You pour out many words and call upon the Lord for countless things, yet examine your own heart. You plead the blood of Christ over your family and ask for a wall of holy fire, but have you first made God propitious by your own repentance? You ask for the fullness of the Spirit, yet confess that you fail often, that you vent behind another’s back, that you are angry. Why do you think the ear of God is open to such prayers when you neglect the weightier matters of the law? The apostle says, “War a good warfare.” Have you taken up the arms of sobriety and vigilance, or do you imagine that crying out with many requests will substitute for the battle you must fight each day? The morning dawns and the marketplace is a fight, a tempest and a storm; you need prayer as a weapon, but you must also go forth with a cleansed conscience.
You ask for your enemies to be confounded, yet you yourself grumble and speak against those who vex you. Do you not know that God hears not the prayer that is mixed with malice? You say you forgive, but then you list grievances. The tongue that blesses and curses from the same mouth is not pleasing to the Lord. If you would have your battles fought by heaven, then first put off the lust of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the vainglory that clings to your ministries and desires. Hearing is not sufficient for salvation; you must be a doer of the word. You run after signs and encounters, but encounter God in the quiet of repentance and the keeping of His commandments. You ask for your daughter’s spasm to be removed and for friends for her, but what of her soul? Are you teaching her to love God first and foremost, to despise the world’s approval, or do you merely want her to be comfortable?
The prayers of many were laid up for Paul, yet he himself was watchful unto death. Do not think that because you have enlisted the petitions of others, you may sleep. If you sleep, even the prayers of the saints cannot profit you. You must rouse yourself, put off sloth, and wage the warfare yourself. You pray that God would stop a certain relationship; that is well if it is ungodly, but first see that your own house is in order. Do not be like those who cry “Lord, Lord,” but do not the things He says. You have asked for deliverance from bondage, yet you are bound by the care of this world, anxious about work, meetings, strategies, and the approval of men. Where is your contempt for riches? Where is your trust that He who feeds the birds will order your steps?
Pray, yes, but pray with tears of repentance, not with a multitude of anxious words. Give thanks that He hears you always, not because you are worthy, but because His mercy endures. Stand on the promises, but remember that the promise is for those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Go now, and before you list your requests again, examine yourself. Let your prayer be that the ears of your own heart be opened, for they are shut and stopped up with worldly noise. Then, when you have put away anger, gossip, and all uncleanness, call upon Him and He will answer.