1. This week's Torah portion includes the Israelites being trapped at the Red Sea. In many ways, this is where Israel is today. At the Red Sea, the ultimate outcome was for God's glory - so that the Egyptians would know that He is God. It will be the same today. When all is said and done, all that Israel is going through will result in God being glorified and known throughout the earth! With that in mind, we started our time with praise.

    • Now also many nations are gathered against you, who say, Let her be defiled, and let our eyes look on Zion. But they do not know the plans of YHWH, nor do they understand His counsel, for He has gathered them like the sheaf to the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; and you shall crush many peoples. And I will give their gain to YHWH, and their wealth to the Lord of the all the earth.

      Micah 4:11-13

    • We bless You that You are the Lord of all the earth (Psalm 93:1; 96:10; 97:1; 99:1).

    • Thank You for being in control - even when we do not realize it. YHWH has set His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all. (Psalms 103:19)

    • Hallelujah! You know the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10).

    • Bless You for helping us to trust You.

    • Grace us to trust You even more this coming year.

    • An IFI leader received these verses for 2014: Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us [i.e., in context - doubt], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Yeshua the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

  2. We began by praying for the current Israeli governing coalition. There is so much pressure from both inside and outside of Israel on this group, as well as at times , they themselves end up being their own worst enemies. Yet this is the government that God allowed to be formed. Since we had prayed fervently for a government through whom God could be glorified, we trust that somehow, He will.

    • Abba, thank You for the current Israeli government.

    • Lord, hedge in all extreme demands - unless they be of You.

    • Allow the specific gifts that each member has to come to the fore.

    • We remind You of Your promise in Isaiah 1:26: And I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning; afterwards you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.

    • Reveal to the Knesset members that they were elected to serve Your people and not their own political careers (1 Kings 12:7; 2 Chronicles 35:3).

    • If any shake up needs to happen, Lord, You orchestrate it and not man (Daniel 2:20-21).

    • Create a godly unity to hover over the current coalition.

    • Use the various right-wing and left-wing voices to keep this government in line with Your will.

    Here is a list of the leaders of the various parties in this government: Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman; Minister of Economy, Religious Affairs and Jerusalem, Naftali Bennett; Finance Minister Yair Lapid; Justice Minister and 'peace' negotiations point-person Tzipi Livni.

    • Give Bennett grace and wisdom to stand for the land of Israel, without bringing the government down.

    • Hedge in Livni and open her eyes to see how the Palestinian leadership is playing with her and Kerry.

    • Pluck out from this coalition all wolves in sheep's skin and replace them with Your people.

  3. We prayed specifically for PM Bibi Netanyahu.

    • Thank You for a prime minister for whom we can pray and bless.

    • Bless him with an ability to hear and heed Your will at this time.

    • Continue to strengthen him - physically, emotionally, and mentally. Let Your hand be on the Man of Your right hand, on the Son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself. (Psalms 80:17)

    • Thank You for his stance on so many issues - such as Jerusalem, Hebron, the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights and security. Hold him into what he has said he will - and will not - do.

    • Speak to Bibi out of Your Word (Psalm 119:18).

    • Surround him with wise advisors and keep all foolish advice far from him (Proverbs 20:18).

    • Give him a forehead of flint and a heart of flesh - to resist man and to be soft in Your hands.

    • Lord, anoint Netanyahu to lead this coalition - for Your name's sake (Psalm 23:3).

    • Protect him from all deceiving and manipulative spirits that others - especially the US administration - try to use on him. Surely, there is no enchantment against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What God has worked! (Numbers 23:23)

  4. When we turned to the 'peace' process, a frequent cry from the scriptures came to mind: 'How long, O God?' US Secretary of State Kerry just left last week and is due to return early this next week. He must think either that there are no other crises in the world, or that this is the only one he can hope to solve. Either way, his 'obsession' with Arab-Israeli peace makes him look like a fool to both Israelis and Arabs and pushes America deeper and deeper into the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:1-2)!

    • How long, Lord, must we get pushed around by this man and his ridiculous, anti-biblical plans?

    • How long, Lord, must Israel be pressured to give up Your gift of this land as her inheritance to Islam?

    • How long, God, before You arise and deal with these demon-inspired plans over Your land?

    • How long, God, will You allow this pressure to divide Israeli society?

    • How long, Messiah Yeshua, before Your Body sees this 'peace' as the anti-Christ, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, anti-Word of God plan that it truly is?

    • Bring all of Kerry's plans to nothing and rule over this 'peace' process for Your glory. YHWH brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He breaks the thoughts of the people. The counsel of YHWH stands forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations. (Psalms 33:10-11)

    • In mercy, break these satanic plans to divide Your land and scatter Your people (Joel 3:1-2; Leviticus 25:23; Deuteronomy 7:6).

