1. Praise:

   In Shabbat's Torah portion, we find Jacob returning to the land God promised to him. As he prepares to meet Esau, who wanted to kill him the last time they were together, he prays, God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac; YHWH You said to me, 'Return to your country, and to your family, and I will deal well with you'. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and all the truth, which You have shown to Your servant… We can all say "amen" to that.

   • Lord, mercy means that we do not deserve it in the first place, but because it is an essential character trait of Yours (Ex. 34:6a), we bless You for Your renewed mercies to us day by day (Lam. 3:22-23).

   • We are also not worthy of Your truth – which Messiah Yeshua says is Your Word (John 17:17). Yet by grace, You have revealed Yourself to us because You love us (John 3:16) – so we praise and thank You for this unattainable-by-human-efforts revelation of who You are (Rom. 11:33-34).

   • Abba, thank You for revealing that from the start, people whom You reached out to knew they were unworthy – but still they followed You (Ex. 3:11; Job 42:5-6; Psa. 51:1-4; Isa. 6:5).

   • It was because of Your love and mercy towards us that Messiah Yeshua was crucified, buried and resurrected. Thank You for the free gift of salvation in Him (Eph. 2:8-9).

   • What a humbling truth that we all have sinned (Rom. 3:23) and all of our righteousness is filthy before You (Isa. 64:6) – yet we can come boldly before Your throne in Messiah Yeshua (Heb. 4:16).

   • We praise You for how awesome You are and while You rule over all, yet You care for the minute details in this world and of our lives (Psa. 113:5-6; Isa. 40:22; Luke 12:6-7).

2. Government:

   We continue to pray for Israel's current government to do all that is in line with God's will – but to be blocked from doing anything that is not of God. And a prayer like that for a coalition like the one Israel has today requires abundant faith in God as the One who truly reigns over the nations – especially over Israel (Psa. 103:19; Isa. 52:7).

   • Abba Father, please direct every one of Israel's government's decisions (Prov. 19:21; 20:24).

   • Let there be unity in everything that is in line with Your will – and disunity in all else.

   • Do not allow Israel to be deceived into thinking that the "climate-crisis" is its number one threat, but turn Your people away from humanity's fears to a biblical fear of You (Isa. 8:12-13; 29:22-24).

   • Thank You for another answer to prayer as the budget has finances earmarked for the development of the Negev. Please guard over it to make sure it is used specifically for this purpose (1 Cor. 4:2).

   • Forbid Israel's current government from giving away any of Your land (Lev. 25:23; Prov. 22:28).

   • In fact, in line with Shabbat's prophetic portion, guide Israel's leaders to possess all of Your land, and to have wisdom to know how to manage and to govern them (Obad. 1:17).

   • You know each minister and have a calling on their lives for this time; use each one to fulfill Your purposes – first for Your glory sake and then for Israel's sake (Psa. 115:1-3; Prov. 21:1; Rom. 11:29).

   • Give Prime Minister Naftali Bennett a godly fear of You so that he walks in Your ways (Deut. 8:6).

   • Touch Foreign Minister Yair Lapid; shake him up and save him (Acts 26:13-15).

   • Pour out a huge dose of the biblical fear of his God upon him (Prov. 9:10; 14:12).

   • Yet do whatever it takes to prevent him from becoming the prime minister in August 2023.

   • Hedge in Defense Minister Benny Gantz to do only that which is pleasing to You (Lam. 3:7, 37).

   • Lord, Gantz is right-wing one day and left-wing the next. Reveal his true heart intent so that we know how to pray for – or against – him (Prov. 17:3; Jer. 17:10).

   • Use Avigdor Liberman, Israel's Finance Minister, to fulfill Your calling on him (Psa. 32:8-9).

   • Israel's Interior Minister, Ayelet Shaked, comes across as very double minded. Lord, You created her and we ask You to grace her to line up with Your word or dismiss her from office (1 Kin. 18:21).

   • Grant to Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and all of the people in the Health Ministry, grace and wisdom to follow that which is in line with Your will only (Prov. 2:2; 16:9).

   • Use Mansour Abbas, the head of the Israeli-Arab party Ra'am which is in the coalition, to benefit Israeli-Arabs, but block any attempts by him to tear down Israel as the Jewish State (Job 5:12-13).

   • Protect all of Israel's government officials physically and guard them from deception (1 Tim. 2:1-4).

   • Surround each one with godly counsel and remove any advisors that are not (Psa. 1:1; 64:2).

   • Lord, we bless You for the Israeli Bri-Life anti-coronavirus vaccine that seems to be a much better vaccine than what is available right now. Use it to be part of the fulfillment of Genesis 12:2.

   • Protect Bri-Life from any industrial or corporate espionage or sabotage (Job 18:10; Jer. 5:26).

