Prayer Letter – January 2015
Isaiah 62 Prayer Campaign

Dear Prayer Partners,

May the peace, grace and all blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you throughout the New Year of 2015! He is truly risen and alive and He can do this!

Prayer in the heavenly places
We want to begin the New Year together with you in the right way, that is, with prayer to God! Prayer is our secret place of rest and protection, the place to draw our inspiration and strength from, the place to have heavenly influence and impact upon earth - and the place of His presence and authority! In the letter of Ephesians, the Holy Spirit reveals to us great and powerful truths and insights concerning our position in Christ in the heavenly places.

Blessed with every spiritual blessing
First of all, in the heavenly places in Christ we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing, which means all blessings originating in the Holy Spirit are available for us (Ephesians 1:3)! These blessings can concern our spirit, mind, body, family, friends, relationships, health, and finances; in short, everything pertaining to life and godliness. God is greatly interested in all aspects of our lives, gives us His full attention and cares for us. He has promised to look after us and supply all our needs according to His riches in glory; not according to our abilities, personalities or positions in life (Philippians 4:19; 2 Peter 1:3). What a wonderful comfort to know! So with great confidence we turn unto Him, roll our burdens on Him, and make our requests known to our heavenly Father!

Place of authority
Secondly, we are told how we in Christ in the heavenly places have been made to sit far above every principality and power, might and dominion and even every name that is named in this age or in the age to come (Ephesians 1:20-23, 2:6). From this place of authority and power, we intercede together with Christ through the help of His Spirit within us! When anyone, anywhere in the world, in any given situation, sees himself afresh seated in heavenly places of authority in Christ, his prayers and verbal confessions will suddenly change and great boldness will be ushered in to his speaking with God! Praise starts bubbling up from his heart and mouth, and faith is being released! These prayers are heard in heaven and changes happen on earth!

Engaging the enemy
Thirdly, we as the Body of Christ have entered into combat with the enemy. The Bible says that in the heavenly places in Christ we wrestle against evil spiritual powers and against rulers of the darkness of our age (Ephesians 3:10, 6:12). Our asking from God puts us in direct conflict with evil spirits and wicked powers. God, however, has given us – the Church of Jesus Christ – power over our enemy (Matthew 16:18; Luke 10:19-20)! Sometimes in prayer in our secret place, we need to speak aloud to the evil spirits and wicked powers, command them in the name of Jesus and resist the devil with full assurance that he will flee from us when we have submitted ourselves to God (James 4:7). This is true, praise be to God our Father, but not the whole truth!

Sufferings for Christ
The truth of us fully engaging the enemy also implies that sufferings, wounds, heartaches, failures, setbacks, disappointments and even death in martyrdom can face the very same and dearest child of God, who just a short while ago was in completely different circumstances and surroundings. In saying this, we are thinking in particular of our brothers and sisters currently suffering at the hands of terrorists in the Middle East and other Muslim countries. These murderers have given themselves over to evil and agreed to follow Satan himself in order to steal, kill and destroy the innocent (John 10:10)! But those precious believers in Jesus have never been abandoned nor ultimately left in the hands of Satan and his murderers. Instead, they are now enjoying eternal life with God, since no one shall ever be able to snatch any child of God out of Jesus’ hand (John 10:28-30)! God has wiped away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 7:17)! And remember, the Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians while in prison in Rome!

January set aside as special month of prayer
So in full assurance that God is with us and hears our prayers, please enter now into a special season of prayer and intercession with us! We have set apart this first month of the new year to approach God with fasting and prayer and call you to do the same! We will be praying and fasting on each Wednesday of January. Please join us by signing the Isaiah 62 pledge on-line and you will receive a new prayer letter each week of January. Sign up at: http://int.icej.org/Isaiah62_Pledge

Together with you in prayer,

Rev. Juha Ketola
ICEJ International Director 
 
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PRAYER POINTS
For first week of January 2015
The next day of prayer and fasting in our Isaiah 62 Global Prayer Campaign will be on Wednesday, 7 January 2014.

1)  Pray for the leadership of Israel as the nation prepares for upcoming elections in March. Pray in particular for current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud and for all the leaders of the Israeli political parties vying in the elections - for the will of the Lord to be done in and through all of their lives for the unity and good of the nation. Pray as well for Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, outgoing IDF Chief-of-Staff Benny Gantz and his successor, Gadi Eizenkot, as well as the heads of the Shin Bet and the Mossad security agencies, that they would be vigilant in defending Israel during the transition to a new government (1 Timothy 2:1-6; Psalm 133; Proverbs 21:1-2; Matthew 6:10).

2)  Pray for all the believers in the nation of Israel, Jews and Arabs alike, and especially for the local pastors and ministry leaders, that the Lord would use them mightily to impact lives in this nation. Pray for the salvation of Israel and for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them (Colossians 1:9-12; Ephesians 6:10-20; Zechariah 12:10; Romans 11:25-29).

3)  Pray for the persecuted Christian communities of the Middle East and other Muslim-dominated lands. Pray in particular for the Christians in Iraq and Syria suffering under the brutality of the ISIS terrorist militia (Hebrews 11:32-40; 2 Timothy 4:17-18).

4)   Pray for the work and ministry of the ICEJ in Israel and worldwide, including our Feast of Tabernacles event from September 27 to October 2, 2015 at the Jerusalem Payis Arena. Please pray for the presence and glory of the Holy Spirit to increase and grow upon the ministry, for wisdom, for open doors in Israel and in the nations, and for resources and finances. Pray for the nations from all across the world to come up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles (Ephesians 5:17-18; Titus 3:6; Acts 10:44-46; James 1:5-8; Ecclesiastes 9:16-18; Revelation 3:7-8; 2 Corinthians 8:5, 9:6-8; Isaiah 60:5; Zechariah 8:20-23; 14:16-19).