Abraham: Persistance In Prayer Series

ABRAHAM

PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER

“LORD I’M ASKING ONE MORE TIME”

Date: February 24, 2002

Place: Allendale Baptist Church

Text: Genesis 18:23-33

Introduction

This may sound or may be a strange lead in to my sermon, but I ask you stay with me for a while. As we pick up in the story, God here tells Abraham His plans to destroy Sodom & Gomorrah because of the sin and decay of the people in these cities. Now remember, God had promised Abraham two things when He called him. First, he would be the father of many nations. Second, he would live in the promise land. Back in chapter 13 Abraham’s nephew Lot, had parted ways and had chosen to live in Sodom & Gomorrah. Chapter 14 tells us how Abraham saves Lot’s life one time. Lot was taken captive when Sodom & Gomorrah was invaded. Abraham with his 318 trained servants rescued Lot from his captors then returned to this wicked city.

As we pick up our story, 3 strangers visit Abraham. Some believe this to be angels of the Lord, some have said or described them as God the Father, God the Son & God the Holy Spirit. We are told God tells Abraham his plan to destroy the two cities of Sodom & Gomorrah, Abraham begins to intercede on behalf of his nephew Lot.

Abraham had the right qualities to be an intercessor

1. The right attributes

a. He was a man of faith

b. Isa. 41:8- God considered him His friend

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2.The right attitude for prayer.

a. He was unselfish- praying for others

b. He was humble- “I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord’ which am but dust & ashes

c. He was reverent- He recognized God’s greatness

3. He had the right approach to prayer.

a. He was aware of God’s presence- he stood before God

b. He knew what he wanted

Abraham was persistent

I. Persistence In Praying Is A Delight To God

A. God delights in His children asking

B. Presistant praying takes faith & nothing pleases God more than faith

C. Presisent praying shows that we believe God has the answers.

II. Persistence In Praying Demonstrates Our Sincerity.

A. I may not say this right, but I believe God sometimes tests us to see how sincere we are in our requests.

B. But I also ask this question what of Christian would you be if you received whatever you ask, when you asked for it?

C. God’s will for us at times is to grow our faith, to be still and know He is God. His will might be for us to persist.

III. Persistence In Praying Develops Our Faith.

A. A man becomes physically strong by working continuously. A weight lifter trains constantly. Someone has said prayer is the gymnasium of our soul.

B. Only through persistent prayer is our faith exercised & strengthened.

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IV. Persistence In Praying Delivers Our Desire

A. Of course, we do not place our trust in prayer, but in the Holy God we pray to.

B. We should continue to pray until one of 3 things happens.

1. God assures us that He has heard our prayers and the answer is on the way.

2. We receive what we ask for.

3. God reveals to us in a definite way that what we ask is not His will for us.

Close: There is a story of a man who had a desire to be a missionary. But he could not go because he failed the physical. For years he prayed for a son that could take his place. The first child came, a daughter. Then the second came, a daughter. So were the third, forth, fifth, and the sixth. The seventh was a boy. As the boy grew, his parents never said a word. After the young man graduated from college, he informed his parents he was going to China to be a missionary. Not only that, he had four children who all became missionaries. These four children in turn had children who became missionaries. 12 missionaries came from the family of that one man who had been persisted in prayer.

Invitation