1. This Shabbat's prophetic portion is 2 Kings 7:3-20 which tells how God used four lepers to rout the whole Syrian army. With this in mind, we praised our Almighty God.

    • Praise You Lord, for using the weak and foolish to confound the wise and mighty (1 Cor. 1:27-29).

    • Thank You that Israel is 70 years old and for how You use this nation for Your glory (Psalm 127:1).

    • Abba, it is a miracle that Israel has survived this far – and we bless You for that (Psalm 121:4).

    • Not to us, YHWH, not to us, but to Your name give glory, for Your mercy and for Your truth's sake. Why should the gentiles say, Where is their God? But our God is in Heaven, and He has done whatever He has pleased.

      Psalm 115:1-3

    • Thank You for watching over Your word and fulfilling it – in Your way and Your timing (Jer. 1:12).

    • We see the land blossoming and being fruitful – in line with Your promises (Isa. 27:6; Ezek. 36:8).

    • Thus says YHWH, who gives the sun for a light by day and the laws of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divides the sea when its waves roar; YHWH of Hosts is His name; if those ordinances depart from Me…the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever…If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be searched out, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says YHWH.

      Jer. 31:35-37

      Amen.

  2. There will be more mass demonstrations along the Israeli-Gaza security fence today. These "peaceful" marches are anything but. And today, the Hamas terrorist leaders are planning to move their protest tents closer to the fence. God has answered prayer as there has been a decrease in both numbers and deaths over the past two weeks. Yet this also means a filtering out of those who were forced to be there, so today the IDF is likely facing a more concentrated group of Israel-hating Islamic-fanatics than in previous Fridays.

    • Lord, deal with the demonic hatred that is feed to so many under Islam – especially aimed at Israel and the Jews, but also hatred aimed at the true church (John 8:32).

    • Dissolve the resolve to break through Israel's security fence.

    • Help all of Israel's young soldiers who will need to deal with these hate-filled fanatics (Psalm 140:7).

    • Prevent complacency from deceiving the IDF at that security fence (Neh. 4:9).

    • Let accurate intelligence of the enemy's plans be given to the right people at the right time (Luke 12:3).

    • Thank You for giving Israel terror tunnel detection devices and for all the tunnels recently destroyed.

    • Protect and strengthen the Israeli communities near to the Gaza Strip (Amos 9:14-15).

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

      Jer. 31:10

    • Break all ties between Iran and Hamas (Psalm 129:5).

  3. That last prayer quickened us to intercede for the situation Israel faces against Iran in Lebanon and Syria. After Israel destroyed an Iranian drone base in Syria, killing seven Iranian soldiers in the attack, Iran threatened to retaliate – and to maintain its honor, it must. Yet how, when and where?

    • Abba, if Iran is using Hamas to serve as a distraction in the south so that it can attack in the north, reveal it to Israel and thwart all Iranian efforts against Your nation (Psalm 33:10-11).

    • Forbid any successful Iranian retaliation (Psalm 35:8).

    • Keep the IDF command and soldiers super sharp on Israel's northern borders (Hab. 2:1).

    • Strengthen Israel to maintain its red lines re: no Iranian military bases in Syria (Jam. 5:12).

    • Strengthen Israel to maintain its red lines re: no Iranian armament factories in Lebanon (Matt. 5:37).

    • Prevent all successful kidnapping attempts of Israel soldiers or civilians (Psalm 71:10-13).

    • Give Israel's leadership wisdom and courage when they need to order pre-emptive attacks (Deut. 33:27).

    • Lord, impart accurate, actionable intelligence to those who know how to deal with it (Josh. 6:2-5).

  4. Israel has been blessed with a definite victory over terrorism in its streets. While it occasionally happens, for the most part Israelis have learned to fight against it by being vigilant, proactive and alert. We do not want this period of clam to take that alertness away.

    • We trust You to protect us and ask for You to use all means needed to do that (Psalm 3:8; Prov. 21:31).

    • Thank You that yesterday's Independence Day celebrations were terror-free and a blessing to this nation (Isa. 66:8-12).

    • Do not allow the super alertness needed to protect Israel over Independence Day to cause a weariness to come upon the security forces this weekend (Psalm 121:3-4).

    • Quicken all of Israel's security guards – wherever and whatever they are guarding (Luke 2:8).

    • Forbid that the security Israelis have come to expect bring a spirit of complacency on them.

    • And since there is a connection between the natural and the spiritual (1 Cor. 15:46), we also pray against a spirit of complacency on the Israeli Body of Messiah (1 Peter 4:7).

    • Impress on the Body in Israel to be constantly watching and praying (Mark 13:32-37).

    • Thank You for all modern day "lepers" You use to create havoc among Israel's enemies (2 Kings 7:6-7).

  5. Based on First Timothy 2:1-3, we prayed for Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

    • We thank You for him and the job he has done in leading Your nation (Jer. 3:15).

    • Continue to anoint him for as long as You have him in office (Psalm 80:17).

    • Let Bibi know that he has been chosen and equipped by You – for Your glory (Ezek. 36:32).

    • Be a shield about him (Psalm 3:3a).

    • As he grows older, soften his heart so that You can guide him with Your eye (Psalm 32:8-9),

    • Let him fulfill all the days You have ordained for him as Israel's leader (Dan. 2:21).

