Why Should I Pray for Israel? Orienting Our Hearts Towards Jerusalem (Part 3 of 3) | February 21, 2026

Chris Katulka: Thank you so much for joining us for The Friends of Israel Today. I'm Chris Katulka, your host and teacher. Listen, FOI Radio is where I want you to be. That's right. foiradio.org is where you can connect with us here at The Friends of Israel. We have over a decade of content on the site featuring biblical teaching and amazing interview guests. Again, we want you to go to foiradio.org. Now, today we're going to be wrapping up our series on Why Should I Pray for Israel? And over the last three weeks, we've looked at David's command to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, a command. We've looked at Paul's heart of humility that a Christian should have toward the Jewish people and Israel because that's the very root upon which our faith stands. And so Paul encourages us to not be arrogant or boastful, but to be humble toward Israel and the Jewish people.

Well, today I want to share with you all about why I think it's so important that we should be praying for Israel and the Jewish people today because I believe that when the Holy Spirit indwells a believer, it's almost like a compass that begins to orient your heart toward Jerusalem. And so that's what we're going to talk about today. But before we get to that, let's look at what's happening in the news. Israeli Defense officials warned their US counterparts that Iran's ballistic missiles program poses an existential threat and that Jerusalem is prepared to act alone if necessary. Security sources say Israel has recently outlined its intent to dismantle Iran's missile capabilities through high level exchanges that detailed potential strikes on key manufacturing sites. One official noted that while Iran has not yet crossed Israel's red line, the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces is prepared to act unilaterally if it does. Well, here's my take. It would be a great shame if Israel had to act alone in the Middle East to dismantle Iran's ballistic missiles program. Iran's not just a threat to Israel and the US, it's actually a threat to the Saudis, Jordan, Egypt and yes, even Europe. So let's pray Israel's allies will assist in stopping this global threat.

Chris Katulka: Today we're wrapping up our series called Why Should I Pray for Israel? I just want to say how thankful I am before we get started that you've tuned into today's episode of The Friends of Israel Today and I'm glad you've joined us, so be sure to say “shalom” by visiting us at foiradio.org. Now as we wrap up this series, I just want to say that I've felt a growing burden to speak into this topic because to be honest, something has shifted in the wider evangelical Christian world. More and more influential voices on the left and the right, people with massive platforms and loyal followings, are confidently telling Christians that Israel no longer matters. That God has moved on from the Jewish people. That the promises of Scripture have been reassigned. And that the church has effectively replaced Israel in God's plan. Well, that's not only false, it's exactly the kind of teaching that the Apostle Paul taught against. A few months ago, I was at a Friends of Israel conference and I had been mentioning this throughout the series and at the event that I've been taking part of for more than a decade, I found myself sitting with heartbroken parents. Normally I'm answering questions about biblical prophecy, but this time I kind of felt like a counselor. Their young adult sons and daughters that were raised in homes that taught them to love Israel and the Jewish people were now repeating deeply anti-Israel and even anti-Jewish ideas from social media. Some were even claiming that Israel was illegitimate. Others were throwing around phrases like “synagogue of Satan,” and many were confidently declaring that God had no future plan for Israel at all. And the children of these parents, they're not hostile unbelievers. These are Christians who wake up diligently on Sunday morning to get their young families to church. And so that conversation, it hit me hard.

Not only is it false, it's the kind of thinking that Jesus and the apostles warned against. So in this series we've been returning to Scripture to explore why Christians should pray for Israel. Not because of politics, not because of personalities, but because the Bible reveals that God's purpose for Israel are ongoing, unbroken and tied directly to his redemptive plan for the world. And that brings us to today's final episode. Because if the heart of this series has been reminding Christians that David commands us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and if that's not enough, Paul explains to us not to boast or be arrogant against the natural branches, those are the Jewish people from Romans chapter 11. Then the finale of this series is about something even deeper, how the Holy Spirit himself, like a compass, orients our hearts toward Jerusalem as believers in Jesus, Jew or Gentile.

We're not just forgiven, we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit God promised to Israel through the prophets. And because that promise is rooted in Israel, the Spirit becomes a kind of internal compass that draws our hearts toward the city and the people God chose. And see, this is how we're going to conclude our series by seeing how the Spirit, the Scriptures, and the story of redemption all aim our hearts toward Jerusalem. When a person becomes a follower of Jesus, something miraculous happens, something so profound, so identity-shaping and so biblically loaded that we often forget how deeply Jewish the miracle is. Paul tells us in Romans chapter eight that the moment we trust in Christ, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us. 

