Bless Israel Sunday is an opportunity for you and your congregation or small group to become more equipped to encounter anti-Israel bias and errant theology about God’s commitment to His Chosen People, Israel.
In this “Pray for Israel” blog series, you’ll find a prayer for Israel along with information to serve as a starting-off point from which to add your own prayers.
Over thousands of years, the ugly disease of anti-Semitism has remained alive in both outlandish superstitions and careless stereotypes about Jewish people. Centuries ago, it marched through Europe, waging war on Jewish people and forcing them to “covert” to “Christianity” or die. Zealots misnaming the name of the Messiah massacred untold numbers of Jewish people and expelled countless others from their home countries. In World War II, Hitler attempted to eradicate the Jewish people by ruthlessly sending them, by the millions, to extermination camps.
The Holocaust ended in 1945, but anti-Semitism has never been snuffed out. It lurks in hate-filled organizations as well as irrational prejudices of otherwise kind-hearted people. Though you may not hear about it often in the news, Jewish property is defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti or other vandalism nearly every day in the United States alone. Jewish people are subjected to vile, hateful language and sometimes physical assault.
Anti-Semitism also comes out in bias against Israel – typically by those who have not taken the time to gaze clearly at the full picture of Israel’s situation in the Middle East.
Many countries, and even the United Nations itself, manifest a habitually anti-Israel mindset. The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meets three times a year in regular sessions that use a permanent agenda. In Agenda Item 4, they address all human rights violations of nations around the world ‒ except those involving Israel. Reviewing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a specific and permanent place – Agenda Item 7 – on the docket at each and every session. Despite many offenses, rarely are Palestinian human rights abuses examined, and very few resolutions have been brought against them. Instead, Israel is highly scrutinized, regularly receiving a vastly disproportionate number of reprimands against her.
Lord, Your people have been mistreated throughout thousands of years. We know this is because the devil hates whom You love. He is the father of lies, and he has not stopped lying about Your people and the State of Israel. Anti-Semitism occurs all over the world, targeting innocent people going about their lives. Please protect Your people across the globe from anti-Semitic attacks, harassment and bias. Tear down the strongholds of anti-Semitism worldwide – whether large or small, open or secret – and bring an end to the hatred of and prejudice against Your people.
Increase awareness of how anti-Semitism still thrives all over the world. Stir up a passion against it. Make it known that Jewish people are still targeted and persecuted around the world. Reveal to the world that there are, this very day, whole communities of Jewish people who are disparaged, attacked and denied economic equality simply because they are Jewish.
Lord, we ask that You open the hearts and minds of ordinary people – even Believers – who may have prejudicial attitudes toward Jewish people. Identify for them where their hearts do not align with Yours.
So much anti-Semitism takes aim at the State of Israel as well. Please open the eyes of those who blindly follow opinions about Israel that are based on prejudiced, inaccurate or incomplete information. Cause people to see the full picture and not merely the story spread by an anti-Israel mindset.
And, Lord, it is hard to see the unfairness which the Land of Your people endures, especially by an organization in place to ensure fair treatment of all. Lord, please open the eyes of UNHRC member nations to an accurate understanding of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Turn their minds to look favorably upon Israel. Bring to light the injustices and offenses done against her and bring an end to the forced scrutiny of Israel – like no other nation endures – that is required by Agenda Item 7. Give Israel peace and favor in the sight of the world.
In Jesus’ name, we pray for Israel and Jewish people worldwide. Amen.
Learn more about Bless Israel Sunday: What is Bless Israel Sunday?
Bless Israel Sunday is an opportunity for you to discover things about God’s faithfulness you may have never known before.
In this “Pray for Israel” blog series, you’ll find a prayer for Israel along with information to serve as a starting-off point from which to add your own prayers.
Messianic Jewish Believers
Only 2 percent of Israel’s nine million-strong population identify as those who believe in Yeshua (Jesus). Messianic Jewish Believers are a minority in Israel, yet Messianic congregations are thriving. It’s estimated that about 20,000 Believers in Israel are Messianic Jews. There are hundreds of thousands of Jewish people around the world who have placed their faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
With significant resistance to the Gospel in Israel, Believers are often subjected to opposition and even hostility. Gentile Believers in Israel are frequently seen as dangerous missionaries, while Messianic Jews are often believed to have betrayed their Jewish faith. Sharing one’s faith in Jesus must be done with great care and sensitivity, and it generally emerges through caring relationships.
Messianic congregations have a vital testimony in the communities in which they live, particularly in Israel. Many of them serve their communities by offering essential humanitarian aid, helping the homeless, addicted, and those who are dealing with various forms of crisis.
Unity among Believers is important to Jesus. Five times before His arrest in the Garden, He prayed for our unity as Believers so the world might believe that God the Father had sent Him.
Pray for Israel and the Jewish people
Father, please strengthen and encourage the Body of Messiah in Israel, both Messianic and Gentile Believers in Jesus. Draw each one deeper into the Scriptures so they may increase in knowledge and understanding of Your Word. Equip each member to carry out Your purposes for their lives. May they have great joy that radiates Your glory and provokes Jewish people to jealousy (Romans 11:11).
Encourage these Believers and enlarge their faith. Strengthen them in Your Word. Heighten their hunger to study and “rightly divide” Your Word (2 Timothy 2:15). Help them to reach maturity in prayer, worship and wisdom. Give them favor in the Land.
Move in their lives to build in them stellar reputations as people of kindness, generosity and integrity. Make them stand out as people who love and serve like no others. Use them to draw those they know into curiosity about Yeshua.
Thank You for the Messianic Jewish ministries in Israel. Please give them Your vision for the work You would have them do in the coming year, and open doors of opportunity for them. Glorify Yourself and Messiah Yeshua through these ministries.
