1. Praise:

   Shabbat's Torah portion opens with God's call of Abram who would father a nation that would be a blessing to all the families of earth. In this portion Abram meets Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest who affirms that Abram's God is the Sovereign One of heaven and earth. Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, Possessor [+ Creator] of heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God who has delivered your enemies into your hand'. (Gen. 14:19b-20a)

   • God, at this very difficult time in Israel and in the world, it is good to be reminded that You are still very much in control – even as we wonder what You are doing or allowing to be done (Psa. 103:19).

   • Hallelujah! Precious Creator God, absolutely nothing is too difficult for You (Jer. 32:17, 27).

   • Messiah Yeshua, we declare that You are the Lord of all today (Matt. 28:18; Acts 10:36).

   • We praise You for Your Spirit which glorifies You in our lives (John 16:14; 1 Cor. 12:3).

   • We bless You Lord Yeshua, for being our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek today (Psa. 110:4; Heb. 5:6; 6:20; 7:17, 21).

   • Thank You for being our high tower in which we find safety (Psa. 18:2; Prov. 18:10).

   • We are humbled and honored by how You invite us to co-labor with You – reminding You of Your promises and asking You to fulfill them for Your glory (Amos 3:3; John 15:16; 1 John 5:14-15).

   • We praise You for the many prayers which are being answered in this crisis in Israel (Psa. 50:15).

   • You warned us in 2 Timothy 3:1 that in the last days perilous, that is ferocious, times will come, so we take comfort that not even the Hamas massacre in Israel took You by surprise.

2. "Operation Swords of Iron":

   We are hearing that the IDF is making military incursions into northern Gaza and attacking Hamas in ways that have not been reported. And while we hoped for a major ground incursion by this time, hearing this news is encouraging, although how Western nations are holding Israel back from smashing Hamas is discouraging. Yet God has also spoken, as in Shabbat's prophetic portion He declares, Fear not for I am with you; be not dismayed; for I am your God. I will strengthen and help you… Behold, all that are enraged against you shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; they that strive with you shall perish…They that war against you shall be as nothing … For I YHWH your God will hold your right hand, saying, '…Fear not, you worm Jacob, and men of Israel; I will help you', says YHWH, your Redeemer, the Holy of Israel. Behold, I will make you a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth. You shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and make the hills as chaff. You shall fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, the whirlwind shall scatter them, and you shall rejoice in YHWH, and glory in the Holy of Israel. (Isa. 41:10-16)

   • Lord, fulfill these declarations against every Hamas murderer and all of their supporters (Jer. 1:12).

   • Thank You for guiding Israel to fight under the radar during this initial stage of the war (Jer. 33:3).

   • While many world leaders are telling Israel to not make this a war of vengeance, You are a God of vengeance (Deut. 32:41-43; Psa. 79:10), and as You have used human armies throughout history to do just that, we ask You to use the IDF as Your weapon of war dishing out Your vengeance on all those who have murdered Your people (Psa. 94:1-6; Jer. 51:20-24).

   • Download Your plans to Israel to know how to battle Hamas despite the more than 200 hostages who are being used by them as human shields (Gen. 14:14-16 is in the Torah portion).

   • Merciful God, guard over the hostages and set them free (Gen. 41:14; Psa. 79:11; Isa. 49:24-26).

   • Supply Israel's soldiers with all they need: equipment, courage, wisdom and protection (Psa. 44:4-6).

   • Supply all the needs of each of the soldier's family who remains at home as well (1 Sam. 30:24).

   • God Almighty, modify the IDF's rules of engagement to be in accord with Your war strategies and not with the world's humanistic ones (Deut. 20:10-18; Prov. 21:30-21; 1 Cor. 14:8).

   • Remove any demonic spiritual protection which surrounds Hamas (Num. 14:9; Zech. 9:5b).

   • When the ground invasion fully begins send hosts of angels to fight alongside the IDF (Zech. 9:14).

