1. Praise:

   As believers, among other titles, we are called a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6). To know what God means by that, we can look at what the priests of Israel were called to be and to do. Again, as in last week's Torah portion, we read that they were to be holy – sanctified, separated from the world and unto God (Lev. 21:6-8). Thankfully, even in the tanach, God emphasizes that He is the One who sanctifies the priests, and therefore us, for Himself (Lev. 21:8, 15, 23; 22:9, 16).

   • Therefore you shall keep My teachings, and do them…Neither shall you profane My holy name; but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel: I am YHWH who sanctifies you,Lev. 22:31-32

   • We bless You Lord that we can work out our salvation with fear and trembling simply because You are already working in us to will and to accomplish You purposes (Phil. 2:12b-13).

   • We are so grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit who helps us to live for You (John 14:26; 16:13).

   • We praise You also for Your wonderful grace which aids us to press on to obtain that prize of the high calling of God in Messiah Yeshua (Phil. 3:14).

   • We acknowledge that You are still working in us to finish that which You have started (Phil. 1:6).

   • In fact Abba, while it is hard to endure, we rejoice that You do discipline us (Heb. 12:5-8).

   • Lord, it is an amazing privilege to be seen by You as priests and to stand before You and plead for Your mercy for others – especially for Your people Israel (Isa. 49:13; Hab. 3:2).

   • As we meet to pray corporately, we are reassured and grateful that You are with us (Matt. 18:20).

2. Government & society:

   There have been big demonstrations both for and against the judicial reforms – with the largest being for it. Yet while PM Bibi Netanyahu is trying to figure out a way to have the reforms pass while not causing a division in the nation, we are not convinced that this will be possible – yet all things are possible with God… (Luke 18:27). Of course, there are other very serious issues that the government must deal with as well.

   • Remove all hindrances in the coalition that prevent it from doing Your will (Gen. 24:56; Gal. 5:7).

   • Let those politicians who truly fear You, cry out to You for wisdom (Prov. 7:4).

   • We ask You to hover over the chaos associated with this judicial reform and bring Your order out of it (Gen. 1:2) – and enable it to pass in line with Your will and Your timing (Jer. 32:17, 27).

   • Prevent the opposition and the anti-reform demonstrations from halting these much needed reforms, yet please change anything in the proposals that You see as outside of Your will (Prov. 19:21).

   • May the truth of the judicial reforms, both pro and con, become public knowledge (John 3:21).

   • Again, please watch over and fulfill that which Your declared is Your will in Isaiah 1:25-26.

   • Enable each member of the Knesset (Israel's Parliament) to do their jobs without distractions and to do the task which You have ordained for them (Neh. 3:1-32).

   • We pray for Netanyahu, asking You to impart to him Your priorities and the strength and courage to carry them out without compromise (Prov. 21:1).

   • Lord, so work in Benjamin Netanyahu's life that in reality he becomes that which his name means – son of my right hand; gift of God [YHWH] (Psa. 80:17).

   • Deafen him to all contrary voices which hinder him from doing Your will (Ex. 4:11; Psa. 38:13).

   • Protect him from the anti-biblical pressure of Israel's Western allies and anoint him as he deals with the international community (2 Sam. 22:3; Psa. 118:8-10).

   • Equip Foreign Minister Eli Cohen with such wisdom that he is able to shock and silence Israel's allies who constantly push Your nation to submit to all sorts of unbiblical demands (Acts 6:10).

   • Make Cohen and all of Israel's leaders very cautious in their dealings with the EU (Hab. 2:7-8).

   • Anoint Finance Minister Smotrich and Netanyahu to successfully tackle Israel's very high cost of living, and let the budget that needs to be approved by the end of this month contribute to that.

   • Allow that two-year budget to be passed with any additions or subtractions that You desire and with the minimal amount of manipulation from the various parties that make up the coalition (Prov. 21:1).

   • Do not allow the ultra-Orthodox [Haredi] to blackmail the coalition over their demands that their young men need not serve Israel in any capacity – military or otherwise (Num. 23:23).

   • Use the religious Zionists who do serve to provoke the Haredi to do likewise (Phil. 3:17).

3. Internal security:

   Once again in the Torah portion we read that it was God who has given the land of Israel to His chosen people: When you come into the land which I give you, and shall reap its harvest, then bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest: (Lev. 23:10b)

   • Lord, as there are coalition members who want to see Israel extend its sovereignty at least over more of its land, please give them the courage and wisdom to make it happen (Deut. 31:23; Josh. 1:6).

