Isaiah 59:1-2 – “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

 

Sometimes a sense of discouragement and unbelief sets into the hearts of God’s people when they hear about the subject of prayer. Prayer, “though it seems to work for some, doesn’t seem to work for me” is the underlying attitude too many of God’s people take. According to scripture, prayer is the one of the most potent things we can do as it stirs God to action. James 5:16 states, “The effectual fervent prayer availeth much…” But why does that seem like an “idle tale” to so many?

 

We must first understand one thing, the issue is never with God, period. The issue is always with us. Our text verse tells us that God certainly isn’t lacking in ability to accomplish anything. But why isn’t He answering my prayers some wonder? Though many reasons could exist, including God’s timing, God’s will, etc, one thing is often overlooked, that’s our own sin. Verse 2 of our text shows us what puts “static in the line” between us and God. To get access to the throne of God, we must clean our hearts through personal confession and repentance of sin. Psalm 24:3-4 states, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” If we want access to the throne, we must remember who we are approaching, the Almighty Creator God! Sin will stonewall any attempt to speak with God. We need to examine our hearts today and come clean with any sin God brings to mind whether it was a word, thought or action. We’ll have all the access we want to the throne room of God with the sin in our lives cleaned up through personal confession and repentance. We need our prayers answers, but before that happens, we have to get clean. Will we do so?

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