And this indwelling is not just a general Spiritual experience or enlightenment invented by Jesus or the apostle Paul, it's the fulfillment of a covenant promise originally given to Israel in passages like Ezekiel 36:24-27. I encourage you to read it. That means when a Gentile believer receives the Spirit, they enter into a story far older than themselves. They're entering into God's story with the Jewish people. And this brings me to my final point in the series. When Christians receive the Holy Spirit, their hearts gain a new compass and whether Jew or Gentile, the Spirit begins orienting them toward God's purpose, God's promises and God's chosen city, Jerusalem. In other words, the indwelling Spirit directs the believers heart toward Jerusalem because Jerusalem is the epicenter of God's redemptive plan. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible has always been drawing nations toward Jerusalem. It's not merely an ancient city or even a symbolic idea. It's the very seat of David's throne, the place where God promised the Messiah would reign forever.

God's covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7 binds the future kingship of the world to Jerusalem, not to Rome, not to London, not to Washington or any other capital of human power. See, the prophets share this again and again. Zion is the city from which the Messiah will rule the nations, judge with righteousness, and bring the justice humanity longs for. The Holy Spirit's role in the believer is to glorify Christ. That comes from John 16:14. And because Christ's throne is promised to be in Jerusalem, the Spirit naturally inclines the Christian heart toward that city. Jerusalem is not incidental to the story of redemption, it's the gravitational center of it. This biblical orientation intensifies when we consider the prophetic vision of one of my favorite prophets here, Micah 4:1-4, where Micah describes a day when all nations will stream to the mountain of the Lord in Jerusalem to receive instruction, that's Torah in Hebrew, that will result in what? Global peace. Swords will become plowshares, war will cease, and international harmony will radiate from the teaching of Israel's Messiah.

When Christians pray for the peace of Jerusalem, see, they're not merely praying for political calm or temporary ceasefires like what we're seeing today, but for God's promised kingdom to take root when the Messiah Jesus returns. And the Spirit inside believers yearns for that day. The kingdom Jesus proclaimed, the kingdom the prophets foresaw, centers on Jerusalem. And for that reason, the Spirit centers our longings there as well. See, even Jesus reveals the heart of God toward Jerusalem because in Luke 19, he approached the city and he wept. The tears were not abstract sorrow. They were rooted and grounded in the knowledge that true peace, peace for Jerusalem and peace for the nations would come through His kingship, His sacrifice and Israel's eventual repentance. Jesus's weeping shows his profound love for the city and its people. And so when we are filled with the Spirit of Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, we inherit His heart, His compassion, His burden, and His longing for Jerusalem's redemption.

See, we begin to feel what He felt, The Spirit shapes within us a Christ-like love for the Jewish people. A love that is patient, a love that is humble and prayerful and full of hope, just as we talked about last week. See, Jerusalem is not the emotional center of Jesus's ministry, it's also the physical and theological, biblical center of the Bible story. It's the place from which the kings of the earth will one day come to pay tribute to the King of kings just as Psalm 72, a Messianic psalm, anticipates. It's where Jesus died, rose, ascended, poured out the Spirit and will one day most importantly return. It was the rallying point, Jerusalem, the rallying point of the early church. And interestingly even for the apostle Paul who was sent to the nations, Jerusalem remained central. How do I know that? Because Paul tirelessly collected financial offerings from churches, not for Antioch, not for Corinth, not for Ephesus or Rome, but for believers, where? In Jerusalem. You can read about it in Romans chapter 15 or 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Why was this important to him? Well see, when we come back we're going to see why Jerusalem was the center of Paul's message and why God continues to orient followers of Jesus by the Holy Spirit facing them toward Jerusalem.

Steve Conover: Chris, I'm really looking forward to this year's Friends of Israel Look Up Conference coming up on March 5th and 6th online.

Chris Katulka: Same here, Steve. And I'm especially excited about this year's theme, Dispensationalism: Myths, Truths, and Why It Matters. It's such an important topic for understanding the Bible clearly.

Steve Conover: It's so important, Chris. And this year all four sessions will be taught by Dr. Mike Stallard. He's our Vice President of International Ministries. Mike is one of the clearest and most respected voices teaching on dispensational theology today.

