1. Praise:

   God's declaration in Shabbat's prophetic portion of His relationship to Israel applies now as well to all believers in His Son, Messiah Yeshua. Note, it is "as well" – and not "instead of" – which is what replacement theology supporters erroneously say.

   • For your Maker is your husband; YHWH of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called.Isa. 54:5

   • We praise You Lord for creating Israel so that all the families of the earth might be blessed through Israel's greatest Son, Yeshua (Gen. 12:3b; Psa. 100:3; Isa. 43:1, 7, 15, 21; 44:2).

   • What a comfort it is to know that You were Israel's Redeemer and now, in Messiah Yeshua, You are the Redeemer of all that come to You through Him (Isa. 44:6; 47:4; Tit. 2:14).

   • God of Israel, we take courage in knowing that You are the God of heaven and earth (Matt. 11:25).

   • We praise You Yeshua as the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last (Rev. 1:8; 22:13).

   • Bless You for the grace to trust that You are sovereign over all things (Prov. 3:5; Isa. 50:10).

   • Hallelujah! Even the Anti-Christ reigns only until You say "Enough" (2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 17:17)!

   • Thank You for the peace we have in knowing that there are secret things which are Yours and so it is totally biblical to accept that we cannot understand everything that happens (Deut. 29:29; 2 Cor. 5:7).

   • We bless You for Your peace in knowing that You have overcome the world (John 16:33).

   • God, thank You for declaring that Your foreknowledge of future events is Your proof that You, the God of Israel, are in fact, the One True God (Isa. 44:7-8; 46:9-10).

   • Lord, what a thrill to judge the world through the filter of Your Word, as only by this can we discern truth from lies, righteousness from sin, and to know why we were created (Psa. 36:9; 119:130).

2. Salvation:

   The feasts of the Lord (Lev. 23:2) – Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Succoth – are in September this year. That makes this an appropriate time to pray for the salvation of the Jewish people, as this is when many Jews are asking God to save them. Yet many of them have a distorted image of Yeshua from the Christians who think of Israel's Messiah as some type of "Cosmic Christ" with absolutely no connection to His Jewish family in the flesh. Also, many Jewish rabbis have not presented the whole picture of the promised Messiah from the Tanach to His people. And so we pray.

   • O YHWH, save Your people, the remnant of Israel.Jer. 31:7b

   • Lord, remove the blindness You put upon Israel so that gentiles could be saved (Rom. 11:25-29).

   • Also remove the distortions which the Church has often placed on Israel's King (Matt. 2:2).

   • Abba, let Jews question the false picture of Yeshua which traditional Judaism has, and give them instead a hunger to seek out the truth of Messiah in Your Word (Matt. 28:11-15; John 5:39, 46-47).

   • Lord, fulfill Your promise in Shabbat's prophetic portion of giving Your people an eternal covenant of peace and mercy (Isa. 54:8-10).

   • And let Your people see that this covenant of peace is found in Messiah Yeshua who has established peace between God and man and between Jew and gentile (Isa. 54:10; 57:19; Eph. 2:13-16).

   • Pour out on many of Your people – including many rabbis – a holy dissatisfaction with religion and lead them to seek You in a living relationship (1 John 1:1-4).

   • Use the very difficult year that the ultra-orthodox have had to cause them to cry out to You from their hearts and then reveal Yourself to them in Your Word (Psa. 3:4; Jer. 29:12-13).

   • Comfort those who have been affected by the fires that raged around Jerusalem and use this disaster to help them to examine their priorities and to seek You (Psalm 27:8; Eccl. 12:8, 13-14).

   • Draw many Jewish young people to Yourself through Your eternal, unmatchable love (John 3:16).

   • Lord Yeshua, reveal Your love to Israel's gay community and set them free (John 8:32; 1 John 4:19).

   • Pluck out many from the synagogue services to follow You as Your disciples (Matt. 4:19).

   • Touch Israel's government leaders during this season, drawing many to Your Son Yeshua, who is their Messiah and King (Jer. 31:3; John 6:44; Tit. 3:3-6; Jam. 1:18).

   • Reveal Yourself to many anti-missionaries and turn them into anointed evangelists (Acts 26:15-18).

   • Enable Messianic Jews to plant and water seeds and pluck weeds from Jewish hearts (1 Cor. 3:6).

   • Enable Your Body to powerfully and clearly reflect Yeshua to Your people (Acts 1:8; Rom. 1:16).

3. Government:

   One of this government's goals is to make Israel greener – using "clean" energy while phasing out energy that pollutes the earth. [Chuck: Being saved as a hippie, this is fine with me, but when being "green" means magnifying "Mother Earth" instead of Father God – then we have a problem with idolatry.] There are other governmental issues we prayed about as well.

