Since this Friday is the seventh, and here in Israel, the last day of the Passover/Unleavened Bread feast, there is no public transportation. These prayers burdens are from our midweek prayer gatherings.

  1. According to rabbinic calculations on the 7th day of Passover God divided the Red Sea and the children of Israel crossed over on dry ground. This is also the day when Pharaoh and his army were destroyed in that same Sea that provided an escape for God's people.

      • I will sing unto YHWH, for He has triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider has He thrown into the sea. YHWH is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.
        Exodus 15:1-2a

    • God of creation, we rejoice that nothing is impossible for You (Jeremiah 32:17, 27).

    • We confess that You control the elements – and the climate change occurring today is under Your total control. YHWH has prepared His throne in the heavens; His kingdom rules over all. (Psalms 103:19)

    • We confess that You, Lord Yeshua. are the Lion of Judah, and the Lamb of God (Revelation 5:5-6).

    • Hallelujah! You are the resurrection and the life (Isaiah 25:8; John 11:25).

    • We are awed to be called into Your kingdom at this specific time in history when You have resurrected and are restoring Your nation to Your land – and to Yourself (Ezekiel 36:1-37:10; Zechariah 12:10).

    • Thank You for calling us to co-labor with You in intercession to see Your kingdom come and Your will being done here on earth as it is already is in heaven (Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2)

  2. Israel's Gaza border situation has our full attention. Last Friday around 30,000 Gazans gathered to overwhelm the border security fence. The result: 18 dead and over 1,000 injured. Yet because there were no deaths or injuries in the IDF, praise God, Israel was accused of using "disproportionate" force against this huge terrorist march. If mass demonstrations continue for the next seven weeks, as the Hamas terror group controlling Gaza has called for, this could turn into a war on several fronts. Hamas is indebted to Iran, and if a major conflict breaks out in Gaza, Iran might order Hezbollah in Lebanon and in Syria – to attack the Jewish State. While we do not pray for war, we will not pray against one either – as throughout history God has often accomplished His will through war.

    •  

      YHWH is a Man of war; YHWH is His name.
      Exodus 15:3; see also Revelation 19:11-16

       

    • Lord of eternity, Israel's situation has not taken You by surprise, so lead us in pray (Amos 3:7).

    • There is a time for war (Ecclesiastes3:1, 8), so if this is Your time, then prepare this nation and the army to be ready and willing (Psalm 33:11).

    • Yet if this is an attempt by the Adversary to pre-empt Your timing – arise and disrupt his plans. YHWH brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He breaks the plans of the people. (Psalms 33:10)

    • Let Your displeasure at this attack against your people and land be known (Psalm 2:1-5).

    • Abba, make the mass demonstrations to have less "mass" with each passing week (Deuteronomy 7:22).

    • [This so-called March of Return's aim is for all Arabs who fled Israel in the 1948 War of Independence to return – along with their millions of descendants. The goal is Israel's destruction.] Lord, recognizing this, we remind You of Jeremiah 31:35-36: Thus says YHWH who gives the sun for a light by day and the laws of the moon and stars for a light by night…YHWH of Hosts is His name; if these laws depart from Me, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever.

    • Since this has catapulted Hamas back in the headlines, use it to bring even greater hatred and confusion between them and Abbas' Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria (Psalm 129:5; Proverbs 16:18).

    • Let Your hand be heavy upon all Judean and Samarian Arabs, and prevent them from rising up against Israel at this time (1 Samuel 5:6, 11).

    • Yet at this time, reveal Yourself to many under the bondage of Islam and set them free (Psalm 83:16).

    • We ask You for wisdom to know how to intercede into this situation over the next weeks (James 1:5).

  3. Obviously, this situation demands our prayers for the Israeli army, the IDF, to be increased. While we don't trust in the IDF = Israel's Defense Forces, we do trust in our IDF = Israel's Divine Father! Yet clearly Israel's army is an open fulfillment of God's prophetic word.

    • So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the Spirit came into [Israel's dry bones], and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
      Ezekiel 37:10

    • Lord, we thank and praise You that this is exactly what the IDF is today (Isaiah 41:15-16).

    • Let these young warriors know that You are pleased with their defense of Israel (Joshua 1:2-6).

    • What incredible restraint You gave these young soldiers this past Friday. Thank You (Psalm 140:7).

    • Lord, keep Your hand upon them so that if they need to remain restrained or increase their attack against the enemy – ultimately it is by Your direction that they fight (2 Samuel 5:22-25; Zechariah 10:3-5).

    • Give great calmness and boldness to all the snipers the IDF has placed on its Gaza border.

    • We trust in You, yet we do thank You for the "chariots and horses" You have given Israel (Psalm 20:7).

    • Hedge in the IDF military planners to only hear strategy and tactics from You (Proverbs 16:1, 9; 19:21).

    • Lord, enable clear communications between all branches of Israel's armed forces, as well as between the military and the political leaders.

    • Bring to Israel's spies and collaborators all the intelligence Israel needs, and help Israeli officials know who to pass on the intel to and to know how to respond to this information (Proverbs 1:2-5).

    • Please expose all undiscovered terror tunnels (Job 28:11).

    • Pinpoint all Hamas' leadership and give Israel plans on how to deal with them (Joshua 10:16-27).

    • We ask You to station Your angelic hosts on all of Israel's borders and if needed, for them to be revealed to both Israel and Israel's enemies (2 Kings 6:16-17; Psalm 35:5-6; Malachi 1:5).

  4. A huge problem Israel faces is the mass media's manipulation of the truth. This unfortunately, includes Israel's mass media. Since most of today's mainstream media takes a very humanistic, liberal, left-wing, globalist point of view, the recreation of the Jewish State is a thorn in their side in their quest for "world-peace" without God – and this is exactly what God intended. Still, Israel's public diplomacy leave much to be desired.

