1. Praise:

   When we focus on the headlines, it is often hard to praise our God. Yet when we read God's lines, like Isaiah 52:7-8 in Shabbat's prophetic portion, we cannot help but praise Him: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings [Modern Hebrew word for "the gospel" comes from the same root]; that publishes peace;…that publishes salvation [yeshu'ah]; that says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!' Your watchmen shall lift up their voice together and sing, for they shall see eye to eye, when YHWH shall bring again [or "return to"] Zion. (Isa. 52:7-8)

   • Abba Father, we bless You for continually encouraging us with the reality that despite what we see, or hear, You do indeed reign (Psa. 24:1; 93:1; 96:10; 97:1; 99:1; 146:10; Matt. 11:25).

   • Lord Yeshua, we proclaim You are the Lord of heaven and earth today (Matt. 28:18; Acts 10:36).

   • God of truth (Deut. 32:4; Psa. 31:5; Jer. 10:10), we acknowledge that Your Son and Your Word are both true and the ultimate truth (Psa. 119:142; Dan.10:21; John 14:6; 17:17).

   • God, thank You for teaching us to trust You when we do not have a clue as to what You are doing or allowing – either in our lives or with Israel, Your nation (Job 12:9-10; Prov. 3:5; Isa. 50:10).

2. Government & society:

   God tells us to pray for those in authority (1 Tim. 2:1-4). As we obey, we ask Him to guide our prayers. And as we persistently intercede for Israel's political leaders, we do often see Him working in them – and are often amazed at just how He does it (Prov. 21:1).

   • Lord Yeshua, as You possess all authority in the universe today (Matt. 28:18), and as we trust You, and not Israel's leaders; please continue to guide us very specifically in prayer for them (Prov. 16:9).

   • God Almighty, once more we ask You to promote Israel's sons and daughters of Zion and use them to replace the sons and daughters of Greece in every influential position (Job 34:24; Psa. 109:8).

   • Abba Father, You have placed Bibi Netanyahu as Israel's leader (Dan. 4:32), so anoint him and use him to achieve Your will – yet nothing else (Ex. 31:3; Psa. 80:17; Prov. 21:1; Phil. 1:6).

   • God, let Deuteronomy 17:18-20 in the Torah reading encourage Bibi to read Your Word daily and open his eyes to gain great encouragement in You and in Your Word (1 Sam. 30:6; Psa. 61:2).

   • Lord God, surround him with wise and godly advisors and real friends (Prov. 17:17; 18:24; 27:6).

   • Abba, unite Israel's coalition and turn them all into children of Zion for just this time (Zech. 9:13).

   • Lord, give them wisdom when to speak and more importantly, when to be quiet (Eccl. 9:17).

   • Righteous Father, even with the coalition's focus on Israel's multi-faceted state of war – please use Deuteronomy 16:18-20 in the Torah portion to quicken them to the urgent need for judicial reform.

   • God of mercy, use Isaiah 51:12-13 in Shabbat's prophetic reading to bring comfort to all Israelis who are grieving today, regardless of the reasons.

   • God, as You see how the over-the-top hostage demonstrations are turning most Israelis against the demonstrators, please step in and heal this rift in Israeli society (Prov. 6:16, 19; Ezek. 37:22a).

3. "Operation Gideon's Chariots II" is the IDF's current battle plan to defeat Hamas and rescue the hostages. It focuses on "occupying" Gaza City, eliminating Hamas terrorists and destroying their infrastructure in there and in the surrounding areas. Yet although Israel will also continue to negotiate with Hamas, it will only agree to end the war if all the hostages, or their bodies, are released at once, Hamas is totally disarmed, and then "friendly forces," which thankfully do not include the Palestinian Authority, oversee Gaza's future. Even then, Israel will maintain overall security in the near future.

   • Lord Yeshua, in this situation which often produces contradictory media reports, we plead with You to speak clearly to us so that we can pray in line with Your will (John 10:27).

   • Let Israel take advantage of what seems to be a very pivotal time in its history in a way that brings it victory and brings You the greatest amount of glory (Psa. 31:15; 32:6-7; 81:2-7; 119:126).

   • Thank You God that the diplomatic-security cabinet has stuck to its decision to defeat Hamas and to attempt to rescue the hostages primarily through military means (2 Sam. 23:10, 12).

   • God, Israel's goals for the war as listed in the introduction above are in line with how You have been leading us in pray, so we ask You to hold Bibi and the coalition to these goals (Psa. 50:15; Jer. 33:3).

