1. Praise:

   Isaiah 44:6 in Shabbat's prophetic portion is another proof that Yeshua spoke truth when He declared that he who sees Him see the Father (John 14:8-9; cp. 10:30): Thus says YHWH, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, YHWH of hosts; I am the First, and I am the Last; and beside Me there is no God. (Isa. 44:6; cp. John 1:49; Tit. 2:4; Rev. 5:9; 22:13)

   • Lord Yeshua, we rejoice that You are God the Son who was incarnated as the Son of Man so that we can now know God the Father (John 14:6; cp. Jer. 31:31-34).

   • Hallelujah! You were, still are, and always will be, Israel's King (Zech. 14:16-17; Matt. 2:2; 27:37)!

   • It is awesome to think that in You, Messiah Yeshua, the Godhead was fully incarnated (Col. 2:9).

   • We bless You for giving us the promise of the Father – the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13; Acts 2:32-33).

   • Thank You that gentiles were part of Your plan back when You first called Abraham and promised him that a great nation, eventually Israel, would come out from him (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:8).

   • We praise You for creating Israel to reveal Yourself to the world (Isa. 43:21; Rom. 9:4-5).

   • Thank You that as You say in Shabbat's prophetic portion, You have created Israel, and we know also the Body of Messiah, to be witnesses that You are the One True God (Isa. 44:8; Acts 1:8; 4:33).

   • We praise You for revealing to us that through intercession we can influence You and if it is in Your will – You will hear and answer our prayers (Psa. 106:23; Ezek. 22:30; Amos 3:7; 1 John 5:14-15).

2. Government & society:

   Why are Western nations interfering in Israel's internal affairs? The judicial reforms, which they warn Israel about, aim to make Israel more of a democracy and more in line with their own high courts. It is infuriating to hear American, French, German and EU leaders lecture Israel over this. It is also despicable to see "holier-than-thou" Jews living in exile who boycott Israel's current democratically elected government because it does not line up with their ideas of what a democracy should look like. [By the way, nowhere in the Bible does God state that a democracy is the way a nation should be led. A kingdom under a righteous king is His ideal and when Yeshua returns that is exactly what we will have. Until then, Lord have mercy!]

   • You, God, have brought Israel's current coalition into authority at this time, and so we ask You to use it for Your holy name's sake (Psa. 115:1-3; Dan. 2:21).

   • Lord, with all modifications You deem needed, let the judicial reforms pass quickly (Hab. 1:4).

   • Let the results of these reforms be to further fulfill Your declared will in Isaiah 1:25-26 in both the political and judicial arenas in Israel.

   • Protect the minds of Israelis from the hatred and lies about these reforms – and replace them with a holy desire for the truth to be revealed (Isa. 59:14-15).

   • Cast out the spirit that is influencing tens of thousands of Israelis to not only protest the reforms, but to do so using illegal and ugly acts, like disrupting synagogue services, blocking highways and Israel's Ben-Gurion airport and calling on other nations and Jews in exile to get involved (Prov. 22:10).

   • Expose all outside help that is reportedly financing these demonstrations (Psa. 36:4; 64:5).

   • Lord, hedge in the extremists from both the pro- and anti-reform camps (Lam. 3:7; Hos. 2:6).

   • God, send Your Spirit to create order and to bring light out of Israel's current chaos (Gen. 1:2-3).

   • Abba, heal the deep divisions that have plagued Israel from even before 1948 (Isa. 11:11-13).

   • [Last night in a message to the nation, PM Bibi Netanyahu said that despite the Attorney General forbidding him from having anything to do with these judicial reforms, he will take the lead in order to try and calm the situation and to talk to the opposition to reach a compromise.] Lord please use him to insert calm and clarity into this whole process – despite the ingrained anti-Bibi hatred that many suspect to be the real reason behind much of the demonstrations and the opposition (Jer. 32:17, 27).

   • Help him to not lose focus on other issues that You want him to focus on at this season (Prov. 21:1).

   • Teach Finance Minister Smotrich, National Security Minister Ben-Gvir and all of the other current ministers how to be wise with the words that come out of their mouths (Prov. 6:2; 10:19; 17:28).

   • Prevent the IDF from being drawn into this political chaos (Psa. 121:3).

   • Show believers in nations interfering with Israel's internal affairs the danger their government is placing those nations in by touching the apple of God's eye in a negative manner (Zech. 2:8).

3. Internal security:

   Ramadan, Islam's holy month, started this past week. This is usually a time of increased Palestinian violence and terrorism, and we do not expect it to be any different this year.

   • Lord, during this time of fasting for Muslims, please save multitudes of Palestinians (Matt. 5:44).

