1. Praise:

   Shabbat's prophetic portion tells of the conversion of Na'aman the Syrian general to the worship of the God of Israel (2 Kin. 5:17). This, as well as the stories of Jethro, Rahab, Ruth and others, is a type of gentiles being saved through Yeshua and worshipping the God of Israel.

   • Thank You that gentiles are not saved only because most Jewish leaders of Yeshua's time rejected His claims, but were part of Your plan in choosing Israel in the first place (Gen. 12:3b; cp. Gal. 3:8).

   • [After he was healed of leprosy, Na'aman says to Elisha], 'Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel… (2 Kings 5:15b; cp. Dan. 4:34-35) Amen!

   • We rest in the truth that nothing whatsoever can take You by surprise (Isa. 42:9; 46:9-10).

   • We bless You Lord, that You will finish everything which You have begun (Num. 23:19; Phil. 1:6).

   • Thank You for telling us to pray although You do not need us to do You will (Prov. 15:8b, 29b).

   • We praise You that Paul told us that for Your glory, You are able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (Eph. 3:20-21)!

2. Government & society:

   The world's pressure on Israel's political leaders, especially PM Bibi Netanyahu, seems to increase daily. So much of what the world demands from Israel is anti-biblical; thus it is imperative that we hold up Israel's leaders' arms in prayer and continue to ask God to make them more like sons and daughters of Zion – that is those who fear God more than man.

   • God, endorse and strengthen the sons and daughters of Zion throughout Israel's society, especially in its political realm (1 Chr. 19:13; Jer. 27:5; Zech. 9:13).

   • Remove from the war cabinet those sons of Greece who do not trust You but fear man (Psa. 40:4).

   • We confess that we do not trust in Israel's government, yet we trust in You who has ordained Israel's current government for just this time (Psa. 103:19; Dan. 2:21).

   • Remove any hindrances preventing the government from doing Your will (Prov. 21:1; Mic. 2:13).

   • Continue to fulfill Isaiah 1:25-27, not just in the judicial – but in all other areas in Israel as well.

   • Lord, reveal to Netanyahu that the longer he bows to America's threats, the shorter his time in office will be, and that his legacy will not be recalled to his honor (Psa. 31:15-18; Dan. 4:17).

   • Surround him with sons of Zion and of Issachar to whom he listens (1 Chr. 12:32; Eccl. 7:19).

   • Protect him from the spiritual forces arrayed against him, including those that accompany the rage of some of the hostage families, as well as the anti-Bibi, anti-government rallies (Psa. 3:1-3; 27:1-3).

   • Confront, Lord, those Israelis who instigate rebellion against Israel's democratically elected leaders, and who initiate anarchy in Israel's cities using the hostages as an excuse (Num. 17:10; Job 34:36-37).

   • Close down the people in Israel's mass media who encourage the above (Isa. 5:20-21; Luke 1:20).

   • Use Hamas' confession that they have less than 40 living hostages, out of the 130 or so that are still in their hands, to drain the demonstrations of their extreme rage and power (Deut. 33:29; Isa. 44:24-25).

   • Also, let this end all negotiations with Hamas except to demand their total surrender (Psa. 144:10).

   • Comfort all Israelis with murdered or sexually abused loved ones, or loved ones still held hostage and/or whose fate is still unknown (Isa. 61:1-3; Ezek. 16:8-13).

   • Father God, like You did with Elisha in the prophetic portion, miraculously cause Israel's economy to increase even in the midst of the war (2 Kin. 4:43-44).

3. Foreign relations:

   This is where biblical end-time prophecies are being fulfilled. Whether it is the pressure from Israel's "allies" to establish a Palestinian State and thus divide God's land (Joel 3:1-2), or as Israel resists that and continues its war against Hamas, and is thus increasingly isolated in the world (Num. 23:9b), all of this and more is prophesied to occur before the Lord returns!

   • Lord, lead us to intercede in line with Your will specifically for today (Jer. 4:28; Amos 3:7).

   • Sustain Israel in its rejection of having a Palestinian State on its land (Lev. 25:23; Num. 33:55).

   • Guide Israel on a biblically correct, and not politically correct, path (Psa. 23:3b; 118:6-9).

   • Lord Yeshua, reveal to believers their need to intercede over their country's diplomatic relations with Israel (Isa. 34:1-8; Joel 3:1-2; Ezek. 22:30; 1 Tim. 2:1-2a).

