Pray So God Will Hear You

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 59

Focus Verses: Isaiah 59: 1-2 

“Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is His ear too deaf to hear you call. It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.”

 

Maybe you thought God will always listen to you when you pray.  The Bible actually says there are some times when God will not hear our prayers.  Let’s say you know you have been involved in some sin and you begin to pray to God as if the sin never happened in your life.  God will not hear that prayer, because you are out of fellowship with Him.  However, if you begin that prayer by confessing that sin, and telling God you are sorry for what you have done wrong, then God will hear you and restore the relationship with you.  We will never be able to live a perfect life on this side of heaven, but we can make an effort to yield to Jesus every day.  Philippians 3:12  Paul says, “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me”.

There are actually two types of sins we can be guilty of.  Sin of commission is when we break a commandment. Which is doing something God has said not to do.  Then there is the sin of omission, and that is not doing something God has told us to do.  Let us be aware of this as the Psalmist writes in Psalm 66:18  “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”

God wants to hear your prayers.  But when we come to Him with unrepentant sin in our lives He must turn away until we confess that sin because He is a holy and righteous God. 

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries