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Prayer and Intercession November 23, 2017

11/23/2017

Every Wednesday evening we gather for intercession for the restoration of Israel. The following is shared with you to help you in your own praying and interceding

These are prayer directions rather than prayer points.
We want to leave room for the Holy Spirit to lead you and your group to pray as you are led.

If you would like to receive these Prayer Directions regularly, or
If at any time you want to be removed from the list, please write us at:
ofer@israelprayercenter.org

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Psalm 96 The Lord reigns…..He is coming!

This wonderful psalm breathed by the Holy Spirit through the heart of the writer is full of hope and anticipation. The Holy Spirit breathed hope, and faith and promise and truth, through the heart of the writer, for His time and His need to have faith. He can do the same for you, by making these God-breathed words alive to your heart.

Psa. 96:1 Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Psa. 96:2 Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
Psa. 96:3 Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
Psa. 96:4 For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
Psa. 96:5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.
Psa. 96:6 Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Psa. 96:7 Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Give to the LORD glory and strength.
Psa. 96:8 Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts.
Psa. 96:9 Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.
Psa. 96:10 Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.”
Psa. 96:11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
Psa. 96:12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the LORD.
Psa. 96:13 For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.

Salvation of Israel
What a promise we have of the coming salvation! What hope is in these words: “Proclaim the good news of His salvation!” He is coming to save us; He is coming to remove the veil from our eyes, He is coming to save us from our guilt and shame and sin.

What a bright light of hope this shines in the praying heart, as we reflect on the current state of our people! We are blind; we are in bondage, we are burdened with sin and religion. There are much sorrow and corruption…

But the worst of all is that He has hidden His face from our people.

And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. Deut. 32:20

But He is coming with salvation! And He will hide his face no more. Ezek. 39:29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

We shall see Him whom we have pierced: “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn." Zech. 12:10

Have you noticed that both scriptures indicate a mighty work through the power of the Holy Spirit?

We prayed for that flood and out pouring of the Holy Spirit to remove the veil, to grant us repentance, to break the heart of our nation and open its eyes to see The Son of God, the Son of David, our Savior and King.
We prayed for the outpouring of the cleansing flood, Ezekiel 36:5
We prayed for the cleaning fire Isaiah 4:4
We prayed for the coming glory of God and the return of the presence of God Isaiah 4:5-6

The Body of Messiah

Quite naturally, we were moved to pray for the Body of Messiah in the Land along the same lines.

We prayed for the cleansing fire,
We prayed for the Spirit of Repentance, for heart-brokenness… Some of the world’s dust has clung to our “feet,” and we prayed for the washing of our feet in the pure water of the word.

The Nations and Israel’s security
The Iran-Syria-Russia axis is a good current example of why the Word of God proclaims that the Lord reigns and that the earth shall not be moved. We would be overwhelmed without this reassuring word.

There does not seem to be any moral consideration in what the nations are doing, only the lust for power, influence, and need for resources seem to be the motive of world affairs. The nations are under the power of the prince of the air, but God has His agenda — redemption!

The Lord will not leave the fate of the nations and the earth in the hands of the devil or the nations.

Psa. 96:10 Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.”
Psa. 96:11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
Psa. 96:12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the LORD.
Psa. 96:13 For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.

We prayed for the Lord to restrain the nations
We prayed for God’s providential intervention in the affairs of man, in the earth, in nature.
We prayed: Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven!
We prayed for the Lord’s protection of Israel in light of the great and rising threat to her from this alliance of Russia-Iran-Syria Isaiah 37:35 (is an example of God’s intervention)
We prayed for the judgment of God of the nations (judgement is a good thing; just as God’s love is Holy Love, so are his judgements Holy judgments)

Israel’s government
Israel’s leadership is bogged down by suspicions of corruption, and also by a terrible government system of parties that hampers good government. Israel cannot afford to be weakened from within as it faces existential threats.

We cried to the Lord: Give us the leaders we need.
We prayed into God’s promise to give us good shepherds Jer. 3:15
We prayed for a leadership that would best serve God’s purposes for Israel at present
We prayed for a change in the system of government to better serve God’s purposes and the people of Israel.
We prayed for wisdom, and discernment for the political and military leaders of our land.
We prayed God’s mercy to grant us a clean, healthy balanced and strong government. (It’s tall order, but then again, the Lord reigns, The Lord is great, the Lord has made heaven and earth. The Lord is awesome and the Lord is gracious!

Thanks for standing with us in prayer for Israel and the nations

Blessings from Jerusalem

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Prayer and Intercession - November 17, 2017

11/17/2017

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Israel

Current Security Issue

Israel is on heightened alert.
In the South and near Tel-Aviv, several Iron Dome anti-rocket, rocket batteries have been deployed. This has been done following the blowing up of an attack tunnel dug from Gaza into Israel. Several high ranking Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed in the collapse of the tunnel.

In the North, armored units have been put on the alert and are deployed strategically. (As reported to me by a congregation member who went up north on business.)
The situation in Lebanon and Syria is unstable, and things could flare up.