   • Show the IDF how to destroy the extremely dangerous underground tunnels that crisscross Gaza and are filled with terrorists and explosive traps (Job 26:6; 34:22; Psa. 124:6-8; Amos 9:2-3).

   • Send Your fear and drive them out of their hiding places under the earth (Mic. 716-17).

   • Better yet, God so shake the ground under Gaza that all of these tunnels, along with all of the evil that is in them, are swallowed up by the earth (Psa. 99:1; Job 38:12-13; Isa. 24:19-20).

   • Thrust Your enemies into the traps they are setting for the IDF (Psa. 35:8; 57:6; 141:9-10).

   • Protect and surround believing soldiers, giving them boldness to use the gifts of the Spirit – even words of wisdom and gifts of healings in the midst of the battle (1 Cor. 12:4-11).

   • Anoint Israel's drone operators to be super-effective to find and kill Israel's enemies (Zech. 9:13-16).

   • While Israel's intelligence services will be scrutinized for the failure of not knowing of Hamas' well-planned attack, God, anoint them today as they gather and interpret data about Gaza, and Judea and Samaria and gift them with greater discernment and wisdom (Job 28:11b; 34:21-22; 42:2; Obad. 1:6).

   • Increase the current success of Israel's war against Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria who have upped their attacks in support of Hamas at this time (Obad. 1:18; Zech. 12:6).

   • Confound every Palestinian terror organization and use their arrogance and hatred against Israel to pit them against each other (Gen. 16:11-12 in the Torah portion; Psa. 129:5; Ezek. 35:11-13).

   • Abba, promote the Sons of Zion who fear You and look to Your Word, in Israel's government and military, and remove the Sons of Greece – those who fear man (Job 34:24; Dan. 2L21a; Zech. 9:13).

   • Lord, rebuke Defense Minister Gallant who told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that it is impossible to accept aid from America and not also to comply with their demands (Prov. 9:8b)!

   • Protect Israel's political and military leaders' unity in this war (Amos 3:3).

   • Surround them with sons of Zion and sons of Issachar as advisors (1 Chr. 12:32; Prov. 20:18; 24:6).

   • Lord God of hosts, impart to Israel's leadership – and to us as a prayer objective (Amos 3:7) – what are Your end-goals for this war (Job 21:29-30; Prov. 16:4-5; Jer. 30:16).

   • Forbid that Israel's goal be to turn Gaza over to the Palestinian Authority which is as anti-Semitic, anti-Zionistic and supportive of demonic violence against Israel as is Hamas (Matt. 12:43-45).

   • Gaza is part of Judah's inheritance, so we pray for Israel to repossess it (Josh. 15:1, 47; Judg. 1:18).

   • Let the reality that Hamas is the Palestinian ISIS deter Western nations from attempting to block Israel's goal of the complete destruction of this evil enemy (Psa. 9:5, 15-20; 10:15-16).

   • Yet God, we already see nations, including America, trying to stop Israel, so we ask You to fight against all humanistic attempts to protect these modern-day Amalekites (Ex. 17:14-16; Psa. 35:1).

   • Remove the blindness of the nations to perceive that Israel's enemies are not thousands of miles away like Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda – but are right on Israel's borders (Psa. 22:11).

   • Let the nations' less-than-dependable responses show Israel the dangers of looking to man to supply what they need to defend themselves (Isa. 31:1-3), and turn them to look to You (Psa. 80:3, 7, 19).

3. External security:

   Hamas openly states that Iran supported them in this horrific massacre. Also Iran's main proxy Hizbullah and other Palestinian terrorist groups in Lebanon and Syria linked with Iran have been attacking Israel, and thankfully Israel has struck back harder. Still the concern is such that many of Israel's northern cities and communities have been evacuated elsewhere.

   • God, impart wisdom to the IDF's Iran Command to expose Iran's link to the October 7th massacre, and to recommend from You what Israel should do to repay Iran (2 Sam. 5:24; Prov. 21:30-31).