Chris Katulka: Now across the four sessions, Dr. Stallard explains what Dispensationalism actually teaches, why we should interpret the Bible consistently, it's so important, and how it shapes our understanding of prophecy, Israel, and God's plan of redemption.

Steve Conover: We've designed this conference to equip everyday believers with discernment.

Chris Katulka: So here's what I want you to do. Join us for the Look Up Conference this March 5th and 6th at 7:00 PM online as we explore Dispensationalism: Myths, Truths, and Why It Matters. You can get all the details on how to register at foiradio.org. Again, visit us at foiradio.org.

Chris Katulka: Welcome back everyone. We're wrapping up our series on Why Should I Pray for Israel?, and I hope that by now you see why we should be praying for Israel. It's a command from King David. Paul tells us to have a humble heart toward Israel and the Jewish people, and now we're seeing that even the Holy Spirit within us is like a compass that orients our posture toward Jerusalem. And see, when we left off, we left off with Paul and his desire to orient the hearts of those Christians living in the Gentile world in cities like Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus, or Rome, and how he was even raising funds among these churches to send back to believers, where? Jerusalem. Here's the reason why. Paul understood that Gentile believers were partakers in Israel's spiritual blessings and their financial gifts were simple tokens of their appreciation for the eternal blessing that flowed from Jerusalem.

Paul's actions demonstrate that early Christian practice instinctively flowed back to Jerusalem. The Spirit hadn't just opened the door for the Gentiles, he had also oriented their hearts toward gratitude, support, and intercessory prayer for who? The Jewish people. And this leads naturally to another dimension of the Spirit's work, which is this: compassion toward Jewish unbelief. As we talked about last week, Romans chapter 11 describes the present blindness in part that has come upon Israel. But Paul doesn't respond with arrogance or biblical triumphalism. Instead, he responds with heartbreak and urgent prayer. He says in Romans 10:1, “My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.” Did you hear that? Even the apostle Paul was praying for Israel and the Jewish people and Paul tells us to imitate him. Again, that is the Spirit speaking through Paul and that same Spirit indwells every believer, even 2000 years later. 

The Holy Spirit doesn't produce a cold or dismissive posture toward the Jewish people or Israel. He should produce humility, compassion, gratitude, longing, and prayer. The more Christians grow in the Spirit and the Word, the more their hearts begin to soften toward the Jewish people and their unbelief. Not in pity or superiority, but in genuine love and hope. Christian love for Israel then is not sentimental or merely historical, it's spiritual. It's the Spirit drawing believers in alignment with God's heart. The Spirit reminds us that Israel's story is not finished, that God's promises were not revoked. Again, Romans 11:28-29. And that the future of the nations is tied to the future of Jerusalem. Do you hear that, my friends? The future of the nations, the future of the world is tied to the future of Jerusalem. When believers pray for Israel and the Jewish people, they are participating in God's long-term redemptive agenda.

They are praying for the restoration God promised, the peace God intends, the kingdom God will establish, and the mercy God delights to show. All of Scripture pools in this direction. The narrative of the Bible begins in a garden, but it ends in a city, the New Jerusalem. This isn't coincidental, it's the culmination of every covenant and every prophetic hope that's bound up in the Scriptures. God isn't discarding Jerusalem or spiritualizing it into a metaphor, he's transforming it into the eternal dwelling place of righteousness and peace. When Christians pray for Jerusalem today, they are praying in anticipation of the day when Jesus will reign from Zion and the nations will walk in His light. They're praying for the world to be healed, for peace to replace hostility, for justice to replace oppression, and for the Messiah to take His rightful throne. So the call to pray for Israel and the Jewish people is inseparable from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Why? Well, the Spirit orients our hearts toward Jerusalem because Jerusalem is the biblical and prophetic heartbeat of God's purposes. The Spirit softens our heart toward the Jewish people because they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. That's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Spirit stirs our compassion because Jesus himself wept over Jerusalem. The Spirit fuels our prayers because Paul prayed for Israel's salvation. And the Spirit gives us hope because the prophets foresaw a day when Jerusalem would be the center point of global peace, spiritual instruction, and most importantly, the Messiah Jesus's rule. And in the end, Christians pray for Israel because they have been brought into Israel's story. They love the Jewish people because they have received the blessing of the Holy Spirit, a promise guaranteed to Israel and poured out by grace on the church. And Christians hope for Jerusalem's peace because the peace of Jerusalem is peace of the world.

