1. We were so blessed by the way God guided our intercessions during the prayer conference and prayer tour following. And for that we thank you - as many of you stood with us in intercession. This end-time restoration of Israel and the Church is truly a work that Jew and gentile do together. This week's prophetic portion gives us a type of that as we read of King Solomon and Hiram, King of Tyre, working together to build the first temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 5:12-18).
    • We bless You Yeshua, as You are building Your Body, with Jew and gentile working together (Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 2:11-12).
    • We trust You and thank You for the strength and courage we receive from Your Word (Revelation 3:8).
    • We rest totally upon Your faithfulness (Isaiah 25:1; 49:7; Revelation 19:11).
    • Thank You for answering all intercessions during the conference and on the tour - that were in line with Your will (1 John 5:14-15).
    • And thank You so much for not answering any intercessions that are not in line with Your will.
  2. The Middle East situation is extremely dangerous and gets more so on a daily basis. Syria, Iraq and Yemen are no longer viable nation-states. Russia and Iran are deeply involved in the fighting that is taking many lives. Muslim refugees are streaming into Western nations - with all the resulting dangers that that involves. Israel's relations with America, Turkey, Russia, Egypt, etc., all need to be soaked in prayer as all of them hold a real sense of tension and danger if one party makes the wrong decision. So we prayed for Israel's leaders to be led by the King of the Jews to make decisions that He can bless.
    • Lead many of Israel's leaders to read this verse soon - and taking it to heart, to call upon You. Call on Me in the day of trouble; and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me. (Psalms 50:15)
    • YHWH has prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all. Psalms 103:19
    • Based on the above verse, we ask You to rule over all the Israeli cabinet decisions - for Your glory.
    • Abba, You know the end from the beginning, so please guide all decisions that Israel's leaders need to make. …I am God…declaring the end from the beginning, and from the past things which were not done, saying, My purpose shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure; (Isaiah 46:9-10)
    • We lift up Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. Aid him to think outside of the box and not be trapped by either the fear of man or by political correctness (Proverbs 16:9; 19:21; 21:1: 29:30).
    • Reveal to Netanyahu the spiritual realities - as You did to Elisha's servant (2 Kings 6:16-17).
  3. Israel has been negotiating with Turkey to renew ties - and this is very troubling. Turkey's current leaders are extreme Sunni Muslims who want to see the Ottoman Empire rise up and rule once again. We do not trust their President Erdogan at all. Israel needs wisdom from on high.
    • Lord, do not allow Israel's desire for friends and allies among the nations lead it to make bad decisions.
    • Impart to Israel's leaders Your red lines (Job 38:11).
    • Expose why Turkey, all of a sudden, wants to re-establish good ties with Israel. [Most likely, it has to do with Russia's deepening involvement in this area - as well as Israel's gas finds in the Mediterranean Sea.]
    • If this rapprochement is not of You - do whatever it takes to stop it (Numbers 22:26).
    • Draw Israel closer to the Kurds and use its good relationship with Greece and Cyrus for Your glory.
  4. We asked God to show us whether all that is happening - the US administration being very much a non-friend/ally of Israel, the BDS movement increasing its influence, the EU boycott vs. goods made in the settlements, the Golan and in east, i.e., biblical, Jerusalem, the UN becoming even more anti-Israel than ever, plus all of the other pressures on this nation to just give up and die - whether all this is for the purpose of Israel seeing what God has said about it is coming to pass in truth today: Behold, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be counted among the nations. (Numbers 23:9) We believe so and of course, this affects how we pray.
  5. America has been an ally of Israel. The Obama administration has changed that. His ignoring Iran's constant threats to annihilate Israel and pressing on with this evil P5+1 nuclear deal - was the icing on the cake of his disdain for this nation. So how should we pray?
    • Lord, we ask for wisdom as per James 1:5, on how we should pray.
    • Abba, rule over all Israeli government decisions dealing with its relations with the US (Psalm 33:10-11).
    • Bring the fear of God upon this current Israeli government - as that leads to wisdom (Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; 15:33).
    • We thank You for Bibi's very cautious approach to Obama. Bless him for this (Psalm 80:17).
    • Thank You for the growing closeness between Israel and India in many areas.
    • Use this to bless both nations (Genesis 12:3).
    • Draw more Israelis and Indians to the King of Israel - Yeshua, the King of Glory (Psalm 24:7-10).
  6. America is holding presidential elections this November. Ted Cruz, a possible Republican candidate, seems to be a brother in the Lord. While that does not mean he would automatically be the best man for this job, he does have a real zeal for Israel that has been openly displayed. Mike Bickle, the head of the Kansas City International House of Prayer, has recently endorsed Cruz, and now it's been revealed that Bickle not only is deeply involved with the ecumenical movement, drawing closer to the Roman Catholic Church, but he also has some strange prophetic interpretations concerning Israel. He has said Hitler was one of the hunters whom God sent (Jeremiah 16:16), by relating this passage which clearly talks about aliyah, to salvation instead. He also believes that a huge holocaust is coming on the Jews in Israel with many being killed or put into concentration camps. Obviously, this has gotten many Jews upset. While we agree with Bickle that Jews need Yeshua to have eternal life with God, we do not agree with his end-time scenario. [See the teaching paper "Jacob's Trouble" for an overview of what we believe]
    • Lord, please give Cruz wisdom on how to respond to this situation as by Bickle's endorsement, Cruz is being smeared by the same brush.
