Last year Minister of Defense Barak announced a successor to the important position of Chief of General Staff over Israel's military forces. His name is Major General Yoav Galant. This choice was also made with the threat of Iran in mind as Galant is known to be a very tough and capable commander and Israel is right now facing the most severe challenge to its existence since its founding in 1948. Galant was due to be sworn in as Chief of General Staff on February 14. However, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein that he can not defend the appointment of Maj. Gen Galant as the next IDF Chief of General Staff due to legal complaints against Galant in the Supreme Court. Maj. General Yair Naveh has been appointed to temporarily take Galant's place for 60 days following February 14 until a new successor has been chosen. In other words,at the moment Israel only has a temporary leader over its armed forces. This is a very dangerous situation and certainly needs our prayers.
God is in Control
Psalm 46 commands us in the midst of upheavals and uncertainties to be still and know that God is in control.
The whole earth melts when the Lord utters His voice. He is fully capable of defending His people. Yet, He has commanded us to pray day and night without ceasing for His will to be done.
If We Have Ever Needed to Pray for Israel It is NOW!
With the powerful Scripture from Psalm 46 in mind let us pray and intercede for Israel. Here are a couple of prayers from the Jewish Prayer Book that we can agree on:
“Our Father in Heaven, Rock and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel, the first manifestation of the approach of our redemption. Shield it with Your lovingkindness, envelop it in Your peace, and bestow Your light and truth upon its leaders, ministers, and advisors, and grace them with Your good counsel.
“Strengthen the hands of those who defend our holy land, grant them deliverance, and adorn them in a mantle of victory. Ordain peace in the land and grant its inhabitants eternal happiness. Lead them, swiftly and upright, to Your city Zion and to Jerusalem, the abode of Your Name, as is written in the Torah of Your servant Moses: “Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, from there He will fetch you. And the Lord your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers.”
“Draw our hearts together to revere and venerate Your name and to observe all the precepts of Your Torah, and send us quickly the Messiah son of David, agent of Your vindication, to redeem those who await Your deliverance. Manifest yourself in the splendor of Your boldness before the eyes of all inhabitants of Your world, and may everyone endowed with a soul affirm that the Lord, God of Israel, is king and his dominion is absolute. Amen forevermore.
“May He who blessed our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, bless the soldiers of the Israel Defence Forces, who stand watch over our land and the cities of our Lord, from the Lebanese border to the desert of Egypt and from the great sea to the verge of the wilderness, on land, in the air, and at sea.
“May God strike down before them our enemies who rise against us. May the Holy One save and spare our soldiers from all forms of woe and distress, of affliction and illness, and may He invest their every action with blessing and success. May he vanquish by their means those who hate us, and may He adorn them with a crown of deliverance and a mantle of victory. Thus may the verse be fulfilled: "For it is the Lord your God who marches with you to do battle for you against your enemy, to bring you victory. Now let us respond. Amen"
Prayer points:
• Pray that when nations roar and kingdoms fall, God will strengthen his people and remove all fear, especially among the leaders!
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.” (Ps 46:1-6)
• Pray that God will protect and watch over Israel and all its borders!
“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemies before you, saying, ‘Destroy them!’ So Israel will live in safety; Jacob will dwell secure
in a land of grain and new wine, where the heavens drop dew. Blessed are you, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword.
Your enemies will cower before you, and you will tread on their heights." (Deut 33:26-29)
• Pray especially that God will give wisdom to the leadership in Israel regarding this present crisis in the Middle East!
“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. …He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.” (Dan 2:20-21)
• Pray that God will place the right person as the next Chief of General Staff over the Israeli Defense Forces!
"No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt themselves. It is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.." (Ps 75:6-7)
• Pray that God will glorify his name by delivering Israel from Iran's death threats!
"‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’ The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." (Ps 46:1-6,10-11)
• Pray that God will pour out his Spirit of grace and supplication on Israel!
"O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you." (Isa 30:19)
Taken from Elijah Prayer Army newsletter
No comments:
Post a Comment