1. Praise:

   Having to put up with US President Trump's addiction to ceasefires, and watching him stop Israel from gaining a total victory over Hamas, and Iran and Hizbullah twice, since Oct. 7th 2023, makes one frustrated, angry and wondering why God is allowing this. And that is my real problem – a belief in God's total sovereignty. Yes, Satan is active and dangerous and hates God's people, Israel and the true church, yet nowhere in scripture is he seen as anything other than a created being that is called the Adversary – which is what "satan" means in Hebrew. So to encourage myself and most likely many of you as well, I offer the following verses:

   • YHWH reigns; He is clothed with majesty…Psa. 93:1a; see also 96:10a; 97:1; 99:1

   • YHWH has established His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all.Psa. 103:19

   • How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good news, that publishes peace; …that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, 'Your God reigns!'Isa. 52:7

   • Ah Lord YHWH; behold, You have made the heaven and the earth by Your great power and Your outstretched arm, and there is nothing too difficult for You.Jer. 32:17; cp. v. 27

   • Yeshua said to His disciple just before His ascension: All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and in earth. (Matt. 28:18; cp. Dan. 7:13-14)

   • Peter being led by the Spirit to speak to gentiles: The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Yeshua the Messiah: He is Lord of all! (Acts 10:36)

   • Lord Yeshua, my Lord and my God, I believe – please help my unbelief (Mark 9:24).

2. External security:

   The two week ceasefire between the US and Iran is somehow still in place. Last night, we were told of a two week ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that Trump literally pressured Israel to agree to – although Israel was not fighting Lebanon but Hizbullah! He is blind to the fact that among Islamic radical regimes or terrorist groups – mere survival is seen as victory over their enemies. With issues affecting Israel moving so fast today, and all of the contradictory media reports, it is a battle to keep up with what is really happening, how God wants us to pray and how to write this alert.

   • Sovereign Lord, Your thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Isa. 55:6, 8-9), therefore be very clear and precise as You guide us in prayer (Psa. 10:17; Amos 3:7).

   • Abba, release a fresh anointing on Israel's intelligence services, spies and collaborators, as well as on those who decipher the data to discern what is essential and what is not (Eccl. 8:5b).

   • Lord, we suspect that Isaiah 66:14-16 in Shabbat's prophetic portion will not be totally fulfilled until Your return, yet we are asking for a down payment of that promise to come to pass now!

   • Iran: Thank You God that Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu, a realist and a student of history, just about every day now reminds Israel that the war against Iran is not yet over (1 Chr. 12:32).

   • Abba, rule over the drawn out negotiations between America and Iran and finally show Trump and his administration that Iran has mastered the ability to stall for time to rearm (Eccl. 3:8).

   • Lord God, You revealed in Jeremiah 49:38b that Your goal for Iran is a total regime change – thus we again pray for that to come to pass as soon as possible (Num. 23:19).

   • Lord, it is clear that You have hardened the hearts of Iran's current leaders, so prepare Israel and the US for a renewal of the war in order to gain a complete victory for Jacob (Ex. 4:21; Psa. 44:4).

   • God, reveal to them Iran's Achilles heel and let it be struck relentlessly until victory (Josh. 5:13-6;5).

   • Almighty King, use America's closure of the Straits of Hormuz to drain all the remaining finances from the radical Shi'ite regime that is still running and totally ruining Iran today (Job 20:12-19).

   • Abba Father, reveal to America and Israel where Iran is hiding it enriched uranium and guide them by Your wisdom to know how to deal with it (Eccl. 9:18a; Isa. 54:17a).

   • Messiah Lord, hide and protect all Israeli spies or collaborators physically in Iran (Psa. 138:7).

   • Almighty God, Iran's attacks on its Arab neighbors are an answer to prayer for its leaders to make geopolitical mistakes, therefore use this for Your holy name's sake (Job 12:23-25; Psa. 68:1; 30).

   • Lord Yeshua, use this war to increase the building up of Your throne in Iran through the supernatural growth of the Iranian Body of believers (Jer. 49:38a), and please supply all their needs (Phil. 4:19).

   • Hizbullah in Lebanon: Lord God, use Israel as Your weapon of war to totally destroy Hizbullah and through this set both northern Israel and Lebanon free (Prov. 28:15: Psa. 9:5-6; Isa. 14:5).

   • Trump's ceasefire deal with Lebanon includes the disarmament/destruction of Hizbullah, so Lord God if that is not followed through, release Israel to deal with them by itself (Psa. 9:6; 41:10-11).

