Pray Boldly!

Hey church family, I want to start off today with a couple of verses of scripture that come from Genesis chapter 18. I’ll read them for you, and then spend a moment or two unpacking them. In Genesis 18, beginning in verse 23, we’re told that, “Abraham approached (GOD) and said, 'Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked? Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city—will you still sweep it away and not spare it for their sakes?' . . .And the Lord replied, 'If I find fifty righteous people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake'” (Genesis 18:23-26).

Think about that for a moment, and the consider this question . . . If you could ask God for anything, what would it be? So often our prayers are very much ‘Me-Focused’– Lord, help ME at work or help ME through a relational problem. Our prayers are all about MY needs, MY hurts, MY wants.

Now make no mistake, this is an important part of prayer. Prayer involves giving those things to God and asking Him to work in our lives. But, if that’s all there is to our prayer-life, then we’re missing out on a huge part of prayer. And that is . . . . Praying on behalf of someone else. . . It may be someone we know. It may be someone we don’t know. It may be someone we have never even meet. This part of prayer is called intercessory prayer.

Someone once observed that . . . “Too often our prayer ministries are more concerned with keeping sick believers out of heaven, than keeping unbelievers out of hell.” If you look at the prayer of Abraham recorded in Genesis 18, you’ll see that Abraham wasn’t afraid to bring a BOLD prayer request to God. Six times Abraham asked God for mercy on behalf of a huge city that had been earmarked for destruction, and God answered Abraham and told him YES– if only fifty righteous people could be found in that city, the city would be spared. Now the way the story played out, ultimately, the city wasn’t saved, but don’t miss this key principle: God responded to Abraham’s BOLD prayer. . . And it was a prayer on behalf of a people that Abraham likely didn’t know, and probably had never met.

Turn on the news. Pick up a paper. And think about the bold asks that you could pray for in your community, city, or nation? You may not know all the names, or the individual stories of the people you’re praying for, but you can boldly ask the One who does. Because one of the most selfless prayers is asking God for His mercy and blessing in the lives of others. The question is – will you?