Sermon Title: The Nature of True Prayer (Genesis 18:16-33)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
In one of the most revealing accounts of divine encounter, our Lord brings us to bear on the nature of true prayer.
True Prayer is divine invitation to commune with Him through Kingdom Work.
True Prayer is initiated and concluded by God to fellowship with Him through divine work for the sole purpose of aligning our hearts with His; that we may be holy as He is Holy.
Prayer begins when God enlists our partnership in fulfilling His Kingdom Work.
Unless we base our prayers on a divine promise, warning, or conviction of God's Holy Will, we have no right to pray.
Unless every prayer starts with the deliberate intention of being consecrated and sanctified by God, we should not even pray.
Prayer allows us to commune with God; and learn more about Him.
True Prayer understands that God has a divine, deep concern for the protection of the righteous, and, simultaneously, compassion on the foolish, lustful, and wicked who inflict grievous hurts on others.
But because He is Holy and Just, God must judge the wicked.
We pray only because God invites us to commune with Him; and participate in His Kingdom Work.
Thus, when we pray, we must do so on His Terms.
“16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.
17 Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:16-19)
For those whose hearts are aligned with His and willing to participate in His Kingdom inbreaking work - God reveals His Sovereign Will, and enlists our partnership with the intention of cultivating holiness in our lives; that we may impart holiness in the lives of our children and our household after us “to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just”,
God’s holy purposes in divine revelation far surpasses information; but rather, inspiration to know and serve Him more – by making disciples in our very own households.
True Prayer in based on the fact that God is aware of every sin, and fully present to the suffering.
“20 Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.
23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? “ (Genesis 18:20-23)
Every cry of those suffering from injustice, immorality and wickedness comes to God’s attention.
From His heavenly throne, God is fully aware of every evil committed in the world; but for our sakes, He condescends Himself - just as in the case of the Tower of Babel (Ref: Genesis 11) - with the language of accommodation to reveal His Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence – that He is the All-Powerful, All-Knowing and All-Present God.
The Lord is fully attentive to every cry of suffering; and fully aware of every sin of every human being.
He is attentive to every cry of those who are suffering right here in Canada; and aware of the terrible flood of perversions and desecrations of human lives compounded by laws that enable the tide of immorality that is sweeping across this country.
Past, present and future, the Lord sees it all and misses nothing.
He enters our most intimate and private spaces.
Our every thought and even, subconscious ideas, are laid bare before Him.
Nothing can refute God’s judgement.
His wrath is righteous.
The Lord doesn’t tell Abraham His intentions; but when he heard the words, “I will know”, Abraham knew that the wicked cities – along with all the unbridled lust, wickedness, the passion for obscenity and foul acts of homosexuality that permeated every inhabitant - were doomed for destruction.
Even though Abraham knew God’s heart; his own heart was impressed by the Lord.
He had some family in Sodom.
In staying, the Lord invited Abraham to approach Him in the knowledge that God will not punish the righteous along with the wicked.
It is in that precise knowledge of God’s Heart that the Lord leads Abraham into deeper relationship with Him.
“24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?
25 Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.
Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
26 The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
27 Then Abraham spoke up again:
“Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty?
Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” He said, “I will not destroy it.”
29 Once again he spoke to Him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
30 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31 Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more.
What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” (Genesis 18:24-32)
From fifty to ten; the point of true prayer is made supremely clear – God will not “kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.”
True Prayer is established in the reality of God’s great mercy and is fully aware of our uncertain and limited wisdom.
God would never destroy the righteous with the wicked.
It is the evil mind that questions: if God is inherently and purportedly good, why has He not destroyed the evil-doers in their defiance, depravity and perversions?
Such inquirers forget that if God were to wipe out all the evil in the world, they too, would be wiped out.
Praise be to God that His love and mercies endures forever!
True Prayer understands that out of His infinite and immense love for all of Creation, even the smallest reason is enough for God to reveal His loving mercies.
Abraham’s intercession for the righteous deepened his knowledge that God was indeed, merciful; and provided further evidence to himself - that his own heart was very much aligned with the Lord’s.
This conversation - which seemed as if Abraham was bargaining with God – was actually a divine allowance for Abraham to confirm what he knew to be true: that God is just and merciful; and that righteousness is imputed by true repentance before the Lord.
