1. We began by reading verses from Shabbat's prophetic portion (Malachi 1:1-2:7).

    • I have loved you, says YHWH. But you say, how have You loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? …yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau and made his mountains desolation …And your eyes shall see, and you shall say, YHWH will be magnified beyond [or "on"] the border of Israel.

      Malachi 1:2-5

    • For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, My name shall be great among the gentiles; and everywhere incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure food offering. For My name shall be great among the gentiles, says YHWH of Hosts.

      Malachi 1:11

    • We bless You for being a God who desires to hear the prayers of Your people (Proverbs 15:8, 29).

    • Thank You for giving us Your Word - Your truth (John 17:17).

    • Yeshua, You are the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6) - and we rejoice in You!

    • Thank You for being so faithful in Your dealings with us (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

    • We expectantly trust and believe that Your Word shall not return to You void, but it shall accomplish all that You sent it to do. (Isaiah 55:11)

    • The name of YHWH is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.

      Proverbs 18:10

  2. Israeli Prime Minster Bibi Netanyahu returned from a very successful trip in America. Now the government needs to have clarity on how to respond to the current rebellion, unrest and attempts at murder that are occurring among both Palestinians and some Arab-Israeli citizens - against Israeli Jews.

    • God, we know that nothing takes You by surprise; that You already have a plan on how to deal with this violence. Please reveal it to those in authority in Israel who need to know and act on it.

    • YHWH brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He breaks the plans of the people. The counsel of YHWH stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.

      Psalms 33:10-11

      There are many plans in a man's heart, but the counsel of YHWH shall stand.

      Proverbs 19:21

    • Turn the heart of Israel's leaders to Your direction for this nation at this time (Proverbs 21:1).

    • Provide Bibi with all he needs so that he can be all that You have raised him up to be (Psalm 80:17).

    • Lord, Israel is being attacked on many fronts - by boycotts, chaos in Syria, threats from Arab nations to create a 'Palestine', and more - yet we ask that You help the government to see that the security of Israel's citizens is their top priority (Romans 13:1-4; 1 Timothy 2:1-4).

    • Block any satanic distractions and diversions from negatively affecting Israeli government decisions.

    • Abba, deal harshly with any pride that would also hinder the government from working effectively (2 Chronicles 32:26; Proverbs 11:2; 13:10; 16:18; Isaiah 2:11).

    • Use these various Arab attacks - by cars, knives, rocks or Molotov cocktails - through people as young as 11, to wake up Israel to see the true face of Islam.

    • Aid the government to not compromise with this Islamic spirit - which You hate (Psalm 5:5; 97:10; Proverbs 8:13; Amos 5:15).

  3. We then prayed for Israel's security forces on the ground who face this violent hatred against Israel and its Jews. Most of Israel's soldiers are very young and are being forced to do jobs that in most nations trained police would handle.

    • Lord, give discernment to all of Israel's security forces to know exactly how to respond in each situation.

    • Protect and keep all the young soldiers alert - as their very uniform is a bullseye for demonic forces.

    • Use Israel's security forces for Your glory - as You said You would (Isaiah 41:10-16; Micah 4:11-13).

    • We thank You for all those who are physically interceding for the life of this nation.

    • Do not allow any humanistic rules of engagement interfere with their effectiveness.

    • Use the natural fears that will arise in the security forces as they face dangerous situations to turn these precious defenders of Israel to Yourself (Psalm 50:15).

    • Please protect Jerusalem's Old City and the Temple Mount from the shedding of innocent blood.

    • Anoint and use Israel's navy and air force as well.

  4. We made several scriptural proclamations over Jerusalem. In proclaiming God's word, we trust in Him to watch over His word and do that which will bring Him the most amount of glory.

    • Great is YHWH, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful on high, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion…the city of the great King.

      Psalms 48:1-2

    • YHWH builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.

      Psalms 147:2

    • Yet I have set My king on My holy hill, on Zion.

      Psalms 2:6

    • As birds flying, YHWH of Hosts will defend Jerusalem; defending, He will deliver it, and passing over He will preserve it…says YHWH, whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem.

      Isaiah 31:5, 9b

    • I, says YHWH, will be to [Jerusalem] a wall of fire all around, and will be the glory in her midst.

      Zechariah 2:5

    • I will pour on the house of David, and the people of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications. And they shall look unto Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be bitter over Him, as the bitterness over the first-born.

      Zechariah 12:10

  5. The chaos in Syria and Lebanon seems to grow with every passing day. As Russian and Iranian troops, and Hizbullah terrorists fight against Sunni terrorist and other rebel groups, ISIS upped its game with a massive suicide bombing of a Shi'ite area in Beirut yesterday and the probable blowing up of a Russian plane over the Sinai last week. Also, the IDF now says that Hizbullah in Lebanon has around 150,000 rockets - more than all European nations together! So Israel needs His guidance today.

    • Lord, we are surrounded by an insanity whose common factor is that they all hate Israel. We need Your help, Your protection and Your guidance as to what Israel needs to do.

    • Offer to God thanksgiving; and pay your vows to the Most High; and call on Me in the day of trouble; and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.

