Dr. Dianne Coflin – River of Life Church
Could there be a reason my prayers aren’t answered?
Have you ever been in prayer and been overwhelmed with the presence of God and feeling the greatness of His being? The word great could be described as: considerable, substantially large, big, expansive, broad, massive, magnificent, imposing, impressive, awe-inspiring, and splendid, just to name a few synonyms. There is nothing like the presence of God; His character and goodness are indescribable. This realization of how important prayer is needs to become something we all understand.
The other day as I was praying, I found myself crying out for God’s mercy for the United States of America. Did you know that there came a time in the Israel’s history when God looked upon the earth and he found transgressions and iniquities prevailing, truth had fallen, and all had departed from the Lord? The Bible said in Isaiah 59:15,16 that God saw and wondered that there was no intercessor (someone to pray). This word wondered means to be stupefied, stunned, and devastated. It’s hard to believe that God felt like this, but He did. He found no one to pray and intercede for mankind. God’s greatest desire is to intervene in our times of trouble, but it takes faith in God and the faith of God to see his will accomplished.
The prayer of faith moves the hand of God. He has designed it that way. I believe God has raised up intercessors so that righteousness would prevail again in our land and that is because of His mercies. I also believe that simultaneously, the enemy is tempting us to be less diligent, discouraged, hopeless, unbelieving, and unforgiving because all of these things are hindrances to our praying and receiving answers to prayer. We need to be on the watch and guard our hearts. Why? Because God WANTS to ANSWER our prayers.
In 1 Peter 3, God instructs husbands and wives to be on the guard in their relationships and to live honorably with each other because they are joint heirs of the grace of God, so their prayers are not hindered (cut off), or we could say prayers that receive no answers. In Mark 11:24, Jesus was teaching the disciples to forgive when they pray so that their Heavenly Father can forgive them also. Why? So that their prayers can be answered. In James 1:5-7, it tells us to come to God in faith (no doubting) for the one who doubts will not be able to receive from the Lord. These are the areas the enemy continues to work in to keep us from praying, or to keep us from receiving answers to prayer. Why? Prayer is the most powerful force on earth to bring to pass God’s will. This is why the enemy opposes it.
Sometimes, we may be praying for someone’s healing when we need to be praying that they will forgive themselves or someone else. The unforgiveness they are holding onto is holding up the answers to their prayers. These reasons peoples’ prayers are not yet answered are not all the reasons but maybe one of these hindrances could be yours. Time to wake up America and join the army of intercessors across this land again as God is stretching forth His hand to heal. Food for thought!
Pastor Dianne Coflin – Co-Pastor River of Life Church, Lutz, Florida