   • Lord, heed Iran's threats towards Israel (Psa. 59:12), and fight against them (Psa. 35:1-3; 74:22-23).

   • Raise up many more Sons of Zion to command positions within the IDF today (Zech. 12:6).

   • Use Israel's enemies arrogant pride to lead them to utter destruction (Prov. 16:18; Obad. 1:3-4).

   • Send massive panic into the minds of all of Iran's proxies surrounding Israel (Jer. 4:19; 49:2).

   • Set them at each other's throats, fueling the 1400 year hatred between Sunni and Shi'ite (Psa. 55:9).

   • Encourage Israel with how You helped them to win every multi-front war that they have fought – in 1948, in 1967 and in 1973 (1 Sam. 17:4; 2 Kin. 6:16-17; 2 Chr. 20:15; Psa. 3:1-8; 44:1-4).

   • Lord, if it is Your time to pre-empt Hizbullah – lead the IDF to do it (Jer. 50:24; Mic. 4:11-13).

   • Destroy completely the current Iranian Shi'ite leadership over that nation (Jer. 49:38b).

   • Lord Yeshua, protect, bless and spiritually mature all Iranian believers, leading them in prayer for their nation (1 Tim. 2:1-4), and for Israel (Num. 24:9b; Psa. 122:6).

4. Government & society:

   Israel has an emergency unity war government that was formed by adding several politicians who are in reality sons of Greece – especially Benny Gantz. This is not the way to win a war, and so far most of Israel is not happy with how this battle is proceeding.

   • Promote the Sons of Zion, and remove the Sons of Greece from Israel's war government (Ex. 18:21).

   • As long as Bibi Netanyahu is Israel's leader, use him for Your glory and aid him to concentrate on doing what is needed to protect Israel – and not what is needed to protect his legacy (Psa. 68:27-28).

   • Use Hamas' atrocities to heal Israeli society, including open repentance from the opposition and anti-judicial leaders' of their hatred against Israel's democratically elected government, which led to such a division in society that Iran and Hamas perceived this as the time to destroy Israel (Isa. 29:9-14).

   • We give You the glory for the increase of Haredi [ultra-Orthodox] men joining the IDF, and for the many other Haredim doing good works to comfort and care for devastated Israelis (Psa. 50:15).

   • Lord, we ask You to comfort all families whose loved ones were killed, who will be killed, who are hostages, or worst of all – whose destiny remains unknown (Psa. 23:4; 77:1-20; Isa. 61:2b-3).

   • Also provide all of the needs – physically, emotionally, mentally, financially and spiritually – of the 125,000 Israelis who are now in internal exile, and let them see Your hand in this (Psa. 86:17).

   • Prepare Israel's society for that which they will face as the outcome of this war (Isa. 48:5-7).

   • Again, we ask You to create good in Israel out of this hellish attack (Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28).

   • Use this to show Israelis, once again, that dividing up Your land brings only more war, death and destruction as seen in Gaza, South Lebanon, and in Judea and Samaria (Lev. 25:23; Joel 3:1-2).

   • As more Israelis understand this, let them insist that the government extend sovereignty over more of the land and that it also take back all the land that was given away (Judg. 2:1-5; Isa. 54:2-3).

   • Use these verses in the Torah portion to affirm that all of the land, including what Israel has given away, is land that You have given to them to possess: Genesis 12:7; 13:14-17; 15:7, 17-18.

   • Also use this evil attack to totally destroy the "two-state solution" idol in every Jewish heart despite US President Biden still talking about this as the final solution (1 Sam. 15:23; Psa. 97:7; Isa. 2:17-19).

   • Shut the mouths of the evil, or deceived, people in influential positions, especially in the media, who dare to equate Hamas' attacks and Israel's response as both equally evil (Dan. 6:22; 2 Tim. 4:17b).

5. Aliyah:

   God is restoring His people to His land for His holy name's sake (Ezek. 36:21-24). This bears repeating as many in the Church are blind to this because they do not truly believe the Tanach.