Abraham was also utterly confident that a handful of ‘righteous people’ – who exemplified God’s divine love – was sufficient to inspire an entire city to repent before God.
In fact, the decreasing number of ‘righteous people’ that Abraham asked as condition to spare the city reflected the increasing confidence he had about the Power of God to save.
This was the very basis of Abraham’s appeal: “There are righteous people there. But I acknowledge Your Sovereignty. If the city must be destroyed, I know full well that You would protect the righteous. Besides, the truly righteous would be prepared and willing to walk out of the world as it heads towards damnation and destruction.”
This is the reason why God permits a defiant and wicked world to continue to exist; there are righteous people on the earth.
Not that we are righteous; but rather, having received the righteousness of Jesus Christ by our faith in Him.
As disciples of Christ, our greatest assurance lies not only in our present victory over the principalities of darkness to rob us of God’s Gift of Salvation and Eternal Life; but in our knowledge of the nature of true prayer based on the mercies of our God who will not destroy the earth as long as the church exists in it.
The Lord delights in our acute awareness that we who are “nothing but dust and ashes” may appeal to Him for the protection of the righteous people because that has always been His divine intention.
Abraham is relentless in his appeal but stops at ten ‘righteous people’ because of Lot’s family; reasoning that, by this time, if Lot was able to win over his own family to the Lord, the family would be able to win the entire city of Sodom, along with Gomorrah, to the Lord.
Such was his certainty and confidence about the power of God’s Mercy to save the lost.
There is no doubt that Abraham loved Lot.
Tradition informs us that at this time, Lot had four daughters; two married to Sodomites; and the other two betrothed.
Abraham never asks God to spare Lot and his family on condition of their relationship, but out of compassion for the wicked, he keeps trying to save the whole city for the sake of Lot and his family – whom he hoped was righteous in the Lord’s sight.
His thought was based entirely that if Lot was able to successfully point his family, along with his Sodomite sons-in-law, to God, they would together be successful in pointing the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah to God.
Even though the evil of the cities absolutely revolted Abraham, he appealed to God on every ground of mercy; and like God, was ready to give them every last possible chance.
And “when the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, He left, and Abraham returned home.” (Genesis 18:33)
True Prayer is not about cities or nations being saved; but rather for the Salvation of the repentant, righteous people.
The reality is that only the repentant and righteous are saved; and they belong to the one nation that is saved - God’s Holy Nation.
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)
The theme of every prayer must always be about Salvation through Christ – which includes redemption, deliverance, and restoration.
In our frailty and sinfulness, our worldly needs causes us to deviate from the Will of God, and makes us lose focus on why, and what, we ought to pray for.
Do you really know what to pray for – be it for yourself or for anyone else?
No, you do not.
Which is why the Apostle Paul insists in Romans 8:26-27:
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
True prayer, therefore, is never the person merely talking to God; but rather God the Spirit talking to God the Father through the person - who remains in God the Son.
True Prayer enfolds the believer into the Triune Life of the Living God.
Which is why, diligently remaining in Christ and listening to the Holy Spirit pray through you is critical in knowing the heart of our Heavenly Father.
Abraham was fully aware of what God was doing with him in that divine encounter.
Even if he asked to spare the city for the sake of five, the city would still have been doomed.
Remember that God had initiated this whole conversation with Abraham and led him along all through it, and when Abraham responded as God desired, God concluded the encounter and “left” (Genesis 18:33).
In other words, Abraham was not asking God to do something for him; it was God who remained with Abraham, led him in this prayer, and it was God who revealed His Will to save the righteous.
God caused Abraham to feel His holy compassion; and in that divine exchange, revealed His holy desire to be merciful to the wicked.
At the moment when he spoke on behalf of a wicked city, Abraham drew so close to God that he reflected His mercy.
His prayer did not save the city, nor was it intended to.
But it did make Abraham manifest the heart of God.
Nothing reflects more about our relationship with God than the deep knowledge of His Loving Mercies.
And that is the nature of true prayer – that when God invites us to pray, we might undertake His Will for His Children to be holy and righteous; and understand His Heart to seek and save the righteous who are lost at this time.
