Current Category: FAQ by Leaders
God has given each of His children a burden and a blueprint for the good works in Christ Jesus that we are to do while on earth, but this can never be divided from His unique and specific covenant with Israel– nor His greater Eternal plan of salvation for mankind that will culminate there. In addition, throughout Scripture, God clearly builds reward into our sensitivity and obedience to His heart regarding Israel with His promises to those who bless His Land and His people. For a short review of them, please see: http://www.daytopray.com/Learn/FAQs/General#FAQLink72
Three times in the book of Joel and in Lev. 25:23, God clearly calls the land of Israel His own. He has attached His Holy Name to this nation of Israel (Numbers 6:27) and to its city of Jerusalem (Psalm 46:4;Isa. 60:14; Matt. 5:35). God’s plan of salvation for all of mankind both begins and ends in this specific location, over which nations and spiritual forces are warring for dominion. God expects His Church to be actively engaged in ways – both spiritual and natural - that will further His Kingdom purposes for all nations, which will ultimately happen through His Sovereign plans for and through Israel.
“When it comes to the Jewish people, Christians are in the unique position of being both witnesses and debtors. To the other nations, our responsibility as witnesses is straightforward. But with respect to Israel, we also are scripturally exhorted to recognize that to them belong the promises, the covenants, the patriarchs, the giving of the Torah, and the worship of the true and living God (Rom 9:4-5). From the Jewish people comes the Messiah Himself and salvation (John 4:22). In Him we have been brought near to Israel’s God, whereas apart from Him we would have no share in the spiritual heritage of Abraham’s offspring. We would be “strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:11-12). The other nations do not worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are not the recipients of the oracles of God or the preservers of Holy Scripture. They are not in continuing covenantal relationship with the LORD God. Israel is. As a nation (independent of the spiritual status of any particular individual) Israel’s election is irrevocable. There yet remain promises to the Jewish people that God will keep.” (“Be My Witnesses” by Dwight A. Pryor)
God is not a respecter of persons; He loves everyone the same. He has a redemptive plan for the descendants of Isaac and for the descendants of Ishmael. When we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we pray for ALL of the people who dwell there. Our heart is to see God’s word fulfilled. We want to see the wall of separation between Jew and Arab broken (Eph. 2:14), to see unity, love and appreciation for one another restored, and for God’s full Shalom and blessing to rest upon the whole land and its people. Eagles' Wings - which oversees DPPJ - regularly interacts with the Christian Arab communities of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and other locations in the Middle East, not only taking Christians to visit these locations but also offering support through financial, spiritual, and relational means. Eagles’ Wings is also publicly vocal in praying for all the inhabitants of Israel and Jerusalem, not just the Jewish people, and in seeking avenues of reconciliation among groups that differ in their perspectives and opinions, such as Jew and Arab.
We encourage believers to begin praying from their place of burden for Jerusalem and her people, while staying open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word for other needs and other people groups.
The Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem is about God’s plan and God’s purposes for ALL of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The majority of the people in Jerusalem are Jewish, representing various streams of Orthodox Judaism, Reform Judaism, and Conservative Judaism, but there is a large demographic of Arab Muslims in Jerusalem, with approximately 73 Islamic mosques within the city. Jerusalem is also an important center for Christianity, which includes not only the various Protestant denominations as well as Messianic Judaism, but also the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic (Latin rite), Gregorian-Armenian, Armenian Catholic, Syriac Catholic, Chaldean (Uniate), Melkite (Greek Catholic), Ethiopian Orthodox, Maronite and Syriac Orthodox churches, and Anglicanism. Other ancient churches, such as the Greek, Armenian, Syrian, and Coptic churches are well represented in Jerusalem, while houses of worship for the Druze, the Buddhists, the Hindus, the Baha'I religion, and Samaritanism also exist in this multi-cultural city. Therefore, when we pray for all the inhabitants of this unique city, we are actually praying for all the nations and the multitude of religious groups represented there as well.
As explained in the above paragraph, when we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we are also praying for God’s plans, purposes and HIS Peace for ALL the inhabitants who live there. Jerusalem is the spiritual center for many of the world’s religions, as well as for a multitude of the world’s different people groups. In addition, numerous Christian ministry leaders say that no other generation in history has witnessed the unparalleled acceleration of prophetic events that began when Israel became a nation in 1948. Israel is the centerpiece of God’s prophetic plan. Israel is both the birthplace and the culmination of God’s salvation for all mankind. In Genesis, God told Abraham that through him and his descendants, ALL the nations of the world would be blessed. One cannot truly pray for this End-Time Global Harvest without praying for Jerusalem and all who live there.
