“If I regard iniquity ( religious activity and beliefs foreign to the scriptures) in my heart, the Lord wil not hear me.” Psalm 66:18.
Prayer is the most powerful act in the legitimate Christian’s playbook! How often did Jesus pray, and teach us to pray. It is a prerequisite to being and doing well, even to living a peaceable life in a world filled with sin. Moreover, Jesus emphatically taught His church that they have not because they ask not. How oft, then should God’s people send petitions before the very throne of grace. But there are problems that can hinder prayer, and there are unheard and unanswered prayers as a result of those things. Over time, these have a propensity to undermine Christian confidence in the effective power of prayer. Consequently, each one would do well to examine himself in light of the faith once delivered to the saints, and enter into a commitment of unreserved obedience to the teachings of Christ to expect that those prayers will be heard. Certainly, we also should have confidence in the spiritual standing of others whom we would ask to pray on our behalf. I would rather have one person in right standing with God praying for me than a thousand religious practitioners of heresy, or of morally good, but spiritually disobedient people..
Sometimes people are asked to be prayer partners on the basis of friendship, even though their religious practice is far afield from the New Testament teachings of obedience toward God.
Then, when discernment of any answer is not forthcoming, the petitioner may wonder why all the silence. Is it possible such prayers were never heard? Consider some things the Holy Word says wil effectively marginalize prayer activity. Isaiah said to Israel, “Your sins have hid his face from you, that he wil not hear.” Isa. 59:2. King David said, “If I regard iniquity ( religious activity and beliefs foreign to the scriptures) in my heart, the Lord wil not hear me.” Psalm 66:18. God told Jeremiah, “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.” Jer. 11:14. The Apostle, James said, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” James 1:6-7.
Prayer is not a birthright, and God is not a faithful messenger boy awaiting unacceptable requests. That type of mindset results in disappointment, and often equates the whole idea to the power of positive thinking. However, the truth is that it is a glorious privilege to be able to send petitions to the very throne of God. “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” James 5:16. But another sobering reality is that there are conditions which when present can stop those prayers at the ceiling, or at best in the attic. How much better is a penitent attitude and contrite heart when approaching the Throne of God.
FOR THOUGHT: Have you ever seriously considered that there are qualifications to an acceptable prayer? Even the prayer to be saved is predicated upon the understanding that one is lost, and God is turned to in repentance because there is no other Savior. What do you think David meant by his statement in Psalm 66:18? Do you think your prayers will be acceptable to God if you have a defiant attitude or a reservation to private sins? Why? Why not?