Last week we wrote: “Israel seems to be in a difficult place, both within and without.”  The situation continues to be perplexing and even confusing. Much is at stake, both because of pressure from the enemies of Israel, as well as the struggle within Israel for the path it should take.

We read Psalm 77 together and looked at its various sections, this to gain a foothold for our faith as we set our faces to pray and intercede for Israel. We will not quote the psalm here, but will only give the several sections and what we emphasized.

Psalm 77:1-4 The occasion of this psalm is some great trouble, either for the writer or the entire nation. He is under enormous pressure and anguish.  It is a day of trouble, and thus, in his anguish, he seeks the Lord through the night. His hand is stretched out to God, His soul is inconsolable. He feels overwhelmed and is so troubled that he is speechless.

Psalm 77:5-9 To his circumstantial troubles, is added the anguish and torment of inward thoughts. Has God cast me out? Am I out of His will and pleasure? Have his mercies ceased, has his promises failed? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Is He angry at me? All these kinds of thoughts greatly add to the anguish of one going through pressure, trouble, difficult circumstances. This is a double whammy for the believer.

Psalm 77:10-18 The writer turns to God. He begins to meditate and think along two lines: One - God’s great acts of redemption, His wonders, His acts, His works. Did not God redeem His people from Egypt? Did He not open the waters? Did not the earth shake at His appearance in Glory to redeem them? The second line is God’s own being, character, and nature. “Your way O God is in the Holy Place" (sanctuary). There He reveals Himself in His holiness (which is the sum total of all His attributes and being.) That, by the way, is what makes holiness beautiful, for it is Himself.

O what a double knockout to doubt and anguish. We remember what God has done (his track record if you will,) and we remember what He is like and how He is!

Psalm 77:19-20 God’s ways are hidden from us, we cannot see all His footsteps, we do not understand all His ways and what path He takes. But one thing is sure: He leads us as a shepherd does his flock, Not aimlessly, but with a purpose — He leads us to our inheritance, not just the Land, but our inheritance in Messiah. We have One who is better than Moses an Aaron. We have Messiah!

The psalm ends without resolution. We don’t know what happened. But by the end of it, we are confident that it is God who is the ruler of our circumstances, and no, He is not angry, nor has he forgotten his mercies, nor His promises!

We prayed along familiar lines, but so necessary to persist in: The Great Need of the Salvation of Israel. The great need of Israel for true leaders, statesmen and not just politicians. Israel's need regarding the great danger that is brewing from Iran and the like. And lastly for the Body of Messiah to awaken to its calling and position.

Praying for Israel’s spiritual redemption

• Lord, we are troubled by Israel’s condition, we have come back to the Land, but are in great bondage, we are as slaves to sin and unrighteousness. We are at enmity with you. We are blind, and we call upon you to open our eyes.
• We cried to God for Mercy
• We cried to God to reveal His Son and Our King and Redeemer
• We cried for the Lord to breathe on the dry bones, standing as a great army but lifeless
• We cried for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on our Land and that He might convict Israel of sin, and of Righteousness and of Judgment (John 16:8)
• We cried for the Word to rise in the Land with great power (we are the people of the Book, but it remains sealed to us!)

Praying for our leaders and for the coming elections
Ezekiel 34:10 Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them.” (And chapter)

• We prayed for leaders who will truly care for the nation
• We prayed for leaders who will be statesmen and not just politicians
• We prayed for leaders who will care for the weak and poor and powerless
• We prayed for leaders who will not sell out to the religious for power
• We prayed for integrity among the leadership
• We prayed for leaders with a vision for the country and not for their own greatness and success
• We reiterated Psalm 135:5 - God had a right to do whatever He pleases
• We declared that Yeshua is the true king of Israel, and thus, all of our leaders are ruling on borrowed authority!
• We pleaded with God for the outcome of the elections to be one that will set Israel right on the road God wants her to take through this time of turmoil and danger

Praying for our existential dangers
If Iran continues to go on the path it is on, war will inevitably break out. We are told that they can have a nuclear bomb within a year. Will Iran continue to do all in its power to desire to destroy Israel? Will it be allowed to develop an atomic bomb? Will Israel attack Iran? Will the US attack Iran? Where will Russia stand in all of this? What will the EU do, if anything?  

• We prayed for wisdom for our government
• We prayed for the right reading of the situation
• We asked the Lord to navigate Israel through these choppy uncertain waters (His way is in the sea!)
• We prayed that it will be the enemy that makes mistakes and not Israel
• We prayed that Israel will not hesitate to bring plans to action if and when the time comes
• We prayed into the US’s role in all of this
• We prayed for the people of Iran that they might be delivered from that monstrous regime
• We prayed for all the intelligence Israel needs
• We prayed for the Church in Iran
• We reminded the Lord of His redemptive plan for the nations (See Jeremiah 49)

Praying for the Body of Messiah

• We prayed that the Lord would awaken the Body here to its high calling as a priesthood
  
• We prayed that the Lord would awaken the Body to its calling to be part of the Kingdom of God and not of this world.
  
• We prayed that the Lord would, by His Word awaken the Body and call it to intercede and to serve Him as a priesthood.
  
• We asked the Lord to stir up the Body as in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah and Haggai and Zechariah. Turn your people from self purposes to serving You, O Lord.
  
• We asked for an undivided heart to walk with the Lord in this Land and to serve Him.
  

Thank you for standing with us. God bless you, abundantly.

