Image via Wikipedia

There is prayer.  For the non-believer prayer is a last ditch effort to avoid an obvious “bad thing”.  For the religious, prayer is a duty that they do not understand.  For the believer, prayer is a wonderous intangible object which causes a glorious transformation.  And regardless of the person’s standing with the Most High God, prayer is the one place where intervention into the situation of man is accomplished.

The non-believer wouldn’t notice if God turned a “deaf ear” to his prayers.  His understanding of the Holiness of God is muted and lost in the blindness of a lack of faith.  But to the believer, a lack of attention from the Father is a jolting reminder of God’s expectations for His children.  The non-believer will not faint if his prayer is not respected or considered by the God of Glory.  But let the Father lack response to the desires of a Christian, and this one will recoil with horror that he has lost something precious.  Panic begins to set in as Christ’s people feel the wall go up between themselves and The Father of Life. 

Prayer is a privilege which can be cut short when our actions do not match the demands of our Holy God.  God allows us to falter.  But rebellion will receive a response; as if to say, “You will not listen to me, therefore I will not listen to you”.  Is God cruel in this?  Never, shall the God of all be cruel!  He is teaching us in regard to what His Holiness is all about.  Accept your state before Him.  Render the respect He deserves.  Don’t consider that you have been slighted.  Prayer is a privilege through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Submit to God.  Submit as a child might when he has been caught in rebellion.  Listen to what you do hear from the times when your prayers bounce back at you.  Your mind will remember certain things which have caused this problem.  Yet I will mention here that there are times when your faith is being tested.  It is quite possible that God is testing your resolve to remain before Him and wait.  In these times, it is more important that you recognize that you are not God.  You are a babe in this place of testing.  He is above all.  And His will is to be done regardless of our perception of things.

By His Grace.