1. As Israel is careening towards new elections [the final vote to dissolve the Knesset is on Monday, although a March 17th, 2015 date has been agreed upon by all parties], with all of the upheaval that that will bring to our nation - we felt it good to remind ourselves that there are no emergencies in heaven, that this in no way took God by surprise. So we began by praising God's overriding sovereignty.

    • YHWH has prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all.

      Psalms 103:19

    • YHWH reigns; let the people tremble. He sits between the cherubs; let the earth quake.

      Psalms 99:1

    • We bless You God, declaring that You are the Lord of heaven and earth (Matthew 11:25).

    • We rest in Your sovereign control of events in the world today - especially concerning Your nation of Israel. How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, making peace heard; who brings good news, making salvation heard; who says to Zion, Your God reigns! (Isaiah 52:7)

    • Hallelujah, for the Lord God Almighty does indeed reign (Revelation 19:6).

    • Abba, since we are seated in heavenly places with Messiah Yeshua (Ephesians 2:6), help us to pray into the burdens You lay on our hearts today - by looking down!

  2. Unless we hear something different from the Lord, we still see Bibi Netanyahu as the one whom God has raised up to lead Israel. Yet he is really hated by many politicians, both here and abroad, as well as by many in Israel's media. Still, most Israelis still see him as our only viable choice for prime minister. This vicious hatred of him is absolutely beyond the natural, and if Satan is trying so hard to destroy him, then that is a pretty good indication that God is using him.

    • Lord, if we are not hearing You on this, and there is someone else You want us to pray for, reveal it.

    • Until You do, we thank You for Bibi and ask for Your continued protection and guidance on his life.

    • Pour out fresh anointing on him to lead this nation for the next three plus months until the new elections. - Let Your hand be on the Man of Your right hand, on the Son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself. (Psalms 80:17)

    • If he is still Your divine choice, then please give him and his Likud party a huge landslide victory.

    • Let Bibi know when to speak and when to be silent: To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens… a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7)

    • Shield him from doubting and second guessing himself (James 1:8).

    • Let him speak forth a clear, consistent message for Israelis to hear and receive (1 Corinthians 14:8).

    • Enable Bibi to impart vision to Israelis. Where there is no vision, the people perish… (Proverbs 29:18)

    • Let Netanyahu know if he needs to appoint new ministers to take the place of Livni, Lapid and others who are no longer in the coalition. (He has only until the vote Monday to do so.)

    • Stir up Your people in the worldwide Church to pray for Israel's current leader (Isaiah 62:6-7).

  3. Israeli election campaigns can be very harsh and ugly. Israelis will be inundated with prideful boasts, vicious lies and slander. It is not something that we are looking forward to having to deal with - and we already know the real King of Israel, the King of the Jews, Messiah Yeshua.

    • Speak peace to this people over this tumultuous time.

    • Bring a supernatural unity to the nation during the election season.

    • Shield Netanyahu from all enemy arrows. Lord, how my foes have increased! Many are the ones who rise up against me. Many are saying of my soul, There is no deliverance for him in God. Selah. But You, O YHWH, are a shield for me; my glory, the One who lifts up my head. (Psalms 3:1-3)

    • Shut the mouths of the lions and give Bibi sleep in their very midst (Daniel 6:22).

    • Unify Netanyahu's Likud party to support him totally - and to deal with all grievances against him face to face and not via the media. These are the things that you shall do. Each man is to speak the truth to his neighbor, and judge with truth and justice for peace in your gates. (Zechariah 8:16)

    • Surround Netanyahu with wise counsel (Exodus 18:19) and hide him from all counsel that is not from You (Numbers 31:16).

    • Lord Yeshua, as the government is ultimately on Your shoulders (Isaiah 9:6-7), we plead with You to overrule during this season in all the affairs of this nation.

  4. The internal security situation still simmers. There have been sporadic terror attacks, mostly with knives as the current weapon of choice. Most are thwarted - and for that we give God the glory. Yet the Palestinian leadership - both Abba's Fatah and Hamas in Gaza - are actively encouraging their people to commit terror attacks as they see this as why Israel is going to new elections. They also think that if terror increases - people with blame Bibi and vote him out of office.

    • We thank You for all of the recent terror attacks that You sovereignly stopped (Psalm 121:4).

    • Bless You for the heavy rainfall that drenched the plans of the enemy (Job 38:22-23).

    • Expose all demonic plans to stir up violence and bloodshed in all areas of Israel.

    • Lord, arise and curse all plans against Your people (Genesis 12:3).

    • Give alertness to both security forces and the citizens.

    • Lead Israelis various security and intelligence services by Your hand .

    • Lord, hold back the spirit of anarchy, lawlessness (Matthew 7:23).

    • Yeshua, Lord of Hosts, release angelic protection over this nation at this time (Daniel 12:1).

