Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
Taking God at His Word
"And the Lord said, 'Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave'" (Genesis 18:20, NKJV).
We all love to hear about God's mercy, grace and long-suffering, but we do not want to face the fact that someday God will come against everything that is of Sodom.
God revealed his nature to Moses this way: "The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin'" (Exodus 34:6-7a, NKJV).
In the very next phrase, God added, "By no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation" (Exodus 34:7b). The Lord was saying, "I will not wink at sin. Yes, I am merciful and long-suffering, but the time is coming when my patience with your sin will end. That is when Sodom will burn."
Two angels came to Lot and warned him, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city" (Genesis 19:15).
Apparently, Lot did not take this warning seriously because he slept in the next morning, and the angels had to rouse him. His sons-in-law must have thought, "If he really believed the warning, he would be on his way out of here. He doesn't believe it, so why should we?"
This should be a lesson to us all. We need to live as if Christ is about to return so that others will listen to our witness.
I believe in what are called "divine ultimatums," times when the Holy Spirit knows your sin is about to bring you to ruin. The Lord comes to you and says, "I am the God of grace, and I want to deliver you out of this. Now, turn from your sin. Obey my Word!"
These ultimatums are found throughout the Bible. It does not matter how much you pray or fast or how faithful you are in doing God's work; if you do not believe God will deal seriously with your sin, you are deceived!
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I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people -- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4
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