PRAYER UPDATE FROM ISRAEL
(July 27 2010)
“A land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates,
a land of olive oil and honey . . .” Deuteronomy 8:8 (See Torah
Portion below). An old olive tree in the Ben Hinnom Valley of Jerusalem.
1. “AND I WILL SAVE THE CHILDREN…”
“The children you will have, after you have lost the others,
will say again in your ears, ‘The place is too small for me’…For I will contend
with him who contends with you, and I will save your children’” (Isaiah
49:20, 25. From this week’s Torah Portion—see below).
“Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say
to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is
in heaven” (Matthew 18:10).
“Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and
wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion” (Isaiah
8:18).
The headlines this past week were appalling: “Natanya Man Suspected of
Brutally Murdering His Three Children”; “The Mind Cannot Fathom Such
an Act”; “Dad Suspected of Murder Reenacts Killing”. Yet this
sort of news story is far from a rarity in Israel. A recent report by the
National Council for the Child shows that in this tiny nation at least forty
children have been murdered by their parents[both fathers and mothers] in the last seven years (Emphases ours. “40 kids killed by parents in
7 yrs: JPOST.COM,1455 IST, July 26, 2010.). Since her rebirth in 1948
Israel has found herself under almost continual threat from enemies without—
yet the enemies within continue to eat away, especially focusing on the young.
In a different yet related story, the Knesset on Wednesday unanimously passed
a law banning alcohol sales in convenience stores and the like between the
hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Further, if police see young people drinking in
public parks, they are now allowed to confiscate the bottles and pour them
out. During the course of bringing the bill into law, Prime Minister Netanyahu
declared that “We are at the onset of an epidemic!” citing these statistics, “According to the World Health Organization, Israel is second in the
world in consumption of alcohol by 11-yearolds, and the rate of consumption
among 15-to-17-year olds is over 50 percent” (Emphases ours). In recent years “Supermarkets” (24-hour convenience stores) have
sprung up all over the country. The merchandise most likely to be seen being
purchased at check-out counters in the evenings is vodka and high-energy drinks—and
the purchasers are most often young.
PLEASE PRAY:
*For mercy and protection on the generation of children and young people
presently arising in Israel—that their light will not be snuffed out. Pray
for angels to be released “on behalf of those who will inherit salvation”.
* An anointing of courage, hope and power on the young believers in the Israel—that
they will not only survive, but truly be “for signs and wonders” in Israel,
releasing salvation and deliverance to their fellows.
*That the government and law enforcement agencies will stand firm in enforcement
of the new laws regarding the sale and public consumption of alcohol.
*For the power of God to be released in the Body of Messiah—that the Messianic
Congregations may become skilled in moving in an anointing of spiritual discernment
and the casting out of demons so as to break bondages and set people free.
There are tremendous pressures on parents in Israel, especially those who
have immigrated and are trying desperately to survive and support their families
in a new and very competitive society. Powers of darkness prey on these people
to bring them into bondages and despair; ultimately, it is the children who
suffer the most.
2. GREECE AND ISRAEL
This week witnessed the first visitation of a Greek prime minister to Israel
in decades. Mr George Papandreou met with President Peres, Prime Minister
Netanyahu, and Israel’s Foreign Minister and the Opposition leader. He also
met with Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas. From the meetings in Jerusalem,
Greece appears desirous to move into closer cooperation with Israel in the
areas of finance (Greece has been in severe economic straits in recent months),
technology…and even military alliance. This marks a sharp turnaround indeed—Greece
was the only nation in Europe which did not support the founding of Israel
in 1948, and has in many ways maintained a negative stance towards the Jewish
State ever since. It was George Papandreou’s father Andreas who moved Greece
away from cooperation with NATO and the US and, as one writer recently put
it, “extended his hand of personal friendship to Yasser Arafat, and turned
Hellas [i.e. Greece] into a Muslim and terrorist friendly nation in the early
80’s.” The nation’s President recently released a very negative statement
regarding the “flotilla” incident two months ago. And yet, the Prime Minister
this week visited us and the subject included the two nations’ common ground:
Mr Netanyahu pointed out that “Jerusalem and Athens provided the basis for
Western civilization—Mr Papandreou spoke of the Holocaust, in which many Greeks
were killed; “We too say ‘never again’”, he said.
It is interesting that with the quickly cooling relations between Israel
and Turkey, they should suddenly begin to warm with Greece, a country which
has been no friend of Turkey for years. And that friendly overtures should
suddenly develop as the small nation finds itself in financial woes which
are threatening the economy of the whole region seems less than convincing.
Yet, we are in contact with believers in Greece, intercessors repentant on
behalf of their nations past attitude towards Israel, who are strongly hoping
and praying that this most recent gesture signals a true turnaround ordained
by God.
