1. We began with a word from Messiah Yeshua.

    • Blessed are the poor in spirit [or 'spiritual paupers, those who know how needy they really are.]! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

      Matthew 5:3

    • Thank You for using those of us who are weak and foolish to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27)

    • Thank You for enabling us to understand how weak and foolish we really are without You. I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

    • Hallelujah that nothing takes You by surprise. You know the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10).

    • Hodu l'Adonai ki tov, ki leolam chasdo. Give thanks to YHWH for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever (Psalm 136:1-26).

  2. Syria: Israel and several other nations have said there is evidence that chemical weapons have been used in the battle between Assad's Syrian army and the rebel forces. Yet the world has still not decided what to do - and the USA is still dithering as to whether there really was chemical weapons used. All of this is a warning to Israel that it cannot look to anyone else to defend itself. And this is good - as long as those in Israel with the responsibility to protect this nation understand what this really means.

    • Enable them to see that the current US Administration is double-minded and thus too unstable to depend on.

    • Help them to look to You. My help comes from YHWH, who made Heaven and earth. (Psalms 121:2)

    • Surround all of Israel's leaders with wise counsel (Proverbs 11:14).

    • Make Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and the IDF's Chief of Staff Benny Gantz as a threefold cord (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

    • Lord, help Israel's leaders know what Your plans are to deal with these weapons of mass destruction [WMD] that are being released in Syria.

    • Provide accurate, actionable intelligence on what our enemies are doing - including when and where.

    • Abba, please expose who is really using these WMD.

    • As You spoke about Damascus in Jeremiah 49:27, kindle a fire and destroy all of Syria's WMD.

  3. We are seeing in many areas around Israel an answer to prayer - those who hate Zion are confounded and fighting against each other.The latest report is of a major split in Hizbullah over Iran's orders for them to fight in Syria in support of President Assad.

    • We thank You for answering our prayer and confounding those who hate Zion (Psalm 129:5).

    • Thank You for the reported split in Hizbullah's ranks. Widen it and set them on each other. Destroy YHWH, and divide their tongues; for I have seen violence and fighting in the city. (Psalms 55:9)

    • Have mercy on Lebanon by totally dismantling Hizbullah.

    • Thank You for enabling Israel to shoot down that Hizbullah drone headed towards Haifa yesterday.

    • Help Israel know where the drones are being stored and how to destroy them.

    • Use the reports of Hizbullah fighting in Syria to open the blind eyes of EU officials to finally declare that Hizbullah is a terrorist organization.

    • Arise, O YHWH; let not man prevail. Let the nations be judged in Your sight. Put them in fear, O YHWH, let the nations know they are but men. Selah.

      Psalms 9:19-20

    • Do not allow anyone to interfere in any of these areas in which You are doing the judging.

  4. We then prayed for a remnant of these terrorists to be plucked out of the fire of Islam and transferred into the Kingdom of God's Son Yeshua (Colossians 1:13). We asked God, in His mercy, to reveal to them that the Allah of the Koran is not God. Please pray for Muslims to be saved - here in the Middle East and in your nation.

  5. Jordan: Recent reports indicate that the Kingdom of Jordan and Israel are working together against the use and spread of Syria's WMD. Jordan has reportedly given Israel permission to use its airspace for UAV flights into Syria to see what is happening there in real time. Another concern is that the throne in Jordan is on very shaky ground and if King Abdullah is overthrown, the likely candidate to take over is the Muslim Brotherhood. This is not something that Israel would be pleased with at all.

    • Lord, for Israel's sake, we ask for You to protect and maintain the longest land border of Your nation - the Jordanian/Israeli border in the Jordan Valley.

    • Strengthen the ties between the king of Jordan and Israel.

    • Help him to see - as his father saw - that Israel is his only protection against the forces of Islamic rage that are setting the Middle East aflame.

    • Strengthen the military cooperation between these two nations.

    • I will bless those that bless you… (Genesis 12:3a). Based on this foundational scripture, we ask for Your blessing on all of those in Jordan -whether in the government, the military, or the Church - who really do bless this nation and want to see a stronger relationship between Israel and Jordan.

    • Please protect the born-again believers in Jordan. We thank You for our brothers and sisters.

    • May many in the Jordanian Church receive a deep revelation concerning Your end-time restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel - for Your holy name's sake (Ezekiel 36:23-24).

    • Open up doors for some Jordanian Christian-Zionists to have access to the King.

    • Thank You for reports of Jordanian believers ministering in the Syrian refugee camps and for Syrians coming to know You.

