While my previous prayers have served as a basis for prayers today, such as the ones posted by my ministry, I have privately been at a loss for words because of the emotional anguish over what is taking place in Israel. Until yesterday. While I have still drawn from previous prayers, God has given me thoughts and a fresh prayer that I would like to share with you.
October 17, 2023
An oracle: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. “I have loved you,” says the Lord…”My name will be great among the nations…I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed”. Malachi 1:1,2, 11, 3:6
Like many of you, the news coming out of Israel over the last few days has left me appalled, angry, astounded, outraged and almost speechless…even in prayer. I seem to have no words, only tears. I feel like Jeremiah who cried, Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain …. Jeremiah 9:9
My memories have flooded back to 2014 when I was invited to be a member of the National Religious Broadcasters Delegation to Israel, hosted by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism. It came at a strategic time when Israel was under missile attack from Hamas in Gaza. The first night in Jerusalem I was asked to join Tony Perkins of the National Family Research Council, Kay Arthur of Precept Ministries, and Jerry Johnson, President of the NRB, for a live television interview on a global satellite television program. It was filmed at a spectacular studio overlooking Mount Zion and the Old City of Jerusalem. When asked why I had come, my answer was that I had come to encourage as many people as I could to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. When I returned home, I issued a 911 Prayer Call for the Peace of Jerusalem to which approximately 20,000 people responded.
As part of the NRB delegation, I had many interesting meetings with officials that included the man who was creating David’s Sling, a missile defense system that would protect Israel from incoming missiles that were higher than those the Iron Dome was capable of taking out. He wept with passion for his assignment, so afraid he wouldn’t have it completed before it would be needed. We also met with the Mayor of Jerusalem at that time, the Honorable Nir Barkat. I personally challenged him to issue a prayer call to Christians and Jews, which he did several days after we left.
But the memory that dwarfs all of the others was when we visited a kibbutz on the border of Gaza in southern Israel. It was a farming community made up of families who lived and worked together. When sirens sounded to warn us of an incoming missile from Gaza, everyone had fifteen seconds to get into a bomb shelter. We ran quickly into one that was nearby and stayed until the all-clear signal was given. When we stepped out of the shelter, we saw the small white “puff” indicating the Iron Dome had taken out that particular missile aimed at the kibbutz.
We were then guided into an underground bunker where we met with the leadership of the kibbutz as missiles rained down overhead. I will never forget the stark terror on the faces of the Israelis. I opened my iPad and read Psalm 91 to the leadership. They had never heard it before and were deeply moved by the expression of God’s care for them. (At the end of this blog I have included a link to a reading of Psalm 91 with a violin solo as the backdrop. It is very moving.)
As we drove away, we could see Gaza in the distance. The sign posted in the foreground warned of landmines planted by Hamas in the area separating Israel and Gaza.
These memories have quickened my heartfelt compulsion to pray for the Israelis…and the Palestinians… caught up in what surely is a satanically inspired attack on the people and the land that God uniquely loves.
My daughter, Rachel-Ruth, pointed me to a remarkable warning in Amos 1:6-7…This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not turn back My wrath. Because she took captive whole communities … I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses.”
Let the entire world be warned, including Russia, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, North Korea, China, and any other hostile, antisemitic nation. If you attack Israel, God will take it personally. He will defend her at great cost to yourselves.
Without doubt, this is a time to pray as best we can…
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Lord of Hosts. God of Angel Armies. Lion of Judah. Show up in extra-ordinary power. Give Your people resounding victory over their enemies.
In obedience to Your command, we pray for the enemies who are coming against Your people.[1] We pray for searing conviction of their sin and demonic cruelty, for them to turn from it, and to ask You for forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ. But if they do not, we ask that this day You defeat and destroy them. Every single one of them.
We ask that You strip Israel’s enemies of cooperation among themselves so that they are divided and turn on each other, even as You did the enemies of Jehoshaphat.[2]
We ask that their evil plans would be exposed or fall back on their own head.
We ask that the face of every man, woman, child or baby that the enemy has slaughtered, beheaded, or burned be indelibly imprinted on their mind’s eye, filling them with turmoil and robbing them of clear thinking.[3]
We ask, Defender of the Weak, that You would supernaturally guard and protect the hostages. Reveal Yourself to them in the underground tunnels, reassuring them of Your presence, even as You did to Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace.[4]
We ask that You bind the hands, jam the guns, trip the feet of the captors so that the IDF can overcome them and deliver those being held, even as You delivered Daniel from the lion’s den.[5]
We ask that Your fiery chariots would surround the IDF soldiers poised for a ground assault in Gaza, then anoint each IDF soldier with protective power to rout out and overcome the enemy as they proceed.[6]
We ask that You reveal the entrances and exits of the 300 miles of tunnels so that the enemy lurking within has no hiding place.
We ask that the ancient prince of the Persian kingdom and every other demonic force coming against Your people be bound and rendered powerless in the face of the hosts of Heaven.[7]
We ask that the Iron Dome and David’s Sling would be 100% effective against all incoming missiles in the north as well as in the south.
We ask for supernatural wisdom for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Cabinet, his counselors, and all government and military officials, so that they make decisions in line with Your perfect will.
We ask that You give the government and military leaders shared vision and agreed-upon steps to accomplish victory so that Israel has clear, unified leadership during these horrific times.
We ask that You comfort the mothers, fathers, and children living near the Gaza border, especially those that witnessed atrocities. Erase memories of what they have seen. Give them an overwhelming, supernatural sense of Your presence.
Comfort those who mourn. Give peace to the terrified. Hope to the hopeless. Save them. Cover them. Command Your angels to guard them. [8]
You are a great prayer-hearing, prayer-answering, covenant-keeping, miracle-working God. Hear our prayer! Listen to Your children as we pray. Please! Rise up, great Lion of Judah, and defend Your people. Deliver Israel from her enemies so that all the nations of the earth may know that You alone are God. Answer us, we humbly, boldly plead! Answer us!
For the glory of Your great name…Yeshua! Jesus!
Amen
[1] Matthew 5:43-44
[2] 2 Chronicles 20:23
[3] Romans 2:9
[4] Daniel 3
[5] Daniel 6
[6] 2 Kings 6:16-17
[7] Daniel 10:12-13
[8] Psalm 91
Click to Listen | Psalm 91
