The LORD reigns; Let the earth rejoice; Let the multitude of isles be glad!  Clouds and darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. A fire goes before Him, And burns up His enemies round about. His lightnings light the world; The earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

Psalm 97:1-5

We thank You, Father, for Your Justice and Your love, thank You that Your mercy endures for ever, thank You that Your presence is so powerful and does make the enemy flee.

  1. Settlement Freeze

    While we do not like the "settlement freeze", we understand the reasons that the P.M. felt compelled to do it. We are reminded that in his previous term and in Yitzak Shamir's last term they lost their governments because of the unbending stance of the right wing, especially the religious right. In return we got very left wing governments that were disastrous for Israel. If Netanyahu's government falls we are likely to get one that will be very much worse. Remember politics is not a theological exercise, it is the art of the possible.

    • Pray for PM Netanyahu to have wisdom and courage so that his government will not fall.

    • Father, please deposit in the spirit of PM Netanyahu and the government wisdom and righteousness to make the right decisions.

    • We pray that this freeze in the heartland of Israel will be truly a temporary one, and growth will continue straight after it.

  2. Hatred amongst the people

    We are a passionate people with very strong opinions. There is a great danger from both the extreme left and the extreme right of hatred towards those Israelis who are opposite of them. The Rabbis say that the 2nd Temple was destroyed because of hatred between brother to brother. We all need to know that there is a "red line" that none of us can cross.

    We need to realize that this is our only country and we are in it together and we must find a way to live together.

    • Pray that the settlement freeze would not cause division and fighting in Israel

    • Father, draw a line that none will cross in their position.

    • May the people of Israel have revelation that we are in this together. May we stand together to build and live.

    • We pray that the pressure on us would drive us together, not divide us.

    • Father, rise up a righteous standard within the government.

    • Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the LORD commanded the blessing-Life forevermore.

      Psalm 133

      We pray, Father, that the Jews in the nations will return to the Land and live in unity with the people of the land so that You would command a blessing - life for ever more.

  3. Iran - Nuclear Development

    The Iranian response to the P5+1 nations is that they will build 10 more nuclear enrichment facilities. The are arrogantly defying the nations and the nations continue to sleep. The French Foreign Minister Koucher is almost begging Iran to accept the "deal", a deal that would legalize the Iranian right to enrichment. Koucher seems more of an appeaser in this matter than Chamberlin was with Hitler.

    • We pray that the nations will be shaken and awakened to the reality of Iran's nuclear development and the danger that this represents, not only for Israel, but to the whole world.

    • Father, issue a wake up call to the leaders of the nations who are asleep and deceived.

    • Father, cause the nations to see that Iran's nuclear weapon would be used to advance radical Islam and there is no way to appease Islam.

    • Father, we pray that the nations would be willing to resist and stop Iran's development of a nuclear weapon.

  4. Sweden - E.U. Head

    Sweden has the rotating presidency of the E.U. till the end of the month. The Swedish Foreign Minister Karl Bildt issued a document demanding Israel to divide Jerusalem, to give a part of it to the Palestinians as the capitol of their state. This is an issue between the Palestinians and Israel and it never was to be the decision of any foreign country. We need to pray that the E.U. will say "No" to such a document. All of the EU member nations will have to agree to it for it to have validity. Many members are already voicing opposition to this Swedish initiative (Sweden used to be known as a friend of Israel, what in the world is happening?).

    • Father, we pray that the EU will reject this document.

    • We pray that You would have mercy on the EU nations that they would not divide the city of Jerusalem and bring judgment on their nations.

    • For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land.

      Joel 3:1-2

    • We pray for the body of believers in Sweden that they would pray against this EU document, pray for their own nation and they their government know their displeasure with Karl Bildt's initiative.

  5. Rain

    Israel is in desperate need of water. We need to pray for the snow and the rain.

    • We thank You, Father, for the rain that we had last night. We beseech You to send much more. Father, replenish the lakes and the aquifers. We pray for a meter of snow on Mount Hermon, we pray that the water would be retained and saturate the land. Have mercy on us, Lord. Let it rain on the just and the unjust.

  6. Aliyah

    But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. The house of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; but the house of Esau shall be stubble; they shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau," for the LORD has spoken. The South shall possess the mountains of Esau, and the Lowland shall possess Philistia. They shall possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria. Benjamin shall possess Gilead. And the captives of this host of the children of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath (France). The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad (Spain) shall possess the cities of the South. Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.

    Obadiah 1:17-20

    The reading of the weekly prophetic portion in the Synagogues this week is Obadiah.

    • Father, we pray for the organizations and ministries helping the Jews to come back to Israel. We pray for the Jews. We pray for the Jews in France and Spain to come back.

    • The Torah portion for this week is of Jacob returning to the land and his name being changed to Israel.

      We pray that the Jewish People will understand that they are Jacob when they are living exile (Diaspora). They will only become Israel when they are back in the Land of Israel.

    • Father, we pray that You sovereignly move to bring the Jewish People back to the Land; create the circumstances that would encourage their return.

Shabbat Shalom from the IFI team and we do appreciate you standing in prayer with us for God's will to be done on earth as it has been written in Heaven.