    • Do not allow Cruz to deny You before man - especially if asked if he believes Jews need Yeshua.
    • Abba, have mercy on Bickle and open his eyes to any and all compromising of truth for a unity that is not of Your Spirit (Ephesians 4:3).
    • Clear up Bickle's end time prophetic stance that hinders many Christians from helping the Jews return to Israel. [After all, if they are going to be slaughtered here, better they should stay in exile.]
  7. That last request led us to pray more deeply about aliyah - the return of Jews from exile to Israel - as we do believe that in these days Israel is, and will remain, the safest place for a Jew to be. It is also where God has promised to reveal His son to His people (Ezekiel 36:24-28; Zechariah 12:10).
    • Since this is for Your glory, we continue to press in and ask You to do this: Fear not; for I am with you. I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, Give up; to the south, Do not keep back; bring My sons from far and My daughters from the ends of the earth; everyone who is called by My name; for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him… (Isaiah 43:5-7)
    • Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you. (Jeremiah 31:3) His love draws Jews to settle in Samaria (vs. 4-5), what the world calls "occupied"!
    • Thank You for the 30,000 Jews who have returned home in 2015.
    • We are asking and believing for at least double that number this year. For Your name's sake, do it.
    • Send an intense spirit of homesickness upon Your people in exile - especially the Israelis living outside of this land.
    • Do not allow them to be satisfied with singing YHWH's song in the land of strangers (Psalm 137:4-6).
    • In those days, and at that time, says YHWH, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together, going and weeping. They shall go and seek YHWH their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces there, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to YHWH in an everlasting covenant never to be forgotten. Jeremiah 50:4-5
    • Lord, open wide the gates from both sides - for Jews to leave the nations and be received by Israel in peace and with joy (Isaiah 54:12-13).
    • Place the mandate of bringing Jews home on the shoulders of many more Christians (Isaiah 49:22).
    • Clear up all prophetic scenarios that declare the Jews are returning to be slaughtered - so that they can then be saved. Yet Lord, it is Your goodness that leads one to repentance (Romans 2:4).
    • Bring home all French speaking Jews, Jews stuck in Germany and multitudes of Jews from Spanish backgrounds.
    • Give to the government ministers - who are responsible for both bringing Your people home and seeing them settled here - a shepherd's heart as You said in Jeremiah 23:3-4.
    • We bless You for Natan Sharansky, the head of the Jewish Agency, for his relationship with Christians.
    • Speak to him and though him - and show him his Messiah (Luke 2:30-32).
  8. We ended by praying for Israel's security situation.
    • Abba, bring this to pass quickly: And your eyes shall see, and you shall say, YHWH will be magnified upon [or "from' or "beyond"] the border of Israel. (Malachi 1:5)
    • Lord of Hosts, protect Israel's borders from any infiltration of the soldiers of Islam.
    • Be the eyes and ears of the Israeli navy as it guards our long coast on the Mediterranean Sea and down south in the Gulf of Eilat.
    • We bless You for hearing our prayers and giving Israel several new weapons breakthroughs.
    • May the work to develop a tunnel detection system be finished this very weekend!
    • We thank You for all the terror tunnels that have collapsed recently.
    • For His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all his steps. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death to hide the workers of iniquity. Job 34:21-22
    • Cause Hamas in Gaza and those who are working on these tunnels to see this as Your hand protecting Your people - and to flee from before You (Exodus 15:25).
    • Thank You for confounding our enemies in the north (Psalm 129:5).
    • Since they are cursing Your people, continue sow confusion and division into Hizbullah (Luke 11:17).
    • Impart to Israel's leaders wisdom on whether to pre-empt any enemy - whether it be Hamas and their terror-tunnels, or Hizbullah and its 150,000 rockets and missiles, or even Iran's nuclear weapons program.
    • Thank You for Bibi wanting to build a fence to surround Israel from the "wild beasts" in the Middle East. Bless You that he is including Judea and Samaria - the "occupied territories" - inside the fence.
    • Abba, please build an invisible fence to protect Israel internally from the "wild beasts" that are attacking Israelis with knives, cars and other weapons.
    • And I will be to her a wall of fire all around her, and the glory in her midst. Zechariah 2:5
    • Use Iran's open mocking of America to be a huge wake-up call to the American Church.
    • In fact, Lord, wake up the Church in the West to see their governments' attacks against the faith of the Bible and to seek You on how to pray and what to do and say.
Please keep in prayer our brother Claude Ezagouri as he ministers in France and Belgium, and Steve Lightle as he ministers in South Korea. We so appreciate your standing with and praying for Israel and this ministry. Shabbat shalom and blessings from Zion The IFI team