   • Abba Father, You know the dire conditions of the hostages still alive; arise and pour forth Your anger against their demonized captors and set them free (Psa. 7:6; 21:9).

   • Lord God of Israel, we recall how You threatened the spiritual ancestors of Islam [Edom; Mt. Seir] based on their eternal hatred of Your people and ask You to fulfill that word today (Ezek. 35:5-6).

   • God, You do not change (Mal. 3:6), therefore as You did with Gideon, download wisdom to the IDF to possess divine strategies and tactics that surprise, divide and defeat Hamas (Judg. 7:16-18).

   • Almighty Creator, open up the earth and swallow all remaining Hamas tunnels, while at the same time protecting any living hostages who are caged down there (Deut. 11:6; Psa. 146:7).

   • King of kings; let this war end only when You decree it (Psa. 46:9; Eccl. 3:8b).

   • Lord God, in mercy pour out Your energizing spirit to replace the weariness of this war from off the IDF (Isa. 5:27; Joel 2:7), and off of Israel's society as well.

   • Lord of lords, use Deuteronomy 20:3b-4 in the Torah portion to renew the strength, courage and motivation of the IDF troops fighting in Gaza (Isa. 40:28-31).

   • Messiah, let Your light shine brightly through all genuine believers among the Gazans (Matt. 5:16).

   • God of Israel, if this war's conclusion rests on Israel's willingness to possess all of Gaza, then we ask You to move upon Israelis and their leaders to commit to do just that (Judg. 2:1-4; Prov. 16:9).

4. Foreign relations:

   We are seeing Psalm 2 coming to pass in today. Nations are enraged against God and His anointed – Israel. [While Psalm 2 primarily relates to Messiah Yeshua, the Anointed of God, yet in Psalm 105:15, He also calls Israel His anointed (Note the context – Psalm 105:11-15)].

   • Almighty Ruler, watch over Your declaration in Psalm 33:10-11 today.

   • Lord God, use Israel's circumstances of being trashed by most nations to bring Numbers 23:9b to pass, and guide us so that we do not pray against it as if it would be a bad thing (Psa. 50:15).

   • King of kings, You have set up today's world leaders (Prov. 8:15; Dan. 2:21a), so use them, like You did with Pharaoh, Cyrus and others – for Your holy name's sake (Rom. 9:15-23).

   • Lord God, we look to You to arise and fight against these arrogant nations who desire to divide Your land (Lev. 25:23), knowing that You see them as the United Nothings (Isa. 40:15, 17, 23).

   • God Almighty, declare Isaiah 7:7 and 8:9-10 against these threats, making them null and void!

   • Lord God, thank You for anointing Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon, Minster of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli and other Israeli representatives who are speaking the truth boldly against the global threats and lies that attack against Your nation (Isa. 2:3b).

   • Abba, we bless You for Sa'ar repeatedly stating that there will be no Palestinian State on the land which You swore to give to Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 15:18).

   • King Messiah, if You want Bibi to speak at the UN General Assembly meeting in September, then prepare him so that his words will be a prophetic warning to those nations (Jer. 1:8-10; Ezek. 2:6-7).

   • We praise You for hearing that the UN is running out of funds and ask You to accelerate this process and bring this anti-Semitic, anti-Christ Babylonian organization to a sudden end (Rev. 18:10).

   • Lord, as Western nations threaten to recognize a Palestinian state on Your land, wake up believers in those nations to pray against this assault on Your covenant promises (Ezek. 22:30; Zech. 12:9).

5. Internal security:

   God is hearing our prayers as more Israeli leaders and citizens want Israel to extend its sovereignty over more of its land. This is partly a reaction against the push from many nations and international NGO's to divide God's land and establish a Palestinian State (Rom. 8:28), as well as an answer to the prayers of the saints for God to do that which He said He would do with all of His heart and all of His soul (Jer. 32:41-44).

   • Abba, as Jews read Deuteronomy 19:8 in the Torah portion convince many more that the extension of sovereignty and the enlargement of Israel's land is 100% in line with Your will.

   • Lord God, burden all of Your Body to pray for these promises concerning the land to be fulfilled as You clearly say that they are for Your name's sake (Psa. 87:2; 115:1-3; Prov. 3:12; 1 Thess. 1:3).

   • God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as You are jealous over Your land (Ezek. 36:5-7), obliterate all plans to create a "Palestine" on it – whether from "friends" or foes (Psa. 103:19; Zech. 14:1-3).

   • Lord God, anoint Finance Minister Smotrich and Defense Minister Katz in their efforts to increase the building of Israeli facts on the ground in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley (Amos 9:14-15).