   • Anoint and send forth believers to be laborers into the Palestinian harvest field (Luke 10:2).

   • We ask for a miraculous increase the number of ex-Muslim believers worldwide (Matt. 16:18b).

   • In agreement with this verse from the prophetic portion, we pray for the coalition to extend Israeli sovereignty over all land west of the Jordan River: …who says to Jerusalem, 'You shall be inhabited'; and to the cities of Judah, 'You shall be built, and I will raise up your decayed places'. (Isa. 44:26b)

   • We praise and bless You for giving the government the courage to repeal the anti-biblical 2005 Disengagement law so that Jews can now go back to living in Northern Samaria (Jer. 31:3-5).

   • Give wisdom to Israel's representatives in dealing with the nations who have condemned this move which draws Israel more in line with God's will for it to possess all of its possessions (Obad. 1:17).

   • Lord, let Jewish communities in Northern Samaria be rebuilt quickly (Obad. 1:19b)!

   • Empower Israel's security forces to maintain their current high alert status and to be supernaturally effective in stopping the vast majority of terrorist attacks (Psa. 44:4-6).

   • Show Israel how to push back against the bullying of the Palestinian terror groups (Judg. 11:23-24).

   • Continue providing all the accurate actionable intelligence Israel needs to do this (Job 28:3, 11).

   • Bless all of Israel's spies and collaborators among the Palestinians with salvation – and protect them and their families (Num. 24:9b; Josh. 6:21-23).

4. External security:

   China is filling the gap that America made when it reduced its involvement in the Middle East. This began under President Obama and his policies are continued under Biden today. This is very dangerous for the US and the West, especially as it means that Israel, which is the central focus of God's end-time prophetic plans, is being ignored by these nations. [Note: the second word for "curse" in Genesis 12:3 also means to "belittle" or "ignore".]

   • Lord, we know that You reign (Psa. 103:19) and that this abandonment of its ME allies by America has not taken You by surprise – so we ask You to lead us as we pray (Luke 11:1).

   • Use this situation to break Israel away from looking to America and any other "allies" and to look to You instead (Psa. 123:2; Isa. 51:6; Luke 21:28).

   • Guide Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Netanyahu to know how to navigate Israel's relations with China and Russia – both of whom have an increasing influence in the ME (Prov. 10:23).

   • Maintain Israel's current freedom to attack Iran's attempts to establish itself in Syria (Psa. 41:11).

   • Supply all that Israel will need to be able to deal decisively with Iran's nuclear threats (Prov. 21:31).

   • Create unity between Israel's political and military when Israel needs to attack Iran (Psa. 133:1).

   • Lord, shake the earth under all of Iran's nuclear facilities and also under every Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp [IRGC] military base throughout that nation (Job 9:6; Psa. 18:7; 99:1).

   • Cut off finances from all Iranian and their proxies demon-inspired plans (Job 12:23; Isa. 40:15-17).

   • Protect and use Iranian believers to bring down their wicked leaders (Jer. 49:38b).

   • Anoint them during Ramadan to see the salvation of many other Iranians (Jer. 49:38a).

   • Let Hizbullah in Lebanon fall into the net they are setting for Israel (Psa. 35:8; Eccl. 10:8).

   • [We hear reports of influential voices among the Kurds wanting independence.] Abba, You hear these voices as well and as the Kurds have always been a blessing to Your people, we ask You to help them to establish a Kurdistan in the Middle East (Psa. 22:28; 67:4).

5. Aliyah:

   So far, the figures for Russian aliyah for 2023 are way up – yet the figures for aliyah from everywhere else, especially from the West are down. Obviously, the media reports on Israel's internal strife is not helping, but to remain in "Babylon" at this time, when it is prophesied to collapse "in an hour" – that is "suddenly" (Rev. 18:10, 17, 19) – is extremely risky.

   • Since aliyah is for Your glory, for Your holy name's sake, we ask You to do whatever it takes, with as much mercy as possible, to bring Your people home (Isa. 43:5-7; Ezek. 36:21-24).

   • We are asking for more than the 75,000 people who immigrated last year (Deut. 30:3-5).

   • As Ukrainian Jewish men are released from the army, let them go to Israel and not try to bring their families who have already made aliyah back to Ukraine (Jer. 3:14).

   • Cast out an "exile-mentality" from the minds and hearts of the Jews stuck in the West (Zech. 8:1-8).

   • Show Western Jews that now is the time to decide between saving their lifestyles – or their lives!

   • Change the minds of rabbis who tell their flocks that it will be OK to remain in exile (Jer. 51:9-10).

