Bless Israel Sunday is an opportunity for you to discover things about God’s faithfulness you may have never known before.
In this “Pray for Israel” blog series, you’ll find a prayer for Israel along with information to serve as a starting-off point from which to add your own prayers.
Messianic Jewish Believers
Only 2 percent of Israel’s nine million-strong population identify as those who believe in Yeshua (Jesus). Messianic Jewish Believers are a minority in Israel, yet Messianic congregations are thriving. It’s estimated that about 20,000 Believers in Israel are Messianic Jews. There are hundreds of thousands of Jewish people around the world who have placed their faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
With significant resistance to the Gospel in Israel, Believers are often subjected to opposition and even hostility. Gentile Believers in Israel are frequently seen as dangerous missionaries, while Messianic Jews are often believed to have betrayed their Jewish faith. Sharing one’s faith in Jesus must be done with great care and sensitivity, and it generally emerges through caring relationships.
Messianic congregations have a vital testimony in the communities in which they live, particularly in Israel. Many of them serve their communities by offering essential humanitarian aid, helping the homeless, addicted, and those who are dealing with various forms of crisis.
Unity among Believers is important to Jesus. Five times before His arrest in the Garden, He prayed for our unity as Believers so the world might believe that God the Father had sent Him.
Pray for Israel and the Jewish people
Father, please strengthen and encourage the Body of Messiah in Israel, both Messianic and Gentile Believers in Jesus. Draw each one deeper into the Scriptures so they may increase in knowledge and understanding of Your Word. Equip each member to carry out Your purposes for their lives. May they have great joy that radiates Your glory and provokes Jewish people to jealousy (Romans 11:11).
Encourage these Believers and enlarge their faith. Strengthen them in Your Word. Heighten their hunger to study and “rightly divide” Your Word (2 Timothy 2:15). Help them to reach maturity in prayer, worship and wisdom. Give them favor in the Land.
Move in their lives to build in them stellar reputations as people of kindness, generosity and integrity. Make them stand out as people who love and serve like no others. Use them to draw those they know into curiosity about Yeshua.
Thank You for the Messianic Jewish ministries in Israel. Please give them Your vision for the work You would have them do in the coming year, and open doors of opportunity for them. Glorify Yourself and Messiah Yeshua through these ministries.
Thank You for calling forth leaders to serve Your people in Messianic congregations. We pray that You would bless these fellowships with peace and joy; sustain them financially and spiritually. Give them hearts of worship and prayer, and ground them firmly in the truth of Your Word. Ignite in their hearts a fresh desire for the good works You have created for them to do.
Please instill ministry leaders with vision and wisdom to serve the Body of Messiah and reach out to Israelis who need to know Yeshua.
We especially ask for unity among Believers in Israel, the Land of Your Chosen People. Please strengthen the bond between Messianic and Gentile Believers, Jewish and Arab Believers. May the mystery of it draw attention to Your truth and love. May their love and unity stand out as a marvel so that all people would seek to understand it in a land with much tension between the two people groups.
In Jesus’ name, we pray for Israel and the Jewish people, Lord.
Learn more about Bless Israel Sunday: What is Bless Israel Sunday?
