PRAYER IS DELICATE

Prayer is delicate. This is not to say that prayer is weak, because the Bible tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16-18; see also Mark 11:23; Matthew 7:7). But prayer is delicate in the sense that its power is easily unplugged when we give in to sin. Known sin in my life or yours creates a ceiling that our prayers hit before falling flat on the floor:

· Husbands who do not honor their wives hinder their own prayers (1 Peter 3:7; see also 3:12).
· Those who pray with selfish motives do not receive what they ask for (James 4:3).
· If you cherish iniquity the Lord will not listen to you (Psalm 66:18).
· God will hide his face and not answer when his people cry to him and yet practice evil (Micah 3:4).
· When we close our ears to God, he does the same to us (Zechariah 7:11-13).
· If we obey God and spread his love, then he will answer our prayers (Isaiah 58:7-9; see also 2 Samuel 21:14 and Jeremiah 7:16-18).

Of course, even the prayer of the sincere and faithful follower of Jesus may be answered with a “No” or “Not now” (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10); the absence of sinful motives or conduct does not guarantee our desired results when we cry out to God (Job and Joseph are among the biblical examples of upright believers who endured great suffering for reasons unrelated to their actions; God's answer to their cries for deliverance was "No, not yet"). By contrast, the Lord, in his sovereign ingenuity, may at times grant certain temporal blessings to those living in sin. But that is not the norm, and the biblical connection between godly living and close communion with the Lord remains God’s standard operating procedure.

And so, for the sake of God’s honor and your spiritual health and joy, search your heart for the pride, greed, hate, anger, lies, fear, lust, idolatry (etc.) that can block your prayers! Con­fess the sins you find—he will forgive (1 John 1:9), and your relationship with the Lord will be restored!