   • Lord, give wisdom to those responsible for making Israel "greener" and less polluting (Rev. 11:18b).

   • Let there be balance between the growth of a strong economy and the protection of Israel's God-given land (Isa. 51:3; Ezek. 36:34-35).

   • While the UN and many other groups, including the media, are screaming that this is the do-or-die issue for humanity, we reject that and declare that being saved by Yeshua or dying as a sinner is the real do-or-die issue, and we ask for Israel to quickly come to know this (John 17:3; Rom. 5:21).

   • Abba, wake up Foreign Minister Yair Lapid out of his humanistic philosophical daze (Jer. 17:5-8).

   • Give him wise advisors on how to deal with nations that are not quite as "democratic" as he would prefer – especially if they want to be, or already are, allies with Israel (Prov. 15:22; 16:22).

   • Convict Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on how he betrayed those who voted for him, and let him make a public confession, asking for forgiveness, before Yom Kippur (Job 42:6; Matt. 3:2).

   • With the US withdrawal from Afghanistan revealing how incompetent and weak President Biden truly is, please cancel Bennett's up-coming trip to the White House as he will likely be under intense pressure to prop up Biden with only-You-know-what Israeli concessions (Job 12:17-21).

   • If he does go as scheduled next week [Aug. 26th] prepare him to resist any pressure to agree with anything which is not in line with Your will for Israel at this time (Prov. 16:1-3; 20:24).

   • Surround him with good counsel, giving him the humility to listen to it (Psa. 1:1-2; Prov. 1:5).

   • Anoint Israel's US Ambassador Gilad Erdan to be a godly influence on Bennett while he is there.

   • Teach Israel the lessons it needs to learn from America's abandonment of Afghanistan (Psa. 146:3).

   • Use Bennett's planned meeting with Egyptian President al-Sisi to strengthen the ties between their nations, yet at the same time, prevent him from trusting in the chariots of Egypt (Isa. 19:24; 31:1).

4. Coronavirus:

   We continue to ask God to oversee Israel's policy against this pandemic.

   • God, You said You would shake everything that can be shaken in the last days, and as that seems to be what You are doing in this pandemic, please lead us in prayer (Joel 3:16; Heb. 12:26).

   • Grant that each one of Israel's government's decisions be in line with Your will and with the well-being of the nation at heart (Prov. 19:21; 21:1).

   • Show the government what should be and what should not be regulated (Psa. 32:8-9).

   • We ask You to lead the government as they consider what guidelines to set for the High Holiday services and for when the next school year ought to begin (1 John 5:14-15).

   • Release clarity and truth to accompany all government guidelines (3 John 1:4).

   • Strengthen Israel's hospitals and encourage all of its health care workers (Psa. 43:5; Jer. 30:17; 33:6).

   • Block all spirits of panic and/or confusion from coming to rest upon Your nation (1 Cor. 14:33).

   • Hedge in Israel's media to report truth and not to report opinions as facts (Prov. 22:21).

   • Give us in the Body of Messiah an ear to listen to You and not to man (John 10:4).

   • No matter what things look like, let us, Your Body, constantly affirm that our God reigns (Deut. 4:39; Psa. 93:1; 96:10; 97:1; 99:1; 103:19; Isa. 52:7; Mal. 3:6; Matt. 11:25; Acts 17:21; Rev. 17:17).

5. Security – external:

   Nations which war against Israel, or allow terrorism against it from their territories, are being thrown deeper into chaos. Iran and Lebanon are the most obvious examples, but many Western nations who always side with Israel's enemies, like the Palestinian Authority, are suffering from internal divisions, natural disasters and, in the case of America, are now mocked by most of the world because of its current inept leadership.

   • Lord, there are genuine believers in all these nations, yet most do not make the connection between their nations being cursed and their nations "cursing" Israel – either literally, or by insisting it divides Your land, or constantly voting against Israel in most international forums (Num. 24:9b; Joel 3:1-2). Please wake them up to see this and to stand in the gap for their nations (Ezek. 22:30-31; Heb. 3:2).

   • Confront Your children who refuse to judge today's world's events through the truth of Your Word but instead substitute other, man-made and unreliable, standards (John 17:17).

   • God Almighty, judge the nations in righteousness and justice, yet also raise up Your church to stand in the gap so that there will be as much mercy as possible in Your judgment (Hos. 12:6; Hab. 3:2).

   • Since You never change, we bless You for this word of encouragement to Israel in Shabbat's Torah portion: Nevertheless YHWH your God would not listen to Balaam; but YHWH your God turned the curse into a blessing unto you, because YHWH your God loved you. (Deut. 23:5)

   • Have mercy on all Iranians who do not agree with the direction that their demonic leaders are taking their nation, and set them free politically and spiritually (Jer. 49:38a; John 8:31-32).

