Five Basic Principles of Genuine Intercession Before God as Seen in Genesis 18

God desires to do many things today, and His heart is to save many people, rescue the back-slidden ones, carry out His economy, and accomplish His purpose. However, due to the lack of intercessors God is limited in what He can do.

Today God is looking for intercessors, those who know God’s heart, are intimate and personal with God, and pray according to what God desires. In Abraham’s time God gained Melchizedek to intercede for Abraham as he was fighting to release his brother Lot from captivity, and later in Gen. 18 God gained Abraham to intercede for Lot and his family to be rescued out of destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In Genesis 18 we see a clear revelation of the basic principles of intercession, and we need to know how to intercede and what to say before God so that He may accomplish what He desires.

First of all, intercession is NOT initiated by us but by God’s revelation in His visitation and time with us. As God initiates our prayer for intercession, we pray for those who have drifted away from the Lord into the world, and our intercession is in an intimate way with God, according to the inward intention of His heart.

At the same time, our intercession is according to God’s righteous way, not merely according to His love and grace. Finally, our intercession is actually the echo of God’s speaking and desire, and as He speaks, we pray.

We need to see what are the basic principles of intercession as portrayed in Genesis 18 so that we may intercede for others according to God and so that He may have a way to do what He wants to do.

1. Proper Intercession is Initiated by God’s Revelation and not by Man’s Desire

Abraham’s intercession for Lot was not initiated by Abraham out of his own desire and preference but by God Himself in His speaking. Genuine intercession doesn’t begin with man but with God’s revelation.

This means that we need to reject our tendency and habit to be loaded with all kinds of thoughts and ideas and feelings when we come to the Lord – and we “pray it all to Him”, thinking that is intercession.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a burden, but rather when we come to the Lord, the first thing we should do is to put aside and lay down our burdens, will, and intentions, and be fully open to the Lord. We need to open to Him and wait for His initiation and revelation.

Billions of prayers are offered to God every day, but how many of them are genuine prayers of intercession? How many of our prayers are carrying out God’s will and express His desire?

2. We Should Intercede for God’s People who have Drifted into the World

There are many of God’s people who have slowly drifted into the world, and as we are under God’s revelation and see the imminent destruction of the world and all that is in it, we should intercede for those who drifted into the world.

Apparently, Abraham was interceding for Sodom; actually, he was interceding for Lot by implication (see Gen. 14:12; 18:23; 19:1, 27-29), since God already made up His mind to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

If you read the story in Genesis 18 you will see that the intercession Abraham made before God was almost like a bargaining or a negotiation; he asked God to spare the city if there are 50, then 45, 40, 30, 20, and even 10 righteous men in the city. Apparently Abraham was interceding for Sodom, but actually he was interceding for Lot based on God’s revelation.

God wants to rescue our brothers and sisters who have drifted into the world, but He needs us to intercede for them! According to God’s revelation and initiation, we should intercede for them!

3. Intercession is an Intimate Conversation with God according to the Inward Intention of His Heart

As we linger in God’s presence and converse with Him, we will intercede in a spontaneous way. If we are quick with the Lord, rushing our time with Him, we will most likely not receive the intimate revelation nor touch what’s on His heart.

We have to admit that in today’s world we are all affected by the “instant culture”: instant food, instant gratification, instant services, etc. But when it comes to our fellowship with the Lord we need to take time; intercession requires lingering in God’s presence. Sometimes we may need to stay in His presence for more than 30 minutes, even for 1-2 hours, so that He may reveal to us what’s on His heart.

If we really want to know the Lord and pray, we need to pay the price of TIME. Everything else tries to steal our time, waste it, and take it away from us; we need to fight for longer times with the Lord if we mean business with Him. In this intimate time with Him, we will have an intimate conversation with Him according to the desire of His heart.

4. Intercession is According to God’s Righteous Way

When Abraham was interceding for Lot he didn’t “beg God” to do save him according to His love and grace; rather, Abraham challenged God according to His righteous way.

God’s love and grace are optional and it’s up to Him when He does things according to His love and grace, but God’s righteousness binds Him and “forces Him” to do what He desires to do – based on His righteousness (see Gen. 18:23-25; Rom. 1:17).

Every good intercessor knows that the way to God’s heart is not by appealing to His love, His mercy, or His grace, but by standing on His promises and challenging God according to his righteous ways.

When God reveals what’s on His heart to us and we react by interceding before Him in our intimate conversation with Him, we can stand firmly on His righteous promises, pray according to His righteous way, and appeal to His righteousness for Him to do what He intends to do and rescue our brothers and sisters.

God wants this and He even expects this from us; we are not beggars imploring God to do this or that – we are glorious intercessors standing on God’s word and challenging Him according to His righteousness!

5. Genuine Intercession is God’s Speaking in our Speaking

At the end of their conversation, “Jehovah went away as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.” (Gen. 18:33) It wasn’t Abraham who finished speaking with God but God finished speaking with Abraham. Proper intercession is always God’s speaking, and our prayer is actually God’s speaking in our speaking.

The end of prayer is when the Lord stops speaking. As long as the Lord is speaking to you, don’t leave His presence – prayer is not over yet. Listen to the Lord’s speaking, be careful to it, open your ears to His voice, and be sensitive to the inner anointing.

We open to the Lord and are unloaded of anything else in order to listen to Him, He speaks to us, and we intercede by echoing back the words He spoke to us. He shows us what His will is, and we pray it back to Him. Genuine intercession is the uttering of what God is speaking.

Lord, we open to You. Unload us and empty us from any preoccupation, burden, will, or intention. We simply want to be open to Your speaking that we may receive the revelation of Your heart. Lord, keep us in Your presence, enjoying a sweet time of fellowship with You. You are our best friend, and we like to talk to You and be with You. Impress us with what’s on Your heart; speak to us and we will echo Your speaking. Lord, speak to us and we will pray Your desire back to You that You may accomplish Your will according to Your righteous way!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chan’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 51), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 7 / msg 7, Living in Fellowship with God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / In the spirit seek His face; / Ask and listen in His presence, / Waiting in the secret place. (Hymns #874)
  # Thy glorious, radiant face / My heart delights to see; / Here I’d abide and ne’er depart, / Beholding constantly. / Lord, I would linger here, / Still seeking after Thee, / Continue in the Word and prayer / Till Thou dost flow thru me. (Hymns #812)
  # Come forward now to God through Him, / Ne’er shrink back to destruction; / Come forward now to get the life, / Which brings the proper function; / Come forward now the life to take, / By life His people us He’ll make, / And swallow death forever. (Hymns #1130)