Disobedience - .......This is what I told you, but you would not listen. Instead, you again rebelled against the LORD’s command and arrogantly went into the hill country to fight. But the Amorites who lived there came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased and battered you all the way from Seir to Hormah. Then you returned and wept before the LORD, but he refused to listen. De. 1:43-45 So Saul asked God, "Should we go after the Philistines? Will you help us defeat them?" But God made no reply that day. I Sam. 14:37(Read about Saul’s foolish oath - verses 24-36 Indifference - I called you so often, but you didn’t come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention. Your ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered. So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you--when calamity overcomes you like a storm, when you are engulfed by trouble, and when anguish and distress overwhelm you. I will not answer when they cry for help. Even though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me. For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord. They rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them. Pr. 1:24-30 Neglect of Mercy - Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need. Iniquity (unrighteousness, lawlessness, evil, wickedness) - If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened. Ps. 66:18 Listen! The LORD is not too weak to save you, and he is not becoming deaf. He can hear you when you call. But there is a problem- your sins have cut you off from God. Because of you sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore. Is. 59:1-2 Stubbornness - Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the LORD Almighty. Zec. 7:13 Instability - But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do. Ja. 1:6-8 Self-indulgence - You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can’t possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your whole motive is wrong- you want only what will give you pleasure. Ja. 4:2-3 Sinfulness that can hinder intercession - If someone sins against another person, God can mediate for the guilty party. But if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede? I Sam. 2:25 Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you. Jer. 7:16 Prayers sometimes refused because not in accordance with God’s Divine Will - (The Lord’s Prayer) When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only be repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows exactly what you need even before your ask him! Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored. May you kingdom come soon. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven. Matt. 6:7-10 And we can be confident that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. And if we know he is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that he will give us what we ask for. I John 5:14-15(NLT) Christ is the perfect example in his prayer to God. Jesus even prayed to seek the will of His Father - He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground, praying, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine." Matt. 26:39 When we don’t see our prayers being answered, we need to check our lives and see if we are truly in the will of the Father as we come before Him in prayer. Are our lives where they should be so Our Father in Heaven will hear us? As we intercede for others, those prayers may not be answered either because of the sin in the lives of the ones we are praying for. Our Father cannot work in their lives at our request against their will. Their sinful lives can hinder our intercession for them. And remember that sometimes our prayers are refused because they are not in accord with God’s Divine Will. God always knows what is best for each of us. Ollie |