Friday, May 10, 2024

Prayer Focus
Cry out to the Lord for a swift and complete victory for Israel at Rafah. Pray that Israel will be able to decrease the number of civilian deaths by evacuating Palestinians from the immediate Rafah region to protected areas providing shelter, food and medical care. Beseech the Lord for Israel’s success despite Hamas’s determination to defend Rafah “ferociously,” and such challenges as the underground terrorist infrastructure.

Scripture

Then [Israel] will become like a rock that can’t be moved. All the nations that try to move it will only hurt themselves.

- Zechariah 12:3b New International Reader’s Version (NIRV)

Prayer Focus
Plead with the Lord for an American resolve to honor its commitments to Israel and a realization that support for Hamas means destruction to America. Cry out to God that the United States will provide Israel with all of the military supplies that have been promised, and beseech the Lord, for the sake of both Israel and the US, that America will “go ahead and get [Israel] those weapons just as fast as [they] can?”

Scripture

But I will camp at my temple.  I will guard it against enemy armies. No one will ever crush my people again. I will make sure it does not happen.

- Zechariah 9:8 New International Reader’s Version (NIRV)

Prayer Focus
Pray that Israel’s strategies will be successful in discouraging President Erdogan from ignoring international trade agreements to the detriment of both Israel and Turkey instead of supporting Hamas and joining with South Africa in the International Court of Justice. Pray that pro-Israel voices will be heard in Turkey and the tide of anti-Semitism turned.

Scripture

Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

- Isaiah 55:5 ESV

Prayer Focus
Pray for the Eurovision finals to be held on Saturday, May 11. Beseech the Lord that He would be glorified through the success of Israeli performer Eden Golan as her song tells a story whose deeper meaning gives voice to the tragedies of October 7 and the pain of the entire nation of Israel since then. Despite the anti-Israel protests and virulent anti-Semitic rhetoric, pray that the Lord will move on Israel’s behalf, honoring the dead and wounded and an anguished nation.

Scripture

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion bewailing herself; she spreads her hands, saying, ‘Woe is me now, for my soul is weary because of murderers!’

- Jeremiah 4:31

Prayer Focus
Pray that the Lord will bring an end to “lawfare” and its use as one of the most effective weapons with which to weaken and delegitimize Israel. Beseech the Lord who is a God who loves justice for an outcry from the nations, recognizing that the court’s claims are illegitimate and nothing more than a vicious political attack. Ask the Lord for the correct strategy as Israel deals with anti-Semitic lies and flawed legal arguments.

Scripture

For the word of the LORD is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD. The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.

- Psalm 33:4–5, 10–11

Prayer Focus
Pray that the nations will recognize that Israel’s actions are not the suppression of the free press but a wake-up call to worldwide media that a “free” press should be synonymous with an honest press and a vehicle for telling the truth rather than promoting political agendas. Pray that Israel will be able to legally extend its closure until Al Jazeera repudiates its anti-Semitic stance.

Scripture

In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant.

- Psalm 143:12 NIV

Prayer Focus
Cry out to the Lord for the safety of His people no matter where they are on the globe. And beseech Him that Christians will not make the same horrendous error that they made in the 1930s by remaining silent as His people suffer unimaginable acts of hatred. Pray that governments the world over will implement plans to combat anti-Semitism and will actively “fight this oldest and most lethal of hatreds.”

Scripture

The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

- Psalm 9:9–10 ESV

Prayer Focus
Pray for the safety of the Jewish students at the University of Amsterdam. Cry out for college students the world over who have been intentionally deceived to believe that Israel is the enemy of goodness and freedom. Ask the Lord for a groundswell of truth on campuses everywhere, revealing the evil of anti-Semitism and of the actions of Hamas. Pray that countless students will experience the reality of the God of Israel and His people.

Scripture

Stretch out Your hand from above; rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of foreigners, whose mouth speaks lying words, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

- Psalm 144:7–8

Prayer Focus
Praise the Lord for the work of these experts and the results of years of research. Rejoice in yet another instance of the veracity of the Bible being demonstrated by scientific methods and pray that the result will be a deeper appreciation for the truth of the Bible.

Scripture

Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

- Proverbs 30:5–6