The poem No Time for Prayer (on Devotional page) certainly was written tongue in cheek; however it still drives home the point that we put many things before prayer in our daily lives. I can assume that all believers pray and I can also assume that all believers want their prayers to be heard and answered, so I ask here? Are you seeing answers to your prayers? Do you pray with faith believing? (Or is your prayer life out of duty and habit?) Who are you praying to? ...and very important - Is there anything keeping God from answering your prayers? I have seen many a devoted believer in despair over unanswered prayer.How often and how many times you pray for the same request has been controversial, yet the Bible makes the steps to a fulfilling prayer life clear in His word. In this short devotional I hope to clarify some of the reasons why we may not see prayers come to fruition. Most have heard the statement regarding prayer, that God will answer yes, no or wait.Why those three elements?To simplify: YES = When God's will is involved in the request, when Christ will be glorified through the outcome, then you may see a quicker answer to your plea. NO = When the request goes against the standards of God or because in the bigger picture (the details that you cannot see) the answer would be bad for you or the person (or event), God may refuse to grant that petition...and He will never grant a request that is not God honoring. WAIT = we cannot know our future years, minutes, or even seconds.We may plan ahead but only God knows the timing of it all.You may already have your request granted, yet it will be in God's time, not your own.It is frustrating for us because we are a hurry up people, but in the grand scheme of things, it is important to leave it to the wisdom of our God. Below will be just a few verses that will help direct you in your prayer life.I know you want to be heard and most will teach that not only does God hear all your prayers but no matter what, He will answer.But I have something I would really like you to think over.Is sin blocking your prayer? That's right believer, sin in your life may be blocking answers to your prayer.Please turn to Psalm 66:18 in your Bible.
The Psalmist clearly says If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. (KJV) The NIV states it this way: If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. If that tells you the same as me it is saying that if I am harboring sin that I have not repented of and turned away from, God WILL NOT hear my prayers. I cannot read anything else into that.God does not reward sin.He abhors it.When we go to the Father in prayer we must go with a clean heart, with the right motive. To support that, please read Isaiah 59: 1-2Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. (KJV) HE CHOOSES NOT TO HEAR YOU WHEN YOU ABIDE IN SIN. Step one then is to pray forgiveness and repent of any sin in your life before you take your petitions to the Lord. God recognizes prayers that are insincere.Matthew 6:5 specifically tells us not to pray as the hypocrites do but pray for the benefit and glory to God, not to bring attention to ourselves.God is the one we pray to.I know that there are those who believe that they can pray to any of the old Saints of the Bible (or man ordained saints), and recently I have heard it said that once a believer dies, we can pray to them.This is not biblically founded.BE CAREFUL and don't be duped into believing any thing that is not backed by the word of God.Let's keep it basic: In Luke 11: 1-4 we find the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray.This is what the Son of God said: When ye pray sayOur Father which art in heaven and inMatthew 6:9 it is worded: after this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven Step two:Be praying to the one you are instructed to pray to.Jesus himself told us to pray to the Father.He is the creator and we are to pray in the name of Christ. WHY ? because he goes before us to the Father on our behalf.There is nothing tricky or confusing about it.Would you have a dentist surgically remove your appendix?Why not?Some dentists do surgery; doctors and dentists go to school for a long time; they both work on the human body. BUT, there is a proper procedure and an appropriate and safe way to accomplish the task. Oh, you say, but Jesus can hear and answer our prayers because after all, He is God.Well, you got me there, accept to say that I don't want you to take my word for it, take Jesus Christ's word for it.He is the one who instructs us to go to God the Father. (Continued reading:John 14:6; Eph. 2:18; Romans 8:34; Heb. 7:25 Often times I have sat in prayer circles that are almost painful.I'm referring to the lack of love, sincerity, and humility, not the lack of details that point out all the gory private and unnecessary information.All too often I have heard prayer requests with added righteous indignation.Then we bow our heads with our tilted halos; as if we are doing someone a favor, for remembering them, all the time grieving the Spirit of God instead of glorifying him through the privilege of direct communication to his holy ears. Remember, this devotional is to get us on track to answered prayer; though I mean to offend no one, in truth most if not all of us fall short in our abilities to pray effectively. Step three:Pray in faith believing.We do not fool God.Why would he grant us anything that we really don't believe He can do?That doesn't mean He won't grant the request, because after all, it still could honor Him, even if you (we) don't.Understand that we do not honor Him when we don't even believe he is a big enough god to handle our needs and circumstances. You may say, "but I do believe He can answer my prayer, he just doesn't.If you feel that way, please take time out to analyze your own heart.Ask yourself the next time you pray:Do I really believe He will answer that prayer?Do you say to your self: God will never save him, he is too bad and it has been too long?When you have prayed do you stop and listen for God; do you expect peace?Do you give up praying about certain things if they don't seem answered in what seems a reasonable amount of time to you? Go to God in faith- read the Faith Chapter, Hebrews 11, especially verse 6. Lastly, at least for this writing you must pray according to His will. Step four: We can have great confidence in our prayer life and power of it if we remember that we need to pray according to God's knowledge not our own feeble world of understanding. John put it this way in I John 5:14 this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, he heareth us, and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know we have the petitions that we desired of him. Go to the Father with a pure heart, sin forgiven; in faith believing...be ready to receive the blessings of God.
Walking in Peace / division of C.O.P.E. Women's Ministries Sue Puff, author