   • Guide Western believers on how to pray about the spirit of Islam that has infiltrated their nations and is causing those nations to take negative stances against Your nation, Israel (Num. 24:9b; Eph. 6:12).

   • Protect Israel from the humanistic traps of the nations (Num. 23:23; Psa. 144:7-8, 11; Isa. 8:9-10).

   • Let the Jew-hatred of many of today's top diplomats slip out of their mouths, and let it shock both them and the nations they represent (Matt. 12:34; 15:11).

   • Mightily anoint for Your glory Gilad Erdan, Israel's brilliant UN Ambassador (Psa. 115:1-3).

   • Speak truth through Israeli diplomats irrespective of how others respond (Prov. 9:8; Gal. 4:16).

   • Protect Israel from its so-called "allies" – like the UK and France – who almost always vote against it in the UN Security Council and in other international forums (Job 19:19; Ezek. 29:6-7).

4. Israel's "War of Independence" is still being fought. Whether it is against foes surrounding it, or Western "allies," Israel is the one nation today that must defend its right to exist and its right to defend itself. Last Sunday, Israel announced the withdrawal of all IDF soldiers from Gaza's south, yet leaving a battalion in Gaza's north. This shocked us because of how God has led us in pray. But recalling how Jeremiah dealt with a similar situation, we continue to pray based on what we know is true about God and His promises to Israel in these days (Jer. 32:16-25).

   • Ah Lord YHWH, behold, You have made the heaven and the earth by Your great power and out stretched arm, and there is nothing too difficult for You:Jer. 32:17; cp. v 27

   • God, download Your strategy to Israel (Josh. 6:2-5), and if pulling the IDF out of southern Gaza at this time is not of You please watch over Romans 8:28 anyway.

   • However You arrange it, do not let Hamas remain in control of Gaza (Psa. 59:5; Zeph. 3:15).

   • Allow all the IDF soldiers to get sufficient rest for the battles that are to come (Psa. 23:3; 37:7).

   • As the IDF trains the soldiers, Lord teach them to fight in a biblically-correct manner and not in a humanistic, politically-correct way (Psa. 27:11; Zech. 10:3b-6, 11).

   • Protect Israel's soldiers physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually (Psa. 18:35; 23:4; 140:7-8).

   • Lord, please fortify Your angelic hosts guarding over Israel (2 Kin. 6:16-17; 2 Chr. 20:15; 32:7-8).

   • Also see our prayers as trumpet before You while Israel battles an enemy in its land (Num. 10:9).

   • God, if the IDF's withdrawal was to prepare for it to invade Rafah, Hamas' final stronghold on the Gaza-Egyptian border, then please oversee the timing and the tactics (Prov. 21:30-31; Amos 1:6-7).

   • Break the trap the world has shoved Israel into which makes Israel responsible to feed and protect its enemy's civilians, even though this places its soldiers and its civilians at greater risk (Psa. 124:1-8).

   • Lord God, give Israel's leaders courage to not feel the need to apologize over every Gazan civilian who is killed by mistake, as this is war, and as UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said, "For Israel, every loss of life is a tragedy, yet for Hamas, every civilian death is a strategy."

   • God, if any of Israel's hostages are still living, please set them free by Your miraculous power (Jer. 31:15-17; 46:27-28), or quickly show the IDF where they can be found (Num. 21:1-3; Psa. 6:10).

   • As Israel now sees its existential duty to produce in Israel all that the IDF needs to defend it, lead Israelis to achieve this as competently and as rapidly as possible (2 Chr. 26:14-15; Jer. 50:25).

5. Internal security:

   Terror attacks have increased in Israel since Oct. 7th. Praise God, most of them are stopped or pre-empted by Israel's security forces or its armed civilians.

   • Let these attacks prove to Israelis the danger of dividing Your land (Num. 33:55; Mark. 10:9).

   • Lord, swiftly enlarge all Israeli communities in Your land – especially in areas around Jerusalem, and in Judea, Samaria, the Negev, the Galilee, and on the Golan Heights (Neh. 2:20; Isa. 54:2-3).

   • Humble Israel's intelligence services to recognize their need to ask You about what is vital and what is not when deciphering all of the intelligence data collected (Deut. 4:7; Psa. 50:15; Jer. 33:3).

