1. We started with Psalm 97:1-5

    • YHWH reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of islands be glad. Clouds and darkness are all around Him; righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne. A fire goes before Him and burns up His enemies round about. His lightning lit up the world; the earth saw and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of YHWH, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

    • You have reigned, You are reigning and You will reign! (Malachi 3:6)

    • You are our Mighty Rock (Genesis 49:24).

    • You will never fail us, nor forsake those who seek You (Psalm 37:28).

    • We bless You that all of Your promises - including those to Israel - are 'yes' and 'amen' in Messiah Yeshua (2 Corinthians 1:20).

    • Hallelujah! Your love is from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 100:5; Jeremiah 31:3).

  2. The 'piece by piece - peace process' continues, although, thank God, nothing has come of it. We prayed specifically for Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu who has to deal with this all the time.

    • We thank You for raising up Bibi Netanyahu at this time.

    • In whatever areas he is forced to make compromises, may it be You who sets the limits. There are many purposes in a man's heart, but the counsel of Jehovah shall stand. (Proverbs 19:21)

    • Give him a new resolve to lead this nation in line with Your written Word (Joshua 1:6-9).

    • Provide Netanyahu with counselors who will help him guide Israel through these dangerous waters.

    • Strengthen him to stand strong and not waver in his declared redlines:

      • No return of the Palestinian so-called 'refugees'.

      • Jerusalem to remain the undivided capital of Israel.

      • No turning over of the security of Israel in the Jordan Valley, or anywhere else, to international troops.

      • The demand that the leaders of the Palestinian must recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland and declare an end to all claims.

    • Prevent him from politicizing this process, but enable him to approach it as a statesmen and a man who honors Your Word (Psalm 119:11, 32, 36, 105).

  3. We prayed for the building of a Jewish neighborhood in the 'E1 corridor', the area between Jerusalem's eastern side and the community of Ma'ale Adumim. This is an essential need to protect Jerusalem's eastern flank as well as to prevent a division of the city.

    • So says YHWH, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb, I am YHWH who makes all things; who stretches out the heavens alone; who spreads out the earth; who was with Me? who brings to nothing the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns the wise backward, and makes their knowledge foolish; who makes the word of His servant sure, and makes good the counsel of His messengers; who says to Jerusalem, She shall have people; and to the cities of Judah, You shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places of it…who says of Cyrus, He is My shepherd, and shall do all My pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built; and to the temple, Your foundation shall be laid.

      Isaiah 44:24-28

    • Abba, we ask that You declare Your word over this area - You shall be built - and help Israel to break ground there soon, even in the face of all the international condemnation that will come.

    • We remind You that this end-time restoration of Israel is for Your holy name's sake and therefore, we in boldness, ask for You to do it (Ezekiel 36:21-37; especially pay attention to verse 37).

    • This is one of the areas You describe in Jeremiah 32:44 and 33:13 as the places about Jerusalem. And since You declared that You are doing this with all of Your heart and soul (32:41), we boldly ask for You to do it as soon as possible.

    • Use E1 and all the plans and opposition surrounding it for Your kingdom's sake (Romans 8:28).

    • Raise up other world leaders, like Canada's S. Harper and Australia's T. Abbot, to be like Cyrus and encourage the Jews to both return and rebuild.

  4. Israel's current government coalition is hanging on - although they definitely could be working better with each other and for the nation. We spent lots of time and effort in intercession before the last election, pleading with God to give us a government through whom He could be glorified. We see this current government as the answer to those prayers. And if it is, then Satan wants to destroy it - or at least, make it very inefficient. So now we need to guard over it in prayer.

    • We thank You for the current Israeli governing coalition. We believe it is, at least, a partial answer to our prayers and intercessions.

    • Make it a fulfillment of Your promise in Isaiah 1:26: I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning; after you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.

    • Use the various coalition partners to provide a balanced response when they react very courageously and strongly to the lies and distortions that come from many world leaders.

    • We bless You for those in this government who are definitely not 'politically correct'!

    • Enable Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett to work together to pass the important legislation that they promised in their election campaigns.

  5. In March, Netanyahu will be meeting with President Obama in America. They are planning to discuss the 'peace process', as well as the current Iranian negotiations. The talk out of Washington is that this planned meeting will show the unbreakable ties these two nations have. And while the ties between America's people and military are, for the most part, excellent with Israel, the ties between the Obama administration and the Israeli government and people are not good. Most Israeli have shown in poll after poll that we do not trust Obama or his messengers.

    • We declare over this meeting, There is no spell against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God done! (Numbers 23:23)

    • Lord, prepare Bibi for whatever it is that he will have to deal with (Psalm 80:17).

