There are some prayers that God hates, strange as that may seem. In fact, our very prayers can even “become sin” (Psalm 109:7).
When one who has deliberately “turned away his ear” from the Word of
God (preferring his own way to God’s revealed will as found in His Word)
attempts to ask God for blessing or direction, his prayer becomes
presumption. God hates such prayers, and those who pray them should not
be surprised when He does not give them their request. “Behold, the
Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear
heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between
you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will
not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).
No Christian is sinless, of course. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” (1 John 1:8). The obvious remedy is to ask the Lord, through His Word, to “see if there be any wicked way in me” (Psalm 139:24),
and then to confess and forsake any sin so revealed and known. “If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Then, having been cleansed from our unrighteousness, we are again made
righteous, not only through Christ’s imputed righteousness, but also in
righteous, daily living. Then the gracious promises of answered prayer
can again become wholly effective, for “the effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).
How vital it is to know and obey the Word of God, and how dangerous it
is to turn our ears away from it. God will not be mocked for long! “For
the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto
their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (1 Peter 3:12). HMM |
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