Derek Prince - Prayers and Proclamations for Israel
This is an excerpt from: How To Pray For Israel
So let me come to the end of my... There's two more, this is number ten and eleven if you've been following. Probably you haven't. Number ten on how to pray for Israel says, pray for the harvest of the Gentiles. Let me take you back to Romans 11:25 which says: Blindness or hardness in part has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved. All Israel will not be saved until every Gentile appointed by God for salvation has come in. So, we as people concerned about Israel have a very important reason to be concerned about the salvation of the Gentiles. This thought has occurred to me sometimes. Jesus said in one of His rather critical statements, "The first shall be last and the last shall be first".
I think in a way that applies to Israel and the Gentiles. Israel were number one, Jesus went first to them, and He didn't go to the Gentiles. Alas, Israel didn't meet God's conditions and so God went to the last, the Gentiles. Israel thus became in turn the last. But now I believe the last will be first, there's a changeover. The grace of God is moving like a cloud from the Gentile world to the Jews. It's only begun to move and yet there are masses and millions of Gentiles to come in. But that's the direction that God is moving. Finally, and I sometimes tease myself because when I say finally, it very seldom is finally. However, in Philippians 3, Paul says, "Finally my brethren," and goes on for two more chapters!
I have at least a precedent. But this is the last thing that I want to say in my list of suggestions for how to pray. Take the sword of the Spirit. Proclaim! It's one of the most powerful things that you can do for Israel. You remember what Paul said in Ephesians 6. I think it's 17? Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God... Now, you are not born with the sword of the Spirit in your hand when you're born again. Paul says take the sword of the Spirit. If you take the sword, the Spirit will wield it but if you don't take it the Spirit has nothing to wield. So, one very effective way to take the sword is by proclamation of the Word of God. Every time you do that you're thrusting with the sword against the forces of darkness. Ruth and I are going to give you a little pattern of proclamations. Come on, sweetheart, you've got to know the way here by now!
Psalm 33, verses 8–12: Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever; the plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen as His own inheritance. And the name of that people is: Israel. That's right. Everything that the nations plan contrary to God's plans for Israel will not come to pass.
Jeremiah 31:10, this is only part of the verse: It's only the latter part: He who scattered Israel is gathering him and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock. I think we'll say that again. He who scattered Israel is gathering him and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock. So regathered Israel is ultimately secure because God will not merely regather them, He will keep them.
Psalm 125, verse 3 we have to say from the NIV and this is only part of this psalm: The scepter of the wicked shall not remain over the land allotted to the righteous. I believe the scepter of the wicked is Islam. It says the power of Islam will not ultimately continue to dominate the territory allotted to the righteous. At the same time, the Lord has to make the Jews righteous so it's a double process.
Then Psalm 129:5–6: Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. Let them be like the grass upon the housetops which withers before it grows up. And notice we're not against a nationality, we're only against a certain category of people... Those who hate Zion. Let's say that again. "Let them all be confounded, and turned back that hate Zion. Let them be like the grass upon the housetops which withers before it grows up". In other words, they will never come to maturity. They may have many plans and schemes, but they'll never come to full maturity. And then Psalm 17, verses 7–9, where we put Israel in where the psalmist said "me".
Now I've got to think how it starts... All right. Psalm 17, verses 7–9: Show your marvelous loving kindness by your right hand. O you who save those who trust in you from those who rise up against them. Keep Israel as the apple of your eye. Hide us under the shadow of your wings from the wicked who oppress us, from our deadly enemies who surround us. That's the exact situation of Israel today. Let's do that once more. "Show your marvelous loving kindness by your right hand. O you who save those who trust in you from those who rise us against them. Keep Israel as the apple of your eye. Hide us under the shadow of your wings from the wicked who oppress us, from our deadly enemies who surround us".
So that's my eleven suggestions. You probably lost track of them, I will read them very quickly and then we will move on with the meeting. I'm not going to take time to comment on them, I'll simply read them:
- Stay within the parameters of God's word.
- Enter with thanksgiving and praise.
- Whether Jews or Gentiles, confess your appropriate sins against the other.
- Identify with God's ultimate purpose: a people for Himself.
- Only by God's Spirit.
- Plead for mercy and favor in this set time.
- Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
- Bless Israel and be blessed.
- Don't tell God what to do.
- Pray for the harvest of the Gentiles.
- Take the sword of the Spirit: proclaim.