1. With all of the threats targeting Israel, both near and far, we began by reading Psalm 124 and blessing God for His eternal Word.

    • Except that it was YHWH who was for us, O may Israel say; except that it was YHWH who was for us when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; then the waters would have flowed over us, the stream would have gone over our soul; then the proud waters would have gone over our soul. Blessed is YHWH, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of YHWH, who made the heavens and earth.

      Psalms 124:1-8

    • Thank You for being on our side as we choose to side with You.

    • Thank You for protecting Israel during this time of her restoration.

    • We bless You for watching over Your Word. Has YHWH's hand become short? You shall see now whether or not My word shall come to pass to you. (Numbers 11:23)

    • Hallelujah! Our God is a prayer answering God!

  2. Using Psalm 124, we turned our prayerful attention to Israel's current government.

    • Thank You for supporting all that this government does and decrees that is in line with Your will for this nation at this time in history.

    • Lord, strengthen and encourage us to intercede continuously for Israel's government to make God-guided decisions. (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

    • As You have done so often in Israel's past, lead Israel's leaders by Your Spirit.

    • Place Your fear in their hearts to keep them from the traps of the wicked one. The fear of YHWH is a fountain of life to turn aside from the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:27)

    • Help them to see that You are on their side when they lean upon Your revealed will in Your word.

    • Abba, expose and break all secret snares that the enemy has set for this nation. They encourage themselves in an evil plan; they talk of laying snares secretly; they say, Who shall see them? (Psalms 64:5)

  3. We prayed for Israel's government ministers by name - asking God to bless and guard them and lead them in paths of righteousness - for His name's sake (Psalm 23:3b)

    • Benjamin Netanyahu - Prime Minister and temporary Foreign Minister

    • Moshe Ya'alon - Defense Minister

    • Yair Lapid - Finance Minister

    • Naftali Bennett - Trade and Economy Minister and Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs

    • Gideon Sa'ar - Internal Affairs Minister, which includes the Interior Ministry

    • Tzipi Livni - Justice Minister

    • For a list of all current ministers: http://knesset.gov.il/govt/eng/GovtByNumber_eng.asp

    • Benny Gantz - the IDF's Chief of Staff

    • Lord, as You did with the elders of Israel in the wilderness, place Your Spirit on them all. YHWH said to Moses, Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and the officers over them. And bring them to the tabernacle of the congregation so that they may stand there with you. I will come down and talk with you there, and I will take of the spirit on you, and will put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you so that you do not bear it alone. (Numbers 11:16-17)

  4. Israel is under constant pressure because of the world's 'obsession' with trying to divide this land and see a 'Palestine' created. US Secretary of State Kerry has made several trips to Israel already in 2013 to try and resurrect negotiations between Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority head Abbas. So far, praise God, the Palestinians have put so many pre-conditions on the talks, that Kerry just wastes his and Israel's time.

    • Lord, stand between Israel's leaders and the rest of the proud and arrogant world rulers who are pushing them to do that which is against Your will. The land shall not be sold forever; for the land is Mine. For you are strangers and pilgrims with Me. (Leviticus 25:23)

    • Abba, open up the eyes of Kerry, EU Foreign Policy Chief Ashton, UK Foreign Secretary Hague and all other Western leaders to see who Abbas really is - a holocaust denying terrorist chief who was Arafat's right-hand man and is continuing the PLO's phased plan for Israel's destruction.

    • Bring all of Kerry's plans concerning Israel that do not line up with Your will to nothing, and hedge him in.

    • Open the eyes of Israel's leaders and the media who push for Israel to divide its land. Help them to face the truth that there is no partner for peace among all current Palestinian leaders.

    • Continue to strengthen all Israeli leaders who stand against this land being divided (2 Chronicles 32:7).

    • Lord, this is Your land and Your purpose is to settle Your people here. Therefore, do whatever it takes to prevent the establishment of a Palestine in this place (Isaiah 14:29-32).

    • We declare that the so-called 'peace process' is dead. Abba, please prevent anyone in Israel's - or any other government - from resurrecting that which is truly dead!

  5. Using the spiritual principle declared by Yeshua in Luke 11:17-18, we asked God to bring the whole house of Islam down as a fruit of the current 'not-so' civil war raging between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. They battle each other not just in Syria, but also in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and several other Arab nations.

    • Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. And a house divided against a house falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?

      Luke 11:17b-18a

    • Yeshua, Lord of hosts, watch over this word and bring the principality of Islam to nothing before our eyes.

    • Use the current internal battles in many Middle Eastern nations for Your glory (Psalm 115:1-3).

    • This is one of the prophetic words that God spoke concerning Islam: Because you have had a never-ending hatred, and have shed the sons of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that iniquity had an end, therefore, as I live, says the Lord YHWH, I will yield you up to blood, and blood shall pursue you. Since you have not hated blood, even blood shall pursue you. (Ezekiel 35:5-6)

    • Abba, at the same time, have much mercy on Muslims, bringing multitudes out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Your dear Son (Colossians 1:12-13).

    • We bless and thank You for the reports of many, many Muslims being saved in the following nations: Iran, Mongolia, Indonesia, Egypt, Nigeria and in the Syrian refugee camps in Jordan. [This is only from reports that a few of us have heard. There are definitely other nations as well which are experiencing a move of God's Spirit among Muslims!]

    • Lord of the harvest, we ask for laborers to be thrust forth into the ripe fields now (Luke 10:2)!

  6. Recent Iranian elections have duped many in the world into thinking that their new president, Hassan Rouhani, is a moderate - thus giving Iran more time to develop its nuclear armaments. Again we see Israeli PM Netanyahu as one of the few world leaders trying to alert the rest of the civilized world to the dangers of this development. The Ayatollah Khamenei is still in control and both he and Rouhani are pressing forward with Iran's right to have nuclear power.

    • Lord, remove the sheepskin from the wolf-nature of Rouhani - so that the world is without excuse concerning who this true disciple of the infamous Ayatollah Khomeini really is.

    • Thank You for Netanyahu shouting the truth from the world's rooftops. Please let some Western leaders hear and heed his warnings.

    • God, intervene and destroy Iran's nuclear ambitions - whatever it takes.

    • I will set My throne in Elam [ancient Iran], and will destroy the king and rulers from there, says YHWH.

      Jeremiah 49:38

    • Lord, thank You for setting Your throne in Iran and saving multitudes.

    • Now please complete this prophetic word by destroying the authority of the current Islamic king and rulers.

    • Use the latest UN's IAEA report to alert Netanyahu, Ya'alon and Gantz concerning what Israel needs to do.

    • If Israel needs to deal with this threat militarily, we ask for Your timing and methods (Jeremiah 51:19-24).

    • Lord, remember Your promise to protect Israel as You restore this nation: He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd keeps [guards] his flock. (Jeremiah 31:10)

    • Use the Syrian quagmire to weaken Iran and Hizbullah's ability to attack or respond to Israel.

  7. The Syrian situation remains a powder keg on Israel's northern border.

    • Keep Israel alert to all that is transpiring in its neighborhood.

    • Give Israel the intelligence to know where every Syrian biological or chemical weapon is stored, when it is being moved and to whom it is being sent.

    • Aid Israel with courage and divine plans to destroy all of Syria's WMD if need be (Isaiah 54:17).

    • Lord, You made wonderful promises in Your word about the future of the Golan [biblical Bashan]. So we ask for Your protection and Your peace on all of Israel's citizens living there.

    • I will again bring Israel to his home, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead [area in modern Jordan]. In those days, and at that time, says YHWH, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and it shall not be found; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

      Jeremiah 50:19-20

    • Hedge in Russia from being able to manipulate the Syrian situation for any plans that are against Your will.

    • If Isaiah 17:1 is to be fulfilled now - Damascus becoming a 'ruinous heap' - have as much mercy as possible on the people still living there as well as on the northern parts of Israel.

    • Protect and use the true Church in Syria as vessels for Your glory (Romans 9:23).

    • Protect and prepare all of Israel's soldiers assigned to the Golan Heights for that which the future holds.

  8. We prayed for all of the Messianic Jews in the IDF.

    • Thank You for each and every one of them.

    • Use them as leaven to leaven the whole IDF (Matthew 13:33).

    • Help them to be the salt and light that You said Your disciples should be (Matthew 5:13-16).

    • Lord, remove all fear of speaking about You when You open doors for them to do just that (Luke 12:8-9).

    • Make them ready - both in and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2).

    • Anoint our brothers and sisters to know how to pray and what to pray while in the army.

    • Strengthen them against the wiles of the devil who would try to destroy their testimony (Ephesians 6:11).

    • Send them out two by two.

    • May all of them be closer to You when they finish their service than when they went in.

  9. Aliyah - the return of the Jewish exiles from the nations to home - is being hindered at this time by a strike in the Foreign Ministry services. While we are not sure what the outcome of this strike should be, we do know that anything that blocks Jews from coming home is not of God.

    • Lord, we ask for righteous negotiations to settle this issue quickly.

    • Raise up someone in the government who will stubbornly push to see this strike resolved.

    • Abba, wake up Jews in exile to not bury their heads in the sand but to make plans to return to Israel.

    • Unstick the stuck Jews in the EU and the US.

    • Shepherd of Israel, enable the rabbis of congregations - including Messianic - to lead their flocks home.

    • Bless You for the Nefesh b'Nefesh organization that is successfully increasing the number of Jews coming back from North America. Provide for all of their financial needs.

    • Open wide the doors of Israel's Interior Ministry that all Jews - regardless of what they believe - will be welcomed and helped to come back.

    • Stir up more folks in the Church to see that God wants them to be involved in this - at least through prayer, but often in other ways (Isaiah 49:22).

Shabbat shalom, and blessings from Zion

The IFI team

Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the world's rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Therefore take to yourselves the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand.

Ephesians 6:10-13