Isaiah was a visionary. He lived in Jerusalem near the end of Israel’s kingdom period in a time of unrest and yet his life was marked by prophetic vision. On the LORD’s behalf, Isaiah spoke boldly to the leaders of Jerusalem in a way that would impact the entire community. Can you imagine the weight of that responsibility?

Isaiah’s dreams and visions concerning Israel were extensive and profound. The people of Israel were rebelling against the covenant of the LORD and they were in great danger. Isaiah had the unpopular task of warning the people that the LORD would judge the community if they continued worshiping false idols and oppressing the poor.

Times of crisis expose our deep need for God’s mercy, power, and intervention. Throughout our history, Americans have expressed that need through prayer. From Colonial days to the present, our leaders have called for various days of prayer, and our nations’ citizens have responded. In 1952, President Harry Truman signed a bill allowing each U.S. president to proclaim a regular National Day of Prayer. However, it wasn’t until 1988 that the annual observance was designated to occur the first Thursday in May.

We have always been grateful for our religious liberties in the United States, as evidenced by the countless public gatherings – of every size, in every state – each year on the National Day of Prayer. From church basements to stadiums, people gather to petition the Lord on behalf of our country. Just a year ago, we could not have imagined that the need to avoid spreading a global pandemic would restrict us from physically coming together for the 2020 prayer event.

Today’s situation underscores the need to pray for our nation in unprecedented ways. As always, we will pray for our leaders, schools and the media, for our families, faith communities, and those who are hurting and in need. This year’s prayers will include a new appreciation and fresh intercession for first responders and front-line workers. We’re seeing every aspect of American life in a new light these days, aren’t we?

How will all this affect our prayers – all that’s going on, which just a few short months ago, we never dreamt would be happening now?

First and foremost, may it truly draw us to our knees. May the needs of this season – these times in which we live and steward in both prayer and action – inform our prayers. Even more, may the grandeur of our God and His faithfulness inform our faith as we pray.

Let’s pray. Let’s pray today, on this National Day of Prayer, and every day in this unique time in which we live.

Our leaders – those in place now and those elected later this year – need God’s wisdom to navigate this pandemic and its ramifications in every corner of society. We need our economy to recover and thrive, and families need reliable income and resources. Schools and businesses require guidance to adapt while providing education, goods and services in this fast-changing landscape. Believers and communities of faith look to God for innovative ways to gather and reach out. And citizens throughout America seek comfort, healing, assurance, answers and hope.

God is the ultimate source for all we need today in our nation and world, and He responds to His people when we pray.

Here at Jewish Voice Ministries, we are praying not only for the United States but for Israel – the apple of God’s eye and always at the forefront of our thoughts and intercessions. We are also praying for the world’s other nations, including places where we minister, such as Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, which are undergoing hardships that are both similar and unique.

Join us, in this time of great need, as we call upon our great and unfailing God. We “Pray God’s Glory Across the Earth,” which is the theme of this year’s National Day of Prayer, based on Habakkuk 2:14. May revival and global harvest come to our nation, to Israel and the world as God’s glory is displayed in us, through us, and in answer to our prayers.

We are living in uncertain times. Over the last weeks, the world has been thrown into a whirlwind of panic and fear. The fear of sickness, loss and grief has overwhelmed many of us. Also startling, has been the worry about medical supplies and household resources. It would be natural to ask, LORD, where are you? Is this our new normal? What is my role in your Kingdom today?

The prophet Isaiah had experience living in troubling times too. At first, the people of Israel were rebelling against God’s covenant and worshiping false idols. Isaiah warned the people that if they did not repent, judgement was coming through the rise of Assyria and their ultimate exile in Babylon. But the story of the people of Israel shows us that God’s judgement was not the final outcome; His plan for salvation was sovereignly at work and He was always with His people.

Later in history, Isaiah reminds us that there is hope and comfort. We can have a positive, cheerful expectation of something good—hope for all who repent and trust in the LORD. His message was simple, return to Jerusalem where God himself will bring His Kingdom to pass through His Servant King and all nations will see His glory. The people were not to merely physically return to Jerusalem, but inwardly turn their hearts fully over to the LORD, to follow him and obey His ways.

