Prayer is very important to me.  There is no doubt, I have an active prayer life.  I have written many times about whom God listens to, but there is another side to prayer, and the prayers He will not listen to.

“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”     Psalms 66:18

“Now we know that God heareth not sinners:  but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth.”      John 9:31

“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.”    Isaiah 59:2

“He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination.”   Proverbs 28:9

Any unrepented of sin, God will not hear.  This means any persistent, rebellious Christian who refuses to repent of ongoing sins, God will not listen to them. To get this in context, read the first Scripture.  When we regard sin in our heart, He will not listen.

“And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us:   And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.  If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.  There is a sin unto death:  I do not say that he shall pray for it.  All unrighteousnes is sin:  and there is a sin not unto death.”       II John 5:14-17

“Prayer has always meant much to the children of God.  It is a powerful avenue open to them, not open to those who regard iniquity in their heart.

When one cherishes sin in his heart, refuses to give it up, then his prayers rise no higher than his lips.

But in a finer vein, one of the most impressive statements on the changed life is,  ” . . . .ye were the servants of sin. . . ”   Romans 6:20.  They were sinners, but now they’re not.  This is the design and purpose of religion –  to raise one above sin, which qualifies him to pray, unburdens him to live and prepares him to die.”

Be it said to the credit of the composer, God heard him.  “God hath heard me,” he declared, “He hath attended to the voice of my prayer” (verse 19).  The reason – he did not harbor sin in his heart.

So here is a most essential, soul-searching question to ask:  “Is thy heart right with God . . . . ?”        ~ Leroy Brownlow

“And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”     I Samuel 15:22

Eileen Light