Pray for Sderot

Pray for Sderot

As we continue praying for the salvation of Israel one city at a time, this week we pray for a unique city called Sderot located between Beersheva and the Gaza strip in the Western Negev Desert. Sderot literally translates to Boulevards named after the numerous avenues and stand-alone rows of trees planted in the Negev, especially between Beersheba and Gaza, to combat desertification and beautify the arid landscape.

It is the closest city to the Gaza strip coming within just 850 meters of the border and has been the most heavily hit by rocket attacks since they began being fired from Gaza.

It is a city of green trees in the desert, but also a city with the most bomb shelters in all of Israel. The people living in Sderot are largely Moroccan Jews along with Kurdish and Persian Jews, as well as many Jewish people who made Aliyah from the former Soviet Union.

The city itself is a prime example of Isaiah 35:1-2 that says, “The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; The Arabah (desert) will shout in exultation and blossom like the autumn crocus. It will blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of [Mount] Carmel and [the plain] of Sharon. They will see the glory of Adonai, the majesty and splendor of our God.”

It has indeed blossomed abundantly, but what about the joy and singing? It would seem that due to the heavy bombardments of rockets over the years, that joy and singing would be far from Sderot, but the opposite is actually the case. Even though Sderot only has a population of just over 27,000, there is an unusually high concentration of singers, instrumentalists, composers, and poets that come from Sderot. Several popular bands have been formed by musicians who practiced in Sderot’s bomb shelters as teenagers. As an immigrant town with high unemployment experiencing a dramatic musical success, as bands blend international sounds with the music of their Moroccan immigrant parents, it has been compared to Liverpool in the 1960s.

It is in direct relation to the verse in Obadiah 1:20 that says, “Then the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will take possession of the towns of the Negev.” Many more exiles are still to return to the Negev, and although much trouble and strife come from the Gaza Strip at this moment we see the end from the beginning in Isaiah 35:3-7.

Encourage the exhausted, and make staggering knees firm. Say to those with an anxious and panic-stricken heart, “Be strong, fear not! Indeed, your God will come with vengeance [for the ungodly]; The retribution of God will come, but He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. And the burning sand (mirage) will become a pool [of water] and the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, where they lay resting, grass becomes reeds and rushes.

Let us pray that the fullness of this Scripture will come to pass in Sderot, that not only would the desert blossom and joyful singing arise even in dire circumstances, but that also the glory of Adonai would be seen in it, the blind will see, the deaf would hear, and the lame would keep like deer! We pray that the supernatural would become natural there as witnesses of Yeshua rise up in Sderot, the most unlikely of places, just like Yeshua of Nazareth. We pray that this place of conflict that stands between Gaza and the rest of Israel would become a bridge of peace instead of a border wall, where those who suffer on both sides would be healed and transformed by the blood of the Lamb and the Light of the world, Yeshua.

Let the peacemakers arise in Sderot and may walls become bridges of reconciliation, the healing of hearts, and anger and revenge turned into love and peace according to the heart of the Father. Sderot is on the frontline of a battle in both the natural and the Spirit, and it is time that the Body of Yeshua forms a battle line of prayer that would see swords beaten into plowshares and division become kingdom family in the mighty name of Yeshua! Adonai bless you and keep you!