| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Mighty Prevailing Prayer” Our Bible verse for today: “But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.” Isaiah 59:2 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Something needs to change” In recent days we’ve been considering why it is sometimes necessary to persist in prayer, perhaps for long periods of time, before we finally prevail in prayer. Another one of those reasons could be that there’s something in us that needs to change before God can or will answer our prayers, and He intends to hold us in prayer until we see that. In Isaiah 59:2 the prophet described one such situation. In that case there was unconfessed, unrepentant sin which needed to be dealt with. Isaiah went so far as to say that sometimes our sin separates us from God to the point that He denies us the sense of His presence, and He gives no thought to answering our prayer until we get the sinful situation straightened out. In verse 3 he even provided an example of the kinds of sins which were hindering answers to prayer in that particular situation, “For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers, with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongues mutter injustice.” Clearly there were some lifestyle situations which needed to be dealt with before God would be inclined to answer. Along these same lines, James wrote that sometimes our prayers go unanswered because our motive for asking is wrong, “You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” In verse 7 he then offered the remedy to the situation, “Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” So, there we have it – draw near to God in prayer and He will draw near to you. As that happens, the Holy Spirit will give you clarity about your situation, you will see what you need to do to correct it, and then you will be in a better position to have your prayer considered by God. In a previous devotional we considered the truth that sometimes our prayers go unanswered for long periods of time because something needs to change in the life of the person we’re praying for before God will answer our prayer for them. The same principle holds true in our own lives. Sometimes there are things that need to change in us before we will be ready to receive the answer to our prayer. So, persist in prayer until you prevail in prayer. But be ready to make some changes so that can happen. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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