1. Praise:

   Yesterday was Israel's 77th anniversary. Considering that Israel has been in a state of war, both actual and potential, in each of those years, it is an incredible miracle that the Jewish nation is not only still around, but is also thriving in many ways.

   • Abba, we bless You for opening our eyes to perceive what a witness to Your faithfulness in fulfilling Your promises Israel's existence is today (Jer. 31:35-37).

   • Lord God of Israel, we praise You for creating the IDF as exceedingly great army – and for doing that soon after the Holocaust, just as You prophesied in Ezekiel 37:1-10.

   • Thank You Lord for being able to do everything You declare (Num. 23:19; Psa. 33:9; Isa. 55:11).

   • Messiah Yeshua, we rejoice in that Israel's resurrection is a sure sign of Your soon return (Zech. 14:3-4; Matt. 23:39; Acts 1:11), and we ask You to, Come quickly, Lord (Rev. 22:20)!

   • God, we are amazed at how a fear of You erases in us the need to fear anything else (Jer. 32:39-40).

2. Government & society:

   The God of Israel ultimately decrees who rules in the affairs of men (Dan. 4:17). He also tells us to intercede for them (1 Tim. 2:1-3), so one of our main burdens for Israel is to intercede for its leaders, asking the Lord to turn them to His will (Prov. 21:1).

   • Lord Yeshua, today all authority in heaven and on earth rests in Your hands (Matt. 28:18), so we trust in You – not in Israel's leaders – and trust You to lead us as we pray for them (Prov. 16:9).

   • Lord God Almighty, promote more sons and daughters of Zion to influential positions in Israel and use them to replace all the humanistic offspring of Greece in Your nation (Job 34:24; Psa. 109:8).

   • Messiah, King of Israel, use Israel's current governing coalition for Your glory and reveal to each one their need to humble themselves before You and to pray (Psa. 50:15; 115:1-3; Prov. 29:23).

   • Lord God, use the coalition's desire to institute judicial reform to fulfill Isaiah 1:24-27.

   • Sovereign Lord, You have ordained PM Bibi Netanyahu to lead Israel today (Dan. 4:32), so guide Bibi to complete everything that You have ordained for him (Psa. 68:27; 75:5-7; 80:17; Phil. 1:6).

   • Lord, bring him godly advisors and let him pay attention to their advice (Prov. 11:14; 24:6).

   • Yet Lord God, make Your voice clearer to him than the voice of anyone else (Josh. 24:24).

   • God of Israel, be Netanyahu's shield against all mental, emotional, physical and spiritual arrows that both people and demonic forces shoot at him (Psa. 3:3).

   • Almighty God, help the IDF Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, to recognize that he was appointed, not elected, and therefore he needs to obey the elected officials in overall security policies (2 Sam. 10:7).

   • Lord of hosts, anoint Defense Minister Katz with much wisdom as he oversees the protection of Your nation and protect his relations with both Netanyahu and Zamir (Eccl. 4:12; 9:18b).

   • Messiah Yeshua, please guard over Israeli citizens' minds from the humanistic and manipulative mainstream media in Israel – and do that for Jews in exile as well (Isa. 59:14b).

   • Also Lord, protect Your people from all social media that is demonically influenced (Deut. 33:29).

   • God of Jerusalem, rebuke Satan's effective use of the hostages which has many Israelis deceived into believing that Netanyahu is responsible for the hostages not being rescued as opposed to Hamas being responsible for seizing them in the first place (Zech. 3:2).

   • Messiah Yeshua, comfort all Israelis who are mourning over loved ones who have been murdered, severely wounded, or are still held hostage by Hamas (Isa. 61:3; 63:7-9; Matt. 5:4).

   • Lord God, we bless You for maintaining Israel's economy despite its current wars (Psa. 132:13-15).

3. "Operation Strength & Sword:"

   Israel has intensified its attacks against Hamas terrorists in Gaza. It is also taking more territory, yet Israel's leaders' constant refrain that all of this is primarily to rescue the hostages – as opposed to destroy Hamas – is very disturbing as that is not in line with what the Word states God's will is, which is to repossess Gaza once and for all (Zeph. 3:4a; Zech. 9:5).

   • God Almighty, turn Israel's strategy into keeping all the land in Gaza that it conquers (2 Sam. 5:9).

   • Abba Father, as You did with Gideon, so download Your wisdom to the IDF to use new strategies and tactics that will surprise Hamas and defeat it (Judg. 7:16-18).

   • As the number of reservists showing up to fight is much less than after Oct. 7th, Lord God we remind You that You reduced Gideon's fighters so that You alone would receive the glory (Judg. 7:2).

