1. We looked at this section from Shabbat's prophetic portion as we opened the meeting.

    • [Rahab] said to the men, I know that YHWH has given you the land, that your terror has fallen on us, and that all who live in the land faint because of you. For we have heard how YHWH dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side Jordan - Sihon and Og - whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard, our hearts melted, and no courage remained in any man, because of you. For YHWH your God, He is God in Heaven above and in earth beneath.

      Joshua 2:9-11

    • Hallelujah! Our God - You are the God of heaven and earth.

    • …Yeshua rejoiced in Spirit, saying, I thank You, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth…

      Luke 10:21

    • We bless You that Your love is an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3).

    • What encouragement it gives us to know that Your Word will do what it is sent out to do (Isaiah 55:11).

    • Thank You for Your Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth and aids us in our intercessions (John 16:13; Romans 8:26).

    • We rejoice that You have opened up our hearts and minds to behold the Lamb of God (John 1:29).

  2. Michael Flynn, former head of America's Defense Intelligence Agency, has just openly affirmed Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's view of the current Iranian negotiations - that they will not prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Although we have known this for some time, Flynn's testimony could aid in getting the US Congress to not sign off on this P5+1 'bad' deal.

    • Lord, thank You for the courage and truthfulness of Michael Flynn.

    • Do not allow his testimony to be buried - but may it be shouted from the rooftops!

    • Abba, stop these nations from negotiating with this wicked Iranian regime.

    • Oh send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead [the P5+1 nations]…

      Psalms 43:3a

    • Lord Yeshua, as You did in the temple (Matthew 21:12), so turn over this negotiation table.

    • Strengthen the French stance that unless there are unfettered inspections, they will not approve the deal.

    • Have mercy, and prevent a Shi'ite Islamic nuclear weapon from ever becoming a reality. Have mercy on me, O YHWH; see my trouble from those who hate me… (Psalms 9:13a)

    • Lord, prevent US President Obama from somehow getting this deal to be approved (Ecclesiastes 10:8).

    • Remind the US Pentagon of how grateful they were that Israel had destroyed Saddam's nuclear program before the US military had to fight them a decade later in Desert Storm.

  3. Yet, if this 'bad' deal is approved, Israel needs to know what to do. So we prayed for those in Israel who will be responsible to make these weighty decisions.

    • Lord, we bless You for PM Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ya'alon and the IDF head Eisenkot.

    • Bind them together into a strong threefold cord and may You be the fourth in their midst (Ecclesiastes 4:12; Daniel 3:25).

    • Bring them, and the whole security cabinet, into perfect unity concerning what Israel will need to do to deal effectively with the threat of Iranian weapons of mass destruction (Judges 20:1; Psalm 133:1)

    • Impart out-of-the-box thinking to Israel's military planners on how to neutralize this threat quickly.

    • Enable all of the various departments of the IDF to communicate clearly with one another.

    • If Israel needs to attack openly, may the results be so suddenly and overwhelming that all the world see Your hand in Israel's victory (Exodus 14:14, 25; Psalm 115:1-3).

    • Lord, it appears that Israel is trapped. It will be internationally condemned if it attacks Iran and it will face an existential threat if it does not. Help! Except that YHWH was on our side, O may Israel say … when men rose up against us, then they would have [destroyed us]… 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)

  4. There is a dangerous security vacuum in the Sinai desert. The IDF cannot operate there openly and Egypt's army is limited to what they can do because of its peace treaty with Israel. Islamic terrorist groups are taking advantage of that and are now a threat both to Israel and Egypt.

    • Lord, continue to help Egypt and Israel to work together against this common enemy.

    • Let Israel cooperate with Egypt - but not trust in Egypt (Isaiah 30:1-3; 31:1-3).

    • Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of YHWH our God…Save, O YHWH; let the King hear us when we call.

      Psalms 20:7, 9

    • Aid Israel to complete the security barrier it is building all along its border with the Sinai.

    • Enable Israeli intelligence to know where the terrorists are and what they are about to do.

    • Give Israel's leaders and the IDF courage to do whatever needs to be done to protect Israeli civilians.

    • Lord, as You are saving multitudes of Muslims - save many of these Sinai terrorists too (Matthew 5:44).

    • We thank You for Egypt's current President al-Sisi, and ask for his protection and a deep understanding that Israel is not Egypt's enemy.

  5. We turned our attention to the Israeli government.

    • Abba, we remind You of Your promises to raise up in this nation godly leaders in these days. 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. (Isaiah 1:26; cp. Jeremiah 23:3-4)

    • Lord, please place 'blinders' - like they put on horses - on this government so that they see the direction in which You are leading them and not be distracted by anything else.

    • Impart to them Your priorities and Your goals for this nation at this time (Psalm 33:10-12).

    • Overrule in Your sovereignty any areas in which Israel's leaders are leading this nation astray.

    • A man's heart plans his way, but YHWH directs his steps; There are many purposes in a man's heart, but the counsel of YHWH shall stand.

      Proverbs 16:9; 19:21; cp. 21:1

    • We ask that You would bless and anoint Bibi Netanyahu for Your glory (Psalm 80:17).

