1. We began by reading a few verses from this Shabbat's Torah portion.
  • "O YHWH, who is like You among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Exodus 15:11)
  • We proclaim that there is none like You among the gods (2 Samuel 7:22).
  • You never change, so we can trust in Your faithfulness (Deuteronomy 7:9; Malachi 3:6).
  • Precious Creator of all, we praise You for always being ready and able to help us (Isaiah 40:28).
  • Thank You for guarding over Israel – for Your holy name's sake (Psalm 121:4; Jeremiah 31:10).
  • "Your right hand, O YHWH, has become glorious in power. Your right hand, O YHWH, has dashed the enemy in pieces. And in the greatness of Your excellency You have overthrown them that rose up against You." (Exodus 15:6-7a)
  • Father, thank You for Your Son, through whom we can know You (John 1:18).
  • "I will sing unto YHWH, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and rider He has thrown into the sea. YHWH is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will glorify Him; my father's God, and I will exalt Him." (Exodus 15:1-2)
2. God created Israel to be a nation that is unlike any other – a nation that dwells alone. It is called to be a holy, a "set-apart", nation unto Him; a priestly nation through whom He imparts His blessings to the world, and by whom He tests the world's attitude towards Himself. For most of Israel's history, it has resisted this calling – yet that has not stopped God from separating His people anyway. Today, we see the same thing, as more Western nations back-off from standing with Israel. Yet we can also see in this the Lord's hand once more setting His nation apart for His purposes.
  • "How shall I curse whom God has not cursed, or how shall I defy whom YHWH has not defied? ... Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be counted among the nations." (Numbers 23:8-9)
  • We do bless You for Your specific calling on Israel (Exodus 19:6).
  • We thank You for the evidence we see of You sovereignly moving to make this a current day reality.
  • By Your Spirit, save Your people and cause them to walk in Your ways (Ezekiel 36:25-28).
  • May Israel say that You are their refuge and fortress – their God in whom they trust (Psalms 91:2).
  • Help its leaders understand the godly balance of being a nation in the world today – yet not being like the other nations. They will need Your miraculous, sustaining power to accomplish that. Please do it!
  • "For YHWH's portion is His people. Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." (Deuteronomy 32:9); "Blessed is the nation whose God is YHWH; the people He has chosen for His inheritance." (Psalms 33:12)
  • Lord, may this very essential characteristic of Your people be a major part of the goal of the Messianic Body in Israel as well (1 Peter 2:9).
3. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has again spoken truth to the world. He was at the Davos World Economic Forum yesterday and was interviewed by CNN. He did not back off from his concerns about Iran and Hizbullah, and he openly questioned the West's addiction to a peace-process between Israel and the Palestinians, while the world is fighting a war against Islamic terrorism.
  • Lord, we are so blessed to see a man – with all his weaknesses – who is not afraid to speak the truth.
  • We believe You have raised him up for just this time (Esther 4:14b).
  • Therefore, protect and use Bibi for Your glory (Psalm 80:17).
  • Protect him and his family, physically, emotionally, mentally, and physically.
  • Cause him to cry out to You (Psalm 50:15).
  • Father, as no one comes to Yeshua except You draw them, we ask that You draw Netanyahu to Your Son – his Lord and Messiah (John 6:44, 65) – and that You would do it as soon as possible.
  • Give him that grace gift of a godly fear of You. "The fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom; all doing this have good understanding…" (Psalms 111:10a; cp. Proverbs 1:7; 9:10).
  • Thank You for his recognition that he has not been called primarily to be a leader who makes peace, but one who is called to look after the security and future of this nation and its people.
  • We bless You for answering our prayers and surrounding Bibi with several advisors in whom he can confide and trust in – like Dore Gold and Ron Dermer.
  • Raise up any other advisors he needs, and keep all those who are not sent by You far away from him.
  • Remind Netanyahu that he cannot run this nation by himself (Exodus 18:17-23).
  • Make Bibi a shepherd after Your own heart (Jeremiah 3:15; 23:3-4).
4. Because of budget restraints, the IDF has had to come up with some new policies, one of which is that new immigrants over 22 will not be required to join the army, although they can volunteer. Yet this nation, made up of immigrants from over 100 nations, looks to the army to be a melting pot that aids all the various cultures, languages and backgrounds to become one. Lord, help us to pray.
  • Abba, help the IDF planners to see that more than finances and military concerns are at stake here.
  • God, place a desire in the hearts of many new immigrants to want to serve in Israel's army.
  • We bless You for all the "lone-soldiers" who leave their families and nations and come to serve this nation for three years. May many of them realize that this is home – and stay!
  • You who are Israel's Shepherd – please provide the IDF with all it needs (Psalm 23:1; Jeremiah 31:10).
  • Impart great wisdom to the IDF on how to use the finances allotted to it efficiently.
  • Lord, please ensure that the IDF has all the manpower it needs to defend this nation against all attacks.
  • Aid Israel's military planners to be preparing for the next war and not for the last one.
  • Give the military planners the wisdom to balance out the use of war machines and soldiers.