   • We pray also for the Lebanese to be set free from Hizbullah's reign and from Allah (Isa. 29:17-21).

   • With Lebanon close to imploding, give Israel wisdom to know what to do and not to do (Psa. 3:5-6).

   • Destroy Iran's nuclear facilities in such an obviously miraculous manner that that You receive the glory in Israel and among its enemies (Num. 16:30; 2 Chr. 20:29).

   • Destroy Iran's outreaches, and terrify its proxies away from warring against Israel (2 Sam. 10:19).

   • As Iran has used so much of its people's finances for terrorism against Israel, it does not surprise us that Iran's current financial situation is dire. More Lord (Gen. 12:3a; 2:29)!

   • Release spirits of fear and paranoia into Iran's rulers concerning the Taliban, whom they have warred against in the past, and who now rule in Afghanistan, right on Iran's eastern border (Psa. 35:26; 70:2).

   • Set Israel's enemies against each other (2 Chr. 20:23).

   • Let all of Israel's intelligence on Iran be super accurate and actionable (Psa. 35:20).

   • Bring the Israeli government and military into one accord as to how Israel should respond to Iran's attacks – whether on international waters, from Gaza, Lebanon or Syria (Eccl. 8:11).

   • As Iran marches ever closer to nuclear weapons capability, release Your plans to the IDF and blow away all plans that are not from You (Prov. 21:31).

   • In all of this, we ask that You alone would receive the glory (Psa. 115:1-3).

6. Security – internal:

   The best way for Israel to be secure within its borders is for it to extend its sovereignty over all of its God-delineated borders, regardless of what the nations say.

   • In Shabbat's prophetic reading: Enlarge the place of your tent…lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes, for you shall break forth on the right hand and on the left; and your seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. (Isa. 54:2-3) Amen!

   • Thank You Lord that we see parts of these verses coming to pass today (Isa. 55:11; Jer. 1:12).

   • If Israel's current government is determine to create "peace" with the Palestinians by dividing Your land, we ask You to bring it down and bring Israel to new elections quickly (Lev. 25:23; Prov. 22:28).

   • Bring the government down before Lapid switches with Bennett and becomes the prime minister, as he has just said he favors a "two-state" solution to the Palestinian problem (Joel 3:1-2).

   • Prepare Israel politically, diplomatically and security-wise for the day after Palestinian Authority President Abbas is no longer in office (Psa. 31:3; 73:24a).

   • Show us if You want us to pray against Hamas taking over, or whether that will be the event which forces Israel to possess all of its possessions in Judea and Samaria (Isa. 14:1-2; Obad. 1:17)?

   • Confront the government that by caving in to Hamas' blackmail, as it just did by allowing Qatari money and construction materials to enter Gaza, it solves nothing but encourages terrorism.

   • Forbid Israel from letting Hamas and Islamic Jihad shoot rockets towards Israel's south without an immediate harsh response – as Bennett and the government have also just done (Eccl. 8:11).

   • Rule over all negotiations for an extended cease-fire between Hamas and Israel (Psa. 33:10-11).

   • Help Israel's security forces to catch all the eco-terrorists who are having much success in burning Israel down – especially its forests (Psa. 35:8).

   • What these demonized Jew-haters meant for evil, Lord, please use for good (Gen. 50:20).

   • Counteract these arsonists by bringing the rains very early and often at this season (Psa. 65:10).

7. Aliyah:

   How much worse does it need to get in exile before most Jewish people see that God has promised them security and prosperity in His land?

   • He that scattered Israel will gather him, and guard him, as a shepherd does his flock.Jer. 31:10

   • As Your people in exile declare at the end of the Yom Kippur service, "Next year in Jerusalem," may Your Spirit light a spark in their hearts that will not be put out to do that (Psa. 137:5-6).

   • Draw family members of Israelis who live outside the land to return home (Jer. 31:8-9).

   • Let Jews perceive that it is too late to heal "Babylon" and then turn their eyes to Zion (Jer. 51:9-10).

   • May the liberal Jews in the West understand that to most other people they are still "those Jews"!

   • Make Israel's government pro-aliyah and pro-absorption, reminding them that the main reason for establishing the Jewish State was the regathering of Israel's scattered tribes (Isa. 43:5-7; Ezek. 36:24).

   • Place a divine muzzle over all lies and/or negatively slanted reports about Israel – whether in the media, or coming from Israelis themselves (Num. 13:26-33).

   • Let Messianic Jews in exile heed Your Word more than the media or their own hearts (John 17:17).

   • Show the Church its God-given responsibility to help this regathering and then let them seek You for specifics (Isa. 49:22; 60:3-12; Jer. 31:7, 10; Rom. 11:11; 15:27).

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Zion

For the IFI team