Sometimes when we pray to the Lord, it seems like He is not hearing us or He is not answering our prayers. We can be rest assured that God hears and sees everything, He is the Omni-potent, Omni-present and Omni-science God.; therefore He hears and knows all things. Proverbs 15:3, “ The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good”. However, that being said, God is very meticulous about the kind of prayers that He answers. He is a just, pure, righteous and holy God, who hates all things evil and impure. Therefore, when we pray to Him regarding anything, He filters through our prayers to make sure we are not asking amiss, “James 4:3, When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures”.
God knows the end from the beginning of all things; and when we pray to Him, He sees our spirits and motives, and will act in accordance. He delights in giving His children every good and perfect gifts, but if we ask for something that is not in His will or plan for us, He answers our prayers by not giving us our petitions. The answers we receive from God most of the time, are not the answers that we expect; but we can be rest assured that He hears our prayers and is making all things work together for our good. When God appears silent to us after we have prayed, it best to examine ourselves, situations and circumstances around us before we are quick to jump to conclusion. There is always a valid reason why God responds to our prayers either by granting our requests or not, but He is always in control of what happens to us as his dearly beloved children.
In the bible, we see many times where God granted some request and not others, and it is usually done to a number of things which I will list below. The manner, urgency, timing, impact and severity at which God answers our prayers boils down to our obedience to Him, and his direction for our lives. We have to remember that although we communicate to God through our prayers, we can sometimes be oblivious of the implications and the effects of the things we ask Him for. Not everything we ask for is needful, necessary, good, beneficial and fruitful to us; and God is very much aware of that fact.
20 Reasons Why Our Prayers Are Hindered
1. Wilful Sin: “Psalms 66:18, If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened”.
2. Attitudes: ”Psalm 66:18, If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear”.
3. Over familiarity in the things of God: ”Philippians 2:6, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped”.
4. Pride: “James4:6, But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”.
5. Our Relationship with God: “Psalm 27:4,One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple”.
6. The devil: “Revelations 12:10, And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. ”.
7. Worldliness: “1 John 2:15,Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him”.
8. Laziness: “Proverbs 6:9-11 “How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”
9. Lack of the knowledge of the word and promises of God: “Hosea 4:6, My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children”.
10. Unforgiveness: “Matthew 6:15, But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins”.
11. Impatience: “Proverbs 16:32, “Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.”
12. Lack of faith: “James 1:6-7, But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord”.
13. Praying outside the will of God: “James 4:3,When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures”.
14. Stubbornness: “Proverbs 28:9, Who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination”.
15. Lack of love: “John13:34, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another”.
16. Bad Motives: “James 4:3, You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures”.
17. The time and season: “Ecclesiastes 3:1, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”.
18. Disobedience: “Proverbs 1:24-25, “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; And you neglected all my counsel, And did not want my reproof”.
19. Guilt and shame: “Luke 9:62, Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God”.
20. Anger: James 1:20, Because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires”.
Praise God!!!
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