   • Continue to harden every Palestinian Authority [PA] leader against "allowing" a Jewish nation on "their" wakf land [territory dedicated to Allah] (Ex. 4:21: 11:10; Josh. 11:19-20).

   • Do not allow Israel to be deceived by the "new" PA government which still sees Hamas and Islamic Jihad are integral parts of Palestinian society and rulership (Jer. 2:22; 13:23).

   • Fan the flames of hatred between the PA and Hamas (Psa. 35:4-8; 55:9) and let it consume Israel's enemies as You have done in biblical days (Josh. 7:22; Ezek. 38:21; Zech. 14:13).

   • Expose any plans by Iranian and other forces to cause death and destruction inside of Israel, as well as reveal where all of the terrorists' weapons caches are located (Obad. 1:6).

   • Thank You, Lord God for making Ramadan relatively quiet inside Israel (Psa. 3:7; 121:4).

6. External security:

   Iran has threatened Israel with retaliation for its assassination of the head of Iran's Quds Force for Syria and Lebanon. Yet others report that Hizbullah seeks a diplomatic solution to its conflict with Israel over their shared Lebanese border. Also, internal uprisings against the Iranian regime by various Iranian ethnic groups have increased. Israel is getting prepared, but we wonder whether God has something else in mind for these two enemies of His (Psa. 83:1-4).

   • God Almighty, watch over Micah 4:11-13 against Iran and Hizbullah at this time.

   • Let this precise assassination cause both fear and paranoia to grip Iranian leaders (John 12:4; 13:2).

   • Prepare Israel for Iran's retaliation – and to pre-empt it if that is Your will (1 Chr. 19:17).

   • Show Israel's intelligence services what Iran and Hizbullah are secretly planning (2 Kin. 6:11-12).

   • In any major war between Israel and Hizbullah, enable the IDF's attacks to be so devastating that the whole nation of Lebanon shakes in fear before Israel and its God (Jer. 22:23; Zech. 11:1).

   • Abba, as priests in Messiah Yeshua, we pray for Israel, and remind You of Joel 2:17-20, asking You to totally destroy Hizbullah, the northern army threatening Israel today.

   • Intensify the strife in Lebanon among various sectarian groups and Hizbullah (Matt. 12:25-26).

   • God, we bless You for the growing, maturing Body of Messiah in Elam [ancient Iran] (Jer. 49:38a).

   • Guide them on how to intercede for their nation (1 Tim. 2:1-4), and for Israel (Psa. 122:6).

   • You are fulfilling Jeremiah 49:38a through the Body in Elam; now please fulfill 49:38b as well.

   • Lord God, cause Iran's rulers' curses, and attacks by their proxies, against Israel and Your land to fall back onto their own heads (Num. 24:9b; Isa. 34:8; Ezek. 35:6; Gal. 6:7).

   • Send confusion into the minds of Iran's nuclear scientists, resulting in miscalculations (Psa. 71:13).

   • Increase the internal difficulties that Iran is experiencing now – including armed resistance in its southern districts and a severe drop in value of the rial – the Iranian currency (Psa. 9:1-11; 27:2).

   • May Israel learn from history that no nation will stop Iran just for the Jews' sake, and then show them how to destroy the threat of an Iranian nuke once and for all (Jer. 51:20-24).

   • Lord, please guard over Your nation from its "friends" as well as its enemies (Psa. 2:1-5; 9:19-20).

7. Aliyah:

   Yeshua returns to a Jerusalem which welcomes Him back, Thus Jews being regathered to their land and to Jerusalem today is a major sign that we are in the end-times. This is why Satan is trying to hinder Israel's restoration so as to delay the Lord's coming.

   • Father in heaven, sanctified be Your name; Your will be done on earth (Ezek. 36: 23-24; Luke 11:2).

   • Lord, let Your Body truly appreciate the necessity of the aliyah which biblically sets the stage for Your glorious return (Zech. 14:1-4; Matt. 23:39).

   • Even in the midst of war, keep aliyah as one of Israel's main objectives (Ezek. 36:23-24).

   • Aid Israel to be ready to receive and settle millions of new immigrants (Jer. 32:41-42).

   • Let the increased interest in aliyah, as a result of the increase of anti-Semitism (Jer. 16:16), produce an actual increase of aliyah (Isa. 43:5-7; 49:19-20; 54:2-3).

