1. Praise:

   In Shabbat's Torah reading, God tells Moses, and the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. (Lev. 4:20b) In this portion alone God points out 11 times that a priest is needed to make atonement for the people. Israel has always needed a mediator to offer blood sacrifices, but after the Temple was destroyed, the Jewish leadership substituted other things as sacrifices could no longer be offered. Yet today there is a high priest, Yeshua the Messiah, and He has made atonement for us – as well as being the blood sacrifice Himself through His death.

   • We thank and praise You Lord for humbling Yourself to take on flesh and blood so that You could be our faithful high priest and our atoning sacrifice before God the Father (Heb. 2:14-3:1; 7:26-27).

   • We praise You that You are not the end of the law, but its goal (Rom. 10:4; cp. Matt. 5:17-18).

   • We bless You Messiah Yeshua, that after You initially saved us, You are now interceding for us in order that we can be saved to the uttermost [completely, perfectly] (Heb. 7:25).

   • Lord God, we take great comfort in these days in knowing that nothing ever takes You by surprise – and that there are never any emergencies in heaven (Psa. 103:19).

   • Lord Yeshua, thank You for teaching us that as the world becomes more dangerous by both natural and manmade disasters, we are to look up – because Your coming is drawing near (Luke 21:28).

   • We bless You Abba for giving us Your Word in the Tanach and the New Testament, which is a light to our path and imparts wisdom to those who read and study it (Psa. 119:105, 130; 2 Tim. 2:15).

   • We praise You that You will do all that You say as we read in Shabbat's prophetic portion: The Strength of Israel will not lie or repent, for He is not a man that He should repent. (1 Sam. 15:29)

   • Help us to recall that Your name, that is Your essential nature, is our strong tower (Prov. 18:10).

2. Aliyah:

   God never says everything is good, yet His Word does say that He can use whatever happens to work for the good of His called (Rom. 8:28). The war between Russia and Ukraine is another stain on humanity and proves what the Word says about man's heart being essentially evil (Gen. 6:5), yet God is using this to scare many Jews both in Ukraine and in Russia out of exile.

   • Behold, I will bring them from the north and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and lame, the woman with child and her that travails with child together: a great company shall return here.Jer. 31:8

   • Lord, by miraculous means, bring out whole families from Ukraine at the same time (Psa. 107:41).

   • [As Jews flee Ukraine, the old anti-Semitic accusations of "dual-loyalty" are being heard, especially on social media. This could be a harbinger of a rise in anti-Semitism in that nation in the near future.] Lord, rescue Your people from Ukraine and from all of the other Eastern European nations before they are hunted down and murdered just because they are Jewish (Jer. 16:16).

   • Use the rumors of potential future offensive moves by Russia to stir up the Jews in other countries in those areas of Europe to flee home as soon as possible (Jer. 3:18).

   • May this conflict wake up the hundreds of thousands of Russian Jews still in Germany, as well as all of the remaining Jews in Russia itself – that the time to come home is now (Isa. 43:6a; Jer. 30:10).

   • Disillusion all who are deceived by the materialism of the West and bring them to Israel (Isa. 43:5b).

   • Open the eyes of Jews throughout the exile to see how suddenly the coronavirus and the Russian-Ukrainian war changed everything, and show them to flee Babylon (Isa. 48:20; Jer. 50:28; 51:8-9).

   • Send Your angels to both protect Your people and to drag them out of the nations (Gen. 19:15-16).

   • Prepare places throughout Israel for all the orphans and widows who are coming (Psa. 68:6a).

   • Remove any obstacle in the way of Jews escaping from Europe and entering Israel (Isa. 62:10).

   • Continue to use Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked and Minister of Aliyah and Immigration Pnina Tamano-Shata to keep the doors wide open for all Jewish immigrants to enter in and find safety and comfort in Israel – whether from Ukraine, Russia, or anywhere else (Isa. 51:3; Jer. 31:10).

   • Guide Israel to have a godly policy in dealing with Ukrainian Jewish refugees who have a right to make aliyah under the law of return – although they are not Jewish according to rabbinic standards (Jer. 31:15-17).

   • If in fact, there will be upwards of 100,000 new immigrants – help Israel to be ready (Isa. 54:2-3).

   • Give courage to the current Israeli government to settle new immigrants in every part of Your land, especially in the areas of Judea, Samaria, the Negev and the Golan (Jer. 33:12-14).

   • Enable affordable housing to be built throughout the land (Isa. 65:21).

   • Smooth the absorption for these new immigrants in language, culture, schools, and jobs.

