Part 2
Jim Goll – Sounding a Call to Strategic Prayer for Israel

[The following teachings have been taken from transcripts of the Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem conference tapes. They have been edited down for this publication. I encourage you to contact Eagles Wings to purchase the tapes by calling 1-800-51-WINGS. There is much more on each tape to glean from these gifted teachers.]

James Goll – Sounding a Call to Strategic Prayer for Israel
www.jimgoll.com www.prayerstorm.com

Turn in your Bible to Zechariah 12. I am going to read a few verses starting in chapter 12:10, and I will read through chapter 13:1: “I will pour out upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem”. Does it say sprinkle out? It says pour it out. “I am going to pour out upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication so they will look upon me whom they have pierced.” Realize this was written hundreds of years ago, over two thousand years ago. Imagine this prophetically looking towards the cross. “So that they will look upon me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son and they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a first bor. In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem like the mourning in Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo. In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for impurity.” In other words, there will be such an outpouring of the spirit of grace and supplication that God is going to wash away the impurity and the sin.

We need God. To know God, we need the Holy Spirit. We need God to help us to be able to pray. That’s why He gives us a promise. “I’m going to help you out,” He tells you. “I am going to help you out with a great task. I have a job that I want you to do. I want this job accomplished so much that I am not going to leave you just to yourselves to try and come up with the right way, or the right energy, or the right technique, or methodology to be able to accomplish this task. I am going to come and help you Myself, and in fact, I have a great purpose.” God has called us to be co-laborers, or co-workers with Him

He gives a promise, and then He, in a sense, waits on us. We think we are waiting on God. I think the tables are turned. God is waiting on us. He is waiting on us to take hold of the hem of His garment. It is to lay hold of the promise of God; but He is there to help us. Let me give you a little background on my own life

My last name is Goll, which is German. I came to faith at an extremely early age. I was filled with the Holy Spirit some years ago, when I had much more hair, and it was all dark, and it was much longer, during the Jesus People Movement. When I got filled with the Holy Spirit, one of the things for me that happened – I can’t explain how – I had a God encounter. When I got filled with the Holy Spirit, God put something in me. He put Himself, and His nature. He is the helper. Romans 8 says we don’t know how to pray as we ought. Do you guys really know how to pray?

We don’t know how to pray as we ought, so He gives us a promise and He says, “I am coming to help you. In fact, I will be your helper and I will intercede through you. I will search out the depths of the will and the heart of God, and I, the Holy Spirit, will intercede through you in accordance with God’s will.” Somehow early on, God put not only His helper upon me and in me, but He also put a tiny portion, He put a seed in me that has been growing and growing over these last 30 years. He began putting in me a seed of His kingdom which is a measure of God’s heart for Israel.

I didn’t even ask for it. He did it. I am actually believing that at the culmination of this days seminar, God is going to do something for you that goes beyond information. We need to be taught, instructed, and educated, but I am asking for the spirit of revelation to come upon you. I have a basic question for you. “Do you want to be close to the heart of God?”

If you want to be close to the heart of God, I have a few keys that I thus far know; but there is only one key today that I am going to share. A key, not the key, but a key to being close to the heart of God is you posture your heart to align with God’s heart, and you become close in your heart with the things that are closest to His. Israel and the Jewish people worldwide are tucked right in the middle of God’s heart. If you want to be close to heart of God – you see this on one way supersedes theological debate – if you want to be close to the heart of God, embrace Israel, and embrace the Jewish people; and God’s heart is going to grow and increase in you.

He says He will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication. I have prayed Zechariah 12:10 now for years. There’s been years I have prayed… You see. You need to pray the word, graft the scriptures into your soul. That word, it’s not enough to even have revelation in the western world. We have a certain measure of “knowledge Christianity,” knowledge based, information based. We need to go into intimacy based Christianity. Not only is it intimacy based, there is a whole other apostolic level that the Lord is going to restore us to, and it is what I am going to call “Incarnational Christianity.” It’s where the Word becomes flesh in you and me, and we become a word from God. Obviously, there is only one who is the authentic, incarnate Word of God. It is our Messiah. It is Yeshua. It is Jesus

“And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” God wants His word to become us, to love His word so much – not out of obligation, not out of legalism, not out of tradition and arm-twisting – but out of passionate love. He wants you to come to the table and feast; and not only feast on that word, but you pray over that word. You digest the word because when you digest something, you either do two things with what you eat. You either eliminate, or you become it. It becomes a part of you. We have eliminated through our system most of what we hear. But the Lord wants us to come up into a whole new level of what I am calling incarnational Christianity, where we become a living epistle.

