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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not Home Yet

Image
 As Christians, we’re destined for something much better than what this world has to offer!  As the old song says, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through, my treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue…And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.” The Bible tells us our time on earth is brief (Psalm 103:15 / James 4:4).  If we’ve trusted Jesus as our Savior, our eternal home is heaven.  Therefore we are seen as pilgrims just passing through here.  We are aliens, strangers to this present, evil world system. Isn’t it silly? We spend so much time trying to “have it all” here and now, when in reality we already have it all “in Christ”.  Abundant life that Jesus told us about doesn’t have anything to do with having an abundance of things.  It has to do with the quality of life we possess with all the spiritual riches that come from knowing Christ. God warns us not to love this world.  We must never get too attached to “stuff”....
Read more

Humbly but Boldly

Image
  Fervent prayer goes way back.  We know that prayer was a distinctive priority for the early church (Acts 1:14, 2:42, 3:1, 6:4 and many other verses). Calling on the Lord is seen in the life of the prophets; Habakkuk 3:1, Jonah 2:7, Daniel 7:17 and 9:13, Nehemiah 1:6 and 4:9, David in Psalm 4:1, 6:9 and 17:1. But prayer goes back even before Moses and Abraham!  In fact, the first mention of men calling upon the Lord occurs in Genesis 4:25 and 26. Yes, right in the book of Genesis – the book of beginnings. Before there was anything called the church, before there was a Bible, a choir, or any kind of “service” like we have today, men were calling upon the name of the Lord.  From the godly line of Seth, men somehow sensed they could call out to God and He would answer, He would listen and He would respond! The first prayers had sound! It was the sound of men expressing their needs, desires, and praises to God. My point is this: crying out to God in prayer is not some n...
Read more

Thank You

Image
Hello everyone, Pastor Bruce here with an important announcement regarding our daily devotionals known as “The Pastor’s Pocket.” After today, these will be discontinued.   I am so thankful to each of you who have enjoyed reading these devotionals and I trust the Lord has encouraged you through each one. I challenge you, as Peter does, to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).   It is my desire that you will continue in your own personal study of the word of God. Learn the Word, Love the Word, Live the Word!   There may come a time when I can write these again, but for now, I will devote my time to other areas of ministry and ways to serve Him! “To HIM be all the glory both now and forever. AMEN!”   The Pastor’s Pocket Pastor Bruce Freeman
Read more