1. Isaiah 54:1-10 is this Shabbat's prophetic portion.

    • For a little moment I have left you; but with great mercies I will gather you. In a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you, says YHWH your Redeemer.

      Isaiah 54:7-8

    • Abba, it is amazing that from Your perspective, all Your people have gone through is but a 'little moment'.

    • We thank You that we have reached Your time to favor Zion (Psalm 102:13).

    • We know that regardless of what happens, You will remain faithful to Your Word (Deuteronomy 7:9).

    • Thank You for the hope that Your love gives to us and to this nation.

    • You are so great and mighty, beyond what we can even think or imagine.

    • Forgive us when we often make You a small God - who can only do that which we believe.

    • Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Messiah Yeshua throughout all ages, forever. Amen.

      Ephesians 3:20-21

  2. This week's events in Egypt were heavy on our hearts. We have read reports of our Christian brothers and sisters being persecuted and killed by the Moslem Brotherhood [MB]. Two Egyptian Bible Society bookstores that have been there for years were burnt down with a loss of all materials, but thankfully no lives. Yet most politicians and mainstream media in the West continue to ignore this aspect and see the Egyptian army as the 'bad guys'.

    • Abba, have mercy on the Body of Messiah in Egypt.

    • Use this very fearful life-and-death situation to cause those who are Christian in name only to call upon You and reveal Your Son to them (Psalm 50:15).

    • Lord, protect and defend Your people. But You, YHWH, are a shield for me; my glory, the One who lifts up my head. (Psalms 3:3)

    • Send forth Your ministering angels to help Your children (Hebrews 1:14).

    • We do thank You for the reports of many Egyptians coming to know You recently.

    • Guard Your people against all Islamic-driven violence.

  3. Friday is the Muslim day of 'prayer', when Muslims attend mosque services and often hear incitement and anti-Semitic sermons. Today, mosque sermons throughout the ME, especially in Egypt and most likely in Israel - will be stirring up passions against the Egyptian army and, of course, the Zionists. We prayed for the head of Egypt Sissi to remain firm in his intention to deal with the MB.

    • Lord, we plead for mercy and ask that You would keep the loss of life in Egypt to a minimum.

    • Enable Egypt's security forces to righteously defend the people from the violent spirit of Islam - especially the women, children and non-Muslims (Romans 13:3-4).

    • We recognize that what we are seeing could be the continuing fulfillment of Isaiah 19. In the face of that, we ask for mercy on the people as You judge the idols of Egypt. The burden against Egypt: Behold, YHWH rides on a swift cloud and comes into Egypt. The idols of Egypt shall tremble at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in its midst. I will set Egyptians against Egyptians; and they shall fight each man against his brother… The spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst of it, and I will destroy its wisdom… (Isaiah 19:1-3a)

    • Wake up even more of the Egyptian people to the real aim of the MB - a worldwide Sunni caliphate.

    • Keep Israel's security forces on high alert against any evil plans of the enemy that would use Muslims in this nation to wreak havoc among its civilians.

    • We ask for You to especially keep Your eyes on Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

    • We remind You of Your Word to King Hezekiah: For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for My servant David's sake. (Isaiah 37:35)

  4. One of the problems for those in the West is that there are hardly any true reports in either the media or from governments about what is actually happening on in Egypt - or, for that matter, in any of the 'Arab Spring' nations. The reports we get of what has happened in these MB sit-in camps is horrific - including torture, mass murders and sex-jihad [where women must give their bodies to Muslim 'warriors' and if they refuse, they are tortured or killed.] Even if some of this is exaggerated, to see the MB as the 'good guys' in this scenario is the height of deception.

    • Lord, wake up Your Church to the idol of democracy that too often determines its thinking.

    • Enable believers to understand that Islamic Sharia law, which is what ex-President Morsi was trying to legislate for Egypt, actually outlaws freedom - freedom of speech and the free rights of women and all non-Muslim minorities.

    • Abba, for Your holy name's sake, wake up some Western politicians to this truth.

    • May more Western leaders be willing to say openly, like Tony Blair did recently, that the real problem lies in Islam.

  5. We prayed next for protection along Israel's border with Egypt, the Sinai, as well as with Gaza.

    • God, please continue to watch over all of Israel's borders (Psalm 121:4).

    • We want to see the fulfillment of this promise: And your eyes shall see, and you shall say, YHWH will be magnified upon [or beyond] the border of Israel. (Malachi 1:5)

    • Lord, thank You for the apparent working together of the IDF and the Egyptian army against the terrorists in the Sinai area.

    • Help the Egyptian police and soldiers realize that Israel is not their enemy.

    • Use this to bring forward the fulfillment of Isaiah 19:24-25: In that day Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land; whom YHWH of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be My people Egypt, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance. (Isaiah 19:24-25)

    • Protect all Israelis - both citizens and soldiers - who live in the Sinai/Gaza border region.

    • Thank You for causing the Egyptian army to close the border with Hamastan, i.e., the Gaza Strip, indefinitely and for them finding and destroying hundreds of Hamas' smuggling tunnels.

    • Impart wisdom and alertness to the IDF - especially in the severe heat of August.

    • We bless You for the hi-tech fence that was built by the previous government to stop illegal immigration. It has been super successful doing that and now is also a barrier against terror attacks from the Sinai.

    • Lord, reveal to Israel what is happening in the Sinai. Use its drones and satellites to shine light on the plans of the enemy. He discovers deep things out of darkness, and brings the shadow of death to light. (Job 12:22)

    • Abba, prevent any confusion from landing on the Israel leaders - politically or militarily - regarding the Egyptian situation, even if most of the world sides with the wrong side - the MB.

