Today's Bible Reading: PSALM 61-62, 64-67
Psalm 66:18
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
As believers, we all struggle with indwelling sin. We find that we are in a constant battle to live by the Spirit. The flesh rises up over and over again seeking to regain a foothold in our life. But we must be vigilant to be victorious against its onslaught. If we succumb to its advances and allow sin to become entrenched in our heart, it will impede our progress and our prayers. Sin stalls our sanctification and silences our supplication. The Psalmist makes it clear, when we love sin and let it linger, God doesn’t listen.
Sin stands against supplication. When we relish rebellion our prayers are repulsed. God hears when hearts do not harbor iniquity. When transgressions are rejected God response. We cannot expect the Lord to answer when we cherish the things He abhors. Sin silences our supplication. We pray in hopes that God would hear, and He does. But when we come to Him clinging to sin, his ears are deaf to our cry. He hears, but he doesn’t listen. When we plead with Him yet persist in iniquity, He is oblivious to our petition. If you live in sin, the Savior will not listen to you. You can’t dance with the Devil and expect an audience with the Divine. If you refuse to remove sin, He will reject your supplication. God will not heed your supplication when your heart harbors sin.
So, it is vital that we understand the implications of cherishing iniquity and the ramifications of an unwilling and unrepentant heart. It is what you hide in your heart that hinders your prayer. Hidden sin halts your prayer. A love for sin displaces a love for God. You can’t love what He loathes and expect Him to listen. A heart that rejoices in sin restricts prayer. But a heart that pursues the Savior promotes prayer.
Preparation for prayer necessitates knowledge of the condition of our heart. We are to come before Him with a pure heart. The Psalmist asked,” who shall stand in his presence? “. His answer, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart . . . .” (Ps 24:3-4). It is upon us to cry out in confession as we come to Him with our concerns. Before the priest would enter into the Lord’s presence, they would purify themselves of sin (Num 8). They purged themselves before they petitioned the Lord. They eliminate known sin before they entered into His presence. We too as we approach the Lord in prayer must pause to thoroughly examine our heart to see if iniquity is embedded within. We must examine ourselves before we petition Him. If sin is uncovered, we must unseat it so we can have unhindered supplication.
In Christ we are cleansed of all sin. Yet daily we are soiled by sin. As sin surfaces, we must eliminate it. We must turn from the transgression the moment it turns up. We must eradicate any enjoyment in it. We are told by John the apostle that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness . . . “ (1 John 1:9). So, as we come to God with our concerns we must come before Him in confession. We must repent and receive His cleaning before we relay your concerns. When the love of God indwells your heart sin can’t dwell there and the Lord listens.
God really does delight to hear your prayer. He stands read to respond. But sin suppresses His hearing and stays His hand. The lines of communication with God are open when you consider and confess known sin. So cast your sin upon Christ. Come to Him cleansed. Then cry out to Him and He will hear you. He will attend to and answer your prayer.
Today thank God that He delights to hear your prayer. Ask Him to help you love Him more than your sin.so that your prayers will be unhindered. Ask Him to lead you to realize, repent and remove embedded sin. Thank Him that in Christ you are cleansed of all your sin. Praise Him that when you slip up and are soiled by sin that He offers continual forgiveness and cleansing for your sins. Ask boldly for Him to help you have uninterrupted and unbroken communion with Him.
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