    • Let all untrue criticism against him not find a place in his heart, but open him up to receive and deal with any criticism that is true (Proverbs 27:6).

    • Help Moshe Kahlon, the new finance minister, in his efforts to lower the cost of housing.

    • Thank You for Tizpi Hotovley, the deputy foreign minister, whose willingness to use biblical arguments to prove that all of this land belongs to us, is an answer to prayer (Psalm 119:89).

    • Thank You for her declaring that the answer to the demographic challenge in this land is not the creation of a Palestinian state, but an increase in aliyah - the return of Jews from exile to Israel (Isaiah 43:5-7).

    • Show Bibi who should be the new foreign minister in this current government.

  6. In Tel Aviv today there is a huge 'Gay' Pride parade. This is part of the worldwide onslaught of pressuring mankind to accept 'gay' as the new 'normal'. Obviously, this is diametrically opposed to what God says in His word, yet how we deal with this, by speaking the truth in love, is a major problems for many Christians and churches.

    • Lord, have mercy on Israel, and all those in the Israeli 'gay' community.

    • Give believers the wisdom and grace to know how to speak the truth in love in all situations that we find ourselves facing (Ephesians 4:15).

    • Lord, make us quicker to intercede for sinners, recognizing that but for Your grace, many of us would be in our same, old, sinful conditions (Romans 6:14).

    • Abba, the rainbow is a sign of Your covenant with the world (Genesis 9:13-16), so we thank You for it.

  7. Obviously, the real solution is salvation, so we prayed for all Israel to be saved (Romans 11:26).

    • Yeshua Lord, You and You alone, are the solution to how we can overcome our sin nature and have a relationship with God the Father (John 14:6).

    • Yeshua, thank You for all the ex-gays who are now in Your kingdom (Colossians 1:13). More Lord!

    • Anoint Your Body to have that word in due season and to speak it (Proverbs 15:23; 2 Timothy 4:2).

    • Watch over the seeds we have planted in the hearts of Israelis - and give an increase (1 Corinthians 3:6).

    • Lord, You brought us back to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:12).

    • Lord, You brought us back to save us as we abide in Your land (Ezekiel 36:24-29).

    • Lord, You brought us back to dwell in Jerusalem and come to know You (Zechariah 8:8).

    • We ask that You would quickly do that which You have repeatedly said You would (Romans 9:27-28).

    • Use ex-Muslim, and other non-Jewish, believers to provoke unsaved Israel to jealousy (Romans 11:11).

    • Yeshua, this weekend, we ask that You would make an appearance in many Israeli synagogues, just like You did when You walked this land 2,000 years ago (Luke 4:16).

  8. We prayed that the Israeli Body of Messiah would use God's Word alone as its measuring rod for truth. As we draw closer to God by His Word, we also draw closer to each other. Thus we end up not having to work towards unity, but to work out that unity of the Spirit that Yeshua's Body already has.

    • I therefore, the Lord's prisoner, beseech you that you walk worthy of the calling with which you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

      Ephesians 4:1-3

    • Lord, aid us to keep the unity of the Spirit and not any other humanistic unity that breeds deception.

    • Sanctify them through Your truth. Your Word is truth.

      John 17:17

      Amen!

    • Impart to Your Body a renewed love for Your Word.

    • Remove all 'politically correct' teachers and preachers and raise up in all the Israeli Body - preachers who desire to be biblically correct - regardless of the consequences.

    • Banish from the Israeli Body all humanistic compromises - especially about this land and to whom it really belongs.

    • We declare that it is Your land, given to Your people - for Your glory (Ezekiel 36:5, 8, 22-28, 32)!

    • Thank You that Yeshua Himself affirmed the promises You made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - which of necessity included the promise of this land (Romans 15:8).

  9. Finally, we touched on the increased pressure being brought on Israel by the global 'Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions' [BDS] movement. In a recent interview, Bassam Eid, a Palestinian Human Rights activist, who is not really a lover of Israel, was very opposed to BDS because - as he said - this really only hurts the Palestinians themselves. Also, he clearly stated that Israel is not an 'apartheid' state.

    • Lord, protect Eid and use his words to influence many of the deceived people in the West.

    • Lord, save Eid. Reveal Your Son, his Redeemer, to him.

    • Abba, arise and scatter all the anti-Israel NGO's - especially those who are financed by the EU.

    • Please reveal to many of these well-meaning, but deceived, people that the modern roots of this BDS movement can be traced to what the Nazis did to the Jews in Germany in the 1930s.

    • To all Christians involved in this, and to all denominations, somehow have the truth of these warning ring in their spirits to turn them from this very dangerous course that they are on: For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you will perish. Yes, those nations will be completely wasted. (Isaiah 60:12); It shall be in that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. (Zechariah 12:9)

May the Lord continue to guide us all as we take our place on Jerusalem's walls and cry out to Him for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it already is being done in heaven. Again, we thank and bless you for your faithfulness to stand with us in this manner (Isaiah 66:10-13).

Shabbat shalom

The IFI team