1. Praise: We began with Proverbs 18:10.

    • The name of YHWH is a strong tower – the righteous run into it and are safe. (Proverbs 18:10) [In Hebraic thinking "name" = essential nature and/or reputation]

    • We bless You for being always faithful, loving, merciful and just.

    • We take great comfort in the fact that God, You are the Creator of all (Genesis 1:1).

    • You are the King who is on His throne ruling over all today (Psalm 103:19).

    • Bless You for never changing in who You are (Malachi 3:6).

    • We thank you, God of judgment, that Your righteousness will ultimately prevail (Psalm 9:16-20).

    • Yeshua Lord, we confess that by Your stripes we were healed (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24).

    • Yeshua Lord, You are the Way, the Truth, the Life – and the Light of the world (John 14:6; 8:12)

    • Hallelujah! The Lord God almighty reigns (Revelation 19:6).

  2. Elections in France: While this is not an area we would normally pray into – as IFI – yet the potential to ask for French Jews to come home is too good to pass up. The initial election with all the various parties will be this Sunday and a run-off between the top two will occur sometime in May.

    • Lord, we ask You to overrule in the elections according to Your word in Daniel 2:21, 4:25 and 5:21.

    • Wake up the remnant Church in France to their responsibility to pray into these elections – based not on what is best for France, but what is best for Your kingdom purposes (Matthew 6:33; 1 Timothy 2:1-4).

    • Wake up French Jews to see that regardless of the results, their time of comfort in France is over.

    • We ask for a massive wave of aliyah [immigration] of Jews from France – to Israel (Isaiah 43:5-7).

    • Lord, may French Jews who have already returned call on their fellow countrymen to quickly follow.

    • Cut French Jews off from their nationalistic links to France and remind them that they just said at the end of the Passover Seder, "Next year in Jerusalem!" (Psalm 147:2; Zechariah 8:7)

    • Abba, allow the plague of terrorism in France's streets to wake up Your people to the demonic lie that it is dangerous to live in Israel at this time (Romans 8:28).

    • Bring Your comfort to all victims and survivors of terrorism in France and throughout the world.

  3. One of the stumbling stones in the way of many Jews trying to make aliyah (Isaiah 62:10), is the outdated Israeli bureaucracy that is still in place in so many areas.

    • Lord, help this government to function more efficiently by clearing away most of these red-tape traps.

    • We know that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has spoken against this issue. Anoint him to deal with it by tearing down many of the bureaucratic idols (Judges 6:25-27; 2 Chronicles 34:7).

    • Break the power of the unions and other Israeli guilds that are only looking out for themselves and their members – but not seeking what is best for this nation.

    • Remove all unelected clerks who so often run offices the same old way, regardless of who is elected.

    • As You did with many of the Russian-speaking immigrants, helping them integrate into Israeli society, so do for other language groups who immigrate and struggle with Hebrew.

    • And I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and one King shall be king to them all.

      Ezekiel 37:22a

  4. Starting Sunday evening, Israel observes Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. The date on the Hebrew calendar is loosely associated with the Warsaw ghetto uprising.

    • Lord, supply all the needs of the Holocaust survivors still living – approximately half a million in Israel.

    • Quickly break through all red-tape that prevents this.

    • Enable all monies allocated to them to be spent for them.

    • Abba, save them by revealing Your Son to them (John 6:44).

    • Bring them much comfort through the Christian groups working with them in Israel (Isaiah 40:1-2).

    • Also, use these groups to provoke them to jealousy with the love of their Messiah (Romans 11:11).

    • Use the testimony of those survivors who are believers – to save many others (Romans 11:14).

    • Bless all the non-Jewish volunteers and workers in this land serving these people (Isaiah 60:10-14).

    • Help the descendants of Holocaust survivors to deal with all the issues that have clouded their lives.

    • Lord Yeshua, You were specifically anointed to comfort people like the Holocaust survivors. Please walk through this land doing just that this next week. The Spirit of the Lord YHWH is on Me; because YHWH has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to preach the acceptable year of YHWH and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; so that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of YHWH, that He might be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1-3)

  5. Security: The threats on Israel's borders with Lebanon and Syria have only increased in recent days. Hizbullah has gotten bolder and the chaos in Syria continues.

    • Abba, we thank You for Your vigilant protection of this nation (Psalm 121:4; Jeremiah 31:10).

    • God, we also thank You for the vigilance of the IDF – all day, every day.

    • 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

      The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but safety is from YHWH.

      Proverbs 21:31

    • Lord, we trust in You, yet we do thank You for the IDF's chariots and horses that You use to defend it.

    • Please encourage the IDF soldiers that what they are doing by guarding our borders is very important.

    • Protect these young man and women from being kidnapped and from sniper attacks.

    • Lord, deal with this wicked terror group called Hizbullah (Joel 2:17-21).

    • Have mercy on Israelis and Lebanese by judging and destroying this evil organization (Psalm 46:8-11).

    • Draw them deeper into the trap You have set for them (Psalm 9:15; 35:4-8).

