This week in Israel:

This week's great Torah Portion heralding God's call to Abraham - that great Father of the Hebrew people according to the flesh, and through faith of all peoples (Galatians 3:9)-we have chosen this week to focus specifically on that Portion rather than "current events" to stimulate and nurture our intercession.

This week's Torah Portion:

From ancient times there has been a weekly portion from the five books of Moses (The Torah) and from the prophets (Haftarah-final reading) read on the Sabbath in synagogues around the world. This portion is given a Hebrew name taken from the opening words of the passage. An illustration of this practice appears to have been recorded in Luke 4:16 where Yeshua (Jesus) arrived in the synagogue in Nazareth and was asked to read the Haftarah portion (Isaiah 61) from the Prophets. We have found that in perusing these weekly readings, not only are we provided opportunity to identify in the context of God's Word with millions of Jewish people around the world, but very often the Holy Spirit will illumine specific passages pertinent that week in our intercession for the Land and people of Israel. All texts are those of English translations of the Scriptures.

The readings for October 25-31 are called Lekh lekha! "Go you forth!"-and include:

TORAH: Genesis 12:1-17:27
HAFTARAH: Isaiah 40:27-41:16

*Genesis 12:2. "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great. Be a blessing!"

"Nation" is goy , often translated 'gentile' and used in every-day language (sometimes condescendingly) to refer to non-Jews. But its basic meaning is 'nation'. Here the LORD promises to bless Abram and enlarge his name, and to make of him a "goy gadol"-a great nation. Then (grammatically clear in the Hebrew) there comes a literal command: "Be a Blessing!" -not "You will be a blessing", but a declaration, a veritable decree spoken from the LORD into Abram and the seed which would come after him, a Word which "shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11): "Be a Blessing!" Of course the greatest blessing was released in the coming of the Messiah-but the Word remains working in Abram's descendants today (a likely reason for the enemy's continued attempts to eradicate them). PLEASE PRAY: That Israel will continue to "be saved" (Romans 11:26)-and again "be a blessing", moving out to bring "life from the dead" (Rom. 11:15) to all nations. PRAY that believers in the nations will come into the revelation regarding this Word of Blessing on Israel. Watching her and blessing her is one of God's means of releasing the blessing of illumination into His present day work and purposes for all humankind.

*Genesis 12:6-7. "Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem.Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.' And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him."

Shechem is mentioned often in the Hebrew Scriptures. Here YHVH appears to Abram, (as He had earlier in Ur, Acts 7:3) and promises the physical land itself to his descendants. It is here that Jacob would buy a parcel of land (Gen. 33:19) and dig a well; where covenant would be made and renewed (Joshua 8 & 24); where Joseph's bones would be buried; where centuries later Yeshua (Jesus) would converse with a woman seeking to draw water (John 4). Today it is more widely known by the Roman-derived name of Nablus and is a stronghold of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). Interestingly, it is a place which has long been associated with "violence" (In Hebrew also called hamas), ever since Jacob returned with his family from Aram and two of his elder sons betrayed and massacred the male inhabitants. It is one of three locations in the Holy Land where monies were exchanged by the Fathers (Hebron/Abraham; Shechem/Jacob; the Temple Mount in Jerusalem/David).all of which are hot-spots of contention in these latter days. PLEASE PRAY: That the spirit of violence would be broken over Shechem/Nablus-and that God's Kingdom would come in that city. Pray that all of the land allotted to the seed of Abraham would come into their possession in His way and timing-and in such a way that will deal righteously with those already inhabiting the land.

*Genesis 13:14. "And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: 'Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are-northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I will give to you and your descendants forever.'"

Abraham humbly allowed Lot to choose the region for his flocks. God released a Word regarding Abram's eyes-enabling Him to see into the Heavenly perspective rather than that of the flesh. Pray for grace during this season of ayin -"the eye", that we be in such a position before the Lord as to allow Him to direct our eyes to see clearly "from the place we are" into all directions the inheritance and increase of His call on us.

*Genesis 14:18. "Then Melchizedek king of Shalem (or, Salem) brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of El Elyon (God Most High)."

There were many "els" (gods) being worshipped in Canaan when Abram arrived. Here is the first mention in Scripture of El Elyon-God "Most High" (God was revealing more and more of His attributes to His servants by means of names; with 17:1 would come "El Shaddai-God Almighty"). This name "Most High" will be found throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. In Luke 2:31-32 Miriam (Mary) is told by the angel, "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Yeshua [Heb: YHVH is Salvation]. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the 'Most High.'" The demon in Luke 8:28 recognized Him.crying out, "What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Neither Orthodox Jews nor Muslims believe that the object of their worship has a son. Proverbs 30:4b asks regarding the Creator, "What is His name, and what is His Son's name?" Please pray for revelation in Israel of the name Elyon.and that of His Son. Pray for believers here to become adept at using these names in high praise and spiritual warfare.

Genesis 14:5, 16. "In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and attacked the Rephaim.the Zuzim.the Emim.and the Horites.. Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants.and went in pursuit.and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot."

In Deuteronomy Moses carefully lists these Emim (2:10); Horites (2:12,22); Zuzim/Zamzumim (12:20), and Rephaim (2:11; 3:11) as peoples who had been easily conquered by the time Israel came to enter the Promised Land. Yet it was the terror-rumours of these same peoples which had contributed to the evil report of the spies forty years before. If only they could have remembered that Chedorlaomer, who had defeated all of these giant races, had himself been subdued by their father Abraham through faith in the power of his God, they might have brought back a different report. PLEASE PRAY there when faced by evil terrors and spiritual giants which still linger, we will remember the God who was the shield of Abraham (Genesis 15:1) and his victory over all such powers.

Genesis 15:6. "And he (Abram) believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."

Genesis 16:14. "Therefore the well was called Be'er Lachai Roi--Well of the Living One Who sees Me."

The necessity of being "seen by God" is the basis of repeated calls in the Tanach (Hebrew Bible) to "seek His face"; that God "not turn away His face"; that He "shine His face on us and we will be saved". In ancient Hebrew, being "seen" by God meant also "being provided for" by God. It would be by this same well that Isaac would have been waiting when God "provided" Rebekah for him as a wife (Gen 24:62). Pray for Israelis to become aware that God is a "Living One" who "sees/provides" for them-and that they will come to "draw water out of the wells of Salvation (Hebrew: Yeshuah), Isaiah 12:3.

Genesis 17:20-21. "And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac."

God kept His promise regarding Ishmael and the "twelve princes" are listed in Genesis 25:13-16; their descendants eventually became disseminated amongst the other peoples dwelling "to the east" and south of Israel. Yet modern Islam teaches that the 'covenant' went through Ishmael rather than Isaac. Pray for revelation amongst Muslim peoples that it is with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that the Most High God has chosen to place his name.that He has a Son who came through this line to become the sin-bearer and saviour of all people.

Isaiah 40:31; 41:10. "But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

Certainly in modern Hebrew and probably in ancient as well the word translated "renew" means "exchange". Either way, it is His strength that renews us-as is confirmed by another verse in this Haftarah, "Do not fear for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you surely I will help you; surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand!" (41:10 NASB). Please pray for strength and refreshment for believers in Israel. It can be very draining here-little that is cheering in the news reports, a mass of people who are precious to God-but for the most part still indifferent or hostile to His message. Yeshua said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from me.and you will find rest for your souls" (Matt 11:28-29).

Isaiah 41:14-16. " 'Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I will help you,' says the LORD and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 'Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, and make the hills like chaff.You shall rejoice in the LORD, and glory in the Holy One of Israel.'"