   • God, raise up anointed shepherds like Moses to lead the Jews out of today's "Egypt" (Isa. 63:11-13).

   • Use Passover to draw Your people back to the land You have promised them (Ex. 12:25-27).

   • Marry those Jews to the land who come to Israel just to spend Passover in it (Isa. 62:4-5).

   • Confront Jews in exile who will say "Next Year in Jerusalem" at the end of the Passover meal [the evening of April 22nd], but who do not really mean it – including Messianic Jews (Psa. 137:5-6).

   • Show Your people that captivity among the gentiles was not meant to be permanent (Deut. 30:3-5).

   • Bring home the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who live outside Israel (Isa. 35:10; 51:11).

   • Boost all voices which encourage Jews to make aliyah today (Ezra 1:1-4; Jer. 31:6-10, 15-17).

8. Salvation:

   "All Israel" which will be saved is a remnant of the Jewish people. Yet our prayers impact that remnant's size as God commands the "watchmen" (Jer. 31:6a) [notzrim, in today's Hebrew = "Christian"] to pray, YHWH, save Your people, the remnant of Israel. (Jer. 31:7b).

   • Thank You for being alive today when more Jews confess Yeshua as Messiah than at any time since the book of Acts (Acts 6:7), and we ask You to increase that number even more.

   • Lord Yeshua, as Joseph did with his brothers (Gen. 45:1-4), reveal Yourself to many more Jews and let them share with their families how You are alive and rule in many gentiles hearts (Gen. 45:24-28).

   • Lord, draw a large remnant of Jews to Your Father during Passover: Israelis in Judea and Samaria; Holocaust survivors who will celebrate Passover for the last time this year; survivors from the Oct. 7th massacres; living hostages and all ex-hostages, their families and friends; IDF soldiers wherever they are stationed, and their families; families and friends of soldiers who died in battle or are seriously injured; all widows and orphans; rabbis in every Jewish denomination, especially the ultra-Orthodox; anti-missionaries; Israelis from the Gaza area and the north who are still out of their homes; Israel's politicians and diplomats; teachers and professors; university and yeshiva students; medical people; Jews and Israelis in exile; unsaved loved ones of Messianic Jews (Isa. 59:20-21; Rom. 11:26).

   • Turn many Jews from rabbinic teachings back to biblical teachings (Psa. 36:9; 119:99-100).

   • During the Passover Seder [meal] let the lamb be resurrected in Jewish minds and hearts as the central figure of the original Passover in Egypt (Ex. 12:3-6, 11, 21, 27; Luke 22:7).

9. As Messiah's Body, we should try to see the world from our heavenly position (Eph. 2:6). In this way, we can better discern the current end-time events (Matt. 16:3b). Of course, we also need to be filled with both God's Word and His Spirit (Luke 2:40; John 4:23; Eph. 5:18b; Col. 1:9).

   • Lord Yeshua, flood the Body with Your love for, and trust in, the Tanach (Psa. 12:6; 18:30; 30:5).

   • Heal Your Body of its biblical anorexia (1 Sam. 3:1, 21; Job. 23:12; Jer. 15:16).

   • Teach us to read and understand Your Word, especially prophecies, in context (2 Tim. 3:15-17).

   • Clarify to Your Body the centrality of Israel's restoration and salvation to Your kingdom's coming and Your will being done today on earth (Psa. 67:1-7; Luke 11:2).

   • Promote those sons and daughters of Zion in the Body who love You and Your Word (Zech. 9:13).

   • Cast out all God-cursed anti-Semitic and anti-Zionistic spirits (Lev. 11:44-45; 20:7; 1 Pet. 1:16).

10. Water:

    The Sea of Galilee [Kinneret] is only 59 centimeters [1.9 feet] from being totally full. Let's continue to ask God for this as Israelis see a full Kinneret as a sign and a blessing from God. His provision of enough rain is also a sign of His mercy (Isa. 41:17-20; Matt. 5:45b).

11. IFI:

    While we read the headlines, God continues to direct us to pray His lines – His Word. Praying into a topic over and over gives our Shepherd time to open our minds to what He is trying to communicate to us in prayer. Please pray for us to be precise in hearing His voice. Thank you.

Shabbat shalom and abundant blessings from Zion

Chuck Cohen, for the IFI team

3 John 1:4