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IHOP-Long Island – T. McCarthy Prayer 1

I. REVELATION OF FRIENDSHIP, PETITION TO AVERT JUDGMENT,

A. Abraham’s Intercession for Sodom: Genesis 18:17-33Gen 18:17 And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing? Gen 18:18 And Abraham shall become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? Gen 18:19 For I have known him, so that whatever he may command his sons and his house after him, even they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice; to the intent that Jehovah may bring on Abraham that which He has spoken of him. Gen 18:20 And Jehovah said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is exceedingly heavy. Gen 18:21 I will go down and see if they have at all done according to the cry coming to Me. And if not, I will know. Gen 18:22 And the men faced around from there and went toward Sodom. And Abraham was still standing before Jehovah. Gen 18:23 And Abraham drew near and said, Is it so? Will You cut off the righteous with the wicked? Gen 18:24 Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city; is it so You will cut off and will not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones that are within it? Gen 18:25 Far be it from You to act in this way, to put to death the righteous with the wicked. Far be it from You. The Judge of all the earth, shall He not do right? Gen 18:26 And Jehovah said, If I find fifty righteous within the city, in Sodom, then I will spare all the place because of them. Gen 18:27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold, I pray, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, and I am dust and ash. Gen 18:28 Perhaps there will be lacking five from the fifty righteous, will You destroy all the city for the five? And He said, If I find forty five there, I will not destroy. Gen 18:29 And he continued still to speak to Him and said, Perhaps forty will be found there. And He said, I will not do it because of the forty. Gen 18:30 And he said, Please do not my Lord be angry, that I may speak; perhaps thirty will be found there. And He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there. Gen 18:31 And he said, Behold, I pray, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord; perhaps twenty will be found there. And He said, I will not destroy because of the twenty. Gen 18:32 And he said, I pray, let not my Lord be angry that I may speak only this time; perhaps ten will be found there. And He said, I will not destroy because of the ten. Gen 18:33 And when Jehovah had left off speaking to Abraham, He was finished. And Abraham returned to his place.

1. Abraham understands a number of things about God’s character and values

a. God is a Just Judge – the Judge of all the earth

b. He does what is right

c. He is merciful for the sake of the righteous

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2. Because of the trust He has in Gods’ Character, “He is bold enough to intercede on behalf of the city He was led to intercede in this way, . . . by the love which springs from the consciousness that one's own preservation and rescue are due to compassionate grace alone; love, too, which cannot conceive of the guilt of others as too great for salvation to be possible. This sympathetic love, springing from the faith which was counted for righteousness, impelled him to the intercession . . . This “seemingly commercial kind of entreaty is,” as Delitzsch observes, “the essence of true prayer. . . . It is the holy αναιδεια, (anadeia)(shamelessness – importunity) of which our Lord speaks in Luk_11:8, the shamelessness of faith, which bridges over the infinite distance of the creature from the Creator, appeals with importunity to the heart of God, and ceases not till its point is gained. This would indeed be neither permissible nor possible, had not God, by virtue of the mysterious interlacing of necessity and freedom in His nature and operations, granted a power to the prayer of faith, to which He consents to yield; had He not, by virtue of His absoluteness, which is anything but blind necessity, placed Himself in such a relation to men, that He not merely works upon them by means of His grace, but allows them to work upon Him by means of their faith; had He not interwoven the life of the free creature into His own absolute life, and accorded to a created personality the right to assert itself in faith, in distinction from His own.” Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

II. PROTECTION, HEALING, RESTORATION OF A NATION

A. Abimelech saved from sinning against God and SarahGen 20:1 And Abraham pulled up stakes from there to the land of the Negeb, and lived between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. Gen 20:2 And Abraham said with regards to his wife Sarah, She is my sister. And Abimelech the king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. Gen 20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Behold, you are about to die because of the woman you have taken, she being married to a husband. Gen 20:4 And Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, O Lord, will You slay even a righteous nation? Gen 20:5 And did he not say to me, She is my sister? And she, even she herself said, He is my brother. In the honor of my heart and the purity of my hands I have done this. Gen 20:6 And God said to him in a dream, Yes, I know that you did this in the honor of your heart, and I also withheld you from sinning against Me. On account of this I did not allow you to touch her. Gen 20:7 And now return the wife of the man, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you shall live. And if you do not return her, know that dying you shall die, you and all that are yours. Gen 20:8 And Abimelech started up early in the morning and called for all his servants. And he spoke all these words in their ears. And the men were greatly afraid. Gen 20:9 And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, What have you done to us? And in what have I offended you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that ought not to be done.



