“If I had cherished sin my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!” (Psalm 66:18-20).
The good thing about prayer – or the problem with prayer, depending on our perspective – is that we have to go to God to do it. This means we can’t get away with anything. It means that any negative thoughts, bad attitudes, hardness of heart, or selfish motives are going to be revealed by the Lord. Fervent and honest prayer causes the depths of our hearts to be exposed. That can be uncomfortable. Even downright miserable. The verse above make it crystal clear that if we have any unforgiveness, bitterness, selfishness, pride, anger, irritation, or resentment in our hearts, our prayers will not be answered. Our heart have to be right when we pray.
In the same way, God wants us to be right with others before we take our concerns or even our acts of service – our “gifts” – to Him. In what is called The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explicitly instructed His followers on the importance of setting things right: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave you gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).
All of us jeopardize our own prayers when we don’t pray them from a right heart. What is in our hearts when we pray has more effect on whether our prayers are answered than the actual prayer itself. That’s why, when we come before God to pray, He asks us to first confess anything in our hearts that shouldn’t be there. He does that so nothing will separate us from Him.
If you ever feel as if your prayers are not being heard, examine your heart and ask God to clearly reveal anything that you might need to confess before Him. Then that joy David felt will be your joy as well.
This is what I do when I don’t have peace. Example, I might be angry with A, I will go to Daddy God and tell Him, Daddy God, I don’t want to be angry with A, but I can’t help it myself. Daddy God, I pass the anger for you to take over. I pray in Jesus Name. I had done this before, and the next time I saw the person again, I didn’t feel a single thing for him. Praise the Lord!
Daddy God, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Thank You all for leading and guiding me closely. I thank You from the deepest most of my heart. Praise Your Almighty Name, Lord Jesus!
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