   • Aid the government to ignore pressure from the nations against this and bow to Your will alone and reunite the rest of the land to what is already under Israel's flag (Psa. 118:6, 9; Isa. 51:12; Acts 4:19).

   • Remind the coalition that You commanded Israel to go in and possess the land more than 40 times just in Deuteronomy, let alone in the rest of the tanach (Deut. 1:8 [first]; 32:47 [last].)

   • Lord God, may all of Israel's communities in Judea and Samaria flourish and multiply (Isa. 54:2-3).

   • Shut the mouths of hypocritical nations, especially in the West, who always honor dead Jews with Holocaust memorials yet always criticize living Jews who defend themselves (Job 17:8; Prov. 11:9)

   • [A Palestinian Islamic Jihad (an Iranian proxy terrorist group in Gaza) leader died from his own self-imposed hunger strike while in an Israeli jail. Both PIJ and Hamas blamed Israel and launched more than 100 rockets and mortars into southern Israel injuring several Israelis and a foreign worker. While there is now a ceasefire, Israel's response was lukewarm at best, although it is now being revealed that there were other serious factors as to why Israel did not strike back much harder.] Lord God, guide the government to respond as harshly as possible against any attacks against Israeli citizens (Eccl. 8:11).

   • Let Netanyahu prove that he is still Mr. Security, or remove him as the number one responsibility of any government is the protection of its citizens (Rom. 13:1-4).

   • If it is time to reinstitute targeted assassinations of terrorist leaders, give Israel the courage and the pinpoint accuracy to do just that (Gen. 9:6).

   • Oversee the IDF's plans of a major military action in Samaria against the increase of terrorist attacks, and confirm them if they truly are of You at this time (Prov. 21:31).

   • Correct the government's thinking so that they see that protecting its own civilians should be much more of a priority than protecting the civilians of its enemies (Zech. 10:3-6).
     

   • Provide all of the finances in the next budget that the IDF and Israel's other security forces need to protect this nation in a manner that brings You the glory (Isa. 41:10-16).

   • Continue to cause massive division between the various Palestinian terror groups (Psa. 55:9).

4. External security:

   Iran and its various Middle East proxies are hoping that Israel will self-implode and destroy itself. Obviously, they do not know what the Bible says or even recognize that the God of Israel has the final say in this – as in all other matters – but they will.

   • We rejoice that there is a sun in the sky and the stars still come out at night – as they are specific tokens of Your promise to keep Israel as a nation before You during this age (Jer. 31:35-37).

   • Guide us in our intercessions as we realize that You could be using Israel's internal situation to trap Your enemies (Mic. 4:11-13; Zech. 12:2-3).

   • At this time, as Israel's allies – especially America under its current presidential administration – are proving to be broken reeds (Isa. 36:6), let Israelis and their political and military leaders look to and trust in You alone (Psa. 5:11; 17:7; 22:4; 31:19).

   • Lord, pour out wisdom on Israel's leaders as they deal with shifting Middle East alliances, Islam's infiltration of the West, Russia and Ukraine, and the rise of China (Prov. 2:6; 1 John 5:14-15).

   • Let Islam's eternal hatred of Israel, which results in Your curse upon them (Ezek. 35:5-6, 11), result in You increasing the historical hatred between Sunni and Shi'ite Islamic nations to the point where we see Israel's enemies fight against, and destroy, one another (Psa. 129:5; Zech. 14:13).

   • Yet as You are already doing, continue to save multitudes of Muslims (Psa. 35:12-13; Matt. 5:44).

   • Provide the IDF's Iran Command with all the intelligence needed to understand what is happening in Iran and may their insights be heeded by both political and military leaders (Job 12:22).

   • Give continued success to Israel's attacks on all of Iran's military movements in Syria (Psa. 44:4-5),

   • Bring about Your "supernatural" natural interventions and shake Iran, and all of its various proxies, especially Hizbullah in Lebanon (Num. 16:30-33; Isa. 29:5-6; Nah. 1:5-6).

   • Break Iran's "bow" with all that You mean by that phrase (Jer. 49:35).

   • Use the growing Iranian Body of Messiah to erode the power of Islam and to bring down Iran's current radical Shi'ite Islamic leadership (Jer. 49:38; Matt. 16:18b).

5. aliyah:

   What will it take for Jews in exile to return home? We know this is God's will and that He would prefer to do this in mercy – yet aliyah is so vital to the return of His Son, and thus to the knowledge of His glory covering the earth (Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14), that if He needs to increase the pressure of the "hunters" to drive them home (Jer. 16:16), we expect He will do just that.

