Prayer Secret #3
God Will Hear the
Prayers of the Righteous
Prayer
Secret #1 - establishing a good personal relationship with
the Lord will get you into the door with Him so that He will
now be willing to hear your prayers. Prayer
Secret #2 - making sure that your prayers always line up
with His perfect will for your life will dramatically increase
the chances of God actually answering any of your prayers.
This will now lead us into Prayer Secret
#3. Before I start to go into some of the more heavier aspects
of actually moving into prayer with the Lord - there is one
more secret that I must first list out in order to help
increase your chances of getting God to answer more of your
personal prayers.
If you are not fully aware of this particular secret and are
not abiding by it - there is a very good chance that God is not
even going to listen to what you have to say, much less even
consider answering any of your specific prayers.
The verses I will list in this article are all very straight
forward and need no fancy interpretation. They mean exactly
what they are saying.
These particular verses are telling us that God will not be
hearing the prayers of someone who is not keeping His
commandments - of someone who is not living a righteous life in
His eyes. Granted, we have all been made righteous before the
eyes of God the Father as a result of Jesus Christ dying on the
cross for all of our sins. The righteousness of Jesus has now
been imputed to us.
However, this does not give us the license and the right to
keep on sinning. Though we have all been made perfectly
righteous before the eyes of God as a result of what Jesus did
for us on the cross - we still have to make every effort on our
end to try and live a good and righteous life and stay out of
any unacceptable sins in the eyes of God the Father. This
particular prayer secret is a major reason why some Christians
are not having much success in their prayer room with God the
Father.
As you will see in the verses I will list in this article,
the Bible is telling all of us loud and clear that our slates
have got to be fairly clean before God is going to work with us
in His prayer room. However, please note this does not mean you
have to be totally perfect. We all have our rough edges, our
character flaws and faults, and our little vices that we have a
hard time in getting any victory over.
I believe there is a certain amount of slack with the Lord
for some of our imperfections, frailties and weaknesses. None
of us will ever become the fourth person of the Holy Trinity.
This is why Jesus had to come and die for all of us - due to
the sin nature that we were all born into this world with that
constantly keeps getting us into trouble.
Per the article I did titled "Sanctification,"
God the Father wants to start the process of sanctifying us in
this life us once we become saved and born again. But this
sanctification process is a progressive and constantly ongoing
process that will go on for rest of our lives. As a result, we
always have to continue to keep working with the Lord on
allowing Him to mold, shape and transform us into a better and
more holy people.
As you continue to grow in this sanctification process where
God the Father is slowly starting to form and mold you into the
express image of His Son Jesus Christ - you will find two main
things that will start to occur.
First - you will start to see the boundary lines that God
will set up for you. These boundary lines are lines being drawn
in the sand by the Lord of where you can go in this life and
where you cannot go - what you can do and what you cannot
do.
God will make it very clear to you through the conviction of
the Holy Spirit as to how far you can go with Him on certain
issues. And this is where you really have to stay on top of
your game with the Lord if you want to keep everything running
and flowing smoothly if you are walking in God's perfect plan
and destiny for your life.
These next set of verses are telling us the following:
- That the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous
man will avail much
- That God will answer our prayers if we are keeping
His commandments
- That God will hear and answer the prayers of the
righteous
- But that God will not hear or answer the prayers of
those who are not obeying His commandments
One of the verses I will list below is very extreme and
intense. This verse says that your sins and your iniquities
will literally separate you from God and that He will hide His
face from you and not even hear your prayers and petitions.
Though Jesus has already died on the cross for all of our
sins - we can't use this as an excuse to go back into areas
that we know God does not want us treading into. Perfect
examples of some areas where Christians can really get
themselves into major trouble with the Lord are adultery, using
drugs, abusing alcohol, verbally and/or physically abusing
their children or their spouses, holding any major
unforgiveness towards others, and stealing or scamming from
others.
The Lord will let you know loud and clear how far you can
push some things with Him. And once you cross that line in
complete and total disobedience - then you have just taken
yourself right out of His prayer arena and have dramatically
reduced the chances of getting any of your personal prayer
needs met or answered.
