1. A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

   Psa 48:1-2

   • Great are You, Yeshua HaMashiach, King of Jerusalem, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. What a privilege we have to gather in the city of Jerusalem. You are the faithful One. The Lord is building Jerusalem.

2. We thank the Lord for the rain we've had the last 2 days. But we need to remind the Lord that we need much, much more.

   • The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) has risen 4 cm in the recent rains, but in the overall scheme of things this is not very much!

   • We remind the Lord that it's His land. We need water to remain fruitful.

   • Lord, please don't let the rains stop. Give us a miraculous wet spring. We ask for rain at the time of the latter rains!
     

     Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone.

     Zech 10:1

   • May we continue to strike the ground with arrows until the aquifers and the Sea of Galilee are replenished.

   • Send snow on the mountains and streams and pools in the desert. Have mercy on this nation that they may see You are providing the rain.

   • We ask for an excellent snowfall on Mount Hermon (we saw how meager the snow fall has been when we visited during the recent prayer tour). Redeem the season! Lord, consider also the economy of the Mt. Hermon project - fill the mountain with skiers, not just a few people having snowball fights!

   • We give thanks that for much of the Israeli people there is a joyful reaction to the rain and the "miserable weather". Take this further Lord that they may truly cry out to You to send the rains.

   • You are good and Your mercy endures forever. May Israel know Your mercy through an outpouring of water on the earth. Thank You for refreshing and cleansing the earth with the rain! Please also refresh Your people in their spirits through the rain.

3. There are strong rumors that the Prime Minister is going to make an offer to the Palestinians.

   • Pray that whatever he offers they won't accept!

   • There's an Israeli saying that the maximum Israel will give is always a great distance from the minimum the Palestinians will accept. The reality is and has always been that the Palestinians have not been willing to accept any offer from Israel. In their misguided understanding, signing the Oslo accords and acknowledging the reality of Israel is ALL the concession they are going to make. They want things 100% their way!

   • Whatever the P.M will offer, it's a bad precedent for Netanyahu to be making ungodly offers of the land. The land is not to be given away.

   • Hold up the PM that he won't sin by making an offer displeasing to God.

   • The Middle East is on fire. However, all the leaders of the nations can think of is Palestine. The world is upside-down!

   • As Netanyahu reads the scriptures with his son on Shabbat may he be given courage to lead the nation at this time.

   • Let Bibi stand on and act on Your word and remember the everlasting covenant with Your people to possess the land.

   • Psalm 105 - the singers in the temple remember the land.

   • Lord restrain Bibi from coming into agreement to give up the inheritance of the People of Israel.
     

     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

     He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance, when they were few in number, indeed very few, and strangers in it.

     Psalm 105:7-12

   • May these verses pierce Netanyahu's heart and be embedded in his heart and soul! Put him in terror of sinning and of the judgment of Almighty God on him and on the nation should he divide up Your Land!

   • We pray that he would be strong and have a heart towards God.

   • May the PM receive inspiration and anointing from on high when he speaks. May he lay claim to the land which doesn't belong to anyone else but to the sons of Jacob.

4. Hedge in Shimon Peres. Israel's President is supposed to be a figurehead without any political responsibility or authority, but Peres tries to act as Prime Minister. He has reprimanded Netanyahu the PM for not being proactive enough with regard to the peace process.

   • He is trying to arrange his own meeting with Obama.

   • When the two men were vying for the leadership of Israel's Labor Party for many years, Yitzak Rabin called Peres "the never ending schemer".

   • Pray that the cabinet doesn't allow him to meet with Obama (it is the cabinet which oversees and must OK presidential tours, etc).

   • Pray that God and the government would hedge Peres in. Pray even that the PM would have the boldness to rebuke Peres and keep him in his place.

   • May Peres not overstep his position and not speak publicly against the PM, sowing division and pressurizing Netanyahu into an agreement against his will.

   • Pray that Netanyahu would not be manipulated.

   • Pray against the idea of peace at any price.

   • On the issue of the peace accords, make Peres mute (like Zechariah in Luke 1:19-20) and unable to undermine the government.

   • Ehud Barak (the Defense Minister), has been invited often by Obama as a way of pressurizing Netanyahu, but this has been seen to be futile. May it be so with Peres too. Pray that the nations will not give Peres a platform.

   • The Israeli president is elected by the members of the Knesset. Pray that the Knesset will rebuke Peres for the way he is overstepping boundaries. This could come even from Reuven Rivlin, the Speaker of the Knesset.

   • If it's necessary Lord, would You close Peres' mouth by some other means!

   • Please expose to the Israeli people the improper actions the Peres is taking. Dissolve the invincibility of Peres' reputation.

5. Pray for the security of Israel.

   • There continues to be rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel. Not much has been said about the 50 rockets fired from Gaza since the beginning of the year - and not much has been done about it either.

   • Hamas is taking advantage of the unrest in Egypt and elsewhere. There are new reports that Hamas is planning to kill Israelis in Judea and Samaria, hide their bodies and use them as bargaining chips (as they have with Gilad Shalit) to get their prisoners released from Israeli jails.

   • Pray that the Lord would protect Israel.

   • Pray for Israelis to be alert especially in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem. May the plans of Israel's enemies be brought to light before they happen!

   • Pray for the Shabak (Israel Security Service), Military Intelligence, and Police Intelligence to be able to preempt and forestall any attack. May Israel use whatever force is needed!

