1. While we did not have our corporate prayer meeting today, there is still much to pray about. But first, as many of God's family are celebrating Messiah Yeshua's birth this day, I [Chuck Cohen, one of IFI's directors] want to draw your attention to a frequently missed central theme in the birth narratives found in Matthew and Luke: Yeshua's birth is intimately linked with God's promises to Israel!
    • Matthew 1:20-24 The angel of the Lord addresses Joseph as a son of King David. Then the angel says that the Son Miriam [Mary] will bear is to be named Yeshua because He will save [yeshuah] His people -in context the Jews - from their sins. Matthew then writes that this is that which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet of a virgin bearing a son - who is Emmanuel, God with us (Isaiah 7:14).
    • Matthew 2:1-6 After His birth, wise men from the East seek Him whom they call the King of the Jews. King Herod, taking this as bad news, asks the chief priests and scribes where the Messiah would be born. So from His birth, the Messiah [the Christ] was called the King of the Jews. The scribes quote from the only Holy Scriptures they had - the Old Testament - and quoting Micah 5:2, say Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, known then as the city of King David.
    • Luke, the only other of the gospel writers to relate events surrounding Yeshua's birth, does so at great length. In 1:26-33, the angel Gabriel visits Miriam before she is impregnated by the Holy Spirt, and tells her that her Son Yeshua will be given by YHWH God the throne of Yeshua's earthly ancestor King David and shall reign over the house of Jacob forever (1:32-33).
    • Luke 1:46-55, known as Miriam's Magnificat, is her praise to the God of Israel for having chosen her to fulfill His promises to Israel. She ends, saying, He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His covenant-love, as He said to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. (1:54-55)
    • Luke 1:67-80 is known as Zachariah's Benedictus. John the Baptist's father praised God after getting his voice back at John's birth, saying. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He has visited and redeemed His people, and raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He said…and to perform the covenant-love promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant - the oath which He swore to our father Abraham,(Luke 1:68-73)
    • Paul declares in Romans 15:8, Yeshua's coming to earth confirmed God's promises to Israel's fathers. And most of those promises include the whole modern land of Israel - plus more. Thus the celebration of Messiah's birth is also a celebration of God's faithfulness to all of His promises to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.
    • There is also a verse that points to Yeshua's birth as inclusive of the gentiles partaking of God's salvation promises to, and through, Israel. In the temple, Simeon holding the Divine Baby, blesses God and prays, Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word - for I have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before all people: a light to give revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel. (Luke 2:29-32)
    • For those of you who do celebrate His birth on this day - may you now have a very merry 'kosher' Christmas. [Please note, this should not be taken to mean that I believe this is the actual day of His birth. Yet, to be a 'bah, humbug' Messianic Jew just does not strike me as speaking the truth in love.]
  2. Here are some of the prayer burdens that the Lord had us pray about this past week. As opposed to most of our alerts, where we write out many of the prayers prayed, the following is a list of issues that we hope you will carry in prayer to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).
    • Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has had a number of quality government ministers recently accused of various issues - like sexual harassment. Since the incidents were so long ago, the question of why those offended did not bring them up immediately should be addressed. Please continue to pray for Netanyahu to be strong in areas where he knows what needs to be done, and in all other areas, to have enough wisdom to appoint those who do have the expertise to help in Israel's complete restoration (Psalm 80:17; Proverbs 11:14; 15:22; Isaiah 1:26).
    • A new head of the Interior Ministry needs to be appointed because of the resignation of Silva Shalom, one of those accused of sexual harassment. The Ultra-Orthodox party Shas' leader, Arei Deri, has been suggested as a real possibility. We prayed for years to see him removed from that very position. He was and spent jail time because of his financial thievery when in that post. We are asking God, that unless this is 101% His will for some hidden reason, that He would raise up someone righteous to take this place - which can be seen as the nation of Israel's gatekeeper (Isaiah 62:10).
    • Israel's security situation has both positive news and negative threats. Positively, Israel's latest missile test of what is called "David's Sling" was successful and will come on line early next year. Israel will be able to shoot down ballistic missiles - even while they are still in space! The real Star Wars is being faced and prepared for by this nation today - and we bless God for that. Also, another submarine from Germany is on its way to Israel - the most advanced yet, capable of carrying nuclear tipped missiles. Thank the Lord for this "in-your-face" warning to Iran to tread carefully with the Jewish State.