In a world fraught in wickedness and hurt, may all our prayers be true; and may our transformed lives transform those whom God has called to be His Children.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
And by Your Will, I acknowledge that “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10)
Lord Jesus, You “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
Thank You for inviting me to draw close and commune with You through the work of inbreaking Your Kingdom – that my heart may be fully aligned with Yours; and that I may be made holy, as You are holy.
Lord, You are aware of every sin and fully present to all who are suffering.
Grant me courage, strength, wisdom and resolve to intercede on behalf of the land; in the knowledge that You will protect and save those who belong to You.
Forgive me of my wickedness, Lord, as I repent before You.
May Your Holy Spirit and fire burn away the iniquities and proclivities of my heart; that I may be consecrated and sanctified for Your Holy Purposes.
Lord, draw me closer to You.
Have mercy on me; and on the righteous who are lost at this present moment.
I am fully aware that I am nothing but ash and dust; and yet, Lord, thank You for allowing me to live in the reality of Your loving mercy, and in the knowledge that You would never destroy the righteous with the wicked.
Increase my faith in Your Power to save; and grant that I will receive Your Power, O Holy Spirit, to be Christ’s witness to all in my life; that I may point them to the saving grace of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Humble and still my heart, O Lord, that I would remember always that prayer is not about cities or nations being saved, but rather for the salvation of the repentant, righteous people.
May Your Church arise and fulfill our destiny to be Your “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession”, that we may forever declare Your praises for calling us out of darkness into Your wonderful light! (1 Peter 2:9)
Holy Spirit, help me in my weakness.
I do not know what I ought to pray for.
Intercede for me “through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26); search my heart and transform me that I may also know the heart and will of God.
Thank You for enfolding me into Your Triune Life.
May I never pray out of my own selfish needs; but I ask that You remain in me, Lord Jesus, that Your Spirit would lead my prayers directly to the Heavenly Father.
May I undertake Your Will to be holy and righteous all the days of my life; and understand fully your heart to seek and save the lost.
Use me, Lord, that my transformed life may transform those whom You have called to be Your Children.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
In one of the most revealing accounts of divine encounter, our Lord brings us to bear on the nature of true prayer.
True Prayer is divine invitation to commune with Him through Kingdom Work.
True Prayer is initiated and concluded by God to fellowship with Him through divine work for the sole purpose of aligning our hearts with His; that we may be holy as He is Holy.
Prayer begins when God enlists our partnership in fulfilling His Kingdom Work.
Unless we base our prayers on a divine promise, warning, or conviction of God's Holy Will, we have no right to pray.
Unless every prayer starts with the deliberate intention of being consecrated and sanctified by God, we should not even pray.
Prayer allows us to commune with God; and learn more about Him.
True Prayer understands that God has a divine, deep concern for the protection of the righteous, and, simultaneously, compassion on the foolish, lustful, and wicked who inflict grievous hurts on others.
But because He is Holy and Just, God must judge the wicked.
We pray only because God invites us to commune with Him; and participate in His Kingdom Work.
Thus, when we pray, we must do so on His Terms.
“16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.
17 Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:16-19)
For those whose hearts are aligned with His and willing to participate in His Kingdom inbreaking work - God reveals His Sovereign Will, and enlists our partnership with the intention of cultivating holiness in our lives; that we may impart holiness in the lives of our children and our household after us “to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just”,
God’s holy purposes in divine revelation far surpasses information; but rather, inspiration to know and serve Him more – by making disciples in our very own households.
True Prayer in based on the fact that God is aware of every sin, and fully present to the suffering.
“20 Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.
23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? “ (Genesis 18:20-23)
Every cry of those suffering from injustice, immorality and wickedness comes to God’s attention.
From His heavenly throne, God is fully aware of every evil committed in the world; but for our sakes, He condescends Himself - just as in the case of the Tower of Babel (Ref: Genesis 11) - with the language of accommodation to reveal His Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence – that He is the All-Powerful, All-Knowing and All-Present God.
The Lord is fully attentive to every cry of suffering; and fully aware of every sin of every human being.