To pray for Israel and the Jewish people is to align oneself with the Spirit's compass. To intercede for the Jewish people. To love the people through whom God brought salvation to mankind and to set one's spiritual bearings toward Jerusalem. To walk in step with the Scriptures, the prophets, the apostles and Jesus himself. So, get in tune with where your spiritual compass is pulling you because it will always point you to Jerusalem. So pray for the peace of Jerusalem with humility, love and prayer for Israel and the Jewish people, and set your gaze on the city of peace of our coming King.

Steve Conover: Now, Apples of Gold, a dramatic reading from the life and ministry of Holocaust survivor, Zvi Kalisher.

Mike Kellogg:  Latrun is an area in Israel located on a hilltop on the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the Ayalon Valley. It is where Joshua commanded the sun and moon to stand still (Josh. 10:12). It is also where some of the fiercest battles against the Arabs have taken place. Many years ago several believers came from a church in Latrun to visit our church in Jerusalem. When they realized that I am the Zvi about whom Elwood McQuaid wrote in his book Zvi: The Miraculous Story About Triumph Over the Holocaust, they invited me to their church to give my testimony.

Recently, they asked me to return. However, for Israelis, Latrun is a dangerous place. So I responded, “If you want me, you can come to Jerusalem.” Some came, most of them Arabs who are not friendly to Israel.

One asked, “Do you hate Arabs?”

I replied, “Those who try to kill me I will not go to with roses. I have to defend myself.”

“How can it be,” he asked, “that you who believe in Christ hate your neighbors?” Now they became not so nice. 

I told them, “I have lived in Israel 63 years. We have never attacked our Arab neighbors, but have only tried to make peace. I have passed through the seven halls of hell during the Holocaust. Are you telling me to become again like a lamb going to the slaughter? You want me to let people kill me?

“Even God Himself is against such a thing. When I came to Israel in 1948, we were a mere half-million people, and you Arabs attacked us. You used a German saying we knew well: ‘Butcher the Jews and cast them into the sea.’

“And now you ask me such a question? We defend ourselves against you! And you can see who has been on our side.” Psalm 124:1–3 says, 

“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,” let Israel now say––“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us.”

Then I asked, “Do you believe all that is written in the Holy Bible?” I showed them many facts from God’s Word, including Isaiah 41:8–11:

But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen. You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish.

The man replied, “This is the first time we have seen this.”

“You remind me of the ultra-Orthodox Jews,” I replied. “They only read what the rabbis tell them to read. But now you have seen it with your own eyes. The Holy Spirit of God wrote this.”

After a long discussion, one of the men asked if I had a Bible in Arabic. I gladly gave one to him.

For many years I would not go to the Arabs to share the gospel. But in time, God gave me courage. Today it gives me great joy to bring them the Good News of salvation through our Jewish Savior.

Now we are beginning to see our work produce good fruit. So I put my trust in the Lord and speak to people who are not so nice, like the Arabs of Latrun. But every now and then I meet Arabs who truly want to know the truth. And I am happy to tell it to them.

Chris Katulka: Hey, thanks so much for joining us for today's episode of The Friends of Israel Today. Don't forget to register for our upcoming Look Up Conference focusing on Dispensationalism: Myths, Truths, and Why It Matters. You can join us on March 5th and 6th, and you can do that by going to our website, foiradio.org. Again, that's foiradio.org. Now, you're going to want to join us next week because we're going to begin a series that's going through the parts, the arrangement of the tabernacle, and it's going to enlighten you to how God was working to bring his plan of redemption, salvation to the world. Our mailing address is FOI Radio PO Box 914, Bellmawr, New Jersey, 08099. Again, that's FOI Radio PO Box 914, Bellmawr, New Jersey, 08099. You can call our listener line. Give us a ring. That's 888-343-6940. Again, that's 888-343-6940. And don't forget, I told you already, go to foiradio.org. Visit us there as well. Today's program was engineered by Bob Beebe. Edited by Jeremy Strong, who also composed and performs our theme music. Lisa Small is our executive producer. Sarah Fern is our associate producer. The late Mike Kellogg read Apples of Gold. Steve Conover is our executive director here at The Friends of Israel. And I'm Chris Katulka, your host and teacher. The Friends of Israel Today is a production of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. Passion for God's Word. Compassion for God's Chosen People.