Blessings from Jerusalem,

 

A time of perplexity
Ex. 14:1 Now, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
Ex. 14:2 "Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea.
Ex. 14:3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, "They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.'

The word for 'bewildered' in Hebrew can mean confusion (Est 3:15), perplexity. The NIV has it as, "wandering around the land in confusion."  

Leaving Egypt, Israel had come to a place, where the sea was before them, and the enemy was behind them, they had gotten themselves into an impossible situation, and to the Egyptians, it seemed as if Israel was just wandering around the desert in confusion.

Of course, they could not see that the same God who redeemed Israel from Egypt was leading them in the desert. But that is another story.

What we were struck with is that, at this present time, Israel seems to be in a difficult place, both within and without. There is political and moral confusion within Israel; [Bibi has just appointed two homosexuals to ministry posts, probably to win over the LGBT community]. What direction is Israel going to go? Super right, super religious, super left? There is confusion in the Land. Too, there are Israel's enemies who seem to be slowly gaining a better position to close in on Israel. No doubt this uncertainty, and confusion is weakening Israel, perhaps not militarily but certainly in its resolve to deal with its enemies.

Of course, you know, that although Israel was quite helpless and truly stuck, the Lord wasn't and isn't! He was the one who led Israel to the sea, to open it!  The Egyptians had it wrong, they were the ones who were walking (galloping actually) into a trap. In the end, it proved that they were the ones who were confused!

We prayed for Israel from this scripture along three lines: Political, Military, and Spiritual.

Political:

• We cried out to God regarding the moral confusion (as explained above) in the leadership of Israel.
• We pleaded with the Lord for His intervention in the affairs of state, to raise a coherent leadership that will have a clear view of Israel's needs and the many challenges she faces
• We prayed for the Lord to providentially cause the circumstances in the Land that will necessitate a balanced government.
• We prayed for the upcoming elections in September - and into the possibility of a unity government that will represent the whole nation without allowing extreme agendas such as the Far Right, or Orthodox or Extreme Left.
• We cried for a government that will not ignore the needs of the weaker population, that will be just and fair, that will have society's best in mind and practice
• We cried for God to deliver us from the deep corruption that seems to hold the government in its tentacles.
• We cried to the Lord for leaders who will have true vision and idealism to lead the country with responsibility and dignity and honor (we have too many officials who have served prison time, including a former president and a former prime minister.)

Military
Iran-Hezbollah-Hamas-Syria is a formidable enemy, sophisticated and cunning, possessed and fueled by a seemingly unending deep-seated hatred towards Israel and the Jewish people. They seem to be consumed one hatred - Israel.

• We thanked the Lord for our history - He has opened the "sea" for us many times.
• We thanked the Lord that He has led us to the Land (some of our enemies think we are "stuck" here, with nowhere to go or flee from them.)
• We blessed His name for the gathering of the Jewish people into the Land from the nations
• We expressed our faith in His sovereignty
• We expressed our faith in His power
• We expressed our faith in His Will - Mercy, and intention — Restoration
• We cried out for that 'sea' of impossibility to open
• We asked the Lord to deal with the enemy and fulfill His Word (Ezekiel 36:12-15)
• We thanked the Lord for the exaltation of His name in His dealing with those nations around us - Ezek. 36:36 Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it.

Spiritual
As a nation and a people, we do seem to be confused and bewildered. We are stuck in every way. Our long-standing rejection of Yeshua as Messiah still stands as a formidable barrier to entering our full inheritance. But as impassible and impossible as all this seems, God has promised to open the way, for He is The Way! He only can reveal His Son to our nation, He alone can pour out from heaven clean water, He only can evaporate 2000 years of estrangement from Him, to a reunion with Him in Messiah that is as miraculous and unthinkable as the opening of the Red Sea!

Zechariah 12 and Ezekiel 36 stand as great monuments to the Will, Power, and Faithfulness of God. We prayed much into these things.

• We cried to the Lord to open the eyes of blind Israel
• We cried to God to unstop the ears of deaf Israel
• We cried to God to return with great Mercies (Zech. 1:16)
• We prayed for the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon this People to give them repentance unto life
• We prayed for the Son of God to be revealed in all His majesty and beauty to our nation
• We prayed for the Word to arise and be made alive in the midst of our nation
• Salvation is all of God, all by Grace, all by your Sovereignty, all by your Power to save O’ Lord. Set the captives free dear Lord, reveal thyself that we might fall at your feet, shine your light in our darkness and set us free to be yours and forever yours alone. Come, dear Lord, and save your people!

 We prayed for the Body of Messiah in the Land
There seems to be much confusion and bewilderment in the Body, along three lines:
Confusion regarding the Word of God - much false teaching and error….
Confusion regarding what is truly of the Holy Spirit and what is not, in these days
Confusion about the life we are to live here on earth, as believers. We seem to be happy  with a blend of world and kingdom, all the while we are called to a sanctified life!

• We prayed for the Word to rise again in the Body as central in authority and power
• We prayed for the Word to be preached clearly in the pulpits
• We prayed for the cleansing of the Bride by the Word of God and by the blood of the Lamb
• We prayed for the work of the True Holy Spirit in our midst to sanctify and separate each believer from the flesh, dead works, and the love of the world
• We prayed for a genuine revival in the Body of Messiah, the return of confession of sin and for the humbling of ourselves when we gather together as a congregation or congregations.
• We prayed for a renewed passion for seeking the Face of our beloved Lord
• We prayed for a renewed desire for prayer in the Body
• We prayed for the leaders of the congregation — to lead in these things

Blessings from Jerusalem,