  • "In that day I will make Judah's generals like a hearth of fire among the wood…and they shall devour all the peoples all around…and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, in Jerusalem…In that day YHWH shall defend the people of Jerusalem, and he who is feeble among them…shall be like David; and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of YHWH before them." (Zechariah 12:6, 8)
5. We focused our prayers on Israel's security situation. While there has been debate about the most immediate imperative threat to this nation, all agree that Iran and its proxy terror group Hizbullah are the main actors. We see Hizbullah as the tip of the Iranian spear aimed at Israel's heart.
  • Lord of hosts, please bring the security heads into one accord on the immediate threats and the longer-term existential threats.
  • Aid the IDF to do what is needed to be prepared for whatever the future may hold.
  • God, cut off the funding of Hizbullah that comes from Iran.
  • Continue to confound Israel's enemies and let them fight and weaken each other (Psalm 35:4, 26; 129:5).
  • "Now also many nations are gathered against you, who say, Let her be defiled, and let our eyes look on Zion. But they do not know the plans of YHWH, nor do they understand His counsel, for He has gathered them like the sheaf to the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; and you shall crush many peoples. And I will give their gain to YHWH, and their wealth to the Lord of the all the earth." (Micah 4:11-13)
  • We do bless You for helping Israel deal with the Palestinian terrorist groups in its midst.
  • The "lone-wolf" attacks have been much harder to stop. Help our security forces to be that much more alert and quicker to deal with the wicked before they harm the innocent (Ecclesiastes 8:11).
  • Thank You for Netanyahu exposing that most of this hatred against Israel among younger Palestinians is born out of the vicious anti-Semitic incitement of the Palestinian Authority and its President Abbas.
6. Aliyah – the return of the scattered Jews back home to Israel – was our next prayer topic.
  • Since this is for Your glory, we do not hesitate to present this before You as often as possible.
  • "Fear not; for I am with you. I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not keep back; bring My sons from far and My daughters from the ends of the earth; everyone who is called by My name; for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yes, I have made him." (Isaiah 43:5-7; cp. Ezekiel 36:23-24)
  • We thank You for the significant increase in aliyah this past year [2014 – about 23,000; 2015 – 30,000].
  • Lord, there are stones of stumbling in the path of Your people (Isaiah 62:10) – in the Interior Ministry, the availability of decent paying jobs, the recognition of professional degrees from other nations, the costs of houses, cars, fuel, etc. Yet You are the God of the impossible, so we ask for another huge increase in the number of new immigrants in 2016.
  • "Lord YHWH! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and stretched out arm. Nothing is too difficult for You… Behold, I am YHWH, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too difficult for Me?" (Jeremiah 32:17, 27)
  • Open up the hearts of Israelis to receive the new immigrants with love and gratitude.
  • Lord, we know that You are the God of the Second (third, fourth, etc.) Chance. So we ask You to somehow use Arye Deri for Your glory since he is now reinstated as the head of the Interior Ministry.
  • Cause him to tread carefully in this position, as he knows that most Israelis are against his being there.
  • We thank You for the real openness and friendship that Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky has for Christians. Use that for Your glory (John 12:28).
  • May his attitude permeate the whole of the Jewish Agency so that worldwide, we will see Jews and Christians helping to carrying Your people home together (Isaiah 49:22; Romans 15:27).
  • While we appreciate Russian President Putin's invitation that European Jews escape rising anti-Semitism by coming to Russia, we know that that is not Your will for Your people. Help them to set their sights on Zion (Psalm 137:4-6; Jeremiah 50:4-5).
  • We are blessed to see these prophecies come to past before our eyes: "YHWH builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel." (Psalms 147:2); "Thus says YHWH of Hosts: There shall yet be old men and old women in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of their old age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets." (Zechariah 8:4-5)
8. Intercessors for Israel's International Prayer Conference, Jerusalem, begins this coming Monday evening. It runs from January 25th to February 1st and then the post-conference Prayer Tour continues until Shabbat, February 6th. So there will be no Friday Prayer Alert for the next two weeks. We do hope to send out a daily video update from the first week of the conference. Yet right now, the IFI leader who helps to facilitate that has been very sick. If we are not able to do that, please forgive us in advance.
  • Lord, heal this precious member of the leadership team and raise him up to be at the conference. "He sent His Word and heals them…" (Psalms 107:20) Amen.
  • Protect all of the conference attendees from sicknesses, accidents, terror attacks, etc. (Psalm 3:3).
  • Do not allow any weather situations – whether in Israel or in the nations from where the delegates are coming – to stop those whom You have ordained to be here from being here.
  • Impart to the leadership team wisdom and an anointing to know what to say and how to lead in prayer.
  • Enable the communication between the leaders and the congregation to be very clear.
  • Give us all ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to this congregation during the next two weeks.
  • Give us a freedom in the Spirit to pray – yet the self-discipline to act as an army.
  • "I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the calling with which you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Messiah." (Ephesians 4:1-7)
Lord willing, we will be back with you in a couple of weeks with the weekly Friday Prayer Alert. We do so appreciate all your warm responses and words of encouragement to us about these alerts. To God be the glory! Shabbat shalom The IFI team