THE ABRAHAMIC LIFESTYLE 5

Standing in the Gap

And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also

destroy the righteous with the wicked? – Gen 18:23

Abraham was resting by his tent door in the heat of the day when he saw three men standing before him. Quickly he rushed out to meet them and then invited them to dine with him. As the men rose up after eating, the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” (Gen 18:17). This was how it was revealed to Abraham that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were booked for destruction.

Ordinarily, we would have expected him to rejoice on hearing this. He had every reason to be happy because God was about to deal with his enemies and that meant more land for him to acquire. Rather we saw him interceding for those people. He pleaded for them to be spared from the impending judgment.

Like Abraham, we need to cultivate the habit of interceding for people. Hear this shocking truth: God looked round and saw there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor…. (Is 59:16). God expects you and I to become intercessors and we must not fail Him in this responsibility.

The Enemy does not want us to pray. He is working round the clock to hinder us from praying for God’s intervention in our national and international affairs. Our generation is that which requires extraordinary praying. We may ask why. The reason is because the enemy knows his time is short and the powers of darkness are greater today than before.

Brethren, we need to rise up to the task at hand. The souls of men must be freed from the Enemy’s grip and the powers of darkness must be utterly shattered. John Knox cried “Give me Scotland or I die”. Somebody later recorded that the whole nation of Scotland was converted by a lump. John got the answer to his prayers and we also can when we pray for our nation.

May the Lord use us mightily as vessels that will rescue the souls of men from the road to hell as we continually stand in the gap for our people.