By: Joshua & Anastasiya Gooding

Isaiah 59:19 says: “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.”

During the current global pandemic, we want to be men and women of faith who are hearing from the Holy Spirit and responding with confidence and obedience to His leading. This desire to hear clearly from the Lord has stirred the ICEJ to increase our prayer efforts as never before, especially through new online means.

This spring, the Christian Embassy initiated a weekly online Global Prayer Gathering, which has attracted believers from over 100 nations in recent months. Then in late May, the ICEJ sent out a call to the nations to come before the Lord with prayer and fasting on the Day of Pentecost. The ICEJ held a special 13-hour Global Pentecost prayer marathon which united thousands of Christians from around the world. After that, our national branches urged the Jerusalem headquarters to continue these virtual prayer vigils, though it was clear that 13 hours was not enough time.

The Lord then led us to explore the Hebrew calendar and specifically the moed’s (“appointed times”) set by God when He promised to meet with His people. One of these appointed times is at the beginning of each new month in the Hebrew calendar, known as Rosh Chodesh. So we launched a global prayer chain encircling the earth every Rosh Chodesh, based on the prophetic vision of Isaiah: “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 66:23)

This festival of the new moon was given to the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai. Special sacrifices were to be offered on Rosh Chodesh to mark the beginning of the new month (Numbers 28:11-15). It also became a time when the Israelites would consult the Hebrew prophets (2 Kings 4:23). In addition, this joyous day featured the blast of a trumpet blown on the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem to announce the arrival of the new month.

Our first Rosh Chodesh 24-hour Prayer Chain took place on 22-23 June, and God was present from start to finish. For 24 hours, we sought the Lord in earnest prayer from dozens of locations around the globe and in many languages. Feeling the call from the Lord to increase the number of hours of prayer each month leading up to the Feast of Tabernacles, the ICEJ then hosted a 30-hour Prayer Chain in July and 48-hour Rosh Chodesh Prayer Chain in August, with more than 40 different countries coming together for a powerful time of prayer and intercession.

From September 17-20, the Christian Embassy as set to host a 72-hour Prayer Chain to mark a special Rosh Chodesh, which is Rosh Hashana – the start of the Jewish New Year. More than 50 nations were expected to participate. This was a fitting way to not only start the new year correctly, but also the fall High Holy Days as we approached Yom Kippur and then the joyous Feast of Tabernacles.

As an outgrowth of this expanding prayer initiative, we are excited that during the week of the Feast of Tabernacles this year the ICEJ will be hosting 24-hour online prayer sessions for all seven days of the Feast. Please join us for this online prayer vigil from 2 to 8 October 2020, which will be resounding outward from here in Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

If you would like to participate in the Feast of Tabernacles 24/7 Virtual Prayer Room, please contact the ICEJ Prayer Coordinator Joshua Gooding at Joshua.gooding@icej.org