I had two dreams this morning that were the same dream. That doesn’t happen very often and because of the content of those dreams, it propels me into this message, to go into a particular direction that I would have not intended to go. I believe, like many, and I talk about it in this book, Exodus Cry, that we are going to be reliving the book of Esther. I commend to you, digest the book of Esther. We are going to be reliving the book of Esther. I believe we are already entering into that, to relive the book of Esther. I won’t take the time to do a whole parabolic teaching, symbolically interpreting all the names of the main characters, etc. It’s a great study to do.

There is one who was chosen; her name was Hadassah. She was chosen to have an appointment before a King. When she becomes chosen, before she becomes chosen, they bring together women from all around this whole Persian Empire, as far as India to Ethiopia. They gathered them, and they went through months of beauty treatments, months of oil being put into their skin. They went through these months of preparation. And there was a man named Mordecai. A spirit of adoption comes upon Mordicai for this lovely pure woman named Hadassah, and he becomes a mentor, a tutor, a teacher, an instructor, a forerunner – one going before who knew some of the pitfalls that were in the way. Hadassah wasn’t just entering a beauty pageant. Hadassah was being chosen for one of the greatest historic times of intervention, as there was an evil demonic power operating behind and through Haman for the annihilation of a whole race of people. Under Mordecai’s direction, authority and preparation, Hadassah becomes chosen. Her name becomes changed to Esther, which means a star. She then goes in to have her appointment before the King

She goes in and makes a request that a great big banquet be thrown, a great feast, a great party. I thought we were going to hear about strategy of intercession? Here’s a strategy of intercession. I call it, “Gate keepers and watchmen being joined together.” It wasn’t only an Esther; it was a Mordecai. It was the joining of generations; it was the joining of genders; it was the joining of anointings, the joining of giftings, the joining and the functions of the gatekeeper, Mordecai, and the watchman on the wall, Esther. They were joined together for such a time as this, and he helped to prepare her.

I am saying to you that we are moving into a historic moment where we are going to relive the book of Esther. But the Lord is raising up a remnant portion amongst the Gentile believing Church community of faith that is going to carry the Jewish people upon our shoulders. It won’t only be an Esther, and it won’t only be her praying band. But there is going to be a company that is going to rise across the face of the earth and they are going to be given God’s heart for Israel, and God’s heart for the purposes of God for the Jewish people worldwide. A window of opportunity shall be opened and the Lord will once again release not just one Mordecai, but he will raise up his generals; who will have a mentoring, fathering and mothering anointing, that shall be upon them to impart the beauty realm of God unto them. Their intercessory task is not just a labor and is not an obligation, but they are captured by the beauty and the transcended majesty of this man, Christ Jesus. They walk under authority and they do not break rank. There will come forth that the Lord is raising up these fathers and mothers, and grandfathers and grandmothers of the faith for such a time as this, who have a spirit of prayer upon their lives and a spirit of wisdom that goes beyond their years

They have grafted the word of God into their hearts, and they have a word that is beating in their hearts to prepare a people; to prepare a people for their corporate destiny before the throne of Almighty God.

That’s what I believe in part. That’s only a microcosm. The Lord is raising up Mordecais in this hour, and He is raising up His Hadassahs who are in preparation. They are getting soaked with the oil. They are going through beauty treatments. They are looking into this face, this lovely man, Christ Jesus. As they look upon our Lord and there is no longer a veil of separation. They are changed from glory to glory to glory. They become a reflection of His glorious presence and go from out of the most holy place to carry, like Moses did, a glowing realm of His brilliant presence shining upon them.

As a youth, I prayed the Aaronic blessing every week. “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine upon your face. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”

I prayed that as a youth. I prayed it as a child. I still pray it. I still want to pray it, because I still want to become it. Where there is something that is glowing on me that is more than perspiration, it’s the presence of another. That is what authentic intercession is all about. I could give you all kinds of different models and give you many different strategies, but I want to simplistically present before you at the offset to go get in God’s face.

