Abraham Drew Near

“And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?-Genesis 18:23

      There was never a man who prayed as Christ prayed.  Christ’s prayers and time of prayer were a force of nature.  The supernatural and natural met together as the horizon, and the veil of the physical merged with the spiritual.  The effects were so evident and the reality of his prayers so clearly manifest that it caused his disciples to covet an understanding of his prayer saying to him: “Lord, teach us to pray.”  The relationship between Christ and His Father was so intimate and close that His prayers flowed through unobstructed, and accomplished in minutes what men aspired to do in lifetimes.  He was near the heart of God, and wholly given to the will of God.    

In the twelfth chapter of Genesis, God called Abraham with a special calling.  That day, Abraham entered into a covenant with God, as well as a relationship with God.  Abraham devoted his life to God.  His faith, his trust, and the way he chose to walk with God each day set this man apart from everyone else.  This brought Abraham into confidence and fellowship with God so that by the time you reach Genesis chapter eighteen we find Abraham meeting with the Lord when the men (or angels, or both) of God appear.  Abraham immediately recognizes their character and moves with haste to make them feel welcome.  He entreats them to come in and in so doing they decide to share with him their plans to judge Sodom and Gomorah. This causes Abraham to plead with them and intercede on behalf of Sodom and Gomorah for just ten righteous men.  No doubt thinking of his nephew Lot who is living just outside the gate.  Abraham's intercession did not save Sodom but it did save Lot.  This is the confidence that God has in Abraham and Abraham in God.  This is the relationship that he has, and closeness it affords him.  Giving him the resolve to ask of God things that other men would not.  Other men cannot.  They cannot because they are not abiding in the Lord.  They are not in a living and active relationship with the Father.  They are given to this world, and its treasures, and without the promise of God in their lives.  When you think of the relationship between a man and wife, there is no relationship that comes to its equal.  It will produce such an intimate knowledge of the other person, and such a close confidence.  A profound and enduring establishment of trust.  You will share things with your spouse that you wouldn't with anyone else.  You will know things about one another that only you will know.  It brings an assurance in each other that you do not have with anyone else.  Therefore you can ask of them things that you cannot or would not of anyone else.  This relationship is built on a sacred covenant.  Which allows you to intercede and help in areas of life where others are not equipped to.  Not the least of which is birthing and raising children.  So individually, abiding in Christ, making up a church abiding in Christ, is fit to birth and raise converts.  Not through carnal means, or comfortable methods, but in prayers, supplications, and intercessions.  By living in the covenant, drawing near, and asking.    

        John fifteen tells us that when we abide in Christ and he in us we can ask what we will, and it will be done.  We can approach God in intercession, in need, in supplication.  When our ministry is in need, ask.  When our loved ones are lost, ask.  When our church is dying, ask.  When our homes are broken, ask.  Ask, because God cares.  The outcome of our prayer has much to do with the reality of our life before the Lord.  Our devotion to the covenant, our walking in righteousness, our faith in the promises of God.  Live in the covenant and plead for the lost.  Draw near as Abraham did.