One-a-Day...for the Heart: Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
God’s heart breaks, too. We are made in His image, and when sadness breaks our hearts, the Lord comes very close to comfort and rescue us because He understands what a broken heart feels like. Psalm 34:18 (NLT) says The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. What about when God’s heart breaks?
Rumblings, shakings, wars, and rumors of wars are occurring worldwide, but when war breaks out in Israel, it touches a very special part of the Lord’s heart. Regarding Israel, Zechariah 2:8 (NKJV) says, “...he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.”
Israel is homeland for the Jews, God's chosen people. His great love for the Church is also evidenced in this verse, for we, too, are the apple of His eye. “The apple of the eye” refers to the most tender part of the eye, the pupil or aperture through which rays of light pass to the retina. The apple of the eye feels injury most acutely, and the loss of it is irreparable (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary).
Within Israel is Jerusalem, a city so significant to the Lord that He says in Zechariah 12:3-4, “I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves” (NLT).
Jerusalem is a very critical location for end-time events. This small city of 970,000 people has captured God’s attention for thousands of years. In 2 Chronicles 6:6 and 7:16, God said, “I have chosen Jerusalem… that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.” His great love for Jerusalem is so eloquently expressed in Isaiah 49:16, when He says of Jerusalem, “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.”
When King David moved the ark of the covenant, the symbol of God’s presence, to Jerusalem, he wanted the people to know that the Lord God was right there with them and that He was the true King of Israel. David lovingly said of this beautiful city, in Psalm 122:6-8 (NKJV), “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces.’ For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, ‘Peace be within you.’”
The apple of God’s eye will be the center stage for the things to come before the return of King Jesus. Is it any wonder that Israel is so precious to God? When it is under attack by demon-possessed terrorists who hate God’s chosen land and people, King David’s words urge us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Prophets foretold the present chaos and bloodshed, and demonic princes in the unseen war in heaven empower evil spirits in people to complete the heinous mission. The demonic princes—principalities--must be dethroned by Father God.
This is where our faith comes in! Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV). Although we cannot see the war in heaven between mighty warring angels like Michael, who is over the nation of Israel, and the demonic prince of Persia (present-day Iran), our prayers matter to God! We must pray that Father God annihilates the demonic princes responsible and strips them of their power. In turn, terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Isis, and others will lose the strength of their evil force, generated by principalities. Baal, another principality, craves blood and human sacrifices, especially children, and fuels demonic spirits of sexual perversion.
Time to be in the war room of prayer, my friends! This is a call to prayer for that which will facilitate the peace of Jerusalem through the dethroning of evil forces in the unseen world. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man (or woman) avails much! (James 5:16). It is time to be bold in prayer and face the real enemies—those in the unseen world-- where putting our faith in action will assure us of God’s great victories. Through God we shall do valiantly; for He it is that shall tread down our enemies! (Psalm 60:12 KJV).
© 2023, Chris Custer Werre