   • Release all the Jews in nations where they are not free to leave – like Iran (Isa. 11:12).

   • As Jews in exile say at the end of the upcoming Passover meal, "Next year in Jerusalem," convict them of their empty words and convince them that this is actually a really good idea (Psa. 137:4-6).

   • Fill children's mouths with questions that these Jews tend not to want to answer (Matt. 21:16b).

   • During the Passover season make Israelis in exile extremely homesick (Isa. 22:12; Lam. 5:15).

   • Use Israel's current coalition to prepare the physical ground in Your land to receive multitudes of returning Jews and even whole Jewish communities (Ezek. 36:8; Amos 9:13-15; Obad. 1:17-20).

   • Forbid Israel's "gatekeepers" from hindering any Jew from making aliyah regardless of their race, belief or financial situation (Isa. 60:11; 62:10).

   • Lord, only permit changes in the Law of Return if they reflect Your will (Prov. 16:9).

6. Salvation:

   Ten times in Shabbat's Torah portion it says a priest makes atonement for Israelis and then their sins are forgiven: … and the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. (Lev. 4:20b; cp. 4:26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 13, 16, 18; 6:7). Yet shortly after the 2nd Temple was destroyed – 40 years after Yeshua as our High Priest provided eternal atonement for sin – the rabbis altered the Tanach's meaning, saying Jews no longer need a mediator. Not only was there no temple for a priest to work in, but believers, including more and more gentiles, were declaring that Yeshua is that Mediator and this was also a reaction to that uneasy truth for them.

   • Correct the wrong expectations that most Jews have of who Messiah will be (John 6:46-47).

   • To do that, please exalt Your Word over man's words – even the great rabbis (Deut. 4:2; Mark 7:13).

   • Bring children of Messianic Jews from their parents' faith to a faith of their own (Prov. 20:7; 22:6).

   • Use the latest technology to draw the current generation of Jews to You (Matt. 19:26).

   • Walk among the demonstrators, Lord, and declare from the prophetic portion: I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and will not remember your sins. (Isa. 43:25).

   • Thank You for reading in the prophetic portion that the redemption of all Israel impacts nature in a very positive way and ultimately brings You all of the glory (Isa. 44:22-23; cp. Rom. 8:21-22).

   • You said You wait to save all Israel (Ezek. 36:25-27) until someone asks You to do it (Ezek. 36:37), and so we are asking You to do that now (Luke 11:9-10).

7. The Body of Messiah:

   As the world spins more and more out of man's control, it is imperative for us who make up Messiah's Body to keep focused on Yeshua – the author and finisher of our faith. Not only must the Body understand the place of Israel in God's plans, but we also need to have a correct vision of our Lord Yeshua – who is both the center and circumference of our faith.

   • Lord, show Your Body once again how You very clearly made Yourself the focus of the good news (Matt. 8:1-3; 9:4-6; 12:3-8; 11:27-20; 16:16-19; 19:21; 23:37-39; 24:35; 28:18; John 8:58; 9:5; 10:11, 27-30; 11:25; 14:1, 6, 26-27; 15:1, 5, 16, 26; 16:9, 14, 27, 33; etc.)

   • Impart to the global Body the truth of who You are in glory – not only the precious Lamb of God, but also the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the Root and Offspring of David (Rev. 5:5-10; 22:16).

   • Cleanse Your Body of all spirits of anti-Semitism and/or anti-Zionism (Gen. 12:3a; Eph. 5:27).

   • Messiah, cleanse the Body of all false teachers and prophets and give Your people the ability to discern the true from the false (Matt. 7:15; 24:11; 2 Cor. 11:13-14; 2 Pet. 2:1; 1 John 4:1).

   • Lord, increase our discernment through gifting us with a holy hunger for Your Word (Jer. 15:16).

   • Teach Your Body how to study Your Word while respecting the verses' contexts (2 Tim. 2:15).

   • Warn all modern "prophets" with Ezekiel 13:4-5.

8. Water:

   God has continued to open the heavens over Israel and for that we are very grateful – to Him and to you for your consistent intercession on this topic (Luke 18:1).

   • Are there any among the Gentiles' idols that cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are not You the One, YHWH our God? Therefore we wait on You for You have made all these.Jer. 14:22

   • We bless You for the rains at this season and ask for You to totally fill up the Sea of Galilee and all of the underground aquifers – for Your holy name's sake (Ezek. 36:35-36; Zech. 10:1).

9. IFI:

   Thank you for your prayers for us, as well as your gracious notes and gifts – all of which go to encourage us greatly.

Shabbat shalom and blessings from Jerusalem

Chuck Cohen

Psa. 50:15