Get in God’s face. You think you have a word to give to Him? He has a glowing presence He wants to give to you. It is His presence that will keep you keeping on in prayer and intercession. It is the spirit of grace and supplication. I am going back to where I started. So often in our prayer agendas we are project oriented, and when the event is over all the prayer lifts. But, if we can see something higher and greater than that, that is needed and important. Prayer people and prayer gatherings and prayer movements that become sustained are first of all because they are a people that are maintaining their posture before the Lord, Himself.

If you would like a very practical tool for praying for Israel, on our website there are 31 daily scripture prayers and proclamations to bless Israel, America, and youth. You can download this. Sometimes you have to get some prayer languages. You have to learn how to get Biblically grounded and based, so I want to present to you this tool.

Now I am going to give you seven points, seven different reasons why I pray for Israel. These are not necessarily in an order. One is not more important than the other, but they have a progression.

  1. One of the reasons why I pray for Israel is because Israel is God’s eye and His inheritance close to his heart (Zechariah 2:8). I had read the Word many times and you know how you can read something many times. You don’t really read it, and then you read it the 12th or the 50thtime, and you see something you have never seen before. When we were doing a gathering in Nashville, Tennessee, while we still lived in Kansas City, we were doing a conference on the Mystery of the Church in Israel. My dear friend, Avner Boskey, who lives in Beersheba, Israel, was leading worship. I had a visionary encounter. I saw an eye looking at me. I looked into the eye and in the pupil of the eye was a Star of David. In this vision, in the middle of the Star of David, in the pupil of this eye looking at me, there was a scripture that was written. It said Zechariah 2:8. I didn’t know what Zechariah 2:8 was. I had to look it up. “He who touches you touches the pupil of my eye.”

    This is rendered either the apple of my eye, or the pupil of my eye. What is the pupil of the eye? The pupil is the very center of the eye. It’s what gives you sight. It is what you see through; you have focus; you have clarity of sight and insight. When you touch Israel – I am talking now in a godly way – you are going to touch a passion of God. If you want to have proper Biblical interpretation of the Word of God, you are going to have to get Israel in proper place, which is in the middle of God’s eye. God looks through the lens, Israel is in the middle of God’s eye. Why do I pray for Israel? I really want to be able to have God’s sight, so I pray for Israel because Israel is still the apple of God’s eye.

    Psalm 148:14: “And He has lifted up a horn for His people, praise for all His godly ones, even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him.” There are many scriptures that we could look at, but I will have to put this on fast speed. That’s one of the reasons I pray for Israel. That’s one of the reasons why we should.

  2. God says that His servants should pray with compassion over Israel’s condition. You see, we are to look with our eyes wide open. Why pray for Israel? Because Israel’s in need; Israel has need. Israel needs Mordecais. Israel needs a generation of Esthers to arise, but there is a specific way we are to pray for Israel. We are to pray with compassion over Israel’s condition. Psalm 102:13-17: “You will arise and have compassion on Zion for it is time to be gracious to her for the appointed time has come surely your servants find pleasure in her stones and feel pity for her dust”. Why do I pray for Israel? Because Israel is in need. There is a way we are to pray – not in judgment and not in criticism. It is out of compassion.

    I am German. I went on a pilgrimage one time. A few of us had done some ministering in Prague, what was then Czechoslovakia, right after communism had lifted. I spoke at a national conference there, and then we split up and went in different directions. I knew I was to go to Berlin. I knew not a person in Berlin at that time, though I had been to the other parts of Germany many times. I “sprechen no Deutsch.” I go so many places. I take two words of every language and mix them all together. I went and I stayed held up in a hotel for 36-48 hours, just praying until I felt the release from the Lord that I could go out. I didn’t even know where I was. I am not telling you to do what I did. The day I went out, it turned out to be the 250th anniversary of the Brandenburg Gate, and the reopening of it. So here I am in a festival with the Chancellor speaking, and the Philharmonic Orchestra playing. There were hundreds of thousands of drunk Germans and they were partying. I am walking amongst these people, and the Holy Spirit starts speaking to me, for me to identify with my background and my people. I just started sobbing and weeping amongst them. They probably thought I was the one that was drunk. I was sobbing because the Lord was allowing me to touch into what is called identificational repentance. Our hands are stained with blood, and we are to pray for Israel and the Jewish people with compassion because in part, they have been rejected like no other people on the face of the earth. As a person from a German decent, I was walking among them identifying with my heritage and I was crying out and weeping and weeping, “Oh Lord, would you forgive us of our sins and would you open our eyes that we might see as you see for Jesus sake.” So I have become a weeper. Sometimes people describe me as a Jeremiah prophet because I just sob. Much of my intercession is not great articulation these days. A lot of it is just get before God and a measure of His heart starts beating within me. I just weep between the porch and the altar, like the book of Joel says. I am telling you, God can shatter any hard place in your life. He can shatter any hard rocks that come from any wrong theology; any generational iniquity, and He can shatter those rocks.

