I CAN’T HEAR YOU!
Have you ever been ugly to someone and when you try to talk to them or ask them for something, they say, “I can’t hear you!”
The key to answered prayer lies within your relationship with God.
James 5:15-17
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 ... ..The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly
Faith, righteous living, and sincere prayers are most likely to move the heart of God before anything else.
May I tell you early on that those who live righteous bend the ear of God.
Ps 34:15
15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
1 Pet 3:12
12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
Isa 58:8-9
(When your) righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.
9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.
Since the majority of the church spends so little time in intercessory prayer, it is essential that not only the quantity of our prayers increase, but also the quality. For if we will be victorious in the battles that lay ahead we must pray, and pray effectively.
"The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available." (James 5:16 Amp.).
The least effective prayer is the one that is never prayed.
PRAYERS ARE LEAST EFFECTIVE WHEN YOU:
1. Ask amiss. . .
James 4:3
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
(If I answer, will you use the answer as a means to glorify Me or to serve your own desires?)
2. Regard iniquity in the heart. . .
Ps 66: 1 8
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
3. Practice sin...
Isa 59:2
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
4. Reject the call of God...
Prov 1:24,25,28
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
5. Forsake God (wonder away)...
Jer 14:10-12
10 Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
11 Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
6. Are deaf to the cry of the poor.. .
Prov 21:13
13 Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.
7. Are wavering..
James 1:6-7
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8. Are self righteous...
Luke 18:9-14
9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
9. Are hypocrites...
Matt 6:5-6
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which xseeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
10. Are empty in formalism.. .
Matt 6:7-8
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
11. Those who refuse to hear and obey God’s Word.. .
Prov 28:9
9 He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
Zech 7:11-13
11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:
12. Are purposeless...
Isa 1:9-17
9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
STEPS OF ACTION: Isaiah 1:16-17
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
•Cleansing and purification
•Put away evil "from before God’s eyes"
•Change of character
•Study the truth
•Seek discernment
•Possess pure religion...
James 1:27
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
GOD’S JUDGMENT UPON PRAYERLESS FAMILIES
Jer 10:25
25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name:
Again, remember
Ps 34:15
15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
1 Pet 3:12
12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
Isa 58:8-9
(When your) righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.
9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.
