Everyone knows that the bible teaches about Faith. And you also know that the Creator of the universe has promised to answer your prayers. Quickly, and dramatically. To quote just two scriptures:

Matthew 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye SHALL receive.

John 14:14 If ye shall ask ANY thing in my name, I will do it.

These promises CANNOT be broken. God CANNOT lie (Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18). So what is the problem? Why doesn’t God INSTANTLY, DRAMATICALLY answer your prayers – as He has PROMISED? Is God UNABLE to save you? Is the LIVING GOD UNABLE to do the things you ask for? What does your BIBLE say?

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.

YOU have separated yourself from God, by YOUR sins. God promised to answer your prayers, but YOU are not holding up YOUR end of the bargain! God has not changed. He never changes! (Hebrews 13:18, Malachi 3:6)

Luckily for you, God thought this might happen, and He DESPERATELY wants to be able to answer your prayers, so He gave you instructions – just in case.

James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

In order to fix this…in order to CHANGE the fact that God doesn’t hear your prayers like he PROMISED He would…And you yourself know he doesn’t…YOU have to draw closer to HIM. This means that you must CHANGE what you are, and what YOU are doing, and God will come CLOSER to YOU – so he can HEAR your prayers! This is another PROMISE that CANNOT be broken!

But how to draw close to God is not properly understood by most today. Don’t believe me? Why are prayers not answered as they were in the days of the apostles? Or David? Or Moses? Or Job? Has God changed? Impossible. No, YOUR SINS, and the SINS of all those who ask in prayer, and don’t receive, are to blame!

But again, God saw this coming, and he left instructions for you.

1 John 3:22 And WHATSOEVER we ask, we receive of him, BECAUSE we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

God tells you EXACTLY how to receive whatever you ask of him! You keep his commandments…and you DO those things that are pleasing in his sight. This includes loving your enemies (Luke 6:35), Turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:39), being persecuted without a cause, patiently (1 Peter 2:19) – In short, by actually DOING everything He tells you to do!

But notice the verse before that –

1 John 3:21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

This is the real key! This is HOW you get your prayers answered. Your heart must not condemn you – At all! You must be BOLD, and CONFIDENT, when you ask of God, to expect to receive an answer. But there is only ONE way to be BOLD when you go before your Father in heaven. Guess what that is? By KNOWING, fully and completely, that you ARE DOING those things that are pleasing in his sight!

When you pray, there is a little voice there, saying “Hey, remember what you did this morning? This afternoon? You don’t deserve this. You sin all the time, and you’ll do it again tomorrow”?

That is your heart condemning you. That is what keeps your prayers from being answered. And there is only one way to silence this voice. By JUDGING yourself.

1 Corinthians 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

Now, let’s say you get a speeding ticket. You go before a judge, the police officer tells his side of the story – you tell yours – and the judge decides who is right, and who is wrong, and what punishment is needed to ensure that you don’t do it again.

But what if you were able to do that for yourself? Correctly – Righteously? What if you were able to judge yourself, and do whatever it took to prevent yourself from doing it again – you wouldn’t need a judge, now would you? Certainly not. You just judged yourself.

God is telling you to do the same thing, with EVERY ACTION you do, and He won’t have to. You must stop everything, and think – long and hard, RIGHT NOW, about EVERYTHING that you are doing. Let that little voice go, let it run wild and condemn you – and listen to it! Compare it against the Bible, and find out what you do that your heart condemns you for. Judge yourself, AND STOP doing things that YOU KNOW are wrong!

That little voice doesn’t hassle you for things you know you’ll never do again. It bothers you for things that you did… and will do again, because you have not yet JUDGED YOURSELF!

You must let that voice find EVERYTHING that you’re doing that even MIGHT be wrong, and STOP IT. Then that voice will know that you listened to it, and then when you pray, YOUR HEART WON’T CONDEMN YOU!

It doesn’t even matter if it’s wrong or not – if you think it MIGHT be wrong, it WILL impede your prayers!

Romans 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

If you’re concerned about something you’re doing, if you can’t CERTAINLY tell yourself – based on the word of God – that this is good, then you MUST, absolutely MUST, remove it from your life.

You must make a judgment, a judgment on yourself. And stand by it. And if you can’t convince that voice that this is okay, then you have a choice to make.

Do you want God to hear your prayers, or do you SO love this WORLDLY THING, that IT is more important to you than Having GOD ALMIGHTY hear you? That is the question you must ask yourself.

And remember…you can convince yourself of almost anything. But your conscience will always know the choice you made, And it WILL always impede your prayers.

So start now! Examine your actions, your morals, and decide which of them you wouldn’t want God to know about, and which you think he might not like, and clean up your life! And then… Then…

Isaiah 58:9-11 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.