The prophetic portion for this Shabbat is 2 Kings 7:3-20 – the story of the four lepers whom God used to stampede the Syrian army in the days of Elisha. This was another reminder for us that God uses the weak and foolish to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).
We bless You for being the Almighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16).
We confess and declare that You – the Lord God of Israel – rule and reign over all (Psalm 103:19).
Thank You for being so consistent – in line with Your divine nature and will (Malachi 3:6).
We are so grateful that You never ask us to be strong for You – but to be strong in You!
Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
(Ephesians 6:10)Hallelujah! You will not forsake Your people – for Your name/reputation is at stake (1 Samuel 12:22).
The name of YHWH is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10
Almost all of Israel's various intelligence services say the chance of a full-blown war starting in the near future is very slight – and this concerns us. This is what was said just before the 1973 Yom Kippur War. So we need to watch and pray about this situation.
Lord, we trust totally in You and not in
horses or chariots
(Psalm 20:7-9). Yet You still often use the IDF and its weaponry to defend this nation (Jeremiah 51:20). So if these intelligence services are missing something, bring it to their attention quickly.The horse is prepared for the day of battle, and safety is from YHWH.
(Proverbs 21:31) May Israel do its part and always have its horse prepared for battle.Set Israel's military analysts free from all misconceptions (John 8:32).
Reveal to them any missed signs or anything hidden in darkness (Psalm 139:12).
Keep them sharp, alert and undistracted.
Bring to Israel's spies and collaborators accurate, actionable intelligence.
Please help that intelligence get to the right people and be interpreted in the right way.
The Passover/Unleavened Bread Season starts April 22, next Friday evening, at sundown. There are many warning signs that the Palestinians and some Israeli Arabs will try to rekindle the current "knife-intifada" that has been dying down over the past month. Arab inciters are again spreading a lie, that there is a Jewish plan to take over the Temple Mount, as their excuse. As Satan loves to wreak havoc on Israel and the Jews during the feasts of the Lord, our prayer work is cut out for us.
Lord Yeshua, we bless in Your name those physical intercessors, Israel's security forces, who stand in the gap between the innocent people and the terrorists (Psalm 44:4-8).
Lord, watch over this promise:
In that day YHWH of Hosts shall be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, to the rest of His people, and for a spirit of judgment to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle to the gate.
(Isaiah 28:5-6)Please continue to hinder any successful kidnapping attempts (Psalm 121:4).
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me in the shadow of Your wings, from the wicked that oppress – from my deadly enemies that compass me about.
(Psalms 17:8-9)Help all Israelis – security forces as well as civilians – to be alert during this season.
Lord God, the Temple Mount is Your holy hill (Psalm 2:6; 3:4). Therefore, we ask for You to be there in a very tangible way to protect Your people from those that rise up against them (Psalm 18:48).
Abba, You will give Israel the complete authority over the Temple Mount in Your way and Your timing, yet please hinder all schemes by man that try and pre-empt Your plans (Proverbs 19:21).
Concerning those voices that are already stirring up hatred against Israel, we ask You to confound them (Psalm 129:5)
Destroy O Lord; divide their tongues.
(Psalm 55:9)Lord, help Israel alertly guard the roads and all transportation hubs – like the airport or bus terminals.
Forbid complacency from coming on our security guards wherever they may be stationed.
Give the security forces wisdom to know how to relax when they have the chance.
We prayed next about the external threats against Israel from outside of its borders.
Thank You for the Israeli Navy. May they continue to protect Israel's coast along the Mediterranean Sea and down south in the Gulf of Eilat.
Provide them with all they need – including new weapons technologies to defend this nation.
Let the sea itself speak to them of Your greatness:
They who go down to the sea in ships, who work in great waters; these see the works of YHWH and His wonders in the deep.
(Psalms 107:23-24)We bless You for the continuing collapse of the terror tunnels in Gaza (Psalm 7:15-16; 35:8; 57:6).
Aid Israel to complete the development of its terror tunnel detection system.
If there are tunnels by Hizbullah entering Israel from Lebanon, may they be found and destroyed.
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu openly revealed this past week that Israel has attacked Hizbullah supply shipments in Syria often – with impunity. Use this revelation to bring the fear of Israel's God and the Israeli Air Force upon all of its enemies (2 Chronicles 17:10).
Continue to unfold to Israel all of Hizbullah's demonic plans to destroy this nation.
Protect Israel's Golan borders against any Iranian or Islamic State infiltrations.
Thank You for the new "Iron Drone" anti-drone weapon that Israel has just revealed.
Keep the Kingdom of Jordan stable and the Jordanian border calm.
We praise You for the close security co-operation You have given to Israel with Egypt, Jordan and – miraculously at this time – with Putin's Russia.
Lord, when Netanyahu meets with Putin later this month, give him courage and an anointing to speak truth and lay out Israel's red lines (Psalm 80:17).
Increase the respect Putin already has for Netanyahu as a result of this meeting (1 Kings 17:24).