   • Abba, the deal includes the right of Israel to defend itself – but why is Israel the only nation that needs others' permission to defend itself or to even recognize its right to exist (Deut. 29:29)!

   • Lord of hosts, allow Israel to continue to wipe out all supply lines that feed the Hizbullah monster both in South Lebanon and in all of the rest of that nation (Psa. 34:16; 75:10a; 143:12).

   • God, uncover all of Hizbullah's weapons caches, tunnels and hiding places to the IDF (Job 28:11b).

   • Make the IDF even more Your weapon of war against this major Iranian proxy (Jer. 51:20-24).

   • Lord God, supernaturally protect all IDF soldiers on the ground in Lebanon (Deut. 33:29; Psa. 3:3).

   • Abba, please protect them against all successful kidnapping attempts (Psa. 32:7; 121:4).

   • Lord, thank You for Israel creating a buffer zone in all of South Lebanon and we ask You to work so that it remains part of Israel, as it is part of the Promised Land (Deut. 11:24; Josh. 19:24, 31-32, 39).

   • Other issues: Lord, protect Israel's diplomatic dealings with Syria's government (Psa. 5:8; 31:3).

   • God of Abraham, let Israel be preparing for any wars against Turkey President Erdogan's evil plans against Your nation and his anti-Christ like moves to rule over much of the ME (Prov. 16:18).

   • King Messiah, whether sovereignly or through Israel, please guard over the Kurds in the ME against attacks from either Syria's current regime and/or from Turkey (Psa. 7:9, 11; 11:5).

   • Lord Yeshua, guard over Your Body in the ME, especially in Iran today (Jer. 49:38a; John 16:33).

3. Government & society:

   The next Israeli government will face very serious issues. Will the next US president be pro-Israel? Will Hamas still rule in parts of Gaza? Will Iran still be an enemy? Then there are the internal issues of judicial reform and the extension of Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. So we continue to intercede into the upcoming Israeli elections.

   • Sovereign Lord, overrule so that the elections are held in Your perfect timing (Eccl. 3:1).

   • Almighty King, prepare the hearts of Your people to vote so that the next government will have many more sons of both Issachar and Zion than even the current one (1 Chr. 12:32a; Zech. 9:13).

   • Abba, let the elections diminish the sons of Greece from having political influence (Psa. 75:4-7).

   • God of Abraham, protect Your people from all ungodly influences which try to deceive them from voting in line with Your will for Israel today (Psa. 33:30; 115:9-11).

   • We bless You Lord for giving Israel a leader like PM Bibi Netanyahu a this time (Est. 4:14b).

   • King of Judah, shield him from every mental, emotional, physical and spiritual attack aimed at him from world leaders, other people or from demonic forces (Psa. 3:3; 115:9-11).

   • God Almighty, do not let him or the other coalition politicians view everything that they say and do now through the filter of what is best for them concerning the elections (Matt. 6:34).

   • God of Abraham, guard over all of Israel's leaders from assassination attempts (Deut. 33:29).

   • Lord, forbid that the next government lose any ground which the current government has gained – in the physical, political, social and spiritual battlefields in Israel (Ex. 14:15; Luke 9:62).

   • Abba Father, let the next government have the courage to pass the much-needed judicial reforms that will bring Israel's judicial system more in line with Your will (Acts 4:19-20).

   • Lord, let the Supreme Court's interference with Security Minister Ben-Gvir's oversight of the police based on their disagreement with how he does things be the final dictatorial move by these unelected judges which unifies most of Israeli society to demand judicial reform (Deut. 16:18, 20),

4. Foreign relations:

   The growth of hatred against the Jewish State today is a fruit of most of the world's hatred of Israel's God (Psa. 83:14). To declare, as God does in the Word, that He is the One True God is now very offensive to most humanistic Westerners, and debated by those of other faiths who worship other gods. Yet Israel's restoration in line with biblical prophecy proves that the Bible is both true and the truth. Thus Israel, as a living witness of the biblical God, is hated.

   • Lord God of Jacob, do not keep silent as more nations press Israel to essentially commit suicide and not defend itself so that this living witness of Your existence and glory is destroyed (Psa. 83:1-4).

   • Abba Father, use Turkey's president and foreign minister's public threats against Israel, including the threat to invade it, to open Trump's eyes to how wicked Turkey's current leaders are (Psa. 141:4).

