1. Praise:

   Shabbat's Torah portion contains Israel's song of praise at the Red Sea when they saw the Egyptian enemy destroyed. This song contains many major revelations about our God.

   • YHWH is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation [yeshu'ah]: He is my God, and I will prepare Him a habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt Him. (Ex. 15:2)

   • God the Son, we bless You for humbling Yourself to become a man, and then through Your death and resurrection, You became our salvation (Isa. 12:2; Matt. 1:21; Phil. 2:6-11; 3:20).

   • Lord God of Israel, we often see in the Tanach that Your right hand is a type of Messiah Yeshua who sits at Your right hand in glory, so we greatly rejoice at the truths expressed in Exodus 15:6.

   • We confess with Israel that there is none like You among the "gods" (Ex. 15:11a; Psa. 86:8-9).

   • We thank You for constantly "doing wonders" – miracles – and for the times when You open our perception to actually see You at work on the earth today (Ex. 15:11b; Psa. 77:14; Acts 10:36-40).

   • We praise You God for wanting to answer the prayers of Your people (Psa. 50:15; Jer. 33:3).

2. Government & society:

   More hostages were released last week – and many more terrorists were set free in exchange. This deal that PM Bibi Netanyahu and most of the coalition submitted to, being pressured by Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, is not a just deal. Seeing the hostages set free brings great comfort to many Israelis, yet seeing Hamas and its people rejoice over their freed terrorist-murderers is enraging to those same Israelis and many more as well.

   • Lord God of Jerusalem, rebuke Satan's attempts to lead Israel's current leaders astray (Zech. 3:2).

   • Abba Father, as long as Netanyahu is Israel's leader, impart to him wisdom and understanding to lead Your nation on a biblically righteous path (Psa. 23:3b; Prov. 21:1; Dan. 2:21b; Zech. 4:6-7).

   • Messiah, surround him with godly advisors and give him ears to hear them (Prov. 11:14; 24:6).

   • After his successful time in America [see below], prepare Bibi for his return to Israel (Matt. 13:57).

   • Lord God, as Bibi and Defense Minister Israel Katz have selected Eyal Zamer as the next IDF Chief of Staff, please work in Zamer to be a true son of Zion (Psa. 75:6-7; Prov. 16:9).

   • As IDF commanders are being changed, Lord of hosts promote many more sons of Zion to positions of authority and responsibly and demote many the sons of Greece (2 Sam. 10:7 Zech. 9:13).

   • We praise You for Zamer already announcing that Israel will strive to produce all its own armaments in Israel, so that it will not be at the mercy of any boycotts in a time of war (2 Chr. 12:24; 17:18).

   • Almighty Creator, please bring to completion Israel's Iron Beam laser defense system, and all other military programs to aid in the defense against drones and UAVs (Ex. 14:20; Psa. 112:4).

   • Lord God, show Israel's political leaders their great need to seek You for guidance and wisdom and that this is obtained through prayer and the study of Your Word (Deut. 17:18-20; Psa. 1:2; Jer. 15:16).

   • Abba, please release Israeli society from the noose Hamas holds over it through its retaining of many dozens of hostages – or of hostage bodies (Psa. 124:6-7; Isa. 49:24-26; Jer. 32:27).

   • Messiah Yeshua, comfort Your nation (Isa. 61:1-3) and heal all ex-hostages who are back home of their intense mental and emotional trauma and, most likely, their survivor's guilt (Psa. 30:2-3; 147:3).

   • Abba, may the families whose loved ones were murdered by terrorists now being released from jail as a part of this hostage deal, cry out to You for justice (Job 8:3; Psa. 82:3b; Prov. 21:3).

3. Foreign relations:

   Netanyahu met with US President Trump and other influential Americans this past week. According to an Israeli source, the meeting with Trump "exceeded all expectations." Also, in answer to prayer, Bibi referred to the Bible when in the joint press conference between him and Trump: "The Bible says that the people of Israel shall rise like lions, and boy, did we rise. Today, the roar of the lion of Judah is heard loudly throughout the Middle East!"

   • Abba Father, overrule in all meetings between Israeli and international leaders just like You did in America this past week (Psa. 103:19).

   • King Messiah, thank You for the evangelical support of Bibi when he was in the US (Psa. 126:2-3).

   • Lord God, while so far we are very pleased with Trump's dealings with Israel and Netanyahu, do not let Israelis look to America's leader as any type of a "savior" (Psa. 146:3; Jer. 17:5).

   • Abba Father, surround Trump with advisors who are not afraid to caution him against dealing with Israel as if it were just any other nation (Deut. 7:6-9; Psa. 135:4; Isa. 41:8).