3. Jerusalem:

   American pressure on Israel to allow it to open a Palestinian consulate in Western Jerusalem has awakened us once again to the prophetic truth of the centrality of Jerusalem in the last days. And that has placed it once again on our hearts as a target for intercession.

   • I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem, who shall not hold their peace day nor night; you who remind YHWH [of His will and Word], keep not silence, and give him no silence, until He establishes, and until He makes Jerusalem a praise [unto His holy name] in the earth.Isa. 62:6-7

   • Lord, we agree with Nehemiah and declare to US President Biden and his administration, "you have no share, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem" (Neh. 2:20)!

   • Wake up the American Church to how dangerous this is to their nation's future (Zech. 2:4-5; 12:9).

   • Forbid Israel's leaders from ever voluntarily contributing to a re-division of Jerusalem (Psa. 122:3).

   • Since You declare several times in Your Word that Jerusalem is Your city (Psa. 48:2, 8; Matt. 5:35), we ask You to arise and defend it from both outside pressure and inside compromise (Isa. 37:35).

   • Let the "daughters" of Jerusalem, those communities around it, be built – especially the EI corridor to its northeast and Givat Hamatos in the south (Psa. 147:2).

   • We bless You for living in the days when we see Zechariah 8:1-8 coming to fulfillment.

   • We are also seeing Zechariah 12:2-3 beginning to take place diplomatically and ask You to lead us in pray so that we do not interfere with Your kingdom purposes or timing (Luke 11:1-2).

4. Internal security:

   The Torah portion follows Jacob as he returns to the land in line with God's specific direction. He buys a piece of land in Samaria [near Shechem – Nablus today] and then moves from there to Bethel – which is also in Samaria. It is in Samaria, which the world calls "the occupied territories," where we read of God being called "the God of Israel" for the first time in His Word.

   • Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan [specifically Samaria]… and he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent…and he erected an altar there and called it El-Elohi-Israel [God, the God of Israel].Gen. 33:18-20

   • [Three of the oldest titles deeds in recorded history – of Hebron to Abraham, Nablus to Jacob, and the Temple Mount to King David – are today all under Islamic rule]. Lord, would You please, in the very near future, restore these areas of Your land to You people (Psa. 10:16).

   • For Your holy name's sake – let Israel possess all of the biblical Promised Land (Ezek. 36:23-28).

   • Give Israel's leaders courage to extend its sovereignty over all of it (Gen. 35:11-13; Ex. 32:13).

   • Abba, let Your terror fall on all the Palestinians in Your land who hate Your people (Gen. 35:5).

   • At the same time, use Your fear to bring some Palestinians to salvation and to cause all the others to flee from before You – and to leave this land (Ex. 14:19-20; Prov. 4:18-19; 2 Cor. 2:15-16).

   • You state in the prophetic portion that shame and destruction will come on those who move with violence against Jacob (Obad. 1:10). Apply this to the Palestinians, yet with some who are put to shame, turn them to You to be saved (Psa. 83:16)

   • Stop Israel's Foreign Ministry, headed by Lapid, from urging donor nations who backed off from supporting the Palestinian Authority [PA] to again make donations to this terrorist entity (Psa. 120:7).

   • Show Lapid that while he is trying to support the PA, the PA is urging nations to rebuke Israel from withholding taxes over their "pay-to-slay" support-of-terrorists-in-jail program (Deut. 20:12).

   • Prepare the IDF and the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria for the day after Abbas is no longer in charge of the PA and all that will occur in that chaotic time (Joel 3:16; Nah. 1:7).

   • We thank You for the dearth of successful terror attacks recently (Psa. 44:7).

   • Continue to place all of Israel's security forces in the right place and at the right time, and to be sufficiently alert to block every attempted terrorist attack (Psa. 44:4-6).

   • Do not allow the IDF to drop its guard along the Gaza security fence (Neh. 4:9).

   • Use the Palestinians' violent clan-warfare that is erupting today to divide Israel's enemy (Mark 3:25).

   • Use today's conflict between Israel and the Palestinians for Your purposes (Judg. 14:4).

5. External security:

   Iran is central to so much of the upheaval in the Middle East, and has tentacles spread out to just about every corner of the globe. Yet the Body in Iran continues to grow and Israel continues to deal militarily with this threat – without much help from other nations.

   • Lord, watch over Jeremiah 49:38. We thank You for fulfilling the first part in setting Your throne in Elam [ancient Iran] through the building up of the Body of Messiah (Matt. 16:18b).

   • We continue to ask for You to fulfill the second part and destroy Elam's king and princes (Jer. 1:12).

   • Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is reportedly very ill. Lord, if possible, save him before he goes to his eternal destiny (Acts 4:10-12).