    • Lord, please aid Israel's public diplomacy so that people who actually want to make decisions based on truth are able to get the real facts to make those decisions (Jeremiah 33:6; Zechariah 8:3).

    • Provide all the personnel, finances and wisdom Israel's Foreign Ministry needs (Philippians 4:19).

    • Raise up someone to be Israel's Foreign Minister instead of PM Bibi Netanyahu (Numbers 27:15-19).

    • Yet we do bless You for how well Bibi is doing in that job (Psalm 80:17).

    • Use this public relations area so that truth may come forth from Zion in these days (Psalm 43:3).

    • May all half-truths and outright deceptions be openly exposed and refuted (Job 12:22; Psalm 139:11).

    • Convict our family in Messiah to not believe the headlines more than Your lines (John 17:17).

    • You have given a banner to them that fear you to be displayed because of Your truth.
      Psalms 60:4

  5. Iran is behind most of the current threats against Israel. This is true for what is happening in Gaza as well as along the Lebanese and Syrian borders. We have prayed into this regime's threats against Israel for many years – and we need to stay the course until He answers (Luke 18:1).

    • Abba, while we see the beginnings of this promise in Jeremiah 49:38 today, we ask You to speed the day in which we can rejoice in its fulfillment: And I will set my throne in Elam [ancient Persia; current Iran], and will destroy from there the king and the princes, says YHWH.

    • As You said, destroy the authority of the Ayatollahs and of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

    • Since they curse Your people weekly, arise and scatter them (Psalm 68:1, 30; 83:1-5, 16-18).

    • Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, he shall also reap.
      Galatians 6:7

    • Continue shaking Iran: physically, politically, socially and spiritually (Haggai 2:7a; Hebrews 12:26-29).

    • We bless You for the reports that You are setting Your throne in Iran today – by saving thousands of Iranians. Lord Yeshua, we ask for more workers to be sent out into Your harvest (Luke 10:2).

    • As You increase the Iranian Body, impart a deep love for Zion in their hearts (Psalm 48:2; 51:18).

    • Release the 25,000 strong Iranian Jewish community to return home to Israel as one (Zechariah 8:7).

  6. PM Bibi Netanyahu is still under investigations and has struggled with an illness this past week.

    • Lord, help Bibi to complete all the days as Israel's leader that You have ordained (2 Timothy 4:7).

    • May he leave the office in honor and not in shame (Proverbs 3:35).

    • Prepare the one whom You have in mind to take his place – and if it is pleasing to You, reveal that one to us so that we can begin to intercede for them (Amos 3:7).

    • Protect Netanyahu from all distractions – both personal and political (Psalm 123:1-4).

    • Thank You that the majority of Israelis do not believe all the anti-Bibi media reports.

    • Break the shackles that these long drawn-out investigations have placed on him (Isaiah 61:1).

    • Put a guard over his mouth (Psalm 141:3).

    • Thank You for giving him a voice to speak to the nations. Continue to do that (Zechariah 8:10a).

    • It seems that Netanyahu has influenced Trump's view of foreign affairs. For that we bless You.

  7. Israel's problem in dealing with its almost 40,000 illegal African refugees has become a hot topic for further division in its society. While only a minority of Israelis who want to give refuge to these people, they are in places of influence – like the media, academia and the courts. Yet the one word which most of the West, which is dealing with this as well, seems to ignore is "illegal." And as far as one can tell most of the Africans are "economic" refugees – which means they infiltrated into Israel illegally to take advantage of Israel's excellent economic situation and not because they lives are in danger.

    • Lord, let justice run down like a river in this situation (Amos 5:24).

    • Help officials pinpoint the real refugees from those who are not and to know how You want Israel to handle them.

    • Set Bibi free from all manipulation involved in making right decisions in this area (Numbers 23:23).

    • Turn his heart in the way of Your will as per Proverbs 21:2.

    • YHWH is King for ever and ever: the pagans are perished out of his land. (Psalms 10:16) [According to the Hebrew Scriptures, there are two types of non-Jews. The ger was a gentile who came to believe in the God of Israel and was to be treated as the Jewish Israeli in almost all areas. But the zar, the gentile who served other gods, was not to have any part in Israel's inheritance. A Muslim is a zar.]

  8. 1 John 5:14-15 says that all prayers in line with His will are heard by Him and answered –in His way and timing. So our prayers for the salvation of Israelis over Passover will be answered.

    • For thus says YHWH; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish, praise, and say, O YHWH, save Your people, the remnant of Israel.
      Jeremiah 31:7

    • In faith, we thank You for all the new believers from Jewish backgrounds who find themselves in the Kingdom of Your dear Son (Colossians 1:13) as we close out this feast season.

    • Lord Yeshua, is it not time for many Israeli believers who remain in the "closet" to reveal themselves? (Matthew 10:33)

    • Embolden believers, especially the ultra-Orthodox and Ethiopians, to do so this year (Proverbs 28:1b).

    • Help new believers to find their place in Messiah's Body and to find someone to help disciple them (Ephesians 4:11-16).

  9. An IFI ministry prayer request. As you know, while we are trusting that Netanyahu will remain Israel's current leader, we are also praying proactively for whomever will eventually replace him. We would ask you to pray the same for IFI. While we, Eliyahu and Chuck, expect to remain as its leaders until God says so, still with us both over 70, we sense that praying for the next generation of leaders to carry on this ministry is a current need. Please lift this up to our Lord in prayer. We are not asking for advice, but if you do sense you receive a word from the Lord, pass it on to us so that we can test it (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21; 1 John 4:1). Thanks in advance. 

Hag sameach and Shabbat shalom. The IFI team (Psalm 128:5)