Haim Otsarya, from the Israel Prayer Tower, talks to Paul Calvert about praying for Israel.

Paul: When was the Prayer Tower started and why was it started?

Haim: In May last year we celebrated our fifth anniversary in Israel. This prayer tower was established by our current founder Dr Paul Dhinakaran who is the son, of the original founder of the ministry, DGS Dhinakaran who founded the Jesus Calls ministries 60 years ago in Chani India. After the passing of Brother DGS in 2008, the Lord spoke to Dr Paul and told him that he wants him to establish a prayer tower in Jerusalem. Praying for the nations of the world, kings and leaders and to prepare the world for the Lord's second coming.

Paul: Is it important to have a prayer tower here in Jerusalem?

Haim: I believe it is important, although of course we know that Jesus said in John 4, "That the true worshippers will not worship here and there but in spirit and truth." Still as we are here and Isaiah says that the word of the Lord shall go forth from Zion and from Jerusalem we do believe, prophetically and symbolically, that everything came out of Jerusalem initially, biblically speaking. It is important and there is a value to the fact that we are praying for the world, from Jerusalem.

Paul: Do you get a lot of tourists and people coming from all around the world just to come here and pray?

Haim: We receive organised groups of intercessors and people who want to experience prayer and intersession from different countries. From Asia, North America, Brazil, Africa, Russia, South America and all kinds of countries. Apart from that we have people who are visiting just to see the view actually. We have two groups of pilgrims that come here and most of them are usually Christians. They see the view, they pray, they worship and they experience.

Paul: Do you have to have a lot of understanding about Israel to be able to pray for Israel?

Haim: I think it's a tricky question and not a very easy one to answer. But as one who believes in intimacy with the Lord and intimacy with the Holy Spirit I believe that the main thing you need, and that's what we teach here as we teach here about prophetic prayer, is to have a heart of intimacy and a readiness to be a vessel. Where you're in a place of intimacy with God, with the Holy Spirit and you open yourself up to Him.

As Jesus said, "I do not do anything except I see my father do it". So if we come to prayer with this understanding and say my purpose is not to pray a certain agenda and my purpose is not to pray what I see in the newspaper. I want to see what my Father does and I will do the same. I want to hear my Father pray for the world, pray for Israel, pray for the Arab and Jewish people in the land and all political, spiritual and social situations here and around the world. I want to see what God thinks about it and says about it and I will do the same.

Paul: What other projects do you do here apart from prayer?

Haim: Apart from prayer, we try to be involved with local ministries that help the community. We work together with organisations that help single mothers, so we organise nights of prayer and recreation for them. Also we do the same thing with people in rehabilitation centres. There is a specific one that we work with at the moment. We are also looking to work with more, because both my wife and I came from a background of drug abuse and mental instability.

It is really on our heart to help these people and, as a ministry of prayer, we want to minister to those people and pray with them. We also do projects of recreation. Recently we took them for a trip into nature and did a big barbeque for them, just to let them relax.

The finances unfortunately for these organisations are very tight so we are trying to help them get the people out and refresh them by giving them hope and more motivation to continue, because it's not easy.

Paul: Now people have been coming to the Prayer Tower and praying, have you had testimonies of what God has been doing in their lives as they have been praying for the city?

Haim: First of all I believe that our ministry has a special grace in the area of prayer because the original founder, Dr DGS Dhinakaran, had a special gift of prophetic prayer. I believe as we are part of this organisation there is special grace for people that come to pray here, many people come out experiencing new intimacy with God and rededicating their life to the Lord.

One example of a young man who came was originally Indian, but is from France and is one of the teachers of Apple in Paris. He teaches editing and so forth and he really felt that he needed to rededicate his life. He was never baptised, except when he was a child in the Catholic Church, and as he was here he was really moved by the Holy Spirit. He had some time of fasting and re-dedication to the Lord, we took him and actually baptised him next to where Jeremiah the prophet used to live. It's called Ein Prat, which is biblically called the Euphrates River, but the one in Israel not in Mesopotamia and it was an amazing time.

We see people receiving new spiritual life here, because I think not many people have an opportunity to spend two weeks to a month to just pray, really engage in intercession, move what is going on in the world and really prepare the world for the Lord's second coming.

I think on a personal level when people engage in this, they experience something special. Personally as well they get refreshed, they get separated from the hustle and bustle of their everyday life and it gives them a reset in their spiritual and emotional life and I see a lot of great things happening.

Paul: Are you seeing spiritual change in Israel?

Haim: I must say it's very gradual. I can't say that I see very dramatic change, especially as I am looking over my 20 years as a believer in the Lord. There has been change, but it is still very tense. The environment in Israel is strained, you can feel it spiritually, socially and politically.

The recent development with Donald Trump acknowledging Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, was obviously a big event. I think it actually made the Jewish community in Israel feel less tension in a sense, because the Israeli community has always felt a lot of pressure, a lot of rejection from the world and when this happened for many Israelis it was like 48 all over again. It's like the declaration that Ben Gurion made, that declared Israel the State of Israel.

For me as an Israeli, I don't know as a believer, but as an Israeli, when I sat and watched Donald Trump declare that America acknowledges Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel it was very moving to me. I know it is very controversial in the eyes of many people, but for us as Israelis it was very heart-warming.

Maybe technically it doesn't change much, but there was something unique in that. I do think its part of the change that was facilitated by many intercessors laying on their face for many years to bring stability and clarity in what is going on in the Middle East, especially in Israel.

Paul: What is your prayer finally for this nation?

Haim: First of all, as Paul the apostle said, "There is nothing that I would not give to see my brothers and sisters, the Jews to be saved."

But also my personal desire is to see the different nations living in peace here and enjoying the love of the Lord. Recently I mentioned Zechariah 10, it says that, "I will pour out a spirit of grace and supplication on all those who dwell in Jerusalem", and of course I do agree that it does refer to the Jewish people. But the fact that it says on all those who dwell in Jerusalem you cannot avoid the fact, or at least the feeling, that it might not refer to just the Jews in Jerusalem.

If you look today on who dwells in Jerusalem Jews are maybe the majority, but definitely not the only people who dwell here. You have a lot of international communities here; Arabs, Armenians and Greeks. I want to see first of all the believers in the city live in unity and really enjoying serving the Lord, not out of religion, not out of compulsion, but out of really experiencing the love of the Lord.

To see this city as a city of peace, as it's supposed to be, bringing light to the nations. That is my heart and that is my desire.