Psalm 122:6 — “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.”
In Hebrew: “Sha’alu shalom Yerushalayim”
In Hebrew the word “sha’alu” is more than “pray for”, it means: ask, or seek.
The Hebrew meaning leads us to realize God is compelling us to not only pray for peace of Jerusalem, but to ask it, seek it by any possible means.
The next verses speak about the connection between seeking peace for Jerusalem, our part to play in it, our actions towards it, and God’s blessings over those who do all these things.
With Ramadan month (40 days of fasting and praying celebrated by the Muslim community worldwide) starting tonight, it is an especially explosive season for us here in Israel.
As a time of reflection, prayer and introspection for Muslims, it ignites especially strong religious sentiments among the Muslim observers. Many of my Arabic speaking friends who have Muslim neighbors, they hear what they do and how they pray, and have said this is the time when the Muslim community here unites not just in prayer and fasting, but also in praying against and cursing Israel.
There is a reason why the Ramadan season is always considered most explosive, volatile, tense and prone to destabilization in Israel. It is an all out spiritual warfare aimed against Israel’s very existence.
We stand on God’s eternal promises, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the prayers of our Israel’s most faithful friends: believers from the Nations, like you.
In a time when other curse Israel and fight it on every corner, uttering words of destruction, despair and death over this nation, we as believers in Jesus have to take up our calling to stand as watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem and prayer for her peace.
Pray for shalom, revival and God’s blessing over His people. This is the time to stand on God’s biblical promises to restore, build and release His blessing, by speaking these promises into existence by faith.
The good news is — your blessing is guaranteed if you bless Israel according to Genesis 12:3.
By praying for Israel and restoring her spiritual foundation in the spiritual world, you will reap that harvest of God’s blessing in your own life.
Take time every day over the next 40 days and “sha’alu shalom Yerushalayim” — Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Beit Hallel is a Messianic Jewish congregation in Ashdod, led by pastor Israel Pochtar, serving holocaust survivors and the poor and needy locally and throughout the nation of Israel, while building up the body of Messiah in the promised land of Israel.