“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah” . . . “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
— Jeremiah 31:31, 33
Shalom, my friend!
Thank you for your love and compassion for the Jewish people – in Israel, in Ukraine and around the world.
As we prepare our hearts to celebrate Shavuot (June 4 – 6), I’m reminded that
Shavuot joins two amazing gifts from God.
The Lord gave us “bread” when He gave us the Torah, His instruction. It nourishes us with His words and is infused with His life. When He gave us His Spirit to live inside us, He gave us the “breath” of new life and placed His Law in our hearts in fulfillment of what He said He would do.
I pray you’ll receive afresh God’s incredible gifts to you – that He will open your eyes and touch your heart with the reality of His promises to you and for you.
And as you celebrate Shavuot, and God’s gifts to you, please also join us in praying for God’s strength, protection, love and blessing to be upon His people, wherever they are around the world. And that He will draw them to Himself through the Good News of Yeshua (Jesus), the Messiah – His greatest gift of all.
Thank you again for your partnership.
SENIOR IRANIAN MILITARY OFFICIAL’S ASSASSINATION WAS A PREEMPTIVE INTERVENTION
Late last week, Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodayar was shot dead in his car outside his home in Tehran by two unknown assailants on motorcycles. Ironically, Khodayar was one of the senior commanders of Unit 840 of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a unit known for launching attempted assassinations.
According to YnetNews, Iran’s Unit 840 is responsible for executing violence against Israelis and Israeli institutions – either as “avenge killings” or to preemptively remove threats against Tehran.
Khodayar's preferred method to exact revenge was clandestine assassinations that couldn't be traced back to the Iranian regime. But YnetNews reports that the Iranian intelligence and IRGC have often made things difficult for Tehran in the international arena by carrying out sloppily executed attacks.
According to YnetNews, these failed assassination efforts have damaged not only Iran’s image – at home and abroad – but also the country’s international economic ties.
In recent years Khodayar developed a new method of operations, recruiting and hiring foreign assassins to carry out the deadly missions.
While no official word has been released, the assassination of Khodayar is attributed to Mossad operatives – Israel’s Secret Service Agency. YnetNews indicates that Khodayar’s elimination was a move to prevent wide-scale harm from happening as a result of a successful execution of one of his attack plans.
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS THE WEST HAS DECLARED “TOTAL WAR” ON RUSSIA
Late last week, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, accused Western countries of waging a “total war” on Russia and its people and culture as Moscow pushes on with its military operation in Ukraine.
“The West has declared war on us, on the whole Russian world. The culture of canceling Russia and everything connected with our country is already reaching the point of absurdity,” Lavrov is reported to have said.
The Times of Israel reports that Western capitals slapped Moscow with unprecedented sanctions after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.
And in the Foreign Minister’s remarks last week, according to The Times of Israel, he also said Washington “and its satellites are doubling, tripling, quadrupling their efforts to contain our country.”
“In many Western countries, everyday Russophobia has become of an unprecedented nature,” Foreign Minister Lavrov continued. “And, to our great regret, is encouraged by government circles in a number of countries.”
SECURITY BOLSTERED FOR ISRAEL’S FLAG MARCH
The annual flag march, in which Israelis enter the highly symbolic Damascus Gate and walk through the Muslim Quarter to the Western Wall waving the Israeli national flag, takes place around sunset on what Israel calls Jerusalem Day, the celebration of the capture and annexation of East Jerusalem in the 1967 War.
Prior to the march this past weekend, Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett received a comprehensive security briefing on preparations by Israel Police.
According to The Jerusalem Post, the government's decision to allow the march to go through stoked fears that it could lead to renewed violence between Israeli forces securing it and Palestinian rioters.
Israeli security forces were put on high alert ahead of the march, according to The Jerusalem Post, with additional mobile shelters deployed to cities in the South and an increase in police presence in Jerusalem and other mixed Jewish-Arab cities.
According to initial reports, around 75,000 people participated in the march – record-breaking numbers of people along the different routes throughout the city.
This year’s flag march came at a particularly tense time, after two months of terrorist attacks in Israel. Israeli police said they arrested more than 60 people suspected of disorderly conduct or assaulting police officers and that five officers had been injured.
LET US PRAY TOGETHER
Please pray with me for:
- God to bring peace and safety to the situation in Ukraine, protecting the lives that could potentially be at risk
- God to move in the hearts of world leaders and give them the wisdom to address the global threat of a nuclear Iran
- God’s protection to be upon His people in Israel, who are constantly facing threats and violence from surrounding enemies
- Peace in the hearts and minds of the people of Israel and their enemies
- Jewish people to recognize Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah
