1. We began by reading the prophetic portion from this Shabbat: Isaiah 54:11-55:5

    • Excerpts: Afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold…all your sons shall be taught of YHWH; and great shall be the peace of your sons. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. Behold, they shall surely gather together, yet not by Me; whoever shall gather against you shall fall for your sake… No weapon formed against you shall succeed; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the inheritance of the servants of YHWH, and their righteousness is of Me… Come to Me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a Leader and Commander of peoples. Behold…a nation that did not know You shall run to You because of YHWH Your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified You.

    • We bless You for establishing us in Messiah Yeshua (54:14).

    • Thank You for the everlasting covenant that You have made with us (55:3).

    • Bless You for promising shalom – peace, wholeness, prosperity – to our children (55:13).

    • Lord Yeshua, we confess that You are the Truth and Your Word is true (John 14:6; 17:17).

    • We are grateful for the freedom we have to gather openly and worship You in Jerusalem.

    • You know the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) – therefore nothing takes You by surprise.

    • Lord Yeshua, you are the Risen and victorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16).

  2. With an eye on the terror attacks in Spain yesterday and the recent neo-Nazi march in America, we prayed for the Church to wake up and for the Jews to come home.

    • And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) Almighty God, use these openly demonic actions to wake up and shake up those who are "the called" – both the Jews and the living Body of Messiah Yeshua.

    • May 1st Peter 4:7 become a word in due season to the Church: The end of all things is at hand: be therefore sober-minded and watch unto prayer.

    • Wake up the Church to not just see, but understand, the signs of these times (Matthew 16:3).

    • Replace all escape theologies with an overcoming mindset as the days get darker. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer – I [the Lord Yeshua] have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

    • Enable the Jews in Spain to see the reality of their "safe" nation being under attack and to come home.

    • Forbid that EU Jewry hide in their false sense of security in exile any longer (Jeremiah 50:28; 51:6).

    • We see the hunters on the rise (Jeremiah 16:16) and ask that the fishermen would be even more zealous to do that which You have called them to in calling and aiding the Jews to return home (Isaiah 49:22).

    • With all the negative media reports about Israel, raise up Joshuas and Calebs to counter all the lies.

    • [Joshua and Caleb said to the congregation of Israel], The land which we passed through to search is an exceedingly good land. If YHWH delights in us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against YHWH, nor fear the people of the land, for they are food for us. Their protection has departed from them, and YHWH is with us.

      Numbers 14:6-9

    • Thank You for the aliyah, the immigration, of many Jews from America and other nations this summer.

    • Open wide the doors for the remaining Ethiopian Jews and other Jews from 3rd world nations to return.

  3. The klitah – the absorption or assimilation – of Jews once they arrive in Israel is a subject that also needs to be covered in much prayer. It is not easy to make the switch in thinking or emotions for Jews from the West, or any other nation, to embrace becoming an Israeli with joy and shalom.

    • Lord Yeshua, use Your sword to cut through the Gordian knot of Israeli bureaucracy.

    • Give to veteran Israelis a heart to accept and help the new olim - the immigrants (1 John 3:17).

    • Sweep out from the Interior Ministry – where all olim go to get their citizenship –all anti-aliyah spirits and give it a huge "Welcome" mat to place at its front door (Isaiah 62:10).

    • Lord, please deal with all strongholds in society that are trying to protect that which is theirs and are not willing to be open to aiding the new olim (Leviticus 19:18b).

    • Having said that, we do thank You for the tremendous progress there has been in Israel in all these areas since the founding of this nation in 1948.

    • May the government filter much of the new financial gains from the oil and gas finds to making it that much easier for new olim to settle in Israel.

    • Enable the building of affordable houses and the availability of well-paying jobs.

    • Do whatever it takes to draw Israelis living outside of Israel back home (Jeremiah 50:4-5).

  4. Each year, there are two main recruitments into the IDF. This past week was the summer one.

    • Lord, we present to You these children of Israel who are being trained for life and death situations, where they will be defending those who have defended them – their family and their nation. Have mercy!

    • Direct each new recruit to end up in the right unit/specialty for which they were created (Isaiah 43:1).

    • Give to the commanders of the IDF wisdom and discernment in recognizing specific talents.

    • Make it easy for the new recruits to learn submission to a new authority (Matthew 8:9-10).

    • Be with each one as they go through the loneliness of the first couple of days or weeks.

    • Use Shabbat to draw the various groups and individuals together. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation [assembly]. (Leviticus 23:3a)

    • Aid Messianic Jews who are also entering to be salt and light to their fellow soldiers (Matthew 5:13-16).

    • Teach Messianic believers how to relate to all the non-believers that they will need to deal with.

    • Draw unbelieving soldiers to You through the experiences that they go through (Psalm 61:1-2).