   • Thwart every plan to kill Israelis by Hamas and other enemies of Israel.

   • Protect those on the frontlines, vulnerable communities such as Sderot, etc.

   • Show yourself as the Defender of Israel. Bring to shame all who hate Zion!

   • May they pick the wrong victims - e.g. trained combat soldiers who can lay them low.

   • Make we be prepared to protect ourselves.

6. In the neighboring nations of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the Gulf States, Iran, Egypt, and Libya there are calls for mass demonstrations after Friday prayers.

   • This all affects not just Israel, but the whole world. E.g. the price of gasoline is rising. In the world the slight progress out of recession could be turned back.

   • Pray for God's will to be done in the Arab world, and His will expressed on the earth.

   • Over 20 years ago a Coptic bishop in Egypt rose to a position of public prominence. He was a man of prayer and thousands were attending his prayer meetings. He was exiled by the Mubarak government. He prophesied that Mubarak would be the last secular ruler of Egypt, who would be followed by an Islamic dictatorship, and then would come the Lord.

   • Currently the leading candidate in the anticipated Egyptian elections is Amr Moussa, who is a hater of Israel and likely to give support to a role for the Moslem Brotherhood.

   • Israel needs to be prepared for these changes in the Arab world. For 30 years we have taken our eyes off the southern border.

   • Lord, give discernment to the leadership of Israel regarding events in the Moslem nations and awareness of what harm could spread to here.

   • Our intelligence agencies need much wisdom for what lies ahead.

   • Pray for Israel to be 2 or 3 steps (or more) ahead of her enemy. We need brilliance in the high command, spies and weapons researchers.

   • Most military planners, plan for the last war, not the next one. We saw that in our un-readiness to defeat Hezullah in Lebanon in 2006. We were also caught unaware of Egyptian military weaponry and skills at the beginning of the Yom Kipppur War of 1973.

   • Your word says that all the surrounding nations will come against Israel. May we discern the times and know how to pray effectively. Give insight to Your Church.

   • May Israel see the reality of these current events.

   • God, execute Your judgments in the nations who despise Israel!

   • Give us excellent military intelligence - people on the ground in Egypt!

   • Prepare us to fight a battle in the desert. Revitalize our supply lines. We used to be brilliant at desert warfare. This needs to be restored. If Yoav Galant is the man for this task, let him be given a role!

   • Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you, says the LORD and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, and make the hills like chaff. You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; You shall rejoice in the LORD, and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

     Isaiah 41:14-16

     Make Israel a new threshing sledge! Give her weapons, techniques needed for the new warfare and the battles to come! May Israel be equipped by You to defend herself and resist her enemies!

   •  And the governors of Judah ("Governors" in modern Hebrew means generals) shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of hosts, their God. In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place - Jerusalem.

     Zechariah 12:5-6

   • Be a wall of fire around Jerusalem! Save millions as they see You defending Your people.

   • Pray for the peoples of the Middle East to have revelation of Israel, to understand that Mohammed is a false prophet and Allah is a demon. May they see Yeshua who gave Himself for the sins of the world.

   • Abba, lift Yeshua up before the Moslem world.

7. Pray for the Body of Messiah in the Land, especially in Arad. There was supposed to have been a large demonstration this week against the Messianic believers in Arad, a small town in the Negev desert.

   • The activities over several years against the believing community have been focused against a foster parent accused of using her role to poison the souls of young children. Also, a couple who ran a chess club have been targeted and the club burned down, while the couple have been charged with public order offences and placed under house arrest. There are legal hearings coming up in their case.

   • You promised persecutions to those who live a godly life. Please strengthen all those following You in Arad. Glorify Yeshua in them. Move by Your Spirit on those who persecute them. Convict them of sin, that they may know their Messiah.

   • May those under attack be witness and a testimony.

   • Bring out the truth and bring justice to the sentencing of the courts so that those guilty of the violence may be made to pay.

   • Bring justice to the justice system. May Your standard of justice be expressed in Arad.

   • Bring the believing community in Arad into positive relationships with the justice system and the police.

   • One of the leaders of the believing community specifically asks our prayers not for an end to the persecutions, nor even for justice, but that the ultra-orthodox (many of whom have been persecuting the believers) would be saved. Let's pray for this, specifically the sect in Arad (the Gur Hasidim) who have been most active in the persecutions, and also for the Shas Party members.

   • "Remove the veil from Eli Yishai's (the leader of the Shas party) heart! Transform him as You transformed Saul of Tarsus.

   • By Your Spirit open the eyes of the ultra-orthodox including many in Me'a She'arim. May they recognize their blindness.

   • Natan Sharansky seems close to the Kingdom, but he doesn't know You and opposes Messianic Jews. Turn him around to know You!

   • Keep Y's (Arad messianic leader) burden strong and the burden in other Arad believers strong for the salvation of their persecutors.

   • Protect Your People Lord.

   • The day is coming when all will look on Him whom they pierced.

   • We lift up the ultra-orthodox who claim that only they have a proper relationship with Elohai Israel. Touch their hearts in this arrogance with the revelation of Yeshua who gave himself for them.

   • We ask that even today and this Shabbat some in the ultra-orthodox community would have this revelation.

   • May Your shalom rest on Israel this Shabbat.

   • Visit the congregations of Your people with fresh revelation and zeal.

Shabbat Shalom from the IFI Team in Jerusalem