1. Staring this morning, we read from this Shabbat's prophetic portion.

    • How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver you, Israel? …My heart is turned within Me; My compassions are kindled together. I will not carry out the heat of My anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst… They shall walk after YHWH; He shall roar like a lion… then the sons shall tremble from the west… and I will place them in their houses, says YHWH. Ephraim circles around Me with lying, and the house of Israel with deceit. But Judah still rules with God, and is faithful with the saints.

      Hosea 11:8-12

    • Lord, we stand amazed at Your compassion for Your people (Jeremiah 31:3).

    • We thank You for revealing Your heart to us through Your Word.

    • We praise You for revealing Yourself as YHWH, the God of Israel (Ezekiel 34:20; Luke 1:68).

    • Thank You for dealing with us - and this nation - as Your children (Exodus 4:22; 1 John 3:1-2).

    • Thank You for Your Word by which we judge all of our spiritual experiences (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

    • You are a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God - our faithful, eternal Rock (2 Samuel 23:3).

    • Additional note: The book of Obadiah is also read as part of this Shabbat's prophetic portion. We wondered whether verse 15 explains what we see in much of today's world: For the day of YHWH is near on all the nations; as you have done, it shall be done to you. Your reward shall return upon your head. The context clarifies that this is specifically what the nations have done to Israel. What they reap they sow; how they treat God's nation will determine how He treats them. So is this what we are beginning to see, especially in Western nations, today?

  2. While the situation in Syria is an answer to prayer - that God would confound the haters of Zion (Psalm 129:5) - it still poses a serious question to Israel and to intercessors. The Russian jet shot down by Turkey this week has raised the situation in the north of Israel to very dangerous levels. Israel absolutely needs to be led by the Spirit of God so it can avoid whatever trap the enemy is planning for it.

    • We look to You to do that which You have always done, and set Israel free from all the enemy's traps, even if You do it at the very last moment (Psalm 124:1-8).

    • Expose all traps - real and potential - to Israel's military and government leaders.

    • Lord, provide Israel with accurate intelligence and wisdom on how to respond to it.

    • God, You restored to us the Golan in 1967. We ask that You would now watches over it - for Your holy name's sake (Malachi 1:5).

    • Pour out the spirit of wisdom and revelation upon all in Israel who need to make decisions concerning Israel's security situation in the north.

    • Guard over Israel's government to know what to do and say and what not to (Proverbs 19:21).

    • Make Israel's responsible leaders like the sons of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do… (1 Chronicles 12:32)

    • Abba, impart that sons of Issachar understanding to all Your intercessors as well (Amos 3:7).

    • Give Prime Minister Netanyahu real discernment concerning his, and Israel's, relationship with Russian President Putin.

    • Give wisdom and discernment to Israel as to what intelligence and what armaments to share with others.

    • Pour out Your thoughts and plans on Israel's leaders (Psalm 33:10-11).

    • Release all the finances that Israel needs to have the army that can defend this nation from all threats. 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 YHWH's plans, nor do they understand His counsel, for He has gathered them like the sheaves 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)

  3. Israel's internal security situation is more dangerous right now than its external - although that could all change in an instant. We prayed for the security of this nation in its current borders.

    • Lord, give much wisdom to Israel's security forces that deal with what happens inside of this nation - its police force, the border patrol and Shin Bet, Israel's version of the FBI.

    • Aid soldiers at all checkpoints to be alert against car-ramming and knife attacks (Nehemiah 4:9).

    • Help the IDF to develop new techniques to prevent further deaths in car-ramming attacks.

    • Aid all of Israel's ordinary civilians to be super alert against these attacks as well (Mark 13:37).

    • Help Israelis recognize that having their attention focused on their mobile phones when in public is a dangerous distraction that should be avoided in these days (Matthew 24:43).

    • Lord, clear up all the confusion that was caused by some in the IDF who recommended giving more weapons to the Palestinian Authority security forces.

    • Thank You for Netanyahu rejecting this request. Keep him from caving in.

    • Continue to anoint Netanyahu to know what to say and do against the pressure to cave in to the unholy demands of Abbas and the PA (Psalm 80:17).

    • Lord, the government is upon Your shoulders (Isaiah 9:6), therefore we ask You to guide Israel's leaders to pass just laws to deal with this unprecedented situation of young women and teens attacking Israelis.

    • Influence Israeli courts to be less humanistic and more biblical in their decisions (Isaiah 1:26).

    • Abba, You restored Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem to Israel in 1967. So we plead for Your supernatural protection over these areas for all the innocent people - Jews and Arabs - who reside and travel there.

    • Give Israel's security forces wisdom and courage to root out all terrorists elements from Hebron.

    • Abba, may Israel's government have more courage to defend Israeli citizens and less fear of what the liberal West thinks and says (Proverbs 29:25).

