1. Praise:

   Shabbat's prophetic portion has a prophecy of Yeshua's resurrection: I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be your plagues; O grave, I will be your destruction… (Hos. 13:14a)

   • Hallelujah! Precious Messiah, You conquered death through Your resurrection (1 Cor. 15:55-57).

   • And because of this You are now the Lord of the living and of the dead (Rom. 14:9).

   • We bless You Lord for removing the fear of death from those of us who trust in You (Heb. 2:14-15).

   • We thank You that You rose out of the grave in Jerusalem and we know that You will return to Jerusalem to manifest Your kingdom here on earth (Zech. 14:3-4, 16).

   • We bless You that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is proof that You were risen (Acts 2:32-33).

   • And we take comfort that we will also be raised up out of death by Your Spirit (Rom. 8:11).

   • We are blessed knowing that Your resurrection power is at work in us – now (Eph. 1:19-20).

   • We praise You for appearing to Your disciples after Your resurrection, and rejoice when we hear reports out of the Middle East of You appearing to many in our day (1 Cor. 15:4-8).

   • What joy to know that the Living Word of God tabernacles with us (John 1:14).

   • Lord Yeshua, we proclaim You as the King of the Jews, and that You are seated at this time at the right hand of Your Father and our Father (Matt. 2:2; John 19:19; Heb. 12:2).

2. Government:

   With the budget passed, now the question is how the widely-divergent parties that make up the Prime Minister N. Bennett-Foreign Minister Y. Lapid coalition government can work together to keep this government in office? While we have deep concerns of how this government is leading Israel, we continue to ask God to accomplish all that He wants from it, while forbidding anything that is not in line with His will.

   • Lord, miraculously work in the hearts of Israeli politicians and save many of them (Ezek. 36:25-32).

   • Please Abba God guide Israel's coalition in all of its decisions (Psa. 33:10-11).

   • And forbid them from moving Israel further away from Your revealed will (Prov. 19:21).

   • Use it to accomplish all that You have ordained for it and nothing else (Luke 1:23).

   • Keep it in power only as long as it is Your will – and then shut it down (Dan. 2:20-21).

   • May there be no compromise on either Jerusalem or the land of Israel (Lev. 25:23; Deut. 27:17).

   • Let the coalition be united against US President Biden's administration's pressure on it to open a consulate for the Palestinians in Jerusalem (Neh. 2:20).

   • As both Bennett and Lapid have spoken out against this, hold them to their words (Matt. 5:37).

   • In the same way, guard over Bennett's statements of building more homes in the Jordan Valley and on the Golan Heights, as this is definitely in line with Your declared will (Jer. 32:41-44).

   • Work in Bennett's heart and mind to desire to follow Your will and leading (Prov. 21:1).

   • Make him fear You more than anyone else – or even the loss of his politic power (Neh. 7:2).

   • Have mercy on Lapid, and on Israel, and prevent this left-wing, humanistic politician from taking over as the next prime minister (1 Sam. 2:7).

   • Although the budget has passed, it is all Your money, so we ask You to modify the budget where needed, and to guard over the distribute of funds for their intended purposes (Hag. 2:8: 1 Cor. 4:2).

   • Impart divine wisdom and help create a godly plan to decrease housing and living costs (Prov. 24:3).

   • Give this government Your heart of compassion for the poor and orphans (Psa. 82:2-4).

   • Download wisdom from on high to the Israeli authorities concerning every decision they make, and every guideline they issue, in this ongoing war against the coronavirus (Job 12:13; Rom. 11:33).

   • Reveal to the authorities what guidelines it should put into place as it begins to open up the nation after the 4th Covid wave (Prov. 20:24).

   • Grant parents wisdom to do what is best for their children, as in Your sight it is the parents who are ultimately responsible for their children's upbringing (Deut. 6:4-7; 11:18-19).

   • Thank You for the recent development of medications for treatment of the virus (Prov. 8:12).

3. Security – internal:

   The Torah portion once again affirms God's promise of His land to His people. God is promising this to Jacob, and this is right after Jacob deceived his father to receive the blessing of the firstborn. So the land is Israel's by divine decree – although the right to live in the land depends on Israel's obedience. Yet since it took 500 years of disobedience before God cast Israel into exile in Babylon and another 500 years before He scattered His people to the ends of the earth, we can see that His grace is extremely longsuffering – which is good news to Israel and to us!