  3. I pray because it is the only city by name in the entire Bible that God says we are to pray for. It could have said, “And pray for Damascus.” It could have said, “Pray for Babylon.” It could have said, “And pray for Tyre and Sydon.” It could have said for Bethlehem; it could have said pray for Cairo. It could have said many cities. There is only one city by name in the Bible that we are commanded to pray for. It’s Jerusalem. God commands us to give Him and ourselves no rest as He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Isaiah 62: 6,7: “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet until her righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation like a torch that is burning because on your walls I have appointed watchmen.” I want to tell you that one of your greatest appointments you can ever have is an appointment on the walls as a watchman for Israel’s sake.

    It isn’t even just something you chose. God chooses. I want to tell you something so simple. God has already chosen, and He has chosen you. The scepter of the King has already been lowered. As it comes down He says, “I chose you. I want you. I have an appointment for you.” When I get over in the field of prayer and intercession and spiritual warfare, my heart, my treasure chest just open up fast. There is no gift list in the entire Bible where you will find worship, prayer, praise, and intercession. They are not in any of the special gift lists anywhere in the Bible, because it is the birthright of every priest. You were born for this. You were appointed for this. You want to know your job description? Be a watchmen on the walls I have appointed you for. This is your birthright. It’s your calling. It’s your destiny.

    Why do I pray for Israel? Because God says He wants to make Jerusalem a praise in the earth – not a curse word – a praise in the earth.

  4. I pray for Israel because I want to follow an apostolic mandate. I am going to follow an apostolic model of receiving God’s heart, that God’s heart and my heart in union would travail through us for Israel’s salvation. The apostle Paul, Romans 9:2,3: “I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.” That can actually be a form of intercession. But how about Romans 10:1. “My prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”

    Why am I going to pray for Israel? I am going to follow the apostolic mandate that the Gospel of the Kingdom is to the Jew first and to the Gentile. I have come to this conviction that not only should outreach be to the Jew first and to the Gentile; I have come to this conviction. Prayer should be for Israel first and for the Gentile. I believe when we get it in apostolic order, we will have again apostolic results. I pray for Israel because I see it is a part of the authentic apostolic blueprint.

  5. Why should I pray for Israel? We are to seek the spiritual and physical well-being of Israel. God commands us to seek the spiritual and the physical good of the Israeli people, and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Let me go though a few scriptures very quickly on this. Psalm 122:4: “To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, an ordinance for Israel. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you. May peace be with in your walls.”

    But Romans 15:25-27 is what I want to mention. “But now I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints, for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contributions for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.” We are to pray for their spiritual and physical wellbeing. We are to pray for the prospering of their economy. I wouldn’t mind for a little bit of that Jewish anointing to rub off on me.

  6. The Jewish people’s acceptance of the Messiah Jesus. Obviously, you realize now I am speaking from an evangelical Christian viewpoint. The Jewish people’s acceptance will lead to life from the dead, worldwide revival of an unprecedented magnitude.

    Romans 11:15; “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”

    Isaiah 27:6: “In the days to come Jacob will take root Israel will blossom and sprout, Ant they will fill the whole world with fruit.”

    I pray for Israel because, as we have been grafted in and then there is a turning of this apostolic mandate, and they are awakened, it is a key to worldwide Revival.

  7. The second coming of Jesus is linked to Israel’s national turning to Him; Matthew 23:39: “For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ “

    When I am praying for Israel, I am helping hasten the day of His return.

    Now that’s good news!