   • As per Ezekiel 37:21-22a, make the Jews from all nations one nation on Your land.

3. Government:

   God knew Israel would be led by a disjointed government during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, as well as when a renewed, but much weaker and more dangerous, Iranian nuclear deal might be signed. We continue to pray for Israel's government to come in line with what we know is God's declared will in His Word (1 John 5:14-15).

   • Lord, we again ask for You to use this government to accomplish all that You have ordained for it and hedge it in from doing anything that is not in line with Your will for Israel today (Psa. 33:10-11).

   • Flood the minds of Israel's leaders with Your thoughts so that Israel comes out of this chaos stronger and nearer to its eventual role of being the head of the nations (Deut. 28:13; Prov. 21:1; Isa. 30:21).

   • As we read in Shabbat's prophetic portion, forbid any Israeli leader from acting out of the fear of men, or of the nations, and thus fails to do all that You are guiding them to do (1 Sam. 15:24).

   • Let Israel's leaders know that its security is their number one priority (Rom. 13:1-4).

   • As Israel is diplomatically stuck with no good choices in this situation between Russia and Ukraine, miraculously keep the mouths of most of its leaders shut and break this trap (Psa. 124:7-8).

   • God, restrain Prime Minister Bennett's great pride from causing Israel great damage (Job 33:16-17).

   • Lord God, protect all of Israel's leadership against pride and create in them a desire to serve You and Your nation (2 Chr. 35:3b; Prov. 29:23).

   • Turn Foreign Minister Yair Lapid from a left-wing humanist into a bible-believing Jew (Psa. 80:19).

   • For every government minister, raise up godly and wise advisors (Prov. 11:14; 15:22).

   • Impart great wisdom to Israel in all of its dealings with China (Prov. 16:1; 20:24).

   • [Israeli President Herzog visited Turkey this past week.] Lord, give Israel wisdom when dealing with Turkey's leader Erdogan who has shown himself to be very anti-Israel (Psa. 35:20; 55:20; 120:7).

   • [There is a rise of satanic comparisons of how Russia is treating Ukraine and how Israel is allegedly treating the Palestinians, followed by people screaming against the world's so-called double standard – one for Russia and one for Israel!] Lord God, enable the government to prepare for the onslaught of sanctions that could very easily follow the conclusion of the Russian-Ukrainian war (Prov. 21:30-31).

4. External security:

   While the world's attention is focused on Russia and Ukraine, the biggest threat to Israel is still Iran and its proxies who have Israel physically surrounded. In some sense this is also the biggest threat to the world. Putin has not threatened to rule all nations – but Iran's goal, based on its Shi'ite Islamic theology, is to set up a global Caliphate headed by the Mahdi – the Muslim Messiah. They think that two-thirds of all the people alive will need to perish to trigger the Mahdi's appearance. So what could possible go wrong with allowing them to have nuclear weapons?

   • Abba, as Israel sees what is happening to Ukraine, let them truly understand that the Jewish State cannot depend on any other nation to come to its defense (Isa. 31:1; Ezek. 29:6-7).

   • Lord, use the IDF's Chief of Staff Kochavi to keep the government focused on the Iranian threat and to not be distracted by what is happening elsewhere (Ezek. 33:6).

   • Regardless of the headlines and noise, keep Israel's military focused on Your priorities (Deut. 5:32).

   • Increase Israel's cutting edge cyberwarfare technology – both defensive and offensive – and give it major breakthroughs in its development of laser and EMP weaponry as well.

   • [We read in Shabbat's prophetic portion that Saul lost his kingdom because he was merciful with King Agag the Amalekite and did not obey God to kill him (1 Sam. 15:23, 9-10).] Forbid Israel and its security forces from being more merciful than You with Your/their enemies (Psa. 9:16; 83:1-4).

   • Lead Israel and the IDF to what its response should be if – as expected – a weak and dangerous nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 nations is agreed to in Vienna in the near future (Psa. 68:35).

   • Prepare Israel to be Your battle-axe to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons (Jer. 51:20-24).

   • Thank You that because of the West's sanctions on Russia, Russia is asking for guarantees on being able to do business with Iran, and because of this the Vienna talks now have another stumbling stone in its path of being approved (Job 5:12; 12:16-19).

   • Counterintuitively, use Russia to block the Iranian deal from being done (2 Sam. 15:31; Psa. 55:9).

   • Harden the hearts of Iran's leaders so that they refuse to agree to any deal (Ex. 7:3, 13; Deut. 2:30).

   • Bring confusion and division into the midst of Iran's leadership (Psa. 35:26; 129:5).