He is attentive to every cry of those who are suffering right here in Canada; and aware of the terrible flood of perversions and desecrations of human lives compounded by laws that enable the tide of immorality that is sweeping across this country.
Past, present and future, the Lord sees it all and misses nothing.
He enters our most intimate and private spaces.
Our every thought and even, subconscious ideas, are laid bare before Him.
Nothing can refute God’s judgement.
His wrath is righteous.
The Lord doesn’t tell Abraham His intentions; but when he heard the words, “I will know”, Abraham knew that the wicked cities – along with all the unbridled lust, wickedness, the passion for obscenity and foul acts of homosexuality that permeated every inhabitant - were doomed for destruction.
Even though Abraham knew God’s heart; his own heart was impressed by the Lord.
He had some family in Sodom.
In staying, the Lord invited Abraham to approach Him in the knowledge that God will not punish the righteous along with the wicked.
It is in that precise knowledge of God’s Heart that the Lord leads Abraham into deeper relationship with Him.
“24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?
25 Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.
Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
26 The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
27 Then Abraham spoke up again:
“Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty?
Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” He said, “I will not destroy it.”
29 Once again he spoke to Him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
30 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31 Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more.
What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” (Genesis 18:24-32)
From fifty to ten; the point of true prayer is made supremely clear – God will not “kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.”
True Prayer is established in the reality of God’s great mercy and is fully aware of our uncertain and limited wisdom.
God would never destroy the righteous with the wicked.
It is the evil mind that questions: if God is inherently and purportedly good, why has He not destroyed the evil-doers in their defiance, depravity and perversions?
Such inquirers forget that if God were to wipe out all the evil in the world, they too, would be wiped out.
Praise be to God that His love and mercies endures forever!
True Prayer understands that out of His infinite and immense love for all of Creation, even the smallest reason is enough for God to reveal His loving mercies.
Abraham’s intercession for the righteous deepened his knowledge that God was indeed, merciful; and provided further evidence to himself - that his own heart was very much aligned with the Lord’s.
This conversation - which seemed as if Abraham was bargaining with God – was actually a divine allowance for Abraham to confirm what he knew to be true: that God is just and merciful; and that righteousness is imputed by true repentance before the Lord.
Abraham was also utterly confident that a handful of ‘righteous people’ – who exemplified God’s divine love – was sufficient to inspire an entire city to repent before God.
In fact, the decreasing number of ‘righteous people’ that Abraham asked as condition to spare the city reflected the increasing confidence he had about the Power of God to save.
This was the very basis of Abraham’s appeal: “There are righteous people there. But I acknowledge Your Sovereignty. If the city must be destroyed, I know full well that You would protect the righteous. Besides, the truly righteous would be prepared and willing to walk out of the world as it heads towards damnation and destruction.”
This is the reason why God permits a defiant and wicked world to continue to exist; there are righteous people on the earth.
Not that we are righteous; but rather, having received the righteousness of Jesus Christ by our faith in Him.
As disciples of Christ, our greatest assurance lies not only in our present victory over the principalities of darkness to rob us of God’s Gift of Salvation and Eternal Life; but in our knowledge of the nature of true prayer based on the mercies of our God who will not destroy the earth as long as the church exists in it.
The Lord delights in our acute awareness that we who are “nothing but dust and ashes” may appeal to Him for the protection of the righteous people because that has always been His divine intention.
Abraham is relentless in his appeal but stops at ten ‘righteous people’ because of Lot’s family; reasoning that, by this time, if Lot was able to win over his own family to the Lord, the family would be able to win the entire city of Sodom, along with Gomorrah, to the Lord.
Such was his certainty and confidence about the power of God’s Mercy to save the lost.
There is no doubt that Abraham loved Lot.
Tradition informs us that at this time, Lot had four daughters; two married to Sodomites; and the other two betrothed.
Abraham never asks God to spare Lot and his family on condition of their relationship, but out of compassion for the wicked, he keeps trying to save the whole city for the sake of Lot and his family – whom he hoped was righteous in the Lord’s sight.
His thought was based entirely that if Lot was able to successfully point his family, along with his Sodomite sons-in-law, to God, they would together be successful in pointing the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah to God.
