1. Praise:

    We are seeing the fulfillment of Shabbat's prophetic portion (Isa. 60:1-22). Israel is being regathered, gentile believers are helping in many different ways, and many nations are looking to Israel for answers – much more so as we see America and Europe in such decline.

    • Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of YHWH is risen upon you. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but YHWH shall arise upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you.Isa. 60:1-2

    • While none of Isaiah 60 has been completely fulfilled as of yet –we still bless You for seeing You moving in that direction in a very clear and obvious manner (Jer. 1:12).

    • Since Your Word is established in heaven, we know the rest will also be fulfilled (Psa. 119:89).

    • We rejoice that Your ultimate goal with Israel – as well as with us – is for You to receive all the glory due to Your name (Isa. 60:18-22; cp. 1 Chr. 16:29; Phil. 2:9-11).

    • Thank You for creating Israel and Your Body to be a light to the world (Acts 13:47).

    • We bless You for bringing us into Your kingdom at just this time in prophetic history (Est. 4:14b).

    • We are so encouraged to see You keep Your promises to a mostly pre-believing Israel, and how much more will You keep Your promises to us, Your family in Messiah Yeshua (1 Thess. 5:24).

    • Hallelujah! There are more Jews in Israel this year at this time than there were last year (Psa. 147:2).

  2. Salvation:

    This year the fall feasts of the Lord are observed in early September. At this time in Israel there is lots of preparation and planning for these special days. Do you know that Israel is the only nation which actually keeps the biblical calendar? And while you may think most Israelis are secular, yet around 70% of Israel's Jewish population will fast on Yom Kippur!

    • Lord, You said You would gather Your people and then You would circumcise their hearts. Please do just that at this season with many of Jews whom You have brought home (Deut. 30:4-6).

    • Specifically, we ask for You to save many new immigrants who will be celebrating the feasts for the very first time in Your land (Ezek. 36:24-27).

    • Pour out Your Spirit of grace on Israelis to cry out to You from their heart (Zech. 12:10).

    • Give the Jewish people a hunger for all of the Tanach ­– and not just the Torah (Psa. 19:7-14).

    • Gift to them a holy dissatisfaction with the limits of the rabbinic traditions and draw them to seek for a relationship with You – the living God of Israel (Prov. 8:17; John 6:44).

    • By Your Holy Spirit, reap many seeds which have been planted and watered this year (1 Cor. 3:6-7).

    • Reach out to many Israelis who have recently suffered pain and loss, and bring Your healing touch, both physically and spiritually (Jer. 17:14).

    • Let there be many miracles and divine encounters between Jews and Yeshua (Matt. 12:23).

    • Draw Your people to Your Son through Your irresistible love and grace (Isa. 12:1-6).

    • When Your Word is read during the holidays, use it to bring life to Your people (Psa. 119:50, 154).

    • Save many Jews who are infected with Covid-19, and save their families also (Psa. 107:13-15).

    • Open the eyes and hearts of many of Israel's overwhelmed medical professionals (Gal. 6:6-7).

    • Lord, save many ultra-Orthodox, Reform and Conservative Jews; gay and lesbians; IDF soldiers; Israeli politicians on both sides of the aisle; those involved in the new age, the occult and many drug users; Jewish Liberals and many Israeli settlers (Psa. 14:7; Rom. 11:26).

    • In Shabbat's Torah portion Moses said You blinded Your people in his day (Deut. 29:4; cp. Rom. 11:25). Lord, we ask You to remove every blindness and reveal Messiah Yeshua to Your people.

  3. Government:

    While there are times when we miss Bibi Netanyahu as Israel's leader, still God has raised up the current government and we are told to pray for it (1 Tim. 2:1-3). We thought the meeting in the White House with PM Naftali Bennett and US President Biden would take place before this alert when out and prayed much into it this past week. But that meeting was delayed to later today because of the horrific suicide bombing at Kabul's airport in Afghanistan.

    • Lord have mercy and bring comfort to all who are impacted by this Kabul massacre (2 Cor. 1:3-4)

    • Thank You for watching over the White House meeting whenever it happens and for bringing forth that which glorifies You alone (Psa. 115:1-3).

    • Do not allow Bennett to assume that what is said by Biden is written in stone (1 Kin. 3:9; Eccl. 8:5).

    • Regardless of what comes out of this meeting, we trust in You to establish all of Your plans for Your nation Israel (Psa. 33:10-11; Prov. 19:21).

