1. After another week of violence and tension and fear around Israel we came into the Lord's gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise (Psalm 100:4):

   I love the Lord, because He has heard My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. The pains of death surrounded me, And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord: O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul! Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For You have delivered my soul from death, My eyes from tears, And my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord In the land of the living.

   Psalm 116:1-9

   • Thanks that we can walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

   • The situation looks impossible but God makes the impossible possible (Luke 18:27)

   • You are the alpha and the omega (Revelation 1:8) - You know the end from the beginning.

   • You are the Light of the World (John 8:12); Immanu-El - God with us (Matthew 1:23); Yeshua - salvation (Matthew 1:21)

   • You are God and your mercy endures forever. (Psalm 136:26)

   • For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

     Jeremiah 29:11

   • He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

     Psalm 91:1

2. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu - Bibi has been at the center of much controversy this week over comments made in a speech to the World Zionist Congress regarding the lie that Israel is seeking to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. (http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-accused-of-absolving-hitler-for-holocaust/) Whatever the PM intended by his comments, the storm it has caused seems to indicate a miscalculation or carelessness on his part where his presentation of Israel's case is normally so good.

   • Pray for Mr Netanyahu to be strengthened, refreshed, calmed, guarded against over-confidence, given wisdom and humility.

   • The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.

     Proverbs 15:33

   • Pray for all those around Netanyahu - colleagues, advisors, friends, family - for people he can trust, for peace in the home, for friends who are believers and can share the wisdom of God with him.

   • Pray that Bibi would be aware that God is with him would seek for guidance in the bible and would even receive divine revelation through dreams and visions.

   • There is little Benjamin, their leader, The princes of Judah and their company.

     Psalm 68:27

3. Security - In Jerusalem there are tighter security measures in place - closing off of neighborhoods where terrorists have been coming from, soldiers and police showing a much more visible presence on the buses, trains, and on the streets. This has made a difference but we need a long term strategy to restore normality as well as restoring order. The streets remain relatively empty as most people Jews and Arabs prefer to remain at home.

   • Pray for the security forces - police, army, private security guards, especially for good coordination between these different forces.

   • Pray for the protection of all people in the neighborhoods where Jewish areas border Arab areas and for the security of the borderlines.

   • Pray for strategies which will enable all the people to feel secure.

   • Pray against mistaken identity as there have been at least two horrific cases this week of people being killed through being mistaken for terrorists.

   • Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; Defend me from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, And save me from bloodthirsty men. For look, they lie in wait for my life; The mighty gather against me, Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord. They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.Awake to help me, and behold! You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, Awake to punish all the nations; Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah

     Psalm 59:1-5

4. Incitement - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 makes clear that the end times will be characterized by lawlessness. We can clearly see lawlessness rampant in the world. In Israel this is being fed by the incitement of many Palestinian leaders, such as Mahmoud Abbas' comment about Jews defiling the Temple Mount with their filthy feet (www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Mq63fUwEo).

   • For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

     2 Thessalonians 2:7

   • Pray for the lies and all incitement to be silenced, for lies to be exposed as lies, for justice for those inciting others to terror.

   • Pray for Abbas to be removed … and replaced with someone better!

   • Many of the Arabs have never known anything else since such incitement is embedded in their education system. We need to appeal to the Lord to break in supernaturally to their lives to reveal Himself in dreams and visions and bring salvation to them.

   • Pray that God would expose the cowardice of those who are determined to equate Netanyahu's comments (see point 2) with those of Abbas.

   • When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.

     John 16:13

   • Pray for the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth to be at work here.

   • Pray for believers, Jews and Arabs to be lovers of truth, discerning truth and willing to declare it, especially for politicians, journalists, church leaders to declare truth boldly even at the risk of their lives.

5. Healing - the nation of Israel is hurting, people have been killed, families are grieving, others are in hospitals recovering from injuries, there is much fear and also much hatred and desire for revenge (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4713505,00.html). A deep wound in the nation has been opened up and desperately needs the Lord's divine healing.

   • The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved! For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; Astonishment has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery For the health of the daughter of my people?

     Jeremiah 8:20-22

   • Call out to the God, the physician who is able to heal and pour the balm of Gilead upon this wound.

   • Pray for God to reveal Himself and give a peaceful Shabbat.

6. Salvation of Israel - there remains a veil over the faces of most Jewish people (2 Corinthians 3:12-18)

   • Pray that the veil would be lifted from the faces of the Jews - praying for different groups in the society eg. Ultra-Orthodox, Holocaust survivors, soldiers, teachers, those living close to the borders, etc., etc.

   • But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

     2 Corinthians 3:15-17

   • And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

     Zechariah 12:10

   • For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you.

     Isaiah 30:19

7. Syria - Russia's increased involvement in the civil war in Syria is a game-changer. This dramatically increases the possibility that the Assad regime will survive and reinforces the strength of the Shi'ite alliance between Iran, Iraq, Assad's Syria and Hezbollah-Lebanon. Meanwhile the suffering of the people just gets deeper and deeper - according to some estimates over 300,000 people have been killed while over half the population is refugees either in other countries or displaced from their homes within Syria.

   • Pray for God's mercy on the nation and an end to this appalling suffering.

   • Pray that God will use the suffering to turn multitudes away from Islam and to the living God.

   • But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.

     Jeremiah 10:10

   • Pray for believers ministering to refugees in the camps.

   • Pray for protection for Israel - that her leaders would know what to do, that Russia's Putin would keep away from touching Israel and that Israel would continue to have the freedom to keep a close watch over Lebanon, monitoring the activities of Hezbollah.

8. Rain - We have now entered the "rainy season" and while there has been a little rain, we need very much more.

   • When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

     2 Chronicles 6:26-27

   • As we are now Your temple (1 Corinthians 3:16), hear us when we pray to You and send rain upon Your land!

   • You are the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Please give life to Your land and to Your people!

Shabbat Shalom from the IFI team