Israel is God’s time clock! That sure proved true yesterday as we began our 22 day “Unshakeable Throne Project.” Talk about preservation from the Usurper! I actually awoke to a Jerusalem Post alert that Israeli intelligence had just foiled an Al Queda plot to bomb the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. Bombings at key sites in Jerusalem were planned to occur simultaneously with this strike. The Al Queda network even strategized to take down the first responders.

In future postings we’re going to focus on communion and other key aspects of this forerunning prayer project. But first I want to make a few points now that will probably prove controversial—to someone, somewhere anyway.

Contending for our Intelligence Communities
First is about intelligence communities. In the wake of Edward Snowden revelations of blanketed warrantless espionage against American citizens, many have been rightly troubled. The argument could be made that their efforts have literally usurped the right to privacy and freedom our forefathers fought and died to entrust to us.

True. However the problem is not with their capacities, the problem is with any over-reach of these capacities that goes beyond our constitutional boundaries. We must continue to fiercely pray and contend for God’s blessing on our intelligence agencies as they globally engage on so many fronts to expose and overthrow enemy attempts to harm our nation. And effective watchmen in prayer are releasing real-time grace from God’s throne towards this end.

Introducing… Shamar Israel
This becomes so clear with yesterday’s foiled plot in Israel. Shin Bet, essentially Israel’s version of Homeland Security, was credited with the take-down. But I can’t wait to hear the stories from Rick Ridings and Succat Hallel, who have been praying for Israel’s security night and day for more than a decade. Because time and time again, the Lord has given them “divine intelligence” to pray through, only to find the exact scenarios they perceived by the Holy Spirit played out later in the week.

One of the names of God is actually “Shamar Israel,” or “Israel’s Watchman.” You know the passage well. “He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps,” according to Psalm 121. As Israel’s watchman, one of the Lord’s primary ways to protect and defend the nation is to alert watchmen intercessors to pray! “I have set watchmen on your walls O Jerusalem, who will not hold their peace day or night,” Isaiah declares. “You who make mention of the Lord, do not rest, and give Him no rest until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth!” (Isaiah 62:6-7).

Covenant is actually the key that unlocks the capacities of Shamar Israel on your behalf. Thrones are established by covenant. In fact, the first invocation of the Lord as a watchman was to watch over a covenant that had been established (see Gen. 31).

It is the same today. As watchmen, we stand with God for His dream to be released to our spheres. And we are called to “protect and defend” against internal and external sabotage against His covenant purposes.

Purim and the Jewish Intelligence Agent
But there’s another way God watches over His people as well. This year we’re focusing on Purim, which celebrates Esther’s victory against Haman that led to the preservation of her people. But most of us overlook the role a Jewish intelligence agent played.

Hey! Before there was James Bond or Jack Bauer, or even Edward Snowden… there was first Mordecai! By God’s grace, Mordecai again and again was at the right place at the right time to uncover subversive plots—first against the king of Babylon, second against his own people. Before Mordecai’s intelligence capacities preserved the Jews, they first preserved King Ahasuerus! And they literally changed the government and culture of a foreign nation traditionally hostile to God’s people.

And friends, there are tens of thousands of Christians laboring in spheres of government today. Forged in the spirit of Joshua and David, Daniel, Mordecai and Esther, these watchmen and statesmen have invested their lives in protecting YOU from the Usurper.

Real-Time Divine Intelligence
God wants to give you prophetic revelation in like fashion! In other words, He wants to give you real-time perceptions that must be prayed through and then acted on to protect and advance your family, church, your spheres, your nation. This is part of your inheritance and calling as a watchman. And it’s vital as we move forward in gaining deliverance from the Usurper. What an amazing hour in which to keep watch!