Even though the evil of the cities absolutely revolted Abraham, he appealed to God on every ground of mercy; and like God, was ready to give them every last possible chance.
And “when the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, He left, and Abraham returned home.” (Genesis 18:33)
True Prayer is not about cities or nations being saved; but rather for the Salvation of the repentant, righteous people.
The reality is that only the repentant and righteous are saved; and they belong to the one nation that is saved - God’s Holy Nation.
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)
The theme of every prayer must always be about Salvation through Christ – which includes redemption, deliverance, and restoration.
In our frailty and sinfulness, our worldly needs causes us to deviate from the Will of God, and makes us lose focus on why, and what, we ought to pray for.
Do you really know what to pray for – be it for yourself or for anyone else?
No, you do not.
Which is why the Apostle Paul insists in Romans 8:26-27:
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
True prayer, therefore, is never the person merely talking to God; but rather God the Spirit talking to God the Father through the person - who remains in God the Son.
True Prayer enfolds the believer into the Triune Life of the Living God.
Which is why, diligently remaining in Christ and listening to the Holy Spirit pray through you is critical in knowing the heart of our Heavenly Father.
Abraham was fully aware of what God was doing with him in that divine encounter.
Even if he asked to spare the city for the sake of five, the city would still have been doomed.
Remember that God had initiated this whole conversation with Abraham and led him along all through it, and when Abraham responded as God desired, God concluded the encounter and “left” (Genesis 18:33).
In other words, Abraham was not asking God to do something for him; it was God who remained with Abraham, led him in this prayer, and it was God who revealed His Will to save the righteous.
God caused Abraham to feel His holy compassion; and in that divine exchange, revealed His holy desire to be merciful to the wicked.
At the moment when he spoke on behalf of a wicked city, Abraham drew so close to God that he reflected His mercy.
His prayer did not save the city, nor was it intended to.
But it did make Abraham manifest the heart of God.
Nothing reflects more about our relationship with God than the deep knowledge of His Loving Mercies.
And that is the nature of true prayer – that when God invites us to pray, we might undertake His Will for His Children to be holy and righteous; and understand His Heart to seek and save the righteous who are lost at this time.
In a world fraught in wickedness and hurt, may all our prayers be true; and may our transformed lives transform those whom God has called to be His Children.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
And by Your Will, I acknowledge that “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10)
Lord Jesus, You “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
Thank You for inviting me to draw close and commune with You through the work of inbreaking Your Kingdom – that my heart may be fully aligned with Yours; and that I may be made holy, as You are holy.
Lord, You are aware of every sin and fully present to all who are suffering.
Grant me courage, strength, wisdom and resolve to intercede on behalf of the land; in the knowledge that You will protect and save those who belong to You.
Forgive me of my wickedness, Lord, as I repent before You.
May Your Holy Spirit and fire burn away the iniquities and proclivities of my heart; that I may be consecrated and sanctified for Your Holy Purposes.
Lord, draw me closer to You.
Have mercy on me; and on the righteous who are lost at this present moment.
I am fully aware that I am nothing but ash and dust; and yet, Lord, thank You for allowing me to live in the reality of Your loving mercy, and in the knowledge that You would never destroy the righteous with the wicked.
Increase my faith in Your Power to save; and grant that I will receive Your Power, O Holy Spirit, to be Christ’s witness to all in my life; that I may point them to the saving grace of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Humble and still my heart, O Lord, that I would remember always that prayer is not about cities or nations being saved, but rather for the salvation of the repentant, righteous people.
May Your Church arise and fulfill our destiny to be Your “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession”, that we may forever declare Your praises for calling us out of darkness into Your wonderful light! (1 Peter 2:9)
Holy Spirit, help me in my weakness.
I do not know what I ought to pray for.
Intercede for me “through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26); search my heart and transform me that I may also know the heart and will of God.
Thank You for enfolding me into Your Triune Life.
May I never pray out of my own selfish needs; but I ask that You remain in me, Lord Jesus, that Your Spirit would lead my prayers directly to the Heavenly Father.
May I undertake Your Will to be holy and righteous all the days of my life; and understand fully your heart to seek and save the lost.
Use me, Lord, that my transformed life may transform those whom You have called to be Your Children.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.