   • With the IDF intensifying the fight against Hamas, Lord of hosts, intervene and make their efforts to be "exceedingly abundantly" more effective than what we can even imagine (Ezek. 38:23; Eph. 2:20).

   • Also God, reinforce Your divine shield over all IDF soldiers who are fighting there (Psa. 3:3-7).

   • Abba Father, let Hamas' pride contribute mightily to their destruction (2 Sam. 22:28b; Prov. 16:18).

   • Lord God, as per Psalm 46:8-9 destroy all of Hamas' weapons before the war is over.

   • Lord, protect the remaining hostages during the fighting and set them free (Psa. 91:3-4; 124:7-8).

   • King of Israel, thank You for the tens of thousands of Gazans who have emigrated; now give Israel wisdom on how to help all others who want to escape Hamas' hell (Isa. 60:12; Jer. 12:17).

4. Foreign relations:

   The cursing and betrayal of Israel and the hatred of Israel's God by most nations have brought forth the prophesied gross darkness over most nations (Isa. 60:2). So this should also be the time for Israel to display God's glory openly before the world (Isa. 60:1).

   • Lord God, we believe that You are fulfilling Your foreign policy on earth (Psa. 33:10-11; Isa. 55:8-9), and ask You to lead us very clearly to pray in agreement with Your will (Amos 3:7).

   • Almighty God, You have placed today's world leaders in their positions (Prov. 8:15; Dan. 2:21a), therefore use them to further Your goals – for Your glory's sake (Luke 11:2).

   • God of Moses, permeate Israel's leaders with stubborn courage to reject any external pressure or demand that is not in line with Your will for Your nation at this time (Neh. 2:20; Prov. 3:7).

   • King of kings, anoint US President Trump's inner circle of advisors to warn him against dealing with Israel as if it were just any other nation in the world (Deut. 7:6-8; Zech. 2:8).

   • As Trump has already changed his mind on a number of issues relating to Israel and its enemies, use this to ensure that no Israeli puts their trust in him – or in any man – but in You alone (Psa. 118:8-9).

   • Guide Bibi precisely on how to navigate Israel's relations with the US today (Psa. 23:3b; Isa. 30:21).

   • Creator God, You told Moses that You created man's mouth and teach Your messengers what to say, so please do that as Israeli politicians and diplomats speak to the world today (Ex. 4:11-2).

   • Lord Yeshua, bring to Israel's international representatives Christian Zionists who will encourage them by sharing the truth found in Your Word (Psa. 40:10; 43:3a; 86:1; 98:3; John 17:17).

   • Lord God of Israel, turn the curses against Your people coming from nations, global NGOs, and most of the mainstream media, into blessings, simply because You love them (Deut. 23:5; 33:3).

   • We bless You for the very strong anti-UN statement that Israel's Foreign Minister Sa'ar delivered this past week and ask that You use the truths he declared to have a great impact (Gal. 4;16).

   • Messiah Yeshua, anoint each believer who prays for their nation's relations with Israel and use those prayers as an opening for Your mercy to fall on their nations (Ezek. 22:30-31: cp. Isa. 60:12).

5. Internal security:

   Only once in God's Word does He state that He will do something with all of His heart and soul – and that is to plant Israel back in its land (Jer. 32:41). This is also tied in to Israel's salvation (32:37-40)! So Israel's possessing of its God-given possessions (Obad. 1:17-20) is central to His end-time plans and should be high on the Church's prayer list. Is it?

   • Lord Yeshua, wake up many more believers who do actually love You to also love Your promises concerning Israel in these days (Psa. 87:2; Prov. 3:12; 1 Thess. 1:3).

   • God of Israel, speak through the Torah portion to Israelis, and Jews in exile, that You have given them the land, yet they need to actively possess it (Lev. 14:34; Obad. 1:17).

   • Messiah Yeshua, use America's Israeli Ambassador Mike Huckabee to share with Israel's leaders the many verses in Your Word commanding Israel to possess their land (Judg. 2:1-5; Psa. 126:1-3).

   • Abba Father, whether through Your Word or by circumstances, let Israel's current leadership see the existential necessity to possess more of the land as soon as possible (Deut. 8:17-18; Psa. 44:3).

   • Abba, use the recent arson-terror attacks that have burnt up forests in central Israel to pressure its leaders to extend sovereignty over all of the land – and receive the glory (Psa. 115:1-3; Rom. 8:28).

   • God, we bless You for increasing the population in Jewish communities in all of Judea and Samaria, and ask for You to do the same throughout the rest of Your land (Isa. 49:19-20; 51:3).

   • Lord, direct Israel to rebuild its north more securely and more populously (Isa. 54:2-3; Eccl. 3:3b).