    • Show Bennett that he needs to cry out to You for grace in order to be a blessing to Israel and not a leader which brings down a curse (Psa. 50:15).

    • Prevent Israel from groveling to any nation or group and instead to trust fully in You (Psa. 118:8-9).

    • Remove from every one of Israel's political leaders that ugly spirit of pride (Prov. 11:2; 16:18).

    • Replace the humanistic spirit in Foreign Minister Yair Lapid with Your Spirit (John 16: 7-11, 14).

    • Lord, either prevent him from becoming the prime minister in less than two years or change him by Your Spirit to actually be an anointed leader (1 Sam. 10:9-11).

    • Give to Defense Minister Benny Gantz unity of spirit and vision with Bennett and IDF head Aviv Kochavi to provide leadership and a clear direction for the IDF (2 Sam. 23:9; Eccl. 4:12).

    • Forbid that the left wing and Muslim parties in the current coalition hold Israel back from doing all that needs to be done for its security (Prov. 20:18; 24:6).

    • By Your grace, help Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman make righteous decisions (Prov. 21:1-3).

    • Tweak the proposed budget so that if it is passed, it lines up with Your will (Psa. 103:19).

    • Forbid all budget decisions that would destroy Israel's vital agricultural endeavors (Deut. 8:7-10).

    • Guide Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz so that his decrees are based on Your decrees (Lam. 3:37).

    • May all coronavirus guidelines be clear and understandable to the people (1 Cor. 14:8, 33).

    • As Israel seems to be making breakthroughs with treatments against Covid, grant rapid development if these are valid treatments and we thank You for these answers to prayer (Prov. 8:10-12).

    • Anoint Dr. Salman Zarka, Israel's Coronavirus Czar, with honesty and clarity and all the assistance that he needs to fulfill his function (Psa. 1:1; Prov. 15:22).

    • Enable Israel to collect truthful and accurate information to help him and the rest of Israel's medical professionals move forward in dealing with the virus in a godly manner (Psa. 25:5; 43:3).

    • May Israel be a leader in this and a light to the nations (Deut. 28:13; Zech. 8:23).

  4. Security – internal:

    There were several violent demonstrations along the Gaza security fence this past week, with injuries on both sides. We are convinced that God's answer to how Israel can live in peace and security is for Israel to possess all of the land that He has promised to it.

    • Thank You for swearing to give this land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob's descendants (Deut. 26:15)

    • Enable Israel to guard over all of its land – and hinder all those who want to steal Your land for their false god Allah (Psa. 10:16; Isa. 41:10-16).

    • Guide the IDF commanders to know exactly where to position their weapons and men (2 Sam. 5:24).

    • Show Israel how to better protect itself against Hamas in Gaza (Deut. 20:4).

    • Do not allow Israel to be manipulated by Hamas in their negotiations over a cease fire (Num. 23:23). 

    • Shield all of Israel's soldiers and civilians from bullets, rocks, bombs, etc. (Psa. 140:7).

    • Expose all terrorist plans, especially over the high holidays, and stop them (Jer. 11:18; Matt. 10:26).

    • Reveal any new tunnels to the IDF, whether they come from Lebanon or Gaza, and help the IDF to pinpoint all the entrances and exits in order to bomb them into non-existence (Job 12:22).

    • Aid Israel to develop defensive tools against EMP attacks, and offensive EMP weaponry (Job 5:19).

    • We ask for the same in relation to Israel's cyberwarfare arena (Eccl. 9:18; 2 Cor. 10:4).

    • Lord God Almighty, arrange the situation on the ground that Israel must possess all of its land – and when it happens, let it be done suddenly (Psa. 6:10; 64:7; Obad. 1:17-20).

    • When Palestinian Authority President Abbas leaves the scene, if Hamas needs to take over in Judea and Samaria so that Israel will then be forced to retake that area, show us how to pray for a victorious outcome (Psa. 44:4-8).

  5. Security – external:

    Iran, Turkey, Russia and China have looked positively on Afghanistan's current situation. America's exit from Afghanistan has made the Middle East [ME], and the rest of the world, a much more dangerous place, as seen in the ISIS attack yesterday. Also, we need to consider whether this US retreat has been a giant step to advance God's end-time scenario. Recall, that we have been lead to pray for Israel to take its rightful place as the head of the nations and for that to happen, America needs to be removed from that superior position.

    • Lord, grant to us Your wisdom on how to pray into these major seismic shifts that are taking place in throughout the world today – including in the ME (Jer. 33:3).

