Scriptures for Today:
Intercessory Prayer
2 Corinthians 1:8-11
“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.
1:9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
1:10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
1:11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
Genesis 18
18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.
18:2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
Hebrews 13:2 Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!
Genesis 18:3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.
18:4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree.
18:5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”
“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”
18:6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”
Judges 13:6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name.
13:7 But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
13:8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”
Genesis 18:7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.
18:8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.
“There, in the tent,” he said.
10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
Romans 9:9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:3
Genesis 18:11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” Psalm 127:3
Genesis 18:13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’
18:14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
Let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:7)
18:15a. Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”
Matthew 12:36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.
15b. But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
18:16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.
Genesis 18:17 Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
Amos 3:7 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing
without revealing his plan
to his servants the prophets.
Genesis 18:18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
Romans 4:16 Abraham, he is the father of us all.
Galatians 3:7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.
3:8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
3:9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Genesis 18:19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
18:20 Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
Genesis 11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.
11:6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
11:7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
2 Peter 3:7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
Genesis 18:22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.
18:23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
18:24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?
Jeremiah 17:10 I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
18:26 The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
18:27 Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up" James 4:10
18:28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
18:29 Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
30 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
18:31 Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
18:32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
18:33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
2 Peter 2:6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot ,a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless
2:8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—
2:9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.