This week's prayer points are largely based on the Northern Prayer Meeting which took place on Thursday evening in the town of Karmiel in the Galilee. We returned to Kehilat HaDerech, (The Way) the congregation which hosted the first of these gatherings over two years ago.

1. If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth. (Exodus 33:15-16)

   • Thank You for choosing Your people and Your land.

   • Thank You that You call us to partner with You in our prayers and that You will always go with us.

   • Thank You for the privilege of prayer.

   • Reveal Your heart, o Lord!

   • Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

     Psalm 133:1

   • Bring us into unity as we pray together!

   • Lord, thank You for our brothers and sister from the nations who pray faithfully for Israel. Please pour out a spirit of intercession upon us, the body of Messiah, here in Israel.

   • Thank you for the power of corporate prayer (Matthew 18:19). Please let us so hear from You, that we know we are praying in line with Your will and can agree together.

2. Kidnapped teenagers

   The Israeli nation has been in shock for the past week. Three young men (aged 16, 16 and 19) returning home at night from their yeshiva (religious school) went missing and are believed to have been kidnapped. Israel has been united in the shock and pain and concern for the boys. Pray:

   • Lord, these are like our own sons, it affects us all. Bring them home!

   • May not a hair on their heads be harmed. (Luke 21:18)

   • Give wisdom to government leaders, the IDF, police and intelligence services involved in the rescue operation. Help them to find the boys and their captors.

   • Please turn to good what the enemy intended for evil.

   • And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) Thank You that Israel is called according to Your purpose and many in Israel love You. So we look for You to work this for good.

   • With You all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)

   • Have the last word, o Lord and bring glory to Yourself out of this terrible situation.

   • As Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood without fear against evil, please empower these three boys to stand. (Daniel 3)

   • Give hope and strength to their parents.

   • Give Israel the technology to use which will help find the boys

   • Let pride cause the perpetrators to boast of their deeds and give themselves away.

   • Bring them conviction of their sin. Show them signs like the handwriting on the wall (Daniel 5) and put them in fear of the living God.

3. Government response

   The government has declared that it is holding the new Palestinian unity government responsible and, in its operations to try and rescue the three boys, the IDF has since arrested hundreds of members of Hamas, the terror organization which is part of this power-sharing agreement. Meanwhile there has been a sharp increase in rocket attacks fired into Southern Israel from the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip. Pray:

   • Thank You for the united response of the government to these events.

   • Give the government good intelligence information of the whereabouts of the key Hamas people.

   • Thank You for those who are willing to supply information to the IDF concerning the enemy. Keep these spies hidden and bless them.

   • Use Your army, Lord, to do Your work of cleansing and to do this work quietly and efficiently.

   • Protect the children and women and other innocents during the operation.

   • Let the works of darkness be brought into the light. Reveal the hidden weapons, hidden people, hidden plans. (Mark 4:22)

   • Break Hamas' infrastructure of death.

   • Send confusion into the camp of Israel's enemies

   • Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back.

     Psalm 129:5

     
     As we were praying we heard of another rocket alert affecting the town of Sderot.

   • Give wisdom to the leaders of government and all the security forces. Show Israel the right response to the rocket attacks, the right timing, the right targets, give them boldness, strength and stealth.

4. Surrounding nations

   Meanwhile the nations round about Israel are experiencing far greater dangers and conflicts affecting the lives of multitudes more of their people. Syria has been in turmoil for years. Iraq is now in a crisis situation with the ISIS army wreaking havoc and tearing the country apart. There are suggestions that they are threatening to move into Jordan which could cause terrible dangers to Israel. Pray:

   • Keep Israel's enemies far away from us!

   • Divide our enemies and let there be no alignment between these groups who

   • Cause them to continue to fight and weaken each other, but Lord, please protect the innocents in these countries.

   • Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered.

     Psalm 68:1

   • Let Israel know what to do in response to the Iranian threat, even while the world prefers to be friends with Iran, ignoring the problem.

   • Break the oppression which is over the Muslims and enable them to see the truth.

   • I will lift up my eyes to the hills-from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

     Psalm 121:1-4

     
     Karmiel, even more than Jerusalem, is surrounded by high hills and is in close firing range of Lebanese rockets.

   • Thank You, Lord that You never drop Your guard!

   • Guard and protect our believing brothers and sisters in the surrounding nations. Show them when to stand and when to flee, when to speak and when to be silent, give them understanding of their call to prayer and the responsibility they have to pray for Your will for their countries. Give them hope where all around them is despair.

5. Cyber warfare

   Some years ago at one of our prayer conferences you gave us advance notice of the need to pray for Israel to be active in this area. This was at a time when nations did not have departments dealing with cyber warfare. Now that almost everything depends on computers, we need technology to protect our computers against attacks which would cause them not to function. Pray:

   • Thank You for directing IFI to pray regarding attacks against our computers.

   • Give Israel brilliance in this area so we can create barriers (firewalls) to protect our computers from attacks.

   • Help Israel to find cyber warfare solutions to the Iranian nuclear project.

   • Not for our glory, but for Yours. (Psalm 115:1)

6. Karmiel's Jubilee

   This city of 48,000 people is celebrating its 50^th year. It holds a significant location close to the Lebanon border and in the middle of the country from East to West. It is beautifully situated among high hills and surrounded by Arab villages. Pray:

   • Thank You for this attractive and strategic city.

   • Raise up here prayer and worship and proclamation of Your word.

   • Make Karmiel and its believing community source of living water (John 4:10), oil of joy (Isaiah 61:3), the finest wine (John 2:1-10).

   • Raise up workers for Your harvest (Luke 10:2)

   • Bring multitudes to know You in this city.

   • Wake up the believers here who have lost their first love (Revelation 2:4) or are feeling alone.

   • Touch the hearts of the young people who have lost their way and are no longer walking with You as they once were. Raise up and strengthen youth leaders. Restore what the locust has eaten (Joel 2:25)

   • Thank You for placing Karmiel on the way from East to West, on the way from Lebanon to Israel, on the way between many Arab villages. When people are on the way, may they find Yeshua the Way the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6)

Shabbat Shalom from the North of Israel!