   • If Trump's plan to relocate most Gazans and have the US "own" Gaza to turn it into the "Riviera" of the Mediterranean is not of You, especially since You gave that land to the tribe of Judah, then do not let it happen (Judg. 1:18) – yet if the first part is of You, fulfill it quickly (Job 38:13; Jer. 12:14-17).

   • God Almighty, warn Steve Witkoff, America's ME envoy, that his links with Qatar might put him and the US in grave danger of cursing Israel, and rescue him from this (Num. 24:9b; Psa. 9:19-20).

   • Stop Trump and Witkoff from pressing Israel to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia if the cost is to allow for a Palestinian State to be established on Your land (Num. 23:23; Psa. 33:10-11).

   • May Israel's leaders and representatives use Your Word to rebuke all ungodly pressure (Jer. 23:29).

   • Thank You for Caroline Glick, a daughter of Zion, and Bibi's new advisor on foreign relations.

   • Lord God, anoint Israel's US Ambassador, Dr. Yechiel Leiter, to be Your mouthpiece (Jer. 1:8-9).

   • Thank You for using Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon in that evil NGO (Psa. 81:10; 119:13).

   • God, for Your glory use the deepening relationship between Israel and Ethiopia (Psa. 68:31).

   • Messiah Yeshua, anoint every believer who prays over their nation's relations with Israel and use their prayers to "enable" You to be merciful to their nations (Ezek. 22:30-31: cp. Isa. 60:12).

4. "Operation Swords of Iron:"

   Since Oct. 7th many Israelis see Hamas as a modern-day type of Amalek. Amalek attacked the weakest in Israel and so angered God by doing this that in Shabbat's Torah portion God says to Moses: Write this as a memorial in a scroll, and make sure Joshua knows it, for I will utterly wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. (Ex. 17:14).

   • YHWH-nissi [my banner], we remind You that You swore to wage war against Amalek until it is destroyed and pray You would use the IDF to do that against Hamas today (Ex. 17:15-16; Prov. 16:4).

   • We praise You with the prophetess/judge Devorah in Shabbat's prophetic reading as today also there are many Israelis willing to fight against Hamas in avenging the massacre of Your people (Judg. 5:2).

   • Lord God, with Israel's pre-war expectations in mind, we bless You for miraculously protecting the IDF soldiers battling in Gaza and ask You to continue to do that (Deut. 20:1-8; Psa. 140:7).

   • Lord of hosts, let Hamas' pride ultimately deceive and destroy them (Prov. 16:18; Obad. 1:3-4, 8).

   • King Messiah, You see how Hamas uses the ceasefire-hostage negotiations to impose grave mental and emotional injury to Israelis; please intervene and stop it (Isa. 54:17a; Col. 3:25).

   • Abba, have mercy on the families who will only receive back the corpses of their loved ones, as well as each family of killed or severely wounded IDF soldiers (Psa. 30:2; 67:1-2; 103:3; 107:20; 147:3).

5. Internal security:

   This Hamas deal releases about 2,000 terrorist-murderers from Israeli jails. As many are returning to Judea and Samaria, Israel's political and military leaders are in one accord to intensify the war against the terrorists in Israel's biblical heartland – and for that we are most grateful. Yet we firmly believe that for God's full blessing and protection in this area, Israel needs to obey Him and extend its sovereignty over all of the land west of the Jordan River as soon as possible.

   • Lord God, give more Israelis a vision and burden to possess all of Your land (Prov. 29:18).

   • Thank You for the recent survey showing over 70% of Israelis reject the creation of a "Palestine" on Your land and about the same percentage want Israel to extend sovereignty over all of it (Neh. 2:20).

   • Lord Yeshua, impart a burden on Your Body to intercede for Israel's possessing of Your land as this is what You are doing today with all of Your heart and all of Your soul (Jer. 32:41; 1 John 5:14-15).

   • Also Lord God, remove from the minds of Jews and believers that unbiblical term "the West Bank," and substitute it with the biblically correct phrase, "Judea and Samaria" (Jer. 31:4-5; Zech. 12:5-7).

   • Remind Israel that possessing the land promised to them is their responsibility and must not depend on whether America – or anyone else – agrees with it or not (Deut. 7:1-5; Judg. 2:1-4; Psa. 105:5-11).

   • God, even with Israel in a multi-front war, we thank You for expanding the populations of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and ask for the same on all of Your land (Isa. 49:19-20; 51:3).

   • Lord of hosts, command Your angelic armies to war against the spiritual forces of Israel's enemies as Israel wars against them here on earth (2 Kin. 6:16-17; 2 Chr. 32:7-8; 1 Chr. 15:46).