Thank You for calling forth leaders to serve Your people in Messianic congregations. We pray that You would bless these fellowships with peace and joy; sustain them financially and spiritually. Give them hearts of worship and prayer, and ground them firmly in the truth of Your Word. Ignite in their hearts a fresh desire for the good works You have created for them to do.
Please instill ministry leaders with vision and wisdom to serve the Body of Messiah and reach out to Israelis who need to know Yeshua.
We especially ask for unity among Believers in Israel, the Land of Your Chosen People. Please strengthen the bond between Messianic and Gentile Believers, Jewish and Arab Believers. May the mystery of it draw attention to Your truth and love. May their love and unity stand out as a marvel so that all people would seek to understand it in a land with much tension between the two people groups.
In Jesus’ name, we pray for Israel and the Jewish people, Lord.
Learn more about Bless Israel Sunday: What is Bless Israel Sunday?
I have to share with you that, even in the midst of all the challenges we’re all experiencing right now, my heart is filled with gratitude.
The work of Jewish Voice – meeting physical needs and sharing the hope of Yeshua (Jesus) with Jewish people worldwide – wouldn’t be possible without you.
During the turmoil of these past several months, we have seen your generosity and felt your prayers. That’s why this latest edition of Jewish Voice Today is focused on hope. Because of our Messiah, we have hope. And because of your ongoing support, hope is shared with Jewish people in need.
Throughout the first nine weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, a number of our staff members contributed to an online devotional series called Hope in the Midst. Now we have brought many of them together in this issue for you.
I pray God will use them to minister to your heart, and that as you read them you are encouraged and strengthened in your faith. And perhaps, after you’ve finished, you might consider sharing the magazine to encourage a friend or family member. We can all use a bit more hope right now.
In addition, I’ve written an article for you that brings together the topics of anti-Semitism and the upcoming U.S. election, including one of my own experiences with what I’m calling “The Oldest Hatred.”
Again, thank you for your partnership. May you be blessed and inspired as you read this issue we’ve prepared for you.
Bless Israel Sunday is an opportunity for you to discover things about God’s faithfulness you may have never known before.
In this “Pray for Israel” blog series, you’ll find a prayer for Israel along with information to serve as a starting-off point from which to add your own prayers.
People
There is no end to a list of categories into which people can fall based on various common ground they share, whether related to age, gender, marriage, skills, interests or life experiences. These commonalities offer inspirations for specific ways to pray for Israel and the Jewish people. Here are some ideas and prayers to get you started. Let them spark other ideas for your prayer.
Children are precious to God and among the most vulnerable of any people group. Teenagers everywhere face challenges and temptations as boundaries continue to push further away from biblical values. College years are a highly impressionable period of one’s life as students move out from under their parents’ world views and fall under the persuasion of new authority figures and peers to form their own ideologies.
On another note, in any given day or hour, there are people facing some form of crisis. This includes Jewish people both in Israel and all over the world. It could be a life-altering accident, illness or injury. Or maybe it’s a marriage or family crisis, a financial setback, or job loss. Some may be enduring homelessness or substance abuse or grieving the death of a loved one.
Also, many Jewish people worldwide have a burning desire to “make aliyah,” or immigrate to Israel. Doing so is a great joy, but it also comes with challenges. There is much to do in preparation, and once in Israel, immigrants must learn the language, find work, form new relationships and integrate into Israeli society. Many of them struggle for years to assimilate, while some never entirely do.
Here’s an interesting group of people to pray for in Israel: those praying at the Western Wall. The Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is as close as Jewish people can get to where God’s Temple once stood. It’s open for prayer 24/7, and at any given time, you can find Jewish people from many branches of Judaism – as well as Believers in Yeshua and tourists – praying there. Some tuck written prayers into the crevices between the huge stone blocks.
Pray for Israel and the Jewish people
Lord, watch over Jewish children everywhere. Protect them – body, mind and heart. Provide the nurturing that each one needs. May they grow up with a thirst for You as well as a strong moral compass and wisdom to make good, healthy life choices.
Protect and guide Jewish teens. Please help them to manage the turbulent emotions of youth in healthy ways. Make wisdom desirable to them, and lead them to people who are honest and upright, wise and good.
As for Jewish college and university students, Lord, You know these are critical years for the formation of their world views. Please protect them from the sway of misguided belief systems, untruths and ideologies that leave You out.
Father, create in Jewish children, youth and the college-aged a hunger for truth that will lead them to Yeshua the Messiah.
Lord, whatever dire situations Jewish individuals are facing at this moment, we pray that they would humbly and honestly seek You. Please give them strength, and help them “breathe” through the shattering event they’re going through. Bring others around to support them along the way. Draw them to Yourself so that they may receive the shalom only available from knowing Yeshua.
God, it is exciting to see You bringing about what Your Word foretold: You are gathering Your people from the four corners of the earth back to Israel. Please help these immigrants rise above whatever challenges they face in the Land that is both home and foreign to them. Help them learn the language and the skills they need to acquire sufficient employment. Lord, as You have drawn Your people back to Israel, bring them also to Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).
Lord, so many people come to the Western Wall to connect with You. Many are hurting, looking for answers, or laying their needs before You. We ask that each person praying at the Wall would have a profound experience of Your presence. For those who do not know Your Son Yeshua, may they be powerfully drawn to Him and come to saving faith in Him. For those who do, we ask that You meet each one of them in beautifully personal ways, speaking to their needs and their spirits.
In Jesus’ name, we pray for Israel and Jewish people in need throughout the world. Amen.
Learn more about Bless Israel Sunday: What is Bless Israel Sunday?
