But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Isaiah 59:2 KJV
God created us to have fellowship with Him.
I Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”
So He desires to answer our prayers.
However, II Corinthians 6:14 says, “…for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
The holiness of God cannot fellowship with the unrighteousness of men. Sin is so loathsome to God that He can’t even look upon it. But we’re born sinners by nature, so where does that leave us? God didn’t leave us without hope.
I John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
And once we’re cleansed from all sin, we can have fellowship with God, and if we’re in fellowship with our Creator, He hears us when we pray.
God is holy and righteous and pure. We are sinful and corrupt, but God loves us anyway. And he wants to answer our prayers.
That’s why Jesus said in John 15:7 “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
But He can’t honor the request of an ungodly and self-centered individual. If you abide in Christ and His words abide in you, you’ll be clothed with the righteousness of God’s Son, Jesus, and the motivation behind your prayer will please God. That’s why you can ask for whatever you want and He’ll give it to you. He knows that you only want what He wants.
Where do you stand with God?
- Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:” Is there unconfessed sin in your life?
- Micah 3:4 says, “Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.” Are you behaving in a way that displeases God?
- Proverbs 28:13 says, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” You can’t hide sin from God. He knows what you’re doing.
In Isaiah 1:16-18, God says, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Now God will hear your prayers.