Philippians 4:12-13

“I know what it is to live with humble means, and I know what it is to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment – both to be filled and to go hungry, to have abundance and to suffer need. I can do all things through Messiah who strengthens me.”

According to the Word of God, we can do all things through Messiah who strengthens us. The Word of God is true, trustworthy, and able to renew the human mind, therefore, when it says that we can do all things through Messiah who gives us strength, then this means that we, as followers of Yeshua the Messiah, have this strength available to us to go through every single day of our lives. If this was not the case, then it would not have been written in God’s Word.

This strength, that enables us to face every moment that presents itself to us on any given day, is available through Messiah and Messiah alone. Again, the secret to being content in all situations, to experiencing the shalom that surpasses our understanding, to rejoice always, to walk in a manner worthy of the Good News of Messiah in midst of dark and trying times, to focus our thoughts on things above and not the things of the world, to have the strength to be able to do all things, is available to us by having an intimate relationship with Yeshua the Messiah!

Yeshua says, “I am the vine, you are the branches, the one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing.” – John 15:5

Abiding in Yeshua is the secret to a successful life as children of God. It is the only way for our lives to experience the glorious, life giving, fruits of the Holy Spirit in any and all circumstances. Let us abide in the vine, Yeshua the Messiah, and only then will we find the strength to do all things for today, all the while producing the good fruit that comes from a life in God.  

The Word of God is alive and active, speaking truth into our lives, helping us establish a firm foundation to stand on while we go through life on this side of eternity. Please take some time to quietly meditate on the passages above and ask yourself these three questions.

1: What truth is being spoken in these passages?

2: What does this mean for me?

3: How should I respond?

Philippians 4:4-9

“Rejoice in the Lord always – again I will say, rejoice!”

Beholding the Lord and having your heart be transformed by the reality of who He is, is undoubtedly one of the most powerful and life changing aspects of life. If we want our lives to be transformed into the likeness of Yeshua our Messiah, if we desire to be strong in our faith and be able to rejoice in the Lord always, in all circumstances, then we must give ourselves time to sit at His feet and meditate on His Word. Right now, go to a quiet place where you can meditate on the Word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you. As you read and pray through the passages below, ask yourself these three questions:

1: What truth is being spoken in these passages?

2: What does this mean for me?

3: How should I respond?

Now, read through the passages below in Philippians, meditate on them, and ask the Holy Spirit to renew your mind as you read the Word of God. My prayer is that, by the end of your time, your mind will be renewed, your heart fully encouraged, and “the shalom of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Messiah Yeshua.”

“Rejoice in the Lord always – again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all people. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything – but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

And the shalom of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Messiah Yeshua.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise – dwell on these things.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – put these things into practice, and the God of shalom will be with you.”

—Philippians 4:4-9

Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? By God’s miraculous hand, yes.

Isaiah 66:8 prophesied the miraculous, overnight rebirth of Israel as a nation. On May 14, 1948, it came true.

The Zionist Movement, however, was active for decades before then. Jewish people around the globe stirred with a passion for returning to the Land God had given them in His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The cause gained support from various governments and officials. The region that was once Israel had been under British rule since 1922, for the purpose of establishing a Jewish homeland, but progress was slow. The Brits had repeatedly tried to reach an agreement between Arab and Jewish people living in the region known as “Palestine.”

After World War II, shocked by Nazi Germany’s cruelty toward the Jewish people and the attempt to exterminate them, world sympathy grew toward the Jewish plea for a homeland. In early 1947, Britain turned the matter of a Jewish state over to the United Nations, who conceived a two-state Partition Plan for the Jewish and Arab people living in the Land.

On the date that the British governance of the Palestinian region expired – May 14, 1948 – Israel proclaimed her sovereign independence. A nation was born in a day. It was a miracle.

Surrounding Arab nations attacked Israel the next day, and the full-fledged War of Independence ensued. During it, God performed spectacular miracles to ensure the fulfillment of His prophecy would stand. One of those miracles happened to Gershon Salomon.