  5. Syria has become much more of a security threat to Israel recently. This is mainly because of the foolish "peace" deal between Russia/Putin and America/Trump which left both Iran and Hizbullah with their forces – and even military bases – near the Israeli Golan border in Syria. And to think that both these leaders say they are true friends of Israel!

    • Lord, protect us from our friends as well as our enemies!

    • Use the Israeli security team that visited Washington to wake up the Americans to the danger of Iran establishing its bases in Syria.

    • Aid the IDF forces along Israel's Lebanese and Syrian borders to be super-alert and backed by angelic support (2 Kings 6:16-17).

    • Give Israel real-time intelligence on Iran's and Hizbullah's plans and movements (2 Kings 6:11-12).

    • In Your timing, may Israel hear Your command to "arise and thresh!"

    • 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 the plans of YHWH, nor do they understand His counsel, for He has gathered them like sheaves unto the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and…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

    • Protect all of Israel's water sources that come from the Golan and Lebanon from being poisoned.

    • Lord, we confess Isaiah 54:17 against all non-convential attacks against your nation and people.

    • Use the Syrians who have been treated in Israeli hospitals to infiltrate the wicked anti-Semitic/anti-Zionist spirit that hovers over their nation – by blessing Israel when they return home (Genesis 12:3).

    • And bless Israel for having mercy on these Syrians (Matthew 5:44).

  6. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is afflicted by problems both inside and out of Israel. It seems that regardless of what he does, he is attacked. If he does not speak out against anti-Semitism in a nation – America – that deals with anti-Semitism, he is criticized. If he had spoken out – he would have been criticized for interfering with our best ally's internal affairs. And that is just the problem he ran into last week. What will this week bring so that the media and the left can attack this man?

    • Lord, thank You that at this time Bibi Netanyahu is Your choice to be Israel's leader (Daniel 5:21b).

    • Until it is Your time to replace him, anoint him to do the job for today (2 Kings 9:6).

    • Expose all unrighteousness and lies that need to be exposed (Proverbs 14:34).

    • If there is criminal negligence on Bibi's part, then let it be revealed (Job 12:22).

    • Yet if these investigations into Netanyahu are all over questionable issues – then stop them quickly.

    • Let him cry out to You over this Shabbat (Psalm 142:6).

    • Be his shield and the guardian of his mind from all media attacks (Psalm 3:3).

    • Impart wisdom to him concerning his relationship with President Trump (Proverbs 21:1).

    • Impart wisdom to him concerning his relationship with President Putin (Proverbs 21:1).

    • Guard his health – both physical and the overall shalom of his home (Psalm 71:9).

    • Save Bibi. Reveal Your Son Yeshua to this chosen vessel of Yours (Numbers 16:15).

    • Give him courage to stop saying "yes" to every new "peace" initiative that is forced on this nation.

    • Place in his heart the courage to say things like this: The God of Heaven, He will bless us, and we, His servants, will arise and build. But you have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 2:20)

  7. Next Tuesday evening begins the Hebrew month of Ellul – known in Judaism as the month of repentance. In the 30 days leading up to the high holydays of the following month, Tishri, the shofar is sounded in synagogues each morning and people who attend recite prayers, asking for forgiveness. This is a wonderful season for us to pray that their prayers will be heard, and that God will reveal to them their Messiah and King, the Lord Yeshua.

    • For thus says YHWH, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations. Cry out, give praise and say, O YHWH, save Your people, the remnant of Israel.

      Jeremiah 31:7

    • Brothers, truly my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is for it to be saved.

      Romans 10:1

    • God, remove all rote prayers and give an intense desire to do real business with You.

    • If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

      2 Chronicles 7:14

    • Lord, reveal Yourself to survivors of terror attacks and families of the victims.

    • Do the same with those who have gone through severe traffic accidents.

    • Abba, please draw all living Holocaust survivors to Your Son – the only One who can relate to all that they went through (Hebrews 2:17-18).

    • Save many Israeli hippies who are searching for truth in all the wrong places (Isaiah 55:1-3).

    • Use born-again Arab Christians to provoke Israeli Jews to jealousy (Romans 11:11).

    • Move upon rabbis in all the world to call for a Back-to-the-Word movement in Judaism (Amos 8:11).

    • For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we shall see light.

      Psalms 36:9

      Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path… The entrance of Your Words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

      Psalms 119:105; 130

    • Abba, You said that You would save olim after they returned to Israel (Ezekiel 36:24-27). Please do it at this season, for Your holy name's sake (36:32).

We do so appreciate your prayers for the team at IFI. It has not been an easy season. We thank you for especially praying for our chairman Eliyahu, who is doing better, although his progress is slower than he wanted. Of course, that is often the case with all of us in so many of our prayers, but Jacob, aka James, does say, My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into different kinds of tests, knowing that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. (James 1:2-4)

Shabbat shalom

The IFI team