Weekly Watch Focus: Give Thanks and Pray for Israel

July 27, 2018—This week we received news that Pastor Andrew Brunson was moved from a Turkish prison, where he had been held for two years under false accusations of terrorism, to house arrest. We thank the Lord for this step toward freedom and continue to pray for his complete deliverance from all charges and accusations.

Pray for peace on the borders of Israel. This week, Israel downed a Syrian warplane that had crossed into the Golan heights. For months along the Gazan border, Israel has faced continual violence perpetuated by forces of terrorism and chaos among the Palestinians targeting Israel from the Gaza Strip. An IDF soldier guarding the border was recently shot. Hamas has launched rockets and bombs into Israel. Israelis have had to repeatedly run for bomb shelters due to rocket fire and morters from Palestinian militants. The latest attacks fomented by Hamas has been a barrage of “terror kites” and balloons equipped with incendiary devices to spark fires in Israel along the border. Hundreds of fires resulting from these devices have destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural and natural reserves, causing millions in damages. Several kibbutzim along the border have been affected. A resident reported, “All the trees, all the flowers, everything is on fire.”

The Bible tells us to bless Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray especially for the Israel Defense Forces as they defend their borders. Pray for divine wisdom to stop infiltrations and attacks. Pray peace will reign and those among the terror group stirring up unrest in the Gaza strip will be bound.

Americans can thank the Lord again that we were among the first nation to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14th of this year. Let us keep celebrating this courageous move by President Donald Trump and his administration. May God release His blessing over America and all the nations that choose to stand with Israel and bless Jerusalem. As believers, let us declare the blessings of Deuteronomy 28:1-14 over our children, our homes, our churches, our cities and nation.
 

Part II: Urgent Call to Prayer—California Wildfires

We agree together corporately for the fires to cease in Shasta County and Southern California including the communities of Redding. Pray for the safety and restoration of this region. Stand in the gap and plead the blood of Jesus over this great state. Pray a hedge of protection for the people of California and bind back death and destruction. Pray that the winds die down and favorable weather come to end what is already a very destructive fire. Pray for a decrease temperature and for supernatural rain to fill the atmosphere. 

Deuteronomy 28:1-14, “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: ‘Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you His good [c]treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.’”
Psalm 102:13, “You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come.” 
 
Psalm 122:6, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 'May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces.'”

Isaiah 62:6-7, “I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”
 
Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
 
Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Psalm 138:7, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me.” 

Isaiah 43:2, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”