   • For Your glory's sake, bring home Your people whom You have exiled in the nations (Isa. 43:5-7).

   • As You continue to unsettle Jews through antisemitism and anti-Zionism, put Israel on their radar as a goal for the safety of themselves and their families (Psa. 121:4; 137:5-6; Jer. 31:10).

   • Open the hearts of the Jews in exile to hear You wooing them back to the land (Jer. 31:3).

   • Show them it is quickly becoming a choice between a "comfortable" – yet deceptive – lifestyle or life for them and their children, and then help them to choose life (Deut. 30:19; Matt. 8:22)!

   • Let many see that the worldwide exile is over and if You haven't told them to remain, continued living among the gentiles is to live in disobedience to Your expressed will (Isa. 11:12; Ezek. 39:28).

   • Clear out the pathways and bureaucratic complexities in Israel, and unclog the spigot to increase the flow of new immigrants from the west (Isa. 40:3-5; Acts 16:26).

   • Lord God of Israel, have the final say in any changes in Israel's Law of Return (Psa. 33:9).

   • Lord, let the illegal houses that the EU has helped Palestinians build throughout Area C in Your land end up being at least a partial fulfillment of Deuteronomy 6:10-11.

   • Earmark finances within the coalition's new budget to cover the bringing in and settling of new olim [immigrants] throughout the whole country (Jer. 31:12; 32:43-44).

   • Use some of these finances to build absorption centers in all regions in Israel (Isa. 32:18; Zeph. 2:6).

   • Guide the Body of Messiah to both read and believe what You express in the tanach about Your heart for aliyah (Jer. 32:41; Ezek. 36:21-24).

   • Show them that they are called to pray for this to come to pass (Ezek. 36:37).

6. Salvation:

   When "all Israel" as a nation "is saved" it will be in the land (Zech. 12:10). It is vital for the Church to recognize this connection between aliyah and salvation. Yet even if it does not, and for the most part it doesn't, praying for the Jews to be saved hastens aliyah.

   • "YHWH, save Your people, the remnant of Israel." [His answer] "Behold, I will bring them from the north, and gather them from the ends of the earth…a great company shall return here."Jer. 31:7-8

   • Give grace and wisdom to those who share the good news with Jews (2 Cor. 1:12).

   • Lord Yeshua, encourage believers to not be ashamed to declare Your resurrection (Acts 4:33).

   • Use Your Word as the main influence in how Jews view You – as opposed to the words of men.

   • Place new believers in godly fellowships and protect them from false teachings (Acts 20:28-30).

7. The Body of Messiah:

   At this time in history, there is a great need for us believers to have so consumed the Word of God that it becomes automatic for us to filter all that is happening in the world through God's truth – His Word (John 17:17).

   • From the prophetic portion: In all strife [the priests – today's believers] shall stand in judgment, and shall judge the issue according to My judgments… (Ezek. 44:24) Lord, teach us Your judgments as we study Your Word (Matt. 13:52; 2 Tim. 2:15).

   • Let Your Body know Your Word so well that we are able to fulfill this function of the priests that we read about in the Torah portion: [The priests] shall teach My people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. (Ezek. 44:23)

   • As Shavuot [Pentecost] is soon to be observed, use this feast to pour out the Holy Spirit on Your Body with an emphasis on increasing the Body's hunger for Your Word (Jer. 15:16; Acts 2:4, 42).

   • Provide for the Body more teaching elders who preach the full counsel of God – recognizing that when Paul said the full counsel of God, there was no New Testament (Acts 20:26-27)!

   • Reveal to all born-again believers that when Paul wrote 2 Timothy 3:15-17, again there was no New Testament – therefore the Old Testament is that all Scripture which is God-breathed.

   • Use both of the above prayers to go a long way to rid the Body of replacement theology.

   • Yeshua Lord, do not allow Your Word to return to You empty when Your Body reads it or hears it preached (Isa. 55:11), but watch over Your Word to fulfill it (Jer. 1:12).

8. IFI:

   The access that we all have to information today often leads to "information overload." This greatly impacts us at IFI as we still need to discern what God is saying and into which of the many needs He wants us to focus on in our intercession, and for that we treasure your prayers. Thank you in advance for praying for us and for all the other ways in which you encourage us.

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Zion

Chuck Cohen, for the IFI team

Rev. 22:21