An ancient hatred
“Because you have had an ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end,Ezek. 35:5

"Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession, with wholehearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country.” ’ Ezek. 36:5

The verses above reflect Edom’s hatred against Judah and Israel, expressed in their violence during Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonians. These verses reveal quite accurately the hatred of most of the Islamic nations surrounding Israel today. Different people, same hatred, same desire to destroy her.

God’s Promise
Ezekiel 35-36 spell out God’s answer to this evil.

Firstly He would desolate and judge this hatred.See Ezekiel 35:15, Ezekiel 36:6.
Secondly, He would redeem the land from its desolation Ezekiel 36:8-9
Thirdly He would resurrect the Jewish nation. Ezekiel 36:24

Salvation and restoration to God
Fourthly He will save His people and sanctify them. Ezekiel 36:25-27

The promises of God are breathtaking in their scope and depth. They express such mercy that is hard to take in, and at the same time, they awaken such a longing for their fulfillment.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and idols” Eze 36:25

Can you imagine a whole nation being cleansed in this way?

“I will give you a new heart” Eze. 36:26
“[I will] Put a New Spirit within you” Eze 36:26
“I will put my Spirit within you” Eze. 36:26

What grace!

Fifthly…and best of all, God’s goodness leads Israel into a deep heartbrokenness. Eze. 36:31

And the result? A national reunion with God as His believing and saved people!

"Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God." Ezek. 36:28

We were taken up with this unfathomable grace God has promised and prayed along the lines of the scriptures, including Israel’s security needs, and God’s involvement in protecting her and preserving her unto the great fulfillment of His Will.

Praying for the International situation
Psalm 46 expresses a tremendous and frightening upheaval among the nations.

"The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted." Psa. 46:6

Although this is so, it also is quite clear of God’s care for His people while all of this unfolds in the earth.

Although the nations rage, God’s hand is in the matter Psa 46:6.
God is in the midst of His people Psa. 46:7
God provides for His people Psa. 46:4
God will help His people Psa. 46:5
God will put an end to all of this raging Psa. 46:8-9.

There is upheaval in the whole world: Millions of refugees are flooding Europe, there is trouble

In the Middle East Iran is the big troublemaker. She is bent on dominating the whole Middle East, especially the Arab nations, and is hell-bent on destroying Israel.

One outcome of Iran’s madness is the sudden interest of Saudi Arabia in Israel; this was unthinkable some years ago.

Read here, an interview with Gadi Eisenkot, Israel’s chief of Staff, by a Saudi correspondent. It will give you a good idea of the danger of Iran, not just to Israel but her neighbors as well.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-first-ever-saudi-interview-idf-head-says-ready-to-share-intel-on-iran/?

In all of this, we were reminded of God’s sovereignty over the nations - Isaiah 40:15
HIs sovereignty over kings - Daniel 4:34-34, Daniel 4:37
His sovereignty over events - read the book of Esther

We prayed along these lines, asking God in ll earnestness for His intervention and mighty hand over Iran (did you know that last week Iran experienced a big earthquake?)

We prayed for the Lord to direct events that would serve His purpose in the earth, and in Israel. His will is life; His will is salvation, His will is restoration. May the Lord pour out His spirit also in Iran and save multitudes.

Body of Messiah
We were led to pray along three lines for the Body of Messiah in the land:

Worship - From what we have seen, worship, not only in Israel, has become a performance rather than a true and real worship of the Living God. One of the effects of this is that people in the congregation don’t truly worship the Lord; they just watch the concert. There is excitement for sure, but little worship. There is a soulish and emotional high, but one is often left with a feeling that we have not met God.

We prayed for a real move of God to bring us back to Himself in this all-important matter.

The Word

We prayed for the rising of the Word in the Body of Messiah.
We prayed for the centrality of the Word within congregations.
We prayed for the Word of God to become precious again to believers.
We prayed for a revival of the preaching of the Word of God in every congregation.
We prayed for God’s people to read the Word, study the Word, obey the Word.

Separation - Its no secret, we look the world and behave like the world too much. What we need is to be separated, not in proximity but in our hearts, values, and behavior. There is much compromise in the Body of Messiah. It is time we heed the Word of God in 2Cor. 6:16-7:1

We prayed for a mighty awakening and a visitation from the Lord to bring about the fear of God back into our hearts. We need a mighty sweep of the true Holy Spirit to bring a separation from the love of the world to the Body of Messiah.

Blessings from Jerusalem,

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Praying for Israel - Is Israel's security guaranteed?

11/10/2017

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I have absolutely no doubt in my mind as to the outcome of Israel’s restoration in the last days; it will be glorious. “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he has prepared for him that waits for him.” Isaiah 64:4

The promises of God to Israel are as good as done, (in that they are sure). For “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" Num. 23:19

Heaven and earth will pass away but His words, will by no means pass away. Matt. 24:35

But it is this very confidence, that we have, that can lead us into a ‘laid back’ attitude in prayer regarding Israel’s security and current struggle against its enemies (too numerous to list here).

