so was the courage.
Banias Waterfall
Refreshment
Snowmelt off Mount Hermon comes down through the rock here, loud and cold, at the very top of the country. David wrote that deep calls to deep. This is the sound he meant.
Mount Arbel
New Vision
Jesus climbed this cliff to pray through the night. In the morning he gave the Great Commission. The view is worth the climb.
Bethsaida
Friends Meet
Peter, Andrew and Philip all came out of this one small fishing town. Three friends from the same street. That is still how most of this works.
Capernaum
Jesus' Hometown
He left Nazareth and moved here. The synagogue floor is still in place, and Peter's house is a few steps from the water, exactly as close as it sounds.
Mount of Beatitudes
Clarity
The hillside above the lake curves like an amphitheater, so a voice carries without shouting. Thousands of families sat on this grass and heard every word.
Magdala
God's Presence
A first century town lost under a field until builders broke ground in 2009 and found the synagogue intact. Mary walked these stones before anyone knew her name.
Sea of Galilee
Tranquility
Not a sea at all. A freshwater lake you can see clean across. Peter fished it, Jesus walked it, and at dawn it is still the quietest place in Israel.
David's Harp
Rest by the Water
Our hotel on the Galilee shore, directly across the water from the town Jesus lived in. Rest is not time off from the trip. Some days it is the whole point.
Mediterranean Blue
Beaches in Israel
Most people never picture Israel with a beach. This is Ashdod on the coast, where Jonah came back to dry land and Philip walked the road south, and the water really is that blue.
Caesarea
Reflection
Herod built a harbor here out of open sea. Cornelius was baptized in this city and the door swung open to the nations. Paul sailed for Rome from this spot.
The Living Stones
The People
Israel is full of ancient stones, and they are worth the trip on their own. The living ones are the people. They are the reason you come back.
Israel is people, not only places.
Every devotion above puts you somewhere. This one puts you with someone.
A church from San Marcos, just north of San Diego, spent a morning planting a tree in Israeli soil. They went home with something growing there, and with friends to visit it.
Planting for Israel's Tomorrow
There is more where these came from.
We keep filming. Subscribe on YouTube and the new ones show up on their own. Or come and stand in these places yourself, which is better than any of them.
Share them with anyone. That is what they are for.
Questions? hello@philipshouse.com · philipshouse.com
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