   • [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set upon the earth, with its top reaching heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it (cp. John 1:51). And, YHWH stood above [or "next to"] it, saying, 'I am YHWH God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: the land on which you lie, will I give to you and to your seed;'Gen. 28:12-13

   • Lord, arise and defend Your land and Your nation against the world's hatred (Psa. 2:1-6; 68:1).

   • Frustrate the conspiracy against Your people by those who hate You (Psa. 83:1-4, 16-18).

   • God of Israel, raise up bold leaders in Your nation who will fear You more than man and who will extend Israel's sovereignty over all of its promised inheritance (Psa. 118:6, 8-9; Isa. 54:2-3).

   • If the government refuses to allow Your people to live and grow in any areas of Your land, then – for Your holy name's sake – remove this coalition quickly (Ezek. 36:28-32).

   • Defense Minister Gantz is allowing Palestinian, but not Jewish, building in Judea and Samaria. God, move on him so that the fear of You is stronger than whatever else he fears (Deut. 10:12; Jer. 32:40).

   • Deal with the enemy who has crept into the midst of Your people and onto Your land (Psa. 10:16).

   • [There have been daily Palestinian riots against Israeli security forces in Jerusalem, as well as in Judea and Samaria.] Lord, show Israel's security forces how to quench these riots and how much force to use, and help them to capture the instigators who are behind this uptick in violence (Eccl. 8:11).

   • Lord of hosts, continue to help Israel's security forces so that while there are several terror attacks daily, very few are successful (Psa. 21:11-13).

   • Thank You for not permitting any further successful kidnappings. May this continue (Psa. 121:4).

   • Impart biblical, and not humanistic, rules of engagement from the IDF leaders to the soldiers.

   • Improve Israel's intelligence gathering and the processing of gathered information (2 Kin. 6:12).

   • Anoint all IDF soldiers to be alert and to never be distracted (Ezek. 33:7).

   • We are very grateful to see You continually help Israel in the development of new weaponry – both offensive and defensive – especially in the arena of EMP and cyberwarfare (Psa. 20:7-9).

   • Thank You that most Israelis know there is no Palestinian peace partner (Jer. 6:14; Ezek. 13:10).

   • Protect this government from being tempted or pressured into any land-for-peace deals (Isa. 59:8).

   • Lord, keep US President Biden and his administration so busy with other crises that they no longer have time or energy to pressure Israel to divide Your land and scatter Your people (Joel. 3:1-2).

   • Hinder America's ungodly plans to bring Hamas and the Palestinian Authority into unity so that a Palestinian State would then be easier to create (Job 5:12; Luke 1:51).

   • In negotiations with Hamas about a prisoner exchange, protect Israel from appeasing these terrorists and continue to expose Hamas' extreme nature through their demands on Israel (Psa. 56:5-7).

   • Have mercy, Lord. Shake up many people by saving some of Hamas' leaders (Acts 9:3-6).

   • Thank You that Israel's ties with Egypt are being strengthening militarily (Isa. 19:23).

4. Security – external:

   Iran is struggling internally, yet is bullying the world externally. No one has appeared on the world's stage to replace Bibi Netanyahu in challenging the West with the grave danger of an Iranian nuclear bomb. Most Western leaders want to appease Iran instead of confronting them. This is very dangerous and a recent history lesson is Chamberlin's "peace" with Hitler.

   • Lord of all, arise and miraculously destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program (Num. 16:31-35).

   • Yet if that is not Your way to destroy this threat, then it seems clear that only Israel is willing to use its military power to stop Iran, and so we ask You to prepare Your "weapon of war" to do the work in Your timing and in Your way (Jer. 51:20-24).

   • If Israel attacks – let nothing and no one stop them until Iran's nuclear weapons program is once and for all destroyed (Isa. 41:14-16; Ezek. 37:10).

   • Prepare Israel to go on the offensive against all the criticism it will receive from a hypocritical world on the day after its attack – especially if it is as successful as we pray it will be (Isa. 41:11; 54:17).

   • Continue to give the IDF success in their battle to prevent the establishment of Iranian outposts on the Syrian border (Num. 21:24; Mal. 1:5).

   • Guide the IDF's Iran Command in its preparation, timing and out-of-the-box thinking as they plan together how best to stop Iran (2 Sam. 5:17-25; Prov. 20:18).

