𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐐 (𝐄𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐥, 𝐊𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧): 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫

this is not the best kennedy you can buy [Applause] we're gabriel and lorraine off on a god adventure to set our feet in the places he's called us to go where are you going back hello what's happening people iraq is the fourth country on our journey and a country that holds a special place in our hearts a few years ago we traveled to jordan to meet and interview iraqi christian refugees who had escaped persecution from isis stories that were included in a book i wrote called love in the face of isis which gave prayer strategies over the middle east [Music] it's very pretty god also gave me a script to write over the events that took place in this region we are so excited to see this land that holds such cultural historical and biblical significance [Music] we're here in this region of iraq that is actually part of kurdistan and this city is so interesting because when isis took over in iraq back oh how many years ago was it five years ago this is the area that all of the rocky christians fled to for refuge and i feel like it's such an important place to come people from all over the nations are coming this week to pray and sow into what god's doing in the middle east and so we want to make some declarations and pray for the people of iraq and for the middle east as to what god has for them and we want you to join us in prayer also for this area our first objective in the morning was to find cash well to find an atm that would release cash to us we didn't realize that debit cards weren't used in our bill and we failed to get money at the airport when we had a chance you're working hard it was a great way to scout out the area meet people and learn about the culture firsthand [Applause] knowledge that would be useful later when our film would go into production no no no no because it's shade are you american yes hello we finally made our way to the hotel which had an atm unfortunately the machine had no cash which is not an uncommon occurrence as we found out strangely enough the locals have no need for atms even though cash is used for everything utility bills rent payments even cars and houses cash is king fortunately we were not alone in our quest this new friend was also on the hunt and knew of another hotel where we might find success solomon turned out to be an angel in disguise say hi to everybody from california yes in the afternoon we were able to see more of irbil by car including the site of a former displacement camp where iraqis were housed after escaping isis thankfully this camp was no longer in use as the people had found new places to call home [Music] [Music] our hosts invited us to experience an authentic middle eastern dinner with them and their friends a couple named david and sahar brimer is a musician songwriter and worship leader and sahar is an accomplished classical guitarist from iran david and sahar met in irbil years earlier at the same prairie event that brought us to iraq later that night we went to the prayer event where david was leading worship for the people who had gathered from all around the world to pray for the middle east for 100 hours worship and prayer went up to heaven nonstop we want iraq to also hunger for more that this would be the normal no seasons in our lives or only when there is war or bad things but it will be the normal [Applause] the next morning we were so excited for the arrival of our good friend sarah when we first met in seattle years earlier she invited us to come to her home country none of us knew then how that would come about but god did [Music] i can't believe you are in here [Applause] [Music] we couldn't wait to go out with sarah and explore irbil from her perspective she had such a wealth of information so arpil is circles i don't know yeah we saw that from the plane yeah so you go from a bigger circle and then you go in yeah so we have fire we have the english village we have the italian village as well it's like europe we have our little europeans yeah i'll take you to europe sarah has worked for humanitarian organizations in this country for years providing aid to the people of iraq especially following the influx of isis and the displacement of thousands during the crisis all these buildings were filled with people this one is a new one but i mean the older older buildings yeah they were around the city all of them were fooled with people and they stayed as a idp center for a long time first destination was the citadel of erbil the historical city center and fortified settlement this is the old city everything here is very cultural it's very old it's possible that the citadel is the oldest continuously occupied human settlement on earth dating back for thousands of years the settlement was built on top of a tel a hill created by many generations of people living and rebuilding on the same spot we're here in erbil in the citadel this is one of the oldest citadels in civilization while i was speaking a small group of women came to sit in the arena watching as we filmed when i first came here god showed me three people who he had brought to this area and he released something very special in their lives the first one is abraham abraham lived in this region of the world before god called him to a new land and because of his faith he was made the father of multitudes in fact abraham didn't have a son when god called him and he was not until he was 100 years old that that promise was fulfilled but it was because of his faith that god was faithful to his promise and so that message is for somebody who's struggling with their faith