I was thinking this morning about the uncomfortable truth that the way I live can hinder my prayers. Various verses were coming to my mind, such as the one from Peter where he says that the way husbands treat their wives can hinder their prayers.
Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. -1 Peter 3:7
And one from the Old Testament where it says that if we cherish sin, God does not hear us.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. -Psalms 66:18
I was also thinking of that verse in James where it talks about Elijah, and how the fervent prayers of a righteous man avails much.
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. -James 5:16
It specifically speaks of being “righteous” as one of the conditions for prayer that prevails. This is not talking about being perfect or having a righteousness of our own, but it is telling us that our conduct matters to God when it comes to Him hearing and answering prayer.
I was just thinking how both the Old Testament and the New Testament say basically the same thing about this. The conduct of our lives literally affects the efficacy of our prayers.
As I was pondering all this I wanted to pursue it further, so I did a search on Google and came up with this excellent message by John Piper.
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/that-your-prayers-may-not-be-hindered
I also sent my thoughts to a friend and this is what she wrote me:
“Well, certainly sin even affects our conscience so how could we have faith before God to pray with power while also being aware that we are not being obedient.”
This is another angle that I had not considered, but I think that she is absolutely right. A verse that comes to mind in this regard is found in 1st John.
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. -1 John 3:20-22
It’s impossible to have confidence towards God if we’re engaged in willful habitual sin! It stands to reason that our prayer life is affected by the way we live.
I think that we can be very tempted to believe that our obedience shouldn’t matter when it comes to God hearing our prayers. Since the only way that we can appear before the Throne of God is through the blood of Jesus Christ, we may tell ourselves that it doesn’t matter how we live. But such a view is dishonoring to the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his blood to take away sin, and who gives us grace, not so that we can live in sin any longer, but so that we will turn away from it and live to the glory of God.
We need to be very careful that we do not confuse the fact that we are declared “Not Guilty” by God by the blood of Jesus Christ, with the truth that God still expects us to live in obedience to Him. Living in a way that pleases God actually matters, and yes, failing to do so will affect the power of our prayers!