   • Arise Lord, as we much prefer for You to stop Iran so supernaturally that You alone will receive all the glory (Ex. 14:13-14, 21-25; Psa. 68:1; Hab. 3:13).

   • Let the mountains under which Iran is building its nuclear facilities collapse (Amos 9:2; Mic. 1:3-4).

   • Lord, cause Iran's scientists to make serious mistakes in all of their nuclear facilities (Job 12:24-25).

   • Lord Yeshua, continue to build Your Body in Iran and quickly remove the scepter of authority from their current, very wicked, regime (Jer. 49:38).

   • Block all of Iran's attempts to set up military bases and outposts in Syria (Hos. 2:6).

   • Thank You that Israel's relations with Russia enable it to continue to attack Iranian sites in Syria.

5. Internal security:

   Passover, Resurrection Day and Ramadan all crowd in at the same time next month, and that has raised awareness of increased terrorism in Israel. Also, next week Israel celebrates Purim, the feast of Esther. This is a security nightmare as many people dress up in costumes with masks on, and terrorists can come masked into the middle of cities and celebrations. Another security threat is that terrorism and rocket attacks are a favorite way for the Palestinians to get the world's attention – and right now these basically infantile people are feeling very slighted because of all the attention that the war between Russia and Ukraine are getting.

   • Thank You for Purim's lesson that You are always at work – often behind the scenes (Est. 6:1-2).

   • Your ways are definitely higher than ours, as only You could arrange a Jewish virgin to marry a pagan King in order to preserve Your people who chose exile over Israel (Psa. 77:19; Isa. 55:8-9).

   • Lord, unmask all terrorist attacks being planned against Your nation (Job 12:22; 2 Kin. 6:12).

   • Quicken Israel's security forces alertness throughout the land during Purim (Psa. 44:4-8).

   • Give Israel's security forces discernment to see behind the masks and into the hearts.

   • As You did with Haman, let all terrorists be hung on their own gallows (Est. 7:10; Psa. 141:9-10).

   • As there is already an increase in terrorist activities at this time, provide the security forces with all they need to hinder these attacks completely (Psa. 68:35; Zech. 10:3b-6).

   • Do not let Israel be more merciful than You in stopping murderous terrorists (Eccl. 8:11).

   • Give wisdom to Israel's security forces to prepare for next month's holydays (1 Chr. 12:32).

   • Touch and heal survivors of terrorist attacks – physically, mentally and emotionally (Matt. 20:34).

   • Use the believers in the IDF to glow with confidence and peace and to be ready to give the reason for this whenever they are asked (Prov. 15:23; 1 Pet. 3:15).

6. Messiah's Body:

   As we prayed last week, information overload is a very dangerous issue for Messiah's Body worldwide. Obviously, the more information one gathers, the more chance there is of an infiltration of misinformation and/or disinformation. As Satan is the father of lies, this is a modern arrow in his quiver. Also, information overload can easily lead to the saints being worn out – another of the devil's end time tactics against Yeshua's Body (Dan. 7:21, 25).

   • Lord Yeshua, train us hear and heed Your voice and not the voice of a stranger's (John 10:1-5).

   • Precious Shepherd, we are in desperate need to be guided by You in these days (Psa. 23:3).

   • Teach us how to test all things and to always test the spirits (1 Thess. 5:21; 1 John 4:1).

   • Gift those who love and serve You to be able to discern truth from error (1 Kin. 3:11; 1 John 4:6).

   • Grace us to try and live in peace with all others – yet remind us that this is not always possible, and when not – to follow You regardless (Acts 5:29; Rom. 12:18).

   • Let us not carry any burden that You have not assigned to us – no matter how dire – but guide each of us to the specific place that You have chosen for us on Your walls (Neh. 3:1-32).

7. Water:

   God has been very gracious to Israel this rainy season, and looking back we know why. Historically, the years when Israel received abundant rains are also the years when aliyah was up! God has been preparing His land to receive His people.

   • But you, O mountains of Israel, shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to My people of Israel; for they are about to come back.Ezek. 36:8

   • Thank You for the abundant rain and snow of the last three seasons, as You knew that this year would be a year in which masses of Jews would come home (Isa. 42:9).

   • Fill to overflowing the Sea of Galilee and all of Israel's underground aquifers (2 Kin. 4:2).

8. IFI:

   It is a constant battle to try and discern what God is doing in Israel today and how He wants us to pray about it. That is why we so treasure your prayers for us. Thank you, and please continue to ask God to provide IFI with all we need to complete the race He has set before us.

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Israel

For the IFI team