   • God, You declare that You are jealous over Your land (Ezek. 36:5-7), so cause any plan to create a "Palestine" on Your land to fail (Psa. 33:10-11; Zech. 14:1-3).

   • Shepherd of Israel, protect the Jews You are regathering from all terrorism (Isa. 33:2; Jer. 31:10).

   • Lord God, extend Your wings of protection over the IDF which is fighting against the terrorists throughout these areas (Psa. 17:8; 91:4; 141:9-10).

   • As in the prophetic reading, Lord God send Your fear upon the terrorists using weak and foolish vessels like four lepers (2 Kin. 7:6-7), or like the lame coming to take the spoils (Isa. 33:23b).

   • Lord, we bless You for always being awake to guard over Israel (Psa. 121:4), and ask You to make that true also for Israel's security guards at checkpoints and all other posts (Gen. 31:1-2).

6. External security – Middle East [ME]:

   The Islamic Republic of Iran is the biggest threat to Israel, and to the rest of the world. Its leaders have a cult-like belief in the Mahdi – a Shi'ite Islamic Messiah – who will reappear and conquer the world for Allah. All Iran needs to do is set the world on fire as their prophecies predict that up to one third of the world dies just before he reappears. Trump and his team are deceived to think they can negotiate with a cult and expect it to abide by its promises.

   • God Almighty, continue to confound all who hate and aim to destroy Zion (Psa. 35:4, 26; 129:5).

   • God, please fulfill Your plans for Iran – and thwart all of man's plans (Psa. 103:19).

   • Thank You for this week's explosion at one of Iran's most vital ports, and whether it was negligence, an act of sabotage, or Your divine hand of judgment, Lord, use it to make Iran's leaders even more paranoid of Israel's abilities to attack them (Ex. 14:25b; 1 Sam. 4:7-8).

   • King of kings, arise and destroy the current Iranian regime and set over that nation the ones whom You are preparing even today to rule it in peace with Israel (Psa. 68:1, 30b; Jer. 49:38; Dan. 2:21).

   • Lord, watch over Nahum 1:5a against all of Iran's underground nuclear facilities.

   • Lord God, You made the destroyer who protects Your people from its enemies, so release it over Iran's evil plans and false gods (Ex. 12:13, 23; Isa. 54:15-17; Hag. 2:22).

   • Warn Trump that any "deal" with Iran's current leaders is useless as the Islamic tactic of taqiyya, lying to help Allah gain a victory, makes whatever they say at best unreliable (Prov. 26:24-26).

   • Again Lord, we pray for Your wisdom to come upon Israel as to what it should do with the threat of an Iranian nuke regardless of what the US-Iran negotiations produce (Prov. 8:14-16; 19:20; 21:30-31).

   • Lord of hosts, it is apparent that America's attacks against the Houthis in Yemen have not stopped them from firing missiles at Israel, so show Your nation how to deal with their enemies directly and to not depend on others to do it for them (Prov. 21:30-31; Isa. 31:1).

   • Lord God, we thank You that more Israelis and their leaders are seeing Qatar as it really is, that is an enemy nation who supports both Hamas and Iran (Psa. 33:1; 55:21).

   • Abba Father, show Israel what dangers it might face as Trump's personal company invests billions in real estate projects and building a golf course in Qatar (1 Tim. 6:10).

   • Give Israel wisdom concerning the radical Islamic Sunni leaders in Syria today (Psa. 23:3b; 32:8).

   • All-wise God, guide Israel as it seeks to protect Syria's Druze communities (Psa. 5:8).

   • Make Turkey's Erdogan such a stink to both the US and NATO that America pulls its military base, which stores nuclear weapons, totally out of that nation (Psa. 9:19).

   • Lord of all, protect Your Body throughout the ME; help them to grow numerically and spiritually; and use them greatly to impact their nations for Your glory (Jer. 49:38a; Matt. 5:13-16; 16:18b).

7. Aliyah:

   Our God is regathering the Jews to His land – for His holy name's sake (Ezek. 36:22-24). All believers should be supporting this which is a literal answer to the first part of the Lord's Prayer: Our Father, may Your name be sanctified… may Your will be manifest on earth as it is clearly manifested in eternity (Matt. 6:9-10).

   • Abba Father, thank You for enabling us to be witnesses, watching You do exactly that which You have prophesied (Jer. 31:8-10; Zech. 8:1-8).

   • Lord Almighty, use the explosion of anti-Israel/anti-Semitic acts in the West to push Jews who have never even thought about making aliyah out of exile and back to Israel (Jer. 16:16).

   • Teach Your people the lesson of history that whenever Jews lived in gentile nations, a time would come when those nations could not, or would not, protect them (Deut. 28:37, 64-67; Psa. 137:3-4).