I have often found a ‘breezy’ attitude among our dear Christian friends who care deeply for Israel and God’s restoration plan for her. It is not uncommon to hear Christians dismiss Israel’s foes lightheartedly citing scriptural precedents and events where God powerfully intervened on Israel’s behalf to save her from her enemies. (See Joshua 10:10-11, 2Chronicles 20, Isaiah 37:36-38)

This kind of attitude unnerves me, to be honest.

There have been times when Israel’s future lay in the balance; such as in 1973, in the Day of Atonement war. So desperate was the leadership, that Moshe Dayan repeatedly “used a phrase that he would repeat in the coming days to the dismay of all who heard him. “The Third Temple,” he told Peled, “is in danger.” (“The Third Temple was a metaphor for the modern state of Israel.”) 1

Having lived through this war, and having tasted that war as a reserve soldier, I can tell you that I cannot and will not take Israel’s existence for granted.

“To envision a failure of the air force on top of a failure of the intelligence services would be pushing imagination to the point of perversity. Even more difficult to imagine was Egyptian infantry stopping Israeli armor. If anyone of these scenarios became a reality, it would pose a major challenge. If all three became a reality—meaning neutralization of the IDF’s intelligence, air force, and armor—Israel faced catastrophe.” 1

There was a failure on all of those three factors. This happened for many reasons which we cannot go into, but the reality was that Israel had failed to prepare for such an existential war that it was facing. Presumption, arrogance, misguided thinking all blinded Israel’s leaders, both political and military, which put Israel in grave danger.

One would think that Israel learned its lesson once and for all. Not true! We have, in the past, also underestimated Hezbollah as a ragtag enemy that could easily be dispatched, and we have minimized Hamas as well.

None of this is meant to depress us or discourage us, but rather to awaken us to earnest in prayer. We must battle in prayer for the Word of God to be fulfilled. We must contend with God in the same manner that many of those who have gone before us have.

In all the biblical events cited above, in which God intervened, earnest prayer was an active ingredient. Joshua prayed while fighting a battle, Isaiah and Hezekiah prayed in the midst of a siege, Jehoshaphat's prayed in the midst of an invasion. Earnest prayer was lifted to the Lord in the face of a real and present danger. None of these men presumed God would ‘do something’ just because they were God’s people, or because they were God-fearing, God seeking and God-loving men. They prayed and God answered!

Modern day examples of earnest prayer battles abound. Just read “Rees Howells Intercessor”, or, “Samuel Rees Howells, A Life of Intercession: The Legacy of Prayer and Spiritual Warfare of an Intercessor.”

Interestingly that book recounts the prayer battle the Bible College engaged in, during the Day of Atonement war.

“In October 1973, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (as the nation was in solemn contemplation), there was a surprise attack on Israel from her neighbours, who were heavily armed with military technology from the Soviet Union. Samuel called the College back to prayer as the Holy Spirit led through another spiritual conflict characterised by many great miracles. After the great victories of this intense spiritual struggle, Samuel aged sixty-one celebrated the triumph of their intercession, as he read reports of the battle to the College. “In the Yom Kippur War, with Egypt’s greater numbers they should have been in Beersheba within twenty-four hours. The Arabs had more weapons and better weapons. In the early stages of the war, three out of every five Israeli jets were shot down. Israel suffered terrible causalities. Then Egypt crossed into Sinai, and the Syrians took much of the Golan Heights. Egypt and Syria should have beaten Israel.” Then Samuel praised the Lord for answered prayer. “If God hadn’t intervened in the Sinai Desert and if He hadn’t intervened in the Golan Heights everything would have been over. With the arms at the Syrians disposal, they should have been in Tiberias at the end of the first day. Who saved that nation? It was the Lord!” 2

Thank God for those intercessors. While Israel was fighting for its life, the intercessors were fighting for Israel in the heavenly realm. God did intervene; the Day of Atonement war ended with an amazing victory, but we should not forget the huge cost of life for that victory. The failure of the leadership in Israel prior to the 73’ war, was dangerous and extremely costly in human lives and materiel. In the same way, abandoning prayer, or praying without a true sense of the need, or without an understanding of the seriousness of the situation will prove costly.

God is sovereign, but that should lead us into intercession not into presumption. God is sovereign, but he looks for intercessors (Isaiah 59:16, Isaiah 64:7)

We should be as watchmen who are left to guard, to watch and pray while the rest of the city is asleep. We should continually lift Israel and her leadership, before the Lord that they should be awake and make ready to face all eventualities.

May the Lord stir your heart, awaken it both to the promises but also to the dangers Israel faces today. And may you be led to give yourself to intercession and prayer.

Blessings from Jerusalem,

PS: I highly recommend all three books mentioned above. The Yom Kippur War by Abraham Rabinovitch has been recently updated to include information that was recently unclassified.

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1 Abraham Rabinovich. “The Yom Kippur War.”
2 Maton, Richard A.; Paul Backholer; Mathew Backholer. Samuel Rees Howells, A Life of Intercession: The Legacy of Prayer and Spiritual Warfare of an Intercessor

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Prayer and Intercession November 23, 2017

Prayer and Intercession - November 17, 2017

Praying for Israel - Is Israel's security guaranteed?

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