    • As we see the waning of America as the world's superpower, give grace to both Israel and the Body of Messiah, especially in America, to put our trust in You alone (Psa. 121:1-2; Luke 21:28).

    • Lord, provide Israel with all the actionable accurate intelligence it needs concerning the plans of all of Your enemies, so that the IDF can protect Your nation (Psa. 83:1-5; Isa. 41:14-16; Ezek. 37:10).

    • As the Divine Chess Master, move Israel's submarines to be where they need to be (Prov. 21:31).

    • Abba, cover the believers in Afghanistan, providing for their needs, and giving them wisdom and courage, as well as enabling many to escape (Psa. 3:1-8).

    • Let the Taliban's goal of destroying Israel come before Your throne along with Numbers 24:9b!

    • Stir up the historical animosity between the radical Sunni Taliban and the radical Shiite Iranian leadership and prevent them from working together (Psa. 55:9).

    • Have mercy on all Afghanis and Iranians who only want to be free from their terrorist overlords and to live in peace with their neighbors – including Israel (Hab. 3:2).

    • Destroy all ties between the Taliban, Iran and the Hamas terrorists in Gaza (Psa. 129:5).

    • Increase the IDF's awareness of every Hezbollah plan along Israel's Lebanese border (Obad. 1:6).

    • Use this dangerous and unsettling situation to strengthen Israel's relationships with its ME allies. 

    • Regardless of what guarantees Bennett receives from the US on its commitment to Israel's security, do not permit him, or any other Israeli leader, to look to "Egypt" for Israel's protection (Isa. 31:1).

  6. Aliyah:

    At the end of the Yom Kippur service, Jews in exile declare, "Next year in Jerusalem!" Most will not mean it, but we can pray that God's Spirit convicts them about making empty vows.

    • When you vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for He has no pleasure in fools…It is better that you do not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.Eccl. 5:4-5; cp. Matt. 5:37

    • Do not allow the uptick in coronavirus infections to close doors in Israel to any Jew who wants to immigrate at this time (Isa. 57:14).

    • While there are still giants in the land, forbid evil reports filled with doubt from going forth from Israel and instead, stir up faith and courage and draw Your people home (Num. 14:6-9; Jer. 31:3).

    • Thank You for the recent flights of Jews returning home from France, Germany, South Africa, North America and other places (Isa. 43:5-7).

    • Lord, increase these flights and expand them to many other geographic areas (Isa. 60:8-9).

    • Over the high holidays, stir up young Jews to start looking to Israel as their future (Isa. 62:4-5).

    • Show the rabbis in exile who declare that they will stay until the last Jew is gone that in the ME, the shepherds are supposed to lead their flocks home (Jer. 23:3-4).

    • Remove all bureaucratic obstacles in Israel which hinder Your people from returning (Isa. 62:10).

    • Let the wealthy Jews who remain in exile to finance generously those who are returning (Ezra 1:4).

    • Also stir up the Church to act upon their biblical obligation to encourage and help in the return of Your people (Isa. 49:22; 60:4-11; Rom. 15:26-27).

  7. The Body of Messiah:

    God is shaking the nations at this time, and reshuffling them to fit into His overall prophetic picture in relation to the return of Messiah. So it is crucial to judge Israel's relations with other nations by His Word and not by political expedience or any other factors. Of course, this means that those nations who deal with Israel as if it were a nation like any other nation are in great danger and therefore in great need of intercessors to stand in the gap for mercy.

    • How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed, or defy [+denounce; be angry with; oppose] whom YHWH has not defied [same]? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him; lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.Num. 23:8-9

    • Lord, show believers that You are actively watching over the following warning to the nations that we read in this week's prophetic portion: For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you [Israel at the time of its regathering] shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted. (Isa. 60:12)

    • Lead Your Body to pray for You to elevate Israel to be the head of the nations (Deut. 28:18-19).

    • Restore the whole counsel of God – all of Your Word – to Your Body (Acts 20:27; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).

    • Convict believers, who are too busy to consistently read Your Word, of their danger, as they are not storing up in their spirits Your truth which is a shield to ward off the end-time deception that is plainly invading the world and the Church today (Matt. 24:4, 11, 24; 1 Thess. 5:21a; 1 John 4:1; Jude 1:3).

    • We all ask You for a fresh outpouring of love for, and a desire to read, Your Word (Jer. 15:16).

    • Lord Yeshua, please bless all those prayer warriors who have labored in intercession with IFI for so many years and, encourage them that our prayers are being heard (Luke 18:1; John 5:14-15).

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Zion

For the IFI team