   • Lord Almighty, empower Israel's security forces fighting against terrorists throughout Judea and Samaria to fight like those prophesied sons of Zion (Zech. 9:13-15; 10:3a-7).

   • Thank You that the IDF's "Operation Iron Wall" initiative against terrorists in and around Jenin was successful and is being duplicated elsewhere in Samaria (Num. 35:33; Zech. 9:13-16; 10:3b-7).

6. External security – Middle East [ME]:

   Israel's ME enemies view the Hamas deal as a victory for them as well, seeing it as a step closer to destroying the Jewish nation. Yet being mindful of Micah 4:11-13, we press on asking God for His plans to prevail (Psa. 33:10-11).

   • Sovereign Lord, continue to fulfill Micah 4:11-13 against all of Your ME enemies (Psa. 83:1-4).

   • Lord God, regardless of their bombastic talk, we thank You that neither Hamas nor Hizbullah are the existential threats to Israel that they seemed to be before Oct. 7th (Psa. 44:4-6).

   • God, in Shabbat's Torah portion the Egyptians finally saw that You were fighting against them in the defense of Israel – and we ask You to do the same to Israel's modern day enemies (Ex. 14:25).

   • Lord, we are in agreement with Israel's confession on the far side of the Red Sea that You are a Man of war (Ex. 15:3; cp. Rev. 19:11-18), and ask You to arise and scatter Your enemies today (Psa. 68:1).

   • We bless You that every Israeli jet has returned safely from their various assignments, and pray that this would continue and would amaze military experts worldwide (Psa. 115:1-3; 121:4; Isa. 31:5).

   • Lord God, provide Israel with precise actionable intelligence of its enemies schemes so that it can thwart them all, including Iran, Hizbullah, the Houthis, Turkey and Syria (Psa. 59:10; Prov. 15:3).

   • King of kings, overturn all of Turkey's President Erdogan's wicked schemes (Psa. 9:19; 33:10-11).

   • Lord God, protect Israel from Turkey and Syria who are signing a defense pact (Psa. 3:7; 17:8-9).

   • Syria's army fighting Hizbullah on Lebanon's border, reminds us of how often in the Bible Israel's enemies fought one another, so we ask for more incidents like this (Hag. 2:22; Zech. 14:13).

   • Abba Father, the prophesied destruction of Iran's leaders (Jer. 49:38b) would be a great mercy first of all for the Iranians, then Israel and many other ME nations, so please hasten that day.

   • God of Israel, we continue to hit our prayer "arrows" on the ground, asking You to guide the IDF to totally remove Hizbullah from ever again being a threat to Your nation (2 Kin. 13:17-19).

   • Almighty, continue to aid the IDF to find and destroy all of Hizbullah's remaining weapons stores, missile launchers, and attack tunnels in south Lebanon (2 Chr. 16:9; Isa. 54:17a; Ezek. 39:9).

   • As the Lebanese see Hizbullah weakened, God of all nations, cause them to rise up and release their nation from the control of this Shi'ite Islamic terrorist organization (Psa. 29:5-6; Prov. 28:15).

   • Show Israel of its need to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program regardless of whether Iran pushes forward with it or not – and guide it on when and how to do that (Ezek. 37:10; Nah. 1:7-8).

   • Lord, watch over Nahum 1:5a against all of Iran's underground nuclear facilities.

   • Sovereign Lord, reveal to multitudes of Muslims how helpless Allah is in protecting them from You and from Israel, and let their shame cause them to seek You (Est. 8:17; Psa. 83:16-18).

   • Lord Yeshua, guard over Your Body throughout the ME; guide them in prayer and show them how to bless – and not curse – Your nation (Gen. 27:29; John 10:16, 27).

7. Aliyah:

   Biblically, Jews living in the nations are in "captivity." Today about 8 million Jews live in Israel while a majority remains in a self-imposed exile. As aliyah is for the sanctification of God's holy name (Ezek. 36:21-24), we continue to pray for all Jews in "captivity" to come home.

   • Lord God, reveal to Your Body that aliyah is an answer to their 2,000 year old prayer for Your name to be sanctified by Your will being done on earth (Ezek. 28:25-26; Luke 11:2).

   • Merciful Father, draw Your people home through Your grace and mercy (Isa. 54:7; Jer. 31:3).

   • Yet Lord, if they are deaf or blind to Your merciful drawing, then use the fiery increase of global anti-Semitism to catch their attention and turn their eyes to Zion (Jer. 16:16; 51:9-10).

   • Release Your people of the false hopes that life will return to pre-Oct. 7th "normal," as this increase of anti-Semitism will probably grow until Your return (Deut. 30:3-5; Zech. 10:8-10; 12:2-3).

