Seeds of Hope: Right Some Wrongs and then Pray

One night before climbing into bed, Brad knelt with his mother to pray. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray Thee Lord, my soul to keep; if I should die before I wake…” There was a long pause and suddenly he stopped praying. “Go on,” said his mother to encourage him. “I can’t,” he cried and ran from the room.

A few moments later he returned and finished the prayer, “I pray Thee Lord my soul to take.” “What happened?” his Mother asked. “Well,” he confessed, “just before we knelt to pray, I went into James’ room and took all of his toy soldiers and hid them. Then I hid his tanks, cannons and trucks so he couldn’t see them. And after I started to pray I had to stop and make everything right because I knew that God wouldn’t hear me.”

Many times we pray and get no answers. Often we think that God is not willing to hear us or unable to help us. But that is not true. We cannot knowingly have sin in our hearts and lives and go to God and expect Him to answer our prayers. If we expect God to hear and answer our prayers we must make things right first. Said the Psalmist, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” It is only when we willingly confess and forsake our sins that we can expect God to answer our prayers. It may be time to stop in the middle of a prayer, right some wrongs and then pray.

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