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How should we be praying for Israel ?

Effective Fervent Prayer Avails Much James 5:16

It has been on my heart for some time now, to makes some suggestions regarding how we should be fulfilling our call to 'Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem'. I don’t believe that it is as simple as praying for peace to come to Jerusalem. In fact, I feel that sort of prayer is a waste of precious time.

The Bible tells us there will be a 'Time of Jacob's Trouble' before the Lord's return. Peace will only truly come when the Prince of Peace comes to take up His Holy Throne in the city of the King, Jerusalem. Therefore we need to be very wise and pray for the changes to be brought about that will cause the gates of Heaven to open, thus releasing the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to return to planet Earth to rule and reign for 1000 years from His Throne in Jerusalem.

As I travel around the nations, I am pleasantly surprised at the constantly growing number of Christians, answering the call to Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. I have felt for some time now to suggest the following guide to those serious about fulfilling the call to pray.

1. GENERAL - By all means continue to pray as you have been in the past.

- for the political situation

- for the political leaders of Israel

- for protection against terrorist attacks

- for the salvation of the Jewish people in Israel and in the nations

- and more importantly, as the Holy Spirit leads

2. THE BELIEVERS FIRST - I believe that the Messianic Jewish part of the Body of Messiah is a direct fulfillment of Ezekiel 37:9 - dry bones who have had the Spirit breathed into them. (In Hebrew the word for breath Ruach, is the same word as for spirit) Surely as fellow members of the family of God, our primary prayer focus should be on the Messianic Body.

Here are some guidelines for prayer for our Messianic Jewish brothers and sisters.

a. UNITY - The Messianic body is very divided over many issues. This is a ploy of the Devil to keep us weak and ineffective. We need to pray for UNITY for the leadership in Israel and indeed amongst Messianic Jewish leaders around the world.

Also lets pray for UNITY and LOVE amongst the members of all the Messianic congregations

b. PROTECTION - The Messianic Body stands as a beacon in today’s world. We stand as a beacon to our own Jewish people, declaring that it is possible to believe in Yeshua and still be Jewish.

We also stand as a beacon to the Christians, declaring that the Lord is indeed in the process of RESTORING ALL THINGS AS HE SPOKE THRU THE HOLY PROPHETS (Acts 3:21).

The existence of Messianic Jews also stand as a beacon to the Devil, declaring that the fact that we exist is evidence of the closeness of his demise.

In light of the above 3 points, can you see how much the Devil must despise us and how intent he must be on aborting our destiny and calling.

When the Lord called Nehemiah to rebuild the Temple, the first thing Nehemiah did was rebuild the Altar. Next he rebuilt the Temple, then finally realizing that Israel still had enemies, Nehemiah commissioned the rebuilding of the wall. In our times, I believe the Messianic congregations represent the altar, and the members of the congregations are the living stones of the rebuilt Temple. What is needed again in our time, is to rebuild the wall, a wall of prayer, around this fledgling sector of the Lord's Body.

We represent a major milestone in the prophecied restoration of Israel, preceding the Lord's return. Will you be one of the Lord’s workers on the ‘wall rebuilding project’ ?

c. A PROPHETIC VOICE God has always spoken to Israel thru the voice of His appointed prophets. Israel needs to hear the Word of the Lord more than ever. In the midst of death and destruction from external

attack and also from disasters within, there is no-one speaking for God. Only a Messianic Jew can speak for God in Israel today. Please pray that the Lord will raise up a native born Israeli believer to be a voice crying in the wilderness here with in Israel.

d. A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS - The climax of Israel's restoration, after coming back to the Land and having the Ruach Ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit) breathed into us, is to fulfill the call of Ex 19:6 and Isaiah 2:3 - to be a light to the Nations. Out of Zion ministries has answered this call to take the Word out from Zion.

There are a few others who are also answering this call on the Jewish people, but the majority are yet to have the revelation. I believe there is a responsibility on the Messianic Jewish movement to be a light to the rest of the Church. One day ten Gentiles will reach out to take hold of the garment of a Jew ( Zech 8:23). It is time for the Messianic Jews to mature and be the light that we are called to be.

We need to pray for a rapid maturing of the Messianic Body, in Israel and world-wide - that the leadership especially, will have a revelation of the calling to the Nations and will begin to prepare their congregations to go to the nations.

The Church is called to provoke Jewish people to jealousy, but I believe first the Messianic Jews are called to provoke the Church to jealousy, so that the Church will seek to be restored to her Jewish roots and then she will have what it takes to provoke the Jewish people .

When all this comes to pass, the prophecies will be fulfilled, Heaven will release the Lord to return and then at last peace will reign in Jerusalem.

Church Leadership There is one other area in which we can pray for the Peace of Jerusalem – Lets pray for pastors & Church leadership to have a revelation of the relevance of the ongoing physical and spiritual restoration of Israel. Also that they would have a revelation of the need to take the Church back to her roots, her Jewish roots and that ultimately, the Church will be restored to the power and the glory of the Acts Church of the 1^st century. Then she will have what it takes to “provoke the Jewish people to jealousy”.

The Lord Bless you and keep you as you pray for Israel and the Messianic Jewish believers ............

David Silver

Ministries