Purity: Prayer's Power

 

A lack of genuine holiness is the predominate reason God withholds His awesome power in our lives (Psalm 66:18, Isaiah 59:1,2).  When we pray and God doesn’t respond, we need to consider the reason why.  Isaiah tells us that God has not suddenly gone deaf, but there may be an underlying problem and it’s not with God – it’s us!

We all are familiar with II Chronicles 7:14. We quote most of it…”if my people…” but often we overlook, “turn from their wicked ways…then” You see my brothers, God is serious about how we deal with sin.  If we fail to address this important issue, our prayer life will be greatly hindered.

I John 1:9 is a verse filled with a wonderful promise. “If we confess our sins (that’s our part) He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (that’s God’s part).    The word confess is “homolegeo” which means; to say the same thing, to acknowledge. When we agree with God about our sin and admit we have transgressed (His commandments, His laws, His principles), then we are saying to God, “I blew it, I failed to obey and I’m sorry”, the Lord will forgive us and cleanse us. Once we have dealt with our sin, God will hear our prayers once again and respond to our pleas. You see, God is rich in mercy and grace! He is quick to forgive if we will be quick to confess and turn from sin. Read Psalm 51.      

Going to the next level in our prayer life involves dealing with the sin issue.  It requires a passion for personal holiness!  Let us determine to remain pure in our hearts before God.  Purity is the key to power in prayer.  We will continue to explore this issue on our next session.             


The Pastor's Pocket

Pastor Bruce Freeman

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