right now that god wants to impart supernatural faith to you so that you can walk like abraham abraham was called a friend of god the second person i think of is jonah jonah was a man who was reluctantly obedient to the call of god and there are some of you watching that may have a call of god on your life and you've been reluctant to follow his leading because it may seem fearful it may not be what you thought it was supposed to be it may go against everything that you think that you want but god is calling you to walk with the faith of a little child childlike faith to walk in obedience and if you do that your reward will be so great so if that's you then lay hold of that claim that jonah was sent here to this place to release the purposes of god the third person that i think of that that god brought to this land is daniel daniel was actually of noble birth he was a hebrew by birth and he was of nobility and he was brought into exile and i think that he probably thought it was a really bad deal for him you know he was a young man and he was excellent and he was skilled and he was learned it and he had all these things going for him in his home country and all of a sudden he's picked up and he's plucked and he's put into a new land and he's he's forced to learn a new culture and he's forced to do things that he probably never thought he was going to do but god said that the wisdom that was put into him was ten times greater than the wisest men in the land that he came to there are some of you who are needing wisdom and you're needing it not just a little bit but you needing it ten times greater i pray that the wisdom of daniel that god imparted to him would be imparted to your life so that you can walk in the purposes of god so that you can lead your families um wisely so that you so that you will have the direction in life and the understanding that you need so father in the name of jesus i thank you for these three examples of people that you brought to this land and all that you imparted to them here i pray for supernatural faith i pray for extreme and radical obedience and i pray for wisdom that goes and exceeds anything that the people have ever known before father thank you for what you showed us through abraham and through jonah through daniel would you release what you released to them and to the people that are watching now to meet their specific need in this time for this season in their lives where they live in the name of yeshua jesus we thank you amen afterwards one of the women came forward to meet me even though we didn't speak the same language the language of friendship and familiarity was present so much so that this intimate gesture took me by surprise [Music] surrounding the citadel is a bazaar filled with hundreds of small shops this tapestry boutique immediately caught my eye in my script for love in the face of isis i utilized the tapestry with an image of jesus as a prop for the film i had to see if this store carried what i was looking for when we described it to the shop owner he was more than happy to find a sample for us to inspect [Music] not only were there numerous shops to see outside but once you enter the bazaar there's a maze of narrow paths leading throughout this expansive market [Music] when we had seen enough sara suggested an upstairs restaurant for turkish coffee a place to relax and enjoy the view after we had occupied the table long enough and it was time for us to leave i noticed a group of english-speaking women enter the restroom with a sign that said closed i figured if they found a way in i might as well follow them too as i was waiting my turn i struck up a conversation with a group and found that they were also interviewed for the international prayer event even though we had all been attending we hadn't seen each other there and we definitely hadn't met i shared a little about my interest in the middle east and that i had written a book of prayer strategies over this region and this is where the story turns crazy one of the women asked if the book i had written was called love in the face of isis she had read this book before coming to the middle east and said it gave her courage to make the journey i don't know who was more moved by this incredible god-given encounter me or her [Music] sarah had one more place to show us before the sun went down the place she calls home we discovered erbil is a contrast of old and new ancient and modern we never expected to see places that felt like home in iraq high rice skyscrapers athletic gyms fast food pizza and hamburger joints that rivaled what we could find in the states and yet less than 70 miles away was the city of mosul the place jonah the prophet preached repentance the place isis ravaged the people i was disappointed we couldn't get into that city as well but i knew we had done what god had called us to do we had set our feet in the places he wanted us to go our hearts were connected with friends old and new and he was enlarging our hearts to feel as he feels to love as he loves we saw dramatic answers to prayer and were surprised by divine encounters we couldn't ask for anything more [Music] you

Channel: Inspiring Faith International

Views: 24,532

Keywords: iraq, iraq travel, erbil, erbil travel, middle east travel, americans in iraq, americans in erbil, erbil citadel, americans in the middle east, praying for iraq, prayers for iraq, prayers for the middle east, praying for the middle east, love in the face of ISIS, Gabriel and Lorraine Varela, Inspiring Faith International, david brymer, iraqi kurdistan, erbil iraq, iraqi kurdistan vlog, is iraq safe, kurdistan travel vlog, erbil travel vlog, kurdish people, iraq vlog

Id: 7IFUD-hU_dk

Length: 13min 57sec (837 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 15 2021