1. Enter His gates with thanksgiving:

    • Make a joyful noise to YHWH, all you lands. Worship YHWH with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that YHWH, He is God. He has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise; be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For YHWH is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endures to all generations.

      Psalms 100:1-5
    • We bless You for being our God and making us Your children.

    • Lord Yeshua, You are our Good Shepherd. We worship You (Psalm 23:1; John 10:11).

    • We are greatly encouraged that Your Word is both eternal and true (Psalm 119:89; John 17:17).

    • Hallelujah. We serve a God who is unchangeable and is always faithful (Malachi 3:6; 2 Timothy 2:13).

    • You know the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), so we know You are never taken by surprise.

    • Give ear to my words, YHWH; consider my meditation. Listen to the voice of my cry, my King and my God; for unto You will I pray. My voice shall You hear in the morning, YHWH…

      Psalms 5:1-3a
  2. Shabbat's prophetic portion includes Isaiah 1:26: I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning; afterwards you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Some of us are frustrated with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's lack of courage in facing recent threats of violence and in how his often seems to look to America for approval. Yet we do not sense his time as PM is over. So we prayed for him – recognizing that he has one of the hardest jobs in the world.

    • Abba, strengthen Netanyahu to be all he needs to be to lead Israel in this current crisis (Psalm 80:17).

    • Shield him against the manifold forces of wickedness that are arrayed against him (Psalm 119:114).

    • Impart wisdom so that he does not confuse his role as prime minister with his role as foreign minister.

    • Lord, it has been a very rough time for Netanyahu ever since Obama was elected. Please realign him to Your will for Israel at this time (Psalm 102:13; Jeremiah 31:10; 32:41, etc.).

    • Speak to Bibi in this Shabbat's Torah portion of how serious You are that this land belongs to Israel: …go in and possess the land which YHWH has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them. (Deuteronomy 1:8, cp. 1:35)

    • Make Netanyahu see that You are not wanting Israel to make any compromises when possessing all its God-given possessions, especially the Temple Mount – Your holy hill of Zion (Obadiah 1:17; Psalm 2:6).

    • Be preparing all the post-Bibi leaders this nation will need and if it be pleasing to You, reveal some of them to us so that we can cover them in prayer (Amos 3:7; 1 Timothy 2:1-3).

  3. Despite Israel giving in to the global bully Islam, and removing all security features from the Temple Mount, Palestinian President Abbas' Fatah party and Hamas in Gaza have both called for a "Day of Rage" today against Israel's presence in its own land. Yet what did Israel's leaders expect? If one backs off from a bully, it only encourages more bullying, as after all, if it was successful in the first place – imagine how much more successful it can be…

    • God of Israel, give wisdom and courage to all Israel's leaders in these days – political, security, etc.

    • Let Israel push back and refuse to be moved any further by either threats of violence or real violence.

    • Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11) May Israel respond speedily against all evil works!

    • Enable there to be clear communications and commands among the security forces (1 Corinthians 14:8).

    • Encourage and strengthen all of Israel's security forces for the battles today and in the future.

    • Remove from Israel's security forces all spirits of vengeance and frustration (Romans 12:19).

    • Make Israel that exceedingly great army that You declared it would be (Ezekiel 37:10).

    • Pour out Your fear upon Your enemies – those who want to wipe Israel off the map (Psalm 83:1-5).

    • Confound all plans and words of the haters of Zion (Psalm 35:26; 129:5).

    • Confound them, YHWH, and confuse their speech, because I have seen violence and fighting in the city.

      Psalms 55:9 ISV
    • Arise, Lord and deal with Your enemies. Rejoice, gentiles, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, will render vengeance to His foes and will be merciful to His land, to His people. (Deuteronomy 32:43; cp. Romans 15:10)

  4. How do we pray for our enemies? We pray for all their plans to fail and for them to see that their god is not God, and to be saved. That is how we bless and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).

    • Lord Yeshua, please walk upon the Temple Mount again today as when You walked among us. Touch and set free many Muslims. One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. (John 9:25b)

    • Use that which the enemy planned for evil, to add to Your glory through many Israeli and Palestinian Muslims confessing that Yeshua the Messiah, He is Lord of all. (Acts 10:36b)

    • Warn Islamic leaders worldwide this day to Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled in a little time. Blessed are all who put their trust in Him. (Psalms 2:12)

    • Give to believing members of Muslim families a word for this season (2 Timothy 4:2).

    • Lord Yeshua, have mercy on many brain-washed little children of Islam (Luke 18:16).

    • Father, pour out Your grace on the Druse community in Israel and save many of them over the summer.

    • May they confess what their spiritual father, Jethro, confessed to Moses: Now I know that YHWH is greater than all gods; for in the thing in which they dealt proudly, He was above them. (Exodus 18:11)

  5. Starting this Monday evening through Tuesday, many Jews worldwide will observe Tisha b'Av – the 9th of the Jewish month of Av – by fasting, praying and reading Lamentations. Many very hard things have fallen on this nation on this day historically: the destruction of the First and Second Temples is the main event, yet here is a list of some of the other happenings.

