PRAYER ABORTIONS

 PRAYER ABORTION.
Why Angels abort prayers before they get to the throne..

SIX REASONS PRAYERS ARE NOT ANSWERED

The devil's final strategy in deceiving believers is to make them doubt the faithfulness of God in answering prayer. Satan would have us believe God has shut His ears to our cry and left us to work things out for ourselves.

I believe the greatest tragedy in the church of Jesus Christ today is that so few now believe in the power and effectiveness of prayer. Without meaning to blaspheme, multitudes of God's people can now be heard complaining, "I pray, but I get no answers. I've prayed so long, so hard, without any results. All I want is to see a little evidence of God changing things. Things go on as usual - nothing happens. How long must I wait?" They no longer visit the secret closet because they are convinced that their petitions, born in prayer, are somewhere miscarried at the throne. Others are convinced that only Daniel, David, and Elijah types can get their prayers through to God.

 Is there one certain prayer you have been praying for such a long time, and as yet it has not been answered? Have even years gone by and still you wait, hoping, yet wondering?

Let us be careful not to charge God, as did Job, with being slothful; and unconcerned about our needs and petitions. Job complained, "I cry unto thee and thou dost not hear me; I stand up, and though regardest me not" (Job 30:20).

His vision of God's faithfulness was clouded by his present difficulties, and he ended up accusing God of forgetting him. God rebuked him soundly for it.

It's time we Christians took an honest look at the reasons why our prayers are aborted.  Let me name six, of many reasons why our prayers are not answered.

Reason One: Our Prayers Are Aborted When They Are Not According to God's Will.

We are not at liberty to pray at random for whatever our selfish minds conceive. We are not permitted to come into his presence and vent our silly notions and mindless ramblings. If God signed all our petitions without discretion, He would end up giving His glory away.

There is a law of prayer! It is a law meant to weed out beggarly, self-centered prayers - while, at the same time, making it possible for honest seekers to ask in confidence. In other words, we can pray for whatsoever we will, as long as it is his will.

"If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (1 John 5:14).

Job, in his sorrow, begged God to take his life away. What if God had answered such a prayer? Such praying was contrary to the will of God. The Word warns, "Let not thy lip be hasty to utter a matter before the Lord."

Daniel prayed the right way. First, he went to the Scriptures and searched out the mind of God. Having gotten clear direction, and sure of God's will, he runs to God's throne with a mighty assurance. "And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer" (Daniel 9:3).

We know too much about what we want and too little about what He wants.

Reason Two: Our Prayers Can Be Aborted When They Are Designed to Fulfill an Inner Lust, Dreams, or Illusions.

"Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lust" (James 4:3).

God will answer no prayer that would add to our honor or assist our temptations. In the first place, God answers no prayer of a person who harbors lust in his or her heart. All answers are dependent on upon the plucking out of our hearts the evil, the lust, and the besetting sins.

"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psalm 66:18).

The test of knowing whether or not our request is based on lust is very simple. How we handle delays and denials is the clue. Prayers founded on lust demand hasty answers. If the lusting heart does not get the thing desired, quickly, it whimpers and cries, it swoons and faints - or it breaks out in a spell of murmuring and complaining, finally accusing God of deafness.

Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not" (Isaiah 58:3).


Reason Three: Our Prayers Can Be Denied When We Show No Diligence to Assist God in the Answer.

We go to God as if He were a kind of rich relative who will support us and give us all we beg for, while we lift not even a hand to help. We lift our hands to God in prayer, then put them in our pockets.

We expect our prayers to get God to working for us, while we sit idly by, thinking to ourselves, "He has all the power; I have none, so I will simply stand still and let him do the work."

It sounds like good theology, but it is not. God will have no idle beggars at His door. God won't even allow us to be charitable to those who on earth refuse to work.

"We command you that, if any would not work, neither should he eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10).

No - God will not allow us to drink from stolen waters, then attempt to drink at His holy fountain. Not only will our secret sin find us out, it will deny us God's best and bring on a flood of despair, doubt, and fear.

Don't blame God for not listening to your prayers if you're not listening to His call to obedience. You will end up blaspheming God and accusing Him of negligence, while all along you'll be the culprit.

Reason Four: Our Prayers Can Be Aborted By a Secret Grudge Lodged in the Heart Against Another.

Christ will not deal with anyone with a wrathful and unforgiving spirit. We are commanded to "lay aside all malice, envy, and evil speaking, and as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word" (1 Peter 2:1, 2).

