In a sense, Israel is God’s timepiece. If you want to know what God is doing on the earth in our day, just look to what He is doing in Israel.
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On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth (Is.62:6–7).
On March 28, IFA contributing writer Keith Guinta wrote “The Power of 100 Million Praying for Israel,” ahead of the Isaiah 62 Global Solemn Assembly planned for May 7–28, 2023. And indeed, since the publication of that article, God has already accomplished more than we could have asked or imagined!
This 21-day call to pray for one hour per day, petitioning the Lord to raise up 100 million intercessors for Israel and to fulfill His end-time purposes for the global Body of Messiah, was spearheaded by a group of ministries from across the globe. Among the leaders behind it are Mike Bickle (International House of Prayer in Kansas City), Lou Engle (TheCall), Jason Hubbard (International Prayer Connect), and Dean Bye (Return Ministries). The initiative, launched with a modest search for 100,000 participants, has already obtained commitments from nearly 5 million intercessors worldwide. You read that correctly: 5 million!
This global prayer-fast is a moed — an appointed time — for all of us who wish to put the Lord in remembrance. This is a time in which God has promised to appoint or mark out a global company of intercessors to tirelessly remind Him of His promises regarding Israel and the Jewish people until Jesus returns.
Said Bickle on a recent Zoom call with prayer leaders from the U.S., Israel, Africa, New Zealand, and Asia: “Jerusalem becoming a praise in all the earth is Old Testament language for the return of Jesus. Apart from Him standing on the ground in the City of the Great King, there will be no eternal peace in Israel, nor will Jerusalem be a praise in all the earth. Israel’s national repentance [see Acts 3:19] and confession that Jesus is Messiah [see Matthew 23:39] is deeply connected to Jesus’s Second Coming and to life from the dead for the whole earth [see Romans 11:15]. Jesus will not return until the leaders in Jerusalem acknowledge Him as Messiah according to Psalm 118:26. [This fast will focus on] “exalting the supremacy of Jesus and focusing on the connection of God’s blessing on Jerusalem to fulfilling the Great Commission.”
The call will go out to any group wishing to become a hub to help intercessors participate in this solemn event. Some will pray alone, and others will pray in groups of two or more, virtually or in person — at home, at the office, in the college dorm, at the church, or elsewhere3. Bye says his heart is to see the intercessors emerge from within the four walls of the church and gather in the marketplaces for prayer and worship. During the first three weeks after the fast was announced, on March 7, over 1 million were set to participate. It is anticipated that by May 7, far more than 1 million will engage in the 21-day fast in any of various ways: Some will fast on only water, for instance, and others on only vegetables or juices, or by taking just one meal per day, while still others may fast from media rather than from food.
The International House of Prayer in Kansas City community has committed to engaging for 24 hours per day in worship and prayer during this fast. Leaders believe that the event will spark a conversation about Israel among the Body of Christ worldwide. The fast is to end on Pentecost Sunday, May 28. On that day, global prayer networks representing nearly 5 million intercessors are already committed to praying for Israel.
One such group is 110 Cities, led by Jason Hubbard and Eric Watt. Their mission statement says: “Our vision is to see the 110 most unreached cities in the world reached with the Gospel, praying for thousands of Christ-exalting churches to be planted among them.” This team, representing 130 million believers around the world, has already set aside four days this year to pray and fast in unity: Jan. 22 for China; April 17 for the Middle East; and May 28 for Jerusalem. This will culminate Oct. 31 in prayer for India.
“These 100 million believers are deeply committed to Jesus and to the Great Commission, but many of them are not yet connected to the Lord’s biblical purpose for Israel,” the Isaiah62fast.com site says.
The uniqueness of this historic prayer initiative is itself a sign of the times and an acceleration of the Lord’s set time for “a generation to come” and “a people yet to be created” to favor Zion (see Psalm 102:13,18). At a time when global anti-Semitism is on the rise, ministries connected with Israel and aliyah (“going up,” the return of the Jews from diaspora or exile) are pressing in to the desire of God’s heart to gather His people from the ends of the earth and for all Israel to be saved (see Ezekiel 36:22–38; Zechariah 8:7–8; 10:10; Jeremiah 31:1–14; 32:41).