So before you really decide to get serious with the Lord in
your prayer closet, make sure that you do not have any blocks
or hindrances in your walk with Him that would keep Him from
wanting to work with you. If you don't, and you have certain
sins or transgressions that have not been properly dealt with,
then you will be wasting both His time and your time by even
continuing to try and pray in the first place.
If you really want to get serious with the Lord in your
personal prayer life, study these next set of verses very
carefully - and ask the Holy Spirit to show you if you have any
personal areas that have to be dealt with so that you do not
have anything that would prevent God the Father from wanting to
work with you.
If you do have any blocks, hindrances, sins, transgressions
or iniquities operating in your life that are unacceptable in
the eyes of God - and then you get these sins and
transgressions properly dealt with and removed with the help of
the Holy Spirit - then you will have just opened up a major
door to the throne room of God Almighty Himself, and He will
now be willing to listen to any specific requests or petitions
that you may have. Many Christians have made major advances and
breakthroughs in their prayer life with God the Father once
they were taught this basic 101 principle.
I'll go ahead and list each of the verses under the
appropriate captions below so that you can see exactly what God
the Father is trying to tell you with the way that He has
worded some of these particular verses.
1. God Will Hear the Prayers of the Righteous
These first four verses are major. The first verse I will
list is only one sentence long - but it perfectly drives home
the point on this topic. It simply says that God the Father
will "hear the prayers of the righteous" - but that He
is "far from the wicked."
The second verse then really confirms the wording of the
first verse when it says that the "eyes of the Lord are on
the righteous" and that "His ears are open to their
prayers." It then once more ends stating that the "face
of the Lord is against those who do evil."
The third verse specifically says that God the Father will
answer our prayers "because" we are willing to keep His
commandments. In other words, God will answer your prayers if
you are keeping His commandments.
This verse also makes the statement that we have to do what
is "pleasing in the sight of the Lord." If you are doing
anything that is not pleasing to Him, then again, it could
prevent you from getting more of your personal prayers answered
by Him.
If you look at the flip side of this revelation - this flip
side is telling you that God will not be hearing or answering
any of your prayers if you are not keeping His commandments or
if you are out doing wicked things or living any kind of a
wicked and evil life.
Here are four major powerful foundational verses that you
will need to ground on if you want to have any kind of major
success in your prayer life with God the Father.
- "The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the
prayer of the righteous." (Proverbs 15:29)
- "Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him
seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on
the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but
the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." (1
Peter 3:11)
- "And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we
keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing
in His sight." (1 John 3:22)
- "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man
avails much." (James 5:16)
Notice the last verse says that the effective, fervent
prayer of a "righteous" man will avail much.
Put all four of these verses together - and the message is
coming through loud and clear. If you want to have any chance
of having any kind of an effective and powerful prayer life
with God the Father, then you are going to have to be willing
to stay out of any sins or bad activities that you know will
not be pleasing to Him, or that you know will be going against
any of His basic laws and commandments on how we are to live
out this life.
You are going to have to make every effort on your end to
stay on the righteous side of the fence in your walk with the
Lord - and to stay away from any areas that you know will be
unacceptable in His sight.
2. Your Iniquities Will Separate You From God
I have always found this next verse to be one of the more
heavier verses on the consequences of continuing to live in
major sin after you get to know your Lord and Savior. Even
though this first verse I will list is from the Old Testament -
I believe the specific wording of this verse also applies to
all New Testament Christians.
Though God can now fully forgive all of your sins as a
result of Jesus dying on the cross for all of us - this does
not give you the right to keep on sinning - especially if you
know that you what you are doing is a direct sin against God to
begin with.
This next verse will tell us that our iniquities, if they
are bad enough, can literally "separate us" from God.
This verse then makes the very intense statement that God will
hide His face from us and that He will not even hear us if we
try and speak to Him. This is about as graphic of a warning
that we can possibly receive from the Lord if any of us is
wallowing and walking in any heavy sin areas - and then we try
to approach Him to answer any of our personal prayers.
