Scripture of the Day: Isaiah 1:15“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!”Worry Will Stop Your PrayersSome people are praying about certain situations and are not seeing anything change in their life. It’s as if their prayers are not being heard. Nothing is changing.One of the reasons they may not be seeing any answer to their prayers is be...
Scripture of the Day: Isaiah 1:15“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!”Worry Will Stop Your PrayersSome people are praying about certain situations and are not seeing anything change in their life. It’s as if their prayers are not being heard. Nothing is changing.
One of the reasons they may not be seeing any answer to their prayers is because they are not praying in line with God’s Word. They are not doing what God said to do about their cares, anxieties, worries and concerns. It is not going to do you any good to pray something concerning your cares and such, unless you are willing to do what God tells you to do about them. Amen!
In other words, there are some things you have no business praying about! Some things that God just EXPECTS you to not need to pray about. And if you ARE praying about those things, it shows Him that you are not really studying His Word the way you’re are supposed to be doing either.
This surprises some people. They will say, “Well, brother Bob, I thought you were supposed to pray about everything… That’s what the Bible says…”
Yes, it does say that. But you are taking that out of context. It doesn’t mean you have to pray about what God already has told you to do. There are many things you don’t have any business praying about. These are things that God has already said “DO THIS.” He expects you to do them…not SAY you are doing them. Not saying you DID THEM. Just DO WHAT HE SAYS TO DO!
No asking about “if” you should do them. Just do them. That puts you in Good Graces with God.
Do you remember the parable Jesus taught in Matthew 21 about the man who had two sons. Let’s look at that really quick because it emphasizes the point I’m trying to make.
Mathew 21: verse 21-32:
But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
‘I will not,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.i
Then the man went to the second son and told him the same thing.
‘I will, sir,’ he said. But he did not go.
Which of the two did the will of his father?”
“The first, they answered.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in a righteous way and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
Why did Jesus say the tax collectors and prostitutes would enter the Kingdom before the Pharisees and other religious Jews?
Because they were trusting in their prayers and rituals. The tax collectors and prostitutes KNEW they were lost and when Jesus said “only believe” – they DID! They then went about SHARING the Gospel – the GOOD NEWS – that Salvation was for those who did one thing – BELIEVE ON JESUS!
Praise God!
I hope you are getting this!
It does you no good at all to go into your prayer closet and pray for one hour or more every single day, asking God for the exact same things you have been asking Him for during your hour long prayer sessions for the last 17 times, 17 months or 17 years.
IF you can find a situation in the Bible where He answered someone else’s prayer about any situation that is similar to yours, USE THAT to build your prayer of petition (which we will get into how a prayer of petition works later).
If God said DO THIS and you are not doing it – WHY would He answer your prayer requests when YOU are not doing what He already said for you to do?
Yes, we do need to ask God continually for answers to our prayers. “Pray continually,” is in the Bible…but not “pester continually.”
If your kids comes every 5 minutes wanting an cookie, do you give it to them? NO. Why? Don’t you want them to enjoy cookies? Ever? Of course not.
You know that dinner is in one hour and you do not want to ruin their appetite for GOOD, WHOLESOME food with what is supposed to be a treat. Right?
Just stick with me here for a minute…
Perhaps, just perhaps – God knows what is coming your way. It is something that is going to bless you immensely. It is something that, if He were to grant you THIS prayer request, would stop you from truly enjoying what it is He has planned for your benefit. Even though YOU cannot see it coming – HE CAN!
So, when you are not seeing your prayers answered in the way YOU want them answered, stop pestering Him with the relentless prayer requests and start to pray something to the effect of…
In fact, let’s pray this prayer right now, together. I think this would be a good way of ending today’s session. Let’s Pray!
Until next time, this is Pastor Bob Thibodeau reminding you from 1 Thessalonians 5:17 in the Living Bible to “Always Keep on Praying!” Be blessed in all that you do!
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