The next global day of prayer and fasting in our Isaiah 62 Prayer Campaign will be on Wednesday, July 2^nd, 2014.

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Prayer Points

Today and during the month of July, we ask that you pray with us for the families and close friends of Gilad, Naftali and Eyal as they mourn their loss at the hand of terrorists

 

1. Pray for the families and close friends of the three slain Israeli yeshiva students Gilad, Eyal and Naftali, for courage, strength, comfort and abiding faith in God during this time of loss and mourning.
    
2. Pray for Israel's leaders as they deliberate on what courses of action to take to defend the nation from terrorism and deter Israel's enemies from trying to strike again in this same cruel manner.
    
3. Pray for the Israeli security forces and police authorities as they maintain a constant vigil against such evil and violence.
    
4. Pray for the capture of those involved in this kidnapping operation, both those who ordered and planned it and those who carried it out.
    
5. Pray that the Palestinian people will finally choose the path of peace with Israel. Pray that Israel's enemies would repent from their hatred and violence and would open their hearts to the Lord God.

 

Thank you for your prayers.

Download this month's Isaiah 62 Prayer Guide (PDF) ›

 

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Dear Prayer Partners,

After more than two weeks of an intensive, desperate search that held the attention of the entire nation of Israel, IDF troops finally located the bodies of the three Jewish teenagers kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in mid-June. Many in Israel and around the world were earnestly praying for their safe return, but it turned out that the young men were murdered by their abductors not long after they were seized while on their way home from school at night.

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem joins in mourning the loss of these three young yeshiva students: Gil-Ad Shaer (16 years old), Eyal Yifrah (19), and Naftali Fraenkel (16).

We are urging all our following to unite with us in prayer for the families of these teens and for the people of Israel as they bear the sorrow of this moment. The July prayer focus of our Isaiah 62 Global Prayer Campaign also will be centered on the days and important decisions ahead as the nation and its leaders deal with the aftermath of this tragedy.

The students disappeared from a hitchhiking post south of Jerusalem on 12 June, and a burned out car found the next morning outside Hebron led Israeli forces to concentrate their search efforts in and around that ancient city. The search involved an intense, round-the-clock sweep of through Palestinian towns and villages, and even wells and caves in the surrounding hillsides. This disrupted the lives of many of the area’s residents, and some began charging Israel with imposing “collective punishment” on the Palestinian population and committing “war crimes” against them.

Yet this was a just search-and-rescue effort that any freedom-loving country would have engaged in to find and return abducted teens. And there are strong precedents in the Bible that encourage us to see this effort as just and upright.

The Patriarch Abraham, for instance, only picked up the sword once in his life. But he did so in order to recover his nephew Lot and his family after they had been abducted in the battle of the kings, as described in Genesis 14. What is most interesting is that when Abraham completed his mission and as returning home, that is the very moment the extraordinary figure Melchizedek came out to bless him, saying:

“Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” (Genesis 14:19-20)

Melchizedek, presented in the Bible as a divinely-appointed priestly king, could have gone to meet Abraham at any time, but he chose to do it at this particular moment and even pronounced great blessing over him. So this biblical story depicts efforts to rescue captives as a just mission.

We see this again in the campaign by David to rescue and recover all the people and possessions carted away by the Amalekites, as recounted in 1 Samuel 30. When the Amalekites plundered and burned Ziklag, it stirred a rebellion against David within his own camp. But he “strengthened himself in the Lord his God” and inquired about whether to pursue the abductors. God’s answer was “pursue”, and included a promise that “you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all” (verses 6-8).

So the Word of God informs us that searching for these young men was a just and upright cause. And although it was much too late to rescue them, we have to pray and believe that tragedies like will not happen again.

Hamas and other terrorist groups are constantly trying to kidnap Israelis to either murder them or hold them for ransom to free Palestinians convicted of murder and other violent crimes. Thankfully, the majority of such attempts have been thwarted. But the terrorists view the seizure and death of these yeshiva students as a successful operation, which means Israel has to raise its guard higher and find a way to deter it from happening again.

So join us every Wednesday in July in earnest prayer before the Lord God to watch over the people of Israel as they stand on the front lines every day in the battle against Islamic terrorism.

We invite you to join this global movement of prayer by using our monthly prayer points whenever you pray corporately or individually. Also, join with us in prayer and fasting on the first Wednesday of every month as intercession resounds around the globe throughout the day.

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In His sustaining grace,
 

David Parsons
ICEJ Media Director