    • Give him wisdom on whom to take with him to America - and whom to leave behind.

    • As we have seen in the past, anoint Israel's Prime Minister to articulate very clearly the dangers that Israel faces if it divides its land.

    • Place Your Word in his mouth, and let him not be timid in using the Bible to make Israel's case. For as the rain comes down, and…does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring out and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it certainly shall do what I sent it to do. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

    • Give Bibi a clear understanding of Your guidelines in Israel's relations with America.

    • Watch over all media interviews he gives and use them for Your glory.

    • Anoint Israel's new US ambassador, Ron Dermer.

  6. In praying over this visit, we realized that much more is at stake for America than for Israel. After all, Israel is the only nation that has an unbreakable promise of God to remain a nation before Him - at least until the new heavens and earth (Jeremiah 31:35-37). So the Church in the US needs to be watching and praying over their government - especially when Obama meets Bibi. This is true for all churches in all the nations that brazenly touch the apple of God's eye (Zechariah 2:8-9; Joel 3:1-2).

    • Lord, wake up Your Body to what You are doing in these crucial days to hasten Your coming.

    • Yeshua, warn Your Body of anything they are involved with that is actually delaying Your return.

    • Allow the true Body of Messiah in the nations to hear what You are wanting/needing from them so that You can have mercy on their nations (Ezekiel 22:30-31).

    • Have mercy on America and EU nations by shaking any believers in these nations out of their apathy and/or ignorance - or even opposition - to what You are doing in restoring Israel (Jeremiah 33:9).

    • Use all of the wonderful International Prayer Conference delegates who have now gone back to their nations as anointed ambassadors for You.

    • Give them wisdom on when to speak and when to be quiet (Matthew 7:6).

    • Draw like-minded believers together for true fellowship in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

    • Move Your people around so that in these last days they find themselves exactly where You want them to be and knowing exactly what You want to hear from them in intercession.

  7. The 'boycott-divestment-sanctions' [BDS] movement against Israel is annoying - and so far not much more than that. But the fact that several 'Christian' denominations have backed this ungodly pressure on Israel is downright unbelievable, and very dangerous to them. Yeshua must be crying over this part of His Body - who are so deceived, possible even hate-filled towards His nation and people, and are resisting what He is doing with all of His heart and soul (Jeremiah 32:41).

    • Lord, in denominations and churches that take this stance, let true believers vote with their feet and leave - except if You tell them to stay. [The default should be to get out - unless you hear otherwise.]

    • Wake up some leaders in all these organizations to resist this and to be a voice of warning.

    • Open up Your Word to Your people. Give them revelation concerning the 100s of verses that declare that what we are seeing in Israel is exactly what You said You would do in these days.

    • Since You said that You would curse all those who curse Abraham's seed, the Jewish people (Genesis 12:3; cp. Numbers 24:9). Also as these denominations are trying to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel and You said, Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he also will reap, (Galatians 6:7), therefore, we ask that You swiftly dry up the funds of these groups and let them know that it is because they have messed with Your people and Your land.

  8. The 3rd Christ at the Checkpoint conference will be held in Bethlehem in March. These deceptive meetings are founded upon the anti-biblical Palestinian Liberation Theology. The deception runs very deep, to the point to where these folks cannot get their heads around the idea that God is big enough to fulfill His prophetic Word and through that, to bring true social justice to all. Still, a few Israeli Messianic leaders are planning to be there and to speak. This will give a tint of fairness to this gross misinterpretation of God's Word. Without being based on the truth of God's word, love and unity are the devil's tools for his ends. Before Yeshua ever prayed about unity in John 17, He prayed, Sanctify them through Your truth. Your Word is truth. (John 17:17)

    • Lord, open up the eyes of all the shepherds of Your flock in Israel.

    • Hedge them in if they are touching anything that is not of You - for them.

    • Do not allow well-meaning leaders to end up being duped into supporting the enemy's agenda.

    • Cleanse all of the Israeli Body from the desire to please man - and give us a zeal only for the things of our Lord and Messiah, Yeshua (Proverbs 29:25).

    • Lord, we plead with You to not allow this conference to take place.

We also prayed for rain, as Israel is going through a very dry winter.

And we did a very brief prayer patrol around the borders of this nation for security.

We had an excellent prayer conference and tour that followed. We want to thank you for your prayer support, covering of us during that time. A notice will soon be up on our website as to how to order the CDs of the messages and prayer input from the conference. They might be a great aid to you and your prayer partners/groups.

Much blessings and thanks from Zion,

Shabbat shalom

The IFI team