    • Another positive is the ever intensifying battle between Israel's enemies throughout the Middle East. We see this as one of the ways God is answering our prayers from Psalm 83 and 129:5. Those who hate Israel are under His curse (Genesis 12:3) - so we should expect them to lose all sense of sanity and be tremendously weakened. Also, since Yeshua said that a house divided against itself cannot stand, let's continue to pray for God to bring down the house of Islam over the Middle East and set multitudes of its slaves free (Matthew 12:25; Colossians 1:13). Thank God for the many reports of this happening today.
    • The negatives in Israel's security situation include an increased Hizbullah threat to avenge the death of Samir Kuntar and other Hizbullah leaders in an attack on their base in Syria. Kuntar, who bashed in the head of a four year-old Jewish Israeli girl after killing her father in front of her, was released in a swap for several dead IDF soldiers' bodies after he spent 30 years in an Israeli prison - getting fat and a college degree. While Israel has not taken credit for his demise, rumors are that he was targeted not for what he did, but what he was planning to do with Iranian help. Please prayer for all the IDF soldiers on Israel's borders, for alertness, courage and wisdom - and for clear communications to be established between soldiers in the field and commanders on the bases. Also, let's thank God for sending Israel actionable intelligence and giving its leaders the courage to use it in a pre-emptive manner.
    • Another negative is the ongoing jihad against Israelis by Palestinian 'lone-wolf' terrorists. This has been a struggle to stop - although the thwarting of attacks is greater than the ones that are happening. Still, please pray for Israel's security forces and citizens to be alert and for God Himself to defend this nation for His holy name's sake (Psalm 35:1-8; 121:4; Jeremiah 31:10).
    • Aliyah - the return of the Jews from exile to Israel - is a mainstay of our prayer topics. Continue to pray for the release of the Jews in your nations from whatever it is that is holding them back and blind to the rising anti-Semitic spirit of this anti-God age. Also, for the Church in your nation to understand its role in this end-time global sign from heaven that our God reigns!
    • Salvation in and through Messiah Yeshua is God's prophesied destiny for His people after He brings them home. It is in Israel where "all Israel" is saved (Deuteronomy 30:4-6; Ezekiel 36:23-28; Zechariah 12:2-10, etc.). Continue to pray with us for God to remove the veil that was placed over the Jewish heart at His first coming and that all Israel will welcome Him when Messiah returns to Jerusalem (Matthew 23:39). Also, let's thank and bless Him for the increase in the Messianic Body, both here in Israel and in the nations, this past year.
    • The Church internationally must see what is happening in Israel and in the West - and realize that its prophetic charts and other end-time scenarios may need to be revised. With America removed as the world's "super-cop," chaos is erupting in many places, and people are crying out for an answer. And some are going to be willing to take any answer. Is the rise of the Anti-Christ right around the corner? Please pray for us all to have that spirit of the sons of Issachar who knew the signs of the times and what Israel - and today, the true Church - needs to do (1 Chronicles 12:32; Amos 3:7). But of the times and seasons, you have no need that I write you. For you know that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. And when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But you are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-6; cp. 1 Peter 4:7)
    • IFI's International Prayer Conference, Jerusalem, is a month away, starting January 25th, 2016. Please pray that all those whom God has ordained to be here, will be, and all attempts of the enemy to stop them will fail. Also, if there is anyone planning to come, who for whatever reason, God wants them to be somewhere else, that they would hear and change their plans to line up with His. Pray for the conference leadership team, as well as the administrative staff, to be prepared both mentally and spiritually. In fact, ask God to do that with all the delegates as well. We are also planning a prayer tour and will need prayers of protection and wisdom to follow us that week after the conference - as we are planning as of now to pray along Israel's northern borders - with Syria and Lebanon.
    • We plan to send out daily video updates of the conference as in years past. Pray for all the technical aspects and the extra strength and grace to put those together and get them out in good time.

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Jerusalem - until next year
The IFI team

Arise, and take the child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel. For the ones who sought the child's life are dead. And he arose and took the child and His mother and came into the land of Israel. Matthew 2:20-21

For those who have never heard of, or sung, this Christmas Carol, it is quite kosher and theologically solid. It is also a prayer for Israel's salvation and aliyah.

1. O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

2. O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

3. O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

4. O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

5. O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.