Prison Ministries

Posts Tagged ‘John 15:1-8’

Read John 15:1-8, Psalm 66
Hindered Prayers

“Listen! The LORD is not too weak to save you, and He is not becoming deaf. He can hear you when you call. But there is a problem—your sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin, He has turned away and will not listen anymore.” Isaiah 59:1, 2

One of the greatest privileges we have as children of God and joint heirs with Christ is the privilege of carrying everything to God in prayer, and knowing that He will listen, consider, and answer in His time and in His way.

When we are abiding in Christ, we can be sure that all of our prayers that glorify God and that are in accordance with His will will be heard and answered.

Scripture tells us that “the prayers of a righteous man availeth much,” to “pray without ceasing,” and that “God inhabits the praises of His people.” We need to be persistent and fervent in prayer.

However, there are character defects and attitudes that will cause God not to listen to our prayers. Willful, unconfessed sins are obvious hindrances to getting God to hear and answer our prayers.

When we are living lives separated from God by our sins, we have no right to expect God to be on call. “The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.”(1 Peter 3:12 NLT)

An unforgiving spirit and selfish motives will corrupt our prayer channel of communication with God. Failure to be understanding and to honor wives as joint heirs together of the grace of life will hinder any husband’s prayers.

When we “plug in” to the power of prayer available by faith to all believers, we will discover the incredible joy that answered prayers bring. We dare not let anything hinder our prayer life in Christ.

Father, thank you for the privilege and blessing of prayer. In Jesus’ name, Amen