Friday, 05 December 2008
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I Feel Convicted to Pray for Israel...
by mrs lily 
When I lived in Texas I visited a church that repeatedly stressed to the body to be praying for Israel. Ever since, I have felt it tugging on me, like conviction, I am supposed to be praying for Israel.
The truth is, I don't really know how to pray for them. Has my short-sighted westernized Christianity stunted my growth and limited my focus to just me and "my personal walk with Jesus"? Shouldn't I be praying for God's chosen people to return to Him? Isn't that God's heart?
What does the Bible say about praying for Israel? Have you ever been taught to do this?
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Comments (33)
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. ps 122 ...
when we don't pay attention to the news and what's happening with Israel it's very hard to pray ... however, I think we should always be paying attention to that nation, they are God's people and while we are adopted into his family a lot of promises and prophecies have been made regarding israel and we should definitely look at them..
I responded on your blog, but I will respond again.
Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May those who love you be secure.
I believe those of us who know Christ have been grafted into God's family, but that Israel will always play in important role in the story of history and of redemption. I also believe that events like the six-day war show God's hand at work on Israel's behalf. I believe God loves to bring Israeli people home to His heart; that was his plan from the beginning.
Thank you for reminding me to pray for Israel. I will pray for peace and for the salvation of the unsaved. May they not only worship Yahweh, but also Yeshua.
The Israel mentioned in the Bible is not the same thing as the nation invented by the UN in 1947. Anybody can slap the name on a piece of land and call it Israel, but that doesn't make it the same entity as what the Bible spoke of in the Old Testament. The modern day Zionists are not the chosen people of God of the Old Testament. God left their house desolate since they broke His covenant. I pray for all the jews to be converted, but there is nothing "special" about Israel, except for the fact that it was the first case of legalised theft by the UN. Other than that, it's just another country in the Middle East.
I think every country and nation needs prayer....I don't think I've ever felt like I had to pray for Israel specifically, but I'm sure their country needs prayer as well.
@MysteriumFidei@xanga - Even if what you say about Israel-the-governmental-body is so, Paul specifically said that God would not leave Israel-the-people's house desolate forever. Romans chapters 10 and 11 speak to this directly.
"Again I ask: Did they [the Jewish people] stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at
all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the
Gentiles to make Israel envious. But
if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means
riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness
bring! ...I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you
may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until
the full number of the Gentiles has come in." --Paul
We Gentiles have our opportunity and access to God's promise because Israel-the-people dropped the ball. We're "grafted in" to Israel's covenant. But God flat-out says that he's not done with Israel-the-people, that they are "loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable."
And so I think that yes, as Gentile Christians we have an obligation to pray for Israel-the-people, irregardless of whether we agree with or support Israel-the-state.
@ChrisRusso@xanga - I couldn't agree more. The conversion of the jews is something we ought to pray for. But praying for jews to be converted isn't the same thing as praying for the nation of Israel to prevail in their ungodly wars with everybody that surrounds them, their ruthless murder of Christian men, women, and children and Palestine, and their racially supremacist policies that govern their politics. For some reason, many American Christians seem to think that if you are going to be a good Christian, you have to support everything that the antichrist state of Israel chooses to do, and I think that that is unbelievably ridiculous.
I believe people of faith should pray for all people equally-
"All people are created equal under the eyes of God."
Why should we only pray for Israel? What about Africa, or South America, or all the other countries in the world? Christians are God's chosen people and what God calls "true Jews"(Romans 2:28-29). If Israel is still God's chosen, then why isn't every single Jew that has ever lived going to heaven? They're not. Only the ones that believe in Jesus are. So, yes, we should pray that the Jews and everyone else in the world will believe in Jesus. God desires that all should come to repentance, not just the people of Israel.
@musterion99@xanga - Wonderfully said!
@MysteriumFidei@xanga - Hey thanks. I love when we agree! I'm glad that you're still commenting even though you're not posting anymore.
@MysteriumFidei@xanga - @musterion99@xanga - You know, of course, that the reason we Evangelicals feel the urge to pray for the Israeli nation-state is that they're so instrumental in our bizarre and barely biblical eschatological views. With that aside, I think we'd all agree that one of the major emphases of the New Testament is that God shows no favoritism, and that Christians should be concerned for all nations.