   • Allow the current increase of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attacks in the nations as a result of Israel's response to the Hamas massacre to show Jews still in exile how blind they are to think they will have more comfort and security among the gentiles than in Israel (Isa. 5:13-16; Jer. 31:10).

   • Show Israel that it must extend sovereignty over much more of Your land to provide more room for all of the Jews whom You are chasing home (Isa. 49:16-22; Jer. 16:16; 31:3-5).

   • During the war, keep the gates to Israel open for every Jew who wants to return (Isa. 60:8-11)

   • Thank You for those who have had the courage to make aliyah at this time, and we ask You to plant them firmly in to Your land (Amos 9:15).

   • Lord, speak to every believing Israeli in exile that they need to return now (Isa. 35:10; 51:11).

   • Raise up more gentile believers to carry Your people home at this time (Isa. 49:22).

6. Salvation:

   The goal of praying for "all Israel" to be saved is so that their salvation brings glory to God (Psa. 79:9; 85:9; Isa. 46:13)! Also, one reason why we focus on praying for Israel's security is simply that for Israelis to be saved – they must be alive!

   • Save all of Hamas' hostages, in particular those who will not come home alive (John 3:16; 11:25).

   • Save many IDF soldiers, especially those who will end up dying in battle (Deut. 20:1-8; John 15:13).

   • Let believing soldiers be a living witness to You Lord, in their units (Isa. 35:3-6).

   • Increasingly use Messianic Jews and Christians as a light in Israel's society (Psa. 36:7-9; Phil. 2:15).

   • Use Genesis 15:5-6 in the Torah portion to show Jews that Abraham's righteousness before God was given to him because of his faith – and this happened before there was the Law of Moses.

7. Body of Messiah:

   The Torah portion starts with God's initial promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3). It includes a land, a nation, a great name/reputation, and protection over his descendants as well as the gospel to the gentiles (see Gal. 3:8). If any of these parts are no longer binding, then this promise falls apart. So if the promise of the land is no longer valid, then neither is the gospel to the gentiles!

   • God, wake up the Church to understand that without Israel in Your-assigned place for it, the sap that nourishes the Body dries up (Rom. 11:16-18).

   • Quicken believers to see how vital knowledge of the Tanach is so that they can perceive what You are doing in Israel, and in the world, today (Isa. 8:20; Jer. 8:9; Luke 16:29; 2 Pet. 1:19).

   • Reveal to Your Body that the ultimate reason why Satan hates Israel's restoration is because this is what You are doing openly with all of Your heart and all of Your soul (Jer. 32:41-44)!

   • Then warn them to not be found resisting that which You, their Lord whom they claim to love and worship, are doing today with all of Your heart and soul (Zech. 3:1; Acts 7:51; 2 Tim. 3:8).

   • Lord Yeshua, cleanse the Body from every anti-Semitic and anti-Zionistic thought that causes it to be open for theological errors and even apostasy (Eph. 4:14-15; 5:27; 2 Thess. 2:8-12).

   • Lord, raise up the Sons of Zion in Your Body and remove the Sons of Greece (Zech. 9:13).

8. Water:

   Israel is in its early rainy season.

   • Abba Father, we look too You to provide for all of Israel's water needs (Matt. 5:45b).

   • Use the water from heaven to aid in the war against Your enemies (Job 38:22-23).

   • Also, please use that provision as Your witness speaking to many Israelis (Isa. 41:17-20).

9. IFI:

   It is difficult to know how to pray for Israel at this time. Our frustration and anger against the unreasonable demands from Israel's friends among the nations as well as our frustration and anger at the current government's lack of a clear goal of what should happen after the war makes it hard to discern what our heads and hearts are telling us and what God is saying to us. Please pray for us to have the Spirit's discernment and to not be discouraged or overwhelmed in this battle. Thank you.

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Jerusalem

Chuck Cohen, for the IFI team

Gen. 15:1 – in Shabbat's Torah portion