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

   • We praise You Lord that during 2025 Jews have had tremendous freedom to ascend to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and at times even to pray and praise You openly while up there (Psa. 100:4-5).

   • Lord God of hosts, uproot Your enemies from Your land - suddenly (Psa. 125:3; Jer. 12:14-17).

   • Abba, guide the IDF as it uncovers and stops arms smuggling attempts into Israel (Job 12:22).

   • Lion of Judah, empower the IDF to fulfill Numbers 24:8-9 in Judea and Samaria (Psa. 125:3).

   • Lord God, in line with Your promise, create a devastating fear and dread of the IDF upon all of Israel's enemies inside of Your land (Ex. 23:27; Deut. 11:24-25; Josh. 2:9-11; 2 Chr. 20:29).

   • Direct armed civilians to the right place at the right time to help stop terrorist attacks (Josh. 4:12).

   • King Messiah, the Palestinian Authority is part of Israel's problem, so divide them internally and set them and Hamas against each other whenever, or wherever, they interact (Job 38:13; Psa. 129:5).

6. External security – Middle East [ME]:

   It does not shock us, or Israel that Iran has refused to agree to a deal with any nation or NGO about curtailing its nuclear programs and allowing unrestricted UN oversight. Yet it seems to have shocked many in the West. Once again, differences between a worldview based, even loosely, on biblical principles and those based on the Quran are so far apart that naïve Western leaders just do not comprehend why Iran is responding so negatively.

   • Abba Father, You have not regathered Israel in order that it can be destroyed again (Amos 9:14-15), so arise and scatter Your enemies who hate You and Your people (Psa. 68:1; 83:1-4).

   • Lord God, give Israel Your priorities as it faces multiple threats surrounding it (1 Chr. 19:10-13).

   • God of Israel, we praise You for how You are fulfilling Jeremiah 49:35-38 in Iran today.

   • King of kings, increase all internal division inside Iran's government and let it collapse (Luke 11:18).

   • God Almighty, scatter these radical Shi'ites who theologically delight in war (Psa. 68:1, 30b).

   • Lord of hosts; prepare Israel to deal militarily with any attempt by Iran to further its development of a nuclear weapons program – with or without American support (Isa. 31:1).

   • God, show Israel and America that Qatar is in reality an enemy-state (Job 12:17-25; Psa. 120:6-7).

   • Lord of all, aid Israel's intelligence services to know what Syria's current leaders' real intentions are in relation to Your nation (2 Kin. 6:8-12; Psa. 27:11-12a).

   • Lord God, use the talks of de-escalation between Israel and Syria to weaken Turkey's influence, both in Syria and throughout the rest of the ME (Ezek. 29:15).

   • King of kings, use Turkey's wicked President Erdogan for Your glory like You did with Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar and many other leaders in history (Ex. 9:16; Eccl. 8:8b; Rom. 9:17).

   • God, use the hatred between Turkey's Sunni leaders and Iran's Shi'ite leaders to divide them and contribute to the fall of the Islamic spirit over the ME (Psa. 40:14-15; 55:9).

   • God Almighty, as Israel continues to attack Hizbullah's efforts to rebuild in Lebanon, use that to support those Lebanese who desire to free themselves from Hizbullah's evil influence (Isa. 14:2b).

   • May You be glorified by Israel's ties with the Druze and the Kurds in the ME (Prov. 17:17).

   • Messiah Yeshua, guard over Your Body in the ME; let them grow numerically and spiritually; and teach them to bless and pray for Israel and the Jews (Num. 24:9b; Jer. 49:38a; Matt. 16:18b).

7. Aliyah:

   God is regathering the Jews for His name's sake (Ezek. 36:22-24). Believers should be supportive of this as it is a huge answer to the first part of the Lord's Prayer: Our Father in heaven, may You name be sanctified…may Your will be done on earth as it is in eternity (Matt. 6:9-10).

   • Lord God, as per Jeremiah 23:3-4, thank You for regathering the remnant of the house of Israel, for making them increase and be fruitful and now please set over them righteous shepherds.

   • Also Heavenly Father, quicken the fulfillment of Ezekiel 28:25-26 so that as we see an increase in aliyah, we also see the destruction of Israel's enemies, and ultimately all Israel being saved.

   • Lord God, draw Your people home in grace and mercy (Isa. 54:7; Jer. 31:3), yet if they resist, use the growth of anti-Semitism to so shake them that they turn their hearts to Zion (Jer. 16:16; 51:9-10).

