[At times during the year the Torah and prophetic portions in Israel are different from those in exile. Apparently the readings I have been using both today and last week are actually those read in exile.]

1. Praise:

   In Shabbat's prophetic portion Samuel responses to the fear that fell on the people at God's display of displeasure in their asking for a human king (see 1 Sam. 12:16-19). Samuel says, Fear not: you have done all this evil: yet do not turn from following YHWH, but serve YHWH with all your heart; Do not turn aside after vain things [+idols], which cannot profit or deliver… for YHWH will not reject His people for His great name's sake, because it has pleased YHWH to make you His people. As for me, God forbid that I should sin against YHWH in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and the right way. Only fear YHWH, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider the great things He has done with you. (1 Sam. 12:20-24)

   • Thank You for having chosen Israel and us – for Your great name's sake (Eph. 1:3-8).

   • What an awesome privilege it is to bear Your name in this world (Acts 3:6; 15:26; 2 Thess. 1:12).

   • We praise You that even after Israel rejected You as being their King (1 Sam. 8:7, 19-22), You did not reject them because You are, and always will be, faithful to Your Word (2 Tim. 2:13).

   • Lord God, we are encouraged to see how vital praying for Israel was to Samuel and how You have also laid this burden on our hearts at this time in history (Est. 4:14b).

   • Lord Yeshua, we bless You because as we pray clothed in Your righteousness, our effective, fervent prayers have a great impact before the Father's throne (Isa. 61:10; 2 Cor. 5:21; James 5:16b).

   • Thank You for the privilege to be called to stand with You in intercession (Matt. 6:9-10).

   • What a joy to know that as we pray in line with Your will, You hear and answer (1 John 5:14-15).

   • Like Israel, we are often weak and foolish and yet we are amazed to read that this is the type of people through whom You can be most glorified (1 Cor. 1:26-29; 2 Cor. 12:7-10)!

   • We bless You who will fulfill Your good work in Israel and in Your Body (Jer. 31:35-37; Phil. 1:6).

   • Hallelujah! Your love, patience and covenant faithfulness endures forever (Psa. 118:1, 29).

   • Hallelujah! In spite of man's plans, Your plans will prevail (Psa. 33:10-11).

   • We are very grateful and comforted that absolutely nothing ever takes You by surprise (Isa. 42:9)!

2. Government:

   Shabbat's Torah portion records the rebellion of many of Israel's elders against Moses, God's ordained leader. Is it just a coincidence that this week Israel's government dissolved itself as Israel's political "elders'" rebellion against Bibi Netanyahu only lasted a year? [And it was a rebellion, as at least ten Knesset seats given to politicians who said they would support a right wing coalition, were then used to kick Netanyahu out and to join hands with the left and Islamic parties.]

   • Guide our thinking during this transitional period so we do pray in line with Your will (Luke 11:2).

   • Protect us from being deceived by the headlines, the polls or election rhetoric (Jer. 9:5; 2 Tim. 3:13).

   • [In the prophetic portion, God declared He is Israel's King, yet He allowed His people to set up a human king which did not work out for the best throughout most of Israel's history.] Lord, today we declare You are Israel's King – as well as its Judge, its Lawgiver, and its Savior (Isa. 33:22).

   • Lord, as in the prophetic portion, we ask You to raise up a man after [Your] own heart, whom You can command to be captain over [Your] people… (1 Sam. 13:14).

   • Have mercy on Israel, and forbid that hatred of Netanyahu ever again be the issue that drives some of its right-wing politicians to join hands with openly anti-Zionist forces (Prov. 1:12; Gal. 5:19-20).

   • Humble Netanyahu and remove from him any spirit of vindictiveness or revenge (Psa. 51:10).

   • Teach right-wing Israelis who were betrayed by those whom they voted for to not make the same mistake when they go to the polls once again on November 1st (Psa. 119:71; Isa. 29:24).

   • God, as opposed to what we read in the Torah portion and saw with Israel's last government – this time give Israel a government that is much more in line with Your will (Prov. 21:30; Isa. 46:10).

   • Overrule any of Yair Lapid's anti-biblical decision-making as he takes on the mantle of being Israel's transitional prime minister and foreign minister until the next government is formed (Prov. 21:1).

   • Guide us in praying for him and the rest of transitional government ministers (Luke 11:1).

   • Speak to Lapid through anointed counsellors, giving him the ears to hear (Prov. 11:14; 12:20).