  4. Israel's economy is a modern-day miracle. With all that this nation faces, and the huge percentage that must go for defense, the fact that Israel's economy is doing as well as it is - and compared to many Western nations, it is doing very well - is a definite sign of God's favor. Yet, as we recognized that so much of what happens here depends on a good economy, we interceded for it to continue to be blessed.

    • God, we give You the glory for sustaining this nation's economy over the years.

    • Thank You that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, up to this time, has barely made a dent in Israel's strong economic situation. YHWH your God would not listen to Balaam, but…turned the curse to a blessing to you, because YHWH your God loved you. (Deuteronomy 23:5)

    • In the same way, turn the curse of the EU labeling Israeli settlement products into a blessing by having many more Europeans, especially Christians, specifically look for and buy these products.

    • We thank You for all the oil and gas discovered in Israel and in its share of the Mediterranean Sea, and bless You that a gas deal has finally been passed by the government.

    • Lord, now help those responsible to know how to use these finds for Israel's benefit.

    • Please help the overall cost of living in this land to be decreased.

    • Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will truly plant them in this land with all My heart and all My whole soul. For thus says YHWH: As I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. And fields shall be bought in this land …Men shall buy fields for silver, write it in a book, seal it, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south. For I will cause their captivity to return, says YHWH.

      Jeremiah 32:41-44

    • Enable PM Netanyahu and Finance Minister Kahalon to continue to have a close working relationship.

    • We give You all the glory for all You are doing to sustain Israel today (Psalm 115:1-3).

  5. Aliyah - the immigration of Jews from exile to Israel - is one of the main reasons why Israel's economy needs to remain blessed and strong. And as God said that aliyah is for His glory (Isaiah 43:5-7, 21), that is the only reason we need to pray for this end-time Jewish return.

    • Lord, thank You for the increase in aliyah over the past decade. More, Lord!

    • We declare that the future of the Jews is in Israel and not in exile (Ezekiel 39:28-29).

    • Increase the return of the Spanish speaking Jews and fulfill Your word by settling many of them in the Negev (Obadiah 1:20 Sepharad = in modern Hebrew = Spain).

    • Hear the Word of YHWH, gentiles, and declare it in the coastlands afar off, saying, He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep/guard him, as a shepherd keeps his flock.

      Jeremiah 31:10

    • Lord, as You have been doing, continue to prepare this physical land to receive Your people: But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall put out your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel; for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I am for you…and you shall be tilled and sown. I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel…and the cities shall have people, and the wastes shall be built…I will make you dwell as before, and I will do better to you than at your beginnings, and you shall know that I am YHWH. (Ezekiel 36:8-11)

    • Open wide the doors of the Interior Ministry and remove all stones of bureaucratic stumbling from Your people's paths (Isaiah 62:10).

    • Clear the way for all Messianic Jews to return - and place a desire in them to do so (Psalm 137:4-6).

    • Speak to more Jews in America that the "Promised Land" is not there - but in Israel (Nehemiah 9:23).

    • Wake up the Jews in Europe that they need to flee 'Babylon' now (Jeremiah 50:4-8)!

    • May the fear for the future of their children cause Jews to return to Zion (Jeremiah 29:11-14).

    • Lord, even turn that fear into love for Zion - and marry their children to this land (Isaiah 62:4-5).

  6. With Chanukah approaching [evening of December 6th through the 14th], we prayed for Israel's salvation.

    • During this season of increasing light, may the light of Messiah Yeshua increase in the hearts of all Your people - both in Israel and in exile.

    • Yeshua, You are the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5). Reveal Yourself in all Your glory to Your Jewish brothers and sisters this very year.

    • We bless You for the positive change in Israelis towards both Christians and Messianic Jews.

    • Continue to use Christian Zionists to provoke Your people Israel to jealousy (Romans 11:11).

    • [As you can, please pray as specifically as you can - whether for a group such as Holocaust survivors, IDF soldiers, Netanyahu and family, or Jewish people whom you personally know.]

  7. We next blessed those who curse us, by praying for the salvation of many Muslims. There is a huge influx of Muslims into the Kingdom of God's Son and that is a definite answer to our intercession. But there are still more than a billion lost souls deceived by this anti-Christ, anti-Semitic Islamic spirit. Yet our God is much, much greater - because our God is the Lord of both heaven and the earth (Exodus 8:22; Psalm 24:1; 93:1; 96:10; 97:1; 99:1; 103:19; Haggai 2:6-8; Matthew 11:25). Please intercede for the Muslims in your nations, and in the Middle East.

  8. We ended by interceding for that part of the Western Church that is snared under its unbiblical replacement theory - thinking that it is now Israel and inheritor of all the blessings, while those stiff-necked Jews only receive God's curses. This theory has destroyed so much of the Church's effectiveness in all areas - not least of which is in evangelism. It blinds the eyes of the so-called prophets from seeing the times we are living in. Missing Israel's centrality in biblical theology makes everything else off-kilter. Please intercede for the Church in Your nation to return to the biblical foundations of the faith - that which is revealed from Genesis to Revelation.

Shabbat shalom

The IFI team