PLEASE PRAY:
*That if the overtures for coexistence between these two countries are
genuine, they will be vindicated and God’s blessing will nourish them. That
Greece and its foundered economy may become a testimony to the truth that
blessing instead of cursing God’s Covenant people brings a nation as well
as individual people into a positioning for receiving divine blessing (Genesis
12:3; 27:29b).
*For God’s mercies over Greece, his Spirit to anoint and lead intercessors
in the Body there in how to pray most effectively for their nation and for
its relation with God’s covenant Land.
* Pray for God’s Kingdom to Come in Greece and Israel—and that peace will
come into place between these two nations. Isaiah 66:18-21 is interpreted
by some to include both Javan (Greece) and Tubal (located in ancient Turkey)
as having the Light of God’s Glory declared to them by dispersed Jews (which
they both did in ancient times), and as eventually assisting Israel in returning
to the Land, and with some of them (vs. 21) being chosen by God to serve among
Israel as “priests and Levites” in a future Messianic Kingdom.
3. PRAY FOR GOD’S STRENGTHENING AND ENCOURAGING MERCIES OVER THE BODY
OF MESSIAH IN IRAN. This week we received a report from a reliable source
estimating that presently 5000 Iranians a month are coming to salvation!
PRAY FOR angelic protection for these new converts. PRAY
THAT God will guide Israel and her allies in how to deal with the growing
nuclear threat—for a way and timing in which it may be effectively dealt with
without triggering great loss of life and destruction…THAT THE STRANGLEHOLD
OF RELIGIOUS DARKNESS BE BROKEN AND GOD’S REDEMPTIVE PURPOSES OF GOOD FOR
PERSIA WILL PREVAIL.
This week’s Torah Portion:
From ancient times there has been a weekly portion (Parasha) from
the first five books of Moses (The Torah) and an ending (Haftarah)
from the Prophets read on the Sabbath in synagogues around the world. This
portion is given a Hebrew name drawn from the opening words of the Torah passage. An illustration of this practice appears to have been recorded in
Luke 4:16 where Yeshua (Jesus) arrived in the synagogue in Nazareth and was
asked to read the portion (Isaiah 61) from the Prophets. We have found that
in perusing these weekly readings, not only are we provided opportunity to
identify in the context of God’s Word with millions of Jewish people around
the world, but very often the Holy Spirit will illumine specific passages
pertinent that week in our intercession for the Land and people of Israel.
All texts are those of English translations of the Scriptures.
The Parasha reading for 25-31 July 2010 is entitled: “Ekev—Follow/Come
to pass”.
TORAH: Deuteronomy7:12—11:25
HAFTARAH: Isaiah 49:14—51:3
*Deut. 8: 3. “He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and
fed you with manna…that he might make you know that mankind shall not live
by bread alone; but by every utterance of the LORD’s mouth does the human
live.”
*Deut. 8:7. “For the LORD your God is bringing you into
a good land…”
*Deut. 8:16. “…that He might humble you and that He might
test you, to do you good in the end---“
*Deut. 9:5-6. “It is not because of your righteousness
or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but
because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God drives them
out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the LORD swore
to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore understand that
the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your
righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
*Deut. 10:16-17, 21a. “Therefore circumcise the foreskin
of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. For the LORD your God is God
of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome…He is your praise…”
*Deut. 11:11-12. “but the land which you cross over to
possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of
heaven, a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD
your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end
of the year.”
AS MENTIONED LAST WEEK, this season’s Haftarah continues to speak
words of comfort to Zion. The scriptures below and others in this passage
may be used powerfully in praying for Israel to recognize her Comforter—and
for the Body of Messiah to walk as He walked before its fellows in the land.
*Isaiah 49:15-16. “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet
I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.”
*Isaiah 49:25b-26. “For I will contend with him who contends
with you, and I will save your children. I will feed those who oppress
you with their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as
with sweet wine. All flesh shall know that I, the LORD, am your Saviour,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
*Isaiah 50:4. “The Lord YHVH has given me the tongue of
disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens
me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple.”
*Isaiah 50:6-7. “I gave my back to those who strike me,
and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover my face from
humiliation and spitting. For the Lord YHVH helps me, therefore, I am not
disgraced; therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know that I will
not be ashamed.”
*Isaiah 51:1-2. ”Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
who seek YHVH: Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry
from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave
birth to you in pain; when he was but one I called him, then I blessed him
and multiplied him” (NASB).
*Isaiah 51:3. “For YHVH will comfort Zion, He will comfort
all her waste places. He will make her desert like Eden, and her arava like
the garden of YHVH; Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and
the voice of melody!”
[The readings for next week August 1-7 “R’eh” will be: TORAH: Deuteronomy
11:26—16:17; HAFTARAH: Isaiah 54:11—55:5]
