As the war with Hamas has gone on for about 100 days, I’ve been participating as a panelist on the daily two-hour Global Prayer Gathering (GPG) to pray for Israel sponsored by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ).

The daily GPG originating from Jerusalem is a lifeline for prayer and information during this ongoing wicked war against Israel. Intercessors each day are participating from all over the globe, from places as remote as the Cook Islands and Fiji as well as Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas. A definition of intercession in prayer is this: an intercessor imposes himself/herself between God and man to convince God to temper judgment with mercy.

It has been very disturbing to observe a new level of antisemitism being poured out against Jews and Israel, whether it’s in pro-Hamas protests on university campuses or at the International Court of Justice in the Hague.  But it is comforting and strengthening to pray with more than 1,500 believers on the daily GPG. The ICEJ provides translators for many languages including Chinese.

The Word of God says that the LORD seeks intercessors but seldom finds them! We have this astonishing verse in Isaiah 59: 16,  “God saw that there was no man— and he wondered…. he was amazed that there was no one interceding…. there was no intercessor….”  The Almighty also protested in disappointment through the prophet Ezekiel: “I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land . . . but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22: 30)

However, the prayers of the Israeli soldiers before and during battle as well as prayers at the Western Wall are awesome— and it seems God has also found some rock-solid intercessors on the daily GPG! I was particularly blessed when my friend Malcolm Hedding, former director of the ICEJ, taught at the ministry of intercession during one of the prayer sessions.

Malcolm focused on men in the Bible such as Abraham, Moses, and the prophet Daniel, models of intercession with emphasis upon being the friend of God. 

What a privilege! What an honor to be an intercessor and God’s friend!

Intercessors value the eternal purposes of God concerning the nation of Israel and prove that they can be entrusted with the LORD’s dreams and visions for his chosen people.

Rabbi Chaim Eisen also participated in my ministry’s own prayer gathering, the Watchmen and Women on the Walls New Year Intercessory Prayer Zoom. He prayed a powerful prayer for the LORD to receive glory as a result of this war:

Zoom screenshot —During a prayer Zoom, Jerusalem Rabbi Chaim Eisen displays Hamas rocket from an earlier war

“Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.” (Psalm 115: 1)

The rabbi’s website is ZionBibleStudies.org

We believe our heartfelt prayers are timely and that the Almighty hears the sincere desire of global intercessors to make ourselves available to intercede for Israel and our nations in 2024.

The conflict is changing moment by moment and proliferating to several fronts, including a naval war in the Red Sea. 

So we must soldier on in prayer.

Thank you, LORD, for calling us to be your friends and for entrusting us to pray for your people Israel as well as for Gazans to be liberated and set free from Jew hatred. This is no small matter. Thank you also, LORD, for calling us to be watchmen on the walls not only for Jerusalem but also for our nations, that they may align themselves with your agenda and be “sheep” nations, not “goat” nations.  

Psalm 37 declares, “Wicked doers shall be rooted out; they that patiently abide the LORD shall inherit the land. Yet a little while, and the ungodly shall be clean gone. But the meek-spirited shall possess the earth. The ungodly gnash upon the godly with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him to scorn; for he sees his day is coming. The ungodly have drawn out the sword, but their sword shall go through their own heart. . . .”

Psalm 24: “This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.”

Christine Darg is a presenter at the Jerusalem Channel and can be contacted at www.JerusalemChannel.tv