1. We read Psalm 48:1-3 to open our time before the Lord.

    • Great is YHWH, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful on high, the joy of the whole earth; is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her strongholds for a refuge.

    • What a privilege to be able to pray in the city of our God. Thank You for restoring Zion to Israel.

    • You are the Unshakeable Shaker; the Unchangeable One who is in total control (Psa. 103:19).

    • He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. (Psa. 121:3b-4) Thank You for watching over both Israel and us!

    • Almighty faithful God, what a joy to know and serve You and Israel in these days (2 Chr. 35:3b).

  2. This coming Sunday evening the Fall Feasts of the Lord begins: Rosh Hashanah – biblically the Day of the Blowing [of the Shofar], Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonements, and then Succot – the Feast of Tabernacles, as per Leviticus 23:23-44. In 23:2 the Hebrew for "feasts" is moedi'im, which actually means an appointed time to meet. Thus God is expecting His people to meet with Him.

    • Abba, as so many of the Jewish people will set time aside to celebrate these days, surprise them with a divine revelation of their King Messiah – Yeshua (Rev. 1:10-18).

    • Lord Yeshua, we hear reports of You appearing in dreams and visions to many Muslims. Please do the same at this season with Your brothers and sisters according to the flesh – the Jews (Rom. 9:3; 11:26).

    • As Jews recite the prayers and the readings during these feasts, whenever it is Your Word that is being read, may it come alive and not return unto You empty (Isa. 55:11).

    • Is it not time to remove the veil from many Israelis hearts and minds (Rom. 11:25-29)?

    • Lord, enlighten the word that is in their mouths and hearts as per Deuteronomy 30:11-14.

    • May Your Spirit convict many of the sin of not believing in Yeshua (John 16:8-9).

    • We lift up for salvation: Holocaust survivors, soldiers who will be on duty and away from families; the gay community; widows and orphans – especially those who have become such as a result of terrorism; politicians and the Prime Minister Netanyahu and family; loved ones of Messianic Jews; all Israelis who have been touched by Christians and para-Church pro-Israel groups; etc. (Jer. 31:7b).

  3. Jerusalem is a prime target for the enemy. We prayed for its security and its wholeness.

    • Lord, provide all the protection needed for public transportation during the feast season (Jer. 31:10).

    • Give Israelis alertness to what is happening around them.

    • Forbid that smart phones distract Your people from various dangers (Isa. 42:20).

    • Protect all entry and exit points to this city and to this nation (Psa. 121:4).

    • Sharpen the discernment of the security guards and soldiers to danger (Psa. 144:1).

    • Protect the airports and ports from infiltration of dangerous people no matter what banner they travel under (Deut. 33:29).

    • Enable the protection of the Old City of Jerusalem to be airtight this season (Isa. 31:5).

    • For all gathering intelligence, bring to them the information they need to hinder any terror attacks.

    • In the Jerusalem municipal elections, we ask that You would not allow anyone to run for office of mayor who is not a Zionist (Acts 20:29). [A Palestinian non-Israeli citizen, and anti-Zionist, wants to run.]

    • Show us Your choice for Jerusalem's mayor so we can pray with faith for them (Amos 3:7).

  4. A new police commissioner is to be named soon. Because of all the investigations against Netanyahu, he is not allowed to choose the next person for this job.

    • Enable Gilad Erdan, the one on whom this responsibility falls, have wisdom from on high to choose Your person for this position (Dan. 5:21b).

    • Make Erdan's criteria line up with Your criteria for this job (1 Sam. 16:7).

    • Do not allow this to be a political appointment but the best one for the job at this time (Ex. 23:8).

    • I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning; afterwards you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city." (Isa. 1:26) Watch over this promise, and bring it closer to fulfillment through the next police commissioner.

    • As the current commissioner leaves – speak to him out of Psalm 46:10a: Be still [lit.be dumb; silent], and know that I am God!

  5. There is a meeting today in Iran between Iran's President Rouhani, Turkey's dictator Erdogan, and Russia's President Putin to discuss the Syrian situation. As that situation is of deep concern to Israel, we lifted up this meeting to the Lord.

    • As per Proverbs 21:1, since all of their hearts are in Your hands, overrule in this meeting.

    • YHWH brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He breaks the plots of the people. The counsel of YHWH stands forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations. (Psa. 33:10-11) Amen!

    • Send division and confusion into this gathering as two of the participants are haters of Zion (Psa. 129:5).

    • Lord Yeshua, rule in the midst of Your enemies. (Psa. 110:2b)

    • Give to Israel's political and military leaders the anointing that was upon the sons of Issachar, so as to know the signs of the times and what Israel should do as a result of this meeting (1 Chr. 12:32).

    • May the effect of US President Trump's non-politically correct moves cause these leaders to be cautious in their decisions.

    • Forbid that the Kurds pay for whatever plans are hatched today (Deut. 27:25).

    • We continue to request that You would grant the Kurds their own independent state (Gen. 12:3a).

