1. This Shabbat's prophetic portion is Ezekiel 37:15-28.
    • Son of man, take a stick and write on it, for Judah and for his companions, the sons of Israel. Take another stick and write on it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel, his companions. Join them to one another into one stick, and they shall become one in your hand. Ezekiel 37:16-17
    • Lord Yeshua, You are the ultimate Son of Man, and in Your hands this nation will find unity.
    • We thank You for being the same in Your essential nature always (Malachi 3:6).
    • You are the One who shakes all nations, yet You always remain unshakeable (Haggai 2:6-7).
    • We are thrilled to be called children of the Almighty God (1 John 3:2; 4::4).
    • We bless You for rebuilding Israel and Jerusalem in our days (Psalm 147:2; Amos 9:14-15).
    • Thank You for sending Your Son to die for us (John 3:16).
    • What a privilege we have to stand before Your throne in intercession (Hebrews 4:16).
    • Bless You YHWH, for You are good; for Your covenant-love endures forever (Psalm 118:1).
  2. Reports are that Israel and Turkey are very close to restoring relations. While this might be good geo-politically, spiritually it does not sit well with us.
    • Lord, if this is Your perfect will, then allow it to go ahead - and show us how to pray (Amos 3:7).
    • Yet if this is not in line with Your will for Israel, then stop it (Proverbs 19:21).
    • YHWH brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He breaks the plans of the people. The counsel of YHWH stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. Psalms 33:10-11
    • Rearrange all details to line up with Your will (Proverbs 16:9).
    • Give wisdom to Israel's leaders to see any traps that are being set against this nation (Psalm 124:1-8).
    • Abba, do not allow Turkey's anti-Semitic Islamic dictator Erdogan gain any glory from this.
    • Halt Israel from joining hands with the Islamic spirit ruling the Turkish regime (2 Corinthians 6:14).
    • Lord, reveal any outside influence that may be manipulating Israel to consider this unrighteous act.
    • May a spirit of consternation come upon many government ministers over this possible move.
  3. Iran has not passed all the tests for the evil P5+1 deal to go ahead, but the money-worshipping West has given them a passing grade anyway. Iran continues to develop its ballistic missile program, which is against UN Security Council resolutions that have nothing to do with this particular deal - and yet, the UN does not hold Iran accountable. And the UN's IAEA reported that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program, yet since it was several years ago, they just dropped the whole issue. No surprise that Israel is both furious and concerned.
    • Thank You answering prayers and revealing the true intentions of this Iranian regime to the world.
    • Yet the West is being run by foolish people…who have eyes and see not; who have ears and hear not. (Jeremiah 5:21b); To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are not circumcised, and they cannot listen. Behold, the Word of YHWH is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.(Jeremiah 6:10)
    • God, however You do it, we again ask You to break the bow of Elam/ancient Iran (Jeremiah 49:35).
    • Lord, break the Shi'ite Crescent that runs from Iran through Iraq and Syria into Lebanon.
    • Watch over Your word in Jeremiah 49:38: I will set My throne in Elam, and will destroy the king and the rulers from there, says YHWH. (Jeremiah 49:38)
    • Send upon Iran both physical and spiritual earthquakes.
    • Thank You for setting Your Son's throne in the hearts of multitudes of Iranians.
    • May the Iranian Church understand the danger its political leaders are placing their nation in as their leaders continue to threaten to destroy Israel and curse the Jewish people (Genesis 12:3a; Zechariah 2:8).
    • This situation seems beyond all human solutions, so we look to You to protect Israel (Psalm 121:4).
    • If You want to use Israel to deal with this threat, give its leaders wisdom and courage (Micah 4:11-13).
    • Any military plans Israel has in regards to attacking Iran that are not from You - remove. But any that are, highlight them even more to all military planners and military intelligence (Psalm 44:4-8).
    • Help the new Mossad head, Yossi Cohen, to keep Iran in his sights.
    • Abba, is it not time to release the Archangel Michael to deal with the Prince of Persia once again (Daniel 10:12-13; 12:1)?
  4. There are several items for which we give God thanks.
    • Lord, thank You that Prime Minister Netanyahu finally signed the gas deal.
    • Help Israel to use the funds that come in from that to aid the poor and needy, plus all other areas that You direct them to.
    • Remove all opposition to this deal - as some politicians are still threatening to fight against it.
