9th Hour Prayer Initiative for Israel:  Praying daily 3pm for Israel

• Salvation
• Strength
• Security

Scripture References and Prayer Guide

The 9th hour is a biblically significant time of day.  As Watchmen, we are being alerted to the spiritual import of this hour accentuated in the scriptures.  The 9th hour is 3pm, the time Jesus died on the cross and the veil was forever rent offering all access to Him, Mt. 27:46-51.  It is the hour Peter and John performed the first miracle after Pentecost, Acts 3:1.  It is also the hour the angel appeared to Cornelius and told him his prayers had been heard in heaven and instructions were given as to how to fulfill them, Acts 10:31.  
       In Jewish tradition, there were regular hours of prayer inferred from the following:

• Ps 55:17 "Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress and He hears my voice."
• Daniel 6:10  "Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God as he had done before."

The first hour of prayer coincided with the morning sacrifice 9am, the second was the sixth hour, or at noon, the third hour was at 3pm.  
      Isaiah prophecies that foreigners will build up the walls of Jerusalem, Isaiah 60:10; and Watchmen will give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem as a praise in the earth, Isaiah 62:6.  As Israel sits in tenuous circumstances and governmental uncertainty, we as foreigners are being called to help build up the walls.  The 9th hour initiative serves that distinct 

Understanding God's covenant with Israel
In times of increasing stress and distress in personal lives and in and between nations, it is important to understand God's covenant with Israel.  It is His ultimate peace plan.  Otherwise, we can get tossed to and fro wondering why all the concern over Israel and what about my country, my city, my life in which problems are seemingly out of control.  God's plans are to prosper and not harm us (Jer 29:11).  Through Israel, God has revealed His plan to ultimately bring all things into order under His feet.  It is a promise...a covenant.  A covenant is an agreement, or contract between two or more parties.  In the Bible, however, covenants take on a commitment like a treaty with no negotiation of terms allowed.  God is the author and people had/have the choice to accept or decline it.  Foundational to this understanding is that the author is God the creator, and we are His creation.  Our well-being is dependent on His love.   One of the most important covenants God made was with the Israelites.  The Lord said to Abram:

• "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.  I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Gen 12:1-3

From this statement, God promised that His purpose and plan for salvation, protection, provision, and blessing would center and filter through Israel.  Paul says in Romans 9:4-5, "They  are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God." 
    God does not revoke His covenant.   His covenant is not with the words of the law, but with the people.  As centuries have passed since Christ's birth, death, and resurrection, the covenant is still there.  It is His promise and He does not break it...we do.  Disobedience is not His choice, it is ours.  Disobedience to God's covenant was Israel's choice.   They disobeyed.  Through disobedience to the law, God continued to fulfill His part as Creator by adding a new dimension to the covenant through the "New Covenant," through Jesus Christ, an Israelite.   This new covenant is spoken in Jesus' own words:  

• "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said:  'Take, eat; this is My body.'  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom,'” Mt. 26:9. 
• "And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, ​by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."  Heb 9:15

Jesus paved the way for all, Jew and Gentile, to enter into the blessing God has for those who believe.  Throughout history, Israel and Jerusalem are and will be the center-fold of God's end-time plan.  As such, praying for Israel in these escalating times aligns us with God's heart and His plans and purposes for all nations, tribes and tongues.  

• "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"  Rev 7:9

Strategic prayer for Israel aligns us with the purposes and plans of God as His end-time plan unfolds.  ​ 

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Salvation, Strength, Security
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Salvation and Global Harvest

Pray for repentance  for eyes to see and hearts to desire to know Jesus:

• "I have not come to call righteous people, but sinners, to repentance." Luke 5:32
• "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Ch 7:14
• "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained."  Acts 17:30
• "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance."  Rom 2: 4
• "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore and repent."  Rev. 3:19

Prayer for Salvation in Israel: 

• "Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad."  Ps 14:7
• "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is writtten, "The just shall live by faith."  Rom 1:16-17
• Speaking to Zecharias about the son whom Elizabeth will bear, "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God."  Luke 1:16
• "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins."  Rom 11:26b-27
• "'As for Me,' says the Lord, 'This is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,'"  says the Lord, 'from this time and forevermore.'”  Is. 59:21

Prayer for the global harvest:

• "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  John 3:16
• "Jesus answered and said to her, 'Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.'" John 4:13-14
• "And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe." Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped."  Rev 14:15-16
• "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" Joel 2:28-32
• "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.'”​  Rev 14:6-7

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Sending and Strengthening of the Laborers​​

Prayer for the call of God to be heard and people respond:

• "Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.'"  Mt.9:37-38
• "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.​" Rom 11:29
• "Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him."  Ps 126:5-6
• "​​Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great."  Joel 3:13
• "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."  Gal 6:9
• "I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.​"  Dan 7:21-22
• "The people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits."  Dan 11:32

For the equipping of the harvesters:

• "Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness."  2 Cor 9:10
• "Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees, say to those who are fearful-hearted, 'Be strong, do not fear!  Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.'  Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.  Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing.  For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness and stress in the desert.  The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes." Is 35:3-7

For the fullness of the Gentile Church:

• "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.​  And so all Israel will be saved."  Rev. 11:25-26
• "For as many as are led by then Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
• "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."  Eph 4:11-13
• "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory."  Eph 1:7-12

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Security of Israel

• “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,”  Let Israel now say— “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, When men rose up against us, Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their wrath was kindled against us;  Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would have gone over our soul; Then the swollen water Would have gone over our soul.” Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.  Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord Who made heaven and earth."   Ps 124
• "Those who trust in the Lord Are like Mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.  As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever.  For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest On the land allotted to the righteous, Lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity. Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, And to those who are upright in their hearts.  As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, The Lord shall lead them away With the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel!"  Ps 125
• "The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore."  Ps 121:7-8
• "Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise."  Is 60:18
• ""I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them,” Says the Lord your God."  Amos 9:14-15
• See also Zech 12:2-9