Psalm 46 was our starting point today launching us into praise to our God: - To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song for Alamoth.
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Thank You that we can hide ourselves in You, our strong tower, our refuge and fortress. (Psalm 144:2)
Thank You that You are the source of living water. (Jeremiah 17:13, John 4:10)
You give us a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
Psalm 147:2You are eternal, immortal, invisible.
You delight in those who fear You. (Psalm 147:11)
The world is shaking but You are always faithful.
You call us to be still. Cause us to wait on You. Come and strengthen our hearts!
Israel Government – There is agreement with Avigdor Lieberman and his party to join the government. Naftali Bennett threatens to oppose the agreement unless he gains more concessions. ie business as usual with the manipulations of Israeli politics!
Lord, have Your way!
Put a stop to these games!
Speak to Mr Bennett so he would put the interests of the nation ahead of his own personal ambition.
Give Binyamin (son of the right hand) Netanyahu Your wisdom and strength to steer the way through this latest crisis.
Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.
Psalm 80:17Anoint Mr Lieberman for his role as Defense Minister. So many people are declaring him unfit for this job. May he surprise us!
Lebanon and Golan borders – public statements from the government and military are declaring that the chances of war are very slight but Israel needs to be ready for anything and preparations are being made.
We hold General Aviv Kochavi, Head of Northern Command of the IDF to You, Lord for Your anointing. Grant wisdom and insight and boldness to him and those around him.
Bring Hezbollah to nothing. Cause their strength to fail. Bring Nasrallah, their leader down for judgment. (Joel 3:2)
As in the days of Elisha, let Israel know the words spoken privately by the leaders of our enemies. (2 Kings 6:12) Anoint Israel’s intelligence services.
Alert the citizens, especially farmers and cowboys on the Golan to all that is happening on the other side of the border.
May the Druze communities on the Golan finally come out and decide in favor of being part of Israel, no longer fearing being taken back into Syria.
We thank You, Lord for Israel’s beautiful land. Continue to make it an inspiration to the people.
Gaza – In recent days an Islamic group opposed to Hamas claimed to have attacked Israel bringing Israeli retaliation down against Hamas. New Defense Minister Lieberman was outspoken during the last war in 2014 in his desire to re-occupy the Gaza Strip.
Lord, we desire Your will in Your time. Give wisdom and discernment to Mr Lieberman. Show him when to speak and when to be silent.
Give alertness to all who are guarding or living close to the Gaza border. Protect the communities which are so vulnerable.
Put Your trust and understanding between Netanyahu, Lieberman and IDF Chief of Staff Eizenkott. Create an efficient working unit from the 3 of them based on integrity, trust and respect.
A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
(Ecclesiastes 4:12) Lord, be a fourth cord among them.
Egypt – Sinai border – Continuing our border patrol we prayed for the security of our South-Western border, vulnerable to radical groups operating in the Sinai which Egypt struggles to control, yet Israel is not free to act against because they are in Egypt. The son of one of the IFI team is a junior officer guarding part of this border.
Lord, protect this border and let there be strong but hidden agreements in place which enable Israel to do all that is needed to protect herself.
Give alertness and wisdom to all the troops guarding this border. Protect the communications between the various units along the border. Give them respect for the enemy for those in authority over them and for the land and people they are serving to protect.
Speak to any soldiers who know You that they may know what is going to happen even before it happens.
Protect the city of Eilat.
Confound our enemies.
Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back.
Psalm 129:5
Jordan – King Abdullah walks a near-impossible tightrope between maintaining good relations with Israel, keeping his own majority “Palestinian” population on his side, dealing with all the extreme Islamic forces imported among the refugees from neighboring Syria.
Give anointing and wisdom to the king.
Let him hear and receive the gospel and be saved.
Preserve peaceful relations with Israel and hold back the forces of evil until it is absolutely Your time to use conflict to resolve the matters of territory in this region.
Anoint the believers praying for Your will to be done in the Kingdom of Jordan.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10
Ramadan – the Moslem month of fasting and prayer begins on 6th June. This is a dangerous time when Moslems can act even more crazily than at other times. Three Moslem members of the Israel Knesset have declared that they will join Moslem prayers on the Temple Mount during Ramadan in defiance of an explicit ban by the government on Knesset members doing so.
Give wisdom to the government to know what to do in this situation to enforce the law without provoking an unnecessary international incident.
Give the police Your tactics in this matter.
Restrain the forces of evil inciting young men and women to violence.
Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
Job 38:22-23Lord, please build up even now a treasury of wet weather to douse the flames of hot temper during the month of Ramadan.
Shavuot (Pentecost) will also fall during the same month as Ramadan. So, Lord, pour out Your Holy Spirit on Your city of Jerusalem and on all Your people!
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) – The movement has gained momentum with the recent decision in the Netherlands to allow BDS because of the right to free speech. Similarly, a statement by 20 Israeli academics supporting BDS gives encouragement to those working to delegitimize and stir up hatred for Israel.
Lord, give us wisdom over how we should pray in this matter.
Drive back the demonic force generating hatred towards Israel and the Jewish people.
Strip away the respectability of this evil cover for hatred.
Give the academic world in Israel a wise means of disciplining the traitors in its midst.
For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Esther 4:14Embolden Your Church to rise up and speak out against BDS. Thank You that the American Methodist Church recently voted it down.
Aliyah – Despite the evil of BDS, it is one of the instruments which the Lord is using to drive the Jewish people home.
Thank You for this wonderful thing You are doing in bringing Your people home!
Remove the obstacles to Aliyah such as bureaucratic regulations on the licensing of professions in Israel.
Blow with Your winds of change so that Israel will be geared up to welcome the new immigrants home rather than seeking to keep them away.
There was a time to build houses and dwell in them and plant gardens and eat their fruit (Jeremiah 29:28) but now that time has passed.
Now the Lord is saying:
I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,
(Amos 9:14-15)
Congregations in Israel
Lord, strengthen the tender young shoot which is Your body in Israel
Let the leaders and teachers bring good sound teaching, the meat of Your word.
Give discernment in Your body of what is good and what is not, that false doctrines may be strongly opposed.
Continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:15
Shabbat Shalom from the IFI team!
Please continue to pray for Chuck ministering in England:
- Give him Your words to speak to empower Your Church and Your words to declare which will break the strongholds holding back the Jews in the UK from coming home.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
Proverbs 18:10