-NDSR
@sirnickdon - I think we'd all agree that one of the major
emphases of the New Testament is that God shows no favoritism, and that
Christians should be concerned for all nations.
Amen!
Israel, the political nation, has served its purpose. I don't see praying for Israel as any more valuable or noble than praying for any other country, Palestinians, or whatever else.
I see your personal 'prompting' (conviction you call it) as you are to just be joining others "in agreement" that Israel will come to Christ.
Israel is very important to God.
So many years ago that I can't remember, I came across the verse that said, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem." Ps. 122:6 As a pastor for nearly 50 years, I did each Sunday morning. That prayer is without bias.
@MysteriumFidei@xanga - amen to that!
How pompous of one to decide who needs "salvation". I am a PROUD JEWISH girl. For those obviously uninformed, there are many branches of Judaism just like there are many branches of christianity. There are Jews that pray for the return of Yeshua. They are called Messianic Jews. I happen to be one of them, but I do have family that are Orthodox. And I do believe in peace. If I did not not believe in and it--and more than that--live it, I would not be engaged to an Iranian boy. We beat the odds every day.
I don't think it is right for someone to speak out on something they can not fathom to understand. Israel and it's unrest is one of these things. If you have not lived there and dealt with it, frankly you have nothing to day. I am sorry that some feel "convicted" to pray for Israel. I am just glad Israel has never felt "convicted" to be one of America's most faithful and staunch allies....even when America is mostly disliked the world over.
--signed, A Jewish girl.
@SoMuch_4_theAfterglow@xanga - wow..... I would have thought ANY kind of prayer was a good thing.
I would want anyone and everybody to pray for my peace being extremely grateful for it and blessed by it.
To answer the question.
Yes I have belonged to fellowships that have pushed this agenda heavily and those that don't care for it much at all.
The one thing that I would add to the comments that I already agree with;
That while we are all equal under Christ and there is no favoritism. That verse is there for a reason. And we can make all kinds of rationals for it, or we can simply do it in faith before God as we continue to pray for those lays on our hearts from all over the world.
x
I don't get the use of the word "conviction" here. I've seen it used to express the feeling someone gets when they realize they have been committing a sin- they feel "convicted" by the Holy Spirit. The word gets a bit overused from my point of view, but okay. But how can being drawn to prayer be a "conviction"? It's a good thing to feel God drawing you to prayer.
:)
@SoMuch_4_theAfterglow@xanga - I'm sorry you take it that way, but I have to agree with mamma_sez here, I don't see how praying for the souls of any man is a bad thing. Christians are instructed to pray for everyone, even fellow believers. I'm having a hard time understanding your seeming hostility in your comment...
I don't think I ever insinuated that I actually am informed much on Israel or Jewish people. I know that I am not informed. I am not a lot of things that I still feel led to pray for those who are, that doesn't mean my ignorance stifles my prayers, especially if the Lord is calling me to pray specific things. I also never said anything about Jewish people at all or what they believe, and I have known MANY messianic Jews whom I would call my brothers and sisters in the Lord.
@ClockworkBunny@xanga - Yes, being lead to pray is a good thing, but when I've felt led to pray and I haven't done it, I begin to feel convicted. Personally, I use that word VERY rarely...but it is the closest thing I could compare it to - feeling as though I should have been doing something I haven't been.
@sirnickdon - I disagree with your opinion on why people pray for Israel. I know the church I speak of was very sincere in their intent, for the souls of the lost, and were encouraging the body to pray for them also because they felt it was biblical and important.
@thepenguinishere@xanga - No disrespect, but as far as I am aware, what you quoted is found nowhere in scripture. The closest thing would be in Romans, when Paul says God shows no favoritism...right after he says how people will be punished if they do wrong, first for the Jew, then for the gentile, and rewarded for those who do good, first for the Jew, then for the gentile. It has nothing to do with favoritism, it is just the way that it is. Israel is God's chosen people, but he has extended that same grace and love to the gentiles. But he still chose them first..
@mrslily - I certainly take you at your word that the church you mentioned is motivated by evangelism and biblical faithfulness. I don't mean to discourage you from praying for anyone.
But I am also certain that Israel receives the majority of Evangelical attention because of the role many believe it will play in end times prophecy.
A lot of this emphasis, like people have said, on Israel is based on a misunderstanding of end times scripture. But I think more of it is very political. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.