We remind You of Your word:
For He has made the bars of your gates strong; He has blessed your sons within you. He makes peace in your borders…
(Psalms 147:13-14a)
Israel's leaders and representatives in the nations are under intense pressure to defend the very right of this nation to live. More people and NGO's and global institutions are aiming to have Israel totally replaced by a Palestine – which would quickly become just another Islamic terror state. We asked God to anoint, protect and use Israel's leaders and its representatives in the nations. If you know Israel's ambassador in your nation, please pray for them by name. If you do not, please find out so that your prayers for them can be more specific and therefore, more effective.
PM Bibi Netanyahu: Thank You for him. Surround him with wise counselors (Proverbs 15:12).
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon: continue to impart much wisdom and common sense to him.
Deputy Foreign Minister Dore Gold [Bibi still maintains the position of Foreign Minister.] Thank You for Gold's good relations with many Arab nations and their representatives.
UN Ambassador Danny Danon: Wisdom to work in the evil modern Tower of Babel – the UN.
US Ambassador Ron Dermer: Lord, shield him from any attacks from the Obama administration.
May these Israelis, and all others who are standing in official capacity representing Your nation, have an anointing from You to fulfill that which You have created them for.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you came forth out of the womb I consecrated you, and ordained you a prophet to the nations.
(Jeremiah 1:5) God, please apply this principle to them.Use the Passover season to encourage them that the nation that they are defending is Your nation.
But now thus says YHWH who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel; Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.
(Isaiah 43:1)May all of Israel's representatives and leaders have boldness to use the Word of God – often – in their arguments and defense of this nation (Psalm 81:10; 119:49-56).
Lord, prepare whomever it is that You have hidden with the sheep who will be the next prime minister.
We continue to pray for aliyah – the return of the Jews from exile/captivity to Israel.
Thank You for bringing Your people home before the eyes of the whole world, so that they have no excuse to not believe that You, the God of the Bible, are God (Isaiah 43:5-7).
We are thrilled to know that aliyah is ultimately for Your holy name's sake.
Therefore say to the house of Israel…I am not doing this for your sake…but for My holy name's sake, which you profaned among the gentiles where you went. I will sanctify My great name…and the gentiles shall know that I am YHWH…when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the gentiles and gather you out of all lands, and will gather you into your own land.
(Ezekiel 36:22-24)The Jews in the EU are waking up. May they set their eyes on Zion (Jeremiah 50:4-5).
Abba, do not allow anything to hinder the return of all the remaining Ethiopian Jews (Isaiah 62:10).
Lord, use the US elections to wake up the American Jews that it is time to come home (Zechariah 8:7).
Lamb of God, may many Jews become very homesick when they hold the Passover Seder meal in exile and at the end declare "Next Year in Jerusalem". Make this the year when they mean it wholeheartedly.
If I forget you, O Jerusalem… Psalms 137:5a
I will signal for them and gather them; for I have redeemed them. And they shall be many as they once were. I will sow them among the peoples, and they shall remember Me in among the gentiles. They shall live with their sons and return. I will return them out of the land of Egypt, and I will gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead [northern Jordan!] and Lebanon [where we were until Barak pulled us out!]; for room shall not be found for them. Zechariah 10:8-10
Lord, do it. Amen!
There are various schemes of man – particularly in the UN – to try to resurrect a very dead "peace" process between Israel and the Palestinians. Since this is God's land, and is not to be divided (Leviticus 25:23), and since He threatens to judge severely those nations that do try to divide His land (Joel 3:1-2), therefore any peace plan that involves creating a "Palestine" on His land is not of Him.
Lord, set believers free of all satanic deceptions and doctrines of demons that make them think they are actually doing Your will in trying to create a Palestine.
Do not allow either the Palestinian Authority plan or the French plan, both of which are being submitted to the UN Security Council, to pressure or scare Israel into agreeing to divide Your land (Proverbs 29:25).
Thank You for restoring Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan to Israel almost 50 years ago. You did it in six days, and we give You the glory for it.
Hedge in Obama so that in his final year, he only does that which is Your will (Proverbs 16:9; 19:21).
As the mountains are all around Jerusalem, so YHWH is around His people from this time and forever. For the scepter of the wicked shall not rest on the land given to the righteous… Psalms 125:2-3a
We finished our time together by praying for the believing remnant in the Church in the nations to wake up and understand the times we are in. Paul said we should know the times and the seasons:
But of the times and the seasons…you have no need that I write to you. For you know accurately that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. For when they shall say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes on them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But you are not in darkness, that the Day should overtake you like a thief. You are all the sons of light and the sons of the day. We are not of the night, or of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us watch and be sober.
(1 Thessalonians 5:1-6)
So when we see believers who just do not understand these times, we are amazed. Israel is back. Her land is fruitful. Her army is "exceedingly great". Her children are returning from all corners of the world. The Israeli Body of Messiah is growing, and nations are coming against Jerusalem. What other signs are we looking for to see that this time is that which was spoken of by the prophets – the times just before the return of the Lord? Thank You for standing with us and Israel. It is the time to "watch and pray" (1 Peter 5:7)
Shabbat shalom
The IFI team