{"id":52,"date":"2011-02-20T22:38:54","date_gmt":"2011-02-20T21:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=52"},"modified":"2011-02-20T22:38:54","modified_gmt":"2011-02-20T21:38:54","slug":"abraham-prays-for-sodom-genesis-1816-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=52","title":{"rendered":"Abraham prays for Sodom – Genesis 18:16-33"},"content":{"rendered":"

GROUNDS for intercession \u2013
\nAbraham\u2019s covenant relationship with God
\nAbraham had also experienced God\u2019s grace many times so he wanted others to experience that same grace.
\nWE are in a covenant relationship with God, and have experienced His saving love \u2013 so we should want others to do the same!
\nOur relationship with God \u2013 v 19, John 15:14-16
\n14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants,
\nbecause a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last.
\nThen the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s invitation to pray \u2013 v 17
\nOur own passionate concern – v 23. Abraham is concerned for the righteous in general, and for Lot and his family in particular. His prayer is a cry for mercy, not destruction: no apathetic \u201cit\u2019s their problem, not mine\u201d
\nGod calls us to have the same concern for our neighbours.
\nMatthew 9:35 \u00b6 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep
\nwithout a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the
\nworkers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”<\/p>\n

FORM of intercession
\nStanding before God \u2013 v 22
\nApproaching God \u2013 v 23 \u201cBold I approach the royal throne\u201d – yet boldly vv 30-32
\nHumility \u2013 vv 27-28
\nPerseverance \u2013 v 32. \u201cTenacious intercession, 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, 10
\n\tLuke 18:1-8
\n1 \u00b6 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God
\nnor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, `Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But
\nfinally he said to himself, `Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!'” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.
\n 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.<\/p>\n

The unfair judge responds to persistence, how much more will the judge of all the earth do right<\/p>\n

PURPOSES of intercession
\nTo discover God\u2019s will v 23-24
\nAppeal to God\u2019s character \u2013 vv 25-26
\n\tWill not the Judge of all the earth do right?!
\nConcern for God\u2019s glory and God\u2019s name, So few in North Springfield bow the knee to Jesus Christ as saviour and Lord \u2013 so many worship false gods of money and entertainment
\nChanging God\u2019s mind v 32. Intercession is simply going into God\u2019s presence on behalf of others
\n\tEphesians 6:18-20
\nAbraham knew THE LIMIT OF GOD\u2019S PATIENCE \u2013 he stopped at 10, not 5, not 2, not 1
\nAbraham learned that although God is merciful, he is also just! God is the judge of all.<\/p>\n

RESULTS of intercession
\nChanges within us: vv 17-19 Process of prayer refined and transformed Abraham
\nThis is not so much a prayer of intercession as a prayer of formation, God changing Abraham. It\u2019s a prayer of relinquishment \u2013handing our lives over to God – \u201cGod, do whatever is right and I will trust you are doing the right thing – Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Prayer is much more than merely God changing us, changing our perceptions and our expectations to align with God\u2019s will. Intercessory prayer is indeed one way in which God\u2019s children can play our part in the Father\u2019s plan for the redemption of the world.
\n Changes in the world vv 23-29
\nNotice that Abraham\u2019s prayer receives the answer \u201cno\u201d. Judgment still comes \u2013 but because of Abraham\u2019s intercession Lot and his family are saved.
\nQuestion \u2013 who prayed for me to be saved? Who prayed for you to be saved? Now it is our turn to pray for North Springfield to be saved. <\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 14:7
\n14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their
\nsin and will heal their land.<\/p>\n

If we want God to move in power in North Springfield then He will \u2013 as long as we ask Him \u2013 as long as we pray. Abraham interceded for his family and for Sodom \u2013 will we intercede for our families and for our town?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GROUNDS for intercession \u2013 Abraham\u2019s covenant relationship with God Abraham had also experienced God\u2019s grace many times so he wanted others to experience that…<\/span><\/p>\n

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