   • When he dies, create a vacuum that will be filled with pride and arrogance, confusion and street riots against the regime – and bring this wicked regime down once and for all (Obad. 1:3-4).

   • Continue to shake Iran physically, as You have done recently by large earthquakes (Job 38:12-13).

   • Let the Iranian Body see the signs of Your judgment on their nation and make the connection to their leaders cursing Israel – and then have boldness to declare that judgment openly (Num. 24:9b).

   • Protect the Iranian church, and help it to grow numerically and spiritually (2 Pet. 3:18).

   • Lord, if the reports of Syrian President Assad and Russian President Putin wanting Iran out of Syria are true, use Israel's frequent attacks against Iranian activity in Syria to hasten that day.

   • Send a confusion of tongues like You did at the tower of Babel into the end of November meeting to revive the evil Iranian nuclear deal [between Iran and the P5+1 nations– the 5 permanent UN Security Council nations + Germany] (Gen. 11:7-8).

   • Use these meetings to show to Russia and China the true fanatical face of the Iranian regime.

   • If Israel pre-empts Hizbullah in Lebanon, send Your terror before them (Ex. 15:16; Deut. 11:25).

   • Turn the IDF away from depending on American weapons and supplies, and instead, let them look to You and to Israel's own military industries (Psa. 20:7; Jer. 17:5).

   • Download to the IDF's "Iran Command" division Your plans, strategies and timing in any action taken against the Iranian threat – whether nuclear or otherwise (2 Sam. 5:18-25; Prov. 21:31).

   • We thank and praise You for the recent breakthroughs in electronic warfare which Israel has just revealed, and ask You to give it major advances in cyberwarfare as well (Psa. 50:15).

   • Keep the IDF from revealing developments that should not be revealed (2 Kin. 20:14-18).

   • Use all officially released information of the IDF's upgraded capabilities to strike fear in the hearts of every one of Israel's enemies (Josh. 2:11).

6. Aliyah & salvation:

   These issues are biblically linked and as we see an increase of aliyah, we also trust for an increase of salvations (Jer. 32:36-41; Ezek. 36:24-27).

   • Reveal Messiah Yeshua to all those who have returned home these past two years (Zech. 12:10).

   • Reveal Your Son to all Jews who are planning to return home in the near future (John 1:29).

   • As aliyah results in You being glorified (Isa. 43:5-7), we ask that – with mercy – You do whatever it takes to pry Western Jews out of their comfort-zones and draw them home (Jer. 16:16; 31:3).

   • Use the rising anti-Semitism to chase Your people who are stuck in exile back to Israel (Jer. 16:16).

   • Lord God, scare the exile out of all Your people who are blinded by the leeks and onions (Jer. 51:9).

   • Prepare Israel to receive every Jew whom You are calling back at this time (Jer. 51:6-10).

7. The Body of Messiah:

   While God can do whatever He wants, it is clear that in His kingdom He refrains Himself from doing His will until one of His children asks Him. This is why Messiah Yeshua taught us that when we pray we first ask for God's name to be sanctified – to be glorified – and then we ask for His kingdom to come and His will to be done – here on the earth (Luke 11:2).

   • Lord, it is clearly Your will for Israel to be restored to Your/its land and for Your people to return from their centuries-long exile, so we ask You to place these issues as a major burden on the hearts of many more born-again believers today (Isa. 62:6-7; Jer. 31:7-10; Ezek. 36:37; 1 John 5:14-15).

   • Lord, let Israel be seen in its proper biblical calling in the hearts of Your Church (Rom. 11:29).

   • Lord Yeshua, move mightily in Your Body and pour out a renewed trust in the Tanach – the Old Testament – as being as much the Word of God today as the New Testament (2 Tim. 3:15-17).

   • Impart a biblical revelation on the Body of Your love for the people and land of Israel (Jer. 31:3).

   • Cast out of born-again believers all anti-Semitic and/or anti-Zionistic spirits (Gen. 12:3a).

   • At this time, let Your Body understand that the Baby they worship who was born in Bethlehem was – and still is – the King of the Jews (Isa. 33:22; Matt. 2:1-2; 27:37; Acts 17:7; Rev. 5:5; 19:16)!

   • Continue to build up the Israeli Body both numerically and spiritually (1 Thess. 5:23-24).

   • For Your name's sake, impart a unity – not a uniformity – into the Israeli Body (John 13:35).

8. Water:

   We continue to pray for the blessed gift of God, the water from heaven.

   • We ask for rain in line to Your Word (Zech. 10:1).

   • Soak the land first with gentle rain to prepare for the later heavier rains (Psa. 65:10).

We thank you for continuing to stand with us in praying for the finances of IFI.

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Jerusalem

For the IFI team