   • Shield all of the IDF's electronic equipment, including its drones, electronic surveillance, and spy satellites that it develops and uses to guard over this nation (Isa. 31:5).

   • Cause all of Iran's demonic plans against Israel to be of no effect (Job 15:35).

   • Hear its arrogant cursing of Israel, and destroy Iran's current regime (Prov. 16:18; Jer. 49:38b).

   • Send confusion, misunderstanding, and disruption of communications and of relationships between Iran and all of its proxies (Psa. 129:5).

   • Do the same as the above prayer between Iran's Shi'ites and Afghan's Taliban Sunnis (Psa. 35:26).

   • Drain all of Iran's sources of funds (Prov. 13:11).

   • Lord, because they do business with Iran – and so are blessing a nation that curses Your nation – weaken the finances of the EU, Russia, China and all other Iran-supporting entities (Gen. 27:29).

   • Protect and grow, numerically and spiritually, the Iranian Church (1 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 1:15-23).

   • Show them how to intercede for their nation whose leaders constantly curse Israel (Ezek. 22:30).

   • To the Iranian Body: YHWH who made heaven and earth, bless you out of Zion. (Psa. 134:3)

   • Keep Israel on high alert and informed about what is happening in Lebanon today (Mark 13:37).

   • If Israel needs to pre-empt Hizbullah in Lebanon – and that seems to be a very likely scenario – give its leaders Your strategy, Your timing, and the courage to just do it.

   • Let the arrogance of Hizbullah's leader lead him to make huge geo-political mistakes (Prov. 17:19).

   • Lord, if Israel's current government is not willing to do whatever it takes to protect Your nation – then remove it from power as soon as possible (Eccl. 8:11; Rom. 13:1-4).

5. Aliyah:

   At this time, Israel is thinking about how it can rescue the 8,000 or so Ethiopian Jews whose lives are in danger in the mess that is Ethiopia today. We prayed that the government would do what is right and not what is politically correct. As of now, it is reported that Israel is trying to rescue 5,000 of them.

   • Use this dangerous situation as Your catalyst to the Israeli government to bring the remaining Ethiopian Jews home – and only You know how many Jews remain there (Isa. 43:5-7).

   • Prepare Israelis to welcome them and to help them to settle (Isa. 37:31).

   • Release the Jews of Iran, who are being held hostage against any Israeli attack, to be able to return all at once to Zion (Ex. 12:31-32).

   • Bring home multitudes of Spanish and Portuguese speaking Jews and draw many of them to settle in the Negev in line with the prophecy in Obadiah 1:20b. [Sepharad = ancient Hebrew name for the area around and including Spain and Portugal today.]

   • Plant Your desire for aliyah in the hearts of Your people, and then fulfill that desire (Psa. 37:4).

   • Break all of the chains of false comfort off of the minds of Western Jews (Isa. 45:2).

   • Remove every obstacle to aliyah from Israel's Ministry of the Interior (Isa. 57:14).

   • Provide help and support for all who want to come home, and remove any discouragement.

   • Let much of the above needs be met by the Church as You open believers' eyes to their calling and responsibility to pray for the Jews to return home (Jer. 31:7-9), to help finance the aliyah (Isa. 60:3-12; Rom. 15:27) and even for some to physically carry Your people back (Isa. 49:22).

   • Lord Yeshua, expose all the wolves in sheep's clothing who have authority in Your Body, especially in Western nations, and replace them with good shepherds who have a heart for, and will preach on, Israel and its last days restoration (John 10:12; Acts 20:28-32).

6. Water:

   So far there has been very little rain and while Israel is not in a desperate situation, still every drop of water is a blessing to this land.

   • Lord, You asked us to ask You for rain – and so we are asking (Zech. 10:1; Jam. 4:2b).

   • You foretold that Israel would be like the Garden of Eden which would then be a witness to Your greatness among the gentiles, and so we ask You to do exactly that (Ezek. 36:34-36).

   • Provide all the water needed in all of the places in Israel to make this happen (Isa. 51:3).

   • Abba, may this be the time when You to create new water sources in Israel which would then be a witness of Your greatness to Your people (Isa. 41:18).

   • Use Israel's innovative water technology to be a blessing to other nations (Gen. 12:2).

We do appreciate your continued prayer concerning IFI's finances.

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Zion

For the IFI team