‘God is dramatically answering Evangelical prayers for Israel’s safety’

With all the recent debate around Israel and the Gaza War, including questions about how much countries like the United States should support Israel taking place as part of the election cycle around the Western world, the issue of Christian support for Israel is once again being raised.

In a recent interview with Moody Radio’s “Dawn and Steve in the Morning,” ALL ISRAEL NEWS Editor-in-Chief Joel Rosenberg was asked the question: “Is it really necessary that Evangelical, born-again believers intercede on behalf of the country and the people [of Israel]?”

Calling it a “great question,” Rosenberg responded, “The answer is not only, yes, is it necessary, it's commanded.” He cited Psalm 122:6, which states, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

He noted that throughout scripture, God commands His followers to pray for all nations, which includes Israel, but that God calls it “the apple of my eye.”

The phrase “apple of my eye” translated in Hebrew refers to the pupil of the eye.

“The way God sees the rest of the world is through Israel, through the lens of Israel,” Rosenberg stated.

However, he noted that not only is prayer for Israel a commandment, but that it also works.

“We serve a prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God,” Rosenberg said.

He encouraged Christians to continue to pray for the hostages in Gaza, mentioning the recent rescue of Israeli-Arab hostage Qaid Farhan al-Qadi on Tuesday.

After his rescue, al-Qadi thanked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling him: “You truly did sacred work. There are other people [hostages] who are waiting.”

Rosenberg asked believers to keep praying, saying, “There are still slightly over a hundred [hostages] that are in those tunnels…so we need to keep praying and not give up.”

He also referred to the situation on Sunday, when Israeli intelligence officials noticed that Hezbollah forces were making significant preparations for a retaliatory attack against Israel over the killing of senior commander Fuad Shukr in July.

The IDF launched a pre-emptive strike on key Hezbollah rocket launchers, which had been readied for the strike on Israel, sparing Israel from what could have been a larger-scale Hezbollah attack.

“Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terror army in Lebanon, was just minutes, minutes away from firing upwards of 6,000 missiles at Northern Israel, Central Israel, and Tel Aviv,” Rosenberg told hosts Steve and Dawn. He also spoke about Israel’s recent elimination of three high-level terror leaders from Hamas and Hezbollah in recent weeks.

“What is happening?” Rosenberg asked. “To me, these are the fulfillments of God showing mercy, not primarily because Israel is praying, most Israelis are not praying,” he noted, “but Evangelicals are interceding in prayer on behalf of Israel, and God is responding to those prayers.”

“He's trying to get the attention of the Jewish people,” Rosenberg added.

“We are sheep who don't understand that we have a shepherd,” Rosenberg stated about the Jewish people. “We've been wandering away from that shepherd, and it's dangerous.”

“We need the prayers of millions of Evangelicals.”

Below is the full interview, lightly edited for clarity.

DAWN: Mymoodyradio.org has a banner that says, “Pray for Israel, Joel Rosenberg.”

As we see what all is happening there, is it really necessary that Evangelical, born-again believers intercede on behalf of the country and the people?

JOEL ROSENBERG: It’s a great question, Dawn, and the answer is not only yes, is it necessary, it's commanded, right? We read in Psalm 122:6 "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

And of course, all through the scriptures, the Bible commands us to pray for all nations, and Israel is one of those nations, but it's a nation, that God says, "They are the apple of my eye.” Meaning the very pupil, the way God sees the rest of the world is through Israel, through the lens of Israel.

And don't touch somebody's eye, right? Even when you're trying to help somebody, people are very sensitive, right? Jesus says better take the log out of your own eye before you try to go help take a speck.

So we're commanded to pray for Israel, but also it works. We serve a prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God.

I believe that all the prayers for the hostages... most of them are now out. There are still slightly over a hundred that are in those tunnels and other places, so we need to keep praying and not give up. Look, another hostage just came out alive, a Muslim Israeli, by the way, being held by Muslim radicals. So how interesting is that, that Jews are rescuing Muslims to bring them to safety.

But on Sunday, another huge, huge answer to prayer, we pray for the peace of Israel, the peace of Jerusalem, what happened?

Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terror army in Lebanon, was just minutes, minutes, Steve and Dawn, away from firing upwards of 6,000 missiles at northern Israel, central Israel and Tel Aviv. And Israel's intelligence detected it, and then Israel launched 100 fighter jets to bomb those sites and were able to get all of them. Yes, a few hundred were fired, we shot those down with our missile defenses.

Now, that's raised so many interesting questions because Israel also has taken out three of the top terror leaders, the top terror leader of Hamas, number two in Hezbollah in recent weeks.

What is happening?

Israel, which had this huge intelligence failure on October 7 of last year, didn't see Hamas coming. Now, we know exactly when they're going to fire. We know exactly where their terror leaders are, and we can take them out. We can rescue hostages over and over and over again.

What is happening?

To me, these are the fulfillments of God showing mercy, not primarily because Israel is praying, most Israelis are not praying, but Evangelicals are interceding in prayer on behalf of Israel, and God is responding to those prayers.

Why?

Well, because He loves to answer people's prayers, but also because He's trying to get the attention of the Jewish people.

We are sheep who don't understand that we have a shepherd. Psalm 23 told us, our king, King David, told us that we have a shepherd, but we've been wandering away from that shepherd, and it's dangerous.

And so it's exciting to see what God's doing.

So don't stop. We need the prayers of millions of evangelicals.

STEVE: Well, I love that reminder that prayer works and encouraging us to continue to pray for Israel. We have some prayer prompts and ideas when you hit our website, mymoodyradio.org, the big banner there that says, "Pray for Israel."

Joel, we so appreciate your time this morning, the chance to connect and hear your heart and get updated on what's been going on in Israel as of late.

If you want to connect with Joel, we'll link you through our Facebook page, “Dawn and Steve in the Morning,” or you can go directly to joelrosenberg.com.