  6. This past week, Israel released 26 blood-stained terrorists just to facilitate 'peace' talks with Abbas and the Palestinian Authority. Yet the world was still furious when Israel approved the building of homes in areas that it captured in 1967 - areas that everyone knows will remain in Israel regardless of the final outcome! Before we prayed into this, we quoted from a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry from Knesset Member Ayalet Shaked. Please take the time to read the main points.

    • Abba, use this very politically non-correct - yet very straight - letter to wake up many Americans as to what the Obama administration has demanded of Israel - and may they protest these outrageous demands.

    • Lord, the talks are to be held in secret. We ask You to expose all that is said in darkness. He reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. (Daniel 2:22)

    • God, uncover the pressure US Secretary of State Kerry used on Israel's leaders to get them to agree to the release of terrorists, and forbid any further releases.

    • Scuttle the talks in whatever way possible to prevent any more of Your land being given away.

    • Associate yourselves, O people, and be broken! Give ear, all you from the far places of the earth. Gird yourselves and be broken. Gird yourselves and be broken! Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nothing. Speak a word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us.

      Isaiah 8:9-10; cp. Psalm 33:10-12

    • We ask You to have mercy on Kerry. Either hedge him in or even remove him from his current position of authority in the Obama administration.

    • Use Shaked's letter to strengthen Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu against giving any further concessions of any sort whatsoever.

    • And harden the hearts of the Palestinian leadership so that they refuse to compromise one iota.

  7. We continue to take our stand against the threat of an Iranian nuclear device - hoping that God will deal with it sovereignly, but recognizing that Israel might need to go to battle once again. The top US military man, Martin Dempsey, was in Israel this past week, conferring about Iran. Yet it would be the height of foolishness for Israel to look to America at this point. To put it bluntly, Obama is not trustworthy.

    • Lord, impart courage, strength and wisdom to Israel's leaders, as well as bringing about a godly unity among them concerning exactly what, when and how Israel is to deal with this threat.

    • Yeshua, Captain of heaven's armies, as You did with Joshua (Joshua 5:13-6:5), specifically impart Your divine plans and tactics to Israel's current leaders.

    • Help Israel's tacticians to think out of the box and develop attack plans that will confound Iran's defenses.

    • Lord, we plead for Psalm 129:5 to be applied it to Iran's military and political leadership, as well as to their nuclear technicians: Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.

    • Guard and hide all of Israel's spies and collaborators in Iran.

    • Thus says YHWH of Hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam [ancient Persia = modern Iran], the chief of their might. (Jeremiah 49:35) Whatever is Iran's 'bow' today, break it so that they lack the capability of launching any of their offensive 'arrows' at Israel. Break all of Iran's rocket launchers.

    • Lord, rip the sheep skin off from Iran's new 'moderate' president Hassan Rouhani.

    • If Israel attacks, let the fear of Israel's God fall on all of the nations of the Middle East (Esther 9:1-2).

    • We thank You for making it obvious that Israel cannot depend on anyone other than You and itself to defend this nation at this time. And we bless You that You are all Israel needs (Psalm 20:7-9; Jeremiah 31:10).

  8. We were thrilled to read about the 17 Yemenite Jews who were brought to Israel this past week in a covert operation. This led us to pray for all the remaining Jews in the ME under Arab/Islamic rulers. The largest of these communities is the 25,000 or so Iranian Jews - who have been in 'Persia' since the first exile, about 2,500 years ago.

    • We are so blessed to see You fulfilling Your Word and bringing home Your scatter people (Jeremiah 31:10)

    • Lord, You see all of Your people, wherever they are. Abba, release them from captivity and carry them home.

    • He found him in a desert land, and in the deserted, howling wilderness. He led him about, He cared for him, He kept him as the pupil of His eye. As an eagle stirs up her nest, flutters over her young, spreads abroad her wings, takes them and bears them on her wing, YHWH alone led him…

      Deuteronomy 32:10-12

    • Abba, use the Kurdish people to aid Your people. We thank You for the good relations between Kurds and Jews and ask that somehow You would see fit to give them a homeland as well.

  9. There have been reports recently bemoaning the fact that all signs point to the demise of European Jewry. Well, we say, 'Hallelujah!' When there was no State of Israel, there was a reason to keep the Jewish communities scattered abroad vibrant and growing. But today, it is God's will as spoken in His Word, that He wants to gather into His land all His people whom He has scattered (Jeremiah 31:10; Ezekiel 36:24; 37:21; 39:27-28).

    • Lord, use this demise of European Jewry to stir up Your people to return to their homeland.

    • Abba, whatever it will take to set the Jews in Germany and Poland free from that nations, do it - yet have as much mercy as possible (Jeremiah 16:16).

    • Lord, forbid that any Christian finances go towards trying to restore Jewish communities in exile.

    • Instead, point out organizations that are helping Your people return and let Christians invest in that (Isaiah 49:22; 60:5-6).

    • Set Your people free from their false sense of security and comfort and prosperity in the West - especially in America and the UK.

    • Bring down the Gold Curtain which can be much harder to flee from than ever was the Iron Curtain.

    • Thank You for the increase of Jews returning from the UK and France.

    • Lord Yeshua, please set Messianic Jews free from exile.

    • When they say 'Next year in Jerusalem' at the end of Yom Kippur, let them really mean it.

  10. We finished by praying for the end-time deceptions that seem to be inundating the Church today. Whether it be about Israel, adultery, a gay-lifestyle, finances, Allah, modern day prophets and prophecies, etc., the enemy is coming in like a flood. So let's remind Him of His promise: When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of YHWH shall lift up a banner against him. (Isaiah 59:19)

Shabbat shalom, and blessings from Zion, The IFI team