Throughout Scripture, we know beyond every shadow of doubt that God answers prayer. Jesus Christ said this about prayer, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13)
God’s word is sure and unfailing, which implies that whenever we pray, we are guaranteed answers; however, this is seldom the case in the life of a great many believers. In today’s devotional, we are going to discuss why sometimes our prayers are not answered as we expected.
Here are three reasons why answers don’t come:
When we regard iniquity in our heart.
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” – Psalm 66:18
There are spiritual sins of the heart—such as bitterness, hypocrisy, resentment, gossip, jealousy, greed, unforgiveness and pride—that hinder our prayers. When we as believers hold such sins bottled up in our hearts, it does not matter how many times or how long we pray, the Scripture says, “the Lord will not hear”.
2. When we fail to meet the conditions of prayer.
Ephesians 6:18 (NIV) states that “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests…”. There are different types of prayer with specific conditions governing them. If we fail to meet the conditions of faith, the prayer of faith will not work. If one person is truly not in agreement, the prayer of agreement will not work. God honours His word, not our crying; therefore, meet the conditions of His word in prayer and the answers will come quickly.
3. When the things we say conflict with God’s word.
Being a prophetic ministry, we cannot empathize enough the importance of words. The things we say will bind us or free us. They either give us access to the Father or close doors.
Numbers 14:28 (NLT) says that “Now tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say.”
As I indicated earlier, when our daily actions and talking conflict with the Word of God, we will not receive answers. If God will do the very things He hears us say, then if we keep confessing doubt, fear and unbelief, we cannot receive answers no matter how powerful and sincere our prayer sounded.
Precious one, remember that even though God is a prayer-answering God, keeping iniquity in our hearts, not praying according to God’s determined rules of prayer, and speaking and acting contrary to God’s word will keep our answers from coming.
PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, I give thanks for You are the prayer-answering God. Cleanse my heart from all unrighteousness and give me grace to walk in the light of Your word for answers to prayers, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Scriptural References:
Mark 11:24-26
Matthew 18:19
Proverbs 18:20-2