   • Use this time to continue cleaning out the junk from Israel's political scene, preparing it for Your ordained leaders to lead Israel in righteousness – all unto Your glory (Psa. 115:1-3; Isa. 1:25-27).

   • Use this time to cause more Israeli's to look to You and not to the political system (Psa. 121:1-2).

3. Internal security:

   We continue to be convinced that internal security for Israel will only come once Israel extends its sovereignty over the land God restored to it during the '67 Six Day War.

   • Lord, thank You for declaring in Your Word that Israel is eternally secure– at least until the new heavens and new earth are formed, and then only You know what comes next (Jer. 31:35-37).

   • God, give the next Israeli government boldness to possess all of Israel's possessions (Obad. 1:17).

   • Continue to give success to the IDF's aggressive "Break the Wave" action against terrorists, terror cells and weapons caches throughout the Palestinian Authority [PA] areas (Psa. 44:4; Isa. 29:15).

   • Continue to provide accurate and actionable intelligence as the IDF acts against all the strongholds of terror, while also protecting all of Israel's spies and collaborators (Psa. 121:4; Dan. 2:22).

   • Do not allow Israel to let up in this war against terrorism (Eccl. 8:11; Gal. 6:9).

   • Let this be a lesson to Israel's security leaders to be more proactive, and not purely defensive.

   • [Hussein al-Sheikh has been promoted to be the #2 man in the PA after President Abbas.] Pour out Your wisdom so that Israel understands al-Sheikh and how best to deal with him (Jer. 17:9-10).

   • [We do not expect this appointment to make the transition smooth when Abbas is removed.] Lord, continue to prepare Israel for the day after Abbas (Isa. 44:7-8).

   • Let the transitional government guard and even build up the settlements, even if only for political points leading up to the elections (Jer. 31: 4-5; 33:12-14; Ezek. 36:8).

   • Protect all Israelis and their communities in Judea and Samaria as this transitional government might be seen by the Palestinians as a perfect time to attack these Jews (Ezek. 36:5-12).

   • Guard over Israel's soldiers – physically, mentally and emotionally (Psa. 107:20).

   • Prevent Israel from being manipulated into another unbalanced prisoner exchange with Hamas.

   • Protect Your nation from the ungodly pressure that the US Biden administration is putting on it to divide Your land and to create a Palestinian State (Lev. 25:23; Joel 3:1-2).

   • Forbid Israel from agreeing to open a US-Palestinian Consulate in Jerusalem (Neh. 2:20).

   • Have mercy on America – and Israel – and cancel Biden's trip to Israel in mid-July (Job 12:23-25).

4. External security:

   Lapid needs to quickly set Israel's policy on a renewed Iranian nuclear deal. The Mossad – Israel's National Intelligence Service – will mostly counsel him to say "no" while the IDF's Military Intelligence mostly leans towards saying "yes".

   • Lord, we know that Lapid's heart is in Your hands to turn in whatever direction You want and we ask for You to do just that – especially in regards to the Iranian nuclear deal (Prov. 21:1).

   • Unless You direct us otherwise, we pray that he takes the advice of the Mossad (Psa. 32:8).

   • Bring the counsel of these two vital organizations into one accord in the near future (Psa. 133:1).

   • Lead Israel to continue to be on the cutting edge, both defensively and offensively, in the arena of cyberwarfare – as well as all other areas of advanced weaponry (Prov. 8:12).

   • Give continued and extraordinary success to both the Mossad operating in Iran and Israel's Air Force operating in Syria as they successfully strike Iranian targets in both places (Psa. 44:5; 68:35).

   • Thank You that this success is leading all of Iran's leaders to become super-paranoid (Psa. 7:14-16).

   • Use this paranoia to cause divisions between Iran and all of its proxies (Job 4:8; Eccl. 10:8).

   • Increase the internal division in Iran's main armed forces which also holds the key to Iran's leaders' economic well-being – the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] (Deut. 32:39-43).

   • Thank You for the increasing destabilization that we hear about in Iranian society (Nah. 1:2-3).

   • Yet we ask You to have much mercy on the Iranian people, most of whom hold no hatred towards Israel in their hearts and minds (Psa. 6:4; 25:6; 103:4).

   • Lord Yeshua, teach the growing Iranian Body how to pray for their nation (1 Tim. 2:1-2).

   • Give Israel courage to continue to attack Iran's entrenchment and weapons transfers in and through Syria, regardless of the recent diplomatic attacks on Israel by Russian representatives.

   • Lord, destroy Hizbullah's new outposts which are set up right next to Israel's northern border, all of which are illegal according to the UN resolution that ended the last Lebanese war (Isa. 5:15-16).

