But God Had Listened to Abraham's Request

(23) The sun was rising as Lot reached the village. (24) Then the LORD rained down fire and burning sulfur from the heavens on Sodom and Gomorrah. (25) He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, eliminating all life—people, plants, and animals alike. (26) But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following along behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (27) The next morning Abraham was up early and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the LORD’S presence. (28) He looked out across the plain to Sodom and Gomorrah and saw columns of smoke and fumes, as from a furnace, rising from the cities there. (29) But God had listened to Abraham’s request and (though God did not spare Sodom and Gomorrah, God) kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain. -- Genesis 19:23-29 (NLT)

...God remembered Abraham...
-- Genesis 19:29 (NKJV)

God, Who knows the heart...
--Acts 15:8a (NIV)

The earnest prayer of a righteous person (one person in right relationship with God) has great power and wonderful results.
-- James 5:16b (NLT)

Lord, let me be in right relationship with You, especially because my loved ones may be depending on my requests -- both spoken and unspoken -- for Your mercy in their lives. All in the Name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. And Amen.

Grateful

It's Time to Get Right With God!

James 5:16 (NLT) Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.

It's time to get right with God!

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

"GOD, I NEED YOU!"

I was in a prayer session with about 70 leaders from our local church this past Monday night. It was the most honest season of corporate honesty before God I remember being immersed in ever. One precious young lady, with deep cries from the depths of her desperate soul, prayed this four-word, heart-wrenching prayer to the top of her voice: "GOD, I NEED YOU! GOD, I NEED YOU!"

Her honest crying immediately gave way to our humble crying. It was indeed 2 Chronicles 7:14 illustrated. I have been echoing that prayer ever since and will surely echo it for many days to come:

"GOD, I NEED YOU! GOD, I NEED YOU!
In the Name of Jesus. Amen and Amen."

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a (one) righteous person has great power and wonderful results. -- James 5:16 (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Grateful

Lord, I Want to Be Truly Humble!

God sets Himself against the proud,
but He shows favor to the humble.
James 4:6b (NLT)

What is your definition of true humility?

What might be the results if you and I were to write down the words above from James 4:6 on a note card and take it around in our pocket, spontaneously and purposefully praying for thirty days:

Lord, I want to be truly humble!
I truly need Your favor in my life!
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

...We Will Never Pray.

If we wait until we know how to pray, to pray, we will never pray.

Lord, teach me TO PRAY! Lord, when I pray let my prayers be personal, intimate, and effective, not powerless, imitations, and ineffective. When I pray, let my foundation be a right relationship with You. In the Name of Jesus. Amen

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. -- James 5:16b (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL! I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

My Present And Future Fervent Prayer

I have a present and future fervent prayer. From the depths of my being, I fervently plead: No more missed opportunities, Lord, I pray.

I am leaning on these New Testament words: The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results. -- James 5:16 (NLT)

I don't want these Old Testament words becoming reality in my lifetime: The harvest is finished; the summer is over, and we are not saved. -- Jeremiah 8:20 (NLT)

God forbid! Yes, I fervently plead and repeat over-and-over: No more missed opportunities, Lord, I pray.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

From Nothing to Something to Everything!

There's a powerful, faith-filled prayer story in 1 Kings 18:42b-45:

(42b) And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, (43) and said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked, and said, "There is nothing." And seven times he said, "Go again." (44) Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he (the servant) said, "There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!" So he (Elijah) said, "Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’" (45) Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. (NKJV)

We can outline the Elijah prayer story in three parts;
(1) There was nothing -- initially, there was a cloudless sky.
(2) There was something -- eventually, a small cloud appeared.
(3) There was everything -- finally, there was a heavy rain.

As Elijah prayed for rain, the servant kept coming back with the same weather report over and over: THERE IS NOTHING! Yet, Elijah continued to plead face-down before the Lord for rain. Finally after seven times, the weather report changed from THERE IS NOTHING to THERE IS SOMETHING! It was only one small cloud the size of a man's hand rising up over the Mediterranean Sea, but it was something big to Elijah's faith. Elijah jumped up and began to run off the mountain, knowing that a mighty rain storm was approaching Mount Carmel and the Jezreel Valley. So, the man of faith-filled prayer ran for his life. We realize that the whole time he was praying face-down between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jezreel Valley, Elijah believed His God would change a nothing forecast into a something forecast and that something forecast meant everything to Elijah! AND YES INDEED, FINALLY A MIGHTY RAIN NEARLY WASHED MOUNT CARMEL OFF THE MAP!!! Be careful what you're prayerful about.

James 5:16b-18a (NLT) -- The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. (17) Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for the next three and a half years! (18) Then he prayed for rain, and down it poured.

Let's keep praying and hoping in the Lord. Eventually, our seemingly nothing forecast will turn into a something forecast and that something forecast will turn into an everything forecast for His glory in our lives!

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful