Hindrances to answered prayer (3)

‘If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.’ Psalm 66:18 The third hindrance to answered prayer is sin! Lillian Pearsall says: ‘When I was a telephone operator, a customer talked overtime on a long-distance call from a pay phone. Even with my friendly reminders, he refused to deposit his overtime coins. Instead he slammed down the phone, irate and verbally abusive. A few seconds later he was back on the line somewhat calmer. ‘Operator, please let me out of the phone booth; I’ll pay, just let me out!’ Apparently he had locked himself in and mistakenly thought that I had control over the phone booth’s doors. He gladly paid the overtime charge, and with my advice, gave the door a hefty kick and set himself free.’ Unconfessed sin locks us in and shuts God out. If we have hidden sin in our hearts, we cannot pray with confidence that God will answer. However, if we ask Him to reveal our sin, He will. When He does, we must deal with it if we want to keep the lines of communication open. If God reminds us of a situation in which we didn’t do the right thing, we can’t just sweep it under the rug; we have to acknowledge it and receive His forgiveness. What we call ‘little things,’ grow into sinful habits and lifelong patterns. So when God reveals our sin we need to repent and stop what we are doing. We need to take Him seriously – immediately! This means doing everything within our power to make sure our relationship with Him is unobstructed. That way our prayers will be heard and answered.