Christ will not even communicate with a wrangling, jangling, unforgiving person. God's law of prayer is clear on this matter, "Lift up pure hands without wrath or doubting" (1 Timothy 2:8). By not forgiving the sins committed against us, we make it impossible for God to forgive and bless us. He instructed us to pray, "Forgive us, as we forgive others."

Reason Five: Our Prayers Can Be Aborted by Not Expecting Much to Come of Them.

He who expects little from prayer will not have much power and authority in prayer. When we question the power of prayer, we lose it. The devil is trying to rob us of hope by making it appear that prayer is no longer effective.

How clever Satan is, as he tries to deceive us with lies and unnecessary fears. When Israel was brought the false news that Joseph had been killed, it sickened him to despair, even though it was a lie. Joseph was alive and prospering, while all this time his father grieved in sorrow - having believed the lie. So Satan is trying to deceive us today with lies.

Unbelieving fears rob the believer of joy and confidence in God. God does not hear all prayer - He hears only believing prayer. Prayer is the only weapon we have against all the fiery darkness of the enemy. That weapon must be used in great confidence, or else we have no other defense against Satan's lies. Gods' reputation is at stake.

Our lack of patience is proof enough we don't expect much from prayer. We leave the secret closet of prayer, ready to go on muddling our way through - and we would even be shocked if God did answer.

Reason Six: Our Prayers Are Aborted When We Ourselves Attempt to Prescribe How God Should Answer.

The only person we lay down terms to is the one we don't trust. Those we trust we leave to themselves to do what is right. It all boils down to a lack of trust.

The believing soul, after he has unburdened his heart in prayer to the Lord, resigns himself to the faithfulness, goodness, and wisdom of God. The true believer will leave the shaping of the answer to God's mercy. Whatever way God chooses to answer, the believer will welcome it.

David prayed diligently for his household, and then committed all to God's covenant - "Though my house be not so with God, yet He hath made with me a covenant" (2 Samuel 23:5).

He desires that we simply leave our requests lodged in His powerful arms, cast all our care upon Him, and go forth with peace and serenity to wait His relief. How tragic to have so great a God and so little faith in Him.

CONCLUSION

When You Are Down, and Satan Whispers In Your Ear That God Has Forgotten You, Stop His Mouth With This:
"Devil - it is not God who has forgotten, but it is me. I've forgotten all His past blessings, or else I could not now be questioning his faithfulness."

You see, faith should have a good memory. Our rash and hasty words are results of our forgetting His past benefits. With David, we should pray:

"This is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High, I will remember the works of the Lord, surely I will remember Thy wonders of old." (Psalm 77:10,11).

Reject That Secret Whisper In The Soul That Says, "The Answer Will Be So Long Delayed, I Will Not Enjoy It Should It Come."

You can be guilty of spiritual mutiny by not trusting God to answer at the most opportune time. You can be sure that when the answer comes, it will come in a way and in a time it will be most enjoyed. If what you prayed for is not worth the waiting, it is not worth the asking.

Stop Fretting About Receiving, and Learn to Rely.

God never groans or complains about the power of His enemies, but rather the impatience of His own people. How unbelief does break His heart, with so many wondering whether to love Him or leave Him.

Those Who Ask in Faith Go Forth Praising in Hope.

"His words are pure as silver tried seven times in a furnace" (Psalm 12:6).

"In quietness and confidence shall be your strength" (Isaiah 30:15).

Never, Never Question Because You Don't Hear From God Presently.

If God is delaying, it simply means your request is gaining interest in God's bank of blessings. So assured were the saints of God that He was faithful to His promises, they rejoiced before even seeing any conclusions. They went on merrily, as if they had already received. God wants us to pay in praises before we receive the promises.

The Holy Ghost assists us in prayer - and is He not welcome at the throne? Will the Father deny the Spirit? Never! That groaning in your soul is no less than God Himself - and God will not deny Himself.

Saints of God - we alone are the losers if we do not get back to watching and praying. We become cold, sensuous, and playful when we avoid the secret closet of prayer. What a sad awakening there will be for those who carelessly harbor secret grudges against the Lord for not answering their prayers, when all along they have been slothful. We have not been effectual and fervent. We have not shut ourselves in with Him. We have not put aside our besetting sins. We have asked mostly to consume it on our own lust. We have been materialistic, lazy, unbelieving, doubtful - and then we wonder why our prayers are not answered.

Time is short; the day of the Lord is at hand. Should we not then be watching and praying?