I appreciate Mary Smith’s attempt to encourage people to pray about things, and I too would like that, but I believe that we need a little more information about that subject before we attempt to communicate with the God of the Bible. The Holy Spirit tells us through Isaiah, the prophet (Isaiah 59:1,2), that the hand of the Lord is not so short that He cannot save (people). Nor is the Lord so hard of hearing that He cannot hear (people’s prayers). In fact, the problem here is not with the Lord at all! It’s that your iniquities have caused a separation between you and God, and your sins have caused Him to hide His face from you, so that He will not hear you (your prayers).

Again, the Holy Spirit tells us through the writer in Psalms 66:18 “If I am conscious of sin in my life, the Lord will not hear me (my prayers). And again, the blind man who was given his sight by Jesus told the Jewish leaders in John 9:31, “Now WE know that God does NOT hear the prayers of sinners, but if any man worships God, and does His will, God will hear that man.” And again, the Apostle Peter, speaking by the Holy Spirit, tells us in 1st Peter 3:12, “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil (sin).

All of the above verses tell us that God does not hear the prayers of sinners. You have to deal with the sin problem first. Now I know that many pastors out there, who are anxious to defend sin in the lives of so-called Christians, will be scrambling for their favorite commentaries in order to find something (anything) that will cast doubt on the plain meaning of what God has clearly stated in the above verses, and that is all right. I welcome all such distortions of truth by those who claim the Name of Jesus. In fact, I encourage public debate in these matters, and I am available for such anytime, with anyone. Note: This is just another significant Spiritual truth that you have never heard in your visible church of choice…why?

BILL JOHNSON

Rathdrum