Gen 20:10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What did you see that you have done this thing? Gen 20:11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will kill me for my wife's sake. Gen 20:12 And yet she really is my sister, daughter of my father; only not daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. Gen 20:13 And it happened when God made me wander from my father's house, even I said to her, This is your kindness which you do to me: at every place where we come there, say of me, He is my brother. Gen 20:14 Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male slaves, and slave-girls, and gave to Abraham. And he returned his wife Sarah to him. Gen 20:15 Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you. Live where it pleases you.Gen 20:16 And he said to Sarah, I, behold, I have given a thousand of silver to your brother. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all who are with you. And with all this you are reproved. Gen 20:17 And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his concubines, and they gave birth. Gen 20:18 For Jehovah had completely closed up every womb of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

III. PRAYER FOR GOD’S ORCHESTRATION AND INTERVENTION

A. Abraham’s slave looks for a bride for IsaacGen 24:7 Jehovah, God of Heaven, who took me from the house of my father and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, I will give this land to your Seed; He shall send His Angel before you, and you shall take a wife from there for my son. . . . Gen 24:12 And he said, Jehovah, God of my master Abraham, I pray, cause her to meet before me this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. . . . Gen 24:14 And let the girl to whom I shall speak this: Please let down your pitcher that I may drink; and she will say, Drink and also I will water your camels; let it be her You have approved for Your servant, for Isaac. And by this I shall know that You have shown kindness to my master. Gen 24:15 And it happened before he had finished speaking. Behold! Rebekah came out, she who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham, with her pitcher on her shoulder. Gen 24:16 And the girl was very good of form, a virgin, a man not having known her. And she went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up

B. Shared Blessing and Divine GuidanceGen 24:27 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, God of my master Abraham, who has not left off His kindness and His truth with my master, I being in the way, Jehovah guided me to the house of the brother of my master. . . . Gen 24:35 And Jehovah has blessed my master much, and he is great. And He has given to him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and male slaves and slave-girls, and camels and asses. . . . . Gen 24:40 And he said to me, Jehovah, before whom I walk, will send His Angel with you and prosper your way. And you shall take a wife for my son from my family, from my father's house. . . . Gen 24:42 And today I came to the well. And I said, Jehovah, God of my master Abraham, I pray, if You will, prosper the way in which I am about to go. . . . .Gen 24:48 And I bowed and worshiped Jehovah, and I blessed Jehovah, God of my master



Abraham, who had guided me in the true way, to take for his son the daughter of the brother of my master.

1. Blessing God for the kindness shown to Abraham – the slave is taking hold of the promises made to Abraham and the related blessing for himself.

2. Abraham declares that His Angel (God’s) prosper the slave’s way and the slave makes that his own prayer

3. The slave worships the God of Abraham- seeing God as the one who leads him in “the true way”.

C. Isaac prays for Rebekah to conceive because she is barren and Rebekah inquires of the Lord concerning her circumstances

Gen 25:20 And Isaac was a son of forty years when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Padan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to him for a wife. And Isaac prayed to Jehovah for his wife for she was barren. And Jehovah was entreated for him, and his wife Rebekah conceived. And the sons struggled together within her. And she said, If this is right, why am I this way? And she went to ask Jehovah. And Jehovah said to her, Two nations are in your womb; even two peoples shall break from your body. And one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. Gen 25:24 And her days were fulfilled to bear. And behold! Twins were in her womb.

D. Jacob Reminds God of His Promises and Prays for Deliverance from Circumstances of his own Making

Gen 32:6 And the messengers came back to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother Esau, and also he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him. Gen 32:7 And Jacob was afraid, and he was very distressed. And he divided the people with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two camps. Gen 32:8 And he said, If Esau comes to the one company and strikes it, then it will be, the company that is left shall escape. Gen 32:9 And Jacob said, Oh God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Jehovah, who said to me, Go back to your land and to your kindred and I will deal well with you. Gen 32:10 I am not worthy of all the mercies and all the truth which You have done for Your servant, for I passed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. Gen 32:11 Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, mother to sons. Gen 32:12 And You said, dealing I will deal well with you, and I will make your seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.



1. Reminds God of His prior direction to leave and the promises that were part of that direction

2. Awareness of God’s kindness and mercy toward him

3. Prayer for deliverance from his brother

4. Reminder and self-affirmation of promises regarding his future


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