    • We thank You for the Czech Republic's government voting to reject the EU's demand to label Israeli products from Judea, Samaria, the Golan and Biblical (i.e., East) Jerusalem, as from settlements.
    • We also thank You that both Greece and Hungary have refused this EU anti-Semitic request as well.
    • May what these three nations have done encourage more EU nations to just say "No!"
    • Abba, awaken Germany so that they do not boycott the Jews - again!
    • In every nation where Israeli products are being labelled, cause multitudes of Christians to specifically ask for and buy them (Deuteronomy 23:5).
    • Thank You for the UN survey that said of the 188 nations studied, Israel ranked as the 18th best nation for people to live in. With all that this nation faces, this report from a very anti-Zionist organization is nothing less than a modern-day miracle!
  5. We were burdened to pray for the Church to wake up to their responsibility to pray for their political leaders - especially in the West. We know most are not praying because of the severe lack of quality leaders in Western nations. While other nation's churches may also deficient in this area, yet the West is what we know best.
    • Lord, wake up the elders in Your Body to read and comprehend Your Spirit-inspired command to Paul: First of all, then, I exhort that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
    • We do thank You for the remnant that is awake to this truth and does pray. More, Lord!
    • Abba, help us to be those who turn the battle in the gate (Isaiah 28:5-6).
    • Lord, strip Your Body of erroneous thinking that separates the spiritual from the natural and help them to understand that when You created this physical world, You saw it as very good (Genesis 1:31).
    • Set Your people free from shallow spirituality.
    • Set Your people upon the solid foundation of Your Word.
    • Give us discernment to know what is of You and what is distorted in the Church today.
    • May Your kingdom come, and Your will be done, on earthas it is in Heaven. Matthew 6:10
  6. Our next prayer topic was Israel's internal battle against this current 'intifada', which is really a sugar-coated way of saying 'jihad'.
    • Abba, continue to give Israel's security forces courage, strength and discernment to deal with those who want to destroy Your people (2 Chronicles 32:7).
    • Remove from them any hesitation when needing to pre-empt attacks.
    • May all Israelis be more alert to what is going on around them and not so focused on their smartphones, or the newspaper, or whatever.
    • Help Israeli authorities come up with a solution against car ramming attacks.
    • Lord, recently many - including the UN Secretary General - have accused Israel of using excessive force when defending innocent people against terrorists - because more terrorists are being killed than Israelis! Deal with these lying accusations and shut the mouths of these satanic agents.
    • We condemn these lies, in the name of Yeshua: No weapon that is formed against you shall be blessed; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the inheritance of the servants of YHWH, and their righteousness is from Me, says YHWH. (Isaiah 54:17)
    • Lord, You want the little children to come to You - yet the Palestinians are raising up a generation spoon-fed on hatred for the Jews and Israel. Have mercy on these little ones.
    • Expose the absolute hypocrisy of the liberal West who stand strongly against child-abuse, for women's rights and for freedom for gays, and yet they stand against Israel, joining hands with Islamic child-abusers, rapists and killers of women and those who engage openly in hanging gays in their streets.
    • Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be innocent; but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. Proverbs 11:21
    • Wake up the Church to perceive that the roots of the battle against Israel are spiritual - a demonic hatred against Your nation and its offspring, which includes the Church (Romans 11:18; Revelation 12:1-17).
    • Abba, overturn the new rules of engagement for Israeli medical personnel when dealing with terror attack scenes, that they would not treat the terrorist before they treat the victims, even if the terrorist has greater injuries (Deuteronomy 16:18).
    • This is very unrighteous and just as You heard our prayers for a change of the rules of engagement for our security forces, so hear our prayers in this area - before innocent victims die.
    • Give great grace and courage to the medical personnel at the attack to deal righteously.
    • Do not judge according to sight, but judge righteous judgment. John 7:24
  7. We are in the season when most of the Body worldwide celebrates the birth of Israel's Messiah. Obviously, no one is sure when Yeshua was born. Yet this season seems to hold a special attraction to many Israelis. So we prayed for many Jews to be drawn closer to their Messiah during this time. Whether they attend the many Carol services and sing along to songs that have some of the best biblical content of any songs the Church sings today, or whether they surf the net and heard a gospel message appropriate for this time of the year, we prayed that this Jewish Baby born in Bethlehem - who is the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2) - will be born-again in many Jewish hearts both here in Israel and in exile.
Shabbat shalom and may His light guide your way daily, The IFI team