Hey friends, have you read Isaiah 62 lately?  If not, stop and take a moment to read the 12 verses it contains.

Are you inspired not to keep silent?  Will you be a watchman on the wall?  Are you ready to take no rest and give the Lord no rest until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth?  If so, the Isaiah 62 Prayer Initiative is right up your alley!  On the first Wednesday of each month believers from around the world join as one at the foot of the throne of God to pray for Israel.  You may participate in many different ways:

• Pledge to pray on your own, using the prayer guide provided monthly.  (Here is this month’s prayer guide.)
• Join an Isaiah 62 prayer group.  You will find a prayer map here.
• Start your own prayer group.
• If you are in the Phoenix area, join us at 6:00pm tonight (and on the first Wednesday of every month) at Calvary Community Church for a 45-minute Isaiah 62 prayer time.  Find directions and more information here.
• Follow this blog, where you will find information about each month’s prayer time.

There are 12 verses in Isaiah 62…one to serve as a focus verse for each month of the year.  It is January, so let’s take a look at verse 1:

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
    and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,
until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
    and her salvation as a burning torch.

Have you ever been so adamant about something that you just could not be quiet?  That is what the prophet Isaiah is implying here.  For Jerusalem’s sake, we must not keep silent!  When I look at the world today and realize that countries (including the United States) seem to be turning their backs on Israel, I become adamant!  As believers, we can’t turn our backs.  We must stand with Israel, and we must not keep silent about issues that concern her!  One day her righteousness will indeed go forth as brightness and her salvation as a burning torch.  But between now and then, Israel faces the tribulation!  Let’s not allow evil to advance on Israel without a fight from Christians.

This prayer initiative is driven by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, and I want to share their commentary on verse 1:

This verse tells us about someone who is persistent, vocal and unwilling to give up when it comes to the well-being of Zion and Jerusalem. Is Israel righteous?  Not yet, but she will be.  Is Zion saved?  Not now, but soon.  The goal for this ceaseless effort is that God will be stirred to cause Israel and her eternal capital, Jerusalem to shine brightly, like a burning lamp, for the entire world to see.  Who is this who cares for Israel so deeply?  God?  Isaiah?  Or perhaps the reader of these words?  Yes, all of us harmonizing with God, shall not stop asserting ourselves until Israel’s deliverance and righteousness are brilliantly blazing.  This week, will you pray to that end?

Absolutely, let’s pray to that end!

UPDATE:  ICEJ Executive Director, Jurgen Buhler wrote a fabulous prayer letter that ties in with this month’s Isaiah 62 Prayer day.  Find it here, and take a few moments to be encouraged by it!