Key 3: Deeply Repent of Your Sins
Although from time to time God hears the prayers of anyone who sincerely cries out to Him in time of need, He is not bound by His Word to do this. That is why men and women sickened by the horrors of war have demanded: “Where was God at the Battle of Leningrad,
when hundreds of thousands perished?” T h e y h a v e a s k e d : “ W h e re
w a s G o d w
h e n t h e J e w s , P o l e s , Czechs, Danes and Dutch were being herded
into gas chambers
in
World War II?”
God’s Word answers:
“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not short- ened, that it cannot
save; nor His ear heavy, that
it cannot hear. But your iniquities have
separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden
His face from you, so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1–2).
The same principle
is found
in the New Testament. A man Jesus healed of blindness stated: “Now we know that
God does not hear sinners;
but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His
will, He hears him” (John 9:31).
It is not our job to psychoanalyze or “spiritually dissect”
those who have not had their prayers
answered in the past. But we all have
a duty to ask ourselves: “Do I worship the true God? Do I do His will?”
Jesus said: “If
you
want to enter into life, keep the command- ments” (Matthew 19:17). Do you keep the Ten Commandments? Or mandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1
John
3:22). This New Testament scripture
clearly shows us that we
receive answers to our prayers when we keep God’s commandments!
Please be honest with yourself.
It is easy to rationalize or to “reason around” this very clear scriptural teaching
about obey- ing God’s law. But if you want real answers to your prayers, you need
to repent of breaking the Ten Commandments—which is defined as sin
(1 John 3:4, KJV). And you need to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior (Acts 2:38). Then—through the help
of the promised Holy Spirit—you will need to surrender more and more each day to let Jesus Christ live His obedient life in you. Keep in mind
what the
Apostle Paul declared: ‘I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless
I live; yet not
I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians
2:20, KJV).
If you would like more information
about how to obey God, please write for
our
vital and informative booklet titled Restoring Apostolic
Christianity. It will be sent
absolutely free upon request.
As you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18), He will live His life in you more and more fully
over the course of your Christian
life. Certainly,
you will not be “perfect” all at once! No human being has ever been perfect except Jesus Christ Himself. But you
will be walking
in the “way” of the Ten Commandments by surrendering
to Him. By “walking with Christ”
in this manner, you can be assured of having more power- ful
answers to your prayers than ever before!
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