   • God, reveal to Israel, and to many believers, that most global NGO's today, including the UN and EU, are part of a modern Tower of Babel, and imbued with the spirit of anti-Christ (1 John 2:18, 22).

   • Abba Father, if the recent recognition of "Palestine" by many nations is part of Zechariah 12:2-3's fulfillment, then reveal that to us so that we can pray in line with Your will (Amos 3:7).

   • Thank You Lord that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar boldly defends Israel on the world's stage and we ask You to honor him with another influential position in the new government (1 Sam. 2:30b).

   • Son of Man, anoint all believers who intercede for their nation's relations with Israel and let those requests be an open door for Your mercy to enter their nations (Ezek. 22:30-31: cp. Isa. 60:12).

5. Gaza:

   Hamas is refusing to disarm despite Trump's "Board of Peace" begging Hamas to do it. Also, the billions of dollars that nations promised have not been deposited. Meanwhile, the IDF is preparing to finish the war that Hamas started on 10/7 and the sooner the better.

   • God of Judah, continue to overrule the Board of peace, and let Your plans prevail (Prov. 19:21).

   • Abba Father, fulfill Deuteronomy 32:35 over Hamas and destroy them completely.

   • Lord God, once the war in Gaza restarts, anoint the IDF to accomplish a great victory (2 Sam. 23:10, 12), and let Hamas be snared in the traps they are currently setting for Israel (Psa. 7:15-16).

   • King Messiah, may You alone have the final say as to when this war ends (Ex. 15:3; Psa. 46:9).

   • Thank You Lord that after 10/7 many more Israelis want to retake and resettle Gaza (Judg. 1:18).

   • Abba Father, we pray for You to fulfill Your day-after plans for Gaza (Zeph. 2:4-7).

   • King Yeshua, build up, protect, and give boldness to all Arab believers in Gaza (Matt. 16:18).

6. Internal security:

   Israel's current government has made great progress in planting facts on the ground in Judea and Samaria, including just approving dozens of more new settlements. These prayer answers encourage us to persist in prayer and to ask for the next government to take the baton and finish the race – a complete extension of sovereignty over all of God's land-gift to Israel west of the Jordan River.

   • We thank You God that even in Leviticus, as in Shabbat's Torah portion (Lev. 14:34a), more than a dozen times You tell Your people You are bringing them into the land of Canaan to possess it.

   • Lord God of Abraham, use this Torah reading to again confirm to Jews wherever they are that You were – and are – are serious about giving them Your land as their inheritance (Lev. 25:23).

   • God of Isaac, let Your promises inspire Israel to spread its tent pegs over the land that You swore to give them, despite what other nations or global NGOs might say (Psa. 105:5-12; Isa. 54:2-3).

   • Lord Yeshua, burden Your Body to pray for Your will to be done concerning the land as its fate is linked with the sanctification of Your name (Psa. 87:2; 115:1-3; Prov. 3:12; 1 Thess. 1:3).

   • Rock of Jacob, bless the efforts of Israeli politicians to extend sovereignty over Your land and give those who do this increased influential positions in the next government (1 Sam. 2:30b; Prov. 12:2a).

   • Messiah Lord, abundantly bless Israel's plans to develop its North and the Negev (Jer. 24:6; 32:44),

   • We praise You Almighty One for using the Oct. 7th Hamas attack, and all ensuing attacks, to push Israel to extend its security borders outward over more of it God-give inheritance (Rom. 8:28).

   • We also thank You that while terror attacks have increased, most fail, and no successful kidnappings of Jews, in or outside of Your land, have occurred since Oct. 7th 2023 (Psa. 50:15; 121:4; Jer. 31:10)!

   • Lord God, provide angelic protection over Israeli shepherds and farmers who are being attacked by local Palestinian gangs on an increasing basis (Psa. 3:5-8; 23:4).

   • God, prepare the IDF to war against the Palestinian Authority's Security Forces as they have been training as an army and also have many more men than agreed to in the Oslo Accords (Psa. 23:5).

7. Aliyah:

   It is God's will for Jews to return to their land as Israel's salvation and His glory is tied in with this (Ezek. 39:28-29). Yet today, even in the face of massive anti-Semitism, a majority of Jews still live in "the captivity." Only He knows what it will take to release them from their false "comfort zones," and so we ask Him to do that – yet with as much mercy as possible (Isa. 54:7).

   • Lord, it is a bit confusing whom the pronouns are referring to in Isaiah 66:19-20 in this Shabbat's prophetic portion, yet we know You are no confused and so we ask You to fulfill it at this time.