   • Lord of all grace, set Jews free who are mentally and emotionally trapped in dangerous comfort zones among the gentile nations (Psa. 107:14-16; 137:4-6).

   • Abba, please use Bibi's time in the US to encourage American Jews to return (Zech. 8:7-8).

   • God, bring whole families and communities back home together (Ex. 12:37-38; Jer. 31:3-5).

   • Gracious Father, draw Jews home today with their "silver and gold" and bitcoins (Isa. 60:9).

   • King Messiah, replace all bureaucrats in Israel's Interior Ministry and its Jewish Agency who are lukewarm towards aliyah and fill their positions with those who are zealous for Zion (Zech. 8:1-8).

   • God of Israel, move upon wealthy Jews and Christians to give abundantly to finance both the aliyah and the successful integration of new immigrants into Israeli society (Ezra 1:4; Isa. 60:9).

8. Salvation:

   Exodus 15:13a and 16b in the Torah portion has two descriptions of the people of Israel who were rescued from the Egyptians: You in Your mercy have led the people whom You have redeemed [+ ransomed]… [Your people] whom You have purchased [+ created].

   • Abba Father, as Your people read these verses, let them ask You whether they are truly redeemed today – and reveal to them their divine Kinsman-Redeemer (Job. 19:25; Isa. 44:6; 47:4).

   • God of Israel, please remove the partial blindness You placed upon most Jews since the Lord Yeshua's day, and let them look upon their true King Messiah (Isa. 45:15; Rom. 11:25-26).

   • Lord Yeshua, appear in dreams and visions to many Jews at this time (Rev. 1:9-18).

   • God, show secret Israeli believers when and how they should confess You openly (Matt. 10:32).

   • Messiah Yeshua, teach born-again gentiles that Romans 1:16 and 11:11 are still valid today.

   • Abba Father, through Messiah Yeshua, please redeem many Holocaust survivors and their families; survivors of terrorism; hostages still alive and their loved ones; IDF soldiers and their families; loved ones of soldiers killed or wounded; widows, widowers, orphans; rabbis in Israel and in exile; Israeli politicians, diplomats, lawyers; Jewish university students in Israel and in exile; professors, teachers, medical personnel; Israeli media personalities, tour guides and archeologists; Israelis living in exile; Jewish hippies, LGBTQ+ and new agers; Jews in Iran, Turkey, Ethiopia, India, and China; Spanish and Portuguese speaking Jews; unsaved loved ones of Messianic Jews.

9. Body of Messiah:

   I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse [i.e. make little of; denigrate; make despicable, treat with contempt and despise] you. (Gen. 12:3a). Believers must know that God's promise to Abraham and his seed still applies. "Cursing" Israel (Num. 24:9b), or the Jews, brings a curse on the Body and opens the door for gross deception to come in and to be seen as if it were of God – like replacement theology!

   • Lord Yeshua, move on Your Body to renounce all proud and racist attitudes towards Jews – saved and unsaved - and instead to bless them (Prov. 8:13; Isa. 37:23; Rom. 11:17-18, 22).

   • As more Jews come into Your kingdom, let gentile believers be like Pharaoh and his servants who when they heard that Joseph's family had come to Joseph, they were very pleased (Gen. 45:16).

   • Messiah Yeshua, expel replacement theory from the Body (Eph. 5:27; 1 Tim. 4:1), and banish all demonic spirits of Jew-hatred and Israel-hatred (Gen. 18:18; 22:18; John 4:22; Rom. 9:1-5).

   • King of Israel, strip believers in this life from any shame or resistance to worship a Jewish Messiah before they are faced with the reality of having to do that throughout eternity (Rev. 5:5, 8-10, 12-13).

   • Also show them that their birth nation's destiny is tied in with how it relates to Israel (Num. 24:9b; Jer. 2:3; 10:25; 30:20; 51:24; Zech. 2:8-9).

   • Lord, raise up more sons and daughters of Zion as elders in Your Body (Zech. 9:13; Acts 20:27).

10. Water:

    Praise God, Israel had some winter weather, including snow on Mt. Hermon. Let's ask for more so that the land soaks in what it needs and the Sea of Galilee becomes totally full. Also, pray that many Israelis see as a sign of God's mercy (Isa. 41:17-20; Matt. 5:45b).

11. IFI:

    As major events relating to Israel are occurring with increasing frequency, we ask for Your prayers so that we can know what we should pray about and what is not for us to carry. Thank you for standing with Israel and with us at this time.

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Jerusalem

Chuck Cohen, for the IFI team

Rev. 22:21