Prayer Points: April 2021

Consider these prayer points as springboards into deeper prayer and intercession.

 Hear my prayer, Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.  When I am in distress, I call to you,

    because you answer me. Psalm 86:6-7

General Election Result

Once again these elections failed to deliver a clear majority and the Knesset is split between pro and anti-Netanyahu factions. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party gained 30 seats ahead of Yesh Atid, led by Yair Lapid with 17. The remaining eleven parties hold between 9 and 4 seats each. Netanyahu’s traditional right wing bloc hold 52 seats, nine seats short of the necessary 61 to be a majority in the 120 seat Knesset. Potential kingmakers, for one side or the other, are Naftali Bennet (Yamina) with 7 seats and Mansour Abbas’ Arab Ra’am (Change) party with 4 seats. Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party failed to live up to early poll predictions gaining only six seats.

President Rivlin will meet the party leaders on Monday 5^th April before deciding who is most likely to succeed and be given the first opportunity to try to form a new government.

The Coronavirus crisis in Israel

4.8 million people have had both doses of vaccine and another 600,000 have had their first dose, which means that 56.5 of the population have had at least one dose. Over 80% of the over 60’s have had at least one dose.

As a result of the vaccination programme new cases are down to June 2020 levels with very few needing hospital treatment. The decline in cases has been slower in the north where Arab citizens have been slower to take up the vaccine. The vaccination programme is still controversial for various reasons and many, including Christians, are choosing not to be vaccinated.

Lockdown restrictions have been eased and shops and restaurants are open again. Flights into and out of Ben Gurion Airport are still severely restricted.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial restarts on Monday 5^th April

Praise & Prayer

• Pray that the Lord will give Israel a fully functioning government.
• Pray that as the covid restrictions are relaxed there will not be another surge in cases.
• Pray for all those who are struggling to feed their families and pay their rent and other bills as a result of losing their jobs or being laid off on unpaid leave.
• Pray for all those organisations that are reaching out to the poor and needy at this time.
• Lord, we pray that you will heal the land of Israel from poverty. Provide food and clothing for the hungry and use MMT and its supporters in response to the cry of the poor.
• Pray that justice will be seen to be done in the trial of Benjamin Netanyahu.

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
Psalm 34:15–17

Acknowledgement:  These prayer points have been consolidated from a number of sources including Prayer Letters and Newsletters originating in God’s Land.