   • Abba, let there be more encouragement from Israelis and from Israel itself to Jews still stuck in the captivity that today is the day to come home (Psa. 137:4-6; Isa. 12:4-6).

   • God of Israel, regather to Your land a huge remnant of Western Jews (Jer. 31:10; Zech. 8:7-8).

   • Abba Father, as Jews see the shabby attempts that gentile nations make to protect them and compare that to the lengths to which Israel goes to protect its Jews, remove all fear and let them respond to You drawing them home to Zion (Psa. 107:2-3; Isa. 27:12-13; 49:11-12; Jer. 31:3-5; Ezek. 11:15-20).

   • Lord, we ask that one of the major blessings from Operation Roaring Lion will be the return to Zion of the approximately 10,000 Iranian Jews who are presently trapped there (Isa. 11:11-12; 43:5a).

   • Faithful Lord, watch over Ezekiel 28:25-26 and as aliyah increases also remove Israel's surrounding enemies as You reveal to many Israelis their King, Messiah Yeshua.

   • Lord Yeshua, show more Christian Zionists the centrality of aliyah to Your end-time plans (Isa. 43:5-7; Jer. 31:10; 32:41; Zech. 12:3-10).

8. Salvation:

   Shabbat's prophetic reading starts with Isaiah 66:1-2 where God emphasizes that those who truly believe His Word are the ones to whom He looks. The issue of unsaved Jews returning to read and study His Word as opposed to the words of men – no matter how learned they are – is a constant refrain in our prayers for Israel's salvation.

   • Father God, put within Your people a deep thirst for a relationship with You (Jer. 29:13-14), and turn them to the Tanach to find in it wells of refreshing living waters (Isa. 12:3; 55:1).

   • We thank You for Paul writing in 2 Timothy 3:15 that the Tanach has all the truth needed to prove Yeshua is Messiah, so please reveal Him to many Jews who actually do read all of Your Word.

   • King David's God, turn Your people away from the humanistic rabbinic teachings and let them feast on Your Word instead and by that create in them a biblical mindset (Psa. 80:3, 7, 19: Jer. 15:16).

   • Messiah Yeshua, turn many Jews to actually read the New Testament for themselves (Acts 19:20).

   • Lord, give dreams and visions to Your people of Messiah Yeshua glorified today (Rev. 1:9-18).

   • Lord God, send out many more laborers into the various Jewish harvest fields (Matt. 9:37-38)

   • [Seek the Lord concerning what specific groups of Jews He would like you to pray about this week.]

9. Body of Messiah:

   I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse [i.e. make little of; denigrate; despise; treat with contempt; ignore] you (Gen. 12:3a). Believers must know that God's declaration to curse those who curse Abraham and his seed applies to them as well. While Yeshua set us free from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), He did not set us free from the curse of this promise. "Cursing" Israel (Num. 24:9b), or the Jews, brings God's curse on the Body. Is this why we see a disregard and even an arrogance of many in the Church against Israel and the Jews?

   • Lord Messiah, reveal to all believers that You are still King of the Jews (Rev. 5:5; 22:16).

   • God the Son, burden Your Body to renounce all proud and racist attitudes towards the Jews or Israel, and to instead bless Your people and Your nation (Prov. 8:13; Isa. 37:23; Rom. 11:17-18, 22).

   • King Yeshua, teach Your Body about their spiritual link to Your promises to the Jews and how a lack of gratitude towards Your people grieves Your Spirit (Rom. 11:11, 18-22; 15:27).

   • Abba Father, raise up more voices in the Body who will openly condemn rising anti-Semitism and the spread of lies in their nations – about Your nation (Rom. 11:16-24; 15:27; Eph. 2:11-13).

   • Lord Yeshua, reveal to Your Body how Jews being restored to Your land is of utmost important to You (Zech. 8:1-8), and turn them to intercede for this, Your will, to be done (Luke 11:2).

   • For those who hesitate to pray into politics, Lord Yeshua remind them that You are the Ruler over the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5), and that You tell them to pray for the authorities (1 Tim. 2:1-4).

10. Water:

    We are reaching the end of the rainy season in the natural here in Israel. Yet God is not limited to the normal seasons so please ask Him for rain out of season as well.

11. IFI:

    Thank you for holding our hands up in prayer, especially at this time.

Blessings and Shabbat shalom

Chuck Cohen, for the IFI team

Isa. 66:10-13 [from Shabbat's prophetic reading]