    • While he fulfills his days, Abba, please reveal to us the one who You have chosen to replace him so that we can pray for that one now (Amos 3:7).

    • Reveal that person to Bibi so that he can mentor them into this very stressful position (Num. 27:18, 22).

    • Be an impenetrable wall surrounding his marriage and family.

    • Bring the whole Netanyahu household into the saving knowledge of Messiah Yeshua (Ezek. 36:33).

  6. The ancient spirit of humanism has infected Rabbinic Judaism and most of Christianity. The opinions of man end up trumping the plain word of God. Yet there are some rabbis – and pastors – who are encouraging their people to go back to reading all of the Old Testament [Tanach] – as opposed to just reading the first five books of Moses – the Torah. [In Christianity, this is a call to read the entire Bible as opposed to just the New Testament.] We prayed for the People of the Book to come back to the Book.

    • Lord, as we are back in Your land, let there not be a famine of hearing Your Word (Amos 8:11).

    • Rouse up more rabbis to impress on their flocks to read all of Your Word (Psalm 119:18),

    • Pour out a deep hunger for the truth of what You have really spoken (John 17:17).

    • God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent. Has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?

      Num. 23:19

    • May many Jews expand their readings to go beyond just the Torah – and may many more born again believers return to the foundations of their faith and study the Tanach (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

    • For all Jews who have in their possessions the New Testament and have not yet opened it, draw them to it so that they may understand that Yeshua is the Promised Messiah of Israel (Acts 26:22-23).

    • Thank You for having Netanyahu quote from Your Word often in his speeches. Place that same spirit of using Your Word upon all Israeli representatives throughout the world (Isa. 55:11).

    • Transform the ceremonial rite of reading the Torah portions into a declaration of truth (Psalm 119:89)!

    • Strip the spirit of humanism from both Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity (Matt. 16:23).

  7. Israel has been resurrected in its land for 70 years and yet the majority of Jews still live outside its borders in what the Bible calls "exile" and "captivity." So we prayed for aliyah – the immigration of Jews from exile to Israel.

    • As many Jews in exile just celebrated the 70th anniversary of Israel, may these words from the original exiles in Babylon be burned into their hearts and minds: How shall we sing YHWH's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth; if I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy. (Psalms 137:4-6)

    • Give them divine hangovers that trouble them that they have not yet returned home (Jer. 50:4-5).

    • While there are giants in the land – send upon more Messianic Jews the same spirit that was on Joshua and Caleb (Num. 14:24), and encourage the redeemed of the Lord to return (Isa. 35:10; 51:11).

    • Place it on the hearts of the lone soldiers to get their citizenship.

    • As they do, draw the rest of their families to also come home (Jer. 3:14b).

    • Lord, open wide the gates for the Ethiopian and Iranian Jews to return (Isa. 62:10).

    • Deal with the bureaucracy that often hinders granting of citizenship to Jews from various backgrounds.

    • Provide for the Ministry of Klitah [absorption – helping Jews to settle in Israel after they have returned to Israel] all it needs to settle the returning Jews in such a way that they never consider leaving.

    • Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the corners of the earth; with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; a great company shall return there. They shall come with weeping, and with prayers I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way; they shall not stumble in it, for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.

      Jer. 31:8-9

  8. We also prayed for the church to recognize its God-given obligation to help His people – and that includes helping them to make aliyah.

    • Truly it has pleased them [gentile believers], and they are their [the Jews] debtors. For if the gentiles have been made partakers of their [the Jews] spiritual things [in Messiah Yeshua], their duty is also to minister to them [the Jews] in material things.

      Rom. 15:27

    • Lord, impart fresh vision to many congregations that the building up of Zion (Psalm 147:2) is just as important to hastening the return of Yeshua as sending missionaries to the ends of the earth (Matt. 24:14).

    • May the fear of God wake up the church to serve this nation at this time (Isa. 60:12).

    • [Intercede for the churches in your nations to perceive this and do something about their responsibility to carry God's people back home (Isa. 49:22).]

  9. We finished by praying into the US Embassy move that will be happening in less than a month – on May 14th.

    • Lord, thank You for US President Trump's recognition of reality and his declaration that Jerusalem is Israel's capital city, the city of its King – Messiah Yeshua (Psalm 46:1-2, 9; Matt. 5:35).

    • Thank You also for giving him the courage to actually order his embassy to be moved.

    • We bless You for using Trump to shake things up in these days.

    • Lord, You know the plans of Israel's enemies and what they are going to try to do to stop this move. Reveal those plans and thwart all evil counsel (Isa. 37:34).

    • There are several nations that are either committed to do the same [Guatemala] or are considering it [Honduras, Romania, Hungary, and some others]. Bless You and use this to give courage to other nations to also move their embassies.

    • Let this move bring glory to You as it confirms Your choosing of this city as Your own (Zech. 2:7-8).

    • For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah; so that they may dwell there, and possess it. And the seed of His servants shall inherit it, and they who love His name shall dwell in it.

      Psalm 69:35-36

    • [Intercede for your nation to stop being politically correct and start being biblically correct and commit to moving its embassy up to Zion.]

Shabbat shalom and thank you for standing in the gap for Israel and for us,

The IFI team

Psalm 128:5