      Psalms 50:14-15

    • Help us, Your intercessory watchmen, be like Issachar's sons, who knew the signs of the times and then knew what Israel needed to do (1 Chronicles 12:32; cp. Mark 13:33, 37).

    • If Israel needs to pre-empt Hizbullah's rocket arsenal, bring clarity and miraculous unity in any meetings being held to discuss this (Judges 20:1).

    • Lord, as we cry out for Israel's security and salvation, deal with the northern army, just as You said You would in Joel 2:17-21.

    • Since both Hizbullah terrorists and Iranian soldiers are dying in the Syria conflict, use this to weaken and discourage both of these enemies of Israel (Psalm 83:1-18).

    • Allow Israel to continue to develop new weapons systems - both defensive and offensive.

  6. The EU has said that all Israeli products made beyond the 1967 green line must not be labeled 'Made in Israel'. The irony is that with all the hundreds of other territorial disputes in the world, these brave Europeans have dealt only this way with the Jewish State. Will this hurt Israel's economy? No. This will hurt Europe much more than Israel, as their economy is now cursed by God (Genesis 12:3; Numbers 24:9). And the Islamic invasion of Europe through immigration will continue to destabilize many of these same nations who want to see Israel's God-given land divided (Joel 3:1-2).

    • Lord Yeshua, only Your Body can stand between Your righteous judgment and their nations - pleading for You to have mercy. Wake up the true church in Europe to do just that.

    • And He said that He would destroy them, if Moses His chosen had not stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, so that He should not destroy them.

      Psalms 106:23

    • A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet…YHWH, I have heard Your report; I am afraid. YHWH, give new life to Your work in the midst of years… in wrath remember mercy.

      Habakkuk 3:1-2

    • Abba, there are others who see how dangerous and wrong this decision is. Cause them to also wake up.

    • May many EU nations refuse to go along with this edict which is in reality an anti-Semitic decree.

    • Thank You for the European Coalition for Israel. Use them and the many other pro-Israel groups in Europe, like IFI Germany, to speak truth - even if no one listens (Proverbs 8:7).

    • Lord, continue to fulfill this specific prophecy: Behold, the days come, says YHWH, that the plowman and the reaper shall draw near, the treader of grapes, and he who draws along the seed…I will turn back the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the cities which are desolate, and shall live in them. They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine. They shall also make gardens and eat their fruit. And I will plant them on their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, says YHWH your God. (Amos 9:13-15)

    • Increase Israeli exports from these areas - Judea, Samaria, the Golan and parts of Jerusalem - to many other parts of the world.

  7. Aliyah, the immigration of the Jews from exile to Israel, is a natural follow-up to the last prayer topic. As Western nations turn more and more against Israel possessing her possessions (Obadiah 1:17), anti-Semitism increases dramatically. As that happens, Jews in exile begin to look to Zion for safety and for a future for their children.

    • 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

    • Abba, we see the release of the hunters. Move upon many Jews to come home to Israel and to seek Your face with all of their hearts (Jeremiah 50:4-5).

    • As aliyah is specifically for Your glory, we will not stop asking for You to do whatever it takes to bring Your scattered children home (Isaiah 43:5-7, 21).

    • May the 1,000s of remaining Ethiopian Jews who have family in Israel be reunited in Zion.

    • For European Jews who are still under a false security blanket thinking all this will not affect them, strip them of it and cause them to come home now - before they flee with only the clothes on their backs.

    • May Your Church arise to the challenge of protecting, provoking to jealousy, providing for and carrying the Jews home, in line with in this end-time fulfillment of Your word (Isaiah 40:1; 49:22; 60:3-10).

    • Move upon the rabbis throughout the Western world to preach aliyah and to plan to return themselves.

    • Keep the gates in Israel wide open to receive all the Jews who You are bringing home - regardless of what they believe (Isaiah 35:10; 51:11; 62:10).

  8. Next, we stood in the gap for the Messianic Body in Israel.

    • Lord, how amazing that today there is a growing, maturing Israeli Body of believers in Messiah Yeshua.

    • Protect and defend it from all the assaults of the wicked one.

    • Raise up those shepherds after Your own heart whom You have promised to give us (Jeremiah 3:14-15).

    • Aid believers to see the essential need to receive Your gift of the love of the truth, and to specifically ask for it (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11). [If you have never done this, please consider doing this now!]

    • May Your Word determine what is truth and what is not (2 Corinthians 6:7).

    • Protect the Israeli Body from any and all doctrines of demons and other false theories (1 Timothy 4:1).

    • Increase the burden for intercession - especially among the younger generation.

    • Strengthen all intercessors for the battle (Isaiah 28:5-6).

    • Lord, it is very draining to live here. Help us to wait upon You and to exchange our strength with Yours: [They that] wait on YHWH shall renew [lit: exchange] their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

We finished by praying for the salvation of all Israel. Please add your prayers to ours, praying for specific groups of Jews - whether in Israel or in exile - that Yeshua would reveal Himself to them as Joseph did to his brothers in Egypt (Genesis 45:1-5).

Shabbat shalom, and blessings from the city of the great King Yeshua,

The IFI team