Rick Ridings, leader of Succat Hallel, a 24/7 worship-and-prayer ministry in Jerusalem, shared this vision on the March 16 Zoom meeting: He saw a scroll coming down out of heaven. On the scroll was written Ezekiel 36. He then saw the Lord come down as a “pillar of cloud by day” and a “pillar of fire by night.” The Lord was appearing to individual Israelis in dreams and visions and taking them one at a time down to Gilgal. The name Gilgal means “to roll away.” It was the place from which Joshua and the Israelites faced Jericho when God said all the males needed to be circumcised and that He would use this circumcision to “roll away” the reproach of Egypt from His people.
Ridings says that just as God had weakened the Israelites, putting them in a totally dependent position as they were about to mount an offensive against Jericho, the Lord is saying He will do the same thing now; as God was taking individual Israelis to Gilgal in the vision, Ridings says, He took out a surgical knife and began cutting away the hardness of their hearts — a heart circumcision, as in Ezekiel 36: 26: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” At this time, the Lord says that He is going to roll away the reproach of the rejection of the Jewish people by all of the nations of the earth, as well as the reproach that has come against the Jewish people for their rejection of Yeshua as Messiah. Ridings also says he saw the reproach of centuries of anti-Semitism and replacement theology being broken off. Yeshua then stood at the Jordan River with each one, and He baptized them. Ridings says he believes the May 7–28 global fast will be Yeshua’s tool for the fulfillment of Ezekiel 36 in our day.
The Isaiah62fast.com website identifies churches, ministries, Bible studies, and youth groups that desire to provide ministry resources and regular communication in mobilizing others. If you desire more information or want your church or ministry to be involved, please visit the link.
As of April 18, Bickle had this to report: “Last week we connected with 100 pastors with large Spanish-speaking ministries in South America — they collectively have 5 million people under them. I did a similar Zoom call speaking to about 100 pastors with large Portuguese-speaking ministries in Brazil, who collectively have 7 million people under them. The majority of leaders in both Zoom calls voiced their zeal to call their people to embrace this. I have Zoom calls with networks of top Korean leaders, then top Russian leaders, then Chinese and, then Arabic, et cetera. I was very blessed that Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth with a Mission and one of the most influential missions leaders in modern history, endorsed this event saying, ‘There is connection to our praying for the peace of Jerusalem and the completion of the Great Commission with the gospel being proclaimed and translated in every tribe and tongue. I encourage you to ask the Lord if you are to participate in this time of prayer and fasting.’ ”
IFA desires to have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church (see Revelation 3:22) and to understand, like the sons of Issachar, how to discern the times and know what to do (see 1 Chronicles 12:32). This global Isaiah 62 fast is essentially an “Esther call” to go before the king on behalf of the Jewish people — the apple of God’s eye. Who knows if we ourselves have not come into the kingdom for such a time as this? (see Esther 4:14–16).
Father, we desire to partner with You as You call all Israel to Your salvation. Commission all of us right now; set us apart as Your watchmen, to pray and fast with the global Ekklesia, crying out to You day and night until You make Jerusalem a praise in all the earth. Amen.
Action item: Ask Holy Spirit if you, your church, your prayer group, your youth group, or your house church should participate. Determine the type of fast you will follow. Spread the word through the Isaiah 62 website. Encourage IFA and your IFA state prayer leader(s) by letting them know about your participation.
Share your prayers below for the Israeli people’s return to Jesus their Messiah.
Lori Nicole Meed (Bachelor of Science; Bachelor of Education, Special Education) is a wife, mother, and grandmother who home-schooled her now adult children. In 2004, God moved her family from Canada to the U.S., imparting His heart for the U.S. and for revival. Having walked out her own journey of freedom after being radically born again in 1992, Lori has a heart to see others set free to walk fully in their destiny. She is a leader of an inner-healing and deliverance ministry at her home church in Pennsylvania. She also gathers and equips prayer groups for the U.S. and Israel. Lori has a passion for teaching on Aliyah (the return of the Jews to Israel), the feasts of the Lord, and the rich connections of the gentile churches to Israel. She is a prayer leader on IFA’s Headline Prayer, as well as being a contributing writer. Photo Credit: Anton Mislawsky on Unsplash.