Scripture tells us that as believers, we are first and foremost citizens of Heaven, and as such, we are first and foremost to be God’s agents here on earth to build His Kingdom – spiritually and naturally – and to call forth through prayer His purposes and plans for the world. God has a “redemptive plan” for all nations, but He has only attached His name to only one nation – Israel – and to only one city- Jerusalem. God has also only attached His Name to both Israel (Numbers 6:27) and to The Church. We are inseparably linked in the spirit; we are both children of The Covenant. Our intercession for God’s plans and purposes in Jerusalem and for her people groups goes beyond the political state of Israel and is a spiritual responsibility before God which eclipses any political affiliations here on earth. This Biblical prayer assignment from God - “to pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6) - has never been rescinded.
Obviously, the negative feelings of Arab nations against Israel, the Jewish people, and even America, cannot be ignored as this cultural and spiritual negativity can create volatile situations for anyone seen as supporting those political entities. However, praying for God’s spiritual and practical blessing on all the people in Jerusalem – which includes Arabs – and for God’s spiritual and practical peace in this region – which involves Arabs – is NOT political support for any government other than God’s Kingdom. In a very real way, intercession for Jerusalem and her inhabitants IS one of God’s ways to bless those ministering in the Arab nations for His purposes. The reality of this spiritual truth can be seen by the fact that the underground churches in seven Muslim nations presently participate in The Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem each year, because they have experienced that God indeed blesses their ministry work in those nations, as they bless His Land and people with their prayers.
We believe in the inherent truth of all Scripture. In the Old Testament, God spoke repeatedly of His “unconditional, everlasting covenant” with the Jewish people and with the land…a covenant that will never cease. (See: Gen. 17: 7, 8; Gen. 17: 20, 21; Gen. 26. 3, 4; Gen. 35: 11, 12) Do we reject all the pre-Matthew scriptures as the Word of God because it no longer sounds “politically correct”? And if we believe that God would reject His “everlasting” covenant with the Jews, what makes us so sure he would not do the same with us?
Through the Prophets, God also made many promises to the Jewish people that He Himself – The God of all Truth - will bring to pass at a future time of His choosing. “I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.” (Ezekiel 36:36b) Many of these promises foretold by the prophets have been unfolding before our very eyes, since God brought His people back into His Land just as He promised. In Romans 9 – 11, through 4 the Apostle Paul, God calls the Jewish people the “root” & “natural” branches of Christianity, while we Gentiles are called those branches that have been “grafted in.” Paul also reminds us in Romans 11, verses 25-29, that God is NOT finished with Israel and the Jewish people. How can we question or ignore the Word of God? How can we believe one Scripture verse and not another?
Even if we cannot agree on God’s future plans with the Jewish people, the Bible is very clear about WHERE Jesus will return in the future. Zechariah 14:3 clearly says He will return to the literal city of Jerusalem, and His feet will stand on the very real place there called the Mount of Olives. (Zech. 14 and Micah 4:1&2) For these reasons alone, Christians need to be part of praying forth God’s Eternal and redemptive plan in that very real city for the blessing of every nation.
The problem of persecution for believers in the very towns where Christianity was birthed over 2000 years ago is a spiritual problem manifesting in the natural; it is a battle over WHO will be worshipped in God’s land and WHO will control it when Jesus returns. Eph. 6:12 says: “We wrestle not against flesh & blood…but against principalities and powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (2 Corinthians 10:4) Unfortunately, because The Church has not fervently or corporately interceded for God’s plans and purposes in His Land, opposing spiritual forces have been able to rise up by default in many Arab countries, taking dominion both naturally -through Islamist factions - and spiritually through the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities. The Christian exodus in the very birthplace of Jesus – Bethlehem – as well as in the town of His youth – Nazareth – is happening because of growing Islamic dominion in those regions and not because of the political state of Israel. One of our primary weapons as Christians for spiritual battles is the weapon of prayer, which is intensified in its power by united intercession. The Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem IS united prayer by Christians in over 175 nations for ALL of God’s purposes in His Land– which includes The Church. It is “one accord” praying that builds a spiritual wall against those forces that would oppose God’s plans, oppose His protection, and oppose His blessing, for His people, His Church and His Land.
What Leaders Are Saying
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John and Carol Arnott - Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship
"Not only does the Bible say that we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but we should also as believers, remember that Jerusalem is the place, the city, that God has chosen to establish His name. Israel is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so it is testimony to the world that God is One who is faithful to His promises. I think as we grab a hold of that fulfillment of promise, our faith increases and we are able to establish ourselves more and more in the word of God."
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