Boomerang Prayers

1 Timothy 5:17, Isaiah 59:2, Matt 6:7, 1Peter 3:7,  James 4:3, 2 Chronicles 7:14

“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take”. That is a prayer many of us learned in childhood. We may have even taught it to our children. Prayer changes things. In fact the word tells us to pray without ceasing. But will our prayers be heard? It is terrible to think that a wise and loving God who loves us with an everlasting love, would turn His ear away from us. But the reality is, if we do not hear (and obey) God, He will not hear us. Our sins and iniquities separate us from Him. The help that we need to obtain the victory over temptation when the devil is walking about like a roaring lion is not available to us when we choose not to listen to God. Husbands, your prayers are not heard if you are not treating your wife right i.e. with love, tenderness, care and preference, loving her as Christ loved the church. Vain, repetitious prayers are not heard. Prayers that are outside of God’s express will are not heard. I once knew a woman who prayed for God to return her live in boyfriend to her that had married someone else—while he was living with her! Mercy! Such prayers go no higher than the ceiling, but return to us unmet.   If you want others to pray for you (intercessory prayer), seek counsel from the Lord as to who He will hear, because not everyone that prays, obeys. If you want to offer earnest prayer for someone else (healing, victory over sin, job, finances etc), be sure that YOU are hearing and obeying God.  It is when we humble ourselves first, then pray and seek His face (i.e. study his word), and turn from and forsake  evil ways, that He hears us, forgives us and blesses us (which includes answering our intercessory prayers for others)!