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Any old school Christians out there remember Keith Green? Besides running a property called Last Days Ministries where he offered a safe place for healing to recovering criminals, drug addicts, and prostitutes - Christian-Uber-Hippy Keith Green wrote, recorded, and performed songs that have impacted many lives both before and long after his death at 28 years old in 1982. A book with some of his devotions called "If You Love The Lord" was published posthumously in 2000. Keith Green took an unapologetic, aggressive stance on the Bible's teachings, and readers will find the same candid nature evident in his writings. You'll find his thoughts on why prayers sometimes go unanswered in a devotion taken from page 177 of "If You Love The Lord".
The Answer for Unanswered Prayer
When God wasn't answering the Israelites' prayers anymore, they came up with some interesting theories as to why not. They decided God was getting a little old. Maybe his hands had shriveled or he had arthritis, and didn't have the strength to reach out anymore. Possibly he was going deaf. What other reasons should there be for their unanswered prayers? How could anyone trust a tired old grandfather in the sky?
Isaiah shook his head. You've thought of everything, he said, except the obvious:
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. - Isaiah 59:1-2
You see, Isaiah told the Israelites that God hasn't changed. He told them, "You have. Your sins are cutting off your communication with him. God can't hear what you're saying because of your sin."
Many of us have the same problem, and it crushes the life out of our prayers. We cry out to God in vain because there is sin that we know about but won't confess or forsake. Sometimes it's unconfessed sin from the past. Other times it's sin we're secretly indulging in now.
Either way, we forget the words of David: "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Psalm 66:18).
But that's the beauty of prayer: If we ask the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts and, in turn, we confess our wrongs, God's always listening.
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