Sin, a hindrance to answered prayer

First of all, I want to say upfront that this is not something written by me. This short but powerful article was written by one, Mr. Carlos Garcia and I found this article posted in turn by someone else in their website. But I myself also liked it so much that I thought I'd post it too here. I couldn't find the original article or the website of the author. So, will all due credit to Mr. Carlos Garcia, I post his article here with the sincere hope and desire that someone else visiting my blog may also be blessed by this article as I myself have been.

Have you ever found that the prayers you have before God have gone unanswered? Have you ever wondered what it could be that is holding back the answer to your petition? After spending some time in fasting in prayer the Lord revealed to me five hindrances to receiving prayers answered, they are the following: sin, fear, self, time and disorder. Today, I’ll be discussing the first point, sin.

God’s word says that without obedience there is no blessing. Disobedience to God’s word is sin. We may be faithful in tithing and church attendance, but if we are not walking according to God’s word, we are in disobedience and sin.

We may want to become angry with God for not answering our prayer, but if we walking in disobedience to God then we are hindering ourselves from receiving a blessing.

Sin seems to develop in stages, A) Thoughts, B) Words, and C) Action. The Scriptures state, “as a man *THINKS in his heart, so is he.” If the thoughts of your heart are angry, lustful, jealous, and the like, then it is an indication of whom we are, even if it is not whom we want or claim to be. (cf. II Co 10:3-5)

As Christians we must strive to keep our thoughts pure and in line with the word of God. Philippians 4:8 challenges the Believer, “Whatsoever things are holy, … pure, … and of good report …think [meditate] on these things.”

If we keep our thoughts on the Lord, we will be much more effective in keeping our thoughts pure. And since our objective as Christians is to be more like Jesus, we must meditate (keep our thoughts) on the Lord so we can become more like Him. And if we walk in obedience we will be at a place to receive the blessing we have petitioned God.

The Bible state, “the power of life and death is in the tongue” and we will eat the fruit of those words. For example, if we are asking God for a financial blessing, but on our “non-prayer” time we keep speaking doubtful or negative words, we will eat the “fruit” of our doubt and miss the blessing of our prayers.

Action speaks to what we live and walk out in our day-to-day lives. There are believers who have the misconception that because we “talk the talk,” behind close door we are not obligated to “walk the walk.” Yet, in Galatians 6: 7-8 it states plainly, “God is not mocked…he that soweth to the flesh…will reap destruction.” We cannot look to blame others for our lack of blessings.

In essence, if we live life as if God is not omnipresent [present in all places] and omniscient [all knowing], than we deceive ourselves. Our Christianity is not only about words, but it’s about actions. As it says in the book of James, “Faith without works [actions] is dead.”

If we desire the blessing of the Lord, we must walk in line with His word. If we walk in obedience we will be in the place to receive God’s blessing.