  6. While we understand the need for the security fence on Israel's southern border and the very high concrete wall it is building along the Lebanese border, still in essence Israel is walling itself in – and that just does not sit right with our spirits. We did not come home to live in a huge ghetto. And even more to the point, these walls are in no way near the God-given borders of the Promised Land.

    • Abba, we ask You – is this the way Israel should defend itself? (Jam. 1:5)

    • If not, please raise up men and women of valor who will lead Israel in the right paths (2 Chr. 12:32).

    • When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel.Deut. 32:8

    • Lord, You know the ultimate borders of Your land; please watch over Your promise to Father Abraham and make sure that Israel does not inadvertently hinder You will and Your word (Gen. 15:18-21).

    • May these verses become the cry of the hearts of many Israeli leaders at this time: But You, YHWH, are a shield for me; my glory, the One who lifts up my head…I am not afraid of ten thousands of people who have set against me all around. Arise, O YHWH; save me, O my God; for You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone. You have broken the teeth of the ungodly. (Psa. 3:3, 6-7)

    • Do not allow these fences/walls to cause complacency to come upon either the soldiers guarding these borders or the nation as a whole (Psa. 71:10; 1 Thess. 5:6).

    • Continue to protect all of our soldiers and civilians against any successful kidnapping attempts.

  7. Israel has just held several major military exercises in the north. Israel's leadership is concerned with Iran's set-up in Syria as well as the arming of Hizbullah with game-changing weapons.

    • Thank You Lord for not allowing Israel to look to, or depend on, any other nation for protection.

    • Yet let them see that You are with them fighting for Your glory's sake in this nation (Isa. 41:11:15-16).

    • As the enemy is watching, let the fear of Israel's God come upon them (2 Chr. 20:29).

    • If these exercises revealed any weakness or faults – help the IDF to fix them quickly.

    • Or, if it is Your timing, draw Israel's enemies into Your trap (Mic. 4:11).

    • We ask for the Israeli Navy and all other branches of the IDF to also be fully prepared (Psa. 23:5).

    • Aid Israel's military industries to supply all of what the IDF needs.

  8. Today is Friday, so we expect another demonstration along the Gaza security fence.

    • We bless You that there has been no breach in the fence so far (Mal. 1:5).

    • Continue to protect all the soldiers and all the Israelis who live in that area (Psa. 140:7).

    • Lord Yeshua, save many Israelis who are living along that border (Acts 8:26-39).

    • Aid IDF commanders, soldiers and snipers to discern between innocent Gazans and terrorists.

    • Do not allow these Fall Feasts to distract from the security of this nation (Psa. 5:11; 59:1).

    • Lord, please raise up among the people in Gaza resistance to their Hamas overlords.

    • Thank You for using Hamas' intransigence and Abbas' pride to keep the Palestinians divided (Mark 3:24-25).

  9. That last item above is also why the American "Peace deal of the Century" has gone nowhere. We really have very little clue as to what the Trump team has come up with. Some of what we hear is wonderful and some of it can be quite frightening – for America!

    • Lord, we ask that You would be made great again in America (Mal. 1:11)!

    • We thank You for how Trump has overturned the "peace" table (Prov. 19:21).

    • May it never be set up based on "land-for-peace" again (Lev. 25:23).

    • Any part of this soon-to-be-revealed peace deal not in line with Your will – cross it out (Psa. 33:10-11).

    • We look to You – not to Netanyahu or Trump or anyone else – to protect this nation and to see You glorified in it (Psa. 118:8-9; Ezek. 36:23).

    • Impress on Trump's Christian advisory council to speak truth to him (Gal. 4:16).

    • Protect Netanyahu from submitting to whatever Trump proposes, which is much harder because up to this point Trump has been an excellent friend of Israel.

  10. A Chinese believer just told IFI's chairman that the Chinese government has greatly increased its persecution against the true Church in China.

    • We thank You for the growing Chinese Church, which is in itself a mighty miracle (Acts 12:24; 19:20).

    • Protect and defend Your children and give them great wisdom on how to live in these days (Acts 4:29).

    • As You have so often in the past, use this persecution to increase the Church (Rom. 8:28).

    • When the police enter churches to arrest and harass, touch them by Your amazing grace (Zech. 4:6-7).

    • As some leave big cities, lead them to the still untouched areas for the gospel in their nation.

    • Lord Yeshua, PM Netanyahu spoke out for Christians being persecuted under Islam. Let him do the same for the Chinese believers.

We finished by praying into two issues briefly.

The new government of Paraguay decided to move its embassy back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem. We prayed that the Body of Messiah in Paraguay would realize how dangerous of a move this is, and would pray, preach and protest against this rebuke towards Israel (Num. 24:9b; Psa. 15:4b; Matt. 5:37).

Our precious brother, Steve Lightle, is going to have surgery to replace a heart valve next week on September 11th. Please pray for him, his family, the doctors and all medical personnel. Ask God to heal him completely through the hands of the doctors and for Steve to have all the strength and grace he needs to complete the race for which he has been called (2 Tim. 4:7).

Shabbat shalom and hag sameach,

The IFI team