Gershon led 150 men up the Golan Heights into the face of thousands of Syrian troops. The young Israeli officer was seriously injured when a military tank ran over him. Separated from his men, Gerson lay alone in a field, in the dark. Paralyzed and helpless, he watched as a Syrian unit came directly toward him.

At that critical moment, “I saw a light coming from heaven and covering the whole area where I laid,” he told the story later. “I could hear God speaking to my heart, ‘Gershon, you will see the miracle that I will perform.’”

Just then, the Syrian soldiers turned around and hurried back into the mountains.

Two months later, as Gershon lay recovering in a hospital, he heard a United Nations official describe an astounding story: a Syrian unit claimed they’d been terrified into retreat when they saw angels protecting an Israeli officer lying on the battlefield.

Gershon confirmed the story to a doctor who was so awed that he took out a Bible and read aloud from Zechariah 14:3, “Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as He fights on a day of battle.”

Throughout the year-long war, Israel’s army of volunteers fought for the Jewish State’s freedom, winning many remarkable triumphs, and undeniable miracles. Eventually, such victories forced the enemies of Israel to the negotiating table for a series of agreements, ending the war.

With God’s supernatural assistance, Israel had successfully defended her right to exist. The “nation born in a day” by His miraculous hand had survived by His miracles too.

“Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her sons” (Isaiah 66:8).

On the Hebrew calendar, Israel’s Independence Day is the 5th day of the month of Iyar. Thus, it falls differently on the Gregorian calendar each year. Known as Yom HaAtzmaut in Hebrew, Israel’s Independence Day 2020 begins at sundown Tuesday, April 28 and ends at sunset on the 29th.

Before she celebrates her freedom, Israel honors those who died earning and keeping it for her. Israel observes a Memorial Day, called Yom HaZikaron, on the day before Yom HaAtzmaut. With the Jewish day beginning at sunset, Independence festivities follow immediately after a day of mourning for those who have lost their lives defending Israel’s freedom.

(Gershon Salomon story source: The Miracle of Israel, booklet)

How many of us mourn on our nation’s Memorial Day? For most of us, the losses sustained in winning or defending our country’s freedom are something distant, removed from us by time or geography. Or compared to the vastness of our population, the number of people directly affected are relatively few.

For example, in America, because our Memorial Day occurs the last Monday of May, it has also come to symbolize the start of summer, leading much of the country toward recreation or rest rather than memorial activities.

But for Israel, it’s different.

In Israel, a country the size of New Jersey, it seems nearly everyone either is or knows someone directly affected by a military loss or terrorism. Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, is an active, relevant holiday.

Enemies of Israel continue to threaten her right to exist. Iran wants her exterminated, as do various Arab terrorist groups. Immediate neighbors in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon are home to terrorist groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah that continue to plan war and small-scale attacks in hopes of crippling and someday destroying Israel.

Life goes on as usual in Israel – business, education, social gatherings, weddings and funerals continue – but through it all, Israel’s enemies are planning their next terrorist attack, rocket barrage or propaganda campaign hoping to turn the world against her. Israeli soldiers die on home soil, targeted by random attacks or while defending against border breaches by those who seek to do her harm.

So, when it comes to a day set aside to honor the fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, Israel takes it to heart. Television and radio stations run through names of the thousands who have fallen in Israel’s wars or by terrorism, both military and civilian. Crowds of mourners visit military cemeteries and the graves of soldiers, showing their respect, weeping and solemnly praying. Strangers visit the burial sites of lone soldiers – those without family in Israel ­– to ensure that no soldier goes unmourned, no life or sacrifice is overlooked.

Two sirens sound on Yom HaZikaron. The first marks the beginning of the Memorial Day, in the evening. The second occurs on the day of commemoration, signaling the reading of public prayers. The blasts are two minutes long, and for that time, all Israel stands still. Traffic, commerce, everything stops, and Israel stands in silence to honor the fallen.

We stand with Israel as she remembers those who lost their lives for the sake of her safety and freedom.

Yom HaZikaron 2020 begins at sunset on Monday, April 27 and ends at sundown April 28 when the national focus shifts from grief to celebration on Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. Before Israel rejoices in her freedom, she honors those who died to provide and sustain it.