Purity In Prayer

By Dr. Paul Chappell

Isaiah 59:1-2"Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it
cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
but your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."

As we seek the Lord's face today, we see that God's people had a
problem. Isaiah says to them in the second verse of this
chapter, "your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."
Although God was capable of answering their prayers, their sins kept
them from communication with Him.

I'm sure you've heard this phrase before: "When I pray, it feels like
my prayers don't go farther than the ceiling!" This is the case of
many Christians today. They don't understand the barrier between them
and their Father. However, the Bible is very clear when it says in
Psalms 66:18 "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not
hear me." If we hold unconfessed sin in our lives, we cannot properly
communicate with our beloved Saviour.

Before we go to the Lord in prayer, we must purify our hearts by
confessing our sins. Remember, the Bible says in 1 Samuel 16:7b "The
LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." It seems that we can
easily fool other men with our actions and smiles and good deeds! But
the Lord isn't fooled when we play these games with Him. As soon as
we bow our knees and enter His presence, He sees straight through
that facade and into our hearts, and if our hearts aren't pure, He
cannot have fellowship with us!

There are probably things in our hearts that our friends or family
cannot see—bitterness, pride, etc—but this doesn't mean that God will
overlook it as well! The truth is, if our hearts are not prepared for
fellowship with God, then we are separated from Him by the wickedness
of our sin. We need to come to the point where we can say as the
psalmist prayed in Psalm 139:23-24, "Search me, O God, and know my
heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked
way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." We need to ask God to
show us the secret sins of our heart, and then confess them and trust
God to lead us to a life of purity and personal revival.

So, Christian, what about you? Outward you might look fine, and you
might even feel all right, but are you okay on the inside? Are you
living the way God would have you to live, not only in your talk, but
in your spirit? God wants to fellowship with His children, but so
many of them are harboring impure thoughts, pride, bitterness, and
hatred, and without forsaking those sins, He cannot answer their
prayers and bestow upon them the blessing that they need so
desperately! Don't let yourself be one of those people. He gives us a
familiar promise in 1 John 1:9 that "If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness." God wants to cleanse us from all our dirt, filth,
and sin, but are we willing to give our heart to Him for inspection?
Decide today that you will allow God to search your heart, and clean
out the impurities so that you can pray, and He can answer!