    • Abba, as we remember this Shabbat's Torah portion, if You are hardening Kerry's heart, then use this for Your glory (Exodus 14:2-4).

    • Lord, watch over Your redlines.

    • Continue to harden the Palestinian leadership's hearts and allow them to overreach themselves in their demands (Romans 9:14-24).

  5. We prayed for Iran by praying through Jeremiah 49:34-38, which the Iranian Church believes applies to their nation today.

    • Jeremiah 49:34-35 The Word of YHWH that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam…So says YHWH of Hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

      • Lord, if it would please You to reveal to us what this bow is we will pray more specifically, but until You do, whatever it is - break it!

      • Break the Iranian Revolutionary Guards - the real military power behind Iran's Islamic Shiite regime.

    • Jeremiah 49:36 I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven on Elam, and will scatter them toward all these winds, and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

      • God, send the winds. Divide and scatter Iran's leadership - all of their plans and opinions.

      • Lord, send physical winds that are so strong that they wreak havoc with all of Iran's nuclear and military facilities. Behold, the storm of YHWH's wrath goes forth, a sweeping tempest; it shall whirl on the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of YHWH shall not return until He has done it, and until He has fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In the latter days you shall understand it. (Jeremiah 30:23-24)

    • Jeremiah 49:37 For I will cause Elam to be afraid before their enemies, before those who seek their life, and I will bring evil on them, even My fierce anger, says YHWH. And I will send the sword after them until I have destroyed them;

      • Abba, give wisdom and strategy to Iran's enemies to know how to deal with this potential nuclear threat.

      • Give courage and wisdom to Israel, the Kurds, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and the Sunni Muslims, to know how to stop Iran from developing any kind of nuclear weaponry.

    • Jeremiah 49:38 I will set My throne in Elam, and will destroy the king and the rulers from there…

      • Lord Yeshua, we bless You for saving multitudes of Iranians, thus setting Your throne in 'Elam'.

      • Continue to give our brothers and sisters in Iran wisdom, courage and discernment as they minister the gospel to Muslims and Baha'i and all other groups there - including the 25,000 Iranian Jews .

      • We remember those in prison for their faith and ask You to set them free in all ways.

      • Lord, destroy the king and the rulers. Remove the scepter of authority from the Iranian Islamic leaders.

      • Use the confusion of the P5+1 Geneva deal in bringing down President Rouhani and all the rest of them.

  6. Aliyah - the immigration of the Jews in exile to Israel - was the next target for intercession.

    • Lord, thank You for the 19,000 plus Jews who returned home in 2013.

    • Increase that number exponentially in 2014.

    • Bless You for the increase of 30% from France. May the rest of European Jewry also see the signs of increasing anti-Semitism and come home now. Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says YHWH, and they will fish them. And afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. (Jeremiah 16:16)

    • As this is for Your glory, we have faith to continue to remind You to do this (Isaiah 43:5-7; 21).

    • Lord, break the satanic stupor that rests on many of the Jews in the West who think they are safe and prosperous and that it is better for them in exile than here in Israel - their God-given home.

    • Remind them of the same satanic stupor that was over most of European Jewry in the 1930s.

    • Remind them that they have no excuse today, whereas the State of Israel was not around in the 1930s.

    • Abba, what will it take to wake up the vast majority of Jews in America that it is time to return?

    • Cause Jewish believers to be open to hear You speak to them about aliyah (Isaiah 34:10; 51:11).

    • Continue to maintain Israel's strong economy so that it is like a magnet to Your people in exile.

    • We bless You for the return of the Bene Manasseh tribe from India. Bring all that remain there here.

  7. We continued to pray for the Church to have a biblical understanding of the importance of God's end-time restoration of Israel to its land and then to its Messiah.

    • Lord, You are doing something here with all of Your heart and soul (Jeremiah 32:41), and it must grieve You that many of Your children either do not see it - or worse, are resisting it altogether.

    • Open up eyes and hearts to what Your Word says about this - especially to the teaching elders.

    • We bless You for every biblical Zionist whom You have raised up in Your Body.

    • Deliver our brothers and sisters who are trapped by spirits of anti-Semitism and/or anti-Zionism.

    • Deliver our brothers and sisters who are ensnared by spirits of humanism.

    • Raise up the Sons of Zion [those who believe God's Word] to resist the Sons of Greece [those who put man and his welfare above everything else] in Your Body (Zechariah 9:13).

    • This year, write on the hearts of Messianic Jews, If I forget you O Jerusalem… (Psalm 137:5-6).

  8. We ended our time praying for IFI's International Prayer Conference Jerusalem that is quickly approaching (January 27th - February 3rd with prayer tour following). With things changing so quickly concerning global situations, it is amazing that our theme - which was given to us by the Lord early last year - is exactly what we as Bible believers need to take to heart for 2014.

Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.

Psalms 119:105

Shabbat shalom from Zion,

The IFI Team