    • Then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will sendout laborers into His harvest. (Matthew 9:37-38) Send out the laborers so that multitudes may be saved.

    • Raise up modern day Ruths to stand with Your people Israel [Ruth was from Moab - which today would be located in the center of the Kingdom of Jordan.]

  6. Iran: According to a former head of Israel's military intelligence, Iran has reached PM Netanyahu's red-line which he drew at the UN.This is still the most serious threat to Israel, and to the world. We continue to pray for God Himself to intervene - or, if He wants Israel to deal with this - for Israel to depend on Him and no one else.

    • Arise, O YHWH…deliver my soul from the wicked by Your sword,

      Psalms 17:13

    • Thank You for literally shaking Iran recently with large earthquakes.

    • YHWH reigns; let the peoples tremble. He sits between the cherubim; let the earth quake. YHWH is great in Zion; and He is high above all the peoples.

      Psalms 99:1-2

    • Continue to shake the very ground under all of their nuclear facilities and destroy them by Your hand. So says YHWH of Hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam [ancient Iran]… (Jeremiah 49:35)

    • Abba, whether by natural disasters, work accidents, sabotage, or an uprising of the Iranian people against their wicked Islamic overlords - deal with this threat quickly.

    • If You are wanting Israel to be Your weapon of war in dealing with this threat - then help the responsible Israeli leaders to know exactly what, where and when to attack (Jeremiah 51:19-24).

    • Aid Israeli planners to think out of the box in their plans.

    • We saw how concerned the Arab nations on the Persian Gulf were with these recent earthquakes, as Iran's nuclear power plant is on a fault line. [As they say in the UK, 'Brilliant!'] Use this to enable them to cooperate - probably in secret - with Israel to destroy Iran's nuclear program.

    • Give to Israeli weapon manufacturers new, cutting edge weapons that will shock Iran - and all of the rest of the surrounding Middle East Arab/Islamic nations.

    • If Israel does attack, may it be so overwhelmingly effective that the fear of Israel's God permeates the whole of this area (Exodus 14:14, 25)!

    • Raise up the Iranian Church to stand with Your will for their nation, as well as for Israel.

  7. We finished by praying for aliyah - the immigration of Jews from the nations to Israel. A major obstacle was that in Israel, the Interior Ministry, which determines who is a Jew and who is not, was run by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, who are also not really Zionists. So it was not just Messianic Jews who often had a hard time coming home, but many other Jews who did not fit into Shas' narrow perception of what a kosher Jew was supposed to look like. Today, this ministry is under Netanyahu's Likud party and being run by Gideon Sa'ar - who from all that we know now - is a righteous man.

    • Abba, for this change, we give You all the praise and glory.

    • Continue to work in Sa'ar life and make him a righteous gatekeeper for this nation (Isaiah 1:26).

    • Help him to clear out from this main gate of Israel all that is not of You. Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way of the people. Raise up! Raise up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a banner for the peoples. (Isaiah 62:10)

    • Thank You for opening the doors for the 'Amazon Jews' of Peruvian descendent to be able to come home.

    • Bring home all Jews who are located in areas where we would not normally think of as having Jews - such as northern India, China, and wherever else You have spread Your people (Isaiah 43:5-7).

    • Abba, stir up the leaders of Messianic congregations to return and lead their people back to Zion. How shall we sing YHWH's song in a foreign land? (Psalms 137:4)

    • Lord, we do not want to see Jewish communities restored in Europe - especially in Eastern Europe. This is definitely not Your will. Chase them home where You want them to be (Jeremiah 16:16).

    • Abba, wake up the Jews to see that life in exile is over - that Israel is being restored and they are both needed and wanted here.

    • God of Israel, we plead with You to miraculously pluck up the 25,000-strong Iranian Jewish community and bring them back to their land and people.

    • May all Israelis living in exile become homesick for Zion. If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth; if I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy. (Psalms 137:5-6)

    • Lord Yeshua, wake up the Church to see what Your will is in this area (Isaiah 60:9-12).

We finished by praying briefly about the budget battle that is going on in Israel's new government. This is an area that does need much prayer covering - especially for the new Finance Minister Yair lapid.

Shabbat shalom, and blessings from Zion

The IFI team

Not to us, O YHWH, not to us,
but to Your name give glory, for Your mercy and for Your truth's sake.
Why should the nations say, Where now is their God?
But our God is in Heaven; He has done whatever He has pleased.

Psalms 115:1-3