Jerusalem, Israel
November 22, 2023 PRAYER UPDATE
Israel and the Nations
THE HOSTAGE
SITUATION:
We need to keep pressing on in prayer,
with a keen focus on the hostage situation -- that ALL of the captives will
be set free, not just some of them.
THERE ARE TWO KEY
ISSUES – THE LORD’S DESIRE TO SEE MORE FAITH RISE UP IN ISRAEL; AND, ABOUT
GREATER SHAKINGS IN THE LAND.
(1) FAITH increased in Israel!
HEBREWS 11:32-39:
And
what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson,
Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith
conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who
shut the mouths of lions, quenched the raging fire, and escaped
the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in
battle, and put foreign armies to flight.
Women
received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and
refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and
imprisonment.
They
were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went
around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and
mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.
These
were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised.
God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be
made perfect.
(2) THIS WAR IS A GREAT SHAKING IN THE LAND! GOD WANTS US TO COME UP HIGHER – TO SEE FROM THE LORD’S THRONE ROOM PERSPECTIVE:
Hebrews 12:22-28:
But, you have come to Mount Zion, to the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to
thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the
Church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have
come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made
perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a
new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than
the blood of Abel.
See to it that you do not refuse him who
speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them
on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from
heaven? At that time his voice shook
the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the
earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of
what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may
remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence
and awe, for our “God is a consuming
fire.”
AFTER THE WAR IN
GAZA:
On November 19, 2023, the Palestinian
Authority in Ramallah denied that Hamas carried out the horrible massacre at
the Rave festival near Gaza. Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) actually accused Israel
of carrying out that massacre. In the past he denied the existence of the
Holocaust, and today he is denying the existence of the Hamas massacre.
The same spirit is operating through
this Palestinian leader in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), as it is through the
Hamas leaders, Yahye Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.
This is a key point because there is a
great focus now on the “day after” Israel is finished in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
made this point about Mahmoud Abbas because the root of the issue is how the
Palestinians are educating their children. It’s about the fact that Abbas
rewards terrorists with money; those who committed crimes against Israel.
After Mahmoud Abbas put his comments
on social media platforms, the Biden Administration, reportedly, demanded that
he remove his messages, which he did.
The issue here is that the U.S., along
with other nations, eventually wants the Palestinian Authority to take over the
authority of Gaza. And, look at who the
Palestinian Authority represents (in the comments of Mahmoud Abbas?)
This is a wake-up call for us to pray…
Luke 12:2: “There is nothing concealed that will not be
disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.”
To the hunters
who are hunting down God’s people, we declare, according to Jeremiah 16:17:
“My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin
concealed from my eye.”
Let’s agree together in prayer before
the Lord; who is watching over Israel, and over the Jewish People, globally;
that He will continue to reveal those voices who ae denying the truth, so that
HIS righteousness, justice, and truth, will prevail over every situation before
Israel and the nations in Yeshua’s name!
ISRAEL’S NORTHERN BORDER WITH LEBANON:
One of Israel’s goals on the northern
border has been to push back Hezbollah’s Radwan forces, so that Israeli
citizens can return to their homes, safely. However, Israel’s main target is
Beirut where the heads of Iran’s proxy forces are located.
Hezbollah did not enter into a
full-scale war in the north, but rather created friction in the war with
Israel.
While cooperation with the U.S. has
been unprecendented, Israel has been restricted by the U.S. on the northern
border. There are diminishing degrees of
strategy for Israel to act on because of what the Americans consider important,
in order to avoid a full multi-arena war. It is holding Israel back from
accomplishing its military goals, but most Israeli officials accept that the
benefits of American support are worth it.
One of Israel’s national security
officials is currently in the region, checking to make sure the war does not
escalate in the north.
Meanwhile, military officials claim
that the security situation in the north should be changed, completely, to
provide self-confidence and security to Israeli citizens, so they can return to
their homes. If northern residents see Hezbollah’s Radwan forces along the
northern border, they will not go back to their homes.
Israelis that live in the north are in
a state of fear, thinking that there will be terror inside their communities in
the future. So, Israel’s military officials realize they need to do something
dramatic to change the environment. Israel is not planning to go into a
full-scale war. However, if necessary, Israel will do so. The IDF could do
heavy damage to Lebanon by an aerial campaign. But, again, Israel is restricted
by American policy in the Middle East.
Israel has gone to the UN, demanding
that the UN cause Lebanon to comply with UN Security Resolution 1701 (passed by
the UN after the Second Lebanon War). Israel will use convincing statements to
address the international community of what is not acceptable. Israel will
insist that they are able to work with the United Nations and UNIFIL to push
back Hezbollah’s Radwan forces to the Bekah Valley or north to the Litani
River. If that does not work, Israel’s military forces will take the conflict
on the northern border to the next stage. The next stage will be more violent.
Israel cannot accept the situation as it is now, where thousands of people have
been displaced from their homes.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, head of
Hezbollah, is on Israel’s map of targets. He is on the IDF’s radar, but it is a
matter of context. Israel is not planning automatic action against Nasrallah.
It has to do with intelligence gathering, and benefits to Israel’s national
security. Israel is fully capable of going after Nasrallah.
PRAYER POINT:
This is an assurance prayer for the residents of the north in Israel, as we proclaim they will overcome their fears and lean on God’s safety, protection and salvation that is available to them:
PSALM 139:
O LORD, You have
searched me and known me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my
thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of
all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it,
O LORD.
You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand
upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to
attain.
Where can I go to escape
Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed
in Sheol, You are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the
farthest sea,
even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will
hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light
become night around me”—
even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines
like the day, for darkness is as light to You.
For You formed my inmost
being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous
are Your works, and I know this very well. My frame was not
hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the
depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days
were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are
Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!
If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of
sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.
O God, that You would
slay the wicked—away from me, you bloodthirsty men— who speak of
You deceitfully; Your enemies take Your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those
who rise against You?
I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them as my
enemies.
Search me, O God, and
know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any
offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.