    • Lord, over this day, please extend Your wings of protection – for Your glory's sake (Psalm 115:1-3).

    • Hedge in all of Israel's enemies and bring all their plans to nothing (Psalm 33:10-11).

    • Please Abba, remember that Israel has already paid double for its sins (Isaiah 40:1-2).

    • Speak to Your people through Your Word in the book of Lamentations (Isaiah 55:11).

    • Make Lamentations 3:22-26 personal to unsaved Jews at this time: It is by YHWH's covenant love that we are not destroyed, because His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithful-ness. YHWH is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him. YHWH is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good to hope for the salvation of YHWH, even in silence.

    • Pour out the gift of repentance on many of Your people: Return us to You, O YHWH, and we will turn; renew our days as of old, (Lamentations 5:21)

  6. We prayed for the worldwide Church to wake up and see that these are critical days, and to then set their faces to seek the Lord in intercession.

    • Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is.

      Mark 13:33
    • The end of all things has drawn near, therefore be of sound mind, and watch in prayer.

      1 Peter 4:7
    • Lord, we thank You for every elder who is aware of these crucial times and speaks out about them.

    • Lord, we especially thank You for all elders who are both examples of, and advocates for, intercession.

    • [Yeshua] spoke a parable to them that men ought always to pray, and not to faint,

      Luke 18:1
    • Set Your Body free from its being lukewarm about Israel. How can they be lukewarm about that which You are doing with all of Your heart and all of Your soul (Jeremiah 32:41)?

    • Replace Replacement theology in the Church with the truth of Your Word (Jeremiah 31:35-37).

    • Replace the lies about Islam and Allah in the Church with the truth of Your Word (Isaiah 45:22).

    • Save Your saved people from having an ostrich mentality – reminding them that when their head is in the sand, their backside sticks out like a huge target!

    • Help the Church – especially in the West – to not be distracted by issues that are not critical at this time.

    • We bless and thank You for raising up mighty intercessory warriors in the so-called 3rd World churches.

    • Impart much discernment and wisdom to know how to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6).

  7. We have prayed for years against Iran establishing a highway from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea – what the King of Jordan calls, "the Shi'ite Crescent." Unfortunately, that which even this Muslim King warned against is being completed today – thanks in part to the Syrian ceasefire agreement worked out between US President Trump and Russian President Putin. Iran has just signed a military pact with Iraq. The Trump-Putin deal leaves Iran in Syria and, of course, Iran already controls Lebanon as it controls Hizbullah which has the final say in that nation. This means that Israel's security situation has just become that much more dangerous: Iran surrounds this nation today.

    • Save Israel from depending on friends like Trump and Putin, who do not take Israel's security concerns seriously when they try to do what is best for their nations/egos/whatever.

    • Show us if this somehow fits into Your prophetic plans and – whether it does or not – show us how to pray (Luke 11:1; 1 Corinthians 14:15).

    • Thus says YHWH, Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against Me, a destructive wind;

      Jeremiah 51:1; cp. 30:23-24
    • Iran's current regime is Your enemy today and its leaders have risen against You and Your people. Send forth that destructive wind, yet have much mercy on the common Iranians who have no hatred against Israel in their hearts.

    • Aid the Iranian Church in prayer to stand in the gap and bless Israel, so that their nation will be able to be dealt with by You in mercy (Ezekiel 22:30).

    • Netanyahu is usually excellent with issues like this – to see the danger, to speak the truth and then to have Israel act for its preservation. Empower him to do just that without any fear of man (Psalm 118:6).

    • Do not allow Bibi's relationship with Trump or Putin hinder him from doing what is best for Israel.

    • If Israel needs to pre-empt, may it do so with incredible skill and miraculous results.

    • Lord, there will ultimately be a highway (Isaiah 19:23). Do not allow this false highway to stand.

  8. We prayed for the Messianic Israeli Body to pray for Israel at this time – especially in the areas of security and politics.

    • Why is First Timothy 2:1-4 so ignored by so many? Change this Lord, as You said through Paul that praying for those in authority should be a high priority for us.

    • Encourage all elders in this land that do encourage their people to take this seriously (1 Samuel 12:23).

    • Lord Yeshua, please protect Your Body from any and all curses coming against it (Numbers 23:23).

    • Raise up more Israeli youth and young adults who desire to be disciplined into true intercession.

    • Teach those of us who are interceding how to intercede more effectively – and use that to provoke others believers to want to join in, co-laboring with You for Your kingdom to come and Your will to be done – here on earth (Matthew 6:10).

We finished by praying into the New Age Tomorrowland event that is supposed to take place in Israel this weekend. Please ask God to scuttle it – even more than He did last year.

Please continue to lift up IFI's chairman, Eliyahu, as he continues on his road to recovery. So far, he is making good progress and he thanks us for all the prayer support from you all.

Shabbat shalom

The IFI team