by Martin Cicero
Do you ever wonder why our prayers don’t seem to be answered? Reality is, God answers prayer but we may not like the answer. He may say “yes,” “not now,” or “no.” Why is it that it seems we hear “not now” and “no” more than we like? What is it that hinders our prayers?
I actually did not realize that there are so many things that hinder our prayers. Things that may hinder our prayers include sin, ignoring God’s Word, an unforgiving heart, refusing to help those in need, wrong motives, lack of faith, poor relationships with God and others, failing to pray, and so much more.
These are all things that we can work on. We can start by spending time in God’s Word and then applying His Word to our lives. Once we begin to understand what sin is, we are able to confess our sins. As we feel God’s forgiveness, we learn the value of forgiving others. When we struggle to forgive, we are able to ask God to heal our heart and help us to forgive as we have been forgiven.
Exercise Our Faith
Faith needs to be exercised to grow stronger, so we need to begin to exercise our faith in the little things, and we will see our faith become stronger. We will then have the courage to step up to the next level, trusting God for our faith.
Our motives are pointed out to us as we read God’s word and apply it to our lives. It is with the help of the Holy Spirit that we are able to see our motives and then change them so that we might be more like our Savior.
If we want a good relationship with God and others, we will have to work on it. Good relationships don’t happen all at once. They require that we put others first. This shows that we care. As Theodore Roosevelt once wrote,
“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
What Does God Ask of Us?
On the other hand, God asks for two things, our time and our love which is seen in our caring obedience.
God does not give us everything that we ask for, but He does give us everything that we need. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pray expecting something to happen. Psalm 5:3 reminds us;
In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.
Did you notice that we make a commitment to talk to God in the morning? Our prayers are to Him and Him alone and then we “eagerly watch.” We watch to see what God will do with our request and what He will do in and for our lives.
As we remove prayer obstacles, we will begin to walk with our Heavenly Father in such a way that it honors Him. The excitement comes as we see the glory God receives as He answers our prayers.