   • Abba, confront Jewish pride which says, "They will not chase us out!" and let them see that You are doing both the chasing and the drawing (Prov. 16:18; Isa. 43:5-7; Jer. 31:3-5).

   • Gracious Father, draw Jews home today with their silver and gold with them (Isa. 60:9).

   • God, bring whole families and communities back home together (Ex. 12:37-38; Jer. 31:3-5).

   • Lord, bring home Jews with practical, as well as medical and scientific, skills (Neh. 4:16-18).

   • Lord God, release Jews in those nations, like Iran, which stops them from leaving (Ex. 8:1).

   • God of Israel, replace any bureaucrat in Israel's Interior Ministry and the Jewish Agency who is lukewarm about aliyah, with those who are, like You, zealous for Zion (Zech. 8:1-8).

   • King Messiah, draw home a huge tsunami of immigrants all at once, and let it wash away every man-made barrier in Israel which makes aliyah more difficult than it needs to be (Psa. 66:6; 98:8).

   • Change the rabbinical definition of "who is a Jew?" to line up with Your definition (Psa. 119:116).

   • Lord, encourage Your Body to share with to their Jewish acquaintances their need to make aliyah as soon as possible (Gal. 4:16).

   • God of Israel, also move upon wealthy Jews and Christians to give abundantly to finance both the aliyah and the successful integration of new immigrants into Israeli society (Ezra 1:4; Isa. 60:9).

8. Salvation:

   Shabbat's Torah portion contains instructions for the cleansing of the leper. In the Bible, leprosy is symbolic of sin. The cleansing involves two birds – one killed and other dipped in the slain bird's blood and set free (Lev. 14:4-7). The two goats of the Yom Kippur offering (Lev. 16:5-10), is the only other example of two animals seen as one sacrifice. These offerings point to Messiah's Yeshua's death and resurrection in order that we can also be cleansed and enter into God's household.

   • God, may Your people truly contemplate why two birds are needed to cleanse a leper (Psa. 119:18).

   • As Jews often declare that they do not need a "mediator" between them and God, let the frequent assertions in the Torah that the priest makes atonement for the sinner prove to them that this teaching is not biblically correct (Lev. 4:20, 26; 5:6, 13; 6:7; 12:8; 14:18-20; 15:15, 30; 19:22).

   • Almighty Savior, fulfill Zechariah 12:10 and release Your spirit of grace upon Your people who are back in the land, and let many look upon and trust in Your Son (Psa. 2:11-12; Acts 19:20).

   • Lord, burden many believers to pray for all Israel to be saved today, and to focus on asking for this for Your holy name's sake (Isa. 45:25; 46:13; Ezek. 36:23-32; Luke 2:32; Rom. 10:1).

   • [Ask God if there is a specific group of Jews He wants you to intercede for during the next week.]

9. Body of Messiah:

   To pray in agreement with God's will to be fulfilled we need to see Him preparing the way for His Son's return today. And that centers on Israel's restoration and its place in His end time plans (Zech. 12:1-10, 14:1-4; Matt. 23:39). Yet for this to become clear, we must be familiar with all of His Word.

   • Messiah Yeshua, let Your Body see that the only Word of God You had, read and trusted in during Your time on earth was the Old Testament – the Tanach (Luke 24:44; John 5:46; 2 Tim. 3:15-17).

   • Lord, cause people in Your Body to no longer call themselves "New Testament believers," but let them use the more accurate term, "I am a Bible believer" (Luke 24:25-27, 44-45).

   • Restore the authority of all of Your Word in Your Body (John 17:17).

   • Lord God, by Your Spirit teach believers the biblical connections between aliyah, Israel's salvation and Your Son's return in glory (Psa. 53:6; 147:2; Jer. 31:1-10; Zech. 14:1-4; Matt. 23:39).

   • Abba Father, show the Body that it is very difficult to watch You fulfill end time prophecies today if they are unfamiliar with what Your Word says about these days (Luke 24:25:27).

   • Messiah Yeshua, cast out replacement theory from the Body (Eph. 5:27; 1 Tim. 4:1), and take with it all attitudes of Jew-hatred and Israel-hatred (Gen. 18:18; 22:18; John 4:22; Rom. 9:1-5).

10. IFI:

    It is not an easy task to keep up-to-date with the news, most of which is infuriating, as well as to keep our eyes on Yeshua (Heb. 12:2). We need your prayer support as we attempt to do that which is basically impossible for man – yet not for God (Jer. 32:17). Thank you also for your words of support and your financial gifts to this ministry.

Shabbat shalom, and blessings from Zion

Chuck Cohen, for the IFI team

Psa. 134:3