By Dr. Curtis Hutson
You say that it seems the Lord will not hear your prayers. The thing you ought to do is to analyze your prayer life and see if there is something that may be hindering God from hearing your prayers. Here are seven things that might do so.
1. Immature, impulsive praying.
“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” – James 4:3
This doesn’t mean that God does not want to give us things for our pleasure and enjoyment. It simply means if our prayer life is nothing more than asking for whimsical things that we want right at that moment without any regard to whether it is right for us or whether God would be pleased with our having it, then God will not answer our prayers. If there is no kind of relationship, no real desire to please the Lord, and if there is just the desire to have what we want, and that’s the only time we pray, those kinds of prayers will never be answered.
2. Irregular, inconsistent public worship.
“He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” – Proverbs 28:9
This verse suggests that if the manner of your life is not to attend the services where you will hear the Word of God preached, then the Lord is not too interested in what you have to say.
3. Intolerance or indifference when there is an offense.
“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” – Mark 11:25
Anyone who is nursing a grudge against another has closed the door of prayer in his life. If we do not learn to forgive just as God forgave us–from the heart, no strings attached–God will not hear. If there is someone in your life who has offended you, you must forgive him.
Complete forgiveness is the exclusive privilege of the believer. We have been forgiven an unbelievable debt by God Himself. When our brothers sin against us, we have the power to forgive, because the One who forgave us everything lives inside of us.
We must also seek to right things if we have offended another.
“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” – Matthew 5:23-24
If we offend others and think nothing of it and never try to make it right, then we cannot expect the Lord to hear our prayers.
4. Inconsideration toward your spouse.
“Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” – 1 Peter 3:7
Improper treatment of your spouse will keep God from hearing your prayers. For the man, his role is to love his wife, giving honor to her and treating her with love and affection.
5. Inflated self-appraisal.
“Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.” – Job 35:13
If we come to God with pride and a high-and-mighty attitude like the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not as others (Luke 18:11), God shuts the door and say, “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”
6. Idolatry in all of its forms.
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33
Anything we put before God becomes an idol. If we want Him to hear our prayers, we must put Him first. As long as such a thing is in our life, God will not hear us.
7. An impenitent heart, harboring iniquity.
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” – Psalm 66:18
Any unconfessed sin will keep God from hearing prayer.
SHARING