    • If there is an attack, enable Israel's response to be so quick and overwhelming that the fear of Israel's God falls on all the surrounding nations (Exodus 14:25; 15:14; Joshua 2:9-11; 5:1).

    • If Israel needs to pre-empt, give our leaders the courage to do so (Joshua 1:9).

    • Bring Netanyahu, Defense Minister Liberman, and the IDF Chief of Staff Eisenkot into one accord on all security issues (Psalm 133:1).

    • Protect all of Israel's spies and collaborators in this region.

    • Reveal to Israel the hidden plots of Iran and all the terror groups it sponsors (2 Kings 6:8-12; Job 12:22).

    • We aks for Malachi 1:5 to come to pass soon along Israel's northern and north-eastern borders: And your eyes shall see, and you shall say, YHWH will be magnified from the border of Israel.

  6. Security: Hamas in Gaza is playing mind games with Israel, saying there will be no war this summer – unless Israel starts it. Yet in all previous Gaza wars, Israel has not instigated even one.

    • Lord, like we asked for Hizbullah, do the same to Hamas and bring it down to destruction (Psalm 68:1).

    • You see their mockery of Israel's bereaved parents. Deal with this blasphemous video against Your nation and people (Numbers 24:9b).

    • May Israel not be more merciful to Your/their enemies than You are (1 Kings 20:42; Psalm 59:5).

    • In the midst of all their shortages, give courage to the Gazans to rise up against their Hamas rulers.

    • Widen the breach between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah/Abbas in Judea and Samaria (Psalm 129:5).

    • Thank You for Israel's security catching the Gaza female cancer patient who, although entering Israel for treatment, was carrying explosives!

  7. Palestinian prisoners are holding a hunger strike to demand better conditions in Israeli jails. What is not being mentioned as often as it should is that these are terrorists – not political prisoners.

    • Lord, help Israel to disseminate the truth of who these people are (Zechariah 8:3).

    • Also, may the real Marwan Barghouti – a terrorist serving five life sentences plus forty years for killing Israelis – be revealed to the world (Proverbs 8:7; Zechariah 8:16).

    • Use this situation to create greater division between all Palestinian factions – between Abbas' Fatah, and Hamas and those who follow Barghouti (Psalm 55:9).

    • Again, prevent Israel from being more merciful than You would be with murderers (Genesis 9:5-6).

    • Impart great wisdom to the Israeli Prison Service to know how to deal with this strike quickly.

    • Abba, somehow break the will of the strikers.

  8. US Secretary of Defense General Mattis is in Israel over the next few days. In the past, he has not come across as a friend of Israel – and we do not know whether that has changed under Trump's administration. Yet he is in Israel, the land where God can speak to even the hardest of hearts.

    • Lord, deeply touch General Mattis while he is in Your land (Leviticus 25:23; Joel 3:1-2).

    • Remove from Mattis all arrogance, pride and pre-conceived notions towards and about Israel.

    • Change his heart as he meets with Israeli officials and realizes that he has only seen one side of the totally Middle East picture.

    • Link his heart with the hearts of Israel's military leaders and especially with Netanyahu (1 Kings 5:12).

    • Use Bibi the historian to straighten out Mattis the historian in all areas that Mattis has not seen correctly.

    • Watch over his time with DM Liberman. May Liberman's Russian accent not harden Mattis' heart.

    • Lord, if Mattis does not know You, save him (Luke 2:32).

    • Impart to him a positive view on Israelis settlements (Amos 9:13-15).

    • If he has never read the US generals report after the Six-Day War on what Israel needs to keep for its security, place it in his hands. [http://www.paulbogdanor.com/israel/security/kett.html]

  9. On May 3rd, Palestinian Authority President Abbas will be meeting with US President Trump in Washington DC. This meeting is fraught with danger – for America. If Trump is deceived by Abbas' lies and demeanor, and pushes Israel even more to create a "Palestine," America will find itself even more divided than it is today.

    • For, behold, in those days and in that time, when I will bring again the exiles of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will fight with them there for My people and for My inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided My land.

      Joel 3:1-2

    • If at all possible, cancel this meeting (Jeremiah 32:17, 27).

    • Lord, may the American Church see this meeting as vital to be covered in intercession (Psalm 50:15).

    • Expose all of Abbas' lies and exaggerations (Psalm 120:7).

    • Enable Trump to read the wicked things Abbas says to his people in Arabic.

    • Use this meeting to wean Trump off from trying to broker this deal.

    • Press Abbas to overplay his hand and let his pride get the better of him (Proverbs 16:18; 18:12).

    • Meet with the Trump administration's Jewish members who are dealing with this land – Jared Kushner, Jason Greenblatt and David Friedman. Do not allow them to sell their birthright for a bowl of lentil soup (Genesis 25:34; Hebrews 12:16).

    • Prepare Israel for the day after (Psalm 124:7-8).

    • Give Israeli leaders the courage to respond with words in line with Your Word (Psalm 81:10).

    • In fact, let them use Your Word to reject all ungodly pressure against this land and its people (Isaiah 55:11).

Thank you for praying along with us for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is heaven.

Blessings and Shabbat shalom

The IFI team