   • As in the Torah portion, open the ground under them and swallow them up (Num. 16:32-33).

   • Overshadow Lapid so that he only moves in line with Your counsel concerning Israel's relationships with Turkey and Saudi Arabia (Prov. 19:21).

   • [A serious internal division in the international Boycott, Divestment & Sanction Movement [BDS] over the dangerous anti-Semitic mapping scheme of Zionist supporters in Boston has just opened up]. Thank You Lord and we ask You to now use this to bring their whole movement down (Mark 3:25).

5. Aliyah:

   As God is regathering His scattered people (Jer. 31:10) with all of His heart and soul (Jer. 32:41), it should be obvious – especially to the Body of Messiah – that this is not a side issue but needs to be seen as a central issue for believers in these days.

   • Lord, wake up the Body to how essential it is to Your return and for Your glory's sake that Israel be regathered to the land You promised it hundreds of times (Isa. 43:5-7; Zech. 14:3-4; Matt. 23:37-39).

   • Abba, continue to draw many Jews home through Your covenant faithfulness (Jer. 31:3-5).

   • Also continue to chase many Jews home through the rise of the anti-Semitic hunters (Jer. 16:16).

   • Show Jewish families that it is time to flee from the anti-biblical humanistic education that is being poured into their children's minds and hearts in the West (Deut. 4:9-10; Psa. 34:11).

   • Do not allow the transitional government to hinder aliyah in anyway whatsoever (Isa. 57:14; 60:11).

   • Lord God, please make sure that aliyah is a priority in the new government (Jer. 23:3-4).

   • Let the new government follow through on the housing promised by the current government.

   • Allow the current Minister of Aliyah and Integration Pnina Tamano-Shata to remain in that position in the next government (Psa. 75:7). [Ministers do not have to be members of the Knesset.]

   • Provide all organizations and agencies – Jewish and Christian – that work to bring the Jews home with all they need in order to help the new immigrants come home and to be settled (Phil. 4:16-19).

   • Convict Messianic Jews who are in exile – and who have not asked You yet about aliyah – that they are still singing the Lord's song in a foreign land (Psa. 137:4).

6. Salvation:

   The Torah portion has an amazing picture of how a mediator, a high priest, stands between God and man. [Aaron, with a censer filled with incense, which represents prayer] stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. (Num. 16:48)

   • Lord, please open the eyes of many Jews to their major theological error of thinking that they do not need a mediator between them and God and rebuke that doctrinal error through these passages.

   • Abba, in Jewish minds, replace the Talmud, man's words, with the Tanach, Your Word (John 17:17).

   • Whenever Jews do hear or read Your words, let it bear much fruit in unsaved lives (Isa. 55:11).

   • May families of Messianic believers be provoked to jealousy by their love for You (Rom. 11:11).

   • Prepare the new Messianic Jewish recruits entering the IDF this year with all that they will need to be Your witnesses and who will not compromise their testimony (Isa. 44:8; Eph. 6:13-18).

   • This summer bring many rabbis – both in Israel and in the exile – to faith in You through the Word (Isa. 52:13-53:12; Rom. 10:17).

7. Messiah's Body:

   The reason for such controversy, confusion and deception in the Body over Israel is because so many do not believe that the Tanach, the Old Testament, is still God's Word today. Yet if the Tanach is no longer His Word, then the New Testament has no foundation to stand upon. [See; Do You Trust What The New Testament Says About The Old Testament.]

   • Lord, replace all teaching elders in Your Body who reject the biblical witness to Israel – with those who do accept it (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

   • [If the issue of Israel is avoided in the Church because it is controversial, then what about abortions, LGBTQ+ issues, end-time prophecies and much more?] Lord, replace the fear of man with the fear of You – our Almighty God (Prov. 29:25).

   • Lord, replace all New Testament believers with Bible believers (Psa. 119:89, 105; Matt. 5:117-18).

   • Raise up more believers to be like the sons of Issachar in today's Body (1 Chr. 12:32).

   • Give Your children more chutzpah – outrageous audacity – when defending the truth (Gal. 4:16).

   • Now that we are part of a kingdom of priests, help us to understand what You state in the Torah portion that ultimately You, and not any riches or possessions, are our inheritance (Num. 18:20)

   • Bless You Yeshua, our Great High Priest, for completing our salvation by Your prayers (Heb. 7:25).

8. IFI:

   Thank you for your faithful prayers and your financial support for us.

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Zion

For the IFI team

Psa. 134:3