Author: Ofer Amitai, Messianic pastor Jerusalem and Director of Israel Prayer Centre

Dear Friends,

I have not shared prayer points regarding Israel with you for quite a while. Partly because I felt people needed to be encouraged and challenged to find the Lord in a deeper way with this crisis upon us. Covid-19 has been a kind of knock on the door from God; for the Church, especially.

Too, it has sharpened for me the need to press in and pray for my nation as it pertains to God’s eternal purposes for her and through her for the world. What Yeshua said about the end times is coming to pass. So must the fulfillment of His promises come to pass. That is what prayer is all about.

So, I am writing to share with you some of my thoughts on such praying, with a hope and faith that the Lord will use it to awaken within each heart, a deep earnest desire to move on deeper in God and deeper in prayer.

The Challenge of Prayer

“For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,” Romans 8:26

Most believers have no problem praying about their needs, or immediate concerns. Those things are very real to them. But when it comes to God’s larger purposes, they are mostly in a fog about it and therefore do not seek God for their fulfillment.

It is easier to pray for our daily bread, than for His name to be sanctified and glorified and his kingdom to come and His will to be done on the earth.

The immediate context of the verse in Romans, shows that the thing we don’t know how to pray for as we ought, is for us to be conformed to the image of the Son of God., and for God’s purposes on the earth to unfold. It’s just not real to us.

Praying for Israel

In the same way, most Christians who believe in the restoration of Israel have no problem praying for the obvious things real to them. Israel’s security, the land, water, Aliya, etc…. But for the larger majority, the deeper needs and purposes of God are not real enough to impact their prayers.

Our personal walk with God determines how we pray for God’s ultimate purposes.

The challenge and need for understanding God’s purposes in the individual believer’s life, affects how he prays for God’s larger purposes, including Israel. Shallow Christianity will lead to shallow praying regarding God’s plans, including Israel.

The challenge of persisting in prayer

Even when we know what to pray, we do not always persist in it because it is challenging to persist in such praying.

How easy was it for Anna and Simeon to pray for the coming of the Messiah? To pray for decades for the same thing, to fast and pray, to stay up and pray, to press on and pray? All the while they were living in a sea of corruption, in a sea of politics, under the Romans. Things seemed to be getting worse, not better. We are challenged in some of the same ways.

Try praying for the Lord to come for any length of time and you will see what I mean.

The problem with such praying is first: It does not seem concrete enough as a subject. Second, there is no “feedback”, no evidence that your prayers are “working”.

Third: The opposition is overwhelming. The world just seems to grow darker and darker and makes you feel that your prayers are useless. (This often happens when we pray to God but look at the earth.)

Fourth: Your own flesh and mind will rebel against such praying and your mind will tell you it is all ridiculous. You will want to “flee back” to the praying that makes sense, that is real to your senses and understanding.

Fifth: We think we know how it is all going to play out and are confused when God does things in His own way in His own time. Seeming reversals in what we have expected as answers to our praying, discourage us.

The Help we need

Thankfully, God has not left us as orphans. The first part of Romans 8:26 says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” How wonderful is that?! God the Spirit Himself is ready to help us. But we need to want to be helped. It may lead us to a radical, passionate life for God in Christ. And to the kind of praying that satisfies Him, not us.

Persistence and Faith — Pressing in

In Luke 18:1-8 is a parable not only about persistence in prayer but about faith to do so. (See verse 8).

Luke 18:7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?

Luke 18:8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Will He really find [our] faith on the earth?

Blessings and grace to you,

Ofer

Title: A Note about praying for Israel
Author: Ofer Amitai, Messianic pastor Jerusalem and Director of Israel Prayer Centre
Date: 18.06.20