The second verse then says that he who turns his ear away
from hearing and obeying any of God's laws, that even his
prayers will be considered an abomination before the eyes of
God. So not only will God turn His back on you and refuse to
hear anything you may want to say to Him, but He will now
consider any of your prayer requests to be an abomination in
His sight if you are asking Him for something - and then at the
same time you are continuing to walk and live in some of the
heavier type sins.
God will not be mocked! You cannot be out having multiple
affairs on your spouse, verbally and/or physically abusing your
spouse or your children, scamming others in your job, abusing
alcohol, doing drugs - and then think that the Lord is going to
turn a blind eye on all of this because His Son has already
paid the price for your transgressions.
The Bible is emphatically clear. You can only receive God's
forgiveness for the sins you already know about only if you are
willing to confess those sins out to begin with - and then
repent and agree to make every possible effort not to go back
into those sins.
The word "repent" means to be willing to turn away
from those sins. It means to be willing to have a change of
mind, a change of attitude and a change of heart concerning
those sins. It means to be willing to see that they are wrong
in the eyes of God.
As a result of this separation that can occur between us and
God, many of God's children have lost contact with Him because
they have refused to pull out of some of these heavier sins.
This is not to say that they have lost their eternal salvation
with Him - but they are losing any chance of having Him work
full force in their lives with what little time they still have
left down here to accomplish anything worthwhile for Him.
These are two very strong verses. Here they are:
- "But your iniquities have separated you from your
God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that
He will not hear." (Isaiah 59:2)
- "One who turns away his ear from hearing the law,
even his prayer shall be an abomination." (Proverbs
28:9)
These two verses perfectly line up with the verses mentioned
in the first caption. Again, no fancy interpretation needed on
these verses. They mean exactly what they are saying.
3. Holding Unforgiveness Towards Others
One very special area that God is really wanting all of us
get a real grip on is holding any unforgiveness towards anyone
who may have wronged us. As you will see in the verse I will
list below, it literally starts out with the words "And
whenever you stand praying."
From there, it goes on to state that we are to forgive
anyone that we may have something against - and then it ends
with the very dire warning that if we don't forgive those who
have trespassed against us, then God will not forgive us our
trespasses.
This verse is thus giving us two very solemn warnings. With
the verse actually starting out with the words "And whenever
you stand praying" - I believe that God is trying to tell
all of us that we should not even bother to attempt to approach
His throne room for prayer if we are holding any serious
unforgiveness towards anyone else.
Here is the verse:
"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything
against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may
also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not
forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your
trespasses." (Mark 11:25)
To those of you who may be having a hard time in connecting
to the Lord in your prayer life and don't seem to be getting
too many of your personal prayers answered - ask the Holy
Spirit to show you if you have any blocks or hindrances in your
walk with the Lord that is affecting your prayer life with God
the Father - especially in the area of unforgiveness.
If the Holy Spirit does show you that you have some areas of
unforgiveness in your life that may need to be dealt with -
work very closely with Him in getting those matters resolved
with the Lord. If you don't, you may continue to stay stuck and
grounded in your prayer life with God the Father. And if you
can't get any of your personal prayers answered with the Lord -
then you are not going to be able to continue to move much
further ahead in your walk and destiny with Him.
Your prayer life is like the oil to the engine. Shut
your prayer life down - and your whole engine in the Lord
will bog or shut down.
4. Husbands - Honor Your Wives
This next verse is another very interesting verse. In this
verse, God is telling all husbands to honor their wives and to
dwell with them "with understanding" - and that if they
don't, their prayers will be "hindered."
In other words, God is telling all husbands to treat their
wives in a godly manner, with love and proper respect - and not
to be running roughshod over them since they are considered the
weaker vessel in this verse. If you are not treating your wife
with respect, love, kindness and proper understanding - then
God is telling you that you are going to have a very tough time
with Him in the prayer room in being able to get Him to answer
any of your prayers.
The fact that God is isolating this particular quality,
along with the problem of holding any unforgiveness towards
anyone else, is telling you how big of a deal these two issues
really are with Him. The fact that He is going to shut down
your prayer life with Him if you are in violation of these two
principles is a very serious warning.
