ICEJ Prayer Meetings Offer Prevailing Prayer for Israel

By: Joshua Gooding, ICEJ Prayer Department Head 

The nation of Israel is not only at war against the Hamas terror militia but also against dark spiritual forces that seek to hinder Israel from reaching its destiny in God.

Following the brutal massacres on October 7, Israel declared war on Hamas. The ICEJ also joined the battle through prayer, wrestling with principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). Over 10,000 intercessors from 173 different nations have joined our online Global Prayer Gathering (GPG) since October 7—averaging over 1,000 participants each day.

Through these faithful prayer warriors, the worldwide ministry of the ICEJ has been greatly strengthened and encouraged. The Lord also has given us much wisdom, revelation, and discernment on how to pray into this war. Participants are sending us testimonies about how the daily GPG sessions have lifted them from despair over the conflict and intensified their intimacy with God.

“We highly value and love the maturity of the panel and many of the intercessory groups. We share and delight in the love that the ICEJ has for God and for the Israeli people,” one attendee recently wrote.

At the start of the war, the ICEJ’s parallel Rosh Chodesh prayer chain was covering two weeks of prayer each month, as groups from different nations took up the baton of engaging in round-the-clock prayer for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Israel and for revival in their nations. As we continued to intercede, we noticed that many churches and prayer groups already participating in the Rosh Chodesh online vigil took on added hours. As a result, the Rosh Chodesh prayer chain has now been going 24/7 since January 11.

From the beginning of the war, the Lord made clear that we are battling the spirit of Amalek. The Bible describes this as a spirit of envy that arises in every generation to try to annihilate the Jewish people—especially when they are on the brink of a spiritual breakthrough for the nation.

During the time of Moses, the Amalekites traveled a great distance to attack the children of Israel just before they reached Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments and the instructions for building the tabernacle of His presence. During the time of David, the Amalekites raided and looted David’s camp not long before Israel’s greatest king received the vision to build the Lord’s house in Jerusalem. During the time of Esther, the Amalekite prince, Haman, arose to destroy the Jewish people just before their return to the land of Israel to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

These three stories reveal three keys to victory over the spirit of Amalek. The first is found in the books of Moses, as Amalek was defeated by Joshua as Aaron and Hur came alongside Moses and held up his hands in intercession. This is a picture of our agreement in corporate prayer, coming together as a body to lift the Jewish nation as they engage in battle.

We find the next key in the story of David, who had to strengthen himself in the Lord before engaging the Amalekite marauders in battle. Before we lead our churches and communities to stand in prevailing prayer for Israel’s victory, we ensure we are standing strong and upright in the Lord ourselves.

The final key the Lord has revealed is that some breakthroughs can only be achieved through prayer and fasting, as was the case in the story of Esther. Corporate fasting and prayer brought a complete turnaround and unraveled the evil plans hatched by the spirit of Amalek.

The brutal attacks on October 7 have shown this spirit has raised its head once again to try and stop Israel from reaching its destiny. We believe this is because the Lord is getting ready to release something great in the earth through the Jewish people and nation once more. As intercessors and watchmen called from across the nations to stand on the walls of Jerusalem, let us take our place and strategically pray for Israel during this critical time.