Revive Israel Community
“Worship is the heart of God. It’s when we worship that we encounter breakthroughs, we hear His voice, we receive revelations, and we experience heaven on earth. ~ Raphael Almeida
Meet Raphael Almeida, a worship leader and a beloved part of the Revive Israel Community with a passion, vision, and heart for worship!
Raphael was born in Brazil but made aliyah (immigrated) to Israel with his family as a young boy. Today, he is married with two small children.
From a young age, Raphael loved music and worship, the unique sounds of various instruments, and enjoyed singing in the congregation on Shabbat. It wasn’t until later in his life that he realized worship was much more than singing and music. When he sought God and asked Him what worship meant, it was there that God revealed to him the beauty, strength, and power of worship.
“God showed me the power and depth of worship. It's not only with music that we worship, it is with everything we do; how we speak, how we walk, how we teach and train our children, and treat our parents. When I came to understand this, I also found that there is meaning during our worship times when we sing and play instruments. Equally, there is so much meaning to what we speak, sing, and pray. Just as it is written in Revelation 5, ‘the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song’...”
From this revelation came the vision for Revive Israel's Shir Chadash (New Song) – a sacred space for worshippers to develop and express themselves through new songs they write and compose, playing a range of instruments with various styles of worship, through dance, movements, and words that they speak and sing. Thus, providing an honored place to bring the heart of God into an outward expression of unity and togetherness for everyone who wants to come together to worship.
With no one individual as the central focus, everyone comes together as a family, in humility, each with their own gift, surrendering before the Father in heaven and ready to receive new revelations.
“It is in these moments where we are nothing before an Almighty God who lifts us up, revealing things to us, and speaking to us, and this is the very point where breakthroughs happen.”
“I believe that there is a voice to be heard that still has not been heard, which I see in my heart and in my thoughts, but I know it is close. When we as one voice, worship with the gifts God gave to us, without fear and unashamed, we will have a great breakthrough, something spiritual that we cannot even imagine. I see it and yearn for it.”
“This breakthrough will happen when all of us, as one, will understand our place in worship. Also as congregations, we will understand the importance of the unified body – it is like a symphony and choir in perfect harmony – everyone playing or singing their part together.”
“When we learn to work together, we are like a unified choir, an amazing voice, the voice of God, a voice of the body of the Lord.”
“One of the things I love about my wife is her expression of worship. She has been dancing her whole life, but how she expresses it in worship and how she experienced this breakthrough the moment she stopped caring what others were thinking and simply worshipped the Lord just like David worshipped the Lord, something beautiful emitted from her, like a majestic sound resonating. I want to see this come from all of us. I want to see it within me, within you, within everyone who worships Him, and I believe we all have this.”
“Worship unites families, congregations, communities, and nations and it is our desire to see new songs come forth from Israel, and more lives transformed through the power of worship.”