    • Give Israelis as much peace as possible before the elections.

    • May many Israelis take this truth to heart: You will keep him in perfect peace [lit; shalom, shalom], whose mind is stayed on You; because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26:3)

  5. We spent some time praying for Egypt, the nation named in the Bible more often than any other, except for Israel. Egypt's current President Sisi knows that Israel and his nation are fighting a common foe. 'The enemy of my enemy' might be what we are seeing today in Israeli/Egyptian relations. Yet both poverty and anti-Christian attacks are real problem issues for Sisi to deal with.

    • Abba, we thank You for President Sisi.

    • Draw him closer to Yourself (Isaiah 19:21).

    • Continue to confirm to him that Israel and Egypt are facing the same foe - radical fundamentalist Islam.

    • Help Sisi to feed his people.

    • Cause the common Egyptians to stand against the Islamic hatred of the Coptic Christians in Egypt.

    • Impart to the Egyptian Coptic Church Your heart-love for Israel and the Jewish people (Hosea 11:8-9).

    • We bless You for the reports of genuine revival in Egypt. In that day there shall be an altar to YHWH in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to YHWH. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to YHWH of Hosts in the land of Egypt, for they shall cry to YHWH because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a deliverer, and a great one, and will deliver them. (Isaiah 19:19-20)

    • Lord, we know that there will be a highway between Israel and Egypt at some point in the future (Isaiah 19:23-25). Do whatever it takes to speed up the fulfillment of that prophetic promise.

  6. Aliyah, the immigration of Jews from exile to Israel, was next on our hearts. There was a horrific anti-Semitic robbery and rape in France this past week. That plus all of the other anti-Semitic attacks and anti-Israel hatred that is invading the West in particular, should be more than enough for the Jews there to say 'Enough! This year in Jerusalem!' And although we are seeing increasing numbers of God's people coming back, still it is not in the kind of large numbers that we saw in the early 1990s.

    • Lord, we continue to ask You for this - as this is intimately tied up with Your glory (Isaiah 43:5-7).

    • Open the eyes of the European Jews that now is the time to get out with their silver and their gold with them (Isaiah 60:9).

    • Bring the couple who were robbed and raped to Jerusalem where You have promised to minister unto ones just like them. YHWH builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the broken-hearted, and binds up their wounds. (Psalms 147:2-3)

    • Abba, wake up the Western Church to see that Isaiah 49:22 is talking directly to them: Thus says the Lord YHWH, Behold, I will lift up My hand to the gentiles, and set up My banner to the people; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

    • Lord, bring home all holocaust survivors that are still living in exile.

    • God, make the approximately one million Israelis who are living among the nations really homesick.

    • Lord, the 25,000 strong Iranian Jewish community needs a huge miracle to be released from their Persian prison. As nothing is impossible for You (Jeremiah 32:17, 27), we ask You to do it.

    • Lord, rise up against the stubbornness in Your people to say that 'We will not flee from these hunters.' Help them to understand that the hunters are from You to drive them back home (Jeremiah 16:16).

  7. Speaking of Iran, as there is nothing new on the negotiations, the Iranian development of nuclear weapons continues while the West figures out its next move. This is dangerous to Israel, who has been threatened with annihilation by the Iranian leadership so often, we have lost count.

    • We continued to stand before God for this - asking Him to move miraculously.

    • If He wants to use Israel to destroy this global threat, the we asked Him to be Israel's Supreme Leader and direct the timing, methods, targets, to give the IDF an overwhelming victory - for the sake of His holy name.

    • We recognize that whatever Netanyahu does at this time - concerning Iran or in any other political/ military arena - will be thrown back in his face as just a move to gain votes. This accusation could freeze him at the exact time when God wants Bibi to act. Therefore, pray that he would be willing to do God's will - despite how it might look to the rest of the world and how it might be used negatively against him by his political opponents.

  8. The Israeli Body was our final prayer topic.

    • Lord, bring us into unity of mind and purpose during this election season.

    • Protect us from a humanistic unity that feels good to the flesh but accomplishes harm (Genesis 11:6).

    • Aid us to keep the unity of Your Spirit in all we say and do (Ephesians 4:3).

    • Pour out a fresh anointing on Your Body - one that will draw all of us to walk closer with You.

    • Raise up shepherds after Your own heart that You promised to Israel as we returned (Jeremiah 23:3-4).

    • Deal with any wicked shepherds that have gained influence in Your Body (Ezekiel 34:10).

Our brother Lance Lambert is back in Israel - in a Jerusalem hospital. He needs to be strengthened body, soul and spirit and requires the right people to come alongside him at this time of his recovery. Please pray for God to heal Lance completely and to provide for all of his needs.

We thank You for standing with Israel and with us

Blessings and Shabbat shalom

The IFI team