Here is the verse:
"Likewise you husbands, dwell with them with
understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker
vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life,
THAT YOUR PRAYERS MAY NOT BE HINDERED." (1 Peter 3:7)
The Bible tells us that the husband is supposed to be the
head of the household. If the husband is mistreating his wife,
then God is not going to be hearing his prayers. And if the
husband is not going to be able to get any of his prayers
answered - then the rest of the household could seriously
suffer as a result.
There thus could be a serious domino effect that could occur
in a household if the husband does not have his act together
with his wife and with his God. Your prayer life is the
lifeblood of your engine with the Lord. If that shuts down -
your whole walk and forward momentum in the Lord could stall or
completely shut down.
Husbands - make sure that your house is in order if
you want to continue to propel forward at maximum speed and
maximum power in your walk and call with the Lord. If you
don't, God will personally shut you down until you can get
your house back in order.
Conclusion
When you put all of the above verses together, you can't
help but see a major prayer secret. Though we have all been
made perfectly righteous in the eyes of God as a result of
Jesus dying on the cross for all of our sins - we still have to
make every effort on our end to stay out of any serious sins
and transgressions - especially the kind that we know will get
us into major trouble with the Lord.
You simply can't be doing drugs, abusing alcohol, cheating
on your spouse, scamming and cheating others on your job,
delving into areas of the occult, chasing after other false
doctrines and religions - and then think that the Lord is
simply going to turn a blind eye and let a lot of these matters
go without you having to suffer the consequences as a result of
treading into territories that are expressly forbidden by
Him.
You play - you pay - either in this life or the
next!
There thus will always be serious consequences for entering
into and engaging in sins that do not get confessed and
forgiven under the blood of Jesus. And one of those severe
consequences is having your personal prayer life get completely
shut down with God the Father.
The Bible once again could not make things any more
clear. God the Father will simply not be hearing any of
your personal prayers or listening to anything you may have
to say if you are not making some kind of concerted effort
on your end to live a good and righteous life under the
direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
For the most part, most Christians know how far they can
push the envelope with God the Father. Through the convictions
of the Holy Spirit, most Christians know where their boundary
lines are set at with the Lord.
Tread past those boundary lines - and you could risk having
God turn His face away from you and refuse to hear any of your
prayers, petitions or requests. And if you can't get God to
answer any of your personal prayers in this life - then you
have just taken yourself right off of His playing field and you
have now just been asked to sit on the bench in His dugout!
If any of you feel like your prayer life has stalled or has
been stuck in neutral with the Lord for quite sometime - try
asking God to show you if there are any blocks or hindrances by
way of any sins or transgressions that may need to be dealt
with. Be sensitive to anything the Holy Spirit may want to
bring up from your past.
Whatever the Lord may bring up for you that has to be dealt
with - take each one of these problems and issues head on. If
you don't, and you don't get these matters totally resolved
with the Lord - then you will continue to stay stuck and
grounded in your prayer life with Him.
And if your prayer life continues to stay stuck and grounded
as a result of your refusal to pull out of certain sins and
transgressions that He wants you to pull out of - then you will
have just taken yourself right off of His major league playing
field and you will continue to stay seated on the bench in His
dugout until you can agree to see and do things His way.
Some of God's people right now are in judgment with Him.
When that happens, their calls and their walk with Him will
completely shut down until they agree to repent and turn from
the sins and transgressions they have been walking in.
These verses are giving you major revelation in an area
where many Christians have got themselves in major trouble
with the Lord.
I'll end this article with a word to the wise - God
always knows best. Do things His way and your life and your
walk with Him will become much easier.
Do things your way - and you will eventually end up
becoming a train wreck just waiting to crash and burn. The
choice is yours.
 Click here for reprint information
Prayer Secret
#1 - Relationship With God the Father
Prayer Secret
#2 - Will of God
Prayer Secret
#4 - State Your Case Before God
Michael Bradley
Bible Teaching and
Bible Commentary,
Over 150 Free Bible
Lessons
Scripture taken from New King James
Version.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005-2008 by Michael Bradley.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5
License.
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