   • Abba Father, allow Your hunters to make Your fishers even more effective (Jer. 16:16; Rom. 8:28).

   • Almighty King, stop Jewish leaders from struggling for the "right" of Jews to live in "peace and safety" among gentiles, and instead let them urge their communities to come home (Jer. 51:9-10).

   • Lord God, teach Your people history's lessons that when they live among the gentiles, at some point those nations could not, or would not, protect them (Deut. 28:37, 64-67; Psa. 137:3-4).

   • Lion of Judah, release the Iranian Jewish community to be free to return to Israel (Isa. 43:5-7).

   • Abba, continue to use Israeli Minister of Aliyah Ofir Sofer to clear out even more bureaucratic stones of stumbling from the way of Your people coming home (Isa. 62:10).

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

   • Messiah Yeshua, teach Your Body their biblical responsibility to help Jews to make aliyah through prayer, finances and by good words and works (Isa. 49:22; 60:1-12; 61:5; Rom. 15:26-27).

8. Salvation:

   We are in the Jewish month of Ellul – known as the month of repentance. Every morning many Jews attend synagogue, blow the shofar and pray prayers of repentance, trying to be right with God before His fall feasts begin. Ellul is a great time to pray for "all Israel to be saved"!

   • Abba, as Your people seek You, reveal Your Son to them (Prov. 8:17; Jer. 29:13).

   • God of Israel, please remove that partial blindness which You put upon most Jews from Messiah Yeshua's day until today, and show them their true Messianic King (Isa. 45:15; Rom. 11:25-26).

   • Let them see how their sin was carried away by the Sin-bearer, Your Son Yeshua (Isa. 53:3-6).

   • Abba Father, cause many of Your people, in Israel and in the captivity, to ask You about the Prophet in the Torah portion whom through Moses You promised to them (Deut. 18:15, 18-19).

   • Lord Yeshua, reveal Yourself to all sons and daughters of Zion in Israel (Zech. 9:9; 14:1-4).

   • Abba Father, increase a biblical fear of You in the lives of many Israeli Jews (Psa. 85:9; Acts 13:26).

   • Lord Yeshua, walk through Samaria again, showing Yourself to Jews living there (John 4:25-26).

   • Give dreams and visions of Your true nature to the Jews living in Judah (Joel 2:28; Rev. 1:10-18).

   • Lord God Almighty, move upon Jews living in Jerusalem to accept Your Son and to start even now crying out, Blessed is He who comes in the name of YHWH (Psa. 118:26; Matt. 23:39)!

   • Lord, show secret Israeli believers when and how they should confess You openly (Matt. 10:32).

   • King Yeshua, in the power of Your Spirit let Your glory shine through all believers and give them wisdom and sensitivity on how to provoke Jews to jealousy (Matt. 5:14-16; Rom. 11:14).

   • [Ask God about a specific group of Jews whom He wants you to stand in the gap for this week.]

9. Body of Messiah:

   When the Lord Yeshua returns, He sits on David's throne as Israel's King Messiah and judges the nations from Jerusalem. Satan is also judged and exiled for a long time. Thus he is furious with Israel's restoration as it shows that his time is short. That so many believers are blind to this spiritual reality, and do not see what the true battle over Israel is all about is an indictment revealing the Body's biblical anorexia and prophetic illiteracy today.

   • Lord God, use Isaiah 52:9-10 in the prophetic portion to affirm to believers the link between Israel's last days restoration and the message of the gospel being sent to the ends of the world.

   • God, move on the Body to trust in the ultimate truth of Your Word (John 17:17; 2 Thess. 2:10-12).

   • Lord, let gentile believers see that their eternal destiny is tied in with Israel and not with their birth nations (Eph. 2:11-22), and then use them as ambassadors for Your Kingdom (2 Cor. 5:20).

   • King Messiah, speak to Your Body of the necessity of praying for their governments – including those which are anti-biblical, anti-Christ and anti-Zionist (2 Tim. 2:1-4).

   • Also Lord, guide Western believers to pray about the spirit of Islam that is invading their nations and manipulating their leaders to turn their backs on Israel (Eph. 6:12).

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

   • Burden believers to seek You on how they can "provoke to jealousy" the Jews (Rom. 11:11).

10. IFI:

    We thank you for your faithfulness in prayer for us and in supporting us financial, as well as with your words of encouragement. May His blessings rest on you exceedingly abundantly more than we can think or imagine.

Shabbat shalom, and blessings from Israel

Chuck Cohen, for the IFI team

1 Thess. 5:23-24