08/24/2025
Are you prepared to pray? By this I mean, are you prepared to pray and receive the blessing for which you spoke with God? So often we come to the Lord unprepared; living one life and praying as if we were living another. I was reading a devotional writing by Pastor Oswald Chambers, and as I did so he wrote of a truth regarding this topic that might cut deep; it answered in part the question of why our prayers are not always answered.
"Never say it is not God's Will to give you what you ask, don't sit down and faint, but find out the reason, turn up the index. Are you rightly related to your wife, to your husband, to your children, to your fellow-students - are you a "good child" there? "O Lord, I have been irritable and cross, but I do want spiritual blessing." You cannot have it, you will have to do without until you come into the attitude of a good child." - Oswald Chambers
I have written previously about how hard it is to pray when we are filled with anger, or in a heated disagreement with someone. It is hard because we are not spiritually prepared to pray... we are spiritually out of sorts. In such a state we are not conforming to the will of God, and His blessings are reluctant to go where we are at that moment. Have you ever felt this? Yet even in our state of discord the Lord wants to bless us, and pines for our return to Him.
“Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.”
Zechariah 1:3 ESV
He wants to give us what we desire, but when we place a wall between His will and our hearts, it can't happen... so He is silent.
“Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?”
Matthew 7:9-10 ESV
The Lord doesn't want to give us what we deserve (a stone or serpent), but rather, the good thing we ask for. This helps us understand the silence when we are spiritually out of sorts doesn't it? So, to begin living, praying, and receiving God's blessings again we need to straighten ourselves out... we need to begin seeking Him again, and knocking on His door once more. We need to do these things until we find ourselves within His will and favor.
“"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7-8 ESV
At this point in the discussion of God’s silence I usually hear... "Yeah, but the mean guy down the street is getting blessed all the time!" Do you really believe that is what is happening, that God is blessing him? There are things that are part of the world that are good, and others that are bad, but we tend to only single out the good things when we look at how others are living. Let's listen to scripture...
“so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Matthew 5:45 ESV
Good things happen to the just, the unjust, and even those who are evil, but the children of faith recognize the source of what occurs in their livers and thank God for those that happen to them through prayer. Then, when the opposite happens and bad things occur, the children of God call on the Lord for relief, so ask yourself this... who do the unjust and evil doers thank, do they thank anyone, and where do they go to for relief when things turn sour? Considering this, whose shoes would you rather be in, those of the believer or the unbeliever?
I have watched Saints live through some very horrific things, the loss of children, loved ones, jobs, fortunes, and health, but as difficult as those things were, they suffered through them with the help of God and emerged victorious in their faith, and more righteous spiritually for it. These are things that can destroy families, lives, and minds when we attempt to tackle them alone. So, I ask once again... whose shoes would you rather be in? Are you ready to pray? Are you right in spirit and walking in the will of God? Let's listen one more time to what Oswald Chambers has to say:
"Spiritually we are all good at producing fogs. If we turn up the index, we will see very clearly what is wrong - that friendship, that debt, that temper of mind. It is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then, Jesus says - "Everyone that asketh receiveth."" - Oswald Chambers
Sometimes we deceive ourselves and blame God for the lack of movement towards answering our prayers when in fact it is our own wandering faith and our having taken up a position contrary to God's will. Begin each morning's prayers by asking… "Father, lead me in resolving the issues in my life that might separate me from you, and forgive me my sins." Once we have realigned our lives and resolved those things that stand between us... then our spirit and His can begin to communicate freely once more.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for listening to and answering my prayers. Thank you for being silent when I lose sight of my faith and your will for me - you could so easily give me the serpent, or the stone, that I deserve during such times, yet you have mercy on me. Lord Jesus, thank you for your examples and teaching on prayer. Thank you Jesus for showing me a touch of what you typically keep secret and private between you and our Heavenly Father. You intercede for me Lord and in so doing you lead me back to our Father. Calm my spirits, soothe my soul, and teach me to be forever within the Father's will. Your tears in the Garden of Gethsemane, your prayers upon the cross, your intercession in heaven, they lead me into a closer relationship with our Holy Father and stay His hand when I deserve punishment. He is full of grace, and you are filled to overflowing with love for Him and me. Thank you and may your name forever be lifted up! May the Holy name of God echo throughout all of heaven and creation as I pray, "Holy, Holy, Holy", and as it does, may He answer my prayers with His eternal grace, goodness, mercy, and provision. In the Name of Jesus Christ, I pray… Amen!
“Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
Romans 8:34 ESV
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39 ESV
Rich Forbes